The Big Bang!

New Year's Eve was spent at the annual Christensen Party and Fireworks show. It was so much fun to spend time with good friends and family, enjoy their company and good cooking, and then to go outside and play with fire and legal explosives. Morgan and Rhiannon with the sparklers.

Morgan, Gabe and Zack running for cover.

Jeremy, with the hot air balloons. These things are awesome.

Up in one of the trees in the yard.

The Campbells.

Before the end of the year, Renae's family suffered the loss of one of her brothers. It was very sad, and while the family was all together, I was honored to be able to take their pictures one afternoon. It was freezing cold, but they were all such troopers. What an amazing spirit! This is Renae and here brothers, sister, and parents, minus one sibling. Renae and her sisters.

The whole family. 11 little kids, and 10 adults.

He shoots! He scores!

The past month has been filled with lots of activities with the kids. Morgan has ballet, Chandler has 11 yr old scouts, Gabe, Bears, and Gabe has also been playing in a basketball league. They practice 2 nights a week, and have 1 to 2 games as well each week. The other night we had a late one, against Gabe's cousin Hunter's team. The whole family came out to support the two cousins, and Morgan was right there, cheering them both on! Gabe and his team, warming up. He's on the far right, getting ready to take a shot. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a good shot of a 9 year old playing basketball? (without someone else's kid's leg, head, or other body part in the way)

That sucks!

Well, it finally happened. The vacuum I inherited from my awesome mother in law finally bit the dust. So, I turned to my sweety, who was leaving work, and grabbed the vacuum I'd been drooling over and brought it home that night. I LOVE it!!! Its got amazing suction, the hose extends to 14 feet, and the best part? A special pet hair attachment for those of us who suffer from shedding dogs. Morgan and I set it up while the boys were gone the next night, and immediately went to work. Vacuuming the couch, the stairs, the drapes, the ceiling fan, and we even did the carpet.

I love any cleaning tool that gets my little girl so excited she wants to roll up her sleeves and play Cinderella all evening.