2014

2014 was quite the doozy for us, which is probably why I only blogged once the entire year. Whenever we look back on 2014, the only words we can think of to use is "roller coaster," because it truly was one. It was filled with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and I feel like I'm still trying to come up with the words to express everything that happened. But right now I'll do my best and share some pictures and experiences that summarize our 2014.



We started off the year by going to Disneyland with my in-laws over the New Year. It was way too crowded, especially when we had to bring a stroller, but we had so much fun!

When we got back from Disneyland, I sneaked into the Missionary Training Center to give my sister some birthday cookies.  One perk about working there for almost 5 years is that I can sneak past security whenever I want!

The first week of February we received a call from my mom that we needed to come home to see my step dad. He's really my step dad, but he has raised me from the time I was 7, so I consider him to be my dad. In November of 2013 he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He went through two unsuccessful rounds of chemo that made him very ill and he was constantly getting infections from the scopes and PICC lines that had to be performed and placed frequently. His only hope was a bone marrow transplant, but because of all the infections, he was never healthy enough for it to be an option, so almost 3 months shy of his diagnosis, my mom brought him home so he could be with his family. It was a bittersweet week of many tears & smiles, but I would not have traded it for anything. This picture is my dad with all of his grandchildren in the same room for the first time (plus some siblings & an aunt). He passed away on February 12, 2014. We miss him so much, but I am so grateful for his life and the example that he was to so many people. I consider myself so lucky to have been raised by him, and I know that I will be able to see him again.

When we returned from my dad's funeral, we decided that our lives weren't crazy enough, so we decided to buy a townhouse in Salt Lake County:

And I had strep the week we closed on our house, which was at the end of April. My saintly mother-in-law came to my rescue and watched Max while she packed up almost our whole house. We wouldn't have had any boxes to put in the moving truck if it wasn't for her!

In May we went to New York City with some friends and had the best time exploring the city & appearing in a Today Show segment with Suze Orman. We celebrated our 4 year anniversary & Mark's birthday while we were there. It was such a great trip and we find ourselves talking about NYC often and figuring out how & when we can go back!

In June I complete my first half marathon! I signed up for it back in February, and did my best to train for it. I never thought I would be a runner (and still don't consider myself a runner), but I came to like it! Running it was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done physically & mentally, but I told my dad that I would do it, so I couldn't back out. He was on my mind a lot as I ran down the canyon. 

In August I met up with my mom, sisters & aunt for a weekend in Vegas to celebrate my mom's birthday. We had a blast and I finally got to meet my nephew Jackson. We had so much fun that we've decided to make it a yearly tradition!

We also got some updated family pictures in August! (Thanks, Danielle!) It's about time!

In September we went back to Disneyland with my family. We had planned on originally going in May with my dad, but after he passed away, we decided that he would want us to all go, so September it was! We had a blast since it wasn't too crowded, and Max had recently discovered Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so he had the time of his life seeing Mickey Mouse everywhere! It was so cute! His favorite rides were anything that goes around and around, so I had fun sending Mark to do those ones with Max. He was in heaven!

Also in September we found out that I was pregnant with baby #2! Along with that, came the news at my appointment in October that I have hypothyroidism. A disorder that means that my thyroid is not making enough thyroid hormone. This is definitely something that I plan on expounding upon later, but it has been extremely eye opening and life changing for me. 

 Later in the year I decided to learn something new and put together a quilt. Learning to quilt had been sort of like jumping off the deep end, but I am learning a lot! I have the quilting done and now I just have to do the binding! It's definitely a "starter" quilt, as in it's pretty uneven & awful in a lot of places, but that's how you learn, right?

We ended the year off with finding out that we're having a little girl in May! We are really really grateful that she is healthy, and everything is okay. I was having the worst anxiety for a few months thinking that something was wrong (neurotic mom alert), but my fears have been calmed, and now I have to work on putting together a girl wardrobe and moving Max to an actual bed over the next few months! 

Phew! And with that I'm ready for a nap! I'm hoping to be a better blogger in this coming year. Many times I feel like I am just a boring old soul that no ones wants to listen to, but I'm working on carving out my own corner of the internet, and I hope that you'll stay along for the ride.

An Essay On Honesty, Weight and Change

Hi. My name is Allyson and I have a problem with my weight.

There. I said it. Admitting it is the first step, right?

For as long as I can remember I've always had goals focused on "losing weight" or "being healthy" or something along those lines. Growing up I was never athletic like some of my siblings and never did anything habitual to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Looking back, I think that my current health and lifestyle are suffering because of it and it's time to make a change and more importantly, admit that I have a problem.

My personal problem is laziness.  Oh boy, can I be lazy! Laziness is my inner demon and it has taken its toll on me for years and years. It had gotten to the point that it clouded my mental state and caused me to push my weight problem to the back of my mind. I told myself that I didn't have that big of a weight problem. I told myself that I just had a baby and I deserved to sit on the couch for a bit, eat that brownie, nap while the little one naps, and on...and on...and on.

Five years ago I wasn't this way.

I think back to five years ago and wonder what is so different between then and now that let me get so unhealthy and so overweight?

The answer is laziness.

Five years ago this past November I returned home from an 18 month full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy. During my mission, I didn't have the time to be lazy. Every minute of my day was planned out, including exercise first thing in the morning. Like I mentioned before, I hadn't been diligent with exercising or eating healthy before my mission, so I wasn't very intense at first with exercising when I arrived in Italy. That all changed when I was forced to lead an active lifestyle as a missionary...always on-the-go, and doing a lot of walking. I started exercising with more intensity and started feeling better about my body. After I had been in Italy for a year, I was transferred to a city where I traveled by bicycle instead of walking or riding a bus. At first I was terrified of the bike. Terrified of falling, getting hit by a car, running into pedestrians, etc. It was the worst experience at first. Covered in bruises, I would ask myself what the heck I was doing at the end of each day. It was painful to learn to ride a bike all over again, but after a few weeks I was amazed that I got the hang of it. I was even more amazed that I was starting to enjoy riding my bike! I was even more impressed with how much that bicycle whipped my body into the best shape it had ever been! I was working out more intensely each morning, and I felt great.

When I returned home from Italy I was in the best shape of my life. I continued to work out, jumping rope for 30 minutes without stopping, cycling, and going on the occasional run. I kept it up for a few months, but then my old friend laziness came crawling back into my life. Working out and eating healthy got pushed aside while laziness took its toll, and over the past five years it has become worse and worse.

So here we are. Or at least here I am. Five years later and I've gained back all the weight I lost in Italy and then some.

But now is the time for me to change. Enough is enough, and I'm blogging about this so that I can be more accountable to myself and be more consistent with making a lifestyle change that will last. In the past I never let those changes stick because I didn't share them with enough people. I felt like if I didn't tell anyone, it wasn't that big of a deal, and when I failed at something I was only accountable to myself, so I could just go back to being lazy and no one had to know. But I have finally realized that it's my health and it's a huge deal, so I am determined to succeed!

So here it is, out in the open. Me, committing myself to change my habits and become healthy this year. My goal is to lose 100 pounds. More than that, I want to gain back my confidence and the ability to combat laziness and lead a healthy lifestyle.

So please join me on this grand journey of mine. I know it won't be easy, but I know that it will be worth it.

As of Late...

Yikes. This whole time flying by thing is proving to be a real thing that is greatly affecting this here blog. It makes me sad, and I'm really really going to focus on keeping it up to date.

Things have been pretty crazy around here.  Not necessarily that we're constantly busy, but crazy in the fact that we live in a very transient state and it just feels like we get these crazy, itching, burning desires for change all the time. We talk about moving all the time, buying new furniture all the time, selling one of our cars all the time, etc., and it definitely makes life interesting, that's for sure! Speaking of change, our little Mr. Max is now 11 months old and is as busy as ever. I got a new phone yesterday and was moving my pictures from my phone onto my computer and I could not believe how much he has changed in just 11 months. It made me a little sad to relive his little newborn hiccups, but yet I get so much joy out of his current stage of fake-laughing at everything and trying to whistle. He is my favorite and I absolutely love discovering the world through his eyes. It is the raddest thing ever.

My husband is also pretty rad, as evidenced by his recent promotion at work.  He has been working so hard so that I can stay at home with Max, and I am nothing but grateful for that. We are so excited around here for new possibilities, but it also means that his current commute of 35 minutes one-way is more of a permanent thing. This is probably the reason why we talk about moving all the time, and now that Mark's promotion is permanent, I find myself looking a new digs with more of a purpose. If that translates to us digging out our moving boxes from under our bed in a couple of months, I'm not sure yet, but we will soon find out. And yes, the only things that are under our bed are moving boxes. When you've moved as often as we have, it's just easier to hold on to all those boxes!

And now for some photos!

I went to Arizona to visit my family, and while it was a long long time to be away from Mark, I'm glad that I was able to spend that time with family and watch Max interact with my parents. In light of recent family things that have happened in the last couple of weeks, I wouldn't trade that time with my family for anything.

My mom harvested this raw honey. And she'll probably never do it again, based on hearing her talk about how messy and time consuming it was.

We went on a bit of a celebratory road trip with our friends Bobby & Leigh. We celebrated promotions and my birthday, and it was so fun! Beatles Love was so rad, and while I'm sure there were many diseases in the bathroom underneath Serendipidy 3, I had to take a selfie and document my good hair day since they are few and far between.

And I also had to document the Caravan Shoppe craft night that Juliet & I attended. I made this little guy and we were sent home with a plethora of crafts to finish up! The ladies behind Caravan are the nicest and most generous ladies, and it was so fun to connect with them! I also hear that they are having a sale & giveaway if you follow them on Instagram (@caravanshoppe)!

That concludes the longest update ever. Now who's going to Bijou Market with me this weekend?

Downtown SLC Video Contest

Every year Downtown Salt Lake City hosts a video contest for their "I Am Downtown" campaign.  This year my talented husband teamed up with another talented co-worker to make a video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glNN1whi9ZM&sns=em

This is the link to their video...it's only 90 seconds long, and I guess the number of views counts towards determining the finalists, so please watch it and pass it along!

Thanks everyone!!

A Great Big Catch-up!

It seems that I've been a little {ahem} MIA for a while, but I'm going to get caught up and promise some new and exciting blog posts! Yay!

I think the main reason why I haven't posted in a while is because I think that I lead a pretty mundane life and all I have to talk about is my child. I don't want this to turn into a blog about Max, and while I think that would be an awesome thing, I don't think the general population would agree. 

But I digress. I'm here to vomit upon you a whole lotta iPhone photos, because, let's face it: by the time I go and grab my fancy-schmancy camera that super cute thing that Max has done has suddenly morphed into a whiney-cry-scream type of a thing because I've left the room. So that's why I mostly take pictures of Max with my phone. It's all about convenience.

I've digressed again. Let's talk about Max, shall we? He's now 6 months old, and, not to brag or anything, but he's pretty much the cutest baby out there, along with any other child of anyone else who blogs. True, no? But Max is really cute. And he has his bottom two front teeth, as pictured above! You might have to squint to see them, but they're there. Believe me. They feel like tiny daggers. He's had them for a few weeks now, and I'm so glad that they came quickly because he never. slept. while. they. came. in. Ugggg.

Max is a darling kid who loves to babble on and on all the time. A few nights ago he even laid his head on my shoulder and talked himself to sleep. He squeals at high pitched frequencies (especially during church), and repeats syllables. I'm really in denial about how quickly he is growing. It's maddening and I keep wondering who I talk to about slowing down or stopping time in general. It's moving too quickly!!

The first few times that I put Max in the swings this is what would happen. Cute, huh?

And this is my darling sister Keri, and my adorable nephew Tommy. We went to check out Provo's new rec center and went to J dawgs afterwards. Tommy is so cute with Max. He always kisses him on the head and says "muah" after he does it. Darling!

We went to Burger Bar in Roy when we were up north over the Memorial Day weekend. Gigantic burgers. Oh my.

We've also discovered Max's love for prunes and sweet potatoes. And momentary hatred for bananas. When he was trying to figure out how this whole "feeding solid foods" thing works, he wanted to do it himself, and it was hilarious. Now that he gets it he lets me feed him and he's a lot less messy during mealtime :)

We took Max swimming for the first time, and the jury is still out on whether or not he likes it. He sure is cute in a swimsuit!

And another one of his cute laugh, just because. 

We got a pass to Thanksgiving Point because we live right by it. It was definitely a good investment, because we've only been a handful of times and it has already paid for itself! And anyone who wants to come with us gets half off! We tried to get a picture in front of the waterfalls, but Max was so captivated by them that he kept looking behind himself instead of at the camera. We had to turn around to solve that problem! We love going to the gardens and the Farm Country to see the baby goats. Max doesn't know it, but he loves it too.

And one last photo of Max, obviously. But he's with cousin Juliet, so it's not all about Max :)
We had fun at their place for dinner and an NBA Finals game. Max was the center of attention, of course, but that's mostly because he whines when he's not, so that's how our lives work right now. Oh, and that's not all drool on his shirt...it's mostly spit up, because he still spits up. All the time. We're hoping that he grows out of it by the time he moves out, but some days I'm not so sure. Kidding.

And there's your re-cap of our goings on over the past few months! And feel free to follow me over on Instagram (@allychristenson), where I come up with semi-witty hashtags and try my hardest not to use the Walden filter on all of my photos.

The end. Phew!

Father's Day

I love me some fathers in my life, and in honor of Father's Day I couldn't let too much time pass by before I saluted those who have such a fatherly influence in my life.

My own father (pictured above) has taught me so many things.  He could talk your ear off about cars, cameras, bicycles, anything really.  I think he is the king of DIY, as evidenced by his gifts to us of his famous homemade soap. His philosophy is that if you can make it yourself, why buy it? Before he and my mom divorced we never bought bread, pasta or jam. My dad would always make it.

One of my favorite memories of my dad is when my sister went up to Utah to visit him and he was making homemade root beer. (Am I right in saying that homemade root beer is waaaaay better than the store bought stuff?) He was using dry ice to carbonate it and he had just capped one bottle when I heard a loud bang! I ran upstairs to find the bottle had exploded in the kitchen! There was root beer everywhere, and the cap had shot straight up through the ceiling! It was quite a mess!

I can't mention fathers without talking about my step-father (pictured above). Even though he isn't my birth father, he came into my life when I was 7 and I like to tell people that I hit the jackpot step-father wise. He is one of the funniest, kindest, selfless, and hard-working people I know. He bought the company he runs from his own dad just a year or two after he served a mission in Taiwan and has built it up into a fantastic software company that employs more than 20 people. He works harder than anyone I know, but is always thinking of others. He is always serving others and is willing to give without expecting anything in return.

I love this picture of the two of us because I'm guessing that it was taken shortly after he told me some kind of joke. He is always joking around, and has a not-so-hidden talent of coming up with new lyrics to songs. He is famous for singing songs to us daughters at our weddings, which are full of jokes and sweet memories that have us all in tears by the end. It's really no wonder why he's at the top of the list of those that I go to when I need some advice! He's the bees knees!

And I obviously have to gush about my own baby daddy, Mark. The moment that he became a father is easily the second greatest moment of my life, and it keeps getting better each day. I clearly remember Mark having the largest grin on his face the day that Max was born, and he was beaming with pride as he showed off our little Mr. Max. Both he and Max light up whenever their eyes meet, and my heart bursts each time that it happens. Mark works so hard to take care of our family, and I am eternally grateful for that gift, and it means the world to me.

So here's to all of the fathers in my life, you have made me a lucky, lucky girl.

This post is part of a promotion with FamilySearch.

Arizona

Max and I arrived in Arizona just in time to spend time with family before my 

younger brother Jared flew off to Guatemala.

As I mentioned in my last post, Jared is now serving a full-time mission for our Church

and he will be gone for 2 years. Having served a full-time mission myself

(I can't believe I've been home for over 4 years!), it's easy to be so happy for him.

I'm happy for the decision he made to be an instrument in the Lord's hands for 2 years,

I'm happy for the people that he will meet, serve and love,

I'm happy that he will learn Spanish,

I'm happy that he will get to learn about the Guatemalan culture,

and I'm happy about the person that he will become over the next 2 years.

I digress...

We were in Arizona for 4 days before Mark drove down to be with us.

We had so much fun!

There was much relaxing, going on walks, visiting with family and friends,

and eating at all of our favorite places.

It was a much needed visit, since I can't remember the last time we were there longer than 3 days.

Max must have enjoyed it too since he finally started sleeping better when we got to Arizona!

We stayed there with Mark for another week before we drove out to San Diego with my parents,

my brother Josh and his family, but I'll save that for another post!

Now for some pictures!!

 We stopped to check out the construction of the new Gilbert Temple...gorgeous! // One night Max didn't sleep so well, and I had laid him on this blanket and couldn't believe it when he fell asleep! He never falls asleep like that!

My niece Ella with my brother the night before he flew to Guatemala // Max got to meet his cousin Isaac! They're only 11 days apart!

 My mom Nonna, holding two of her grandbabies.

 My sister-in-law Merideth & Isaac.

Max got to meet his great grandpa for the first time!