Bald.

Hey. This is Ryan. I finally succumbed to reality. I shaved my head. Thanks to Sunnie The Honest-To-A-Fault Hairdresser. She said it was time and that, "It's not coming back, Ryan."

Tired 10 for Tuesday--The rest of the trip

As we left the first day, we saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  

A perfect end to a perfect day.  This Minnie had been hitting the 

egg nog a little hard if you know what I mean though.  She seemed a little tipsy!

1- Our trip "across the whole world" is still in full swing although we are on the downward slope. Tonight we are in SLC staying at my brothers house. We have looked forward to this stay since day one when we missed it on the way down. The girls were having a dance party, the boys were running around all over the house. Rach cooked a yummy dinner. It was a good day. Now the kids are asleep, Ryan is asleep, and I am close.

2- We stayed in St. George again last night with the Adams. We went to the park near the temple so we could see the temple, play with friends and spend some time with them. We did not see them last night since we did not get in until after midnight. More on that in a minute. The park we ate in had pecan trees everywhere. The pecans were still on the branches and a lot were on the ground that had recently fallen off.
We took advantage of the "gold for free" and picked up a whole grocery sack worth. I hate to say it, but I am cheap and free pecans just laying around is not something I will pass up.

3- We left Tucson yesterday around noon. Later than we would have liked. The drive was never ending; combine a meal at In-N-Out, multiple potty breaks, traffic, construction, and poor sense of direction and we rolled into St. George way later than anticipated. We got to drive through the beautiful scenic area of Zions National Park in the black of night. We hit some icy spots on the twisty, turny hill and even came to a full stop waiting for a deer to cross the road. Only when Ryan GENTLY nudged it with the bumper did it finally move. Apparently 2 people are not enough to listen too when taking directions. Next time we'll ask 4 or 5 so it will sink in better.

The Hansen Brothers  

Ryan, Trent, Nick and Adam

4- Sunday Nick and Rebecca blessed baby Cason and the entire Hansen family was in attendance. A very rare occasion indeed. Saved usually only for weddings. 

It is our fault. We are the ones who have to live so far away and ruin the getting togetherness. We have decided we need to visit more often though. We had a great time with Ryan's brothers and their families. Our girls got along with their "twin cousins" so well we can't keep them apart. It wouldn't be fair.

Ally and Kalee are only 6 weeks apart in age

Tyler, Alana and Emma all born within 2 months

5- We spent the night in Yuma at Papa and Mimi's house on the way to Tucson. We love getting to visit them and Clark got to meet them for the first time.

Mimi, Clark and Papa Hansen

Clark and Papa Hansen

Ryan found more of his "old stuff" in his dad's office. Every time we visit we come home with a treasure box or two. This time was especially productive. We found lots of old pictures and a much loved and long since thought to be ruined comic book collection.

6-  We spent the day Friday with Ryan's Aunt Cindy and Uncle Kelly.  They loved the kids and played with them all afternoon.  We had fun catching up and getting to know them better. 

Kelly and Cindy

 She is Ryan's mothers sister.  For those of you who know, that is a tie we hold dear because Chris died so young.  Cindy fills in for Chris by sending the kids holiday cards and fun little packages throughout the year.  It was fun for Ally and Emma to finally put a face to all the great stuff from "Aunt Cindy".  

7- Disneyland and California Adventure were a hit!  The children loved it and the magic was more than we could ever have hoped for.  When they came off of Star Tours, Emma eagerly came to tell me how they had flown into space!  

Luke, Tyler, Ally and Emma waiting for Toy Story Mania

Christmas Eve was not super busy and it was the perfect temperature outside.  Overcast with a little chill, but perfect fall weather in my opinion. Fantasyland was not very crowded and we walked on to almost every ride with minimal wait time. Ryan's brother Trent and his family joined us in the parks that day. They are pros when it comes to Disneyland and it was fun to spend the day with them. Clark even loved the bright colors and fun rides.  He slept most of the time we were there and didn't even cry when it rained.  

Clark waiting for Mr. Toads Wild Ride

Christmas morning we went to Ariel's Grotto and had breakfast with the Princesses.  It was spendy but worth every dime!  The princesses took time to visit with the kids, take pictures, sign their autograph books and answer any and all questions they had.  We met Ariel, Snow White, Aurora, Jasmine and Belle.  No lines and quality time with them one on one.  You can't put a price tag on that for 2 little girls who have loved them their whole life.  Emma and Ariel are now best friends, just in case you were wondering.

The 2nd time we got to see Ariel.  

We had to go back after breakfast because we forgot to get her autograph. 

 Emma was a little shy the first time, but she didn't hesitate to

 hug her tight knowing this would be her last time seeing her.

8- At the Fantasy Faire we did wait in line hoping to catch the only Princess we didn't meet at breakfast, Cinderella, who happens to be Ally's favorite.  There is a line there and no warning as to who may or may not be there when your turn comes up.  Normally there are 3 princesses waiting for you to meet, but we were lucky and there just happened to be 4.  Pocahontas, Aurora, Princess Minnie and Cinderella!  Hooray!  She was so excited she was speechless.  Ally.   I know, pick up your jaw.

 Ally's dream comes true!  She has loved Cinderella since she was 2 years old.

9- Luke is officially a Jedi.  Yes it is true!  He went to training, got picked last to come up on stage, fought Darth Vader and won over the entire crowd.  All while I watched some stupid parade and waited for Tinkerbell to show up.  She did and the girls got a picture and autograph to add to their books, but I missed the best part of Luke's experience at the park.  No video either.  I am sad.  I have heard Ryan tell the story so many times I felt like I was there, but I still would have loved to see it live.  He was the last one picked out of 15 kids.  He was head and shoulders the smallest of all the younglings being trained.  He got to stand up on the stage right next to the Jedi while the others were down below in front.  He almost peed his pants while he was up there.  Ryan had to race to the bathroom so he could go, hoping they would make it back in time to fight.  He used the force to topple a couple storm troopers.

Luke learning to fight from the Jedi Master

Going after Darth Vader with a vengeance!

 When it came time to fight Darth Vader, he forgot the "choreographed" training they had taught him and just went to town on Vader causing him to have to defend himself and getting great feedback from the crowd.  Then when he finished the Jedi asked him, "what is your name young Jedi?"  Well you can imagine.  "Luke" and the crowd went CRAZY.  Yes we are nerds.  Ryan has never been so proud.  I feel like I missed something important in his life.  I will never forgive myself.  : )

10-  We got caught in a torrential down pour right in the middle of Pixie Hollow.  It was find the nearest awning kind of rain.  The baby barely stirred.  We got soaked.  It was awesome.  

The picture does not begin to explain how wet we were

Most people gave up and went home.  We decided it would be a good time to go shopping for souvenirs.  I found the Baby Center and fed Clark in a super warm, dry spot made just for such an occasion.  Who knew it even existed?  I almost fell asleep while I was feeding him.  The kids all got "credit cards" to spend on whatever they wanted to take home.  It was a fun few hours trying to decide the best thing to take home from Disneyland. Emma bought 2 dolls, both on sale, but only made it out of the park with one.  She set the bag down one too many times and forgot to pick it up.  Luckily she only lost one.   Luke got a cool sword for only $4.50.  If they charged more, no one would buy them.  They are just THAT annoying.  They do look cool though.

 

Not since the Hulk hands have I despised a toy more.   

I am sure I will have more to say about Disney later, but for now I am done.  Feel free to ask questions.  I am sure I left out a ton of stuff.  

10 for Tuesday--Our trip so far...

How is it that I have time to blog as I travel across the country, but not when I am just at home?

10- We tried to leave IF Saturday so we could get to SLC to stay with cousins. Traffic was terrible when we ran our last-minute errands, so it got later and later. We drove as far as Poky and stopped. Great progress, I know. (It is only 45 minutes away) We found out later it was a blessing in disguise because the I-15 was closed all afternoon and we would have been driving forever to get around it.

9- When we were packing up gifts to take and figuring out what needed to stay at Mom's we realized we had way too many gifts for the stockings; we ended up taking 2 bags of stuff back. They will never miss it, though. Trust me.

8- On Sunday, we got up early and drove to SLC to have lunch with our cousins -- quesadilla party! Then we stopped by Ryan's aunt's house to see her new baby who was born Dec, 10, Jack. He has the same cute little old man look that Clark had. He seems a lot smaller, though. So cute and tiny!

7- As we drove south, the weather got noticeably warmer. The heater in the car kept getting turned lower and lower until it was completely off. I love me a nice white Christmas, but the warmth is so appealing this year that I don't mind the lack of snow.

6- St. George was lovely. Spending time with Adams was even better. I miss Sunnie. It was good to see her. We stayed up until 2 am laughing and talking. Good times, good times.

5- We went to lunch in Vegas as Ryan mentioned, but we ran into a few obstacles while we were there. It took us 3 hours to get out of that freaking town. I love it, but everything that could go wrong did. Including me sending a bill without a stamp on it. Blurg...

4- When we woke up Monday morning, it was raining a tiny bit. In IF, Poky and SLC, it was a blizzard with 8 inches and counting of snow. As far as I know, it kept coming down all day long. Another blessing in disguise because we had considered waiting until Monday morning to leave. Good choice to go when we did (thank you J & G).

3- On the way to Trent and Amber's house, we ran into a little rain near San Bernadino. I have heard Californians think they will melt if they get rained on and that was obvious by their lack of driving skills. People were driving 35 miles an hour in the middle of the freeway in the rain. Seriously. It is just a little water. It wasn't even that strong. Good grief.

2- My sister in law Amber and I spent the morning running all over town trying to buy passes to Disneyland for the kids' Christmas presents so we didn't have to stand in line. We went to about 7 different stores that sold them, but none that were 2 day park hopper passes like we needed. We did finally find them at The Disney Store (duh!) in the mall, but they were out of adult tickets and only had childrens. I bought them anyway and got free holdiay tins to put them in for the "gift wrap" (score!).

1- Santa is coming early to the Hansen children this year(mine anyway) so they can have the passes and spend the day at Disneyland on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. What's that you say? I am crazy? I agree, but we shall try it out anyway. Merry Christmas to us! More to come!

Googley Eyes

On the road ...

Hey. This is Ryan. Lisha is in a Las Vegas Office Depot making last-minute copies of our Christmas card letter (it's short because if you wanna find out how we are, you can check out the ol' blog). I thought I'd update our Christmas trip. We're on the way to my brother's house and stopped in Vegas for lunch at this chicken place with our friend, Brandon Atkins. He is awesome and recommended this place. Anyway, we ate and I'm anxious to get on the road.

We stayed in St. George with our best friends from Lamar, Sunnie and Quincy Adams. It was great. We miss them so much and rekindled our friendship. I was worried the kids would be forgetful of each other (it's been 1 1/2 years since we've been together) but Emma ran up and hugged Little Quincy and it was fun from there on.

Thanks, Sunnie and Q, for being the people we can always rely on. We love you! Merry Christmas.

Three on Thursday

1- We have dress rehersal for the winter dance recital tonight. I am excited to see the dances, but EVERY costume we have had to be fixed in some way. Straps broken, ribbon fraying, pants too long. More stress than I need. They are cute though so I will post pictures after the performance.

2- Christmas Cards are ready to be sent! I need addresses! Please post or email me yours if I don't have it. Specifically I need Andrea and Skip, Shelley, Amy and Levale. I am sure I will think of more, but I do have a few already

3- My time seems to be slipping out from under me. I hate that part of getting ready. My plan was to be packed today. We will see how close I get.

Look forward to the pics coming up for the dancers! Also, I have THE BEST Christmas morning planned! More to come...

10 for Tuesday--Getting Ready for Christmas

Lots to do. Lots to do. Here we go...backwards in the countdown to Christmas tradition.

10- Finish making the yummy treats for the neighbors and deliver them. (I have already devoted 2 full days to this adventure and I am still not done.)

9- Find 3-6 month size clothes in super disorganized storage unit. Clean out 0-3 month clothes in dresser. Open boxes, wash 3-6 month clothes, repack 0-3 month clothes, put 3-6 month clothes in dresser, take 0-3 month clothes to DI, storage unit, wherever. Repeat in 2 months. You understand. And right now is when he chooses to have the growth spurt. Not like I don't have anything to do this week. At least it comes with sleeping a lot.

8- Pick up Christmas cards and find envelopes. Write Christmas letter. Buy stamps. Address envelopes. Stick on stamps (genius who invented the "sticker" kind, my tongue thanks you). You may get a New Year Card this year instead of a Christmas Card. Consider yourself notified.

7- Continue to teach children they do not need to get EVERYTHING on their Christmas list and try not to be disappointed when you don't lesson. We are struggling with that this year.

6- Buy Christmas gifts from Mom and Dad. We got the Santa part covered--more on that later, but we can't combine the gifts, we realized or the kids might get suspicious. Not that that would be a bad thing. They are a little young though still. (RE Welcome to the worst day of your life via Andrea's blog reference to her friends take on Christmas songs)

5- Take the kids one at a time to buy gifts for their siblings. Super fun.

4- Dress Rehearsal for dance Thursday night. Dance recital Friday night. Buy tights, hair spray, white shoes to be painted orange, and bobby pins for bun. Learn how to put hair in a bun. (pics to come)

3- Finish making homemade gifts. Buy rest of items needed to make them. Wrap and deliver before we leave to CA and AZ on Saturday. (pics to follow but I don't want to spoil the surprise)

2- Pack for a 9 day adventure through 3 different climates. Finish laundry, find luggage in storage unit.

1- As if I was not busy enough, we get our monthly paycheck on Friday and the bills need to be paid BEFORE we leave on Saturday for our fun trip. (BTW This is usually an all day task.)

Let me just say, I love the holidays and even though I am super anxious about getting everything done, I wouldn't change it for the world! At least I have a working car, bills to pay(cause I have a place to live), and people I love to get Christmas ready for! Merry Christmas I hope you have a great holiday season!

10 for Tuesday-All about me

So here is a list of things you may or may not know about me. It is after all my Birthday and in my family it seems to last for more than one day.


1- I am the second of 7 kids and got to "play mom" a lot growing up. We lived in the country and so I was babysitting since I was 11. Grandma was next door if we needed her though so no worries.

2- I was involved in 4-H quite a bit. I took sewing and cooking. I also showed sheep, chickens and attempted to show a horse. My horse did not love me. You know you have a tough animal when your father who has taught you your whole life to never give up encourages you to maybe give up on your horse after the 10th or 11th time he has thrown you off.

3- I was a thespian in high school. Me? Drama? No way! I did mostly behind the scenes stuff but did act in a couple plays.

4- I was always jealous of people who got to take exotic vacations when I was in school, so instead I combined the 2 and went to an exotic location for school--twice! BYU-H and BYU Jerusalem. (I attended all the BYU's except the real one.)

5- I love to teach. My favorite callings have involved teaching: Sunday School or Relief Society. Not a huge fan of primary yet, the only one was Sunbeams so I have yet to really experience that. It was more like glorified babysitting. With a prayer.

6- I don't like babysitting. I love my kids and I love my nieces and nephews. I even don't mind my friends children. When I was a teenager though, I really disliked it. I very rarely got called again when I babysat for someone. I cleaned the house and took good care of the kids, but I did not enjoy it and I am sure it showed. There was one friend of my moms that I babysat for repeatedly, she was single and had 2 daughters. Super cute but little devils. I kept going back though because she had season tickets to the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake and took me as her plus 1 to all the plays. I guess I just needed the right motivation.

7- I love to cook. I enjoy food. I bake mostly, but I also love to try new things. I watch Food Network like most men watch the NFL. I know I am weird.

8- I am an avid reader but have to make myself not read so I can accomplish other things. In college I never let myself pick up a book because I would not study if I did. I can read a book quick. I read New Moon and Eclipse in 3 days.

9- I sell Mary Kay Cosmetics and have for 9 years! Holy cow that is a long time. I am a lifer.

10- I love Christmas more than any other time of the year. Let the candy making begin!

Dropping by...

Haven't spent much time on the computer as of late, but wanted you all to know I am still alive and will post more later! On that note, 4 more days until I turn 100!

Just Checking

Did I mention my birthday was coming?  I wasn't sure if I had said anything so I thought I better.  Not that I am excited about getting older.  

Lisha--"Hey guess who's birthday is next."

Luke--"Christmas?"

Lisha--"No mine!"

Luke--"You are going to be 100."  

Nice.  Gotta make you feel good about yourself.  

3 Months Old and LAUGHING!

That's right, the little butter ball started laughing on Friday.  My mom was jabbering with him and tickling him and he full on laughed!  It has yet to be repeated with as much intensity, but it happened and it was super cute!  I am not sure if he is supposed to be laughing yet, but it was so fun to hear his sweet little voice.  Once it happens more regularly I will post a little video for you to hear.  For now here are some pictures.  Please excuse the bad quality, they are from my phone and he does not hold still very well.  His latest "toy" is his hands.  He is always sucking on them so getting these pics with out the hand in front of his face was a challenge by itself.  

Enjoy!  I love this baby more and more everyday.  He is becoming quite the little charmer.  

Holding Pattern

Why is it that everything delicious about Thanksgiving dinner is a starch? Stuffing, homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, even gravy is made with flour. As you may or may not remember, I joined LA Weight Loss. Things are going along pretty well. I am stuck in a holding pattern these last few weigh ins right around the 200 lb. mark. I cannot seem to get below it. I need something great to happen to push me over that edge. Thanksgiving was NOT it. The way the diet works is by counting servings in each food group. I am allowed 5 starches per day. On a normal day I do ok. Every once in a while I eat a turkey burger with no bun, but I mostly can eat the food I do normally with little adjustment. Not on Thanksgiving. I made it a point to NOT eat one single starch until THE MEAL. I was not even able to eat everything on the table without going over 5. I skipped the yams. I love them, but I couldn't do it. I must admit, I did have a piece of pie which is not on my meal plan, but like I was taught, it is ONE day. 

Sticking to that ONE day mentality is getting more difficult though. Christmas goodies are starting to pop up. I enjoy making them too. I need some serious motivation right now. My birthday is coming too and I would love nothing more than to drop Below that horrible spot on the scale. Any great ideas? I am open to anything right now. The worst thing would be for me to gain weight. I would not be able to handle that I am afraid.