An eventful beginning and end...

When we travel, we normally like an "uneventful" trip. You know, nice and boring. I have learned that an adventure or excitement isn't normally a good thing. You may remember my trip to Wyoming earlier this year, if not, check it out.

Well, our wonderful Christmas trip to Colorado started and ended crummy. Wyoming, of course, would be the reason we started off so bad. I am not exaggerating when I say that we had a combined total of maybe 30 minutes of good, sunny weather and clear roads. The drive took us over two hours longer than it should have. But, we made it safe. We passed Evanston just before they closed the gates. Here are some familiar pictures for any of you who have ever braved the state of Wyoming in any non-summer months...

Luckily, the drive home was clear and quick. We got home, started unloading the car, and discovered a water leak, no, a geyser, in the basement! There is a water softener that all the water runs through. It burst open and was shooting out water faster than the drain could handle. My guess is that this had been going on for a couple of days. The main room was soaking wet all the way through, halfway into the guest room, and part way into the storage room. Carpet had to be ripped up and pad thrown out right then and there, water sucked up through a wet-vac, and just about everything taken to the garage - bed taken down, bookshelves full of toys, train table, and lots of (thank goodness) rubbermaid totes. Those totes saved our stuff. We did have one tragedy though, and it was a big deal. The bin that had all of Brandon's mission stuff had a crack in it and half the stuff was ruined. Luckily, his journal and letters home were dry, but he had to throw out some pictures and other memorbillia. Sorry B! Thanks to my dad and a good neighbor for the help. And mom for taking the kids while we cleaned up the place!

Santa made it!

What a great Christmas we had this year. My kids are at such a fun age - Koby and Spencer very much into Santa, and Clay LOVING opening presents. I enjoyed watching them on Christmas morning. Of course there are lots of pictures, and here a just a few...

What a fun time we had back in Colorado - seeing good friends, playing with family, staying up too late, laughing, eating, etc. We hope you had a great Christmas too! Stay tuned to see what we came home to...

Colorado Christmas

My little family somehow made it safely through the miserable state of Wyoming and are enjoying spending the holidays in Colorado. We have seen dear friends and have had a lot of laughs with Brandon's family. We are looking forward to the next couple days of chaos as we are all together. I love the Hansens and these next few pictures will show you one of the many reasons why. There truly is never a dull moment with these folks around. Brandon's computer has photo booth with all these fun different views. This entertained Jennis (B's mom) and Kelsey (his sister) for quite a while. Brandon, Clay and I definitely enjoyed the show...

Scrooge

My family has a few very meaningful traditions, and "Scrooge" is one of them. I was probably in high school when someone corrected me and said, "You mean A Christmas Carol?" As kids, we always called it Scrooge, and still do. You all know the story I'm sure. If you don't, then shame on you. But, like most things in life, "Scrooge" means more to me as I get older. The story is more meaningful, and the tradition started by my dear Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Jerry is also more meaningful. Every single year since I was tiny our whole extended family goes, and now we do it in a few different groups since everyone doesn't live together. But, Grandma and Grandpa make it all happen. This was Koby and Spencer's second year and they were both so excited and loved it. Of course, I brought the camera along...

A tradition within a tradition - Kim and I always get a picture sitting on Scrooge's bed...

May as well get the boys on the bed too...

And in the middle of the stage...

The front row is the best, especially if you want to touch all the pretty dresses as they walk by. But, watch out, Scrooge spits!

Another huge tradition - See's at intermission. See's is always a part of our get togethers, including my wedding...

The whole clan...

The Cold-e-sac of Christmas

I think I might have mentioned that I am on the Activities Committee (or the party planning committee for you Office lovers) in our new ward. So, I got to be a little involved in the planning and executing of the infamous Ward Christmas party. But, if the title tells you anything, this was not your ordinary Ward Chistmas party. We had it outside in a small cul-de-sac. We have a great guy, Amal, as the head of the party planning committee. Amal had a vision for the party that turned out to be a huge hit. Amal is from hawaii and likes a big party with lots of food and fun, and that's exactly what we had. It was hard to get a good picture of the whole event since it was dark, but we had enough home-made soups for twice as many people, relish trays, pulled pork sandwiches, yummy home-made scones
(made on the spot), wings, hot chocolate and mint brownies. That was on and around my parents driveway with the heated lounge (not pictured) in their garage...

In the middle of the cul-de-sac was a perfect tree that someone went and chopped down for the event. All around were fire pits and chairs...(I couldn't pull Spencer away from the fire) Did I mention we had festive music blasting the entire time? The kids had their pictures taken and printed, then made ornaments to put them in. Plus, they decorated sugar cookies in one garage...

Let's not forget the teenagers. They had two different kinds of video games going in one yard. Plus, a basketball shootout game (not pictured)...

And to top it all off, Santa came riding in on a little carriage pulled by a pony. Then, it was visits with Santa and carriage rides for everyone!
Hudson and Clay are less than thrilled with Santa...

Koby's happy, but I couln't get Spence to get close...What a great party. My kids had a blast and came home smelling like campfire! Hope everyone's funeral potatoes in the cultural hall were good!

Birthday Recap

I am finally getting pictures on my computer from the Birthday events. Monday night we had the whole family over for cake and ice cream and Spence opened presents from them. Spencer helped decorate his own cake by choosing and putting the cars on that he wanted... Brandon always wants cheesecake...

Koby and Spencer also helped me decorate the house with their own artwork. Koby's is the first one, it is Spence with his glasses, I love it...

Spencer with a few of his gifts.. Tuesday was their actual birthday. We tried three times to see Brandon at work and eat lunch with him. But, I think he must have had one of his busiest days because I had to just send the boys in to hurry and give him his balloons and cupcakes to share with everyone. Then we decorated his bike and I forgot to take a picture!

As soon as Brandon got home from work, we opened presents, of course... Then, Brandon and I took Spencer on a birthday dinner date. Wherever Spencer wanted. He chose Red Robin. Here's some pics of my super cute birthday boys... Aren't I a lucky girl?

Oh ya, Spence got a discman and we had to pull those things out of his ears so we could have bring him back to us, he was in his own little world...

Happy Birthday Boys! Thanks to everyone for making it great!