The Harveys' visit!!

On December 1st I got to spend a whole day with Kristi!!!  It was so great.  It took the kids a while to get warmed up to each other since they hadn't hung out in a couple of years, but once they got going they got along swimmingly and I really do want to arrange a marriage between two of our children!!  Not sure which two!  But it was a fun day.  Owen was in HEAVEN playing with Matthias (9) and James (almost 11).  Owen is 9 months older than their little brother Hyrum, so they were used to playing with a little boy and they were SO nice to him!! It was so sweet.  This picture was when Owen brought these keys to Matthias and said "we should use these in the game" and Matt was like "yeah, these are the keys to the Force!" and was talking about what each one could do, it made Owen feel so cool.  So cute.  I also enjoyed watching them play with Maris, they were so sweet to her too.  Their little sister Grace is just 6 months old so they thought Maris was fun.

 Katelyn and Whitney played with Hannah (almost 7) for the first couple of hours, but then they all ended up playing together; here is James, Katelyn and Whitney in the basement.

 and the 4 oldest kids playing.

Planning their haunted house they made in the basement!

Whitney and Hannah totally hit it off and kept hugging goodbye at the end. :)

Hyrum being Batman.

 At the end we tried to take a picture of all the kids-- we have 9 children!! 

 And it didn't really work, haha.

 But really the best part was talking to Kristi for like 9 hours!  

And the 4 of us hanging out after Taylor got done with some errands and Eric came home from work!

 Too bad they love Texas and will probably live there forever :( :( 

But good thing they will have to keep coming back to visit their families in Utah!

 We love the Harveys.  

Friends for 15 years and counting!

October and November by Eric

Apparently I hadn't uploaded Eric's pictures in over 2 months!  So I had to add some of these gems.

Camping in a trail tunnel with Jacob, jack and Glavin.

around the campfire.

Katelyn and Dad Date: Trafalga!

camping in the sand dunes,

with Michael, Jordan and Glavin

Haha nice profile Eric.

Eric's old scout, and our awesome neighbor, Ryan Craig, got his eagle and asked Eric to come and do the Eagle charge for him.  It was a fun reunion with several other friends from Santaquin!

camping at the Lava tubes/hot springs- don't know which boys but they had about 6 on that campout.

We got free tickets to a BYU basketball game for all 6 of us!!  

The first half was pretty fun, but then all the kids got bored and Maris just wanted to walk up and down the Marriott Center steps repeatedly, so we tried to bribe them with treats.  We almost made it to the end but finally had to give up and leave.  It got so bad at the end that Eric swore he would never take the kids to anything ever again!!  Haha.  I think it's true though; the girls don't love watching sports for more than 5 minutes, and Owen and Maris are so young.  Maybe someday we'll try again, or better, just go on a date to a game without the kids!!

Maris is cute. 

Apparently 2 pictures were taken on Eric's phone at Thanksgiving!  This was the day after Thanksgiving pasta dinner at our house.  The cousin tables, with Owen, Ryder, Lydia and Jenna laughing hysterically at the front one!  So cute.

Some of the others.

This picture.  Eric found the weird sloth in a spacesuit picture a few years ago and died laughing and texts it to me periodically for a laugh.  We just can't get over his stupid face!!  So this year he found a Christmas version, haha.

Eric had to go to Arizona for work one day, and got to stop for a minute at the Hoover Dam!  He likes that kind of thing. :)

One day we randomly sledded down the driveway!

And last but not least, Katelyn is a talented Etch-a-Sketch artist!  Eric took these pictures of her work a couple of weeks ago in Sacrament Meeting... a little inappropriate, sorry!

A robot.

and a Nativity scene!  Very cool!!

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!