Feel The Love

These old pictures of my parents when we were little kids are so adorable, I had to put them on. Props to all the parents who emulate this same behavior that my parents taught us so well: Enjoy your kids, exercise a LOT of patience and kindness, and just teach them how to LOVE; both themselves, and others.



Today I have been pondering being a parent. Although I am not yet a mother, I can't help but watch as people my own age start having kids. I watch all of the sacrifices they make and all of the effort and patience that goes into caring for little children. I have always known this fact: Kids are hard work. But I never quite realized what a true labor of love it is until I started watching it first hand. And although I still can't quite fully appreciate it since I don't have any kids of my own, I just keep having these thoughts of awe and reverence towards my parents. I can already tell that I am going to be a paranoid, overprotective mother (pray I marry someone who will fight for my kids' rights to have some real fun). So I can't blame my parents when they would get upset when I didn't come home on time, or when I wanted to do something that I thought was a brilliant idea, but was in actuality ridiculously stupid. I think they did a pretty good job of not freaking out about all the many stupid things I did! I suddenly have so much remorse for my completely-selfish-bratty-stage. And for all of the times I bathed myself in vaseline, tore the cupboards apart, called 9-1-1 for fun, and countless poopy diapers, I should probably say "Thank You" to my parents and also throw out an "I'm Sorry". (For the rude teenager phase; I couldn't really do anything about the poopy diapers.)

Cousin Reunion!

Mark, Ben, Josh, Barrett, AJ, Zach (with Jonah), Matt
Jana, Me, Erinn, Brekke, Caitlin

So after much orchestrating and schedule rearranging, we finally got together with almost all of the cousins from the Christensen side of the family that are living in the Provo/Salt Lake area. It was such a wonderful reunion! My Uncle Steve and Aunt Linda are mission presidents in the Salt Lake South Mission, and they were kind enough to let us all gather at the mission home for our little shin dig. They bought us all pizza which was well enjoyed and we spent the evening talking and catching up with each other. I have to admit, it is was very strange as I realized that we are all the "younger" cousins, now at college and all living on our own, whether single or married. Time has gone by so fast! I don't know when we all grew up. Mark is leaving on Wednesday for his mission. A mission!! I feel like we were all just little children, jumping on Grandma and Grandpa's amazingly bouncy trampoline and watching movies with popcorn in her basement. Those were the good ol' days. As fun as the memories are, it is fascinating to watch as we grow up and make choices that lead each of us down such diverse paths in our lives. As different as we all are, it is so wonderful that we all share the common thread of family. Erinn and I were saying that although we rarely see each other in spite of the fact that we are all so close, it is such a wonderful feeling to know that we have that network of people who love and accept us no matter what, and who would be there in a second if any of us were ever in trouble. Family is a wonderful, special thing and it is so important that we keep the ties strong between all of us!! Love you guys!