Liza has had the unique opportunity of joining Papa and Abba on some of their trips around the country.  A few weeks ago, they took her to St. Louis where they went to the top of the arch, took a riverboat cruise, and learned about Lewis and Clark. Especially for Liza, they then trained to Chicago, where the American Girl store was a must, along with great sight-seeing and food-eating! Liza loves seeing new cities, but I think that the best part of the trips for her is having her grandparents' full attention for so many days.....all to herself! They really focus on her; Kevin and I appreciate that gift to Liza more than anything else that comes from their trips together. She loves the attention and they love having her with them! 

Namesakes

Dan Christensen and Dane Christensen Tolton tear up the driveway on Dan's (aka Papa's) new John Deere - one of Dane's favorite pastimes for sure. The objective is to make it (yes, Dane is steering) all the way to the bottom of the long driveway, where they stop, tie an empty garbage can to the back of the tractor, and tow it all the way back up the driveway! There are always about the right number of garbage cans as there are kids awaiting rides, so everyone gets a turn with Papa. 

Wherever Dane is, there is a party; he is usually either laughing or being funny himself and is a total light.  His dark side: he is drawn to anything adrenalin-oid. His latest passion is to scare any onlooking adult to death with his fish-like ability to hold his breath and dive underwater. His average dive is about 10 seconds - long enough to have me on the edge of my seat every time....but he always comes up smiling holding as many dive rings as his little hands can manage! Trampoline jumping, and cruising on his tricycle are some of his other favorite energetic activities. 

When it is time to calm down, he loves a good book or to navigate around the "Starfall" website that Papa showed him which teaches phonics. He and Jonah have surprised us several times by sounding out/reading words, something you'd think that Kevin and I would be eager to take credit for but NO it is Starfall. We love to hear his huge thoughts, always expressed and punctuated with lots of hand motions and squinty eyebrows - how can you not listen to this guy !?! His new word is "actually"; I love it. He and Jonah like to play daddy and baby; Dane is usually the baby, so he crawls around making funny noises and asking his "daddy" to hold him. He does love to be held - by any of us and getting to snuggle with any of the kids is some of the sweetest time of each day. 

Brags

Every child has his strengths and weak nesses; one of Baby Will's primary strengths has been his ability to speak since he was a tiny wee minky. From the beginning, he picked up on, internalized and then repeated every subtlety of speech. It wasn't "ball". It was "It's a ball".  It wasn't "water". It was "I want a drink of water please." He's been a full-sentence kind of guy since about 9 months old. At 16 months he was singing the entire alphabet song, and now at 21 months, we have the joy of just conversing with him and it's hilarious! Talking to a baby! Who knew? (Should "blogs" be called "brags"??)  BUT..... the ability to express all of one's two-year-old angst about life isn't always such a great thing. SO much about the world, he straight out disagrees with and he let's us know. For instance, last week in the car I said to him, "Will, look out your window - it's raining!" He came back with "NO! It's NOT RAINING!" Just go with it, buddy. Don't fight it. It's weather.....Or "Here's your chicken noodle soup, baby" is retorted with "NO! It's not chicken noodle soup! IT'S NOODLES!" Notice the volume, the passion, the conviction. This kid has the world DOWN at 21 months. It's probably a good thing that his older brothers have taught him to hold his own physically, because if he keeps up the verbal spats, he will definitely have to defend himself a few times. He is an absolute gem; this short post doesn't at all illustrate his quiet, sweet, shy side.......I guess I just introduced him with the Brags......it's a mom thing.

Jonah has, as always, been a delight the past few months. He has always been so serene and easy-going, and we are just now starting to see his very energetic, hilarious spunky side! He dances, sings, laughs a loud belly laugh and speaks his mind in a way that he used to be more quiet about. It is great! He is really getting a grasp on expressing himself and we are loving his spunk! His baseline is still very calm, and his motive is still peace. Lately when he accidentally hurts one of his brothers, he will cry and say, "I am a good brother. I am a good boy." It is sooo heart-wrenching and so cute at the same time. It is reflective of what we tell him when he intentionally fights/hurts someone (not very often) which is: Jonah, that is not like you. You are a good boy. You are a great kid.  It's nice that that message is getting through! He really is! Lately, he loves bug-catching, playing baseball, Superman jumping (on to mattresses), playing house (he plays Baby Dane's extremely nurturing daddy) and anything that involves painting. He is very verbal and communicative about things that he is thinking, and often surprises me with his extensive vocabulary and ability to use it. His heart is the size of Texas; last week he caught me crying over something and immediately tears welled up in his eyes. His strength combined with his sensitivity is a rare combo, and we cherish his uniqueness. Today after swimming lessons from Miss Drea, she gave him a thumbs up, which he studied and studied and then made his best thumps up attempt possible to return to her. So cute. 

More stylish HappyMe Headbands from the creative mind and able hands of Liza!

Liza got to hold all kinds of slimy scaley reptiles at Cousin Justice's 5th birthday party last week! Here she is seen wearing a headband that she created as part of her new company, HappyMe Headbands. Each one says a word on it. This one says LOVE.....love the snake..???

This post is the result of a major decision for me.....to blog or not to blog; that was the question......you see, to not post would be to let our blog die, but to post after 6 months of silence would be to re-awaken my blogging zest and re-commit myself to keeping current.  After much debate, and a dare from a friend, I chose the latter, and would like to say Welcome Back to My Life, Blog.  Facebook is fun and all, but it serves no purpose in memorializing the beautiful family we have been given and in the big picture, is often wasted time. 

Where to pick up? Let's start at the top: Liza......beautiful Liza. In January, she was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We have talked quite a bit since then about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and what that can now mean to her; it is amazing that at SUCH a young age these days, kids are barraged with all kinds of media, and using good judgment and the Holy Ghost to steer oneself toward or away from the songs and shows that are out there is totally key. 

This week, Liza was signed up for a summer hiphop dance camp at a local Bountiful studio. The first day went well, but the second day, she came home telling me that she was uncomfortable with her tattooed teacher and the rap music (it even swore) that she was playing for the kids to dance to. She felt uneasy enough that she told me she would prefer to skip the last 2 days of class and avoid that scene all together. I told her that I trust her sense and admire her ability to use her judgement to remove herself from situations that she doesn't feel right about. We called the studio, and they offered to let her take another course instead of hip/hop. It worked out beautifully and it was great to see Liza recognizing that unsettled feeling and then acting on it. Tolerance and perspective will come in time, but for Liza, who is learning discernment, and (as most children do) sees things as very black and white, I just want to give her that confidence that she can trust her gut. In time, she will learn that people who have made different choices than she has aren't necessarily wrong or bad to be around, but that will all be built upon (hopefully) a foundation of trust in her own discernment. Go Liza Go!