A New Year to Celebrate

Yeah, I know I'm behind. But now that I'm up and running with this blog again, I am determined to get caught up.

On New Year's Eve, our friends the Gravens, came over to hang out with us. Nothing fancy, we just ate, played on the Wii, and watched the kids play games. Leonard had to work :( but kept calling regularly, so we felt like he was part of the party. We had a fun night especially since we don't see them very often.

And I have a recipe to share!
SPINACH ARTICHOKE DIP
I'm sorry this is already half eaten, but I only make it for parties so I don't eat the entire thing myself. I figured I had better take a photo of it anyway since I may not be making it again for a while. It is SO good! I love this dip. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com.

Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip II

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything together then gently stir in spinach and artichokes (I usually use a whole pkg. of spinach). I mix in the mozzarella instead of putting it on top because I read in the comments that it makes a crusty cheese shell on top. I couldn't find Romano cheese, so I just added extra mozzarella. I have also used an Italian blend of cheeses before, but I prefer freshly grated cheese over pre-grated because it melts better. Transfer to a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly and slightly browned.

On New Years day we slept in, then packed to head to David's brother Scott and his wife Heidi's house. Noah and Evan went to a sledding birthday party with friends while we got everything cooked and ready to go.

As we showed up at their house, they had old home videos playing on the TV and we got a good laugh over our 1991 wedding, and Brent and Karen's. Wow, what hair we had! Logan made a very wise comment to me the next day. He said, "Adults are always talking about how they wish they could look like they did when they were younger, and as soon as they see themselves, they laugh at how funny they looked." Very true.

Stauney with Grandma Hansen and cousins.

Soon, almost the entire Hansen family had made their way there for the party. Scott and Heidi were brave souls to invite all 41 of the family to sleep over at their house - 34 came! After everyone showed up and some returned from skiing, we had dinner, then a talent show. The kids were asked to do a talent, and the adults were supposed to do highlights of their year. Here's the poem that David and I compiled together (I read the 1st line and he read the 2nd):

We can't believe that now another year's gone by,
Our kids have grown, we've gotten older, boy, how time does fly.

In March David went to Moab on a motorcycle trip,
I came home with cuts and bruises on my legs and arms and hip.

In May Noah and Evan played baseball in their cleats,
They had a lot of fun as long as there were treats.

Then Evan graduated from good old Kiddie Kollege,
He went on trips, had fun and got lots of preschool knowledge.

In July we joined the Hansen's for our annual camping fun,
But we deserve the most cookies since I'm the favorite son. (family joke)

Our thanks to Grandma & Grandpa for watching over our clan,
While we flew off to Hawaii to work upon our tan.

In August all our kids were in the Davis County Fair,
They got belt buckles, ribbons, and lots of money there.

Then September took them to the fair for Utah State,
Their goats looked really awesome and the kids did really great.

Then off to school the kids did go for knowledge there to gain,
They're learning much and doing well, but carpooling's a pain.

Now in band and choir and acting, our kids really do shine,
But with all these performances, Mom and Dad have little time.

Two cows, two goats, four chickens, our little farm does make,
But now the cows are gone, so soon we'll have great steak.

Another year gone by, another year to start,
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and now we will depart!

Yeah, I know it's cheesey, but we were the only ones with a poem! I think we raised the bar for next year.

Logan told me he was going to play one of his hard songs on his trumpet. It was nice, but lasted about 30 seconds. He doesn't understand why I was upset. After all the money we pay for piano lessons and trumpet payments, you'd think he could allow me a little more proud mother time than 30 seconds! I barely had time to take this photo. This is the second time he has done this to me, so I told him next time I get to pick the song.

Stauney and Noah played a duet of 'Jolly Old St. Nicolas'. Then Stauney played Fur Elise and Noah played 'Silent Night' while Evan sang to it (no photo, I was helping).

Then after enjoying everyone's talents (except Brian's family who weren't there), we divided everyone up according to where they were going to sleep, and stayed up WAY too late for the second night in a row, talking, laughing and playing games.

Breakfast the next morning was so yummy. We made omlettes in a bag. In case you haven't had them here's the, uh, recipe?

OMLETTES IN A BAG

Break 2 eggs into a sandwich baggie.
Add some mix-ins: peppers, browned sausage, grated cheese, diced ham, olives, onions, salsa, tomatoes, salt and pepper, etc.
Close bag and squish to mix. Let out extra air. Write your name on it with a Sharpie pen and drop into a pot of boiling water. They take about 15 min. to cook completely. Squish to make sure the egg is all set.
They are great, and fun to make.

Then I headed outside to take photos of the kids sledding on the hill next to their house. Here are a few of my favorite photos:

David and Noah on the snowmobile.

Great shot of Kylie in mid-air. She is so fearless, she took more hard landings than most of the big kids.

I love Noah's expression as he flies off his sled.

Taylor's awesome snowboard jump off the ramp that Cory and Parker took so much time creating.

Stauney and Brooke. In almost every photo I had of Stauney she was screaming like this.

Logan and Evan enjoying the ride. It was actually raining on us for a while, so it was a little warmer than usual January weather. It turned to heavy snow later that night on our way home though.

And now my favorite. Every year for Christmas I give all the Hansen family a CD of all the photos I've taken of family outings for the year. This is sure to be a favorite of the whole family soon.

My SIL Sonja's awesome crash! One of my best action photos ever.

David and Brett donned showshoes and hiked up quite a way onto the mountain that you can see behind him. They had fun, but were very tired after.

Here's a photo David took on their hike looking back toward Scott and Heidi's house. It's such a beautiful place with an amazing view of Ben Lomond peak out their back windows.

They were so gracious to host us all and we had a fabulous time.

Catching Up with Friends

We still haven't forgiven the Simmons family for moving away over 5 years ago. They lived next door to us, and we've known each other since we each only had 2 kids. Scott was David's home-teaching partner, and then his 1st Counselor in the Bishopric. Their kids are all the same gender and ages as our kids, and best friends. Our kids would pretty much decide which Mom's meal they preferred and they ate at each others houses often. We shared plants, tools, movies, food, pools, swingsets, and trampolines. We celebrated many birthdays together, carpooling, sleepovers, barbecues and campouts. We had somewhere to leave our kids when we had to go somewhere (or sometimes just left the baby monitors with each other while a child slept).

It was perfect.

Then Scott got a job transfer and they moved away. It left a big hole in our lives that hasn't been filled since. We've tried to keep in touch, but it's just not the same. Two years ago we went to Disneyland together on vacation and had a blast. But since then we've only seen each other about once a year, so we haven't been doing very good at keeping in touch. So we were determined to get together for the Christmas break.

On December 29th we met Kim and the kids at Discovery Gateway in SLC. We had never been there before. It was so sad at first to see the kids all so shy with each other because they hadn't seen each other very often, but it didn't take long for them to get reacquainted. Kim, David and I stayed with the 4 younger boys while Logan and Tyler, and Stauney and Kierra went off on their own.

This is Evan on the rock wall. This was a great place for the boys.

Ryan (on horse) with Travis and Noah waiting for their turns to pose for me.


We found the 'big boys' building upstairs. They were really good sports for being there -the place was packed with tons of little kids. I do think they found enough to have fun with though. I know they spent a lot of time in the water area after this.

After a while we all retired to the craft room to play with Play-doh while we waited for Scott to get off work.

Then we all headed for the food court to eat. We didn't realize that a Jazz game was going on that night also, so everywhere was packed. We thought we hit the jackpot when we found a big table where all 12 of us could all sit together to eat. Thank you to the guy who pointed out that someone had just thrown up under it. I guess we weren't so lucky, but we managed to maneuver around it.

Then we walked over to Temple Square to see the lights. The kids were cursing me for making them dress so warm. It was a really warm night and Logan carried his coat most of the time. That really was lucky. I don't remember ever seeing the lights on Temple Square before and being warm.

The blue-eyed brunette and the brown-eyed blonde. Kierra and Stauney are both getting so grown-up! They started their friendship at age 4 and their birthdays are just a couple of weeks apart. Even though they don't see each other often, Stauney still calls Kierra her best friend.

All the mirrored lights were beautiful in the reflection pond.



Our families.

The lights were beautiful, as always. While we were listening to the nativity, Evan was on David's shoulders and yelled out very loudly, "Guys, we already know this story!"

I felt very lucky to get this picture of the Christus without any people in it. It was SO crowded there that we didn't stay for the presentation because we could hardly move.

We sat to rest for a while around the paintings area. I had a nice chat with some sister missionaries, one from Canada and one from an island I had never heard of so I don't remember where it was. The second also has three brothers and is the only girl like Stauney and Kierra.

And of course, the beautiful temple. I love the colors that showed on it from the reflection pool.

We hopped on Trax for one stop while we headed back to our cars at the Gateway. It was also the first time we had ridden Trax. The kids loved it so I'm sad it was such a short ride. Just as we got into the car we heard that the Jazz game was ending and saw people start pouring out of Energy Solutions arena. I yelled to David, "Get out of town quick!" We beat the traffic.

It was great to spend time with the Simmons' and we vowed that every two months this year we would take turns meeting at each other's houses where we would leave the kids and the adults would head to dinner. Plus there needs to be a campout in there somewhere. They are great friends and we feel blessed to know them. Travis has started calling us their cousins, and that's how we feel - like family.

Stauney and Kierra were trying to do some serious newscasts, but their brothers weren't helping any. Here's my attempt at posting a video. I was standing at a distant TV screen so they didn't know that I was recording them, that's why there's no sound except for background noise and me laughing.