Visiting Santa

We took a trip last night to see Santa. 

It went fairly good, except for we didn't get either girl on his lap and Rick and I were forced to be in the picture.  

Clara liked him from a distance, Bree didn't want anything to do with it at all.

Last year, Bree was much happier about Santa. Not really digging the whole situation

this year. 

Santa visit 2012, done and done!

Thanksgiving 2012

We had a great Thanksgiving, full of traveling and a little food too.

We woke up first thing Thanksgiving morning and traveled up to

Idaho to spend Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family.

After we ate and mingled for a bit, we jumped in the 

car and headed right back home to Utah.

How crazy it is that we spent 8 hours in a car with two toddlers in one day to 

have a little turkey! 

I have to say, it was worth it though.  The food was incredible.

I bet our mashed potatoes were better than yours!
Potato farming country right here. 

I am so thankful for my little family.
I am one lucky gal.

Family Photos 2012/ 18 Month Pics

Family picture day is easily my least favorite day of the year.

I spend an obscene amount of time contemplating outfits, 

locations, lipstick color, hair styles.

Then, nothing goes how you plan.

However, I would gladly be stressed to have these memories captured on camera forever.

The girls were in crazy moods and I felt so bad for the photographer,

but she ended up getting some really precious shots of our family.

These doubled as family pictures and 18 month pictures for the girls.
Gotta love two for one. 
 

Hansen Family 2012...
and to see how much we've changed, Family Pics 2011 here

  

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Love, our Mini Minnies

We are Still Here...

We have not stopped our blog loving ways,

I promise!

I don't know what has been my problem with keeping our blog updated lately. 

We've been busy, but who isn't?  

Really, I have just been lazy with it. 

I've had a few people ask me why I'm not posting anymore, thinking that I'm just not into it anymore but the truth is I love keeping my blog up-to-date as a journal for our family

and also to keep our loved ones updated that live far away. 

This is my post to give me a kick in the butt back into blogging.  

I plan to get the past and present all posted soon!

And because no post is complete without a picture, here is a sample of our family picture session we had a few short weeks ago.  I'll post more pics from that later also.  

Oh man, I have a lot to get caught up on. 

We love all of you who read our blog and care enough to keep updated on our family!

Father's Day Breakfast Picnic

Yesterday was extra special because we spent the day celebrating our most favorite person in the whole world, dad!

We packed a little breakfast picnic and headed up to a beautiful spot in Provo Canyon that we love.

We started out on about a mile long walk and at the end there is a park 

where we played and ate our yummy breakfast. 

It was a nice morning with our little family of four. 

After our picnic we headed home to church, then went up to my parents for dinner with the rest of the family.

I couldn't ask for a better father for my children in Rick.

The role of father has been so natural for him and it has been amazing to see him with our kids these past 15 months.

They adore their dad and can't get enough of his rough housing and kisses. 

He truly is the best!

A few pics from our picnic...

Anniversary Number Five

This past weekend, Rick and I celebrated our five year anniversary!

In some ways it seems like time has flown, but in other ways it feels like five years seems so long ago. 

We have learned and grown so much these past few years and we know we will continue to do so as the years go on.
 

Grandma Kathy took the girls overnight so we went up to SLC to shop around at City Creek, walk the temple grounds where we were sealed, and go to one of our favorite sushi restaurants. 

As we sat down to dinner, we started thinking about what the past five years has consisted of and how much things have changed. 

We started a list and wrote down where our life was in 2007, where our life is right now in 2012, and where we would like our life to be in 2017. 

In some areas we've improved and others we could do better:

Rick has lost 20 lbs, very much an improvement for him!

Although, Rick's weight loss doesn't say much about my cooking...an area I could do better in.

You mark my word, in 2017 I will be Betty Crocker! ;)

It was fun to see what we have accomplished in the past five years as husband and wife and also forecast where we would like to be in the years ahead.

One thing is for sure, our greatest accomplishment is our sweet little girls.
They have definitely changed our life and our marriage, but so much for the better.
 

I'm so grateful for the past five years and love Rick more than I can say. 

Can't wait to see what the next five have in store for us!

June 1, 2012

A Little Pool Time

 It was a nice, warm 80 degrees yesterday.

The girls and I jumped over to the store and bought a little wade pool and made the most of the warm weather.

There were smiles and laughs all around.
I look at these pictures and think that it defines what pure happiness looks like.
Nothing makes me more happy then to know that both of them will never be alone,
they will always have each other.
Always have a little friend to play with....

Those chubby legs...I die over them.

Bath Time Shenanigans

My girls have always loved bath time...

up until a few months ago.

Around the time they turned one they started absolutely hating the bath tub. 

It was so strange because they both started hating it at exactly the same time.

Both Rick and I would loathe giving them baths because they would scream bloody murder and reach for us to get them out.

My mom suggested I try bathing them in the sink to see if it would help and much to my surprise it did!

Hopefully soon we can phase back into the big bath tub
but for now this works...

Mother's Day

I had the best day yesterday. Rick and of course Bree and Clara made sure I had a good one.

I woke up to pretty flowers, Rick making me breakfast, and best of all big huge smiles from Bree.

Clara woke up a little later and made sure she gave me some kisses and smiles as well.
We skyped with Grandma Camille in California then went to church and came home to get ready and go up and wish Grandma Kathy a 'Happy Mother's Day'.

All the boys barbequed hamburgers and prepared a yummy dinner. Then we visited with family until late into the night. Great day. 

I am so lucky to be someone's ''mama", not a day goes by that I take this for granted.
This is the hardest, lowest paying job I've ever had but nothing in my life has brought me such great joy and satisfaction.

I have never been happier!
 I love my girls. 

One Year Pictures

I finally got the girls one year pictures taken this past weekend.

So, I guess these are more like 13 month pictures but we will still call them "one year pictures" :)

I'm glad they are done and I am happy this cute stage they are in is documented. 

The pictures went well until half way into the shoot when we were changing into the second outfit,
Clara fell off a bench and fell flat on the floor.
Her mouth started bleeding and we had to give her a little TLC for a minute, but in good Clara fashion she continued to pull out those ear to ear smiles.

Because of the mishap, the second outfit(their Easter dress and pink bow) didn't get much camera time.

Oh well.
I love our little beauties and can't believe how much they have changed in the past few months.
Enjoy!