Christmas Devotional

On December 7th, Casey & I had the opportunity to go to the Christmas Devotional at the Conference Center on Temple Square. Mike & Lori, and Noelle & Marshall came with us. The grounds on Temple Square were of course beautiful, and the Christmas decor inside the Conference Center was awesome. I had been to the Conference Center once before, but it was during the Olympics almost 7 years ago, so it has been a long time. I had forgotten just how massive the building is! It is so incredibly huge! The Devotional was wonderful, and just to be in the presence of the prophet was so neat. The Spirit was so strong, and the Tabernacle Choir was unbelievable! We watch the Tabernacle Choir every Sunday morning at 9:30am, but to hear them live was just incredible. I am so glad that we were able to go with some of Casey's family too, we always have a good time with them.

A little Out of Control this Holiday Season

Time to catch up with my December blogging! The first week of December consisted of a Karoake birthday party for my friend Kristin. Me and my neighbor friends got a little looney singing HSM & 80's karoake. It was pretty hilarious! Thanks Renee and Daniella for planning the party. I kinda like putting the kids to bed early so I can go play!
On the 4th we celebrated my brother Javin's birthday at his clubhouse. Happy birthday my rockin bro! On the 5th we were able to go to Summer's Dance recital and as always she was the star of the show. Casey was suppose to be on a campout with the scouts, and last minute

they decided to just camp in my backyard. Funny thing, they didn't end up sleeping outside, they slept up in the toy room, and played Rock Band till 2am. This group of deacons are all such cool kids, and they had a blast on this campout. They got home bright and early just in time for the Ward Christmas Breakfast. It is definitely December! Busy, busy, busy! That wraps up the speed version of the first week of December.

Playing Dress Ups

The Folkman's

I met the Folkman's when I was 19 and was basically a nanny/tutor/mother's helper for them. I had an instant friendship with them and now almost 14 years later they are a second family to me and I love them dearly. They are so good to my family and treat my kids like their own grandchildren (Laura doesn't have any yet, so we let her claim ours for her own) :). Since Breanne came home a couple of weeks ago, we have been able to see them a lot the last couple of weeks. They have had us over for Sunday dinner and always make these amazing meals for us. This past Sunday, Rachel needed some pictures of my kids for a school project she has been working on, so I was able to get a copy of the pictures, and some of them turned out darling I think. Thanks Rach for taking the pictures!

Thanksgiving= Full Bellies

Thanks to Mike & Lori who hosted Thanksgiving in their home this year! We had so much fun with the Hansen crew! Mike & Lori let Ryllie and Maddux have a sleepover and then took them to the Dinosaur Museum the next day. They loved every second of their time with grandpa Mike and grandma Lori. Thanks for spoiling them!

Grandpa Hansen is my Favorite!

We had a scare with Grandpa this week. His heart was failing and after going to the hospital they put him on a medication which put him into cardiac arrest, and they ended up performing CPR for six minutes and shocking him twice. They were able to get him back, and we rushed over to the hospital and Casey gave him a blessing. When grandpa was awake he was highly medicated and although it is not out of the norm for him to be joking around, his joking around was beyond silly and we were so grateful to be able to sit with him and laugh. He had surgery the next morning and it went well and he is now home and on the upswing of things. The experience was scary for me. I know he is getting older, but the thought of him dying just tears me up! Grandpa Hansen has been such a huge influence in my life, and his ALWAYS optomistic attitude and sincere love for everyone inspires me to try harder to be more like him. I am very grateful to our Heavenly Father that He has let grandpa stay with us a little longer.

Into the Woods

Laura and I took Ryllie and Max to see "Into the Woods" at the Hale Centre Theatre. For anyone who has never seen this play, the first half is funny and kindof a spoof on fairy tale stories we are all familiar with, then the second half turns kinda dark and apparantly the message of the play is that life isn't always a happily ever after, but to teach our children good things because although they might not always obey, they are always listening. Hmmmm.... if thats the case, I really better watch what I say! Doh! Anywhoo, we had a great time, and the girls enjoyed the play and came home singing the songs.

Twilight!

I am so behind on blogging, so I'll be posting as much as I have the energy for tonight! A quick blog about Twilight! I was so excited to go see the movie and even talked Casey into coming with me and the Folkman's to see it on opening night. He wanted to kill himself by the time the movie was over and kept sighing with boredom through the entire movie. It was pretty hilarious! Me, on the other hand, am very easily entertained, and really enjoyed it. I ended up loving who they casted to play the parts, and really enjoyed the movie! I've heard many different opinions on the movie, some loved it, some hated it, but I figure you can't please everyone.

Carrie Under-freakin-wood!

Yeah, we saw her last night, and she TOTALLY rocked! She is so amazing! And ridiculously gorgeous. Seriously, what is up with someone being so perfect? I am just a tad jealous of her! I said to Casey on the way home, "There has to be at least ONE thing wrong with that girl", and he said, "Maybe her breath stinks". LOL! Hey, maybe! But that doesn't make me feel any better, because mine does too! :) Anyway, her songs are very inspiring and watching her motivates me to go to the gym! :) So thanks Carrie for a fun night. And thanks to Casey for always taking me out on such fun dates. You are the best and I love you!

Date Night Disaster

This story is kinda long, so if you get bored, skip this post! :) Last Friday my friend Breanne was coming home from her mission and we were invited to welcome her home at 9:30pm, so before we went over we decided we wanted to try to get to the temple. Cuckoo said she'd watch the kids and Casey and I drove to the Provo Temple. When we got there we could not find a parking spot, not ONE! Even down in the overflow parking there weren't any, so we had to circle around for about 15 minutes to wait for someone to leave. We finally get in there and are stopped at the front desk because on their computer was a note that said "questions about recommend" on mine. So we waited about 30 more minutes for the temple recorder to figure out the problem. Apparently I've been going to the temple under a Melanie Hansen's name. My membership number and barcode didn't match, so one of the bishopric accidentally put someone elses number on my recommend. Needless to say, I am going to have to go back and get a new recommend. So, we finally get in the temple and there is a 90 minute wait for a session, and 50 minute wait for sealings! I have never seen this before! We waited about an hour for sealings and they were still not ready, and we were running out of time, so we had to leave. :( But, it is always nice to be there, even if we weren't able to do any work, it is always nice to feel the Spirit. We had about 30 minutes so we stopped for an icecream cone at BYU creamery. As we are driving home I realize I left my purse! (I am a space case, but I don't frequently leave my purses places!) We had to turn around and go back and as we are leaving we realize we are now stuck in traffic due to the BYU basketball game letting out. At this point I think Casey is going to kill me. He is staring ahead, silent, I'm frustrated at myself and waiting for him to be frustrated as well. After a few minutes, he reaches over and touches my shoulder and smiles. PHEW! I guess this was one of those moments Elder Wirthlin was talking about. The night could have been ruined if we would have reacted in a negative way, but now it's just a night we can look at and laugh. Fortunately Breanne was running late too, and we made it there in time to welcome her home, and had a great evening visiting with her and the Folkman family. And watching Casey and the kids play Rock Band was hysterical!

Happy Birthday Tom-Dad

My friends use to always get confused when I'd talk about my dads because I called both of them "dad", so to differentiate I would call them Kenn-dad and Tom-dad. Well today is Tom-dad's birthday, so I wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday and tell him I love him! I know you are working today so I'm sure you'll be checking blogs during your breaks right? :) Hope you have a fun day! Love this picture by the way! Such a cute grandpa, and Kloey is loving lap time!

Happy Birthday Cuckoo!

Cuckoo is Casey's mom, and she has been such a wonderful mother-in-law and a wonderful grandma to our kids. We loved having you over for our first deepfried turkey today! Thanks for all you do for our family. We love you, Happy Birthday!

How to Host A Murder

Our friends Darci & Kevin had Casey & I over last night along with several other neighbors to stage a How to Host a Murder party. We all were assigned characters and had to dress and act the part. The plot was an 80's high school reunion. Casey played BA Barricade, the punk from High School who now (20 years later) is a personal body guard. I played Cindy Crawfish, the class flirt, who now (20 years later) has her own online dating service, and is dating a famous movie director and having an affair with a presidential candidate. Needless to say, Casey didn't have to do much acting. I'm joking! I'm joking! He was hysterical and won best costume for the evening. My friend Daniella played the drama queen, and was so freaking funny, and won the award for the best acting for the night. I won the award for guessing the murderer right (I was the only one who got it! Not to brag or anything). Molly Ringworm (Daniella) was the murderer! Thanks Darci for planning such a fun get together, and thanks to the girls who made the soups! They were delicious! We have such a fun neighborhood!

Fine Dining

Thank you to Charity & Andy for having us over Friday for some fine dining and even more fine company! Our friends in the ward invited Casey & I over along with the Burninghams and some other friends to enjoy a catered fine dining meal at their home. Andy's sister is going to culinary school up at USU and she prepared a super fancy meal for us. Casey & I really enjoyed laughing so hard, and having an evening without kids, so thanks for the fun night!

Look What I got to come home to!

A couple days after returning home from sunny St. George, this is what it looked like in my front yard.

Staheli Farm

I am getting a bit behind on my blog! I started to update my Halloween weekend and ran out of time so I am back pedaling to update the rest of St. George weekend and this week as well. The whole family on November 1st went to the Staheli farm. We have made it tradition to go there because it is just so much fun. The kids have a ball, and I must admit, I had a great time playing tether ball like I did in Elementary. I use to be the champ of all champs at tether ball. I could whoop even the boys. No one dared play the Holster. Okay, nobody really called me that, but it sounds intimadating doesn't it? Ask Kaysha, I still got it. I whooped her #%**$#! (That means keister, or derriere, or something like that). Later that night, we had a big family enchilada party at Kaysha's clubhouse. Karen (who rocks) planned all these sick games like cracking raw eggs and having races, bobbing for bugs, seeing who could stick the most cheetos to someone's face covered with whip cream, and trying jelly belly's from Hogwarts that taste like boogers, chalk, vomit, rotten eggs, and other delicious things. We all had a blast, and to top off that evening my little family went to see HSM3 again, but this time we made Casey go. After the movie he said it was lame, but I saw him laughing during the movie, and he hasn't been so opposed to listening to the soundtrack in the car. LOL! Sunday, we got up, went to church, and drove home. We stopped to visit gma & gpa Hansen on the way home too. We always love visiting with them. The entire weekend was great thanks to all who planned it. HUGE Thank you's to Kaysha, Mom &

Dad, & Karen. Sure do love you all!

Max trying out a Hogwart jelly bean, she was suppose to guess what flavor it was. Max loved being grandma's partner, she felt so special.

Jace bobbing for bugs

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Ryllie, Kaia, and Max enjoying Cheetos and whip cream. McKenna & Cy kept eating cheetos off the ground.

This is how Casey's rolls. Showing off to Jarom & Isaiah right before church.

Halloween!

The Olsen's as Harry Potter clan

Who are these gangsta grandparents?

Adam, Isaiah, Jarom, Alec, & Jace as the Ghostbusters

Kenice as the marshmallow man, I still laugh everytime I picture Kenice pulling those faces!

Gavin & Reese in "Chicken Little"

McKenna & Hadlie as Cinderella & TinkerBell

Let's Go Wildcats! Kaia & Leah

Cruella Devil & her kidnapped dalmation aka Kaysha & Nora

Always the most creative & original, Javin & Jannell as Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton

Max as JoJo, Ryllie as pirate Elizabeth Swan, Cy as Buzz Likeyear, Hadlie as Tink, me as Baseball Beef Jerky, and Casey who needs more cowbell.

Cute little Tink

To Inity & Eyon!

Elizabeth Swan showing off the pumpkins they worked so hard on.

Max squeezing into a 3T JoJo costume, it was only $3! I had to get it.

Halloween was a blast in St. George. Casey & the girls spent the entire afternoon carving pumpkins, then we had a costume party with the whole fam and ate chili and donuts at Aunt Waynsh's house. The kids went trick or treating around Kaysha's neighborhood and had so much fun seeing all the people dressed up. A man in her neighborhood dressed up like PeeWee Herman and rode his bike around playing the part, another couple made a spook alley, and the property managers had 42 freaking unbelievable carved pumpkins lit in their front yard. They had the joker, disney characters, and even Dwight Shrute! Later, we went to the city's trunk or treat at the rec center where Kaysha works. They had music playing and we had fun jammin in our costumes looking like a bunch of wierdos. Good times. Now the costumes are the best part of Halloween in St. George. Everyone gets really creative and I love laughing at what my brothers and sisters come up with. My costume was lame this year, I was swamped in October with my kids birthdays, the hunt, and the Chili Cookoff that I hadn't given much thought to creating a costume. But some of the other costumes were awesome. Take a look!

Happy Birthday Ryllie

I can't believe that Ryllie is 7 years old already! When I was 7 months pregnant with Ryllie I started to retain water real bad and my blood pressure was spiking which are signs of Toxemia so I was put on bed rest and at 37 1/2 weeks the Toxemia got worse so I was induced immediately. After 27 hours of MISERY and MAGNESIUM, my beautiful baby was born. There is no describing the feeling that a mom has when she has her first child. This instant unconditional love that is unexpected and overwhelming! I have had this same feeling with every child, but the first time you experience this feeling it is so special and tender. I remember both Casey & I tearing up as we looked at this beautiful 7 lb 12 oz baby with dark hair and chubby cheeks. Good size baby for 3 weeks early. She was our rolly polly baby with double dipped arms and legs that looked like she had rubberbands on with all her rolls. When she was 2 months old we discovered that although both Casey & I have brown eyes, we were lucky enough to have a blue eyed baby. Ryllie has always been beautiful on the outside, but she is even more beautiful on the inside. I am so grateful for such a loving, fun, friendly, kind, smart, athletic, PERFECT daughter. Happy Birthday October 30th! We love you Ryllie and we had so much fun jamming with you to your new HSM3 cd on the way to St. George and taking you to see Thriller at the Tuacahn, and having dinner at your place of choice "Outback Steakhouse".