MaryAnne and Rusty Hansen

Adventures in Doctor-sitting

2012-02-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

What's the best way to spend 7:00 on a Saturday morning? What? Sleeping? No! being drilled on by a dentist of course! I know that you were all waiting on pins and needles to find out how my dentist appointment went. All went well, other than I had to wake up way too early for something way not fun. No more surprise cavities, no more near root canals (although one of the fillings replaced was SUUUUPER deep to begin with so he left some of it in so it didn't accidentally turn into a RC while he was "chasing it". Now you see why we are BFFs) I got home before anyone else even woke up! fancy that.

So anyway, after I got home Rusty went to church BBall and apparently they didn't start with a good enough prayer because in the last minute of the game he went up for a something something and something happened (this is me quoting him, I don't remember all of the technical sporty terms) and he dislocated his shoulder!! oh no! A member on his team who has had a plethora of dislocated shoulders helped him pop it back in and when he came home I knew something was terribly wrong. Rusty said that the pretend doctor on his team said he should get it checked out by a real doctor soon even though they popped it back in so I got on the phone to find a doctor. Well, it turns out that all doctor offices on the face of the planet are closed on Saturday (except the ones who don't take our insurance and ones who don't look at shoulders? weird.) So it looked like the ER was our best bet. We called a bunch of people in the ward to see if anyone could watch Conner and it turns out that nobody is home on Saturdays either. man! what is it with people wanting to have lives on Saturday's anyway? so overrated. We called Rusty's mom in Oakley and she was planning on coming down to Salt Lake anyway and she could be here in an hour. So anyway off to the ER we went with Conner in tow. We thankfully didn't have to wait long to be seen. But then it's the waiting in the room that took forever. Luckly it was past nap time so Conner just sat in his own little chair most of the time drinking his milk until he realized that he was in a room with cool new toys and lots of buttons. humm...but by that time Rusty's wonderful mom had arrived to take him home for a real nap.

So we waited for about an hour and a half (which was a lot faster then expected) for them to tell us that he got it popped in great and that it would hurt. Thanks. It seems like every time we go to the ER, not that it's a lot don't worry, we have to wait forever for them to tell us things we already know and they don't do anything. ohwell, better safe than sorry. So we got a sling a prescription that street dealers would probably pay big money for and headed home.

It's been almost a week and he's pretty much out of his sling and feeling a lot better.

"This one's going to China!"

2012-02-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

Well friends, I visited my BFF Mr. Dentist yesterday. If you follow me on Facebook at all you might know that a few weeks ago I went to the dentist for the first time in 5 1/2 years. I hadn't been since before Rusty and I got married. We didn't have insurance for the first almost 5 years and when we finally got it last May I kept putting it off on account that I'm such a denta-phope. Finally Rusty (of all people, mr. anti-doctor) kept bugging me to make an appointment for us, so I did. At my check up I was told that I had one teeny tiny cavity and some old silver fillings that needed to be replaced. He also said I had really nice gums (um...thanks?) for someone who hasn't seen the dentist in so long. So anyway, back to the present, I went yesterday to get my teeny tiny cavity filled and replace one of my fillings since they were next door neighbors. I was kinda worried since, well, I'm no fan of the dentist, but Rusty went the day before to get some fillings and he got to watch Ferris Buhler's Day Off while they were working on him and la-de-da and said it wasn't that bad.

So I'm laying there, staring at the bright light shining in my face (not a movie, they didn't even offer) fingers stuck in my mouth while my head is vibrating from the never ending drill when I hear the Dr say "man, this one's going to China! (blah blah something something I wasn't really paying attention) root canal." Oh I heard that last part. I'm pretty sure that my eyes opened as wide as possible without actually falling out and I looked at the doctor with his glasses and those crazy magnifying glass things on them that make his eye HUGE and made a noise "uuuuu?" Not what someone want's to hear while being drilled upon.

So long story short, that little baby cavity turned out to be a big fat mama cavity and underneath the filling he replaced was a "little surprise" as he put it, that turned out to be a not so little cavity. He said it was a good thing we caught them when we did because they were both about 6 months away from both needing a root canal!!!! Ugggg! Thanks Rusty, for bugging me to make an appointment!

I still have 3 more that need to be replaced and I'm going in on Saturday morning and will hopefully get the whole lot of 'em done in one shot. But I'm sooooo nervous. I'm even feeling phantom pains where the fillings are that I've never felt before, surely my mind preparing itself for the impending doom that is possibly awaiting.

It's moments like these where I totally hate my sister. Ok, well not her. I love my sis the person, but not so much her mouth. See, she has never ever in her whole life, even counting baby teeth, had a cavity! (and to add insult to injury and make other people insanely jealous too, she doesn't have any wisdom teeth. Like, they just never developed? I guess?) Come on, couldn't you have just shared a little bit before sucking up all the good teeth genes before the rest of us even had a chance? Thanks a bunch.

So anyway, for those of you who care deeply about my oral health I will update you as to what happens on Saturday. Wish me luck!!!!!

One-man Band

2012-01-24T14:00:00.002-07:00

Conner is my little music lover and here is my proof that he's destined to be some rock star in the future (or at least in the school band)

Please pardon the noise in the background, there was a rousing game of duck duck goose going on in the next room.

A little bit of Christmas

2012-01-18T14:08:00.002-07:00

Christmas was lots and lots of fun. So much fun, in fact, that it has taken me almost 3 weeks to recover to bolg about it! ;) Ok, really I'm just a slacker, but here's the list of what we did.

Johnny Elf came on Dec 1st to watch over Conner and make sure he was good for Santa to come.

Somehow I never took any pics of my tree except for this one when I was still stetting it up and there are boxes and crap all over. Oh well, that's what it looked like, except imagine it with all of the ornaments from about 3 feet from the bottom gone.

Conner's first experience with Santa this year at Great Grandma P's house a few weeks before Christmas. Let's just say he wasn't a fan:(

Christmas Eve we spent in Oakley with Rusty's fam. He got these cute red overalls from his Uncle and happened to be wearing a blue striped shirt that day. Should I be worried that he looks suspiciously like Dennis the Menace?

Helping open other people's presents.

Conner and his cousin got little remote control cars that go forward and back. It was so funny watching them try to figure them out. I like how they are both crashing into the tree

I like how in both videos Conner's attention span is done after like 4 seconds and he just walks away.

We spent Christmas Day in Orem with my family. We got there at about 9:00am to Skype with my bro on his mission in England and see my sis and her little family from Las Vegas. Super duper fun! Then we opened presents and went to church and then...just hung out!

Playing Christmas songs with Grandma Prisbrey. He loves the piano!

Hangin out with Grandpa

We had a good Christmas. Conner got lots and lots of new clothes from Santa (I know, boring, but it's the last year he can ever be boring ever again I'm afraid) and naturally got spoiled by grandparents. He got lots of cars and trucks and animals to add to his toy collection.

snow Snow SNOW! (a little bit)

2011-12-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

Since it finally decided to snow last week I thought we should go and play in it fast, because let's face it, I'm pretty sure it's not going to snow anymore this year if it keeps on keeping on. So here is documentation of Conner's first (last year didn't really count. do you think he even remembers? no!) outing in the snow!:)

Getting ready to go out. (please pardon the mess. I have a 1 year old)

Unfortunately it was almost gone when we got there...

While we're on the topic of christmasy stuff, here is my wreath I made a few weeks ago. cute huh?

Thanks for stopping by! See ya later!

The Infernal Devices

2011-12-06T12:18:00.001-07:00

First off I just have to say this book series is my new favorite guilty pleasure. It is basically the awesome, exciting storytelling of Harry Potter with the romance of Twilight, and every other book I love all slammed into one. I love it. That being said...the second book comes out TODAY!!! and I'm so excited. Here's my review of the first book so you can see if you want to jump on the excitement wagon with me!
(Here are some other books I've reviewed in case your interested:))

Clockwork Angel
476 pages

Summary
16 year old orphan Tessa Gray is from 1878 New York City. Her brother Nate has been working in London, England for the past little while when their Aunt Harriet, the care giver to these two, passes away leaving Tessa alone. Nate sends for her to come to live with him in London so she does. She is intercepted upon docking in England by two old, ugly ladies claiming to be friends of her brother. Well they are anything but friends and trap Tessa in their house where she learns of her mysterious gift: she can transform, at will, into another person. The sisters train Tessa to use her gift in preparation for the mysterious Magister.
Just when Tessa feels that all is lost she is rescued by Will, a shadowhunter. (basically the police of all bad things that shouldn't exist outside of books but do) She takes refuge in the institute where the other shadowhunters live and uses her new found ability to help them uncover who the Magister is in promise that they will help her find her brother.

My review
Ok, so we all know that I loved this book. Here's why:
Writing
The writing was amazing! Probably one of the most well written books I have read in...a long time. I never once doubted the world that Cassandra Clare created or anything in it. It flowed nicely and I saw the whole thing unfold before my mind like a movie. The plot was, to me, original and so interesting. There was a definite plot to this book while leaving little strings for the next books. It seems like lately a lot book series are just a reeeeally long book where each book leads to the next in an overall story, which makes for not so interesting books until the last one. (does that makes sense? hum,) Well this is not the case for this book! There were twists and turns and what I thought for sure was going to happen sure didn't. It is darker (think the last half of the Harry Potter series) with an obvious Good vs Evil premise.
Characterization
This is the first book I have read by Cassandra Clare, and from what I can tell of her writing is that she is amazing at writing wonderful believable characters. There was not one pancake in this book, that including characters who were introduced and talked about for five seconds. Everyone was a living, breathing person (so to speak) and I fell in love with every single character in this book. I loved seeing how the proper Tessa dealt with the informal and sometimes crazy shadowhunters. I think Will was my favorite character. He is such a punk but so funny! Definately the comic relief. But underneith all that sarcasm and wit I got glimpses of who he really is which will be interesting to find out in the coming books.
Romance
What would one of my reviews be without talking about the love story? I think because the characters were so real made the romance that much better. I was just rooting for them to be together! Ok, so the main love interests are Will and Tessa. I love it because they both don't want to like each other, but over time they just...do. If you like the push and pull of a Pride and Prejudicesque love story then you'll for sure like this. It is set up to have a love triangle with another shadowhunter, Jem, that I'm sure will come about later. (which, remember I'm a weirdie and like my triangles so I'm kinda excited for that)
Overall
This book was fantastic. I have actually read it twice, once a few months ago, and just last week in preparation for the second book Clockwork Prince coming out TODAY! (come on UPS guy, bring it to me soon!) and found it wonderful each time. (it's rare for me to find a book that I enjoy the second time around as much as the first) It is a prequel to Cassandra's other series "The Mortal Instruments" (from what I can tell a modern day version of the same type of thing) which I havnen't read, but I understood everything just fine without reading it first. If you love fantasy and romance and just a plain good story this is a must for you to read. My only complaint is that it makes Conner's nap time a little less productive as far as house work is concerned :)

Clockwork Prince

(im)patiently waiting for the UPS guy to deliver!
UPDATE: 12/9/2011. I have read and it was SO good! here is what I thought!
Back to My Book List

Save on Christmas Gifts!

2011-12-02T13:59:00.001-07:00

Click here to link to the page.

The Joys of Parenthood

2011-11-16T11:58:00.001-07:00

Rusty's grandma passed away last week and her funeral was on Monday. We have 9:00 church and on Sunday I went in to wake Conner up and he seemed so tired. Usually when I get him dressed it's like trying to catch a chicken running around (not that I've ever done that, but I can imagine it would be pretty hard) but that morning he just laid on my bed and let me dress him like when he was a little baby, which I'll admit, was kind of nice. I just figured he was tired and needed to wake up. We were all ready to go and I was standing with Conner in my bathroom giving myself a once over in the mirror before leaving when what happens? Conner threw up everything in his stomach. Luckily we were standing by the sink and I just aimed him in the right direction so nothing was too messy. Well needles so say we didn't go to church that day. He was sick off and on all day and mostly just wanted to cuddle with his daddy. (What a daddy's boy. Doesn't he understand that I'M the one who likes to cuddle?) And Conner is so not a cuddlier so he must have been really sick. I stayed home with him while Rusty went to the viewing that night, not sure if we would make it to the funeral the next day.

Well, when he woke up on Monday he was running around and I had to chase him like a chicken to get him dressed and everything seemed to be normal. So we figured it was a 24 hour thing and he was good now. And he was for the most part. He was great for the viewing before hand and even did really well for most of the talks at the funeral. (well, as good as any 1 1/2 year old can be sitting for over an hour) The funeral was good, but reeeeeally long. It was getting really hot in the chapel and all of the sudden Conner started whining and got cuddly with Rusty. Rusty held him on his lap for a few minutes and then, all of the sudden, he threw up all over the pew. There was that instantaneous moment of "uh, what do we do?" where we just froze trying to take in the situation. Then tissues and hankies were thrown to us from all directions and we started cleaning up as best we could with tissues. Rusty had gotten the brunt of it on his pants since he was holding Conner. As we were cleaning, he threw up again! I dropped all of my sick tissues, picked him up and made my way down the row (of course we were sitting smack dab in the middle) as everyone moved their legs out of the way. When we got to the isle he started throwing up again and we left a lovely trail all the way to the doors. Nice.

But apparently he felt much better afterward. In the bathroom I set him on the counter and as I wiped off his pants and shirt (the one day I forget to have extra clothes in my bag) and then cleaning myself off, he was just jibber jabbering and laughing like he was having the time of his life. Good thing he's so cute.

Rusty was a pal bearer and supposed to dedicate the grave site so we couldn't just leave and I didn't want to go by myself in case he threw up again while I was driving and couldn't do anything about it (not that he really had anything else in his stomach I'm sure) The nice RS ladies told me to go and they would clean up the chapel (so nice) and we went to the grave site and he was just fine.

LUCKily Rusty's grandpa was oblivious to the the whole thing. That was what I was worried most about, that we had totally ruined the funeral for him, but someone said to Rusty "looks like your pants got cleaned up" or something and his grandpa asked "What happened to your pants?"

Morals of the story?
1. If Conner wants to cuddle with you, BEWARE
2. Always ALWAYS have extra clean clothes. (I usually do, but I just forgot to check. dumb!)
3. No matter how bad of timing something is, it could have been worse. All of the grand kids got up and sang "I am a Child of God" and it could have been then. Or it could have been ON the people as were were walking to the isle. Instead he waited a few seconds. Thanks kid.
and 4. Being a parent is never boring.

Happy belated H-day

2011-11-11T13:11:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun on Halloween this year. We ended up going to Orem where my parents succumbed to peer pressure from the neighbors and decorated. (last year they didn't do anything at all and boy did they hear about it) It was Conner's very first trick-or-treating experience and he had a blast! He did so good. We hit up probably 20 houses and he walked the entire time and only dropped his bucket once! not too shabby! But honestly, I think the I had just as much, if not MORE fun than he did. Whoever said that kid traditions become fun again when you have your own kids was totally right! Last year we didn't do much because if you remember, it rained like crazy and was about 3 degrees outside. So this year was much much better. (beware, tons of pictures to follow)

Ok, so let's first take a trip down memory lane and remember what he looked like last year for Halloween. Crazy to think that he was just starting to think about crawling at that point...

Here he is taking in all of Grandma and Grandpa's craziness that is Halloween when we first got there.

Dancing to the music. He got pretty into it.

Observing his parent's grave sites.

Not quite sure what to think about Grandpa wolf-man.

Busy watching the witch flying.

I love his face in this one! haha

My parent's neighbors had this cool trick-or-treating mobile and since the universe revolves around Conner he just assumed that he could jump on and go with them...which he did.

Passing out candy with Grandma.

Trick-or-treading! Look at him so big!

By the end of the night he had T-O-T down to a science! He knew that you held your bucket out and people put stuff in it. And he also figured out by the end for the most part that you weren't supposed to go INSIDE the houses.

Well, we had so much fun with our second Halloween with Conner!

Book Reviews anyone?

2011-10-25T14:36:00.000-06:00

Well I've been reading lots and lots of books lately. Rusty's been studying, working, going on business trips, and so I've read a lot in a little amount of time. I decided that since I love reading reviews by a few other friends who do this on their blog that I would jump on the band wagon and write some of my own. You can click here or the link "what I'm reading" at the top of the page.

nip/tuck: furniture edition

2011-10-13T12:52:00.000-06:00

We bought this lovely tv stand when we got married and it has been with us for 5 wonderful years. Unfortunately during those 5 special years we have moved 4 times, one of those places not the most friendly moving access to the front door. Our sad little tv stand got bumped and bruised each time, the move from Logan almost killing it. (it was literally falling apart in places) So I decided since we can't quite afford to just go and buy a new one I would give it a MUCH needed face-lift.

Before

Ta-Da! After!

And then after adding all of Conner's toys. He's gonna get to the bottom shelf...might as well make it Conner friendly.

So for $15 worth of paint and supplies, some heavy duty wood glue, and 3 days of painting during naps, (I had a feeling that Conner and wet paint wouldn't mix very well) I was able to transform my co-ugly-ugh entertainment center into this cute one! For the background I kept my eye out at stores for contact paper, or wall paper, or even wrapping paper that would work but could find nothing at all. so frustrating! But then my genius mind reminded me that I have a degree in graphic design (not that you need said degree to make gray stripes) and a giant printer with giant paper printing capabilities and that I could make my own background. Duh! so that's what I did.

And while we're on the topic of crafty me, here is a Halloween decoration I made a few weeks ago.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-06T22:03:00.000-06:00

After General Conference on Saturday we drove down to Riverton and went to a pumpkin patch with Rusty's fam. Conner went through his very first not so spooky but very hard to walk through especially when you're 1 1/2 corn maze and saw lots and lots of pumpkins! It made it feel a little more like it was October despite the 83 degree weather. (not that I'm totally complaining, but I do like me some nice crisp fall weather. that's all I'm sayin)

Awe, our family in front of an old truck (that looks suspiciously like Bella's truck from twilight...hummm)

Cute cousins.

Conner doesnt' like to take pictures with mommy. ESPECIALLY when there are lots of pumpkins to explore

They had tons of old tractors and Conner had to try them all out.

Afterwards while the boys went to the priesthood session we Red boxed a movie for the kids to watch. Don't they look like they're having so much fun? This serenity lasted about 5 minutes. (and I'm really surprised Conner lasted that long)

Operation: FATTY Update

2011-10-05T11:33:00.002-06:00

Well little Conner is now 18 months! Can you believe it? I surely can't. But with that age comes a Dr visit and OFFICIAL weigh in. ready? Drum roll please (dadadadad)

20 lb 13oz

(so close to 21! dang it!) that moves him from the 1% to the 3%. Hooray! Since for some REALLY weird reason the growth chart doesn't start until the 5% he's not technically on the chart still. hummm Anyway, so our dr says that if he keeps it up he might just be on the charts in 6 months for his 2 year check. So we'll continue feed him straight butter sticks and ice cream all the time (just kidding...maybe) and do our darnedest to get some weight on our little cutie. For other stats for grandparents who want to know, he is 31 inches tall (25%) and I can't remember his head but it was 25% too. He also got a shot at his check up but lucky for him he only got one, a booster for whatever one they gave him last time, since he couldn't get the flu shot due to his egg allergy. He lucked out there (other than the being allergic to eggs thing)

The Basket Test

2011-09-27T14:23:00.000-06:00

About a week after Conner was born we took this cute little picture of him in a basket. awe, let's bask in his littleness...(not to mention all that dark hair. What the heck happened to that?)

18 Months later here, he is with the EXACT same basket. (not an imposter)

Good thing we could perform this scientific basket test, otherwise we might not have known that he grew.

MaryAnne MaryAnne quite...contrarian?

2011-09-12T11:46:00.000-06:00

How does my garden grow? All by it's self apparently.

Here is the sticker patch that we call my backyard. It looks like a normal pile of weeds at first glance right? but look closer my friends at the left hand side just before the fence ends...see anything?

It's SQUASH!

I noticed its sudden appearance forever back and thought "awe it'll die soon" Especially after we sprayed the whole backyard with round-up. But has it? NO! I would like to not so subtly ask for an apology from all of the people, who shall remain nameless, who think I can't keep things alive. I have a crazy little boy and now squash that, despite not watering or weeding and spraying it with weed killer, has thrived. HA! Please note that it is only the squash that I spray with poison and don't feed.

If I can produce such awesomeness on accident just think of what I could do if I tried?! I'd never have to go grocery shopping again!

A lot of little thoughts

2011-08-24T17:04:00.001-06:00

So remember how I made it a goal to post more than once a month? well according to my last post I have 2 days before it has been a month so I guess I'll post. I don't want to be breaking my goal already do I? nope I sure don't. Unfortunately...I have nothing really exciting to write about. At least nothing that could be it's own headlining post so here are a lot of little things that are almost exciting enough to write about.

Life has been settling into it's little grove and I've been just going day to day. Not that I'm complaining, that's just how it is. Sadly I think the unpacking drive has left and anything that wasn't unpacked within the first few weeks of living here has slowly been moved into "the room" you all know what I'm talking about, I'm sure you all have one, so I won't explain what it is.

One thing (one of the very FEW, in fact it might just the the ONLY) things I don't like about where we live is there are millions of mosquitoes here. On Sunday I was eaten by one, and where? you might ask, my finger! I have gotten many a mosquito bites in my life but as I can remember never on my finger. My finger became a sausage. Do you know the feeling when you are hiking or walking for a long time and your hands just hang there and all the blood rushes to your fingers and they swell up? well that was my one finger but itchy for the past 2 1/2 days. stupid mosquitoes.

hum...anything else...oh, so OPERATION: FATTY! we haven't had an update for a while. So Conner is unofficially 20 lbs now! hooray. I say unofficially because it wasn't at the Dr's or anything, just me weighing myself and then with him and doing math. So even though he has been in his forward facing car seat since he was 14 months (shhhhh don't tell) he now legally can be! Also since we found out that he was allergic to eggs as well as peanuts we have cut eggs out of his diet and he has given up his bulimic ways of throwing up after he eats, which I'm sure has helped his pudge.

We also were able to (finally) see Harry Potter 7 part 2 this last weekend. Yeah, yeah I know it's been out for forever blah blah. But really, when you have a 17 month old who can't sit still for literally 2 minutes, let alone a whole Harry Potter movie and you just moved where you don't know any little Beehives who can look after my little lad and you live over an hour away from any parents it makes it a little hard. So we shipped him off to his Aunt and Uncle's in Riverton and let him learn to play nice with his cousins while we went. But anyway that was super duper fun. So sad that the movies are done though.
Oh and I'm sure that this is old news and I'm just not up with the times but I just found out that one of my fav books, The Hunger Games, is going to be a movie! yay! So that was pretty exciting for me to find out. Too bad it's not till march. Lame. But it's something to look forward to! I always like that!

Much Ado About Conner

2011-07-26T16:28:00.006-06:00

Conner's been pretty funny lately and here are some moments where I happened to have my camera handy. hooray!

Lately Conner's been very into books and he likes to read them wherever he happens to find one.

I walked into the room and he had climbed into the back of his little dump truck with a book. so funny!

Here was last weekend at Lamb day during the parade. Apparently it wasn't very exciting.

This is not only a picture of how friendly and bread sharing Conner is, it is also showing how well his scar above his left eye is healing from his stitches.

<><><>

Let's remember what it looked like the day we got the stitches out. (which happens to be the same day he was really channeling Albert Einstein)

which he apparently didn't like

me casa!

2011-07-21T15:13:00.000-06:00

Hey we got rid of a couch (well it's moved into the garage) so now I can post pictures! Here are some pretty pretty pictures fresh from today!

Outside with grass!

Our lovely patio. Do you like my weeds? Unfortunately I was standing in the bulk of them to take this picture so you can't see the best ones. I think we might just let them fill in and then mow them. Who needs grass anyway?

Conner's room!

and his bed

The kitchen/family roomish place

The dining area. Conner is being a good example of what goes on in there.

Other direction of the family room

And that's our house! (at least the parts that were clean enough to take pictures today:) Slowly but surely we are settling in. Everyday another picture goes up and another box is unpacked (or moved so I feel like I did something) Someday we'll be all moved in! yay!

Disney Movies are NOT Real

2011-07-19T16:26:00.000-06:00

I have always been a sympathetic soul. Ever since I can remember I have always been worried about other peoples feelings and wanting everyone to be happy. Is this good? I guess so. The one problem that I can think of, and maybe it is somewhat a mental problem, is that it goes as far as me feeling bad for non-human things. Heck forget non-human, it goes as far as inanimate objects. I remember when I was younger (ok it was last year) driving past a Christmas Tree lot on Christmas Eve night and thinking "Oh those poor trees. They must feel so sad that nobody wanted to buy them. I hope they don't think they aren't pretty"

Who do I blame this psycho-babble on? Disney movies. I love a good ole Disney flick as much as the next gal but really, talking animals, talking TREES, they take everyday things and creatures and anamorphise them to the point that I believe that the friendly bird that pooped on my car was really just having a bad day and couldn't quite hold it in and is off to grab some cleaning supplies from Snow White and will be back in a jiff. Not so. Really it's just a stupid bird who pooped on my car. End of story.

Why this trying to convince myself that animals and such do NOT have human feelings? Well if you know me you know that I haaaaaaate creepy crawly things. Spiders, grass hoppers, earwigs, and ants. But mix this with my weirdo mentality and I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. See, I don't want them near me, but heaven forbid that we kill them. Maybe they are a lost princess spider who was separated from her one true love spider and if I happen to squish it then they can never be together. Or maybe they'll pull out a wallet insert with pictures of their 4000 children who are counting on them to come home. To make things worse I just saw "How to Train Your Dragon" the other night and that didn't help anything.

Well right now we happen to have an infestation of ants in my new beautiful home. They have been here off and on since we moved in and at first I was like so torn because they make me want to squirm but at the same time I can't just kill them. That would be...Heartless. But friends, no more Mrs Nice Me. I am so sick of them. I have been vacuuming, sweeping and spraying those stupid ants to smithereens. We were even given these little poison things that the ants get on them and take back to the queen. bwah ha ha ha. Because the reality is folks, Disney movies are not real.

Last month's list

2011-07-14T16:38:00.001-06:00

Well, I guess it is time for my monthly blog post since that seems to be the trend. I would like to say that I really do TRY to write more than once a month, but really I don't. Maybe it will be my new goal. hum...we'll see. So LOTS has happened this month. shall I write a list for you? I think I shall.

1. Obviously we moved. It has been so great! We ended up moving on Saturday (referring to my last post) and got everything moved in about 30 min. We are still slowly unpacking everything...but that's to be expected. But oh man, it's so nice to have our own place again.

2. Conner got his stitches out. I guess that should have been #1 since he got them out 2 days before we moved. It was pretty traumatizing though. He was being held down and they were bringing scissors close to his eye and it was super sad. But we bought him some new little toy cars for being so brave and that made it all better. Oh the joy of bribing your kid to be happy. It is healing nicely. As long as we rub Vaseline on it every morning and night and sunscreen it and wear a hat (good luck) for the next 2 years it shouldn't be too noticeable!

3. Operation: FATTY update, we went to his 15 month Doctor check up a weekish after we moved. We got a new doctor and so far he seems pretty awesome. He weighs 18.7lbs which puts him in about the 3rd %ile and seems to be growing steadily on his own chart he has made for himself. Our new doctor isn't worried about him since he is growing, he's just going to be little.

4. More Conner, man you'd think he was like my whole life or something, So we got a water softener free month trial. There was a nice little man (well not very little) going door to door promoting a free month try of a water softener. The only reason, other than the man was very nice, was that Conner has SUPER bad eczema and has since he was about 2 months old and I had heard that water softeners help. So I figured a month trial would be PERFECT to see if it actually does. Consensus: I think it's working! His skin has never looked better. He still has a few problem spots but over all I am pretty happy.

5. We (Me and Rusty) celebrated our 5 year anniversary on June 28. Man, that went by (kinda) fast! and we still kinda like each other! That's tons better than the national average! Even though he will probably never read this and I personally think it's silly for people to declare their love for someone people online I'll do it anyway. Thanks for being such an awesome husband and daddy. I love you SOOOOO much!

6. wow this is becoming a really long post. Kudos to those of you who made it this far! I know that I promised pictures of the new house when we moved in and I know that I have had ample amount of time to take them, but I don't have any. well I do but they all have Conner's toys all over them. I never think to take a picture when it's actually clean. So my goal, aside from blogging more often, is to take pictures of a clean house and post them on here. PLUS we have about a million couches. (no I am not scared of couches and when there are a large number of them I am unable to physically take a picture) I don't know how it happened but all of the sudden our house looks like the furniture section in DI. We started out with our old crappy love seat that we had in all of our little apartments and then Rusty's brother gave us an old couch of his. Well we also promised ourselves that once we got a bigger place we would get a new couch because even though we are both abnormally short, a love seat just doesn't cut it. So we went to Ashley Furniture because they are having their super cool sale and bought a couch. THEN my Parents offered us their old couch and chairs from when I grew up. The couch that Rusty's bro kindly gave us is great to look at but has a very magical smell of doggy liquid that I just can't quite get out. So we accepted my parents offer with the intent to take the doggy couch and our memory filled love seat to the DI. But before we could they delivered our new couch and Ta-Da! we have 4 un-matching couches, 2 chairs, lots of conner toys, and a partridge in a pear tree. Which to go back to my origional point, having all of that stuff doesn't make very good pictures.

Phew, I had no idea it would be that long. I think I'll just stop there and give you a little break. Thanks for reading!!!! and maybe pictures will come soon!!! (that is if anybody wants a couch)

Long overdue

2011-06-13T11:48:00.000-06:00

Oh man has it been a long time since I blogged. One month exactly. Guess that's what happens when you don't have time to do anything and I probably should be doing other packing things besides this but...I don't want to right now. It has been almost exciting month. So I guess we'll recap since I'm super cool at keeping up on this thing.

k, so first things first, Our house is done! (not in these pictures though...but in real life it is!)

And that's all you get for now because ya'll know how I hate uploading pics on this thing. More to come of actual finished house when we move in. Oh and speaking of moving in, so we are closing on it on the June 17 (Friday) and are moving in either Saturday or Tuesday. My vote is Saturday! Except all of our family will be out of town so we'd have to rely solely on good future neighbors to help. we'll see!

Another exciting thing is that Conner has learned to walk! like 3 weeks ago...He's been working at it a little with the furniture holding him up for a monthish but it was over memorial weekend that he finally figured it out. I'm thinking it is because we went appliance shopping then and he got so bored of being with us and there were lots of new shiny things he wanted to motivate him. But now he's a champ!

but with every good thing is not so fun things (yeah that was a weird sentence, sorry) On Thursday we were getting him ready for bed and he fell and hit his head on the fireplace...hearth? is that the part that sticks out and you can sit on? I don't know, whatever it's called that's what he hit and he cracked his head open. We have a Dr in our ward so we called him right up and took him to his house. He decided that little Conner would need stitches so we followed him to Kamas to his clinic and he put 5 stitches in. It was so sad! I'm pretty sure that I cried as much as he did but he was so brave and such a good boy. We had to watch him closely that night to make sure that he didn't have a concussion or anything but aside from the gash on his head he was perfect. So anyway here is his battle wound.

Ug, I don't know why this is sideways. Turn your monitor sideways if you want to see because I don't know how to fix it.

There, in the background, is the evil culprit. Stinkin fireplace.

We have an appointment Thursday morning to get these puppies out.

And that's all. I guess i should get back to packing. As excited as I am to move I sure hope that this is the last time in maybe forever that I move because I'm not a big fan.

Coincidence? I think NOT!

2011-05-13T16:59:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I wasn't super into the fancy Royal Wedding. I think I was into it like a normal person, meaning that no I did not wake up at crappin 4:00 am in the morning (yeah I know that's redundant) But I did watch the news and saw "highlights" as Rusty would say. That being said, I saw this pic that someone posted on FB today and thought it was SOOOO funny!! Either there is a tradition that is not to be messed with and the friendly people at Disney knew all about it OR the overpriced wedding planners that the Queen hired have no origonal ideas. You're guess is as good as mine.

This is what happens when the stars align

2011-05-09T17:46:00.000-06:00

Well guys, after only 1 1/2 months of searching (ha, "only" it felt like an ETERNITY!) we found it...our home. We started looking mostly on the South side of Salt Lake like South Jordan, Riverton, etc and seriously looked at like 40 homes and everything seemed to have SOMETHING that was a huge deal breaker (and I don't think we're that picky!) Or would be good "bones" and our realtor says, but we'd have to dump at least 10,000 bucks into to fix up. Since I was getting so frustruated with the sout side, last Tuesday we decided to head North and see if there was anything in the Layton/Syracuse area. The very 2nd house we looked at was the one! It is a new home being built and will be finished at THE END OF THE MONTH!!!! It is in Layton and about 35 minutes from Rusty's work in Salt Lake. (which is the exact distance from the South Jordan/Riverton houses just in the other direction)

I don't know how, but we are the luckiest people ever. Pretty much the stars aligned for us to get this. Since I like lists, here is a list why I think it was meant to be for us to live here.

1. It had been on the market for 17 days before we looked at it and we HAPPENED to be pretty much the first people to look at it, but after our appointment there were 2other appointments that day and 2 the next day.

2. We were the very first people to put an offer on it so we HAPPENED to get first dibs (I guess that since we were the first to look at it that's kinda obvious)

3. The day we saw it at signed the contract just HAPPENED to be the day that the interest rates dropped to almost the lowest they have been in years (according to our mortgage guy)

4. After we signed contracts and stuff I found out that a friend from my Logan ward just HAPPENS to live kitty corner from the back yard of this house.

5. We threw in a bunch of things that we wanted in the contract (like closing costs, A/C, etc.) hoping to get them (but honestly not really expecting to) that ended up being like $8,000 to be included for free and they HAPPENED to accept all of them!

6. what else...Well it just HAPPENS to have all of the things I was looking for in a house. No deal breakers whatsoever.

So anyway, there is MY house! The outside isn't painted yet in this pic but you get the idea. It just went under contract today and I wanted it to be official before I proclaimed it to the world and didn't have to say "oh just kidding" so that's why I didn't post this on Friday.

Like I said before, it is estimated to be finished by May 25ish so we could potentially move in the very end of May or beginning of June!

and...that's all folks!

the "Little Bo-Peep" you never knew

2011-04-16T15:30:00.000-06:00

So being the good mommy I am I was reading Conner his bedtime story last night and I decided to forgo his usual favorite stories and read from a nursery rhyme book I got from a second hand book store in Logan. Of course in my story deciding I forgot that classic nursery rhymes, aside from the fluffy lovely persona they have, are really...weird. I can't think of another word for them. I mean really, who thinks of telling kids about a little girl minding her own business eating her snack and then a big old spider comes and she runs away? what is the moral of the story? spiders are scary? what a lesson. And who sings to a new born baby about a cradle in a not so sturdy tree that ends up plummeting to the ground?

Well in Conner's book was the story of "little Bo-Peep" which I will be honest, had no idea it had more than one verse. And since I had no idea I will just assume that you didn't know either and it was just too bizzare NOT to share. so here is the story of Little Bo-Peep

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep
and can't tell where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they'll come home
bring their tails behind them.
This is the part we all know and love so not so strange there. but oh just wait...

Little Bo-Peep fell fast asleep
and dreamst she heard them bleating;
But when she awoke, she found it a joke
For they were all still fleating.
again, not so bad...yet. but what the heck is bleating? I'm just guessing that it is the noise they make, but I'm not a farmer

Then up she took her little crook,
determined for to find them;
She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they' left their tails behind them.
where did their tails go? oh no! did someone cut them off? did they just fall off?

It happened one day, as Bo-Peep did stray
Into a meadow hard by,
There she espied their tails side by side,
All hung on a tree to dry.
How would it be "oh I was just walking in the woods and there were these sheep tails hanging from a tree. no biggie". oh and the illustration shows a tree with these tails hanging from the branches. beautiful picture for just before bed.

She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye
And over the hillocks went rambling;
And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should
To tack again each to its lambkin.
I guess this could teach our children to try to fix things if they are broken "Timmy, if you every find a sheep without a tail try to put it back on! that's the right thing to do"

The End

I don't know, maybe it's not AS bad as when I read it last night but you've gotta admit, it is a little weirdish.

ok, the more that I think about it, it IS as bad as last night.

I want to be like mommy

2011-04-11T21:13:00.001-06:00

oh the places I've seen

2011-04-08T22:39:00.000-06:00

So it's 10:40pm and I'm sitting on the computer waiting for Rusty to get home from work and searching for houses to pass the time. I was using google earth to look at prospective houses (because you should totally judge a house by its roof) and somehow I got a little distracted. So I started with the leaning tower of Pisa and 20 minutes later I had visited that and the Colosseum in Rome and the Eiffel tower and the Great pyramids of Egypt. Oh and the Statue of Liberty. speaking of which, I also saw Ellis Island. Did you know that there is a Washington DC holiday (so not even national)called "Immigration Day" and said Immigration day this year happens to land on April 15 which SHOULD be tax day which SHOULD be the last day that I am up at 10:40 (now 10:47) waiting for Rusty to come home which SHOULD mean that I get my husband back and celebrate with a much needed Saturday/birthday celebrating all day date. But no, instead they are extending tax day to April 18th which means three more days of yucky than normal. Stinkin immigrants. Oh that sounded mean. I like immigrants, just not their choice of day for a holiday.
ANYway, thanks for reading about my world travels and dislike of certain holidays.

it's officially official!

2011-04-04T11:18:00.000-06:00

We've had hunches and it's been hinted that Rusty would get a job from Tanner, the accounting firm he is internshiping with but it was never official so we were a little hesitant to get our hopes completely UP but as of Friday it is OFFICIAL! He was given his offer letter and he is no longer an intern but an actual employee starting April 17th!!! And we can finally move on with our lives! hooray!!!! I already have an appointment with our realtor to look at houses on Thursday! It's been a long time coming but it's finally here!:):):) Just thought you'd like to know!

Hair today, Gone tomorrow

2011-04-02T19:47:00.001-06:00

Well, as of Tuesday the 29th I officially have a one year old. It was a bittersweet milestone and one of the bitterish things for me was "the deal." What is "the deal"? and why is it so cool that it deserves quotations? well "the deal" has to do with Rusty and my baby's lovely locks. Any of you who have seen Conner recently (in the last 2 months or so) know that he has the cutest little blond curls ever. But Rusty wanting his little boy to look like, well, a little boy and not a cute little cupid, has been pestering me to get his hair cut for a little while. but I have strongly put my foot down and held my ground. For one, his curls are so stinkin cute and two I have this weird mentality that once he gets his first haircut then he will look like a little boy and not my little baby. We made this deal that he could have his curls until he was a year. I even was able to stretch it out to a year and 3 days. go me.But I will admit (don't ever tell Rusty) that it was kinda getting out of control and maybe he really DID need it cut. so ANYway, yesterday he got his first haircut. and yes, he no longer looks like a little baby, but a handsome little toddler. awe.

Before

After

Oh, and speaking of his birthday it was lots of fun! We had a family party with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. He ate is first cupcake and LOVED it

and for Operation: fatty followers, well, we're still not on the charts. He only gained .1 lb (that's point one, not one)since last month. not so promising. So our doctor said to feed him anything fattening and since he was a year he could have anything at all! specifically peanut butter cuz it's super fattening. so I gave him some PB on a graham cracker (is it just me or does that spelling look weird? spell check says it's right so I'll believe it. must be one of those nights) and an hour later we were calling the doctor and driving down to park city to get a prescription stearoid to get the swelling down. turns out he's a little allergic:( but when we went to pick up the prescription they only had the pill form and the pharmacist (obviousuly, or maybe hopefully, not knowing the situation) said "yeah, you can just crush it up and put it in some peanut butter or something" thanks sir, we'll go home and do just that.

well sorry that ended up being a LOOONG post. thanks for finishing if you did!

Operation: Fatty UPDATE

2011-02-24T12:56:00.000-07:00

So it has been 7 weeks since Operation: fatty has commenced and I thought we were doing so well! and we did OK...I guess. Conner now weighs a whopping 16lb 11oz. almost 17 pounds! hooray! (he was 15.2 when we started) Still not on the chart though:( But the doctor wasn't TOO worried since he was going up on his little graph thingy instead of an almost horizontal line like last time. We bought some pediasure knock off stuff and carnation instant breakfast to mix into his milk (I heard that it's pretty much the same thing) and we're gonna be Bill Nye the Science guy and do an experiment with them to see which one adds more chunk to him.

So operation: fatty is still in the works. we'll see where he fall on the chart at his 12 month apt next month.

Speaking of his 12 month appointment, can you believe he's almost a year!!!???!! I sure can't. It went by pretty darn fast if you ask me. Of course, with him being small I can always pretend that he is still little with him and his 6 month clothes. He even has a few of his 3 month things that still fit him. little kid. Plus when I go out with him people are like

"oh, he's so cute. how old is he? 4 months?"

"no, he's almost 11"

"oh...uh...well he'll grow"

thanks, thanks a lot sir.

That is the conversation that took place last week at the grocery store. (and I've had many other similar ones before too) what can I say, I guess looking young just runs in the family. But I DOOO have to consider that most of the people guessing were boys and, well, boys are just not so good at guessing how old babies are. Unless they are a doctor, then maybe.

so that's it. wish us luck on phase two of Operation: FATTY

Baby Face

2011-02-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

No I am not talking about the once maybe famous 90's singer (who honestly I don't really even know what he sang....I just remember the name) or even my cute little guys face. No, I am talking about mine.

I was called to be a YW Beehive advisor about a month ago and it's been pretty darn fun. We had combined young women's last night and we made pajama pants to teach the girls the magical skill of sewing. There was a girl there who I had never seen before that night and I was helping her figure out her pants and we were talking and I was trying to get to know her and after a while of talking well, here's what happened:

Leader: "MaryAnne, where's your baby tonight"

me: "oh he's with his Grammy"

girl: "you have a BABY?"

Me: "yup. He's almost a year!"

Girl: "holy cow!"

other girl: "If you and your husband ever want to go out I'll babysit! He's so cute!" (I can only assume she was meaning Conner)

Girl: "you're MARRIED!"

Me: "uh...yeah!"

Girl: Flabbergast and confusion "wait, how old are you?"

Me: "almost 25"

Girl: "I didn't know you were a leader! I thought you were our age!"

So friends, the moral of this story is that I apparently look like I am 14 years old. Which means when I am 60 and everyone is looking old and fall aparty I will still look young and lovely. jealous anyone? I thought so.

PS So thanks to google I searched babyface songs because I was curious. Still didn't really recognize any but they were SO 90's with the little bell things in the back ground and synthesizers and such. ha!

I just don't get it

2011-01-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

Are there ever things in your life that you just can't for the life of you understand? Well this is my super cool list of things that I just don't get. This is not a rant, mind you. I really just don't understand these things.

1.
So the first one and the inspiration for this post is Sports. I just don't get them. And by just don't get them I don't mean I don't understand the FUN(ha)damentals cuz for the most part I get those but what I don't get is how people can get SOOOO into them. Especially boys. Growing up I never wanted to play sports with boys. Whether it was a YM/YW activity, singles ward, or just playing for "fun" boys are soohoho mean when they play. even if they promise that it is all fun and they will be nice. When my mad awesome sports skills come out someone always ends up crying, and that someone is most likely me. By nature I am sure not a sportsy person. I am a artsy, cooky, sorta crafty, lay down and read a booky person. But my husband can spend HOURS watching sports and never get bored. He claims that every game is different. Like a movie. Not so I say. To me there are only two types of plays in any sporting event...the one's where you score and the ones you don't. And maybe one's where you fall on your face. so there are three. Maybe that's just because my eyes glaze over and I don't quite pay attention until someone (Rusty) hoots and hollers or groans and yells to wake me up...who knows. So anyway, the point of this super long story (if you want to call it a story) is that I don't understand the passion that some people have for sports whether watching or playing. Like I said Rusty can get into games so much. He yells and cheers and is the husband who you could ask if you could have $5000 to blow on a shopping spree consisting only of shoes and he would say "uh huh, sure, whatever you want" as he waves you out of the way of the TV. Like I said I'm not ranting, just not understanding. I kind of wish I liked sports a little just so it wouldn't be so BORING to watch and sometimes even play, but I'm afraid due to years of emotional scaring from the public education PE program it may never happen. sigh...

well that was suuuuper long so I'll try to keep the other ones shorter.

2.
How someone couldn't like chocolate! Don't worry, I like chocolate like a NORMAL person, not a crazy chocoholic. But I at least LIKE chocolate. I knew a girl my first year of college and when we made chocolate chip cookies we had to reserve some of the dough before we put the chocolate chips in because she didn't like chocolate. It didn't make her sick or anything, she just didn't' like the taste....weird.

3.
Es cargo. Need I say more? Ok I will. Who the heck wants to eat stinky slimy snails? sick.

4.
while we're talking about sicko foods how about calamari? deep fried squid? no thanks.

5.
So this one might be a little bit of a rant but I don't get how people can not use their blinkers. uuuuggg. it's not so hard people to flick your finger to turn on your turn signal. I promise.

6.
I had another one but it has escaped my mind. I guess I can't say I don't understand how people can just forget things they are about to say because I just did it. oopsies.

well thanks for reading my amazing list of things I don't understand. maybe you understand me a little more! hooray for you!

Boo Boo Bunnies

2011-01-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

When I was little I had a friend named Lynn. not just any friend, a BEST friend. One day we somehow (it was probably on TV or something) came up with "boo boo bunnies." "What is a boo boo bunny?" you ask. Well let me tell ya. it is basically a washcloth tied up strategically to look a bunny. Then you put ice in its tummy and put it on boo boos. We were pretty cool and made up a song and were very much set on marketing them and becoming millionaires. Unfortunately she moved away and our dream of helping boo boo's world wide was crushed. The tragedy of the story is not only did I not become rich and famous but I didn't have one today. Conner got his first boo boo today:( he was pulling himself up on the fireplace, lost his balance and, well I'm sure you can figure out the rest. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later as soon as he started pulling himself up onto things but it's still sad when it does. so he cried his non-existent tears for a few minutes. Instead of a boo boo bunny to make it all better he just got kisses and hugs from mom. HOPEfully that will have sufficed.

I don't know why the HECK this is sideways but as stated yesterday I'm not so patient with picture loading so you get this. As you can see a few minutes later he was all smiles. I love my baby!

Future firefighter?

2011-01-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

Look at my cute baby! I just couldn't resist. Rusty's mom is a photographer so we get monthly photo shoots. (it makes it super convenient that I live with her!) here is his 9 month pic.
And because I know you are all SOOOOOO interested no, he didn't pee all over the place. (phew, I was sure holding my breath the whole time though)

p.s. I was going to put more but it is seriously taking like 3 months to load one picture and I am not a very patient person(today) so maybe tomorrow you will get more...maybe.

Operation: Fatty

2011-01-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

So Conner went to the doctor yesterday for his 9 month check up. We all know that he is a little kid so it didn't surprise me to find out he was in the 10th %ile in height but what shocked me was he wasn't even CLOSE to being on the chart for weight. At his 6 month check up he was like 14.8 lbs and yesterday he was 15.2. He didn't even gain 1 pound in 3 months! crazy! Which is weird because I feel like he eats constantly. So anyway, my new role in his life is to fatten him up like Hansel and Grettle. (minus the whole eating him thing) I have 6 weeks before the next weigh in. Hopefully by then I will have a rolly polly pudger. Wish me luck!

Update! get your Update!

2010-12-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

So it has obviously been aWHILE since I last wrote so here's a little of what is going on in the life of me. We are still in Oakley and will be until at least April 15. Rusty got an internship at a tax firm in Salt Lake called Tanner and we are hoping and praying and crossing anything that can be crossed that it will turn into a full time job after said April. So we'll see!! Still nothing perminate as of yet but I see little glimmers in the distance instead of blah.

We went to Vegas for Thanksgiving which was super fun. My big sis lives there so since my little Bro Zach is way out in England we went along with my parents and had dinner with Ang and Roy.

Conner is getting so big! well not really. He's still pretty small but he doing lots more! He's starting to want to crawl but can't quite get it which gets him pretty frustrated. kinda funny for me though. But he's just so much fun! He's sleeping pretty OK. If only I would go to bed at 7:30 like him I could get a solid 8 hours in. But no I have to go to bed at 10 (which, come on, it's pretty reasonable) and then it takes me like 1 1/2 hours to GET to sleep so by the time he wakes up around 3am I've only gotten like 3 hours and he's good to go. guess I should go to bed earlier! I would put pictures of him up because I'm obsessed with my cute baby but it's so stinkin annoying to put pics up cuz it takes about a year for each one to load on you can just imagine how cute he is. especially since his hair is growing back from when it all fell out and he is now blond with big blue eyes. awe. well I think I just heard him squawking from his afternoon nap so it's time to go!

A Hansen Halloween

2010-11-02T15:40:00.000-06:00

Well, It was Conner's first Halloween. For those of you who know my family, my parents usually have a big old party in Orem. Since Zach just left on his mission like a week before the big day my parents were a little busy with him to set up Halloween and decided it was a really good excuse not to get out the mess this year. So we spent Halloween here in Oakley. We were planning on going to the trunk or treat but it was so rainy and cold plus Rusty didn't get home from the Buffalo round up on Antelope island until about 6ish so we decided to stay in and explore all of the things Halloween has to offer inside.

Conner and Rusty

Since Grandpa wasn't Frank this year we had to find an alternate.

Goodbye Old Friend

2010-09-28T11:29:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I sold my camaro. This car wasn't just any old car, it was my FIRST car. It got me through High School, College, marriage and a baby. Granted it was falling apart and even if the teeny tiny back seat could hold a car seat I probably not risk driving my baby in in for fear it would blow up, but still, it was there. So after 8 long and happy years together it is gone for a measly $450 bucks. But I think it went to a good home. It went to someone who will love and take care of it and is willing to dump the cash into it to fix it that I never would. So dear Camaro, thanks for an adolescents and young adulthood full of fun and transportation. and sorry I'm so cheap and didn't fix you myself.

pounding the pavement

2010-09-16T20:42:00.001-06:00

I find it ironic that I spent the last 6 years of my life waiting for college to be over. I had this great plan in my mind that I would go from a poor starving student to this amazing person with a job and a house and all the things imaginations are made of. Little did I know that we would be graduating in the middle of a crappy recession where it is the worst hiring time in the last 10 years. So now instead of being poor starving students we are just poor starving people. We are currently smack dab in the middle of recruiting season for accounting firms. What happens in normal years is firms from all over the state come to the different universities and recruit students. It used to be no problem to have a job lined up a whole year before you even graduated!! But not this year. Rusty is graduated but still desperately trying to find a job through recruiting. He basically has to go to all of their events and try and win over the people passing out jobs with his sparkling personality along with 300 other people trying to get the same one job. not so cool. Hopefully he's sparkly enough.
But there is a perk, see they have these events where you go to the office and look around and talk to people and they have all of this free stuff. This guy the other night was literally filling my purse up with chocolates, hand sanitizer bottles, post-its, and pens. I guess on the bright side if we don't find a job soon we can sell all our swag on e-bay!

Tales of a Little Man: Summer Edition

2010-08-24T16:40:00.000-06:00

My goodness my mommy is so bad at keeping up with her blog, so here I am again to tell you how I am doing. I'm doing GREAT! The summer has been so crazy. Daddy finally finished school but that meant we had to move. Luckly Grammy and Poppy Hansen let me come and live with them. Oh, and they said that mommy and daddy could come too. So now I live in Oakley, Utah until daddy can find a job. But I want to tell you all about my fun and very educational summer! Here are some things I learned

I learned is that I look so good all cleaned up. This is me in my blessing outfit when daddy blessed me on June 6th. I was 2 1/2 months.

I also learned that mommy and daddy love me SO much. Which means I can basically make them do anything (and I mean ANYTHING) for me.

I learned that my very favorite way to sleep is all sprawled out. Sometimes when I get in bed with mommy and daddy in the mornings I take up more room than both of them combined! hehehe

...that even though I am just a baby I still have to deal with male pattern baldness. Good thing mine is growing back.

...that you still have to wear socks at Bear Lake, even in the middle of the summer. It's kind of cold.

...that I really really like fireworks. They had me mesmorized.

...that I make a really cute cowbaby.

...that it's really fun to hang out camping with daddy.

...that I am the size of a little penguine

...that it's really not very much fun to wear a lifejacket for an extended period of time.

...to drive. both a tractor and a boat.

...that my toes not only are fun to grab, but are very tasty too! I now eat them any chance I get.

All in all I think it has been a very fun and educational first summer of my life.

Chunky Monkey (at least to me)

2010-05-26T21:04:00.000-06:00

So we went to the doctors for Conner's 2 month check-up (holy cow! 2 months!) on monday the 24th. We found out that he now weighs 10lb 4 oz and is 22 inches long. (a reminder when he was born he was 5lb 10 oz and 19 in) He basically jumped from the 2 %ile to the 23 %ile. Way to go Conner! He's still on the small side and is still in newborn clothes and diapers (although I think he's barely starting to fit in size 1) but now he's at least bigger than only 1 little boy out of 100.

So anyway, I thought it would be fun to show the difference in his doubling of size. The top picture was taken when he was just 6 days old and the bottom was taken at 8 weeks old just before his Dr appointment. I think most of his weight is in his chunky thighs.

Tales of a Little Man

2010-05-18T14:22:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! My name is Conner. I am 7 weeks and 1 day old today! I am getting so big. A lot has happened since I came home from the hospital 6 1/2 weeks ago and since mommy isn't very good at blogging I decided to take it into my own hands and let you know what's going on in my life.

This is me and mommy and Daddy when I was just 6 days old. It's our first family picture where mom didn't look like she had just gone through 8 hours of labor. It was also my very first Easter and even though I was early and the Easter Bunny wasn't expecting me he still brought me a basket! how nice!

This was my first bath at home. I wasn't so sure at the time if I liked it or not and I'm still a little scared of them but I'm warming up to them with each one.

We had a lot of visitors come the first few weeks that I was home. These are my cousins on daddy's side. Someday I'll be as big as them. I'm sure we'll be such good friends.

A week later mommy's family came to visit. I accidentally slept through their whole visit but I'm sure they are very nice people.

Here is me and Aunt Angie and Uncle Roy. They came all the way from Las Vegas to visit me! I'm pretty special!

Me and Uncle Zach.

It's Grandpa!

Mommy thinks I have so many faces. One of my favorite faces I pull all the time is my zoolander face. I think I have a pretty good shot at being a really ridiculously good looking male model.

I still really like to sleep during the day but I've started sleeping during the night a lot better. My mommy and daddy sadly had to kick me out of their room when I was 3 weeks old because I made too many noises while I slept for my mom to sleep. I was a little scared for a few minutes but now I love my own space and sleep, well, like a baby! (at least for 3 or 4 hours before I get too hungry)

Even though I sleep a lot during the day I have started being more awake. I have this seat that I LOVE to sit it. Get this, it bounces, vibrates AND has lots of bright toys hanging from it. What more could a kid ask for?

This is what mommy and Daddy are sending to friends and family to tell them that I was born. I'm glad that they don't make me sleep in this basket all the time. It's a little small.

All in all I'm doing pretty well. I have to go to the doctor's on Monday for my 2 month check up and mommy says something about I have to get shots? I'm not sure what those are but I have a feeling that lots of cuddling will follow them.

A Baby Story

2010-04-07T13:53:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone. So if you didn't know about a week and a half ago, March 29, little Conner Clark Hansen joined our little family 10 days early weighing in at 5 lbs 10 oz and 19 inches long. He is just so much fun (and tiring) but he is just adorable. At least I think so. Some of you were wondering what happened with the labor/delivery. Well If you knew me during my pregnancy you know how uneventful the whole thing went. Never had morning sickness, cravings, swelling, or really any of the common symptoms other than being big. Well take the ease of my pregnancy and flip it and you get the craziness of the delivery. To make a really long story short I went into my routine 38 week checkup and I had protein in my urine and so my Dr just wanted me to go up the labor and delivery just to have a few tests done as precaution. Well from the time I went up the elevator one floor and checked in my blood pressure had sky-rocketed to 140/110 and my blood tests came back with crazy numbers. Something about my liver enzymes were crazy and my blood platelet count was super low. Basically I came down with preeclampsia and HELLPS Syndrome. These are really rare diseases during pregnancy. Only about 5-10 percent of pregnancies even have them and it is most common in people 40 and older, if you are having multiples, or if you have high blood pressure before pregnancy, none of which are me at all. And since I had such a low key pregnancy it threw everyone, including my DR for a loop. Because of I had both of these and the only cure is delivery of the baby I had to be induced immediately. Because of my high blood pressure I was on a magnesium IV drip to keep me calm to prevent seizures during labor. Basically this make me feel like I was on super benedryl. It made me SO tired. I swear I was falling asleep in between contractions! I also couldn't have any sort of stimulation like TV, music, visitors (except for parents) etc. to keep the seizures away. Oh and since my blood platelet count was so low I had to do it all with NO EPIDURAL. Completely natural. Because of the low count there was the possibility that my blood wouldn't clot when they gave it to me causing me to bleed into my spinal cord and become paralized. I think I'll take the pain of childbirth for a few hours over that. Luckily the labor wasn't too long as far a first pregnancies go. I was induced at 11:30 and Conner was here at 7:39 after only 20 minutes of pushing. Rusty was so amazing through the whole thing coaching me and just being there for me. He hardly ever left my side. I don't think I could have done it without him.

After baby Conner was born I had to have the magnesium for 24 hours after delivery so I was on complete bed rest until then. So that was pretty exciting but it gets better. So during all of this my calcium levels plummeted. I now know that calcium has a lot to do with you heart working right and I was so low that I was at high risk for heart failure. Unfortunately you can't drink a gallon of milk and eat a carton of ice cream to bring the levels back up. I had a hospital doctor come and evaluate me (he was basically a nice version of Dr House) and I had to be moved to the medical side of the hospital so I could be on a heart monitor to make sure nothing went crazy during the night and have a calcium drip IV to bring my levels back up. If I wanted to see my baby while I was there they had to have a security guard outside of our room so nobody would take him. (I know he's cute, but really?) They ended up moving us to this little scary room where they put the prisoners when they have to come (it has really good security I guess) but I still hardly got to see my baby. That was probably the hardest thing. He coudl come and visit me but couldn't stay the night. The nurses weren't as awesome and attentive as the mother/baby nurses and never followed through when I would ask to see my baby so I would get all upset missing him and being a post-partum hormonal crazy lady my heart monitor would go off and THEN they would bring him in. But luckily I was able to go back after a night and half a day in that stupid room. My levels were still low but in the normal range so I was able able to go back to the Mother/baby recovery floor. We stayed for one more night since I was still getting the hang of walking again after the magnesium and bed rest and I also had never had a night with the baby what with being on bed rest the first night and under lockdown the second. We had a great first night together and came home on Thursday, April 1. My wonderful mom came and stayed with us until Sunday and helped me figure out how to be a mommy. It's been so fun since then. I am still living on no sleep, but it's worth it. I think I'm starting to get the hang of things.....He's still kicking so I must be doing something right!

Getting ready to go home!

It's raining baby stuff

2010-02-19T11:36:00.001-07:00

I had my first baby shower on wed. Feb 17th. My good friends Esther and Jenilyn from Stork Landing (work) threw it for me and it turned out great! Thanks to all of my friends in Logan who made it. I got tons of fun stuff for still nameless baby boy. I'm starting to feel a little more prepared now.

Just a few of the SUPER cute outfits I got for him. I love baby clothes!

Look at that pile! my goodness. Thanks!!!!

You can only see part of it but this was supposed to be a shot of Esther's (left) quilt she made me. It's really really cute!

It's almost CHRISTMAS!!!!

2009-12-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

I am SO excited for Christmas! I think it might just be my favorite holiday. We leave in just a few hours to see my family in Orem and I can't wait! So my little apartment has been decorated all Christmasie since Dec. 1st (I had to restrain myself from decorating before then) but I'm really bad at blogging so at least you get pictures before christmas day! The good thing about having a little apartment is you don't need very much stuff and it looks like you have tons of decorations! I planned it that way.

The kitchen. (just incase you couldn't tell)

Our teeny tiny tree. I think it is pretyt cute. And it makes the presents look so big!

I took this just this morning. I can't believe how big the haul is under there. I am actually really surprised. We are very blessed.

I hope everyone has the Merriest Christmas ever!

Gingerbread!

2009-12-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

Ever since I can remember my grandma Hicken has made gingerbread houses for the grandkids to decorate. On graduation she brought my gingerbread house for me to decorate because it just can't be Christmas with out my little house! So here it is!

The before.

Proof that Rusty actually helped out! What a good little helper!

Tada!

The after. That's all.

Graduation!

2009-12-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

I am officially a college graduate! I graduated on Saturday, Dec. 12. It was beautiful weather all week long and when I woke up on Saturday it was well....a giant blizzard. how rude! But that's ok! I've decided that I'm just not allowed to have a nice weather graduation day. My High School graduation it was dumping rain, when I graduated from Snow College same thing and it was a blizzard this time. I guess it will make the day stick out in my mind! My parents and grandparents were able to come so that was a lot of fun. It's funny, I thought it would feel different to be graduated. I thought I would feel this giant sense of relief but I really just feel the same. Except it is kind of weird thinking that I'm not going back next semester. (which is fine with me!) I'm so glad for the opportunity and experiences that college brought to me but i'm so glad it's done! hooray!

You can't see it very well but that person tat the top of the ramp is me!

My family! Thanks for coming eventhough it was COLD!!!

Me with Grandma and Grandpa Hicken.

It's a....

2009-11-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

BOY!!!! We had our big ultrasound yesterday (the 19th) and everything is "going perfect" according to the doctor and ultrasound tech. They checked all of the vitals and organs and such and everything was going great! He is currently about the size and weight of a can of pop if that puts anything in perspective. He was being a little silly. Everytime the tech would try to see what he was he would shift or cross his legs or turn his back. But eventually we got it! So anyway, here are some awesome pictures.

There is no hiding it here. It is a deffinately a boy!

This is one of Rusty's favorite. It our little boy kissing his guns.
His little legs. (eventhough he is crossing his legs we could still luckly see what he is)

Awe, a face! Pretty sure he has my eyes.

Halloween!

2009-11-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been forever. Sorry. I just never think to update my blog. Well eventhough Halloween was half a month ago (where is November going? my goodness!) it was still so fun! My family loves halloween so they have a big party every year. Rusty was at the Buffalo Round up on Antelope island being a little cowboy so he didn't come but that didn't stop me! I even dressed up this year! I threw together last minute old parts of costumes that I had from high school. (they suprisingly still fit considering I'm 4 1/2 months pregnant) so that was fun.

Me and my silly bro Zach.

I helped my my make these ugly finger snacks.

My parents.

Here is me and my daddy.

Oh baby...

2009-10-02T19:56:00.001-06:00

Well for those of you who don't know...I'm having a BABY! We are finally starting to tell people and couldn't be more excited. Sorry if I lied right to your face, I probably really wanted to tell you. I am due April 9, 2010 (almost 13 weeks along) and doing really well. I haven't even been very sick (sorry to people who were when preggo, don't hate me) I'm kinda just in the stage where I'm starting to look a little fat but not really pregnant, so hopefully now that you know you can think twice before planning an intervention for my eating habbits. But anyway here is the first picture of our little jelly bean taken at 11 weeks. Here are the proud (I hope:S) grandparents-to-be. We told them on Aug. 30 right after my mom's B-day. We gave her a "birthday" present which was a bib about going to grandmas. As excited as I was to tell Rusty's family I wanted to tell my parents first because, well, they're my parents! I had a cute "I love grandma" bib that I was going to give the next week, but I called to see if they would be home that weekend and at the time they were planning on being in Lake Powell. We were on the road to visit Rusty's family when I found out they would be out of town so this little bump in our telling them first plan sent us flying to Babie's R Us to get any sort of bib that had anything to do with a grandma. We found this little one and made an unplanned but fun stop in Orem to spill the beans. This is going to be their first grandbaby so I think they're still getting used to the idea but are excited. When we told Rusty's family we told them the next weekend on Sept. 6th(the origional of telling my parents) which was the day of our new nephew's baby blessing. We waited until all of the "other" family was gone and just Rusty's was there and had a little present for our nephew. I designed the logo on the onesie saying "I'm getting a new baby cousin" and did an iron on print transfer. It was super duper fun.

It's done!:)

2009-10-02T19:48:00.000-06:00

Look they painted it! I called the next day and they they said "oh, you're next on my list! we'll be there tomorrow!" (probably because I called them every other day for a week)It still took them a week from start to finish to get it done but now it's normal. Anyway, just for all of you who were sitting at the edge of your seats wondering if it ever happened here you go.

The awesomeness that is USU housing

2009-09-21T20:22:00.000-06:00

This is my cow spot wall. There used to be a big sliding glass window where this wonderful window and door are but clear back in the beginning of August housing replaced it to help with heating costs in the winter because it gets a little bit cold here in logan, which is wonderful because I love it when people want to help me save money. Unfortunately it has been oh almsot 2 months and it still hasn't been painted! They said that it would be done two weeks ago but I think they forgot. Ohwell, I'm sure that when they DO paint it then it will be the coolest thing ever. I think I'll call and bug them again tomorrow....

2009-09-02T20:51:00.000-06:00

This is me and Rusty! Aren't we cute? haha just kidding. I'm really just experimenting with putting pictures and stuff of so I guess here is a picture of us! hooray! Hope this works....

Welcome to me!

2009-09-02T18:50:00.001-06:00

Well, I finally did it, I got a blog. Now I guess the question is if I will have time to update it. Wish me luck!