This Crazy Life

Today was Super Bowl Sunday.  It was the Seahawks vs the Patriots, and the Patriots won.  Quite frankly I could care less about the game.  What was really on my mind was time and how incredibly fast it goes and how it just continues even if something happens.  This past Friday, the world lost a beautiful woman.  She was thoughtful, fun and a great person.  My cousin, Lydia, died after loosing her battle with meningitis.  That night her daughter wrote, she feels cheated and that the day came too soon, it should be 30 years from now.  Quite frankly, I would feel cheated too. I know that God has a plan for all of us and that we can be with our families again. But some days are still hard...
After the game, Bri and I were talking.  How can today be February 1st?  It was just Christmas like 2 days ago right?  My birthday wasn't really almost a week ago was it?  I feel like time is rushing by and if we aren't careful it will be gone in the blink of an eye.  I feel grateful everyday that we have three amazing children, we are healthy and blessed.  I just hope that we can continue to stay healthy and that we can appreciate the time a little more.
This message is more to myself then to anybody else.  Slow down, remember to tell your loved ones how much you love them, don't take life for-granted and make each moment special, because you never know when it's your last. Time just be gentle please...

Just a Few Photos

Here are just some random photos that make me smile:

Colin's second day of school, waiting for the bus to take him.

Today, college football season opener.  Any questions about who we cheer for???

Last weekend at Jungle Jim's.  I just love Lynnie's, happy to be the passenger look.

Last week, 35 weeks pregnant and NO pre-eclampsia!!!  Into the final count down.

Fishin'

Brian and I have been taking some birthing classes.  I know weird, because it's our 3rd baby.  But this time we are going for an unmedicated birth.  (Please be supportive and hold all scary stories until after the birth of this baby, then we will be happy to hear them all.)  So, Neeners and Grandpa Garry have been watching the kids for us on our class nights.  After one class night, Colin asked if he could please go fishing with Grandpa Garry.  I told him sure.  The following class night, Grandpa worked and didn't have car seats to taken them fishing.  So, last night after dinner, I headed home and the kids went fishing with Grandpa and Neeners.  I was out cold when they got home, but had this beauty in my inbox this morning.

Apparently, both kids were very happy because Colin caught the most fish, 2, and Lynnie caught the biggest.  They had such a great time, I think we are going to have to take them again and soon.

Student of the Month

Yesterday I went to Colin's school to pick him up for a doctor appointment.  As we were walking out, Audra said "that's my brother."  I walked back to where she pointed and sure enough there is Coli Bug.  He is the caring community student of the month for his class.  I am so super duper proud of my little man.  I looked up the school newsletter too, and there is his name in print.  WAY TO GO BUG!!!!!

Tulip Festival

Our Relief Society planned a trip to Thanksgiving Point for the Tulip Festival.  The best part of all, they told us we were welcome to bring our kiddos, which made it possible for us young moms to go.  I ran through the Tulip Festival 2 years ago, but I have not enjoyed a nice stroll through the Tulip Fest.  IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!!  The flowers looked amazing.  It makes me wish my gardens looked like that.  The kids had so much fun running from one place to the other.  It was also nice to socialize with friends and get some warm sun on our skin. 

 

Star Wars

Our Coli, is really into Angry Birds right now.  He especially loves the Star Wars Angry Bird game. However, he had never seen Star Wars.  So, I felt it was my mission as his mom to make sure he sees Star Wars.  I have been looking to buy the saga, but about fell over when at Barnes and Noble it is $149.00. (OUCH!)  Amazon was $85.00, which is still more than I want to spend.  So, after looking and looking, I just went to Blockbuster and rented all 6 for 5 days for $0.99 each.  Saturday evening after dinner the family sat down to begin the adventure.  We lost Brian.  He said he is not into Star Wars and just can't sit there.  But the kids and I made it through episode I.  THEY LOVED IT!  After church yesterday we put on episode 2 and followed that with #3.  They can't wait to finish the saga.  Their favorite character is Yoda.  They cheer him on and love when he fights.  We will finish the saga in the next couple of days.  I am looking forward to that. 

More Exciting News

As promised here is the second part of our exciting news, we moved!  In December we made an offer and it was accepted.  So, in the beginning of February we signed papers and officially moved into our new home.  It is a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath with 2240 SF.  It has been so nice to have more room.  We have a family room in the basement and a toy room, so no more toys in the front room.  There are several things other bonus items we now have a small yard, 2 fireplaces, an attached 2 car garage.  It is almost the perfect house, the one thing I don't have is a gas stove, but one day that will be changed and then it will be perfect.  The other bestest thing is we only moved 2 streets down, so we stayed in the same school.  We did technically change ward boundaries, but we are continuing to go to our old ward as 1/3 of the street we live on goes to our ward and I love it. 

So there you have it.  Our home is new and a baby on the way, I think that you are caught up on all the news in the Hansen family world. 

A Fun Visit

Yesterday, Lynnie, Bri and I were home when I noticed 2 ducks on the roof of our neighbors garage.  Soon, they flew down to our side yard and Bri asked Lynnie if she wanted to feed the ducks.  She said yes and was so excited.  We went out and watched her feed them.  I was surprised how close they got to Lynnie.  It was a fun time for the 3 of us. 

Pictures from November

So here are just some pictures from the month that I wanted to make sure got on the blog:

Lynnie and I hanging out

 Colin sending his letter to Santa via the "magic mailbox at Macy's."

 Lynnie's turn.

Post Run on Thanksgiving 2012.

That's the Kind of Neighborhood We Live In

About a week ago, was the Relief Society Birthday Party.  Even though my calling is Provident Living, I am also attached to the activities committee.  The evening of the birthday party, one of the ladies I visit teach came up and asked me about which preschool I have Colin in.  I told her that he goes to Oakwood and that I loved the school.  This prompted another lady in the room to say (we will call her K), Oh my gosh, I haven't even thought of preschool.  Let's keep in mind that K's child is only 6 months old and this is her first.  K then asked another lady (we will call her J) what she did for preschool.  J told her about the 2 different preschools in the area and that K should have her baby on the waiting list.  K started freaking out that she hadn't even thought about it.  Just then S (she has 5 kiddos) walked in and jumped in the conversation.  S stated to K "You need to call first thing in the morning, seriously."  Then proceeded to rattle off the phone number.  Now, the schools that these ladies are talking about, neither are public schools like Colin's, but private schools.  I have known that we live in a very affluent area.  With Walker Lane and Cottonwood Lane very close, it has never been something that shocked me, that there was money here.  But REALLY, they are so concerned about preschool that they have to get on the waiting list when the baby is born?  It's preschool people.  What is even more funny after preschool the kids go into the public school system.  So apparrently, we live in such an area that we need to be concerned about getting our children in preschool the instant that they are born. 

A Lifetime of Memories

This past Saturday, Aunt Tammy & Uncle Craig, Uncle Greg, Chris P., Lindsey, Dad & Kel, and Brian & I, gathered in Pleasant View to clean out the storage unit and take things that we had interest in from the life of Lynn and Mary Nelson.  We went through boxes and boxes of stuff.  Somethings, treasures from my Grandmother and Grandfather Nelson, other things just regular everyday items.  The weather cooperated wonderfully and we were able to get everything out and moved to the DI, dump or someones home.
That night I was laying there and thinking when I am gone, what will my family think are treasures.  What will mean something to one of them.  It has made me think, what I may think are treasures now, my children and grandchildren may not believe that they are treasures.   And things that I think are modern everyday items now, one day maybe be a treasure.  I hope that I can pass somethings down to my family that will touch hearts the way that my grandparents stuff has touch mine.

April Fool's

The Utah branch of Allstate is currently undergoing some remodeling.  They are trying to condense everyone onto one floor, so there are some walls that need to be knocked down and new cubies put up.  The MCM (big boss of Utah), Jim, has had to move out of his office and is currently in a cubie, until his office is reconstructed.  This has been problematic for a couple reasons, one Jim is not able to close a door when he is busy signaling to the employees that he is not to be disturbed and secondly, he has a hard time talking to employees in a private manor. 
So, the employees decided to fix this problem yesterday with a little April Fools joke.  They were going to build Jim an office out of cardboard.  The plan was to arrive at 10 yesterday and get it put together.  We arrived, I had made cinnamon rolls, so we all had one.  When Lynn got a call from another employee that Jim was walking in the door. WHAT?!?!?  So, Bri and Shane were rushing to hide the cardboard.  We sat, talked and tried to figure out when Jim was going to leave.  We asked him how long he was staying, until he was sure that the computers were going to be up and running tomorrow.  Great!  He will be here all day.  After a while, we had done all the postponing we could do and were about to leave, when Jim packed up and went home.
So, Lynn, Bri, Aisha, Ali and I went to work and put together Jim's new office.  We had a really good time and it was fun thinking of the little extras to make it even better.  Hopefully, Jim has a smile today when he gets to work.

Pictures from March

Brian took this picture of the kids and I LOVE it!

The kids drew life size pictures of themselves.

Special Olympics

Our dear friend Monica, bowled again in the Special Olympics.  The kids and I met Lynn, Doug and Monica down at the bowling alley on Friday to watch Monica participate.  They changed the structure a little bit this year, and had the bowler bowl 3 times each time they stood up, which was nice, because so much time was saved by the athletes not having to get up and down so much.  Monica had a great time bowling and did very well.  In fact, this year she took bronze.  When the officials presented her with her medal she was so happy.  She looked at her dad and just started to cry.  When asked why she was crying, "because I am so happy."  It was a truly AWESOME moment.  I am so grateful that we could be there to cheer and celebrate with our friends.

After, we enjoyed a nice lunch over at Cafe Silvestre.  We joked and laughed and told Monica how awesome she really did.

A Recap

At the start of 2011, I made some New Year's Resolutions.  I wanted to report on them today and let you know where I stand, as of December 31, 2011.  I don't remember the order, but I do remember my resolutions.

One, was to run 500 mile and complete 1 half marathon.  I am please to say I ran 2 half marathons and Ragnar with my total of 13.1 (so it's like 3 half marathons) and my mileage for the year 590 miles.   So, I can cross this off with a smiley face.
Two, was to read 4 book from the BBC list to bring my total up past the average of 6 books most people have read.  Well, I did in fact read 4 more books.  Another cross off with a smiley face.
Three, to post family genealogy on the blog so my kids have that information down the road.  I did not do this one so well.  I did in fact, start and got some of my grandparent's info down, but not all of them and not Bri's.  So this one must carry over to the New Year. 

I am pleased with my progress.  I do in fact, think I did the best this year with my resolution, by placing them on my blog.  I will be doing the same in 2012. 

A New Bed

For a while now, we have wanted to get the kids a bunk bed.  Lynnie has been using the toddler bed that the crib turns into and Colin has been using a twin.  Well, we sold the twin and bought a bunk bed.  The kids were so excited.  They love their new bed.

Fun Pictures from this Month

Just some random photos I have snapped over the past few weeks, too cute not to share.

A Tender Moment

** I have decided to share this moment, more because I want this memory down the road.  It is very tender to Brian and I, please don't ruin it with rude comments.  If you don't agree with what is being said please keep those thoughts to yourself.  Thank you**

After our miscarriage, a friend of mine suggested that I read "Heaven is for Real."  At that moment I was knee deep in another book.  So, when I finished it, I put a hold request for it at the library (apparently a popular book at this time).  I picked it up a few days later.  It discusses a little boys journey to heaven during a life saving surgery.  The boy then tells his parents in small bits about his experience.
The chapter "Two Sisters" was a special moment for me.  The little boy (Colton) approaches his mom and asks "Did a baby die in your tummy?"  This was not information that they had shared with their young son.  But the mother said "Yes, how did you know?"  Colton stated, "I met her in heaven."  He went on to describe her and talk about her for a moment.  The parents were so happy to hear that their baby was with God.  The then asked what her name was.  Colton responded with "She doesn't have one, you never named her."  (They lost the pregnancy before the gender was determined.) 
This hit so close to home.  I repeated this info to Brian, who was sitting on thye couch with me reading a book.  Thinking of our own miscarriage, he stated "How do we name it?"  I replied with "I don't know."  He then said "We could name it Dylan (a name we both like for either a boy or girl)."  I said "Oh we could.  But ever since we joked that night about needing a "B" name, I have always thought this baby as "Baby B."  He thought for a moment, then replied with "We could name it Bobbi."  I replied with "Let's do that." 
I started crying and in that moment, a piece of my heart healed more.  I am thrilled with the thought that we have named all our children, with one day getting to meet and hold Bobbi. I am grateful to my friend for suggesting this book, Thanks Wendy!  I am grateful for my husband and him being sensitive for me.  I am grateful for Colin, Audra, and Bobbi.  I strongly suggest to those who have had a loss to read the book and I hope that it heals you too. 

Celebrity Sighting

Last night, as we were walking up the stairs to our home our neighbor boy, was coming up the stairs.  This neighbor boy, is in his early teens, wears his hair a little longer, has thick rim glasses and his hair is dark.  Lynnie was holding my hand as we were walking up the stairs, she says "Mom, it's Harry Potter."  Holding back my laughter, as to not offend this young man, I had to explain to her that this was our neighbor Sheldon.  I am not sure if she believes me or will still think of him as Harry Potter.  Either way, Sheldon could be the next Harry Potter, watch out Daniel Radcliff. 

Walker Lane

For those that have grown up in the Salt Lake Valley, you are probably very aware of Walker Lane.  We are fortunate to live close by, infact our ward boundaries include part of Walker Lane.

It is a very afluent road with large homes and very established property.  Many people want very much to live on Walker Lane because of it's status.  With homes like these, who can blame them:

I personally want to live on this road not for the status but because of the beauty.  This road is my favorite road to run on especially in the fall.  It is so pretty with the leaves that are changing; in a week or so the road will be covered with leaves and you won't be able to even see the road.  I love it.  I am grateful for the time we have here living right by Walker Lane.