And Like That, He's Twelve

Conrad turned twelve on April 3, but he was able to celebrate a few times.  We had his party with family on Monday the second.  He had his friends over to the warehouse and watched a movie.  They had a great time.  I forgot to take pictures, though.  Bummer.

We also had a party with Grandma and Grandpa Christensen.  That's where we ate his delicious and very sweet cake.  He made sure I bought a gluten-free cake mix so I could have some.  He's so thoughtful.  The only thing he wanted for his birthday was his cracked hinge on his Nintendo DS fixed.  Since he was turning 12, I wanted him to have a new set of scriptures too.  He was actually excited to see those when he opened them up.

The next week we went to Atlanta...I'll post about that next.

It was fun even though it doesn't look like it in this picture! LOL

Conrad is the peacemaker in our home.  He doesn't fight very often and rarely starts it.  Instead, Con loves to make people smile and laugh.  He's an excellent example for his younger brothers to follow.  I love hearing the stories about his day or what's going on in life, and he tells me.  He really is a great kid.

At 12, Conrad loves:

• Baseball
• Nintendo DS
• Minecraft
• Spending time with Friends
• Fishing
• Laughing
• Jokes
• Scouts
• His outdoor survival class

We love

• His thoughtfulness
• How much he helps when I need him
• Hearing about his day
• Watching him play baseball
• Seeing him advance and receive the Aaronic Priesthood and going to the temple with him and watching as he helps out our ancestors
• Watching him pass the sacrament
• Just watching him grow and have new experiences.
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Happy Birthday, Conrad.  We're so happy to see the young man you are growing into.  Keep it up!  We can't wait to see what the next year brings.  

Easter 2018

The kids love Easter.  I think it's Conrad's favorite holiday.  They really enjoy coloring eggs.  This year we decided to try a pack that had a bunch of emoji stickers.  It was fun to see them after they were decorated.  It really added to the eggs. :)

 The Easter bunny comes Friday night at our house, and it brought a whole bunch of fun legos.  Hailey got a book and read it the same day, of course.  :)

Conrad's lego set

 General Conference was Easter Sunday.  We had lunch at Mom and Dad's with Aunt Joyce's family, Jenna, and two kids.  She had this fun activity for them.  The kids loved it.  :)

Easter is such a special time, and I feel it gets so overpowered by commercialism.  I'm grateful though that the church leaders have made some great videos for us to watch.  It helps the kids remember and keep our minds on the Savior and his sacrifice for each of us.  

Spring Break 2018!

We had a great time down in St. George this year.  The weather was sunny and warm.  We had too many activities to do, so we'll go down there every Spring break for at least the next few years. 

 The kids LOVED the pool, of course.  I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, though.

 This was our first quick ride.  We just drove out behind where we were staying and saw this:

 We were able to see some really amazing things downs there.

First, some petrified dunes:

 We stopped at some cool rocks and played there for a bit.

 We also stopped at a couple of neat places with dinosaur tracks and hieroglyphics (some of the kids made their own):

Dinosaur Track

Hailey and Ilzay posing with a track between their feet