It's Love, Love, Love...

Today it's all about the food.  I love it.  All of it.  Everything about it.  

I LOVE this website.  It goes great with my even bigger LOVE of cooking (and eating).  

Some of my favorites that I LOVE:

Snickerdoodles

Oranges

My kitchenaid Mixer

New York Cheesecake

Lobster

Girl Scout Cookies--these ones!

(tis the season.  I know where you can order some if you need to know.)

 I LOVE this network.

I LOVE this show!

I also enjoy these shows.  

How Do I LOVE Thee...

Let me count the ways.  For my love post I thought I would combine it with my 10-4 Tuesday and tell you about how much I love my wonderful sweetheart.  

Self portrait of US

R-  Righteous and spiritual.  Ryan knows the scriptures inside and out.  He can remember where a reference is like no one else I know.  He teaches Sunday School and I love listening to his lessons.  He is super insightful and uses the spirit to help him teach.  He is a great example of what a priesthood holder should be.  He takes this role very seriously.  I am so blessed to have that in our home.

Luke and Ryan (I think Luke was 2)

Y- You never wonder where you stand with Ryan.  He is forthcoming with his thoughts and his feelings.  If he has a problem, you bet he will let you know.  It works both ways.  He has strong opinions and he is not afraid to share them with anyone who cares to hear.  I love this about him because I am the same way.  We have some pretty interesting "discussions" because of it, but I would not change that for anything.  He keeps me thinking and I love that.

Baby Luke.  Ryan FINALLY got his boy!

A- Attention to detail.  He is the biggest perfectionist I know.  When it comes to anything he does, it is not worth his time unless he is going to give it 110 %.  This is the biggest reason he excels in the field he has chosen.  Copy editing is very precise and there is a lot of room for mistakes if you don't pay attention to all the variables.  I know that he puts the same effort into all areas of his life and I appreciate his devotion.

The Hansen Boys Adam, Trent, Nick and Ryan.  He is the oldest.  

Christmas 2008

N- Notices the little things.  Ryan loves to notice little things and do special things for me.  He leaves little notes for me everywhere, he can tell if I change my hair and he can read my mood like no one else.  If I have had a hard night with the baby or a bad day, he can tell and provides time for me to be alone or take a nap uninterrupted by the kids.  I love that he cares enough about me to keep my sanity in check!

Ryan with Ally, 2006

H- HOT!  Handsome does not even begin to describe him.  He has a cute crooked smile that melts my heart faster than ice cream on a hot day!  Plus, now that he shaved his head, I think he got hotter!  I didn't think it was possible, but guess what?  IT IS!  

The day after he shaved his head.  Isn't he handsome? 

A- Ambitious.  He goes after the things he wants in life full force.  Another piece of me.  He is strong where I am weak.  We compliment each other very well.  We are on the same wave length a lot of the time so he knows what I am thinking and we can double team a situation.  

Ryan and Emma, 2006

N-  Never a dull moment when Ryan is around.  He is the life of the party.  Not even exaggerating.  The guy telling all the crazy stories across the room that everyone can hear?  Yea he's with me.  

Ryan's birthday, 2005

S-  Superman, because he loves him and he is mine!  Sarcastic, because you have to be to survive in our world.  Sweetheart.  He is mine.  I love him more than I can describe.  He is everything I ever wanted and more in a companion.  I am so blessed to have found him.  (This could also be Stalker, because I stalked him a little when we first met.  But this is about him, Not me!)

Showing off the love of Superman with Jake Rose, 2005

E- EXCITED about everything!  Enthusiastic about life.  Elated to share his latest story!  He is one of those the glass is half full kind of guys.  His optimism is almost sickening, but it keeps me dreaming and thinking of what could be when life gets me down.  This is one of my favorite qualities about him.  When my pessimism creeps in he makes it disappear with overkill optimism.  

Ryan and his dad Neil, Christmas 2008

N-  Never get tired of having him around.  He keeps me on my toes most of the time, but I love that he keeps our life interesting.  It could be easy to get into a routine and schedule and plan out every day of our life.  I try, but he keeps things spontaneous and interesting.  I love him so much and am so happy he is mine!  

US

Thanksgiving 2005

I LOVE YOU RYAN!  

Love Week!

Per my cousin Andrea and her friend Denae, I am taking on the Love Week challenge and posting about something I love everyday.  I love these dumb little puzzles.  Curse you Japanese Mathematicians!  I don't know what it is about them that makes me so addicted, but I Love to play them and I love it even more when I solve them.  It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  

And in other related news...
He is so pretty.  No I don't love him like I love my husband, but this is a long relationship dating back to my tween years.  There is a history there.  I think I love his craft more than anything. His characters make me think and I like that.  I have never been one for main stream or normal and he fits the bill perfectly in that area.  Plus he is pretty.  Did I mention that?

Try not to laugh.

I dare you.  

I Won...Again!

My faith has officially been restored in "the system".   I enter contests all the time, but I never win. I just won  for THE SECOND time from this fun foodie website Gourmet Mom on the Go. The best part is both of the things I have won are boxes of Chocolate!  The first was all things Hershey.  This one, that I just got in the mail today, was from English Toffee Anytime.  YUM!  I gave it to my sweetheart as an early Valentines Day gift.  Ok technically I got second place in this contest, but hey a 1/2 pound box is better than none right?  

THANK YOU Mandy!  and THANK YOU English Toffee Anytime!

Tempermental Connection

I recently succumbed to the faltering economy and gave up my Super Fast and Reliable yet some what pricey Internet company for another Fast and Spotty but super cheap one.  Although it seems to also be Fast on the upload it is not quite as great on the download (apparently they are different band widths?) and the connection is not go great.  I can be on the Internet doing the blog thing or the surfing thing and go to open a new page and get this. 

This webpage is not available.

The webpage at http://fillinyourweb.addresshere.com/ might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.

Here are some suggestions:

• Reload this web page later

So I of course click refresh and wait and low and behold it will work or it won't but eventually it does.  

Why does this happen?  Can anyone explain to me why it has little "brown outs" in connection on one page and be fine on others.  It is really sporadic and not choosy about which pages it will or will not load at any given time.  It is almost like a power spike.  I know very little about band width or connection speeds.    I guess what I am asking for here is a little explanation in the most understandable terms possible.  Can anyone dumb it down for me so I can understand it?  I think I would be less frustrated by it if I understood why it happens.  

10 for Tuesday--Everything Emma

Everything Emma Version

Preschool Picture from 2007

E--Emma World.  Emma loves to play and create her own world within her imagination.  She often gets "Lost" in there and has to be physically touched to pull her back to the real world.  When she was in preschool her teacher called it "Emma World" and it stuck.

 Patty Cake Preschool Lamar, CO

When "Emma World" was born

M--Merry little girl.  She is super happy most of the time and smiles often.  Friends are drawn to her fun loving personality.

She got super excited when she saw Ariel's Grotto Restaurant.  

(they didn't know we already had reservations for the next day)

M--Make believe.  Emma loves to dress up and pretend she is someone else.  When she is in character she won't answer to her own name but insists on being referred to as the name she chooses for that day.  

Playing super heroes with Q and Ally

A--Ariel's Best Friend.  When we met Ariel at Disneyland, Emma was a little hesitant to talk to her.

This is her timid side

Then breakfast ended and she realized Ariel had not signed her autograph book.  The waitress said we could come back for lunch to get the signature.  A few hours later when we came back, Emma knew it was her last chance to really talk to her so she made the most of it. Here is a sample of the conversation:  

Emma "I am your biggest fan!"  

Ariel  "I am YOUR biggest fan!  We should be best friends!" 

Emma "Ok!  Did you hear that mom?"  (huge hug!)  

So that is how Emma became Ariel's best friend.  Oh and she reminds us all the time. 

 Her BFF!

H--Helpful little girl.  Emma always wants to help me no matter what I am doing.  Cooking, cleaning, changing Clark, etc.  She is super excited to be doing whatever it is I am involved with.  

With Great Grandma Smith

A--All ready to read.  Emma is learning to read quite quickly, but her perfectionism is blocking her way.  She thinks she has to know every word for her to be "reading" so when we tell her to read a book she will still say she doesn't know how to read.  In reality she knows all but 3 or 4 words in the book.  

Reading!

N-- Naughty nature.  Emma has quite the naughty streak!  She spends a lot of time by herself because she enjoys the alone time.  When it gets quiet is a signal that she is getting into something she should not be.  Most of the time it is harmless and would have been fine if she had asked first, but for some reason she hasn't quite gotten that concept down and still tries to be sneaky.  

Getting into some mischief with Ila

S-- Silly and sweet!  Count on Emma to be the life of the party, as long as there are no strangers in the mix.  When she is in her comfort zone she is super silly and fun to be around.  She says some of the funniest things I have ever heard come out of a kids mouth too.  I love my sweet little Em!

At Disneyland it was taking too long for us to get to the rides and she had no patience for it!

E-- Excitement!  No matter what is going on. Emma is excited about it!  Dance day--Hooray!  Grocery store--Oh boy!  Play with friends--Try to contain the joy!  She gets overly enthused about EVERYTHING!  I love it! It always adds a bright spot to our day.  

Playing outside

N--Never a dull moment when Emma is around.  She is our quiet little one who shrinks in crowds and disappears when you least expect it, but she brings life to the most random moments and I love having her in our family.  She is a little ray of sunshine in my day and I love spending time with her.  

On the airplane

Yup.  10.  I named my children well.