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, August 12, 2008

This month is such a special one, it's birthday time for you!



I can hardly believe that it was 33 years ago today that you were born. I can remember so clearly swimming at my neighbor's pool (in a suit I made myself), thinking I might be in labor, and taking a picture in the back yard before we left for the hospital, then going to the hospital. You arrived in just a few hours. It has been a wild, crazy ride with you, but what a wonderful woman, wife and mother you have become. We are blessed to have you as a member of our family. Have a wonderful birthday. xoxoxo mom and dad

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Newer Cole Pix

Here are some of the newer pix.







Update

Colin said Dana mentioned something about an update from us so here goes. I hope it makes sense through my groggy headache which I can't seem to get rid of completely unless I am sleeping.
Cole is great!! He is a hungry guy and eats every 2-3 hours. I haven't minded feeding him so often just because he is a pro at nursing. I was very worried about how long it would take for him to catch on but he knows just what to do. He will even nurse in bed. Thank you Cole!! I can sleep and nurse and that makes me happy. He is just too sweet and of course loves to be held but also will lay in the bassinett or crib or swing and just be content. I love to just hold him. Mia loves to hold him and tries to get away as much as she can with walking around with him. He is little enough, she is big enough just not as careful as I would like. Today she was holding him then laid him in a laundry basket with a pillow for him to lay on then put him on the baby bean bag bed then held him again. She is so eager to "play house" with him. It really is quiet cute but I have to keep on top of her playing. I love to listen to her talk to him. She currently likes the little bit of extra responsibility. I am sure it will get old but until then I am going to take advantage of her willingness to help. I try and give lots of praise to both kids when they help out.
Jack likes Cole more and more and even wanted to hold him today. It was very cute. He likes to kiss Cole on the head. He is adjusting, as we all are, but if he takes even a 5 minute nap he is up until 9 or 10 and I am so done by then. Yesterday we ran to Walmart and in he fell asleep in the 10 minutes it takes to drive home. Colin got him out of the car and wanted him to wake up, got him out of the car, stood him up and then laid down in the driveway and fell back to sleep. How I wanted a picture but we didn't get one. If he would just stay in his room and even play I would be fine but he is out of his room and bugging Mia and into things. Today he fell asleep on the way to church, lucky Colin, and we ended up just closing his door. He cried for a while but eventually fell asleep. It would be great if he wouldn't wake up at 6:30am. I hate getting up before 7am.
Colin has been busy, busy, busy helping me out. I think he may be a little happy to go to work tomorrow. Unfortunatly he will be on call so wish me luck. Last night he hung the curtains in the living room and the big picture frame I wrote about on my blog. Our pictures are not in it but it still looks nice above the mantle.
Me, well, I am tired but am doing pretty well. I do have a headache that seems to be hanging around a bit too long and sometimes I just have to lay down. I think it is a combination of fatigue and hormones. I do get some relief with lots of water so I have been trying that. I was worried that it was a spinal headache from the GREAT epidural I had but it is a bit inconsistent with those symptoms. The Motrin combined with Tylenol seem to help. I do feel a bit overwhelmed but that comes with the territory. The swelling in my hands and feet are going down and I can now bend. That makes me very happy!! I am feeling pretty good overall. We have lots of help with meals from church. Thank you everyone! While Colin went to church I gave Cole a little bath. It was nice to have the time with just him. I fed him and we watched to olympics, well, we actually slept through them. I got to sleep for about 2 hours and even though that headache was still there I felt a bit better.
Cole has a weight check on Tuesday and we will see what they say about his peeps. The OB, not my own, was nervous about doing the circumcision becasue his is pretty small. We might wait a few weeks and just take him to the pediatric urologist. I love our insurance! I can take him and not worry. Thank you Colin!
Well, Cole wants to eat, again and it is almost 11pm. Here are a few pictures. More will be coming.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Asher's Nursery




It's almost one in the morning now and we just finished Asher's nursery about half an hour ago. From my stance I wouldn't have expected this project to come together so fast. However, thanks to Crystal insisting on it getting done ASAP we finished it in three days. All of the brilliant ideas (no pun intended) were hers. When it comes to decorating that should be no great surprise since it is one of her great talents. It's a talent which I was not given (for a man that isn't such a bad thing right?).

I'm glad she was so insistent that we get this project started and finished right away. More than anything I wanted Asher to come into the world feeling comfort and love from his family. I hope his nursery is one way of conveying those desires to him. I also hope that when he does come into the world my work situation is better so that the feelings of comfort and love aren't merely superficial.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Happy Happy Birthday Colin Dear






How great to have two birthdays in a row. We love you Colin and want to take you all on a little trip down Colin's memory lane. What a happy baby and child you were.

We love you,

Mom and Dad

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Baby Cole

Sorry it took so long, but here are some pix of the new one. He's going to be a lot of fun. And he made it just in time for the Olympics too. We will add some video later.
Enjoy









I will call him.....Mini-Me

We have baby #3! He was born at 7:50 this morning. He's the smallest one at 6#11oz and 19 1/2 inches. Lori pushed through 3 contractions and he came right out. I'm at the hospital now, so I can't post any pictures yet, but I'm sure there will be plenty to come. Lori and Cole are both doing great. More later.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

my new shoes



These brown ones were my first vans shoes.
I got these last year, but I still like them.  They aer getting too small :0(











These are my shoes we found at the outlet.  I love them and they arent too small.




Monday, August 4, 2008

Drool or Die





So on the way home from Colin and Lori's we stopped at a outlet mall as mentioned in Crystal's blog. As we were walking around I noticed a Vans outlet and remembered hearing about baby Vans I felt like we should at least look for some Vans for Asher. So after we completed our shopping I insisting that we take the long walk back the way we came in search of the Vans outlet. Upon entering the store and inquiring about whether or not they had baby Vans I was happy to find out that they did have them.

After looking through the options I settled on the flaming shoes. At the checkout counter I was informed that it was buy one pair get the second pair half off. So Valerie got two and Asher got two. Needless to say our baby boy is going to be styling when he learns to walk. Maybe we should get him a t-shirt to go with them that says "Born to Behave".

Oh yeah, then I found the Osh Kosh 'bgosh outlet. I found a lion onesie and a matching hat which conveniently go with some of the gymborie clothes Crystal bought. Good times despite taking the scenic route through Pennsylvania.

Moving along baby!

Well, thanks to some great and much needed help, Matt, Crystal and Valerie, helped us get into our house. We are happy to be here but still have some things left at the old house and still need to clean it. We have been making trips here and there and actually need to go over again tonight. Crystal packed my whole kitchen with help from Matt here and there, Valeried entertained Jack and Mia pretty much the whole day and Matt's braun helped Colin and 2 other guys move the big stuff.
I had my doctors appointment this morning and am scheduled to be induced late Wed. night. We go to the hospital Wed. night at 11pm. The kids are going to stay with our very good friends. Colin will have Thursday off, he will work Friday so the kids are off to another friends house and then I will come home Saturday. We are just trying to get most of everything in order before then. It has been an interesting day and I feel very productive but very tired.
The kids are adjusting well to being here and I am so glad for that!!
We are really looking forward to having Mom here and then Abby sometime after that. We will keep everyone posted on what happens. Love you all and thanks again Matt, Crystal and Valerie.