Christmastime 2008

I shall let the pictures speak for themselves. We enjoyed many things about our Christmas of 2008 and hope you did as well!

Hansen Halloween Party!

On Saturday, October 25, 2008, we had our Halloween costume party! It went very well and the weather cooperated nicely for our outdoor celebration. It took a lot of work to pull it off, but it was worth seeing so many kids having a great time. (No offense to the adults, but the kids made the party. ;) )

Here is what we did:
1. Watched Halloween cartoons on the back lawn while waiting for guests to arrive
2. Played lawn games
3. Day time hay ride on the Hansen farm
4. Potato sack races
5. Dinner
6. Massacred a candy corn pinata
7. Attempted to play the "donut on a string" game, but the string cut through the too soft donuts.
8. Night time haunted hay ride on the Hansen farm
9. We were planning on having a parade of costumes and a costume contest, but it got late and most of our guests needed to go home. We also planned on decorating ghost sugar cookies on Popsicle sticks too. Maybe next year! I'm glad many people took home some of those cookies. I really didn't want to have to eat all four dozen by myself. Actually, I wouldn't have minded eating them if they were calorie free. :)
10. Lastly, he few guests that stayed late watched "The Corpse Bride" inside.

If any one that attended our party ever sees this blog post, we want you to know how grateful we are that you came! Some of you had to drive a long way. We were sad we didn't have enough time in all the craziness of hosting the party to visit with all of you for any extended period of time.

Now, here is a slide show! I wish I would have taken more pictures. Sorry if these are boring.

Our Sod

This past September, we finally broke down, ignored our pride, and purchased sod for our back and side yards. We have toiled so much in trying to get a lawn to grow using seeds, topsoil, fertilizers, etc., and it was a pain! The sod is so easy. Cheating? Yes. Easy? Yes. Instant gratification? Yes (that is after it was all laid by a crew of twenty people.)

Here are some photos in order of our emerging, insta-back-yard.

Above are some of the sixteen pallets of sod we ordered.

Kasey laying the first piece!

Anne playing on the new sod... ahhhh!

Our new back lawn!

I absolutely love living on a full acre lot, but it sure takes a lot of work! We only fenced off 1/2-2/3 of our lot, and even that is a lot to take care of. I want to use the currently unfenced section for horses one day, but let's see if that will actually happen... maybe if someone drops off a huge check for us at our front door. :-)

Anne's Second Birthday!

Anne turned two years old on August 12, 2008. She is now a full-fledged toddler! We celebrated the day by making Anne homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner, eating chocolate cake and ice cream, and having Anne open presents. Anne's Aunt Mischa came over for the occasion and Anne HAD to sit on Mischa's lap to eat the cake and ice cream because the last time Anne ate cake and ice cream, she ate it on Mischa's lap. As you know, if you start something with kids you know you are going to have to do that thing over and over and over. :)

For her presents Anne received a battery-operated waving flag (she is obsessed with the American flag, carrying one with her wherever she goes), a feather duster colored to look like the American flag, winter Pooh Bear pajamas, and a Leap Frog riding toy that Anne calls "Anne's yellow bus-car." She also got a talking purse from Aunt Mischa and a whale watering can with accompanying children's rake from her Aunt Holli.

We had lots of fun! :)

"Happy Second Birthday, Anne!"

San Diego Trip Slide Show

San Diego Trip, August 2008

On the evening of Sunday, August 3, 2008, Kasey, Anne, and I flew to San Diego, California. Kasey went for work - to attend the worldwide GIS (Geographic Information Systems) conference, which Kasey described as the largest assemblage of nerds... ever. Period. Anne and I went to have fun.:) Kasey got to have a lot of fun, too, but not until each workday was over. Fortunately for him, the days were much shorter than any average work day.


DAY ONE

Well, the first day we didn't do much, except fly and settle into our motel room. Anne did very well on the flight and loved that she was on an airplane.

DAY TWO

The second day of our trip was Monday, the fourth of August. Anne and I got up early, went to breakfast at a nearby restaurant, then drove to the San Diego Zoo!



Anne and I spent six hours together before Kasey could take the train from his conference to join us at the zoo. There isn't much to tell you, except that it was hot, we saw a lot of animals, ate expensive zoo food, rode a zoo tour bus, and had a lot of fun! Apparently San Diego was experiencing and unusual heat wave of reaching the mid to upper-eighties in the afternoons. To me that is hot, but maybe to some of you it isn't... I was amazed at how much water Anne and I drank.

My favorite zoo exhibit included three panda bears. :) We learned that there are only one dozen panda bears in the United States, meaning 1/4 of them reside at the San Diego zoo. We caught one of the panda bears pooping a bunch of bamboo, so now when Anne sees a picture of a panda bear anywhere, she says "Panda bear is pooping!" Just as long as she doesn't scream that in public... :)



DAY THREE

Anne and I drove to Coronado. The drive along the sand spit was gorgeous! Coronado is definitely prettier that the San Diego area! San Diego has beautiful beaches, but the rest of it is pretty much a desert with palm trees. I was bummed that it was drier, more brown, and less tropical than I expected. I think people play up San Diego as better than it is in reality. I like the area because of the beaches and the myriads of things for vacationers to do, but I prefer greener territory.



After that, I drove around downtown San Diego and took a lot of pictures.

Later that evening when Kasey finished work, we went to Old Town. Old Town is the original settlement site of San Diego. It has been turned into a pedestrian friendly park, filled with original structures, shops, and restaurants. Also located in Old Town is the Mormon Battalion site. Unfortunately for us, the battalion grounds and site were under renovation and therefore currently close.

For dinner in Old Town, we ate at a Mexican Restaurant called "Coyote Cafe." It served excellent food. Kasey was thrilled that the tortillas were handmade in the same fashion as those he ate on his mission to Mexico eleven to thirteen years ago. He hasn't had authentic tortillas since that time and really enjoyed eating them! Following is a picture of Kasey's dinner. If you can't tell, I like to take pictures of the food we eat.




DAY FOUR


Instead of venturing far away, Anne and I visited two malls nearby our motel. One was a strip mall that we drove around quickly, and the other was a mall with such expensive stores that I was afraid to be there. I felt really out of place, so we walked the perimeter of the mall, went into Bloomingdale's, then left. Being curious, I looked at the price of a suit jacket (not a suit, just a jacket!) in Bloomingdale's. It wasn't a showy one on display, it was out of the way on a rack with a hundred other jackets. It was $900! I about died! I also saw a transvestite, which was interesting. So, the two things I will remember about that mall are the expensive clothes and the transvestite. Geesh.


Anyway, after visiting the malls, Anne and I returned to Old Town. The previous evening, we did not see everything, so I thought it would be fun to look at what we missed.

That evening, we went to Mission Beach. It was spectacular! I thought it was superior to Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, which is the only other pretty beach that I've been to as an adult. Anne loved how the waves approached her and Kasey as they stood in the shallow parts of the water. After swimming, Kasey rode a small roller coaster located at Mission Beach, and we ate dinner.



DAY FIVE

On our last full day in San Diego, we went to Sea World. We saw most everything in the park, including the killer whale, dolphin, and sea lion shows. Kasey rode a roller coaster/water ride called "Journey to Atlantis" and two kiddie ride with Anne: the Elmo Fish ride and the Oscar's Boat ride. After Sea World, we drove past the San Diego LDS Temple. To say it was beautiful is a flagitious (if I may use that word, please) understatement!










DAY SIX

We ate breakfast, returned our rental car, then flew to the SLC airport! On our drive home, we stopped at Kasey's office's summer party.

Ohio Trip Slide Show

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