fun times

With the cooler temps comes the bitter sweet good bye to summer (fall just wasn't there ) It's exciting because this brings about Cael's first Thanksgiving which we get to spend in Monticello. Yay for a break from big city! so much to squeeze in but the year is almost over. November 8th we found out we are expecting or second child sometime in June. Thanksgiving with my family is great then there's the scout auction to go too. Then Christmas with Ben's family not sure what to expect with Cael but it should be a blast. December Brings Trae up north to live with us for a bit since his job has fizzled out here and he needs a change of scenery. Still not sure what we are going to do for Cael's first birthday but It should be fun none the less. It's not the longest writing but I will get better.

what next?

So it's been awhile and we have done many things. lol June was an awesome vacation to aspen grove, July was party at great grandma Christensen's for fireworks and food. August brought about trials the jeep didn't want to stay going. Sept brought about the death of the jeep it is now being setup for parts. That's a sad day because now we can not sell the truck til we find something else. We have had many blessings many of them hidden and others very open we are so grateful for each and everyone. We are a couple of steps closer to getting a house but we have know idea how many more steps til we are completely there But we are enjoying ourselves for the mean time. Unfortunately we had to cancel our trip to North Carolina because of funds but we hope to sometime. Our whole family is ready for the cooler temps so we can be out of doors more. Plus I just love autumn and Halloween followed by thanksgiving and the time of remembrance and the service projects. But I don't think we are quite ready for the snow to fly just yet. It's short but we've updated a little bit. With love the Christensen's

When you live your life right.

So i had the chance to sit and think about all of the blessings that Tina and i have received over the last year and the list is getting truly long. first of all we have a very beautiful baby boy who sleeps through the night from day 1, and who is healthy with no problems. there is also how everything worked out to get us moved down to cello and have jobs that begin and end in ways that help us make ends meet. like for instance when i was working for northern electric and got laid off i first thought that it was a major jip, but later we found out that we wouldn't have qualified for Medicaid if i was still working there and cael would have bankrupt us. then i get a job at the tire shop a short while later. its things like that that prove there is a god looking out for us.

Dont get me wrong, life hasn't been peaches and cream. we have had our up's and our down's, but we dont need to get into those today. so since Tina and i decided to do everything with our credit things started to happen in a very happy way. first in my first few weeks of working for the tire shop my boss got sick of his boat, the floor was cracked, it has no seats, and the transom (back of the boat that holds the motor) is falling apart. so he gave it to me... i can sell the running motor alone for 500-600 dollars, but Tina decided that she likes the idea of a sun bathing deck. so that got me into fixing it up, i started repairing the cracked deck and the transom. after that it can be put into the water. then i just need to install a driver's position and its a good 23 foot 105HP fishing boat (sweet lovely overkill)

After that we decided that we didn't want to pay for the truck anymore so we started looking at other cars and came across a 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee for 800 dollars. We offered full price and he agreed and we planed a meet. Well when he was heading out to meet my dad the brakes failed on him. nothing bad happened as a result but he dropped the price to 500 to compensate for me to repair it. it cost me 23 dollars to fix it! and it has not had a single problem since. now were looking at doing a 4 inch lift to the bugger and doing some bigger tires.

Now i have a new toy to tinker around with. Dad on Tina's side sold me one of his motorcycles for 100 bucks! i was shocked. but im now having fun getting this thing up and going.

well thats all for now folks!
with love the Christensen's

Life Moving Forward

Well we now have to frame on the Heep pulled back into shape. and we are going to get him registered today. all the electrical gremlins are dead. now theres one living in the fuel system... but its an easy fix and i think i can live with it for now, besides we OWN it, like not a drop of debt with that car.

so now were planning on lifting it and locking the rear end, then the only other thing it "needs" is the rear shocks relocated to in front of the broken part of the frame. all in all were looking at around 6 or 7 hundred dollars. then its only 350 for a set of 31's and were set to take that Jeep... i mean Heep anywhere we would ever want to take it.

Now to the good stuff. Cael is now 16 and a half pounds HE IS A BIG BABY, still on top of the growth chart. and he is starting to support himself. the WIC people are saying that we can start trying him on "foods" (I use that term very loosely) but were very happy with him. Tina likes taking him on walks or out to play in the grass. but the funnest thing is watching him scoot around the room on his back... i thought for sure he would start crawling as his first form of movement. OH HAPPY DAYS!!

With love, The Christensen

fixing the HEEP

So we bought a 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee last weekend and are now looking at what it needs to be a good car for us. first of all i would like to say that it is no longer being refereed to as a jeep. it is the Heep. at least till it is in a satisfactory condition that i feel safe enough to have Cael and my wife ride in it.

So i had the chance to work on Heep this morning and the entire carpeting is going to be torn out, its all nasty. and my lovely wife says "lets just rhino liner it!!!" goodness i love her, the other thing she says about it is that the front and rear plastic bumpers are not allowed back on the Heep EVER. instead ti will have a full plate metal bumper front and back

it also needs is the back end rebuilt, it looks like some Honda civic rear ended it or something but the rear frame is ruined. so were going to completely rebuild the whole thing. unistrut in the trunk area holding the rear end back in alignment. and then angle iron under it welded to the frame. then the whole frame is going to be plated in sheet metal. over kill? maybe but it will never cave in again.

after that i have to find and kill all the little electrical gremlins. like the security system needs replaced. and the door lights wont turn off. there are so many that its going to take a full day just to find them. but it should be a fun project.

Its fun being a dad

Well here we are 3 months into parenthood and so far no problems. I get the biggest kick out of playing with Cael and making him smile and giggle, so far he has developed some impressive head control and now tracks us around the room as we move around.

Tina and I are still living it up down here in Monticello. and i have been working at Sandstone Tire. let me tell you, this has to be the best job i have ever had. i mean i totaled out my bosses truck and he practicably celebrated, it was a sad day for him but that meant he could go out and buy a new work truck.

Tina is doing great after the pregnancy. she walked home after the hospital (i don't think i could have done that) and is now going on walk with Cael every time the weather permits. Tina your my hero!!!

With love Ben and Tina Christensen

talk i gave in church

I would like to start by saying how much I love my wife and am so happy that she said yes when I asked for her hand in marriage and help me start a family. I would also like to add that Tina and I in our entire marriage have never had a fight in any way, yes we have had a few disagreements but they have never became a fight or an argument. We can safely say that the main reason for this is that for everything that we disagree on we talk about and come to an understanding about.

My personal pet peeve is societies belief that fights between spouses is normal and should be expected. And this creates a new kind of problem, if your expecting to fight with your loved one then what do you think is going to happen when the first disagreements come round. Your going to have a fight, and for the stupidest reasons I might add. Tina and I have read the entire Book of Mormon and are now reading the bible, we have never read anywhere that fights and contention are good or should be allowed. Quite the opposite really. Our entire religion is based around love and harmony, as are many religions in this world. So why do so many people believe that this is normal? This could be a tool of the adversary in his attack on the family. So the next time someone gets married don't be the one that tells them to be ready for the fights because you could be the one setting them up for failure.

So as you probably noticed I decided to do my talk on communication between family members.

I personally feel that one of the only ways to keep your relationship strong and alive is to talk with your spouse, and I don't mean the hey honey how was your day talk. I mean a real talk, like you did when you were dating and trying to learn about the person that you want to spend the rest of your life with. This may seem like strange idea but its really quite easy. Your spouse may have many new stories for you. Or it may just be listening to your wife vent about something that happened between her mom or sisters (men here is a point of advice. If she had a bad day and wants to talk about it STOP WHAT YOUR DOING AND LISTEN, and do not try to fix it unless she asks for your help. She just wants to vent)

After a few years the person that you married can become a totally different person and you need to keep up on these things. Men you need to keep as well informed on your wifes as you do on your favorite football team or the latest new sports car. And women, men are simple creatures but we do like to be noticed and listened too, but we also notice more that we let on and we tend to be rather emotional inside. We just dont show it as well.

So we all like talking about our days, or something fun that happened at work, and this is good, But sometimes we need to just sit down and have a full on conversation, maybe you can even make a date night out of it and go to a nice dinner.

So what else does communication between spouses entail? Well theres lots of things, for starters we could sit down and talk about the budget. In this day and age money and debt seem to be the number one cause of divorce. So what can we do to fix this? We can start by telling each other about the things that we need to buy or have bought for that matter. This also goes along way in helping get out of debt. In our marriage if a certen item is not talked about and agreed upon it does not happen, now I know that there are a few things that just have to happen (gas for the truck, an emergency medical bill, or that box of deodorant that you just remembered that is needed) and in my experience if you tell your husband or wife about those when you get home there is no problem.

Another thing to point on is how men and women tend to do things that drive the other insane but how can we fix these things if we dont talk about them. If my truck has a leaky tire that I have to constantly fill back up im not going to ignore it and hope it goes away because these type of things just tend to get worse. Just like small things that annoy you in marriage. They have to get fixed before they become a big problem. And when your spouse comes to you and says they have a problem don't take offense. That will only lead to a fight. Instead just listen and try to fix it. Another thing to avoid is trying to point out one of there fault in return. Thats always a bad idea.