Summer Days

Far too much has happened this summer to be able to do a reasonable size blog so I thought I would just write a few lists to give a brief recap of summer and maybe add a few favorite pictures. I am burnt out and extremely brain dead right now and so apologize for my lack of creativity. I will try to improve in future blogs! (Key word: try)

Favorite events/things from summer 2008:

• The Hansen Family Reunion
• The Garner Family Reunion
• The Jensen Family Reunion (as you can see, we were pretty busy with family this summer and it was so good to see relatives we only see every 2-3 years.)
• Our little overnight vacation to Leavenworth, Wa with the kids
• taking each of the kids on a special before school/school shopping date (though we were both a little sick of Chuck E. Cheese!)
  
• watching my youngest just get in and LOVE the water
  
• watching my other children work on and improve their swimming skills
• Baby showers, card parties and other times with family and friends
• Hyrum enjoying learning how to cook and Hannah enjoying being his assistant--they made me a yummy scrambled egg and orange juice breakfast in bed one day.
  

Some of my least favorite things/events of summer 2008:

• Trying to get through the insane scheduling for dental appointments (here in Mattawa there aren't a lot of options in town for dental work--one place--and the way they have you set up appointments is often beyond frustrating!)
• Having to do the aforementioned scheduling most weeks out of the summer (either because we couldn't get in or because there were numerous cavities to fill)
• Having to try to get work done with 4 children underfoot and trying to get the older 3 of those children to help clean up the messes they are constantly making! Anyone with children knows what I am talking about and the frustration levels that can be reached when working with children
• Cleaning up the messes that Hyrum made while learning how to cook.
• Becoming pregnant as planned and then miscarrying (this was not something that I was going to post but I think I have healed from that time and it is something that added stress to my summer days. So, there it is. I don't want anyone worrying about me. I am completely healed and just waiting a few months before trying again. If you have a new baby and live by me make sure you give me some time to hold them. It really helps me!)
• Having a two year old with almost no fear of the water.
• Children who can't seem to get along and were fond of telling me how bored they were as if it was my responsibility to entertain them constantly and falling down on the job!
• Finding baby-sitters since my youngest sister finally grew up and left home for Arizona and is no longer here to help us out in this capacity.
• Having to do Sharing Time for the month of August which is a busy month anyway and also a very long one (5 Sundays) and one in which we had our Stake Primary Presidency come visit our ward!

So that is our summer in a nutshell. I am hoping to find a little breathing room again to accomplish more projects now that two of the kids are in school. I just need to take a small breather first and get up some motivation!

Here are a few favorite photos from our summer:


My little toga trucker--he would live outside with his trucks and dirt if we let him!


My fearless swimmer


My sweetie


My handsome husband and me in, I think, the only picture taken of me this summer--luckily it looks good!


My oldest. He is actually mad at his parents in the first photo (for being "unfair" or something) but isn't he cute?


Playing in a mud puddle. His shirt was actually a white onsie to start with. It took a lot of rinsing and scrubbing to get that mud out of his hair and quite a time to get all that dirt down the drain!


Miss Photogenic. She seems to look cute in almost every picture we take of her! That is the watermelon that she grew from a seed, started in her Kindergarten class.


My two year old clapping and cheering on his birthday. : )

There are too many favorites! I better stop now so I can go get the kids in bed. Enjoy this post!

Girl in a Whirl

My mom just handed this poem to me when I picked up my kids. Some of you may have read this before but I thought it was very funny so decided to share.

"The Girl In A Whirl"
by "Dr. Sues" (a.k.a. Vickie Gunther)

"Look at me, look at me, look at me now!
You could do what I do if you only knew how.
I study the scriptures one hour each day;
I bake,
I upholster,
I scrub, and I pray.
I always keep all the commandments completely;
I speak to my little ones gently and sweetly.
I help in their classrooms!
I sew all they wear!
I drive them to practice!
I cut all their hair!
I memorize names of the General Authorities;
I focus on things to be done by priorities.
I play the piano!
I bless with my talents!
My toilets all sparkle!
My checkbooks all balance!
Each week every child gets a one-on-one date;
I attend all my meetings (on time! Never late!)
I'm taking a class on the teachings of Paul,
But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all!
I track my bad habits 'til each is abolished;
Our t-shirts are ironed!
My toenails are polished!
Our family home evenings are always delightful;
The lessons I give are both fun and insightful.
I do genealogy faithfully, too.
It's easy to do all the things that I do!
I rise each day early, refreshed and awake;
I know all the names of each youth in my stake!
I read to my children!
I help all my neighbors!
I bless the community, too, with my labors.
I exercise and I cook menus gourmet;
My visiting teaching is done the first day!
(I also go do it for someone who missed hers.
It's the least I can do for my cherished ward sisters.)
I chart resolutions and check off each goal;
I seek each "lost lamb" on my Primary roll.
I can home-grown produce each summer and fall.
But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all!
I write in my journal! I sing in the choir!
Each day, I write "thank yous" to those I admire.
My sons were all Eagles when they were fourteen!
My kids get straight A's! And their bedrooms are clean!
I have a home business to help make some money;
I always look beautifully groomed for my honey.
I go to the temple at least once a week;
I change the car's tires!
I fix the sink's leaks!
I grind my own wheat and I bake all our bread;
I have all our meals planned out six months ahead.
I make sure I rotate our two-year supply;
My shopping for Christmas is done by July!
These things are not hard; 'tis good if you do them;
You can if you try!
Just set goals and pursue them!
It's easy to do all the things that I do!
If you plan and work smart, you can do them all, too!
It's easy!" she said
and then she dropped dead.

This was very funny to me. All of us do some of these things (some seem capable of doing more than others--that is not me.) However, most women really do think we need to be just like the woman in that poem (I am guilty as charged--three times over!) I want to remember to read this when I start bewailing my incompetence and ineffectiveness as a wife, mother and homemaker and start comparing myself to others to a degree that I begin to judge myself worthless. This adds the right touch of lightness to bring my spirits up and remind me that I cannot be all things and that there is a time and season to do things. Maybe it will help you too. Happy chuckling!

Since My Last Post . . . .

I have played a small part in our high school musical, Oliver!

I worked at making Valentines Day a special day.

I attended Time Out For Women in Spokane with my mom and two sisters.

I went to NYC for 4 days!!!


My oldest started Cub Scouts and we had our first Pinewood Derby.


My husband and his brother started up a new business together (though Paul is still also working for my dad). They are now trying to get into the composting business.

I dyed Easter eggs (which I hate) so my kids would love Easter.


I got through Easter (I had to sing a solo in the program and almost died!)

(The Easter Day finery)
I have done 2 months of Sharing Time.

I helped to put on an Easter Activity Day and an amazingly fun Activity Day about countries around the world.

I went on a long vacation to Seaside, OR with Paul to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary in July.

(Paul and I at the seashore in Seaside. We weren't brave enough to ask someone to take a picture of us together.)
I did daycare a couple of days a week for a friend of mine who teaches.

I volunteered once a week in my kids' classrooms.

Was part of an Elder's Quorum Progressive Dinner.

Went to two school choir music nights and various other school related activities.

(Hannah's Dino Concert. We forgot to take the camera to Hyrum's concert. Many tears and exclamations of "It's not fair!" ensued.)
Helped out at my son's 2nd Grade Sleepout at the school (and, no, I did not stay up all night. I have a demanding almost-two-year-old to deal with. But I was there until 1 or 2 am).

(Hyrum with some classmates getting ready to play hide and seek throughout the school)
Was trying to lose weight. I only succeeded in losing and gaining the same 4 or 5 pounds on a rotating basis, but I did try.

I had the stomach flu during one of my busiest weeks in April (but this got me out of doing a few things and therefore lightening my load.)

Got through Spring Break!

Took kids to or attended various birthday parties, card making parties, luncheons, meetings and church parties.

Was an almost 100% Visiting Teacher :)

Attended numerous dance recitals and performances.

(Hannah's Farmyard and Cruella DeVille dances)
Helped with the end of year activities such as: Arts In the Park, Kindergarten Park Day, Kindergarten Graduation and my youngest sister's High School Graduation.

(Hannah with her teacher, Miss Zirker--also our Primary President--and with her cousin Holly, who was in the same class.)
Took two of my children to the dentist for the first time and found out that at least half of their teeth are rotting out of their heads!

Spent many hours in the dentist office to get the teeth fixed (with more hours to come) and spent (or at least, will have spent) thousands of dollars on dental bills since we have absolutely zero dental insurance unless one of us needs dental surgery following an accident or something (which is why this is the first time we have taken our kids to the dentist--a bad mistake, I know).

My husband and several different relatives spent many hours finally fencing in my backyard (a dream that started before we first moved into our house 5 1/2 years ago!)


So that is my life in a nutshell over the last 5 months (in no particular order). I hope to get better at this. If any of you are interested to learn more about something that I have done (as listed here) let me know and maybe I will do another post on just that thing and fill in any blanks. I was avoiding writing because their was just so much to say so I decided to cut it short and let you decide if you want to hear more. I hope that this post was somewhat enjoyable and not just tedious to get through.


(I didn't really have pictures of Emma and Joshua in this post so I added a few that I liked. Joshua is listening to my iPod and Emma is practicing her Princess curtsy in her Easter dress.)

It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To!

I missed my blogging time on Sunday this week but I feel justified in the fact that I was suffering from some kind of strange illness. I finally was feeling better yesterday except for exhaustion so I have been trying to get a little caught up on things now. The one thing that I thought would be interesting to blog about last week was my husband's awesome birthday party.

Last Thursday my hubbie turned 31. I thought that I would throw him a friend party rather than the traditional family party. Not that 31 is one of those milestone birthdays or anything. I just felt too overwhelmed last year to handle throwing a large party but I felt better about it this year (even though we are busier now--go figure?).

Now, I am not very good at inviting people to come over. I always worry that maybe they won't want to and will feel pressured to say yes or just outright reject me! : ) Or I worry that I won't be able to make the evening enjoyable enough and they will feel that they wasted their time. But I called people up (another phobia of mine is calling people on the phone--go me!) and invited 6 other couples to join us in celebrating Paul's birth on Thursday evening.

On Wednesday I started cleaning and baking like a crazy woman. I made up lists of everything that might possibly need to be cleaned or cooked by Thursday evening and went at it. I made cake, I made his birthday dinner in advance so we could eat early and get the kids in bed before everyone arrived, I picked up/dusted/vacuumed/scrubbed/mopped everything except the kids rooms and our offices. The next day I did more of the same. By the time we were having our little family birthday dinner celebration before the kids' bedtime I was exhausted and getting very nervous about the evening.

After dinner we moved the table into the family room and set up the chocolate fountain, the cakes, the cheese and crackers, the fruit and dip and the water. We got the kids in jammies with family prayer and scriptures said and tucked in bed and now we needed to await our guests.

The sad part is that no one came.

My husband's brother showed up 20 min. late with their dad. Their dad left about a quarter to eight. By now I am fighting to keep a brave face for my husband and one guest but it was hard not to cry. My brother-in-law's wife showed up about 8 and I called my family to please come over and help us eat all the food that I had made. They did and we were able to have a nice evening together, but I have sworn to forgo any more large parties until he is 40! It is too stressful for me and so extremely depressing to have no one come.

Now, so you don't think that we have no friends, they did all have excuses. And two of the couples did call to inform us early that they wouldn't be able to make it. Of the others, one couple had sickness in the house, one couldn't find baby-sitting, and one couldn't get away from a scouting meeting that they were in. It would have been nice to have phone calls to know ahead of time but such is life sometimes. But overall, I feel safer with family parties. Family at least pretends they want to be with you ! : ).

The next night we were able to go out with Paul's brother and his wife and Paul's parents to a movie and had fun that way. All in all it wasn't a bad birthday. At least I didn't have to mess up my gorgeously clean home with a party! And seeing as how I got sick two days later it really helped to have things nice and clean before it started to fall apart rather than the other way around.

So, that is my adventure of the awesome birthday party and the lessons learned therefrom. Have a great week.

GSA (a.k.a. Gluttony Sufferers Anonymous)

Hello. My name is Kristin Hansen and I suffer from gluttony.

This week I have been striving to overcome this huge desire to stuff my face all day long. The more unhealthy it is the more my mouth seems to want to have it. Before Thanksgiving I was doing pretty good with Weight Watchers (keeping in my POINTS range most of the time and exercising 3-4 days a week for an hour). However, I have gone back to my gluttonous ways and I am struggling to return from the abyss!

I was blaming this on my children, saying that they were the ones that made me get so fat and so tired that I don't have the energy or brain power to resist those cakes and cookies or get off my rear end (not to their faces of course--what kind of mother do you think I am!?). However, I remember now that it started back with the Freshman 15 (or 25 or whatever it was)!!! In high school I seemed to have a lot more restraint. I was never the skinny girl but I had will power to eat one candy bar over several days or eat only a slice of bread or two rather than half a loaf! : ) Then I left home, bought my own groceries with no one telling me what to eat or when to eat or how much to eat and not having to share the food with a house full of people. My slumbering gluttony awoke and reared its ugly head and I seem to be able only to knock it out for short periods of time, never eradicate it!

I have been trying, for over a year, to lose 50 lbs. so that the next time I was pregnant I would not just continue to add another 10 lbs. to my bulk. I have managed to lose 30-35 lbs. which I should be proud of, but I can't seem to get passed the fact that I still have 20 to go. Does anyone have any magic will power pills to sell?! My good friend has started a 6 month BiggestLoser competition and I think that will help, but I am not a very competitive person so the thought of it hasn't been enough so far to get me to stop wanting (and usually giving in) to eating everything in sight. However, I do not want to report a weight gain so I have been limiting my portions (somewhat) and chewing a lot of gum to make me stop and think before I stuff. Maybe slowly but surely my once emerging better health habits will return.

Does anybody out there suffer like me and have suggestions for conquering the gluttony monster? HELP!!!

Time Flies

I am not sure that anyone cares that I haven't written here since October, but I figure that there is no point in creating a blog if I am not going to use it. (And sorry about having no pictures. I'll get on the ball next time.) So, for one of my New Year's Resolutions I have decided to try and write at least once a week about some "adventure" that has taken place in my little family. Maybe I will then catch the blogging bug and be more consistent. I don't think anyone really reads this but it will be a good way for me to keep a small record of my family's lives through the years. However, I have resolved to do better in my journaling most every year and have yet to really make it happen. It is all about enduring and continuing to try though, right? So here goes my first blog for January of 2008.

I thought that this time I would just jot down the major happenings of our week this time.

Monday: New Year's Eve! Paul and I usually celebrate the New Year alone at home since it is hard to get a babysitter for that time and then we usually do not stay up until midnight even. This year our ward had a 9pm-1am party at the church and I was in charge of doing some things for the young Primary kids who might come. I was just going to go alone while Paul watched the kids and come home around 11 when we were done with the activities. My mom and dad, however, said that they would have the kids sleep over at their house that night and Paul and I could go to the party! I thought, "Yea!!! Our first date in about a month (maybe more). " However, I spent 2 hours helping kids make Fruit Loop necklaces and when we were finally done Paul was involved in a Risk game. Good-bye to an evening spent together. I spent another hour watching others dance and then asked Paul if he wanted to come celebrate the New Year with me and his reply was only, "I still have 5 minutes." So I left upset and went to watch the fireworks and twirl my noisemaker alone. He did come out and watched with me for a while and then gave me a dance before returning to his game. I spent the rest of the evening visiting with some friends and being drug out on the dance floor with all the girls to dance to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (not really my thing). He did come and dance the last dance with me, but overall, not the best New Year I ever spent.

Tuesday: Laid around and did nothing!

Wednesday: Laid around and did almost nothing. : ) In my defense, I was feeling rather queasy.

Thursday: Still queasy but spent the day in town shopping with the kids and spouse and then spent several late hours scrapbooking and visiting with good friends.

Friday: Tried to act like I was helping Paul get the house in order but really struggling to do anything due to the late hours kept the night before : ). We spent the afternoon and evening at my mom's and dad's visiting with my sister and her fiancee and playing games with some friends.

Saturday: A big and special day. My first child was baptized. It was a stress in my life for most of the week. I hadn't been able to focus on it before due to Christmas and all the family partying going on so I was feeling a little unprepared. However, when the day came I didn't feel very stressed at all. The spirit was helping me to not sweat the small stuff and really enjoy the experience, I think. We kept it very simple and the spirit filled in any blanks. It was a wonderful experience to watch my own child take this first step. He is such a sweet, gentle boy who loves to learn and plan things out. He loves animals and drawing, reading and music. He gets very nervous about new experiences and he was a little anxious about this (especially since he is rather scared to put his face in the water!) I am so proud of him for not making a fuss and just doing everything with poise and quietness. He had his Grandpa Hansen and his Uncle Art Hansen give the talks and his dad performed the baptism and confirmation. I was a little sad that all our family had come to visit last week for Christmas and so there wouldn't be very many for his baptism but the small group was very nice. It was just grandparents and great-grandparents and a few aunts and great aunts and uncles. He had a couple friends come with their families and you could really appreciate each person as they came to show their love and friendship for Hyrum. It was a great feeling. My bother, Danny, is serving a mission and was sad that he couldn't be there but he wrote us a letter to read to Hyrum as a surprise at his baptism. It was a surprise for everyone and brought a very special spirit into the room. Afterwards we had dessert at my parents house and had so much fun visiting and eating. It was a fantastic day!

Now today is Sunday and tomorrow I have to start living real life again and I am almost sure that I am ready. I will miss not having my husband around as much to help and support me and I am not looking forward to having most of the free time that I have enjoyed lately taken away or my opportunity to sleep in diminished. However, there is a great deal to be said for routine and orderliness and I am ready to get back to that. December has been a month of craziness and complete change from the normal. But I now have a new back door, a broken window replaced, a new dishwasher, a painted family room and master bath and was able to visit with so many family members on both sides (there were about 50 people gathered in my in-laws double wide after the holidays! That's what you get for having 9 children, I guess, and teaching them about multiplying and replenishing the earth ; ) ). Let normal life begin!

Birthdays, Birthdays and more Birthdays!!!!

You might think, from the title, that this will be about the birthdays of my daughter Hannah, my brother Danny and myself which are all within 1 week, however, this is not so. I am speaking of the numerous birthday parties I have had to plan for one small girl turning six.



Because her birthday was on a Saturday and she is now a schoolgirl we needed to celebrate with her class on Friday. This seemed very stressful to me as I made 5 dozen cookies the night before and worked on getting all the gear in the car the next day, but it all turned out great and I left that class a glowing success. I read the kids a short story called the Birthday Zoo and then gave them all Ginger Crinkles (one of Hannah's favorites--she isn't big on chocolate) and apple juice. The kids enjoyed the story and everyone adored the cookies so I could relax and enjoy Hannah's happiness--I did forget to have the teacher take our picture, though.


Then to add to the confusion, her birthday was General Conference weekend. And not just any Conference weekend, but the weekend my sister's fiancee and in-laws-to-be were coming so they could finalize all their plans and parents could get to know one another. Mom really helped with this one so it wasn't extremely stressful in the planning stage, but fitting in pizza and a couple presents in between the first two sessions and cake and pie and the rest of the presents between the afternoon and priesthood sessions (add in extra people, wedding planning, Paul's 5th and 6th grade football game and an overly excited little birthday girl and it is amazing that we made it through!)

Now, owing to the fact that her birthday was during conference I am now obligated (as she sees it) to plan a final party for her and a few friends this coming Friday after school. I almost made it for Thursday after school but remembered that that is MY birthday and didn't think that I needed to ruin my day with that stress (Funny how I can't hardly remember my own birthday anymore). I can't wait until we can finally just be glad she is six and stop celebrating!