IT'S BEEN SINCE JAN!!

I can't believe it's been that long! So just to give you a little update....most (okay all) of the pictures will come later! :)
We bought a house!!
May - we went to NC for a week beach trip and Merrill finally getting to walk for graduation!
The boys started t-ball and Mikayla gymnastics
We got one camping trip in and then off for our trips...
We went to AZ and UT and got to have SO MUCH FUN WITH FAMILY
Came back and started renovating our new house
Made another trip to UT and Tacoma
Did more renovations and finally got to move in
Nano turned 4!
Mom got one year older :)
Josh started Kindergarten and MIkayla 3rd grade
Lynneah turned 2!
So that's been our crazy summer!
Now we have the job of still unloading boxes!

Another trick of Neah's

I was making dinner one night and heard a funny noise from Lynneah...I turned around to this:

She could do this on demand...it was so awesome...She holds her breath and starts shaking her fists....It's so funny and she can still do it 6 months later when you ask! Priceless!

Saying I love you!

So Lynneah can talk pretty well now but this was her first I love you...Mikayla taught her to point to herself, make a heart with her fingers and point to someone else at the end...It was pretty cute but of course we never could get the whole thing on the video!

Happy Birthday Mikayla!

Lynneah's b-day song to sis!

Mikayla's Baptism

Mikayla - it was such a beautiful day. I can't believe you are eight! Your baptism was wonderful and your excitement for it was very special. Watching you make that choice and go down into the water with your daddy waiting for you was something I'll never forget. You are such a great example to all of us.
Having so much family come for this special day made it just that much better. Having all the kids sing "I love to see the Temple" was a very tender moment. We love you sweetheart!!!

Mikayla's b-day

We celebrated Mikayla's b-day a little late. We had a whole houseful. They came for her baptism but we had a little craziness before. We had Bhakka, Boppa, Aunt Amie, Aunt Michelle & Uncle Dave, Landon and Mireya. And Grandpa & Grandma Hansen, Uncle Dellma & Aunt Victoria, and Aunt Amy. Thanks to everyone for coming. It was so wonderful to have you all. I know it meant a lot to Mikayla. I loved all the help with the Unicorn pinata and swimming pool cake and cookies and more and more!

Noah

My brother Eddie and his wife Bekka had their little boy! Noah Edward Hansen! What a cute little guy. Thanks for the pics Amy!

Hot Chocolate

Neah has finally learned to sleep a little better. We are only down to a couple times a night. Around 12 or 1 and then 3 or 4. The only way we even got that was to give her hot cocoa. We got this idea from NC. Thank you Beck's!! They give their kids cocoa babas (heated up chocolate milk) just before bed and they sleep amazingly. Well, Neah wont drink milk or chocolate milk but she LOVES hot cocoa! So now she has to sit on a chair and drink her cup with a straw. She'll do this and go straight to bed. No matter if it's 7:30 pm or midnight or 4 am.

OH and then there's a couple other fun photos. The kids are playing a little "peace train" (good old NC days - thanks Sam and Paul!). Then the second is priceless. We had a family over for dinner and Nano had been missing in action for a while. This is where I found him!

Polar Express

I was TERRIBLE with pictures on this trip. We had a wonderful time with family. Bhakka and Boppa took us all for a ride on the Polar Express. We had a Vance scared to death of Santa and Nano almost lot his bell a number of times. Luckily, our host was awesome and went diving after his bell, under seats and all! Finally, when we thought we'd lost it for sure, he gave Nano his own bell from around his neck. Never a dull moments with our crew. It was awesome and we had a great time spending an evening in our pj's.

Christmas at our house

The kids got really spoiled. We did Christmas at our house on the 23rd and then flew out to AZ on the 24th and had Christmas at Bhakka and Boppa's house. Lots of fun! Kids never get tired of opening presents do they! ;)

Snow in Richland

We all had fun singing Christmas Carols one night. Then the snow came a few days later. The pictures are really dark but just before dusk Nano and Merrill decided to ride their bikes on the freshly fallen snow that was on the forbidden golf path!
It rained that night and the next morning there was just ice. The boys had a great time sliding with just their bodies on - yet again - the forbidden golf path. After that fun, we decided to invest in some sleds and took them to the slopes just by a ski resort. They had a great time! We have some natural sledders.

Alphabet Kids

 

We made some letter photo books this year and the kids had a great time. See if you can find all the letters! We have a few duplicates (a,i,l & p), but the whole alphabet is there....just use your imagination on some of them and you'll get it!

alphabet fun

The kids and I had so much fun I had to take some of their really silly poses also. I love the ones where Lynneah is trying to copy whatever pose one of the older kids was doing. It was a good time!

FIVE

Josh! Happy Birthday Son! I can't believe you are 5.

So remember that stomach flu at Thanksgiving. Ya, we still had it come Nov 30 and Josh was sick on his birthday this year. Poor boy. So we had an all indoor party with just our family. They kids seemed not to mind and Josh got his Batman cake and pinata. (He went easy on me this year for the cake and only wanted the logo instead of a batman one, thanks buddy.) The boys and I had a good time making everything for Josh's b-day that day. So....we didn't get to do all the fun outdoor plans but we had a great day after all, even with two sick boys and one sick girl. Then daddy and Mikayla came home and put the icing on the top for one fun day.

We love you buddy and are so glad you are part of our family!

Thanksgiving

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving. All my siblings were able to come. It's been way too long since we've all been together...since Eddie went on his mission and he has two kids now (well 1 3/4) at Thanksgiving, but since then we've had little Noah join us! Anyway, it was so fun to see everyone. I don't know how much everyone else enjoyed it though. We brought the stomach flu with us and everybody got sick. At least we all got to enjoy the feast before the flu hit! My poor family. You know you are loved when people want to see you even though they know you will get them sick!

I kept forgetting my camera, so once I get some pictures from my mom, I'll post some of those.

Chillin' out

Photographer

Mikayla loves to take pictures and she gets some great shots of the boys! And toys!;)

Halloween

Like mom??

Nano found my mascara!

Boise's half way

We figured out that Boise's about half way for my family in Utah, Idaho and us...so we planned a trip and I got to see my parents and 3 of my siblings and their families!! It was awesome. We spent the night and enjoyed a random park we found by our motel. It doesn't take much to entertain us!

She's doing it!!!

She took here first steps on her b-day. Then she went through a phase where every time we tried to have her walk and let go of her hands she'd start crying and sit down!

But by the 20th she'd figured it out a little and was taking 4 or 5 steps!

Then 2 days later....she's cruisin!

We are spoiled

Our apt here has been quite interesting. There are a total of 7 kids and 4 of them our ours! We have a few people who really love the kids and then some who don't. The one's who don't tend to complain a lot when the kids are out playing....and as you know our kids...they love to be outdoors! So we deal with the complaints and keep sending them out. The kids have had a hard time with all the rules and not being free to go where they please, especially Nano...we've lost him a few times as he was wandering the grounds!

But as always the good outways the bad and we have Nana and Papa next door! They often had afterschool snacks for the kids. Sadly, (for us anyway) they went to Arkansas for the winter and wont get back until we move out! But we were lucky to have them while we could and hopefully they want lots of visits when they get back!

"The Rock"

Our gym here has an awesome climbing wall. The kids totally love it!

My baby's One!

Yes, I'm a major slacker...Lynneah turned 1 in sept and here it is Jan.....
We love you Lynneah, sorry Mommy's so slow in posting all your birthday, chubby, messiness! You bring so much joy to our lives pumpkin!

Birthday Cake Fun!

Something else she started on her b-day!

1st day

Mikayla started up school again and we are close enough to bike her to school. I think the boys were as excited about it as Mikayla....can't believe she's in 2nd grade! Here teacher is Ms Nicacio and "she still hasn't ever yelled at us". Obviously, Mikayla loves her teacher!
We did the bike rides while the weather was nice and once it got too cold we put her on the bus...I'm excited for the nice weather again. Those bike/jog rides were so fun and got lots of the boy's energy out, who am I kidding...mine too, but I felt so in shape!

Kiddo's

Kid's just having fun! Notice we all are enjoying the produce here!

Nano's Three

Don't forget to click on the title for more fun photos of the b-day!


This first video is our Nano to a tee! The boy has always been one rough and tumble boy. Oh how I love it though. And what more could a boy want than to hit a balloon, as a ball mind you, for his birthday!

We also celebrated with his "King" theme from cars and did a pinata and cake. Which I cut him off on the first video of the pinata and he wanted "to say more mom".


Nano man, I'm so grateful you are part of our family. I love all your energy and love for wild adventure. Keep it up my boy!

Dad's Back

After almost a full month for the kids, Merrill is finally back from NC with the rest of us here in WA. We are more than excited to be together as a family again. Lynneah got to see him in the middle for a week but the older kids have been missing him something awful. Needless to say...we LOOOVVVVE having him back home.
Thanks for all the hard work out in NC Merrill. We love having DR Daddy back at home though!

She's getting interested

Michelle had a fun walker toy. Lynneah liked it at times and other times, well not so much! She is getting interested though, so it wont be much longer before we have another walker!

Dr Merrill

Okay so why are there so few pictures you wonder...well I'm a slacker wife. I was so worried about the defense and all...I didn't take any pictures of my man doing and AWESOME job. And the rose, ya he gave that to me when I flew back in for the defense on the 14th. Yes, I'm a terrible wife! But on a funny note (well funny now). Merrill bought snacks for after the defense, among which was the death by chocolate cake from Costco....you wont believe it but it got stolen and so did some fruit along with our friends bowl! My goodness what a day....and I didn't even get any pictures!!!

Way to go though honey! I"m so glad I was able to fly back out too see your defense....even though it looked like I might not make it with the move and all. You were amazing to watch and even more amazing to listen too....I'm a lucky girl to have such a smart man!

Family Fun

While Merrill finished a few things up....Bhakka and the kids and I headed out to WA July 4. We got to spend some great time with family at Michelle and Dave's place. Fireworks, smoked pork, family time...lots of fun.

Moving Day

June 29 was moving day...we closed on our house on the 30. The truck came and was huge....we did not fill it up...only a very small portion in the middle. However, it already was full and our car couldn't go on as planned. It was the first of a lot of change of plans with the move. In hindsight though, we were blessed and taken care of through the whole thing. I am so thankful for the tender mercies of the Lord and the chances I have to see that He is truly in charge. If I just wouldn't whine along the way, maybe I'd learn all of this a little sooner rather than later. Again though, I'm able to see how much my Father in Heaven loves me and wants to help even when I'm not acting my best. How much more I have to learn about parenting!
Oh and we did take all the kids with us, don't worry! Neah was the only one who'd hold still long enough to get a picture in all the chaos.

Bhakka's here to help!

Bhakka was a life saver and came out to help with the move. She did almost all of the cleaning and watching of the kids and well there wasn't much left for me to do. So the least we could do was make a quick trip to DC. We had a blast and the kids were such troopers for our whirlwind visit. We did the Zoo and almost all the monuments in one day!

playing catch up!

Hey all,
I'm finally trying to do this blog thing again! Oh and sorry no picture with this post...I don't have room on the camera. I need to put some more picture on here. Yes, it's the never ending cycle. But I just went crazy today and posted a LOT (this is number 18). So to those of you who don't want to look at it all:
We've had a lot of changes lately. From June 30 -Aug 1
We closed on our house.
Merrill defended and is now our "Dr Daddy" - we are so proud of him
Merrill got a new job at Cadwell Laboratories
We moved from Durham, NC to Richland WA.
We saw family in UT, and WA.
Rode way too many airplanes to count and are happy to be back together as a family.
I have us caught up to just before our move on this blog...hopefully the rest will follow this week! But if you do want to look below, you will see some of the fun we had before leaving Durham...we miss you all!

Nano Helping

So here is a so cute web page I forgot to post...we have pictures of Josh doing this at Nano's age and it was just priceless to have Nano love it just as much! I have big helpers, or should I say Merrill has big helpers!

Packing boxes

So, we did a partial pack with Allied for our moving across the country. The companies warehouse was in Raleigh, a 20 min drive which I only wanted to do once. I had all the kids and we "made" the boxes fit. The kids were literally covered in boxes and we made a game of it by calling it our box tent. The kids were happy with that for the first 10 min or so and then Mikayla said her neck hurt from keeping her head tilted to the side. Sorry sweetheart! Thanks for being a trooper and taking one for the team!

Primary Talent Show

One more thing I will dearly miss from Durham....The primary talent shows ROCKED!!!
These are some classic pictures of our kids - thanks Lindsay! (I'm a bad mom and forgot the camera). We have some more if you click on the title. They are from the boys practicing their Kung-fu before the performance!
Mikayla was so cute with hers. She could still recite the poem a month after having done it! Way to go girl! And I will never forget Josh's "I want to show you my moves" into the microphone with Nano so amazed at the lights that he couldn't even do his kung-fu!

Preschool Party

So you can't really see these videos but you can hear the kids singing their cute songs...check out the photos for their cute faces!
We have Adelle, Anja, Grace, Josh and Sydney. Josh loved being the only boy!! :)

No more scoot

She's 8 months and a crawler now! She does this one legged thing, it's so cute. The really funny thing is that by the time she got the hang of crawling, her rolls were not even on both sides. She had three on one side still and only two on the other...can you tell which one got a bit of a work out!:)

Silliness

Tearing Paper

So..this isn't too long, but at least we caught it on video. Mikayla used to do this as a baby. Give them a pile of paper or paper towells and they are entertained for a good half hour. Funny how both my girls love it and the boys couldn't really care much. I love the determination that is put into tearing the paper. Girl's will be girls!

THE BEACH!

The time has finally come! We get to do our May beach trip! We are going to miss NC beaches - I can't express that enough!!!! But we are so glad to have another one before we leave and don't worry we plan to come back this time next year for more beach fun! We also got to have Dave and Michelle come out for a visit and enjoy the beach with us. I even got Michelle to go out with us ladies and do some boogie boarding!!

fun with dad

We weren't able to see much of Merrill those days...that paper writing stuff! (I don't like it so much!) So when he's home, he takes center stage and the we can't get enough of him....good times.:)

Our boys

Spotlighting...Neah!

We can't get enough of this girl!!!

BBQ Bash!

This was an awesome BBQ! We wanted to give a great party to all the guys finishing up around the same time! We have Brady, Jason, Merrill and Aaron (Brandon wasn't able to make it). We called it our "grateful to have jobs bbq". We all felt very blessed to have jobs with our economy right now. These guys are all brilliant and it was fun to have such support from our friends - over 50 people came to give them their congrats!!

Oh yes, after Merrill going to CA, TX, and WA....we chose a job in the Tri-cities of WA. He's working for a medical device company - Cadwell Labs. Way to go honey!!!!

Trip to Amie and Jeremy's

In April we made a three week trip to see family. We went to Utah, then to NM, then AZ. (Sorry these are posted backwards...I have an unhappy Lynneah and I'm trying to get these done fast!)
Most of the time it was just me and the kids while Merrill did job interviews. He was able to join us in AZ and we were all really glad to see him. The trip was a blast though and the kids did great on all of our flights to and from and all the layovers. Too bad Merrill never got to enjoy those flights! :)

Oh and sorry about all the posts...trying to catch up!

Trip to Christie and John's

We had so much fun with cousins! I only got pictures of the museum but we had a blast just hanging out and letting the kids enjoy seeing each other...it's always too long between visits!