Hansen Family Adventures~~~~

FAMILY PICTURES

2009-11-06T23:41:00.003-07:00

Last Sunday we all met over in Lehi at Buds Place (a friend of my dads) and had family pictures taken. It had been quite awhile since the last time they were taken so were figured it was about time. It was alot of fun and the kids loved playing on all of the old farm stuff in between pictures. Hopefully they turned out, these are just some of the ones I was able to take with my own camera. Our family is getting so big but it is so fun to have everyone around and be so close that we can do fun things together!

Posting Slackiness!

2009-11-03T11:12:00.004-07:00

It has been awhile since my last post! Yah I know I am a slacker, but it is partly because I have not taken the time and partly because our computer fried and all of my pictures were on the other computer and I have not gotten them back yet from the computer repairman. So I am not 100% at fault here! I promise to do better for anyone who is reading this. If not for anything but myself and my children who one of these days I hope will like reading these entries!!

HALLOWEEN SPOOKIES AND FUN!!

2009-11-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

For Halloween it has now become a tradition to have a Halloween party each year and take turns who is the hostess. This year it was my turn so everyone got to come over to our house to have dinner and then we go trick or treating together! Everyone came over arund 6:00 and we started by taking pictures fo the kids and everyone in their costumes. It was so cute! Even mom and Jeff dressed up, and they looked so cute together in their costumes. Jeff was a pirate and mom was a cat burglar. Spencer and lindsey dressed up and Spencer was a farmer and Lindsey was a momma piggy! Shannon and Nate were spoiled sports and didn't dress up but they still looked cute! I dressed up as a 50's girl and Jeff dressed up a s a pirate also. We couldn't belive that Jeff and Jeff dressed up! They never do!! It was awesome!

After pictures we ate chili, corndogs, donuts, apple cider, had a veggie tray and hot wassial. then it was off for the real business at hand, Trick or Treating! Off the kids went with the younger ones being supervised and in tow with the grown ups! It was lots of fun and everyone got loads of candy! We came back home and had a Monster mash dance off with Makenna bug, she of course won!! She can dance so cute and she loves to dance and play with electronics! She had more fun turning off and on Ashleys cd player than anything else. It was a long tiring night but it was fun to have everyone together. I am thankful that my family lives so close by so we can have fun and spend time together!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACHARY!!

2009-10-26T14:21:00.001-06:00

Thursday October 22nd was my sweet Zach's birthday! He is officially now 11. I can't believe it how time flies and how big he has gotten! He is my sweetheart and loves life and learning. He would rather do homework and study than go out and play! Where did he come from? I am thinking he must have been zapped by aliens or something when he was little! He surely did not get it from me. For Zachs birthday we ordered a hamburger cake and had cake and ice cream for his birthday. The next day which was Friday we decided to take him and the kids over to a new place called Pirates Island. It was so neat and the kids had such a good time. We ordered a "Kracken" which was a huge 24" pizza and shared it. We ended up taking most of it home because we were defeated by the "Kracken." After eating they had a game room so we let the kids go play games and play for an hour or so. It was fun but since it was a Friday night it was very crowded and very noisy. I am just glad we went early to eat because the line was over an hour wait time when we left! The kids got their toys and momentos from the tickets they had and we decided to go to the mall and walk around for a bit. the mall was empty since it was almost closing so it was nice to wander and not hurry through the crowds. Zach opened a couple of his presents when we got home and we went to bed tired, but it had been a fun family night together!

Sunday we had the cousins and grandmas & grandpas over for cake and ice cream and Zach got to open all of his presents from everyone who came. Zach got a Lego set and some new scout things he needed sicne he was now a "Boy Scout" and some new shirts! It had been a great birthday and another chance for mom to remember to make the little things matter because the kids grow up way too fast!!

Witches Night Out!

2009-10-18T11:39:00.002-06:00

Witches Night Out was so much fun this year! The weather cooperated and it turned out to be a terrific evening. Ashley and I got ready for our Witches Night Out event up at Gardner's Village in W. Jordan. After we were ready around 3:30pm, we picked up Diana and Lexi at their house and we all headed to Springville to meed Kim Head and her girls, Aubry and Ashley (I work with Kim at the school) and we started on our way to moms house in Orem where we had to meet mom. When we got to moms my Ashley said she didn't feel good and had a headache. So I gave her a Tylenol and a piece of bread because she said she was hungry too! She was so excited that she had not wanted to eat her lunch because she wanted to wait until we went to a restaurant with everyone for Witches Night Out!

After we got mom and started on our way to Lehi to meet Makenzie and Kaylee, Ashely started throwing up before we had even gotten to the freeway! I pulled over and Kim's girls ran into Alberstons and got some towels and bags to help clean up everything. Poor little thing, we got her cleaned up and decided to head up anyway and see how she felt as the night went on. I knew she had just waited to long to eat something and that she was not "sick." Ashley had thrown up on her dress and couldn't wear it so she had to change her cute little witch dress and luckily Katelynn had a witch costume she borrowed instead! After we had finally picked up everyone we went to Applebees to eat dinner! It was alot of fun and good food.

We got to Gardner Village around 6:30 and it was packed!!! They had opened up a field for parking that they had never opened up before because there were so many people! This was the first time Diana and Lexi had been there and Lexi loved all the costumes and the outfits everyone was wearing! We danced, window shopped, ate caramel apples and walked around all night taking pictures and laughing. Towards the end of the night it started to get a little chilly but it had been a very nice warm night for the most part. A nice change from other years when we have froze to death. We finally left around 10:00 and headed for home! It had been a long, fun, exciting, exhausting night! Can't wait to do it again next year! Now to try and make the hat bigger and better!!

Zach's 5th Grade Field Trip

2009-10-10T16:23:00.001-06:00

Zach and his 5th grade class with Mr. Teuscher got to go on a field trip up to Park City to the Olympic Park. yesterday for the entire day. We left the school at 8:30 and Zach and I rode up in our van because the bus was full and several other parents and kids drove their own vehicles as well! We got up to the Olympic Park and toured the museum for awhile, then everyone piled on the bus and we drove up the mountain several miles to the Bobsled venue.

The kids got to see the runs and where they start from and they took turns sitting in one of the actual bobsleds that were used during the Olympics that they have there for decoration. After everyone had a turn in the bobsled, we piled back onto the bus and went back down the hill a little further and stopped at the Ski Jump venue! What an amazing and incredible view! You could see for miles and miles from the top. The wind was cold and blowing so hard that we didn't stay to long. We rode the bus back down to the museum and went into another lodge building next door and ate lunch! It was so fun! Zach and I stayed a little bit longer and walked around the museum again and went up onto the 2nd floor which we had not seen earlier. After about an hour we decided to head home, I had to pick up Ashley at 2:45 from school and I didn't want her waiting. It was a nice day and I was so glad I had the chance to spend the day with Zach and do something together that we had never done before!

Beautiful Fall Harvest

2009-10-03T16:47:00.007-06:00

We have had a very busy last few weeks taking putting up some food storage for the winter. We went down to Grandma Abbotts the other day to help her and she gave us a bunch of apples to bring home off of her trees, so I decided to bottle apple pie filling and applesauce. This was my very first first time making pie filling and applesauce and I would have to say it actually turned out beautiful and very yummy!! I was extremely happy with all of our hard work. The kids worked so hard to help me get everything done. Derek washed and rinsed and peeled apples, while Zach helped run the apple cores, slicer and Ashley helped do anything the boys would let her help do! She especially loved turning the handle on the corer/slicer and tasting the apples to make sure they were good enough for us!
We also had so many tomatoes left from our garden I made homemade spaghetti/pizza sauce. I wished I could have done more but maybe next year when I plant alot more tomato plants and plant them earlier!

Final Summer Fling!

2009-08-30T17:21:00.002-06:00

This past weekend we had so much fun camping up at Blackhawk at the top of Payson Canyon! We spent the weekend, playing at Payson Lakes, riding horses, the boys learned how to chop up a tree and just having fun with all the cousins and kids. It was so nice to get away and see everyone again and let the kids play and explore to their hearts content! Hopefully we can do it next year! Sad thing was this was probably the last thing we will do for the year now that school has started and work has begun for me. Oh well! Make memories while and where we can in life!

24th of July - Pioneer Day!!

2009-07-26T20:11:00.002-06:00

Friday the twenty fourth of July was a fun day! We got up early and went to the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days parade. The night before we went downtown to set up our chairs at the park to make sure we had a decent spot. The kids thought the parade was really fun and Ashley liked trying to get the candy that the floats were throwing. After the parade ended, we packed up the chairs and cooler and loaded it in the van and decided to walk around the park seeing what there was to do!

Ashley wanted her face painted but we didn't see a face painting booth so we had promised the kids a hawaiin shaved ice so that is where we headed. On the way we passed all the food booths and the very end one was selling fired twinkies, fried snickers and fried oreos. The kids wanted to try a fried twinkie so we ordered 2 of them for all of us to share. The twinkies were good but not anything that I would ever order again. We all got our shaved ices and ate them, then we headed back to the van to go home. On our way back I saw someone who looked like Candice, (Bryce's wife). I asked her name and found out it was Candice and so I introduced myself, Jeff and the rest of the family. Candice showed me little Jaxon who was sleeping sooundly in the stroller, and he is so darling, and she told me that Bryce had just left to go back to work. I was a little disappointed, I was really hoping he was there when I had first seen Candice. I had hoped I would get to meet him. We went home and I made sweet meatballs for dinner and we decided to go for a ride up Spanish Fork canyon. Sad to say but this is the first time we have been up the canyon in 2 years.

The rest of the afternoon we rode up to the Thistle dam and showed the kids the town of what used to be Thistle and told them the story of what happened years ago. After Thistle dam we headed up Diamond Fork. the ride was beautiful, and I was so tired, I had not been feeling well the last couple of days, and I soon fell asleep. I woke up halfway up the canyon and in one section of the river we found this area that had sulfur smells and springs coming out of the ground on the side of the mountain, the ground was covered with white and green mineral deposits. I was awed, and thought that it was so neat, I wanted to get over to that side of the creek and see for myself. We went up to the top of the canyon and turned around and on our way back we got out and walked over to the stinky springs we had seen on the way up.
We hiked a little ways in and found the springs and I of course found the black mud while I was trying to get up to the higher part of the springs. On the way back to the van to go back home the kids found a brown lizard sunning itself on a rock by the creek. Jeff drove back home while the kids and I looked at the beautiful canyon. We ran up to check out the Res and the new campgrounds above the res and then headed for home. We got back home and I quickly made sweet and sour meatballs for dinner. We finished dinner and gathered up everything for the evening festivities to begin.

After the gathering of the chairs, blankets, treats, cooler, jackets and bugspray we left for the old ballpark so we could save spots for all of us to watch the fireworks. The night was cool and breezy, but nice, and just right even in spite of a light 10 minute sprinkling of rain. Nate & Shannon threw a tailgate party and brought the fixings for everyone to have macho nachos. Ashley, Zach and Derek along with Shannon & Nate's kids and Brian and Maryann's kids played on the field and at the little playground next to the baseball field and had a blast with each other. Mom showed up later with Tiffany and Josce and Sienna and the fireworks began. Fireworks were fun, exciting and pretty but I had had my fill of fun for one day and with a splitting headache I was more than ready for the day to be over. We had had a day filled with fun and time spent together as a family but there is a time for all good things to end.

Organizing

2009-07-23T00:30:00.004-06:00

I finally feel like I am starting to catch up on things around the house (except for the folding laundry part). For a long time I have felt so overwhelmed with everything that I did not know where to start. All Summer all we have done is clean and work around the house but it seems like it never got completely clean or finished. But this week has been a rather productive one. We have been organizing and dejunking bedrooms and the house. Tuesday we spent all day working on all of the upstairs bedrooms. We got Ashley's room done, the master bedroom and started on Zach's room.
Today we worked on the storage room and my scrapbook room down in the basement. We can now walk into the storage room and find things we need. I almost have all of my boxes unpacked in my scrapbook room so I can once again find the time to start scrapbooking again. Tomorrow I am hoping to finish Zachs room and get the rest of the house finished. Now if I could just figure out someway to magically keep everything clean for more than 5 minutes.

New Bike

2009-07-22T01:44:00.002-06:00

Ashley officially got her first new 2 wheeler bike for her birthday. It was a gift from Grandpa & Grandma Hill, Grandma & Grandpa Allen, Great Grandma & Grandpa Abbott and mom and dad. Monday after her birthday we went to Walmart and let her pick out the one she wanted. When we got to Walmart and she ran over to the bikes, then after looking them over she picked out a bright pink Barbie one and asked Jeff to get it down off the rack for her. She jumped up on it and insisted that she "try it out first" to see if it was the one she liked the best, so she started riding it as fast as she could around the aisles. As I watched her I just kept waiting for her to either fall over or to hit into some one! But surprisingly she did really well and did not hit anyone. She looks so grown up! I can't believe she is big enough to ride her own bike! Ashley picked out a bright pink Barbie helmet to match her bike and bonus, the helmet came with knee and elbow pads. Ashley insisted that she be the one who had to push it up to the register and let the lady beep it for her! She was not just a little bit excited to say the least.
When we finally got out of Walmart it was too late for her to ride it that night so she had to wait until the next evening before she could ride her new bike.

The next night we got her all suited up and let her have at it. She looked so cute in her helmet and all her gear. Ashley looks a little lost in all of her pads and helmet, they are bigger than she is. At first she struggled a little on the sidewalks around the driveways but she quickly figured it out and then nothing could stop her! After awhile I let her ride on the road and she loved it until she tried to turn around and fell over, she really liked her pads then! Finally after dark despite the protesting I made her stop and put her bike away and come in the house. I am just so amazed at how fast time flies, I can still feel her in my arms at the hospital as if it was yesterday. My last child, my little girl, my angel, my little princess, is now6 years old and going into first grade. Time goes on!

Getting to know us!

2009-07-21T01:54:00.000-06:00

For those of you who don't know us very well or haven't seen us lately I will write a little bit about our family.

Derek is our athletic, sports oriented boy. He loves to hike, river run, camp, and anything else that involves the Young Mens and or Boy Scouts. Derek completed his Eagle Scout Project 2 years ago and he will finally get it awarded to him this Fall, (complicated story maybe I will expand on that later). Derek is becoming a very grown up, responsible, young man. Derek turned 16 in March and is now a Priest. We are trying to work on getting him a license and driving, but I will warn everyone when he does so you can stay off the sidewalk! Just kidding Derek! Derek is also into sports cars and loves the fast ones. Wherever we go Derek is always on the lookout for "cool cars" we see while we are driving around! Derek is a wonderful helper and hard worker around the house and yard, and he is always trying to make me laugh and play jokes on everyone! This past year Derek was a Sophmore at Spanish Fork High school, but for his Junior year he will get to go to the new Mapleton High School. Derek also likes to read and some of Dereks favorite books are Fablehaven, Eragon Trilogy, and Harry Potter. A few of Dereks favorite subjects at school are seminary, welding, and he loves to lift weights and play Soccer. I really wish the city would put together a team for older teens, who are to old for city league, but who don't make the High School Soccer team so they could still play! Derek also loves to read and is a wiz at video games. Now don't get me wrong, I don't let him spend all his free time playing, I really do hate them and he only gets a few hours a week to play, but he seems to have a nack for solving even the most complicated games he plays.

Zach is our little scholar. He would rather study and do homework and or read his books than go outside and play. I know he didn't get the homework part from me! He has read so many books in the last year that I lost count months ago and can't keep up with it. Zach can also be the "clown" but he can also be my meticulous Mr. Organizer at the same time when he is not goofing around. Zach is also our builder, he can build anything you ask him to with his Lego sets. Zach loves school and some of his favorite subjects are math, spelling and science. He does so well at math that Jeff and I can't even help him anymore! Maybe it is time for mom to go back to school!! Zach has a blast playing Soccer and plays city league every Fall. We love to pack up the chairs and cooler and haul them to the Soccer games twice a week during Soccer season. I have become a Soccer mom! Zach is also involved with Scouts and is a Webelos Scout and working on his Arrow of Light.

Ashley is our little diva princess. She is six going on seventeen already! She hates to have her hair fixed except for when she is in the mood. Ashley, loves to color, play Barbies and she loves to dress up and play princess'. Ashley graduated from Kindergarten in May. She just loved Kindergarten and her teacher Miss Miles. Miss Miles has been one of the best teachers our kids have ever had. She was a first year teacher and so I was a little apprehensive when I saw who her teacher was. But after the first few weeks of school I was so impressed and amazed at her teacher. She was better than some teachers who have been teaching for 10 years or longer. This Fall she will be in first grade and she is so excited to be going to school all day. What am I going to do without anyone home now! Now because of some things that happened at the end of the school year the kids are going to go to Larsen Elementary with mom. I hope this will work out having mom there constantly for the kids to come up to my room and talk to me and stuff.

As A Mother

2009-07-11T02:45:00.003-06:00

What do you do when your child has been hurt mentally, emotionally, or physically and you don't know how to help them so that it will never happen to them again? Your heart aches and as a mother it makes you want to protect them even more and never let them leave your side. You watch them 24 hours a day from morning til night. You watch them and you try to make things easier for them, you want everything they come in contact with to be able to bounce right off and not hurt them!

As a mother, I wish I could hold my children's hands forever and guide them along and be right there by their side. As a mother, I wish I could hold and cuddle them like when they were a baby and never have to put them down or let them go. As a mother, my heart breaks and I wish I could take their place when they are hurt so they do not feel the pain. As a mother, I wish my children could go through life and not be hurt, especially by someone else. As a mother, I know my children must learn and grow but I wish their path did not have to be so painful sometimes.

House Flooding

2009-07-04T01:34:00.003-06:00

This evening was a long one. It had started out that the afternoon was going quite well. We had driven over to PG to pick up Ashley, she had slept over with her cousin Josce, then went down to Cooks Greenhouse in Orem to pick up a few more plants for the garden and flower bed. We were heading home to get ready to go out with our friends when we got a phone call from Lindsey saying that Shannon & Nates house was flooded. The upstairs toilet had a line that had broke flooding the house, the water was so bad that water was dripping down the outside of the house down the bricks and they needed help getting everything out of the house as fast as they could. So we cancelled our evening out, ran home as fast as we could to pick up the boys and headed to Lehi. We got to Lehi and it was a complete mess. Mom and Jeff were there, Dad and Jayleen, Spencer, the neighbor, and us. There was water dripping and running everywhere! The whole upstairs was soaked and water was running down the stairs, dripping down the walls and I hadn't even made it to the basement. All 3 bedrooms upstairs were wet wall to wall, and the hallways and both bathrooms were covered in water. Downstairs the ceiling in the basement was dripping everywhere! There was water in every room in their basement. Kaylees bedroom in the basement got the worst of it. Kaylees room will have to be completely gutted. The family room which they had just finished sheetrocking last week will only have to be torn apart halfway, hopefully. After waht seemed like forever we finally everything in the house moved out on the lawn and the disaster cleanup guy showed up and started sucking up the water. Hours later when the disaster guy was finished he told us that he had sucked up over 180 gallons of water, and he had not even gotten it all100% the basement concrete floor we had been using the shop vac to suck up water as well! I went around and took pictures of all the rooms and everything that had gotten wet for the insurance. We moved all the furniture into one of those Pod containers that was delivered and the back lawn and front lawn was still covered in house stuff, clothes and everything else.
We finally left around 10:30 and headed home to get our kids in bed. Shannons next door neighbor Jana & Jake were nice enough to let them sleep at their house so they could be close to the house and watch all of the stuff still on the lawn. We are going back over tomorrow to take boxes and help sort and go through stuff so it will be ready to put back in the house after the construction crew comes in and redoes the house. What a way to start the holiday weekend. On a positve note, I told her at least they hadn't been on vacation or this hadn't happened in the middle of January!

Healthy Children

2009-07-02T01:02:00.004-06:00

I am so very grateful for our 4 strong healthy children. Monday afternoon was spent at UVRMC for Zach to have a procedure done which was not fun for him. They had to give him and IV and it was all I could do to hold back the tears so that he would not see me cry (I am a big cry baby as it is). He started to cry because it hurt so bad and I was trying to comfort him the best I could in between deep breaths so I could keep control.
I hate to see my children in pain and crying. I am glad he has Jeff's good bulging veins so they could get the needle in quickly and finish as quickly as possible. My veins on the other hand, which I get from my sweet Grandma Hill, which Ashley also has, (she is in for a world of hurt later on in life but don't tell her just yet) are deep, twisty, roll and like to hide when it comes to needles. I already feel her pain.

Zach's procedure and x-rays took several hours and in a bad good sort of way we found a few things wrong that had been causing him some problems. This might involve a surgery for Zach, poor thing, but now at least we can get to the bottom of things and get them fixed and taken care of after 10 years! Fortunately Derek has good veins too, so I know he didn't get those from me!

I have a new found heartfelt appreciation and respect for the parents and children who have to go through IVs and get poked and stabbed on a daily and or monthly basis. As a mom that would be so hard to watch your child get poked and prodded every day/ month to make them better, or to keep them from getting sicker. I pray we will never have to experience that with our kids!

Apologies

2009-06-29T02:56:00.004-06:00

I want to ask for everyone's forgiveness right now at the start of this blog before I go any further! I am not a writer and sometimes I talk in my head faster than I can type. So please excuse the rambling on and any typos you might see! Thanks for following our family!

Family Time

2009-06-29T01:51:00.007-06:00

Today was a beautiful, June Sunday. Derek and I went to church while Jeff stayed home with Zach and Ashley. Ashley and Zach weren't feeling well so one of us had to go to teach our class.
Jeff and I were called to teach nursery several months ago and we have some of the cutest kids in our class.
I can actually remember everyone's name now which is quite surprising for me, since I have no memory whatsoever anymore! We usually have anywhere from 7-10 kids each week. When we were first called I was very reluctant to accept the calling because the last place I thought I wanted to be was in nursery. In my head, I thought I needed to be in Relief Society, but now after 3-4 months I really enjoy playing and teaching the kids and I know that this is where I am supposed to be.

After church today we spent some quiet time at home and then headed over to Grandma Allen's house for a BBQ. My step brother Tyrone, who we have not seen in over 10 years is here visiting from Arizona for the next 2 weeks. Jeffs (my stepdad) other children Gary, Lejawn, Tawny, and their families came down from Salt Lake for the BBQ as well. Jeff (my hubbie) and I and the kids, my sisters Lindsey and her husband Spencer, Tiffany and her daughter Josce and my neice Makenzie came too.

My mom made Cafe Rio, pork and chicken and several different things from Cafe Rio. Everyone else contributed a side dish to go with it! It was so good! My mom is such a good cook! Ever since we were little girls that is one thing my mom has always taught us, is how to cook and bake.

The kids really had alot of fun, playing with all the cousins. They really enjoy seeing each other and they don't seem to have any trouble catching up and picking up right where they left off from the last time they saw each other. They went over to the park and played and threw the frisbee around while the adults visited. When it was time to go the kids complained and were reluctant to leave, but overall it was very nice day to spend with family and the ones you love! After all, if you don't have your family for love and support then who do you have?

Summer is finally here!

2009-06-26T23:21:00.003-06:00

I set up this blog at the first of the year, and up until today I haven't done anything with it! Well since July is just a few days away and that will be 6 month mark since I was going to start this, I figured today would be just as good a time as any to finally begin telling our story!
So with that being said...........

I finally feel like Summer is officially here and so we began our Summer on Wednesday. Ashley was invited to the neighbors for a swim party with one of her friends and Derek and Zach had a water fight out in the back yard! Derek and Zach filled up the kiddie pool and had a blast throwing buckets of water on each other. Zach and Derek played, joked, teased and soaked each other until they were both laughing so hard they had to call a timeout and "regain" their playing status. They were not about to quit until I told them to come in for dinner and eat. Typical boys for you.
After 4 hours of swimming I finally had to go drag Ashley home from the neighbors, kicking and screaming all the way. Before Ashley had left I had slathered the sunscreen on her and told her to leave her t-shirt and hat on to keep her protected from the sun, (she had gotten a little sunburned the day before picking cherries). But when she came home the shirt and hat were nowhere in sight and she told me that she had taken off her shirt an hat the minute she got there because she did not want to get her hat or shirt wet! Logical thinking from a 5 year old. So now her back is burned and her cheeks even more than the day before.
So last night was spent rubbing her with Aloe Vera and spraying her with Solarcaine to try and relieve some of the pain. Do you think she will learn her lesson and listen to me the next time I tell her to leave her shirt on or to do whatever else she is supposed to next time around? Probably not! That's just Ashley!