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.

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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.

Christmas traditions with the Hansen Family

Chrismas with the Hansens has always been a treat for me. My 3 favorite things are luminarees, fajitas, and pinatas.

This year Clarissa and I went and did the luminaries. We start on Main Street and Porter and go all the way to the other end of town to Randall. It's quite an impressive amount of sacks that get put out. We light both sides of the street and our little town will even turn off the lights so the luminarees will shine. I love it. Some years I don't get to help due to conflicting schedules or crabby babies, but I always make time to go see it. What a wonderful tradition to be apart of!

The othes part of Christmas is fajitas and pinatas. I do look forward to the fajitas as it it the only time of year we eat them. This year though we changed things a little bit. Eleanor was recovering from her knee replacement so we had dinner at Lil and Brad's... Italian style. Lillian is a terrific cook as well as hostess. I look forward to her parties and her special touches on everything she does. The dinner was delicious and the kids loved the silly games we played. After awhile we went over to my house to break open the pinatas. This is what my kids live for.

Karly was a little unsure about the whole hitting with a stick concept. We spend all our time telling her not to hit and then we give her a stick and tell her to beat it? My what great parenting skills we have.

Ethan took a couple of swings and blew that pinata right open!

All the little kids scramble around gathering up their fair share of the the pinata loot.

Kaitlyn get a swing at the 2nd pinata.

Clarissa's turn at ol' frosty.

The breaking of the older kid's pinata


After the pinatas are destroyed and everyone has their loot, grandma announces the candy chosen to hold the highest reward. A certain candy is worth a dollar.... find them and you could get yourself a couple of bucks!

Ethan's reward. I think he's mesmorized by the green!

Clarissa's prize. Money is this teenager's best friend.



Kaitlyn's treasure. Grandma sure does spoil these kids. I'm thankful for the generosity of Grandma Hansen.

Karly's loot

This picture makes me smile. Dorothy, Eleanor's sister, came to visit and help with the pinatas. She got more then she bargained for with Ethan. He gave grandma a hug with all his balloons still attached. Poor Dorothy was just in the line of fire.

We had all the kids be sure to give grandmpa and grandpa a hug to thank them for all they did for them. I love the hat Gene is wearing. A nice trade for his cowboy hat

Ethan really wanted me to take this picture of him and his "awesomeness". I love that Ethan is so confident about himself.

We had a great Christmas and I will always remember the kindness and the generosity of Clarence's family. We truly have been blessed to belong to such a gret family. My Christmas wish is to have my kids treasure these memories and continue to make Christmas Traditions for themselves. Merry Christmas!

SNOW!!!!

This year the kids got an unexpected surprise the first week of December. SNOW, and lots of it!! The elementary had early realease that day, and not much longer the high school came home early because the electricity was out. They were so upset. :) I coudln't believe how much snow we got! Sure we get snow every year around here, but we're just not used to large amounts that promise to linger for a long time later.



When the kids went off to school Clarence took Karly out to feed the animals.

Our goats did not like the snow as much as we did.
I loved that Karly could barely walk in her snow suit, but at least she wouldn't be cold. This picture reminds me of the Christmas Story..... anyone who has seen it will know what I'm talking about.The kids spent the good part of the day outside. I watched most of the time from the comforts of the indoors but did go out a few times to get some photos. We had Gavin stay the night and those two boys finally came in after dark! I was shocked at how long they lasted out there. The next day the kids woke up to more snow. Yippee! The boys made an igloo of sorts and it became the place to be. It was just a big ol' snowball that they spent hours hollowing out, but it a fortress for them.
Even Karly had to try it out.

By the end of the day we had about 7 inches on the ground. Maybe not a lot for most folks, but for us in our little town of Joseph City this was an impressive amount. Snowflake ended up with somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 inches, and Show Low had 2 feet. What an awesome storm! The snow ended up sticking around for about 3 weeks. As much as I loved the snow I was glad to see it finally disapear. We couldn't put up our Christmas lights until the week before Christmas because of all the ice still on the lawn and the ICY roof that would be suicide trying to hang lights from.

Halloween

Yes it may be January 2nd on the calendar, but for the sake of me being a procrastinator I'm making it be Halloween again.

This year Clarissa and Kaitlyn decided to be stick figures. We had fun getting them ready with glow sticks, a lot of clear tape and black paint. I wish I remembered how to turn the flash off so you could really appreciate their costumes, but I guess a little bit of imaginataion is in store.

Ethan was a skeleton for the 3rd year in a row. So glad it still fit him. Karly wore the giraffe costume that once belonged to Ethan.

I may be cheap, but the kids are happy and that makes me happy. Happy Halloween!

Monkey business

Ethan got a new monkey hat from his Auny Ju Ju for Christmas, but apparently Karly thinks it's hers. How can you say no to this?

Karly has also staked claim on the top of Kaitlyn's glow dome she got last year. She wears it around the house, on the 4 wheeler, and even to grandma's house. So she can be safe, right? I guess now she has the best of both worlds. Love this little monkey!

Would you like that gift wrapped?

This year Clarence and I decided to save the headache of gift exchanging. Instead we opted to FINALLY redo our store room as our gift. This has been a project we have wanted to do for a long time but never really wanted to start. Well we finally did it. It took us 12 hours to finish and it was worth every minute of our time! Here is everything we pulled out of the storeroom. I wish I would have taken a before picture, but I am slow to remember these things. At least I got one of what it looked like before the new shelves went in! And now for the finished product (drum roll please).
Clarence was insistant on labeling everything. I am gald he did. Now maybe we can keep this room clean and organized!
After getting all the shelves in we discovered just how low our supplies are. A not so quick trip to Sams Club and lots of moola later I now have a well stocked pantry with NO mice! Best Christmas gift ever!

Christmas!!!

Christmas was a little different this year. Usually the kids are waking up and racing down the stairs to rip open their much anticipated gifts. But not this year. This year since Christmas fell on a Sunday we decided that it would be better to go to church and then open gifts. I really like it this way. We had crepes with strawberries and whop cream for breakfast and went to a wonderful sacrament meeting where the we listened to a beautiful presentation of the Christmas story. After church we did a quick visit to grandma Hansen's house to wish her a Merry Chritmas. Eleanor had her knee replaced about a week before and was still healing. The kids of Eleanor decided she and Eugene needed a new bed and so we all pitched in and bought one. Too bad it was the wrong size! It's the thought that counts, right?

After a quick photo with the kids it was time to open gifts

It's amazing how fast the room went from the photo above to this:

This year was a fun one for Karly. We only got her a couple of gifts and I had so much fun watching her unwrap them. For a month now we've been telling to her leave them alone and it was naughty to unwrap the gifts in mommy's closet. And now it's ok? She was a little confused at first, but caught on quick.

Here's the treasures of the kids. I love that they didn't ask for a lot of things and they really have been great kids. I am so blesed to have such a great family.

Speaking of being blessed.... look at this gorgeous man I get to spend my life with. He was the best present I could have asked for. 2 days after Chirstmas we celebrated our anniversary.... 16 years!

Black Friday and the day after

Nothing like Black Friday to put you in the the mood for the holiday season! I look forward to this day months before it comes! I love black friday for many reasons.... the sales, the adreline, the lines (just kidding), but most of all I love Black Friday because it has become a tradition of sorts with my family. This year was no exception. We hit Walmart and then my parents and I headed to Flagstaff and pulled an all nighter. Call me crazy, but it was one of the funnest things I've done with them in a long time. The highlights of the trip were a bike for Ethan, a grill for Clarence, and LOTS of fabric at JoAnns. It was just an exciting time for us. I also LOVED that my dad was willing to stand in line for an hour at Kohls while my mom and I shopped for whatever we wanted to. I loved that Clarence told me to buy a new camera, which i did. I loved that the mall was open at midnight and we were able to score bonus finds. I loved chinese food at 3 in the morning and finding my perfect jacket on sale.

We finally made it home the next day around lunch time. Crazy? Yes. Will I do it again? Yes!

The next day was Saturday. This is the day that I have Emlee come over and Together we put up Christmas. This is yet another part of the season I look forward to every year. For most of the day Saturday we spent hanging garland, climbing ladders, and wishing that we had taken pictures to remind us where things go. I finally did it!

The next day our family put up the tree for FHE. It's a lot of work to get ready for Christmas, but I love it. Thee are just a few of our traditions that I hope to continue for years to come.