Texas Hill Country

Notice the Beautiful green hills in this picture below. We live really close to Hill country and this is a state park called Lost Maples about an hours drive from us. The drive was beautiful up through curvy country roads along big green hills (poor Lizzy got car sick and threw up on the way). We were also one the the few cars among the many motorcyclists enjoying the scenery. I think it made Andy wish he were riding a Harley through the hills instead of driving a minivan, ha ha. When we arrived we ate lunch and hiked around a bit. It felt a little like being back home hiking through mountains or going up Millcreek Canyon. We sure do miss Utah mountains but for now we'll enjoy the Texas hills.

Tyler thought this heart shaped cactus was cool. He took that picture himself.

Random cuteness that didn't get blogged before Zach was born

Trying on Tyler's goggles and cowboy boots

Swimming!

We had a big pile of dirt delivered for our garden (three cubic yards)
Tyler "helped" Andy wheelbarrow it to the backyard. I did not help because I was 39 weeks pregnant and it was 100 degrees outside. Andy did it all, what a guy!

We planted seeds and tomato plants in the garden box that Andy built. How cool to be planting seeds in late August- gotta love Texas.

Twinke Twinkle Little Star (or at least one line of the song).

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Have Any Ideas?

FOR ALL YOU GARDEN EXPERTS- PLEASE READ!

The rest of you can ignore this post - sorry for its cumbersome nature.



We've just started our first veggie garden, but are having trouble controlling bugs/disease. We have peas, tomatoes, squash, and watermelon (You may be wondering why we started this late - it's because San Antonio has 2 growing seasons).

Anyway, I've been using a pyrethrin-based insectide with a gallon sprayer weekly for a few weeks. I just sprayed last night. Today I go out there and see ants and flies all over, but no other pests visible. There are also many new trail-like markings, which tells me the insecticide isn't doing what I want it to do.

There seem to be 4 patterns:

First, there are yellow/white trails on the top surface of many leaves, as in the images below:

Second, there are holes in many leaves, as in the picture below:

Third, there are brown wilty areas, especially at the leaf edges, as seen below (this phenomenon seems to worsen after spraying insecticide - is it hurting the plants):






And last, there are a couple plants that were completely transected at the base (no pictures, but easy to imagine - like a chopped down tree).

Any ideas? Thanks!

Zachary Andrew Hansen born 8-30-2009

Moments after being born....

At the hospital....

At home....

Lizzy and Tyler love their new baby brother and want to hold him all the time. It was so great to have Marilyn and then my Mom and Dad here to help. They cooked, cleaned, watched kids, and spoiled us. It was also fun to hang out and go shopping with Marilyn before Zach was born (since he decided to come late). Thanks you guys, we sure miss you!

Lizzy is 2!!

Lizzy had a fun birthday on August 26th. We had an early party for her with our friends, the Coombs. Then on her actual birthday Grandma Marilyn gave her some really cute baby doll toys to get her ready to have a real baby at home. Marilyn came to the rescue with Lizzy's cake and made a cute rainbow on it. I was so very pregnant and tired I did not do my usual elaborate birthday cake for her this year. I did make a yummy strawberry cake and it was, of course, Lizzy's favorite color- pink!

The Coombs gave Lizzy some fun dress ups and she was in heaven!

Lizzy loves playing pretend with her babies

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Tyler's First Day of Kindergarten

I worried and worried about Tyler going to all day kindergarten but that is all they offer here in Texas. It turns out Tyler loves it!- I sure miss him during the day though. Andy and I both got to take him on the first day. Tyler was so excited, it was very cute.

8 Years and Counting

Happy Anniversary to us!

Then...

Now...

Do we look older? I just wanted to do a quick post for our anniversary. I can't believe it has been eight years! I am so lucky because I truly am married to my best friend. The past months of May and June after Andy graduated but hadn't started residency yet were so fun! (beside all the packing/unpacking/moving). For those months Andy and I were together with the kids all day and I never got sick of him- we did lot's of fun things together. It was hard for me when he started residency in July because I missed having my best friend with me all day. Now that he has started residency he has been very busy and I am amazed by his hard work and dedication to his family. Here is a picture of his anniversary gift to me.....

I really wanted a storage system like this from Pottery Barn Kids for our playroom but they are over a thousand dollars! Andy worked on making these shelves every day after work and every Saturday for the past 3 weeks. I helped him paint them a couple days ago and and here is the finished product. I am so impressed! And the little boy sitting on the shelves is pretty cute too. I love you Andy!