Temple Square

Yestereve we had a family outing with my fam to 'Square Temple'. We joined Grams, Grandpa, Ty, McKay and their cute ladies at Litza Pizza for some delicious food. Sadie, who is asserting her almost 2-ness lately, favored us with one of her out of control no reasoning with her temper tantrums. Thankfully Grandpa came to the rescue by taking her outside and distracting her with a Trax train. She rejoined out party and after some pizza and a treat was her sweet self again for the rest of the evening.

Miss Mya with Uncle McKay and Megan

Grandpa and Miss Mya led our tour; when we would lag behind she would motion to us to 'Hurry up! We need everybody, come see these pretty lights!'

Isn't Grams a sassy lady?!

I think one of my favorite things about seeing the lights are the floating bubble lights in the reflecting pool. I want some... just because.

Daddy and rosy cheeked Sade, it was a cold one last night.

The girls with their chauffeurs.

Mya was so excited that they had pink trees 'Just for me!!'

Yes dear, they were just for you.

Our little fam. I am such a lucky lady to have these amazing little ladies and I can't even begin to express how much I love my sweet hubby.

Uncle Tyson said Sadie looked like the little girl on Despicable Me, minus the binki. I had to laugh, it's kinda true.

I am so thankful for the spirit of the season. I loved listening to the Nativity story, and then hearing President Monson's message. It was neat to see how quiet everyone gets while it is playing, and feel the spirit that is present. I know that Christ is our Savior and that although he was born in a humble stable He is the King of Kings.

Merry Christmas!

First Official Haircut

I realize that Miss Mya unofficially got her first hair cut already thanks to her sweet self. But, I had to record our official first trip to the hair salon and our awesome cousin Robyn. After 3 1/2 years her curls were getting a little heavy and a bit 'triangular'.
It was crazy how long her hair had grown, it always surprised me when I was combing it out.

Feelin' so big and sassy in her special chair.

Admiring her new 'do' and the sparkles. She couldn't look away from the mirror long enough to look at the camera.

Snow Day

We had one very happy girl at our house this morning when we peeked out the window and saw 'all' the snow outside. She couldn't wait to get out and have a snowball fight, make a snowman, do anything in the skiff of snow that dusted our grass. Cody mentioned to me that we should go sledding sometime this winter. Well, little ears heard that comment and was instantly on board. She was gathering her clothes and saying 'You have to hurry mom, it's going to melt so fast!' When we told her that Sadie didn't have any snow clothes the prompting changed to 'Hurry to Target Mom! It's going to melt!'
Our little 'stay-puff' marshmallow showing off her new digs.


So excited to FINALLY be getting in the car to go.

Just as Mya had warned me, it melted really fast by our house so we had to travel up the canyon to find some snow.

She had been telling us that she wanted to have a snowball fight, and promptly hopped out of the car grabbed a handful and chucked it at the car.

I was a little nervous that she would be too nervous to actually participate. But she proved me wrong, she hopped right in the tube and was in heaven.

Sadie fell asleep on the way up the canyon, but when she woke up she was ready to get in on the action as well. Once she positioned herself in the tube she would not be moved. If we tried to sit her up or take her out of the tube there was very loud protesting.

Sweet daddy with his little girl. Love these 2!!

Little Miss in her position of choice. She would let out a little squeal or tiny 'wee' and then once she quit moving she would look at us and say 'gain' 'gain' or 'mo'

Yep, I was actually there. Not the most glamorous picture or mom but hey...

When you are daddy's little girl this is how you get back to the top of the run. It also helps if you weigh less than 20 lbs.

Mommy and Daddy's little snow angel.

When it was time to head home there was much weeping, wailing and gnashing of Sadie's little teeth. She was not a happy girl. Mya, was still on cloud nine telling us how much fun it was to play in the snow. These are the days that make me so happy, those simple days full of fun memories.

Equality

To my Sweet Sadie, I don't want you to feel left out. And boy, do you know when you are being left out. You know when you aren't up on the bed when Mya is there, when she gets a drink, a treat, to read a book, to be with mommy or daddy. You want to be right in the middle of all the action. If daddy is hugging mommy then quick as a wink you are right there squeezing one of our legs with all your might. I love that about you, you are so loving. You are different from your sister, I think you are going to be more open to princesses and baby dolls. You are so tender and sweet to your stuffed animals. You hug them with such affection. If I purchased every stuffed toy you melted my heart by hugging we would have quite the menagerie.

You are a passionate little lady. If you hear a plane, see Christmas lights, a bird, a truck, anything you recognize, you let us know about it. And if we don't acknowledge your discovery quickly you continue to shout until we do. Your daddy and I laugh sometimes because you are such a big personality in a 'squatty' little body.

You have had a sweet effect on your big sister, she likes you much more now that you can play together and I'm so excited to see your relationship grow and progress. I pray that you will love each other, support each other and watch over each other as you venture out into this crazy world that you will grow up in. You will need a safe haven and people to lean on. Your daddy and I will always be there but having a sister to go to and support you will be invaluable.

Sadie, I love you so much! I love you from your sweet little face to the tips of your little toes. Thank you for coming to our family.

Kindergarten! Gasp!

A couple of nights ago, I was lying in bed trying to detox my brain enough to allow me to go to sleep, when I was hit with the blunt force of how quickly my little Miss Mya is growing up. Why was this so shocking to me? Why did my heart ache over the fact that she is progressing and moving forward? Why did I tear up at the fact that 2 years from now I will be taking her to kindergarten? I always envisioned myself as the mom that kept her composure when she dropped her little girl off at school...now I'm not so sure. I might be the blubbering idiot that cries all the way home in the car.

I love my little lady with all my heart can possibly give. I am amazed at the little person she is becoming. She has become more loving, freely giving me more hugs and I hear 'I like you' many times over. She even consented to snuggle with me one day before work with little to no bribery or coercion. These moments are such a joy, when in the stillness you realize how completely you love them. Those are the moments when I receive the tiniest glimpse of how very much my Heavenly Father must love each of us.

Mya, I love your facial expressions. How your eyebrows change and say just as much as your words. I love that you and I carry on conversations, even when more often than not our conversations don't make much sense. I love that you being so much kinder to your little Sadie. I love when I listen to you both giggling in my bed hiding under the covers. I'm sorry that I gave you my 'scaredy cat kitty gene', but a cautious nature isn't the worst trait. I hope that the stubborn streak your dad gave you will drive you to work hard and achieve your dreams. You are a daughter of our Heavenly Father who loves you. He loves you even more than your daddy and I love you, and that is a lot!

Christmas Stories

Every night at our house, if the girls are good, we have a little elf that visits us. He leaves us a new Christmas story every night, courtesy of the North Pole Library, to read before the girls go to bed. Mya has enjoyed peeking out under the tree after getting her jammies on to see if the elf came. This week the favorite elf offering has been the book, "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas!". I read it to them the night it appeared under our tree because I only knew a little bit of the song. So the next day when they wanted me to read it over and over I turned to YouTube to find the song. It was an instant hit, and Miss Mya kept playing it over and over. I even catch her singing bits and pieces of it. Who would have thought that a song about a giant zoo animal could be so endearing.

I've included, for your listening enjoyment is a little taste of what we are belting out around our place.

Merry Christmas to all of you out there who want a Hippo too!

The Perfect Christmas Tree

Last year our Christmas tree's base lost a couple of pieces...but you know it still stood straight up and didn't wobble at all. This year during base assembly there was some snaping of a couple more pieces and then significant leaning to one side. Cody offered to get tricky with the duct tape to make it more stable so we could use it for one more year but we decided that it would be fun to have a new tree. So... we packed up the fam and were off in search of the Hansen family Christmas Tree.

My sweet hubby, is not the most intense Christmas person I know, I'm the fanatic at our house. So, I was not expecting his transformation into Clark Griswold. He had a very specific vision of what our new tree was going to look like. 9-10 feet high, at least 64 inches in diameter at the base and full...very full! Our search began at Home Depot, not there. Next, Walmart, no tree. Then on to Lowes, they weren't full enough. Costco... well he informed me he was ashamed to hold a costco card due to their lack of tree selection. By this time, I may or may not have been getting slightly frustrated and may or may not have said some things out of hunger/frustration. So, he kindly took a break, fed me and our search continued at Sears... too short. He started searching online for one and actually found one that was satisfactory. But I can't even begin to imagine how horrific the shipping costs would be. We decided to take one last look at Home Depot in Provo. And there it was, a beautiful 9 foot Christmas tree, 65 inches at the base and acceptably full. So, into the truck it went, up the stairs and into the living room and I love it!!
Mya had more fun with the bubble wrap than the tree set up.

Yay for our new tree!!

A couple of my favorite features.... it's pre-lit. I have been anti pre-lit for a while because I love to put lights on my tree, the more the better I say. But, I have been pleasantly pleased with this feature. I also like that the outter branches look like real tree branches, they are plastic and look very real!

Thanksgiving

So, I realize that it has been far to long since I have sat down to blog and I'm trying my best to catch up. Thanksgiving this year was wonderful. For some reason it was much more fun to cook and prepare things this year than it has been other years past. I was excited to learn to make rolls from scratch for the very first time thanks to my Mom. They were much easier than I had made myself think they would be. Now I need to make myself do them again to make sure I can do it by myself without messing it up too badly.

Miss Mya gave us a little pre-dinner entertainment. Here she is doing a little ballet for us.


Aunt Mallo, Miss Mya and Daddy


The photo above was a fluke where Mya actually held still and smiled pretty so I had to include it, there was no getting her to hold still for another.


Dinner was fantastic! There is always so much delicious food! After the meal we looked down, all stuffed to the brim, and laughed because it none of the service plates looked as if we had even began to make a dent in the amount of food we had prepared.



Dinner was followed by a rousing game of 'Boxers or Briefs'
I will admit to being a little nervous to play based on the name but was thoroughly entertained and enjoyed every minute!

My sweetie and Me

Very VERY Thankful for this amazing man!

We spent that evening with Grams and Grandpa and Auntie Jo and Uncle Mark.

Where there was more great food to be had! And despite still being full, I ate some more. But isn't that what Thanksgiving is about?

Mya has a soft spot for my cousin Cole. They are buds, and toward the end of the night you could tell she was getting sleepy and she climbed up next to him and snuggled right in. I think she would have been out if she had managed to hold still for just a minute or two longer.

Miss Sadie

Mya hangin' with the cousin's Hadlee and Bo.

These two are her little besties, she adores them in every way. It is so much fun to see her grow up and have cousins as great friends both close by and far away.