Last day of school!

How did this happen?  Where did all the time go?  I swear it was just last week I was taking pictures of them as they headed off to their first day of school.  Could it already be the last day of school?  I am amazed at how much these kids have grown.... both physically and mentally this year. 

 

 

This is Clarissa's last day as a SOPHMORE!  I can't believe she only has 2 more years of high school left.  Clarissa is very smart, and this year she was inducted into National Honor Society, joined the ski club, went to Math Day in Flagstaff, and got to go to a competition for Chemisty at EA.  She is so lucky!  Clarissa has recently started writing poetry, and I have always enjoyed her stories.  The piano and flute are two of her favorite things, and she has a real gift for music as well.  She is a beautiful young lady that will soon be driving!  I'm very lucky to have her as my first kid.

Kaitlyn will be finishing up 7th grade this year.  She has had some health issues this year and is has effected her grades.  However, she has been quite the trooper and did her best to stick with it.  Kaitlyn is the Beehive class president, and takes her responsibility seriously.  She is a very responsible young lady and has recently taken up babysitting for others.  This year Kairlyn , like Clarissa, helped tutor the kids at the Naomi house twice a week.  It was a neat experience, and I know that the kids were blessed because of her service.  Kaitlyn has a live for music, and started taking paino lessons.  She LOVES to sing, and this year she was in the choir at school.  I love that Kaitlyn was my "middle" child and is very calm and loving to all.  She is considerate to others, and always looking for ways to help others happy.  I love her sweet disposition.

Ethan is leaving 5th grade this year.  Mr. Mosier was his teacher, and he was a blessing to have.   Ethan loves to draw and look at cool cars, something him and his teacher have in common.  This year Ethan has found his true love of riding his motorcycle he got for Christmas and paintballing.  He worked very hard this year and was able to buy not just a paintball gun, but also a kindle HD.  Ethan is easy going and easy to please, two things I love so much about him.  He is very obedient and a great friend.  School is still not his favorite thing, but this year he worked hard and was able to advance.  Ethan is very smart, and he has a real knack for math.  His favorite class is PE and he looks forward to his time outside.  This year Ethan was finally old enough to go javelina hunting.  Even though we came home empty handed, it was a fun experience to be able to go with my only boy.  I am sad that my 1 and only boy is growing up so fast.  It's safe to say that of all the kids, this one is the most excited for summer.

 One last picture of the kids before they load up on the bus for the last time this school year.

These kids are everything to me.  I am so lucky to be their mom.  I am excited to have them all to myself for the summer.  We have some fun activities planned this summer, but I am most excited about being able to spend my days with the cool kids.  I LOVE THESE KIDS!

Marriage is what bwings us togetha today

Weddings and Girls Trip.  Two of my favorite things in life, and anytime I get to combine the 2 of them it's even better!  One of my best friends from high school found her true love and was getting hitched in the Houston temple!  I was super excited, and as soon as I could I booked my ticket to Houston. A couple of other of my besties came along for the trip.  I graduated with Jinny, Holli, and Alona for what seems like a long time ago.   Ok, who am I kidding?  18 years IS a long time ago!

We had quite the trip getting to Houston.  Our plane was delayed close to an hour due to severe weather in Houston.  Once we finally landed, we were in a holding pattern on the tarmac for another hour.  Once we were in the airport we waited yet AGAIN for another hour for our rental car. 

Finally we were on the road to see Alona!  Once we got to Alona's house she had a surprise for us.  We were getting threaded.  I encourage you to google it.  I call it the dreaded threaded.  I don't have pictures, but I can assure you I did it and my eyebrows have never been the same!

Around midnight Alona kissed he prince charming goodnight, but not before we snapped this picture.  The last picture of the happy couple BEFORE they became Mr. and Mrs.

 After everyone settled down and went to bed, us girls threw Alona a little bachelorette party.  We gave her fantastic advice and finally went to bed, exhausted and very well enlightened. :)
Saturday morning found us scurrying around getting ready for the day.  We were going to the Chocolate Bar for breakfast!  My goodness, I have never seen so many things dipped or covered in chocolate before.  I chose chocolate strawberries for breakfast.... probably the healthiest choice on the menu!

We kinda lost track of time and may have gotten lost on the way to the temple, but we finally made it and had to do a quick change in the parking lot.  Now THAT was a site to see. 

The wedding ceremony was beautiful, and many tears of joy were shed for the happy couple.  And now I introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Williams.

Robert (or Bob as we like to call him)  has a son from a previous marriage.  He was so cute, and such a gentleman!

  To celebrate this rare occasion of having us all together, a few pictures are in order.  Say chocolate!

 

After the wedding we went to a friends house for a delicious bbq dinner.  I do miss a good BBQ.  The reception was at Alona's boss's house.  It was so pretty.  The food was amazing, and the company was awesome! After a long night we lit the sparklers and said our goodbyes to our dear friend.
That night we stayed up until way too late again visiting with Alona's family.  I love the Bushman family, they are truly some of the best people I know.  I loved listening to Bro. Bushman tell his jokes and reminisce about he good ol' days. 
Sunday morning we said our good byes and headed to the airport.  Once in Phx. I visited Nolan's family, and Holli came home with me.  What a great way to spend Mothers Day Weekend.

Graduation projects and a couple of other cards

Here are a few more of my creations that I've been up to lately.
This first card is a GREAT and easy card for a little boy's baptism.  For the front I used the congrats embossing folder, alphabet cartridge for the bog stars, and stickers for the name and foam starts.   I cheated on the inside though and just printed stuff off the computer with pictures I found online. Simple and perfect for my nephew!

My very good friend from High school recently got married.  I wanted to make something special for her wedding, so this is the card I came up with.  I wanted to make it very personalized, and I think I succeeded.  Her wedding colors were orange, lime green, white, and navy blue. 

Here is an alternate design.  I liked them both.

 

 

 

Now on to GRADUATION!!!!!

I am the Young Women President in my ward.  I love my Young Women, and when they graduate I miss them.  I made them some extra special cards this year.  I did get my idea off of pinterest, but then I made it my own. I love the way they turned out.  I also made money holder cards for a couple of other cards for my family and other seniors who gave me invites to their graduation.  I love how inking the embosser folder really brings out the brick look in the second card.

As part of the seniors gifts, I made these cute little purses with the bridal cartridge.  I am filling them with candy and giving it to my Laurels to help them "Purse"ue their dreams.

                                                       One final picture of the senior cards.  

           

For my young women who are promoting from 8th grade I made them some similar gifts for the seniors, but I added a different saying.  These purses are so cute and easy.  I love them!  I found some really cute square stickers on sale at Michaels that I used for the clasp.    

I put the card on the bottom of the purse and taped I shut and then added curly ribbon.  This picture doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea.

 

 

Now that I got the graduates taken care of I needed to turn my attention to the teachers who helped my children make it through yet another year of school.  I have a deep admiration for these teachers.  I made the apples using the country cartridge.  I showed my kids how to make a simple card and then let them design their own cards.  I used several different embossers on the main card, but all of them used the same Thank You embosser for the front. The inside I matted lined paper for them to write their thank you note. 

Here are a couple more cards one of my daughters made.  I thought they all did a fabulous job!

Now onto the gifts!  I have Pinterest to thank for these ideas.  Simple, yet very cute.

For the smores I cut a gallon ziplock bag in half and then used a sealer to make 2 long bags.  I filled the bag with a candy bar, 3 graham crackers, and 6 marshmallows.

I bought this little basket for a buck and added all the goods.

 

My last project I tackled is making birthday cards for the wonderful ladies I am privileged to work with in Young Women. I used the lettering from the Wall Décor cartridge and of course, the embosser was used for this project as well! 

The inside I went online and found this cute happy birthday wish already all done for me!  I used a couple of stickers and gems to make it more sparkly.  I'm all about the bling!

So there you have it.  My fingers hurt, my table is covered in glue, and my floor is littered with scraps of paper.  The craft room is a mess and the laundry is still needing folded, but some things just can't wait!

And the winner is.....

My family has a game we like to play called Left Right Center.  I've talked about it in a previous post, but these pictures are just too awesome not to post!  Obviously, I was NOT the winner of this game.

If you are the last one to end up with a chip the 2nd to the last person gets to write the letters LOSER after every round you lose.  I was indeed the biggest loser.  I love my family!

Growing old is a requirement, but growing up is an option.  Thanks for keeping me young!

Karly and the adventures of Toad Hunting

I can't believe how fast this little one is growing up.  My baby, the last of the Hansen crew. Ever time I close my eyes to sleep she grows a foot and ages a year.  Ok, not really, but it sure seems like it.

Brian and Ty call Karly "BUNS".  I have no idea why.

Every year when the days get longer and the weather warms up the  toads start singing in search of a mate.  That can only mean one thing around this house. TOAD HUNTIN'.  Every year my kids go out with their buckets in one hand and a flashlight in the other searching for the croakin' fools.  They will stay out there giggling and laughing until the buckets are full of peeing, croaking toads.  Next will dig through their buckets  in search of their favorites.  Once located they are brought into the house for closer inspection.  The other toads are left in the bucket, with the lid on of course so they don't hop away.

Karly was so happy and excited to hold her toad.  She was so excited she couldn't sit still. 

Imagine that!

For tonight here are a few of the girls' favorite toads.  Aren't they lovely?

  I love that these girls love spending so much time together and are teaching Karly important skills.  Who knows when knowing how to hunt toads might come in handy?

After making sure everyone within earshot has a chance to see the latest catch, all the toads are loaded back in the bucket, taken to the pond, and released so they could be caught again.  Until tomorrow toads, keep on croakin'!

Mesa trip!

Karly and Ashlyn are only about 7 weeks apart.  They love being together.  If one wears a Minnie shirt, the other one HAS to scurry to the room in search of one to match.  Don't you just love their oomi goggles?

On a recent trip to Mesa for a dr. appt we decided to stay a couple of extra days at Emlee's house.  Friday night Kevin's family decided to come have a sleepover so we could play games all night.                                                                                                                                                                      

Emlee and I decided to try to cut out fingers off.  I'll spare the pictures, but just know that there was a lot of blood and missing skin and fingernail that was later found in the veges we were slicing. Emlee did it first, and I was just trying to help her finish the job.  The cutter was extremely sharp, and before I knew it I was screaming and made some impressive blood spatter patterns ALL over the kitchen.  The roof, the fridge, the stove, the floor, and everything in between.  Apparently shaking your finger when blood is gushing is not a good idea. Who knew?  Of course it didn't stop us from playing some serious games all weekend long.  Sunday morning early I packed up the kids and headed home in time to make it to church.  It was a great weekend!

Lake Powell Fishing

Every year around Mothers Day weekend, the boys hitch up the boat and head for Lake Powell for Striper Fishing.  Some years they do well, and others times the fishing is not so good.  This year the fishing report was being watched closely, and when Waynesword said it was HOT striper fishing the end of April, it was game on!  This year the girls boycotted the boys trip and went with them. 

 I have always wanted to be at the lake when the stripers were biting, but all these years it has never worked out.  This year was going to be different. So at 3 in the morning on a Friday we loaded up the boats and headed to the lake.  The main road to Powell had been severely damaged when it collapsed, so we have to take the LONG way around.  But we finally made it!

 Here is a shot at the handsome skipper of our boat.  Don't those glasses make him look sexy?






Right away we came into some fish.  Ron was on our boat with us and he caught one first.  These fish were huge!

Clarence had to show one up on Ron and caught this really nice one. 

 The other boat was doing well also.  Tilynn is in the front, my mom in the middle, with my dad and Brian near the back.  My mom was a catching machine!  She didn't think she was going to catch any, but I think she caught more fish than anyone.  For sure she was the fishing queen on this boat.

 FINALLY I caught a striper.  It was a whopper!  I think I was the last one in the whole group to catch one.  Fishing was pretty good that day.  We were fighting the wind a lot of times, but we still managed to stay close to the wall and pull in fish like crazy.

 That night we pulled up to the shore and slept on the boats or in a tent.  My parents provided us some awesome meals, and we all slept pretty well, inspite of the wind that blew all night.  The next morning after a fantastic meal we headed back out for more action.  The morning was a little slow, so we changed places.  And that's where our boat hit the mother load. 
Of course Clarence couldn't keep the fish off his poles.  He would get one line out and no sooner would be do that when the pole would start zinging.  He would start reeling in that one just to have his other pole going.  It was just crazy! 

Clarence spent more time getting fish off hooks and baiting them than anyone I knew!

We stayed longer than the other boat by several hours on Saturday, and we came home with the live well full, as well as the freezer!  We figured it was close to 200 fish that was caught this weekend.  Holy smokes!  By the looks of it, we left the lake just in time.  Ron looks Waaaay too comfortable there.

We came home sunburned and tired, but it was a great way to spend