Summary of 2008

I'm supposed to list the 12 best things of the year... I don't know if I can get to 12, but here we go, in no particular order.


1. Teresa got glasses and finished a challenging 4th grade year. (does that count as two?)



I have to say starting a super great year in 5th grade too, because that's a big deal. And all the great things she has been able to do at school. She was in the play, sang in the choir, and recently participated in the oral language festival.

2. Nathan turned two and took a music class where I realized he was way too active for just music, he needs physical activity too - a lot of it. And Teresa turned 10, which was a big deal, she says finally double digits.




3. We went to the beach a few times. We LOVE the beach, Nathan would live in the sand if we let him. And I think Jonathan would live in the ocean, or at least close to it.



4. We went to San Diego for Sean and Serina's wedding, it was awesome! Think perfect southern CA day, on a balcony, overlooking the ocean...yeah, awesome! Add delicious cake and good friends.





5. We took a Family vacation to Utah for a huge family Reunion that was lots of fun. While there we had a smaller reunion with my brothers and then we were able to spend time with our good friends Kenan. We vacationed and had fun along the way with stops at several fun places.


6. We ALL got into Halloween this year. We were pirates, Arrr! It was fun, we're already talking about what theme we'll do next year. Teresa wants to do scary, but we'll have to see how Nathan takes scary next year.



7. I took more cake decorating classes with Serina, we had a lot of fun and made some pretty cute cakes(if I do say so myself). This is one of my favorites.
I even got paid to do one



8. I can't forget, I got to go on Teresa's 4th grade field trip to the mission. I haven't been able to go for 2 years. It was so fun! I even rode on the bus with the kids.


Hum...is that only 8?

Let's see -

9. We made the best graham cracker village, thus far.


10. I think I've made some progress towards becoming a better photographer(see photo blog)


11. I am the PTC Secretary at Teresa's school and although that isn't a huge deal, it has been fun.

12. And making history with the election, I realize this is not a personal event, but it will be a good memory for years to come.


That's a quick summary of our year, I'm sure I missed something major ;)
And look, only a few hours left of 2008.
I hope everyone has a terrific 2009!

**EDIT** I forgot a HUGE thing - We got a Wii, and Rock Band. (I knew I would forget something major ;)

More Christmas

We got together at Ty and Michelle's house on saturday to have Christmas with the Hansen side

There was good food and visiting...

We decorated cookies...

Opened presents...


And we ate a lot of goodies

Fun Christmas!

We had a great Christmas!

We had Christmas Eve dinner at my house with homemade chili and potato cheese soup in bread bowls. I think it's becoming a tradition, one I like. My folks came over, and we had dinner and the kids opened their Christmas Eve gifts.

The kids made cookies earlier in the day

This year they had 3 gifts, usually it's just PJ's and a book, but this year I made them jammies and then bought them the Build-a-Bear moosen(plus they got Christmas books). Grandma and Grandpa gave them their ornaments and a Christmas book, which we listend to on CD.

(do you like our mini tree?!)

Then we had pie that my mom brought. Then it was time for bed

(Oh, Teresa's American Girl got matching jammies too)

I let them sleep in the same bed. My brother and I used to do it when we were little and it was always fun. So we gave it a try. Nathan has a futon, so they slept in his room. This is then sleeping, they actaully fell asleep.

I have some pictures of me playing Santa, but there's no need to post those.

The kids woke us up about 6:30am, but too bad. We were done opening by 7:30 and they were playing. They each got a computer game, so they were on the computers for awhile. It was nice

and relaxing morning.

But it wasn't over...we went to my folks for breakfast. Coffee cake and eggs - yum!

I don't have any pictures, I guess I was having too much fun. I'll get some from my mom and post them later. We all got some really great stuff from my parents. And they got Guitar Hero for the Wii, so we played that and Wii Music, and Teresa's topple game. It was a great day. Then my mom made a delicious ham and potatoes dinner.

Santa!

We went to the mall to visit Santa this morning.

The wait wasn't too bad. There were a few thing to do while you waited. Here's Teresa in the funny mirror

And Nathan in the funny mirror, he kept trying to make it do something different. But he was too little.

Teresa was a good sport and joined Nathan for a picture with Santa

This is a house Crazy with Christmas. You can't even see all of the stuff. There were inflatable decorations on the rood of this 2-story house. AND the Grinch was playing in the background and if you tuned into the FM station they posted you could listen to the movie. That was too much for me. We had to go.

Christmas Break

Nathan and his friend Roxy helped deliver gifts to the teachers for the PTC at Teresa's school. They were a huge hit. I love this picture, it looks like Roxy isn't real thrilled about Nathan touching her.

Here they are messing with the Christmas music for the teachers luncheon

Teresa looked very festive, but she wasn't(isn't) feeling well, so we skipped the picture. Schools out for Christmas, and she's on the couch sick :( With any luck she'll be better by Christmas.

A picture of our almost snow clouds

We're still hoping for snow, I think it's holding out until Christmas ;)

Christmas Tag!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Yes
2. Real tree or Artificial? I'd prefer a real tree, but we have an artificial bity one this year
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually Thanksgiving weekend
4. When do you take the tree down? Weekend after Christmas, I love to clean up Christmas presents and decorations before the new year.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don't remember a specific gift. When I was little little, my mom made me a Barbie house out of boxes, and a doll and the care bears(all homemade). When I was in my teens I got a cat - he was a good cat too(not like the one we have now)
7. Hardest person to buy for? It varies from year to year. This year Teresa was hard, but it's been my mom several years.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Nathan
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Probably, somewhere. It's not out, not much is
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I prefer to mail one, but I'm not opposed to email
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't have one
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I like the Santa Clause movies
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? At least by September
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No, I don't think so
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cereal Candy and cinnamon nuts come to mind
16. Lights on the tree? Yes, little white ones this year
17. Favorite Christmas song? I don't think I have a favorite
18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes
19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? I like to give jammies on Christmas Eve, everything else on Christmas morning.
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? All the food, it's annoying, but I must eat it.
22. What theme or color are you using? Theme? Color? No. I do love snowflakes and snowmen
23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham and applesauce (yes, ham dipped in applesauce, it's delicious)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!!

Jenny and Jonathan mid 1977. I'm just guessing Jenny is close to 2 years old


Ty, Jenny, Amy, Jonathan and Shane. Not sure about the year, if I were to take a guess, I would say 1982ish. Making Jenny 7 or 8 yrs old



Jen and Jo in 1992(we were 16)


Jen and Chris on July 15th 1997


Jen with Krystal in 2005 I believe (hard to believe that isn't Amber)

We hope you have a fantastic 33rd Birthday!!!
We love you!

Our week, Tis' the Season!

We had a fun Christmas week. Tuesday was Teresa's Piano Recital. They all did a great job.

Then Thursday was Teresa's choir concert. I don't have any pictures. They did a great job, then we came back to the house for homemade apple pie, it was so good (if I do say so myself ;)

Saturday was Jonathan's company Christmas party. They always throw such a nice party. It was at the Art Museum and catered. The kids spent the night at grandma and grandpa's and made Christmas cookies. I was a able to sleep in, it was so nice. And the kids had a good time.

(That's Sean and Serina in the background)

Sunday Teresa and I spent most of the day baking bread, Pumpkin, Banana Nut and Zucchini chocolate chip. It was fun!

We made 7 plates for Jonathan to take to work for his department. Each plate has 3 types of bread, so we made a total of 11 loaves to fill the plates.

Then 12 mini loaves for friends and teachers. The stars are ornaments. I think I've made a total of 33 of those now. They are what my nieces and nephews will be getting (Sh! Don't tell)

Graham Cracker Village (Part 2 of our crazy weekend)

So, Sunday we got together to build our village, play new board games and eat delicious food.

It just gets better and better every year. One of these years I'm going to gather pictures from every village we've done. The very first one was just 3 little houses, I think Teresa was 4yrs old.



I think we've been doing this with Ty and Michelle and Sean and Serina and anyone else around for 5 years

Teresa did her's all by herself, she even had a collapse she had to recover from

This is Nathan's very first graham cracker house. I built it for him and let it set. Then he went to town. (Look, I caught Michelle's cute pregnant belly in the background)


Here is Nathan's finished house


I've said for years I wanted to do a castle. I finally got around to it this year.
So this is my finished castle.


Here is Teresa finished product. The story is there's a rich gummy bear who owns all of it. He built a house and then a sky scraper with a large clock on it(you can't see the clock from this shot)



This is Jonathan's. The idea was to cover the house with as much candy as he could.

Ty and Michelle - and Ian, built a mansion. The random shards of graham cracker in the corner are Ian's contributions. Oh no, I cut off the chimney, there is one, and it has smoke coming out of it.(it's a pretzel with frosting on it)

And here is Serina's cottage. Sean doesn't believe in putting candy on mini houses.

They all look great on a table in my living room

Fun filled weekend! Part 1

I'll do this in two parts :)

Friday night Teresa and I went to see her little friend in the play Beauty and the Beast. It was very well done and so nice to do something with just Teresa.





Saturday we had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa, James and Amanda and then we went to the Christmas Tree lot to help them pick out a tree. The sky was clear and beautiful, but I was freezing.


Peek-a-Boo! Nathan LOVED it, he was running everywhere. Needless to say, I needed a nap before our next event that evening.



I see you!




It didn't take long to find a tree to Grandma's liking.
It used to take FOREVER



Later that evening we went to my dad's concert. It was very nice!

This is the Bakersfield Masterworks Chorale and some of the Symphony