Halloween 2011

Halloween was so much fun this year!  It's exciting to see Livvy old enough to understand what holidays are and get into the spirit of it all.  She loved going to the store and seeing the decorations.  On Halloween night it was absolutely adorable to see her knock on a door and say "twick 'r' tweat".   

We also had fun before Halloween decorating cookies with friends.  I think Livvy put that entire container of frosting on one cookie.

You won't see a single turkey there

Last weekend the Hansen trio went hiking at a place called Turkey Run.   Even though the name suggests there to be wild fowl scuttling about, disappointingly enough there was not a single turkey to be seen.  I'm not exactly sure how the Indiana naming system works, but I think it goes all the way back to the Indians.  100 Thanksgiving Days later we are left with no turkeys, but still have a stunning state park.  That's my guess anyway.  Weird name aside, Turkey Run is a beautiful place and the weather could not have been more perfect for hiking.  

Summer highlights

The summer of 2011 went by much faster than expected.  I can't believe it's already over!  Despite the fact that Matt had to take a few classes this summer, we were still able to pack in lots of fun and lots memories.  Here are just a few highlights:

Wicked Weekend - Finally saw "Wicked"!  It was an amazing production.  I'm so glad I was able to see it with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousin.  We went to garage sales (of course), out to breakfast, saw our cousin Olivia as a beautiful bride, had a Wii dance off, and never tired from saying the phrase, "this is wicked fun"!

Columbus, Indiana - Columbus is about an hour south of Indy.  It was ranked #6 in the nation for architectural innovation and design, which was completely surprising to me.  It's a neat city, with plenty of architecture and antiques for all.

Visit from Big Ma - We always love visits from Big Ma.  Livvy loves all the attention she gets from having her here.

Visit from Chloe - My niece Chloe stayed with us for a few days in July.  She was so nice to watch Livvy while Matt and I went on a date.  We also went swimming, to an ice-cream social, garage sales, and I'm pretty sure we watched almost the entire 1st season of "The Middle".  

Lots of water - Livvy is definitely part mermaid.  She is completely obsessed with all things water!  Touching it, drinking it, playing in it, splashing it, squirting it, looking at it, etc.  

Plenty of dress up - I think Livvy gets her fashion sense from me.  I didn't know until at least high school that it wasn't okay to wear a bathrobe with a tutu.  I love these pictures of Livvy.  This girl just makes me smile!

A trip to Chicago - To celebrate our 5 year anniversary, coming up in September, we took the opportunity while Matt was out of school to spend a few days in Chicago.  We had a fabulous time!  My favorite part of the trip was Navy Pier and Millennium Park, but I know Matt's favorite part was eating Italian beef sandwiches at Mr. Beef.  He's still talking about it a month later.   My mom was so nice to fly all the way from Utah to watch Livvy for us.  I know, my mom is the best!  

A trip to Shamu - We went to San Diego with Matt's parents and brother Jason.  Livvy had so much fun playing in the "be-ocean" and watching the dolphin show at Sea World.  We also went to Seaport Village, Cabrillo, and Old Town...just to name a few.  We had such a great time!

And just a bit of working - I refinished this dresser and also a couple of nightstands for our room.  I really love refinishing furniture.  It's a delightful feeling to take something old and make it new again.

Before

 After

Dirty Shoes & Bubble Laughs

Some cute videos of Livvy for your viewing pleasure!

Parkin'-It Up

For me, it was a complete misconception to think that when I had kids I would feel old.  Quite the contrary.  Of course Matt & I  have more responsibility...but old?...no way.  I totally feel like a kid again!  I love playing outside, pretending to eat plastic food (also very figure friendly), and even having a good cry when things don't go the way I think they should.  I even catch myself, from time to time, completely engrossed in a good old episode of Max & Ruby. Yep, being a kid is pretty great.  

Just look how fun the park can be!

We are loving the warmer weather!  It was a very long cold winter but spring has sprung and we are having a great time playing outside again!

Livvy turned the big 0-2!

It was great to be in Utah for Livvy's birthday.  It was definitely the icing on the cake (haha, funny punny) to be with family.  Livvy was very into all the birthday hoopla this year.  It was fun to see her so excited about everything.  She LOVED opening her presents and was pretty disappointed when the present opening came to an end.  For the next few days she walked around the house saying, "Presents...presents...where's the presents?".  I say the same thing after my birthday but it just doesn't come off as cute.  

Livvy loves "Max & Ruby" right now, so of course a Max & Ruby cake made the party complete.  Livvy was a little distressed though when we started cutting Max & Ruby's house into pieces.  I can't believe that Livvy is already 2!  It goes by so fast.  I'm fully expecting this upcoming year to be filled with some "terrible two" moments but with Livvy's spunky, sparkling personality I'm pretty confident there will be plenty of "terrific two" moments as well.  Happy Birthday Livs!

The Chair Transformation

A couple weeks ago I bought this absolutely hideous looking chair at Good Will for 10 bucks.  You might not be able to see from the picture how hideous it is, but believe me, it was.  In fact as the employee from Good Will was helping me load it into my car he said, "I didn't think anyone was ever going to buy this thing.  It's been here forever".  Despite its appalling appearance, it was a good sturdy chair and I figured I would be able to put it to good use in one way or another.  So I decided to try my hand at painting and reupholstering furniture.

VOILA!

Reupholstering was not nearly as hard as I though it was going to be.  Granted, I probably didn't do the best job, but good enough for who it's for.  It was a fun little project to do!.  Now, on to the armoire!

Freezing with a chance of snow cones

We are learning quickly that the weather in Indy is completely crazy and unpredictable.  Thanks to today we experienced our first ice storm.  Last night it started raining the weirdest icy slush rain.  It wasn't hail, rain, or snow...but a combination of all three.  Kind of like a snow cone mixture.  There was 1/2 an inch of ice covering the ground when we woke up this morning.  We got some awesome pictures of the icy blanket. All the schools closed down and most of the stores closed early.  I wish I would have gone to school in Indiana.  There are so many snow days here!  Lucky Hoosiers!  Growing up in Utah, I had exactly 2 snow days my whole school career.  I'm pretty sure Utah's policy on snow days is, the snow has to be level with the roof of your house to be considered a snow day.  Not so in Indiana though.  An inch of ice on the ground is all it takes.  The ice was so bad that when the mailman came around today he would stop at the mailbox, take out a rubber mallet, give the mailbox a good whack to brake off the ice, then put the mail inside.  Matt and I thought that was hilarious and watched him whacking icy mailboxes until he was out of sight.  Despite my phobia of the cold it was very fun to be trapped in our "igloo" of a house all day.  Matt was even brave enough to venture out in the weather to pick up some emergency supplies from the store, just in case the power went out or something like that.  He came home with a bag of candles, a case of water, and 3 boxes of PopTarts.  Oh yeah, we are definitely ready for a natural disaster!

The greatest invention...in my book

One thing I absolutely love is learning alternative uses for different products. Some examples: The white part of an orange peel can be used to whiten teeth, coffee grounds can reduce the appearance of cellulite, Vodka removes water spots from faucets handles & disinfects surface areas, WD-40 gets tomato & lipstick stains out of clothes, and vinegar does about everything you could possibly imagine. Vinegar has to be the greatest invention in the world! Right next to the wheel and peppermint patties. I feel like the dad from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and his addiction to Windex. I carry a bottle of it where ever I go and sleep with it at night to ensure better dreams. If Matt broke his leg right now I would probably soak it in vinegar. That ought to fix it! Okay, maybe I'm not that addicted to it, but seriously for cleaning it is the best. I have always hated using chemical cleaning products to clean my house. No particular reason. I just have never liked the thought of chemicals being all over, especially since we have a dog and a tot running around. It puts my mind at ease knowing that if Livvy licked the water faucet the worst that could happen is she would be a little tipsy for a while. Also, I hate having 20 different bottles in the cupboard that only accomplish one specific use. I found one website that listed 131 uses for vinegar! Talk about a multipurpose product. And it only cost about 2 bucks for a gallon. The only down fall to this amazing product is the smell. But I've also learned, the smell doesn't last too long. 5 minutes tops. I think that pretty much wraps up my feelings for vinegar.    

Kids + Christmas = Magical???

We had a great time in Utah this Christmas! It was so much fun to be with family and friends! I'm always amazed how fast it all goes by. We were in Utah for 10 days but it felt more like 10 minutes before we were back on the plane flying home. We squeezed in a lot of fun in those 10 minutes though! Baking, sewing, movies, games, restaurants, Parson's donuts, chatting, basketball, temple sealing, laughing, etc! The down side to the trip was that Livvy got sick a couple days before Christmas so she wasn't feeling so great for most of the trip. So the actual day of Christmas went a little something like this...with a positive, magical twist!

It started out with tears...tears of joy of course

Livvy was so thankful for her presents she wouldn't stop praising us

A Christmas scowl any mom would be proud to receive

More praising of gratitude

Overwhelmed with Christmas spirit, she laid down to contemplate the true reason for the season

Though the photos of our lovely little Livvy may not show it, we really did have a great Christmas with her. We are so lucky to have her! Even being under the weather she truly made our Christmas more special and magical!