Celebrating 40 years

No, we aren't 40 years old.

However, this August, my parents will celebrate their 40th Anniversary.  To celebrate, we all went to their home in Cave Creek, AZ for some fun in the sun. Despite the cool temperatures to start the week (it was 20 degrees warmer in Elsie the first day we were there!) we had an awesome time swimming and spending time together.  Here are some highlights:


This is how you wear out kids before a 9:00 pm flight.  OK, it actually didn't work all that well, but it kept everyone waiting for the plane quite entertained.  

See, don't they look tired????

 Mason slept a little bit, but Sam thought it was more entertaining to talk to everyone on the plane.  Oh well!!
 We spent most of our time enjoying the pool:

Sam LOVED to float and play in the water 

Mason couldn't get enough of jumping into the pool and making the "biggest" splash

Fun in the sun

There also several trips around town:

Fun at Cracker Jax:

A little Putt-Putt

Go-carts

Sticking close to Nick

While the guys golfed, the girls took the kids to the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium.  We had gone there on our honeymoon 8 years ago, and it was just beginning. It has turned into quite a cool place. If you plan to ever go there, I recommend that you use as many coupons as possible, as it is a bit pricey for my cares.

Hands on exhibit

Sam attempting to swim with the crocodiles...

Since we were in a new area, there were lots of new experiences. We got to try out some new restaurants-many that we will plan to go back to including: Old Town Tortilla Factory, Harold's Corral, Big Earl's Greasy Eats, and Barro's Pizza.

Bryan and I often emphasize that we are not what you would call "role model" parents.  This is one of those examples.  Yes, the boys are eating hot dogs for breakfast.  Yes, they loved them.  And, no, I don't have any regrets about giving them hot dogs for breakfast!

       

It was a wonderful trip and we are trying to find other reasons to get back down to Phoenix as soon as possible. 

The happy couple

Adventures in Homelessness...

It has been a while since there was a post on this blog.  It isn't that we haven't had anything going on, quite the opposite, actually.  In the past three months, there has been moving, becoming homeless, moving again, changing roles at work, finishing grad school, and wrapping up a year of Kindergarten.  More on all of those topics at a later date.  Today is about our adventure in being homeless.  Now that we have been in our house for a month, it is about time I wrote this post I have been meaning to write since we got moved in.

I think I last left off when we were going to be in our temporary home.  Many had doubts as to how it would go...I mean really, can two families live under the same roof without wanting to strangle each other?????  We decided to prove the doubters wrong.  After all, we had vacationed together and spent plenty of time together on a normal basis.  It couldn't be that bad, right????

So, we arrived and were welcomed by this sign:

And it was legendary.

We:

Cooked together

Cleaned (a little)

learned how to jump rope

grew facial hair???

found out that mohawk + scraped up nose = tough guy

Found new places to rest

played (just a few) video games

hunted Easter Eggs

tried out new hairstyles

We also: played four square, watched movies, took walks, played cards, had interesting dinner conversations, and enjoyed each other's company.  We just don't have pictures of any of that because we were having too much fun.  It was 5 weeks of our lives that we will remember forever.  I am happy to report that we all survived and still speak to each other.

Things I will miss about being homeless:

• Living with built-in babysitters-seriously, everyone should have a 14 and 12-year old to entertain your 5 & 1 yr olds!!!
• Splitting the grocery bill with someone
• Dinner conversations
• Another female living under the same roof!

Things I won't miss:

• Wearing the same 5 work outfits for 5 weeks-I even threw one pair of pants away because I was sooooo tired of them!
• Sleeping with Sam in our room-ugh!
• All my "stuff"  All of our packing happened so fast, I had a few things (camera, iPod, credit card) that were packed away.  It was like Christmas when we opened boxes.
• Answering questions about "how's it going living with family for that long" (asked in that pitying voice.) I don't know how many times I had to say that it was going just fine.  I don't think many believed me!!

Even though we are all happy to have our own spaces again, we couldn't have asked for more out of our adventure in homelessness.  Thanks to Craig, Carrie, Kurstin and Chance for putting up with us and keeping it entertaining!!!

Adventures in Homeownership

When we got engaged, we were living in Lincoln.  So, we took the logical step of buying a house in Lincoln-knowing that we were going to be there for a while. That was December 2003.  May 2004, I (Laura) interviewed for a job that would take us to either the Ogallala area or Scottsbluff area and accpeted the position.  We decided on the Scottsbluff location and after getting married in June 2004, we moved to Gering in July of 2004.  Yes.  We are that great of planners.  We moved into this home:

1465 Bonanza

We bought it knowing that we would live there for a little while and then find our place in the country. Knowing our record of staying put,we didn't picture "a little while"lasting too long.  We were wrong.  We began to make memories in our home.  We painted, updated, and made it our own.  We brought home two delightful sons and a beagle. 

New siding, roof and gutters (thank you, Mother Nature for your AWFUL year of hail!) Not the finished product, but you can see the improvement.

First day of school memories

7 1/2 years later, the time to leave came.  So, we put the house on the market.  On Sunday evening, February 12th, the realtor came by to get the information to put it on the market. They were going to be able to put the sign in our yard on Thursday.  Here is the sign they put up:

Yup, we sold it before the sign was even up in our yard. We got the call at noon on Tuesday, the 14th (what a Valentine's Day gift-thank you Vicki Begley!)

So, we packed up all of our stuff....

Crazy to think so much of our life can be packed up in such a little space!

It is amazing how big a house looks with nothing in it!

And we started living out of suitcases until we can get into our new place.  

Who knew sleeping on air mattresses could be the coolest thing EVER!

So now we are living in our "temporary home" (I never thought I'd be a Carrie Underwood song!) Luckily, we have family who has graciously allowed us to take over their basement.  

To our former home on Bonanza, we'd like to share a quote Fall Out Boy..."Thanks for the memories."

We have been in the middle of several other big adventures, so hopefully there will be more blog posts soon.  Until then, enjoy your day and Happy Spring!

365 Days of Sam

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

Sam Alexander!!  

One year ago, we welcomed a new member into our family:

A lot has happened in the year.  Here are some highlights:

We've had more to smile about

We've gone on more than a few road trips

There have been naps

We've been reminded that God is at work in our lives

We've exercised...a little

We've learned more about the cool things that happen in Denver

We've tried some new foods and new places

Spent time with old friends

Cheered for the Huskers

and some more road trips

There have been more than a few brother bonding moments

We talked to Santa

We've even gotten into a little bit of trouble

Hats off for another 366 days of Sam!!
(since it is a leap year, we will have a bonus day before he turns two)

Thanks to Sara at Shutterbee Photography for the great 1 year pictures!

Chicago!

So, back during the craziness that was November, we made the trip to Chicago for a family wedding.

The flight to Chicago...the cousins got to sit together

It was so much fun to see the extended Hanson crew.  We stayed at the Dana Hotel and Spa.  It was such a different place than we had ever stayed and we enjoyed the full walls of windows.  The boys enjoyed looking down on the world below.

No, Sam's not trying to mug you here, this is the only shot I had showing the window of the hotel.

We got together on the night before the wedding with the whole wedding party at Gino's pizza...YUM!!

Brunch the morning of the wedding was at the Spiaggia Restaurant.  It was on Michigan Avenue overlooking Lake Michigan. I heard that a certain current president even takes his wife here to eat on special occasions.  From what we experience he has great taste.  The food was wonderful!

Mmm....pastries!

 Next stop: The John Hancock Building

Listening to Ross (David Schwimmer) narrate the city

 Wedding time!

Token family picture 

Yup, they're Hansons. Already bellied up to the bar!

I didn't get a whole family picture, but we had the whole group there. My grandpa's brother and his wife and his brother-in-law and his wife along with all their children still with us and grandchildren made it to the wedding.  It is so much fun to get together with everyone from across the country.  If only we were able to do it more often!!

My "Hanson" men: my brother Nick, his son Max, Sam, Bryan,  my uncle Mike, Mason, John, Joe, Dad, Bradley, and Grandpa Max.  What a great crew!

Two beautiful ladies: my aunt Shelley and mom

Cheese!!!

Cousins 

Dancing up a storm

make-shift slide at the reception

 The day after the wedding, we took some time and walked around Chicago.

Silly faces

Sam with Grandma and Grandpa

 Both the bride and groom are chefs in Chicago.  The bride works at the Purple Pig and the groom at Graham Elliot.  We got to see the Purple Pig on our walk around town:

The last day of our trip was also my brother's birthday, so we celebrated in style with red velvet cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and pizza from Giordanos.  It was a great ending to a great weekend

Make a wish! 

The picture doesn't do it justice...it was seriously 2 inches deep with cheese.  CRAZY!

Sam with Great-Grandma Lorraine