We so Fancy

 Homeschooling This year have decided to homeschool because of concerns about what school would look like. Virtual learning was really tough last spring, so I decided to tackle teaching the girls their 2nd grade year so that they could have continuity, regardless of what schools and our community may look like with Covid cases. I am maintaining this blog to document the activities and learning that the girls experience this year. First day of school breakfast

I have decided to start blogging again. The purpose is to serve as a journal or record for my girls. My posts might be a little out of order or all over the place for a while as I attempt to get caught up. While the audience I am writing to is my two daughters, those friends and family who have read and would like to read our blog are welcome to! Share in our joy! For truly it has been the most joyful year of our lives where many prayers were answered and heartaches were healed.

My sweet Ashlynn, you woke up early this morning. I guess you needed a little more food in your belly to get you through the night. I fed you and held you for a long time. I just wanted to take it all in and remember it. The weight of you in my arms, the sweet sound of your sleeping breath, your soft skin and soft fine baby hair. I know that this time will go by so fast and I want to remember it. I love you and treasure this time with you. I wish you didn't have to grow up so fast! But I sure am glad you are (mostly) sleeping through the night now. Love, mom

This was the first picture we ever got of you two. I doubt a whole lot of mommies and daddies have a picture like this! I became pregnant with you two on Thanksgiving Day 2012. Thanksgiving will always have even MORE significance to your father and I because of that.

Elizabeth Smart is engaged. How amazing is that? I will never forget when I was working at Primary Children's Medical Center and the announcement was made that she had been found. Everyone cheered! It's so easy to do the whole "woe is me, life is so hard bit" in our lives. Here is someone that went through something horrific and is not letting that define her or limit what she accomplishes in her life. In a world that can be so full of sadness and hardships, this announcement made my day. Congratulations Elizabeth Smart. I hope you have a wonderful wedding and a companion as amazing as you are.

Okay, I stole this picture of my nieces from my brother and sister-in-law's blog, but seriously, are these the cutest Christmas babies ever?! Love these sweet girls.

Update: Our ward was notified tonight that Taylor was found. We don't know the details yet-but the important thing is that he is safe and home. I am so grateful to live in a ward that banded together and did everything in our power to get the word out about this missing boy. Within 24 hours of our ward members organizing; he was found. I love where we live and the wonderful people we are so lucky to have as neighbors.  If I still have any blog readers out there :), would you please repost this on your blog or facebook and ask your friends to repost? We have a 22 year old young man in our ward who is missing. He hasn't been seen in nearly three weeks. It is so horrible, but since he is an adult, his story was kind of ignored by the media and the police until now. He is now considered "endangered" by the police. He has links outside of Utah, particularly Washington state and California, so even if you live outside of Utah, please repost. Thank you! MISSING! ...

(Excuse the poor quality of the picture. It was taken behind NICU glass on an iphone :) It is so precious to see my Rick and Melissa become parents. They will be wonderful parents.  My brother and my sweet sister-in-law Melissa had two beautiful (fraternal) twin girls on Sunday, March 20th. They are teeny tiny, around 4 pounds each, but breathing completely on their own and doing absolutely wonderfully. They are in the NICU for now so they have some time to grow and get strong before they go home. We are so excited for these sweet new additions to the Hansen family and so grateful they are so healthy.            

Sorry to anyone out there who actually reads my blog; I have been very neglectful. I guess I have always felt that we don't have kids, so I don't think people are as interested in seeing what we have going on. However, my sweet husband reminded me that if nothing else this is a good journal for me to be able to look back on. So, now begins my return to blogging. Yes, we are back in Utah and so happy to be here. (I will detail our experiences in a future blog post.) What caught my eye today was an email I got from my old relief society president in Boca Raton. The topic was the upcoming temple to be built in South Florida. Mike and I were in such shock when a temple was announced in our area. What an exciting thing for our friends still in Florida. They still have not broken ground for the temple, but what a wonderful thing for Mike and I to be able to one day visit this temple in a place where we lived three years together. Here is the artist's rendering of what the tem...

Yay for more visitors! This last week my brother Rick and his sweet wife Melissa came to see us here in Florida. The weather was beautiful and we had so much fun together. We spent lots of time at the beach, spent a day in Miami, took an airboat tour in the everglades, shopped, and ate lots of yummy food. Thanks so much for visiting. We love you guys. Here are some pics from our time together.

I love General Conference. Such wonderful weekends of learning and growing. I found these packets a year ago and have really enjoyed using them while watching conference. It helps you to pay attention and remember what was spoken about. I recommend going to these two sites to download and share with your friends. Looking forward to a wonderful, uplifting weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Adult Conference Packet Children's Conference Packet

My heart is breaking for this small, poor nation and the horrible tragedy that has hit them. I have many wonderful Haitian students so this has really affected me personally. What a humble, kind people. Haiti is much closer to the U.S. than most people realize. We have a large Haitian population in South Florida. If you can spare  even just $10, please donate to the American Red Cross by texting 'Haiti' to 90999 or add it to your tithes and offerings tomorrow specified for the Haiti Relief Fund. I feel at a loss and wish there was something more I could do, but every little bit helps.

Oh, dear woofy, this is what happens when you run full force into a tree. You get stabbed by a tree branch and then to prevent you from licking your wounds, you get this attractive clown costume. We are making our vet very wealthy due to Roxy's frequent injuries. (Broken tail, broken toe, chipped tooth, fell on her head, and the latest stabbing injury to name a few). It's a good thing we love you, because you are one expensive dog!  

So you'll remember last year, my neighbors put up this very interesting nativity in the front yard complete with Santa Claus overlooking the manger scene. This year, they spent many hours setting it up again. My dad looks at it and says, "Where is baby Jesus?" How strange. Was he stolen or lost, maybe broken? It is kind of necessary to have Jesus in the manger scene. Well, lo and behold, my dad walks outside Christmas day, and miracle, there was Jesus. He had been born! I guess my neighbors were just trying to be accurate. Just ignore Santa.

We were so happy and excited to have my parents come visit us for Christmas. We had a great time. We did so many fun things... The Holiday Boat Show- so cool. We saw an awesome parade of people's boats all decorated for Christmas. It beats looking at house Christmas lights any day! We did lots of shopping. Here is Dad in Miami Beach. We also have the largest outlet mall in the U.S. by us that we spent a day shopping at. Took the Miami Beach Star Island tour. Shows all the exclusive star's homes and gives you a beautiful view of the city. Beautiful Miami skyline Went down to the Keys for a day. Saw Key Largo and Islamorada. Had key lime pie at a Cuban restaurant (naturally?!?) It was good! Had fun doing a couple "traditional" Christmas things like decorating a Gingerbread house. Spent Christmas Day at the beach. Mike and Dad trying out the new football. Relaxing on the beach. Christmas Florida style.

How is it possible that we have lived here almost 2 years? Time flies. Here are some random pics while we've been here. The full moon rising over the beach. Not the best picture, but it was absolutely beautiful. The lack of courtesy of our fellow Floridians. Again, lack of love for our fellow man is a common theme here. Smokin' hot car in South Beach Good luck getting up in that truck, ladies! So cool to see fleets of cruise ships I believe there are more "New York" license plates than "Florida" plates here. I love how beautiful the palms look all ready for Christmas. How would it be to have a house where your backyard anchored your boat? Pretty cool. My favorite picture of our little path to the beach. Gorgeous. Creatures. No discussion of Florida would be complete without a picture of some disgusting lizard!

We are so thankful that we could spend Thanksgiving with so many family members. We are thankful for our family visitors from Kansas, Utah and Miami. We had a full table of thirteen people including the Rob Yancey family, Ryan and Jen Isom and boys, Steve, and Mike and I. While the women cooked and chatted, the kids played and watched videos. Oh, and the men played playstation and watched football. What a fun day. Jen made these beautiful homemade pies. My first ever turkey. It turned out awesome! I highly recommend Food Network's Good Eats turkey. So yummy. Dinner table for 13 Right before Phoenix locked himself in the bathroom :) Playing guitar hero