Once upon a time...

I had 2 really great friends who saw me in a crazy point in my life and handed me some direction. They introduced me to the Great Life Foundation. I attended all 3 levels of Great Life and learned  A LOT about my life and who I am in this big world. I had a lot going on in this brain and Great Life really helped me to sort it all out and make sense of it.

Sometimes, I get so caught up in my 'thoughts' that I miss moments that are happening around me. It's time for me to get grounded again: Start writing in my journal again, reading, meditating, exercising more. I'll keep you updated of my progress :)

Sunday

Our lounge day

Today we had our first "Sunday" in quite a while cause I've been working Sundays lately (which is sooo nice cause I make time and a half). This is our favorite day off together because we can just lounge around and eat snacky foods.

Here is how our day went:

Slept in til 10. Made coffee. Got back in bed to watch some TV.

Made breakfast at noon.

Decided it was a snack-a-thon kind of day, so we hit up walmart (gag, I hate it there but it's the only place I can find poblano peppers for my amazing salsa)

Aust made some jalepeno poppers filled with cream cheese, cheese and cilantro, wrapped up in a piece of bacon and cooked on the BBQ... YUM!

And I was also feeling very generous this year so I decided to make mini loaves of homemade bread for the peeps at my work. Not just any ordinary bread either... braided bread filled with either 

a) Cream cheese, jalepenos and garlic salt

b) Cheese and garlic

c) cinnamon and sugar

d) Raspberry and cream cheese

 This project took about 3.5-4 hours. 10 mini loaves and 2 regular. phew.

Austin lounged on the couch watching football.

I took a hot bath and listened to Citizen Cope station on Pandora.

Then pedicured my toes. Oh, and Austin wanted his done so I said only if I could paint them too... he let me :) He has black metallic toes. And they're sexy.

Pretty awesome Sunday right?? I cherish these kinds of days. I know once we start a family these days will still be awesome, just a little more chaotic.

[snuggled in the bed with the window open. delicious]

 

Sandy Hook Elementary.

May God bless all those families who were directly affected.

I was taking my first break at work when Austin called me to tell me what was all over the news. I couldn't stop thinking about it and it had started to make me sick. On my way home I was debating if I wanted to watch the news or not. It didn't fully sink in until I turned the TV on. I just sat and bawled. What a tragedy. My heart aches for those 26 people who lost their lives in that school and even more so for the families who won't get to spend the holidays with their loved ones.

This Christmas I am so grateful to be going home to spend 9 lovely days with my family. I cannot wait! I am already emotional thinking about hugging and kissing on my babies. I can't imagine what I'd do if anything ever happened to them, so this Christmas I will be celebrating with all the love I can give in honor of all 20 of those innocent babies and the 6 adults who were protecting them.

I hope anyone who reads this post will kiss your babies extra for those parents who cannot anymore, I know I will be!

[Kai 3 months]

[Aysha 6, Hunter 6, Ryder 4, Hadley 3]

Cleaning.

We were discussing the other day about how we both hate to clean throughout the week, we'd rather just bust it all out on our day off. So we did just that today. We've created the BEST cleaning routine. I get the bathroom (because I'm so anal about how it's cleaned), Austin does the kitchen and living room but he let's me vacuum (because that's also something I'm anal about). During all this we keep the laundry going and then both hit the room. I fold and put all the laundry on hangers and Austin puts it away. Then we both sit on the couch and enjoy for the rest of the night :)

We always have the best of intentions to just keep it CLEAN but for some reason that just doesn't work for us. We like our house to be lived in. My mom always comments on how lucky I am to have Austin... she almost died when we had a family dinner and it was Austin doing the dishes after. I am pretty damn lucky :) Thanks boo.

Aka... my babe, boo, booboo, sugs, love, Mr. Christensen (and the list goes on)

I love having time to myself. For like a few hours....tops. I really don't do well being alone and yes, that is one of my poorer qualities. I think too much. This brain of mine never shuts off. For example- every night we climb into bed and Austin drifts off into this deep wonderful sleep within 10 minutes max while I lay there wide eyed and 'thinking' until the wee hours of the morning. He always says, "it's so easy, just shut your eyes and sleep!" I wish!
So this is one of those moments. I've been thinking. Austin left on Thursday to go camping with his brother, Gage, and his cousin, Jordan, so this will be my third night sleeping alone. I've been posted up on my couch watching any and everything on Netflix every moment that I haven't been at work since he left. I miss him. Like a lot. And I think a lot of the time I take him for granted. If I were closer to home I'm positive I would've been spending these nights with my girlfriends and enjoying our time apart. I know time spent apart is healthy for us, but then I get these crazy thoughts like... "this is what my life would be without him". And I hate it.
Austin helps me to be a better me, and I feel like that me isn't complete without him. So as lonely as I am at this moment, I am also extremely grateful because it helps me to take a step back and remember how much I love him, need him and enjoy every moment we spend together.

I can't wait to add "hubby" to that list of names for him! Oh, and I also can't wait to kiss that cute face of his when he gets home tomorrow and hear allllll about his trip...which I know will consist mostly of deer horns ;)

Distance makes the heart grow fonder...

I'll apologize in advance for doing yet another post about moving/going home. But it's been a HUGE thing in my life.

Since we've moved, Aust and I have spent more time apart than we ever have because our schedules are hardly ever coordinating. Every time we have went home for a visit we end up driving 2 cars because neither of us is willing to spend some of our time off here... I went home on Monday, he came on Wednesday. I left on Friday, he left on Sunday. So, we only got to spend 2 nights together at home...but our trip was so awesome!

I got in around 9 pm on Monday and went straight to Chase and Kesli's house. I was DYING to see my new nephew Kai! Hunter and Ryder had gone to sleep, but luckily they kept the baby up for me. He was so happy and snuggly, I was in Heaven!! After that, me and my little brother, Dallas, went to IHOP for some late night grub and chatted our little hearts out. I love spending time with him, for some reason we turn into the biggest goofs when we're together...we stayed up til 3am and decided we better go to bed.

[I just melt for this face! Oh my goodness...he's so sweet]

On Tuesday I got up early and woke up my momma and Cherie. It was like childhood all over again. Me and Cherie sat at the bar and mom made us eggs for breakfast :) My mom decided she was going to make pumpkin roll, so I invited all the kids over to drive us all crazy...lol. When Laura got there with my Hadley she was so cute... as they were pulling up I could see her yelling, "HANNAH!!!" From that moment on, she was MY girl for the next 3 days! I loved having all the kids running wild. I got to take Aysha and Hadley to tumbling...well Aysha tumbled and Hadley ran like a wild child non-stop, but hey...she's only 3. That night Cherie, Aysh and I went to have a sleepover at Kesli's house. The kids had so much fun and stayed up waaaaay past their bedtime. It was so nice to just relax and catch up with my sissy's and brother. That night was HORRID though... I was throwing up every 20 minutes from 1-10 am. Yuck.

[love Had's smile!]

[My 2 princess'. They love each other so much. It reminds me of me and my cousin's <3]

[Lost his first tooth! Toothfairy brought him $5...that's gonna be one poor toothfairy]

[We took turns snuggling this guy all night...he's so precious!]

[He's not so much a baby anymore, but he still loves snuggling! This night Hunter just came and curled up on my lap and fell asleep, then I rocked baby Kai to sleep and topped the night off by sitting on the couch with Ryder on one side and Aysh on the other and tickled both their backs til they fell asleep. Baby whisperer right here.]

[bound to have a good time with these 3 hooligans!]

[Their best dance poses}

[I think this was about 11 pm and over tired! They were hunting each other...my favorite animal to be hunted was Ryder the Puma. "GUYS, I'm a PUMA, I'M A PUMA!"]

[love my brother!!]

[oh and I love my sissy and niece too!]

[Favorite Ryder moment of the night. He didn't know anyone was listening and counted to like 15 or something and I said, "Hey, are you kidding me? You can't count that high can you?!" so he starts counting fast and gets to 24, stops mid-sentence and says, "Wait guys, I'm not even kidding!"]

I wasn't about to let my lack of sleep and puking get in the way of my Wednesday though! I met up with 2 of my favorite girls in the whole world, Taylor and Danielle, for lunch in SLC, then headed to my dad's house for a little nap before the night events. I must've only been half asleep because I swear I saw this happening in slow motion: there were deer horns by the fireplace and as Aysh came running by (being the clumsy girl that she is) fell and hit her ear on one of the horns. I thought it was stuck in her ear so I jump up and grab her...luckily it missed, but gave her a little gash. Once we got the bleeding under control my little miss Hadley makes this comment that I cannot get over... "Aysh, that deew hown was fweakin cweepy!" lol this cheered her right up and they were back to playing in no time. My babe finally arrived around 6 :) We had a couple friends over that night, sat by the fire and enjoyed.

[my friends are babes!]

[Austin stole Kai from me the whole night]

[My dad is the best grandpa. He's always playing with the kids and he never complains. He'll play dog pile, hunting, hide and go seek, etc etc etc all day with them]

[Kai just chills with Hunter. Best brother ever]

[The each got their own gingerbread house to make. They actually turned out really good!]

[Miss Hadley loving on her Austin]

[She kept saying, "I'm Hannah AND Austin's girl!"]

Thanksgiving day is always busy for us. We had dinner at the Christensen's at 1 (So yummy!!) and got a nap on the floor. Honestly, what's better than a long nap after Thanksgiving dinner?!  Then we headed to my dad's for the second round of turkey and spent the rest of the night relaxing and playing settlers.

Friday morning was the day I had to come home. Chance and Austin had went hunting, so the rest of my fam got up early and we went to breakfast at Jim's. I DID NOT want to leave. Like even typing this right now is making me tear up. I had the best short trip home, and leaving my family was seriously so hard I was crying. Such a baby.

Aust spent the rest of the weekend hunting....just what he loves most...well second to me of course. We had the best mini vaca ever. I never thought going to ol Pleasant Grove would be a 'vacation', but there's nowhere else I'd rather be!