General Conference!

this past general conference weekend was hands down the best one we have ever had as a family. i am so grateful for the chance we had to sit at the feet of the prophets and just soak in the togetherness! we'll see how the next one goes when seth is mobile lol 

we went and got donuts saturday morning. and look, kent scouted out a donut AND bagel place just for me =o]

i'm sure the workers all thought we were insane- this white family all in their pjs walking into their shop at 7am lol

when we got home the boys made eggs and sausage while the girls set the table and such. 

(not sure why this is sideways, but still) looks great, right?!? as you can see from the pictures below we couldn't have been more pleased with the meal! 

(seth had his normal oatmeal and fruit, but i'm sure by next time he will be ready to join in a bit of the fun!)

then comes the magic. in the past we have set up blankets like a tent to be like king benjamin's people. cool, but not actually that cool because they would fall and just be frustrating. so we set up the real thing in our family room and seriously the kids thought they had died and gone to heaven! here they are dancing around and LOUDLY singing about how great general conference weekend is lol

just look at them. best. idea. ever. 

here is natalie singing along with the hymn and reading the verses she didn't know by heart =o]

natalie asked if she could snap a picture of us in the tent with my phone. nbd. (this will come up later)

then sunday morning we did our tradition during music and the spoken word of making little cue cards so the kids can listen to the talks and when they hear that word/topic they get a candy/snack. good times =o]

this is the sunday afternoon session with caleb working on his packet. 

he asked if he could take a picture of us and our journals with my phone. nbd (again, this will come up later)

here is caleb circling the current speaker, which is another cool tradtion we have that the kids just love. 

(they made new cards for the second session)

this is the later part where the picture taking comes up again. little did i know that caleb was taking picture after picture of us in the tent. over a less than three minute period so far as i can tell, he took no less than 76 pictures all more or less like these: 

that kid. harmless. but mischievous. him and #3 both!

and then of course before priesthood session we updated our 72 hour kits. natalie has been worried about natural disasters since our 5.3 earthquake so doing this was another weapon in her anxiety-fighting arsenal. 

but aside from all the fun memories, more than anything this weekend was about feeling the Spirit of the Lord touch our souls as we listened to the words of God fill our home! we had discussed several times questions each of us had about things we need to know or do, and every single one of them were answered in some way. one of us would say "oh did you hear that? maybe that is what can help us." or "mom, see? just do that and you won't feel grumpy!" lol seriously though, i am excited to go back and listen to them all again and read them for deeper understanding over the next six months until we get to do it all again! we LOVE general conference!

Madera Spring Break Trip

we were so excited to go back to madera! the kids remember living there and have such special relationships with my parents and sisters, so they were excited to see them! sadly kent couldn't get off work so we went without him. we both feel differently about trips like this than we have in the past, and i'm grateful that our relationship has matured in this way. we are both independent people, but i am so happy that we can be interdependent as a married couple. it is a nice feeling. i hope it continues to grow! 

it has become a tradition to stop at grandpa jamie's farm on the way up, to be sure we get to spend some time with him! the kids got dirty of course and had a grand ol time =o] 

grandma and grandpa hansen stopped by and grandma stayed for dinner while my grandpa and dad went with jenae to a fancy FFA event. i'm pretty sure my grandma hansen is the kindest hearted person i have ever met! it was great to catch up with her and watch both of them interact with the kids. my kids are the BEST at greeting people when they walk in the door and making them feel welcome and this was no exception- i loved watching their faces as the kids shouted their names and jumped up from what they were doing to go hug them =o] we are so blessed to have them in our lives!

they brought jelly beans as a special treat so melissa busted out this little bag and my kids were in heaven! they took turns eating their beans out of the bag and pretending to get weird flavors. good times!

after finally getting the kids to bed i worked on the family history project with my mom until jenae and crew got home. jenae is such a character! she is super classy and talented and i just can't wait to see how high she can fly! she is only allowed to wear the top three most important pins she has on the outside of her FFA jacket, so she keeps the rest of the collection on the inside- they clink together slightly when she moves =o] she gave me the tour of her room and we chatted it up in the early mornings and late nights but true to junior year schedules i didn't see her much otherwise. 

on this day i also made yet another carrot cake. i'm done i think. it was good but again just not the same. and i know what i'm talking about because i had it again at another baby shower for a different girl in our ward and it is seriously rockin! what the heck does that lady put in that cake?!?! i'll never know. ah well.

here is caleb showing grandpa jamie that he can cross the monkey bars by himself now. he was so proud of his accomplishment, and of course my dad felt his muscles and looked appropriately impressed =o]

the old stomping grounds. sometimes i can't believe it really happened (i really lived with my parents!!) but i am so grateful they opened their hearts and home to us in our time of need. we all definitely felt (and discussed) the blessings of that time and how the Lord strengthened us all to be able to make it through, loving each other more for it none the less!

we went over to our best friend's house in madera while visiting and this is definitely becoming a tradition as well. i say "we" because i mean my, natalie, and caleb's best friends from madera are all in the same family. there is also a little girl jenna's age but they are still deciding about each other lol Sarah is expecting their SIXTH baby (so inspirational, right!?!) and we were visiting teaching companions and she just always was the nonjudgmental listening ear i needed. 

anyway, here are the kids playing out in their yard 

and here's natalie and maren =o]

i brought an easter craft for the kids to do with grammy while i was at the play with melissa (the musical this spring was urinetown- i miss theatre SO MUCH!) but ended up busting it out early and doing it with them. fun, but cheap and now most of them are junked up pieces that i will throw away when we pack up the easter decorations. thank you target dollar section. 

and here are the kids with quite possibly their favorite person alive aside from me and kent. and for good reason. aunt melissa is the best aunt ever! i try to follow her example when i'm with my nieces and nephews but i know i'll never live up to her coolness. they made a lot of good memories with her yet again on this trip! 

and then we headed home. rockin out to our happy hansen cd or listening to harry potter all the way, of course =o]

a quick trip to SLO

to start off spring break with a bang we went to see grandmom and grandad and great grammy in san luis obispo. i am working on some family history books and so we went for the weekend- it was so great to see them! they have such a special place in my heart and such fun relationships with my children! i am sad we didn't get to see grammy much as she was not feeling well. at least seth got to meet her! here is the photo dump from the trip!

some of my favorite moments were when grandad played with seth and made him laugh by making lots of different types of noises, getting to watch the general women's meeting broadcast with grandmom, grandmom commenting with a catch in her voice how nice it was to have my whole family there to visit while giving me a big hug, seeing my aunt karen even if just for a few minutes (after she left natalie said "well she sure brings the sunshine in with her!" and i agree =o]) and listening to the kids chatter away about nothing and have grandmom and grandad respond engagingly and knowing they genuinely care about them. and my kids just adore them right back! it was such a special experience to get to record some of their memories and make some decisions about the books we are making of their lives.
i am truly blessed in the grandparents department! i am grateful they can handle our noise and activity level =o]
hooray for spring break and making memories with our forever family!!