Tyler's 6th Birthday Party

I can't believe the Tyler is already 6 years old! This is a fun age because he is getting really good at reading and being more helpful around the house. Tyler requested a Star Wars birthday party this year. We just did a small party with a few homemade games and activities. Luckily a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds are easy to please on a low budget. I made the cake with some of his starwars toys and wrote the star wars logo with frosting. Some of his friends came wearing their favorite star wars dress ups and Ty wore his Darth Vader costume that he got for his birthday from Grandma and Grandpa Hansen. Tyler and his friends flew their rocket ship (a blanket on the floor) through a meteor shower (balloons filled with starburst candy) and had to pop them to get the treat. Then they had to use the force to help them hit a hanging balloon with their light sabors while blindfolded. I was surprised how much the boys got into this. We also played find the asteroid and then when they were having light sabor battles in the backyard Andy came to attack wearing a Darth Vader mask. Luckily I had a bunch of water balloons ready for them to get him back, It was really fun. Happy Birthday Tyler!!!!!

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What we've been up to this summer

Summer 2010 has been really fun so far. Here are a few of the things we've been doing (in no particular order because I can't remember the exact order).

Baseball game for the San Antonio Missions minor league team. Believe it or not it was "mormon night". All the missionaries were there and Ty Detmer was there signing autographs.

Andy and Tyler at the Fathers and Sons campout. A really pretty place about 20 minutes from our house called Pradise Canyon.

The ocean! We did a day trip to the Corpus Christi area and went to Mustang Island State Park. We played at the beach all day then ate dinner at a yummy local sea food restaurant before our drive home.

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A visit from Lisa! I've been able to see my best friend Lisa so many times since moving to Texas because she's been in and out many times working or passing through. Lisa and her co-worker Becca went to the riverwalk with us. We are eating yummy chocolates from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory (there is a RMCF on the riverwalk!). Tyler took this picture. The kids love it when "Aunt Lisa" visits, she is soooo fun!

Hiking at Government Canyon State Park. The wildflowers in San Antonio this spring and early summer were to die for (because of all the heavy rains we had this year). I wish I got a picture of the blue bonnets, they were everywhere durin the month of May.

Andy has spent a lot of time working in the garden and setting up our new swing set. It is so fun to have a backyard of our own after so many years of apartment living!

In or garden we have tomatoes, squash, cantaloupe, sunflowers, parsely, cilantro, carrots, cucumber, sweet potatoes, and basil. We just planted some pumpkin seeds for Halloween, we'll see if they work. A lot of it is all leaves and blossoms and not many fruits but we are learning more and getting better each growing season.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

As I was writing in my dad's Father's day card I thought it would be fun to list some of the things that remind me of him. As I was doing it I thought my sisters would get a kick out of the list too so here it is. I love you Dad!!!!! Happy Father's Day.

Things that remind me of Dad:
1.Old Spice Cologne
2. Cantaloupe and vanilla ice cream
3. watching him break up ice for the ice cream maker (and praying he didn't smash his finger with the hammer in the process).
4. Loading the boat with him when packing for Lake Powell.
5. "Taxi.... Hit it!"
6. Peeling potatoes with him
7. "Burp..Ribbit"
8. Going to ward choir with him
9. Blowing air into the newspaper bag and then popping it
10. The one song he remembered how to play on the piano from his childhood- something about an Indian?
11. squeaking air out of his lips to make one loud squeak and that meant it time to get ready for bed.
12. Raiding his stash of canker and cold sore medicine whenever I got one.
13. His great hugs!

Fiesta School Parade

Tyler's school has a fun tradition. Every year during Fiesta (a holiday in San Antonio) they make a mini float with their families and parade them around the school. Tyler wanted to make the house from his favorite movie "Up". He LOVES that movie. It was fun to go and see all the floats along the "parade route".

Spring Break- March 2010

Since we were not going on a vacation for spring break I decided to make it a fun week for Tyler to have off of school. Poor Andy had to work all week so he was jealous of all the fun we had.

Monday we went to a matinee movie (The Princess and the Frog) at the dollar theatre and had a special lunch. Tuesday we went to the Botanical Gardens with our friends the Huddlestons. It was sooo fun, we let the kids get all wet and dirty playing around at the duck pond and water fountains. We ended up staying there for over 5 hours because it was so fun for them.

I can't remember what we did Wednesday- I think we met friends at the park. Thursday we went to Sea World with our friends the Woods. I couldn't decide which picture was best of Zach so I included them all.

On Friday we went to the San Antonio Zoo with some friends who work with Andy. Apparently everyone else in the city wanted to spend the last day of spring break at the zoo too because it took me an hour in traffic just to turn onto the street where the zoo is-but it was fun once we got in.

We also spend lots of time buying plants/seeds and planting our garden. It was a fun week- I was totally exhausted by the end (pushing a double stroller all week tired me out) but it was worth all the work to see the kids have so much fun!

Christmas Day 2009

Nothing too fancy this year- we opened presents, played with presents, and had Christmas dinner. I roasted a Chicken (the Turkey's were just too big) and made all the trimmings... mashed potatoes, gravy, and homemade stuffing (not stovetop!). Poor Andy got called to work in the morning just after the gifts were open and got home just in time for dinner so he was gone most the day. It was a bit lonely spending Christmas with just me and the kids but it was also a nice quiet low-key day. Tyler got a nerf gun that shoots suction cups and a baseball mitt. Lizzy got a bunch of Disney Princess stuff and a tricycle.

The kids thought it was so cool to drink from our "fancy goblets"

Christmas Eve

We ate Christmas eve dinner with some friends. The kids had fun running around together and we even did some face painting. Then we read from Luke and all the kids acted out the Nativity. No one wanted to be Joseph so Andy got roped into it. Then we hurried home to put on Christmas jammies, read a Christmas story, and wait for Santa.