My name is Camille. I do stuff.

What Single Ladies do.

2012-02-09T00:42:00.002-07:00

Once upon a time I went to Seattle. I put my babies to bed and I drove to dear Tabby's house. Two hours later, history was made.

2012-01-28T13:16:00.003-07:00

I'm going to Seattle tonight!!!! In the words of my dear friend Matt, "You are an addict."

It's true.

Blogger iPhone app?!?!?!

2012-01-24T12:51:00.001-07:00

Welp, after years and years of waiting impatiently for blogger to come out with an app, it appeared in the app store and I rejoiced. Ask Tess, she was sitting next to me and I almost blew her little baby eardrums out onto the window.
So here is my first post, complete with a random picture from my phone library. Best day ever.

In loving memory...

2012-01-20T14:55:00.002-07:00

... Of me. Because as soon as Tess sees this, I will surely die.

Road Trip

2012-01-19T11:11:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time ol' Hannie and I got the brilliant idea to drive to Seattle for New Years.

As you can see, the excitement levels were low.

Also once upon a time, Hanna met this ^ nerd named Tom. He let us take his car. Bless him.

This is me gettin my sexy face on in front of the diesel pump. (This was after my sexy face was rubbed off while trying in vain to get the gas cap off. We had to call Tom. He reminded us of the lefty-loosey trick). (This was also after 'Nah realized she left her camera battery in the charger at home. Yay for iPhone cameras!)

Hanna doesn't approve of my wallet, which is very hurtful.

A border!

Say what you will about driving through Idaho, but... we got bored. Thanks to Lasting Finish PRO, we were able to spice up our lives and get some beauty pumps.

This is me trying to dry my fingernails on the heater vents and drive a stick and show off my double chin at the same time. I teach multi tasking classes mon-thurs. Reserve your spot today!

I drove back to Seattle this time last year, and at this same spot in Idaho one year ago it was -5 degrees. Check my posts a year ago. I think I took a picture. Anyway, this makes global warming almost seem real.

Hanna had the camera. I guess she wanted to show off her sweaty feet.

This is the Oregon sign. Nice pic, Han.

I'm guessing this is the Washington sign... We were too focused on not dying to get a prize-winning pic. Sorry I let you down.

After driving 20 MPH through the snow for 60 miles with one headlight from Cle Elum to Issaquah, AND LIVING, we broke out the Mormon booze and celebrated our lives.

Aaahhhh my city :)

We spent the next day gallivanting around Seattle. (I'm not sure what the proper meaning of gallivanting is, but I'm hoping it is clean). This is Hanna posing in front of Gabe. (That is what we named Tom's car after he told us we couldn't call it Bonnie Tyler. It's short for gay beetle. We didn't tell him that part).

Mmmm Pike Place. Also note the blue sky. It was for real.

This is Hanna using her amazing pinky muscles to hold up the Public Market sign. We are descendants of Chuck Norris. I looked it up on Family Search.

Instant hunger cure = BEECHERS. Amazing. (I mean instant after waiting 20 minutes in line, dodging all the beggars in the market, not getting hit by 3813019273 Prius', finding our way through the market, going down ten hundred flights of stairs, getting under the freeway, and finally making it to our picnic spot of choice...)

Pier 36! So creepy. So awesome.

Ain't she a cutie?!

It was at this moment in time when we decided to take a picture of ourselves. Ha. Let's try again, maybe with different lighting...

Bad idea. Well since our faces are to blame for the horrendous pictures, lets just make the most of it.

Done and done.

We almost blew off the pier. So hot right now.

For dessert we visited the gum wall.

We continued our tour and finally found the Freemont Bridge Troll. It was under construction (since when has the city cared about the troll?), but the nice construction men allowed Hanna's lovely bubbly buns to rest upon his hand. Scandalous.

The next day was New Years Eve! We slept all day, then at about 10pm we drug our butts out of bed and met up with good ol' Garret Bernal.

Garret took us to Karry Park to watch the fireworks. Thank you Hanna for the wonderful picture.

HAPPY 2012!! It was a spectacular sight. The Space Needle exploded.

The next day was Sunday... We hung out with Seth and Amy all day :D Have I told you lately that I love them?

The next day after that was the day we drove home.

We U-ed the forbidden turn. I didn't want to go to Rexburg. For so many reasons.

Also I found out that by turning into a ninja, I could sleep almost as well as our awesome Ukrainian friend in the back seat. She wanted a ride, and I was looking forward to picking her brain about growing up in another country, but we couldn't blame her for going unconscious. She really did sleep the whole way from Seattle to Utah. I did not. Hanna isn't the smoothest manual driver. But thanks for the nap, Han :)

In the end it was the most fantastic 4 day vaca we have ever had. Thanks for being spontaneous with me, Hanna darling.

Dear Sister Christensen...

2011-12-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

You have hereby been called to serve in the ITALY ROME MISSION!!!!!!!!!

(I added all the exclaimation points. But they might as well have been in the letter)

So... I'm going back to Italy! I'M GOING HOME! On a mission. With a purpose. And a smile. I leave March 28th. Until then, let's party like Mormons.

One step closer to figuring me out

2011-12-03T10:17:00.001-07:00

One of the things that still amazes me is how much I crave this family.

I have the opportunity to be in Seattle for the next little while, and from the moment I got here, I haven't been able to wipe the smile off my face.

Something inside me (that I deny daily) comes alive when I am around these silly little peeps. Waking up at all hours, making four different breakfasts, changing the poopoos, grocery shopping, conquering mountains of laundry, and turning off the TV to push them out the door ("pushing" aka not being able to open the door fast enough because they can't wait to get outside) just makes me feel so wonderful. It's the sweetest kind of exhaustion.

I don't think their parents truly realize how much I really do love the time I get to spend with all of these crazy munchkins.

Feeling like you are absolutely in the right place, at the right time, making little mistakes but always moving forward, is such an incredibly wonderful feeling.

2011-11-28T10:09:00.001-07:00

Hey, I'm finally blogging about Italy... (insert clapping sounds here)...

I took hundreds of pictures, but a lot of them wouldn't mean anything to you at all, so I'll just stick some of the more interesting parts on here. (You may clap again, if you so desire. Clapping is fun, don't let anyone make you feel weird about it).

Here we are, eating one of our first pizza meals. (Are you diggin the fake smiles? It's called Jetlag.)

I know I already put pictures of Mount Vesuvius on here, but it is just so cool to look at. I like.

Here we are night shopping in Stabbia.

Breakfast usually consists of a small pastry and coffee, but they make it all look so pretty. This hotel wasn't all that fantastic, but the breakfast room was AMAZING. I love pretty things.

Hanna and I found this hot guy, Salvatore, who seemed to like us even though we looked and smelled like traveling Americans. (He later professed his undying love to me, and is planning on moving here in a couple years. Oh crap.)

Did ya'll know my sister is stronger than Chuck Norris? She can hold up volcanos. It's kind of a big deal.

The guy that owns this teensie weensie caffetteria is somehow linked to the mofia (or at least claims he is) and he gives free drinks to the missionaries. (and their families, it turns out).

The awesome Amendolas

This is the road to one of our hotels... It wasn't wide enough to open the car doors, so the hotel manager opened the door to his hotel and we pulled up and opened our doors into the lobby. So classy.

I can't imagine how annoying it would be to travel with our family if you hadn't already spent many patient years with us. Most of the time we are laughing histerically at something incredibly stupid. Here we are walking out of an ancient ruin, laughing our jetlagged heads off. I think it had something to do with dad diagnosing me with "breath cancer".

This is what we do to Hanna when she won't shut up.

Amalfi coast

This is down on the southern tip of Italy, and the land across the water is the island of Sicily. I think dad and CJ are doing Yoga?

Asp Salute!

Hanna in a Fiat 500 (or Cinquecento)

Enjoying a sunny Sunday in Sciacca, Sicily

Is dad seriously smiling?

Some tasty restaurant on the coast in Sciacca

Hanna and I escaped to the beach

Twas a glorious occasion

Hanna celebrated by planking the ocean

No one was home

Us and the old ship captain in Sciacca

Skipping a lot of the more boring part of the trip... (driving across Sicily, feeling like we were going to get shot by the mafia in Corleone, taking an overnight ferry back up to Naples, then driving about 100mph up to Tuscany, shopping at the outlets, visiting a couple old friends, etc.) we made it back to Montepulciano and visited Hanna's old bestie Oerta. She is the coolest Albanian chica ever.

(also I think no one will protest when I say this picture makes me look fat).

And finally I ate a crepe. And it was divine. And I really was fat after it.

What just happened?

2011-11-02T06:29:00.004-06:00

Tuesday morning, 5am - Wake up in Rome, drive to the airport.
24 hours later (about 11pm) - Go to sleep in MY bed.
Wednesday morning, 5am - Wake up in Utah, can't sleep. Make bean burritos with Hanna. Go back to bed.

I promise I'll get around to blogging more than "day one" of that trip, but... Give me a minute. Thanks!

Italia - Day One

2011-10-20T13:02:00.002-06:00

So I guess I'm in Italy now... Kinda weird... But it's still exactly as awesome as last year!

Hanna was a little excited to get off the plane.

This is mom and I waiting for dad to find the rental car. We are pretending to be bored, but we were actually too tired to be anything.

But somehow mom found enough energy to climb up onto this thing at the airport... and guess what?! She didn't get gunned down!

We went straight to the beach in Ostia

And within minutes, dad found gelato

We found these two guys, Osvaldo and Carmello (of course) who CJ knew from his mission. They were so great. I'm sure you can tell from the picture :)


Then we found Carmell's Mamma and she told us lots of stories.

All in all, it was a great first day. We were all a little delirious. Good thing I wrote it all down, because I don't even remember it now.

Then we found a hotel! And SLEPT!

Monte Vesuvio

2011-10-19T10:20:00.000-06:00

I have SO MUCH to blog about, but my computer is dying and I can't find my power converter.... So here is the view out my hotel window. If you don't hear from me again, it's because this puppy decided to blow again and my body is now under a few hundred feet of ash.

Ciao!

I love it when life happens. The secret is out.

2011-10-15T19:48:00.004-06:00

Before mom wets her pants, I'll tell you I'm not getting married. Calm down. Believe me, I wouldn't keep that a secret. Unless I were marrying James McAvoy, because then his publicity manager would probably make me keep it a secret so our lives aren't bombarded by the media trying to get a shot at our hott faces. I mean his hott face, what was I thinking?

Eh Hem.

Where was I? Oh yes, my non-secret.

I just put my papers in.

Awesome, right?!

I know. I'm stoked. Please be stoked with me? Thanks. The funniest part was whenever I would go to the doctor, someone would ask me where I'm going. And they were all Mormons, it's not like they don't know the system... I'm not judging them or anything, but they were filling out my medical papers while they were asking when I put them in! I love doctor people.

I'm not gunna lie, I had some major moments of doubt. I almost moved so many places in the past month. I almost pursued so many non-mission type things. (Not bad things, calm down mom).

I love this song! Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers.... Mmmmm.... Delicious.

Oh yeah. Going on a mission. I almost pursued stuff like school, and other stuff, but at the end of the day I always feel like going on a mission is just the coolest and bestest and mostest wonderfulets (yes, wonderfulets) opportunity I could ever be given. What could be better than only having one focus in life, and that focus being serving the Lord? I don't have to worry about making enough money for a ski pass and gas and food (but a ski pass first!). I don't have to worry about finding the cheapest insurance. I don't have to go shopping for jeans. I don't have to find a new job when I hate mine, because I will have the best job ever, and it's all I need to think about. I will be able to study my scriptures and not be so rushed. I will meet amazing people. But mostly I'm just excited to watch those people change, and to work hard. I want to work hard sharing the one thing in my life that matters most. I love working hard for a good cause, but this isn't just a good cause. It is something that has changed me.

I'm hoping that in 2 years all those reasons will feel weaksauce because I'll find the real purpose. Please bless.

To put things lightly, I have been a little stressed out lately. My lame work is eating me alive, and making these life decisions is something that I cannot take lightly, even if I sometimes should. I feel like running away to Italy tomorrow. Hm, there's a thought.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading.

I'm so flawed :(

Summery Stuff Part One

2011-09-29T15:24:00.000-06:00

This summer has been perfectly exquisite.

MY BLONDE FAMILY CAME TO UTAH!!! I love these girls. We got pedicures in Park City :)

I went with them to get their family pics taken. It was gorgeous. Plus I love them.

Whilst walking through a parking garage in the big SLC, I came across the most beautiful sight I had ever seen in a parking garage in the the big SLC.

(This was before I got lost in the same garage trying to find Mora, then found out I was in the wrong Marriot Garage. I only had to walk 6 blocks to the right one, no big deal).

One thing I love about summers is spontaneity. I love when my dad says, "I just bought a machine on Ebay, it's in California, who wants to come?"

And the next morning (or sometimes within the next couple hours) we are on the road. This time we got a late start, so we stayed in Vegas at my cousin's wonderful abode. Did I already blog about this? Huh. I'm loosing it.

It wouldn't be a road trip without carefully carving out the bean dip.

Haps Births, CJ! We celebrated with the Kloepfers in SoCal. Mmmm :)

(What shirt am I wearing? I don't remember that one).

One word, folks. Potato Tacos. On the beach. It's like a fluffy dream of amazingness.

Beth has this new way of playing in the sand. She carves stuff. Not only does she look super hawt doing it (as does she in all things), but it turned out uber sweet! Plus it was a heart. And those are sweet. Or somethin.

JoJo and Babo on the rocks.

Someone invent a drink.

Moving on...

One morning my oldest friend DJ (or Daniel or Deej) called me up and invited me to go to Lagoon. Um, yes. Why not.

We are kinda twins. We met in nursury when both of us were too whiny to let our moms out of the room, and we have looked exactly alike ever since. Except he's 14 inches taller than me. But that's all!

Also this summer I got called into the Young Womans Presidency, so now I got to Mutual! Again! Mutual is so much cooler than any YSA event, and I still get hit on.

This summer, within two short rainy games, I discovered I like baseball.

A nice guy in front of me explained the rules, so I'm kind of American now.

I said kind of.

(awful picture) I got to meet Olya and her friend Natasha from Ukraine. She is amazing. I hope we stay friends for a long time. She is going to BYU, and told me she won't go back to Ukraine till she's done with school, probably in 4 or 5 years. She's 18. This is an amazing chika.

Before your eyes pop out of your head, WE ARE IN SWIM SUITS. I wouldn't have posted this, but it's just too hilarious. Dad found us this sweet deal to stay at the Stein Erikson Lodge in Park City, and it was ridiculous. We pretended to be fancy, but failed.

Hanna and I took a 2 hour bath, ate almost an entire package of Oreos, and played Battleship on our phones (complete with live splashing whenever a ship was sunk). It was like we got 10 years younger just by stepping into that tub of bubbly bliss.

Also in PC, we discovered that our dear parents are bigger hippies than we ever imagined. You should have seen them on that slackline.

Uhmazing.

This is only part one because I can't find my camera and all these crapollas came off my phone.

Don't get too excited for part two, ok?

Now go take a bubblebath, I know you want one.

New blog?

2011-08-22T23:10:00.002-06:00

I have decided to launch a new blog with a few of my Italy pictures. Someone wanted to see them the other day (oh snap, can't remember who!) and I figure this is the best way to just post them and be done.

Also I don't really like any of them, so I will only be minorly offended if you don't either!

You can access them by visiting camsvaldichianaphotography.blogpot.com or by clicking here!

The ghost of Green Beans Past

2011-08-19T23:31:00.004-06:00

A week or so ago our dear father graciously invited his two youngest daughters to accompany him to The Cannery

We were on the road by 5:30am.
Hanna fell asleep in a lawn chair in the back of the van and didn't survive Piccolo Corner.

However, we revived her when we arrived.
She got to cover her 1-day-old-pierced-ears with bandaids.
(I, personally, would have loved to find bloody earrings in my canned beans)

We are... Kinda Hawt.

For the next 5 hours Nah and I stared at this conveyor belt of green.
I still have dreams of those small aliens floating by...
Remember how counting sheep puts you to sleep? Green beans flowing by at a steady even pace at 6am has the exact same effect. Except even more so, because sheep don't even put you to sleep.
Enjoy your LDS Green Beans, folks!

Sometimes Americans Drive Across Their Large Country.

2011-08-16T22:33:00.008-06:00

On our way to Utah, Garret's boss called him and said that within the week their whole office would be moving from Portland, OR to Richmond, VA. His response was a roll of the eyes.
So after our 10 day vaca, (that totes rhymed), he flew back to Portland, packed up his car with all his belongings (kinda like I did but minus the bike and... me) and drove back to my house, picked me up, and we started driving East.

Lexy didn't love the desert too much.

Garret didn't either, after he got pulled over for trying to quickly exit the desert.
(This is actually a picture of him getting into the cop car. Turns out cops in Wyoming are lazy, and they like to get on their megaphones and say DRIVER. PLEASE COME BACK TO THE STATE VEHICLE. I laughed really hard).

I think the only food in Nebraska is in this building. It took forever to find it. Cheese Whiz never tasted so good.

A lot of the drive looked kinda basically mostly like this

In case you're ever wondering where Kickapoo Nation School, KA is, I found it.

We also found Swope Parkway.
There are so many treasures in this country.
I can't tell you how many uses we found for the word "Swope". So useful! Remember that time when you can't remember the word you're trying to remember? It's Swope.

Like so many landmarks, we missed the exit and didn't care because we felt like driving a lot.
Good thing we liked driving!

This is Charleston, WV. It pretty.

After we got out of the flats (somewhere around Kentucky), the drive became very mountainous, grandiose, and gorgeous. It was a jungle.

After 38 hours in the car, we were suuuper attractive.
I think I enjoyed the drive way more than he-who-must-not-be-named.

The morning after arriving in Richmond we drove a couple hours to DC!

We attended the Holocaust Museum. It was a glorious surprise.
But all jokes (and surprises) aside, it was really amazing. I recommend it. Just make sure you go in with an empty stomach.

We did a lot of drive-by sight seeing

The side of a huge building

Hey! We got out of the car!

We decided that I will never again be in charge of picking restaurants. I guess this picture makes this plate look kind of pretty, but.... hahahahaha :)
Lets not talk about it anymore.

Then I flew home! On this tiny plane! With propellers!

We also visited SVU but I can't find the pics :( It was so pretty though!
Sigh. It was such a great trip. If you have never driven across the country, I very highly greatly extremely recommend it. But don't do it with stinky people.
I might never hang out with Garret again, maybe I won't even ever see him again, but we sure did have fun last month!
The end!

Headed Home

2011-08-16T21:57:00.008-06:00

I'm just now realizing that I didn't get a picture of the trip to Utah from Seattle. It was amazing. I was in Mora with all of my belonging. Clothes, bike, everything. Plus I had a man and his suitcase. If anyone is looking to hire a professional packer, I'm... pretty good.

I was on vacation for 10 days. It was awesome. Flying kites is one of my favorite pastimes at Ogden River Parkway, and... that's... all I have to say about that.

LIBERTY DAYS. Two words: Awesome.
I can't think of anything more entertaining than watching a bunch of tiny kids chase around a greasy pig. And so many mothers secretly praying that their kid WON'T catch it.

This is Matt pretending he's God.
Also he's standing in front of a table of hot dogs.
Garret's face says it all.

Of course we had to go to Park City on our "vacation". The Aerial Jumps are one of my favorite venues.

I also got in a couple good freshie turns complete with face shots and chunkies.

Driving past Tess' house, I had to slam on my brakes and make sure I wasn't hallucinating. It was the most glorious sight. Not only was the entire family sitting in the dirt, but they were laughing and playing with the liondog and chickens. It even smelled homey. I love these guys :)

There was a lot of book reading that week.

This is Mitch and Gina who make up the band Elephant Shortcut. All their songs are original, and most of them they wrote for each other. They are all love songs, or heartbreak songs, and they're all true. Their album is called "we're not together". I just love them :)
Anyway, they invited Garret and I to go hang out with them while they recorded their new album in Salt Lake! It was awesome. We were there for a couple days, and... Yep. Epic.

We ate lots of great food.
(They say they're not together... but... We have our doubts. Don't tell anyone).

I don't know why this picture happened, but I'll always be glad it did.
Still trying to figure out which one is Garret and which one is the chicken...

Feels good to be home. I live here now. In Eden. With my family.
I miss Seattle.
But this is home :)

Last day in Seattle

2011-08-11T09:56:00.005-06:00

I'll have you know, this was one of the saddest days I have ever had. In my life. Ever. This was the day that Seth and Amy left on a trip and I moved away.
I'm in kind of a weird mood right now, so I can't effectively tell you how sick this day made me.
Moving on...

Garret knew I was having a rough day, so he came and picked me up (Garret I have to pack! Garret I can't go galivanting around the city today! Garret I still have mascara dripping all over my face! Garret go away! "No Cami. Come on.")

A long time ago I asked him to Sadie Hawkins because he said he wanted to be asked by a "Utah Girl" (did I post about this?). Supposidly Utahns are creative (and ridiculous) in the dance-asking department. Anyway, I was very disappointed because he never answered me! And we still went! What a rip off. (jokes). Anyway, I guess he never forgot, and months later he got around to it. After he pulled me away from my packing and bawling my eyes out, he took me to the freemont troll where he had set up this whole scavenger hunt to answer me to the dance :) It brightened my dark day.

We went downtown and walked around the weird streets

We took in the full effect of the gum wall

My face still looks like this

And we briefly went to Pikes Place! Somehow in the year that I lived in Seattle, I didn't really go to any of these places.
Thanks Garret for showing me around! It was a good last day. I still bawled a lot, and I'm sure I drove you crazy, but I needed it.
Bye Seattle!
Sniffles.

Canadia! And also heaven

2011-08-09T22:03:00.002-06:00

Ooohhhh Caannaaadaaaa....
Whenever I think of Canada, I think of peace, quiet, weird food, and uplifting people.
I got all of that.

(PS this is a few months ago... Ive been slacking on my blogging. Oops).
I took the Clipper boat from Seattle to Victoria, and it was lovely. The hot sea dudes worked hard right in front of my window seat, and I enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate all the way there. Bliss.

I was picked up by my Aunt Jill, her daughter Kristen, and Kristen's daughters Elise and Lily (who were visiting from Las Vegas).

We stopped at Costco. Jill warned me before going in that all the women employees have an interesting dress code. It's called showasmuchcleavageasislegallypossible. This is the best picture I could get, but I'm serious. They were all borderline pornographic.

I got my first taste of Canada at the cafeteria in Costco: French Fries and Poutine! It was so weird. It's brown gravy and these chunky white cheese curds. I was the only one that ate it.

That night we made pizzas :)

The next morning I woke up to... THE BOG!!! This bog is the most gorgeous bog my eyes did ever behold. The picture will never do it justice. I grew up hearing about The Bog from my Canadian cousins, so being in front of it, in person, was an amazing experience. Half hype, half awe.

After I got my jaw all picked up from looking at the view, Kristen's fam and I went to this park that had this beautiful suspension bridge. I love those.

We threw rocks in the river

Swunged. Swanged? Swung?

Then ate a delicious lunch

We returned to find Uncle Jackson loading canoes on his truck. I've only been here once before - about 5 years ago - and his canoes are a big part of my memories. He builds/mends/loves canoes and kayaks.

We loaded up, and after a quick stop at the butcher....

Drove to Lake Cowichan! Have you ever ridden in a canoe with a 3HP outboard on the back?

Jill - being amazing - made an incredible dinner for us all while she squatted in the dirt over her little camp stove. It really was incredible.

Kristen's hubby Bryan cruised us around the lake

Eating dinner

Then Elise got hold of the camera....

I'm glad she caught this shot. We all thought Jackson was going to sink out there. We laughed our dirty faces off.

They are so cute

This is Jackson's latest pride and joy. Native Canadians have the strangest sense of humor. I have never seen a man so proud of such a... um, gorgeous vehicle. Have you ever seen a Subaru Minivan before? No? That's because you can only get them in Thaiwan. And Duncan BC, obviously. I just love this car. It's my dream. I could fit so many midget kids in there. And probably pigmy horses.

I wish my library had totem poles protecting it. (Is that dude sitting on his child? Or is it a mother giving birth? And I can't imagine how short the left baby's legs must be, with a mom like that)

Eh hem... moving on... Jill and I took a tour of the University of Victoria, but I was too busy having dreams about going to school to take pictures:/
Jill and I spent a couple hours in Victoria before I got back on my boat, and it was awesome. That lady is seriously the best. She pointed out how much she liked this picture because of all the flags there together.

We walked down to the waterfront. Stunna.

Parlament! There were a lot of chinese tourists, and random people making out on the lawn.

This is walking into The Empress hotel. Someday I will have afternoon tea at The Empress and I will wear a big dress and a silly hat like everyone else there. I can't wait. Stay tuned for that post in a few cajillion years.

Inside The Empress... (Still having that big dress dream... also right about now I was picturing a hot pink dress with the huge butt that bobbles up and down like Drizella's)

After all those flattering dreams, we drove over to the bay and watched the kite surfers. You can't see them here too great, but they were nuts. There were probably 15 of them, jumping off the huge waves 40 feet in the air. Dear lil Aunt Jill almost lost her eyeballs cuz they were poppin out so far.
After she got those darn eyeballs under control she drove me back to the Clipper and I went home! The end!

SVU again?

2011-07-19T14:10:00.002-06:00

I'm sitting here in Jonzzey's on the SVU campus. I drove here today. It's really humid outside. I'm waiting for Garret to get out of a meeting. I just auditioned for a music grant. I'm pretty sure I failed miserably, but I got to play a Steinway, so.... worth it.

How did I get to Virginia?

I miss my brother CJ.

Wow, there are a lot of bugs outside.

I remember sitting in this yellow chair back in March when I came here for an open house. There are 8 yellow chairs in this room, but I remember this one specifically because of the mystery stain. Why am I sitting in a chair that has a mystery stain? ew.

I have so much to blog about. I promise I'll catch up one of these days.

In the words of Tracy, "Peace and blessings, ya'll. Peace. And. Blessings". (fake cheesy smile).

Lake Chelan

2011-07-11T08:37:00.002-06:00

A couple weekends ago the fam was packing up to go to Lake Chelan with a few neighbors. I had a huge list of jazzy stuff to take care of over the weekend, and was thinking how lovely it would be to have the house to myself so I could do some packing and maybe some cleaning and organizing. I envisioned baking banana bread and staying up watching chick flicks with my girlfriends. A few midnight punch-dancing sessions ran through my mind.
Then Seth said, "Cami. Just come with us. Please?"
5 minutes later I was packed and in the van.

If you have never been to Lake Chelan, put it on your list.

Clothing is always optional.

View from our deck

Why is it that kids find it fascinating to watch other kids play games on a 2" screen? There are two other kids in this picture that you can't see because they are being sat upon/smushed into the wall.

You can always judge how great your friends are by how fantastic the breakfast is in the morning.
Our breakfasts usually lasted about 3 hours :)

Jake kept slipping out of his high chair.

It wouldn't be a vacation without 12 kids under the age of 10 and 2 life-size teddy bears.

I learned many things on this trip.
1 - Dairy Queen is not a good idea. Ever.
2 - Walmart can be a good idea.
3 - Sleeping in the breezeway between the garage and the house is actually the best spot in the house.
4 - Sam has bigger feet than me
5 - Sam and I can share wetsuits.
6 - Jaynie can always be sassier than she seems
7 - A good way to give someone a black eye and make it look like an accident is on a tube behind a boat
8 - NEVER go on a tube behind with two big guys who like acrobatics
9 - I can sunburn
10 - Always say yes when someone invites you to Lake Chelan.

Happy father's day Babo :)

2011-06-20T12:34:00.002-06:00

Not sure what we're doing here, but I'm sure we thought it was hilarious.

To JoJo and Babo

2011-06-13T16:10:00.001-06:00

I listened to this a few days ago and can't help but think about my amazing parents. So I would like to dedicate this song to them :) Love you guys!

Aunt Jannie

2011-06-10T19:12:00.002-06:00

This week my wonderful Aunt Jannie came to visit us.
We started painting the house, and have been painting for the past 4 days. It has been wonderful. She is an incredibly lady.

We always have a list at our house of random projects that need to get done. She decided to tackle the list, as only a Janis Christensen can.

It included climbing on the roof. And she did it with an amazing amount of grace, while at the same time being incredibly entertaining.

We took all possible safety precautions. Jake's crib mattress and a couple couch cushions were more than I ever used climbing, so I was very impressed and pleased with our efforts of safety.
In the end, I'm just so grateful for this lady. Being the wife of a senator, she is very good at being formal and... what's that word for what you become after going to a finishing school? I seriously can't remember. PROPER! There we go. But... she can be such a nut! Painting ceilings at 11pm, listening to Ben Folds, and listening to her stories about playing pranks on her neighbors is a memory I shant soon forget.
I don't know why, but for some reason I feel like I have a lot on my plate this weekend. I really don't, compared to the big picture of life. A test tomorrow, and a couple deadlines next week. I have those all the time. But my iron is low and for whatever reason I just can't seem to make it through my day without collapsing. (Last night the collapse part happened because I tripped on Jaynie's toy high chair in the dark and my head went into the oven of her toy kitchen. I have battle wounds and 6.2 pounds of hurt pride to prove it.)
Eh Hem...
Thank you Janis for saving me this week, you are an amazing woman :)

Also this week my buddy Clark (Kristi... sorry hun) showed me Waverly Beach Park on Lake Washington. It was freezing and uber windy, so we just ran out to the end of the pier then got back in the car, but it was gorgeous and I want to have a uber classy dinner out there someday.
Just thinkin out loud here.

I keep finding myself in the strangest, most gorgeous and random places. A couple days ago I had to drop Mora off at her doctor's for a little intestinal work, and in doing so had to ride the bus home. I switched buses downtown at this interesting "park". I think it's called Westlake Park, and some true Seattlite is going to hate me for this because I know it's wrong, but I think it is somewhere close to the Belltown district. (Actually, it's probly in the Westlake district. Go figer). Anyway, it's an obscure little spot in the middle of the city where people just go hang out, play giant chess, eat weird food, and moms try to keep their kids out of the fountain. I rather liked hanging out there for a few minutes.
Aaanndd.... that's the end of my story.
PS Mora is so much better now! Engine Mount repair and some other mumbo jumbo garage talk did her wonders. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, now that my dash lights work and I can see how fast I'm going after dark.
Some things I'd rather be oblivious to.

Mercer Island high school lacrosse state champs!

2011-06-06T12:59:00.002-06:00

Last week the Bernal's were awesome enough to invite me to Connor's State Championship lacrosse game at Memorial Field at the Seattle Center. I had only ever been to one lacrosse game ever, but I'm becoming a fan. It is so brutal.
It was pretty funny to be there with Bernal's, because they are very loud, intense Colombians. All the other parents look to Fernando and Rosi to get the crowd hoppin :) The stadium was PACKED. (But just on one side. Don't make fun of my empty-stadium pics).
The game was between Mercer Island and Bainbridge Island - HUGE rivals. Connor is the team captain (has been since sophomore year, crazy kid) and has lost the past 3 championship games to Bainbridge by 1 or 2 points.
This game was pretty nerve racking.
BUT THEY WON!!!! 5-3!
After the game, Garret was talking to his sister:
"Did you enjoy that game?"
"NOT AT ALL."
"Me either."
And I believe them. They were freaking out the entire time. I have never seen Garret so close to bursting at the seams. Pretty sure the whole family walked out of that stadium with brand spankin new hernias.

Cute brothers :)

In other news... We are thinking about letting Garret adopt Jake, since they are lovers and never wish to be separated.

The saddest of all shakedowns

2011-06-03T00:50:00.003-06:00

So I guess here is the plan:

Sell Mora
Garret drives me to Utah on July 3rd with all my stuff
Move into my old room
Try to work somewhere
Remain car-less
Go to school in August.

I am happy to be moving home. I'm just not so excited about the leaving Seattle part. Or the selling Mora part :(

I usually love changing my life around, but for some reason I just can't seem to dig this plan.

Help?

Going for it.

2011-06-01T09:45:00.006-06:00

Last Monday I was having lunch with my good friend Kristi Klark Kent. She suggests we drive to California. I accept. We run home and pack our bags.
Her wonderful, newish car had something minor wrong with it, but it was no big deal because Mora is a champ and can go anywhere!

We hit the road

It's about 5 hours from Seattle to the Oregon Coast, but luckily we had a lovely view the whole way

Stunna.

Because who doesn't like dinosaurs, that is what I would like to know

We forgot utensils, but not to worry! I had scissors in the glove box!

Peanut butter on my elbow

Did you know we are legit surfers?

We crossed about 27 bridges on the 101

Then out of nowhere, Mora stars whining about something. Mooommmyyyy I want to go hooooome!!!! NO MORA! WE CANNOT GO HOME!

We were miles from anywhere, but for some reason there was a trusty KOA miles from anywhere too, and they hooked us up with some oil. Mora was satisfied and we continued on our journey.

That lasted for a whole 12 minutes. Then she started whining again, and it was getting late, and it started raining, so we pulled over in Gold Beach and found this hoppin pizza place. It was a party, I don't even have words.

We made it 15 minutes from the Cali border :(
Very long, sketchy story short, we stayed in Gold Beach at the Motel 101, and in the morning we turned around and headed back up the Oregon coast.

We found this dashing little garage, and they hooked Mora up with some new spark plugs.
She was very happy after that.

Did you know that you can drive a convertible in the rain and you won't get wet? Truth in it. Except when you stop at 23094219038417 stoplights through the tiny towns. I took cover under my sun visor.

Klarky took a nap.

All we wanted was a little adventure, and that is exactly what we got :)

Thanks Klarky!

Fwends at Karry Park

2011-05-28T11:52:00.005-06:00

A couple weeks ago, Tabitha (burtha), Kristi (Clark) and I (Chinesiest Camsies) went up to Karry Park to enjoy the lovely twilight scenery of the city.

Burtha was a bit confused on the whole ordeal

I love lovely evenings with my ladies.

A trip to gain perspective

2011-05-20T14:07:00.005-06:00

Last weekend I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to get out of Seattle for a couple days. I had so much on my mind, and I knew that if I didn't escape I would go crazy.
So I called up a couple friends in Portland, bought a train ticket, and headed south!

Walking on the beach always clears my mind and helps me put my life in perspective.
I have to say thanks to my two buddies who came with me to Lincoln City. They offered some fantastic advice, and left me alone when I needed space.

One of my favorite things to do - ever - is hike to Drift Creek Falls in Oregon. I have done it for the past couple years, and it is beautiful.

The trail was very muddy, and the earth felt wonderful squishing between my toes...

My favorite gomers, Garret and Ben

Garret only tried to kill me once while I was making him an amazing sandwich, so that was a pleasant surprise.

"Hey Cammers, let's pretend this is our new house"
Oh yes, Geet. I have always wanted to live in a yurt!

The brothers sat there for hours. So cute.

I miss the ocean.
I am so happy there.

Oh wait, I'm so happy everywhere :)

The best 'rents

2011-05-19T22:29:00.004-06:00

I have some 'rents and they happen to be the best

These two models were awesome enough to drive clear the heck up to nowheresville Seattle to visit their "interesting daughter"
This is us eating Beechers cheese stuff at Pikes Place Market. INCREDIBLE FOOOOOD!!

I also drug them out to Edmonds to see the super low tide and play in the mud. We found sea creatures.

Then we went up the spaceneedle! Yay!

Aaaand it was Babo's birthday :) We had so much fun, (maybe I'm speaking for myself there), and I'm SO HAPPY they came to see me! They still don't understand why I live here - that's ok - but it means a lot that they made the trip up.
Love you guys :)

Some had too many pieces, period.

2011-05-18T23:44:00.004-06:00

I love this movie. It has given me so much to think about today :)

A dedication

2011-05-13T22:56:00.001-06:00

I dedicate this movie to the pants that are about to get peed in, caused by laughter by anyone who watches the movie.
Good luck.

I can't help but notice I'm at bit at war with myself

2011-05-12T13:27:00.000-06:00

I just realized that I contradict myself on a daily basis. It comes as a result of me having way to many things to do. I wish so badly that I had more hours in my day so I could do all the things that I absolutely HAVE TO do every day, such as work on laundry and other stuff around the house, fill out and do all the crazy requirements for scholarship applications, (deadlines are killah), apply for jobs, jump through the way-too-tall-for-my-short-leg hoops that are required for applying for jobs, go to work at commerce for reasons I don't quite understand, study for the ACT, and above all, study my scriptures. Because of the time difference between Seattle and Virginia, I have to call my advisor at 7am if I have any random questions. (I am never at a shortage of those. I'm sure she just loves me).
Then I realize that all of this, (with the exception of doing my laundry), is so I will be prepared for school in August. I don't even hardly work at commerce anymore, I just use my big desk and nice computer here so I can focus more on all these crazy applications!
The contradiction is that I catch myself complaining (in my head) about all the stuff I need to get done, then I wish I had more time so I could do more of these things that drive me nuts. Why would I want more hours to be stressed out about getting things done?! What am I thinking!?

Is it this hard for everyone to go to college?

I think I'll go to the Oregon Coast this weekend. It always helps put things in perspective.

At least someone was honest with their feelings...

2011-05-07T11:40:00.002-06:00

I watched the kiss and had much the same reaction.

Love this picture :)

thoughts please!

2011-05-03T11:32:00.003-06:00

I'm trying to decide if I should stay with my internship or not. It started out awesome, and was for a few months, but they finally hired a real assistant so I am now just doing random projects and researching for Commerce. I also make a lot of copies and spreadsheets. Blech. If I was only here for experience and learning, and I have maxed that out, should I be done? Is it lame to just quit? Thoughts please!

I'm starting a new version of poetry. Let me know if this sounds whiny.

2011-04-30T22:20:00.004-06:00

I don't know what to do.
I'm on my knees beggin.
Please oh please don't leave me answerless.
I have to start somewhere.
I have to have a goal.
So I'm here.
Listening.
Trying to calm my brain.
Trying for so long to go the way that will benefit all the most.
Trying to find my goals.
So pick me up.
Carry me across these silly waters.
Tell me I'm being a dork.
Remind me that it really doesn't all matter.
Remind me that I can remain healthy through it.

I tried new shoes.
I tried chocolate.
I got plenty of sleep.
I took the top off my car.
I rode my bike.
I laughed.
I flirted with a guy on the freeway.
I had wonderful conversations with wonderful people.
I read.
I pray.

What the heck am I talking about?
It took me 2 minutes, should I try a better one?
Paahahahahahahaha........

Jayne is so pure

2011-04-25T21:39:00.005-06:00

Jayne didn't enjoy the title of my last post, since it was on her blog's wall and everything, and since it was so evil, so this is for you dear glorious sister on high:

A couple days ago I took the kids on a walk to the park.

After what seemed like hours (5 minutes) of trudging through the woods, we finally reached civilization. Ellie hooped for froyduh (you heard me).

Jayne (Jr.) needed a little help

Cheeeese

Jake enjoyed his wooden lunch.

Saturday I woke up to this incredonculous morning. SO PRETTY.

I rode down through Redmond, hooked into the river trail, then went around the west side of Lake Sammamish, then up the hill....

Through the pretty 'hood...

And finally landed at the temple!
Such a great ride.

Plus I had this beaut on my leg when I got home.
(Note: My leg is surprisingly clean compared to how it usually looks after a ride. It sometimes takes days of showering to get my long, muscular, model-like, luscious legs back to normal skin color). (long. ha).

Then.... I was reminded that I do still live in Seattle, and 70 degrees and sunny only happens like 2.5 times a year.

Happy Easter! The Williams' invited us over for dinner, and it was the prettiest thing ever. Not to mention how absolutely delicious the meal was :)

Who are those guys? I feel so sorry for whoever might be related to them.

In other news... Check out these overly talented young'ns:

Happy Easter everyone! Love ya!

SL,UT

2011-04-21T21:32:00.008-06:00

Last weekend I had the pure joy of visiting my family in Utah!

"Mom, take a picture of Cami holding me up"
FAIL.

There we go, much better.

Of course the weekend included a bride shower for my mom's cousin's son's fiancee. Blond girl party!! It was awesome.

I also had the privilege of witnessing a wresting match between Babo and Lainey. Lainey won.

Mom, Nah and I made a trip to O-Town for pedicures...

A Del Taco picnic...

"in-your-dreams" shopping...

And Grandma Gwen watching :)

I was able to watch a 3-year-old consume an entire artichoke in her high chair

I had 3 servings of crem bruelee...
Dad had 10...

And Nahburt and I....
Acted like Nahburt and I.

I ate lots of Del Taco.

And my blessed mother made me breakfast every morning

Babo and I drove to Jayne's.
This is him trying to wipe chunky peanut butter off of Hanna's car window.
Dad: "Why is it that when teenagers like each other, they vandalize their things?"

That car is TOE UP. Toe up.
Who tries to fill up their tires under 6 inches of water, that is what I would like to know.
Mountain Greenians, I guess.

KEPSEL'S HOUSE!!!!

Love them.

Did I mention it rained?
... A lot?

This is the Nile river, aka my driveway.

And King Tank, keeping watch over his prideland.
(Lion King, anyone?)

See, I'm not the only one who savors my Del Taco.

Aaannndd... back in the airport. I may or may not have been the only one taking pictures of the half bodies in the roof.

The end!

Thanks family! I had a blast :)

No solid theme

2011-04-12T22:00:00.004-06:00

I have a whole bunch of way random pictures from the past couple weeks, so I'm just going to throw them all out into the void and let you judge me however you want.

Jake has this deal where he sneaks into the bathroom and plays into the toilet. I guess he thinks he's a cat. Usually we're pretty good at keeping all the doors closed, but I was home alone all week and he's a pretty fast dude. I guess I didn't close it all the way.
I hadn't seen my wallet in a while, but I hadn't really been looking. My friend Christi came over, and when she walked into the bathroom she yelled, "CAMI! THERE'S SOMETHING IN YOUR TOILET" Me and Tabitha ran in there and she pulled out my wallet. Pretty sure it had been in the toilet for days.

When Jake and I weren't putting and taking things out of the toilets, we went on walks to the pond.

My girls came over again and I, being incredibly domestic, made lots of bread. Banana for Tab since she's allergic to Zucchini, and Zucchini for Christi since she's allergic to Banana. It made for a lovely snack.

This is my view from my spot on the bus. I sit the same place every day. And I always get 59 cent tea from Starbucks before I get on the bus. And I always throw my cup away in the same garbage can on the sidewalk when I'm walking to my office. And I always listen to Sweet Disposition, because... it just works as a walk-through-the-city song.
I need to switch things up a bit.

Our Australian friend stuck this tattoo on Jake's head at International Night. And there it remained for days.

I have a very pregnant friend named Beth, and she owed me a pedi for kissing some kid in Whistler.

Aaahhh...

Need I say anything?

I can never stop taking pictures of Jayne and Claire

Swim lessons! I love taking the girls to swim lessons. It's so warm and steamy in there...

This was supposed to be a picture of the Space Needle... but for some reason it turned out teenie tiny in the pic. Bummer.

The end!

A Clamy Observation

2011-04-06T12:15:00.003-06:00

Since I was very small, I acquired the name "Clammy Cami"

This picture may or may not be an exaggeration of the moistness level of my dear hands.

I went through life so lost and confused as I pondered the reasoning behind my overly humid appendages. Not only were they wet, but they were very cold. I could have called them Everest hands. They had their own storm system.

As I have gotten older, I have done research and found that I have a condition called Hyperhydrosis. There isn't really a cure, but one website recommended "having a small dry towelette nearby at all times"

Thanks a lot.

However..... I have noticed a difference lately. It goes a little bit like this:

DRY HANDS! WHAT?!

(my fingers aren't quite falling off, but it feels like they might sometimes)

Right now as I type this, my hands are as dry as a baby's dry bottom. This shows further evidence that maybe I don't have hyperhydrosis after all, and maybe I just had an extremely anxious childhood, causing my hands to sweat. Wait. Nope. I didn't have any sort of unsettleing childhood. I think I was just hot a lot.

Anyway, the conclusion I came to was that when I am nervous or anxious or otherwise uncomfortable in any way, my hands largely resemble the first photo. But at times where I am in a nice, comfortable happy environment, my hands dry out and return to normal temperatures and I can put away my dry (or sometimes not so dry) towelette. Woot. I can no longer fool myself into thinking that I'm happy and comfortable when I'm on a first date. Dates are the WORST. My towelette runneth o'er.

It's a very useful tool actually.

Movie of the day

2011-04-03T18:20:00.002-06:00

Jake and I get a bit bored on occasion. Good thing we know how to make each other laugh :)

(Sorry the cinematography isn't great, I had to hide my phone or he would grab it.)

Life is good :)

BUT COME HOME SETH AND AMMMYYYY!!!!

Disneyland vs. Home

2011-04-01T23:40:00.002-06:00

The day after I got back from Virginia, the fam headed to Disneyland.
Ellie was attempting to add Jayne to the checked baggage pile.

I was proud of myself for capturing the moment :)

Everything about going to Disneyland was exciting and awesome, except....
Jake got left at home with boring Cami all week. He wasn't uber stoked about the idea.

Good thing he loves Bruschetta!

We hang out.
The house is quiet though. Really quiet.
I guess what I'm trying to say is...
COME HOME SETH AND AMY AND SAM AND ELLIE AND JAYNE! WE MIIISSSS YOU!!!!

SVU part 2

2011-04-01T13:35:00.007-06:00

Last week, I did one of the best things I have ever done in my life.
I traveled across the country to visit SVU so I could see it for myself and get a feel for how the school works and see if there is any way I could be happy there.

The answer was yes. I would love to :)

One morning I was on my way to a class, and I was told to go through some double doors. They opened up to this room. I just stood there for a minute, all agasp.

The campus is small, and is made up from a couple really old buildings and a couple temporary-ish new buildings. But the wonderful warm feeling is the same everywhere.
Example:
My counselor met me with a big hug, and gave me a bag of food upon arrival, in case I was hungry. She is great :)

In the big main red building, there are all these crazy old pieces of furniture and the floors are all uneven and it's just way cool. I don't know enough awesome words to describe this campus.

Football scrimmage!

Mmm... This place was tasty. I ate here twice. It is pronounced "MAC-uh-doo's" but Garret decided to start calling it "muh-CAH-doh's" and by the end of the week half the people on campus were calling it the wrong name.
Speaking of Garret...

He's a pretty exciting dude.
Aaaahahaha... just kidding, we had tons of fun :D
Basically I made about 60 new friends and met so many incredible people, and I left feeling very uplifted and... just good! I hung out with the entire football team, played Xbox with the student body president, had a good chat with the actual president, and made some really good contacts and connections that will be very useful someday.

Here's a clip of Garret being psychotic on his scooter. He didn't realize that I happen to be a pro scooter passenger, (Italy!) and he kept freaking out because he thought I would fall off. Silly. Maybe he was insisting I hold on tight for other reasons though... I never can quite read him...
The end!

sick.

2011-03-20T19:55:00.001-06:00

Peace to the unneeded strings

2011-03-18T16:52:00.000-06:00

This morning...

Now!!

Executive Assistant to the Head of the Department of International Trade Economics and Business for the Washington State Department of Commerce

2011-03-16T23:49:00.004-06:00

That's my official title, but I also go by "Camille the intern"

Last week I ended my dream job working above the service garage at Toyota of Kirkland so I could get paid nothing to sit in this office.

The view is awful

And today I spotted a peeping tom

26 floors up gives me the woozies. But I have to thank them for my wall plaque.

My office when I first started.

My window for spying on the city

And today it was sunny so I had to take another picture :)
Ok. Fine. I love it.
Today I watched planes land and take off of Lake Union. (The water looks kinda far in this pic, but... eez noht.) When I'm not looking out my gorgeous window, I'm working. This is already a big switch-up from Toyota because I actually have work to do all day. And my work includes planning meetings, preparing materials to present to the Governor, and planning aerospace projects for the state and World Expo.
Huh? Cami? Are you sure? Was this some kind of mistake?
I figure, if humans can build rockets and perform brain surgery and fight ninjas, I can do this. I'm human too.
Whenever I start to get stressed out from work, I just step back and remember I have a life outside of this office. If I use the wrong salutation on an event invite, my life will go on. If I forget to add someone on a meeting agenda, it is only the intern's fault. And when I leave the doors at the end of the day, I go back to being Cami the Nanny!
Life is so twisty, but it blows my mind. In a good way :)

An unrealistic but incredibly DOPE WEEEEEKKK!!!

2011-03-12T18:49:00.010-07:00

Once upon a time there was this girl that talked to this guy on Skype for 3 months, then finally he came home from school and he went to her house and picked her up and took her to Canada for three days.

They almost got stopped at the border because they thought he was a Ukranian spy. Might be true.

She had hair in her mouth.

He was about to fall asleep, so she forcibly made him eat peanut butter while he drove. He liked.
The final destination was a little place called Whistler-Blackcomb BC.
The girl had a life-long dream of skiing there.

She awoke to bluebird skies and ate a few very teenie oranges.
He didn't awake for a long time.

At about 7:30 they took a stroll through Whistler Village.
(She woke up reeaaallly early, because she is a granny.)

They ordered Granola for breakfast, but instead they received a small alien spacecraft complete with a weed sticking out the top.
Ooohhh Caaanada....

They were mighty bored waiting in line, so they decided to show off their morning faces to the lovely people in line.
She knew he was a stalker, but how he made it into her day pass picture, she will never quite understand.

They skied with much uplum all day.
(The narrator may or may not have just said uplum)

Welcoooome to the Himalayas

Taking a real picture was a chore.

They rode the Peak 2 Peak gondola, which happens to be one of the craziest freaking things of all time, if you'll please pardone mua frencheau. Between the 213-foot tall towers, it travels 1.8 miles - unsupported - 1427 feet off the ground. Woof.

After a glorious day of skiing, it was time to return to the United States once again.
(Check out the square bush).

It was a hard trip back to reality.

However, they still managed to party it up in Seattle for a couple more days.
They attended the broadway production of Back To Normal at the 5th Avenue Theater, and were so taken by the ornate ceiling it was difficult to concentrate on the play.
(But you have to give them props for taking a picture of them aaanndd the ceiling)

They next day was spent running random errands that he had to complete before returning to school.
One of the errands was for her though. It was called "Whoever finds Cami's phone in the Target parking lot a day after it fell off the roof of her car gets a kiss"
No one got kissed.

He had a difficult time looking for the phone because he was too busy laughing at her with her sweater pulled over her head. It was raining quite hard, and she had to do everything in her power to keep the moisture from gracing her disgusting hair.
Then he went back to Virginia.
The end.

hmph

2011-03-07T16:16:00.001-07:00

fine.
i lost.

ARE YA'LLS HAPPY NOW?!

Poor 15" alien snowman rockstar :(

2011-02-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

Is this depressing or what?

the Best of all worlds collide

2011-02-26T22:03:00.002-07:00

20? Huh?

2011-02-26T01:17:00.005-07:00

I figured since most of you weren't here for my silly but awesome birthday, I would post all of its small joys and great moments.

First off, this is the kind of morning I woke up to. GORGEOUS.

It doesn't snow to often here, and the blue sky is almost unheard of. I can't stop looking at this picture! So pretty! It made me giddy.

After my giddy moment looking out my window, I heard a small birthday parade coming down the stairs, bearing gifts of incredible food and smiles all around.

Jake was pretty interested in my french toast

The kids gave me this home made box with a rock (oh, geode) in it. Awesome.

Us Christensen's have this thing for Jackets. We all have way too many, we wear them all, love them all, and to us they are all very different. And I'm pretty sure that if I was in the Mountain Hardwear store, this would be the jacket I would pick out of all the hundreds. I LOVE IT!!! (How do you like my bathroom model shot? Oh yes.)

These blessed creatures also made me a poster. I laughed my buttons off. "Happy birthday to our "junior" cousin Cami! Your such a ""sweetart" we love you to "pieces". You're the best nanny in the "milky way" for taking care of the "baby" and the "3 musketeers"! You make us "Snicker" and "laff" at your "nerdy" jokes. Your so "smart" that we want to pay you "100 Grand" on "pay day"! We'll fight the "Big Hunk" who tries to steal our super "Starburst" We love you, from Ellie, Amy, Jacob, Seth, Jayne, and Sam"

Sometimes Jayne and I make up our own entertainment

After laughing all morning, I decided to brave the "snow day" (a skiff on the road that canceled school) and go to work. I had this fantastic mexican lunch. (Yikes, bad picture).

After work I went shopping at H&M, then I went to dinner with Seth and Amy at the Cheesecake Factory. It was incredibly delectable.

Then at about 10:34 these flowers showed up attached to my friend Marc. I can't ever remember getting flowers before, so I was pretty dang stoked :)
(They have now taken up permenant residence on the back of my toilet because everyone thinks they are stinky and they had to be in a confined space. So my bathroom smells oh so... duftend)

Yesterday I came home to a stack of mail on the counter. When I was growing up, I never got mail. Not ever. Unless it was a notice from the library or something. So deep inside, I still feel uberly spesheel getting things in the mail. Jayne sent me this epic water bottle that I have wanted forever... I loves it...

Melissa Lewis sent me this card that had... me... all over it.

That woman did some serious scrap book digging to find these pictures. I love Melissa Lewis.

Matty the Mexican sent me this card and...

A CASTELLI BIKE HAT! (Please excuse the bathroom modeling. again).
I may or may or may not have worn it grocery shopping.

But it wouldn't be a birthday without a har-de-har card from Grandma Nette.
I love you guys. Thanks for the incredibly memorable birthday :)

Farewell

2011-02-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

Farewell to my teenage years.
You will not be missed.

Lago Washington pabellón español

2011-02-21T00:21:00.003-07:00

A few months ago I was called to be the pianist in the Spanish ward. They didn't have anyone to play the piano, and you know me, always looking for something weird to do.
Well today I discovered something amazing. The ward is about 35 minutes away from my house. It's not in my stake, or even my mission boundaries. I don't speak a lick of Spanish. I am the only white girl in there.
When I tell people my calling, they always give me the strangest looks. I'm used to it. But I guess it is pretty weird. Why me? Of the hundreds of pianists in the area, including in their stake, why was I called?
Last night, Hermana Firpo texted me wondering what songs we were going to sing today in Sacrament. Uumm... Am I supposed to pick those? I opened my Hymn book (which is in Spanish) and randomly picked 4 songs. I just felt like whatever they were, they would be good. I sent her the hymn numbers, and this morning when I got to church and started playing, H. Firpo kept shooting me strange glances. I can't even read Spanish facial expressions, so I would just smile at her then continue playing.
After the meeting, she came up to me and said, "Hermana Camille, you are inspired" Huh? Why? She told me that the topic of the meeting went perfectly with the hymns I had chosen. I had no idea, because I couldn't understand what the meeting was about, but I guess it worked out perfectly. Coincidence? I think not.
Since I can't understand the speakers, I usually take the time to read my scriptures. Latinos are incredibly quiet during Sacrament, so it makes for good studying time. And for the past 3 weeks that I have played the piano for them, amazing things have happened. I always find questions when I'm reading the BOM, and every time I have one, it is answered when I attend my Sacrament meeting a couple hours later.
So when people are confused as to why they called me to play the piano in a completely random ward, I just smile. It's not random. I know who called me.

Every Woman's Dream

2011-02-19T22:47:00.005-07:00

Seth and Amy decided to pack up the family and head south for the weekend, and I decided to kick it at home. Then I got the brilliant idea to work on some projects that just weren't getting done with 4 midgets running around.
I'm not saying I'm a woman... But if I were, this is something I would love to do.
And I did love it.

I went around the house and opened cupboards and closets and judging by my facial expression, I decided which ones needed help.
I then headed to my friendly neighborhood Ikea and Target for supplies.
This is what I came home with, hehe.
(The best part about this is, it's not my house, and not my money. Love you Amy!)

What's behind door number one? AAAGHHH!! Scary nightmare. These doors are rarely closed, because the blankets and sheets and children and towels and tablecloths are always spilling out.

Ta Dah! Amazing what a few boxes will do.

Door number 2 was even worse. Can we even call this a pantry? This door was never closed. There was everything but children inside. They tried, but couldn't fit.

It's not as beautiful as I hoped, but hey! We have a lot of food! It has to go somewhere.

Door number 3 was the nightmarest of them all. I didn't stage this. The expression that covered my face was worse than when I see... Oh gosh... I can't think of anything worse than this. Hide yo kids, hide yo wife. And the whole neighborhood. Pretty sure the fare housing committee would have condemned our house based solely on this cupboard.

I pulled everything out, put down some shelf liner, used some of my dandy little baskets, and even added my towels that weren't there before. There is more under the sink now, but it works!

It only took 2 trips to Ikea, 3 trips to Target, and 1 trip to QFC. And a trip to a whole new undiscovered realm of my brain that had never been explored.
Can I go to sleep yet?

Sweet?

2011-02-19T22:11:00.002-07:00

I'm making a cake, and it calls for Sweetened Condensed Milk. I bought some, and when I took the lid off I took a little finger swipe which was then magically lead into my large mouth hole. Lo and behold, I tasted nothing.
Right when I think I can taste sweet, something crappy happens.

SVU part 1

2011-02-17T19:56:00.002-07:00

Remember how one of my goals was to save for college? Well this is the college I'm saving for. And every day, I get more excited and happy that this is the school I have chosen to try my hardest to get into.
I first heard of SVU about 4 years ago when my family was visiting some of my dad's cousins in Virginia. I was half way through my first year of high school, and if anyone said the word "college" I almost threw up.
Luckily for me, I kept hearing the name of the school in random places. I had a few random friends decide to go. I looked into it. I forgot about it. I heard about it again. I'd decide I was delusional. I forced it out of my head. Till Christmas last year.
Since Christmas, I can't stop thinking about it. I signed up for an open house in March, bought my plane tickets, and have had so many awesome experiences already.
I'm going to Virginia! IN A MONTH!!!!!
The school has 800 students. It's one of the smallest but best ranked Universities in the country. As I fill out my application, my personal Admissions Counselor calls me and tells me what she thinks I should put down, how I should word things, and when my deadlines are. She called me about an hour ago and these were her words. "Hey Camille! I was just looking at one of your essays. It looks great so far. You might want to delete that part about xxx before you send it in. Hey, would you like a T shirt? I just got a box of them. I'll send one to you. Oh, I just talked to Grace, you're going to be staying in her dorm while you're here for the Open House. She's excited to meet you. Would you like to eat on campus while you're here? I'll get you a food card. Can you get your application sent to me before the end of the week? There's a scholarship that just came up that I think would be really good for your situation. I'll get you set up for it. Talk to you soon!"
... Awesome?
So if you think I'm crazy for wanting to go to school on the complete opposite side of the country, yes, I am crazy. But it is incredible. So far.
The end.

Journal entry. I know. Calm down.

2011-02-11T00:15:00.002-07:00

If there's something you know about me, that something might be that I like to wear different colored socks. Or it might be that I like to write to myself. Sadly, this post is not about socks, it's about writing. Psyche!
After writing every night I go through my entry and decide if it's a good one or not. In the end, it doesn't matter what I think of it, I never change it or even look at it again for, ummm sometimes years. Tonight I'm going to share mine with you. (Jayne, I hope you have a defibrulator on hand. Sharing my journal can cause heart attacks.)
Here it goes.

Thursday, in my room, 10:44pm

Days are so short with kids. We get up, eat breakfast, leave for the next few hours to school and work, come home, quickly get done with homework, "play", eat dinner, then go to bed. I'm kind of glad I missed out on living short days as a child. I always had long days. Nothing to do except build forts with my siblings and jump on the tramp with the sprinkler. Or go skiing. All day.

I'm also glad that life changes. I'm glad I have more to worry about than if it will be hot enough to run through the sprinkler or cold enough to ski. I'm glad I have responsibilities and things to do. I'm glad I have people to take care of.

I went on a bike ride with Jayne today. The sun was out, I hooked up the trailer to Bella Bestia, and we rode for about... 45 minutes or so. There is never enough time, like I said earlier. Someone has to be picked up or dropped off or fed or cleaned. So 45 minutes was actually pretty impressive, I'm thinkin. There's something about the Burke Gilman trail that just cuts out all my sharp edges in life. I ride along and smell the river and the moist air and look at the tall trees that line the path and take in all the pretty green fields and rolling hills, and.... There's just no way the sharp edges of life can thrive there. Calm conquers.

After dinner we went to the 6th grade play of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It was cute. And it only lasted 45 minutes, which rocked. We came home and the kids went straight to bed, and I cleaned and got partially caught up on laundry and watched some trash TV. I'm so alone and somehow just not really lonely. At least I don't think I'm lonely. Am I lonely? I would like to have someone, of course, but I don't ache for someone. I like living in peace. Seattle is good for that. There's this giant blanket of melancholy over the whole pacific north west, making everything cozy and leaving nothing perfect.

I need to go to sleep. The washer is going to be done soon, and I want to be asleep before it beeps so I won't be tempted to put in another load.

Night!

That was a somewhat edited version... I promise you didn't want to know the rest.
Welp, I'm obviously off my rocker this evening, so... See ya.

bored.

2011-01-27T12:47:00.004-07:00

Jayne and I were bored today. So we decided to put on our favorite outfits and take pictures.

Burke Gilman

2011-01-22T15:47:00.003-07:00

This morning I absolutely had to get outside. I have been inside since Christmas, and today was the first minorly sunny day of the year. (Actually the gray has lasted since about the end of November). Lucky for me, I have this cousin who happens to be an amazing biker, and who happens to live in my same abode.
We hit the Burke Gilman trail with our neighbor Paul, and of course I didn't bring my camera because... who has time for picture taking when you're biking?

So I downloaded some of these beauts from la interneta

We hit an average speed of 17.8 mph

This trail is about a mile or so from my house, and it goes from Redmond to Seattle, and all over in between. It was stunning today in the sunshine.
I look forward to more training for my STP endeavor, and feel so happy that I get to live in such a crazy great biking community.
I am so happy here :)

TOK

2011-01-17T15:24:00.003-07:00

Last week I started working at a little place called Toyota Of Kirkland.
Because I wasn't busy enough?

This is my lovely desk. Aint it hawt?

This is me reading at my desk. Because I have nothing better to do for 5 hours in my jail-cell-colored office every day :)

My year of freedom

2011-01-16T00:49:00.002-07:00

Yesterday marked my one year anniversary of NO KISSING!!! WAAHOOO! Best year of my LIFE!
I celebrated by watching Back To The Future with a box of Apple Jacks and my new favorite water, Voss. Voss is great. Plus the bottle is glass, which makes me feel fancy. And the water is from Norway, and it's con gas.

Yep.

La Mia Camera

2011-01-13T18:28:00.006-07:00

(my title means "my room" not my camera... just so you know. I don't think you're dumb. I just... like to clarify?)
Hey! How are ya! So here in the 7-people Christensen Household we use our laundry machine for about 10 of our 13 waking hours. It is ALWAYS going. Our poor machine is notorious for eating itself from the inside out, which is always an absolute tragedy. This time was no exception.
but..........
Beauty can come in all shapes and forms. Luckily for us, we have an innumerable amount of amazing neighbors who line up to have the privileged of doing our smelly laundry!

I have this neighbor that is so amazingly giving and great, and she picked up my laundry, washed it in amazing smelling goodness, folded it, and delivered it with a card on top telling me how great I was.
I should break the washer more often.

I am questioning the ok-ness of this post... but Jayne requested it. I have to put her strangeness behind me and just obey sometimes.
Love you Jayne :)
Anyway, here is my living quarters. Lovely overly-comfy bed... (I'm thinking about making it not so comfy because it's hard to get out in the morning.)

My always-changing but usually entertaining dresser top

Bella Bestia just chillin

Intermission!
NEW SHOES!!! ON CLEARANCE!!! Sorry Hanna, they didn't have your size. But they are legitly hairy and everything. Love em.

And we're back. My poor skis get to sit in the corner all day, crying for me to take them out. One of these days I'm going to bust town and go ride them. Hard.

And here is my lovely window (complete with baby monitor, which is totally normal for a teenage girl's room, right? I hope not). I love my window. Right below those trees is our backyard and a pond... so pretty. Especially when it's all misty in the morning.

I love Seattle.
:)

Bella Bestia

2011-01-13T09:22:00.003-07:00

When I arrived here (almost 4 months ago, crazy!) there were only a few words said between Seth and I before he asked me if I brought my bike. Holding back tears I told him I had sold my dear bike (remember Guinevere? So hawt) to move to Italy. He gave me the craziest look. What was I thinking?!
The next day he emailed me a bunch of possibles that were on craigslist, but the thing is... I have very stubby short legs. And arms. And torso. So finding a bike to fit my dwarf self proved to be somewhat of a battle.
We went on many bike hunting sprees, but it was about 2 months before we found....

Bella Bestia

I met a lot of short people on my short bike hunting journey, and the lady selling this bike was no exception. She was great though. Anyway... I HAVE A BIKE AGAIN!!! I haven't posted about her till now because she has been hanging above Mora in the garage for a couple months waiting for a sunny day to be ridden. Those don't really happen here. So she got stuck on the trainer. My creative brain has reached its end, so... I'm done.
Thanks Seth for this great bike, I loves it :)

Not to resolve, only to achieve

2011-01-08T17:12:00.003-07:00

I love Family Nights here. They remind me of the Family Nights when I was growing up. So simple, but so important.
Last week we learned about Goals, and the importance of setting them. It got me thinking about the difference between a Resolution and a Goal. Of course they are different, but why is it that so many people make New Years Resolutions instead of New Years Goals? I couldn't think of any resolutions because I'm too proud to admit that I have things that need resolving, so I made goals for this new year. I wouldn't normally share them, but I figure if people know what they are, they might help me along.

Goals for 2011

- Read/record thoughts/study the scriptures every day

- Raise $7,000 for school by August

- Find a test (ACT, SAT, or something along those lines), study, and NAIL IT for scholarship purposes. (Don't know if this is possible, I'm kinda old and I know nothing about standardized testing, but it sure would make all these applications easier)

- Train for the Seattle To Portland (i.e. ride my bike HARD at least 4 times a week)

- Keep a Mission on my mind and prep for it daily

I'll have to say, I'm already impressed with myself. Of course I am, I'm just ending week one. Isn't everyone impressed with them self after week one?

Hm. I'll keep you posted.

A long trip.

2011-01-03T18:42:00.011-07:00

We have just returned from a two week sabatical in Utah.

Pretty sure this picture says it all. 20 hours in the car does wacky things to our already messed up psychies.

Growing up I remember skiing on Christmas eve and sometimes Christmas day at Nordic. So being able to go with these guys was so funny and awesome.

Ellie is a natural. (Even though that helmet might have started her battle with lice.)

Jaynie was also a pro

The rest of my vaca was spent with the second nut on the left

We were going to head somewhere warm, but... we couldn't get there from here. So the incredible 'rents sent us skiing! The fireplace(s) at Basin were warmer than any island in the Caribbean.

Twas a bit nippy

Something about the unicorn/princess helmets made us...........
yeah.

Italian food at 8900 feet in a posh lodge in the Utah Alps is kinda the best.
(just go with it, ok?)

So posh, I took a wee nap.

I think she got in a fight with a troll. What else could explain such an expression?

Or behavior?

Overall, one of the funnest days of skiing I have had in an uber long time.

I love these peeps. (Sorry about the zombie face, Tess!)

Love.

Moving on... What could be better than a hardcore pedicure after a day of skiing? Christmas just kept getting better.

AND BETTER!!

Ladies and Gentlefolk, what you are looking at is Utah Professional Hockey's future. That's right. The Christensen family has officially claimed their sport.

I think we were the only people in the audience who weren't related to one of the players.

Check him out. The top of the goal is at his WAIST. I think I can stand up inside that thang.

We party.

Seth called me on the 30th and asked if I was done with Utah. Yes. So we left the next morning, spending our epic new years eve party in a hotel room in Boise. Bring on the popcorn and Gatorade!

1 degree in Idaho!

1 degree on 1-1-11! And lots of Dorito fingers!

Amy: "This desert is balmy"

It's nice to be back :)

What? A post not involving children?

2011-01-03T18:28:00.004-07:00

It's true. I did something with my friends. Don't pass out, I know this is kind of a first, but yes. Believe it.

It started out on one of the rainiest days of the year. (Yep we have those too).

Four crazies, driving over rivers and through massive woods to...

SULTAN!!

My friend Tabitha told me that in order for me to ever be associated with her, I had to have a sandwich from the Sultan Bakery. Since I have no money to buy my friends, I agreed to the challenge.
This is a Texas Toast veggie sandwich, containing only sauteed peppers and a couple slices of tomato. The Sultan Bakery is a total dive, packed with people (no sitting room, we had to eat in the car), and with an employee age minimum of about... 98.
But it was somehow divine.

The boys hated it.

Ha.

Quote of the day

2010-12-14T15:50:00.002-07:00

Me: "Jayne, do you want to take your boots off?"
Jayne: "No. You can take them off."

Classic.

Ghahppy Thahnksgihving Bahck (Just say it with a spanish accent ok? thanks)

2010-12-03T15:53:00.003-07:00

Thanksgiving reminds me of a lot of things.

This lovely lady - Rose - Is one of those things. Name that movie!

Seth and Amy were awesome enough to fly me home for Thanksgiving! I arrived to this

I hadn't seen snow in a while, and neither had my big cousin Jake (not to be confused with my little cousin Jake), So we went out at like 11:11pm and foofed all over in it like little kids. (No, this picture isn't a crime scene. We were having a blast. Hanna got all creeped out when I showed it to her... really?! Get cho mind outta da gutter, Nah!)

Reason #1 for visiting home? DORKY SISTER!!!

Emmy: "Dats dross"

Have I mentioned the fact that my siblings possess the ability to create epic children?

And the ability to lull them to sleep anywhere?

This is Emmy begging Austin to read to her. He wasn't stoked on the idea, but who can say no to miss curly head with 2-foot-long batting eyelashes?

Lainey got in on the action, and before long they were both on his lap. Austin was the hero.

After 10 days of.... ??? I flew back to the "pac no wee" (pacific north west, thanks Jayne). I happened to be flying home with 3 or 4 people from my ward up here who were also visiting family in Utah! It was great. I even got a bit of visiting teaching done on my flight. Now here's the trivial part.... No one else could see this, but if you look really close at the picture, there's a little bright dot below the wing, and inside it is the shaddow of our plane, as well as a huge circular glare around the right side of the pic. I don't know how this happened, I kinda duhmb, but... it looked so cool!

Jayne (little Jayne, not to be confused with.... little-but-not-as-little Jayne) came running up to me in the airport, and didn't calm down till she looked like this. She was still thinking in her sleep.

Hey little Jake!

Jealous much? :)

The extended fam saves us again!

2010-11-18T10:03:00.004-07:00

Whew what a week! Uncle Allen and Aunt Janis came in for the week, along with my cousin Rachel and her cutie patootie family. It was so fun to spend time with them and their crazy crew. I haven't ever really spent time with them (I'm just a baby Christensen!) so it was fun to hang out for a few days.

Audrey and Jayne are buds

Jayne can down a whole can of "little bean soup" (lentil soup) in like T minus 10 seconds. It's pretty entertaining.

The girls were hiding from the boys at playgroup hehe. I taught them well.

We all went to dinner at Claim Jumper (UHMAZING) and on the way out Seth wanted to try his luck at the.... I don't even know what to call it. You put your hand on this thing and the lights indicate your level of loving abilities :) He got "Clammy", so we all had to try. No one made it very high.... except me. I got the top score of "Uncontrollable". I walked out of the restaurant with my victory fists held high. An old man behind us asked Rachel "Is that woman available?"

Todd and Aunt Jannie did a huge number on the yard and upstairs bathroom. I'm serious, we were getting bad vibes from the neighbors but we have always been too tired to tackle the projects. And the girls had a good time following Todd around the yard :) We still possess the only palm trees in Redmond, but they are for sale. So... hit me up if you want some random palm trees.

I love our crazy life!

2010-11-11T21:50:00.003-07:00

So we have had some pretty great times these past couple weeks.

Since Halloween was on Sunday this year, an awesome family from our ward invited us over for a spooky dinner

This is amazing to me. "Brains" in a mini pumpkin, witches broom bread, vampire blood soup, eyeballs, and witches hair veggies. So cute.

Seth and Amy headed out last weekend, so the kids and I headed to the childrens museum. It was so awesome. They have this big exhibit about water and how evaporation and all that cool stuff works. Plus you can send balls and other random things down the fountains. Really, what could be more entertaining.

Ellie practiced her creativeness and art skills upon the skin of the guinea pig sister

Her pillow was black the next morning

Gunther (Jake) was super mellow. He was perfectly content with blocks. For 2 hours.

Sam has a very balanced head, which allows him to make perfectly balanced... things... like this.

Who doesn't like ginormous LightBrites, that is what I would like to know.

Beth and Co. came with us, and Ethan worked the bowling-ball lifting exhibit till it burned down. just kidding.

This is the Scarf Shooter. It sucks up scarves and they go through this crazy maze of hoses then shoots out above your head. I had to hold myself back. I want one of those in my future home.

I need to take chillax lessons from Jake.

Next was haircut time!!! We all loaded in the van and drove to this cutest little house with the cutest little mommy and got hair cuts all around. (But ceptins me... till next week!).

phở (prounounced "Fuh") is this crazy Vietnamese soup that is mostly popular because of its name. Seth swears by it (no pun intended) and today we found out that Jake loves it too! There are pho shops all over town, including one called "What The Pho?!"

Jake rocks, I can't stop taking pictures of him. Seth put my helmet on him tonight and it almost fit.... Why didn't I inherit the big Christensen head?

The Last Soccer Saturday

2010-10-30T21:20:00.002-06:00

Twas a dreary rainy one

Every child needs one of these days

Every kick was filled with a face full of mud

Every coach (named Amy) withstood the weather and instructed her team with precision

Rose decided to come enjoy the traziness with us

Ellie and Sam both celebrated their muddy wins :)

brain monitor meets camithenoncreativemess

2010-10-28T21:58:00.002-06:00

Sam's fourth-grade class is having a cake... thing (?), and he was supposed to make one tonight. But he was too busy doing homework, so I helped. He did the brains though :)

Costume pics to come! Stay tuned tomorrow!

Pumpkins!

2010-10-24T17:32:00.003-06:00

Can you tell which one is mine?

Happy Birthday Jayne! (plus a couple other adventures)

2010-10-17T23:50:00.004-06:00

This past week was Jayne's 4th birthday, and it was a week long party! Four is a big deal. She is now a big girl. Anyone who calls her a little girl gets pwned.

Since Jayne and I seem to have a lot of time together, I decided to let her show me the 'hood. She took me down to the pond to throw rocks. We decided to only go on walks when it's raining, because splashing in puddles is "so cute", but it has only rained twice since I've been here so we might need to make up a new rule till winter hits.

I think I was a bit jealous of Jayne's party. 7 little princesses, all dressed up, pink and giggles everywhere, no boys allowed.... it was heaven.

We decorated princess hats (which I made. oh yeah. i do crafts.) and danced (i didn't dance though... their teacher would have been mad at me for being a bad example) and had a tea party and went on a fairy treasure hunt (which I made up. oh yeah. i can organize stuff.) It was pretty much dazzling.

She got a couple new princess dresses, and this one is hilarious. Hanna, I promise you wish you had one of these. You can't really tell in the pic, but this thing is 100% frills.

Jayne and Claire -- so cute.

Tip for my brain for the future: if the kids are bored, get out the paints and lock them on the back porch! It worked for like 2 hours! Even Jake found it amusing.

A few days ago I had the privileged of having lunch with Seth and Amy on the Microsoft campus where Seth works. I guess they have multiple cafeterias on campus, and they are pretty awesome. There are all these great food places and you just load up. (I got a kick out of the microsoft soup bowl)

I also found one of my favorite restaurants of all time last week. It's called La Vita E Bella and it's in downtown Seattle, a couple blocks from Pike's Place. It's owned by this guy named Giuseppe (who Amy calls my Italian Lover, cuz I won't stop talking about his amazing restaurant) and he is just so Italian. I loved it.

Of course I ate on the sidewalk. I almost cried from overwhelming nostalgia when I bit into this pizza.
This is my friend Beth. She is actually Amy's friend Beth, but I adopted her into my (teenie tiny) friend circle. It's her birthday tomorrow, so we had dinner and cake after church for her :) Her two boys are SO funny too, I've never met any kids like them in my life.
Yay for Washington! I hate it sooooo much, can you tell? ;)

FHE, kids, and... more kids.

2010-10-08T09:33:00.003-06:00

I attended my first FHE in the singles ward up here a couple nights ago, and it was show and tell night. And... I figure the picture can speak for itself.

Actually it wasn't that bad, just classic and funny to my heart

So... Sam has this whole slew of friends that are as little-boyish as they come. Kyle and Sam think of all kind of crazy things to do - from biking on the crazy mountain trail on little girl bikes to sliding down stairs in cardboard boxes - and every time they hang out it ends up with Sam crying from some injury and Kyle going home. And they do it almost every day!

Last night Jake and I sat in the garage while the kids rode bikes. At one point there were 7 kids out there, cruising around, skinning knees, getting flats, and having roadrage issues. It was awesome.
Welp that's all for today! Later!

A bit of the life

2010-10-04T17:35:00.004-06:00

Well this week has been absolutely incredible, to say the least. I have been here for a whole week (seems like it's been months) and I LOVE it. I have never felt so at peace that what I'm doing is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing with my life right now.

I'm going to just hurry up and apologize so much the fastest for my awful pictures. Really, I promise they're bad. Anyway... This is my house! Well, Seth and Amy's house anyway. I'm staying here for a while, helping with the four kids and trying to keep the house in order. It's basically great. (And I have four palm trees in my front yard! The only ones in Redmond!)

My second day here I brought Jaynie to playgroup, and somehow we got a flat tire. (I had barely gotten over the fact that I could fit a carseat in Mora!) Luckily we got saved by Amy and her dad, so it turned out all right.

And Jayne had to make sure I got a picture of her happy face too :)

A few days ago I drove into Seattle and visited my old friend Jenna. She stayed with us for a wittle while in Italy, and I hadn't seen her in years. She has a cute little apartment and we made some delectable foods :)

That night was date night for Seth and Amy, and they had some friends over after dinner. We played a game called Sedarahc, and it's HILARIOUS. Mom, if you ever find it, BUY IT. It's charades backwards... the team acts out the object while one person tries to guess. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Napoleon Bonepart

Again, terrible picture, but last night The Crew (3 other families we always hang out with) and us had dinner together, and they boys kept squishing together in the funniest places so they could all watch the 2x3" DS screen. They are such boys.
And now a word from Jayne! (Music video style)

So many adventures, so little time

2010-09-28T21:05:00.005-06:00

I'm a little bit overwhelmed tonight because there are just so many awesome things to talk about, and I feel like whatever I say could never justify the meaning of where they're coming from. I have learned so much in 3 days!
Sunday morning I left home and drove in my little hot sweaty car aaaallll the way to Elgin Oregon. Officially the smallest funniest town I have ever met. (And I really do feel like we got to know each other pretty well over night).

I stayed with my cousin Gina and her family of 7. Her kids are SO funny. I was laughing almost the entire time I was there. We went to a ward potluck, and the girls decided they were going to wash all the dishes. So cute.

Sofie kept losing her doll, so she found this nifty place to plop her :)

That night we played Extreme Connect Four. Those girls kicked my trash.

The next morning I started off bright and early, but I only got about 2 miles out of town before Mora started chugging. BAD. I was up in a little canyon in the mountains and couldn't get cell service, so I prayed real hard then looked over and noticed a snow hazard warning sign that happened to have a ladder up to it so they could change the snow condition status. So I climbed up it (luckily I was the only person in that part of the country), got full service, and called my dad!

Mora decided she would get me back into Elgin where I found a little hardware store. The owner/only real employee wasn't there yet, but there were a bunch of old guys with their dogs hanging out. They were talking about their dead wives and debating who should run for mayor. "You would make a great mayor, Norm." "I was mayor back in '67... How about you George, you haven't been mayor yet" and on and on.
About 15 minutes later the owner/Rick/only real employee/exact Stanley Tucci look-alike came in and told me to drive a couple blocks down the road to Bryan's house. Bryan is the town mechanic.

Bryan's shop is in his back yard amongst 7,505.2 buicks. Maybe not quite that many.... Nah, I'm pretty sure that's about right.
Bryan was awesome. I guess Rick had given him a call and told him I was coming, so he stuck on a wife beater and got most of the breakfast out of his beard and met me outside just as I was pulling up. (Or chugging up). He took a quick look, told me a story about his dad that rolled an Alfa Romeo 6 times after swerving to miss a skunk, then took off in poor Mora. I sat on the hood of one of his buicks.... called Jayne... Checked my emails... Laughed a bit... then he came cruising back! He got out, gave me a weird look, and promised me there was absolutely nothing wrong with my car. WHAT! It was my turn to give him a weird look. But he was right! Mora hasn't skipped a beat since.

When I was growing up, my dad and I used to take trips up to Portland. My friend Natasha lives there, and he had business stuff a couple times a year. We always made a point to stop at Cousins' on our way home. I'm not sure why... but I'll admit, it's quite the experience.

The food is trashy, the bathrooms are kinda grodie, but ar ma garsh. This place is awesome. Only awesome restaurants Moo at you when you go through the front door before being greeted with "Hey Cousin!" by one of their many old lady waitresses. Not to mention the full size tractor in the middle of the dining room.

I have been thinking about what to order since.... last week. I used to always get a kids meal (it came with a plastic pig on the plate, how could I pass that up) but I figured going in there alone was weird enough. So then I was thinking of getting a grilled cheese and making it into my farewell last-cheese-of-the-year thing, but then I remembered my dad getting biscuits and gravy. His favorite. So since I love my dad, and he has done a lot of amazing things for me lately, I decided to go with it. I even sent him a picture. His message back to me said, "You!!!!". I guess he wasn't very happy bout dat. Sorry Babo. (Hey, if i never had a farewell cheese meal, I guess I can still eat cheese! Awesome.)
Anyway.... I kept driving (Mora told me I looked fat when I got back in her... Sorry dear) and finally got to Vancouver Warshington! I hunted down Natasha and her mom (or Mum) at their tea house cafe.
The Bantam and Grouse cafe is so cosy and awesome. It sits in the middle of a garden nursery, and mum Gail serves tea and other little brittish cakes and stuff to cute grandmas and... garden nursery people :) It was so fun to hang out with them. (I just realized I didn't get a picture of us. Lame.)
Anyway, the drive was amazing, and I got here all safe and good! More tomorrow!

Hey

2010-09-25T13:32:00.005-06:00

I was just scanning through a few pictures and deciding what to post about, and I decided that since I really should be packing up my car and going grocery shopping right now, I better just do a mini all-in-one post.
I forgot all about this picture of Emmy at Multnomah falls... what a goofy kid

A couple sundays ago me and my friend Rawson went on a walk and he decided to hike up his jogging pants (nerd) then he got poison oak issues and whacked himself in the leg with a stick he found. I hang out with geniuses.

Another few days ago I had an hour to kill in town (I went to my dentist appointment an hour early.... they gave me a weird look and told me to come back later. wow, cam). So I went and visited my friend Rea at Mount Ogden Jr. High where she teaches 9th grade computer... stuff. It was amazing. Those kids are nuts. I earned a whole new respect for teachers.

Last night Hanna and I were sorta boredish, so we went up to Frog Rock in North Ogden for a minute. Then a bunch of teenagers came up and started making out, so we left.

Turns out, cameras can't take pictures of road signs. I'm serious, the sign was totally normal and this is how all my pictures came out! It says "DANGER HIGH WATER". The Ogden river usually runs at about 140 cfs, and this morning they cranked it up to 450 cfs for a kayaking competition. Uh Mazing.
I have 3982701b3992374 things to do today, but I couldn't help pulling over and watching these guys go through 3 miles of class 5 rapids over and over and over again.

Mora liked it too.

Ok time to get back to life. I'm leaving tomorrow to Seattle for an unknown length of time, and so far my preparations include... buying licorice and putting in a load of laundry. Oh, I checked my oil too. Pray for Mora!