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".

Monkey Feet at the Dr.'s Office

The night before Ryllie's birthday she told me her throat was sore. When I looked down her throat I could see redness and white spots. Oh Crap! Not strep throat! We were leaving the next morning to go down for our annual Halloween weekend in St. George and sick bugs weren't allowed to come. So, to be sure I drove her to the insta care. While waiting for the strep test to be done, my kids were a little out of control! I was getting so frustrated and angry at their behavior, but then Maddux (who had been sitting behind the chair) walked out with dr. gloves on her feet and I couldn't help but burst out laughing. They just look so hysterical on her feet, so we started calling her monkey feet. The good news is that the strep test came out negative, so a little Tylenol and Advil did the trick. Just a waste of a copay and time I guess, but better safe

than sorry!

Deck from Heck Chili Party Post

Thanks to everyone who came and enjoyed the 14 different kinds of chili that were brought! Thanks to everyone who brought chili and who helped out with the kids activities. And I think a record or something was broke when 10 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts were gone in 5 minutes flat! We really enjoyed the company, the food, the weather, and are thinking this may have to become an annual Halloween time tradition! Mary A. & Mitsy O. were the big chili winners! And a huge thank you to Janet B. who ended up helping out at the fish pond for probably a good hour! You are the best!

HSM3

Ryllie's birthday party was so much fun! All of her friends are such sweet kids, and were all very well behaved at the movie. Ryllie's friend Hailey's birthday is the day before hers so we had a combined birthday party and had 20 little girls at the movie to see HSM3. I loved the movie, it was so cute! And I must admit, I even had a smidgen of a tear in my eye at a couple of parts. All girls love the "fairy tale" relationship of Troy & Gabriella and Troy is a stud and pretty hot too! I'm starting to sound a little obsessive, hmmm. My friends Christie and Rhonda (Hailey's mom) came with me, and Rhonda and I wore HSM t-shirts for the occasion. Yes, it's true, I am a super cool mom. Okay seriously now, I do want to say thank you to my friends for helping me out though during the party. So thank you Christie & April & Rhonda!

Can't Sleep

Why can't I sleep tonight? I'll tell you why, because I am way too excited about going to see HSM3 tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Super Cy!

Cy definitely enjoyed every minute of his birthday today. He had his friends Nate, Jaren, & Matthew over to play and they even brought him some sweet birthday gifts. Nate brought him Diego squirt toys, and Jaren brought him a Curious George Monkey and some books. A big thank you to Nate's & Jaren's moms. They are sure sweet to think of him. Tonight we had the Hansen clan over to celebrate Ryllie & Cy's birthdays. We will be in St. George with my side of the family on Ryllie's. Mike & Lori gave Cy the Incredible Hulk boxing gloves and EVERYONE had fun boxing with eachother. Noelle gave Cy a little foam shooter gun and Uncle Brady took over with that one beaning anyone he could catch off guard. Ryllie got a ToysRus gift card from Mike & Lori, and Noelle gave her HSM jammies, and Brady & Allison gave her a bead set. Both kids are way excited about their gifts. And even though my brownie cake looks gross, it was DELICIOUS! Not to brag or anything.

3 years ago today, I was having the hardest delivery of my life. Poor Cy was ginormous and got stuck. The Dr. had to put the "vacuum" on his head to try to get him out. The epidural was excrutiatingly painful, I felt like I was being electricuted. The nurses & Dr. were about to panic mode when his heart beat stopped and I was pushing with all my might. A nurse literally climbed right on top of me and dug on my lower stomach and somehow dislodged his shoulder. They ran him to the NICU and Casey followed and I was left wondering how he was and what he looked like for nearly 8 hours. He weighed in at 9lbs 12 oz, and was big and beautiful. His white blood count was high and his lungs were struggling a little so he was left in the NICU for 3 days. I couldn't leave him! I was instantly so in love with my precious little boy. They discharged me from the hospital, but not him, and I had no room to go to but did not want to leave his side, so my sore, exhausted body sat in a lounge rocker in the NICU's nursery ALL NIGHT LONG! It was probably one of the most exhausting nights of my life, but my little boy was all worth it. On the 3rd day he was able to go home with a biliblanket for his jaundice. But wait! We couldn't leave the hospital without naming him. Casey & I fought tooth & nail about what to name him. He wanted Salem and I liked the names Asher or Ryder. Cy was a name that Casey had mentioned once (after Cy Young, a baseball player). We decided that was the only name that both of us liked and so we named our cute baby Cy Michael after Casey's dad. This handsome kid means the world to me. I love him so much. I love that he still gives me kisses and tells me he "wuvs" me. I will miss that tremendously when he gets too old and too cool to do that. In the

meantime I will enjoy all the kisses I can get.

Cuckoo is a "BEARY" fun grandma!

For the past couple of years every time we go to the mall and pass a Build-A-Bear workshop my girls ask if we can go there, and the answer is always the same. No. I would always say, "Maybe for your birthday, remind me when it's almost your birthday". Well, Cuckoo must have picked up on it because this year for all her grandkids birthdays she is taking them to Build-A-Bear and spending too much money on them. Ryllie and Cy went tonight and had so much fun. Cuckoo even brought Maddux and Hadlie a miniature stuffed toy so that they wouldn't feel left out. She is a wonderful grandma and loves her grandkids so much. We are grateful for her and love her!

Cy's last day of terrible two's

I think he must have sensed that it was his last day of being 2 because he was a rotten terd all day today! Can you believe it? My sweet, handsome, awesome boyfriend Cy being a terd? I actually thought of a few other words to describe his behavior today... but I only thought them and didn't say them. He threw toys off the balcony (a huge no no at my house for fear that it might hit Casey's 52 inch TV), he jumped on the couches with his friend Nate, he drew on Hadlie, he hid in the office behind the big chair from mom cause he knew he was in trouble, he pee'd his pants, he blamed others for things he did, and he sassed and talked back too! Cy is normally so good natured and he really tries hard to be a good boy and obey the rules, but like I said, he must have sensed that this was his last day of terrible twos. Tomorrow is his birthday and he is going to be a changed boy. :) I was having one of those days too with having too many places and errands I had to run, and not enough time to do it, so when he pee'd his pants in the car, I went a little postal on my poor son. Screaming at him and giving him a good spank. The rest of the way home he sobbed as he sat in his pee pee pants, and by the time we got home I was teary eyed as well for losing my temper at him. I got him out of the car and just held him and told him sorry and told him I loved him, and held him some more, pee pee pants and all. I felt so bad for making him so sad just because I was flustered and stressed. Sometimes I'm a mean mom, and I know that it's just life sometimes, but these little moments really put me back in check on where my priorities really should be. I made a huge deal out of something small. Anyway, after we made up, Cuckoo came over to take him and Ryllie on their birthday outing and when they got back it was scripture time, and Cy decided to be naughty again, talking and goofing around through scriptures. I think our talk earlier went really well. How about you?

Deer Hunt 2008

The "Deer Hunt" according to the Hansen's is a weekend of hanging out, fishing, skeet shooting, playing at the park, driving through Capitol Reef, eating a lot, and occasionally hunting a deer. We go down to Torrey, Utah right outside Capitol Reef and stay at Thousand Lakes RV & campground every year. Our family stays in the trailer and everyone else stays in cabins with TV's and shower, it's really "roughing" it. :) I couldn't narrow the pictures so I'll just briefly tell about the trip by captioning the pictures.


This picture was taken right after we ate breakfast at a restaurant in Torrey. Brady, Allison, Noelle, Mike, Lori, Kelly, Janet, & Corey all came down, oh and our kids too.

Kelly & his girlfriend Janet

Mike and his best buddy Corey. Corey comes down every year and cooks the most fabulous meals. His mexican food night is incredible. He makes these enchiladas and mexican rice and soft tacos that put Los Hermanos to shame. Thanks Corey for feeding us! You are so great!

While the boys were hunting, the rest of the group decided to drive through Capitol Reef, I decided to hang out with my kids back at camp and relax a little. The kids had a blast having "art" time in the back of the truck.

Fishing at Lower Bowns on the Boulder Mountain. I spent most of my time dealing with Hadlie and her famous fits this day, but everyone else had a good time, and the weather was gorgeous.

Casey & I made dutch oven breakfast's 2 of the mornings. This picture was taken in our trailer right after breakfast.
At the shooting range. We always have fun target shooting and skeet shooting. The kids like playing in the sand and I love the picture of them running down the red sand hill. Ryllie couldn't get enough of her first year with the BB gun. She loved it!

Is that seriously a dead rabbit that Casey and the girls shot? Why yes, yes it is. Gross!

I love this picture of Grandpa & Cy!

It was a beautiful weekend and we had fun with everyone. I am lucky to have married into such a fun family. Thanks to Mike & Lori for starting this tradition. And Lori, can you start looking like you are camping rather than looking like a super model. Seriously.