Surgery

Grandma Hanson is out of surgery now. They had to do surgery on her arm to help it heal properly from the break. She was a little scared going into it, but now she is home and looks to be doing well.

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This is a picture of her after the baby blessing. I don't know why I never posted it before . . .

Hummmm . . .

I made a realization the other day when my baby boy was crying. The worst sound in the world to me is when he cries; but, on the other hand, the best sound in the world is when he laughs. I think that's probably common for mothers, I just never really thought about it that way.

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I still get choked up when I look at my boy sometimes. You know that intense feeling of joy that overwhelms you for a second? I get that about once a day. I just love being a mommy, I can't imagine my life without my little family.

Grandpa Hanson

On Saturday, we went to my moms house in Cedar Hills for "Cedar Hills Days." They were going to have fireworks, but the rain stopped that in it's tracks. But we did have an awesome time. Gary BBQed some hamburgers and my mom had bunches of yummy side dishes. After dinner, we played Monopoly with grandma H. She grew up playing with her sisters. I think she has seven sisters, but I'm not too sure. Anyway, she and her sisters are hard core and ruthless when it comes to Monopoly. They do anything it takes to win. They steal the money from free parking. They make low deals with each other and money mysteriously disappears from the bank. Since we were busy trying to distract grandma from remembering last summer, we played her way. We tried not to let her cheat, but sometimes things happen when you're not looking. Like her piece somehow moving to just the right property when no one was watching the dice.

The reason we were trying to distract her was because it was grandpa H's b-day on the 26th, and that's the same day he died a year ago. Grandma is really tough and strong, but I know she misses him. Sometimes I catch her crying at church and there were a few times I could tell that it wasn't because of the service.

Grandpa H. was one of the most amazing individuals. He was one of the few that made me feel smart when I was around him, no matter what stupid thing I'd just done. (I tend to be accident prone) I think all of my family had their own special bond to grandpa H. He was a father figure in my brother's life. My dad was there too, but sometimes divorces can get a little sticky and grandpa H. stepped in for my brother when he needed it the most.

It's funny that you don't realize some things about someone until you lose them. I knew I loved my grandpa, but I didn't realize how much of my testimony came from him. I grew up in the church and I lived with my dad for most of my childhood. He is LDS and went to church every week, so did the rest of the family, but I think that I piggy backed on grandma and grandpa H's testimony because of my parents divorce. Eternity seemed very short to me when my parents separated. They were supposed to last for time and all eternity, like we believe in our religion, but they didn't. When things like that got confusing to me, I looked to grandma and grandpa H, and grandpa H. always knew what to say. He was always rock hard in his beliefs, no matter who questioned him. Don't get me wrong about my parents divorce, I don't wish things were different, or that it never happened, I just struggled with the way things were then. When my parents faltered for once in their lives, I looked to my grandparents and that was something I never realized until after grandpa H. was gone, until after the sheltering strength of his testimony and soul was gone.

I'm just glad that I will get to tell him one day, even if I didn't get to tell him before he passed on.
Anyway, I didn't really mean to get sentimental. I guess it's just this time of year and remembering grandpa H.


This is a picture of grandma and grandpa H. at our wedding reception, about two months before he died.

Developed Pics from Baby Blessing

Uncle Daren and Aunt Janet and their kids, Tyler and Emily.

Friends Camille Atkinson and Jessica and Matt Pope.

Friends Niki and Jon Tew.

The Padilla family.

The Hernandez family.

Friends, Connie and Monty Eggett.

Pastor and Roy.

My Parents, Dana and Gary.

Aunt Marsha and Uncle Doug holding baby Duane.

My grandpa Nerdin and my cousin Tyler.

My Gr. Grandpa Armistead.

My Uncle Don and his wife Lisa (in pink) and their kids: Megan (in orange) Zachary, Chelsea and Caitlin.

Zee on the zip line.

My parents and little brothers and sister. Kids: Zee, Red, Will and Nancy. Parents: Ellen and Doug.

Laughing!!!

Happy birthday Duane! He's three months old now. I know I can't catch every smile on camera, but I sure can try! LoL

I can't believe I got this on camera! I was really excited about the whole thing. I also can't believe the odd things that make my baby laugh. When I try to make him laugh it doesn't work, but the oddest noises send him into giggle fits.

Oh so cute

Don't you just love the baby lotion in the background?

Uh-Oh

So, my grandma got into an accident today, she broke her arm. She was driving along 300 N when someone slammed into her. The guy was driving an Escalade and he said that he thought it was a 4-way stop and it actually wasn't. The sad thing is that this isn't the first time she's been in an accident on this road. Just a little over two months ago, someone else rammed into her on the same road near the same intersection.

Grandma H is doing alright now, but she still has a broken arm. She's all drugged out on morphine.

Laughing

So it is official, my baby laughs. I was holding him over my head and talking to him yesterday and he let out a giggle fit. It was the cutest thing I've ever heard. I'm talking about a real giggle fit with actual laughs. I laughed too because, well, how can you not when a baby giggles?

Roy, Tracie and Mercedes

This darling picture is of Mercedes, who is the daughter of Roy and Tracie. Isn't she beautiful? I love her big dark eyes.

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Pastor knows Roy through the Hope Alliance, they worked together in Peru. Roy met his wife, Tracie, through the Hope Alliance as well and now they live near enough that we hang out every now and then. Pastor, Duane, my sister and I went to see the house that they just moved into a little bit ago (and returned the dish that Roy brought food for the baby blessing in). We didn't get very good pics because . . . guess what? Someone (not naming names) forgot the camera. *blush* So we used Pastor's cell phone.

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We watched Raising Helen after dinner and Mercedes kept bringing me all the DVDs she could find. She was sooo cute and was thrilled every time I said "thank you" and took the case from her. By the time she was done, the DVD stand was empty.

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Anyway, they are some of the most awesome people I know. I'm always telling Pastor that I want to be more like Tracie (whom I didn't get a pic of, so sorry) because she so gorgeous, funny and organized! Oh what I wouldn't give to be organized. Guess that's something to work on, right? It's just so hard when your brain is soo cluttered. LoL

Baby and Daddy

While I was uploading this picture Pastor asked me when I took it. LoL!!!

Baby Duane

Man oh man, I just can't believe that my baby is nearly three months old! What happened to the little baby that could barely hold his own head up? Now he is sitting up (with minimal help) and rolling over (with zero help). I just can't believe how much he's grown and how different he looks from the day he was born. He is alert and talking and wants to be on the go whenever he's awake.

I'm excited to see what he will be like when he is walking. I'm really excited to see what he will be like when he grows up and has his own children, but at the same time I'm afraid. I don't want him to grow up too quickly. I guess you could say I have mixed emotions. I want him to grow up and I don't want him to grow up. I want to know him when he's bigger and I don't want him to get any bigger than he already has. What will I do when he's old enough that he doesn't need to be held all the time? I will miss that.

Lookit

Look at what I painted today! Yay

Confessions

Okay, I'm going to lay this out on the table. I write stories in my free time. There, I said it. I don't know why, but I've always been a little embarrassed by this fact. Probably because the stories are love stories. Not romance novels, but love stories. I think that's why I get so embarrassed, because people think that it's a romance icky novel. I don't like those novels and it's because of those yucky things that I started writing my own. I just like to read good love stories and that's that.

I started writing them when I was thirteen and couldn't find anything clean in the category I liked. I still read other books that I enjoyed, I just wrote my own love stories. Anyway, I have about seven different stories that I'm working on, or was working on. I had them all on my computer at work and the computer crashed one day out of the blue. Hundreds of pages were lost last year and I had to start all over. Maybe that was for the best though. The stories are in my head, it's just really hard to get it down on paper the way I want them to be.

So there, now I've said it. *te he*

Birthday Dinner

Yes, I know, it seems like I drag my birthday on forever, but it's not my fault! My family likes to celebrate things on the weekend so that everyone can come. I like it that way as well. I like having more time to spend with my family instead of trying to cram it all into a few hours of one day during the week. Am I the only one whose family is like this? I don't know, but I know I really enjoy it. My mom made a huge dinner of pork chops and everything else you could imagine. All for me and my birthdayness. Yay!!
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Well, me being the normal nerdy me, I forgot to take the camera. I asked Gary to take some pics for me with his camera, but I don't know if I'll ever see them. Anyway, it was really fun besides the baby being more fussy than normal. He's been coughing a little and he cries at the drop of a hat. I think he just has a small cold because he doesn't have a fever or anything of the sort. That's why we skipped out on church today, I was afraid to take him if he's already acting sick. It seems that's been happening a lot lately and I really miss church. I don't even know what day Relief Society is on. Probably Tuesday or Thursday but I'm not sure. I'm sure it's not that hard to find out, but I'm the queen of procrastination.
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Pastor had to work today as well. He really dislikes working on Sunday, but when he took this job, his friend (that works there) assured him that he would be able to switch days with someone soon after starting work. I hope that's true because I really miss him when he's gone.
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Well, I did take some more photos that I really like. I have quite a few of Pastor and the baby talking to each other that are really adorable. The baby is getting quite vocal and loves to talk to anyone that will listen. It's not hard for him to find someone that will too, because he's such a cute, smiling baby that everyone wants to hold him.

Fireworks

This is my little guy after a long day. Yesterday was Pastor's only day off this week and we did a bunch of things. First we went to Wal-Mart to get some groceries. The baby loves to go to Wally world. His body is never still because he's always twisting and turning to look around at all the new things. Then we went to dinner with my mom and Gary to celebrate my birthday. After that we went to play tennis together and we were pleasantly surprised by a series of fireworks that were being launched at the park. We finally turned in when the bugs got too thick.
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When we came home, it was after dark and baby Duane was tuckered out. He could barely eat his last meal of the day. After he fell asleep I took some pictures of him. Pastor hates it when I take pictures of him with flowers because he thinks it makes the baby look like a girl. I just do it because I really love flowers. I don't think it makes him look like a girl when he's just holding the flower. But anyway, it's hard to catch him sleeping with his hands like this because he usually is swaddled. Last night he fell asleep before I could get his swaddling blanket out. Poor guy, he's so sweet.

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This is the sunset from last night. Everything is so hazy because of all the smoke coming out of the canyon. It made for a spectacular sunset though. I wish I had a better camera to catch better pictures, but what I have works okay.

Peter Pan

My baby looks like Peter Pan! LoL

Muscle Pain

So these are the kettlebells I mentioned before, they finally came in the mail and I tried the workout video. I actually did this a few days ago but haven't said anything. The workout was intense and now I'm a cripple because my muscles are so sore. It was a really good workout though. I went on a walk after to try and avoid any muscle soreness but it didn't work. I even ate a few bananas, which is supposed to help with muscle pain after working out. I still can't go up or down stairs and when I went on my walk yesterday, I went up Mary Poley Hill and it was total torture.

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Hopefully, when I do it again today, it will losen the muscles and there won't be as much pain. Man, I hate using muscles I haven't used in ages! That's what I get for being so lazy during the pregnancy. *sigh*

American Boy

I thought this was suiting for the month of July. Poor kid, he's my guinea pig as far as photography goes. *wink*

Talking Baby!

Clarissa

This is my sister. Cute huh? She's been chatting with me nearly all day. How many sisters would do that? We've been having too much fun. I think I got her hooked of facebook. LoL

Messing Around

I was messing around in photoshop and look at this cute picture. It looks like someone drew it.

Aww . . .

Love Love Love

Can I just say that I love taking pictures? I have so many pictures I like that I don't know which to frame. What a dilemma. One of my fondest dreams is to be a photographer, but you need a professional camera first. *sigh*

I love my baby too, I've been playing with the camera feature on our camcorder. It takes really nice pictures, I was actually surprised. The key is hitting the button a million times. Out of a ton of pictures, one of them will be good. That's what I like about digital, you can delete what you don't like without worrying about film.

Oh yeah, and happy birthday to me!! I keep forgetting that it's my birthday. My wonderful husband kissed me goodbye this morning on his way to work and said "happy birthday my sweetheart." That's when I remembered. LoL, how bad is it when you forget your own b-day? Is that a sign of aging, or being busy? Maybe it's just the lost memory that comes with being a mom. Everyone said it would happen and I didn't believe them, that's what I get for doubting. Now I know.

Baby Blessing

Strenth to your bones . . .

Consider others to devlop the pure love of Christ . . .

Keep the commandments . . .

Take comfort in the scpritures . . .

and your parents . . .

Prepare to serve a mission, to touch the hearts of the people . . .

Also prepare to marry in the temple . . .

Dancing with Daddy

Baby Duane really loves to dance with his daddy.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!! May we always remember the lives of those who fought for our freedom . . .

and may we always be grateful.

Yikes

Well, the baby blessing is getting closer. It's just two days away now and I'm hoping that I didn't forget to invite anyone. My mom and I sent out invitations to everyone we could think of nearby and we emailed the people who lived too far away to make it here.

Before the baby was even born, my mom bought a really cute blessing outfit for him. The outfit would have fit him the first month and maybe even the second, but now we are on our third and he got too big for it. I exchanged the outfit for the next size up and it's a little long on him because it was the six month size. He's only two months old, but he's too tall for the zero-three month sizes. When I went out to the car with the correct size, I opened the brown bag everything was in and realized the blessing shoes we had weren't nearly the right size. The shoes we had wouldn't have fit him the day he was born. For a baby he's got gigantic feet! So luckily I caught that before we drove all the way home and I got the correct size shoes as well.

So now I'm just hoping that the wheels are in motion and all will go smoothly. Pastor is such a wonderful dad to the baby. He did it again today! When Pastor got home, baby Duane started smiling up a storm and sticking his little tongue out. He was so excited to see his daddy and it was so adorable. He doesn't smile that big for me during the day. Maybe I'm just too boring . . .

LoL