New Zealand has been a home away from home in so many ways since 2009. The last four years seem to have gone by in the blink of an eye, but when I think of all that's happened, all that's changed since then, 2009 seems like a lifetime ago.

I have found that the older I get, the more nostalgic I become... about nearly everything. My eyes sting with tears hiding behind them whenever I am faced with change, happy memories, or ... lets just be honest: anything really. Season finales, airport goodbyes, Auld Lang Syne... I've just learned not to think about it until it's already over and done with, I'd rather spare myself the tears. So as we packed our bags and drove out of Auckland for the very last time, I kept my mind on everything but the fact that it might be the last time I will see that skyline for a very, very long time.
(i made max pinky promise twice we'll go back)

The end of this year felt like two goodbyes in one. I say I will miss 2012, and how I will miss New Zealand, but really, it means I will miss all that came with both of those things. So many things. Yet had I not closed the chapters that came before then, I never could have had experienced all that I am grateful for now... so here's to another new beginning.

They say the future is as bright as your faith, right? So helllllo 2013! New year, new jobs, new home... Salt Lake City, here we come!

our first thanksgiving.

November can really be summed up in three syllables: last weekend. The rest of the month was great, but it can't beat four days of Christmas movies, leftovers, and apple pie (and Max all to myself!) We spent the weekend up in Salt Lake, staying overnight in our favorite hotel and seeing the lights on Temple Square. Minus the crowds, it's always so pretty.

Not pictured:
Earlier this year I thought I had found the deal of the century on a $2.50 baby turkey. If you know me, you know I capital LOVE/love turkey. I called my mom about this and she said there was no such thing. I insisted that there was, that it was currently sitting in my freezer, and when I showed her a picture, all I had to do was read the fine print: I had purchased a baby hen. I still have no comment.

To make matters worse, I called my mom just last week telling her of the good news again! I had really found a baby turkey this time! Since Max and I were spending Thanksgiving day with his family, we decided to have a mini-Thanksgiving dinner of our own the night before, and this baby turkey would be perfect.

Unfortunately, when I told my mom the good news, she reminded me (again) that there is no such thing as a baby turkey -- never has been, never will be. I told her she was wrong, I even checked it twice. It was indeed a baby turkey, perfect for two! So I went ahead with the preparations, thawed it the night before, got home from work ready to put it in the oven and... I had purchased processed turkey meat. I had no idea there was even such a thing. Little cubes of white and dark meat and I nearly fell over in my kitchen. It looked bad, real bad. My first thought was to cancel Thanksgiving, but I did what I always do and I called my mother. She told me I should never be allowed to go grocery shopping, and reminded me that I could always buy a fresh turkey (no thawing!) and still have it ready that night! So I ran to the store at four in the afternoon, picked up a real honest-to-goodness-turkey, and four hours later... we feasted.

And then I burned the pumpkin pie.


Our first Thanksgiving as a married couple was what I would call memorable. Alls well that ends well, I say.

wallowa lake.

Growing up, summers always meant Wallowa Lake. The long drive, the cinnamon bears ice cream stop, the final stretch of the trip, finally getting to see the most beautiful lake in all the world! I love it. And after the last few days (Thursday in the ER, Friday in bed, and Saturday still recovering...) nothing sounds better. Nothing at all.

This year is extra special though, since Max will be a part of it, and I get to spend my 23rd birthday with the entire Walch fam. Wallowa Lake is my home away from home; that place just grabs my heart.

blast from the past.

I almost died when I found this picture a few days ago. If I had been told at sixteen that the boy taking me to my homecoming dance would be the boy I'd end up marrying, I probably would have died. (of happiness of course).

On a side note, I absolutely love the stone wall/balcony/ocean background too. What is it exactly? I don't know. Classy Spanish Fork at its best.

engagements (pt.1)

I was lucky when it came to picking a photographer, because my best friend Sara and her (socuteitmakesmesick) little sister Robin both started their own photography business a few years ago called Sorella Image.

11 hours, a broken camera, and one canoe ride later, we ended up with hundreds and hundreds of pictures that I just wanted to cry tears of joy over. I cannot say how much I appreciate them and their hard work, (not kidding, even I was sore and exhausted that night!) and for being so willing to work with ideas that I had (Maple Lake :) which at some points, seemed near impossible.

What is special about these shots is that they all take place at what we refer to as "Merlin's magic lake." The very first date Max and I went on was to the Sadie Hawkins dance (six years ago!) and that night we had driven up to that same exact spot in Payson Canyon. We were both sixteen, both in the same English class, and both really not that interested in each other, except for maybe being just really good friends.

Out of all 8 couples that night, (none of whom had previously dated) 7 couples were affected by "Merlin's magic," and nearly everyone fell in love. (at least that's what we would have called it at sixteen :)

Honestly, that remains one of the best nights of my life. Not just because of my high school hormones, but because I will never forget sitting in a raft eating starbursts and snickers while Max sat across from me, talking for hours, losing all sense of time until the sun went down. (we never even ended up going to the actual dance!)

So here is one of the many photographs I have with the boy I am now going to marry. I'll post more soon!

christmas memories.

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.
--Hamilton Wright Mabie

I love this time of year. I love the Christmas movies and traditions and the shopping and the wrapping and the snow, (and unfortunately since snow isn't in the forecast next week, I went ahead and ordered this a few days ago) -- But one of my most favorite things about the holidays are the memories.

When my sister and I were little, my parents told us that two elves named Thumpkin and Dumpkin would come stay in our home a few weeks before Christmas. The purpose of their stay was so that they could observe and report to Santa whether or not we had been good or bad that year, and what exactly we would deserve on Christmas morning.

Now, when I say I loved it when Thumpkin and Dumpkin came to stay at our house, I l-o-v-e-d it. It was almost even better than Christmas itself. A kid with two magical elves can't easily be beat. We had a big dinner in honor of their arrival, and I remember always setting two extra places at the kitchen table for our new friends. We'd set up little beds near our own at night so our elves could sleep by us, and you can bet your bottom dollar we never forgot to say our prayers with them around. We meant business. And honestly? It was one of the most magical parts of the season. The only downside to any of it was that I lost friends in the first grade because of this. You can imagine what my classmates thought of me when I told them I had two invisible elves in my pocket. (true story. ask my mom.)

But beside the Christmas elves and the memories, I'd have to say that the one other thing I absolutely love about Christmas is the music -- probably because most songs remind me of a memory, anyway. And I know there are plenty of people who dread Christmas music when it starts at the beginning of November, but not me. No siree bob. I love it all, but most especially, I love Jon Schmidt. I don't remember a Christmas without his CD. Whether we were listening to it in the car picking up last minute gifts, or on Christmas morning as we read our letters from Santa (and Thumpkin and Dumpkin!) -- this song always seemed to be playing in the background.

So I share with you all my most favorite song of the season, because as I spend my first Christmas far away from my parents, this song will always remind me of Christmas at home.

class of '07.

Class of 07. from Kelsie Christensen on Vimeo.

This isn't the first video I've shared online, but this is definitely where it all started. We began documenting life through our videos toward the end of our senior year in high school, and now I'm so unbelievably grateful we did - (despite Wes, Heaston and Ben protesting it most of the time.)

When I watched this video a few months ago with some of the friends who are in it, I could hardly believe that four years had passed since I wore my red gown with gold tassels, and tossed my graduation cap up in the air. Admittedly, I would never trade even the stressful or more hectic parts of life now, for my untroubled cares at seventeen -- but a part of me will always seem to miss it deep down.

And although I don't think I could have told you where exactly we'd all be four years from that day, (engaged, married, single, nursing/film/broadcast/elementary ed degrees, returned missionaries, only 5 months left missionaries, engaged after only one month, married for almost three years -- etc etc etc) I bet I at least could have told you we'd all still be friends.

Phone friends, only-see-each-other-every-few-months friends, friends who still put too much salt on their food, friends who still believe Merlin lives at Maple Lake, friends who sing along with The Rocket Summer and Jamison Parker, friends who are finally friends again, and friends who are still in love... Whatever we are to each other, I'm just glad we're still there.


--


And PS...
While we're taking this trip down memory lane, it should be noted that the only name they got wrong out of the hundreds of students during the graduation ceremony was... yours truly.
Yep.
As they snapped my picture for the entire McKay Events Center to see (think: at least two thousand people) they announced me as "Malerie Loveland" instead of Kelsie Christensen. My jaw dropped to the floor and my final glorious moments as a Spanish Fork Don were unsurprisingly somewhat of a disaster. Literally my face was as red as my cap and gown - so it's a good thing red was one of our school colors anyway.