More of my cute Family + their cute dogs

These are some of my cute cousins.. I always want to say nephews.. We went on a chilly Wheeler Farm shoot and they were such good sports even though it was freezin!



I feel short when my younger cousins are taller than me.. Chancey made me feel short! Or maybe just my shortness makes me feel short. Who knows.

I got to hang out with their dogs for a second, meet Bella...

and SUEY (you have to read that name in a really low voice). This is going to blow your mind, but no.. the measurements are not off on this picture. The dog is really that wide. When Jess got me my pug, Dolce.. this is what I hopefully thought she would turn into... so far no luck. I need to know the secret skills in getting your dog this awesome..

... mind blown??

One of my favs...

I like how the colors turned out in this one..

My favorite from the group...

A big ol' Thanks to my aunt Jeni for being so cute and patient while we went through me trying to make their Christmas cards! Next year I promise I'll have it down.

Big Changes For Me

Many of you know I have been the Laurel's Advisor in my ward now for over four years. I have just been given a new calling, and have been released from Young Women. Of course I am excited for something new, but I am really sad to say goodbye to my beautiful girls. I love them, and they are all so amazing and fun. I've had so much fun being able to spend time with them, and I feel like I've watched them all grow up.

This is just a random picture of most of the from Girl's Camp last year. The good news is, I've been called to come up to camp with the Stake, so I don't feel too deprived! And here's to my new calling with Activities Days.. did I say that right? I love all the amazing girls and leaders I've had fun working with in my ward!! I will miss you SO much!

Let's get back into it!

So this will give you an idea of how far behind I am.. these are some pictures from our stay in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving. My cute Christiansen clan fam, this is the Jon and Summer department. I have to say, I love Las Vegas, I could happily live there. Thanksgiving was great, Summer and Debbie's squash soup was aMaZing. I think about it fondly daily. One thing I learned about Jesse's brother, Jon, is that he HAtEs taking pictures. Hates it. So we had to move fast because he didn't want to spend much time. So we ran to a nearby spot and then Summer and I had fun running everywhere else with the kids.

My cute niece, Lucie Loo

One of the cutest boys, ever.. Max. He's full energy all the time.

Love this one!

The whole fam.. I love Summer's hair just blowin' in the wind.. like a sexy superstar.. So did the guys who were just hanging out in their van.. watching us take pictures. That's always great.

Hunter is the most grown up kindergartner you have ever met. He speaks more eloquently than most adults. He's such a stud. Sometimes I think Bauer is starting to look a lot like him.

So a huge thanks to Jon and Summer for having us at their beautiful house and another thanks to Jon, who checked Jesse and my eyes and we can now see much better thanks to our contacts (whew.. run on sentence??)

So that's a taste of some of the stuff I've been up to while I've been MIA on the whole blog thing.
And also.. I've been having some computer issues.. some kind of bug that always pulls up a "playsushi" game. It's been causing me headaches and then I made the genius move to organize my photobucket.. which broke many of my links. I don't know if I can commit to fixing it, but I might. So, that's why you see no pictures below and only photobucket stuff.

It's been a long time

shouldn't've left you
without a slow beat to step to

step to
step to
step to
step to
step to

wickee wickee wickee...

I'm back. To all you five readers out there who may or may not check in. Did I make your day? Anybody? Um.. maybe not.

I have been so busy with everything that blogging has been last on my list.. as usual. And as usual, I'm going to promise to be better at it.. but we'll see. Soon I will have pictures of many of my cute boutique-y items that I may or may not be selling on Etsy.. I'm also thinking about doing a booth here in SaLt LaKe. My husband is working crazy hours at his new business which is great for business.. but sometimes hard for me. By the time I've possibly eaten a meal and if I'm lucky.. taken a shower? it's midnight and I'm tired.

I have many New Year's Goals to help with the way I'm feeling and to try and keep moving with all the things I want to do. Sometimes it really helps to look at my list, and sometimes it just really, ReALly overwhelms me. If it's winter blues.. I guess I better go tanning. It's healthy for you if it's curing winter blues, right? That's what I'm telling myself. But back to goals for the New Year.. Here's my list..

*Don't click on any of the links.. it's some kind of virus on my* *computer and it brings up junk*

1. Lose Weight (can it be a list of goals for me without that?) & Be healthy. I've joined a biggest loser blog, and so far I'm feeling way motivated (Thanks Christina!) And so far I've been over a week without sugar.. suga
2. Learn to be a better cook. I know it's in me. But sometimes I'm just so busy.. and then when I actually do cook, no one was expecting it and they all already ate. Or maybe that's just what they say so that they don't have to eat it. And my cute sister-in-law Jeanine is doing a blog because she's working on this same thing (she's a good cook, she's just trying to find the right recipes) so if you're interested in her blog, you should check that out.
3. Take my kids on "Field Trips" once a week. This week we did Classic skating. I was seriously just dreading it in the pit of my stomach the whole night before. It wasn't AS bad as I thought it would be.
4. Really develop talents that I've been wanting to develop. Get better at photography, learn to sew, I want to take singing lessons.. start up piano lessons again. This is the list that overwhelms me because I don't know where I'll find the time. But I'm gonna make it happen.
5. Keep my house clean. This was actually a goal I made last year and I've gotten so much better at it. And thanks to my cute friend, Marianne, I know one of the biggest keys is just to throw as much away (or give away) as you can.
6. Finish all my unfinished projects. There's a list. But I won't bore you. Oh wait, just a little boring taste... Bentley's room redone, Bauer's room finished, the playroom done, fix the floor in the office.. finish the painting for upstairs...ugh. But it's gonna happen!
7. Figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Here's my dilemma.. I've always thought I'd go into something more serious like law, or even medicine (whaaa?). But when I sit down, write the pros and cons.. I don't like science. I don't like math! Not to mention I'd be like 50 by the time I got done with school. What I like is art, and being creative. I've been that way since I was teeny. So I need to really figure out what it is I want to go for, and then go for it. Don't get me wrong, I love photography. I will always love photography. But when I'm too busy with it, it kind of ruins it for me. My passion is fashion (a serious fashion passion.. read it like Flight of the Concords would sing it) . And another passion is party planning. But, first of all... fashion. So I'm thinking I'm gonna go for it.
8. Put more fun stuff I love on my blog. Even if I have lost all my readers. It's happenin'..
9. Write more. I love thinking up stories. I think I'm gonna write one.. starting with one for Bentley.
10. After I feel confident with my musical lessons-perform a song somewhere. That one makes me nervous just typing it.
11. Run a little boutique. Not to make me crazy, but to keep me a little busy with the stuff I love.
12. Let my husband know how much I love him. Cause I do. Not to mention he's lookin' pretty saxy.. he's lost over 20 pounds in two weeks! Or does that make us kinda hate him?? Maybe just a little..

So here's to a new year! A new me, a better, happier, healthier me and my family.

(Should I have made it a goal that we wouldn't have any hospital visits? Or is that too unrealistic? I'll just keep magnets hidden)

I'm going to post monthly on how my goals are coming.

What are your goals? Do you usually stick to them?

I'll be posting more... and taking a gander your blogs more.. leaving hilarious comments for all to see.