An enlightening night on the farm.....

First off, do you know what this is? It's a sunflower. A DEAD sunflower. We went to a pumpkin patch last night, and there were LOTS of these there. I have no idea if that is the "norm" for a pumpkin patch to be filled with these, but the one we went to last night was.

So upon stumbling onto THIS sunflower below, I was shocked to see that it was filled with actual sunflower seeds! "Chris!", I said, "Check this out! SUNFLOWER SEEDS!". I proceeded to show him all the sunflower seeds spewing out of this sunflower carcass. His eyes got all big and to my dismay and somewhat humiliation, instead of saying, "Wow! How about that!", he just laughed and laughed saying, "Are you serious? Give me the camera. I am taking pictures of this for the blog!" He went on to tell me that yes, sunflower seeds do indeed come from actual sunflowers (when you put it THAT way, I guess it DOES make sense...) and that EVERYONE knows this, and that I must be the ONLY human being that didn't. Really?

So, yes, I confess, I had NO IDEA that sunflower seeds come from sunflowers. To tell you the truth, I had never ever thought about where they come from before, & I'm not making any promises but maybe if I HAD thought about it, I would have figured it out. So, I guess you could say that this was an enlightening trip to the pumpkin patch. I am, however, THOROUGHLY convinced that I am not the only one who was in the dark about this. Is my discovery news to anyone else out there? Come on. It's okay to admit it. I am. And if you DON'T want to step forward, at least now you know, so that when YOU stumble upon all the sunflowers and their seeds at the pumpkin patch, your husbands won't think you're as dumb as mine thinks I am.

Now that THAT'S out of the way (if I didn't tell it, Chris would have... don't feel bad, I'm not embarrassed), on with our story...so we went to a place called "Hee Haw Farms" last night. They have a petting zoo, rides for the kiddos, a couple of big slides that Parker LOVED, a hayride to the sunflower cemetery/pumpkin patch, and much much more. FUN TIMES!!!




Parker does this little cheez grin everytime we tell him to smile. He really can smile like a normal kid, I just never seem to catch it on film. This was the bumpiest hay ride to the Pumpkin Patch! I was holding onto Emmie so tightly, and made Chris hold onto ME so that we wouldn't fly out of the wagon. We couldn't stop laughing because it seemed so unsafe that it was actually quite comical. Truthfully, I think all of us passengers were using our giggles to try and cover up our fears as the rickety old tractor pulling us experienced all kinds of "technical difficulties". It ended up being quite a long trip there and back to civilization again, and I was just relieved when we finally made it back safely. Emmie didn't make a peep the entire night! What a sweet little thing she is... Check out this huge slide! Scary?? Not for OUR 2 year old. He couldn't get enough of it. You may remember that Parker LOVES to feed our dog. Well, he found a new passion... Feeding the GOATS! We kept trying to leave, but Parker kept saying "2 more minutes" (this is his stalling technique for EVERYTHING) and ran around the courtyard gathering all the corn he could round up. Again, and again...and again....Needless to say, he has some new friends over at Hee Haw Farms. They may have beards and horns, but diversity is good, right?
What a fun night! Once again, it was soooo pretty out there and the weather was so nice - upper 60's! Can't we just skip over this winter season and experience Fall until spring? That's my vote. Anyone else with me on that one??
HAPPY HALLOWEEN tomorrow!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

FLASHBACK....

It all started... back in February of this year... we were planning a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. To get Parker excited and familiar with the new friends he would be making on this trip, I tuned him into watching some episodes of "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"....he liked the show alright, but it wasn't until he MET the big-earred guy in person, that he truly fell in love.....Just see for yourself in the picture below....

March 2008 FLASH FORWARD

October 17th, 2008.....

Chris' parents had a little Halloween party for their 3 grandkids last weekend since cousin Atticus was in town from Texas.

When asking Parker on numerous occasions what he wanted to be for Halloween, he would shoot his arm triumphantly up into the air, shouting, "Mick-ey Mooouuuuse"! OF COURSE. What was I thinking? Soooo... I was excited to find him this cute little Mickey costume at the Disney Store for 40% off and snagged it for only $15!

Have you ever seen a little boy looking so cute in tights? He wore them with pride.Parker got all kinds of cute treats while Trick-or-Treating from bedroom door to bedroom door.(Is that a cute idea or what?) Later, he got a big kick out of the witch's brew smoking from the big black cauldron, and had fun decorating his pumpkin with stickers. Emmie was just content to chill with a big Halloween bow on her head.

Cousin Atticus was super cute in his turtle costume - especially when crawling with the big turtle shell on his back! It was pretty funny.

The party was a big success and I think Mickey himself would be proud! I think it's safe to say that we all had a great time (despite the 2 screaming boys in this picture)! Experiencing in festivities that get your kids excited is such a fun aspect of parenting... it's like getting to be a kid all over again. I love it!

Just between us, holidays were getting a little dull there for a few years...now, with Mr. Parky Pants, I don't think we'll have another dull moment let alone holiday for at least another 18 years or so.
THANKS Grandma and Grandpa Hansen for such an enjoyable "pre" Halloween party for the kiddos, and for letting Parker walk in the shoes of one of his favorite buddies, MICKEY MOUSE.

And so, the costume hangs in the closet, awaiting next Friday evening, when the magic of being Mickey gets to be replayed all over again. Who knows, maybe Mickey will show up on YOUR doorstep next week.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Oh, and just in case, his favorite treats are M&M's! :)

Baby deals

Alright, so I'm all about good deals, so I just thought I'd pass this on...this morning I heard about this website (started by a UT mom) on a local news show (Studio 5) called http://www.babysteals.com/. Every morning at 9 a.m. MST, they post a new baby product for 50-80% off retail prices! The deal is good all that day, until they sellout. Sometimes it's such a sought after item that they sell out in 15 minutes! On the weekends, they'll feature any items from the previous week that didn't sell, giving you one more opportunity to get the great deal. If you live in UT, you can actually PICK UP the item yourself, so as not to pay for shipping. If you live outside of UT, they ship all over including to Canada, and shipping costs are very reasonable. You can sign up on their site to have them send you an email each morning letting you know what the item of the day is... I just did it, all you have to do is put in your email and your zip code. TODAYS good deal are those popular "Baby legs", selling for 50% off. They also gave a preview of tomorrow's good deal, (normally they don't show what the deal is until the day of) which will be those popular "Puddle Jumper" shoes, and Monday they will be selling a 3 piece diaper bag from the "Bumble Collection" (super cute!) that normally retails for $204, and they will be selling it for $69 this Monday. It comes with 2 "snack bag" totes which were just featured in Oprah's magazine of favorite things for the holidays. (this looks really cool, however, I'm not in the market for a new diaper bag because my cute sister in law just made me one that I love!) ANYWAYS, check it out, pass on the word....you never know, they may just feature something you've been coveting but haven't wanted to pay the big price for!

http://www.babysteals.com/

There is beauty all around...

THIS

is why I live in Utah! These first two pictures are views from my front porch! Is it breathtaking or what?

(and no, we don't live in a huge home like those you can see in this picture...:))
Fall is my absolute FAVORITE season!!! It is probably the #1 thing I missed while living in Arizona. On the flip side, AZ winters are one of the top things I miss about AZ... I can sure do without the snow!
These other three pictures are views just within our neighborhood that I caught as we went on a Sunday drive the other night.

I am so thankful to live in a place of such beauty! Everytime I leave my home and survey my surroundings I feel extremely blessed! I love it here!

Blessing Day

We blessed our sweet little Emmie yesterday.....Chris did such a great job! She looked so sweet & pure all dressed in white and didn't make a peep during all of sacrament. It was a BEAUTIFUL fall day.... the nearby mountains and hills were just bursting with those amazing fall colors, providing us with a picturesque backdrop for an afternoon that was so calm and serene, just like our little Em. To top it all off was to have our family there to enjoy it all with us.

Poor Parker ended up with a bad cold and was not feeling good at all
The aunts and uncles...(L to R)

My brother, Steven, Chris' sisters Sarah & Bethany, sister-in-law Cindy (who is Eric's wife who is back in TX where he is in law school), and Uncle Dustin holding cute cousin Atticus (Cindy and Eric's baby)
Grandma and Grandpa Hansen
My little bro and DadMy Mom and StepDadThanks to all of our family who came out to support us on this special day!

Precious

My cute friend and professional photographer, Amanda Peterson, once again created some masterpieces with her great talent... Here are just a few of the many awesome pictures she took of our sweet little Emmie. She is 2 1/2 weeks old in these pictures. They turned out so great! (As does all of her work - seriously, check her blog!) I just love them!

Enjoy!!!

(She also did Parker's pictures back in July... you can see them if you scroll down further in the blog...)

Thanks again, Amanda! You're incredible and so fun to work with.

If you want to check out more of Amanda's work, go to http://www.amandasimages.blogspot.com/, or her website at: http://www.amandasimages.com/

(No, this is not some commercial promoting Amanda's work...she really is soooooo good at what she does though and I highly, highly recommend her!)

Church + 2 Kids minus 1 husband

As we (myself, Parker and Emmie) were exiting the bathroom yesterday at church after a quick diaper change, a woman stopped me to check out Emmie who was in her carrier. After scanning her up and down for a moment, the woman said, "Ohhhh, uh, is it a boy or a girl? I can't tell...." Really???? I stared at her in disbelief for a moment, not saying anything, giving her a moment to redeem herself. After a few more scans up and down of my baby she said, "Oh, I guess it's a girl...."

Hmmm. I THOUGHT that the dress, matching tights, pink headband and rather large hair bow were dead giveaways, but I guess I was wrong.........:>What do you think? Would YOU mistake her for a boy in this getup? :)

Gotta laugh.... (I would of course never be offended by someone mistaking Emmie to be a boy - I just thought this was funny.)

After church I was trying to feed Emmie real quick before putting Parker down for his nap (Chris was at work). Parker had been screaming (as well as Emmie) since we pulled into the garage (he didn't want to get out of he car) and wouldn't calm down so off he went to timeout while I quickly fed Emmie. He screamed and screamed and kicked and kicked in the corner... and then.....What is that unfamiliar sound??? SILENCE!?? Uh, hmmm... is he okay?? There is no way he fell asleep - he's never ever fallen asleep anywhere but in his bedroom and the car....I hear loud breathing and a slight snore...Could it be true? I tiptoe over holding Emmie...Sure enough - he was OUT- sound asleep, face down on the hard, cold tile! Are you kidding? This was definitely a first! I was so exhausted myself after chasing after him at church (he literally was racing up and down the halls, and even running wild in the parking lot - yes, I was having a heart attack, and no, I can't control my two year old with my hands full of a baby, carrier and diaper bag, not to mention in high heels and a skirt) that I was tempted to just let him sleep there. Eventually I moved him to his room and thank goodness I got him back to sleep quick. PHEW! Sundays without a husband are NO FUN!!! And who ever thought of 11:00 church, anyways?? Didn't they take into consideration that that is every nursery child's naptime??

Seriously! :) (Totally kidding) But I DID get a quiet hour in Relief Society to sit and listen to the lesson while Emmie peacefully slept...haven't had that for a long time & I must say, I quite enjoyed it!

Family of FOUR! Okay Roxy...5!

We were attempting to take a family photo here for our ward directory. They had asked for one and since we are now a family of FOUR, it was time to take one of the four of us. We were running out the door this day to go visit our good friends Jill and Jason who also just had a baby, so I was trying to get this picture taken since we were all dressed and had our hair combed at the same time for once. ANYWAYS - Chris' head is cut off, Emmie has spit up on her chin, and it's too far back, but I had to laugh when I saw this because little Miss Roxy is sitting pretty at my feet, front legs up and tongue out. We didn't even know she was in the picture. She's always doing her best to be included! Poor Roxy!
And here is our Little Em. She'll be 7 weeks this Monday! She is still sleeping like a champ & somehow she is turning into a CHUNK! I don't feel like I am feeding her enough for her to bulk up like she is, but she's turned into a TANK! Way bigger than Parker was at this stage! I'll have to take even more recent pictures than these so you can really see what I mean. Chris jokes that I have protein powder in my milk or something. Hey - whatever it is, it's keeping her happy most of the time, so no complaints here!

She is starting to coo more and give us smiles... it melts my heart! She is so much fun and we just ADORE her!

It's a sale! A good one!

Anyone that knows me well, knows that I LOVE a good bargain! If bargain hunting is considered a hobby, it's definitely one of mine! I LOVE finding high quality items for good deals! In fact, I find it quite exhilirating & pretty much never pay full price for anything. Call me cheap, frugal, resourceful, whatever, but it's the truth. I call it SMART. :) Sooooo - I just thought I'd share with you some good finds! I made my way to The Gap a few days ago hoping for a good sale, and I found one! I never quite finished shopping for baby Em before she arrived (are we ever finished shopping for our kids though?) since I was put on bed rest so early, so I went out to see if I could pick up a few things for her the other day.

Here's a little bit of what I found:

Not only were these three cute little dresses already marked down quite a bit, but they were an additional 25% off of the sale price! All sale items right now are an additional 25% off. I picked these darling items up for less than you would pay for dresses at Target and possibly even Wal-Mart... the dress on the right being only $8 down from $30! The other two I think were $14. Plus I got her a couple of shirts for $4! I checked online and the sale prices aren't nearly as good as they are in the store.

So hurry up! This is your chance to pick up some cute fall/winter clothes for your kids, or pick up something cute for that baby shower that's coming up! After all, who doesn't love Baby Gap?(when there is a good sale, anyways...)

p.s. I also found a long coat for myself that was normally $148, marked down to $36.99! (I don't normally go out and buy stuff like that for myself, but Chris had given me some Visa gift cards for my birthday last month so I had money to spend and haven't had a new coat for years!)

Happy Shopping!

TAGGED

My cute friend Brooke tagged me & the rules of the game go like this... you have to post the 4th picture in the 4th folder of your pictures folder and then give a brief description of it, then tag some more friends. So - here it is: Funny that of all the hundreds of random pictures on my computer that this is the one that would come up, because I think this is actually on my slide show. I love this picture because of the funny face Parker is making. ANYWAYS - this is on the 4th of July of 2007, & we had only been moved back from Arizona at this point for a couple of weeks. We were celebrating the holiday at my Dad's house. He always makes holidays and birthdays so special... he goes all out for the events and has done this my whole life. This night he had all these tables set up in his yard that he had themed out with 4th of July tablecloths with flags as the centerpieces. Seriously, how many men would take the time or even think to make the tables look festive? He cooked us a nice meal and had a fun game of balloon darts with a huge bin full of prizes which he had tied strings to, so if we popped a balloon on our turn, we got to pull a string and be surprised by a fun prize (ranging from treats and snacks to DVD's..). We all had a great time!

Thanks, Dad, for always going the extra mile and making long lasting memories for our family!

(As a sidenote, my Aunt has horrible aim, and let's just say that her poor dog that she brought along to the event ended up with a dart in it's side! Not kidding!)

Okay, I tag Shannon, Jeanine, Cindy, Lara & RaeLynn!

One month update...

Has it already been a whole month? Emmie is four and a half weeks old and things are going really well! She is such a sweetheart and it just seems as though she's been with us forever.

Here is a quick evaluation:

Happy Newborn: Check. (she's only waking up once during the night - can you believe it???)
Happy Parker: Check. (minus a few typical 2 year old tantrums) Happy Mom: Check. (I haven't felt this good in months! Really!) Happy Chris: Check. (As the saying goes, "Happy wife = Happy life", right? jk)

Happy Roxy: ...Okay, that one's a negative.....Sorry Rox, it's impossible to keep everyone happy around here! I'm afraid you're even one step further down on the totem pole than you were before Miss Em arrived. We still love you though!

Some things you just don't show a 2-year-old

Last Saturday my Mother-in-law and I looked out to see Chris' Dad showing Parker how to shovel up the dog poop into a bag with a play shovel in our backyard. "Oh goody", were my thoughts, "what a great pastime to teach a 2-year-old......"

My fears were validated as Monday rolls around. I look outside to see this:

I go out to investigate.

Me: "Parker, what are you doing?"

Parker: "Shoveling dog poop!"

Ah, sick. Or should I say, Oh crap.

Me: "Oh -let's not do that... Come play ball with me instead."

Parker: "No! Pahkah (Parker) pay (play) with dog poop!!"

And there you have it. Everyday this week, as Parker went outside to play, he sifted around doggie poop with his play gardening tools & refused every one of my offers to play ball with him. Looks like Parker has found a new hobby. (And it looks like Chris is going to have to be more on top of cleaning up Roxy's business!)

THANKS GRANDPA!!! :) We owe ya one.

A night out with a happy 2-year-old

We don't go out to eat eat much, but Chris hasn't had a day off for a while and won't for another ten days or so, and we had some time last night so we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at Chili's with the kiddos. In addition to our meals, we ordered the bottomless tostada chips. When the waitress brought them to the table, Parker's arms shot straight up in the air while joyously he yelled out, "Chiiiiiiiips!!", making us all laugh. Yes, this kid loooooooooves chips and salsa & was pretty excited to dive into this dish! So Chris and I enjoyed some good conversation while Parker munched ravenously on his chips & salsa all the while flirting with the adjoining booth and passing waitresses. When we announced to Parker it was time to go, he frantically picked up all the remaining chips he could possibly contain in his little hands and jumped out of the booth. We preceeded out of the restaurant with our 2-year-old leading the way, with his pile of chips clenched tightly in between his chest and two hands as if was escaping with handfuls of gold from the pirate ship on the Goonies. Talk about a serious kid on a serious mission!

Maybe you had to be there, but I wish I had my camera because it was a pretty funny sight and we had some comical stares as we weaved our way through the dinner crowd still waiting to be seated.

In hindesight, I guess we should have gotten him his own little to-go box...we'll know better next time. I think it's safe to say that Parker has a favorite restaurant! I have to admit, it IS excellent chips and salsa! You'll have to try it out for yourselves!

Thanks

Hey thanks everyone for all your great advice on the double stroller! It's so nice to have all of your hands on input to take into consideration for the big purchase! We'll hopefully get out to buy one in the next couple of weeks when Chris has a day off of work...I'll let you know what we decide! Meanwhile, if anyone has any additonal thoughts, feel free to leave them!

Thanks again!

Double time

Okay, so the time has come to purchase a double stroller! The question is, WHICH ONE?? If anyone has any opinions or advice on what kind is better - side by side, back to back, different brands, what you do or don't like about yours, etc. - please leave a comment and let me know! I appreciate ANY input you may have on this topic, because I am clueless! So if you have one that you love or that you hate, or any other advice, I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks so much! :>

Parlez-vous francais?

Alright, so I did take a french class back in the eighth grade. That was fifteen years ago, and no, I don't remember much! But enough to realize that my 2 year old is apparently bilingual (okay - TRIlingual if you count his sign language abilities), with his second language being french! This petit genie (little genius) constantly interjects "le" and "a la" into his speech. Where he picked it up is beyond us, but it sure gives us a good laugh. (Okay, so maybe these terms just mean "the"(I think?), but it's still impressive, right?? Kidding, of course...) Here are a few examples of his everyday use of this language....

I'll be changing Emmie's diaper, and he'll say:

"Mama - le bebe has LOTS of a la poopies!"

We'll be fixing him a waffle, and he'll say:

"Mama likes a la waffles, too?"

We'll be at the park and each time he gets to the bottom of the slide he'll say:

"Gen! Gen! (Again!) Pahkah (Parker) go down le slide a la gen!!

He'll be stacking up his pile of books (a new favorite pastime) and he'll say:

"Pahkah (Parker) a la bead (read) le books to le bebe."

There you have it! Like I said, petit genie! We're getting his papers ready to send off to Harvard this fall.

Au revoir!