Baby Corban

3 weeks ago, we welcomed our 2nd son into the world! His name is Corban Burns Christensen. He was 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and 19.5 inches long. His hair is red, but also kind of a platinum blonde. We'll see what happens. He's doing great! He had jaundice and had to have a photo-light therapy bed for a few days after getting out of the hospital, but he's fine now, and doing great. Just like with Bentley (my first son), I find myself spending large amounts of time just staring at our beautiful new baby.

Life with two kids is totally different than life with one. It really is a whole new world. And we love it! Bentley absolutely adores is little brother. He likes to give him "nuggles" and kisses. He has been a little sad sometimes when Kinsey can't do everything with him, but overall he's done very well with the new addition to the family. My wife is sad that she has 2 children to divide her time between, but she is an amazing mother, and I know she'll love them both and do a great job. I try to help out more with Bentley now, and I actually feel like we've become closer since Corban was born. I have loved it. I took Bentley down to southern Utah with me for a weekend, and we had a blast. I've never been alone with only him for that long. In just one weekend, we became better friends. My heart almost melted when we were playing outside one night, looking at the stars, and when I said 'I love.... Bentley!", he kept replying 'I love... daddy!". It made me realize how important it will be to find 1-on-1 time with my children as our family grows.

I feel like my love for my family, and my desire to be together with them forever, has been taken to a whole new level.

3 Articles That Have Changed my Life, Part 3

3. Anonymous "A Fisherman's Tale"

http://soulmeetsworld.com/2009/07/fishermans-tale.html

This story is a bit simplistic and hokey, but I think it teaches a powerful lesson.  How often do we work like crazy to accomplish goals (get a promotion, make the next big deal, finish with school, win a tournament in sports), yet forget to enjoy life along the way?

I tend to get too focused on goals and forget to enjoy the journey, rather than just the destination.  Obviously working to achieve goals is important, but we shouldn't forget to live in the present.

Thomas S. Monson speaks to this point very well in his talk In Search of Treasure.  Here is an excerpt from that talk:

Professor Harold Hill, in Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, cautioned:“You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot ofempty yesterdays.”

There is no tomorrow to remember if we don’t do something today, and tolive most fully today, we must do that which is of greatest importance. Letus not procrastinate those things which matter most.

Sometimes it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.

3 Articles That Have Changed my Life, Part 2

2. Jeffrey Thompson "What is Your Calling in Life?"

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=13082&x=61&y=5

Since I'm an MBA student right now, I spend hours thinking about my future career.  I spend 8-12 hours each week researching companies, talking to people on the phone, practicing interviews with other students, filling out applications, and soul searching to figure out what I really want to do.  It's exhausting!  I am very concerned with finding a career where I'll be happy and fulfilled.  And I spend large amounts of time wondering which career is "right" for my talents, abilities, strengths, and skills.  This article applies to any "calling in life" that we're searching for.  At this point in my life, I'm relating it to finding the right career.

In this article, Jeffrey Thompson refutes 4 heresies about our "calling in life":

1. You might have a calling if you are lucky, or you might not.
2. You have to find your one true calling in order to be fulfilled.
3. When you find your calling, work will be bliss.
4. Meaningfulness in life is to be found at work.

First: we all have different talents, skills, and abilities.  We can all contribute.

Second: there's not just one, and only one, job that is perfect for us.  I'm so worried about finding the "one" right job for me.  In reality, there are probably many jobs where I could excel with my talents.  Trying to find the "one right job" is like trying to find the "one" girl you were destined to marry.  In most cases, there's not just one girl in the whole world that is the only right one for you.  It's the same with jobs.  Instead of trying to find the "one" right job, we should focus on identifying our talents and abilities, and finding a job where we can best contribute.  Also, we shouldn't be afraid of exploring a little, or even losing your job for a time.

Third: Even if you find your "dream job", there will still be hard days.  For example, zookeepers usually love their jobs, but there are still things they have to do that they don't like, such as taking care of sick animals in the middle of the night, not having a comfortable living, and relatively few opportunities for advancement.

Fourth: This is almost true, but not quite.  Work is a very important part of life, and we should seek to find work that is meaningful to us.  However, work can distract us from the weightier matters of life, such as family, religion, and service.

3 Articles That Have Changed My Life

For my next 3 blog posts, I'm going to highlight 3 articles that have had a significant impact on my life. Here is the first one.

1. Clayton Christensen "How Will You Measure Your Life?"

http://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-you-measure-your-life/ar/1

In this article, Clayton Christensen focuses on 3 questions:

1. How can I be sure that I'll be happy in my career?
2. How can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness?
3. How can I be sure I'll stay out of jail? (2 of his classmates from Harvard spent time in jail, including Jeff Skilling of Enron)

I still remember reading this article as an undergraduate student at BYU, and being surprised that Clayton was able to set aside an hour every day to read scriptures and think about his purpose in life. I decided that if he could do it, so could I, especially since I was pretty sure my life was less demanding than his. =) So I increased my daily study time from 30 minutes to 1 hour, and have been doing that ever since (though I'm not as consistent as I would like to be sometimes). Like Clayton, I have found that taking that time helps the rest of my day to be more productive, focused, and meaningful. I don't think I know my purpose in life yet, but I'm working on it. I've at least been able to identify several things that are not my purpose.

I also really like Clayton's comments about allocating your resources. People (and especially business students) tend to focus on whatever brings the most results in the short term. In business and in personal life, this mindset can be harmful to the long-term. For example, many people in their 20s put off family and kids because they want to focus on career. However, in the long run, the most important thing in this life is relationships (ESPECIALLY relationships with spouse and children), and neglecting to invest every day in this long-term endeavor is short-sighted and dangerous. You may end up climbing to the top in the corporate world, only to find your life is lonely and meaningless. Clayton reminds us to save our best thinking for our families, not just for our businesses.

Finally, Clayton's story about deciding not to play basketball on Sunday teaches the importance of holding to high standards, and avoiding the temptation of compromising "just this once". If you give in one time, chances are you will give in again later, and the magnitude of your poor decisions can be a downward spiral as they relate to more and more important things.

Remember: "the metric by which God will assess [your] life isn't dollars but the individual people whose lives [you've] touched."

By the way, I just found out a few minutes ago on Twitter (Clayton Christensen just responded to a tweet I sent him about this article!) that he's writing a book based on this article that will be released on May 15, 2012). I will definitely plan on reading that one!

St George Trip Jan 14-16, 2012

A few weeks ago, we took a trip down to St George and Zions National Park. It was a blast! Southern Utah is one of my favorite places to go. I love the red rock and the cool rock formations. It was a nice getaway from the business and pressure of school. If you're looking for a weekend getaway, southern Utah has a lot of cool places to hike and camp.

Since it was a holiday weekend (Martin Luther King day), we even got to go to Zions for free on Saturday and Monday. We went with my brother Mikey and his wife, and my little sister Ceri and her boyfriend. And by the way, my wife is 8 months pregnant! She did awesome, she's tough. Here are some pictures of our trip.

Just got out of the car. Ready to hike!

Bentley's very excited to find a little cubby his size

The whole gang

A very windy road you drive up to get to part of the park

We go all the way to Zions, and Bentley's favorite thing is playing in the dirt

Bentley can touch the ceiling!

Looking out over St George from Pioneer Park. Yes, that's a frisbee. And yes, I accidentally threw it off the edge later.

This picture should remind you of a Disney movie... (hint: Bentley is Simba)

The St George Temple. One of the oldest temples for the LDS church

Like his daddy, Bentley loves throwing rocks into water

Just threw a rock

At the end of the Riverside Walk hike. It was an awesome hike along a river down a narrow canyon

The last hike we did. I was definitely getting a little sore from carrying Bentley

Last picture before heading back to Provo

First Snowman and First Snow of Winter in Provo

It finally snowed in Provo! And it's about time. I know Provo has mild winters, but no real snow until January is crazy. I'm from Alaska, and Kinsey is from Wyoming, so we're both used to a lot of snow.

Anyway, I was so excited to go play in the snow with Bentley. After making some snow angels, we realized that the snow was PERFECT for making snowmen. I showed Bentley how to make a snowball, roll it on the ground, and slowly build it up. But once we built the first snowman, he was more interested in picking up snow from the ground and packing it onto the snowman. He loved it!

Eventually we got Kinsey to come outside too, and we built a few more snowmen. Eventually, I decided to go for the gold, and build the biggest snowman we possibly could. I rolled the first ball until I literally could not move it any farther. For fun, we placed it right in front of our neighbor's house (our neighbor is Kinsey's sister, so we thought it would be a fun joke). The most difficult part was actually the 2nd ball, because it was too heavy to lift onto the first one. Kinsey, who's much smarter than me when it comes to thinking mechanically (well, actually in everything, but we'll stick to mechanical for now), grabbed a board, and we rolled the ball up onto the porch, and then from the porch, up onto the first ball, using the board.

The third ball, for the snowman's head, was heavy too, but light enough to lift up to the top. Kinsey found some things for arms and the face, and.... ta da!!! A beautiful snowman. And a LARGE snowman. I think it was somewhere between 6 and 7 feet tall. I can't even remember the last time I built a snowman. I built it so it could be Bentley's first snowman, but it was also a return to childhood for me.

Thank goodness we took a few pictures less than an hour after finishing the snowman, because while we were taking pictures (the next one was going to be me with the snowman), it fell backwards onto their front porch and exploded everywhere! The saddest part was that our neighbors didn't even get home until it had already fallen over, so they never saw it. They did, however, return the favor by rolling the bottom ball over in front of our front porch, where it still sits today (although smaller because things have warmed up since in Provo).

Overall, I'd say it was definitely a successful snow adventure, and a great family activity. Here are some more pictures.

Christmas in Alaska

Bentley and Kaiya jammin' (and sleeping) on the piano

Sandwich kisses

Music time with Kaiya

Beautiful sunset from the kitchen

Bentley ready for skiing

Skiing at Alieska

The Blue Marshmallow Man

Snow kisses

Bounce house Bentley Basketball

Mexican boy in Nativity

All the cousins waiting to go downstairs on Christmas morning

I got Bentley a $1 electric toothbrush for Christmas and he was ecstatic. He didn't stop brushing for about 2 straight days.

?The Maya-wrap baby slings that I made for Christmas gifts.

Bentley is beginning to worry me with his musical fixations.

None of this is staged. He set it all up himself and sang every song he knew.

1st time ice skating.

The rink doesn't allow kids to go without skates (which is way MORE dangerous for a 1-yr-old than walking), but they actually had some tiny skates that fit him ok. It was pretty cute, but we basically had to drag him around because he couldn't stand at all, but we weren't allowed to hold him either. 

Brett's gingerbread "house"

My gingerbread house

Grandma and Grandpa Christensen with their grandkids.

Bentley at 3 am on the red eye with an apple as big as his head. Can you tell that he did not sleep AT ALL!