The Dog Beach

Yesterday Beth and I wanted to go to the beach to kick off the new year. There are only a couple places in the world that bless us with sunny days on the beach in January and Southern California is one of them (I love you, so cal!) Instead of going just down the street I wanted to bring Montana so we went to the Huntington Dog Beach, which is the closest dog beach around.

My born and raised Northern Cali dog has been to the beach one time in his life and it was freezing, this time would be a great adventure for him.

As soon as we arrived, so did manic montana. He almost killed me getting down to the beach, so I let go of the leash. He went running as fast as he could to the water. I went chasing after him but it was too late, he was in the water chomping at the waves as they crashed and formed white water. I grabbed on to the leash and tried to prevent him from eating the water, but it was no use, he just dragged me into the ocean and I quickly remembered how massive he was.

Finally I got the pooch to head up to the nice blanket Beth had laid out for us. My thought was to have him drink fresh water so he wouldn't be tempted to engulf the salt water, but he wanted no part of it. Instead he did his business right in front of our blanket and took off running to the water again...Beth, was mortified. "He just pooped right here." I started cleaning it up, and asked Beth to watch him while I went and disposed of the evidence. She relunctantly agreed.

As I hiked up to the trash I realized I also needed to visit the restroom. When I walked back I could see Beth timidly watching Montana and aggressively trying to stay clean...it was a hilarious sight and I couldn't stop laughing the whole walk back. Beth finally gave in and touched a dirty stick to give to Montana, Montana took it with pride, shook his head and wacked a little girl building a sand castle in the back with the giant stick. Beth scrambled to get the stick from Montana and was searching for me at the same time. When she finally spotted me she told Montana to go get me. He came running full speed, rubbed his face on my beach dress, walked over to our blanket and yacked sea water all over the sand.

I'm one of those crazy dog owners that talk to my dog as if he is a person..."see, I knew you were going to get sick, now drink some fresh water" But instead he looked at me as if to say..."are you crazy, I just made room for more!" And he was off again. This time I followed him and told him NO everytime he tried to drink the water, it worked until he decided to keep a far distance from me so he couldn't hear me say "NO."

I gave up, and took him back to the blanket where he yacked again and ran back to the water. "I forfeit" I told Beth, "Where are those cookies?"

"You can't take those out or the dogs will come" She obviously spoke from experience.
Beth's entire body was covered with two towels and a sweatshirt, I could tell my germ phobe friend was completely uncomfortable with the fact that I had brought her here. To confirm this thought, Beth pipes in, "I can't believe they poop in the sand." All I could do was laugh and then she called me a Jerk.

We got about 20 minutes of peace before Montana came running up to say hi. His mouth was foaming and he had spit bubbles at the corners. This means he needs to yack, sure enough, there he went. Beth yelled, "Salt Water" at the passerbys that stared in disgust.

This time Montana stuck around and shortly after it was coming out both ends. More people stared and I quickly took it as our cue to leave.

"Come on Beth we gotta go, before this gets worse"
"Yeah no kidding"
We gathered our things and took Montana to the car, he drank a whole bowl of fresh water and moaned the whole way home.

The rest of the night I took care of my sick pup and wondered if he learned his lesson...probably not.

Ba Humbug!

It really doesn't feel like Christmas. I swear this year was a whirlwind. In a year I went from dating to engaged, married and pregnant.

It's been a crazy year for Kiel too, he gave up his hot sexy bachelor status, became a husband and is now preparing to be a father (he can't wait, now that he knows it's a boy.)
We also have moved twice this year. And moved our 100 pound moose in with us aka Montana the dog ;)

Maybe it doesn't feel like Christmas because just last week we were celebrating the New Year with my gal pals.

Or maybe it's because it was a whopping 85 degrees on Saturday and Montana is already losing his winter coat.

Or maybe it's not Christmas because I have yet to buy one present (accept for Kiel) and have no desire to battle the late-vicious-holiday shoppers (well, with that descripton who would?).

Maybe it's because I'm just now starting to bake my Christmas cookies (without coconut, per Kiel's request.) and the store was out of baking powder - seriously.

And lastly, it's probably because all of the presents under the tree are already opened and played with, thanks to my impatient gimme fingers.

So my verdict is, Christmas came too fast - I'm not ready. Year 2010 is next week.

At least I will be in the bay area - cold weather don't let me down.

Merry Christensen

Way back when I first became an aunt at age 13 I learned all about pregnancy and how hard it could be on the woman's body. At that age I was skittish around bellies, especially those that had movement in them. To me pregnancy resembled an alien abduction or at least how I imagined an alien abduction would happen. Let's just say I had quite the imagination and watched too many movies.

As I got older, more nephews and nieces were born and I observed all of those pregnancies as well. I developed my own theories and one that always rang true was:

Easy pregnancy = Girl

Hard pukey pregnancy = Boy

Based on that theory I guessed right every time. I should have bet money, I would have raked in the dough, oh well, I'll call it a loss in economic opportunity ;)

My pregnancy (we're talking about me now, after all it is my blog) has been nothing to complain about. Sure, I've had my rare pukey moments and days where I felt like I was living on a ship anchored in the ocean but over all I've felt great.

Great = Girl

I was sure we were having a girl until my first real ultra sound (the 6 wk one doesn't count). I saw our baby at 12 weeks and it was lying in my belly sleeping on its back. Nothing could disturb it. The doctor was trying to get a measurement but the baby would not move. So the doctor poked and prodded some more until the little baby bounced up one time and turned to it's side, back facing us and went back to snoozing away. At that moment I thought, is my husband inside of there? It was a precious moment only a mother and father could find precious. (After all, let's face it at that stage they're pretty lumpy and my kid had two lumps on top of it's head that resembled horns, I swear.)

After that moment I was on the fence; well it's possible to be a boy, the Chinese calendar says it's a boy and Kiel really wants a boy.

And so we waited six more long weeks.

Today was the big day. Kiel came with me and we both waited patiently, since we were patients (bad joke) in the doctors office. Finally Dr. Naylor came in and put that warm gel on my belly and started poking around. We first saw the top of the head and checked out the brain, he then moved to the belly and the face. We saw a hand by it's mouth and then we checked out the umbilical cord along with the kidneys. "Everything looks great" Dr. Naylor reassured. "Now do you want to see what you're having?" Before I could answer Kiel piped in a fast "yes!" So the doc scooted down by the legs and measured the femur, and added "this is the strongest bone in the human body." Who cares just show us the good stuff I thought. Then he took a picture of it's feet, "oh what cute little baby feet" he continued and "it has all 10 toes." Woo hoo, I thought, move along. And so he went up between the legs and Kiel and I both looked and thought we saw something in between. "Girls don't have that, do they?" I stated/asked.

"Nope, they sure don't" Dr. Naylor said.

And that's when Kiel jumped out of his chair and yelled "I knew it!"

So there you have it baby Christensen #1 is a boy and we are more than overjoyed/thrilled/excited/(enter synonym here)!

Merry Christmas, a very merry Christmas!

And Kiel says "see, prayers do work!" well, we all knew that anyway:)

So my point (yep, I have one): My theory is wrong~ we're having a boy!

The end!

Update!!!
My theory has proven right for all of my nieces and nephews, it just didn't work on me because, and this is just a theory, I'm sorta manly (you'll notice when you look at my feet).

Say Weeeeeeeeeeeee!

Christmas came early this year. I came home from work and my husband had my present, all wrapped in a bag from Best Buy under our tree.

and that's not all. He also got me the super mario brothers game. My favorite! But don't worry folks I won't be doing a 72 hour marathon anytime soon.

It was a great activity to do for FHE! It certainly brought us closer together, oh that Mario has magical powers.

Merry Christmas!

My Inner Battle

Ever since I found out I was pregnant I've been battling with myself on what to do once the baby is born:

Do I go back to work? Or do I stay home?

I'm sure there are strong opinions that sway from one side to the other depending on whose reading this.

And I know that I am not just a Woman and I will not just be a Mother, but I am a Latter Day Saint Woman and will be a Latter Day Saint Mother and yes there is a difference. I am encouraged to stay home, I am promised multiple blessings to my family and children if I do so. But for some reason I am still trying to do both. Kiel and I worked out a schedule, he would be home with the baby 4 days out of the week and 3 days that next week and I would home with the baby 3 days out of the week and 4 days the next week. We share the duties 50/50. But it hasn't felt right.

My loving husband told me he doesn't need my help to provide, he can do that and will do that for his family. And it's not that I feel like I need to provide, but I do love my job. I like being part in an industry where woman thrive in the work place. I also have had a glimpse of how hard it is to be a stay at home mom and selfishly I would like to have a 4-day break. And I am afraid what will happen if I quit until my babies are ready for mom to go back to work.

So again, I battled.

And then I read this talk Mothers who know by Julie Beck

...and I finally swallowed what I had known all along. My purpose is not to become CMO in the beauty industry. I am to thrive in another job.

I am to be a Mother.

But not just a Mother, a Mother who knows how important it is to sacrifice.

Because as said by Julie Beck...

Mothers Who Know Do Less
Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world's goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord's kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power.

So soon I will be a Mother that stays home full time and cleans her husbands castle and a milk machine, burping rag and a zombie from lack of sleep...can't wait ;)

Insomnia

I was wide awake at 3am, this morning. After my usual tinkle I couldn't go back to sleep.

I was hungry, but for what?

I tossed and turned for an hour and then gave up. I made couscous and turned on the tube.

Kiel came out to see what the heck I was doing, plus he had to get ready for work.

"I can't sleep." I explained

"So you're cooking and watching T.V.?" He shook his head, and then started watching the tube with me amongst getting ready for work.

He left and it was only 5:15am, I was still wide awake.

I didn't know what to do. I would be dead if I went to work at 9am. I'm dead by 4pm with normal sleep.

It took me till 7 to write an email to my boss.

So now I have the day off, to sleep and catch up on housework, but first...

I'm hungry.

I smell something good...

There have been a few people in the kitchen...

Check out what's cooking and whose doing it here ;)

http://kickbuttcookin.blogspot.com/

Chow!

M

(ha ha get it? I said Chow, instead of ciao! As in chow down. Man I'm funny)