Hooray for Hansen's

Ruth and Matt were in town this weekend and we had an impromptu party at our house yesterday. It was so much fun to see the whole family and spend some time playing and having fun. Rachel and Taylor spent some time impressing all of us with their gymnastic abilities.

Sweet Ruth and Matt brought some special gifts for the kids and they totally loved them (Matt isn't in the picture because he was busy slaving away in the kitchen making us some delicious bread for dinner -- thanks Matt).

A little bit later that night, the kids decided to play with Star. Unfortunately, Star had no say in the kind of games they played, so it ended up being Star as the horse, with all four kids as the riders. Then, the game turned into one giant dog pile -- and guess who was on the bottom. Aren't Aunt's just the greatest?

St George Marathon

Here is the wonderful house where we stayed during our 3 day relaxation (at least it was relaxing for me). It was so nice and way worth paying a little more than we would have for the other home options. Wahoo!

There was someone in the hot tub every night. Usually more than one. The night before the race Jon, Ryan, and I all got in around 2 a.m. (apparently, it's hard to sleep the night before a race -- even for the non-runners). It was tons of fun!

This is the freezing cold pool that no one got in, except the crazy Snarr's (more to follow on that).

The cheering fans! The Hansen family came down for a little getaway (thanks Perkins' for letting them stay in your house so they could share in this awesome event with us). It was great having so many people cheering on the family.

Ryan & Nick

Dan, Jon, and Andy (sorry Becky -- still none of you, but I'm working on it)

Our victorious runners! (here's the proof that Becky actually did run -- you don't get a medal just for sitting on the sidelines)

The recovery -- watching conference and eating way too much delicious food.

After conference ended we all decided that it would be good to go out for a walk to help the runners on their road to normalcy. Becky and Ryan (being the industrious couple they are) left immediately. During the course of their absence, the rest of us decided to make the short trip to Snow Canyon, and walk around up there. Unfortunately, this resulted in the ditching of the Snarr's (unintentional of course). So, sorry Snarr's that we ditched you. But, it was still pretty cool, despite the constant guilt that was plaguing all of us.

I ask you, do these boys look a little unnatural to you? It definitely looked unnatural in person. They seriously were walking like this -- these are not posed photos to make their situation look worse. It was hilarious to watch them try and hike up the rocks and hills.

Once we returned to the house and faced the wrath of Becky and Ryan, I made everyone sit and listen to me play my violin (it was 100% pure embarrassment, and I hope to never do it again), then Ryan had Heidi teach him a little tap routine. I'm sure if you ask him he would be more than happy to perform it for you. The night was filled with games, hot tubbing, and of course, more good food (we had to either eat it or throw it away, and anyone on a budget knows how heart rending throwing out good food can be). It was pure fun all around.

So, Monday morning rolls around, and all the runners sleep in at least until 8:00. All the runners that is, except the Snarr's. Becky and Ryan had gotten up and actually gone running early that morning -- Crazy act #1. Then, they came home and immediately plunged themselves into the freezing cold pool -- crazy act #2. Seriously, it was cold outside when you were fully clothed, and that water was like hypothermia cold! They swam around for an hour or so. They assured us that after the first couple times of jumping in they didn't feel cold anymore -- I attribute this miraculous non-cold feeling to the deadening of their nerves. Anyway, cold though it may have been, they had a great time swimming around and jumping off of the little waterfall.

After the race everyone had decided that they were definitely going to take some time off from running, and maybe even be done with the whole marathon thing. Most everyone is sticking with that plan except Becky and Jon (no big surprise). They went from promising themselves they were done to planning new strategies to try in their training sessions to make them faster for the next marathon. This switch took a total of about 1, maybe 2 days.

So, there you have it. The complete rundown on the St. George Marathon. The race was a success. Everyone finished in excellent time, everyone was in pretty good condition afterward, and no one was brought to the finish line in the too slow van. It doesn't get much better than that.

It took us a few tries to get the picture so you could read the message

As is obvious, it is Mom's birthday. We just wanted to say we love you and since we couldn't be there in person (and you did just tell me that you check this every few nights), we thought this would be the next best thing. Love you Mom.

Family Night Fun

Again, aren't dad's fantastic? Who else would try and ride the smallest bike just to appease the kids who wanted their own bigger bikes? Plus, this was way funny to me at the time -- enjoy.

Aren't Dad's the Best?!?

Yesterday in church, I was in charge of keeping Rachel and Kale busy during Sacrament meeting and Jon was helping out Hallie. As I looked down the row to where Jon was sitting, I watched as he carefully got Polly Pocket into a new dress, and I just thought to myself "Aren't dad's the best?" I loved seeing him in that small moment doing something that is obviously not the norm for him, but loving Hallie enough to risk being caught playing dollies.



In other news, Kale is now walking. Yes, it's true. I love to see him walking from place to place (or at least trying) instead of getting on his hands and knees to crawl. All I can say is "Wahoo!" Those knees of Kale's definitely need a break -- literally, they are covered with callouses.

Hallie is potty training, and she is doing fantastically well. We almost never have accidents (which I am glad about), and she feels so proud of herself. And, the biggest news so far is that Hallie just had her first dry night (whether that's appropriate to share or not, too bad -- we're pretty excited about it here).

The last bit of news we have to share is this -- as many of you know, I put some pink streaks in my hair a few months ago. Well, the girls initially didn't like it, and we talked about it a lot at first, but in the last month they seem to have forgotten about it. Apparently, this was not the case.
Just last week Rachel was coloring in a My Little Pony coloring book. She was filling in those color by number pictures (you know -- color the 1's red, the 2's blue, and so on). As she's coloring she was letting me know how most horses had brown or black hair, but these ponies had special different colors in their hair.
At this point she stops, looks at me, looks back at her picture, and then says, "Mom, your hair is special just like this pony's. You have brown, pink, and blonde, and this pony also has brown, pink, and yellow, which is like blonde."
So there you have it. If you're feeling like your hair could use a change, you can always go to My Little Pony for a little inspiration.

CAMPING CASTLETON'S

You might be thinking to yourselves, "who is this entry about?" Well, even though none of us can claim the name anymore, the three Castleton girls who are still living in Utah decided that we would go on a little camping trip over Labor Day weekend. Mom and Dad decided they would definitely not be involved -- camp where you can see your neighbors AND where it's super hot? Certainly not!
So, Becky, Sarah, and I (and of course our families) planned and carried out a super fun camping trip.

If you're thinking that Kale is looking awfully sweaty, that's because he is. We had to stay in the hot, stuffy tent because of the rain and we were all dripping sweat.

My family got to the campsite very first. As soon as we got our tent set up, it started to pour. There was about 1.5 inches in the first 20 minutes that it rained. It's true that I've been known to exaggerate, but this is not one of those times. We quickly threw all our stuff (kids included) into the tent, and then sat around waiting for the rain to let up. Unfortunately, that never happened. So, there we all were sitting in our super hot tent, trying to think of things to keep the kids happy. We finally decided to make a run for the car because at least we had some food in there. Everything turned out fine, but we did end up having to go into Moab for dinner because it was too rainy. And, to top it off, we had to set up Becky and Ryan's tent in the dark because when they got to the campsite it was still raining. A crazy start to the camping trip!

Rachel was the fearless hiking leader. Our first hike was 2.4 miles round trip and Rachel was right there making sure we all stayed on task. Sometimes her desire to be the leader caused hurt feelings (Jon was always crying because he wanted to be in charge), but she was still great at the job. She wasn't scared to climb up anything -- I was probably plenty scared for both of us! Anna was right there with Rachel doing whatever looked cool. Hallie and Alyssa were a little more reserved, but once they saw that the other girls came out unscathed, they would give it a try. It was super fun to see the girls explore and have new experiences.

During the hike we found a cool little crevice. Ryan had jokingly suggested that we should try climbing it, not really intending for anyone to do it. But, we all decided that it would be fun to do it. Of course, once one person got up to a high point, we all had to keep trying until we got up higher than the last attempt. I believe Jon was the true winner of the height contest (not that it was actually a contest), but I was the one who showed them all how to get up higher. So, we'll call this one a draw. Who knew we were all so competetive?

So, Kale was crazy while we were camping. The first night he woke up at 4:30, and never went back to sleep. I took him out of the tent for a while and tried to put him back to sleep, but it never happened. I went and switched Jon just before 6, and he just decided to take Kale on a little hike. I guess it was pretty awesome because he watched the sun rise from under one of the arches, but it was still pretty early and left both boys with very little sleep.
So, that was the first night. The next night was even worse. Kale woke up at 2:30 and was not about to go back to bed. Normally, if this happened at home we would just let him scream it out for a while (I say scream and not cry, because that is exactly what Kale does). Unfortunately, when you're camping, especially in Southern Utah, there are no trees or anything to muffle the sound, so if Kale wakes up, so do all the people sleeping anywhere nearby. Anyway, I ended up trying to let him scream it out in the car. I had to stay in there with him, because otherwise it just felt like abandonment, plus, if someone happened by and saw a screaming baby by himself, they could have called child services. Anyway, to make this super long story slightly shorter, I ended listening to Kale cry for a very long time and eventually just ended up driving all the way down the mountain and out of the park, and then driving back, thus ensuring that Kale would sleep for at least an hour. Sure enough, when we got back just before 5:30, Kale was awake again. At this point I switched Jon, and once again Jon took Kale on the now customary sun rise hike. And there you have it -- the worst 2 nights ever

Sarah, Jamie, Madalynne, and Zoe arrived on Saturday just after our morning hike. We were so glad that they had come because we thought they might not be able to make it. The girls were all so glad to see that Madalynne had come. Everyone wanted to sit by her anytime sitting was involved. Madalynne was setting up specified times when all the little cousins could have a turn to sit next to her. Thanks to Sarah and Jamie for coming out and helping to make our campout so much fun.

Hopefully this is something that we can do every year -- just get together with whoever is available and camp for a few days. We had such a fantastic time and loved just being with our family!

Violin Virtuoso?!?

Alright, so the truth is, there is no violin virtuoso in our home, it's just me. Although, I am starting to regret my long ago decision to quit violin lessons. I had started practicing my violin again in the spring because of a need to perform at a recital for the music school. Once this said recital was over, the practicing quickly came to a stop. Then, just last week I suddenly felt the desire to start practicing again. On the very next day after resolving to take back up the violin, I got a call to teach violin lessons. I made sure I practiced every day last week, and spent time planning out what I would teach my very first student (well, at least since I was 15). It was fun getting everything ready, but I still felt pretty scared. Yesterday we had our very first violin lesson. It went pretty well, but I was wishing for my old abilities so this kid would have some confidence in the fact that I would be able to teach him great things. Anyway, that's the big news for now. From here on out I will be known as Janay Hansen - violin teacher extraordinaire.