Early Release/the zoo

Parker had his first early release day at school and we headed to the zoo and met my SIL, Celeste, and her girls there. It was so fun! The kids had a blast and it was fun to actually talk to an adult during the day. Definitely a success!

Of course we had to sit on the lion statues.

Goofy Carson at the little beach there.

Parker strutting his stuff.

This is my niece Molly. She is so funny. I love her so much and I loved this picture of her. She's dirty, like they all were, but it's just a fun picture.

My sandy Camy.

I never get in pictures, especially when Keeper isn't around. It was nice that Celeste was willing to take a picture of me and the kiddos. (Bryn was asleep so she missed out)

All the kiddos.

Checking out the animals.

Reading books

Block towers

Pretending to be a turtle.

What a perfect day!!! Thank Celeste and girls for coming with us!

Labor Day Weekend-Part 3

On Monday, Labor Day, we went out to Paradise Canyon with my family. It was a really nice day and we had a laid back, fun time. Parker is a whimp and wouldn't get in the water past his knees, but it was fun for everyone including him because there was a ledge for him to play on. Brynlee was an angel, as usual. Here are some fun pictures of the day.

We ran into some friends that are in my brother's ward and they had kayaks and let us take the kids for a ride. They loved it! I didn't get any pictures but thanks to my mom and SIL Celeste, I have some pictures. I have the best family!






My cute Cakes!

There was a rock there to jump off and Keeper and I went first. It was fun but I didn't like any of the pictures of me. :) Carson, Kylie and Megan decided to go too. The girls jumped by themselves (brave girls) but Keeper held Carson and they jumped together. What a fun time!




Matt and Celeste have a baby, Noelle, who is a month older than Brynlee. Noelle's a little chunkier but I am so excited that they are so close in age. I hope they are best friends!

Labor Day Weekend-Part 2

Brynlee got blessed on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend. Parker threw up that morning so my mom took him home and let us go to the blessing. Thanks mom!
The blessing was awesome! I am so grateful to have a husband who is worthy to give blessings to our kids. It is such a special thing for everyone and he is an amazing example to us.
Here's my favorite picture of Bryn that day. The others didn't turn out too well and I haven't done another photo shoot with her in her gown. I will soon though.
Both of my girls have been blessed in the same gown as I was when I was a baby. I love it!

Labor day weekend-Part 1

We've lived in San Antonio for about 5 years now and we have never been to Austin to visit there. We've driven through a lot but have never stopped to enjoy the city. Keeper has a cousin who lives there so we decided (last minute) to head to Austin on Friday and then come home Saturday. Janet and Steve were willing to house and entertain our crazy little family and we had a ton of fun! Thanks guys for putting up with us :)
Here are a few pictures of the fun.

Camy loved playing with Emily. It was so nice to not worry about little Camy because Emily was so good with her.

Here is Keeper ordering at Gordough's. Those doughnuts were awesome!

The doughnuts. Parker was definately a fan of the chocolate one.

The boys all got along great! Here they are playing "Panda". They were drinking water out of bowls on the floor.

Gotta love Carson's witch costume!

We went to Barton Springs where the water was freezing! Our kids weren't too fond of it but it was a fun place. We will definately go back when they are older.




We also visited a candy store and the kids loved getting their own bag of goodies. Here's Camy trying to get something out of the deep bag with her short little arms. What a tough life!

Camy taking a break at Barton Springs. She was posing on her towel but the crackers in her mouth are kinda gross. Oh well!

Bryn was our perfect little baby as usual. What a sweetheart!

Parker Started School (a month ago)

Parker has been in school for about a month now and is loving it! His teacher, Ms. Ramirez, is so sweet! It's her first year of teaching so they get to experience a lot of "firsts" together. There are 2 other LDS kids, both girls, in his class so it was fun that he started out knowing someone.
The only complaint I have is the schedule. Now I have to do things around school instead of what I'm used to. We used to do everything we wanted, when school was in. We tried to stay away from the "school's out" crowd. Now we are part of that crowd. :)
All in all, this has been a great experience for all of us and Parker is learning a ton!

Smiles!

I really need to catch up on my blog but I wanted to post a couple of smiley pictures of Brynlee. She is so sweet and a really good baby. I love my little Bryn!

Brynlee Michelle Christensen

The Proud Dad with his girls!!!

Brynlee's here and we are starting to settle in. She is a sweet little baby and the other kids are very nice and always willing to help (at least where she is concerned).
Her due date was on Monday the 26th and I was sure she would be at least a little early. When Monday came and went it was a little disappointing but I was scheduled to be induced the following week if she didn't come before then. Tuesday I felt pretty crummy all day but the contractions weren't very consistent. Once night hit the contractions started up as usual. I had contractions pretty much every night for about 3 weeks prior to her birth. They would come on strong but never stay more than an hour in a consistent pattern. It was really annoying...and hurt! Anyway, on Tuesday night Keeper went to basketball as usual and I hung out and waited for the contractions to stop. They got worse so I called him and asked him to come home. (I think that was a first time in our marriage I have ever called him home from basketball.) He came home, showered and we got ready to go. My parents showed up to stay with the kids while we were gone. We got to the hospital about 10:30pm and I was immediately hooked up to the monitors to check the contractions because they weren't sure they were going to keep me. They monitored me for about an hour and a half and I hadn't dilated much more (about a 4 then) but I had thinned out a ton so they decided to keep me. Each contraction was killing me by this point. Keeper kept saying, "tell them to give you the epidural", before I was officially admitted to the hospital. I love my caring husband.
So, they moved me into a room and took blood for the lab work that had to be done before I got the epidural. They gave me an IV med that they said would make me sleepy. It didn't! Anyway, they checked me before I got the epidural and I was at a 6. I got the epidural. Yea! I expected the pain to go away, at least for a little while but I still felt a lot. My stomach didn't hurt with the contractions but all the pressure hurt like crazy! After the epidural was in things flew by. There was a ton of pressure, my water broke, more pressure, they checked me, I was complete, more pressure and they told me that the doctor said I could push in 20 minutes. Are you serious?! I hurt so bad. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me more meds and after a few minutes I was a little better. We waited the 20 minutes and tried a "Test push". Yeah, test push my eye, the baby was coming and the doctor wasn't there yet. The nurse got ready to deliver the baby but the cord was around her neck and she couldn't get it off. Right then the doctor walked in, threw on some gloves, got the cord off her neck and delivered the baby. She was born at 3:42am on the 28th. She was very blue so they gave her oxygen and she pinked up. I was strep B positive so I needed to be put on antibiotics through delivery. I got one dose but to be safe they wanted two so they put an IV in Brynlee and gave her antibiotics for 48 hours. It took them 4 tries to get an IV in her. They would get it in and then the vein would bust. My poor baby! I was discharged from the hospital on the 29th but they let me "room in" with Brynlee until the next day when she would be ready to go home. It was really nice to be able to just keep my room and stay with my baby. Although it was a long journey with so many uncertainties, everything turned out ok and we love our little Brynlee. She is so sweet! We are so blessed to have her.
Right after she was born.


Hooked up to the IV. Check out how taped up her foot is.



Camy brought a flower to give to Baby Brynlee. What a sweet big sister.

Parker is definitely the proud big brother.

Carson loves her too.

Sweet baby Brynlee.