On parade: Wherein Berrett flexes the muscles in his face

As many of you know, Berrett and Lia are both in the Orem High School Marching Band. Mountain View High doesn't have a band, but I won't go into that here. This is Berrett's first year, Lia's third. This year Lia is a section leader; she gets to order the bass instruments around.



I think that they respect her because she manages to do the heel/toe march, stay in beat, and carry an instrument that is about as large as she is over a mile-long course. I'd respect that. Besides, all the bass instrument players are guys . . . and she's not . . . and she's good looking. No it's her successful heal-toe marching.



Berrett doesn't like anyone to take his picture. If you look through the pictures that we have of him, you'll see that he seldom smiles.

I think that Judy offered him a triple-stack for this one. I know it's not because he just finished the parade and feels great because it was so fun. No, it's all about food.

Like me, both Lia and Berrett dislike street marching (which is all that I did in marching band). Lia loves field marching, which is what it is called when a band marched during half-time. Berrett hasn't done it yet. Last year at competitions (can you believe they do marching band competitions?) The band finished 1st on a number of occassions. If they do that again this year, Berrett might actually smile again . . . without being bribed.

Pictures from Manson

These pictures are from a trip the family took to visit Dale, Rae Anne, and family during the summer of '86 (? it's either '86 or '87, can anyone verify the correct year for me?). I think this was my first summer after my mission (an argument for '86), because I was still in post-mission form.

Rob came along, which also makes me believe it was '86.

Part of the festivities was a fishing derby for the kids at the golf course in Chelan. I think Rae has a video of me panicking while picking up a fish. Post-mission form again.

Is this next one of Nick? I can't tell them apart. At that age they all looked like Dale.

These are probably the very first missionary pictures of Aaron and KC.

I never get tired of Manson. I wish that fate had worked with us better so we could go up there more often.

Focus on Judy

These types of posts can't be good for a marriage, but I can't resist sharing some of Judy's pictures that I've been scanning. It's kind of strange probing the past of your spouse and realizing that there were people who knew her well and cared for her long before I ever met her.

Long before I decided that I'd like to spend the rest of my life with her, they were making memories with her.



Judy has always had a way with people, helping bring out the best in them. As I compare her pictures to mine, I find that hers are more of the people she spends time with loves, mine are of scenery and sunsets and things that will be pretty much the same tomorrow, next year, ten years from now. People continue to change and memories speed by and change by the minute. But they can be shared and enjoyed years later with the prompting of a picture.

As I look through these pictures it's hard not to be jealous of all of those memories that I can't share with her because I wasn't there. But then, now I get to create new memories with her every day.

Then I realize how jealous those who knew her when I didn't must now be of me.

Emulating Rob

I've been following Rob's example of scanning old pictures that we have stowed away in different shoe boxes. It's been a while since I've seen some of these and thought I should share some of them. This first batch is from 1983:

In honor of Colby's birthday a few days ago.

I've determined that hyperdocumenting your firstborn's life is genetic.

Well, he was cute anyway.

KC was already attracting women back then.

Rob in a common pose.

Jenni practicing the piano.

Kelli and Marla Perkins? (no, it's Becky Perkins; thanks Kelli)

Steven's Shower

Of course, this is about the baby Steven. My showers are not at all interesting enough for anybody to cater. Sherry hosted a shower for Todd and Crystal at Mom and Dad's house today. She went all out like she usually does and made it a great occasion with plenty of food and fun conversation. (We appreciate all that you do, Sherry! Thank You!) It's been too recent since Steven was born, so Todd attended in Crystal's place.

Rather than try to arrange pictures in the Blogspot editor (how do the rest of you do it?), I'm providing a link this time. So click here to see pictures of the event and a few more of Steven (he also didn't attend because we don't want him becoming sick). Thanks to everybody for your support of Todd and Crystal.

Pictures of Steven Wyatt Christensen

Lia was bummed because she was hoping to see Steven at 2:00 this morning. Instead, he wasn't born until 6:20 this morning, and she had to go to school instead.

Kyle is currently the same age that Lia was when he was born, so this photo represents an interval of "eights".
Judy has been beaming and glowing all day. I couldn't count how many times she has announced that we're now grandparents.
Todd seems to be adjusting well to his new son. He figures that this qualifies him to be on the cover of his favorite magazine. It's a good start.

Todd and Crystal's Baby was born!

This morning at 6 am, Steven Wyatt Christensen (I'll let you know later if that is incorrect) was born. He was 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 18 in tall. Mother and son are both doing fine. We'll post pictures tonight.