Sunday, August 9, 2009

The Busiest Summer on Record

So, I can't remember the last time I posted to our family blog. Being a Young Women's president, a mom, a wife, and an illustrator has made this one of the busiest summers of my life...and our family's life. My kids are in no way bored or ready to go back to school. They said, "We haven't even had a real summer yet." I think they're referring to those lazy days when everyone swims at the pool, relaxes, eats out on the back porch every night, and stays up late to play outside. We haven't had much of that. Besides swim lessons, I took my kids to the pool once and we went to a lake at a family reunion and one close by another afternoon. We all are feeling a little jipped at the lack of summer we've had. In the meantime, I've been illustrating 3 books, going to YW camp, youth conference, weekly activities and other meetings. We try to squeeze in some good old family time as much as possible but we just feel a little lacking in the whole lazy summer department. BUT...

We have been very happy to have been able to go camping in our trailer once, go to a family reunion for a few days at an awesome place near Bear Lake, celebrate summer holidays with family, a baseball game and go to swim lessons and lego art classes. Even though we wish there were more days of summer left before school starts in a week and a half, we feel blessed to have been able to do all that we have. Here are a few pics...(my facebook album has more...send me a friend request there and you'll stay even more up to date...lol)


The Hansen family reunion at Bear Lake.


during my first olympic distance triathlon


after finishing my first olympic distance triathlon




Orem Owlz baseball game


Lego City after loving the lego class

Mom, me and my sister at my sister's in-law's cabin



Floating on the River
the cowgirls at the Spanish Fork Rodeo

The kiddos and cousins at the Rodeo

Friday, June 12, 2009

Baptism


We can't believe our youngest son is 8 already. He was baptized by his dad on June 6, 2009. It was nice that his best friend could be baptized the same day as well. We were also very glad so much family could come, especially his Granparents from Indiana who are serving a mission out here in this area right now. Thanks for coming everyone. We missed those of you who couldn't.






Kids at the Studio

I took the kids over the new studio today after having a J-dawg for lunch. They hadn't seen it yet. We took a few shots with the great natural light. Here is one of each of them.



Sunday, May 17, 2009

Saturday Morning Hike

Yesterday, while Julie was at Super Saturday, I took the kids (and Zoe) up Rock Canyon for a morning hike. The canyon was buzzing with people (it was like hiking in LA) but we had a great time. The kids love to explore all the little side trails, throw rocks in the water, and stop to pet every dog that walks by.

Here are a few shots from the hike I took on my iPhone.




Friday, May 1, 2009

Pre-Easter Hunt

The weekend before Easter, I took the kids to a very snowy egg hunt/pancake breakfast hosted by our old real estate agent, Kenny Parcell. Despite the weather, they had a great time and even saw some friends there. It was cold but we dressed warmly and the hot chocolate warmed our toes.


Thursday, March 26, 2009

Master bedroom and bath remodel

Ever since we moved into our house, we've been dreaming of redoing our bedroom and master bath and actually buying a bedroom furniture set (I was tired of using crates as bedside tables after 12 years of marriage). We had pretty grand dreams. But a bit of practicality creeped in and we considered our options. We decided to get the most bang for our buck. So, after 3 years of dreaming, scheming and a bit of saving (money is always an issue of course), we began to remodel. Here's what we are doing...

Here are some pictures of what it's looking like so far...just baseboards and furniture (and of course decorative touches) left.

-Bathroom counter, lighting and knobs (we would've loved to have bought a whole new vanity cabinet, had the faucet come out of the wall, put in a grand bathtub and a separate glass tile shower...but...)




-Bedroom floors, Bamboo Flooring (we got what we wanted there, lumberliquidators for $3 per sq. ft and installed ourselves) and a rug (someday)



-Paint (Rhett wanted lighter than this, I wanted a shade darker in the bedroom...we stuck to the middle road there)
-Furniture (not pictured but on it's way...will post when it comes)

Ready for Mother's Day?


I just thought I'd let everyone know, I'll be signing my latest book (that I illustrated) "The Happiest Mommy Ever!" (written by Alice Furniss and published by Deseret Book) at many locations in the next month before Mother's Day. It's the perfect gift for any mom out there...young or old. I had so much fun illustrating it and was able to put in a lot of personal things...I used my daughter as a model, a few scrapbook photos of my own were referenced from when I had my first baby and when he graduated preschool, my wedding photo, and there is even one of my little kids' baby footprints in the book. It's a sweet story about finding out what makes mom the happiest mommy ever. I couldn't be happier with the way the art and design turned out.

Here's the schedule of signings...

Saturday, March 28th 12noon-2pm : Seagull Book in Spanish Fork, UT (on Main street)
Saturday, April 4th 6-8 pm; Ladies Night at the Deseret Book at University Mall in Orem, UT
Saturday, April 18th 10 am; Juab County Library
Saturday, May 2nd 2pm: at the Purple Cow bookstore in Toole, UT

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Or if you can't make it, go purchase it online here...