MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christmas morning is always fun at our house. Since we began doing the Hansen Christmas Eve party, our christmas day has become very quiet. We can sleep in. Last year the boys were up early, but they couldn't go into the frontroom to see what they got until the girls woke up. The girls slept in for about an hour after the boys had woken up. It drove the boys crazy laying in bed with us while we waited. This year, everyone was more on board of getting up early. I guess 7:15 isn't too bad. The kids have to wait in our room and line up youngest to oldest and then go out to the lit up Christmas tree.
This year we changed things just a little bit. We opened our Santa gifts first, then paused and ate a nice breakfast. Then it was back to opening up gifts from each other. We take turns so that everyone gets to enjoy seeing what everyone else got. We do a treasure hunt for the kids, it's like the main gift from Mom and Dad. Shelby and Shyann had already found theirs, but my parents showed up before Colby and Chandler had found theirs. Casey decided to put their clues in Webding format. They had to decipher their clues. Colby was so upset about it. They finally found their gifts and they unwrapped them. Then they showed off their gifts to their Grandpa and Grandma Hansen.

What was on the wish list this year?

COLBY

Ripstick

Zelda - twilight Princess Wii Game

Airsoft Gun

CHANDLER

Snap Circuit Extreme 750 experiments

Origami Books

Boom Blox Wii Game

SHYANN

Fur Real White Kitty

Hannah Montana Guitar

All Star Cheer Squad Wii Gam

SHELBY

Fashion Hair Doll

Purple-ish Metalic Nintendo DS

Polly Pocket Swap - N- Dress

We enjoyed time just spending the day with each other. We played our new games and watched DVD's. We had a very merry christmas and hope that all of our friends and family did, too!

(Sorry no pics, I took them with my DSLR and they haven't been uploaded to my computer yet.)

Hansen Family Christmas Eve Party!

We had one busy Christmas Eve. Casey's mom decided she was flying to Virginia on Christmas morning so she had us over for a dinner and gift exchange. We ate with her at 4:30 and left to go to the Hansen party at 6:15.

We had the Hansen party at my sister, Denise's, home in Syracuse. My brother-in-law narrated the nativity from the scriptures and the kids dressed up. (My mom decided to start doing this last year). The kids love being able to dress up. Five of the girls wanted to be angels. We ended up with a lot of angels and only 1 wiseman. Kambree I think was supposed to be Joseph (I'm not sure why), but she got a hold of pom poms and was hopping back and forth waving them in the air. She is such a cutie. With so many little ones, we have learned to just go with the flow.

Colby, Eric, and Michael made up the "star". While Chandler was King Herod.

All the cousins pulling a face while waiting to open gifts.

Grandma & Grandpa gave all the grandkids a hoodie this year.

Shelby got this cute Hannah Montana hoodie. Colby got this awesome one.
Chandler is soaring with Eagles in his hoodie.

And Shyann got this cute Hannah Montana.

We had such a fun night! The kids would keep running to the computer where Santa was being tracked. They had a great time seeing the different countries and videos of what Santa would have seen as he went into different places.

Missing

Sorry, I've been gone way too long. If it's not one thing with my computer it's another. So about a week after my virus was cleaned up, my internal hard drive started dying. We thought it would survive until Christmas break, but NOOOO! We had to get a new one (of course the warranty we had for the last one expired in November - just my luck). I had a great friend who invited me to use her desktop with my external hard drive so that I could finish my mom's calendar. Anyway, I am back up and running.

My sister introduced me to "facebook" this last week so that's another reason I've been missing. I've enjoyed catching up with people from high school.

I'm way excited about this season and holiday. I love the snow that has fallen and I hope it stays for a white christmas. I'll have to get some photos. It sounds like the snow isn't done yet, so I am sure I will have ample opportunities this week.

TAGGED!

So my computer got a horrible virus last weekend and my computer has been down. I felt soooo lost! Casey was able to save my computer and information. Beware of children who may click on those popups instead of closing them.

Anyway, I'm back. My sister tagged me a little while ago so I'm just getting around to it.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Staying home with 1 cute little boy!
2. Cleaning a very large home (it was my in-laws home in Kaysville while they were in Boise).
3. Preparing to find our own home (his parents were getting ready to move back).
4. Praying for my dear sister as she was going through chemo.
5. Playing with a cute little boy!

5 things on my to-do list today: (luckily this is easy because it's Sunday)

1. Go to church - set up nursery
2. Tithing Settlement
3. Watch a movie with the kids
4. Reading with my children
5. Walk the dog

5 Snacks I enjoy:

1. Chocolate
2. Ice Cream
3. Chocolate
4. Chips and Salsa
5. Chocolate anything (Did I say chocolate already?)

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Pay off my Mortgage
2. Finish the basement
3. Decorate my house and buy a piano
4. Travel anywhere and everywhere
5. Give money to family and church (and spoil my children)

5 Places I've lived:

Taylor (born and raised there until I got married)
Ogden (2 apartments)
Kaysville
Layton (previous and current home)

5 Jobs I've had:

Babysitting
Claire's Boutique
Weber State (student aide)
Weber State (dept. secretary)
MOM (the best!)

5 people I tag: (unfortunately, I have few blog friends)

Jeni, Trish, Jackie, Kayla,

New Family Member

In September, we adopted this poodle mix. He is completely poodle, but has a dark skin so he's some mix it just doesn't show. It is very difficult to get a picture of him because he's terrified of the camera. It took a lot to get him in these two pictures. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the dog thing just yet, I mean all the kids were finally in school, but Casey found him. We were just going to have my niece casually watch for some small dog like my parents. Casey loves my parents little dog (it's a maltese-poodle mix). So he just said if Marinda comes across something at the shelter have her call us and we'll check it out. I was a bit shocked! Marinda called a couple of weeks later and said the "Super Adoption" was going on the weekend of Sept. 12 and we should check it out. I was doing salsa with my younger sister so Casey and the kids went down. I told him before I left to remind the kids it was ok if they didn't find something we'll just keep watching for one. A while later Casey e-mailed me a photo of this little guy. Then he called me and asked what I thought. I said he was cute. About 30-45 minutes later he called asking for vet info. I said "you got him?" Casey had really liked his personality. So we have "Buddy". He is 4 years old and is a really good dog. He is my shadow, literally. I cannot walk out of the room without him behind me. The kids love him!

Crazy Beautiful Weather

The weather has been in the 70's all week. Yes, we have a storm coming in, but it's been years since we've seen weather like this in Oct-Nov. We took our time getting the sprinkler lines blown out so that's what Casey did Saturday. Chandler and Shelby couldn't wait for one more run through the sprinklers. I told you, the weather is crazy. I didn't think it was quite "swimsuit warm", but is it worth the argument? They had a great time.

Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween Tradition.
Each year (for the past 4-ish) we have attended my older sisters ward Trunk or Treat in Kaysville. It is huge! My kits pumpkin buckets are almost completely filled within a half hour time frame. Since it's usually so cold, we run home and empty some of the candy out and hit a couple of neighbors then come home for some hot chocolate. The kids are only out for maybe half an hour around the neighborhood. However, this year was a different story. The weather was beautiful and warm! My sister's trunk or treat started an hour earlier which was nice because it was still light outside. Chandler's friend asked him to go trick or treating around the neighborhood with him so we dropped them off at his house. Casey took the other 3 out and about the neighborhood. They were gone for about an hour and a half. Never have they been able to go out that long before. They had a great time! Colby wanted to go to a home up the street that does a spooky garage called "Cave of Death". Casey said this family put a lot of money into animatronics. It was amazing and it spooked Colby. His goal for being spooked was met. Apparently, Casey got some fun ideas for decorating our yard next year while out and about with the kids. Stay tuned to find out what happens next year!

Here's my kids, Chandler's friend, and Michelle's 3 younger with Keith (the doc).

Casey and I have also been dressing up the last few years, this is definitely the simplest we've done!

The graduates! (Thanks Colby for taking the photo)

We hope you all had a fantastic Halloween!