Andersen's 1st Haircut

The first haircut is always a bittersweet moment for me. With Andersen being 14 months and never having his hair cut, it was definitely time to say good bye to his mullet. I was anxious to see how Andersen was going to react because Jackson hated his first haircut, but when Andersen stayed put after us sitting him on Hollie's stool I knew it was going to be a less traumatizing experience than his brother.  He did shed some tears though! Jackson still to this day hates wearing the cape, but Andersen didn't think twice about it. 

All Andersen did was look at me and Nate like we were the meanest parents around. Check out all those curls in the back.

A few sprays from the water bottle and operation haircut from baby to little boy began and the party of curls in back was the first thing to go.

Andersen cried for the first few minutes until Daddy gave him his sippy cup and he was distracted enough to calm down.

 After the sippy cup was gone, the tears came rolling down his cheeks again. Thank goodness the tears didn't last too long though and he finally calmed down again as Hollie was finishing up.

Here he is all finished! It was hard to see him without all his baby hair but he definitely looks handsome either way.

A Visit with Santa..

 Last year was the first year Jackson really got into Santa and I was bummed that I never took him to see him, so this year I wasn't going to make that same mistake twice. Being friends with "Santa" made it easy to plan a special visit to our house. Jackson had no idea Santa would be visiting this night. All he knew was that his friends were coming over for dinner. When I knew Santa was close we gathered all the kids into our family room to calm them down a bit and not a minute later he came walking right through the front door. Jackson was so excited as you can tell by him being the first one off the floor and running over to greet Santa. I am surprised Jackson even let him past the front door he was so mesmerized by Santa being at our house.

 Once Santa made it past the front entry way, he sat on the couch and called up each individual child to sit on his lap. To make this a more memorable and real Santa experience I had all the moms give me a short sentence about their child for the year that Santa could memorize it and know exactly what to say to get the kids attention (Example: Jackson played his first season of soccer, he started preschool and is loving it but he needs to listen to his parents and be nice to his brother if he wants Santa to come with presents) I am sure the kids didn't think twice about it, but it was cute to see them all answer Santa's questions and watch how excited they were that Santa knew them. Look at little Andersen sitting so patiently on the floor too!

 I think Andersen's attention span only last a few minutes. Jackson on the other hand sat in the same spot the entire time listening and responding to every thing Santa would say, even if it was for another kid.

 Then finally it was his turn! He hopped right up on his leg

 and listening so intently to every word Santa had to say.

 I hope this was a night Jackson won't forget anytime soon and hopefully we can make it a tradition for our kids. As parents we definitely enjoyed every  minute of it, Andersen on the other hand was just fine looking at Santa from afar. What a fun night to start off the Christmas season. Too bad Santa can't stay around forever so I have constant leverage over my children to do what I ask!

 After Santa had left the adults continued to talk while the kids played. All of parents didn't even realize they were gone until it suddenly got quiet in the family room. As we searched for the trouble makers we found them in our bed watching a movie they had turned on all by themselves. They looked so cute that it was hard to be upset over the sugary pieces of gum drops they took from the candy bowl and left in our sheets.

A family talent...

 As a child I remember my Dad always flipping his eyelids inside out to tease us kids. I always wanted to learn how to do it just like my Dad, so one day I tried, and tried, and tried until I taught myself and finally did it. I was so excited! Well I just had that same excitement for Jackson because he just figured it out. I don't remember how old I was when I learned, but I am pretty sure Jackson is a lot younger than I was. I was so proud that we sent Grandpa Dave a picture to share the moment with him... only us eyelid flippers can appreciate this weird talent, I am sure! Good work Jacks, way to carry on the Hansen family talent!

Meet Mr. T

 We officially have our first pet! A few weeks ago Jackson brought this little fishy home from preschool (obviously with permission given in advance to the teacher). Maria, his teacher that week, told us he named him "Table" and he has stuck to that name ever since... I wonder what he was looking at when his teacher asked what he wanted to name his fish? Table came home in this little mason jar so later that day we went to Walmart and got Table a bigger home. Jackson was so cute, he made sure he had the perfect new home for Table. The first thing Jackson said to Table when we got home from the store was "Table, we got you a new home!... Do you like your new home?" A month later, Table is still alive and Jackson for the most part is just as excited as he was the first day he brought him home. We tried to re-name him to Mr. T... but Jackson refuses to call him that. It will forever be Table and that is just fine with us. We love having Table be apart of our family and it has been a good lesson in responsibility for Jackson since he has to feed him every day and help me change his water every week.

Jackson's latest funnies...

 It seems like every time Jackson starts getting silly the only camera I have is the one on my phone so the following are a bunch of random pictures from my phone over the last month or so. This first picture doesn't give justice to the moment but imagine with me this situation. Try to picture Jackson singing "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells.... oh what fun it is to ride, in a one horse open sleigh... HEY!" Well while he was singing he was also eating a gogurt and right as he said "Hey!" he jumped up and down and his yogurt went all the way up the wall. If you look close you can see the light pink yogurt drops on the floor and up the wall. It was so funny that it was hard to be mad at him. I think Jackson was just as shocked that this happened as I was. Hilarious... I still laugh just looking at this picture!

 This wasn't a funny moment, but I just loved his cute smile. He was so excited that we had finally gotten snow that he dressed himself in his snow clothes to go outside and help Dad shovel the driveway. He even put on his Yamaha beanie in honor of Grandpa Dave.

 This picture is right before we were about to go to Nana's house one Sunday night. Look closely to his outfit and keep in mind there is a foot of snow outside. Jackson put shorts on, but wore a sweatshirt to keep warm, then he put on his "basketball shoes", grabbed his "smarshmellow gun" and blankey and topped off the outfit with our neighbors hat that Nate wore to the mystery dinner. If you've been in our bedroom you'd know Jackson is looking at himself in my full length mirror. He was making faces and checking himself out. He was so proud of his outfit!

One of Jackson's recent favorite things is super heroes. The only thing he has asked for for Christmas is a "Hulk suit".  Last year Jackson got this candy bucket from Nana for Halloween and he just realized that it can open up and decided to put it on his head as his new Spiderman costume. The Spiderman glove is also a necessity to his homemade outfit.

Man, I love you Jacks! You always keep me laughing. Thanks for being my little buddy. The older you get the more you have become such a good little helper (that is when you want to be!) You are always wanting to help me with whatever I am doing even if it is my boring mom jobs such as laundry, cooking, or cleaning. My favorite though is how much you love to cuddle with Mommy and Daddy. Every night you pick who is going to put you in bed and who gets to cuddle with you. The funny part to that is your reasoning behind who gets to do it and when. (Example: Since Daddy has been home with me all night he gets to cuddle with me... Its different every night!) Sometimes you ask me out of the blue to come cuddle with you. I'm sure that won't carry on into your teenage years, so I will soak it up as long as I can. Another thing you are learning to do is negotiate. You negotiate everything... more minutes to play, to leave, to go to bed, more treats, etc. You are also learning the concept of time. You ask us all day long what time it is. Even though you don't fully understand what it means when we tell you the time, you are still understanding that our days revolve around time and a schedule. You are loving school and doing so well with your sounds to your letters and you can't wait until you have homework. You are even figuring out how to sound out and spell some words with our help. I wish you would stop growing up so fast but every time I tell you to stop you tell me you have to so you can do homework.

Andersen's latest...

 Man, just when I think this kid can't get any cuter he learns something new! Andersen has gone from learning to walk, now to running... especially when he is trying to get away from me. His favorite thing to do lately is take his books or toys and walk them over to our stairs, throw them, and laugh as they hit every stair on the way down. This entertains him for hours some days! Another thing he has learned is to flip on and of his bedroom light when he wakes up in the mornings or from naps. We think its so funny, because Jackson would do the exact same thing! He sometimes will cry when he wakes up, but more times than not the first sign of Andersen waking up is the flip of the switch. Andersen is wanting to talk so bad. He jabbers all day long with some of the craziest noises, but has definitely learned how to communicate with his finger. He points at whatever food, drink, toy, etc he wants. Even though he can't talk yet, he can for sure understand us when we tell him to go get a diaper, binky, blanket, etc. I can't believe how smart this little munchkin is! In between all our laughs these past few months, Andersen got some yucky GI tract bug. We had diarrhea and throw up for almost 2 weeks! I changed and washed every bedding and car seat you could imagine but it wasn't until the morning Nate got Andersen out of his crib and was welcomed with poop that I finally decided to take him into the Doctor. This just wasn't a typical poopy diaper, Andersen had managed to have the worst blow out ever. When Nate was about to change his diaper, he unzipped Andersen's PJ's only to find poop all the way up to his collar bone. This was the longest 2 weeks, because not only did I do triple the laundry, Andersen would scream every time he was hungry and every time he ate. And it wasn't just a normal scream... I like to call it the angry bird. It sounds like a bird squawking at me and it doesn't stop unless you attend to his need. I felt terrible for the little guy because I knew he was hungry so I would give him some food. Less than 30 minutes later he was squawking at me because you could tell he was in miserable pain. Give him another 12 hours and it was coming out either the top or bottom. Thanks to Dr. Boud (again) and the miracle drug Septra Andersen was healed 3 days later and he was back to being the piglet that we know so well. If only the medicine took away the squawking, but unfortunately through all this we created a bad habit. He has learned how to get what he wants just by making that angry bird noise and so now I get it all day unless he is sleeping!

Good thing he is so stinking cute and he constantly gives me these cute smiles because it makes the "angry bird" not so bad after all.

The Four Deuces

 A couple weeks after Halloween we were invited to "The four Deuces" murder mystery. The following are the characters that were present:

Don Wannabe & Madam MeMe

Carrie Crooner-Ravioli & Al Capone

Don “Big Jim” Ravioli (He got killed) and then he was Rhett Bumbler & Donna Wannabe

 U.S. Congressman Darrin Toosteal & Vicky Ravioli

Capo “Toto” Tequila & Rebecca Ravioli (I was the murderer)

 Baroness Ravioli & The Inspector 

We've only done a murder mystery dinner one other time than this and we had so much fun, so we decided to do it again once the invitation was extended. It was a group of friends Nate went to school with so some of the people I didn't know. I still wouldn't be able to tell you their real names because we played in our character the whole night and never used any name other than our character names.  We shared a yummy dinner while all the details and facts were sifted through. The gist of this mystery was, my Dad "Big Jim" wanted me to marry "Toto" and had planned to announce our wedding plans at this grand opening of the Four Deuces. With the exception of only a few people, no one knew I had secretly already married someone else and I really didn't want to marry "Toto". At the opening of "The Four Deuces" I gave my Dad "Big Jim" one last chance to not do this. Of course he didn't agree, and before he could share any announcement the man I had set up to murder my "Dad" fulfilled his duties. In there lies the mystery everyone was trying to figure out. Who and Why would someone kill "Big Jim"? By the end of the night everyone seemed to be stumped as to who the "Murderer" really was, but after we all guessed, Nate was the only one that guessed right. I still think he cheated and read my Character background, but if he didn't he made one lucky guess!

Thanks Hollie and Katie for a fun night of food and entertainment!

Till we meet again Grandpa

I can't believe a month ago we lost our Grandpa! We saw it coming eventually, but that still doesn't prepare you for the actual day you have to say your goodbyes. I remember it being a Tuesday night, November 2nd, I got a phone call from my Grandma letting me know Grandpa wasn't doing so well and that I should plan on coming over the next day to say my goodbyes. Since I was at YW's during that phone call I definitely agreed and instantly made it a priority to make our visit over in the morning. It wasn't more than 30 minutes later and all the YW girls had gone home and we were in the middle of our presidency meeting when I got another phone call from my Aunt Linda letting me know I should probably come tonight instead. Instantly the tears were present and I knew I had to go over. I left my meeting and went home to get Nate and the boys so we could drive over to my Grandmas. After finishing baths, getting the kids in their pajamas, we were off to say goodbye to Grandpa at 9:30pm. We made a quick stop to let Jackson say his goodbye and then thank goodness Nate's mom lives across the street so the kids could stay with her while we were with my family. What an emotional few hours. I think we went through every emotion you can have besides anger that night. Of course we all had our tears, but it was amazing to hear all the stories, laughs and fun times everyone had with their Husband, Dad and Grandpa. What a sweet spirit that filled the room as well. We all knew Grandpa knew we were there even though he was in the last stages of death. What a hard decision it was to finally go pick up the boys and go home rather than stay there as long as we could. I honestly thought when we left I could still come see him the next morning while Jackson was at school. I was partly right, but this visit was to say my official last good bye before the mortuary took his body. I remember waking up at 6:35am and I just knew Grandpa was in his last few minutes of this mortal life. It wasn't long until I started getting the phone calls around 7am making it a reality. I finished my morning routine, dropped Jackson off at preschool and then I made it over just in time to have a family prayer with Grandpa before he was taken. It was hard to watch our Grandpa get wrapped up in cloth and rolled out to the mortuary's van, but the hardest part was watching my Grandma seeing her companion carried out of their room that they had so lovingly spent so many nights side by side. In his last moments of life, my Grandma held him in her arms as he took his last few breaths. What a sweet memory and legacy they taught all of us that day. They taught us that no matter what happens in this mortal life, love can carry on. Love is what gets us through anything and it is what binds us from this life to the next. If it wasn't for the love Heavenly Father had for his Son and for each and everyone of us, the chains of death would not be broken and the knowledge of eternal families that we so faithfully look forward to one day is a reality that we long for after days like this.

A few days later the funeral plans were in full swing. My sister and her family, along with my parents all came into to town Friday night. We spent a few days having fun and catching up in between all the funeral plans. Sunday night was the viewing and the following Monday was the funeral services. We started with a brief viewing again, then a family prayer before closing the casket, then some beautiful words from my cousin Trent, a song offered by Farr grand kids, and my Aunt Valerie reading his eulogy in closing. 

The following is his eulogy:

Richard Ray Hansen passed away on November 3, 2010 after a valiant and courageous battle with Alzheimer's.

He was born August 20, 1936 in Provo, Utah to Raynold Afton Hansen and Melba Nettie Smith Hansen, better known to all of us as Bo and Nanna. He is the last to pass away of the four children.  His older brother who he didn’t get a chance to really know Robert died in World War Two, and two sisters Joyce and Janet who also passed away from Alzheimer’s.  Joyce passed away just a year and 1/2 ago and Janet 2 ½ months ago. We’re just hoping that Janet has her running shoes on since Dad’s favorite thing to do was to chase her. And knowing Dad he would do it just for fun. Dad is now getting that chance to know his older brother. The family is probably having the time of their lives all being together again.

He married his sweetheart Myrna Roundy whom he referred to fondly as Tilly on June 1, 1956 in the Manti LDS Temple. Dad’s favorite story to tell was when he saw mom for the first time. He walked into the chapel and there was this beautiful young girl playing the organ. He talked about how shy he was and he wondered how he was ever going to get up enough nerve to talk to her. But I don’t think he had to worry too much about if she would like him if he had known what Mom was thinking because Mom said, she remembers this tall, gorgeous hunk with thick black hair walking in and that she just about fell off the organ seat. They both liked what they saw and obviously Dad must have gotten over his shyness because they were married for 54 years. Mom said he was a true gentleman from San Francisco and kept himself immaculate his whole life. If mom did not iron the crease in his pants just right she would have to do it again. It was that important to him to look his very best. As a matter of fact he would ask his grandson’s if they were born in a barn if they came into the house and had not removed their hats.

They have 5 wonderful children. Robyn, Phillip, David, Colette and Linda who are all married and have supplied them with 22 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

Dad graduated from BYU with an Industrial Engineering degree. Not able to find work here they headed off to California where he worked at Lockheed Martin for five years. Because the aircraft industry decline he was laid off. He then went to work for Kennecott Copper first in the offices and then later as a supervisor over the trains and shovels. This work was hard and sometimes cold and wet. Dave remembers dad would come home and his boots would be soaked and Dave would take them and warm them up in the oven so they would be dry the next day when Dad had to go to work. Dad would get home and his feet would be so sore that he would have Colette get on one foot and Linda on the other to massage his feet for at least an hour. Now mind you that is how long the girls said they had to do it. If Dad was here we just might find out how long it really was. Once again a company was cutting back and had many layoffs. Dad was one of the last groups to go. He hated losing his job with them. He had worked for them for 21 years. He then went to work for the LDS Church Security where he got to rub elbows with the general authorities and the Prophet, transporting them in golf carts. Pres. Hinckley was the prophet at that time and would always bring dad a chocolate after their Thursday meetings. Dad told us that one time after a priesthood session Pres. Hinckley asked Dad if his talk was okay. Dad so enjoyed being around them and retired after 10 years. His last job was for his son, Phillip, doing model work at Design Dental Ceramics. Dad was an employee that you could always count on. He prided himself in his work. After Dad was finished working, his work area was so clean that if you hadn’t seen him come in you would of swore he hadn’t even come into work that day. And the man was never late. Matter of fact all the family knew that if you arrived anywhere 15 minutes early in Dad’s eyes you were considered late.

Because Dad was so punctual and accurate he was called many times to be the ward and stake clerk. They said they never had to worry if they had to refer back to Dad records because he always got down everything word for word. And that his penmanship was so easy to read. Too bad he didn’t pass that trait down to some of his grandsons. He was also a very good home teacher and took that calling to heart trying very hard to never miss a month.

Dad was a hard worker and passed that down to his kids. Phil remembers he would even check him and Dave out of school early on a Friday to do yard work at his parent’s house to help them out.  Payment was Pepsi in a bottle after they were done. And a Pepsi has never tasted as good as it did then. There were trips cutting wood in Kamas for the winter which Colette remembers being really hard work but it was fun to be as a family. And then there was the mandatory yard work, which to the sadness of the grandchildren has been passed down through his children. Though no one can mow the lawn like dad, you can ask his neighbors, there was not even a leaf left on it if he could help it. It was a well-manicured lawn. It is raining today and I’m sure it is just Dad wanting his yard watered! Dad was still mowing that lawn just a month ago and sometimes more than once a day if mom didn’t catch him. Dad also gave blood.  Now I’m not talking about at the blood drive. This is when he was so willing to help us build our homes. Dad and Mom with the help of her brother and Dad had built the home that they live in now. They were grateful for the wonderful area that they were able to raise their kids in. There were so many good families that meant so much to them and still do. So it was always so good to have Dad’s knowledge when it came to our homes. But if he was going to help any of us he would say I’m going to go give blood. He was so willing all the time to help us and moved many of us several times. Even one long haul moving Linda and Eddie to Phoenix. He crammed them and mom in the cab of Dad’s old brown truck and drove all through the night.

His legacy was his family and you knew nothing was more important to him than that. He left many wonderful family memories.

Top of the list was all the vacations. There was the trip back to St. Paul, Michigan where the family went to see Uncle Paul and Aunt Eileen’s family. Uncle Paul was sick at that time so Dad wanted to go on the tour of the brewery. So he took his family and Aunt Eileen and her kids and they went; in came Dad with two women and 11 children. You can imagine that was quite the site to see but even more surprising to the tour guide was when he asked Dad where he was from and Dad said Utah. Most of the vacations were camping and boating to Flaming Gorge, Fish Lake or Red Fish Lake. This was not only his family but his sister’s family. Joyce’s husband had suffered with MS and was bedridden. So dad and mom always included them. There were fishing trips in the blue boat that belonged to his parents that was named the “BoNana”. Robyn said that there was the fishing trips where Beau and Dad would take just the girls which meant no fishing for them because they were always so busy baiting the hooks and taking the fish off the hooks because all the girls would do was scream. Dad always said he thought it was always so unfair that Kathy only wanted to sunbath yet she was the one that would catch the most fish. There were also the picnics in the park in Provo canyon where Dad never forgot the wax paper for the kids to use to slide down the slide. Making it one fast ride and putting a smile on Dad’s face. I think all of Joyce’s kids were grateful that Dad was their second Dad. And so were his kids because of all the good times they shared.

On the weekends they would pack up the five kids and head one weekend down to Provo to spend with his family and then the next weekend they would pack up the kids again and head up north to Wellsville to spend time with their Mom’s family. This gave his kids a wonderful closeness with both families and great memories with their cousins.

After years of using the boat only for fishing the kids wanted to learn how to ski. So Dad and Mom purchased a new boat with more horsepower so they could learn to ski. Or should I say most of them. Robyn and Linda never got the hang of it but both said Dad was so very patient with them. Coming back time and time again until they said they had had enough. Those who did learn to ski always preferred Dad as the driver because he did it the best.

Grand kids had their sweet memories loving the rides Grandpa would give them in the wheelbarrow, and at dinner getting wet because Grandpa was spitting water through the gap in his teeth. They loved getting to have treats of M-n-M’s, Pepsi, ice cream and cookie dough which were Grandpa’s favorites; making them now some of their favorites too.

The Hospice Nurse, Joe told us that you can say anything about someone as long as afterwards you say bless their little heart. Well Dad after giving this talk and telling all these stories about you…Bless your little heart!

Dad as Dave put it last night his pillar of strength is gone and we all feel that way. You will be greatly missed. We will miss your hugs and how you always smelled so good, but we are so grateful that you didn’t have to suffer any longer. We are sure that you are up there enjoying a large bowl of ice cream and listening to Polka music that you loved so much. And all the family dogs are surrounding you because they all knew you loved them so much.

         

Till we see you again, we send our love,

Your family

 

 Immediately after we made the drive through the snow up to the cemetery the sons, son-in-laws and a few grandsons carried their Dad and Grandpa to his final burial place.

My Uncle Kelly dedicated his grave...

 And before we knew it the funeral plans were coming to an end. We spent some time surrounding his casket talking with all our families and then it was time to go. Plus it was FREEZING and we all were soaking wet. Its amazing how something so hard as burying your Husband, Dad and Grandpa can bring a family that much closer and make you appreciate those loved ones around you even more. I think the hardest part to this all is watching my Dad lose his Dad. My Grandpa was seriously his strength and a great example to help my Dad become the great man he is today. Together they could do and fix ANYTHING!

I am just glad we were able to be there and support him through this emotional day. We were missing two brothers and their families but it was still good to have some of our family together this day. Thanks to Nana Rothe for watching my boys and my sisters kids so we could enjoy the funeral without chasing kids around.

 This is a day that won't be forgotten any time soon but more importantly I will always remember the sweet memories I shared with my Grandpa. There are only two things in my life so far that my own Dad hasn't been able to do for me that I was lucky enough to have my Grandpa take his place... one baptizing me and the other was him being my witness during my wedding sealing. I couldn't have asked for a better Grandpa! My last memory of talking with my Grandpa was when my Dad and I went to the hospital to visit him 2 weeks before he passed away. Not much was understood through his mumbling words that day but the most important ones I heard. The last words from my Grandpa's mouth that I heard was "I Love You" as I gave him a hug goodbye. Never have those 3 words been remembered so sweetly until now.

Until we meet again, Grandpa, we love you!!

Stake YW Medallion Dinner

One year ago our Stake YW leaders challenged us leaders to get our Personal Progress Medallions along with our girls. They promised for all that earned them, they would be invited to attend a nice dinner provided by the Stake at the end of the year. At that meeting, I silently promised myself I would complete my personal progress and would be at that dinner the following year. On November 4th, I had accomplished my goal and attended the dinner. I was glad I got to attend the dinner with my 1st Counselor Hollie and our only Laurel, Megan (she took off before we got pictures) because they completed their medallions as well.

It definitely takes a different meaning doing the Personal Progress program as a mom and wife I am sure, but I know whoever completes this inspired program will be blessed no matter the age you are when completed. 

I was actually asked to speak the night of the dinner in front of our Stake and share my experience I had with Personal Progress. Talk about intimidating and to make things even more emotional my Grandpa had passed away 2 days before the dinner. Needless to say, emotions were very close to the surface. I felt like I was a little distracted to speak because of my Grandpa's death being so recent, but I was glad I got to share my experience and testimony with many other women and girls within our Stake and apply the knowledge I had learned about eternal families and the Plan of Happiness as a strength to get me through my talk without too many tears. It also helped to have Nate there with me supporting me all the way through it! 

As a convert and going to Young Women's sporadically as a youth I didn't understand the importance of the Personal Progress program so I never applied myself to receive it. My leaders, as a youth, gave me a medallion I am sure out of sympathy, but its not until now that I fully understand the blessings that come from putting the honest work and time into completing it. I now wear this necklace with honor and as a testimony of what great blessings we've been given as Children of God and more importantly as Daughters of God.

We have the best Stake YW Leaders and I am so grateful for the inspiration they gave to me to complete my personal progress award. I will always remember this experience and cherish the knowledge and spirit that filled my heart as I worked on receiving my medallion.

Bring on the Honor Bee Challenge this next year!!