So THAT'S where babies come from!

A couple of days ago I was talking with this little monkey and she said something that had to make me laugh, so I decided I better write it down before I forget it.  Karly is so much fun to have at home and I LOVE getting to have one on one time with her, but apparently I'm not enough for her anymore!  Here is how the conversation went. 
Karly:  Mom, I want to see Sissa!  Me:  He's at school.  Karly:  I want to see KK!  Me:  Sorry, but she's at school too.  Karly:  Well then, I want to see Bubby!  Me:  Sorry sweetie, but he's at school too.  Karly:  (sigh)  Well, I guess we need to buy some more kids then, huh!  I couldn't help but start laughing.  I tried to tell her that we couldn't just go to the store and buy some more kids, but she said:  Mom, yes you can!  Get your shoes on and we can go to Walmart!
I love being her mom!  She is a hoot and I never know what to expect out of her.  Thanks for making me laugh, Karly!

More Cricut Cards and projects

Here are a few more cards that I've done and haven't posted yet.  This first one is made using The Bridal Cartidge.

Here's one I used with the Princess cartridge for the dress and a LOT with the embosser!!



 

 This one is used with Baby Steps

 These cards were used with Alphabet and Cindy Lou for the flowers... the flowers themselves were NOT cricut.  I don't remember where I got them, but I love them!

This one is for my husband who had the big 40 this year!!   Font was done with Alphabet on the outside (I think!) and the inside was used with Camping cartidge and George Fonts.

 This one I made for a local pizza place that allowed our scouts to make their own pizzas for an activity.  I used several cartridges with this one, and I wish I could remember them all! 

                                           This one I used Spring Fever and Wedding.

 

 This one I made with Winterwonderland and the basic Christmas shapes cartridge.

The rest of these cards I also used Winter Wonderlan Cartridge.

 My goal this next year is to make more cards and WRITE down how I did them so when I want to make them again I won't have to remember how I did it!  We shall see how that goes.....

Visiting Teaching Christmas card with the Cricut

This year for Christmas I made these little cards and gave them to my visiting teaching and home teaching families.  They were fun to make, and I ended up making 10 of them because my mom saw them and wanted me to make her some too.  I am about as beginner as you could get with these cards, but I found out that I really do enjoy making them!
This is mostly for me because I love to make cards, but after I make them I forget how I did it!  So here are the instructions on how to make this card using my cricut.
I used the cartridges Just Because Cards, In the kitchen, Winterwonderland, and Alphabet for the lettering on the envelope.

  Using Just Because Cartridge cut card, gingerbread man, and happy holiday paper at 5 1/2 .
For the gingerbread man I used dark brown cardstock for the base, lt. brown cardstock for the top, pink cardstock for the embelishments, and red cardstock for the buttons.  I also used tuny googly eyes and purple gem stickers for the buttons. 
Using Winter Wonderland Carttidge cut Seasons Greetings at 1 1/2 inch.  I used dark brown for the shadow, lime green for the seasons greetings and holly, and red for the greetings and holly berries.  I then cut seasons greetings shadow again at 1 3/4 with silver glitter paper and trimmed it to fit.

Using In the Kitchen cartidge cut loaf of bread at 1 3/4.  I used black carstock for the shadow, dark brown for the bread, and lt, brown for the inside of the bread.
For the background of the card I just used whatever scrap I had that I thought might go with the card.  On my computer I designed the words in a text box that was 4.95 inches in length by 2.95 inches in width.

For the envelope I used Just Because Cards cartridge at 5 1/2. 
For the cirlce I used Alphabet at 2 inches.  I used red cardstock with white underneath.

I use glue dots on just about everything with my projects. 

National Honor Society

This week Clarissa was able to be inducted into the National Honor Society.  What an honor!  To be inducted one must go through an application process and be selected by teachers and other staff memebers.  It is based on Adademic, Leadership, Service, and Character.

 

There were 8 students selected this year.  6 Sophmores, 1 Junior, and 1 Senior.   

 Clarisssa was lucky enough to be inducted with 2 of her cousins!  

 

 Sharon Larsen

 

 

 And Connor Neal.

I am so proud of these kids.  They are awesome! 

 

I'm thankful to be a mom of such a great kid.  Clarissa is very talented and smart.  Yes, she is way smarter than I am, and she knows it too!  She has a special spirit and I am so thankful to have her in my life.  She is an example to me, and she is a beautiful young woman who has high standards and knows what she wants out of life.   I love my little noodle!

A GREAT year for hunting!

This year has been a successful year to fill several big game tags.  Clarence is big into archery, and we works very very hard at making sure he is accurate with his shots.  He works hard and usually comes home with meat for the freezer.  I get to go with Clarene sometimes, but this year was a first for me to fill some tags.  Here is a recap of our hunting activities for this year:

 

Hunt number 1:  Coues Deer

Early January Unit 23

 

 For the last couple of years it has become a tradition that Clarence takes the first part of the year off of work and goes into the wild to hunt these little critters.  Of course it usually means that he is gone scouting for our anniversary, and somehow always manages to miss the new years eve party.  Hmm, imagine that.  This year was no different!  He did his homework and hiked a LONG ways and came out successful. 

 

 

Hunt #2  Archery Antelope

August 24-Sept. 6th in unit 10

This was Clarence's first time to ever hunt antelope. He has been putting in for years and YEARS for this opportunity.   He finally got his wish!  I was lucky enough to go with him for this one, and what a fun hunt it was!  I must say this was probably my favorite hunt ever.  We saw so many antelope and had several opportunities to shoot.  These are some sneaky little boogers that can see you from miles away, so stalking them is tough!  We figured out the best way to hunt them and then it was game on!  Derron came out to help the last week and I was able to glass and drive the truck.   One time we saw some antelope way up on the plains and Clarence and Derron were going to go in for a stalk.  My job was to drive the truck a little ways off and distract the antelope.  As soon as they got out of the truck the antelope spotted them and took off running.  They told me drive for awhile with them in the back of the truck and see if they would settle down or stop.  The antelope didn't.  they took it as a personal goal to beat me to the road and cross in front of me.  I was flying down the road with the antelope running alongside the truck for 5 miles!  It was so neat to see how fast those goats could run!  I felt bad for Clarence and Derron in the back of the truck as I am FLYING down the dirt road, but we all laughed and laughed when we stopped.   Those antelope would run and sometimes fall and it would be a dominoe effect to the onces behind them.  But they would just get back up and run at full speed!  It was fun to see those two brothers still being partners in crime.   A couple of days later Clarence was able to get a shot at a really nice one, but we were unable to recover it.  We glassed and glassed the mountain to find him.  After a couple of days Derron and I went home and left Clarence there to hunt.  He was able to locate this bad boy and put a stalk on him.  One shot:  game over.  A hard hunt, but a very fun hunt!!!!

Hunt #3 Archery Bull Elk

Sept. 14-27  Unit 4a

Derron and Clarence were some of those lucky suckers to draw this early archery tag.  They were missing one of their hunting buddies on this one who wasn't able to make it this year, and I think after seeing these bad boys he was pretty mad he missed this trip!  Clarence and Derron had been hunting the first weekend with no success.  I had planned on joining them on Monday afternoon.  When I got to the "man's camp"  I waited and waited and WAITED for these two boys to get back from their hunting trip,  Finally, late that night, they pull into camp with not 1, but 2 elk under their belts!  The story goes that they were just hiking around and Derron said," wouldn't it be funny if we had an elk come down this canyon right now?"  About 5 minutes later they heard the sweet sound of a bull elk crashing through the trees.  Derron went after that one and put an arrow through him!  They spent the afternoon and into the early evening gutting and hanging the meat.  They smelled like a rutting elk by the time they were done.  While heading back with the backstraps and the head, Clarence said, 'wouldn't that be funny if we saw an elk on the way back to the truck?"  Not much later they heard the sweet sound of a bull elk.  Clarence couldn't believe his luck!  He ran after the bugle and put an arrow into elk #2!  What are the odds of that?  Of course when Derron came to see the bog boy, Clarence could only say, "Trina's not going to be happy about this!"  I had been looking forward to hunting and hiking with Clarence.  I love this stuff!  By the time they got back to camp I had already predicted that they would have both tagged out and I was right!  The next day was spent hiking, quartering, and hiking several times up and down the canyon to retrieve the elk.  Derron already had his quartered and hung, so he hiked his out by himself and then came back to where we were and helped us finish the last couple of trips.  He is a freakin' mountain goat!  After a shower and a good nights rest we decided to go and scout for MY hunt which was coming up the following weekend.

Clarence and Derron's  bulls
 

 Hunt# 4  Muzzlleloader Cow elk

Sept. 28-Oct. 4  Unit 8

Several years ago I was drawn for the late rifle bull elk hunt.  We were not familiar with the area and did not have enough time to do our homework.  Needless to say we came home empty handed.  This year I was determined to have better success.  When we put in for our hunt, Clarence put me in for this area and thought it was a bull elk tag!  We were surprised and yes, I was angry, to find out all my bonus points were used for a cow tag.  BUT nontheless, it was a black powder hunt and those are hard to get!  We put in our time scouting the area and after researching the maps we found a couple of places to hunt.  We got there the night before drove around listening to the elk bugling in a couple of areas we wanted to hunt.  After a good night sleep we woke up and started hiking in an area where we heard them bugling the night before.  We were not disappointed and heard them right away.  We tried to put a stalk on this group, but the conditions were not favorable and they winded us.  We spent the morning chasing this group until we accidently spooked them out of thier bedding area.  Game over.  I wasn't feeling very well and so we decided to spend the rest of the day on a water hole that looked promising.  I spent the afternoon sleeping while Clarence kept watch on the waterhole.  After a couple of hours of sleep I was feeling better but very discouraged we hadn't seen anything.  It was starting to get late, and I thought we would come home empty handed, but then out of nowhere we heard the wonderful sound of crashing through the trees.  Out came a bull, a calf, and finally a cow elk.  We watched them for about 30 minutes before the mom gave me a shot.  I steadied myself and them BOOM!  I shot her right in the kill zone and dropped her.  The bull and the baby stayed there until it got too dark to see them anymore.  It was kinda cool!  The bull would go push the cow to try to get to to get up, but she wasn't going anywhere!  After giving her enough time we went over and I was able to claim my first KILL!  It was too dark to take pictures, so we gutted, quartered, and hauled the meat to the truck.  It took us several trips with both back packs completly full.  I was carrying about 35-40 lbs on some of the trips. That's a lot of weight for me!  The next morning we went back to the scene of the crime to take this picture.  I was one happy girl, and Clarence said it was more fun for him to watch me shoot one! 

 

 

Hunt #5  Archery deer in Oklahoma

Nov. 7-12

Every year Clarence and Derron go to Oklahoma to hunt whitetails.  It has been a dream of mine to go with them, but I was not ready with my bow.  This year I started lifting weights and working my arms more and I was able to go from 35 lbs. to 50 lbs!  It was quite an accomplishment for me.  Anyways, I had been hinting to Clarence the last couple of months that I would like to go, so finally I just had to ask him if I could go!  He had to to talk with all the guys who go and get the ok, but they all agreed and I was on my way!  We drove 15 hours and then got to the stands late morning and sat all day.  Ok, we did sleep a little too.  No deer.  Derrron saw a couple, but no shots.  All we saw on our stand were several armidillo and a bunch of turkeys.  Still fun.  We got to the ranch house (more like a shack) and waited for the rest of the crew to come.  They started filtering in late that night, so bed time was pretty late.  We were all tired from the long drive, but we if was fun to catch up with Todd.  The next day we went to the same place and had the same luck!  Nothing!  The weather was extremly warm.  I think the high was 83 that day!  Very unseasonable.  We decided to take a break from hunting and go look at some property in Kansas as an investment.  After spending the day up there we decided that we needed to buy us some hunting property!  Todd came with us and it was so fun to spend the day with him.  He is a good friend to Clarence and Derron, and I am glad to have him around.  He's a hoot!  That night the weather changed and the cold front finally came in.  And boy it was COLD!  The high for the day I think was 29.  It was perfect weather to kill a deer! The roads were terrible and so we couldn't hunt the spot we wanted to, but we did manage to get to another area and we finally saw some deer!  Clarence got a a couple of shots off but no success.  We had a guy from Wyoming hunting with us and he was able to slay 3 of them that day!  We went into Wakita for some lunch, and by then the roads were clearing up so we were able to hunt in our desired location.  Clarence and I sat a stand called the Island.  Right off the bat we saw deer.  The problem was the wind was blowing in the wrong direction and the deer kept winding us.   We did see a big ol' boy come in and I let Clarence take that shot.  The problem was he didn't have a great shot angle from where he was sitting and had to let down his bow.  Dang it.  It was a beauty!  A little bit later I heard a deer coming from behind.  It was a big doe!  I very carefully got ready to take a shot.  Clarence told me when to draw back and WHACK!  I hit her in the neck!  I was a little excited to finally be getting a shot that I didn't pay attention to my form or how I was holding my bow and well, I think this was a guided missle from above.  I hit her in the jugular and she didn't go very far.  While giving her some time, another deer came from behind and Clarence took her out.  Derron also was able to tag out on a little doe.  It was AWESOME!!  I am defianetly addicted to archery hunting.  This was so exciting and my favorite hunt by far.  It's harder and so much more rewarding.  I can't wait to see what next year brings!

     I could not have done this if I didn't have such a wonderful family that allows me to go out with my hubby and spend time with him.  Karly found another mom, Aunt Ty.   She has been such a blessing to have close!  I'm glad my mom is willing to check on my other kids, and aunt Ju Ju is also willing to let them come over to her house.  And I'm glad my kids let me go too!

Merry Christmas, Happy Anniversary, and Happy Birthday

I found this in my archive from Christmas time and thought I would share it.  I miss when my furniture looked this new and my entertaiment center's doors closed all the way.  Sigh, I Love my kids, I love my kids........



I finally got some new furniture for the upstairs! We have had hand me downs and thrift store stuff for years and now we graduated to a comfy room that actually fits the whole family. FINALLY!!!! And a nice entertainment center to go with it. Our other one was 10 years old from Walmart and threatning to give out at any minute. Hopefully this one will last longer.

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Oh what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green.  Do you swim in a pool ro make yourself cool, or watch the clouds roll by?  Is that what you do?  So do I!
I Love Summer. I just wish it lasted LONGER! I can't believe that tomorrow my children will become slaves to the school system once again. NO!!! It seems like school just keeps starting earlier and earlier. Oh wait, that's because it does! I wish I could have my kids home for a couple more weeks.... or months! Call me crazy, but I love it when they're home and miss them like crazy when they're away. Which is probably why I had Karly. She was a wonderful surprise and a GREAT cure for my school time free time. I wouldn' have it any other way. Here's a few picts I snapped of her today. I can't believe how fast she's growing up!

Love her!

 Don't you just love her cheesy smile? 

I know I do!  Speaking of cheesy......

 1..2...3... Fire Power!

The girls think that there should be a new sport in the olympics.... Board Flipping. It's gonna happen, and these girls will be the ones to do it. Here's Kalityn, Clarissa, Kaylee, and Dolly  practicing for 2016....  It's going to be epic!

After much practicing they decided it was time for a break.  I'm so thankful that my girls have such great friends to hang out with!   Kaylee you're awesome, and Dolly, you will be TERRIBLY missed when you leave to college.

 Here are the boys again... and talk about having great friends!  Ethan and Blake have been inseperable this past couple of months.  It's so good to know my kids have great influences in their lives.  Today Kason and Seth came over to play.  These boys had so much fun on the tramp.

Of course Karly had to join in for a litle bit!

 Here it is 5 HOURS later.  We have a few more join the party and my kids couldn't be happier.  I just hope they all remembered sunblock!  I have a feeling they'll stay in until dark if their parents let them.....

 I just had to add this last one.  We had Kaden come over for a little bit and bring K K.  This is so cute.  This is what I hope Ethan will do with Karly someday.

 And this is how my kids spent their LAST day of summer vacation!  I'm so thankful to live in this town where my kids have great friends and positive examples around them.  We've done a lot this past summer and have stayed super busy with camp outs, famiy reunions, and LOTS of swimming in the pond.  We've taken a couple of trips to Colorado, a couple of times to Alpine area, and lots and lots of things in between.  Maybe now that my kids are in school I will blog about them.  But then again, maybe not.  Here's to a new school year!!!!



The Perfect Day

Today was pretty much a dream day for me. Well, with the exception that Clarence wasn't here to witness it. My kids were awesome! As a family we cleaned the house, read scriptures, watched some TV, and even picked up trash for 1/2 hour with NO FIGHTING!!! The stars aligned for me today.
Rewind 2 weeks prior: a dirty house, grouchy parents, and kids that loved to argue and yell to get their point across. Clarence and I finally realized (DUH!!!!!!!!!) that the only reason they're yelling at us is because we were yelling at them. So after much thought and prayers, we decided to change the way we handled things. We simply wouldn't yell. If the kids acted up and wanted to yell we just gave them extra chores. We wouldn't yell at them, we would talk camly and quietly to them and let them know that if they wanted to yell and scream at us it would just result more extra work.
2 things happened. 1) all my windows and walls downstairs are now clean, and 2) We have a happier home.
Why did it take me so long to realize this? I guess because I'm a slow learner and I like to be in control. Hi, my name is Trina Hansen and I am a yeller. There. I said it. Because of this I have 1 very strong willed daughter who LOVES to argue and get me to yell. I also have 3 others who witness me at my worst many times a week. Hopefully I can change. I think I am, but it's taking a loooong time.
Back to today. I let the kids know over breakfast what needed to be done today and how much time they dad to finish. I asked them how I could help and together we cleaned like crazy. The last thing I have the kids do is clean their rooms. I reminded them that I would be checking on their progress and if they were piddling they would have 10 minutes of extra work. Ethan has a hard time focusing, so I usually cut him some slack. After giving him a coupld of hours to clean his room I went to check on him. His room was still a mess. The legos were out and his clothes were everywhere. I WANTED to scream. Ididn't. Instead I took a deep breath and asked him how he was doing. His response? "Mom, I think I need an hour of extra work. Sorry." I was so taken back I didn't know what to say! Finally I just told him that would be a good idea and he needed to quickly clean his room. 30 minutes later it was done and he was out picking up trash in the backyard. The girls did need 15 minutes a piece, which they took willingly and NO COMPLAINING! I even went outside and helped. How could I not? They were awesome!
After dinner they quietly did their chores and after putting Kalry to bed we read scriptures. Usually this is also a big fight, but not lately. They read willingly and actually enjoyed the scriptures. After prayers I told them for the 10th time how thankful I was for their attitudes. I told them that the reason why they feel good inside is because we were able to have the spirit. Ethan started smiling really big and then let me know it was gas he was feeling. I love my kids.

The best part of Christmas vacation according to Ethan

Ethan only asked for 6 things on his list. 5 of them were gifts under the tree and the last one was to see a good buddy that doesn't live here anymore. It took a little longer for the last one to happen, but New Years Eve brought Ethan his final Christmas wish. A day with this kid.

It was so nice to spend a couple of hours with the Mulders just hanging out and letting the kids play at the park and at the lovely Hatch residence .

Karly loved it too. She had a chance to play with her soul mate. Maybe we'll get to use this one for the wedding announcement.

16 magical years

I love that I get to wake up to this guy every morning.

\

December 27th is our anniversary. It is usually spent with me home with the kids and Clarence out hunting somewhere through the new year. Nice Anniversary, right? I can only think of a handful of times we actually celebrated our anniversary on the right day or even at all. However, we do find plenty of time to spend together when it's not our anniversary. Here are my 16 favorite things we did this year:

1) Go running together. During the warmer months we would spend a couple of times a week together running. I talked a lot and he did what he does best: listen.

2) Shopping in Flag. Clarence really doesn't like to shop... ok, not at all. But I love that he is willing to go with me and read his hunting magazine and drive me around so I can get all the things on my list without the help of kids.

3) Shooting our Bows together. For my birthday Clarence bought me a new pink bow that he has been teaching me how to shoot. He is an excellent teacher and I love the time he dedicates to teaching me the art of bow hunting.

4) Going to the temple. We try to go once a month together and have been doing pretty good. I love our drives to the temple and our dinner at Evas or ice cream at McDonalds afterwards.

5) Buying new furniture. This was not the best day for me but Clarence is extremly patient and is always right when it comes to picking things out for the house. He really does have more sense than I do and knows what will work for our house. We bought some new couches and an entertainment center for the upstairs. I love that Clarence is so level headed and can put up with my crazy moods sometimes.

6) Going to Denver to see the Docs with our girls. This is something that we do every year for Kaitlyn and Karly with their disease. I know Clarence doesn't enjoy these trips, but the fact that he's willing to go with me and help out makes it on the list. It really is a highlight for me to meet with the docs and check on the progress of our special girls. Clarence makes the plane ride fun for the kids and keeps them calm and happy. Seeing him take an active role in our kids life is a favorite of mine.

7) Planting Grass. This year we finally planeted grass on the east side of our house. It was a lot of work but nice that we did it together.

8) Visiting the taxidermist. Weird to most, but a highlight of our trips together. We would go to the taxidermist to check on the progress of Clarence's latest animals and check out what others have shot. It was a real treat when we got to bring home the coudi, the coues deer, and a Muley deer Clarence had got. They now have become a permanent part of our living room.

9) Going to Colorado for Memorial Day. This was our first "vacation" in a long time and we loved it! We brought up the travel trailer to Ground Hog, fished, rode the quads, and hiked Flat Top a couple of times. It was a real treat to get away for an extended weekend.

10) The new Store Room! I love it I love it I love it!!!! A lot of hard work but time well spent.

11) Our canoe rides in the pond in the backyard.

12) Our family trips. From the Wildlife park in Phx to Colorado to California we did it together.

13) Hiking the Grand Canyon. This was a year of many 1st for me, and this was one of them. I decided last minute that I wanted to go and I don't regret it. Maybe the first 3 days afterward when I could barley move, but so worth it. Clarence is an awesome scout master that is so patient with these boys. I'm grateful I got to see him doing what he does best.

14) Scouting for elk in Colorado. We went up for a weekend with Derron and spent the good part of the weekend hiking through some crazy thick stuff. I loved every minute of it. We were rewarded by seeing some big ol' elk and getting within 15 feet of a couple of them! It was so neat to see these animals so up close and in the wild.

15) Hiking Lone Cone together. This was not what we had intented on doing that day, but at a spur of a moment we decided to throw caution to the wind and hike it. I don't think I'll ever do it again, but the fact that I got to do this and share it with my best friend made it all the worth it!

and 16) My favorite part of the year was having Clarence home for our anniversary and celebrating it before the end of the month!!!! Thanks for 16 magical years together.... may we have MANY more adventures that await us together.