Leila Shea Christensen
And somewhere, we skipped Thanksgiving. Well, actually, we didn’t skip it. I just haven’t followed Cassandra’s instructions to blog about it. After all, someone’s got to show her she can’t be dictating everything.
So, for the very short recap: Thanksgiving was fabulous. Dad was home for it this year (HUGE hooray!!!) and we had a full house – Logan & the Lion Tamer, Jessie & Barry, and Alisha & Mike Tompkins were all there, in addition to the rest of us. Since Alisha, the Lion Tamer, Jessie, and I all brought contributions to dinner, it made it easier on everyone – aka, no one had to make an entire dinner. And the boys did the dishes. (Actually, I think it was Dad who did the dishes. So it would be the Man that did the dishes.)
November was also the month of birthdays. You already know we that we celebrated Logan’s birthday, but you haven’t heard yet that Wade turned 15 (15! Can you believe it?) and Alisha turned 24. Yes, I already know I’m getting old. Since I’ve hit the antique stage already, I’m not sweating it. Antiques just get more valuable with age anyway.
Over the past couple weeks, I’ve learned a few things. For instance (and in no particular order):
- It is absolutely possible to cut off a good portion of your fingertip with a pair of scissors while trimming long-stemmed roses. You may feel like an idiot when you are successful at that (especially if you haven’t been trying to cut off part of your finger). Or maybe that’s just me.
- Your fingertip grows back when you’ve cut part of it off. Freaking. Amazing.
- When you are a new homeowner, the leaves from across the street, next door, and down the block will all end up in your front yard. And you will fill over 30 bags of leaves before you even hit the backyard. At that point, you may decide to pretend the leaves in the backyard don’t exist.
- Planting tulips for the spring should be done before the ground freezes. Of course, when you buy your tulips on sale for $3 a pack, the ground will undoubtedly freeze that same night. Trying to dig up your frozen yard builds character. (Or at least that’s the story I’m sticking with.)
- Picking out a short Christmas tree is nothing short of genius when you realize that you won’t have to get the ladder out to decorate the top half.
- If you put your Christmas tree in a corner, you don’t have to put ornaments on the back of it.
- Hanging Christmas lights on your very own house is exciting. Of course, if you haven’t done it before, you risk running out of lights before you’ve finished.
- The holiday spirit will undoubtedly cause you to feel a need to play Christmas music on your violin. If you haven’t played your violin in ages, even your dog will cry at your first attempts. (Anyone know a teacher in the KC area?)
- Surprisingly, this will be one of the busiest times of the year at work. Last year at this time? Super slow. This year? In court nearly every day for the past two and a half weeks.
Yeah, learning is an awesome thing. Working is a fabulous thing. And Christmas 2011? Well, it’s shaping up to be the best yet.
Seriously. And it’s not because I had a dark chocolate ganache-filled cupcake in the last 24 hours either. (Of course, that doesn’t hurt. Until you take body fat measurements using the Bod Pod. Yes, I did that today too. I have fabulous timing. Technically, the cupcake was last night. It managed to stick around for those measurements, I’m telling you.)
A week and a half ago, my fabulous Aunties, my mom, my step-grandmas, Alisha, Jessie and I all got together to party. Going to Time Out for Women was just our excuse to get together. It was great! I only made it to the Saturday session (our JRCLS annual dinner was on Friday night, and since I’m on the board I definitely couldn’t skip), but the first speaker was fabulous. My totally-crafty-very-amazing-aunts made the best journals for us to take notes in, and I was looking through mine today. The quote that jumped out to me was from Mariama Kallon – “Today is the Best Time of My Life.” Because it is.
Just in the past two weeks, I’ve gotten to:
- See the amazingly wonderful aforementioned women that always blow me away with how beautiful, kind and talented they are. They are all so fabulous that I sometimes can’t believe I am lucky enough to be related to them. (And yes, I am related to every single person in that picture.)
- Be a part of the JRCLS Annual Dinner where we had an inspiring talk by Elder Lance B. Wickman, who is the Legal General Counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Sing one of my favorite hymns as a solo in Church. (For a beautiful version of someone singing the same arrangement, go here.)
- Attend the Association for Women Lawyers first “CLE in the City” (a la Sex and the City – of course I wore stilettos!)
- Dance to salsa music. All. Night. Long. (Also wearing stilettos. Naturally.)
- Celebrate Logan’s 23rd Birthday with my family. We all had the best laugh when Cassie realized that Logan and Alisha are the same age for the next two weeks. In order to spare my father the embarrassment, I won’t go into detail about her comments. Let’s just say Cassie is very skilled at math. And way too knowledgeable for my dad’s health. The video’s courtesy of Wade. I take no credit for it.
- Watch Cassie in her very last Primary Program.
- Eat dinner with a girlfriend from elementary school (along with her husband and wonderful six month old!)
- Work. Really, this is one of those wonderful things. I represent some incredible, resilient people, and I feel fortunate to do the work I do.
With all those great things in my life, how can I not agree with Mariama Kallon? Today. IS. the BEST time of my life.
When you take a break from blogging, it becomes kind of tough to get back into the swing of things. It’s a good thing I have such fabulous motivators in my life. (ahem. Cassie.) And good reasons that I should blog about. (ahem. Cassie.) And pictures of the same reasons. (ahem. Cassie.)
I even have a video.
Spending the afternoon at Worlds of Fun is not my typical Friday afternoon. (For instance, tomorrow, I’ll be where I normally am – at work.) Still, one of the perks of running the firm? When your 11 year old sister (ahem. Cassie.) calls because she needs a chaperon for a school field trip, you can totally go. Where else are you going to be able to ride the Zulu with six screaming 11 year old girls? Or the Patriot? (The video is of the Fjord Fjarlane, in case you’re wondering. No way was I going to chance my iPhone on the Prowler.)
Our fun wasn’t over when we were done with her group either. Wade and Sam were on the same field trip. (They weren’t in our group – even though they love Cassie, they weren’t really dying to spend their field trip with the rest of the 11 year old crowd.) Once the school trip was officially over, we were just getting started. With hamburgers. And movies. All night at my house. Let me tell you, there are some serious perks to being the big sister.
Good deeds don’t go unrewarded in our family. Cassie decided to get up early Saturday morning just to help me bag leaves. Wade joined her. (Sam, in typical Samantha fashion, needed a little longer to sleep in. But she helped with laundry later.) We filled FIFTEEN bags of leaves. Just from my front yard. I haven’t even tackled the back yet. (So if you’ve got some sick raking need… I have two rakes.)
I made it up to them. We went and took care of their errands “in the city” before I carted them back to Cameron. And we went and saw the progress on the Kansas City Temple. It’s ahead of schedule and It. Looks. Beautiful. Check it out. If you live around here, you’re totally going to want a ticket to the open house before it’s dedicated. (They will probably post the tickets here when they have the open house, but if they don’t, call me. I will get you one.) Curious about what an open house is like? Check out this post by a Catholic woman when she went through the Atlanta Temple open house.
Finally. Last words of wisdom* tonight. When your 11 year old sister (ahem. Cassie.) says she’d love it if I blogged about the trip, but then says she’s not “blog-worthy”? Well, that’s when you prove to her that you’re still older, smarter, and ultimately more right than her. Because she is TOTALLY blog-worthy. And I’m so glad I got to spend last weekend with Cassie, Sam and Wade.
*In this case, “wisdom” is totally subjective. Since it’s my blog, I’m making an executive decision.
I know. I have become one of “THOSE” people. The kind who say “I know, I know, it’s been two months since I blogged. Here’s the update.” Except check it out – it was two months YESTERDAY. Samantha was kind enough to send me an email reminding me of the fact. (Actually, she sent me an instruction. To blog. Or else.) So here I am again. I apologize – everyone should get at least one pass in their life, and I’m claiming mine today. (Really, I should probably save it for something more important. You know, like when I say something totally lame and I want a do-over. Oh well. I’m still using up my pass here.)
So… in the past two months I have:
Obtained a roommate. Alaska moved in. Then she passed the bar exam. And then she spent the next weeks looking for a job. Which she found. Hooray! The only sad part? Well, it’s four hours away. Which means in a few short weeks, I will be losing a roommate. We’ll be okay though – after all, that’s what facebook is for. Still, I’m going to miss our joint dinners. There’s something fabulous about cooking for someone who totally loves what you make. It’s doubly great when they do the dishes too.
Spent countless hours at the dog park. Storm has a thing for going out. And I have a thing for making sure she’s happy. My family refers to her as the Diva Dog. It’s not my fault she loves blueberries. And kiwis. Apples though? Don’t bother. I know – picky picky. That’s why we call her the Diva.
Of course, she hasn’t been limited to just the dog park. We’ve spent a lot of time in Cameron with her dog cousins. And we’ve spent time in Kansas City learning to play frisbee golf. (I’m getting pretty good, if I do say so myself. Storm? Well, let’s just say she’s happy to simply look at the frisbee. She’s not much of a catcher.)
Gave a cupcake presentation. And a makeup presentation. And a how-to-do-your-hair presentation. And a what-a-lawyer-really-does presentation. Not all at the same time. I’m sure there’s a connection between all those things, but it was much easier to do them separately. It was fun too. I feel pretty lucky that my siblings call me when they need someone to come speak to their youth groups.
Participated in General Conference. In case you’re wondering – Mormons. Are. Christian. If you’re curious, you should check us out. Or shoot me an email. We only call ourselves “Mormons” for convenience’s sake. The whole name of our church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (I know, it’s a mouthful, right?)
One of my favorite messages from General Conference was a talk on the Book of Mormon by Tad R. Callister. Here’s a quote from it: “That is the genius of the Book of Mormon—there is no middle ground. It is either the word of God as professed, or it is a total fraud. This book does not merely claim to be a moral treatise or theological commentary or collection of insightful writings. It claims to be the word of God—every sentence, every verse, every page. Joseph Smith declared that an angel of God directed him to gold plates, which contained the writings of prophets in ancient America, and that he translated those plates by divine powers. If that story is true, then the Book of Mormon is holy scripture, just as it professes to be; if not, it is a sophisticated but, nonetheless, diabolical hoax.”
Raked. And raked. And raked. Being a homeowner rocks. Being a homeowner with a lot of trees in the vicinity also rocks. Raking for hours to fill bags of leaves and then coming out the next morning to find that it looks like you haven’t raked at all? Priceless. Well, maybe not priceless. But satisfying in a weird sort of way. After all, those six 39-gallon sized bags packed full of leaves? It looks like that’s just the beginning. I can hardly wait for snow. (Which I will NOT be putting in 39-gallon sized bags. In case you were wondering.)
And finally… witnessed Reece become a grandpa. A grandpa to a little herd of piglets. Those 9 pigs have become… well, a lot more than 9. We won’t talk about it here. Mom is much happier not thinking about it.
Of course, those aren’t the only things that have gone on over the past two months. Still, do you really expect me to fit EVERYTHING in one post? Don’t worry – my hiatus is over. Of course, for my darling siblings, maybe you *should* worry – this means that everything is now fair game for the blog again!
I’d call it the less-ominous sounding “school,” but Cassie has informed me that is woefully inaccurate. The last four Christensens- Reece, Wade, Sam and Cassie – begin their sentences of 12+ years today, with credit for time served. I know, the picture of them is misleading… they look so happy. It was taken yesterday. (Plus I *might* have threatened to take the worst looking picture of them and post it all over the internet if they didn’t smile. What persecuted kids.)
Cassie’s not the only one who made me laugh with her wonderful description of school. (Ahem. Prison.) Sam’s also in on the drama. She sent me a text this morning:
I’d say their imaginations are alive and well. That ought to serve them well for their creative writing assignments. As for reporting cold hard facts… well, I guess it’s all in how you look at it.
Good luck in prison kids. Maybe they’ll let you out for house arrest this afternoon. :)
Out of the mouths of… Cassie’s fortune cookie from Kin Lin. Seriously. But really, what could be more perfect?
This weekend (well, really from Thursday to Saturday, so not technically the whole weekend), I was lucky enough to have the 2.0s and Wade at my house so Mom and Dad could celebrate their 29th anniversary without them. (Reece was on a “mini-mission” for the week.) We ate Pizza Hut, watched movies, had ice cream, popped popcorn, played with Storm, went to Kin Lin (their favorite restaurant, and also home of Cassie’s now-famous fortune cookie), watched more movies, went to the Pet Store (who would’ve thought THAT would serve as entertainment?!), ate cupcakes, had Captain Crunch, blew bubbles, painted our nails (Wade skipped that one), slept in, and generally did all those things that they don’t do very often at home. It’s a good thing Mom and Dad’s anniversary is only once a year, right?
Then, if that weren’t good enough, we got together AGAIN yesterday at Jessie and Barry’s house. It’s my birthday today (cue the party music), and Jessie and Barry really outdid themselves – pork chops, rice, crescent rolls, cake… it was fabulous. And I was with my favorite people in the whole world.
Let me tell you. We ARE very happy together.
The Mud Racer is no more. Actually, it still is – but it’s not exactly running. And “not exactly running” is kind of a euphemism for totally dead and sitting by the side of my house waiting for someone to haul it away. Don’t be too sad. It’s had a good life. After all, together we traveled almost 40,000 miles. (It did almost 160,000 miles without me, so almost 200,000 between the two of us. That’s pretty freaking awesome.)
Anyway, my wonderful mechanics (Dad and Reece) thought we’d be able to squeeze a few more months out of my little brown car. So they spent all Monday fixing it up – and it worked great. Well, great for a twelve year old car with almost 200,000 miles on it. Dad got under it one last time, just to check the bottom of the transmission. And found a teeny tiny crack. No biggie. Just a little tricky special putty stuff (I don’t remember the name) and we’d be all good, right? WRONG. Two seconds later, my transmission fluid was all over Dad and the driveway. We decided that we’d find a better solution to the car problems.
And we did.
Say hello to my brand new car. May the Mud Racer rest in peace.
My youngest sister Cassie turned 11 today. Pretty sweet, huh? For those of you who know her – and I mean really know her – you know that she does NOT like frosting. Really. Kind of weird for an eleven year old, but who’s judging?
For her birthday, she had a special cupcake request. Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache. WITH. Frosting. Yeah, I offered to do naked cupcakes for her, but she said she wanted them to look “beautiful.” I guess naked wasn’t doing it for her. So she got frosting – swim team frosting. After all, she had a meet today. Where she got first place in the butterfly stroke. Which she had never ever competed in before. (Not that I’m bragging or anything.) Talk about an awesome birthday.
Oh? And her cupcake? She ate it classic Cassie style – with the frosting scraped off. Happy Birthday Cass. I LOVE YOU!
Just kidding. This is Storm. Reece would’ve really really really liked to name her Tyrel, but (obviously) he’s not in charge. Wade was a little more creative with his name suggestion… “Dark Thunder of the Night.” Yes, I know. He’s hardly a normal fourteen year old. However good his suggestion was, I got the final say. If you really think about it, “Storm” means about the same thing as “Dark Thunder of the Night.” (It, unfortunately for Reece, does not mean the same thing as Tyrel. I checked.)
Storm is a three year old Siberian Husky. I think she’s mixed with something else, because her hair’s a little shorter than a regular husky. (I’m not complaining. There’s already more than enough hair to go around. Thank goodness for the Furminator.) She was living with a family who loved her very much, but they are moving this week to Montana and can’t take her with them. They dropped her off today. I’m sad for them, but Storm and I are already having a blast. We’ve been around my neighborhood, to the pet store (we had to get the Furminator before my house became a pile of fur!), and had so much fun that Storm’s now sleeping on the floor. Oh, she won’t be on the floor for long. I want to build a bed for her that looks like this. Actually, I have a whole bunch of things I’d like to do for her. (Don’t you love Pinterest?!) For now though, we’ll just enjoy tonight.
Taken by Savannah Woods, Barry's Sister
I know. I didn’t blog much last month. My siblings are in an uproar about it. But really, I’ve got a good excuse. Several, in fact. Listening?
- On May 12th, I bought a house. (You already knew this.)
- Then I headed to Huntington Beach, California for a Midsingles Conference. Where I took a surfing lesson and actually stood up on the board. Heck yes. Huge thanks to my mom and dad – thanks to the use of dad’s airline miles, my flight cost $35. Roundtrip.
- Then I got stuck an extra day in Huntington Beach due to bad weather in Denver. No, I did not move to Denver – but that’s where my connecting flight was. So I used hotwire and ended up at the Hilton for the same nightly price I’d been paying to stay at the Best Western Regency. (Granted, I’d been sharing the hotel room at the Best Western Regency, but those ladies had all gone home by the time my flight got moved.)
- When I got back home from Denver, I stopped by my family’s house to drop off a few things for the kids. And got stuck there, due to all the tornadoes in Kansas City.
- I was back to work last Thursday, where I returned a bunch of phone calls. (Logan’s not my assistant anymore, since he’d actually like to spend some time with his wife. However, I’m going to have an intern before too long.)
- And then, finally, Friday I made cupcakes. And by “cupcakes,” I mean over 400 cupcakes. For Jessie and Barry’s wedding reception of course. I started at 8am. I didn’t go to sleep until 1. AM. The next morning.
- Of course, going to bed at 1am didn’t mean that I could sleep in. I was up at 3:30am, and my cousin and I headed over to Alisha’s place so we could drive with them to the wedding. In this case, “drive with” means “sleep the whole way while Mike Tompkins drives.” Then the wedding ceremony started over an hour late. (No, it was not the bride’s fault. Please, Jessie knows how to get herself together on time. That said, it wasn’t Barry’s doing either.)
- The late start meant Alisha and I had to take off as soon as it was over – we had to help throw the reception together and FINISH frosting the wedding cake. We got one picture with Jessie before we left. The cake got frosted, at any rate. (And it looked great, if we do say so ourselves.) Take a look at all our pictures on facebook. (This is the public link to the album, so anyone can see it.)
- And then we had Memorial Day. Where Cassie, Reece and Wade all helped mow my lawn (which had turned into a jungle while I was gone) and paint my dining and living rooms. They rock.
So you can see why I might have been slacking on the blog front. I mean, a girl still has to work. Which is what I’ve been doing this week. But life is slowly getting back to normal. But if Reece says he’s getting married next week…. well, there might not be any cupcakes at his wedding.
