Hangin' with Christian

My youngest nephew Christian is now five months old. They sure grow up fast, don't they?

I was fortunate enough to get to spend some quality time with him over at Grandma's and Grandpa's house Wednesday afternoon.

Grandma and The Thinker

I love this photo of Mom holding her newest grandson, two-month-old Christian Jordan, taken at last week's bimonthly family dinner.

As she serenades him with "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" from Oklahoma!, he appears to be listening intently while making the same pose as Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture The Thinker.

The Nennas Go Exploring

At yesterday's bi-monthly family dinner at Mom's and Dad's new abode in North Salt Lake, the kids went exploring out in the backyard. Kira claimed that she saw a rabbit and that it was foaming at the mouth. Since Mom and Dad are the first to build and move into a home on their new street, and there are many more yet to follow, their backyard remains quite extensive - and muddy - at this point.

On their way back to the house, both of the Nennas (aka Jenna and McKenna) got their shoes stuck in a particularly muddy part of the yard that they called "quicksand." Because of this, they had to take their shoes (in Kenna's case, boots) off in order to get free.

 

 

As Kenna shows in the above photo, the mud was not very forgiving.

Day 311: Jackson and the Blow Dryer

Today's photo is actually a short video. Why? Because dunderhead (that's me) had the camera set to the videorecording setting accidentally.

The other day, Grandma and Grandpa (i.e. my parents) and I took Jackson to McDonald's for lunch. While we there, I accompanied him to the bathroom. When he dried off his hands, he had so much joy using the blow dryer - four-year-olds have a tendency to find joy in those little things that we adults have long-since forgotten - that I attempted the photo and instead got the aforementioned video snippet.

Day 226: Christian's and Christian's Medal

I've been posting a little bit about both the Olympics and medals lately, as they tend to go hand in hand, so today I offer a shot of yet another medal:

This is Ben, posing with a copper medal that was awarded to our great-grandfather Christian Jorgensen Plowman (after whom Benjamin Christian is named) by the state of Utah in 1947 for the centennial of the pioneers' first arrival into the Salt Lake valley. It turned up the other day at the bottom of a group of boxes when Ben was assisting me in my latest move (more on my nomadic ways to follow).

Grandpa Christian, incidentally, crossed the plains at age six along with his father, John Jacob, and family in 1867 as part of a handcart group; he was 86 years old when presented with the medal and died a year later. He also, of course, has a newer namesake, Jacob Christian, in the form of our now five-month-old nephew, Dave's and Jessica's baby boy.

Day 153: The Atteys Unite

A long-hoped-for goal of Mom's was achieved earlier tonight when the temple work for her immediate family was completed at the Bountiful temple, with Dad, their children (my siblings and me) and spouses acting as proxy for those who have departed from this life. Mom represented herself in being sealed to her deceased parents, George and Kathleen Attey, and then, one by one, her kids stood in for her siblings, and the same ordinances were performed.

It was a very emotional evening for us as a family, and we are grateful that we were able to help out Mom in this momentous occasion. I'm still trying to fully understand the Savior's Atonement, and yet one thing that is crystal-clear to me and one of my favorite parts of it is that it provides for the linking of generations of families together for eternity.

Afterward, we assembled at the parents' new pad at The Village for cheesecake - another favorite family tradition: