summer

I'm breathing I sigh of relief because all the TV shows we like to watch have ended (we still haven't seen all the finales yet on hulu though- the main way we watch TV-why are we still paying for cable?? Oh yeah, we like sports.) and it's FINALLY warm enough to play outside in the evenings! I'm relieved because I was into the plots and the characters and I wanted to watch these shows, but now they're over and I can move on.

I may never move on from LOST though, what a crazy, interesting show. I can't wait to watch the whole series again someday.

Being Brave....

....sometimes leads to injury! Katelyn has had this black eye for a few days after jumping off the handle of our two-person glider swing and hitting her face on the wood edge that goes around our swingset! She's been braver lately and trying new things, which is usually good- this time we're just glad she didn't break anything!

Let it snow???

I woke up this morning to Eric whistling "oh the weather outside is frightful..." and I jumped up saying "are you serious??!! that means my garden is dead!" I threw on some clothes and ran outside to try to save it! I lost a couple of plants but the thermometer said 35 degrees and Eric and I covered all the ones that are out of the ground with plastic, so hopefully we saved the rest! It's so ridiculous and crazy, and I worry for all the farmers, I hope their crops are okay....

This is our yard with the snow and the plastic over the garden.

Katrina's California Wedding Reception

It was so, so, so fun. (You're right Melissa, I do like to say things in 3's...) As Donny said "I really wanted to talk to EVERYONE there!" Okay maybe not totally true for me, but it was great. It was at my Dad's (okay the Church's) Raisin Vineyard, and who would have thought it would actually look nice and charming and be PERFECT for Katrina's reception? Well Katrina did and my mom helped carry out her vision and it WORKED. It looked so cool and the weather was beautiful.

sunset at the vineyard, taken by Brian Reed- can't take credit for that one!

the tractor lit up!
a view of the crowd
our photogenic girl
my cute bridesmaid sisters
Katrina and Phillip with the grapevines!

And the girls just loved Grandpa Jamie's tractors and spent lots of time on them!

Kate looking cute on a tractor
with the bride and a tractor
silly laughing girls on a tractor
WHitney saying "dun-DUN!" Here I am!
Whit, Kate and Natalie did a LOT of dancing that night! And in their dresses as nieces of the bride it was just adorable. We love this funny action shot of Whitney!
Whitney with Aunt Jenae's flowers
I love this picture that the wonderful Brian Reed took of Eric and I, since we NEVER take pictures of ourselves anymore.

And more importantly I love Eric! several times while we were in California he took care of the girls and Natalie while Allison and I tried to help with things- and also as we just chatted with mom or our other siblings- I didn't even realize how much I wasn't taking care of my children until Eric brought it to my attention. :) After which I really tried to shape up! I'm so grateful that that's just the way he is, quietly stepping in whenever and wherever he's needed. And I'm also grateful that he forgives me when I take him for granted. We had so much fun together on this trip, I just love to be with him 24/7. Vacations are the best.
One last thing, we got to talk to Derek and Jonathan, my twin brothers who are serving missions, on Mother's Day when they called my mom. It was SO COOL. To hear their cute voices, to hear them joke around and then bear their testimonies, I just love them and I'm so proud of them.

California trip

We had so much fun when we went to California for Katrina's reception there! Here are a few picture highlights, I'll do the reception pics in a separate post.

We had some quality cousin time! Even though the girls didn't always get along (whitney and natalie have sharing/stealing issues and katelyn has control issues) they were always SO happy to see each other whenever they had been separated for more than 5 minutes. Whitney still keeps talking about Natalie. This is the only picture we got of the 4 of them, playing "train".

Caleb is so cute and friendly, and he definitely liked me. :) I don't think Katelyn gave him a second glance, but Whitney just loved him! She always wanted him to "talk" to her and smile at her, and she was really cute and soft with him.

While we were there my family's stake had a service project painting fences at a big park. Katelyn LOVED painting and even though we only helped a little we got to enjoy the rides and attractions for free! It was so fun, like a free Disneyland trip for the girls practically.

So here's the girls with Melissa at Storyland in a Pirate ship- Whitney wanted to be playing, not taking a picture! And she insists on putting on her own hat, it's hilarious.

Whitney loved that the geese and ducks would let her get so close to them!
Katelyn having the time of her life with such fun aunts, Melissa and Jenae.
Whitney bawled when we made her get off of this ride (after riding twice in a row!) to go ride the merry-go-round. katelyn couldn't wait to get off and go on.....
The "real roller coaster!" This was the best. Katelyn was SO excited and kept saying "this is my first time on a real roller coaster!" Apparently she screamed in delight the WHOLE time, notice Melissa dying laughing in the second seat! (I was on the carousel with Whit) The best part was, Allison was feeding Caleb on a nearby bench, and she heard Katelyn screaming but couldn't see her face to see how happy she was, and so she was like "oh no! She's so scared and they won't let her off, poor girl!" Allison was concerned until Melissa and Jenae reassured her afterward that she LOVED it! So funny.
And here's Whitney happy to be riding the train.

I love my family and I'm sad that I didn't get any pictures of the girls with Donny or my mom or dad! Donny and my Dad are so good at being silly with them! They had so much fun. Now we're just excited for the Murrays to come home from Japan soon! We miss you Uncle Kurtis!

Whitney Mae is 2

Whitney had a great birthday a couple of weeks ago! And although for weeks now if you asked her how old she was, she would say "two!", on her birthday I asked her how old she was and she said "one!" Silly.

Here she is at breakfast with one of her favorite presents, a "Mer fag" purse!

YAY!
We went to the park, she loves the twisty tire swing.
And we went to Jumpin' Jacks again for her birthday! We were too lazy (Eric) to drive to the dinosaur museum in Lehi, which was our original plan. Katelyn was fearless!
And Whitney too. She was laughing so hard when Eric kept bouncing her off the wall. I was a little concerned about whiplash, but it's kind of hard to say no when they're having fun.
Her sunshine cake! With dirt cupcakes!
Good job big girl. She actually blew it out herself.
Opening presents.
She got so many fun gifts, which are still being played with constantly. Thank you everyone!!

We love our little Whitney. She brings us so much joy and so many laughs. Some of my favorite things she says right now are "dinkin mountin" for drinking fountain, "mine" and yours and ours instead of my, your, and our- as in "Nalee (Natalie) comin' ours house?" and "where's mine piggy?" and "have on yours gasses (glasses)." My favorite is when we read scriptures and she tries to copy the words, like captivity or wilderness. Her little lips and facial expressions are priceless. Also when she wants a turn to say the prayer, Katelyn always wants to be the one to help her, but sometimes Whitney adds in her own things. Like randomly today Katelyn said "we're grateful for the earth" and waited for Whitney to repeat it, and instead Whitney said "gateful, boons (balloons)". We love it when we say "sorry Whitney, we can't do that right now" and instead of freaking out like she used to, she says "oh-KAY" in this resigned voice, it's SO funny. She's the sweetest little sweetie and we hope she stays that way this whole two-year-old year, haha. :)

Katelyn's Dance Recital

We decided a few months ago to let Katelyn try a dance class. She has loved it! But we will probably have her try some other things now and she can do dance again in a few years if she really wants to. It seemed like there wasn't a huge difference in skill level between the 3 year olds on up to the 7 year olds, just a better ability to follow directions! Which she was the best in her class at! So we're going to try a music class in the fall instead of dance.

Katelyn before the recital in her costume- so cute but also so 2-year-old-ish! Her long legs sticking out :)

Whitney was so funny, she asked me at least one hundred times "where katie go?" And once she saw her on stage the first time and then they went off, she FREAKED out. Then after every other class danced she cried again because she didn't see Katelyn. I'm glad she loves her, but it was a bit ridiculous. Here she is crying:
Katie after the show
Whitney ran up and gave her a big hug....
... and the held hands the whole way home.
Here is Whitney dancing during the competition team's performance, she LOVED all the music and dancing, she would only cry when each song was OVER.

Here is Katelyn's class doing their first dance to "Hephalumps and Woosels" from Winnie the Pooh. I was DYING laughing the whole time because only Katelyn and one or two other girls were actually dancing! Katelyn's in the back at first, doing a great acting job looking around, and then she ends up on the very left end. So, so funny.

part 1

part 2

There was another dance too, but it has taken SO long to load these that I'm not putting it on. She did really good in that one too. What a fun night!

So Beautiful

My gorgeous sister Katrina and the dashing Phillip Craven are married!!! Hooray!

The girls just ran up to her, they had been SO excited for days about seeing Katrina in her pretty dress at the temple. And they even got to go inside, in the waiting room, wow.
The Murrays and the Cravens!
All the girls from the Hansen family- I don't have our family picture or the sisters picture on my camera, I'll have to post them once we get the pics from the photographer who was Phillip's talented and so sweet sister Michelle.
It was pretty cold, but at least it wasn't snowing or raining on us!
cousin time at the reception! Here are the girls in the dresses that I MADE, I was so relieved that they turned out so cute! Allison made the pretty hair flowers.

In this picture we told the girls to smile:
And in this picture Allison's husband Kent told them to laugh. Turned out perfect!
They were still laughing for our family picture.
And here's the bouquet toss, my favorite part is Phillip off in the background cleaning off his car after it had been decorated!

Me and Melissa!
The whole event was just fun, fun. My girls were amazed that Katrina got to have TWO parties for her wedding, the dinner the night before and the reception the night of. Phillip has a big family too and it was fun to meet all of them. Such good and kind people. I am just so happy for my sister. I have prayed for years for her happiness, and she finally found someone to marry who is as amazing as she is. We love Phillip! The Spirit was so strong at their marriage and sealing, it just feels like heaven when you're there with family and friends feeling the power of God's blessings on two people you love. They will do great things together.

Also- we had a lot of fun with my family while they were here. I just love the drawing game! And talking, talking, talking. Oh and Jenae rode my bike with me while I ran 8 miles, that was cool.

Ahh, what a happy life.