The last month has been crazy! Here are some of the highlights:

Michael ~ 2 1/2 weeks old:

We moved Thanksgiving weekend. My amazing Mom and sisters (Arianne, Rachelle and Maren) all came down to help us clean, pack and move. We couldn't have done it without them! We are still working on unpacking the last of the boxes and organizing everything, but we absolutely love our new house!

We blessed Michael on December 6th, our last Sunday in our old ward. While our family was all here, we rode the Santa Train in Boulder City:

Our great big family (and this is only part of them) and Michael's blessing pictures (taken by my talented sister, Arianne):

We also have attended several parades and a dance show that Madison participated in:

We spent an evening decorating gingerbread houses (really graham cracker houses). Not much candy made it onto Joshua's house - boy, was he ever on a sugar high that night...

We visited the Cactus Garden at the Ethel M. Factory and saw Santa. It was cold, so we didn't stay long, but the lights were beautiful and we all had a blast. Michael was asleep and warm in the stroller, so he didn't make it into any of the pictures:

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve eating our big Christmas Eve dinner, reading the Christmas Story, opening Christmas pjs from Mamah, leaving out cookies and hot cocoa for Santa and reindeer food for the reindeer:

And finally, celebrated a fabulous Christmas Day in our new house! Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us get through the last 2 months. We are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends! We love you!

Merry Christmas!!

Madison made her first homemade bread last night almost completely by herself! Justin told her what to do and helped her take it in and out of the oven and she did the rest herself. It was delicious! She was so excited to have a sandwich made with her bread to take for her lunch at school today.

It's Official...

We are homeowners!! We got keys to our new house yesterday! We are planning on moving on the 28th. In the meantime, we have lots of cleaning and packing to do. I will be sending out an email beginning of next week with our new address and phone number - if you aren't sure if I have your email address and want this info please post a comment here and let me know.

Introducing...

Justin Michael Hansen
born November 7, 2009
at 3:22 am
8 lbs. 11 oz.
21 inches long
We didn't want to use another "J" name but what can you do? He will go by Michael.

The kids are having a lot of fun holding and loving their new brother. He doesn't know what to think about it yet.

House!!!

We are so excited! We finally found out the offer we made on a house was accepted!! The house is a short sale and we have been waiting for more than 2 months to get the offer approved. They want to close on it in less than a month! So, along with having a new baby, we will be moving the end of November or beginning of December! Life is crazy (good crazy though)!

Guessing Game!

Now that we only have about 2 weeks 'til our little guy is due, we thought it would be fun to have everyone guess what day and time he will arrive, as well as his weight and length. We will write down everyone's guesses in his scrapbook, so please leave a comment with your guess!! Just like with the name game, the winner gets a treat!!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment with name ideas. It has really helped us narrow it down a little bit, although we still haven't decided on a name for sure. So, if you haven't left a comment with a name yet, go ahead and do so now - we'll accept ideas right up until he's born!

Pick the Name Game!!

K- it is countdown time (about 4 weeks) for our baby to be born and we are drawing a complete blank on names. We need your help!!! Please post your best baby boy names - both first and middle names - in the comments. If we pick the name you suggested I will send you a special treat. We do not want a name that starts with 'J' - we've got too many 'J's' already. For family: both Jordan and Joshua's middle names are family names and we would like to use a family name for this baby too - please give us ideas of good family names to use.

Thanks for all your help and may the best name win!!!

Funny boys...

Just a couple funny and sweet stories from the last few weeks...

Josh recently had to have a little blood drawn (no big deal - he's fine!). Our pediatrician's office is great - they put numbing cream on his elbow so it wouldn't hurt so bad. When they took the blood he only cried for a minute and was fine as soon as they were done and put the band-aid over it. On the way home he became extremely annoyed with the band-aid because it prevented him from bending his arm. So after we got home we took the band-aid off. He was left with a tiny little red spot on his elbow. Apparently, this tiny red spot, which didn't hurt anymore, was too much for him. Every time he saw it he started sobbing hysterically. He would try to pull his sleeve over it to hide it, but it wouldn't stay down. So, I put my hand over it and he was completely fine. After holding my hand over it for several minutes I tried to remove my hand and once again he started sobbing. Again with the hand - he was fine. After another 10 minutes of that I tried to move my hand and again he started sobbing. So, since he was annoyed by the band-aid and I obviously couldn't sit there with my hand on his arm for the whole day, I got out my concealer, put a little dab of it on the red spot and voila! he was completely fine!!

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A couple of nights ago Jordan woke up crying just before 11:00. Justin and I were getting ready for bed and both went in to see what the problem was. He had had a bad dream - terrible enough that he had wet the bed. As I was getting him cleaned up I tried to get him to tell me about his dream. All he would tell me was that there was a dragon. When I asked him to tell me what happened with the dragon, all he would tell me is that he didn't want to tell me the rest because then I would have the same bad dream. Then he just let me give him a big hug and went back to bed. Isn't he just the sweetest thing? So concerned about me, even when he is clearly terrified! Moments like that make me love being a mom!

Justin's Birthday

This last weekend was Justin's birthday. We celebrated by having a few friends over for cake and ice cream. Justin also enjoyed watching a lot of college football. He tried to stump me by requesting a cake that looked like an apple pie. He seemed a little disappointed when it turned out to be the easiest cake I've made in quite a while. The top and bottom crust are made of sugar cookie dough. Inside is layered apple pie filling, buttermilk spice cake and whipped cream cheese filling.

I also made another cake (same flavors) and covered it in buttercream and sprinkles for the kids. We needed both cakes just to hold all 33 of his candles, which he blew out in one breath!

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This last week Madison was also honored as a Super Citizen at school. They had a special ceremony, recieved a certificate and then were treated to donuts and juice. Of course, I forgot the camera... Good job, Mad!!

Jordan's 1st Day of Preschool

Jordan started preschool this week. He has been looking forward to it for weeks now. Eric, one of his good friends from Primary is in his preschool class. Jordan was so excited when he found out they were going to be in the same class. Personally, I feel a little sorry for his preschool teachers - when Jordan and Eric get together they tend to be a little silly and wild. He goes to preschool 3 afternoons a week, during Joshua's naptime, which gives me an hour and a half of uninterupted quiet time!

Back to School

Today was Madison's first day of 2nd grade. She has team teachers (Mr. Hardy and Ms. Barnes) this year and a very large class. She is excited because several of the kids in her class were also in her 1st grade and Kindergarten classes. This morning she said she was most excited about having fun teachers and most nervous about meeting the new kids in her class. After school she said, "It was the best first day of school ever!"

Shark Reef

Saturday afternoon it was my turn to host book club, so Justin took the kids to the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay for a few hours (isn't he wonderful!). They had tons of fun and saw lots of cool fish, sharks, a sea turtle and even lizards. Joshua seemed to be most impressed with the big lizard (Komodo Dragon) - he was still talking about it last night.

Skate Park Fun

Last week Justin took the kids to the neighborhood skate park with their bikes. They all thought it was so much fun and couldn't wait to show me. So Saturday morning we all went over so they could show me how much fun it is. After a while Jordan and Josh got tired of riding and decided to just run and chase Justin and Madison around.

Animal Cracker Wedding

Jordan playing with his animal crackers this morning:

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"These two are in love. They are going to get married."

(singing) "Dum-dum-da-dum. Dum-dum-da-dum."

"Do you take this boy to be your husband?"

"I do."

"Do you take this girl to be your wife?"

"I do."

"You may kiss."

"They are married now."

"Now they are going to have a baby."

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Birthday Hoopla!

Madison turned 7 today! We celebrated her birthday on Saturday (which also happened to be my birthday) with a Little Mermaid party. The kids had octopus hot dogs on green seaweed (Ramen) with goldfish crackers and blue kool-aid. Then they played in the sprinkler and threw water balloons. Josh and cousin Logan running up and down the hill.
We also had a very wet limbo contest...
Jordan opted for the duck walk method, complete with quacking.

... and a pinata.

And finally a Little Mermaid cake. Madison requested a strawberry cake with strawberry filling and strawberry buttercream. She was also adamant that Ariel be sitting on the top of it holding a seashell (complete with a pearl inside) and that Flounder had to be on the cake somewhere, too. Unfortunately, Ariel doesn't look quite like Ariel, but Madison was happy with how she looked (and that's what really matters)! Justin's sister, Michelle, and her two kids, Ana and Nik came all the way from the Denver area to visit this weekend, too. Justin's mom also came down from Panaca. Justin's brother, Andrew, and his family drove up from California on Saturday to see them. So we had a very full house! It was a lot of fun having them here! Madison especially loved having the cousins here to help celebrate her birthday (we ended up with 16 kids at her party)!

The kids and their cousins: Nik, Madison, Ana, Payton, Jordan, Millie, Logan and Joshua (4 week old Dallin was also here but didn't join in the photo shoot).

My amazing friend, Stacie, brought me a quilt for my birthday. It is so cute - all made of t-shirts that she got from Justin! There are t-shirts that my kids have worn, some of Justin's old t-shirts, and even the t-shirt from Girl's Camp the year I was a YW leader! And to top it off, she made it in less than a week - serious talent! THANK YOU STACIE!!

Happy Birthday Joshua!

Josh turned 2 today! It is hard to believe he is already 2 - it seems like just yesterday he was a tiny baby. But he is definitely acting like a two-year-old - he is constantly saying 'Mine' and 'Do it self'.'

We celebrated yesterday by having some friends over for pizza and cake and ice cream. Joshua didn't seem to quite understand what all the fuss was about, but he sure enjoyed all the attention and presents.

Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton is Josh's favorite book. (If you have little kids and haven't read it, you really need to). He makes all the animal sounds and even insists on sleeping with the book. So I made him a 'La La' cake:

This is the picture from the last page of the book. It is all buttercream. The cake itself is a white cake with pink cherry filling.

Licking frosting off his finger...

Blowing out his candles. I love the intense look on his face!

Mmmm...

Yummy chocolate pudding!

It's A Boy!!

We found out on Wednesday we are having a boy!! My mom, sister Arianne and Madison came with us to the ultrasound. Madison was so excited to see the baby - he was yawning and wiggling a lot during the ultrasound - but she was a little disappointed to find out she is going to have another brother (she really, really wants a sister).

Happy Anniversary!

Wednesday was our 10th anniversary. I can hardly believe we have been married for 10 years!

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My wonderful mom flew down on Tuesday afternoon with my brother, Chris, and they and my sis, Arianne, helped Justin arrange a huge surprise for me. Justin took me out to dinner and then we went on a gondola ride at the Venetian and finally surprised me with a room my mom had gotten for us at the Venetian. My mom watched the kids for the night and Justin and I had a wonderful time. He is such a great guy! I love you Justin!

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My mom had to fly back home on Thursday evening - I wish she could have stayed longer! Thanks Mom for everything!! You are amazing!!

I'll bring the cake...

Warning! Super long post!!

This last week has really kicked my butt! I have spent the last few weeks working on flowers and decorations for my step-brother Phil's wedding cake. In the midst of all that I started out this week by making a 1st birthday cake for the daughter of some of Justin's high school friends. I didn't have time to get a very good picture of it, so this is a picture I stole off their blog:

Last weekend was also our Stake's Father and Sons Campout, so Justin took the boys to that on Friday night. Madison helped me finish up the cake and then I took her to Applebees for dinner - she loves Applebees! The next morning I made crepes for her (she ate more than I did) and then we went shopping! We used the gift card she won from the book contest. She had the hardest time deciding what books to spend it on, but finally settled on a couple more books in the fairy series she is reading and also a book from a new princess series. We also got her some new shorts and some ribbon to decorate her new shirts and made what was supposed to be a quick stop at Costco. We were quickly reminded why I never go to Costco on Saturday - UGH! We spent the rest of Saturday (and part of Sunday) doing laundry and trying to finish up stuff for the wedding cake.

Monday morning I got Madison off to school and then Jordan, Joshua and I headed up to Utah. Everyone was so worried about me driving up to Utah by myself with the boys. My mom even offered to fly someone down to drive back up with me. All in all, the trip went really well, aside from the road construction traffic in South Salt Lake and the throwing up just 30 minutes from my mom's house (why, oh why did I give Josh a banana when I couldn't watch to make sure he didn't shove the entire thing in his mouth all at once...).

I spent all of Tuesday and Wednesday and half of Thursday standing in my mom's gorgeous kitchen baking and decorating the wedding cake and cutting up fruit for the luncheon. Luckily, my mom's neighbor has a little boy that is Jordan's age. They played together all day on Tuesday and Wednesday, so Jordan was completely entertained while I decorated! I had a few minor catastrophe's with the cake, but luckily was able to fix all of them.

Thursday afternoon I loaded up the boys and the cake and drove (cringing every time a hit a bump in the road) all they way down to Draper for the luncheon and reception. The reception was held in a beautifully decorated greenhouse. I got the cake done just as the reception was starting. It had a few minor flaws (most of which I'm sure no one but me noticed), but overall I was happy with the way it turned out. Plus Phil and his new wife Chelsea seemed to love it!

The bottom tier was white chocolate cake with strawberry mousse filling and white chocolate almond buttercream. The middle tier was dark chocolate cake with dulce de leche filling and marshmallow buttercream. The top tier was cardamom spice cake with peach filling and cream cheese icing. All three tiers were covered in white chocolate fondant with handmade gumpaste orchids and kumquats.

Jordan and Josh enjoying the delicious ice cream at the reception.

Jordan playing with my brother Daniel, his adorable girlfriend Amy, and my brother Michael.

Phil and Chelsea cutting the cake.

Friday we spent washing dishes and tableclothes, putting away all the decorations from the luncheon, and cleaning my mom's kitchen (which I'm sure has never been that messy before - thanks for letting me use your kitchen all week Mom!). I also made my little sis, Maren, a cake for her 12th birthday! (Forgot to get a pic of it - oops)

Saturday, the boys and I drove all the way home... completely exhausted! My feet and legs still ache from being on them for so many days straight. I am really glad I don't have much going on this next week because I think it is going to take me a few more days to completely recover.

While we were gone, Justin and Madison rode bikes, went to the park, played Barbies (what a good dad!), watched movies, cleaned the house and went to the water park. Madison really missed Jordan and was so excited to have him come home.

Our Award-Winning Author

I am so proud of Madison! Her school had a book writing contest and she entered. They announced the winners this morning and she won!! She got an award certificate and a $20 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble. It was so fun to watch her face as they read her book to a multipurpose room full of people. She was beaming! Here is her book (sorry - the scans don't do her pictures justice):

A Bird by Madison Hansen

Once upon a time there was a bird.

One day it flew to it's friends house. (The bird on the bottom is saying "Come on!")

The bird had so much fun at his friends house. (The bird at the bottom is saying, "It's so much fun!")

That night he had a sleep over at his friends house. The end!

Easter and Spring Break Excitement

Happy Easter! We were all sick for Easter this year (except for Justin), so we are a few days late with this post. Here are some pics of the kids coloring Easter eggs:

Hunting for eggs:

We spent Spring Break up in Utah this year. We had tons of fun hanging out with all my family (except we didn't get to see Daniel). We went and saw Monsters vs. Aliens, hung out with the family, played in the backyard. But the biggest thing we did was throw my Mom a surprise birthday party with all her family and neighbors. Anyone who knows my Mom knows she is impossible to surprise, but somehow we managed to do it! Arianne, Mike Vause and I worked hard planning it for weeks beforehand. A special thanks to them for all they did! Jordan almost gave the surprise away - he told my Mom, "It's your birthday and it's a surprise!" When she asked what the surprise was Madison told her, "We're not telling you." Luckily I overheard and intervened before she could pry the secret out of them. Jordan also told her that she was turning a big number, but that in four years she was turning a really, really big number! You gotta love kids! Happy Birthday Mom!! We love you!

My Mom had to work on Monday and Tuesday. She felt so bad that she wasn't there to entertain us, so she kept trying to give us things to do so she wouldn't be bored. Little did she know, I (with tons and tons of help from Justin) was spending those two days baking her birthday cake! I got started both mornings as soon as she left and then we would hurry and get it all cleaned up and hidden away just before she got home. She kept teasing us for being so pooped when all we'd done is spend the whole day hanging out doing nothing!

It turned out pretty well I think. And it was so delicious! - Dark chocolate cake, marshmallow and dulce de leche fillings, covered in chocolate ganache and chocolate fondant!