20100131

The Little White Dress



Thirty-five years ago a little white dress was made. A grandmother’s gentle hands lovingly made it to be used as a blessing dress. It was used for one granddaughter and then again for another granddaughter three years later.

The grandmother that made that dress is my grandmother. The granddaughters were my sister and I. After the dress was used for my sister and myself our mother carefully packed it away. Many years later it was brought out again. My oldest daughter was blessed in it and the little white dress seemed to be a dress that would tie generations together. A mother made it for her daughter to bless her baby girls in. The daughter then passed it on to her daughter who used it for her daughter. I then passed it on to my sister so she could have a chance to use this special dress for her daughters. Unfortunately, big babies seem to run in the family and the little white dress has sat unused for twelve years.

While the little white dress was made with joyous and happy occasions in mind, sometimes endings don’t always turn out the way we think they will. None of us would have even thought that this dress would have a very special last use. My sister will use this dress for her daughter whose short life has touched us all. Sweet little Colette will be the last person to wear the dress. It will cover her tiny body almost as if she is wrapped in the arms of her mother, her grandmother, her great-grandmother, her aunt, and her cousin. All who, at one time used the little white dress.

While this is the end for the little white dress, how blessed we are to know that this is not the end for Colette. She has been born into an eternal family and those eternal ties, not the little white dress, are what hold generations together.

20100129

Heartache and Love

They say that time heals all wounds but at the moment it is hard to understand how. This has been an extremely long week filled with heartache, tears, and sorrow, but at the same time there has been a great outpouring of love.

On Sunday my sister Julia gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. After only a few short hours little Colette Eliza Chadwick returned home to her Heavenly Father. My heart feels like it has been broken with this terrible loss and it is so hard for me to even imagine how Julia and Dusty are feeling.

I have felt the love and sadness of my family as I have shared tears over the phone with my parents, my brother, and my sister. Living so far away often makes me sad when I know I'm missing family gatherings and fun times but that is nothing compared to the sadness and emptiness I feel at not being able to be with my sister at this time.

What a blessing it is to know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of this difficult time. What a blessing it is to know that Colette was born into a wonderful eternal family. She has a mother and a father that will cherish her memory and work hard to make sure they are worthy to be with her forever.

20100128

Numbahs

What I had from my old WAAFF site:

Number Name Date Entered Family Date of Birth
1. Grandpa Christensen 03 Sep 1928  
2. Grandma Christensen 03 Jan 1930  
3. Vicki Jones 17 Apr 1950  
4. Blake Christensen 05 Jun 1952  
5. Mark Christensen 21 Jul 1955  
6. Layne Christensen 01 Nov 1956  
7. Keith Christensen 13 May 1958  
8. Brent Christensen 07 Apr 1962  
9. Scott Christensen 08 Jun 1963  
10. Todd Christensen 6 May 1966  
11. Paula Christensen 22 Dec 1973 17 Mar 1953
12. Wally Jones 22 Feb 1974 10 Feb 1946
13. Jeremiah Jones 29 Mar 1975  
14. Myles Christensen 04 Jun 1975  
15. Benjamin Jones 16 Aug 1976
16. Eric Christensen 24 May 1978
17. Daniel Jones 26 Feb 1979
18. Barbara Christensen 27 Jul 1979 22 May 2006
19. Cheryl Christensen 14 Aug 1979 21 Nov 1957
20. Angela Christensen 05 Apr 1980  
21. Heather Christensen 24 Jun 1980  
22. Amber Christensen 15 Oct 1980  
23. Amy Christensen 05 May 1982  
24. Stephanie Christensen 24 Jun 1983  
25. Kathryn Christensen 29 Jun 1984 15 Mar 1962
26. Linda Christensen 05 Apr 1984  
27. Jessica Christensen 20 Jul 1984  
28. Samantha Jones 06 Dec 1984  
29. Traci Christensen 03 Aug 1985 06 Apr 1965
30. Chelsy Christensen 19 Feb 1986  
31. Kyle Christensen 06 Aug 1986  
32. Lindsay Christensen 14 Oct 1986  
33. Briana Christensen 14 Oct 1986  
34. Andrew Christensen 10 Apr 1987  
35. Brandon Christensen 17 Aug 1987  
36. Tyler Christensen 30 Aug 1988  
37. Taylor Christensen 28 Mar 1989  
38. Alyssa Christensen 07 Jun 1989  
39. Alex Christensen 24 Jul 1990  
40. Cheyenne Christensen 16 Jan 1991  
41. Cindy Christensen 11 May 1991 27 Jun 1965
42. Alan Christensen 05 Jul 1991  
43. Logan Christensen 22 Aug 1991  
44. Kaitlyn Christensen 07 Jan 1992  
45. Clayton Christensen 27 Jul 1995  
46. Shelley Christensen 18 Nov 1995 26 Feb 1968
47. Joseph Christensen 05 Dec 1995  
48. Tamara Jones 09 Aug 1996 20 Apr 1975
49. Spencer Christensen 03 Sep 1996  
50. Michaela Jones 11 Oct 1997  
51. Jill Christensen 17 Jan 1998 10 Nov 1973
52. Grant Christensen 28 May 1998  
53. Morgan Christensen 14 May 1999  
54. Anthony Jones 31 Mar 2000  
55. Anna Victoria Christensen 20 Sep 2000  
56. Christine Christensen 01 Aug 2001 06 Mar 1980
57. Amy Jones 14 Sep 2001 29 May 1977
58. Natalie Jones 28 Nov 2001  
59. Jen Jones 19 Oct 2002 06 Mar 1979
60. Zac Bailey 28 Dec 2002 10 Feb 1977
61. Chris Purves 30 May 2003 25 Jul 1978
62. Bryce Eric Christensen 06 Jul 2003  
63. Wendy Christensen 07 Aug 2003 01 Sep 1971
64. Riley Benson 07 Aug 2003  
65. Paul Myles Christensen 07 Aug 2003  
66. Clara Nicole Christensen 09 Jan 2004  
67. Trevor Jones 19 Apr 2004  
68. Carter Christensen 07 Aug 2004 22 Jan 1982
69. Max Elijah Bailey 14 Nov 2004  
70. George Taylor Purves 21 Dec 2004  
71. Colt Cooper 19 Feb 2005 26 May 1983
72. Wyatt Winchester Jones 19 Mar 2005  
73. Caleb Sainsbury 19 Aug 2005 23 Apr 1984
74. Ethan Christensen 05 Nov 2005  
75. David Christensen 23 Dec 2005  
76. Adam Cunningham 18 Mar 2006 03 Dec 1984
77. Branden Nelson 05 May 2006 ???
78. Abigail Hurst Jones 08 Jun 2006
79. Tyson Colt Cooper 18 Aug 2006
80. Madelyn Bailey 23 Sep 2006
81. Drew Jones 26 Sep 2006
82. Reese Marie Christensen 29 Oct 2006
83. Broderick Rees Christensen 17 Feb 2006


I was thinking of doing a SSN column, but didn't want anyone else to laugh as hard as I did when I found out who was 000-00-0001 and 000-00-0002. ;)

Apologies for any mispelings or inaccurassies.

Don't hold me accountable if you miss out on fudge because of some typo in the list.

20100111

A new tradition

Last January we started something new. All year long we encouraged the kids to do acts of kindness and watch for other family members doing them. We would then write them on slips of red, white, or green paper and put them in a box on the side of the fridge. As the year passed our box filled up and early in December we made a paper chain out of our papers and hung it up on the dining room. It was our acts of service chain. Towards the end of the month our chain was having a hard time staying up so we decided it was time to take it down. As we took it apart we stopped and remembered the past year as we read each slip of paper. The kids thought it was great fun to be reminded that they helped make mommy and daddy's bed and put away toys without being asked. We have already started working on our new chain for this Christmas and our goal is to make it longer than last years.


Reading each paper strip as we took the chain apart

Our pile of papers showing our year of good deeds

Vacation fun

With Grandma and Grandpa here and Jeremiah being off of work the excitement was endless. Grandma and Grandpa were even brave enough for a few sledding trips and afternoon walks in the snow.

Abigail wasn't so sure about sledding last winter but this year she loves it!



Trevor's house

December 23rd was the last day of school before Christmas vacation. Trevor has a very brave kindergarten teacher who was making gingerbread houses with the kids and asked for volunteers to come into the classroom and help out. I don't usually get to help out in the classroom because it's a bit difficult taking Abigail and Emersynne along. Since Grandma and Grandpa were visiting I jumped at the chance to visit Trevor's class and help out. It was all very well organized and the kids had a great time. Trevor really got into the decorating and had a blast with the wide assortment of candies to choose from. Of course I forgot to take the camera with me but did manage to take some pictures of the house before it got eaten.


The graham cracker house structures were made ahead of time and glued around milk cartons to make them stronger. What a great idea! The kids thought it was cool that the houses were glued to the tray.



Believe it or not the ginger bread house actually sat on our piano for a few days before Trevor started picking at it. Once the first candy came off it was all down hill from there. Trevor said he had a feast on the house but he did generously share with his brother and sisters.

Christmas morning

Christmas morning was a blast at our house. Natalie was worried that Santa wouldn't come because Grandma and Grandpa were sleeping in the living room which was where the tree was. Grandma and Grandpa assured her that they were really heavy sleepers and then Natalie felt much better. At first Abigail was a little disappointed because she was expecting to come downstairs and find Santa at our house. She quickly got over her disappointment when she saw all the goodies he left for her in her stocking and all the presents under the tree.


Ten stockings all lined up on the couch was quite a site.

Abigail immediately found the chocolate.

After the kids came downstairs and found their stockings we ate our traditional Christmas breakfast of sausage, biscuits, gravy, green chilies egg dish, and sliced oranges from our stockings. Now that our tummys were full we were ready to dig into the presents. It's always good to eat breakfast first since it takes quite awhile for us to open presents. As usual the kids were very excited to give out the presents they had bought for their siblings. Some of them had a hard time keeping it a secret.

Santa brought Emersynne fruit puffs. She loved them and spent the morning munching on those while we opened presents. She got this cute hat from Grandma and Grandpa.


Natalie and Lulu, her new pet cat that Santa brought. Lulu purrs, meows, rolls over, and raises her paw. She also thankfully has an off button!

Trevor and Abigail were very excited with their suitcases (juice cases as Abigail calls them) that Santa brought them. They still are pulling them all over the house with their treasures inside.


Michaela has already gotten lots of use with her digital camera Santa left for her.

And of course we've had lots of star wars talk at our house since Santa brought Anthony the lego star wars computer game. Anthony really looks forward to Friday afternoons and weekends when he gets his game time!

Santa must think I have lots of free time on my hands because I got a violin. I've always said that I would love to learn to play the violin but I never imagined I would get a violin in this stage of my life. It might just be sitting in it's case for awhile but someday I will learn!

Jeremiah is now set for his at home workouts. He has some big manly weights and doesn't have to use my whimpy ones anymore!

It must not have been too wild and crazy of a morning because Grandpa had a hard time staying awake. The kids all did a great job being patient as we watched each other open presents and saved the gifts from Santa for last.


Christmas Memories

A few days before Christmas Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Wally braved our cold weather and came for a visit. Their very long day of traveling was extended as they took the train from Boston to Worcester since we were at the hospital with Emersynne.

We had a great visit but it sure did go by fast.


Emersynne was starting to feel better and had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa


Abigail loved having snuggle time with Grandpa

The kids all got new jammies to open on Christmas Eve from Grandma and Grandpa. Trevor really liked his dinosaur jammies. Can you tell?

With the weather so cold we had lots of inside fun. Decorating Christmas cookies was a popular and yummy activity.


20100101

Happy 2010!

I'm glad my kids didn't stay up last night...