First Day of School, 2011

First day of school!  First day of school!  Nemo was excited and so were all my kids.  Luke woke up at 5:58 am.  Emma was the first one dressed and ready to go.  At 6:30!  Emma is the child that I have to push and prod to do anything and who slept in until well past 9 all summer long.  They were all ready to walk out the door at 6:45 when I abruptly stopped them and forced them to eat breakfast, and take lots of fun first day pictures.  Luke wanted to go NOW but I tried to explain to him that no one would be there at 6:30 in the morning.  He didn't believe me.  Maybe tomorrow I will let them go early, just so they can see for themselves. 

 Ally 5th grade

 Luke, 1st Grade

 Emma, 3rd Grade

 Clark, will be 3 on Thursday

 Ryan, That's Mr. Hansen to you

 Love the fingers!

 Miss Ehlers, Luke thinks she is cute. 

 Mrs. Westover, Ally also had her for 3rd and Em had her for reading last year.  SO excited to be in her class again.

Miss Wright, brand new teacher this year who loves all things Disney...we already love her!

Disneyland/Anaheim Day 2

Day 2 started out similar to Day 1.  Get up early and head to Disneyland.  We spent the morning in the park, again visiting places we don't normally go.

We had breakfast with two of the seniors at the Carnation Cafe.  It is the outdoor restaurant right on Main Street.  The food was delicious and surprisingly not ridiculously expensive like we usually expect it to be.  In the past we hardly ever ate in the park because it is so pricey, especially with 4 kids.  We decided to splurge this go round and it was well worth it. 

Peter Pan was just wandering around Fantasyland.  We asked him if he would sign the autograph book and have a picture with us.  He took the book and said, "Sure, I am walking over here, want to come with me?"  So we followed him.  Eventually he stopped, but only long enough for the picture, then he was off again, waving to kids and saying hello to everyone he passed. 

California was gorgeous, 85 degree weather.  It felt so good being in shorts and wearing sunglasses, and not because of the glare off the snow.

Today was also the first day of the JEA (Journalism Education Association) Conference.  You know, the reason we were in Anaheim to begin with.  At 1 pm we headed over to the convention hotel to check in and meet all the yearbook reps.  This is one thing I actually did that was JEA related.  We spent several hours there playing games, collecting free stuff and enjoying the recognition. 
This picture is the yearbookers posing in front of the Pacemaker Nominees Sign, pointing to their yearbook and smiling excitedly.  A Pacemaker is the equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize for high school yearbooks.  It is a national award that The Spud Annual (I know, right?) was nominated for, for their 2010 yearbook. 

Here is a closer picture of Ryan pointing out the yearbook.  He has been working toward a nomination for this since his Junior year in high school.  Needless to say he is super giddy and very nervous about the potential award.  One really neat thing the convention people did was give all the students a special ribbon to add to their name tag, noting them as Pacemaker Finalists.  Everywhere they went people would congratulate them on their nomination.  They felt like Rock Stars!

After spending the afternoon at the vendor booths, we took the students to Goofy's Kitchen for dinner.  We learned from our very first trip with the kids what a fun experience the character dining is.  The food is always super yummy and it is fun to meet the characters in a more relaxed setting, without the lines and mobs of people trying to catch them for a picture. 

Goofy has always been one of Ry's favorite characters.

Here are the other characters we got to meet at dinner.

Captain Hook, who was surprisingly flirtatious.

 

Dale, of Chip and Dale.  Chip was around earlier but we missed a picture with him.

Here is a first.  Belle in the dress she wears for almost the entire movie.  I loved that I got to meet her in her "normal" clothes and not the super fancy dress.  Did I mention she is my favorite?  I think I did.

Fairy Godmother.  Also another first!

Pluto.  One of our favorites.

Of the 24 students that went on the trip, only 5 were male. 

Here is "the Boyz" picture with Pluto.

I love how he puts the book on his nose to sign his autograph.

After Goofy's Kitchen we headed back to Downtown Disney to look around at the shops.  This Woody statue made of Legos was a new addition to the Lego store since the last time we visited. 

We rode the Monorail tonight, another thing we have never done.  I vaguely remember riding it when I was 8, but I am not even sure we did. 

Two more days of fun to be added soon.  Probably not until after the weekend though.  We are out of town and I don't have the pics on the laptop. 

Disneyland/Anaheim Day 1

We Love all things Disney.

When I married Ryan he already owned all the full length animated movies. He got paid for babysitting in Disney movies as a teenager. Needless to say our obsession has grown since we both are such big fans.  (Side Note: Playing Disney trivia with him is NOT fun.  You never have a chance of winning) 

When we found out the JEA National Convention was in Anaheim again, we were super excited to take his students and share the Magic of Disney with them.  We brought 24 students with us and out of them 8 had never been to Disneyland or had only been when they were super small and didn't remember it. 

Here is my recap of our trip.  The first day was spent entirely at the parks.  We had 4 day park hoppers and we took full advantage...at least I did.  I  was not attending the confernce so I spent most of my days at the resort. 

Outisde our hotel super excited to walk over to the park.

All of us (I took the picture) outside the front gate.

On the train, one of the rides we rarely take.  We discovered if you get on it and ride it to Fantasyland, it is about the same amount of time it takes you to walk there.  Some people getting off the train with us were "First Timers" and they had a 4 and 2 year old daughter.  We encouraged them to go get in the relatively short line to meet the princesses, that was where we were headed.  They really didn't know the princesses well, just from their pictures on their panties.  We waited in line with them for about 30 minutes and got to talk to them about their first Disney trip.  It didn't occur to us until later that we really had no real motivation for meeting the princesses, again.  We had all their autographs and pictures with all of them from previous trips. 
Watching those 2 little girls meet them was one of the highlights of the whole week.  They were so sweet giving them big hugs and holding on so tight for the pictures.  Their mom was crying, as was their aunt.  It was such a fun way to start our day.  It was then that we realized we wanted to do something different this trip.  The kids were not with us and we didn't really have to do what they normally want to do when we visit.

Tiana is one of Emma's favorite princesses.  Ry took a picture with her and sent it by text to one of his students back home.  She was super excited for him to meet her.   Tiana used to sing in the mornings in New Orleans and we asked her when we could catch her show.  She doesn't sing there anymore, but if lots of people ask for it to be brought back they may let her do it again.  So put in your vote.  We want to hear her sing!

Ariel is beautiful!  Belle is so kind.  She has always been my favorite princess.

We don't buy a lot of souvenirs so we like to try them on and take pictures.  Most of our memorabilia is in the form of pressed pennies. 

This trip was all about doing things and discovering parts of Disney we had never done or seen.  This is the golden spike.  It is the exact center of Disneyland and millions of people just walk right by it every year.  It's on the bridge to Sleeping Beauty Castle if you want to stop and find it next time.

They removed the CALIFORNIA letters outside California Adventure and are creating a new facade outside the front gate. There is also lots of  new rides being built inside the park itself.  This wall was built outside one of the construction zones.  We had to stop to pose next to our favorites.

Yes those are oven mitts.  So fun!  Maybe one day I will have a Mickey Kitchen.

This was one of my biggest goals for this trip. Find Club 33. If you care click the link, if not whatever. Point is we found it, and we enlisted several students on our hunt. It was fun! It is in New Orleans if you care to search it out yourself.

This is the first time I have met the Mad Hatter.  He was hilarious!  His accent was silly, his nose was HUGE and he was super fun to talk to. 

More later on our fun adventure!

Great Achievements

*Warning* The following post contains some major bragging, over enthusiastic pride, and a lot of "ick" factor. You have been warned.

You know how I am always saying how great and talented my husband is? What an amazing teacher and mentor he is to his students. Well now the entire country agrees with me...finally! He and his yearbook staff have the honor of being nominated for the "Yearbook Top 10". Here is an excerpt from a letter written by his Yearbook rep informing the principal of his school about his accomplishments.

I wanted to drop you a note to let you know how excited I am about some recent events honoring Ryan Hansen and The Spud Annual 2010 yearbook staff! Earlier this month I was at a Jostens Yearbook conference where they unveiled a promotion called the "YEARBOOK TOP 10". What's the "TOP 10" you might ask? Jostens has gone to great lengths to uncover the reasoning behind students buying and not buying their yearbooks. Jostens hired an outside firm to survey students to find out the top ten reasons students DON'T buy their yearbooks. What they found was that students want to be included.

Ryan Hansen, The Spud Annual adviser at Idaho Falls High School, was featured in the presentation for doing just that! He has definitely taken the "all inclusive coverage" idea to a whole new level! ...This presentation is being rolled out nationally among the entire Jostens force-and our Ryan Hansen is the star! The presenters will talk about Idaho Falls High School and the great (and diverse) coverage that Ryan and his staff(s) have managed to capture in The Spud Annual. Idaho Falls High School is talked about several times throughout the presentation.

In addition to being featured in the "TOP 10" presentation, The Spud Annual is being featured in this book as one of the top 50 yearbooks in the country!

Not only is he featured in these areas, he was also nominated for the Pace Setter award this year. This is like the Pulitzer Prize for yearbooks...not a joke. At the National Journalism Convention in Anaheim in April (which I am attending as a chaperon) they will announce the winner. Ry has been wanting this award since He was on staff at his high school yearbook. This is a super prestigious award that not many people are given, so just to be nominated is a huge honor! AND he has only been at this for 7 years! I told you he was good at what he does!

I am so proud of him and his drive to be the very best he can be at whatever he does. He truly is achieving greatness in areas he has dreamt about and worked hard to master. I love that his goals are being reached and his hard work is paying off. It is difficult to be under appreciated and under paid for all your effort. He is "one of the good ones" when it comes to teachers. It makes me heartbroken to hear the media bash teachers and blame them for parents not being involved in the lives of their children. Sadly, they think teachers have the sole responsibility for the downfall of education. It is too easy to point a finger at someone else rather than admit your own failings as a parent.

I am proud of Ryan and his colleagues for being the kind of people students can follow as an example and a guide. True there are teachers who do not measure up. This is another one of those "few ruining it for the masses" kind of situations. Even still, they continue to do the very best they can to inspire and teach these teenagers how to learn and grow in a society that ignores them and discounts their ability to achieve anything worth while.

In conclusion, I am super proud of my sweety! I am his number one fan and feel so blessed to be a small part of the recognition I know he so greatly deserves! You are AWESOME!

A Wonderful Man

Ryan is amazing. It makes me feel extremely blessed when I think about what a good husband and father he is. At times I wonder what I did to deserve him. Let me point out how our weekend went, just to illustrate what I am talking about.

I began taking the Christmas decorations and the tree down last week, but didn't know where the box for the actual tree was hiding so it stood bare for a day or so.

I went to work Friday night and came home to ALL the Christmas decorations completly finished being put away and an extremely clean kitchen.

Saturday was a day full of crazy.

At 9:00 I took Ally to her 4H day camp and went to pick up the Bountiful Basket. Ryan was here cleaning out the boys room to make space for the twin bed.

At 10:30 I was at the Melaluca store doing a little shopping. I also stopped by the DI to find a bed frame. Ryan was hauling a matress and a box srping from our neighbors house to ours, all the while trying to manage our tight corners and small doors.

At 12:00 I went to lunch with a bunch of friends then went shopping for sheets for Luke's new bed. Ryan was rearranging the boys bedroom, cleaning out boxes and getting rid of unnecessary toys and clothes to try to make things less cluttered.

At 3:00 I was trying to get Clark to take a nap by laying down with him. Ryan was doing dishes and working on laundry.

Then I went to work for the rest of the night. He made dinner, bathed the kids and put them to bed.

Sunday morning he went to a meeting before chuch, but had already set out the boys clothes for church.

Clark woke up with a swollen eyelid, so he left church and took him home so he could put heat on it and take a nap.

After church we went home and he made a meatloaf for dinner. I helped him chop vegetables, but then I had to get ready and leave for work.

At around 6:00 he showed up at work with dinner for me in his hand.

I just think about everything he did this weekend for our family and I am humbled by his dedication to us. What a wonderful person I am married too. What a blessing for my children to have such a loving father. I love you Ryan! Thanks for all you do!

It's a bird...It's a plane...it's

a hat?

No it's SUPERMAN. And BATMAN. And ROBIN. Wait...its the comic book lovers dream theme park. Disneyland is to Mickey Mouse as Six Flags is to Superman. So in Ryan world it is also the happiest place on earth.

Nope not Ryan. It's Lish today. I wanted you to all know that today (the 29th) is Ryan's birthday! He is currently asleep in Trent's car driving home to Trent's house after a long day of fun and queasiness at Six Flags, topped off by a delicious burger animal style and a boat load of fries at In-N-Out.

He did send me a few texts through out the day. Some with pics. These came after a conversation that went a little like this.

RY: It's hot! I slathered on the sunscreen, but I can already tell I am going to fry!

ME: Buy a hat.

RY: Oh yea. Duh.

ME: Get a Superman one.

I think he did a good job choosing.

Another favorite convo today went like this.

RY: This place is awesome. I love you so much! Thank you again.

ME: I am glad you are having fun. Happy Birthday baby!

RY: Tell Luke I just saw ROBIN! (he is Luke's fav by the way)

Did I mention that I sent him to Cali to spend his birthday with his brothers and dad for his gift this year? It originally started out as "hey would you like to go to Disneyland for free on your birthday? I will buy you a ticket and you can go see Trent." But Trent being who he is responded with "We may as well make it worth the effort and go somewhere that has fun rides. Lets do Six Flags."

Nick and Adam and Dad all decided to join him too. Only Adam stayed home to watch the birth of child number two instead.

Here is another fav.

RY: I have time to talk. Dad and I are taking a break while Nick and Trent ride a ride.

ME: Oh yeah? Did you yak?

RY: Almost. Mostly I am just tired. Dad is too.

And the most recent text went something like this.

RY: Now I know why I love ketchup. Check out the corner of this pic.

Bad Decision.

Tell me I am not the only one who makes these. Luke's hair has been driving me crazy lately. It is getting too long. No amount of gel or hair spray can contain it any longer. Ry shaved his head so he is now bald and he never goes to the barber anymore; therefore Luke never goes with him and never gets his hair cut anymore. See where I am going with this? It has been since before Christmas that he got his hair cut and that is a LONG time in boy hair standards. Now he looks a lot more like Dad!



Long story short (literally), we used Ryan's electric razor and shaved his head to a "1". Yeah. He is bald. It is my fault. It is freezing cold outside. And let's just get it out there, I am not the smartest mom on the block. He hates it. He cried the whole time. My brother in law helped Ry finish up the cut because he has real clippers and we don't and it was hurting his head. Justin told him he looks like a basketball player and that made it better.

Snow Day!

We woke up to LOTS of snow this morning.  Ry was "sick" today so he and Luke spent the morning outside and built Luke's first snow man.  He has played in the snow before but he doesn't like to be cold.  The new snow pants have cured him of the cold.  Funny how it took A LOT of coaxing to get him to even try them on in the first place.  When he fell down the first time and realized how dry and warm he still was, he was hooked.  Here are some favs from the day.

Rolling the snow into a ball for the body

Packing the snow down to shape the body

Eating the snow

  

Posing with his new buddy

Eating the carrot nose