Surgery

So Denise went in yesterday for surgery. She met with her oncologist on Tuesday and the operation was either Wednesday or wait until Monday. We were all prepared to help as soon as possible. I went over at 9:45 so they could leave at 10 for the hospital. She went in for surgery at 1:15 and I didn't hear from my mom until 5:45. There is a possibility that this tumor, called an intraepithelial carcinoma, is a different cancer than her previous one. When they did the CT scan a week and a half ago, the tumor was about the size of a football. When the doctor went in to remove the tumor, it had at least doubled in size. The doctor was surprised by how HUGE the tumor was so he is going to weigh and measure it. They also took biopsies of her lymphnodes and organs. They had to make the incision above her belly button all the way down. They were able to remove the tumor intact (Phew!) and complete a full hysterectomy. We will find out the results on Friday. With this tumor, there is a possibility that she will not need chemotherapy. That's what we are praying for. I know she will do anything so that she will be here for her children. As her family, we are all prepared and making plans to help her out. She has had so much support and love from friends and family. It is so great to see how many are willing to help her. Thanks for all the prayers!

Visiting Southern Utah.

Casey's mom and her husband bought a 2nd home down in Washington (just outside of St. George). We decided to take a break from everything and go down to visit during the 3-day weekend. We had a great time and are so grateful to them and their generosity.

Shelby and Shyann putting on the "green" at Casey's mom's home.

On Saturday, we went to a Dinosaur Discovery Museum. This place has natural casts with the original footprints of dinosaurs. It also has only 1 of 5 in the world of findings of a dinosaur "squatting" track. After exploring and having fun there, we decided to go climb the "red rocks" in St. George. The kids could have stayed all day long.

At the "red rocks" area in St. George

Sunday was a very enjoyable day. The meetings were all wonderful and there was a great spirit in the lessons. After lunch, we decided to go on a couple of tours. We went to Brigham Young's Winter Quarters home, the Tabernacle, and the Temple Visitor's Center. We watched a wonderful video called "The Stonecutter". It shared the message that we should all be fulfilling our callings to our very best without excuses. It was very touching.

In front of the St. George Temple

Yesterday, we went over to the Tuacan theater to see what it looked like. Then we drove into Snow Canyon and went for a hike. That's a really fun place with a lot of hiking that we can look forward to doing next time we go down. There is a lot of lava rock. We were only able to do one quick hike before we needed to get ready to leave.

We had such an enjoyable time and look forward to going down again. It's time to get back to reality -- work, school, dance, scouts, piano, church callings, and all the fun things that go along with being home.

The Battle To Be Won

Last night my sister called. It was about 9:45 and my thoughts were "oh she's wondering if I could watch Kambree." No big deal! Then she breaks the awful horrible news that no one at 35 should have to say to their family. After 10 years of being cancer free, her cancer has returned. We both started crying, as you can imagine. We do not know any information yet. We know she will most likely have surgery and chemo. Her tumor is larger than the first one and grew in a shorter period of time.

Denise has been such a good example to me. I consider her to be my best friend. She has such a strong testimony. When we went through this before she had no children and Colby was just little. So to go through it now with her 4 at such a young age, just breaks my heart for all of them. I am so glad that we have the knowledge of the gospel to help us through these trials. Please keep her and her family in your prayers!

I love you, sis!

A Happy Birthday!

I can't believe it, Chandler turned 9. He is such a good example for me. He tries to do the right things. He is smart, kind, helpful, loving, easy going and a great big brother to his sisters. I love his easy to come by smile and dimples.

We had the opportunity of celebrating his birthday on New Year's Eve with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. He thinks it is kind of cool that the world celebrates his birth.

We love you Chandler!

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.