Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, Grandma and Aunt Diane, we went to dinner at one of our favorite resturants, then home to watch a Christmas movie and play games. Christmas morning, after feeding horses we opened presents with Jr's sister, then Jr made a yummy frenchtoast breakfast and off we went to see a movie. We wanted to see Marley and Me but it was sold out so we saw Seven Pounds instead, very good movie. For Christmas dinner we cooked a primerib and as usual ate way to much. The last 3 yrs the weather on Christmas has been in the 80's, when the weather is like that it is hard for it to feel like Christmas. This year was a change, it was cold and rainy and it felt like Christmas.

This one is for Bob and CW

One Christmas a long time ago I got a pair of crutches for Christmas. Explanation, when I was little I had a vivid imagination and one of my favorite things to do was play hospital. I was always wrapping, bandaging, limping: you get the picture. This particular Christmas we did homemade presents for each other so Bob and CW with the help of my Dad made me wooden crutches. I was so excited and spent alot of time crutching around. My brothers also had fun with my crutches, thay made great machine guns. Still to this day my brothers love to laugh and joke about my blue crutches, so here is a trip down memory lane. To think that all these years my homemade crutches are the gift we all still talk about, goes to show you that gifts from the heart stay in your memory for a long time. The crutches got well used and probably became firewood after I retired them. So thanks for the memories CW, Bob and Dad.

Family Traditions

This is Christmas 1983, and we are getting ready to participate in the Ross family tradition of breaking a pinata on Christmas Eve. Every year Mom and sometimes the kids would make a pinata and vote on what to decorate it as, In 1983 we beat the crap out of Santa. For as long as I can remember we made and broke a pinata on Christmas Eve. I was looking back at all the different pinatas' over the years, we had santa, christmas tree, Gizmo, Homer Simpson, Curious Goerge and many more I can't remember. It was a really fun family tradition that we still do the Christmass' we are together.

Good Read

I just finished reading The Christmas Sweater and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a feel good Christmas book that makes you pause and think about what is important at Christmas. This Christmas I have focused more about the real reason for Christmas, I tried really hard to focus on giving instead of recieving.

Last night I was sitting in the dark rocking in my chair looking at the Christmas lights on the tree, I was thinking back to all the Christmas's past. It is amazing that the presents I got are not what stick out in my memories, what sticks out are the lessons my parents worked really hard to instill in us, the lessons of giving, helping others, focusing on Christ and the ultimate gift he gave us. I am so greatful for all the blessings in my life and it is so true that when you are focusing on others you are not thinking about yourself . I have many reasons to be discouraged and stumble, but as the hours ticked by that I was knitting the stocking hats for the hospital I was thinking about the kids and their families and the trials in their lives, and my trials seemed far away. I want to thank me parents for instilling in me the true meaning of Christmas and helping me focus on giving instead of recieving, Thank You Mom and Dad. I have so much to be greatful for this Christmas, I have truley been blessed with a wonderful husband, parents, siblings, inlaws and friends. I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas.

Crazy Hat Lady

Last January I made a New Years resolution that I wanted to knit 100 stocking hats for the childrens hospital. It is the only new years resolution I kept. Last night I finished hat #100. I am really excited to take them to the hospital for the kids to get a hat for Christmas.

Girls Just Want to have Fun

We had the ultimate girls night Thursday. It all started with my wards enrichment night, Pajama party and dinner. Our service project was to collected Pj's for a shelter, so we all wore our pj's to add to the fun. It was a really nice evening, good food, good friends, good cause. After the festivities some of the "girls" wearing our jammies, went to see Twilight. We had so much fun, it brought back memories of my college days. It was fun to act young and goofy, laughing, running around like kids again. An older lady in the restroom asked us if we had been drinking and we laughed and told her we had just come from a church activity were we drank alot of hot chocolate and it wasn't spiked! We were just happy "girls" out on the town.

Mt. Lemmon

The fam took a little road trip today. We went down to Tucson and drove up Mt. Lemmon. It was really beautiful, at the bottom it starts out cactus and rocks, then it turns into evergreen trees, then at the top we played in the snow. We stopped a few times along the road and took pictures, the rock formations were really neat and playing in the snow was fun . The weather was amazing, blue sky, light breeze, lots of sunshine. We stopped at the top and had a picnic (turkey sandwiches). It was a really great way to spend the day enjoying the beautiful scenery and family time.

Tribute to Pricilla

Pricilla and Kiesha

Today was a very sad day, we had to say goodbye to our Pricilla. She has been sick for quite awhile and the last few weeks have been rough, the silver lining is that she is no longer in pain. We loved our Pricilla, she was a fiesty little thing and was very protective of her family. Last winter we took her to Utah with us and when we played in the snow she had a problem with snowmen, we would get one built, she would attack him, it was the funniest thing to watch. She loved to go for a ride in the car or motorhome, she would sit up and look out the window. We are really going to miss her.

Never thought I would see the day!!!

I took my gas guzzling Expedition to Safeway to get gas, and I was so excited by the price I had to take a picture. I can't believe that gas has come so far down, we were at almost $5 per gallon and now under $2, it's incredible. It really made my day:)

Twilight

I just got home from seeing Twilight and Iam very happy to report that I loved the movie, as did my hubby and father in law, well maybe I should say I loved the movie they liked the movie, love is a very strong word. It has been awhile since I read the book so it was fun to have the memories come back as I watched them on the big screen. I am really looking forward to seeing the rest of the books made into movies.

Painting the Silo

We bought a used pellet silo that need some paint. So what do you do when what you need to paint is 30 ft. tall? You load the paint sprayer, Becca & Jr. in the tractor bucket and lift it in the air. I remember when I was little that it was fun and cool to go for a ride in the tractor bucket, but as an adult it was rather scary and not much fun. But we got the job done and the silo looks alot better and we survived. Fun times living on a farm!!!!!

Monday Night Football

Last night the Cardinals hosted the 49ers for Monday night football. It was a very stressfull game because the Cardinals did not play like they should had, they almost blew it at the last second. Thankfully they pulled it out and and we are still leading our division and if all goes well we are headed to the playoffs. The Cardinals have not been to the playoff since 1975 so this could be a history making year.. Stay tuned!

Explosion

One of the fun things about being a scout leader is getting to act like a kid. This months theme is science and this last week we did some experiments. This picture is of me getting ready to blow upa bottle of soda. The boys were so excited they could hardly sit still. Our experiment of blowing up soda worked really well. Sadly our experiment of making slime didn't work so well, but isn't that why it is called an experiment?

Most stressful day ever

Today was the most stressfull day and it is partly my fault. I went to the grocery store and used my amex card, 1st time ever it was declined. I called amex and they told me they had lowered my credit limit because I had several very delinquent payments to other cards and banks and my credit score had dropped. I freaked out. I have checked my credit score several times in the past but I have never gotten a full credit report. I came home and made some calls and went to annualcreditreport.com and looked at my credit report. After 2 hours on the phone, 1st I was told that I was a victim of identity fraud, then they discovered that my credit report had merged with a lady who had a similar name and ssn#. She wasn't using my identity but for the past few months our paths of credit had crossed. She recently defaulted on her mortgage and hasn't paid on her loans so it looked like I had done those things. I was very lucky that they were able to separate our credit reports and restore mine to my original report. I have never been so stressed out. I have learned my lesson that you need to stay on top of your credit report and realise that computers make mistakes and lives can be crossed. So we have taken some steps to protect our credit. It will take a month or two to get everything completely straightened but I was very lucky that it wasn't my identity stolen..

Tagged

This is a tag from my Sis in law

8 favorite tv shows

17 kids and counting
dancing with the stars
jon and kate plus 8
csi
law and order
cold case
boston legal
greys anatomy

8 favorite restaurants

tgi fridays
big fat greek restaurant
brittons
wasatch deli
chilis
in n out burger
pizza peak
my house

8 things that happened yesterday

went to lunch with the girls
went to the quilt shop
took 2 walks
watched tv
blogged
enjoyed the great weather
baked pumpkin chocolate cookies
went to target

8 things I look forward to

having children
losing weight
going on vacation
the 4th of july
relaxing in my hammock
reading a good book
girls nights
family get togethers

8 things I love about fall

crispness in the air
leaves changing colors
carving pumpkins
football
holidays
temps. in the 80's
apple spice candles
sweaters

8 things on my wishlist

have children
lose weight
visit all 50 states
relax on a beach
make a difference in someones life
meet larry fitzgerald and denny hamlin
spend 4th of july in buhl idaho
ride a horse on the beach

Now you all know a little bit more about me: I tag Tamir, Liz, Jana and Andi

Pumpkin Carving Party

My spider

Liz and Jonah

Dad and Becca

Cw and Amy

Last night we had a few friends and family over to carve pumpkins. I think that the more the merrier when carving pumpkins is the best. Most carvers got creative, we had a monster, a spider, a zombie and a witch, all the pumpkins turned out really cool.

I got festive and made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that turned out really yummy.

I think I give up

Iam losing my passion for watching Dancing with the Stars. I haven't even been looking forward to Monday nights because it means I have to see Cloris dance yet again, then Tuesday night I get to hear that she is still on the show. I am disgusted!! I think I need to find a new show to watch.

A rare moment

For those of you who are not familiar with boxers let me fill you in. For the first 3 years of life they are so energetic, independant and can't sit still for long. Usually after age 3 they calm down but Kiesha the dog on the right is 3 and she doesn't seem to want to grow up, this is a rare moment when I got her to sit still for 4 seconds. Pricilla on the left is 4 and she has finally figured out that sitting and laying around by her family is the life. Now she just lays and watches Kiesha run around like a mad women. Kiesha will stop briefly for a neck rub then she is off again exploring something. The one big bonus in our life with boxers is that when they are in the house they are completely chill, they lay on their pillow and sleep the day away. They are perfect angels in the house, but when you open the door to let them out Kiesha is like the energizer bunny. They are the most loving dogs and they look at you with those big brown eyes it melts your heart. We love our girls!!

New yard ornament

We have been wanting to add some more shaded area to our backyard and we found this gazibo on clearance at Home Depot. We haven't decided what to put under the shade, but we got the shade.

Coolest Bug

The other day we found this bug crawling on the shelves by the barn. It probably has a real name, but we called it a stick bug because it looks like a stick with legs (very creative). After taking it's picture I put in a tree and moments later it blended in with the tree. I thought it was a cool bug!!!

Cardinals win 41-17 over Buffalo

It's always fun to go to a football game when you win!! Before the game walking thru the tailgaters we were bombarted by Buffalo fans yelling and cheering that they were going to beat the Cardinals, but we showed them. Buffalo fans were very quiet as we walked back to the motorhome. Buffalo was 4-0 before the game they thought it would be an easy win for them, but the Cardinals made them look bad.

Disappointment

I am a huge fan of Dancing with the Star, but tonight was so sad. It never fails that each year there is a contestant that is horrible, but somehow they stick around when some other deserving contestant gets sent home. I 'm sorry to any Cloris Leachman fans, but I think she shouldn't still be on the show. Who voted for her? I am leaning towards Brooke Burke and Derek, but it is alot of fun to watch Warren Sapp dance!!!! Football players have some skills......

Mama Mia

Last night was girls night and we went to the movies, not just any movie, Mama Mia the sing along. Just picture 13 grown women singing ABBA songs and dancing in our chairs. During the movie every song that came on the words would scroll across the bottom so we could sing along. We had a totally blast. Two thumbs up!!!

Pearly Whites

There are few things I hate more in this world then going to the dentist. I dread the day and actually get an upset stomach, but faithfully at least once a year Jr gets me to go to the dentist. We don't have a regualar dentist in Arizona because we used to go to Utah once a year and go to Jr's family dentist, but it didn't work out this year. So I have been looking up dentists on the web and calling around to get prices, can you say highway robbery. I found one that was amazingly affordable, so 8:00 this morning we went to the dreaded dentist. For the first time in as many years as I can remember I did not have a CAVITEY!!!! It wasn't hard to believe because all my molars already have a filling and Iam faithful at brushing and flossing daily.. So this years trip to the dentist wasn't so bad, no cavities and it didn't bankrupt us...

They looked like a real football team

Today was our first home game of the season, It was an amazing game to watch. Our first drive Warner threw a rocket down field to Boldin and he ran it in for our first touchdown. I haven't seen the crowd get so excited and into the game. Everytime we had the ball we were able to put a drive together and score. The Cardinals won 31-10.. It was so nice to have a game to get excited about. We have high hopes for this season.
GO CARDINALS

Golf Tournament

This last weekend we participated in the 5th annual Britton's open. It's a golf tounament that my sister in law and brother in law put on in Utah. This was the 2nd year that we participated and saddly the 1st time was not good. So with lots of practicing Iam proud to say that we won by 2 strokes. GO TEAM HANSEN

Monsoon Rolling In

I have a fascination of monsoons, one minute the sky is completely clear and then the next minute black clouds start rolling in, the the sky opens up and drowns you, then the clouds go away just as fast as the arrived, it's awesome. The other night I was driving down the road and I saw this monsoon coming in and when it covered the sun it was so beautiful. I pulled over and took a moment to enjoy the beauty.

Rafting the Galitin River

During our visit to Yellowstone we went a rafting trip down the Galitin River. We had a lot of fun and got to see a moose, 2 bald eagles and a snake that wanted to join us.

Kick off to a new season

Last night we braved the heat and attended the 1st pre season game, Cardinals verse Saints. The Cardinals lost but hey it doesn't count. It was so hot outside, thank goodness we are indoors.
Iam excited that football season has started.

What I have been up to

I have found a new love!!!! My very talented husband took a piece of wood trim and cut me out a frame. I took some really cute scrapbook paper and deco podged it. I added a few embelishments and look what the result is. Iam totally in love with these picture frames, I have had so much fun making them.

It's Amazing

Last summer we had a BBQ and I served a fresh pineapple. My Dad told me that is I took the top of the pineapple, planted it is the dirt and watered it, it would grow into a tree. I was fascinated and wanted to give it a try. So I cut the top off, dug a hole and stuck the top in and here we are a year later. My pineapple tree is now 2 feet tall and doing very well.

It totally amazed me that a plant could grow from plopping the top in the ground. Now we'll just have to wait and see if any pineapples grow on my tree.

Grand Tetons

After 3 days in Yellowstone we decides to drive home thru the Grand Tetons. I have never seen them and I was so excited to see them. They are as amazing as I have always been told. They still had snow on the tops. We stopped at the lodge and took some pictures. We had a great time on our road trip.

Yellowstone 2008

Lower Falls
Madison River
Yellowstone Bison
New Growth

Old Faithful being faithful

Baby bear along the road

Jr and I standing in front of a burned area

Stinky Mud Pots

It has been 20 years since the summer of fire in Yellowstone Park. I haven't been to the park since high school so I was excited to see what it looked like now. Jr and I along with his parents and our nieces and nephew took a 5 day RV trip thru the park. It was so amazing and beautiful. The new trees are about 20 feet tall and other then the skeletons of trees it looks like a normal forest. We spent 3 days touring the park. We visited old Faithful, saw lots of wildlife, hiked around the mud pots and rafted down the Galliton river. I took 150 pictures on my didgital camera and I wish I could put them all on here for you to see, but that would be crazy.

4th of July

For as long as I can remember the 4th of July has been my favorite holiday. I have the greatest memories of the 4th while growing up. Growing up in a small town where the 4th celebration is taken seriously we always had the best time. The whole town got involved, there was a street fair, parade, fish scramble, BBQ, and fireworks. Living in Arizona celebrating the 4th is hard because it is to hot to have a parade and to dry for fireworks, so the last few years we have headed north and celebrated the 4th in Utah with my hubby's family. Today we took our niece and nephew mini golfing, then we went to the parade, had a BBQ and topped the night off with fireworks. It was a great 4th. I keep telling myself that one day we will return to Buhl to celebrate the 4th the small town way.

Salsa

My garden has really gone crazy. We have so many tomatos that I had to get creative. I picked tomatos, peppers and onions and made homemade salsa. Iam not a fan of chunky salsa so Jr got to be my test subject. He said it was so good, he already ate a jar of it.

Dog Days of Summer

A few years ago we realized that our puppies needed a way to stay cool in the hot Arizona summer. So we took a trip to Walmart and got them their very own pool. They love playing in their pool, splashing around and cooling off. I love to watch them play in their pool. People are always posting pictures of their kids playing in the pool so I thought why not post a picture of my kids playing in their pool!!!!

Same old, same old

I wish I had something new and exciting to put on my blog, but the last couple of weeks have been boring and nothing new and exciting has happened. I could always talk about the weather because that is totally the hot topic in Arizona. It is the 7th of June and we are hitting 90 degrees. Someone forgot to tell mother nature that this is Arizona and we are supposed to be in triple didgets. Iam not going to be the one to remind her because I think I have died and gone to heaven. Iam trying to enjoy every minute of the weather, because one of these days it will catch up with us.
I have been working in the garden, but the plants are confused so they aren't producing like they should be. We have ate a few tomatos, some brocolli and several peppers.
We don't have anything planned for June so I don't know if I will have anything exciting to talk about, but I guess you'll just have to wait and see if anything is blog worthy!!!!!

Wii Mario Kart

We got together to celebrate my Dads birthday, we pulled out the Wii and played Mario Kart. We had so much fun racing each other, I have to admit Iam not very good at the game, my car was all over the road, good thing I don't drive like that in real life!!!!! I think the Wii is amazing I love that it gets you up and involved instead of just sitting and moving your fingers.

Memorial Day

I had the wonderful opportunity to go with the cub scouts to the National Memorial Cemetary to put a flag on the 50,000 graves of military service men and women.

It was an awesome experience to stand among the rows of flags, to be able to pay tribute to the men and women who served our country.