Christmas Tag...

I was tagged by Amy Martin of 'The Martin's':

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.

2. Real tree or Artificial? PRELIT Artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? The day or two after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? After New Years

5. Do you like eggnog? EWWW Gross!!!!!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Phantom of the Opera tickets! I cried and cried!!!!!

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, a boyds bear one thanks to my wonderful husband!

8. Hardest person to buy for? This year JACE! He is in that in between age of toys and grown up presents.

9.Easiest person to buy for? My hubby!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Up to this point neither. But I have thought about it. :)

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? The Scripture Scouts tapes. (sorry grandma)

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the old one).

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? This year I did better than last and I was almost completely done before Thanksgiving. YEAH for me!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Is recycling the same as regifting???

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Hickory Farms Beef stick!!!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree ? Clear

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night!!!!

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rulolph

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Snow!!! and cold! Also that people forget the true meaning of Christmas.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Old fashion a little bit of everything. However, someday when I get to have a tree for just fancy decorating it would be silver and blue.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham, Turkey and funeral potatoes.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? For my kids to be happy and have a memorable Christmas.

26. Who are you going to tag for this Christmas questionnaire? Nikki

Quote of the Week...

So today was a rough day in the Hansen home. We had some things happen that have changed our family. I was doing something on the internet and ran across a quote that was well suited for today. "We can not change the direction of the wind, we can only adjust our sails". We can not do anything about what happened we can just do what we need to, to keep going and make the best out of what we have been given. This got me thinking and I have added a 'quote of the week' spot on the side of my blog that I am going to update every week with a quote. Maybe one of the quotes will inspire you like this one did for me today.

The Bells on Temple Square!

On Sunday we had the opportunity to attend the "Ring Christmas Bells with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square" concert. The choir does this every year and it goes from Thursday night until Sunday. If you attend on Sunday you get to be there for the Spoken Word and a mini concert after. Lantz and I have attended this for three years now but this year we had the pleasure of taking Jace and Dane with us. We got up early Sunday morning and drove a whoping 40mph on the freeway to temple square (it was so slippery it was really scary). Once we were there we had to wait a while for it start but we got to hear the choir run through quite a few songs. They are absolutley amazing. I could have sat there all day and listened to them sing. Every year they have special guest singers. This year it was Brian Stokes Mitchell. He is a broadway singer and lead in the broadway production of Man from LaMancha. He had an amazing voice and listening him sing with the choir just gave you goose bumps. We also had the priviledge of hearing our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson speak. He got up after the concert and thanked the special guest. He also asked Brian Stokes Mitchell to sing "Dream the Impossible Dream" which brought tears to my eyes. It was a great experience and one that was great sharing with the boys. We would like to thank Bill and Pat Sevy for letting us have their extra tickets.

Zoofari Fun...

So last Thursday we decided to take the boys to Zoo Lights at Hogle Zoo. I had heard earlier on the radio that if you go on Thursday you get in for $3 instead of $6.00 (and I am all for saving money right now). My sister Alyssa went with us as well because earlier that day we had gone to lunch and then set up my mom's christmas tree. The boys love it when any of our family can go with us anywhere. We invited 'The Martin's' to go with us but they were not able to go and this was the only time I could go with my new work schedule starting this week (YUCK). We missed having them there with us. We got down there at about six. There wasn't too many people so it was nice. It was FREEZING cold. Even though it hadn't snowed yet you have that lovely canyon breeze all the time so it was really cold. It was a fun experience. I think Dane would have enjoyed it more if there were more animals out. The only animals that were out to look at were some of the cats and some monkeys. There were a lot of lights and it was very cool. I hope that every year they add more and more lights and maybe we can make it a new family tradition.

This was at the front entrance of the Zoo...

You had to walk through the lions mouth to get into the Asian highlands...

Our family on our Zoofari Express...

So after we froze to death and saw all we could see we went to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner(for those of you who don't know Dane gets very irratable when he is hungry). I don't think I have eaten at the Spaghetti Factory since the night that Lantz proposed to me. I still get butterflies in my stomach just walking in there. The food was great but the service was not so much. It was a very nice family outing and activity. Thank you Alyssa for coming and spending time with our family.

Is That O.K. With You???

So Dane had been bugging me for weeks to take him shopping for Christmas so that he could get Jace and Lantz's presents. So last night I took him to the mall to get them. As we were pulling into the mall we couldn't find a place to park (of course, I hate shopping at Christmas time). We drove around forever looking for a spot. Finally I found one that was close to the front (yeah!!) next to a handicap spot. Dane said "are you sure that this one isn't handicapped too?" I asked him if he saw a handicap sign and he said "no, but if it is at least I am with you so we can park here". It was funny. But then the interesting conversation started. He said to me "Well hopefully soon we will be able to park in the purple spot." I said "purple spot? What is the purple spot?" He said "you know the purple one." I asked him what the purple spot was for and all he told me was that he would have to find one and then he could tell me. So I kept kinda pushing asking him what it was for and finally it came out. He put his arm around my waist and in a semi frustrated voice and said "I just want a brother or sister, is that okay with you?" My heart just melted into a puddle of goo. It was the cutest thing I have ever heard. So the purple spot is the parking stall reserved for expectant mothers. Also, for those of you who know Dane he wasn't quite sure about having another brother or sister when we found out we were pregnant earlier this year, it took him a while to be okay with it and when the miscarriage happened he was pretty upset. He has been hinting and saying things for awhile about this. Yes Dane it is OK with me. I told him we are trying our hardest to do that. Hopefully we can make Dane's wish come true soon!!

Oh, Christmas Tree...

Okay, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! I love everything about Christmas (except for the snow). I love the music, the lights, the decorations, buying things for the kids, and the tree. I love to have the tree up as soon as possible after Thanksgiving (we were a little nervous this year with the new puppy hoping that it wouldn't get chewed up). I set it up on the Sunday after Thanskgiving, Lantz brings the tree up and sets it up but then I take it from there. I am very OCD about fluffing the tree. It takes me a long time to get it where I want it and like it. I had it all fluffed and ready to decorate later that night when Dane got home. As soon as he got home and saw the tree up he wanted to decorate it. So we broke out the Christmas music and the ornaments and away we went.

So Jace put on his ornaments and then just realxed and watched while Dane and I finished!

Our beautiful tree. So every year we take the kids to go get a new ornament. This year Lantz and I were at Wal-Mart and found the perfect ornament for Dane. So the ornament we found has a scene from the movie 'A Christmas Story'. So everybody remember the part where the kid gets his tounge stuck to icy pole outside after being triple dog dared by his friends....? Well that is scene that is on the ornament its the kid with his tounge stuck to the pole.

By now I think you have figured it out but last year our little Dane made the same mistake. We got a call from the school telling us we needed to go pick Dane up because he had stuck his tounge to the baksetball pole. We can at least laugh about it now and Dane is a good sport about it. That ornament will bring laughs to our family for the rest of our lives. We love you Dane.

Where Does The Time Go??

Okay, so I wasn't a good blogger during November (or as my sister Shelby informed me the other night 'I am the worst blogger ever'). It was kinda a crazy month for us. So here is just a breif overview of November.

We got Max our new puppie (which I did blog about). Lantz had his birthday.

Dane loves to sing and joined the elementary school choir. They sang at the Roy city lighting ceremony. It was so much fun to go and watch him sing. He does such a good job. It was really cold outside but the lights were beautiful and the kids singing really kicked off the Christmas spirit. Because unlike some people we love Christmas music even before Thanksgiving! (You know who you are). Dane we are so proud of you and hope that you keep up the good work and singing.

This years Thanksgiving was a good one. It would have been great but we only had one of the kids with us. Dane was gone this year. We missed him very much but look forward to having him with us next year. We had Thanksgiving at my Grandma's house. There was a ton of food and of course like many I suppose I hadn't eaten at all that day so I had room to fill up on tonz of food. I love Thanksgiving and being with family. After dinner Jace, my cousin Maddy, and my Aunt and Uncle played Apples to Apples. I have never seen Jace laugh so hard in my life. It was so fun to watch them play and to see everybody having so much fun together. Later that night we went out to Lantz's sisters house to visit with her and his parents. We then got to have the famous leftover turkey sandwiches. I don't know which is better turkey the first time or the leftover after. Thanksgiving was so nice this year and it was great to be with family. I am so Thankful for the great family that I have in my life.

And the Newest Member of our Family is....

So I'm sitting at home tonight waiting for Lantz and Jace to get home from Jace's football practice. When they got home Lantz came in and then Jace came in with what is now the newest member of the Hansen family...

This is Maximus...the new addition to our family

Maximus is a 7 1/2 week old beagle who belonged to Lantz's sister Tarahne. She was nice and sweet enough to let us have him. We are so excited to have him. He is the cutest thing. The boys have been wanting a dog for so long and so have I. Dane was to the point that he was willing to give up all and any Christmas just to have a puppy. It has been a fun night playing with him and getting him accustom to our house. So now the fun of obedience and potty training gets to start and during the day that job gets to be up to Daddy. One thing is for sure this puppy will not be attention deprived. Thank you Tarahne for allowing us to be a family for Maximus.

Thank You Food Network...

So a few nights before Halloween we were all watching the Food Network (we love that channel). They were having a pumpkin carving contest. It was very very cool. They had three different categories and these pumpkin carvers were awesome. Well in Elementary the kids get a voucher for a free pumpkin at Winegars. So I took Dane to get his pumpkin because he wanted to do one that was like the cool ones on t.v. Well for those of you who don't know Lantz's dad is an artist (a very very good one). Well Dane called Grandpa while we were watching the show and they decided they would do one together like the guys on the show. Lantz took Dane over to his dads house on Halloween and for an hour and a half they sculpted and carved Dane's pumpkin. It turned out really good. Dane was very very happy with it, and doing it with Grandpa made it even better.

It's a Dog!!

Ok so we don't use candles we use flashlights...

Dane looks so tired in that picture because we had been at Lagoon all night. This year instead of going trick-or-treating we took the kids to Lagoon. It was great because we didn't ever have to wait in a line. We also had my sister Shelby and her BFF Kari come with us too. It was nice to have them there with us. Neither of the kids are really fond of roller coasters but we have been trying to get them to so that we can eventually go to Six Flags or something. So I told them that they had to go on either the white roller coaster or the Colossus (I know mean huh). Well they decided to go on the white roller coaster. That was an experience. Dane held onto my so tight I thought my arm was going to fall off and I think I may be deaf from the screaming. Jace...well he got really sick. Sick enough that he didn't go on any other rides all night long. I felt really bad. So Shelby finally got Dane to go on the Spider (which I was really surprised that he agreed) and he LOVED it!!! He went with Shelby probably five times. Lantz tried all night long to get Shelby to go on either wicked or colossus but she hates those kinds of rides. So what does Lantz do?? Picks her up and drags her all the way almost in tears on the colossus. The whole time all I was thinking is 'oh great, she will never want to come with us again' Well she actually did really good and would probably go on it again now all by herself. Good job Shelby!! I think this may become a new Halloween ritual instead of trick-or-treating (until we have a little one to take around!) It was a really good Halloween this year!

Field Trip Day...

So last week I had the privilege of going with Dane on his field trip to Kennecott Copper Mine. I have lived in Utah my whole life and have never been there (I know not very Utahan). When Dane brought home the paper for the field trip he asked if I could get off work to come with them. Then the next question was "can Grandma and Aunt Alyssa come too?" (For those of you who don't know Alyssa is my sister and this Grandma was my mom). So just like a good Grandma she arranged her schedule to go with us. Alyssa who goes to college at Utah State drove home to go with us on the field trip (such a good Aunt). When I told Dane that they were both coming he was so excited he told everyone. So we met early in the morning and followed the bus all the way out to Kennecott...or we were supposed to follow the bus. K so I am a very impatient person and didn't want to follow the bus the whole way down (why do 65 mph on the freeway when you can easily go 80 without getting caught?) So I followed another group of mom's cause they knew how to get there and I didn't. So when we got down to 90th south we pulled off the side of the road and waited for the bus...or so we thought we were waiting for the bus. We waited for about 10-15 min and no bus. So we drove up to the gate and the 'friendly' gate man told us that the bus was already there (next time I will learn patience and follow the bus!) So when we got the visitor center the kids were in a movie so we waited until the movie was over and the kids came out. The first thing Dane said was "so you finally made it?" Well come to find out the bus driver knew a short cut to the mine. So after that we got to spend time in the gift shop, visitor center, and looking at the mine.


It was really dusty that day so we had a hard time seeing the bottom

Dane and Alyssa

Me and Dane

Me, Dane, and Grandma (next time we won't let Alyssa take the pictures!) This is the big tires that they put on the giant dumptrucks. They are huge!

It was a really fun fieldtrip. Thank you Mom and Alyssa for coming with us.

Finally A Blogger!!

So i have finally joined the club. I am officially a Blogger (K that sounds funny). Lantz and the boys have been telling me to do it for a while (guess it's more of a lazy thing!). So I came home the other night from work and Lantz said "I have started a blog for ya..." so here it is. I have had the blog for about a week but I am a retard and had to have Amy come help me figure it out (I am not very computer literate) and she did so here we go.
I don't really know where to start...I don't think I will go back through everything that has happened this year maybe a couple of highlights.
This wasn't really a highlight, but I had miscarriage in May. Definitely the hardest thing that I have ever gone through. Thank heavens for a WONDERFUL family and Awesome friends.
In June Lantz and I got sealed in the Logan Temple. It was the best day of my life! Don't get me wrong I loved my wedding day but now I have him FOREVER and that takes all!!!
We went to Yellowstone with my family in July. We love to go to Yellowstone...it's pretty much going to be an annual thing.
In August we went deer hunting for the bow hunt. It was way fun! We always have a good time going. This year had its good things (we borrowed my parents tent trailer, no sleeping on the ground this year!) and it's bad things....no Amy, and Lantz missed his big deer (he wasn't the only one that missed the same one).
Since August our whole lives have pretty much revolved around football for the boys. They both had practice every day and a game every Saturday. Both of their teams took first place in their groups and went to the playoffs. They both lost in the playoffs but we are still very very proud of them. Jace's team is playing in Boarder Wars in Salt Lake the next couple of weekends. We hope they do great. So football is almost over and we can get back to a semi normal life.
Well that's about where we are at to this point....I guess you all will be caught up from this point forward. I will try my hardest to be a good blogger and not disappoint!