Monday, March 18, 2013

The One Where I Am Pretty Darn Special

ATTENTION: I started writing this post this past summer and never posted it because I am not sure why I wrote it. I found it today and I thought it was sweet. Since writing this post six months ago I was inspired to take a family history class at BYU and President Monson has asked that we bring our own names to the temple. I have a strong testimony of genealogy and I know that temple worship is so much sweeter when you have family names. This is a long post. Sorry about that. You can skip around, or don't read it. It's about my grandmas. I have SIX of them.




My Patriarchal Blessing tells me that I am a descendant of noble heritage and that I should stay caught up on current technology to be able to help with my family history work. I have not really done that in my life. I've been pretty busy.

 Last Sunday I was late getting into Sunday School because I was talking to the Bishop after Relief Society so Alyssa and I just kind of scampered into whatever room we found, which happened to be Temple Prep. We were talking about family history work. I saw that it was pretty easy to do family history work with the new familysearch website.

 The next day instead of watching the Bachelorette I decided to play around on the website like we had learned in class the previous day at church. I ended up finding 3 males that needed their work done, 6 females, and 5 couples.

You have to understand that my grandma Jean, my dad's mother, is a convert to the church. She joined the church when she had a young family after she and my grandpa were married - he was already a member. She is the only member in her family. Her siblings and her parents never joined the church in this life. That made it fairly easy for me to find names because a lot of the work for that line of my family had not yet been done.  I sent my mom a text and I asked her for their information so that I could find them and add them to our family tree. From there I was able to find myself some names. Most of them are harsh, Danish, and difficult to pronoun, but they are my family.

Why am I special? I was realizing as I was doing a little bit of genealogy that I have six grandmothers - two regular ones and four great ones. I know what you are thinking - EVERYONE has two grandmas and four great grandmas. But I KNOW mine. All of them. Don't you think that it is a little bit cool that I was sent to earth to a family where I would know and have a relationship here on the earth with all six of my grandmas?

Growing up I could not even call my two actual grandmas by "grandma" and their last name (I called them by their first name) because I had TWO grandma Christensens'...My grandpa Ted's wife - my Grandma Jean Christensen, and my Grandpa's Ted's mother - my Great Grandma Lucy Christensen.  The same thing with the Harmer side of the family. Is this confusing?

At one point I even had Tic Tac Toe - "Thee Grandmas in a row." You could come across my Grandma Jo's house, where my grandma Jean's mom lived, then my grandparent's house, where my grandpa Ted and my grandma Jean still live, then my grandma Lucy's house, where my grandpa Ted's mother Lucy lived in a line on the same road. On Sunday nights we would just make the rounds - one grandma by one grandma by one - cookie by cookie by cookie. Lucky me.

My Grandma Ruth Magleby is my grandma Marilyn's mom. She was the first to die and it happened when I was still a fairly little girl. I remember it well though because it was my first real experience with death and my first time attending a funeral. I remember my parents explaining the whole thing to me. It was a hard concept to grasp - her just laying there in a box like that without her spirit.

 I wish that I could remember my grandma Ruth's personality a little bit more than I actually do. She is the most fuzzy to me. I think that when I die and am reunited with her in Heaven she will be much more familiar to me than I realize because I spent so much time with her incredible daughter, my grandmother Marilyn.

Her husband, my great-grandpa Ward, wrote curriculum for seminary so they moved up to Salt Lake from Provo in their later years. They lived close to my Grandma Marilyn and my Grandpa Gary. Ward died right before I was born, but we used to go and visit my great grandma Ruth at her home. She lived with my great aunt Boosie and they used to knit me slippers for Christmas. I remember her face and her hair very clearly and that she was a warm and soft person. Read her obituary HERE

My Grandpa Gary's mother is Wilma Bearnson Harmer. My grandma Wilma was just the sweetest lady. She died when I was a teenager. She lived in a cool OLD house in Springville, Utah and when we would go to Salt Lake to see Gary and Marilyn we would always take a day and drive down to Springville to see her.

She was a teacher and she was very kind. She always wanted us to read to her and she had this book that was a "look and find". We would always look for this little green bug together. I remember her voice. I remember playing in her yard with my brothers. She was full of praise and smiles. Read her obituary HERE

Not only do I remember my great-grandmas Jo and Lucy, but they really shaped my childhood in a way because we lived so close to both of them. My grandma Johanne came to the Unites States from Denmark when she was a young woman. She learned to speak English very well because she spent most of her 100 years here in the States, but she still always had that slight Danish accent that makes me smile to this day when I think about it.

She  had very curly hair like me when she was young and she must have hated it because she never liked my hair. She would always say "Poor Katelyn with those curls" and my pat head. She was a funny lady.

My grandma Jo was also convinced that everyone loves Three Musketeer candy bars. She would always give us one when we went to her house to visit. Let's be honest, nobody even remotely likes Three Musketeers. My mother would buy her Snickers and Milky way candy bars so that she could hand them out to the grandkids, but she always insisted on three musketeers for one reason or another. There was a three musketeer wreathe at her funeral.

She was a hard worker on her farm with her husband. She never complained about it. I remember once someone was interviewing her for an article about pioneers in The Basin and my mom and I were at her house while he was asking her about her journey to the States. He kept trying to get her to tell him how hard it was moving here and starting the farm, but she didn't have anything bad to say about it. 

She carried salt and pepper in her purse when we took her to lunch at Judy's Deli. She called at eleven o clock at night and asked us if were still coming over for lunch in a few minutes. She was awesome.

 She moved into a nursing home when I was in high school and was there for about a year or so before she died. It was hard not having our weekly visits. She was and continues to be a character in our lives and make us laugh. I miss her. I was able to go to the temple and be baptized for her a year after she died and it was a sweet experience. Very tender to me.

My grandma Lucy is my grandpa Ted's mother. She was also an amazing woman and she lived to be 101. Her husband died of cancer when he was only 40 or so and she and her sons had to start working on the farm. She even wrote a letter requesting that her oldest son Jay be sent home from military service so that he could help on the farm. She never remarried, but she was always surrounded by her children and grandchildren.

Grandma Lucy had the cutest little bottom lip and the most infectious laugh, both of which I am proud to have inherited. She made the single best cookies in the history of ever and they were always frozen when she gave them to us. I miss those days. She was incredible and extremely sharp up until her final months and could always talk about current issues and all kinds of amazing topics. She taught us all that life goes on, no matter what.

My grandma Jean is an incredible woman. She is my dad's mom. She lives in Washington with my grandpa Ted. I have never met a woman that has more self control than my grandma. I have never heard her yell. She sighs. That is as angry as she gets.  I can tell when she gets frustrated with people and especially with grandpa. She never makes anyone feel bad though and she knows how to be classy and kind and bite her tongue.

She is so kind and she is the best cook you will meet. Her Christmas gift bags are the most amazing and delicious thing you could possible imagine. She is so accepting of everyone and everything and has an open door policy. She is thoughtful and always wants to help. Recently my Utah grandpa became really sick. He loves my Washington grandma's homemade bread. She sent him loaf after loaf all the way to SLC because that is one of the only things he could eat and enjoyed eating. That's the kind of gal she is.  Sunday Nights at grandma Jean's house are some of the single happiest memories of my childhood. I loved visiting her and my grandpa at Ensign Ranch when there were on their service mission. She was also one of my very best writers on my mission.

Last we have my grandma Marilyn. What can I say? Growing up there were few people I loved more than this woman. Going to Utah to visit her was my absolute favorite thing to do. As the oldest grand daughter she has always spoiled me. She spoils everyone. She is the cutest little lady, but she is a feisty one.

She is the most immaculate and organized amazing housekeeper I know of. Her house is a sanctuary for me and has kept me sane through college, She is a perfect hostess and each friend that I bring over wants to go back for more. She cares so much about everyone. She has the biggest heart. She is very involved in each of her grandchildren's lives and loves going to games and graduations and plays ect. She is very wise and I could talk to her for days on end.

I cannot wait until the day that I get to meet ALL of my cousins and my grandparents and my ancestors from the beginning of time. What a glorious day that will be. You should totally start on family history work. GO! www.new.familysearch.com








Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Since U Been Gone

This past weekend S and I took Linds and three of her roommies to Saint George. We had a lovely time. Saint George is so relaxing. I love the sunshine. I love the red rock. I want to live there. all. the. time. On Saturday we went to Las Vegas and walked up and down the strip. It was much needed for all of us.





Can I just brag on these girls for a second? They are so sweet and so bright and so much fun! Anyone who has trouble with the new mission age because they think it is too young needs to spend some time with these girls. This is a video they sent me after the trip...


I feel like I was like this before my mission. These girls are bright and shiny and untainted by the world.  That is a good thing. My mission really opened my eyes and I think I am more cynical and disdainful now than I was before my mission. I guess worldly experience brings wisdom and all that crap. I miss being young and carefree though, and I hope that these girls never change.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

HAPPY HEART DAY! An Anti Valentine post...

I work at Forbes Elementary in American Fork in the Special Education Department, mostly with  children who have Autism. The other day I was in one of the classrooms and the teacher was opening her class with the calendar and schedule like most teachers do. She asked the students if they knew what Valentine's Day was and why we celebrate it. One of the students, a young man about eleven years old, raised his hand and said something to this effect...

 "Once upon a time there was a man named Saint Valentine and he tried to get all the boys to marry the girls and then the government HUNG him because marriage is DUMB and girls are STUPID."

Yeah. He nailed that one RIGHT on the head. I couldn't help but laugh. #outofthemouthsofbabes

Before I write this post I need to clarify a couple of things...

1. This is not an attack on members of the opposite sex. I think boys are awesome. I am not saying that the reason why so many adorable young girls I know in their 20s are not married is because the boys need to step it up. President Monson said that. I would never say that though ; ) I know we are both equally at fault. I am only about to recount to you first hand (mostly) stories from actual events - REAL dates gone horribly wrong. Please keep in mind that I am girl, and I only know the girl side of the story. I am sure that every boy at BYU could write a post equally as long and hilarious post about bad dates THEY have been on. As a female I will be telling these stories from the female perspective, because that is how they happened and it just makes the most sense. Girls are stupid and socially awkward too. We already established this fact. Please just DONT be upset if this post seems like a rant or the minutes of a She Woman Man Haters Club

2. Some of these dates happened to me, some of them happened to other people...family members, friends, roommates, ect. I will not say who they happened to and which ones are my personal stories. I don't want to offend people or embarrass anyone. I will write these date stories as if they all happened to me, but to give credit where it should be given without singling anyone out without their permission, know that they did not. Also: Small details have been changed for the sake of entertainment purposes. Believe what you wish to believe.

Warm Up Story: Once I went on a date with a man who called me Katherine the entire time, even after I corrected him. He also kept referring to my home as "DC," as in Washington DC, even I corrected him. His roommates were on this date, and several other girls in the ward. Needless to say, I was known as Katherine in that ward (from Washington DC) for weeks. From that moment on at ward functions I have always introduced myself as Kate. It is short, sweet, and to the point. No confusion. OBVIOUSLY this one was me.

Story Number One: My roommates and I decided to sign up for a Stake Date. The idea was that the stake activities committee would set you up with someone, contact that person and give them your information, and have them ask you to the stake activity. It was like one giant blind date for the whole stake. The date activity was going to be a picnic.

 The night before the activity each of my roommates had been contacted by their respective dates. I had not heard from mine, which I was completely A-OK with. At exactly 11:17 that night the doorbell rang. I answered it. I was in my pajamas. The man at the door asked for Katelyn.  He told me that he was "suppose to ask me to the Stake Date and did I want to go with him, or what?" I should have said "What." I told him I wanted to go.

Ten minutes before our dates were set to arrive and fetch us, one of my friends from class showed up to borrow a book from me. When my date came to the door, it was obvious that they were smitten with each other and he invited her to come with us. On our date. I now know how the girls from the Bachelor feel. 2 on 1 dates are no bueno.

When we got to the park he informed BOTH of us that he did not realized this activity was a picnic and did not bring anything to eat. He spent the entire time flirting with this other girl and I did not even get a free meal from the experience, which is sometimes, lets be honest, the best part of the date.

Story number 2: I was really excited to go to my senior winter formal, but a couple of weeks before the dance the person that asked me to go with him started dating another girl. I talked to him about it and I told him if he wanted to take his new Girlfriend, he could. He told me that he wanted to take me. I thought that was very gentlemanly of him, staying true to his word and all. We danced the first dance and he spent the rest of the time with his girlfriend. When I was ready to go I could not even find him. My friend and her date took me home. It was HER date that walked me to the door in my beautiful dress. GOOD TIMES.

Story Number 3: Once I was waiting for my date to come and take me to an art gallery. Twenty minutes late, he finally texted me saying he was outside. TEXTED me. I went outside and walked around for a good five minutes trying to find him. He took too me to the SMITHS parking lot. We were meant to hike all the way up the freakin' mountain because he didn't want to pay for parking...FROM THE PARKING LOT OF SMITH'S ON 500 AND FREEDOM! I had on good shoes. After the date we were about a block from my apartment when he stopped the car, parked it, held out a fist and said, "Well...It's been real. Pound It." I asked if he was going to walk me to my door and give me a proper hug like a gent should, but apparently he did not want to get booted or have his car taken away. Yikes A Be!

Story number 4: I went to a Real Salt Lake game on a date once. The entire way to Sandy my date had a baseball game blasting on the radio. He did not say two words to me, even though I tried to make polite conversation and was actually frustrated that I was trying to communication with him. During the Soccer game he was yelling and screaming and cursing the whole time and he actually told me to "SHHHHHHH" once. When I asked if I could have a Coke, he told me that he didn't have any cash, but that I could go get one if I wanted. Yeeeeep. #thatjusthappened

Story Number 5 (THE FINAL ONE): Once, shortly after my mission, I went on a date to see 9 to 5 at the Hale Center Theater. About a hour before I was going to be picked up my date called me and asked me if I could drive because he had a headache. I drove us to Salt Lake City. I was really excited to see 9 to 5 because I LOVE DOLLY. When we got there my date realized that he did not have the tickets...because he had a headache. I bought us tickets. We could have gone back home, but we drove all that way and I wanted to see the show. He complained about the noise and was actually upset with me for wanting to stay.

I have see it all, ladies and gents, from my date begging two random girls hanging out outside his apartment to take me home for him because he didn't have a car, to riding home from Youth Conference with my date and my young woman leader to get ready for prom (HAHAHA! Remember that, Michael?)  Gotta love the dating game.

I guess my point is that IF YOU DO have a Valentine this year you should really feel lucky because great love is hard to come by. Hold them close. It is not too late to plan sometime nice. If you don't have a Valentine... I am available most evenings and prefer milk chocolate, gerber daisies, and have really been eyeing a pair of square diamond stud earrings are Macey's.




Sunday, February 3, 2013

RAVENS!



I became a Ravens fan about 12 hours ago. I was obviously rooting for the Seattle Seahawks this year because I am from Washington. Unfortunately, they didn't quite make it to the SuperBowl. They came REALLY close though. Good for them. 

This morning I decided that I had better pick a team. Originally I thought maybe I should root for San Francisco. They ARE from the West Coast AFTER ALL. And I do love Steve Young. We used to have a cardboard cut out of him in our apartment Freshman year. Riley would always steal him. REMEMBER THAT, RY? Bad Brother ; ) 

Steve and Stephanie


Steve as a Nephite Prophet


I really like Steve, May be REST IN PEACE. The truth is that is he is no longer a part of my life. I need to move on, and there is no reason for me to root for the 49ers. 

Reasons why I decided that the Ravens are awesome...

1. References to Edgar Allan Poe. He is so edgy and cool. 

2. The kid Michael from the movie The Blind Side plays for the Ravens and Sandra Bullock is amazing. I really like her. I really like her in THAT movie. She was there at the game in her Ravens jersey cheering Michael on. I love that. If it's good enough for Sandy it's good enough for me. 

3. Hairspray (the musical) is pretty much hilarious and Good Morning Baltimore is one of my best go to songs. I LOOOOOOOVE YOU, BALTIMORE

4. Purple is a fantastic and unique color for a football uniform. 

5. Denis Pitta used to play for BYU and he is the only familiar player to me from both of the teams. I have to support my COUGS! 

6. I felt like going into the game the Ravens were the underdog team. I am a rebel and I do love a good underdog. 

7.  I didn't realize this before the game, but I realize it now that the brother that Coaches for the Ravens seems much cooler and classier than the brother that coaches the 49ers. This San Francisco man freaks out all the time. 

I think that these are very sound reasons to root for a football team, don't you?

Sidebar: BEYONCE IS AMAZING AND I WANT TO BE HER! I at least hope that I can learn to dance like her. Holy Cow. Get it Girl! 


How crazy was it when the power went out? It reminded me of that scene in Batman when Bane goes to the football stadium and horrible things happen. I was expecting Riley to call me with his Bane impression. 


My favorite commercial was THIS one. 


I love it so much because it is a sweet message about farmers and it reminds me of home, but also because my parents frequently listened to Paul Harvey (GOOD DAY!) Also, I like that it isn't trying to be clever or funny. It's just simple and touching. 

THERE! I just blogged about the Superbowl because I came home and I am the only here and I needed something to do. UNTIL NEXT TIME! 

XoXo






Sunday, January 20, 2013

The FABULOUS 2012...as told through my iPhone

Well...here we are in 2013. Crazy, right? 2012 was a wonderful year. Today I was clearing data from my phone and feeling a little nostalgic as I looked through my pictures because some pretty incredible things happened in 2012. Let us review them all together!

2012 will forever be known as The Year of the Owl in the life and times of Katelyn Christensen. I have no idea why I decided to decorate my room in my apartment with owls, but I did. They have grown on me. How cute are they? My fabulous cousin Emmie is a budding artist and drew this picture for me to hang in my room.



2012 will also forever be known as the year of the Missionary Training Center. I taught Spanish there all year. QUIERO REGRESAR YA! 







In 2012 I wrecked my car for the first time... BUT look how long and pretty my hair was in I got it back form the shop. Poor pedro : ( He's such a cute car, but he's been through a lot.





In 2012 my little sister, Lindsey, graduated from high school. She's pretty. 



In 2012 Jace came home from his mission to Las Vegas, Nevada. It was awesome. This was a definite highlight for the Christensen family. 






In 2012 Mom and Dad celebrated 28 years of blissful matrimony and I made them a banana bake to celebrate...even though I was in Utah and they were in Washington. I'm thoughtful sometimes. I missed my mom dancing around in her wedding dress as she has been known to do on her anniversary. 



In 2012 Riley graduated from BYU with a BA in Exercise Science and moved back to Washington to work at the Plant. 




In 2012 I GRADUATED COLLEGE WITH RILEY!



In 2012 my best friend EVER came home from her mission to England and we were finally reunited. Good times, Steph. 



  
In 2012 I got new glasses. 


In 2012 I learned to slack line. 


In 2012 I also learned to do Taylor Swift curls in honor of her new album. 



In 2012 I became somewhat obsessed with Family History Work and discovered that I am royalty in the process.



In 2012 the Royal City Chapel got a much needed makeover. Everyone almost died of a heat wave.



In 2012 I had my golden birthday. THAT was a good day. 





In 2012 I cooked a lot...thanks to the cooking supplies I got for Christmas in 2011. 






In 2012 I learned to shoot a target, thanks to my Grandpa Ted. 


In 2012 I rediscovered PhotoBooth. 






In 2012 The ROYAL KNIGHTS went to state and I wore black and gold to cheer them on.


In 2012 "my room" was redecorated. Five years after high school and my mom finally decided to turn it into a guest room. It is WONDERFUL. 






In 2012 I voted ROMEY/RYAN for President and am proud of it. 




In 2012 I was Mary Poppins for Halloween. I looked pretty cute : D







In 2012 I moved into a new apartment...


and in with these three cuties.




I also met a lot of new friends in 2012. 


In 2012 Feliz Hernandez pitched a perfect game for the Seattle Mariners - and we were there in Safeco Field a DAY later to celebrate.






In 2012 Princess Melissa came to Utah to visit me. 


In 2012 I went to Saint George multiple times...




and experienced the Tuachan for the first time. 




In 2012 we went to Hawaii on first family vacation together in five years. 











WHAT A GREAT YEAR! Here's to 2013 and many more memories to come.