Christmas travels...

We sure had alot of fun in Oregon for Christmas this year, we braved the winter road travels and made it there and back with no troubles...well actually we did blow the fuse in our car that fed power to the radio and DVD player....MAJOR disaster averted thanks to some research on the laptop (Thanks McDonalds for now having free Wifi!) and a shopping trip to Wal-Mart in Pendelton. All of my life i've been traveling I-84 along the Columbia river, and never have I stopped at the Stonehenge replica....So we decided to take a little detour over the river into Washington to have a little look see!

It was freeing cold and Carter didn't feel like stretching her legs, so we made it a quick pit stop and tried to smile for a few pictures...but now I can officially say I've been to Stonehenge..haha!
Of course the weather in Oregon is always testy, especially in winter, so what do you do with equally testy children?...Why I say...you make them go outside! Carter really enjoyed adventuring with her cousins in the backyard...

These two are a crack up...they play really nice together unless any older siblings are around to cause trouble! Carter is 4 months older than Autumn, but boy being close in age doesn't make them anything alike- as you can see Autumn is always willing to smile for the camera, Carter just scowls or looks away!

Opening presents from Nana and Papa...Carter LOVES her Fur-Real kitty, it's still one of her favorite presents now three weeks after Christmas!

Playing with her new dishes set on Christmas morning....a rare moment of not having to defend her loot from cousins....not that she didn't do her share of looting as well!

Speaking of looting....where did you get that Missy??? What a little candy cane thief....it's a good thing Santa left extras in the pantry!

Looking over her new movies from "An Book"

Not the prettiest sight to behold on Christmas morning, but it's all I've got of Carter and I together with smiles!

The face of Christmas morning...how do you teach a 2 year old that Christmas morning is supposed to be happy and joyful? She pretty much did nothing but scowl and was hardly interested in opening presents, it was more exciting to see what her cousins were getting!

Yup, that's right, the Dad's pulled diaper duty before the chaos began! They were tucked away in their beds while Santa and his helper were busy until late (some little children had a hard time going to sleep that night!)

John and Abrianna teaming up for a little "Guesstures"

Abrianna and Carter playing rough and tumble...oh wait that was the end of a cat-fight gone good! These two just DON'T get along, i'm not quite sure why but hooooooeeeyyy! By the time we left I figured intervening was pointless and my kid had to learn to find her voice and yell back hit back and take toys too...all very typical 2 year old things that she hadn't figured out yet...but were coming! Unfortunately she learned them so well, that by the time we left, she also was a main instigator in alot of the hulabaloo....she's really turned into a curmudgeoned brute!

It's a BOY!!!

Anyone who ever visits our blog has probably already heard that we're having a BOY! Quite shocking and unexpected....if you put Carter, and our nieces from John's and My side of the family all in a row by age, you'd discover that we're breaking an 8 girl streak....that's right EIGHT little ladies all in a row.....so you can imagine our utter shock at seeing "M-A-L-E" typed accross the screen at my ultrasound!!! We're so excited as is everyone in our families...it baffles me, boys are such a foriegn concept, but it still just makes me so giddy! There's definitely no doubt about it, I asked the tech how sure he was, lets just say in response he showed me the "proof" about 6 times during the visit....I guess you could say we're just tickled pink...or rather blue!

Now our only dilemma is chosing a name, it came so easy when we named Carter, but this one's a little more tricky! So here are my favorites so far:
Owen Luke Hansen
Walker....... Hansen
Max........Hansen
Liam Cole Hansen
Cole Jonathan Hansen
Carson Briggs Hansen
Suggestions are always welcome!!!

As a side note, how do you all feel about using names that other good friends/family have used as first/middles names...I feel like a name thief, but there are some really good ones that I adore and am tempted to use???!!!!! Hmmmm, something to ponder!

Hopefully I'll get to a computer soon that has a good scanner attatched so I can post his 3-d picture...now, his little face does have an alienesque quality about it, since he has so much developing to do, but still it's precious and gives me a face to dream about meeting in a few months!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

Well, I't's been too long since I've posted anything, so today is the day! We're so in love with our daughter, what a fun age she is right now, she's definitely a sugar coated spice ball of an almost 2 year old!!! Her vocabulary is beginning to expand, and it's so fun to listen to her jibber jabber all day!!! Here's the list of words that we can actually understand: "NO, Nana, Papa, Momma, Daddy, food, uh oh, Bye, Poop, toot, toes, socks, Binky, and Blanky, bug, go, cow, doggie, ducky, kitty, and moo" Everyday she's experimenting and trying out new sounds, unfortunately she says "NO" for everything...even when she means yes...so we have a little problem communicating sometimes! This morning we woke up to our first real snow of the season...unfortunately John was not as excited as Carter and I (having not grown up with much snow, it's a magical wonder every winter for me....I LOVE it and get soooo excited apparently my daughter is going to follow suit!)

We spent the morning looking out the window and pointing to all of the pretty snow!

I'm way behind in blogging, so this picture is from quite a while ago, I just get a kick out of it! Carter had been really sick with a cold, and John had been gone almost 24/7 driving truck for beat harvest....we'd had a rough day together, and decided a movie would make us both feel better....I just love it...what's a girl to do when she's sick and misses daddy?....why the answer of course is to eat a piece of cheese and relax in her comfy pink chair!!!

This one got emailed to family (so sorry for the repeat) but I just love this cheesy little kid....she's learning to say "CHEESE" for the camera, however the smile doesn't quite shine through yet!!! Again this was from a while ago, her newest trick is to push kitchen chairs around, climb up, and then of course reach WHATEVER her determined little mind has set out to get!!!

For now her favorite thing to do is to stand at the counter and color while Momma cooks and cleans....well, lets just say, coloring with pens is a BIG NO NO at our house...but it was a definite, pregnant..."I DON'T Care what happens" kind of a day....well....

Of course the end result....body art...!

Come winter, John and I love to whip out the games at night, well, when you have a toddler that needs to do everything you do too....the solution...give her a deck of cards and the last few drops of root beer to make her happy!!!

She spent literally over an hour putting taking the cards in and out of the box...and NOT ONE was bent or broken...she's very meticulous and focused when she's working on something, and very careful...what a funny little thing!

A little update...

Well not much happens or changes in our little world, but I thought I should post a few pictures of the little miss!!! She's growing and learning so much, I love to sit and watch her play, the wheels are constantly turning, she loves to really analyze things, and see how they work, and how she can manipulate them. She's jibber jabbering all the time, sometimes we have the most interesting conversations!!!

Uncle Brooks sharing the joy of fishing worms with Carter....why everyone though I would freak out i'm not quite sure....I certainly don't want to instill my fear and dislike for all things slimy and wiggly to my daughter...my philosophy is if it isn't going to hurt her...HAVE AT IT!!! Sometimes we have some big messes to clean up after, but i'd rather let her explore her surroundings! Daddy was proud because she just about ripped it in half....like a true fisherman or woman would do to get their worm ready for the hook!!!

Playing in Mommy's flower jungle! Oh, how this little girl LOVES to be outside getting dirty!h

Playing in a puddle (her favorite thing to do!) Yes, in her jammies and irrigation boots!

Visiting the mules while Mommy works in the yard.

Showing mommy her dirty hands....She's very good about letting me know when she needs her hands washed!

Wedding Bells for Kim and Patrick!

Another Oregon trip with alot of fun! My sister Kim got married yesterday at St. Mary's church in Mt. Angel, WOW!!! What a beautiful ceremony and reception that followed at Abiqua. There are a TON of pictures, and a whole lot more that didn't make the cut...so here they are....

Carter in a rare moment of hapiness playing peekaboo with Papa!

Cousin Abrianna helping Carter walk up the big grassy hill...Carter was bound and determined to play with the big kids, I got tired of following her up the hill, so my favorite rule of "If you can't do it by yourself than you don't need to be doing it" came into play...well, where there's a will there's a way, she tumbled head over heel a few times and rolled a few times too, but she figured out how to be a big kid too!!!
My niece Kayla, My sister Crystal and I enjoying the mix DJ Ron was playing

Little girl cousins, Carter, Abrianna, and Kayla

After one of Carter's many tumbles down the big hill....being coached by Abrianna

On the dance floor, getting her groove on! We were all waiting for dinner to be served, the kids couldn't sit still, so where did they all naturally end up? On the dance floor of course, having a grand 'ole time twirling in their pretty dresses!

My nephew Parker was definitely the star of the evening...all of the sudden we heard laughing and clapping...looking up we beheld this little man boogy-in like there was no tomorrow... let's just say I won't be surprised if he shows up on you-tube soon! My sister had 3 different guests who happened to be dance instructors, invite her to bring him to their studio for lessons....in all honesty he really does have great rhythm and dance moves! He danced so hard ALL night, that he had to have advil and his feet rubbed before he could go to bed!!!

My Dad and Sister Kim

My sisters Kim and Crystal

Me and my sister Brook (How we went 7 1/2 hrs without getting an all sister picture except for the one the photographer took, i'll never know!)

Me and John, forced into a photo opp by Brook...yea, we were trying to get a VERY cranky out of control toddler to sleep by pushing her in the stroller around and around and around (no it didn't work!) Hence the somewhat forced smiles!

The beautiful center pieces...LOVE the Dahlia's and the handy dadndy twig vases constructed by my very crafty mother!

Ned and Ted AKA Dick and Ted, my dad and his younger brother!

Leaving the church for Abiqua...what and absolutely PERFECT day!!!

The hooligans let loose after the ceremony....Thankfully we practice sitting revrent every Sunday for and hour in sacrament meeting, so the hour Mass/Wedding ceremony was actually quite pleasant...made possible by fruit snacks, quiet books, and husbands who took the babies out!!! (Hey, at least there was a big glass wall/door in the back that goes into the lobby, so they still could hear and see everything!)

Ah, Mr. Handsom...I can't believe he turned down every woman and little girl who asked him to dance at the reception....he was a one man show I guess! He wouldn't even dance with his favorite Aunt...AKA ME! (J/K!)

My cousin Rochelle and her husband Devon, they came down to celebrate their 1 year anniversary...bad weather at the coast left them stuck with us....AND we're GLAD!!! I miss you guys already!

The whole bunch of us!

Waiting for it all to begin!

Randall, Brook, Parker, Abrianna and Autumn

Kayla, Crystal and Brenna

St. Mary's on the outside....

St. Mary's on the inside (of course this isn't a picture from the wedding, we somehow overlooked getting a great shot as such, but thankfully the church's website provides a few for viewing delight!) It was AMAZING!!!