CA day 3- Blessing Day

Sunday was Owen's, and his cousin Jenna's, Blessing Day! It was so neat for him to be blessed by Eric, along with his Uncles Kent, Phillip, Derek, and Jonathan, his Grandpa Jamie, Great Grandpa Wallwork and Great Grandpa Hansen, Great Uncles Jeff, Von, Royce, and Mark. Eric blessed Owen to be healthy and to be able to find joy in all situations. He blessed him to gain wisdom and knowledge, and to serve a mission to bring souls to Christ. Then he blessed him to know that the greatest way to find joy in this life will be to find a woman to marry in the temple :). It was very sweet.

Here's the boy in his SO cute blessing outfit- Thanks Grandma Mary it turned out perfect!

smiling at his mama

Owen the chub and Jenna the dainty pretty little girl!

so glad I got to do this with my sister!

Eric and his boy

blessing day family pic

After Church Sunday we had a big fun lunch before Allison and Katrina and their families and Derek had to leave. Then we spent some quality time with my aunts and uncles and grandparents, and went to Jonathan's missionary report fireside- a cool tradition that my home ward does. It was cool to hear more of his experiences, he's so funny.

And then Monday morning we went home! Both of the drives were long with all the stops to feed Owen, but the girls got to play at tons of parks so they were happy! And they watched movies and we read Magic Treehouse books. Owen was so, so good and only cried for a few minutes a few times in the car.

Overall this was such a great trip! Can't wait to see everyone again!

CA day 2- the Wedding day!!

Some of my favorite moments of Donny and Christine's wedding day were:

The big #1- being in the sealing room with 5 of my 7 siblings, parents, grandparents and other relatives, and watching Donny and Christine come in, and then watching them be sealed, looking around at my siblings with tears in our eyes, holding on to my husband, feeling the spirit and knowing what heaven is like. :)

The almost-tie for #1- that morning before the wedding, we all had breakfast together at home and then sang a bunch of hymns together- a cappella of course. This is something my family loves to do together, and the last couple of years with the twins gone we've been in need of more male voices, but now they're back and seriously, we sound so good together! Our voices just blend well and we have all the parts and it's just a piece of heaven. My mom talked to us about how we need to support each other so we can all continue to be worthy to go to the temple together, and we prayed together, and then I said " we can do it! go team Hansen!" It was so great to be with all my siblings for a couple of hours and really remember what's most important.

Then the kids washed Donny's car in preparation for his honeymoon!

Eric and the brother-in-laws, taking care of kids!
My fam! We never thought this pic would happen because Whitney was in one of her moods, but we pulled it off!!
Everyone cheering!
My whole fam

Donny and Christine with my siblings and parents

Sisters... I love them. We also took one with Christine that's super cute.
My parents and their SEVEN grandkids! woo-hoo!

With Grandpa Jamie

between the wedding and the reception we had some quality hang out time, and some slurpees! And Lydia decided to crawl for the first time for us all to see!! She's so cute.
Kate and Jenae rested on the trampoline, cute.
And then we went to the wedding reception! There was lots of time to dance= My girls were in heaven! I didn't get any pics of Donny and Christine though, sad.

I decided to take funny pictures with all my siblings! I didn't get one with the bride and groom, it just didn't happen! and with Allison and I feeding our babies at different times during thereception, we weren't available at the same time much!

Whit loves her brother!
the girl cousins dancing- those that can walk anyway!
wow I love Eric!
At least I got a pic of Allison- being the great mom that she is!

me and silly Jenae

I love my baby!
our kids in their wedding attire
a good big sister

cute little Owen smiles!

the boy cousins
height order picture- soon we won't have to do this anymore- as soon as Jenae passes me up and finishes growing!

it was a great day.

CA trip day 1

We got to Madera on Thursday night, so this is Friday. All day you could feel the excitement building, as the girls played with their cousins on the trampoline and one by one everyone arrived! Friday evening was the wedding dinner- here are my two favorite boys!

And right before the dinner came one of my favorite moments of the trip- Jenae was the last to arrive at the church, she came from an FFA competition. So once I saw her there, I knew we were all together for the first time! I ran and grabbed my other siblings out of the kitchen and the cultural hall and we gathered in the hallway for a group hug! What a cool moment. Melissa was like " is this really all of us??" and it's true, when we're all together it doesn't seem like that many people. It just feels right. It just feels like one big whole. :) Melissa and Jenae started saying "we are here, we are here, we are here!" (from their play, see below) So here was our "we're all here!" picture at the dinner. I love how Derek's ridiculously taller than the rest of us!
The dinner was fun and we told good stories about Donny and Christine, and then most of us headed off to see Melissa and Jenae in the school musical "Seussical"! Melissa had a lead role- Gertrude McFuzz, and she was so awesome!! SHe had all these solos and duets and her voice is amazing and her acting was hilarious and did I mention that incredible hairdo? We have singing along to the soundtrack ever since and I wish I could see it again! Just to see my sister shine some more!
Jenae was a giraffe in the ensemble and she looked amazing and really acted like a giraffe well! Here she is up on top, and Melissa's in the bottom corner.
Kate wearing her giraffe ears
such a great play! we loved it!

what we've been up to

Here's what we've been doing the last 3 weeks...

smiling!

staring into big blue-gray eyes!

dressing up owen-

for church

and for the great outdoors

getting re-acquainted with the double jogger in the beautiful weather we've had

sleeping, or holding a sleeping baby

loving baths- he loves to take them and the girls love to watch and try to make him smile

making funny faces

playing together

wearing necklaces

posing

READING! kate reads to whitney every day. she's getting really good!

holding Owen

and working hard for those ever-more-frequent smiles!

you can barely see it but Owen's sticking out his tongue too!

Dad. what would I do without him?? He's so much more fun than Mom. :)

we've also done 3 treasure hunts in the last week, went to the park, played with neighborhood friends for the first time since the fall, and hung out with Grandma a LOT! She was here visiting from Japan and she came and played several times a week for the last 2 weeks! What a party!

We are doing great. Crazy, but great!