SACRED GROVE

Back in August, about 2 weeks after moving here to NY, we made a visit to the Sacred Grove!! This was Andy's and Grayer's first time and my second time at the Sacred Grove! The Spirit is so strong there and fills you with the truthfulness of what took place at this sacred spot! We loved it!! And the best part is, we only live 10 minutes away from the Sacred Grove and the Palmyra Temple!!! During our visit Andy and I were talking about how visiting places like the Sacred Grove are once in a life time opportunities for some people and how blessed we are that we live so close and can visit as often as we would like! Now that it is Fall I can't wait to go back and see the trees in color! We haven't made it to the Hill Cumorah yet but that is an upcoming Saturday activity!
We are very grateful for the wonderful opportunity we have of living here and have loved it so far!!

Us in front of the first Smith home


Grayer in front of the second Smith home

The fireplace where Joseph Smith hid the Gold Plates

Looking over the Smith farm

View of the Palmyra Temple from the Sacred Grove

Sacred Grove Trees


Stopping for a snack



Cute Boy!

MOVING = YUCK

When we moved to Knoxville from Idaho Falls Andy and I chose to move through ABF - you pack they drive! This was nice because we didn't have to drive a big moving truck clear across the country. Not so nice was the "you pack" part. I, being 6 months pregnant with Grayer, left Andy with most of the lifting/carrying of boxes and furniture up and down the stairs - both in Idaho when we were loading the truck and in Tennessee when we were unloading the truck!

When Andy and I knew that we were moving to New York we did just the opposite. We decided that since it was a shorter distance we would try driving the moving truck ourselves and having someone else do the loading and unloading! We just knew that this was going to be a great plan and when moving day came we were so glad we weren't the ones in 100+ degree weather packing up our truck!
We also decided that it would be fun to all ride in the truck together and tow our car so that we could keep each other company on the 12 hour drive! We also decided that we would break the drive up into 2 days and drive 6 hours one day and 6 hours the next, that way Grayer wouldn't go nuts in the truck! We just knew that this was going to be a great plan too so we made our hotel reservations in Columbus, OH and pulled out of town! Grayer was so thrilled to ride up "front" with us in the truck and thought that being so high where he could see out over everything was the coolest thing!
We didn't get out of Knoxville as early as we wanted to on moving day but didn't think much of it because we didn't mind driving into the night while Grayer slept, but as luck would have it not even 3 hours into the drive our truck broke down! It's a good thing I have Andy because I immediately panicked and started freaking out -- what were we going to do? It was 10:30 at night, we had nobody to call for help, we were stranded on the side of the freeway!!! But Andy, being the level headed man that he is, calmed me down and said that we just needed to call the S.O.S. number of the truck company and they would take care of it! Long story short, we called, they sent a mechanic to come and fix the truck and 2 miserable hours later we were on our way again. By this time it was 12:30 am and we had 2 choices either keep driving to make our hotel reservation which was too late to cancel but not get there until 3:30 am or just stop and pay for another hotel and get some rest. We decided to stop, tomorrow could only be better right? Wrong. The next day we were on our way again when not even 2 hours into the drive our truck broke down again -- Baah!! This time we were lucky enough be close enough to a truck stop and were able to pull off!! Another 2 hours were wasted as we waited for a mechanic to show up and fix the truck that was supposedly fixed the night before. This time we asked a few more questions but in the end were assured everything looked fine and that we shouldn't have any more trouble.
Although we were a little weary and frustrated that we had now lost a total of 4 hours off our trip we continued on our way, and..... WE MADE IT!!! We had a few scares where the Engine light kept flickering on and off but the truck did NOT break down again!!

Obviously we still have not taken advantage of the "perfect" way to move which we have decided is having someone do it ALL for you!!!! But I won't complain, after our long a day of driving it was nice not having to do any unloading!!

p.s For those of you wondering the truck company refunded us a good chunk of our money -- Yeah for Happy Endings!!

Enjoy the following "Moving" pictures...

(Grayer buried in the very last load of laundry done in Knoxville)


(Grayer playing in the empty cupboards)

(The BIG moving truck! This thing was filled to the brim, plus our car that was packed full too!)

Final Days in TN

As most of you know we have made the move to New York!! But before I update on our move I want to quickly blog about our last few weeks in Knoxville and some of the fun things we did....

First off we got a new car!! We have now become a one car family which has been an adjustment but we love the one we have!!
(Hello new Car (Black car behind us), Goodbye old Car (Blue car in front))

I had my last mutual activity with my Young Women -- I was SO sad to say good-bye! I loved serving in Young Womens and have sworn all the girls to keep me updated on their lives!
(Ellen, Sis Gilchrist (Me), Katie, Darby, Sis Tucker (Cardon))

We went out to lunch with our good friends the Tuckers! (And Stacey, Josh, and Holly I wish I would have had my camera with me when we went to lunch together and I would have posted a picture of us too!!) We miss all of our friends so much already!
(Matt, Mason, Cardon, Susan, Grayer, Andy)

Last, we had a mini "Christensen" family reunion with my brother, Rob from NC and my sister, Megan from IN! We all met in the middle, which fortunately for us is TN, and rented a cabin in the Smoky Mountains for a few days! We had lots of fun together, thanks guys for making the drive to be with us!
(It was my niece, Eva's 1st birthday, so my sister made a pinata that looked like Eva from the movie Wall-e)
(This was the only good picture I had of the pinata, we are trying to figure out how to hang it!)

(Eva with Eva pinata!)

(Grayer hitting the pinata)

(Going after the "Loot")

("Maddie Pinata")

(Hot tub time with the cousins, Grayer was the only boy cousin there!)

(Playing Air Hockey with Eloise)



(Siblings - Megan, Rob, Susan)

(Sarah Jane, Bea, Maggie)

(Megan and Flori)

(Cousins playing on the stairs)


2 years ago, when we made the move to Knoxville I thought our time there would not go fast enough! My Mom even recently reminded me that I would call her crying telling her I was never going to unpack. But now I'm truly wishing that our time there would have gone slower!! It took us a while but we learned to love TN along with the wonderful people there!
Thank you Knoxville for being such a wonderful home away from home!!!

SO HANDSOME!

When Grayer was born my Mom gave us this cute little Tux!! Because it was size 18 months I put it in the back of his closet and almost forgot about it! But, I'm glad I didn't because look how cute he is in it!!!! He wore it to church the other day and did not seem to mind one bit, he kept the bow tie and jacket on the whole time!! What a cute little STUD MUFFIN!!

Best Friends!!

This is Mason, Grayer's, best buddy!!! He is about 6 months older than Grayer and is the sweetest little boy. He is a bit shy and is sometimes overwhelmed by the whirlwind that is Grayer, but overall they play pretty well together!! Mason's Mom, Cardon, is one of my best friends here in Knoxville. We have a play date together with our boys every Friday!!
Grayer and I are really going to miss our good friends, we wish we could take them with us!!

Louisville, Ky

Back in June, Grayer and I had the chance to take a trip to Louisville, Ky. My Mom and my sister, Amy, were out in Indiana visiting my other sister, Megan, and they were kind enough to invite me too. But my wonderful Mom decided to get us a hotel room and have us meet in Louisville, KY instead so that I wouldn't have to make the 6 hour drive to Bloomington, IN!! Thanks Mom it was so nice to shave 2 hours off the drive!!!

Anyway, Andy couldn't come because of work and class so it was a "girls" weekend!!! We had tons of fun together!! Although, it was a little bitter sweet for me because unfortunately the trip was over the same weekend as our 5th year anniversary and Father's Day so I was gone for both special events. But Andy was VERY understanding and encouraged me to go and see my family!! Isn't he the Best? (Oh, and don't worry we celebrated later!!)

Okay, back to the trip, the first day we were there we went to a really fun children's science museum, walked around down town, and took pictures in front of the giant bat at the Slugger's Museum!!

Construction area at the Science Museum

Maggie, Eva, and Grayer

Emma and Grayer

Emma, Grandma, and Grayer playing at the water table

PURE JOY!!!!

Taking a drink of chlorinated water, YUCK!

Cute Eva Girl!!!

Cool car track


Amy, Maggie, and Emma in front of the giant bat

Me, Maggie, and Grayer

Quick snap shot of the girls!
(All around down town they have all kinds of painted horse statues like this one!)

The next day we spent the day at Church Hill Downs, the Kentucky Derby Museum! Megan and I had been there before but my Mom and Amy had not so we went again and it was just as fun the second time around!! They had some new things that I hadn't seen before and we even got to see the Kentucky Derby Jockey winner in a race!! Later that afternoon we left the kids (4 total, ages 1 to 4) with my awesome brother-in-law, Justin, and us girls went out to eat!! We talked and talked and had lots of fun together!! That night we took the kids to play in some fountains and finally got some relief from the HOT HOT weather!! Of course we made a late night ice cream trip to Graeter's where we introduced Amy to the best ice cream in the word!!!


Grandma and Grayer
(Sorry Mom I didn't realize your eyes were closed after I took the picture or I would've taken another one!)

Everyone playing the horse racing game


Emma and Grayer

Amy, Grayer, and Me in the Stadiums of Church Hill Downs

Emma, Grayer, and Maggie with the statue of the Kentucky Derby Winner's Silks!

Sunday, was Father's Day!! We went to church, came back to the hotel and cooked a YUMMY Artichoke Chicken dinner for Justin, who was the only Father there!!! Then it was time for me to drive back to Knoxville!! It was a wonderful weekend, thanks Mom!!

Us girls at the hotel before I left on Sunday! Lined up oldest to youngest and from the top: Mom, Amy, Megan, Me



ONE LAST THING...
Just a quick shout out to Andy and me celebrating 5 wonderful years together!!!
Here are a few pictures of us together through the years!!!!

Wedding Day!

Christmas night sleigh ride
(first Christmas together)

Us with our voice teachers after our Senior Recital at BYU-I

2007 Graduation from BYU-I

Trip to Hawaii


Leaving Idaho to move to Tennessee
(Pregnant and so emotional)

Last summer in Gatlinburg, TN


Here is to Eternity together!!! I love you Andrew!!