Father's Day Gifts

Why haven't I blogged in a while?  LIFE.  Yep, we all know how it just seems to keep us busy whether we'd rather be blogging or not.  So, since there's no way to ever catch up, I'll just move on.  But here's a pretty photo of the spring blossoms on my apple tree to prove I have been taking photos, even if I haven't shared them here.

Father's Day, and Dad's birthdays are the hardest ever gifts to come up with, at least for me.  So I am usually in need of some way to give them the only thing I can think of - food!
So, I did these Father's Day gifts for my Dad and my father-in-law two years ago, but haven't ever posted them yet.  So in case someone out there ever reads this and needs ideas for Father's Day, do what I did, go to Kristine Mckay's website here, for this awesome idea.  She has cute printables for these, and other gifts.  Here's how mine turned out.

I got my soda bottles and holder at Target.  I don't remember the brand, but they had roosters on the lids.

Cute huh?  Wish I could take credit for them.  But Kristine is awesome, so check out all of her ideas and the segment from Studio 5.  I totally would have made the fishing one if I had baby food jars.

Now I had better get searching because I only have a week to find the next perfect Father's Day gift idea to copy from someone.

Valentine's Decor (or Lack Thereof)

For all holidays I at least try to have my entry table decorated.  Sometimes, like now, it is the only place decorated.  Usually in January I leave out a few snowmen, pine cones and pine boughs, but since I just recently got Christmas taken down (except for a few lingering wreaths), I figured I had better shoot for Valentine's Day instead.

If you have been anywhere in Blogland in the past year, then you already know the popularity of Subway Art right now.  I like the fact that is easy to interchange, cheap, and versatile, but my favorite part of it, is that lots of other people make it and give it to me for FREE!

So here's my entry table including FREE subway art from eighteen25.  I already had the 8 1/2 x 11 black frame, so I just printed it onto photo paper and inserted.  Wala!  For more color-intensive prints I would get prints from Costco instead of using up my ink.
Here are some links to other blogs with cute Valentine's subway art:  Today's Fabulous Finds,  Craftily Ever After, and Tatertots and Jello.

The rest:
The wooden hearts on the wreath are D.I. makeovers from THIS blog post.
The vintage Valentine's cards around it are from The Graphics Fairy.
The glass canisters are from D.I. thrift store with lids from old candles.  The biggest problem with decorating with candy is that it disappears!  And since this display is at the most passed-by location in our home, it goes fast.  The peppermint sticks were leftovers from Christmas, but the colors worked, the white chocolate roses are leftovers from my niece's wedding reception, and you can't beat M&M's in all their colorful glory (it used to be full).
I also got the mirrored tray at D.I. only it used to be gold.  It stands up, or has legs for a tray and it had been a wonderful item to decorate with to add a little extra sparkle.
Finally, the LOVE is from Tai Pan Trading.  I have really tried to find more cute Valentine's decor at stores this year, but there just isn't much out there.   I was happy with this though.

My only other Valentine's decor is a jumbo Hershey's kiss on a little white stand and a few random wooden hearts.  So I'll keep looking in Blogland for more freebies and inspiration and maybe clearance sales will be good to me this year.  If so, the decor may get to spread to other areas of my home.  Oh, and I better stock up on more candy since we haven't even gotten to February yet!

2010 In Review

Okay, I've learned my lesson.  Catching up on an entire year in one blog post is too hard, but I'm going to do it.  I put my blog address on the back of our Christmas cards and sent it to 60 people, so that's really good motivation.  So if you are one of those people, this is for you!  If not, welcome anyway.
(Click on photos to view larger.)

JANUARY
I'm starting at the very beginning, New Year's Eve.  We spent it with the Moon family at my Brother's home, where we have had some great parties the past few years.  The night started out with food, of course, then we started our Pinewood Derby!  Some cars were new for the night, some were previously made.  David brought his two motorized cars that he has made for our adult class Cub Scout Pinewood derbies for the past few years.

David raced his two motorized cars against each other and the new one won.  Then he raced them UP the track!

Evan was disappointed that his car kept losing until he won the award for the slowest car!  His is the little gray one in the photo above.  He made it himself from a scrap he found in the garage.

Afterward we had a board game party, but you can read about that on my other blog.  Once again, spending time with family was a great way to ring in the new year.

On New Year's day we headed to David's brother's home for more partying, food and cousins.  Living at a higher elevation they are always blessed with enough snow for fun winter activities, not to mention a great sledding hill just outside their door.  We all had a blast on sleds, tubes, snowmobiles, snowshoes, and Evan tried a little skiing and loved it.

Stauney got whitewashed by her cousin Mikayla.

FEBRUARY
Apparently this was a pretty calm month for us since I really didn't have many photos from it.  So I thought I would share this photo from Logan's egg collecting.  Logan sells eggs from our chickens to neighbors, relatives and David's fellow employees for $2/doz.  Since we started out the year with around 21 chickens, it has been great for keeping some spending money in Logan's pockets.  However, we only sell the ones that will fit in the cartons.  The egg on the right would be considered extra large in a grocery store.

We got two this size on the same day.  No, there's not a goose or an ostrich out there - we checked!

MARCH
We finally talked Logan into getting his learner's permit.  He's just starting to see the benefits of having a driver's license.  I think Mom and Dad spoil him too much by driving him everywhere he wants to go.  His uncle was willing to give him a car, but unfortunately Logan's legs wouldn't fit into it.  Maybe if we would have removed the front seat and he drove from the back it would have worked.

Logan's first time driving - it still scares me!

APRIL

David and I had enjoyed working in the Cub Scouts together as Noah's Wolf den leaders, until April.  I was made our Ward's Relief Society president, and a very busy year has followed.  I really enjoy it though and have great people to work with and a wonderful Ward.

Noah turned 9 years old in April and went into the Bear den.  He had a fun Spy birthday party with his friends that I'll post on BB soon.

Noah is always smiling, but it seems a little bigger with gifts.

 The day after Noah's birthday we got a big surprise when we found a newborn baby goat running around the back yard after school.  Stauney's goat had given birth to two kids and our dog helped one escape the fence.  As soon as we got them cleaned up, Logan's goat went into labor!  Two more kids were born (one with some help from our neighbor) and we had a very busy, rainy evening getting babies settled and fed and mommas milked.

Three boys and one girl, just like our kids.

 Many busy days and nights followed, and I had a really fun time trying to feed 4 bottles at a time while the kids went back to school.

That weekend, David  headed to Moab with his buddies from work for their annual 4-wheeler/motorcycle trip.  He always has a great time, eats really well, and didn't come home with any injuries this year!

Good thing he was there to hold this up!

A week after the goats were born, Logan had an ambulance ride and was admitted to the hospital for a ruptured appendix. Luckily they were able to do his surgery laproscopically, and he only spent three days in the hospital.  He has recovered well, and in December has finally gained back the weight he lost while in there. With the amount of food he eats, you'd think it wouldn't take that long.

Most minors who have to stay in the pediatric wing aren't 6'4" tall and can actually fit in the beds.

We were grateful we all survived April!

MAY
I had been helping at Stauney's new Jr. High school with their musical review.  I signed up to do props, but ended up doing a little directing and choreography also.  It was a lot of fun and I got to work with a lot of great kids.
Stauney LOVES theater and was willing to be the lead in every song.  She wasn't, but she was on stage most of the time.  They did songs from major Broadway shows like Grease and Wicked, and of course some High School Musical 1-3, but 'Super Trooper' from Mamma Mia was her favorite.

I painted the boots and made the microphones, but Stauney totally pulled off the look with the boa.

At the end of May Evan had his 7th birthday.  Apparently we should have practiced how to blow before we lit the candles.  We thought we would share the video of him sucking out his candles instead.

JUNE
We finally have proof that our Beagle Chloe doesn't ALWAYS look sad and depressed.

She especially looks happy and obedient when we give her baby carrots.

  After school got out we had a fun time going to stay in Duchesne with my extended Moon family.  We had fun visiting, reminiscing, and going to Nine Mile Canyon to see the Indian petroglyphs.

The kids had fun climbing on, around, over and even in rocks all day.

 We also had fun with the extended family on David's side at a family reunion on his cousin's huge dairy farm in Eureka.

Noah and Evan especially loved the biggest slip-and-slide they've ever seen.

JULY
Another whirlwind of activities started at the beginning of July when David's parents treated the entire Hansen family to a trip to Nauvoo, Illinois and the church historic sites for 5 days.  We all showed up bright and early at the SLC airport and 38 of us flew to St. Louis where we boarded our private tour bus and met our driver and guide for the week.  We had so much fun with everyone.

Yeah!  A green bus to match our green shirts.  (Grandma let a 12 year-old pick the color.)  Noah and Evan in Carthage.

The whole family, and ours in front of the Nauvoo Temple.

David and I were so happy we got to do a session in the temple while Logan and Stauney got to do baptisms.  Grandma and Grandpa took the younger kids to play pioneer games while we were there and everyone had a wonderful day.

David got me a new camera for my birthday and with it, took this photo of the temple at night.

Some photos from Hannibal and St. Louis, Missouri.

We also got to spend a fun day in Hannibal and take a river boat ride.  Due to recent flooding, Tom Sawyer's Island was completely under water.  The trees had very wet feet.

Then our last day we spent in St. Louis seeing the sights and going to the top of the Gateway Arch!

Us from the top of the arch - 630 ft!  Evan got a little squashed preparing to go back down.

We really stood out in our green shirts, but it sure made it easy to round up the kids!


AUGUST
Apparently our lives weren't busy enough. At the end of July we welcomed a 14 year-old exchange student from Japan to live with us for a month.  Rin became the sister that Stauney never got.  We had a few language difficulties and some homesickness issues, but we had a great month showing her how we live.  Instead of the kids spending their summer as couch potatoes, we decided we had better do something more exciting, so we had a busy month of sight-seeing and playing.

The kids and their new sister.

We had a busy month.  We went to a drive-in movie, which she had never done before, bowling, Museum of Ancient Life, Antelope Island, hikes, swimming, family reunions, BBQ's and lots of shopping.  She even went with Stauney to Girls' camp.

After visiting David's brother we went to the Castle Valley Pageant and Evan helped make butter like the pioneers did.

Rin taught us all how to do our names in Japanese with a brush and ink.

The biggest challenge for me was that Rin is a vegetarian.  I had to learn to cook differently for a month, and I really didn't mind it.  Rin's favorite thing to do was to cook dinner with me every night.  She even made us some yummy Japanese food.

The morning before we took her back.  We miss her and it was a great experience for our family.

August also brought around the Davis County Fair.  Noah was old enough to be in 4-H this year and was so excited to show goats.  They all did a great job and Logan and Stauney both earned two belt buckles each.  Evan got to show goats in the Pee Wee goat show again also.  It was a very busy week for us with David and I both helping to run the show and the kids also showing our neighbor's goats.  I think we took around 21 goats in all!  Exhausting, but fun.  The kids also entered many exhibits and crafts and several got best of show ribbons and were sent to the State Fair.

So proud of these kids and all of their hard work.

We ended up selling all of the goats except one little doe of Logan's.  It was too much.

At the end of August school started up, and I think I finally got to breath again!

If shoe size indicate height, then all of our kids will be tall!

Logan, and his size 14's just started 10th grade.  Stauney and her size 10's are now in 8th grade.  I don't know Noah or Evan's shoe sizes, but I can just about wear Noah's, and Evan isn't far behind.  Noah is in 4th grade and Evan is in 2nd.  David is the parent organization president at their charter school this year and it keeps him VERY busy.  I volunteer to help in classrooms weekly.

SEPTEMBER
After having approval for his Eagle project for over a year, Logan finally completed it.  It was a huge project and I think something like 70 hours was spent on doing an inventory of every headstones condition at the city cemetery.  It was a great project and he's glad to have it done.  He just got approved for his Eagle and we will have his ceremony after the holidays.  Yeah!

Although we had fun hanging out in the cemetery, we are glad it's done.

Noah and Evan were thrilled to get cast as Merlin and Mini Merlin in their school play of King Arthur's Quest.  All of the bigger actors had a mini to make the villians look bigger and the actors look further away.  It was so cute!  So Evan got to be Noah's mini, and they both were awesome.

There is some resemblance!

We celebrated Logan's 16th birthday and Stauney's 14th the end of September.  They've grown up so fast, but we couldn't ask for better teenagers.

Much to Stauney's dismay, Logan got a cell phone and she didn't.

David was released from Cub Scouts and is now serving as First Assistant in the High Priest's leadership.
 
OCTOBER
Yep, Stauney is back on the stage again as the lead in our Ward's musical for the Stake Roadshow.  She even sang a solo.  She is an amazing actress and impressed everyone.

Stauney is one of many talented kids in our Ward.  Logan was happy helping with props behind the scenes.

We had an unexpected opportunity come up when a co-worker of David's offered our family a free condo for a week in Anaheim, California.  We decided that if people wanted to keep giving us free vacations, we would keep taking them.  So we headed to DISNEYLAND!!!  We drove clear to the border of California before Noah and Evan figured out where we were going.

We spent 7 days at Disneyland and California Adventure.  It was a great bonding time for our family.  We even got to go trick-or-treating with Mickey in the park.  It was a great evening with fast lines on rides, characters, tons of candy, and a special parade and fireworks.

Flynn was really jealous of Logan's height.

Yes, that's the kitchen table covered with candy (not including all that the kids ate and one other bag full!)
 We had this idea for a Christmas card while we were there, but it didn't quite work:

There's no 'E' in California.

NOVEMBER
A busy month, but not for family photos.  I spent two weeks sick in bed and missed Noah and Evan performing in their school choir.  I just got the video of it and can't wait to finally see them perform.

I did stay busy taking photos of my niece's wedding and reception in November and I'll post some of those another time.

DECEMBER
Stauney has been enjoying taking musical theater classes and has just finished performances.  She's so fun to watch because she loves it so much.  Her whole class was so cute!

She even got to wear a feather boa again.

Logan, Stauney and Noah just had their piano recital.  They are all getting really good, but do not want me to post videos of them playing because they weren't perfect.  I thought they were awesome.  Their teacher says that Noah has natural talent and may pass by the older kids if he keeps working hard.  Logan needs to learn a few more hymns and then he will start taking organ lessons.  We plan to start Evan in piano this summer.

Thanks for hanging in through this very long post for our very busy year.  I hope to post more often from now on, so feel free to check in again sometime.  We hope you have a very Merry Christmas, and send you our best wishes for your new year.

Merry Christmas!  Love, The Hansens

 Please leave a comment so we know you've been here!

Halloween Fun

Last year I did quite a few Halloween crafts but didn't get them on my blog until the holiday was over, so I've been waiting a whole year to post these ideas.

I got the printables and recipe for these Halloween cookies in a jar from Living Locurto - so cute!  We tried to do the paper tops like she has on her blog, but we couldn't get the paper to stay on, so we just added the ribbon instead.  We gave them out to the families my husband and I Visit and Home Teach.  The hardest part was finding the Halloween colored M&M's.  You have to look in the holiday section of stores, not the candy section. 

After years of buying different treat bags for Halloween that didn't last and fell apart I decided to make some cute ones for my two youngest boys out of black Walmart reusable cloth bags.

 

I just used fabric and black fusible web and Sharpie markers to make the bags with a pumpkin I just sketched out.  I got the first one done and showed my boys and they both said, "I just want the plain black one."  I was crushed :-(   I guess I should have made them with bats and skulls and they might have gone over better.  I made the other one anyway and made them take them Trick-or-Treating.  Maybe  someone, someday will see them and think they were cute.

 

At least the next ideas wer a hit!  On Halloween night we made personal Mummy Pizzas to go with butternut squash soup and a few nights before we made Mummies in Blankets for dinner.

After rolling out refrigerated crescent dough on a cutting board I cut it into strips with a pizza cutter.  Then the kids wrapped about 3 strips of dough around hotdogs leaving a little opening for eyes, and put them onto a cookie sheet to bake.

They added ketchup and mustard eyes to them after they came out of the oven.  They've already asked to make these again this year.

The Mummy Pizzas were made with frozen roll dough (thawed of course), pizza sauce, olives and strips of string cheese.

The string cheese didn't melt very well, but it was fast and easy.  But in the future I would just slice some mozzarella cheese up into strips.  Fun for the kids to make, cute, and pretty yummy for a mummy!

Thought I would share the pumpkin creations that the kids made themselves.  The little pumpkins were from our garden and Logan carved the big one.  Happy Halloween!

Rock Path in Bloom

Thank heaven's all of the spring rain has finally let up a bit.  It did wonders for my flowers (and weeds too unfortunately), and it's hard to imagine needing sprinklers again.
My front yard flowers are in full bloom, or nearing, so I thought I'd share some of the recent beauty.  It even looks better now that my Mom has been staying with us for about a week and weeded!

So from this previous post FALL PROJECTS from a while back I showed the new pathway that I put in leading up to my front door.  Here's a photo of what it looked like just after it was finished.

And here it is now.  Not from the same angle though because the irises are so big it wouldn't show any of the rest of it.

Most of this I just transplanted from other areas, some I brought with me from my former yard, and some I got from family and neighbors.  I have many varieties of sedums, some lamium and some creeping thyme that has filled in nicely between  the stepping stones.  Last year I filled in empty spaces with annuals while I waited for them to fill in, but this year they are looking gorgeous and make a patchwork quilt of color on the ground.

I had daffodils that came up in the spring, and hope to add more bulbs this fall.

Another friendly insect to pose for me on one of the sedums, which I love because you just break off a chunk and throw it in the ground and it grows!  That's how I got the area so filled in cheaply.  Hardly needs water also.

We also have a very interesting cross-pollination side-effect that has happened in the front yard.  Our house had white iris:

My Mom and Dad brought me some purple iris:

So the formerly white ones in between the two now produce these irises - which I LOVE!

And even though the petals are about to fall off of this Peony I have to share it.  They are the same color as the ones my Grandmother had planted in the house I grew up in, so the scent always brings back childhood memories.

And since my Mom brought Chloe out front and watch while she weeded, we also get to enjoy this photo of a very happy Beagle!