My New Toy

We all survived the Arctic Blast '08 here in the Northwest! I used some of your ideas to keep me and Lucy sane, Lacey your fort idea was the winner!

Well Lucy got spoiled this Christmas from us and her grandparents! She got more noise making toys...they make her happy so we tune them out. Her favorite toy however was from Santa, a baby doll and stroller. She played by herself for over an hour Christmas day with her new doll and stroller, what more could a mommy ask for for Christmas?

I did get some great things myself including an all expense paid trip to Orlando in May, food storage, and a new Shark Steam Mop. But me and Tyler's favorite Christmas present was the one to each other, a Nikon D60. We have taken more pictures then we can count. We have watched some tutorials and are so excited to learn how to take some awesome pictures. We are going to make photography our new hobby to share. A date we are looking forward to is going downtown Portland and taking pictures. Besides the doll that makes Lu so happy, a present to bring Tyler and I closer together while documenting our wonderful lives together, is one you can't put a price tag on!

Here are some of our favorites we have taken so far of our beautiful blue-eyed baby...

This last picture is of my new niece, Berkley Janet, Born Christmas day. Isn't she beautiful!!!

Picture Tag

Okay I am catching up on a million things thanks to the snow, hubby out of town and a sleeping toddler. I realized Kassie tagged me forever ago and I thought I would play now.
This is my forth picture in my fourth file. I was so happy it was a cute one! This is last Christmas when I was trying to get Lucy out of her Christmas dress and slip. I love poofy dresses on little girls. This slip beat them all!

Cabin Fever!

I am trapped in my own home all because it snowed a few inches on Sunday. Coming from living in Idaho and Utah this should be nothing right? Wrong! When it snows in Portland the whole dang city shuts down. This was so cool as a kid, but not now! Church on Sunday was canceled and many of the main roads and highways closed. When they opened back up chains were required. The chain requirements have been lifted and the wind calmed down a bit today, but ice covers almost every road in the area. School is canceled in our district tomorrow for the third day in a row. This should be no big deal but I am going CRAZY!
Tyler had to take my car because it has 4WD-he is out of town and will be using it for through Friday. It hasn't gotten out of the 20's since Sunday. We are supposed to have another snow storm tomorrow, Wednesday, and snow and ice on Sunday. Those dang weather guys said this Arctic blast is on the forecast for as long as they can see. HELP ME!!!
I know I am a stay-at-home mom, but never do I actually stay at home multiple days in a row. We get out and do things. How am I supposed to entertain this girl inside all day? If she were older we could play more games or do real activities. If she were younger she wouldn't care if we didn't leave the house. If you have ideas PLEASE let me know! I have given more baths, read more books, and played Ring Around the Rosie more times then I can count (she just learned how to play that game on Saturday and won't let us forget). I have looked online at many Websites to see what I could do. We have done many of the things but lets face it, games at this age last only minutes, I have hours!

Love that Duck!

Lucy was given a big yellow duck a couple of months ago. She sort of played with it now and then, but the other day she fell in love! She has been carrying the duck around the house and loving it as much as a 15-month-old girl can. She hugs it, drags it, sits on it, kisses it, and then does it all over again. I had to post some pictures because I think it is so funny how kids get attached to random things. Thanks Linda!

Happy Thanksgiving

I wanted to take this time to write a list of all the things I am thankful for, but decorating a Christmas tree sounds like more fun. So I will just tell you that I love my husband and little lulu and don't know where I would be today without them. They both bring such joy to my life and make it complete.

These pictures were taken before Halloween, but old pictures are better than no pictures. I wish my camera were fixed!!!

This first picture is of Lucy scowling. She has found it gets quite the reaction from people and likes to make it often. She laughs afterwards and then goes back into a scowl. She also does it when she is mad. What a personality this one has!

Now off to the pumpkin patch we go, (scowl and all)!

Still Alive

I have had a few friends email me to see if I was still alive and kicking, if Lucy still had a mommy. The answer is yes.
We are moved into a little (and I mean little) two-bedroom apartment in Clackamas, OR. We are mostly unpacked with pictures on the wall. We have changed our phone numbers so we could have 503 area codes and we also got a home phone line. I got super paranoid when we had a babysitter in Utah and I didn't have a home phone for her to dial 911 if something went wrong. Anyway, I don't want to give it out online, but I will text my new digits shortly. I will also send out an email with all the info in it. I am a little slow I know. I have had a new number for 2 1/2 weeks now and keep wondering why nobody is calling. It is a little hard when only your mom and hubby have you number. So I apologize for being impossible to get a hold of. Yes I had a great birthday and the move when smoothly! I have mostly cleaned out my inbox and have the Internet up and running. I have only checked like two blogs so I am not up to date on your lives, but getting there.
My camera is broken so no pictures, but the newest news is as follows:

• Eric (my brother-in-law) just got home from his mission in Indiana on Monday
• Lucy is running
• Lucy is even a bigger drama queen
• Tyler started his new job as a regional manager for Lincoln Heritage
• We LOVE being so close to family!
• Lucy carries on conversations with herself all day long. She doesn't really use real words anymore, (except 'mama' over and over when she wants something and 'baby' when she sees a picture of any little kid). She babbles as though she is asking questions, making comments, amazed that something happened or disappointed. It is something everyone should hear sooner or later. I should post a video. The other day in the kitchen Tyler asked me in a disgusted voice if she was going to talk this much when she actually can say real words. Were crossing our fingers that it slows down a bit. However, right now though it is absolutely adorable!!!!

I think that sums up our lives at the moment. Just trying to get organized. I am also fighting this yucky cold right now so breathing is a chore! I will be better and try to get my camera fixed soon.

99 Balloons

I just watched Oprah to see Kendra and Maliyah and found it to be a very inspirational hour! It was all on miracle children. The most touching thing was a video entitled '99 Balloons' found on YouTube. It is about this little baby boy named Eliot. Grab a tissue and click the following link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6Njr-qkq0

It changed the way I view my time with Lucy, and how I spend my days.

Tough Times

Tyler's extended family has been through a lot in the past couple of years. Today his cousin's kids are going to be on Oprah once again as the nation has been watching the miricles unfold in their lives. Prayers are still in order for Kendra and Malyiah, but the two once conjoined, are adjusting to life apart. I have had the opportunity to meet these girls and you wouldn't believe they love and happiness that radiate from them. They are absolutely adorable and love life to its fullest! Aren't they so cute in this picture making funny faces?!!You can read more about their current situation and look at lots of fun pictures on their families website http://www.herrintwins.com/ or watch Oprah today.

Another of Tyler's cousins, Marley whom I absolutely love, has a 13-year-old boy Luc who has been fighting cancer for years. He is currently undergoing chemo, once again, in hopes to keep the tumor from surrounding his lungs, airway and spine. Their community in Eagle Mountain, UT is throwing a huge yard/bake sale at one of the local schools in order to raise money for the struggling family. There is an article you can read from the Deseret News on their situation if you would like more deatils or want to know how to donate. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705258501,00.html And please, keep Luc in your prayers!

I should be sleeping...

So I should be fast asleep right now seeing as how it is 12:45a.m. but here I am on the Internet. I sat down a little after 9:30 and am still here, what is wrong with me? At first I was being productive and searching, once again, for apartments to move into next week. That has been a process that is more than I bargained for. My mom and I went and looked for about 5 hours the other day at places I had found online and I didn't like any of them. Maybe I should stop being so picky. So after looking at apartments I got side tracked with Good Reads and then my email and now blogs. The Internet can be an addicting thing if you let it. I am going to regret staying up so late when that little alarm clock of mine gives me a wake up call first thing in the morning. Too bad she didn't come with a snooze button.

I have been posting without pictures too much lately, so here's a picture I stole off Kassie's blog who stole it from Loraleigh's. Next time I will bring my own camera ladies! For those of you who don't know the girls in the pic, these are my wonderful Provo Craft work buddies. I was the first of the five to have a baby, but in six weeks time Kassie will put herself on the map of motherhood. It was so fun to have girls at the same stage of life as me and to talk about our prego bodies and such. I miss you girls and am already planning my next trip to see Story after her debut-probably next spring!

Up Close and Personal

So take a look at this photo. No, I did not get this off the Internet and no, I did not use a zoom. Tonight I went to see Celine Dion at the Rose Garden and literally scored the best seats in the house!

An old friend of mine, Erin, works for the Rose Garden and every once in awhile gets free tickets for the 300 level seating to give to friends and family. She gave my mom some tickets (along with a bunch of other ward members) and she invited me and Ashleigh. When we got there I heard my name and some ward friends said they got great seats from 'a lady with a clipboard.' So my pregnant sister-in-law ran around, me trailing behind, and found the 'lady with the clipboard.' Apparently they didn't sell out and needed to fill the seats around the stage to make it look full. So we traded in our tickets for some in the 100 level. Little did we know where we would be. Can you believe it? The girls behind us paid $125 for their tickets and we got our completely free. My mom and some of her friends weren't as lucky and stuck with their original tickets. But they said they had fun watching us on the big screen. So Cool! It was an AMAZING concert! She is a great performer and in case you were wondering, her hands are very soft!!!!

Zoo Fun

Monday after my grandma’s passing, me and my stistor Amy who was in town for the funeral, Lucy and my grandpa all went to the Oregon Zoo. Lucy couldn’t take her eyes off the animals! She pointed at and talked to all of them. The picture below is of my little on looking at the birds that pooped on her a few seconds later. I suppose that is what you get for staring!

Grandma's Funeral

I never wrote anything about my Grandma Bernice's funeral. It was such a beautiful memorial service. My dad spoke and my mom summarized my grandmother’s life. Both of them did a wonderful job! I thought I had heard every story there was to know about my grandma, I was wrong and laughed through the whole thing! It wouldn't be my grandma's life if we weren't crying from laughing so hard.
Funerals are funny. While you are so sad about the passing of your loved one, it is an opportunity to get together with family. I had a great time the last week of grandma's life, and after her passing reminiscing and laughing with my family. Nancy did a good job making light of the situation. My favorite thing had to be when my mom and Nan told the story about how my grandma used to play dead when they were little. All the neighbor kids would drag her around the house, open up her eyelids and such trying to wake her up. The game stopped when grandma couldn't hold in her laughter anymore. So Nancy kept telling grandma to get up and would pry her eyelids open as if she were playing dead again. That might sound like a horrible thing unless you are part of my family. Tyler always tells me that we joke around and deal with things a little differently than most.Above: All my family (except Tyler who had to take a flight out right after the service to get back to work). Below: Peyton, Nancy, Amy, Jessica, and Morgan.
Lucy kept picking up Jessica's purse and putting over her shoulder. She is a shopper in training!

Oregon- our new home

I am back from Utah and am so happy to finally be actively looking for a place to live in my home state. No more living with family members, we will get to use our own furniture and décor to make ourselves at home. We took this picture yesterday. Aren’t the reds in the trees beautiful? We were driving away from our house and couldn't help but stop to take a picture.I am going to post a few different entries right now because I am a little behind on blogging. Some of them go way back, but I use my blog kind of like a journal so I can’t just not share.

Back in Utah

So I spent the end of August and all of September in Oregon living with my parents. Tyler has been in Utah but with everything going on in my family, and the way our contract worked out, it worked best for Tyler to travel back to Oregon to visit us when he could. But I have been in Utah with him for the past two weeks and it is so nice to have a hubby again! He works most of the time, but it is nice to fall asleep with someone else in the bed with me. Also, it makes me feel better to know that my hubby is eating real meals.

The past two Saturday's we walked a mile or so to McDonald's for breakfast. They have the coolest playground thing--a major upgrade from when I was a kid for sure! Tyler tried teaching Lucy how to play basketball...maybe in a year she will understand the concept a little better!

Who knew a slide could be so scary?!!

My little Lucy is growing up so fast! She is 13 months old now and seems to do or say something new daily. We went for her 12 month checkup the other day and here are the stats--23 lbs 2 oz (60%) and 31 3/4" (off the carts--apparently they say that's in the 100 percentile). So I no longer have the fat baby, but the strangely tall baby. Anyway you look at it, I have the perfect baby!

She can walk but chooses to crawl. The most steps she has taken at one time is between 15-20 (I lost count). She can say more words all the time. The most frequently spoken are not 'ma ma' or 'da da' but rather 'pee-ee' (Peaty is Tyler's Aunt and Uncle's dog, we are staying with them), 'sky,' 'ow' (meaning ouch, as she gets hurt or as she is hitting/hurting me), and of course 'hi' and 'bye' with a wave. I feel like she is so smart, nobody tell me otherwise either because I choose to believe that she is the smartest one-year-old out there!!!!

She loves giving kisses which melt my heart! My cousin Jessica got the most perfect picture of her puckering up for a kiss. I will try to get it to share because she is a crack up. I now second guess how I kiss because she had to learn how to pucker up and make the mmmmwwwaa sound from someone. Oops!

A Wonderful Woman!

I wrote very long journal entry last night. Most of it is too personal to share, but here is the first paragraph to describe, in essence, what happened.

September 23, 2008
Today was a difficult day to say the very least. At 7:10 p.m. I was holding my Grandmothers hand as she passed from this world. It was a sacred moment for me, a happy moment where she wouldn't be in any more pain, but an awfully sad moment to realize I no longer have my Grandmother here on earth. She looked so peaceful as she her body relaxed, like a huge burden had been lifted. I know she was met by a big crowd, her parents and baby girl included, on the other side. She lived a good life and was a wonderful woman who will be a Goddess in the Celestial Kingdom with her loving eternal companion, my Grandpa Rulon.

The funeral is on Monday at 11:00 a.m. Tyler is Flying into PDX Friday to be with me and be a pallbearer. I want to blog more about this, but honestly I am too drained, emotionally and physically, to do so right now. I just thought I needed to do something so you would all know.

I am not ignoring blogging, I just have a lot going on in my family right now. I don't want to go into too many details, but hospice is taking care of my grandma in her home. I love her so much and don't know who I would be if it weren't for my grandma. I have so many feelings about the subject, but I am off to rent a movie to watch for my grandpa's 78th birthday. My grandma first knew she liked my grandpa when they were at the drive-in in Texas watching Charley's Aunt. She said they laughed at the same parts and she thought he was so cute. My cousin Jessica and I called a bunch of stores and finally found one that carried it in downtown Portland, so we are off to drive the 30 minutes to pick up a movie.

My Baby is ONE!

Saturday, September 13th was my baby's first birthday. I can hardly express the way I feel except that I am way too young to have a baby that old! I will share more of my feelings, Lucy's new abilities and many more pictures, but for now, here is a photo that describes Lucy in a nut shell!
Thanks for capturing the moment so well Ashleigh!

August Updates

So it has been a little while since I really have written anything of value on my blog. This past month has been beyond crazy, to say the very least! It has been cram packed full of events and stress, but it is calming down drastically!

So I get to brag for a minute, but only because I am so proud of my hubby! On the 15th Tyler officially GRADUATED from BYU's Marriott School of Business. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments! It is a top 10 business school and he worked so hard to stay on academic scholarship the entire time. He took is schooling seriously (for the most part, or rather the classes he cared about) and is finally done and ready for the next chapter in our lives. I must admit that I am excited for it too. To have a steady income and all that sounds rather appealing if you ask me! This picture is of the college grad and his best friend Eric who came to cheer Tyler on.Lots of other stuff has happened, but I don't really want to focus on it so I will just give you an update of pictures of my darling little Lulu. She has seen a lot of her extended family this month and is loving every minute of it!!!

The first three pictures below were taken at the Children's Museum in Portland. I met Amanda and Heather and their kids on Monday and we spent hours watching (chasing) all our kids. Lucy couldn't walk of course but loved to follow the 'big girls' lead and crawled quickly behind. Jessica, Heathers oldest, cracked me up the whole day. She kept dressing up in different outfits in the theatre, or going over to different things in the museum, posing, and saying 'I think we should take a picture of this.' She is adorable, can't you can tell it was her idea to take the picture below!
Unlike my little Lulu, Aimee was so good to always look at the camera. I think I have about 50 pictures of the back or side of Lucy's head from this occasion alone. She gets so caught up in what is going on that she doesn't seem to even care there is a camera around despite how hard her mother tried. Obviously she doesn't get this from her mother!
What a little goofball smile she has with a passy in her mouth!
This picture is the best! Rafe and Lucy were playing so nicely together while us girls were packing up Dane & Ashleigh's home. We asked Rafe to put his arm around Lucy and smile for the camera and this is what I got. All I can say is priceless!

Week Review in Pictures

This is my lazy approach to blogging this week. Enjoy the pictures of my two loves!

Oregon Vacation

We were planning on going to Echo lake in Montana with the rest of the Hansen's this week but we had a little change of plans. My grandma had a heart attack last week and my mom wanted to stay close by. So we all packed up and came to Oregon instead.

We drove all day Friday and have had cram packed days ever since. Some of the highlights have been seeing Batman at the IMAX. Oh my goodness amazing! Apparently they used special cameras during all the action scenes, (pretty much the whole movie) and it really made the movie come to life. It was a great movie, one of the best action movies I have seen in a long time! I think Heath Ledger really peaked in his performance, it is a real shame he is no longer with us to share his great talents. His character was so creepy that it makes me wonder if playing this part had something to do with his depression. Anyway, it was a movie worth seeing!

Sunday Dane and Ashleigh came up from Salem and we had dinner. Afterwards we hurried out to Sherwood to eat Dessert with Tyler's family.

Another highlight was the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. It rarely disappoints and this seemed to be like an especially good year! My hubby Tyler who hates shopping even managed to rack up a bill of his own! A much larger bill than me I might add!

Yesterday we went out to the river with some friends. I haven't been on a tube ride in forever, but I had fun hogging the tube with both my stissy and Tyler.

Lucy sure enjoyed the boat rides and especially the sand. As you can tell from the picture below, she maybe like the sand a little too much.

This morning I went to the driving range with Tyler. I decided that I am not very good at golf! I got frustrated half way through my balls, so I sat down and watched Tyler swing. He is getting pretty good-especially when you compare him to me!

Warm Sensation

I am pretty good about staying for all three meetings at church. Even if this means walking the halls for one of them, I am hanging around hoping Lu will want to go in and play quietly. Today was a different story!
So I am sitting in Sunday School and Lucy is actually sitting in my lap playing quietly with some finger puppets. With only twenty minutes to go I feel something super warm on my lap. I didn't realize what this warm sensation was till I felt it running down my leg and into my shoe. SHE PEED ON ME! It went straight through her diaper and onto her lovely mother. Tyler handed me a diaper wipe but the damage had been done.
I changed her diaper (it was mostly dry-go figure) and tried to walk around and let the pee on my dress dry off so I could go to RS. I finally gave up on my underwear and slip drying too and Lu and I walked home.
Sad Day!

Laughing Lulu!

Amy babysat Lu yesterday while Tyler and I went out to dinner with his sales manager. When I got back Amy showed me these videos and I have watched them a ton of times since. Isn't my little girl the cutest thing you have ever seen?! Oh she has a personality for sure, part of that is my happy little angel you see here.

Independence Day

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend as a family! Friday morning Tyler went and played 18 holes of golf while Lucy and I went to the parade. To our surprise, Tyler joined us. When he did he said that it was trying to find a needle in a haystack. I asked him why he didn't call us to see where we were sitting- apparently I had missed 8 calls. I suppose it is hard to hear with all the bands and fire/police sirens going non-stop.

The three of us had a very enjoyable BBQ lunch and of course made my mother-in-laws green pepper chip dip. Then came the best part of our day...a nice long nap for the three of us. It was that kind of paralyzing sleep where you couldn't get up even if you tried. Lucy slept for three hours, so we did too. It was lazy but yet, so rewarding!

(Two photos below: I had to add these because they make me laugh. The first, Lucy's hair blowing in the wind. Where did those fluffy duck feathers come from? The second photo you can totally tell Lu is in her element! She loves the feel of the wind/fan on her face!)

It was a good thing we got some extra sleep because at 5 we when to Rock Canyon Park to watch the firework show from the Stadium of Fire and because of traffic, didn't get back home till after 12. The fireworks didn't start till around 10:30 so we staked out our spots with blankets and chairs and headed off to Boarders to please my two loves. Tyler got a golf book and Lu got 'Baby Cakes.' The book I wanted was there but I had already looked it up on Amazon and a new copy was still 10 buck cheaper online after shipping. So I opted to wait.

Then it was back to the park to wait. Lucy loved being outside for such a long period of time. There were so many people there for her to watch, she was in her own little heaven.

It was a great show and we had perfect spots. Unfortuantly, Lulu wasn't quite able to stay awake.