HISTORY

A Little History:
Our story begins in Pocatello, Idaho, circa 1972, when the lovely Debby Christensen agreed to a first, though fateful date with admirer, David Croshaw. Long story-short, he bade her follow him, and they went arm-in-arm to the Logan, Utah temple for establishment of an eternal family unit, Generation 1, on May 23 1973.

From their first blissful summer in Salt Lake City, educational pursuits took them to Provo/Orem, Utah, birthplace of Leslie and Rebecca, and to San Francisco/Oakland California, birthplace of Colin and Matt. Then, for establishment of livelihood, expansion of the tribe with Abby and Dana, and for raising/unifying of Generation 2, it was back to the roots in Pocatello for a rewarding sojourn.

In time, driven by a raging, but commonly shared sense of adventure and independence, one-by-one, Generation 2 escaped the homeland to distant regions of the country and the world, each ultimately developing their own tribal expansions by pairing with worthy mates and initiating Generation 3.

Now sensing fulfillment of their purpose in Pocatello, Generation 1 has also left those roots and transplanted to Cascade Idaho, from which base, they anticipate more abundant contact with The Posterity, Generations 2 and 3, in the future. That contact however, awaits fulfillment of a call to LDS missionary service in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, wherein they hope to help the state of the world by sharing the love of Jesus Christ.

So now, including Generation 0 (Grandma and Grandpa Christensen) home base includes Yuma, Arizona, Pocatello, Idaho, Cascade, Idaho, Vancouver, BC, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Spokane, Washington, Boise, Idaho, Los Angeles, California, back to Boise, Idaho, and on and on (Generation 3+) to infinity.

Our Mission Statement:
This is the blog of our eternal family unit. Initiated years ago, it served well as a journal, but even more so, as an archive of our personal interaction. It was a gathering place, a confabulation instrument, a unifying force for four generations of widely dispersed and progressively prolific posterity, and their valued associates. Though it served these purposes well for many years, it eventually took a back seat to new-kids-on-the-block, Facebook, and Instagram, and was sadly forgotten.

We now move to resurrect this blog with an added functional purpose of archiving the missionary experiences of Generation 1, of their movements and activities as they participate with The Gathering of Israel in the land northward. In so doing, we hope that via their own comments and posts, this blog will again serve to gather and unify the posterity and their friends.

As in the past, that the young and vibrant may know the old and tired, that enduring bonds may be fostered and maintained, that experience and encouragement may be openly shared, that posterity may embrace truth, and that hearts may be knit together, we must resist detachment despite our geographic divergence. We shall do so here.
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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Holy Week & Tennis

Hi everybody! Holy week is upon us. For those of you who haven't spent much time in Latin America, Catholics consider the week before Easter as holy. Actually the entire month before is somewhat sacred. You may have heard of Lent... it is the 40 days before Easter, and Catholics are supposed to give up a vice or bad habit, etc. during this period of time. I've always thought it was really nice that they have so much build up to Easter and really work on being better people during this period of time. I appreciate that about their religion. (As in all places with religious holidays, some people consider Holy Week "vacation", but I still think the the original intent is a beautiful thing.)

Anyhow...on a completely unrelated topic, Alex and I went to the Sony Ericsson Open this week. We have a friend who volunteered and got free tickets. The below pic is a photo of Venus Williams playing Daniela Something. (Can't remember her name. ;-) They were nose bleed seats, but it was still fun. We saw another match between a Belarussian and Belgian woman that was close up...and even more fun.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone (Leslie)

Leslie Romriell

You all knew Leslie Romreill.  She was a sweet, guileless person who quietly accomplished much in her life.  On Sunday morning, she left this world, graduating to the next level of eternal progression.
Spend a few minutes to revisit the potential of a mortal life well lived.
You may also want to read this article.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

In Preparation for EASTER

Please listen to this for FHE or another evening this week. It is THE BEST Easter talk I can imagine. It makes me want to be a better person. It is about 15 minutes long and in 3 parts.





Thursday, March 25, 2010

News from Pocatello

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to pass along this news.  Patty Lee, Trisha and Mike Lee's mom died on Tuesday night.  When I mentioned it to Dana, she asked me if she was the one who made the bread for the sacrament in the 6th ward.   I had forgotten that.  Here is the link to her obituary.  It is really sad.  We plan to go to the funeral on Saturday.
I love all of you.  xoxoxo

Mom

Monday, March 22, 2010

Leggo my art

Fun art for your purusing pleasure...

Julian Beever is really great at sidewalk chalking 3-D scenes.


I discovered his work as a graduate student at the annual Developmental Biology International meeting in 2001.



















These... are by Nathan Sawaya. My friend in geekness showed them to me. If only I could name them all... (they are Lego sculptures)










Saturday, March 20, 2010

Fun to Watch

Stream videos at Ustream

I am betting others will enjoy this. It is a live webcam showing a barn owl (and sometimes her mate). They have eggs that will be hatching any day now...


Thursday, March 18, 2010

Chicken Stock: A Tutorial

I told mom about how I have been making my own chicken stock for about the last year and she thought it would be a good idea to post it on the family blog so everyone can get in on the $$ savings!

Start with a whole chicken. I never pay more than .85 a pound. I can usually find them at Winco in packs of 2 for pretty cheap. I freeze them until I am ready to use them. You can either bake/roast the chicken for dinner, or cook it in the crock pot all day (with about 1/2 cup of water) on low, shred the chicken and use it later in recipes. On Monday I made this recipe for roast chicken, it was really good. When we were done with dinner I put all of the bones/leftover chicken remnants in the fridge. I even use the leftover skin, but if you wanted to just throw the skin away it would reduce the fat content of your stock. I knew I was going to make my stock the next day, but you could also freeze this and make the stock any time.


When you are ready to make your stock put all of the chicken bones, etc. in a big stock pot.


I usually quarter 2 onions, 4 celery stalks, and a bunch of carrots.

Put them in the pot and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil and reduce heat to low. Let the stock cook on low all day. Your house will smell so good!

The water will start to reduce down, so about halfway through the day fill the pot back up to the top. It won't water it down, it will just reconstitute the reducing stock.


After it has cooked 8-9 hours remove from heat and get all the big pieces out. Then use a smaller mesh strainer to strain out the small bits and pieces. I usually pour it into a big bowl and back into the pot, straining both times.


Let the stock cool for a little while. The fat will all rise to the top and you can spoon a good bit off.

You can store the stock in re-useable plastic containers. You can find these for relatively cheap at the grocery store. I have even frozen it in plastic freezer bags. They work great. I put 2 cups of stock in each container. This is how much stock/broth is in a store bought can and most recipes call for stock in 2 cup multiples.

Freeze and enjoy!

I usually get 16-17 cups of stock from a pot this size. That is the equivalent of more than 8 cans of broth (and the stock is so much better than salty broth). A savings of about $6-8 depending on where you shop, made from stuff that would normally just be thrown away!
I made this soup for dinner last night with my new chicken stock. I have lots of other soup/stew recipes that I use the stock in if anyone is interested! It makes me feel so good to be able to stretch my dollars in this way and not waste any part of the chicken.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Curiosity About The Cast of 24

So Crystal and I watch 24 on hulu.com since we are unable to get any network channels (just one of the many menacing downsides of switching to Dish Network from DirecTV for a cheaper price).

Anyway there is one of the main characters named Chloe has a look on her face like her parents just told her she was grounded for the entire weekend in every episode.


In addition, one of the terrorists is really good at playing a terrorist because he has a perma-menace look on his face.

Here he is smiling for his headshot.

So Crystal was wondering what would happen if these two ever got together and had kids. If so what would their children look like?

Stay tuned for Crystal's photoshopping skills...

Dance of the Cucumber

I thought this might be funny for the Spanish inclined:

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Tik Tok Star Wars

I guess I'm just in a music video posting mood lately. This one is pretty awesome. It's a widescreen vid, so I suggest double-clicking into youtube to get the full visual effect.

Hope you all enjoy.