Party Girls!!

Perhaps you're wondering why on earth I have this picture on here. No, I'm not some crazy Twilight fanatic (although, granted, I have read all the books). The picture is simply to let you know about the way fun night I had with my sisters (at least those that are nearby).
Some of Becky's friends from her neighborhood invited her to join them in a special double-feature of Twilight and New Moon. Twilight started at 9 pm, followed by a midnight showing of New Moon. Becky, being the great sister she is, invited Sarah and I along for the fun. And it seriously was fun! People are crazy about that show -- I really had no idea.
First of all, people started lining up for this show at like 4 pm. Even Becky's friends were in line by 5 (which worked to our advantage because they saved us a spot). There was cheering and swooning going on left and right. Every time it showed Edward or Jacob (the main guys in the book (I'm writing this part for Tammy's benefit since I know she has no clue)), the theater would erupt in cheers and cat calls. So, Becky and her friends decided to cheer when Carlisle came on the screen. Pretty hilarious.
Anyway, it was so fun to be with my sisters and revel in our late night hilarity -- we laughed at all the wrong places, but no one really seemed to mind. We got home way late (like 3 am), but it was worth it to me to feel like a carefree kid for the night. So, thanks Becky for letting us have such a crazy, fun-filled night.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's true that at the Hansen household, the Christmas season lasts twice as long as most other houses. I just can't wait for the decorations, the smells, the music, and the good feelings -- there's really nothing that could take it's place. Upon the request of my sisters, who don't get to enjoy our festive spirit all the year through, here are the pictures of our decorated house.
We put up our family room tree the day after Halloween. It was incredibly early (the earliest we've ever decorated, in fact), but definitely worth it. We have loved just sitting in the family room--whether morning or evening, just so long as it's dark--and looking at the Christmas lights.
I was way excited to put up the entry tree because it was brand new this year! I used some of my money from teaching at the music school and purchased this huge tree (of course the cheapest one I could find -- I was excited, but I'm still crazily frugal). The entry tree took a few days to assemble and decorate (as I was mostly doing it myself while Jon worked), but I feel pleased with the end result.
The trees are lovely, but you may have noticed that all the decorations (on both trees) start about 3 feet from the ground. Kale absolutely loves the trees, and if the decorations are high enough, he generally leaves them alone. But, put a few within reaching distance, and he thinks they are his personalized toys (unfortunately, we found this out the hard way).

So, the pictures above are the family room (p.s. does anyone in the Castleton family recognize that special advent calendar hanging on the wall?), our village, and the fireplace in the living room. Just so everyone knows, the decorations in the living room #1-look better than in this picture, and #2-have a little more than you can see. On the other side of the mantel, there is a glass vase full of gold & silver sparkly balls with sparkly branches coming out the top. It adds some nice color -- if I do say so myself.

The final (and frankly, my most favorite) part of our decorations are the manger scenes. There is something about a manger scene that I just love, and one day I hope to have so many I won't even know what to do with them all. They're just so beautiful. So, this year we're up to 5 thanks to Mom's hand me down manger scene that she was going to throw away this year (thank goodness I put a stop to that travesty -- throw away a perfectly good manger scene? Never!)
You may be wondering why I included the picture of the mantel, but what you may not realize is that there are 2 very tiny manger scenes there as well -- although, to be quite honest, you really can only see the trains. Oh well, just knowing it's there is enough.

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot that the girls also have a manger scene. Actually, it was given to Rachel about 3 years ago from Marmee, and she loves it. Sometimes it is an acceptable play thing, but on the night we were putting up the decorations, we had an all out war on our hands trying to get Rachel to accept Hallie's help. The above picture was taken after many, many attempts at setting it up to perfection which were almost all foiled by the nefarious Hallie Hansen (at least that's the Rachel viewed it). Seriously, if you had been here, you would have thought there was some serious trouble taking place, but it was really just Hallie messing up Rachel's organization. I never realized what a perfectionist Rachel is. I know she doesn't get that from me.

So, there you have it -- the Hansen's have officially started there Christmas season, and we are loving every second of it!

Dressing up!

There is something about Halloween that is just magical to me. I don't really like the scariness of the holiday anymore (although, I used to love it), but who doesn't love a chance to dress up and be something, or someone, different for one special night? Not only is there the magic of being someone different, but you also get the benefit of candy galore, and that can only be a good thing!

Kale was a very dashing Harry Potter

Rachel claims she was Willa from the movie Mariposa (for all those whose homes have not been infiltrated with such delights, Mariposa is a Barbie movie), although she wasn't dressed as such. She did have blue hair though, and that's why she thought it was a valid claim.

Hallie wanted to be everything this year, and since we didn't have to buy any costumes, we humored her. She started out as a fairy/Cinderella, next came the 80's punk fairy, and lastly was Pocahontas. How adorable!

The girls and I convinced Jon that he needed to dress up this year, and he actually agreed (I'm pretty sure it was the girls that got to him and not me). We had just gone through Mom's old costumes and luckily there we found a pirate costume. So, thanks to Mom for making it possible to rope Jon into dressing up. The girls thought it was super fun to have Jon in costume.

Well, Halloween is now over, and the fun of dressing up gone with it. Now it's time to get started on thinking about where I'm going to hang my Christmas decorations. I know it's early, but it's tradition for me to decorate just before Jon goes out of town for his November stint, and I must uphold the tradition (that I made for myself).

Pre-Halloween pictures

Although it's not quite Halloween yet, the girls and I got to dress up for Halloween today. We had music school this morning, and since it's Halloween week, we got to dress up. Not only did everyone get to wear their costumes, but we also trick-or-treated in class, which was a big hit! It was fun to have everyone in their costumes. I also included a picture of one of my classes. It was tons of fun.

Hallie, Hallie, Hallie...

What a nut Hallie is. We totally love her craziness!!

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.