Jordan & I had a great time skiing with my family and Grandy. We blessed Sara this weekend so it was full of family and fun! It was great to see the Wynn's and Ron. Love ya

Sorry, couldn't get Colby to smile for the picture.

Colby and Sara

Sara is now 2 months old and Colby (the one with the wild hair) is almost 22 months. Cassie has her hands full but they sure are cute!!

Christensen's Big News!!

Yes, our family is growing!!...in case you can't read the fine print...

Ryan and Heather are expecting a baby...

Due April 4th, 2008!

They just sent us this cute announcement this week and asked us to pass it on!! They are so excited...and so are we!!!

(Cassie is due December 6th

so that will be 3 grandkids!!)

LOTOJA 2007

This year LOTOJA, however difficult, was a really great event. We started in Logan Utah at 6:55am Saturday morning. Our team consisted of Richard Brand, Corey Brand, Eric Mortenson, Marc Fuller, Billy Freedman, Tait Eyre, Trent Eyre, and Scott Muir. We started in a pack of 50 riders and headed off to Preston Idaho. The race had over 1,000 entrants that all started a few minutes apart in small groups. Below is a photo taken at the starting line.















(click for larger view)

The ride to Preston is pretty flat and is basically a warm up period. We stopped in Preston (mile 30 of 206) for food and water and then headed out over Strawberry Canyon towards Montpelier. This is the first major climb which is about 20 miles long and an elevation increase of maybe 2800'. This is the part of the race that was the most difficult for me. I pushed a little harder than I should have, consequently coming down the backside of the mountain into Montpelier I had major cramps in my left leg and my right calf. By the time we pulled into Montpelier (mile 80 of 206) I was ready to hurl chunks and quit this crazy race. I was in major pain, I can't think of any part of me that did not hurt. I told Angela that I wasn't sure I could finish. We had dropped Trent somewhere up the climb and we weren't sure how far back he was. I knew that if I waited too long for him my legs would freeze up and I would be done. So off we went without Trent. There are two more steep climbs through Geneva and then over the Salt River Pass, I really took these climbs a little slower and made every effort to drink and eat. After the last climb we pulled into Afton (mile 125 of 206) and I was actually starting to feel a little better. We took a bit of a break and then headed up to Alpine. When we arrived in Alpine Eric was having such bad leg cramps that he needed to stop there. Trent was still about 30-45 minutes behind us. So the rest of us left Alpine and over to Hoback Junction and up to Jackson Hole and finally into Teton Village. We gladly finished the race about 7:30pm, Trent kept at is for almost 1 hour longer and came in alone at around 8:30.
(click for larger view)














Marc Fuller, Tait Eyre, and Billy Freedman




















Richard, Corey, Billy, Marc, Scott and Tait

Walch update

Some pictures from girls camp.
Some very tired camp directors

Soccer is a blood sport
Didn't mean to put in this picture, but Lindsay and Gillian are cute so it's staying

The Walchs are back in the swing of school, soccer, piano, violin, and chauffering. Gillian loves her class and teacher, (unlike some of her other siblings), Lindsay is carrying a challenging load, and Riley mentioned something about going back to that "heck hole".

Collin is loving Hawaii. His second day there they played the championship team and lost 1-2, then on the 28th they played the #2 team and beat them 2-1. He starts and plays the full 90 minutes, and often gets bloody. He sound really happy and has made many new friends. (There are 17 returned missionaries on the team, and 8 married players) 11 different countries are represented on the team so he is having a multicultural experience.

Our house is really quiet now which is not a bad thing. We only have 1 more car left in the bodyshop (from Collin's last day home) then we will be almost normal.

I'm not sure how to re-position these pictures so sorry my blog is a little spacey.

Have a great week!

Colby at Powell!

Colby loved the water in small, shallow doses and especially liked boatrides!

Christensen's Adventures at Powell!

There was conservative skiing...Cassie...


Less conservative...Jordan...and Jen learned to wakeboard!!

Ryan working on his "Superman"...

The Captain kept busy!!

Fun for all...

We returned Sunday night from a funfilled, wild and crazy week at Lake Powell! It was great just to be together!! The "love couple" tubed...Jordan skiied...Brit jumped...Heather was a cruiser and Colby...was really fun!!!

Brit's wedding pictures!

Hello all! Here are some fun pictures from Brit and Jen's wedding! Plus, we wanted to let you know that we've set up our own blog site. On the left side of this page, click on "Ryan & Heather" and it will take you to our blog.

Laura and Eva Birthday Party

On Sunday we had a fun party for our Birthday Girls. Angela made cupcakes and Janine cooked up some fantastic dinner.










Eva fell in love with her birthday Barbie Cake.

Eyre Trip to Balboa Island

Last weekend we took the kids and all went to Balboa Island for some lunch and few trips on the fun "rides". Here are Abby and Izzy on the very exciting Ferris Wheel.

Eva loved the the "Horseees"








Kelsey climbed all the way to the top of the rock climbing wall.

Angela and Her Senior Class circa 1988

Here is a great photo that we found in the garage awhile back. This is the class of Pinewood High School class of 1988. Can you find Angela? Better yet, can you find a hair stylist that can "style" her hair in that same sweet way?

Nicky Loves the Beach

Here is Nicky playing on the beach. He loves mischief.

Ryan and Heather's recent adventures!

These past few months have been so fun! Here's a little update on what's going on in our lives.

First, we graduated!! Yay! We're off to medical school - Ohio State University here we come (unless we hear from Rochester, NY ... keep your fingers crossed!)!! We move July 1st, right after Britain's wedding!

We're having fun this summer camping as well - and trying to get in as much hiking/outdoors as we can! The first pictures are from camping up in the Uintas with some close friends of ours. The river was incredibly cold - our feet stung for so long after we got out of that water. But the hike was fun - and beautiful!

These other pictures are us with the same friends down in Zions National Park. The first two are just fun ones along the hike. But the last one has a long story to go with it.

To give you the highlights, we had a beautiful two-day hike along the West Rim Trail. Afterwards, Ryan hitched a 45-minute ride to get the car only to realize that Heather had put the keys in her pack without realizing it. What followed was a long five hour excursion including hitch hiking, receiving help from numerous people (including some Aussies), sweltering heat (a mild case of heat exhaustion), separation of the group, reuniting after passing one another at least twice, and finally, a dang good meal at Oscars. We were recipients of amazing generosity throughout it all! What great examples to learn from!

And finally, this past Memorial Day we went to Colorado to visit Gary and Cynthia! We had a great time with them! Heather's family came out for a little weekend visit as well, and we all got to go to Denver to see Wicked! It was amazing! We ended the vacation with a trip to Garden of the Gods - which was so beautiful!!

Colby learns how slippery life can be

Cassie, being a thoughtful and loving mother, shows Colby how slippery life can be with an object lesson of dropping him down a very slippery slide. As in life, fortunately Dad was there to catch him!

ANGELA BEFORE BRACES

Actually...Angela before numerous implants...

HIIIIII YAAAAAAA!

JANINE HAS TAKEN UP TAE KWON DO IN HER SPARE TIME.

Wynn Kids in action