Chris, Tamara and Katelynn

Fall Fun

2012-01-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

We did a lot of fun things in October and November. See some of our Fall Fun below:

Here are Katie and her two friends Kinsey and Kendra painting pumpkins:

The finished products, pumpkin masks:

Chris grew a great garden this year. He had tomatoes, peppers, onions, and squash

and carrots:

and only one pumpkin grew this year but it was a big one:

Here are Chris and Katie with our huge pumpkin:

We had Deedra, Nikki, Garrett, and Jack over and we all decorated pumpkins:

Katie wanted to dress as a fairy princess because her friend Brooklyn was going to be one. The only color of wings they had left at the store was orange. She was disappointed because her favorite colors are pink or purple. But then she had the idea of dressing as a BSU fairy princess. So we bought orange wings, and orange and blue necklaces. Then we made a blue and orange crown at home and she wore a BSU shirt and blue skirt:

Here's Katie at our church Halloween party with some of her friends. We have 2 fairy princesses, Rapunzel, and a mermaid:

On the Saturday before Halloween we went out to the national wildlife refuge. They had live animals for families to see while they hiked on a short trail. There were spiders, bugs, alligators, owls, and other creatures. Katie also got to do a craft project where she made a homemade trick or treat bag.

Chris and Katie on the trail:

Me on the trail. It's a beautiful area. We've hiked this trail several times with the Cub Scouts.

Chris and Katie checking out an owl:

Chris dressed as Sherlock Holmes for work:

Katie and I made cookies on Halloween day for her kindergarten class (their party was the next day). She wanted shape cookies but not sugar cookies. So we made chocolate chip cookies and cut out shapes for about 6 of them.

We went to my brother Stillman's house to go trick or treating on Halloween night. My brother, Colby and sister, Deedra and their families joined us as well. I didn't get any good pictures but the kids had a blast trick or treating!

Katie started taking a dance ballet class. She absolutely loves it! Here she is in her new dance outfit:

And here she is practicing. She has 2 other girls in her class. Her teacher says she is a natural and can't believe she never took dance classes before.

Chris' cousin Kyle was married in November. We traveled to Utah for the reception.
Here we are with Kyle and his new wife Lark and with Kyle's brother Brandon:

They had dancing at the reception. Here are Chris and Katie having a father daughter dance:

Katie really wanted to make pies this year. So Katie and I made 2 pumpkins pies for Thanksgiving dinner:

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandpa and Grandma's house the next day. Here are the finished pies:

Katie cutting rolls with Grandma Lynn:

Katie and her cousin Livvie with olive fingers:

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner and had fun watching movies and chatting.

Check back in a week or two for December pictures.

Lots of new posts

2011-12-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

I've had a lot of catching up to do. See lots of new posts below. I finished our August vacation posts and also one from first day of school and our new swing set. Stayed tuned for more Fall posts.

Swing set

2011-12-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

In September we bought a new swing set and put it together. It was a lot of work.
Katie helping:

I helped too. Don't worry, I did more than just put nails in the holes :-)

Almost all done. The kids couldn't wait to play on it:

Here it is all finished:

We also had help from my brother Colby and our neighbor Shawn. Thanks!

First day of school

2011-12-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

Katie started Kindergarten this year at the end of August. She was really excited but also nervous. She got a Tinkerbell backpack, lunchbox, and folders, plus all the usual crayons, scissors, glue, etc. Chris and I went with her on her first day for orientation. We met her teacher and saw her classroom. We went early so she could have breakfast. She was able to sit by her cousin Alex during breakfast time. Chris left after orientation to go to work, and I asked Katie if she wanted me to stay. She said she was fine, but I stayed (for me) until after lunch time. I left her playing on the playground. She was having fun playing with a girl we know from church who is in the other kindergarten class. I must say it was really hard for me to walk away and I was a bit teary eyed on the way home. This was a bit step for both of us. She had a lot of fun on her first day. On her second day she had fun too but she was a bit teary eyed when I picked her up. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she missed me. She has gotten used to going to school now and really enjoys it. She loves her teacher and her favorite thing to do at school is to paint.
Here's a picture of her on her first day:

Summer Fun, part 5

2011-12-12T18:32:00.000-08:00

See the rest of our August vacation in the last several posts below (when you get to the aquarium you'll be at the end of our vacation). We went to Utah around the beginning of August for my cousin Alivia's wedding (see an earlier post) and spent the following week there having fun. The first weekend we stayed at my brother Derek's house. The cousins had a blast together. They had so much fun sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor. It was so cute. They were lined up all in a row. We also had a really nice time visiting my mom, Grandma Hansen, and a few other Hansen relatives on Sunday. They had a really nice lunch for us and we played games like croquet, ring toss, bean bag toss, and a few others. I was bummed I didn't get any pictures because I accidently left my camera at Derek's house. But Deedra got some great pictures and posted them on her blog a few months ago. Then we moved to my grandparent's condo for the remainder of our trip.

Here are some of the kids having fun playing with boxing gloves:

And playing video games:

Derek and Rachel had a fun Wii game where you learn to dance. We took turns dancin it up. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but here's a few:

Katie and I:

My brother Stillman:

My nephew Garrett:

My sister Deedra:

And her husband, Curtis:

We had a lot of fun with Derek and Rachel's family. Thanks so much to them for letting us stay at their house.

Summer posting update

2011-12-11T19:38:00.000-08:00

Just a few more pictures to add from our August vacation. Pics hanging out at Derek's house. Stayed tuned.

Visiting Jess and Diane

2011-12-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

On Monday we moved over to our grandparents condo to spend the rest of the week there while on our vacation. That evening we went and visited my aunt Diane, uncle Jess, and their dog Ralphie. We had a nice time visiting and eating Papa Murphy's pizza.

Katie took the above picture of us and this picture of Ralphie:

Lagoon

2011-12-11T18:37:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we went to Lagoon. Here are the kids all ready to go:

First stop - the terror ride:

Katie's favorite ride was the carousel:

The adults took turns watching the kids and taking them on rides while the other two went on the adult rides.

Michelle and the kids had some fun running through the fountains:

We watched a show that had singing and dancing from different musicals:

We all went on the rattlesnake rapid ride together. It was a blast! Here we are all nice and wet:

This was my favorite ride (I think it was called paratrooper):

Here we are hanging out at the top:

Time for a ride on the ferris wheel:

Look at that view!

We had a fun day and we were all pretty tired out.

Still working on summer posts

2011-12-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

I'm posting backwards. Below is Wed - Sat of our August vacation. Check back later for Monday and Tuesday's posts.

The Lion House, Discovery Center, and Clark Planetarium

2011-12-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday we slept in and then went to lunch at the Lion House Pantry on Temple Square. Here are the kids playing in the water at the oval pond just outside the Salt Lake Temple:

The food was excellent! Katie and Alex chowing down:

Michelle and Jayden:

Chris and I:

Stillman enjoying his tapioca!

After lunch, we stopped for pictures in front of the Salt Lake Temple:

Then we rode the train over to the Gateway Mall and visited the Discovery Center.

There was so much to do there! What a fun place for kids!

Katie loved the water play area and spent a lot of time there:

Then we headed over to the Clark Planetarium to watch a dome movie. Here's Stillman, Michelle and kids on the huge elevator:

A picture of the planets:

Hanging out on the moon!

And Mars.

The dome was pretty cool. We watched a movie about the stars in the time of the pharoahs. We were all pretty tired out from going to Lagoon the day before so most of us fell asleep. After the movie (and our nap) we headed back to the discovery center and let the kids play a little longer. Then we headed back to the condo for some swimming, PF Chang, and a movie: Charlie St. Cloud. It was a pretty good movie. Stillman and Michelle and the kids headed home the next day. We're so glad they were with us for part of our vacation! We had so much fun with them!

The tram ride and the dinosaur museum

2011-12-09T18:02:00.000-08:00

Thursday of our Utah vacation took us to Snowbird Ski Resort and Thanksgiving Point. We'd never been to Snowbird before in summer or winter. We went to take a tram ride up the mountain. Here's Katie with a beautiful stream in the background:

In the tram:

Here's a picture of the other tram heading back down the mountain the other way:

Sure was high up and a little scary but also fun.

We made it to the top:

Gorgeous views:

This little chipmunk decided to join us for lunch:

Katie really wanted to pick up some snow. So Chris took her down a little path where some snow was. It was quite steep so I stayed at the top and watched. Here's Katie with her handful of snow:

Beautiful mountains:

Then we headed over to Thanksgiving Point to see the dinosaur museum:

Katie loved this part. She got to play in sand and water with toy dinosaurs (while Daddy and Mommy rested). She loved it so much she didn't want to leave.

That's one big turtle!

Swim faster! He's gaining on you!

Ahhhh! Too late!

After the museum we ordered and ate Papa John's pizza and went and visited Derek and fam one more time.

Summer posting

2011-12-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

I'm working on finishing posting pics from our Utah vacation in August. I'm going backwards though. So check back later for the other days from our trip.

Pioneer Village and The Hogle Zoo

2011-12-09T15:49:00.000-08:00

On Friday of our vacation we went to the This is the Place Heritage Park, which has a pioneer village that has buildings from the time around when the valley was settled. Katie signed up to join the militia. She had to go around the village with enlistment papers and had to do such things as chores, visit the nursing station, make a bag for her money, get a check for her payment, and take it to the bank to get paid. Here she is below making her money bag:

They had a civil war enactment in the middle of the village. Here are Katie and I waiting for the show to begin.

Here's a pic from the battle. Two sides were fighting.

And then the calvary rode in to save the day:

The showdown:

Later we rode the train:

We stopped off at an Indian village. Katie got to make an Indian necklace and we checked out some teepees and forts:

And here was a model boat we climbed on:

Next we went to the Hogle Zoo. This was one of Katie's favorite activities from our trip. Besides real animals, they had a bunch of animatronic dinosaurs there too, which was really cool. They moved their heads around and sometimes more than that and they roared:

Pretzel time! Yum!

And cotton candy:

Checkin out the giraffes:

MMMMM! Love that cotton candy!

On to see the tigers:

These ones are okay to pet:

And sit on.

More animals:

This gorilla was really interested in Katie. They stared at each other for a while and if Katie moved to a different window, he followed her.

Riding a dino!

Hmmm, looks just like the real one.

These are mommy's favorite zoo animals: monkeys.

Hanging out:

After the zoo we headed to the Gateway Mall where we had dinner and watched a movie in the theater. We watched Captain America, which was excellent!

The Christus and the Aquarium

2011-12-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

This is the last day of fun on our vacation before we headed back home the next day. We started off by visiting Deseret Bookstore near Temple Square. Here is Katie posing outside the bookstore in front of a fountain:

Then we headed over to one of the visitor's centers and saw the beautiful Christus statue:

The paintings around the statue are beautiful too:

Then we headed over to see the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. This was one of my favorite things we did on our vacation. I love marine life and had always wanted to visit an aquarium.

Katie and I checking out the imitation dock and boat area.

Here one of my favorites, jellyfish:

There were tanks with sea horses and others with shrimp:

Not sure what these guys were called but they were quite interesting looking:

I loved this aquarium, it was beautiful: So much color!

Here's Katie petting a stingray:

Here's another one of my favorites, a turtle. This picture is reflecting. It looks like there are two turtles - one with another on his back, but there's only one.

An eel:

Row, row, row your boat:

Here are Chris and Katie watching the penguins:

Katie is almost as tall as the tallest species of penguin, the Emperor penguin:

This was a very tropical looking tank:

Beautiful colors!

These guys were very interesting to look at. They look like they have 4 eyes because you could see their eyes on top of the water and underneath it. I think they were called four-eyed fish or something similar:

The aquarium had some beautiful murals. Here's Chris and Katie in front of one of them:

We got our picture taken in front of a green screen when we first arrived and had a picture printed of us with a shark right behind us with his mouth open wide. When Katie first saw it she was a little scared for us. After the aquarium we went out to eat at a place called Five Guys Burgers and Frys. It was delicious! Then we went and visited my Aunt Debbie and cousin Danae. Danae and I watched a movie I brought called The Secret of Moonacre, while Chris and Katie went and played at a park nearby.

The next day we went to church at the Joseph Smith Memorial building and then headed back home. We sure were tired from all we did, but we had so much fun!

Summer Fun, Part 3

2011-10-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here we are at my cousin Alivia's pre-reception. It was a lot of fun and a great idea! They held it at the park where they had their first date. We had hamburgers, hotdogs, watermelon, and more yummy food. It was a nice and relaxed time. Another great idea was the Chinese lanterns, with pictures of them hanging from each lantern. Here's a picture of Liv and Katie:

My cousin Danae and I (we're best cousins)

Danae and Katie. Katie loves Danae and Alivia very much. Katie calls Danae "Nae"

Sweet sisters:

The kids had a lot of fun playing in the park and drawing on the cement with chalk:

Here are the bride and groom, Cory and Alivia, at the temple the next day:

They are such a cute couple and so in love. They were just beaming in the sealing room.

Two new posts today

2011-09-25T19:02:00.001-07:00

See All about feet and Summer Fun, part 2, below.

All about feet

2011-09-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

Katie is always taking pictures of abstract things. She takes pictures of some things like her toys or objects around the room. She is always taking pictures of things really close up like a plastic bottle, or a crumb in a bowl. I’ve even seen her twirl and take a picture while she’s twirling. She likes to take close up shots of people too, like my arm or a nice close up shot of someone’s face. Well, this time she took a picture of her feet and it turned out so cute! Here it is:

Well here’s another story about feet that’s not so cute. In July I ran into a step ladder we keep in our kitchen and bruised up my toe and foot. It was swollen for a few days and it hurt for several weeks. This is what it looked like a day or two after it happened:

Well, I did it again last Sunday, but this time it was my pinky toe on the other foot. And this time it was worse and hurt a lot more. It especially hurt to wear shoes. It was still hurting quite a bit by Wednesday and still quite swollen so I went to the doctor and they took x-rays. He said it wasn’t broken but just badly jammed and sprained. He said I would need to keep off it as much as possible and keep ice on it till the swelling was gone, wear open or loose fitting shoes that give me support, and not do a lot of jumping or bouncing (bummer for me cause I do aerobics). Well today I got a call from the doctor who said that the radiologist had reviewed my x-rays and did find a small fracture in my little toe. He said the treatment is the same but fractures take a bit longer to heal and would probably hurt for about 3 or 4 weeks. Here’s a picture of this injury taken on Wednesday, the day I went to the doctor:

My toe/foot is doing a little better now. The bruising is fading, it’s still swollen, but the swelling is less. It still hurts quite a bit. It doesn’t hurt as bad if I walk barefoot at home, unless I walk around too much, then it really starts to throb. But sometimes it throbs even if I haven't been walking around much too. It kills to wear shoes, unless I wear my sandals – then it’s not as bad.

Here’s a picture of the demon ladder:

I use the ladder all the time to reach things in cupboards and for the kids to wash their hands. I would always set the ladder in the middle of the room out of the way (or so I thought), while I wasn’t using it. So, I decided I needed to replace our kitchen ladder with a nice small stool.

Here’s what we use now:

Ahhh – nice and small. And if I happen to run into this stool – hopefully it will just get scooted across the room a bit. I keep this stool along the edges of the kitchen or in the pantry. Now I only get the step ladder out if I need to reach something up really high in the pantry and I immediately put it away again when I’m done.

Live and learn I guess. (I think I’m accident prone - I fell down the stairs in August. I hit my head pretty hard and threw several things out in my neck and back. Thank goodness my chiropractor got me all fixed up. Maybe I just need to slow down a bit).

Summer Fun, part 2

2011-09-25T14:19:00.001-07:00

Chris took Katelynn and Nephi to Parade America. Here they are sitting and watching the parade.
And here's a few shots of the parade:

This was at Grandpa Art's birthday party. The kids thought it was a hoot to all climb up on Grandpa. Here's Katie, Nikki, Garrett, and Nephi all climbing on Grandpa Tony:

Katie, Grandpa Tony, and Nikki:

Summer Fun, part 1

2011-09-22T19:34:00.000-07:00

We've had a very busy summer and I'm way behind on my blogging. So the next few posts will be about the different things we did this summer.

First off, 4th of July weekend. We went to the cabin with a lot of the family and some of our friends, Kevin and Charlene and their kids. We had a lot of fun.
Stillman and Michelle hosted our very own "Minute to Win It" game. I didn't get any pictures from the game - but it was a blast. We did things like trying to stack apples five high, stacking cups, trying to get oreo cookies into our mouths from our forehead without using hands, and more. Definitely one to do again. We also had fun playing disc golf, watching movies, and driving ATVs.

The kids always have a blast on the swings. Here's Katie having fun on the swings:

Katie and Alex:
Sunday afternoon we had fun playing games like Catch Phrase, croquet, and horseshoes.

Garrett, Katie and Nikki, Curtis and Jack:

And then the ever popular making of smores. Mmmm!

We all sat on the old docks in front of the cabin and had fun lighting off fireworks.

And of course we had a lot of fun in the water rafting, paddle boating, canoeing, and swimming.

Memorial Day Tribute

2011-05-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Wonderful video by one of Tamara's favorite singers: Jessie Funk. This is one of her songs from her newest CD: Dance in the Rain.

What does it mean to be adopted?

2011-05-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

"Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were
discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture
had a different hair color than the other members. One of her
students suggested that he was adopted.
A little girl said, 'I know all about
adoption, I was adopted..'
'What does it mean to be adopted?',
asked another child.
'It means', said the girl, 'that you grew
in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy!'"

Mother's Day

2011-05-15T14:50:00.001-07:00

I wanted to write a quick post about my Mother's Day last week. Chris and Katie got me a flower which Katie picked out for me and they made me a card. I also got a shirt that says "Moms Do The Hard Work, Dads do the Yardwork". And I got the movie/cd combo pack "Change of Plans" starring one of my favorite singers: Brooke White. The movie is about adoption! Here's the synopsis from www.familymovienight.com:

"Up to this point, Sally Danville's life has played out just as she hoped it would. A beautiful and free-spirited musician, she and her fighter-pilot husband, Jason, live life on the go, free of domestic responsibilities. But with a single phone call from Child & Family Services case worker, Dorothy (Phylicia Rashad, The Cosby Show), she learns that things don't always go according to plan. Sally (Brooke White, American Idol) is met with the news that her best friend from college has died in a tragic accident on a Peace Corps mission and has named Sally the legal guardian of her four kids - 3 of them adopted from third-world countries. Now Sally and Jason (Joe Flanigan, Stargate Atlantis) must quickly learn to parent this instant family and help the kids deal with the culture clash of life in America. The story is both humorous and heartwarming, revealing how fulfilling life can be when you look beyond your own plans and invest in the lives of others."

I love this movie and I love the soundtrack too!

Thanks Chris and Katie for making my Mother's Day special.

Two new posts

2011-05-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

See two new posts below.

Katie's Birthday

2011-05-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

For Katie's birthday we went to a place called Jumpin Jungle. There are lots of big inflatable toys to jump and slide on. The adults get to play too. Here's some pics:

The next day we had her party. Katie requested clowns for her cake this year:

Here's some pics from her party:

She had been asking for this pillow pet since Christmastime:

One of her (and Mommy's) favorite movies is Tangled. She got a Rapunzel doll:

She got lots of other fun presents and had lots of fun on her birthday.

Easter Fun

2011-05-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

Coloring eggs with Daddy:

All lined up and ready to hop in the basket:

All lined up for a picture now:

After the hunt:

Mommy and Katie:

Daddy and Katie:

Bubble blowing fun:

Catch that bubble:

Happy Easter!

Long time no see - finally an update

2011-03-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted. Life has been pretty crazy around here since last Fall. Besides all the holidays, here's a little bit about what's been going on with us: Tamara started watching a few more kids part time, we finished our adoption paperwork and case study and are approved to adopt again (see our profile at itsaboutlove.org), we received new callings at church to be the Cubmasters (we were Webelos leaders and Cubmasters for about 2 months until they found some new Webelos leaders), and Chris received a job promotion at his work, which he just started this week. Katie's been having lots of fun playing with her friends and cousins. We had a Valentine's Day party with some of the daycare kids and one of her cousins (see pics below). For Tamara's birthday we went to Wingers. Very good, a new favorite! Her birthday goodies included some new CDs and DVDS. Tamara had a surprise birthday party given to her, planned by her stepmom, LaVerne. Tamara was super excited because she's never had a surprise party before. A lot of the family came to the door and when Tamara opened it (expecting to just see LaVerne) they sang "You've Had a Birthday Shout Hurray" to her. She loved it! See some pics from the Valentines Day party and Birthday party below.

Here are the girls making their Valentine Goodie Bags. There's Katie, Kinsey, Livvie, and Kendra.

Here they were playing musical chairs, which soon turned into "animal musical chairs".

Playing bounce the bunny:

Girls just want to have fun!

Strike a pose:

Tamara's birthday cupcakes LaVerne made:

Opening her present from LaVerne: a homemade camera case and a candle and candle holder.

Party visiting:

Here's the candle:

We'll try to start posting more often again.

Halloween fun

2010-12-02T05:52:00.000-08:00

Here we are at our ward (church) Halloween party with Stillman and Michelle's family.

Katie wanted to dress as a Carebear again this year:

A great family pic (thanks to Michelle for
enhancing our photo):

Trunk or treating:

The cake walk:

Katie with her yummy cupcake:

We opted to go trick or treating on the 30th (Saturday). Curtis and Deedra's family joined us for pizza and then the guys took the kids out trick or treating while the gals stayed home to pass out candy and watch a movie.

Nikki was dressed as a princess so Katie wanted to wear her dress up clothes too instead of the Carebear costume. She choose a cheerleader (princess) outfit.

Getting ready to go out trick or treating:

The gals all ready to hand out candy:

Ready to go:

Hong Kong

2010-10-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

As I was putting Katelynn to bed tonight she kept wanting to talk. So I said - Okay you can tell me one more thing and then it is time to go to sleep. Here's what she said: "Mommy, I want to go to Hong Kong." (Today she had watched an episode of What's New Scooby-D00 where they went to Hong Kong - in fact it's her favorite episode). I got a good chuckle out of it. (I'm still smiling about it).

Anniversaries

2010-10-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

Chris and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary in August. First we went to Olive Garden for lunch. Chris had lasagna and I had ravioli di portobello - mmmm - they were good. And Katelynn had mac & cheese. Then we went to a theater to see a movie called "How To Train Your Dragon". We loved it! Very good movie! Definitely recommend it to anyone.

Here we are at the restaurant:

Later we went to Wahooz. Chris and Katie rode on the go-carts.

And we all played a round of miniature golf.

(Katie's clapping for me in the background).

We had a great day!

Later that week we celebrated Grandpa and Grandma's 60th Wedding anniversary (celebrated a few weeks early - it's actually in September). I made them a cake. There was a lot of good food and memories shared. And it was fun to see so much of the family.

Belly blues

2010-09-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Sorry it's been so long since we've posted anything. Things have been a little crazy lately. I hope to get a good post on soon. But for now I've got a funny little story.... Katelynn is very artistic. She's always drawing and coloring. I've been trying to teach her not to color on herself, specifically with markers. She keeps coloring her fingernails and toenails. She loves to have me paint her nails but I just don't get it done as often as she would like (which would be everytime a little bit of nail polish wears off :-) So I put the markers up for a while and told her as soon as she can be a big girl and not color on herself I'll let her use the markers again. So we tried again the other day. I let her do some coloring with the markers to see if she can be a big girl and not color on herself. But true to form I find her with colored fingernails and toenails again. Blue fingernails and red toenails. So I take the markers away from her again and go on with the day. Later at bedtime when I am helping her get her pajamas on guess what I discovered? She had also colored in her belly button. She has a blue belly button. So so funny!!!!

Father's Day

2010-06-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

We had a Happy Fathers Day for Chris. We celebrated a couple days early. The Friday evening before Fathers Day we went to the Pita Pit. It was really good.

Katie and I made him a card and a pen holder for work. We also got him some Home Improvements shows on DVD (with Tim Allen). Happy Father's Day to a wonderful husband and father.

Our trip to Utah

2010-06-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

We went to Utah for my Grandpa Hansen's funeral the weekend before last. The funeral was very nice. I loved hearing stories about Grandpa's life. He lived a fulfilling life. Here is what was said about him in his Obituary (sent to by my Aunt Karen):

Obituary for Omar Milton Hansen

Omar Hansen, devoted husband, father, former Springville High chemistry and physics teacher and principal, B.Y. High teacher, Art Museum board member, Kiwanis Club member and WWII Navy Officer passed away peacefully, June 1, 2010.

Born in Provo in 1922, Omar married his high school sweetheart, LaVon Gurr in the SLC Temple.

Following 3 years of Navy service in the Pacific, he was awarded the Bronze Star for valor as gunnery officer aboard the USS Brown. Omar and LaVon then settled in Springville.

Omar loved his family, his students and nature. Each day was an adventure: camping, scouting, water skiing, hunting, fishing and snow skiing. He shared his appreciation for the beauty around him by capturing the color, texture and feeling of life in art. He produced over 90 paintings of Utah mountains and other scenery, several winning awards at Art shows.

He is survived by his wife, 4 siblings: June Henrichsen, Victor, Roger, Patrick; seven children: Robert, Judy, Craig, Deanna, Marsha, Gilbert, Spencer; 39 grandchildren; 65 great grandchildren.

Here's a picture from his funeral (they are folding the flag)

Cousins:

On Friday after the funeral we went to my brother Derek's house and hung out to play games and watch a movie (National Treasure) with most of my siblings and their families and my mom. It was fun. Derek and Rachel have a lovely new home.

On Saturday we hung out with Stillman and Michelle's family. We ate at Chuck Arama:

We visited the Clark Planetarium. We went by train (Trax).
Here's Katie and Alex hanging out on Mars:

Walking on the moon:

We also visited one of the visitor centers on Temple Square. I thought this was a really neat picture:

And we watched the Joseph Smith movie at the Legacy Theater. Very good. Very touching. Later that night we watched National Treasure 2 and went swimming at the Condo. It was a very memorable and fun weekend. Thanks so much to Stillman and Michelle for letting us carpool with you. It was fun to ride together.

Some of my memories of Grandpa and Grandma Hansen:

Camping; hiking at Bryce and Zion Canyons; swimming in a creek on one of those outings (we had fun pouring Grandpa's hat full of water onto his head - especially Melissa and Derek had fun with this, we also had lots of fun trying to catch pollywogs); visiting a dinosaur museum and an aircraft museum; Grandpa's hotdog mustard joke; Grandpa's magic tricks with his fingers; Grandpa pretending to be a car - a few of us would hop on his back and he would pretend he was a car driving and then get a flat tire and we would have to get off and fix the tire and blow it up and then get back on and drive some more - we thought that was the funnest game ever; hiking Y mountain (driving to Utah we always watched for Y mountain because we knew we were getting close to Grandpa and Grandma's house); playing on the playground at the park that was just behind their house; the cuckoo clock; I remember fresh air coming in through the open windows; sleeping in the camper in the driveway; the mural painting in their driveway of Lake Powell; bear and deer heads in the den; playing computer games in the den; sitting at the barstools in the kitchen to eat or on the little table and chairs on the back patio - I remember begging Grandma for more sugar on our Cheerios; the marble rolling game; building with Legos; the family reunion at Bear Lake; visiting the art museum; Grandpa and one of my uncles took my wedding pictures; Grandpa asked me what I wanted a painting of and I told him a waterfall, he gave me a painting of Bridal Veil Falls; we visited Bridal Veil Falls twice with Grandpa, Grandma and Mom; family reunions.

Thanks for all the love you showed to us grandkids. I love you Grandpa and Grandma Hansen.

Grandpa Hansen - last summer

2010-06-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa Hansen just passed away this morning. I'm so glad we were able to see him last year at the Hansen Family Reunion. I love my Grandpa and Grandma Hansen very much and have fond memories of them - especially from the visits we had when I was a kid. I'll share some memories in a future post. We love you Grandpa! Here are some pictures taken last summer at the reunion and at his house.

Mothers Day

2010-05-12T09:31:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a great mothers day! I had a great one. Most of my surprises came on Saturday. Chris and Katie picked out flowers for me to have planted in the garden (Katie picked up one for herself too) and made me a card. Then Chris and Katie planted the flowers in the front by the rose bushes. Later we went to the book store and I got a new CD by Jessie Clark Funk called "Everything Speaks His Name". I love her! Now I have 2 of her CD's (the other one is called "You Know Better Than I" - I love them both). Then we went out to Wendy's for dinner and Dairy Queen for dessert. I had my new favorite flavor of Blizzard: chocolate covered strawberry - mmmmm - chocolate and strawberries - the best! After that we redboxed "The Princess and the Frog". It was a pretty cute movie. Thanks for the great mothers day Chris and Katelynn! Sorry I didn't get any pictures. But here's a youtube video of one of the songs from my new CD:

The Girls With Glasses

2010-05-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

I Am A Girl - The Girls With Glasses Theme Song from The Girls With Glasses on Vimeo.

This is a cute video. There's a link to this website from her website: realbrookewhite.com

2 new posts again

2010-04-25T16:21:00.001-07:00

Catching up my blogging again. Check out 2 new posts below.

April Showers

2010-04-25T16:06:00.000-07:00

April Showers bring May flowers….. right? I sure hope so. April has been a difficult month. To make a long story short: the day after Katie’s party I started feeling sick. By the end of the week I was pretty miserable and went to the doctor Easter morning. We thought it was strep and I started taking antibiotics. Later in the week I started feeling worse so I went back to the doctor and had some more tests done and it was discovered that I got mono. So I stopped the antibiotics and I had to have bed rest for 4 days without watching any kids. I have slowly been recovering and I am feeling a lot better. I am still quite fatigued and have to get naps in whenever I can. I also discovered about 8 canker sores in my mouth just over a week ago (just when I was starting to feel better from the mono symptoms). Thank goodness those are starting to go away now. I can’t wait till I can eat without pain. It takes the bad to appreciate the good. I am so thankful that I am pretty healthy most of the time. I want to thank everyone who helped with watching kids, bringing food and for everyone that called or emailed to see how I was doing. I appreciate and love you all.

To top off April: our oven burned out. But hey – it went out in style and we got a light show. Last night we were cooking a pizza and we noticed the coils in the oven were sparking. So we figured we better clean the oven out next weekend. It sparked the whole time we were cooking the pizza and was sparking in different places and kept moving along the coils, which was making us pretty nervous. When the pizza was done we turned the oven off and it was still sparking and the coils were still red and it was starting to burn the coils right up. Chris poured baking soda on it but it didn’t help. Then he unplugged the oven and it finally went out. Check out the pics:

Katie was so distraught that the oven was broken - she started to cry. We told her not to worry we'd get a new one. We'll be going oven shopping tomorrow.

Katie's Birthday

2010-04-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

Katie had a great birthday. The Friday before her birthday we took her to the dollar store to pick out a balloon. Then we took her to Artic Circle for ice cream cones and she also got a pack of Starbursts at Wal-Mart. The next day we went to the church in the morning for an Easter breakfast and egg hunt. Then we spent the afternoon getting ready for Katie’s party. She kept telling me for about a month that she wanted a dinosaur birthday cake. She loves dinosaurs and The Land Before Time movies. So I made her a dinosaur cake and we decorated the kitchen with color sheets of dinosaurs and green streamers. She loved helping to decorate for her party. During the party we had a Land Before Time movie playing for the kids and they got to color Land Before Time color sheets.

Here she is with her balloon:

Family pic:

Blowing out the candles:

Loves those new shades:

And her most favorite present:

After the party we took her for a ride on her new bike. She was loving it (and still partying - you can see the party blower in her mouth)

2 new posts

2010-03-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

See 2 new posts below. (The post dated last Saturday I didn't get published till today - it was still in drafts).

Katie's new helmet

2010-03-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

We went to story time at the library on Wednesday and all the kids got free helmets from St. Luke's. The ladies were very nice and fitted the helmets to their heads too. Katie's has plants and ladybugs, butterflies and flowers on it. Here she is riding her cousin Nikki's scooter last night.

Attack of the cake

2010-03-13T14:34:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what your floor might look like covered in cake and frosting? Well though I did think about taking a picture, I was too upset and I felt like I didn't want to remember this at the time.

Katie and one of the little girls I babysit (who is Katie's age) come into my room while I'm doing my hair and makeup and Katie informs me that they had some cake. (This was leftover cake from a church party from the night before). So I put them in timeout and reminded them they are not to get into food without permission. (They had just had snack time not too long before too). Then I went downstairs and saw cake crumbs and frosting strewn all across the living room and kitchen floors. And I mean all over. After putting them back in timeout, I had to carpet clean and mop the floors - I figured sweeping and vacuuming would only make it worse. I had the girls sit out of the way on the stairs or couch while I cleaned (I didn't want them to step in it). Eventually one ended up asleep on the couch and the other (Katie) finally took a nap in her room. It takes time to carpet clean with a hand held carpet cleaner. Definitely considering getting a full size one. And to top it all off I also discovered they had pulled dirty dishes from the dishwasher to plate their cake with. Errrr! I guess this is payback for when my brother and I smeared shortening all over the house when we were kids. (Sorry about that by the way). Too many times kids just don't think about the consequences of their actions. Later after I had it all cleaned up I asked Katie were you guys throwing the cake or something? She replied - no, it just got on our feet. Trust me it was a mess! But on the bright side - my floors are nice and clean now.

My birthday and fun pics of Katie

2010-03-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

I had a great birthday! We went to the temple and out to dinner at Applebee's restaurant. Thanks dad and mom for coming with us. I had a yummy pasta dish and Chris had a hamburger. And we all shared my birthday dessert which was a really big chocolate chip cookie with ice cream, chocolate syrup and whip cream on top. MMMM! I got some Celtic Woman CD's from Chris; and from dad and mom I got a journal, notepad, bath soap and lotion. And best of all - Chris surprised me with a new wedding ring! I lost mine last summer when we went on vacation. I love my new ring! And I love that Chris picked it out and surprised me with it. (He actually gave me the ring last week so we could get it sized and ready to wear before my birthday).

Katie has become quite the artist. She is always coloring and drawing pictures. This time she decided to try out a little drawing on herself. Chris and I started laughing and had to get a picture. (With a reminder not to draw on herself again please). Luckily it came off pretty easily with some diaper wipes.

We've been getting cabin fever. Here's a picture from last month. We took Katie to the park for about a half hour. It was so nice to get out.

This picture was taken in January. We send Katie to her room occasionally for some quiet time (hopefully take a nap time). Most of the time she just plays. She pulled all of the towels and sheets off the bottom shelf. And here is where we found her fast asleep:

Other news: Chris is enjoying his new job. We are thankful to both have jobs and hope that Chris will be able to find a permanent job by the time this one ends. Things are going very well with me watching 2 kids now and doing preschool with the older sibling and Katie. They love it! And Katie loves having a girl just her age to play with every week day. They have a lot of fun together. And I am really enjoying teaching them preschool.

Update

2010-02-14T15:50:00.001-08:00

Here's a little update on what we've been up to. Chris got a temporary job with the state that will last till the end of June. Tamara has been watching a little girl since the summer and starting next week will be watching her sister too. Tamara has been real busy getting ready for her to come as she'll be teaching preschool to her and Katelynn. (She's been getting preschool curriculum materials and supplies, and reading through the lessons). Katie is going to love preschool. Tamara has been doing a little bit of preschool with her but now she'll be doing a lot more.

Here's an update on things Katie has been saying or doing lately:
She says last day instead of yesterday.
She draws people - very cute - circles with arms and legs and faces.
She is finally learning how to wear big girl panties. Yay!
She absolutely loves to color with markers. It's just so much more fun than crayons.

We are so very thankful for all our blessings!
Happy Valentine's Day!

We got a little cold

2009-12-30T22:11:00.001-08:00

Chris, Tamara and Katie

It's Official!

2009-12-09T07:00:00.001-08:00

Chris received a phone call from the Idaho Accountancy Board yesterday. His CPA License has been approved! Chris will be a Certified Public Accountant effective the beginning of 2010! Yay!!!!

Fall Fun

2009-11-09T07:09:00.000-08:00

We went to the pumpkin patch with Stillman and Michelle's family. We had lots of fun. We went on hay rides, picked out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, walked the corn maze, and the kids got to go on some rides and go into the petting zoo. We also had some delicious concession food. If you ever go you have to try the homemade donut holes. MMMM! We carved our pumpkin at Stillman and Michelle's house. Katie helped draw the face on to carve. Notice how one eye is bigger than the other? Cute huh. We dressed up for our church Halloween party. Can you guess who we are? Chris is Obiwan Kenobi, Tamara is Queen Amidala (AKA a Geisha - nobody knew who I was - either works), and Katie is a carebear. Katie and Alex had fun trick or treating in the church. And last Saturday Daddy and Katie had some fun raking leaves in the yard.

Hair Makeover (for Mommy this time)

2009-10-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

My stylist had a party at her salon and I entered in a drawing and won the grand prize: a free hair makeover! I got a haircut, color and eyebrow wax. Here are my before and after pictures. Sorry the before pic is a little blurry.

Before:

After:

I love it!

I've never had highlights or an eyebrow wax done before.

Here are Katie and I both with our new do's just in time for family pics next week.

"I Want My Mullet Back"

2009-10-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

Well…. not really. Remember last March when Katie cut her own hair? Well she has had a mullet ever since. I am excited to say that the sides have finally grown long enough so we could have her hair cut short. Here are her before and after pictures.

Surprise!

Last test passed!

2009-09-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

Chris passed his last CPA Exam! Now he just has to take an ethics test and apply for a license. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cabin fun

2009-09-15T22:03:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun at the cabin Labor Day weekend. It's always fun to take some R&R time and get away for a bit.

See post below too.

Ready to go!

2009-09-15T20:59:00.000-07:00

This is where I found Katie at approximately 1 pm on Friday Sept 4th. She had her suitcase by her side and was all buckled into her carseat and ready to go to the cabin. I informed her that we wouldn't be ready to leave for another 5 or 6 hours. She cried when I made her come back in the house. She couldn't wait to go to the cabin and see her cousins Livvie, Ellie and Blake and all the rest of the family that were going up.

Little surprises

2009-08-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

Friday evening I was folding laundry and came across one of Katie's socks that felt a bit lumpy. I set it aside and soon found the matching sock, which was also lumpy. I set that aside too. Later Chris and I emptied out the socks to find almonds and hair accessories. We got a good chuckle from this. It's so funny that all those items stayed inside her socks through both the wash and dry cycles. The almonds look polished and shiny... and a bit chipped. Life is never boring with Katie around.

12 years ago today...

2009-08-16T16:26:00.000-07:00

Two hearts came together.

Two lives were united.

Two dreams were joined as one dream come true.

And the two had:

A growing love,
Friendship,
Hope for the future,
Commitment to each other,
Covenants to keep.

And although the two have faced many trials and challenges along the way...
and still have many to come...
there has also been great joy.

And...

the dream goes on...

Happy Anniversary Honey!
I love you!
Tamara

Two new posts

2009-08-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

See below!

Busy July

2009-08-03T06:17:00.000-07:00

We've had a very busy July. I'm finally getting a few new posts on. We had a family reunion, a trip to the zoo, Katie's first dentist appt, a few illnesses and Tamara started a babysitting job (which I am really enjoying). Here are a few pics from our trip in July to a family reunion on my Mom's side of the family. I'm only posting a few pictures since Deedra and Stillman and Michelle families already put a bunch of photos on their blogs from the reunion. We had a great time at the reunion! We were also able to spend some time with Uncle Robin, Aunt Debbie and Cousin Danae. Thanks for sharing your home with us!

High Hopes and Heartbreak

2009-08-03T05:49:00.001-07:00

Brooke White has a new album out! High Hopes and Heartbreak. Here are some of my favorite songs from her new album. A music video with one of her songs called Radio Radio. And recordings of her songs called High Hopes and Heartbreak, Out of the Ashes, and Little Bird. It's a great album! Better than her first! She co-wrote all of the songs except one.

Internet Explorer Issues

2009-07-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

Explorer is having some serious issues. For some reason, it is not allowing anyone to view our entire blog. Please use another web browser such as Firefox or Safari to view our blog. We apologize and hope that this issue is resolved soon.

1 more to go!

2009-06-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

Chris just found out he passed his 3rd CPA exam. Only 1 more to go!

Parade

2009-06-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the parade we were in. Actually, these are all from right before the parade started, we didn't get any during the parade. Thanks to all of you who came and watched & supported us! Above is Katie holding onto her hat - the wind was pretty fierce a couple hours before the parade started. And then it died down a bit and started raining. It was raining for a while. While Chris and others were getting the float ready, Katie and I took shelter in the truck cab. Luckily the rain died down right before the parade started.

Our float was sponsored by FSA (Families Supporting Adoption); an organization sponsored by our church to give support to adopting families and to help us support each other. Our float was called "We Are Mooooved by Adoption". The focus of our float was to let birth moms and dads know how much we love and thank them for their love and sacrifice for us and to try and let the community know that adoption is a good thing and that families are created through adoption. We especially want to thank our birth mother, Whitney. We love and appreciate you! Your gift of love and sacrifice has blessed our lives immeasurably!

Katie got first pick of the train cart she would ride in and of course she picked the pink one.

Chris in his cowboy attire.

Katie having fun blowing a train whistle.

Tamara in her cowgirl attire, trying to stay dry and warm - it was cold!

Here we are right before the parade started.

A local newschannel filmed the parade but when we watched a re-run of the parade we noticed that they did not show our entire float. They showed the truck with the big signs on it but skipped right over the kiddie train and families walking behind it. So - to those of you we told to watch the news channel to see us - so sorry they skipped over us. We were there.

Before and After

2009-06-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

We liked Heather's idea of posting before and after pics of Jon. Here are Chris' before and after pics. Chris started Turbo Jam in May of last year.
Beginning weight: 170
Current weight: 135.5
He actually weighed up to about 175 prior to starting his workout routine in the beginning of May 2008. Which is probably what he weighed when the before pic was taken in Sept 2007. Which means he has lost almost 40 lbs. Great job Honey!

What are you doing?

2009-06-04T17:44:00.000-07:00

Having a huge storm right now. It is mostly a bit of rain now. But about half an hour ago it was real windy. Katie was at the window yelling at the sky: "What are you doing?" over and over again. So I told her it was a storm. Then she started yelling: "What are you doing storm?". So funny! (So cute, I had to put this on facebook too).

Our little reader

2009-06-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

Operation Ant Destruction or Rescue?

2009-06-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

If you ask Daddy and Mommy it's destruction. If you ask Katie it's rescue. We just want to get rid of the ants. Vacuuming them up or sweeping them up and throwing them in the garbage or sink. But Katie wants to put them back outside because "they're cute". This morning I found her with a bunch of ants that she had put in the back of her little toy truck. I was wondering where she was getting all the ants from because we had gotten rid of most of them from the kitchen. Come to find out they have invaded our family room too. Why you may ask? Unseen crumbs on the side of the couch and behind the couch. They were even going for crumbs under the couch. So I took the hand vacuum and vacuumed the ants and crumbs up and dumped most of them outside (for Katie's benefit) and some in the garbage or sink. Hopefully they will stay out of the family room since I vacuumed up all the crumbs. We're trying the cornmeal idea in the kitchen, hopefully we won't have to do it in the family room too.

Memorial Day Pics

2009-05-31T18:03:00.000-07:00

Here's our Memorial Day pics. We had a great time at the cabin. (Daddy had to stay home and study - but at least it was quiet for him).

Batgirl and spiderman

2009-05-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what batgirl and spiderman looked like as kids? Ta-dah!
Secret identities: Katie and Alex. Oops! Shouldn't have told ya.

Mothers Day and a cake

2009-05-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

I had a pretty good Mother's Day. It started off with a free dental cleaning last Friday. My Dentist's office does free cleanings and other procedures on Mother's Day. They've done this for 5 years now. This was perfect since we don't have insurance right now. I did have to wait in line quite a while but it was worth it. I love clean teeth! Then on Sunday Chris and Katie surprised me with a cute Mother's Day Card (see pic above) and French Toast for breakfast. Yummy!

We went to visit Grandparents (both sides) Sunday afternoon. Here we are at a Mother's Day BBQ at my parent's house. Ummm it was good! Always so fun to get together with family. Katie wouldn't smile for the family pictures.

But we got her smiling here.

Here is my latest cake that I made today for some friends in our ward (church). It was the Dad's birthday and their daughter requested flowers on the cake. So I made them in the team colors of royal blue and white.

Locks of Love

2009-04-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

Before
At the salon:

After the first cut:

Final cut and my hair donation:

If you donate to Locks of Love, many salons will give you a free haircut and style. Your ponytail has to be 10 inches long. I have a friend from church who works at a Hair and Nail Salon and she did mine. Her name is Tasha. Thanks Tasha!

Never heard of Locks of Love?

See the website: www.locksoflove.org

Here's some info from the website:

Who We Service

Our recipients are financially disadvantaged children, age 18 and under, suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. Most of our children suffer from an autoimmune disorder called alopecia areata, which causes the hair follicles to shut down. In addition to the loss of scalp hair, many also lose their eyelashes, eyebrows and all body hair. This hair loss is permanent in most cases, and there is no known cause or cure. Other recipients have been victim to severe burns, endured radiation treatment to the brain stem as a treatment for cancer, or suffer from any number of skin disorders that cause permanent hair loss.

Why We Are Needed

There are several problems facing children who suffer long-term medical hair loss. Most wigs sold by retailers are made to fit adult heads, and are much too big for children to wear. They often require the use of tape or glue to keep them from falling off, and these adhesives can burn or irritate the scalp. Often, the styles of adult wigs are not age-appropriate and synthetic wigs can mat and frizz with excessive styling.

The hair prosthetics Locks of Love provides are custom-made from donated ponytails for each child’s head. They retail between $3,500 to $6,000. The hairpiece forms a vacuum seal, like a suction cup, and does not require the use of tape or glue. Only the wearer of the hairpiece may remove it, by breaking the vacuum seal at the temples. Children can dismiss insecurities about classmates pulling off their hairpiece, or losing it at recess. They can swim, shower and do gymnastics – in short, they can be kids again. Each hairpiece is made from real human hair, and arrives long, so the recipient may style it to fit their face.

Easter Pics!

2009-04-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

Chris and Katie filling the Easter eggs.

All done!

Time for the hunt!

Ahhh - the spoils!

And now the egg coloring!

Aren't they pretty!

This gal's amazing!

2009-04-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

This performance is from a charity CD she helped with in 1999. Only 1000 copies were made of the CD.

Check out her performance from the Britain's Got Talent Show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
Sorry I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong - you'll have to type in the link in your google or browser bar. Or go to youtube.com and type in: Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics).
[We are not allowed to embed (copy) this video at this time].
This was just last week so there will be more performances to come.

Thanks for the email Grandma.

Tall!

2009-04-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

Katie and I were at Wal-Mart today. I was chasing her down an aisle and she paused for a minute and looked up at a man and said with the greatest awe: "Tall!" (He was pretty tall - probably between 6-7 feet). He laughed. And I laughed. (And I'm still giggling about it - it was too cute!)

Birthday Fun

2009-03-26T15:13:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Tamara's and Katie's birthdays this month. For Tamara's birthday we had a party at Primos (all you can eat pizza). It was great! Then we watched a movie at Grandma's house called Australia. It was really good. The next week Chris took Tamara to a movie called Race to Witch Mountain. We went with Dad and Mom Norton (Tony and LaVerne). It was a great movie! But I still love the original Escape to Witch Mountain best. It's a classic! One of my favorites! Then we had a combined birthday party for Nephi, Grandma and Katelynn. Krista and Nephi were so generous to share their cakes with Katelynn and Grandma. She made an Elmo cake and another cake that we put candles and figurines on - of Strawberry Shortcake, Winnie the Pooh and tools! (I was actually considering doing an Elmo cake for Katelynn anyway, so it worked out perfect!) Krista did a fantastic job on the Elmo cake. Here's a picture:

The birthday group.
(Blake and Alex also had birthdays this month - but they had separate parties. Blake turned 8 years old and got some cool baseball equipment and new shoes. Alex had a Spiderman themed party - very cool Spiderman cake too - see the link to Stillman and Michelle's blog to see pictures of his party).

MMMM! The cake was delish!

Here's Nephi, Colby and Chris. Nephi has his new baseball glove. Pretty cool!

Here's Katie's favorite present, a new dollhouse with accessories. We got a terrific deal on it at Other Mothers and it's in great shape. All the kids loved playing with it. Katie is always playing Mommy, Daddy and Baby with anything - for example: a big brush, a big comb and a little brush (Daddy, Mommy and baby), etc. It's cute. So we thought it would be a good idea to get her Daddy, Mommy and kid/baby dolls to play with. And this was perfect!

Tag!

2009-03-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

Here is my picture tag.

This is Katelynn's first Easter. She loved opening the eggs and getting the candy out. And of course eating it.

I tag: Kannie, Brigitte, Heather S., Carey, Lisa, Rachel

(Go to your picture files. Open the 6th folder, and the 6th picture. Post it on your blog and tell the story of the picture. Then tag 6 people).

Butch Cassidy - I mean Katelynn

2009-03-01T16:27:00.000-08:00

Ever have one of those moments when you don't know wether to yell, laugh, cry or scream .....

And that's not all of it - some of it got thrown away.

We've only ever given Katelynn bang trims. And guess who is the one to give her her first haircut? Herself. And here is the damage:

This happened right before church so I threw her hair up into piggy tails and we went to church. (Not too noticeable with piggy tails and barrettes to hide it).

I've heard stories of kids cutting their own hair or their siblings hair. Well ... I guess I have my own story now (whether I like it or not).

I think she'll be having a lot of piggy tails for a while.

Bedtime posts

2009-02-24T12:51:00.000-08:00

This was taken when Garrett spent the night a few nights while his parents and new baby brother were in the hospital. Katie and Garrett had a lot of fun together. Believe it or not this shot was taken in a completely dark room. Great flash huh? It took a few shots to get it centered because I couldn't tell what was on my screen. (They had just barely gotten in bed).

This was taken last night. Katelynn was tucking her stuffed animals into bed. I tried to take them and put them at the front of the bed where she would be sleeping and she said no and put them back and said "They're sleeping - shhhh!"

Television Standard Time

2009-02-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

You know you're the parent of a toddler when you can tell what time it is by what show comes on. Sesame Street's on, it's 10 am; Barney's on, it's 12 pm ...

Great quote

2009-02-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

"Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, “They do not love that do not show their love.”3 We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us."

President Thomas S. Monson

"Finding Joy in the Journey"
General Conference October 2008
http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-26,00.html

The Nibbler

2009-01-29T19:21:00.000-08:00

We were at the table eating dinner. Katie kept asking me for cheese (which is her favorite food) and I told her she couldn't have any cheese until she ate her dinner. It was taking quite a while to try and get her to eat so I got busy doing other things. About 5 minutes later I find her crouching on her chair nibbling away at something. I ask her what she has and she holds up our block of cheese and I find that she has bitten 2 big chunks out of it.

See two new posts below

2009-01-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas Pictures

2009-01-14T14:09:00.000-08:00

Farm Toy Set

2009-01-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

Katelynn received this farm toy set from our cousin Danae. I have to tell you a story about this. This is what happened earlier in the day before my Dad and Mom brought the present over to Katelynn: I was putting away our manger scene and Katelynn wanted to hold the lamb, so I let her hold the lamb while I wrapped up the other figurines in bubble wrap and paper towels. I took the lamb from her, wrapped it and put it on top in the box of figurines. I taped that box with box tape - two or three strips. I put that box inside of the manger and put the manger and the figurine box into the box they came in for storage. Next I taped that box with big box tape in about 4 places. I set the box by the door in the family room and went about doing other things. Later I was in the computer room for a while working on the computer. Katelynn comes into the room with a big smile on her face, holding her hands behind her back. I ask "what do you have behind your back?" She then shows me the little lamb from the manger scene cupped in her hands. She had un-taped the manger box, taken the manger with the box of figurines out, then un-taped the figurine box and unwrapped several of the figurines until she found the lamb. Just a few minutes later my Dad and Mom come over delivering the present. And there is a little lamb in the farm set. Perfect timing! She loves her present! Thanks Danae!

Ohhh - here's a little lamby pie all for you:

She plays with this every day.

Finally - I can post again!

2009-01-05T15:14:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've been able to post. We finally got the software downloaded in order to be able to upload our pics off our new camera. Here's a bunch of pics from December:

Our beautiful Nativity Advent calendar from Gpa and Gma (Gma Laverne made it).

A cute pic of Daddy and Katie.

Automated Santa - Katie was pretty fascinated with this.

Katie in Great Gpa Art's boots. She's always trying shoes on.

When you come into the room and find the crib frame hanging down from the crib.... it's time for a big girl bed. Katie loves it. The first morning she woke up she didn't want to get out of bed.

Katie sat on Santa's lap this year. Last year she was scared to death of Santa - but thanks to those clay automated films - she loves Santa - sometimes ..... she was too scared a couple of weeks later for another Santa.

A wedding cake Tamara made (first chocolate wedding cake)

A candy cane chocolate cake Tamara made for Chris' work (extra frosting from the wedding cake - good timing).

More December pics to come.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-21T15:06:00.001-08:00