visitors

Once we moved to Great Falls and got settled, our next big project was convincing my Grandpa to come for a visit. Rocky Boy Indian Reservation is just a few hours north of here and he worked there in the 50's for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and in fact my Dad was born there and is an honorary member of the Souix nation. Some of my Grandpa's old friends still live there, with old being the operative word there! We knew if we were going to get him up here for a visit it needed to be sooner rather then later. So my parents and Aunts kind of shanghaied him into coming. Cheap airline tickets were found which is a must for my Depression- era Grandfather and conference weekend my Grandpa and parents came it visit. We had an absolutly fantastic time and made some great memories. We were unable to make it to the Hansen Family Reunion this year so I was so glad that my kids got a chance to visit with Grandpa one on one.

So Saturday Dad and Grandpa got up and hit to road to Rocky Boy. They had a great time and a wonderful visit with Grandpa's old friend. The rest of us got to spend the day with Nana. We went to the local corn maze which is actually the largest corn maze in the country! There was a big hay slide, hay jump, a smaller maze for kids, a cow wagon ride (which was hilarious) and a more traditional wagon ride. There were also these corn boxes (instead of sand boxes). I think we had the most fun here and everyone had to be buried!

Here's Nana and some of the grandkids on the wagon ride.

Sunday was a quiet day watching conference and then a quick trip to Giant Springs State Park. This is a very beautiful spot along the Missouri River and includes the shortest river in the world.

Here's a picture of Grandpa doing what he does best, teaching the young'ins how to appreciate the world around us. Here he is teaching about the different types of pine trees and how to identify them.

One last picture of Nana with all the grandkids but Weston. We had such a fun time and can't wait till they come again. Soon!

Autumn Leaves

Fall has been late in coming this year in Montana. Or so all the 'old-timers' say. Apparently we should have had our first snow by now, or at the very least the first frost. But last weekend we made it up to 90 and my tomato plants are still bursting with summery goodness.

However. Change is a-comin and coming soon. Eva and I go on walks down by the river while the kids are in school and we are seeing the leaves change color as the trees get ready for winter.

Here Eva holds out a fine specimen she picked herself.

There is not much in the way of reds and oranges in the foliage; mostly yellow. Here are some red leaves we found from a bush. I haven't seen any red on trees yet. You can get an idea from her shirt how windy it is here. I got this picture right before the gust of wind almost knocked her off her feet!

I thought Pullman was windy but it can't compare to Great Falls!

Camping

Last weekend was our very first Montana camping trip. We went to Gibson lake with my sister and her family, just for a night. This was the first time Eva has ever been camping and the first time I've been since she was born. All the kids get along pretty well, and there were no major disasters, so I'm calling it a good time. The hammock was the biggest attraction for the kids. They took turns lying in it while the others pushed them as high as they could go. No one fell out and there were only a few tears when turns were skipped. Eva thought sleeping in a tent next to Mom and Dad was GREAT and not to be wasted by actually sleeping, so Rob and I didn't get much sleep at night. But the weather was nice, we got to do a bit of canoeing on the lake with Rob's old/new cedar-strip canoe and the kids got as wet/muddy as they wanted. We had one little mishap on the way home driving through some construction where our tire picked up a 6 inch rusty old nail. We had to stop in Small Town, MT to get it removed and the tire patched but it gave us a chance to watch the natives while we waited. All in all it was a fun trip and we're hoping the weather doesn't turn cold too fast so we can go again soon.

First Day of School!

We were all really excited today for the first day of school. I was a little worried that Grace would turn suddenly shy and refuse to get on the bus when the time came, but as you can see, she was way too excited to worry about being shy

I can't believe how much Sam has grown this summer! I saw my little nephew yesterday wearing one of Sam's old shirts and could hardly believe my little boy is now this big kid!

Going to a new school where you know no one can be super hard, but luckily they have each other and are very good at taking care of one another.

And let me tell you, nothing could rival this little girl's sadness when she realized that she wasn't getting on the bus with the big kids. She wore that backpack all day, asking over and over when she was going to school. Sorry baby! One more year with Mom till pre-school.

Home

We're here, we're settled, we're unpacked (kinda), we finally have internet (seriously, how did we live without it?!?), and we're happy. The picture above is NOT the view from my deck, more's the pity, but it is a view from not too far from here in Glacier National park. Come visit and we'll take you there!

Hello? Is anybody there?

So I know its been a really long time since I've posted but I haven't given up on this blog yet. I really don't have time to get back into blogging right now as we have a huge move coming up in the next few weeks, but here's some pictures from today that I wanted to share.

when faces called flowers float out of the ground
and breathing is wishing and wishing is having-
but keeping is downward and doubting and never
-it's april(yes,april;my darling)it's spring!
yes the pretty birds frolic as spry as can fly
yes the little fish gambol as glad as can be
(yes the mountains are dancing together)

when every leaf opens without any sound
and wishing is having and having is giving-
but keeping is doting and nothing and nonsense
-alive;we're alive,dear:it's(kiss me now)spring!
now the pretty birds hover so she and so he
now the little fish quiver so you and so i
now the mountains are dancing, the mountains)

when more than was lost has been found has been found
and having is giving and giving is living-
but keeping is darkness and winter and cringing
-it's spring(all our night becomes day)o,it's spring!
all the pretty birds dive to the heart of the sky
all the little fish climb through the mind of the sea
all the mountains are dancing;are dancing)

e e cummings

Beach Bum

Nativity Collection

I've been slowly collecting Nativities throughout our married life. Whenever a family member travels out of the country I try to remember to ask them to find me a nativity set in the style of whatever country they're in. I've missed getting a French or Italian version from forgetting to ask. Shoot. Anyway, here's what I do have. Not all are foreign, but all are loved.

Starting from the back left side, the carved gourd is from Brazil that my brother Spencer got for me while on his mission. Clockwise from there is the set Spencer and Anna his lovely wife picked up in Jerusalem. In front of that is a homemade set from my mom. To the left is another set from my mom, made from little gardening pots. The bottom left is a nativity my niece just got for me in Austria (It's my favorite!) and just behind that is a set from Nepal. Behind that just in front of the picture is one from Montana (not a foreign country) that I got at a craft fair. I have three or four nativity ornaments for the tree; one from Jerusalem and the other's local or handmade. Finally, I have a wall hanging quilt of the nativity that Rob's step-mom made for us last year that is very beautiful and detailed. Oh, and I can't forget our Little People set or the finger puppets that the kids get to play with. I guess I do have quite a few sets!

I also collect Santa's. I'll try to get those chronicled sometime this next month.

Fun in Snowy Montana

Halloween

We kept things simple for Halloween this year since there would be no actual tricking or treating. The kids had a great time at their school's costume parade, which is where these picture are from. Our ward had a fun dinner/spook ally/candy fest on Saturday night where we got loaded up on all the candy we couldn't possibly eat and which is now with Rob at work and will get eaten by starving college students instead of me. We did our usual candy for toys swap with Sam and Grace and they both ended up with new lego sets and just a few pieces of candy and are both thrilled with that state of affairs. Costumes were easy; Sam's skeleton is the same pattern as 2 years ago

Eva's pumpkin costume was bought last November on clearance:
And Grace's Princess Fairy costume was cobbled together with things around the house (shirts/tights), from the dollar store (wings/crown), homemade (skirt by Nana, wand by me),or bought for the occasion (sparkle shoes which get loves from Grace and Eva).
All in all, a nice, lazy Halloween. What's not so nice is I now have to spend a good chunk of my morning putting halloween decor away when I'd rather be reading and munching on a few pieces of chocolate that 'slipped out' of the bag before Rob could take all the candy to work!

The Colors of Autumn

Waiting for Dad to be home

Accessories

Eva is a girl who likes her accessories:

Eyeware

Hats and Necklaces

Sunglasses and Braclets

Hats again

Shoes

Batman Cape

Riding the Rails

Eva on the FrontRunner just outside Salt Lake City

Lovesac

On our way home from visiting with Rob's family over the weekend, we stopped off in Moses Lake to buy some Lovesacs. Rob's been wanting one of these for years and he keeps a pretty close eye on Craigslist looking for a nice, affordable used one. Well, he struck lucky because this family was selling 2 gently used sacs for an extremely reasonable price. Moses Lake is about 100 miles from Spokane so if we had been home we probably wouldn't have gone for them, but since we were passing through anyway...

So then our only problem was how to fit them in the car. A car that was already full of 2 adults, 3 kids, a crib, 2 scooters, a baby backpack, a large storage tupperware box, 2 backpacks of clothes, 1 suitcase, 1 large tote bag full of clothes, 1 briefcase, 4 pillows, and 2 blankets. Not to mention all the little things like travel foods, toys, games, diaper bag, etc. But Rob's not a Packer for nothing (hee, hee) and somehow he managed to pack everything and everyone in the car, without even strapping things to the roof. Here's how we ended up:

Can you find Grace? She wasn't so happy being shoved in the back, but she was the only one with access to the DVD player so that kept her occupied till we got home. Sam had Rob's iPad to play on and Eva was just within arm's reach of me so I could hand back fish crackers and bottles. I had to sit cross-legged the whole way, but suffered no ill effects beyond a little stiffness.

There was no way Rob would get any use from the rear view mirror. Check out the back of the van:

We made it home without incident and the kids have been happily diving into the lovesacs ever since. Rob and I watched a movie last night and we both easily fit on the big one with room to spare. Well worth the trouble to get them home I'd say.

A Brief Conversation with Eva

1st shiner and Father's Day

For Father's Day the kids pooled their money and took Rob to a Spokane Indians baseball game. They had a great time watching the game and eating $1 hotdogs and ice cream sandwiches. The Indians aren't really that great of a team, I gather, and they lost pretty spectacularly. On the way out to the car, Rob and Sam decided to play catch in the parking lot. (Allowing a 7-year-old to throw a baseball surrounded by all those windshields... a sure sign Mom was not around).Luckily no cars were hit, but not so luckily Sam's face was.

These pictures are from this morning and Sam was not at all happy about me taking them. But I felt that we should document this mile-stone in a young boy's life. The first black eye is pretty important, right?

The rest of our Father's Day celebrations were fairly mild and pain-free. Instead of Rob taking the day off from fatherly chores, he actually had a day showing off what a good husband and father he is. He got up with the baby so I could sleep in, did dishes, got the kids ready for church, and helped prepare all the meals. I would like to say that I've been fighting off a cold for a few days now and just couldn't get everything done on my own. So if Father's Day is intended to remind us just how much we need and rely on the father's in our life, then I say job well done!

Subtle hint

Any guesses as to what Eva wants right now?

Sisters

Grace 2006

Eva 2010

Same dress, same shoes, same hair.

Same drool spot

(actually not the same shoes, but close enough)