A Medal of a Day in The Christopherson Home

DI Team (Sam & Jake) & Zach Win Big!!!

It was a busy day on Saturday.  Kari and I were with the DI team from morning to night at Buchanan High School and Zach was competing at Science Olympiad at CSU, Fresno.

  Kari was the DI team's coach and it consisted of a group of 2nd and 4th graders.  The practices were interesting and exhausting for Kari!  She was looking forward to it all being over this weekend.  Well...Her wish is not coming true.  The team took 2nd place and they are headed off to the state competition on April 4th (San Jose).  This means another month of practicing and competing with the best of all of the regions.  It will be a fun day, I'm sure.  Here is a pic from the event...

Zach also spent the day at Science Olympiad at CSU, Fresno.  He competed in the areas of Herpetology and Electric Vehicle.  He thought that he had done well in the Herp competition, but in the end, he and his teammate placed third from a pool of about 20 teams!  His K-Nex built car competed against micro-chip infused vehicles.  Sometimes technology isn't better!  Here is a pic of Zach and Shad receiving their medal!  Congratulations!!!!

And the lights go dark...

Well, it was closing night last night for Titanic! It's hard to believe that it's all over. We had another good size group at the performance last night. We brought Zach some flowers (traditional), a big stuffed frog (with a kiss on his cheek to remind him of the BIG KISS), and we made some signs to hold up for him after the performance. It was by far the BEST NIGHT of the run. The audience was very excited and the performers just seemed energized.

We took some pics after the show...Thank you to Aimee for bringing her camera because we forgot ours (and Zach was supposed to bring his from backstage and forgot it). You would think that we'd always have a camera with us??? Well, here are the shots from the post-show celebration:

Zach's First Kiss???

I'm hoping that this is his first kiss!  Well, he has been rehearsing with this same girl (a Sophomore!) for the last few months, so he's probably very experienced by now.  Actually, he gets so embarrassed every time that Kari and I tease him about it.  He's supposed to kiss her a full 3 seconds, but he's quite a poor actor at this point in the musical and only quickly kisses her.  Thank you to Uncle Jeremy for the video clip!  I think that Jeremy only went to to the musical to get this on tape!!!!

Enjoy!

Titanic, The Musical!

Well...It's hard to believe that we are we've already had the first 3 performances of Titanic...Only one weekend to go. This whole process started in September for Zach, with auditions and rehearsals kicking in about the beginning of October. Kari and I saw Titanic on Broadway about 10 years ago and we loved it then. We have been listening to the music ever since. We were excited when the school announced that this was their musical of choice this year. We were shocked when Zach started getting callbacks during the auditions (Sorry, Zach...Yes, we were shocked!). Then they had him auditioning for the part of Frederick Fleet (who sings one of our favorite numbers in the musical). He landed the part and hit the ground running.

In addition to Water Polo, seminary, and school, he was attending regular rehearsals. Then...pneumonia struck. He was on bedrest for 16 days (fortunately most of it was during Christmas break). We thought that his role was finished and that he would be replaced...but he healed just in time for the final weeks of 5-hour nights. For the last few weeks, he has been at the theatre from after school to 10pm. Whew! Now we're half-way done. I snuck in our Flip video to record some of Zach's parts. I also ripped off some pictures from Jer & Jenn's website...Because they took some stills last night. Check out their blog for some better quality video of last night.

First...The Pics...

Mom, Dad, and Zach after the Saturday Night performance.

The entire cast during the opening scene. Zach is on the upper left side of the set (he's the one between the guy in the tuxedo and the guy in the fancy uniform...Look for the cool black cap!)

Zach had a big kiss during the beginning scene (we'll get that on here soon!)...but here he is as a survivor at the end. No kissing during this sad number.

The final number (The survivors). Zach is to the left of the middle next to the two girls in white.


Now the videos (pause my music on the side of the blog to best listen to the video)...

This is the opening number. It's a short clip of part of Zach's trio.

The end of the opening scene. Zach is on the left side with the trio of guys.

Sorry for the video quality. Here is Zach with his solo. End of Act 1.

Part 2 of his solo. Things are building up!

Here is the final part of Act 1. Zach's big line as he spots the iceberg!

It's only 43 degrees out. So...

Why not jump in the pool? A lot of the cousins participated in our annual Polar Bear Plunge in the backyard pool. All of the adults chickened out. It was a cold day...brrrrr. Due to illnesses in the family (Zach has pneumonia and Meghan is not well), Jacob was the only willing participant. Kaleigh is at the coast, Ricky and Rudy left this morning, and Sam and Ammon just weren't interested. I got some great pictures of Jacob jumping in! Enjoy!

My Website is Active!!!

Well...After many nights of no sleep, I have finally launched my photography website.  I am working on finalizing all of my business/tax paperwork to become an "official" business.  This will be a very part-time business.  So the website isn't all that professional, but it serves its purpose.  I hope to develop it more in the future.  I have a price sheet, galleries, and online proofing/ordering (which is pretty cool!).  Take a look when you get a chance!  More to come...

www.robbchristopherson.com

Christmas cousins through the ages...

Most of you know that Kari and I and her two brothers' families built homes next door to each other in 2004 (we affectionately call it the COMPOUND). For the last five years, we have taken pictures with all of the cousins on Christmas Eve in their new PJs. Here is our latest pic, taken in our living room (we rotate houses each year). This will definitely be fun for the memory books! Also...note Zach's robe...he has worn the same robe for the last 4 years. We know what he's getting next year for Christmas! It's fun to see the cousins added over the years and it's hard to believe that in 5 years, we'll be sending Zach out on a mission.


2007...In Grandpa and Grandma's house...They moved in next door to us in 2007 (making it 4 houses in a row).

2006-Matt & Aimee's House

2005-Jeremy and Jenn's House

2004-Our first year in the compound! Taken at our house.

You really should think before you act...

...especially when there is a camera in front of you! I asked Matt to come over and fill in for me while I set up my lights and shot some test shots. Afterward, he was to act as the trigger man. Well, during the test shot, he thought that it would be funny to "expose" himself. No one else in the group knew what was going on...In the end, we have this great picture! I respect everyone too much to show the entire picture, so I had to censor it just a little. The original picture reminded me of a Seinfeld episode (think "Bro")!

Family Pic...

Finally...We took a family picture! Enjoy...

Here is what we used for our Christmas cards this year. It really shows the family's personality. Merry Christmas!

Happy Hmong New Year!

Reagan Elementary celebrated Hmong New Year yesterday. One of our teachers has a collection of authentic Hmong dress and much of the staff dressed up for the occassion. We had a huge Hmong potluck and great assemblies. Kari came over in the morning to take a picture with me and the boys. It was a fun day to celebrate an amazing culture!

Ward Christmas Party...Santa Pics!

We had our Ward Christmas party on Saturday morning. Santa almost didn't show up...but he made it just in time for pictures. I shot over 50 family/child portraits with Santa. I had the 5x7 prints made at Costco and ready to go at Church on Sunday. I am quite pleased with the results. Merry Christmas!


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Turducken anyone?

So, I was watching a show on Food Network and they featured Turducken.  It is a boneless chicken inside of a boneless duck inside of a boneless turkey.  There is some yummy sausage-based stuffing in between each layer.  I knew that this was the turkey for me!  Well, I couldn't find duck anywhere before Thanksgiving, so it wasn't going to happen.  I did, however, make the stuffing, deboned the turkey and added chicken thighs to the inside of the turkey (I would have deboned a chicken, too, but I was afraid that doing two birds on my first attempt would be difficult).  I placed the laptop on the counter and watched a YouTube video on how to debone a turkey.  It worked great!  It took about 7 hours to cook the concoction.  I am pleased to announce that it was delicious.  I am for sure going to find a duck and add a full chicken to the mix next time.  Christmas?  We'll see.  Sam was so into the process and he helped me throughout the evening.  We not only did the "Turken" but we also prepped and cooked a regular turkey using our "secret recipe."  Enjoy the pics!

Our Knott's Berry Farm Trip...

We spent 4 days at Knott's during the first part of Thanksgiving vacation. We had a blast. We stayed in a great hotel and the kids loved the jacuzzi and the indoor pool. Knott's closes early during the winter so we had the evenings to play around in the pool. We spent some time at the beach with the Minnicks and played a mean game of football. The drive home was eventful with pouring rain, two kids throwing up over the grapevine (where we couldn't pull over for at least 20 minutes), and complete exhaustion as we drove late into the night. With all of this, it was the still our best Knott's trip yet! Here are some pics from the adventure...