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

Paint Balling and the Founders Day Fairy

Founders Day is always a favorite around here.  Yes, the wind usually blows, and yes, it is usually cold, but after awhile you just get used to it and realize how lucky we are to be here.  I love Joseph City.  I love the people, the country life, and the traditions.  Every year on founders day I can count on the anvil going off at 5:45 in the morning right in front of my house.  I can count on a pancake breakfast served by the scouts.  I can count on a couple of runs, and always a turkey shoot. I can count on the luncheon at the firehouse, folowed by the auction to support the Fire Station, and there are always activities to please the kids young and old.  When my parents were in charge of Founders Day a couple years back, we had a 4 wheeler/motorcycle race in the wash.  It was fun, but hasn't been done since.  I guess too many people got hurt.  Last year we had a big parade down main street, complete with several backhoes and front loaders. Just good ol' country fun.  This year the new game was paint balling.  Not my thing, but I do have a teenage daughter who thought it might be fun.  She has never gone before, but thanks to a lot of coaxing from her friends here and afar, she decided to try it.  After just a couple of minutes she was out.  But boy did she go out with a bang!  Needless to say, i don't think she will be trying paint balling anytime soon.  Ouch!

 At the auction I snagged a couple of items that I thought my kids would love.  I was not disapointed.  Here is my little Founders day fairy.  I just love her!

Founders day came and went.  I was so fortunate to get to spend some time with old friends, and meet a new one.  Alona brought her fiance to visit, so we went out with the Mulder family for dinner, and then back to my house for an evening of games and laughter with Holli Turley, Cara Hutchens, and Julie Clifford.  I love this bunch.  What a great way to end a day of traditions.  Next year, same place, same time.

Easter Egg Extravaganza

Today was the last official day of Spring Break.  I asked my kids if they wanted to go somewhere like Flagstaff and watch a movie or something, but to my astonishment, they didn't!  They just wanted to stay home and veg.  I took that as a challenge to do something with them.  The solution?  Easter Egg Dying. When I was a kid we used to decorate the eggs and hide them outside.  The older siblings would help the younger ones, and then we would spend hours outside hiding the eggs until the eggs became too damaged to hide.  I am a slacker mom. I haven't done this with my kids in years!   Probably because I'm lazy and I don't like the mess the dye makes, or maybe it's because nobody wants to help color eggs with me.  But this year I decided it was time.  So I dragged them all downstairs, had the girls boil the eggs, and after eating 2 of them with our lunch (mmm, tuna sandwishes) we dyed the eggs. 
Funny things happen when you start to dip eggs into dye.  First the kids are cranky and not wanting any part of it, but as soon as that first egg comes out of the cup all colored up and pretty, they start changing their mind.  "Ooh, I might want to try one.  But just one."   Or, "That looks kinda cool mom, but if I color an egg I will make mine look like this:"   And so it begins.  16 eggs to color, and 4 kids coloring them.
  Karly was so excited to dip her eggs into the pretty colors, but not before scribbling all over them with a white crayon.

 
Clarissa experimented with dipping her eggs into 2 colors and then drawing faces on them.  Very creative. 


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Kaitlyn would dip her eggs into multiple colors at different angles, giving it the tie dye effect.











And Ethan, well, he just had experimenting all kinds of methods, and became very creative with the permanent marker.  I love the faces on these eggs... and on that boy! 






Before long, it was no longer the ol' I don't want to do this, but instead, it was Aww, are all the eggs colored?  Can we make more?  

I love these kids, and it's moments like this that remind me that my time with my kids is the most important investment I can make.  I need to remember that, and look for more ways to spend quality time with them.  They grow up so fast, and before long I will have nobody here to color eggs with, or to make messes with.  I'm so thankful I have been blessed to have 4 terrific kids in my life.  They make me smile, give me reason to get up in the morning.  I couldn't imagine my life without them.  And because of the sacrifice that my Savior did for me, I won't have to.  I get to spend and eternity with these terrific kids.   Happy Easter everyone!

Karly's Birthday Bash

I wasn't really planning on doing anything for Karly's birthday, but since I had my mom help me make 2 boxes of cupcakes for Ethan's school birthday, I felt compelled to do something for my girl.  After all, a girl only turns 3 once, right?  So about 4pm I got on the phone and text all my family that was in a 5 minute radius and invited them over for a spontaneous cupcake and ice cream party at 5:30.   Except I forgot to have Clarence pick up some more ice cream, so it was mostly just a cupcake party. 
 Before I get the lecture on being a lazy bad mom and a procrastinator, let me just back up a little bit and remind you that I was on crutches and REALLY having a hard time with it.  I don't like to ask for help, but to plan a party, go shopping, bake the cake, AND set up tables and chairs was just next to impossible by myself.  So I didn't.  What I did do is make a great dinner for my family and have a fast, yet fun party for my baby.... and then rush off to Young Women's, because that's how I roll.

 I love how excited she was to blow out the candles! 

 She put in a lot of concentration to blow out all these candles.  Whew, this is hard work!

Aww, the cake face plant.  She was totally diggin' her cupcake.  At first she was little timid, but once she figured out it was ok to shove her face in her cupcake, she was all for it!

 

 The final product.

 

 She was all into opening her gifts this year too.  I loved how she dove in and just tore everything apart to see her gifts.  She just kept yelling, "yeah, presents!  Yeah presents!"  She recieved some new shoes, a team Umi Zoomi movie, some more animal blocks, and a xylaphone.  She loved her gifts, and still does!

 

Here is a picture of some of some of the family that was able to make it to help celebrate this special girl turning 3.

                            

It was an exhausting day, but in the end I was so thankful to be able to spend time with my family and capture these moments.  I'm glad we decided to have an impromptu party!