Giving Thanks

We had a fun Thanksgiving with all of the Hansen Family except Donny and Christine!  It was crazy that everyone decided to come to where the highest concentration of us live (the Wasatch Front) (me, Allison, Derek and Melissa are here, Katrina's in St. George, and Jonathan in Idaho.  Mom, Dad, and Jenae came and met Jenae's boyfriend Joseph here; he goes to BYU-I) and have fun family time at me/Allison's houses.  

One of the things we were in charge of was appetizers, so I supervised the girls' creation of these:

THen we went up to the MacKays and Karl and Melissa did a balloon-tying class!  Super cute.

The kids put on a skit/sang various songs.

and the young couples hung out:

while Maris go to know her cousins a little more!  So cute.

I guess owen did too!  

We went and sang at a rest home, it was sweet.  Then many dishes were done

and we all gathered and said one thing we were grateful for, in age order youngest to oldest.  It was really great.  Spiritual, and funny, and a reflection of everyone's personalities and the year they have had.  I said Maris was grateful for books, when we asked owen what he was grateful for he said  "Me-wis"  you know how he says Maris in his cute little voice, it was SO sweet!  Katelyn said she was grateful for friends and I can't remember what Whitney said she was grateful for, but it was cute.  Then I can't remember what everyone said but I remember a few: Jenae was grateful for Mom. :)  Joseph was grateful for our family. :)  Jonathan was grateful for miracles, including when he and Joseph spun out on ice on the way here but made it safely, Karl was grateful for the Commandments? Phillip was grateful  for Katrina and she was grateful for HOPE (Phillip FINALLY has another job, a good one, yay!!), Allison was grateful to know the second coming is real, Eric was grateful for the outdoors and all of God's creations (he said he's camped this year in snow, rain, high mountains, sand dunes, tunnels, meadows, and it's all amazing and beautiful. He's cute and awesome.), I was grateful for good health, Kent was grateful for a job that allows him to focus on what's important in life, Mom was grateful for all of us?  I can't remember!  But earlier that day she did talk about going to the temple for Grammy and Pa and Grammy's sisters and how amazing it was.  Then last Dad said he was grateful for the missionaries who taught his ancestors the gospel, and for their faith to come to America.  

It was a really special time.

The next day we came to our house (Grammy, Maris and Lydia)

and we decided to buy a ping pong table at a black friday sale and have a ping pong tournament!!  I need to take a picture of the bracket, it's still on the wall.  It was SO FUN!  One of the best games was Allison vs Katrina in pool play, they were really evenly matched so it went on forever and Phillip and Kent were getting so into it cheering their wives on!  Haha.

Derek vs Kent in the semifinal

panoramic shot showing Jenae and Joseph hanging out in the reading nook too!

Eric vs Joseph in the other semifinal

The final- Eric vs. Kent!  With Joseph as scorekeeper.

Eric won hehe!  He was like "thanks for coming everyone so I could kill you all in ping pong, haha"

that night we had a game night

And played around the world ping pong!  So fun!!  Kent won that one.

It was a Happy Thanksgiving.

The Hansen Genes come out!

We had the girls' Fall Rococo Performances right before Thanksgiving, and it was so fun to have both of them on stage!!  Whitney's been DYING to be in Rococo, but she had to finish Let's Play Music first- we couldn't handle both at once.  My pictures mostly turned out horrible.  I did get cute videos of their solos and one group number.  But probably my favorite parts I didnt record because there were so many kids on stage it was hard to keep track of them in the choregraphy!  THey both did GREAT though, always knowing their parts and acting to the fulest!  It was so fun to see how much Katelyn has improved in her ability to follow the Choregraphy, and see how expressive she is and how confident!  Whitney was still a little shy and nervous on a few parts, but even by the second night I could see her loosening up.  She was hilarious in Livin' on a Prayer, on her knees begging the audience!  Wish I had a picture!!  Although it's pretty much the dramatic flair I have seen every day of her life at home, and in front of the mirror when she sings and dances, so that is burned into my memory even without a photograph. :)  They were both excellent in the big group number Geronimo also, and can't wait for the next session in the Spring.  I love Performing Arts!

Here's WHitney in the middle:

 Kate is standing in the gray shirt a little right of center, and Whitney is sitting just in front/right of her.

 Kate is second row right and Whitney is first row left.  Singing their hearts out to "We are young"

 Whitney's solo!

Kate's solo, taken by someone else! 

 After the performance, cuties!

Maris+HappyMurrayDay+Volleyball+Snow

 A few more "milestones" for Maris:

She let me do this "crown" hairstyle; she may be the most patient child when it comes to hairdos!  Because she knows it's cute!

 classic Spaghetti face!

 And she put on her own shoe for the first time!

 Maris experienced walking on snow for the first time in November-- last winter she couldn't walk!

And Owen shoveled the driveway for the first time- welcome to your new chore, buddy!  He LOVED it!

I took this because she was asleep with her foot between the bars. :)

And THIS, was hilarious.  Here's my post about it:

Maris came up to me with a Chapstick saying "ini"-meaning I want to get in/open. I opened it for her, saying "do you know how to put this on?" And she started rubbing it in her armpit LOL. ‪#‎babydeodorant‬

These two kill me with their cuteness towards each other. Here's my instagram post about it:

I love how he lets her sit close to him. They are always delighted to see each other when they wake up. He is very good at getting her to trade instead of taking a toy from her. She trusts him completely. Their hugs are adorable. I'm loving my mornings with these two.

 Note to self:  probably do not attempt running up Santaquin Canyon with a stroller when the roads are icy again.  Not the safest!  Although it could be fun to run up and slide down...

katelyn has been wanting to try volleyball for a while and we finally got her signed up. She just wanted to try it because it's a "tall person sport" that her uncles have played.  Little did we know it was going to be the perfect sport for her!  She doesn't have to run, and she doesn't have to be aggressive towards the other girls.  And the best part is, she scores several points per game!!  She played 3 seasons of soccer and one of basketball and never scored a single point.  Yay for a sport that makes her feel successful!!  She is loving it.  Most of her points come from serves; she has gotten the hang of serving over the net pretty well.  She's now working on getting the ball when it comes to her, and she has plenty of years to practice that.  Hooray for finding a sport that she really enjoys.  So great for lifelong fitness.

We had Happy Murray Day!  We went out to eat and got a new movie, Inside Out, and later in the week we went to see the play Beauty and the Beast.  The Murray Awards this year were:

Katelyn: Motherly Murray because she has really stepped it up in the childcare department this year.  She is GREAT at taking care of Maris and Owen.  She is SO cute with them and kind to them and has so much fun with them.

Owen got the Marvel Murray Award because he is SO into super heroes!  I am trying to teach him that he can be a superhero to his sisters and others by helping them.

Whitney got the Make New Friends Murray, because she has been so excellent at making new friends this year since our move.  At school, at church, and in our neighborhood, she is just a friendly and fun girl.

Maris got the Movin' Murray award, and appropriately I could not get her to hold still for the picture haha.  Because this year she learned to crawl, walk, and run!!

And lastly, we've had some really cool sunsets lately.  I love snowy mountain sunsets!  One of the few perks of winter.

And this one looked like twin pink volcanoes!  Awesome.