August 17 - 23, 2026

Katie slept in a crib next to the bed in Nana and Grandpa's house. She found a way to climb out of the crib and onto the bed, so I had to pull the crib away from the bed when she napped and slept so she wouldn't keep crawling out.
Mary told Grandma Wendy on their date that she wanted her to take a picture of her "cute face" and her "gumball face".
Mom played tennis every morning with Grandpa. They would switch off days who would win 6-5. It was a lot of fun!
Dad had a good week of lifting weights and following his nutrition goals. The flight on Friday was very frustrating but we were glad to be back together. He is ready to have a break from work.

Monday I played tennis with Grandpa. We had a playdate with Collette Cook. She is so busy, we just hung out for 1.5 hours until they went to pick up Avery from her first day of school. Tuesday Wendy picked up Mary and they went on a little grandma date. She took her to dinner at McDonald's, they took flowers to Grandpa Mike's grave, walked around the temple, went back to her house and played with play-doh and did stick on fingernails. When they got back we went to the ward barbecue. Mary got her face painted after waiting very patiently for her turn. We went back to the house and Grandpa put the girls to bed while I met up with Whitney Corbett and Alex Hooper, friends from high school. It was fun to see them again. Wednesday we met up with Clare at South Towne mall and hung out there for a few hours. They have an indoor playground, so that was fun. We came back and got packed up to go to Colorado. When Grandpa got home he took the girls into the garden where they released a bunch of ladybugs. It was so fun! Thursday we left at 6 am to drive to Colorado. We got cleaned up at the hotel before going over to the Ellsworth's for dinner. It was fun to meet them and the kids had a lot of fun playing together.
Friday Nathanael, Grandpa, and I played tennis. We had breakfast then Nathanael, Peter, Andrew, me, and Jacob with spouses and kids went to Garden of the Gods. It was very fun, the kids loved cousin time. Jacob was awesome to push the girl wagon. It was mostly Mary, Katie, Finley, and Violet in there having the best time. We got ready for the dinner then I headed to the airport to pick James and Dad up from the airport. James landed 20 minutes before Dad's plane was supposed to land. A huge rain-lightning storm hit right as Dad's plane was coming in. They circled the airport for a while then redirected to Colorado Springs. In the meantime, I picked up James and we headed to the wedding dinner. We missed the meal but luckily someone got a plate for James, Dad, and me. Grandpa took my car and brought the girls and Amelia to the wedding dinner. We got there at 7:30 (it started at 6) but James was able to give his speech. The plane wouldn't let any passengers off. They turned the plane off in 90 degree weather and it was a full flight, so everyone was packed in the plane with no air conditioning. They said there wasn't a gate for them to get off the plane and wouldn't let anyone off. They waited 2 hours for a fuel truck that allegedly didn't have the right connection so they sent for a new one. They then said they were going to go back to Denver and circled the Colorado Springs airport a few times then said they exceeded the time they were allowed to be on the tarmac (4 hours) and had to "de-plane". It was okay timing because I had just left the dinner with the girls when they finally let Dad get off, so we drove 15 minutes and picked him up at 9:30 pm. He was very frustrated with how the flight went but was happy he missed the dinner. He ate the plate of food from the dinner and we went back to the hotel.
Saturday we got ready and went to take family pictures. We stopped for breakfast at Kneaders then drove up to the Denver temple. There is a park across the street, so we walked around there and played with the girls until it got too hot. We moved our family walk to Target then Dad dropped me off at the temple for Ben and Kylee's sealing. The sealing room was very full on both sides. Jeff and Chris flew out of the wedding, they were the only uncle and aunt to come. We took more pictures at the temple then drove back to the location we took pictures this morning for the family dinner and reception. We got there a little early so we walked around and the girls played together until it was time for the family dinner. It was family style and the dishes reminded me of Noodles & Company. It was tasty. The in-laws gave gifts to the new in-law of the family. So everyone that has married into the Christensen family gave Kylee a gift and everyone who married into the Ellsworth family gave Ben a present. Dad gave Kylee a random board game and said to avoid playing board games with Nathanael on Christmas Day - referencing a time when he did that and it took several hours just to read the instructions and set it up. Everyone told little jokes like that about the families. After that it went right into the reception. It was fun to talk with my siblings and their spouses. The kids had a great time playing together. The venue set out outdoor games for them like four-in-a-row, Tetris blocks, croquet, etc. Sam (Mary's age) loved using a croquet hammer to whack at the trees. They had some yummy desserts. Then there was the cake cutting and first dances. Mary and Katie loved dancing with everyone. It rained, which only added to the fun! After the send off we got a burger for dad and grilled cheese for the girls then went back to the hotel. Dad watched a movie with the girls and put them to bed while I went to the neighboring hotel for a game night with the siblings. It was just Nathanael and Peter at first, then Jacob, Andrew, Sierra, Sierra's brother Ash, and Amelia and Gabe joined us after they got burgers (separately from us). We played a card game called Flip 7. I took Jacob, Amelia, and Gabe back to the other hotel but the car was kind of squishy - good thing it was right next door.
Sunday we headed out first thing in the morning. We said goodbye to Nana, Amelia, Brianna, and Brianna's girls. We missed Grandpa because he took James and Emma to the airport. We went to Garden of the Gods because Dad didn't go with us the first time. Katie was very excited to put on her "princess" dress again. She hiked in that. It was less busy than it was on Friday. We saw 3 deer right on the walking path and four rams up on the hill, not far from the path. Everyone was excited about the rams, each person we passed told us where to go to see them. We drove north a bit to see if we could get to some white rock we could see from the freeway but the hike was too long and the girls were tired. We walked a little bit before going back to the car. The girls fell asleep for part of the drive up to the Buc-ee's near Fort Collins. We were so excited to go to Buc-ee's again. We all got a shirt, Dad got a hat, and the girls got bracelets. Katie could not believe her eyes when she saw Buc-ee. After we got some tasty snacks, we hit the road again and stopped for the night in Rock Springs, WY.