Pictures

Bobby and I took the boys to get there pictures taken yesterday. It was our second attempt. Our first attempt was a disaster, and resulted in zero pictures. I was preparing for the same outcome this time around, but we got better results. Andrew the photographer, would not give up. He stayed positive and made the boys feel welcome and happy. I did not get all the shots I wanted but He did get some really adorable shots that captured my kids personalities to a tee. He was a little discouraged when he only got 26 shots to choose from but we sat down any way and this is what I got.

Benjamin's Profile

I love this one. He sits just like that when we are playing. My sister Pea sits that way as well.

This is my Jacob. This picture is his personality. He would not keep his tongue in his mouth.

I could not, not get this one.

This is the only shot we got of them together, with hands out of the mouths and looking forward.

Anyone Know?

Whenever I add anything to my side bar it does not fit. The Christmas one there now is the olny one that has even come close. Does any one know how to fix this? HELP!!!

I Am A Child Of God

So for weeks, well since he was born, but more recently weeks, I have been teaching Benjamin I Am A Child Of G0d. The primary chorister wants the nursery kids to join them in the primary program to sing this song. Benjamin does not have the best attention span, or so I thought. Every time we would start to sing it he would stop somewhere in the middle and just change the subject, or want to sing a different song. I was kinda loosing hope that he was going to sing it. But today I was swinging my boys outside and he started to sing it without any cue. He sang the whole thing. I started to cry, I was so proud. Obviously he has been paying attention. He also ask me today if Nephi was the one who built the boat. I feel like I am doing ok now. I feel like on a day to day basis my kids are not learning anything about the gospel. I know that they know who Heavenly Father is and that every night they want to say prayers. But I was feeling like nothing else was sticking with them.

So any of you out there that are having the same experiences, on day out of nowhere your child will surprise you and let you know they get it. Do not get discouraged.

Be Who You Have Always Wanted To Be

President Uchtdorf's talk in the General Relief Society Conference really hit home for me. I was not going to go to the meeting. The UNLV vs. UNR football game was the same night. For those of you who do not know, UNLV and UNR are huge rivals. Every year we fight for the cannon. Whoever wins the game get to keep an actual cannon on there campus until they either win to keep it or loose it. UNLV has not won in forever but this year they are blowing any previous records out of the water and it is only the beginning of the season. They are playing better than ever. We actually had a chance to win this one and get the cannon back. Well as it goes Bobby was ask to go on a Scout camp out that weekend. I did not want to go alone. So the game was off. No biggie. He thought that he would be home Sat. by 5 so I made plans to go tot he broadcast. Only then I found out that the camp out was not even scheduled to be done til 7 sat. night and its a +- 2 hour drive home. So plans canceled. Or, so i thought. My father-in-law called me when he found out and told me that he would watch the boys for me so I could still go. Now any other night this would have been just another nice offer, but hello UNLV game night. My father-in-law is a huge football fan as well and has all the packages available with cable to see any game at any time. He also has a six-in six picture, which means that he can watch six games at once. I told him that I did not want him to have to miss out on the game. He said the sweetest thing next, and I quote "The game is no big deal, I want you to go, bring the boys over and I will not let you say no." Well what could I say other than be there around 430.

So I got to go. I went with my mother-in-law , Kathy and two sister-in-laws, Kristel, and Kari. (For those that put that together yes, our girls include, Kathy, Kristel, Cristen, and Kari, crazy, i know) To make this night even better Kristel is not a member but wanted to come tag along. Cool part coming later. To top that off we ended up going to Kari's stake and it the same steak my Aunt Dawn and her daughter Megan are in so we all got to sit together. My mom was up with my Grandma, I did not leave her out.

So we all sat and talked until the broadcast started. Kristel had a few questions and we answered and filled her in on who that speakers were, and there "jobs". As I sat there I few things hit home as the Relief Society General Presidency gave there talks. I absolutely loved Sister Barbara Thompson's enthusiasm. She just made me smile.

But I have to say that president Uchtdorf's talk is the one that made me sit up and fill guilty for even thinking about not being there. He is truly a man of God. There is no doubting that he prepared and was instructed by the Lord on what to talk on. I have had the "I feel like I am just not doing enough" conversation with almost every women I know in the church. And all very recent conversations. Relief Society has always been an easy joke, in church meeting, talks, and even the movies made about the church. We tend to go a little overboard. We try so hard to make everything perfect. We want everyone to be touched by what is said, sung and heard. And no matter how wonderful everyone else may think the meeting or activity went, those who were on the committee, or those who gave the talks, always think back and wonder about what they could have changed. I do it all the time. Whenever I have talked in church I go home thinking, oh man, if only I had done this, or said that. I leave Nursery every week thinking about how it can be better next week, and then continuing that thought to , I know someone else could do better.

What makes this all the more crazy, is I do a pretty dang good job. When I really look back I have seven or so kids that remember what they were taught week to week. I have kids that remember the songs that the learned. They are all happy when they go home and happy to come back.

I am prepared and sometimes go to extreme measures to help the kids learn and remember. I think I am pretty fun and I have fun with the kids. I do not get stressed out if one of them feels like walking around instead of eating snack or participating in singing time. I try to include them as best I can and hope that it all goes well. Every week presents a new challenge that I love to solve. I do mess up but from now on I ma going to take it and learn. No more lingering thoughts about ,, "if only I could go back and do it over" That ends today, or should I say ended Saturday night.

I urge all of you to take his message to heart and really think about your individual creativity. Make yourself better on a daily basis. Feed your EGO. And no comparing yourself to anyone else. You are special and our Heavenly Father made you just the way you are. You can accomplish anything you want. Be who you have always wanted to be, but were to afraid to be.


For those of you who are interested UNLV lost, well they got killed by UNR. Game was a bust and I made the right choice.

Back To School, To Get Some Knowledge

I have had nothing really to blog about lately. My life has been HO-HUM lately. Everything is pretty much the same. Except that.... I get to go back to school.

I am so excited. I am going to go back to get my Dental Hygienist degree, which if I had been on the ball before I got married I would have had it already. But hey can't live in the past you have to just Keep Moving Forward.

It is a two year program but, it will take me about two and a half. I am not going to take a full load each semester, but I can do all the easy stuff online. Now it is Bobby's turn to do my homework for me. I have to take two English classes that I am nervous about, and thats where Bobby comes in. But the pre-calculus and biology classes I am looking forward to. I have a sister-in-law here in Vegas that is a nurse and has very recently taken a lot of the science classes I have to take and has told me she will help me study and give me quizzes.

I love school and learning new things, and I am excited that there is a way for me to continue my education and be a mom. I am not going to start until the spring. So I have time to get my schedule together and work with Bobby so that the kids are always with one of us.

I also have to tell you that I have the coolest husband in the world. He has known that I have wanted to go back and He is just as excited for me. I know that he will be so supportive and help make this as easy as possible for me and our boys.

Nursery, Nursery, Nursery!

I mentioned awhile ago that I am now the Nursery Leader in our new ward. My job includes, being in charge of our schedule. You see we have eight Sisters not including me, who rotate weeks. This gives all the Sisters an chance to attend Relief Society and Sunday school twice a month. It also keeps us from getting burned out. I have not yet grasped the idea yet though. I love being in the nursery and I would not want to be anywhere else. I think that the kids need some stability and some routine and I think that it is important for them to have a familiar face every week. I can not leave without Jacob crying historically so I have decided to just be the one who is always there. The problem is convincing the other sisters I serve with to let me do this. I have been there for six weeks straight, and although it has not always been easy, I have loved every minute and I do not see myself getting burned out any time soon. I think that as long as I continue to study and pray on behalf on me and the kids I will be able to handle it. We only have eight kids for goodness sakes. Eight good kids for that matter. I guess the problem that the sisters have is that most of them have kids in nursery and they feel that Sunday is there day off. Well the three hours of church anyway, and how dare them have to serve the kids while they are there. I can not get over it. On top of being in charge of the schedule I have to meet with all the Sisters and give them the schedule. Make sure they are ok with it, and then listen as they try to get out of some of the weeks. The craziest part is the most of them only have to be there for one hour. We have so many that I have split it up so that I am there the whole two hours and the other sisters rotate between being there with me the whole time and coming in for the first or second hour. On top of that the Nursery Leader that was in before me, wonderful person by the way, made the schedule so that each week some one different was in charge of welcoming the kids, setting up snacks , and giving the lesson. We also have a great music leader who comes in for about 15-20 mins. and takes over. I do not want to complain anymore, but my goodness, does anyone else see the problem or am I just being a baby. Help me out.

On another note, we just received a new manual from the Church Leaders that is awesome. It is called Behold Your Little Ones and we were given a letter with it to tell everyone with children that it is a great resource to have in the home. I am so excited to teach it, and have the kids enjoy it. Thanks for listening to me grumble.

I Owe It All to " Welcome to Mooseport"

Bobby and I have been married for 4 years today and I thought I would tell the story of how we ended up together and how he proposed.

As some of you know Bobby and I met in High School. We dated for about 4 months and broke up but remained pretty good friends. When he left on his mission I wrote him and was excited to have him come home. We started hanging our when he got back home but did not start really dating for about a year after he returned. While we were dating each other we were still seeing other people as well. He was always the one I wanted to end up with and I was very patient waiting for him to fell the same way. well there came a point in time when I was done waiting. I knew he felt the same way about me that I felt about him but he was still running from it. Typical guy right.

I told him I was done waiting and the easiest thing for me to do was just make a clean break and not see him anymore. But, of course it was not that easy. We had a class together at school with a friend of ours, Chad, not his real name but he plays a part in the story. Chad and I had the class together and then met Bobby at the lab attached to the class after. We all sat together and it got awkward after the fight between Bobby and I but we were all civil and still had a good time. During this period of no Bobby Chad and I became closer friends. He was there for me and listened. He was an amazing friend, but he was not Bobby. I knew that if Bobby asked me and we could work everything out, I would go back to him in a heartbeat.

About 1 month of Bobby asked me if we could be friends again. That he knew why I felt like I had to leave, but he missed me and wanted me back in his life. I told him yes and we started hanging out again but only as friends, and on February 27, 2004 everything changed. We along with Chad, and Bobby's parents, went to see Welcome To Mooseport, a great movie that I highly recommend. For those of you who have not seen it, it is about a guy played by Ray Ramono who has been with his girlfriend for years and has not stepped up and asked her to marry him. She wants to marry him but is not willing to wait for him to be ready anymore and so When the ex-President of the United States moves back to Mooseport, she decides to let him take her out. So here is Mr. Ramono watching his girl slip away and into the arms of another man who treats her the way that she deserves and he realizes that she is worth fighting for, and no matter what she tells him, and how many times she tells him to go away, he is going to fight for her until he wins. So here we all were watching this movie. Me in the middle of Bobby and Chad wathcing a movie loosely based on the past couple of weeks of my life. I am sitting there hoping that Bobby is getting the message while I am watching this love story unfold on screen. I even go as far to say a prayer that he will get it.

Well he did and not long after that we were dating again, this time it was serious and we were on our way to marriage. Little did I know it was closer than I thought. You see while Bobby and I were not talking He had a lot of time to think about what caused him to act the way he did. He was afraid. He had lost his job, because he broke his foot and it put all his plans on hold. He could not support me any more. So in turn he felt like he had to keep me at arms length so I would not expect anything right away. As a result I thought that a proposal was only going to come after he had a job. So I was once again waiting but this time I knew what was going to come. And I had never felt more loved.

On May 19, 2004 Bobby called and asked me if I wanted to go out to eat with some of our friends and then go hang out with them. He came to pick me up and we went to eat. We went out with Andrea and Prasith, they were newly married and were so fun to be with. The whole night the conversation revolved around when Bobby and I were going to make it official. Bobby quickly changed the subject and we moved on. After dinner we went to see Nick, another freind of ours who had just gotten engaged. As we were sitting at his house, Andrea and I were talking on the couch and the boys were having a different conversation at the table. I overheard Nick say that Bobby was now the last to get engaged and when that was going to be. I kept listening hoping to get a clue, but Bobby just said "No, we still have James, and he is not even close." There went any hope for a wedding in the near future. We had a great night and left our friends and Bobby started back to my house. It was still early though and my curfew(yes I was 23 but still at home, and I love my mom) was 12. I decided that it might be fun to drive up and around the lake and just hang out a little longer. Bobby just smiled and agreed. We ended up parking and getting out at the lake overlook. We sat on the wall there and talked for awhile, then it started. Bobby turned to me and said, and I quote " Cristen, what do you want out of this relationship?" I gasped and said "you know, what I want, we have been over this tons of time." I got defensive because he asked me this at least once a week and it was very clear how I felt. He ignored my frustration and just looked me right int he eyes and said "I know but what do you really want out of this" now having asked me this as I mentioned about a hundred times already he knew what my response would be and I did not disappoint. I looked him straight back in the eyes and stood up to stand and face him, to make sure he really understood and said " All I want is to be with you forever." He took his hand from behind me and said " I guess you will need one of these then." He held up a box, with a ring in it. And I started laughing. Yes you read that right, I laughed. I could not believe this was happening. I was truly shocked and all I could do was laugh. I felt so bad when I looked and saw terror on his face and tried to compose myself. I apologized for laughing, told him I was just shocked. He then said "Cristen Pender, will you marry me" and I started laughing again. I put my hands on his face kissed him and yelled yes. All the while I was still laughing. I reassured him that the laughing was out of my control and that it was just the total shock that was laughing. Needless to say I was ecstatic and we were married 4 months later. He is my best friend and I love him to pieces. I can not imagine myself with anyone better. He is a great father and a superb husband.