Deep thoughts according to Bailee

This morning I thought I would try and find out what Bailee is hoping Santa will bring to her. I don't want another rerun of last year's chase...

Mom: "So what do you want Santa to bring you?"
Bailee: "Umm, let me think"
..........
Bailee: "I want...I just want lots of loves. Maybe Santa could bring me a love machine that makes hearts and puts them in my heart so I can give you lots of hugs."

What a sweetie! I love that girl!

Now hopefully she will give me something to work with...

Father's Day 2010

So if you know anything about Woodbadge-ers, you know that they are proud of their patrol critter. Matt isn't as proud as some....so I force it on him. *smile*

For Father's Day, I wanted to do something special. I decided to make breakfast, I don't make breakfast for breakfast very often especially on a Sunday morning. Since it was a special day I had to make his pancakes ina special shape. Of course it had to be the shape of a...

beaver!

Then Owen decided that he wanted to help... he love to help me cook. I sure love both of my men!

Easter 2010

This year for Easter we went to Blackfoot. Matt's Aunt and Uncle drove up from California and brought his Grandma with them. Matt hadn't seen her in a little over 2 years so we made the trip over so he could see her. Of course we enjoyed seeing everyone else too.
When Bailee was a baby we put in a special request with the Easter Bunny that he visit our family on Saturday so that we could keep Sunday set apart to celebrate our Savior. So when the kids got up on Saturday morning they found their baskets form the Easter Bunny. After having some fun playing with their new things and their cousin, Jack we all headed up to the hospital to see Stephanie and have an egg hunt for the kids. It snowed over night so we did the hunt upstairs on the rehab floor where Steph had just been moved from. They were very kind to let us take over the floor for about 1/2 hour. The kids had a blast finding the eggs that were all over the place. Owen cleared one hall all by himself! We forgot to bring the baskets with us so the kids used Patient Belonging bags form the hospital. They were Pretty cute finding all of the eggs. Bailee is getting so big and was good to let the little boys find the easier eggs and she would look for the harder ones. Owen wouldn't let go of his bag and drug it behind him everywhere he went in the hospital.

Another Mothers Day Suprise

I have been eyeing temple pictures similar to this one for a couple of years. This company had a show at Costco a few weeks before mothers day I told Matt about them, but didn't really think that he would get it for me. I really didn't think that I would get them after the wonderful surprise in my flower beds I got the week before. But Matt surprised me once again with this beautiful picture of the Idaho Falls Temple where we were married. It really completed the wall grouping I had been working on. Thanks Matt, I love it!

Easter Day and Jack's Blessing

On Easter Sunday the Easter Bunny brought some gifts for Owen and Bailee. New Sunglasses for Bailee

And a one of Owen's things right now, a ball.

Easter Sunday was an extra special day because Jack was blessed at church. We all went to Pocatello for his blessing and then headed home after lunch at Steph and Kelly's. It was a whirl wind weekend, but well worth the time with family.

The Family of THREE

The Hansen Clan

Easter

This year for Easter we went to Blackfoot. On Saturday morning Stephanie, Kelly and Jack came, Of course Maama had a Easter basket for each of the kids.

And then an Easter egg hunt in the front yard. Bailee knew just what to do and loved it. Owen needed a little helping along, but figured it out quickly. It was so funny to watch him because the basket he was using had a really long handle and it would trip him up. The kids had great time finding all of the eggs.

After the egg hunt we all went and visited Grandma and Grandpa Hansen's and then to dinner at Malina's. It was a fun day.

Valentines

For Valentines Day, our ward had a semi-formal dance. It was so fun. I was on the committee and was involved with the plans from the begining, so it was great that it turned out to be a great success. My friend, Anna was set up to take pictures of everyone, there was a live band and some fabulous food. We had a great time.

Christmas Day 2008

Christmas Day was so much fun this year with two little ones. Bailee completely understood the Santa thing and was so excited for Christmas morning. Unfortunately for Santa, she kept changing what she wanted from the Big Man. She had said that she wanted a new "big girl" bike and that is what we put on her list, but when Santa came for a pre-Christmas Eve visit she told him that she wanted a puppy. Luckily she was happy when Santa spoiled her with a bike and a toy puppy that barks and wags his tail. Owen still didn't know what was going on but thoroughly enjoyed all of the the unwrapping.
We were all spoiled with gifts and most of all by the great company of our families. We had Matt's Parents, my mom and my grandma (GG).

After all of the gifts we relaxed a bit and then started preparing our Christmas dinner. A few years ago we started a new tradition of having a prime rib for dinner. and after the third year I think that we finally have the cooking process down. This year it was delicious! And the leftovers made the BEST french dip sandwiches that I have ever had! Any one that knows me well knows that is my favorite food of all time so it was quite a treat for me... I would even say better than the prim rib it's self.Bailee loves Tinker Bell and was so excited about this doll.

Matt was surprised with a gorilla pod for all of his outdoor adventures.

Owen loved the xylophone he got.

I have been looking at this way cool spice rack for months and was so excited to get one. I love it! A big thanks to my sister Kristin. ( I actually got two...I really wanted one and told everyone. But Matt's mom took the one she got to use in her own kitchen, we are both lucky girls)

My sister Kristin also gave Bailee this princess tent. She was SOOOO excited and said "I've been begging for this". Which is totally true. She pickup a toy catalog at JC Penny's one day and carried it around for weeks. It had one of these tents in it and every time she saw it she would tell me that she needed one. Leave it to Aunt Kristin to get inside her little mind (I believe that it is a gift she has for gift giving).

Owen was spoiled with Little People and loves them all. He hung on to and sucked on these two packs for almost the whole time of opening gifts.

Here I am putting the prime rib into the oven...I am not sure what I was thinking, but I didn't get a picture of it after it came out of the oven.

Christmas Eve 2008

Some of our favorite things about Christmas are the traditions we have in our families.
Each year that we are in Boise we have the privilege of going to the Schildan's for Deanne's delicious wedding soup and the great company of family and friends. This year we went with Tami's mom and her grandma. It was a wonderful time.

We also make cookies for Santa and open Christmas pajama's. We had a wonderful time reading the Christmas story and singing Christmas carols. Owen opening his Christmas pajamas.

Bailee opening her Christmas Pajamas.

Bailee reading stories with GG

Making cookies.

New Years Day 2009

We had a great new years day with my mom. We started by meeting for lunch at the Olive Garden and then we headed over to her house for games. Playing games is one of my favorite pass times and some of my favorite memories with my family. We had a blast! Tami, Mom, and Bailee playing Memory (Bailee's favorite game)

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Matt's parents. We were able to spend five days there. We left on Tuesday night so that we could be there for the preparations on Wednesday.
On Wednesday Stephanie and I made pies and dessert. Steph made pecan pie and a pumpkin roll and I made a pumpkin pie. I also made rolls...it was an experience to say the least. I have made these rolls a few times before and even brought my Bosch mixer with me to Blackfoot to aid in the work. I used a different pan to cook the rolls in as well as a different kind of flour. Wow were those two BIG mistakes! It was a good thing that I made them on Wednesday instead of Thursday morning because they turned out horrible. We ended up making a last minute trip to Walmart (my least favorite place to go especially around the holidays) to get more ingredients. I stayed up late to make the new rolls which turned out beautifully after making those minor adjustments.
On Thursday we spent most of the day together as a family and preparing our feast. Grandma and Grandpa Hansen joined us. It was a very nice day. Matt took over as the "Turkey Carver" this year and Steph, Matt's mom and I took care of the rest of the details. I, of course made the green bean casserole (which the Hansen's had not had before I joined the family). It is now my official duty.
What a wonderful opportunity we have each year to set aside one day to offer our Father in Heaven thanks for all of the blessings in our lives.

Halloween

This year for Halloween I dressed Bailee in the cheer leading outfit from when I was little. She looked so cute! Owen was adorable in the dinosaur costume that Aunt Steph picked up for him. We started the day by visiting Matt's office Halloween party and then later that evening we went to our ward's chili feed and trunk or treat. We had a great time visiting with friends and sharing in the fun.
After the trunk or treat we went with some friends of ours to a neighborhood that we had heard doesn't get many trick or treaters, but had the good stuff as far as candy goes. The rumor was true, each door they were greeted with a friendly face and a hand full of candy, full size candy bars or something else that was fun. One house handed out glow in the dark bracelets along with the candy. Bailee had so much fun and after each house would say "Are we going to the next one?" She was quite the trooper and walked about half a mile, and didn't get tired of walking until we only had about four houses left in the neighborhood.

We then of course took the kids over to see Gramma in their costumes. Bailee loved getting to hand out some candy at Gramma's, she was quite generous. What a fun Halloween.

My little cuties.

Bailee and her friend,Matt

Waiting to say "Trick or Treat!"

Fourth of July Fun

We went to this great park here in town with out friend the Neilson's. There are some of the coolest toys there. All of the toys are on this turf that is kind of squishy and bouncy.

Even Owen had fun.

At 11 a.m. they start the water in the splash park. Bailee loved it.

After the park we took my mom to lunch at the BEST burger joint in town, Main Street Burgers. The burgers are all made to order with all organic ingredients. Matt loves it because the burgers don't need any sauce, it is just a great tasting burger. Oh... and the fries are so yummy too!

Later in the Evening we met the Neilson's again and headed out to the little town of Melba for a picnic and to watch the fire works show. We had a great visit and had fun tossing around the Frisbee.

To pass the time I brought a kit so the girls could make their own candy necklaces. It was a little hard for them, so the dads did most of the work.

Bailee and Bethany loved them and they kept them pretty busy for a while.

When the fireworks finally started the girls were amazed with them. But our busy body Bailee soon lost interest and was ready to start playing again. The fireworks were amazing! Just when you thought you had seen the finale they would shoot of one or two more to let you know that they were still going. We didn't sit down where the main event was, but the town is so small that we were still able to hear the music that went with the fireworks from a few blocks away. We had a great fourth and were so glad that we got to spend it with the Neilson's.