Tacky Hansen Christmas Party

I am so very sorry for taking so long once again to blog! I promised my friends I would start again over a month ago and I have been so busy/so behind I didn't know where to start. So I decided to just pick up today......

The Hansen Family had a tacky Christmas party last night and it was so much fun! Thanks to Danielle's tacky Christmas stash and the Walmart our family was decked from head to toe and we won the best dressed prize!

This year Jaxon is out of his mind excited about this whole Santa business! He loves to find Jingle the elf (our little elf on a shelf) around our house and make sure he knows that he is being a good boy so he can disappear to the North Pole to tell Santa. He never stops singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or Jingle Bells and is pretty much living off Hot Chocolate.

Tae is just happy to follow Jax around and do whatever he is doing. Her favorite thing to do is to pull all the ornaments off the tree and chuck them around the house. She already picks her own clothes out everyday and SCREAMS if I try to pick out something else! She is loving her new little room upstairs but it makes me sad to have her so far away......but happy cuz she is sleeping like a log!

Halloween in Wonderland......

Halloween came and went WAY too fast this year. It was a total blur this year and I didn't even throw our annual party! Luckily our friends Eric and Danielle hosted the party this year.

I was Alice and Blake was the Mad Hatter. It was a blast!

Pumpkin carving was a success with our little family. The kids loved it but I have to say I am a little disappointed in the lack of pumpkin goo my kids were willing to stick their hands in.

Growing up I LOVED scooping out the pumpkin goo and getting it all over my hands, squishing it in between my fingers. I just couldn't even wait to get my hands in the stuff. Jen HATED it and thought I was crazy. I just wanted her to love it as much as I did..........

but she never did.

So then I tried to recruit Blake to my love for scooping out and carving pumpkins but he hates when his hands get in the goo too. My last hope was that my kids would love it and so far Jax is just like his Dad and did NOT want dirty hands! Maybe next year Tae will dig in with me......

Jax was in heaven trick or treating with his cousins again this year.

It was a cold, rainy night but that didn't slow them down at all!

I didn't get any good pics that night with my camera but here's what I did get .........

Tae was so cute and I had no idea she would grasp the concept of trick or treating so soon.

We had her in the stroller following the boys and as soon as they went to the first house and got their candy she screamed and screamed to get out of the stroller. We thought she just wanted to run with the boys so Blake let her out and she ran all by herself holding her little bucket up in a panic saying

"trick or treat......trick or treat!!!"

She went up to every door step after that til her little bucket was full to the brim with candy.

She was the cutest little Strawberry Shortcake.

The PERFECT 4th Birthday

My little man turned 4 this month and had the most magical birthday party in Disneyland!

It was the most perfect day, he loved every second of it....... and so did I.

We started the day with presents in the hotel with Grandma Suzi and Grandpa Scott and then we were off to Disneyland! You should have seen how excited Jax was! He got to ride over on the scooter with Grandpa and had his birthday pin on that Mickey gave him. We had to ride the Buzz ride first (that's his favorite) and then we got to ride in the very front on the monorail to the Disneyland Hotel where we went to Goofy's Kitchen for Jaxon's birthday breakfast with all of the characters. I told Jax that Goofy was throwing a birthday party just for him and you should have seen his little face! They gave him a birthday card signed by all of the characters and a little cake in a treasure chest box. They sang happy birthday to him and he got to eat Mickey pancakes and waffles, gummy worms with chocolate pudding and oreos, mac & cheese pizza and an ice cream cone. It was the cutest thing ever.

We spent the rest of the day riding on all of the rides and watching the pixar parade. He bought a Buzz Lightyear gun and flashlight with his money from his great grandmas.

The best part of taking Jax to Disneyland is when he feels the magic so much and gets so happy he doesn't even know what to do with himself! He will just hug Blake and I so tight and say

"I love you soooooo much" and give you a kiss on the cheek.

It is so precious.

PS. Disneyland was all decked for Halloween and it was so cute.

Jaxi I have no words to tell you how much I love you. I love your sweet/stubborn personality. You are so smart, friendly, loving, the sweetest big brother, a master negotiator (seriously). You love to go to school and to play the WII. You are obsessed with Buzz Lightyear and would still live off just chocolate milk if I let you. I feel like you turned into this real little boy over night. Happy Birthday.................

I will try to soak this 4 year old you in, it will go too fast.

I'm back...........

I'm back from a looooooong blogging vacation. I've missed it but a broken computer/broken camera seriously makes blogging difficult. Plus life has just been crazy this summer. I feel like summers are always crazy busy but then I realized our life is always crazy no matter what. We have been so busy with family, friends and if you haven't heard our St. George house project has been an ALL summer job............... the good news is that it is ALMOST DONE!!!

I have learned a lot this summer....... and loved a lot. I have learned who my true friends are and learned more about the person I want to be. I have learned to just try to soak it all in, to not be selfish, and to help my friends and family as much as I can. I have learned that being happy is a choice and that the little things in life are what matter most. I have learned that bad things happen to good people and that we can't control what others do to us, we can only control our reaction to it.

I have realized how lucky I am to have two healthy babies and husband who loves me and gets me. I have realized we are all here to help each other through this crazy life and if we could just put each other first almost all of our problems would go way. I have realized that sometimes I am a little too honest but I mean it in the best way and only to the people who I truly love. I have realized how easy it is to impact someone elses'l ife good or bad.

This summer has taught me a lot and I have loved every second of it. But now I am ready for the leaves to change, for the chilly fall days, for football games, for crock pot dinners, for the holidays and most of all I am ready to wear boots!

Since my camera has been broken I haven't been taking lots of pictures but here are some of my favorite 1 year old pics of Tae. The girl who took them was the cutest and Tae absolutely loved getting her pictures taken. She was a total poser. She learned alot this summer too...... she learned to walk, actually to run. She learned to talk a little more but mostly learned she can do a really really high pitched scream and everyone in sight will look at her. She learned that she NEEDS to do everything her brother does. She learned to dance....... and I hope she never stops.

I'll be seein you......

Saying goodbye to the most incredible man I have ever known in my life was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I don't think you can ever prepare yourself or be ready to watch someone you love so dearly pass on and leave us to go to the next life.

I can't even begin to explain or put into words how I feel or what I experienced. I won't be able to describe it but I know I will always remember every second I got to be with my Papa while he passed and that I got to tell him how much I love him and that I am going to miss him so very much but that I know we will be together again.

Papa had been sick for a while but when he got to the point where they knew he wouldn't get better my grandma knew he would want to be home and they moved him home for the rest of the time he had left.

So for a few days and nights I was able to be at his side with my sweet Grandma, Jen, Jesse and Lee.

He wasn't able to speak when I got there and I am not sure how much of us he could actually see but he knew we were there.

He could hear us and could only let us know in the tiniest ways but somehow he still let us know how much he loved us. He would try so hard to talk to us or smile but a little lift of his finger or a nod of his head meant the world to me.

I will forever treasure the precious days and nights I got to be right by his side with Jen, Jess and Lee, holding his hands and feet, kissing his head, playing him his favorite music, telling him how much we loved him until he gave grandma one last smile and the angels took him to heaven.

I love you Papa, more than I can ever say. You lived an incredible life and taught me unconditional love, integrity, respect, to be honest and true, to be kind, to be strong and so much more. I will forever hear your laugh and see your smile. I will always say "sweet dreams" to my kids and think of you. Thank you for all you have done for me and the incredible impact you have had on my life. It will never be the same with out you and I will miss you so very much. I can't wait to be with you again, but til then.......

I'll be seein you.............

A perfect tea party for Tae.......

My baby girl turned one and I cant believe it has already been a year. I feel like she was just born but I feel like she has been with me forever too. She is my angel and always will be. She is the sweetest girl in the world and has been the easiest and I mean EASIEST baby, but I'm sad to say now that she is one she has decided to have an opinion about things. I guess it had to happen sometime........ Tae has the best little personality, she loves to try to do whatever Jax does. She LOVES her monkey. Pink and white frosted animal cookies and grapes are her favorite treats. She is about to walk ANY second. She took 4 steps yesterday. But she can crawl crazy fast so i guess why walk?? She is always talking but her only real words so far are mama, dada, jax (my favorite), doggie, papa, bye bye, nana, uh-oh, baba and baby. She loves to try to sing to her lullabies, she loves baths, swimming, elmo, swinging and she is obsessed with shoes. Her eyes are magical and her little voice is my favorite thing in the whole world...........

So we had the perfect little tea party for Tae in the backyard. As you all know I love to throw parties so of coarse I had to go all out for my baby girls first birthday! We had cupcakes and cookies. And the yummiest donuts in the world from Beyond Glaze. Tae had the most perfect birthday cake made by Nat. I made the tissue paper balls, and found all the tea cups and saucers at DI and some were from Cree that she had gotten from a hotel. The tablecloths Suzi bought for me at a consignment store in St. George. It turned out perfect but the best part was all the close friends and family we had to share it with. Tae loved it!

Around here....

I have been crazy busy with house/yard projects this spring. So here are some of the pics of what I have accomplished so far that I promised you all. There is still more to do but for now I am taking a break for the summer and you will find me on the boat........Our yard was completely dead when we moved in so we have been needing to landscape it forever and I FINALLY got it together and started this year. Thanks to tips from Anne and some help from the Nursery down the street this is what I did. I don't know how I feel about this yard business. For me it is way overwhelming and expensive but when it is done it is so nice to have the beautiful flowers, trees and plants. The problem is that is never done cuz you have to constantly maintain. I seriously don't know how people do this!

I have NO idea what am doing but hopefully each year it will get better............

P.S.- Ignore the weeds. I took this before we weeded!

My favorite project was the patio. I had a blast combining all my favorite things I found and now its totally me. Obviously there is still more I want to do but we are loving lounging outside on the warm quiet nights or enjoying Sunday morning breakfast in the sun. Its the best.......

Blake got this play set for Jax and He loves it! And I love it cuz he plays out there for hours!

Here are our dinky trees we are so proud of that we planted. Yes Seattle, we have to PLANT trees. I thought they were so cool until I went back to Seattle and realized they are sticks. But someday they will be big. Hopefully........

Blake planted these little trees around the rock wall and I planted these rock plants which are growing quite nicely. I am hoping they will get big enough to catch all the mud and dirt and keep it from falling.

Here is my little garden I am SO proud of. Thanks to Wade I learned what to plant and how to do it. I hope I did it right..... I guess we will see. In this little one I planted 5 different kinds of tomatoes, peppers, basil, sage and oregano. And in other corners of the yard I planted lettuce, spinach, zucchini, squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, raspberries and cucumbers.

I'll let you know how it goes.........

I painted the little bathroom by the kitchen

Put this little bench and table in my entry way

And I never showed you the picture that I found for Tae's room at the street fair in Palm Springs! I am OBSESSED with it and it goes perfectly in her little room.

I painted my bar stools that I was sick of and got chair pads. (they used to just be black.)

And I finally got these glasses and pitchers with the blue rims. I have been in love with them since the 7th grade. Lame I know...... but they make me feel like I am on vacation...........

Sooooo after posting all these pics of what I have been doing I think I just realized I am kind of into blue right now. It took looking at these pics for me to realize that!!!!