Neighbor Gifts

Baking is one of my very FAVORITE things to do...and I must say I am pretty good at it too. Look at me. Do I look like a skinny chef? NO! Naturally I would want to spend hours in the kitchen baking delicious Christmas treats to share with the people who are our friends. Turning it into a family project is one of the highlights of our Christmas season.

This year I made Carmels, English Toffee, Peanut Brittle, Peanut Butter Fudge, Chinese Noodle Treats and Sugar Cookies. Of course the kids always help by decorating the cookies. This time we even used sugar we colored ourselves...I don't think I will ever buy it again. It was so easy to make! Plus then I don't mind so much when it is all over the table and floor.

photos courtesy of Ally

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Being the merciful parents that we are, we let our kids open one present on Christmas Eve. In keeping with the long standing tradition of Christmas Jammies (my Grandma Smith used to make them for us every year when I was young), we opened our one gift on Christmas Eve right before bed--our brand new pajamas. I didn't get any this year because when Ry went to get mine they were sold out. I got a new pair about a month ago anyway. Here is everyone in their brand new Christmas Jammies!

Hansens in the House

One of the drawbacks to living near my family is that we are SOOO far away from Ryan's family. We wish there was a way to be close to everyone, but that is not possible and since Ryan found a job in Idaho, we moved here. When we do get to see more Hansens, it is rare and visits are few and far between. It is our goal, however, to make them less of a rarity.

Last weekend we were lucky enough to have one of Ry's brothers visit us. Nick and his family are taking a cross-the-West tour to visit Grammy Taylor and other family and friends for Christmas Break and we were lucky enough to be a pit stop on the way! They made it to our house late Thursday night, stayed all day Friday and left Saturday morning. Ry was, um, "sick" on Friday and the kids stayed home from school. We had tons of fun while they were here.

Some highlights include:

• Ally and Emma having cousins to play with that are not only the same gender, but almost the exact same age. Ally is six weeks older then Kalee. Emma is seven weeks younger than Alana.
  
• A delicious dinner out with no kids and lots of funny memories! Thank you V! Best babysitter ever!
• Shopping with Rebecca Friday morning. Serious girl time! Plus we both equally hate it so it was easy to get in and out quick.
• Clark watching Cason (who is 2 1/2 months younger) and realizing it was OK to use the voice he tries out on occasion. His vocabulary is exploding these past few days.
• Making a gingerbread house with 5 kids and virtually no fights.
• Taking advantage of having a truck to go to the dump/DI. Nick and Ryan cleared out all the "junk" we had stored in the back yard/driveway. Items included an old washer, a broken dresser, a highchair we have no room for, an old car seat and multiple unidentifiable plastic items that have broken and faded over time. We no longer look like we are white trash. Well aside from the broken car in front of the house, but that just happened.

I know that Ryan loved having his brother here. It was a lot of fun to spend time with them and let our kids play with their cousins that they don't see as much. We were all crammed into our tiny house but there were no fights. The Arizona kids got to play in the snow ... well, what little snow we had. They even got to see Ally and Emma dance at their dress rehearsal for the Winter Recital. We packed a lot into the short day in a half and I would love to have the chance to do it again.

Happy Holidays from The Hansens!

We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season ... we sure are enjoying it! From playing in the snow to shopping for that perfect gift, we have had a lot of busy days this past month! Unfortunately, the blog has felt the neglect of the season. But, Ryan has told me this is the wave of the future: writing your Christmas letter online and then sending a family Christmas card with a link to the blog. So, that's what we're doing.

So here is an update on the Hansen Family:

Ryan (pictured with Huey Lewis. Yes, the Huey Lewis!) is currently teaching at Idaho Falls High School. He loves, loves, loves his job. He is the yearbook and newspaper adviser as well as a speech teacher. In the third trimester, he gets to teach one section of photography which he is looking forward to. The publications that he advises continues to dominate in the state. His summer was spent being "Mr. Mom." You can read some of his adventures here, here and here. Most of the children survived and so did he. However, he bolted out the door the first day of school with a little extra spring in his step. He is currently the Young Men's president in our ward. They just made our Bishop our Stake President so we will be getting a new Bishop in the new year. Needless to say, he is not holding his breath. Last Sunday, the bishop/stake president came up to compliment him on wearing a suit coat to church. "You clean up nice," he said. "Wait! Are you the new bishop?" He about passed out because the stake president would be the one to call him! :)

Lisha is busy with being a mom and working too many "jobs" to count. She is serving at the Olive Garden a few nights a week. The extra "play" money is nice to have around, but we miss mom when she is gone. She is serving as the second counselor in the Relief Society in our ward. It keeps her super busy. Among other things, she organizes fundraisers for our kids' parent-teacher organization, taxis the kiddos to and from every activity, pays the bills, manages the house, loves on Clark and the rest of the fam and keeps us all happy. (Ryan's writing this, by the way.) In short, Lisha is our Superwoman! (Is it no wonder I love her so much?)

Ally, 8, is a third grader this year. She continues to excel in math and knows that she loves it! Ally was baptized in June. It was a great experience for the whole family. She continues to dance at Infinity. This will be her third year competing on the "Minis" team. It's very demanding, but she's come a long way since her first class. Her favorite dance style continues to be hip hop but she also takes jazz, ballet and tumbling. She was able to participate in a special ballet camp this summer. Ally loves Primary Achievement Days and is looking forward to her new 4-H club activities. As our oldest, she tends to be the mom to her siblings. We're working on that. That being said, she is our greatest helper. You can often find her doing the dishes (without being asked, I might add) or helping tend Clark.

Emma, 6, is a first grader this year. She has become a super reader and has advanced to the second-grade reading class. Emma also dances at Infinity and will be competing for the first time this year with the Tinys. She is becoming quite a beautiful dancer and really enjoys her jazz, hip hop and ballet classes. She met with disaster this summer when she fell off our trampoline the third day we had it and broke her arm. She got to wear a bright pink cast for the second half of the summer. Swimming lessons were cut short, sadly, because she is our little fish. Emma often can be found in her room playing with her dolls or Littlest Pet Shop toys. She will disappear for about an hour and we know she's entered "Emma World." The carnage is something out of Sid's house (from Toy Story, you know?), though, when she is done. Many times we have found Barbie posed in the arms of our Sherriff Woody doll, in a compromising position. We're having the "appropriate contact with boys" talk. Emma is our sweetheart. She tends to love ... a little too much at times ... on Clark and is a big helper, too.

Luke, 5, is a preschooler this year. He attends the same elementary school as his sisters as a peer model in the Developmentally Delayed Preschool. One of the perks of being a district employee. His teacher described him as "brilliant" (her words) at our most recent Parent-Teacher Conferences. Then again, she teaches the developmentally-delayed class, so we're not quite sure who she is comparing him to. He enjoys riding the bus to and from school, even though it is only four blocks away. Frankly, he was tired of waiting on his slowpoke sisters in the morning. He is always the first one ready and was constantly late because of them. Something tells me things aren't going to change much from here on out. Luke played T-ball and soccer this year and continues to excel at sports. He wants to learn to "fight with swords" next apparently. He got an old Gameboy Advance for his birthday (which Clark lost) and does not take breaks. He's pretty glued to it all the time which is consitituting a new "screen time limit" rule. They have a limited time for anything that has a screen. Once they've used up their minutes, then it is time to shut down the screens. (Oh, and there are no rollover minutes.)

Clark, 15 months, is the highlight of our day. He continues to learn new words every day and can ALMOST run. He is getting really skinny, walking off all his baby fat. He is still super little though and it is hard to believe he is as old as he is. Clark loves balls and toothbrushes. It is the weirdest thing! You can often spot him waddling around with a death-grip on a toothbrush in his fist. He doesn't suck on it, but don't you dare try to take it from him! His comprehension also seems to be growing. He will throw away his own dirty diapers and shuts the door when you ask him to. He likes to give open-mouth kisses and "loves." The funniest thing about Clark is that he can recognize candy and goes crazy shouting, "MA! MA! MA!" or trills like Chewbacca until he gets it. We wish everyone could get a little Clarky-love. It would truly make your holiday.

We send our love this holiday season. We recognize that this time of year is to remember Christ. We hope you do all year round, but maybe just a little more than usual this year. The kids got to go to Toys 'R' Us and shop for two families that didn't get Christmas. For a part of it, we worried they would not stop focusing on what they wanted instead of helping this family. By the end of the night, the kiddos were running things to the basket and saying things like, "Oh, this little boy will love this!" or "The baby will look so cute in this!"

I think it sunk in. We truly love our friends and family and feel each of you have touched our lives in some special way. May your lives be as blessed as you have made us feel this year!

With much love,

The Hansens

Ryan, Lisha, Ally, Emma, Luke & Clark

Murder-Suicide and the Things I've Learned

Hey. This is Ryan and this was one of the most difficult things I've had to write. I shared this to journalism teachers across the nation. I'm sharing it here to record it so I'll never forget my feelings. I realize it's Christmas and I'm sure Lish might be a little miffed I'm posting it before the Christmas letter. But, it happened. And I need to process. Here goes:

I have often read tales on a journalism adviser listserv (a service for e-mails that journalism teachers can write on) about terrible things that happen at other schools and wondered how those teachers got their students through such tough times.

On Friday, a man I teach with followed his wife to a local Walmart and shot her “lover” three times in the parking lot. He then circled around the victim and shot him one more time in the head. After a low-speed chase, police cornered him at an elementary school where he shot himself in the head. (It all happened around 8 p.m.) Teachers were notified via phone tree Saturday morning.

At first I assumed he was the victim as we weren't told the whole story. I called those on my phone tree and then my editors and told them the news. I told them I had pulled our latest edition and we needed to decide how to cover this.

I spent almost two hours straight on the phone as students and others called to find out if I knew any more. I didn't. Remember, I thought Keith (Matthias, my friend) was the victim. I called the bishop and told him and then the Young Women's president and told them to prepare for some upset youth at church the next day. I even planned a lesson on the church's view of life and death.

Then I read online on a news site the whole story. I about puked. I could not believe he was capable of something so horrible. It changed my whole plans to help kids deal. Then the calls started coming again.

By mid-afternoon, I was exhausted. I couldn't talk on the phone any more and Lish suggested we take the kids out to lunch and try to get away from all the death talk. She also informed me I would be leaving my phone home.

We went to Bajio (one of our favorite restaurants), but I was surrounded by people discussing the previous night's events. Again, I became sick.

When we got home, I had about 15 text messages and four missed calls. I returned them and tried to take a nap. Ally and Emma had a dance recital and I dreaded all the questions and accusations. Lish, my sweet Lisha, realized this and excused me from going. I am so grateful for her intuition. I stayed home with the boys and detoxed for a bit.

The next day at church, looks and whispers flew my way. I know they weren't talking about me, per se. But, then the flood of questions came. "Did you know he was crazy?" "Why would they hire someone so unstable?" "Did you know him?", "Was he Mormon?"

It felt like people were asking me about an internal family matter. I usually stuck to a set answer I had devised before church: "Keith was my friend and I am as shocked as you that this happened." That's how I left it. My bishop pulled me into his office and asked how I was doing. I kind of exploded. "How do you think I'm doing? A guy I work with just murdered someone!" Luckily, I have a great bishop who listened and then told me things I already knew. Don't get me wrong. I'm not criticizing that. I needed a little reminder. I was angry and sad and confused. (I still am, a little.) I booked it home and spent the rest of the day locked inside with my family.

Needless to say, it’s been a rough three days. I taught in his room, thus had multiple interactions with him. Also, his son was in my speech class. It has been hard.

I’m writing this because I think it will help me process, deal and move on. The hardest thing I had to do was console the many students who called me at home on Saturday to discuss what we were going to do in the yearbook and newspaper and how could this seemingly mild-mannered math teacher murder someone. How would we cover it? What would we say? What would administrators authorize us to say? How are his children feeling? What was he thinking as he drove from Walmart? What would his students think?

We are a relatively close school in a very close community (albeit 50,000 people live here and two separate school districts). We haven’t had a murder in this community in three years and now it was someone I knew personally. And liked. And would never believe could do such a thing.

Luckily, we had the weekend to gather ourselves, in a way. Monday was still hard. I bawled in my first-hour yearbook class as I read the district’s prepared statement. We discussed what to do in the book. We’re still trying to figure it out.

I saw a school counselor and talked out my issues during second hour. I realized I had been so busy taking care of my students, I had not really taken care of myself. I bawled again.

Third hour newspaper was much better. In fact, teaching the kids about tact and journalistic responsibility seemed to help me cope with our loss. As a class, we wrote our own news story. The kids seemed bombarded by local media sensationalizing a man they had as a math teacher into a deranged monster. (I was also surprised how many kids read message boards on news sites! Some horrible things were being said and kids were upset.) They decided to focus more on how the school was working to assist kids and staff into dealing with the events that transpired rather the gory details (from a very graphic police report). It worked. We finished the story and gave it to the principal to read. He got a little emotional as he told the kids he was proud of their maturity and tact in dealing with this. (The guy has been under siege from the press.)

The kids (as I) are very proud of how they handled it. Three of my students were his neighbors. It was extremely hard on them particularly. The issue comes out tomorrow, but the staff members that have read it online have said they wish the local media could be as sensitive as the kids were. So, should we have talked about the crime? I don’t think it was right. Am I a bad journalist for not wanting to discuss the details? I don’t think so. Should I have put my emotions behind me? Probably, but the man taught right next to me.

So many times we are faced with tough choices as journalists – student journalists, even. But I think the protocol is to use your judgment in your situation. Every school is unique. I don’t think being a cold-hearted journalist is the right answer in every situation. I guess some of you may call me weak. Go ahead. But, I’d rather think with my heart.

-----

Here is the news story that will run in tomorrow’s paper:

School and district offers support, help
Counselors will be available after winter break, provide number to ‘talk’
By Tiger Times staff
According to the Idaho Falls Police Department, on Friday, Dec. 19, Keith Matthias, a math teacher at Idaho Falls High School, allegedly shot a man at the Walmart parking lot on Utah Ave., fled the scene and then shot himself.

Students and faculty at the high school arrived Monday morning in shock. Administrators were ready to help. “We’re not going to focus on the individual act,” Principal Randy Hurley said. “Our main emphasis is that students and staff have the support they need so that they feel secure.”

The school’s three counselors were on hand along with a crisis team sent from the district to assist students and staff. “We are listening and giving support,” Danette Gneiting, a counselor at IFHS and high school representative on the district’s crisis team, said. “We provide a safe environment for students to go through whatever they are going through. We are also available to talk privately, if needed. We offer this for students and staff.”

“When situations like this happen, there are people in the district trained to help,” Gneiting said. “We will continue to train for these things, too. We have plans in place to deal with everything from something minor in the school all the way to a major crisis.”

According to Hurley, counselors will be available until Wednesday, Dec. 23, and possibly after the winter break. However, according to Gneiting, the school’s in-house counselors will always be available.

Former math teacher Tom Kohler will assume Matthias’s classes until Christmas break and possibly beyond that. “We’re in the process of looking for a full-year replacement,” Hurley said. “It’s too early to know exactly who will take over. But we are actively looking at a number of possibilities.”

Counselors also said there is a helpline available for those needing to talk. Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center’s emotional hotline is xxx-2270.

I'm torn...

As you know, loyal reader, I have neglected the blog as of late in exchange for a job at the OG. I took the job as a way to 1) make some extra money this summer, 2) take the burden of a summer job off Ryan and 3) help pay for those "extra" things that come up that we never seem to have enough for. Here it is the middle of November, the holidays are around the corner and my summer job is still in full swing. It has served its purpose well. So well in fact that the "debt free" light is brighter than it has ever been.

PRO: It makes me excited about being able to finally buy a home of our own!
CON: I am missing out on being home with my kids at night.

PRO: I have co-workers that don't talk about kids, little pets, or what they are coloring in school.
CON: I have missed out on a few dance performances, ward parties, etc. that are normally "family outings."

I could go on and on about the things I have missed in exchange for having things we have missed out on. Mostly I am doing it to help pay bills. I keep telling myself that, but now we are used to the income so when the day comes that I really don't need the job, will I have the strength to quit? I think I feel bad because I don't feel like I am using the skills I have. I feel like I could be making a lot more money if I were to go after a job I trained for, but I don't want to work that much.

Here is the newest though... the kids and I now have health insurance through my job since Ryan's is super expensive and more than we can afford. So does that mean I just signed on for another full year? I am trying to process all of this without feeling bad about being away from home.

Why do we as mothers feel guilty for leaving our children with our husbands? He does a great job of raising our kids, probably better than me at times. It's not like I am paying a babysitter to raise my kids. I keep all the money I make without paying a daycare. The kids have quality time with just Dad, which is super important to their development and sence of self worth. I almost missed Clarks first steps though. He is talking so much lately that I am worried about missing important first words too. So should I feel worse than I do? Or is it ok for me to get rid of the guilty feelings I have?

Do you work outside the home? How does it work for you? How have your children adjusted to mom being gone? How do you make time to feel like a mom and not just someone who pops in and out of their life occasionally?

Any Excuse...

Have you heard the saying, "Any Excuse for a Party?" My siblings and I believe this with our whole hearts!

Birthday you say? Where's the cake?

The leaves are starting to fall? I will bring the egg nog.

Halloween? Bring on the candy!

However, we did have an even better reason to all be together this weekend - my sister, Molly, blessed her baby, Suzanne, Sunday morning. But Halloween was the night before so we got our candy on! (Can I say that?) We started it off with Luke's birthday party in the morning, then headed to Pocatello for two Trunk-or-Treats (three if you count the night before), a visit to Grandmas Davis' where we had donuts and cider, Trick-or-Treating for two hours in her neighborhood, then capped it off with a visit to the local Spooky Barn.

Here are a few highlights from the evening:

Ally, after a few Trunk-or-Treats, trick-or-treating and donuts, was obviously coming down from a sugar high. From the back of the van, we heard: "The best part of Halloween? FREE CANDY! Oh, and costumes." (She was a candy corn for Halloween. I made the costume from a pattern on the Internet and she bought candy corn earrings and a necklace with her allowance money.)

Luke nearly peed his pants as we went to one of the scariest houses in the Idaho State University neighborhood. A family decorates their yard as a spooky maze and then terrorize the tiny trick-or-treaters. They wind around a lighted path, led by one of the owner's kids. They pause to look at "scary" things, like a dummy filled with leaves, and move on to a cage with a another leaf-filled "dead" inmate. As the guide tells the children to lean in close, that you can almost hear him moan though dead, suddenly the inmate comes to life, screeching and rushing the bars. Luke bolted so fast, he took some of the lighted path with him.

At the Spooky Barn, our kids were excited and intrigued to go through this spook alley. However, other cousins were not. In fact, as soon as the other cousins (who were older, by the way) got into the front door, they started screaming uncontrollably. This tainted Emma and Luke, who just started bawling. That was it. (If Ryan had been there, he would have forced them through.)

Clark was just fun to watch waddle around in his bulky skunk costume.

I think it is safe to say that a good time was had by all.

Spooky Lukey Turns 5!

My boy is no longer small! He turned 5 last week which makes him big and qualifies him to have a "friend party". We had the party at Infinity Dance Studio. My sister, the owner, took pity on us and our small house. Luke invited a bunch of friends from our old ward and a bunch of friends from our new ward and of course all of his cousins.

Everyone came in their favorite scary costume and we had a lot of fun at the Spooky Lukey Party making monster cupcakes, playing Monster Mash Freeze Dance, and Wrap the Uncle Mummy. It was a scream!

Clark is walking

It's official. Today he walked everywhere, hardly pausing to bear crawl at all. He has also become even more of a terror around the house...if that is possible.

Some favorite things to "unload" include the kitchen garbage can, the Cd stacks under the computer, the box of green tomatoes (they are balls right?) ,the wipes box, the video/dvd drawers and of course every thing in the bathroom.

I found this the other day when it got "quiet".

FYI: the contents all came from the trash can and include an empty shampoo bottle, an empty contact solution bottle, a banana peel and several kleenex.

Oh and did I mention he can lift the lid by himself. A skill he will need his whole life. He has only smashed his fingers 3 times this week.

Harvest Pictures

Its not like me to post with no pictures. Of course I tried but blogger would not cooperate. So here are the photos that go with the Harvest post from the other day. These are the green tomatoes from the second box I got from my neighbor.

My version of sun-dried cherry tomatoes.

The top of my cupboards.

The stewed tomatoes.

A few of our pumpkins from the garden.

Harvest

I love the smells of the fall. The crisp cool air, the crunchy leaves. Anything made from pumpkin. LOVE IT ALL!

Lately I have been trying to preserve the fruits of our labors from the massive garden we grew with our friends. We bought a new freezer. I invested in Ziploc. The shelf over our cupboards and the new freezer are officially "full" of dill pickles, pumpkin, mustard pickles, diced onion, beans, jam, corn, bread and butter pickles. You name it, I feel like I have canned it.

I have washed LOTS of bugs out of jars. My mother and my grandmother both have "fruit rooms" full of empty jars, so why buy them right? So you don't have to clean out the cobwebs! At $8 a dozen, I have saved at least $80 by not buying them though so I can't complain...at least not to loud.

Today it is tomatoes. The garden was especially generous on the cherry tomato end. Most of them green. The hardest part about that is they don't all turn red at the same time. We have eaten our fill over and over. Last night Clark threw up tomatoes because he had eaten too many that day. A neighbor offered a box of tomatoes to me, so I thought to myself, You only have 3 boxes full at home, why not take more? About half of them were still green but the other half were almost over ripe. So between those and the ones I have on my window sill, in my fridge and stashed on my dryer, I have enough to actually do some canning!

I have searched online for recipes for any and every way I can possibly preserve them. Salsa, stewed tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, sun dried tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato juice. The list goes on and on. Today I opted for stewed tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes. (this is a great way to use all those cherry tomatoes you really don't want to have to peel.) My water bath caner holds 7 jars. So of course I have 8. But I still have lots more tomatoes to peel and can. Maybe around mid November I will be finished with them.

Does anyone have a great salsa recipe or a good way to preserve squash or potatoes? Those are next on my "to do" list.

O and on a related side note...my kids are selling the pumpkins we grew. They are earning money to buy each other Christmas presents. I have had people say they are coming to get them but have only had 1 person show up so far. We still have lots and they are much cheaper than any you will find anywhere else! Plus it is for a good cause right? So come get your pumpkins before they are gone!

Jeremy: The Update

Hey. This is Ryan. Just wanted to add to the "Jeremy" story. Yesterday I walked in and he was sitting in my chair, telling kids to do their speeches. When I told him to "get outta my chair, ya crazy kid!" he said loudly, "I'm Mee-stoe Hansen! I'm the teachuh! You sit in yo chair, Jeremy!" Then ran to his seat, giggling all the way.

When he got to his seat, he flirted with the cute, blonde cheerleader that sits behind him by leaning across her desk and saying, "Jordy, you have sweet eyes." She giggled and said thank you. The rest of the class laughed, too. She turned red, but said, "I love you, Jeremy."

Oh brother. You know those cartoons where the animal turns into a rocket and flies to the moon after a kiss. I thought Jeremy was about to sprout boosters and launch. Anyway, she had been absent for his speech and asked him how it went. He turned to me and asked if he could give his speech again (because of that Swine Flu thing, I've had about seven to eight kids absent every day for the last two weeks!) I said that would be great.

He gave his speech again and did it more clearly this time. The class went crazy again and Jordy hugged Jeremy. His aide (who isn't there on Mondays and Tuesdays) had tears in her eyes.

"I love speech class," Jeremy announced to his friends.

"I do, too." I said.

Jeremy

Hey. This is Ryan. This school year is turning out to be an unusual one. We've never had so many kids absent and then to return to school looking like zombies. But today was one of those days that reminded me why I teach.

I have a student in my speech class who has Down Syndrome. His name is Jeremy. Jeremy is about 5'3" with a shock of blonde hair. He wears glasses and has the typical features of a kid with Down's, but his personality is what sets him apart from the rest of his classmates - he is the funniest kid you'll ever meet.

I met with Jeremy and his parents before school even started in order to get a read at how functioning he is. In speech class, I'm pretty rigorous and the course can be pretty intense. Jeremy is very high-functioning. It is because his mother has never treated him any different from the other kids. Simply put, Jeremy is held to the same standards and expectations of kids without Down's. For instance, when he was a baby, the doctors said he would never walk. "Bull," his mother said in their faces. "He'll walk just like anyone else."

And when his Primary leaders would carry him or help him through the halls at church, his mother would kindly tell them to put her son down. He would walk on his own, thank you very much. So he did. With the help of the walls, but he did it himself without any mollycoddling.

That's why Jeremy is so good at everything he does. From the first day of class, Jeremy decided to tease "Mees-toe Hansen." (It was "Bruthuh Hansen" for about two weeks when he learned I was Young Men President in his old ward.) Every day I walk into the classroom, there is some funny thing Jeremy has set up to surprise me with. When I sat down the first day, he was hiding under my desk to scare me. I pretended to be scared when I sat down and he couldn't stop giggling. One day, he decided to try to hold the door shut while I came in. I pulled the door open so hard, he came flying out into the hall - again, laughing hysterically. The other day, I was running behind so I hurriedly pulled open the door and ran into the classroom. Only Jeremy had put my podium in the middle of the doorway and I ran into it with a loud, "Ooooph!" Laughter. He's come up to stand next to me during my lecture, link arms in mine and announce, "Me and Mees-toe Hansen are getting MARRRRIEEED!"

All this entertains the rest of the 25 students. He has a hard time concentrating, to say the least. We've been working on taking notes and appropriate social talking. (When discussing nonverbal communication and social distances, I mentioned that in some countries, men walk hand-in-hand and it's not considered gay. "Awesome!" he said to raucous laughter from the rest of the kids - and myself. I had to turn to the board to hide my giggling.)

He had a "D" in my class. This upset him to no end. Jeremy has not talked to me since Monday. And today was his first speech. We decided to work on organization and reading his speech instead of talking from notecards like the rest of the kids. All hour, he kept asking me if he were next. To distract him, I finally came up with the plan of putting him in charge of my big blue timer. His job was to time all the kids' speeches and to tell them to go. Of course, Jeremy started them by yelling, "On yo mahk, get seeeeetttt, GO!"

It was finally his turn. The class fell silent as he approached the podium. He was visibly nervous, but put his paper down and looked at the class. He then read his speech about "Webkinz," a type of stuffed animal that comes with a code to play games online. He collects them and brought his pet snake with him to show off. He powered through the speech, stumbling once or twice, but always looking up. When he finished, I couldn't have been prouder. The entire class erupted in applause. One "stoner" kid got to his feet and started whistling. Pretty soon, the entire class was giving Jeremy a standing ovation. I felt like crying and rushing to swoop him into a gigantic bear hug. (I didn't, because when I pat him on the back or put my arm around him, he loudly announces, "He touched me! Mees-toe Hansen touched me!" I have to shush him and turn beet red.)

Jeremy looked at his classmates and raised his clasped hands in triumph and said, "Thank you! Thank you!" Then Jeremy took a bow. We all laughed and every kid got up to shake his hand or pat him on the back. It truly made my day and reminded me why I got into teaching in the first place - to witness firsthand greatness from teenagers. Our youth are capable of so much and their love for their classmate showed that today. No one could stop talking about Jeremy's triumph today. I wish I would have video taped it.

Take it from me, dear readers. We can accomplish great things, if only we had the innocence and attitude of Jeremy.

You want cute? I'll give you cute!

Hey. This is Ryan. Life must be on the move since we have barely posted this month. Sorry about that y'all.

Yesterday was Lisha's grandma's funeral. I'm sure she'll talk about that more later. But I was asked to take photos, so I did as I was asked. I "borrowed" the D90 from school and shot some pics of the interment as well as extended family. We left our oldest kids in Pocatello with some friends and Lisha's other grandma. It gave us time to be alone together and let Lisha reminisce a little about her Grandma Smith.

I thought I'd just reiterate my belief that we will see our loved ones again. We have to, in my mind. When Mom died, it was too hard. The thing that got me through the hours, days, weeks, whatever was the belief that she was not truly gone. I have felt her with me more throughout my life than not, if that makes sense. I know she is watching over my brothers' and my families and guiding us. Even if you don't believe there's an after life, it's OK to let me believe there is. Because I need to believe. You can feel sad that I'm delusional and I'll feel sad that you have no hope or promise in life. Deal?

So, here's the main thesis of this post - our cute Clarkus. Clark is getting so fun. He has the cutest smile and I love when we put on music, he shakes his butt as he crawls. I thought I would put the pics of him from yesterday and everyone can just "oooo" and "awww." We do. Every day. Clark is our awesome little baby.



Oh! I almost forgot! My awesome friend from Pocatello took me to the Huey Lewis and the News concert during the fair this year. I even got to go backstage and meet him. You need to understand that my buddy from high school and I were real Huey nerds. We had all the tapes. I listened to the tapes until they wore out during middle and high school. It was great to meet him, but I was so starstruck, I didn't say much except, "I have been listening to your music since I was little." I'm sure that must have struck some nerve because he shook my hand, smiled through gritted teeth and said, "Well, thanks." Then the guy took our picture. That was it. So here is the pic of that, too.

Luke's 1st Soccer Match

Luke and his team played their first game today. He scored three "scores" - his words. They won, 12-2. It was really great to watch him. He kept telling me on the way to the field about how one of his teammates is really good and that he hopes he can be good. I got a little mad at him because he said the same things after practice last Tuesday. I told him that he was a Hansen and we Hansens are good at everything we do. He is way better than anyone on the team. So when he got on the field, he scored the first goal. Ran right past the other kid and scored a goal. That's my little Hansen boy!

Messin' with a new toy

I got a new Sony Webbie HD video camera (as well as a Nikon D90 - such a sweet camera) and wanted to try it out tonight. Here are some of the things I did. (I couldn't get the video to load, so I'll have to read the instructions and figure it out.)