i'm here, but i'm over there!

ever wonder what i do all day?  you & sam both.

a day in my life is being featured over at The Domestic Wannabe today.  I photo-journaled my day from morning to bedtime & posted it on the internet.  so go have a look!  tell ashley i sent ya, & let me know what you think.

{check out the rest of my day HERE.}

but before you go, vote maybe?

a story about being deserted.

by the time you're reading this, p-ray & i are probably well on our way to utah-land.  you see, a couple times a year we make the trek down south to visit all three of my sisters & my mom & dad who all live down there.  yup, my entire immediate fam-damily lives in ute-ahrd.

so why is my little family of three estranged up here by our lonesomes in the pnw?  what brought us up to seattle you ask?  well, first of all you'd be asking the wrong question.  the correct question would be:

"why did your whole family leave YOU & move away from the most beautiful state in all the land!?"

i don't know.  maybe because they hate us.

it all started like twenty years ago with my sister shelley deciding to go to byu.  she of course met a utah man, married him, & eventually they settled there.  heidi was next, then gina.  marrying & then moving.  lame.  after they all spit out a few kids, my mom & dad felt like they needed to follow suit & migrated to zion.  with no regard to sam & i, who had only been married six months at the time & were struggling to stay afloat.

"we don't even love you," they said "please don't come visit."  and then they left.

well, i don't give up on family quite as easily as that & i'm fighting to keep this family together.  as the baby of the bunch, it's the least i can do.  at least twice a year, my little family goes out of our way to visit the family who so heartlessly abandoned us.

so that's where we are.  in utah, visiting my family.

and this story?

a slight exaggeration.  my family is working hard on trying to convince us to move down there but as of yet, to no avail.  we like our lives in the northwest & don't foresee packing up & moving three states down to the land of cafe rio & salty lakes.  but we miss them very very much & try to get down there as much as possible to visit.  and they come up often too.  because they do love us, very very much.

moral of the story?  p-ray & i are on vacation & my blogging may or may not be sporadic.  because when i'm vacationing with my family the interwebz comes second & all things christensen come first.  you know how it is.  but you know i can't quit you so chances are i'll be around posting a pic or a post here & there.

so that's that.

just because i'm blogging from three states away doesn't mean i don't still love your votes!

sixteen months.

another month down.  and yup like the others, this one flew by.  maybe it was because it's the last month of summer, or maybe it's because we've been super busy.  or maybe it's just the obvious... my kid is ridiculously cute, funny & awesome & every day is more fun than the last.  yeah, probably that one.

i continue to be amazed every day at how much parker is changing.  he's continually surprising us by how smart he is & by how much he understands.  he is so much fun to have around & he has the most hilarious little sense of humor.  he loves to laugh & be laughed at & is always doing little things he knows are silly.

he is just our favorite little guy.

here he is, all growed up to sixteen months.
{compare previous monthly pics here.}

these posts are really hard for me.  why?  because after a photoshoot with parker, i'm left with about 100+ pictures of him being super goofy & giggly & doing his usual parker antics.  how am i supposed to pick just one shot to capture his personality for that month?  i can't.  it's impossible.  so in similar form to last month, here are some of my favorite runner ups from our shoot:

parker cut four molars this month.  we had a couple rough days as a result of it, but life has seemed to : : : knock on wood : : : resume to normal.  that makes twelve teeth now.  parker wakes up happy & that usually lasts throughout his entire day with the exception of diaper changes.  he still screams bloody murder during those.  he loves his baths again but hates having the water poured over his head when rinsing & refuses to get in if there's a bath mat.  he loves naps & bedtime & practically jumps out of your arms to get in his crib when being put down.  you tell him, "ok parker, time for nigh-night."  and he'll run & grab his blanket & repeat "nigh-nigh?  nigh nigh?" over & over until you take him back to his room to read stories & go down.  oh yeah, that's another thing... the kid can run.

he's learned a few new words this month.  added to his everyday vocabulary are the words "mo-mo" {elmo}, "sock", "hat" {which he HAS to be wearing when outside.  he asks for it every time he gets out of the car or after he puts on his shoes}, "pig", "baa" {sheep} & "mee" {medicine... aka: vitamins & fluoride.  taking these are pretty much his favorite part of bedtime routine}.  the word most often said is still "daddy", followed by "mommy" followed by "puppy."  at least he has his priorities straight.

he had a checkup this last month {technically his 15 month checkup} & was measured at 23.8 pounds {30%-tile} & 30 inches {20%-tile}.  this is where he was called "puny" by my pediatrician.  whatever.  he's grown out of 18 month onsies but wears mostly all 18 month shirts & pants.  he's in size 4 diapers & size 4 or 5 shoes.  he eats pretty well with a fork & spoon & is a pretty good all-around eater.

he loves to laugh.  he laughs if you look at him funny.  he laughs when he's tickled.  he laughs when you try to make the bed when he's on it & the sheets get pulled out from underneath him.  he loves to be chased & wrestled & starts wrestle fights with us all the time.  he loves to blow kisses & thinks that's one of the funniest things ever.  he loves to give kisses... on the nose, on the lips, on your eyes.  he's very serious about kisses though.  he still waves hi & bye to most people he meets & greets me with a big "hi!" every morning.  the other day he woke up from his nap & called out "mommy?  daddy?" which probably made sam's & my entire year.

and?  he is still so dang cute.

love this kid.

love your votes.

our week by iPhone - week 41

this week was weirrrrd.  i worked in the office on tuesday rather than thursday like usual so the rest of the week was all off.  you ever do that?  i spent wednesday feeling like it was friday & then on thursday i thought the week was over.

i can't explain it any more than that... it was just kinda "off."  but good nonetheless!  here it is:

monday.  parker & i got up per the uge & got all ready for stroller strides & errands only to go out to the garage & find the car locked.  with my keys in the diaper bag, inside the car.  ARGH.  so after some lazing around feeling sorry for ourselves, we got off our hineys & went for a 4.5 mile run.  i felt great but parker felt weird without his hat... it was locked in the car.

that afternoon parker woke up a different baby {remember this post?}.  he was f-u-s-s-y & if you looked at him wrong he was crying about it.  sam came home & made life better by making buffalo burgers w/ feta crumbles & staying home with parker while i ran to target post-bedtime in pajamas & no makeup for some therapy.  a couple t-shirts & some new makeup later, i felt like a new woman.

tuesday.  i went to work & drank lots & lots of water so i could beat my sisters & mom & nephew in our fitness challenge.  not sure if i'm gonna win, but i sure pee a lot more.  while i was at work, parker hung out w/ his bestie kaylee & tried to put on the moves at the petting zoo.  i don't think she appreciated it.

tuesday evening parker watched sam closely as he drew his bath to make sure it fit his specifications while i went for a late night run... with no stroller!  that was weird.  when i got back i peaked in on parker & attempted a sleeping picture.  my flash made him jump which made me jump & i was left with this pitiful picture.  mom fail.

wednesday.  i think parker schemed his breakfast tantrum the minute he got up... you can just tell he's up to something.  but despite that flinging-oatmeal-at-the-curtains breakfast-tantrum, he redeemed himself at stroller strides by running up to me & giving me a totally unprovoked hug.  i'm a push over like that.  {do you see his little hand on top of my head??  do you??  you'd forgive him too.}

the day just got better by him taking a three hour nap which allowed me to work on a new health/fitness post. he woke up a happy camper & the day continued to be awesome.  especially when sam came home & made steak ranchero to go with my lime-cilantro rice.  it was kinda gourmet & delicious.

thursday.  we headed north to meet up with a couple of our favorites: jill & corbin!  we hit up the children's museum & farmer's market where p-ray & the corbinator cruised for hot chicks & did some salsa dancing.  i guess they never found any hot chicks.

friday.  after stroller strides parker took his arts & crafts very seriously so he could use his skills to impress madison.  he was showing her his work & i think she was buying it.  later he read some books while he walked around {it takes talent} & watched home movies of himself on apple tv while sam passed out after spending two hours in traffic on his way home.  boo.

and capping off the week?  parker spelled out his name during bath time {baby genius} & then took a big bite out of the soap {not baby genius}.

that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=104333" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:



thanks for your votes!  keep 'em comin' friends!

mamavation: setting wellness goals & talkin' music.

so on monday i started a six week "fitness challenge" with my three sisters, my mom, & my nephew.  we're all putting in $25 & the winner takes home the pot.  we even have a facebook page to post our goals, update our progress & keep tabs on each other.  here's how it works:

• we all set five goals.  three of them are similar {#1: work out goal, #2: nutrition goal, #3: water intake goal} & two of them are personal.  here are my goals:

• each goal is worth a point, you can earn 5 points a day.  at the end of six weeks, whoever has the most points walks away with the $150 pot.  

these are some pretty hardcore goals.  i don't plan on working out 6x a week for the rest of my life, but for the next six weeks i'm sure gonna try.  same with the sweets.  and going to bed by midnight every night?  yeah right.  but doing little challenges like this keeps life interesting & keeps me motivated to push myself that much harder.

and who knows, by the end i may even like push ups.

yup.  i did my 30 push ups today outside on the back deck.  i'm 5/5 so far three days & counting!  i'm gonna win dem monies.

and one more thing that motivates me?

music.  BIG TIME.  i may be dragging all day long & the second i turn on my workout playlist i get antsy to get outside & hit the pavement.  i'm convinced i have some of the best songs to run to ever.  EVER.  wanna talk running songs?  hit up my facebook page & let's swap.

i've even increased my pace significantly by a little music-inspired trick.  i jog the verses & then sprint the choruses.  then when the chorus is over, it's back to an easy jog for recovery.  and?  i don't let myself check how far i've run on my gps during a song... only at the end.  that way i'm only looking every five minutes or so & the miles just roll on by.

so what motivates you?  what "games" do you play with yourself on your runs or during your workouts?  what goals have you set for yourself & what do you do as a reward for achieving them?

i'd love to hear it all.

{linking up with the domestic wannabe's "move it monday"}

click to vote.  now step away from the computer & get moving!

wordless{ish} wednesday: nightmares in teething.

the last couple days have been a little hard for parker.  we suspect some serious molar activity is to blame.  he's cut four molars in the last couple weeks which he took like a champ, but now we notice some more gum swelling, he's super sensitive to anything he has to chew & he's been living on squeezy pouches, yogurt, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, string cheese & soft pastas.  they're the only things he won't fling across the room.  poor little guy.

so on days like this,

...we look back fondly at days like this:

...and count the hours until the horrible teething monster gives me back my happy little boy.

molars blow.

what worked for your kiddos through the teething days?  he seems to like ice cubes in those little mesh feeder things & we give him doses of tylenol when he has a fever.  i've never tried any teething tablets {weren't they all recalled??} or teething biscuits.

it's gotta be AWFUL having those things come up through your gums... they just sit there for days in puffy swollen gums, & then when they cut they're like little razorblades shearing their way through his pink skin!

argh, the horror.

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemon, the paper mama, & a little king & i}

vote?  maybe it'll ease parker's pain?  probably not, but it's worth a try.

a call for sponsors in september!

that's right folks.

september is my & sam-bone's birthday month, so it's bound to be awesome.  wanna be a part of the celebrating?  let me host a giveaway for your shop!  or how about having your shop or blog be featured amidst all the p-ray cuteness, pinterest craftiness {so much more of this to come!} & health & fitness... -ess.  yeah?

you should.  you totally should.  here's what ya do:

1.  pick out your ad size:

2.  email me to reserve your spot:

3.  send me your ad to display.  don't have one or need it resized?  no worries, i can help ya out.
4.  wait for september to roll around so you can see your pretty button & check out your pretty face featured in my posts!

i look forward to working with you and getting your shop/blog/website/facebook page more traffic.  let's do this.

how about a way to support us that you can do right now?  click twice to vote.  you're my fave.

stickin' it to pinterest - vol. 1

so if you follow me on facebook, you may have caught my little bout of pinterest anxiety the other night.  i can waste time on that site with the best of them & after a while it makes me anxious.  why?  so so many projects/recipes/outfits/diy crafts/home decor ideas/kids games/blah blah blahs that i LOVE, but i may or may not ever look to pinterest again when it comes time to use them in the future.  ya know?

in short, it fills me up with inspiration & then i hear this little voice saying, "hey, you just spent all kinds of time looking at random things on my site.  are you ever gonna do anything with all of this?"

actually yes i am, stupid belittling pinterest-voice.  i am.

so here's how this is gonna go down.  every now & then i'm gonna do a pinterest-inspired post.  it may be a recipe, a craft, or my interpretation of an outfit i pinned.

this is me stickin' it to pinterest.

i picked this project because i really just wanted to improve my sewing skills.  sewing triangles to a ribbon seemed easy enough & the reading nook in p-rays room needed a little somethin-somethin.  win win.

here are sites i had pinned for inspiration:  this.  this.
and here's the tutorial i {semi} followed:  tutorial here.

but honestly?  i pretty much made it up as i went along.  here's what i did & how you can do it too.

parker was such a trooper in the fabric store.  it is SO hard for me to decide on fabrics... there are just so many!  i'm like a kid in a candy store.

i bought half a yard of each color, which was way more than i needed.  if i was to do it over, i'd just use the little scraps for a buck or so each & do way more colors.  like, a couple different orange patterns, a couple different blues, etc.

i experimented with different pattern sizes until i liked the way the triangles looked.  i think my final ones ended up being 5.5" across the top & 6" down the sides.  like the tutorial, i chose to have a raw edge on my flags rather than finished.  i like the look of it, & it's way easier.

so you cut out all your triangles, stick them back to back {"wrong" sides together} and sew down the sides.  i left the tops open since they'd get shut when sewing the ribbon on top.

i measured out my ribbon to the length i wanted & then started laying out my flags.  you can experiment with spacing & color patterns.  you're the boss of you.

then i folded my ribbon down the horizontal line & ironed it so it'd stay folded over nicely for pinning & sewing.  wanna know a secret?  sam helped me hold down the ribbon so i could iron it, but he probably wouldn't want you to know he helped.  so don't tell anyone.

i only pinned about four or five flags on at a time & then went & sewed them on just so it didn't get too crazy keeping it all together.  again, personal choice.

after you've sewn all the flags on you can sew up your ribbon ends & celebrate!  because you're done.  easy peasy.

ok, actually this wasn't suuuuuper easy for me since it was my first time sewing all on my own.  but it was a huge learning experience.  i got way better by the end & i even had to do all kinds of crazy things like re-thread my machine on the top & the bottom.  AND, i even had to wind up my bobbin!  i used youtube tutorials for help with that.

i feel like an old pro.

so here it is in p-ray's room.  it was really hard to get a good picture of it so you could catch the "essence" of what it looks like.  if you want to see more of his room, check out his nursery tour here.

{bookshelves stolen from here}

and yeah, those bookshelves are totally photo-shopped in.  they'll be added soon & it will complete his little reading nook!  this is where he gets stories read to him in his great-grandma opal's rocker before naps & bedtime.

so yeah.  i think my first pinterest-ing project was a success!  take that, pinterest.

wanna feel successful?  just click twice to vote.  you'll succeed every time.

our week by iPhone - week 40

this is gonna be short & sweet friends.  i'm coming at ya at 11:30pm on friday night & sam & i have just spent the majority of our night online shopping the cost of local meat & laughing at weird things on pinterest.  be jealous.  but now i'm exhausted & i have a little boy who's been fighting a fever the last two days & may or may not wake up at 5:30 tomorrow morning... again.

so let's recap this last week.  it was a good one.

monday was spent playing with cow figures in the sawdust after stroller strides, eating delicious healthy lunches, & reading books with sam before bed.

sidenote: am i alone in my love for sprouts on sandwiches?  they may be one of my top five favorite sandwich things.  and when it comes to sandwiches?  that's a list that means something.

tuesday morning we got our workout on & parker hung out with the big kids on the playground.

then he woke up super giggly & giddy from his nap & was mr. enthusiastic at trader joe's.  he gets really excited about good deals on fresh produce.

and apparently he reaalllly liked his bath.  i have no answers for this.  your guess is as good as mine.

wednesday parker hung out with his fun baby-sitter while i went to work & tried to look professional in a red hoodie.  is that even possible?  a quick lunch-time pedicure was a much needed picker-upper on a blah day.

and so was a family trip to the park where p-ray pushed around his stroller, dug in the dirt with a stick, & played some b-ball with sam.

thursday.  this is me looking very happy.  parker slept in until 9 o'clock thursday morning!  everyone jump for joy.  later we hit up the craft store to pick out some fabric for a little pinterest-inspired decoration to go in parker's room.  who's that putting their pinterest pins to work?  it's me.  it's me!

thursday night was spent bbq-ing with friends {clearly parker was a hit with the ladies} & hanging out on the floor with sam.

friday.  parker woke up with aforementioned fever quite early & i bought some additional lazy time for myself by bribing him with 'toons.  despite said fever, we got out & hit up stroller strides & the farmer's market with friends... where i paid an arm & a leg for pork roast but can rest assured that pig led a happy grassy field filled life before his tasty pulled-pork-self resides in my belly.

then sam came home & parker celebrated by watching at least four videos of himself on the iPhone.  it's kind of his favorite thing.  friday night was spent having dinner at chipotle {for the first time!} & dessert at fro-yo.

it really doesn't get much better than that.  seriously.

that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=103285" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:



thanks for your votes!  keep 'em comin' friends!

there better be pizza in heaven.

because if not?  i might have to reconsider being as good as i've been being.  cause i've been being pretty good.

i could probably eat pizza everyday.  i may have to mix up the varieties, but i could probably eat a pizza in some form on any given day & be a happy camper.  but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that pizza is generally not the calorie-counter-health-nut-wannabe's best friend.  at least, not most pizzas.  but it CAN be.  and it could be.  and in my mind, it is.

we've made personal pizzas many times using pita bread & it's always delicious.  but i needed more.  i needed a real crust & real bread to bite my teeth into & maybe even just the feeling of accomplishment from saying i've made a pizza from scratch.  so i did.

behold, my first homemade pizza.  it started with a blob of dough.

ok, i cheated.  sue me.  i bought pre-made dough from trader joe's for $1.29.  really though?  why would i want to make my own when i can see that their's consists of like three ingredients that i recognize & it is {pretty much} all ready to go straight out of the package?  i'd be wasting everybody's time if i didn't.

now this is where i get mad.  i took all sorts of pizza-making-pictures that were gonna look really cool all side by side.  a picture with each layer of food that i layered.  but somehow, my computer decided to delete them.  we've been having computer issues & i don't wanna talk about it.

but you can probably imagine what happened between these two pictures right?  lots of food layering, some bite sneaking taste testing, & some baking,

this pizza's ingredients:  trader joe's whole wheat pizza dough, trader joe's pizza sauce, mushrooms, sweet italian chicken sausage, greenish/yellowish peppers {i have no idea what that pepper is... sidestory: sam brought home a HUGE box of peppers that a co-worker gave him.  and he got them from some farm stand in yakima.  i know, it's random}, & cheese.  pretty basic.  but i do love me a sausage & mushroom pizza... so, so much.

it was freaking delicious.  and the amount of flour that i got all over myself while rolling out the dough made me feel super domestic & i looked totally legit.  so i will probably never attempt to make my own dough as long as i live.  you had me at $1.29, trader joe's.

so this is now becoming a regular thing.  and i need suggestions for topping combos to keep the fellas on their toes.  i really wanna try a chicken sausage/ricotta cheese pizza.  and i might just lick the ricotta off the top of the pizza... that's allowed when you made it, right?

send me your pizza expertise people!

this pizza was parker approved.  you can tell because if you look really close, you can see the sauce he's saving for later above his lip.  and maybe all over his shirt too.

votes are also parker approved.  always.

wordless{ish} wednesday: busted.

clearly parker wanted to read without being disturbed.  but i thought i could still maybe sneak in a few pictures...

guess i was wrong.

so sorry to interrupt!

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemon, the paper mama, & a little king & i}

maybe parker will forgive me if you click twice to vote?  probably.