Penelope Blessing

May 3, 2013 we had Penelope blessed. We did at our home since Josh wouldn't be able to make it church. And we didn't want him to miss it. Josh's grandpa Don performed the blessing and the bishop and my grandpa were in the circle.

It was so great to share this special day with friends and family. Gerrie, my step-mom, had never seen a blessing before so it was neat to have her there and experience it. Josh's grandpa messed up with Penny's middle name so I stopped so he could start over, and he did it again! 3rd time was a charm though.

Time to update!!

Boy has it been awhile! It's been crazy busy here in the Hansen Household, and also with everyone connected on Facebook it is so much easier to do a quick post here, a picture there... But I think I will try and keep up on my blog. Once a month sounds doable! OK so since I last posted I had a baby!! Sweet Penelope Michelle was born February 24. She has been such a delight to our family. Josh got a job at IM Flash in Lehi, UT. which means we relocated there ourselves! Crazy times. So far it's been great in Utah. A bit of an adjustment, but it sure is beautiful here. And there is some family here so all in all pretty good. The girls are growing like weeds. Ginger will be 7 this summer and will start 2nd grade. Boy am I getting old. She LOVES her baby sister Penelope. And here Zoey are frenemies most days. Zoey will finally start preschool this year. A dream come true for her. I switched her wardrobe today from a 4t to a 5t. She is just getting so big and a smart girl. Penelope is 4 months already! The time sure flies. She still sleeps in the room with me. I'm just not ready to have her in her crib in another room. It's such a joy to watch Penelope grow and develop and watch her personality emerge. I am doing well. A little sleep deprived. But that's my fault now. Penelope sleeps really well at night. I just stay up WAY past my curfew. What can I say? Once the kids are in bed it's mommy time! I am feeling a little lonely here in Utah, Josh is working nights so he is gone/awake at night and sleeping during the day. I'm not to close to the family I do have here and most of them have work anyways. And it's so hard to make friends as a grown up. Church has been interesting here. The people are friendly enough at church but I live on the same street with a lot of people and not a hello from any of them... I don't see any bosom buddies in that group. However I did meet a neighbor who isn't a member of the church but her husband is a pastor and we went to a local pond where are kids could splash and I see friend potential there. Time will tell. Summer is going to be LONG here. Josh got us all the Pass of All Passes which gets us into many cool things for free! But the girls are now expecting these fun times and throw fits when we don't... Very frustrating. Some days I just want to stay home. Well that may be all for now...

Ultimate Date Night Giveaway- part 2

Ultimate Date Night Giveaway- part 2

Pattern

As I came home today fresh from church I couldn't seem to stop my mind from wandering back to the lesson in Relief Society. Patterns. Yes we talked about patterns you use to make clothes and stuff. But it really came to head when the teacher started talking about why we use a pattern... you know less mistakes... etc. (I didn't pay good attention cuz' she gave me and another lady instructions to whisper to each other during class, but we miss understood and whispered during the crucial beginning instead of during a time when the whole class was reading a hymn... whoops!) And then she started talking about patterns to be righteous and how they were both very similar. I had to share my story to the class and I feel I must share it on my blog today as well.

I'm very aware of how easy it is to break the pattern of going to church every Sunday. You want to sleep in, clean the house, not fight with the kids, etc. Whatever excuse you can think of, insert here. In fact Zoey's whole first year of life didn't include going to church because it was at 9am and I went by myself and there was no way I was going by myself with a newborn and a toddler to church by 9am. See pattern broke. But we did the next year. Pattern fixed. Then we moved back to Idaho and I knew going to church here would be difficult. You know all alone again, not knowing anyone and on my 3rd Sunday to church the kids were HORRIBLE!! I was so embarrassed. They practically screaming at each other during sacrament, hitting, crying, throwing fits.This was just 20 min into sacrament too. Everyone around me was looking at them and me and probably thinking that I would just go out to the foyer so they can listen to the talks in quiet. Well we did end up in the foyer, but the kids just escalated, so I took them home! I was in tears because it felt like the people in my ward thought less of me, Zoey was crying because she's 2? Ginger was crying because she REALLY wanted to go to primary. We just went home. I called my hubby who is not a member of the LDS church and I just started bawling and telling him that I didn't want to go to church anymore. He was a little freaked at my outburst. But in the sweetest voice he told me to not stop going to church. That it's so good for the kids and me to go and continue and try and make friends in the church. He called his LDS grandma and arranged for her come to the following Sunday with me so I wouldn't be alone. And I'm crying as I write this because my husband is SO amazing but... while I was so close to break the pattern yet again, he encouraged and gave my optimism to keep it up and it will get better. It's just so hard sometimes and you feel like you get nothing out of it some Sundays but I always feel better when I get home. Renewed, refreshed, and loved. So while it's hard to set a pattern/example and stick to it... it's so worth it!

Easter 2011

It was a pretty great Easter. Especially since we had all our family around to be with. After the girls woke up and found their baskets we did a little egg hunt with Josh's parents. And later in the afternoon I went with Matt and his family and did another egg hunt. The kids just love egg hunting!!

Valentines Day 2011

Of course I had to do the traditional Valentine's Day breakfast for my kids. It wasn't as fancy as I think it could of been but my girls still felt special and loved by it.

Trying to take a pic of all of us together, Zoey's getting ready to kiss Ginger

Ginger taking stock of her loot she got from school :)

Nashville

I tried posting this a while back but blogger wasn't allowing to post pics, so better late than never!



Josh and I went to Nashville, TN last week. I guess it was my valentines day "gift" from Josh. But I think that's just what he says to himself to justify the trip. On our way there we had stopped at the the University of Virginia, that college was amazing. And so pretty. Did you know that President Jefferson was the architect who designed it?The best part about the trip was that my Aunt Dani watched the kids so it was just Josh and I. That was the best part! No kids. It had been over a year since we'd done a trip with just the two of us. And the car ride there was like 10 hours so we spent a lot of quality time together. It was just great. We went downtown to what they call the district and it was just lined up with bars, and every bar had a live band playing in it. Josh was in heaven! He just loves music. We also went to the Country Music Hall of Fame museum. That was pretty cool. On our way home we also stopped at Virginia Tech (we got to see the stadium where BSU stomped em'!) and University of Tennessee, did you know that that college is 3,000 acres!!! No we aren't going to colleges to see where we want to go, we just thought it would be fun to check em' out :) Like I said it was just so awesome to be alone with Josh.