This Post is Rated PG-13. Viewer Discretion is Advised...

Consider yourself warned!

For the past 3 1/2 months, I've been dieting and training to do an NGA Figure Competition. It was finally showtime on Saturday, October 16th. The training was a ton of work, but so much fun because I like going to the gym anyways. Towards the end, it became more of a chore and a lot less fun. The diet was surprisingly easy to get used to and I loved the changes it made in my body.

The lighting is all very different in each picture, so it's hard to make a good comparison.


This picture was taken 4 weeks out from the competition.

This is at 3 weeks out, at the gym.

2 weeks out.

1.5 weeks out at my final fitting.





This is 4 days before the competition in my finished suit.



The morning of the competition, I went to Kelsey's so she could get me ready (I probably would've just pulled my hair into a ponytail, so I'm glad she helped me!!). I had Neil pick up some breakfast from Sill's Cafe for my first "Real" meal. It was so good, but it was a big mistake- I was so bloated and sick from everything I ate throughout the day. By the night show, I could barely stand up straight!




Here's the final product. Although this was taken at the night show, so I was a little softer and less defined from all the garbage I ate. We did the tan using a paint that you just do at home instead of having a spray tan done, which can be pretty unpredicatable. When we left my parents house on Thursday night to start my first 2 coats, my mom said to Neil, "this will be the first time you'll actually enjoy watching paint dry!"




Oddly enough, I ran into a girl I was on the Layton High drill team with. Her name is Tara, she's in the middle, and she won her division!




These are our friends Matt and Karlee. Matt did bodybuilding and Karlee did bikini (they both won their divisions).




Here's the bikini girls.




After the morning show. Berrie, Mom, Neil, me, and Dad flexing!




I had a few gym friends that came to the show to watch me and Allison- which was so sweet! There's not a single good picture, so this one will have to do. It's Rachel, Katie, Diane, and Me. Then Michele and Lonnie came later and I didn't get a good pic with them either! Hopefully, I'll get to start seeing them all again soon!




These were my BEST friend helper girls. Karli and Allison- I seriously wouldn't have known what to do without them!







Me and Neil- he was very supportive, but he definitely doesn't want me to do another one anytime soon, the rest of my family feels the same way... I haven't decided what I think about doing another one.

Layton Gold's Girls getting pumped up. (Notice I have the baby weights for my baby muscles.)

Halloween Kitty just happened to find his way backstage somehow :)




After the night show, Mom, Don, Jill, Me, Neil, Shelley, Tay. Taylor picked me the prettiest flowers- I should have taken a picture of them!




Better lighting- and MUCH better POSING! I think we're gonna have to have a Christensen Family Figure Competition.

Diane posted this pick from after the show on facebook, so I stole it to add in. Yay friends! (and you can see the pretty flowers that Taylor picked for me)

Livvie on Jurassic Park Ride

Since I took Liv to Lagoon all summer, I've seen her get really freaked out on rides and it always makes me (almost) pee my pants with laughter! I guess I'm a bad aunt for laughing so hysterically at her being so afraid. Oh well, I'll make it up to her someday...

The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter !!!

I've pretty much been planning on coming here since I heard it was in production. In fact, When Neil and I went to Disney World for my birthday in April this year, I had planned on going to Harry Potter World then because it was originally set to open in spring. This section of the park didn't open until June of this year, so naturally, I had to come back as soon as possible!

Here's me, Tay, and Shelley with Hogwarts Castle in the background.

The Hogwarts Express on Platform 9 3/4.

Outside Honeydukes and Zonkos Jokeshop with our goodies. I bought some chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans (yes, I know they've had those around for a long time, but these ones are Official- not just from Jelly Belly!), peppermint frogs, Chocolate Cauldrons, etc.

Me, Shelley, and Taylor going through the INCREDIBLE castle to get to the ride "Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey"

Max, Liv, and Berrie picking out wands in Ollivander's.
Me and Shelley on the Flight of the Hippogriff roller coaster

There's the castle again- it is so amazingly detailed inside and out!

Going through the line inside the castle again. Seriously, even if you don't want to go on the ride, you at least have to go through the line!

Frog Choir (not as impressive as I'd imagined)

We ate lunch in The 3 Broomsticks. Me, Shelley and Tay with our Butterbeer, Pumpkin Juice, and Pumpkin Fizz.

Then we had dinner inside Hogshead.
Mom with a Butterbeer mustache. I'm not even kidding you, Butterbeer is pretty much the BEST thing I've ever had. I really wasn't supposed to have any, but I couldn't help myself! It is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!

Shelley brought back a Cauldron Cake, which I heard was divine.

Taylor with his new wand.

Don't even TRY to tell me you're not COMPLETELY jealous that I went here! It was AMAZING!!

Universal Studios

We spent Sunday at Universal Studios (including HARRY POTTER land!!). It was a blast. We made a huge mistake by going on The Hulk as our first ride that morning- we were all totally sick for several hours afterwards!


The Jaws ride- I'm a little surprised it's still there actually.

We made our way to The Simpson's ride, which made me a little nauseous and my mom had to shut her eyes the whole time, but it was still worth it and I'd do it again in a heart beat!

One of the best parts of the ride is that you actually get to watch The Simpson's while you're in line! I could've been in line for hours and not even noticed!


They had a Kwik-E-Mart with awesome stuff in it like Duff Beer and Flaming Moe's (both were energy drinks, not alcohol).



They also had donuts from Lard Lad!


The forbidden donut! I wanted it so bad!!


And Jeff got this Kwik-E-Mart shirt like Apu's. Our family is a little obsessed with The Simpson's!


This is in line for the Shrek show, I had to put this picture in because this was right after I ran Shelley into the curb and it knocked the wind out of her and all the stuff on her lap went flying everywhere! We were laughing so hard and all the people in line were just staring at us.


I was complaining about how exhausted I was one night and my mom (or maybe it was my dad?) goes, "It's because you've been pushing that thing around all day!" They were referring to the wheelchair, but from then on we started calling Shelley, "That Thing"


This was one of the Dr. Seuss rides, it was pretty cute.




And then the Cat in The Hat ride.


I'm saving the BEST post for last...

The Magic Kingdom

Max and Livvie at the end of the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Berrie, Liv, Max, and Jeffy at Cinderella's fountain. (and creepy Tay in the background)

Me, Tay, Shelley with NO wheelchair!, Mom, Dad.

Tay, me, Shell, Mom

This was the kind of bus that the wheelchair had to be lifted up using an elevator- it was AWESOME!! (for us, Shelley wasn't thrilled)

This is the Toy Story ride, and it's actually at Hollywood Studios, not The Magic Kingdom.

Me and Shelley in line for Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor- Such a cute and funny show!

All Strapped in and ready to ride safely to the next park!

Me and Shell in line for Pirates, I think. I'm not sure why she's not in her wheelchair here. We are probably just about to get on the boat.

EPCOT

We spent 1 of our days at Epcot with the whole huge group of us. This is us eating at one of the restaurants at Japan. There's Shelley, Me, Max, Liv, Jeff, Berrie, Jeff and Julie (Jeff's parents), Taylor, Dad, Mom.

Jeff, Livvie, and Berrie

Me and Liv. This was either right before or right after Liv got lost, luckily she was able to find her way back to where we were but Berrie was FREAKING out when she couldn't find her in the bathroom!

Everyone (minus Jeff's parents)

The funnest part of having a wheelchair was when I rode it with her down the hills. Shelley always got really freaked out because we'd get going so fast, which really only made it that much more fun for me!

Me and Maxwell waiting to go in Turtle Talk with Crush.

Mom, Shelley, with me and Tay in the background. This is the ride that is inside the giant Epcot ball.

Here are the hilarious pictures from that ride. When Taylor saw our pictures, he said, "it looks like you've got a molestor in your future!"

We had the same family members when we went to Disney World in 2006, so I wanted to re-create one of our pictures from that trip.
This was our first night there and we were freezing cold and had NO IDEA that we were only a 5 minute walk to our hotel from Epcot. We wanted to stay to watch the fireworks, so we just huddled together and froze!

Here we are 4 years later in almost the exact spot that we took the first picture. This time it wasn't cold though- and we knew we could go get jackets in 5 minutes if we had to!

Animal Kingdom

The first day and a half in Florida was just me and Shelley, so we did a few rides at Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom but ended up going back to the hotel pretty early because I was sick most of the day.
This is on the African Safari ride.


I made Shelley pose for this picture and I told her you couldn't see the wheelchair behind the poster (which is partially true)
I should probably explain why she's in a wheelchair in all these pictures. Shelley basically has a broken hip. The socket part is cracked. When she's home, she uses her crutches, but since we were going to be walking so much, we thought it would be better for everyone for her to get a wheelchair. The wheelchair definitley had its pros and cons. In some rides, we got to skip the lines, but a lot of rides you still have to wait through the line. Also, it's very hard to maneuver through the crowded parks. Occasionally, I'd just leave Shelley outside a store or looking at a water fountain, just so we could get through things faster. And NO one ever moves for you, I ran into people hundreds of times (only occasionally on purpose)- It's much harder than you'd imagine!