Up On The Rooftop

On the morning of my birthday (Nov 21) it was supposed to be snowing. Oliver has a huge aversion to putting up the Christmas lights on the house when there is snow on the ground. This could have something to do with his falling off the two-story roof of our townhouse two years ago...

When we awoke, we realized that it wasn't snowing yet and we thought that it would probably be the last Saturday without snow for awhile so we anxiously put up our lights.



Oliver worked from up on the roof and I worked from the ladder and we got them up, went to the store to buy more, and finished with hot chocolate in a little over two hours. Since then we have had to unstring and restring one strand that we blew out. But, we love the way they look and if I can remember I will take a picture at night - especially since we now have a ton of beautiful white snow!

A Little Outdated....but Who Cares?

Every year we've been married we have gone to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins. I don't know what happened this year - but I just didn't care that much and so we got them from WINCO! Talk about a steal of a deal - we paid $7.29 for 7 pumpkins and our largest one weighed more than 30 lbs!

We carved our pumpkins with neighbors and friends the night before Halloween.
I apparently have a thing for spider webs since this is the second one I've made in three years...
Oliver decided to use the power drill this year and different sized attachments to puncture holes all over his pumpkin.
We are still loving our home and pictures of Christmas decorations and lights will be coming soon!

We Did It Again

We decided that flooding our basement once just wasn't enough. So we started the dishwasher and left our home to head out for family dinner at Oliver's parents. We came home 5 or 6 hours later to a beeping dishwasher and a steady waterfall in the basement. Oliver instantly knew what that sound meant and went running to turn off the water into the house.

Very shortly this little guy became our best friend. After one phone call we had out house swarming with concerned neighbors and friends to help us start mucking out the mess.
The water damage rippled the paint in our wall and ruined the drywall and carpet.
Over the following several days Oliver ripped out drywall and insulation and wet carpet and pad and even enjoyed it a little.
Luckily there is a window right next to the mess and so we just tossed everything out onto the back patio.
And what didn't fit in the garbage can the first week waited for its turn a different week.
It was a mess but luckily the weather was nice and it was even still a little warm.

And if you stay tuned I will take more pics of the remodel job that has been done (we now have canned lighting in our basement!).
Ah, the joys of home ownership.

I Went...You Shouldn't

This past weekend I went to see the opening of New Moon with some of my favorite people in the world. The company was delightful, the conversation was enjoyable, the cramming into two cars was awesome, the late night was even okay....the movie, not so much.

I read the Twilight series after all the books were out and I didn't know anything about them until that point. I think that Stephanie Meyers sets a bad example for teenage LDS girls by her writing. I don't care that people say that her writing has nothing to do with her religion - because I believe that we are commanded to be of good report and praiseworthy in all aspects of our life. I also feel that she is a role model to young women, and though it may not be something she chose, it does come with the territory. I don't feel that writing a book gives you cause to lack morals and teach falsehoods about loving and healthy relationships. I don't care that it's called fiction.

To be honest, I don't really care how you feel about it - this is my blog and I think that her books lack morals, are heavy in obsession and I would hate for girls to think that just because a guy is romantic gives him the right to be dictating, overly protective and controlling. I'm sorry, but male romance doesn't give excuse to treat a woman however you want. I think that Bella's manipulation of the two men is also despicable and I have no desire for these books to be popular when I have teenage children.

Enough of my rant...I don't like the Twilight series and I'm not apologizing.

All that being said - it was so nice to have a girls night out, to visit, to play and to spend quality time with some of the neatest and most inspiring women I know.

Babysitting Our Nephew

We had the pleasure of babysitting our beautiful nephew! He is such an easy kid and does so well while mom and dad are away.

My mom suggested that we turn a laundry basket up-side-down so that he could push it and walk all over our upstairs. It was a hit!

We also taught him to climb up and down the stairs going backwards. He would glance at us to make sure that he was doing it correctly. He could have gone up and down for hours.

Uncle Oliver got a little tired of sitting on the stairs so he took him back to the living room and Kyle enjoyed playing with all the beeping buttons of Catch Phrase.

He started to catch on that he was being distracted and kept pointing to the stairs so that he could go back and climb! What a smart little guy...

In the end tumbling in and out of the laundry basket was just as fun as the stairs!

We learned that it doesn't matter if you don't have any toys - kids don't care and they just aren't that picky. Just don't take away Kyle's pink monkey and blanket and he is happy to play with whatever you've got.

Can't wait to watch you again little guy!

Note to Oliver

If you ever reformat my memory card again without checking to make sure I have downloaded my pictures I will cry - AGAIN. I know how much you hate it when that happens so please don't be helpful by reformatting my memory card.

If you are trying to find something to do to be helpful please ask - I am happy to furnish you with an approved list.

Domestic and Peachy

We are so lucky to live so close to so many smart and loving people. I have always wanted to learn to can and this year Oliver's Aunt Chris had me over and showed me the ropes. The following post outlines my home success where I did every step all by myself! Please come and help next year so that it doesn't take so long and I don't have to talk to myself... :)

First, purchase two boxes of peaches...

Then, set-up everything that you are going to need and get all sorts of different pots of stuff boiling and heating. Get those first peaches in the water to boil so the skins just slide off.

Then skin and pit peaches.

And put them in your jars.

Then take the washcloth and wipe of the rim really well and prep the jar to receive its lid.

And after processing (and 3.5 hours of time) you wind up with 20 qts of peaches and a very clean kitchen! I would say that I was hugely successful because I only had one broken jar (but I had 20 really sticky ones).

Since two boxes of peaches will produce more than 21 qts - go ahead a make a pie...

Yes, I make VERY good peach pie!

And, make another on another day, and some cobbler, and some peach syrup, and eat and eat and eat them plain! YUM!

I love peaches and peach season!

Two Blissful Years

Happy Anniversary to us!

Our weekend plans fell through, and through, and through and we ended up spending a lot of time together just the two of us which was great.

We went to the free opera performance at the Gallivan Center. We saw the baby elephant, snow leopard, giraffe and tiger cubs at the zoo. We hung around at the house. We went to 5 Alls for dinner. Then we spent most of Sunday, our actual anniversary, with Oliver's extended family up Mill Creek Canyon eating yummy fire food and enjoying the spectacular changing leaves.

We decided to do our anniversary gift-free and come one step closer to being debt free instead.

Here's to the best two years and many many more!

Singing Group

I belong to a group that sings together every week. We sing in various wards and have a Christmas program that we perform. These are seriously the best ladies ever! He we are celebrating two birthdays and the announcement of a BABY!

Yard Work Can Kill...

While Oliver was mowing today he almost died of a heart attack when this little guy came slithering in front of the mower.

So we picked him up and moved him into the neighbors yard :)

Oliver was too freaked out to take a good picture but I have fond memories of these little guys from when we were little...and then right after that he got stung by a bee. Rough day!

Happy Birthday

My best friend and the love of my life is turning 28 today and here's a list of some of the things that make me love him more and more each day....

1. He always vacuum and mops the floors (I hate that part of cleaning).
2. He is patient.
3. He says his prayers.
4. He loves to cuddle.
5. He loves to take pictures.
6. He thinks I'm funny.
7. He provides for our family.
8. He does his calling and honors his priesthood.
9. He loves to travel.
10. He is a hard worker.
11. He does the last of the pick up - I can pick up until there are just a few things left and then he always puts the last few things away.
12. He loves my cooking.
13. He gets excited to see me at the end of the day, everyday.
14. He is loyal to his friends and family.
15. He puts others first.
16. He has high moral standards in what we watch and listen to.
17. He loves to try new things.
18. He tires to embrace my spontaneity.
19. He is fiscally minded.
20. He is honest.
21. He thinks I'm beautiful - even when I haven't showered in four days and we're camping.
22. He helps clean the house regularly.
23. He takes me to the temple often.
24. He listens to my rantings and ravings and opinions and long-winded ideas.
25. He goes along with things when I volunteer us to do things and help people.
26. He is a great decorator (I buy it he displays it).
27. He loves to do yard work.
28. He is committed to our relationship and making it work no matter what is happening.

I love you now, always, and forever - have a Happy 28th Birthday!

First time to Yellowstone and first time to Montana

At the end of our annual Hansen family Teton trip this year, Oliver and I decided to spend an extra night in Yellowstone. I have never been to Yellowstone and Oliver only recalls driving to the park from the Tetons - straight to Old Faithful - and back to the Tetons. When we got to the entrance we asked about a camp spot and the attendant told us that the park had filled by 1 pm that day (it was 4:30 pm) and that we would have to go back to the Tetons or stay out in West Yellowstone.

I was really bummed, but we decided to go in and explore and see Old Faithful and then maybe just drive home through the night or stop in West Yellowstone and come back into the park in the morning.

We first stopped to look at Lewis Falls. It was really pretty in the late afternoon.

Then we made the decision to stop at every campground and see if we could find a spot. We stopped at Lewis Lake Campground and the sign said full. But after driving around - we found the very last spot for walk-ins only. It was technically a biker/back packer campsite, but a Yellowstone worker said that we could stay because it was so late in the day and probably wasn't going to be used. YEAH! So here is Oliver paying for our $12 miracle in a full park.

Next, we made dinner, set up camp and then decided to go and see Old Faithful so that we could go other places the next day and still make it home at a decent hour. This is Castle Geyser. I didn't realize that Old Faithful was surrounded by dozens of other geysers which were intermittently going off. It was an impressive sight.

Andy then, we were lucky enough to watch Old Faithful go off during sunset and it was spectacular. We enjoyed walking along the boardwalks during dusk and then sunset and then dark. We drove back to our campground in the pitch black, which was a little scary, and then slept great!

The next day, and some the night before on our way to Old Faithful, we saw all kinds of wildlife. It was a very successful wildlife scouting adventure.

A 5x5 elk...

A baby elk nursing...

A stag...

A buffalo sticking out its tongue...

A buffalo rolling in the dirt...

A weird looking black bird...

A nest of osprey (can't really tell but there are babies in there)...and all sorts of other animals.

We also stopped to walk around Dragon's Mouth Spring/Mud Volcano/Gizzly Fumapole and some other interesting bubbling features. Churning Caldron was so steamy that this is what it looked like to walk past it - and keep in mind - all that steam smells like rotten eggs. Which probably didn't smell a whole lot worse than me, seeing how I hadn't showered in 5 days!


From there, we went and hiked around Upper and Lower Falls which was spectacular.

And then, after driving through construction, we exited the park. I discovered that we were in Montana! Having never been to Montana I was ecstatic! I admit that we didn't see or do anything in Montana - but now I have been.

On the way home, we stopped in Rexburg to have our lunch on the temple grounds. Neither of us had seen the new temple before, but it was peaceful and pretty. A bonus, it was closed for cleaning so there was no one around to mind our stench...


What a great and unexpected trip to Yellowstone - we will surely be returning!