Spring time 2013!

     We are still kind of waiting for Spring time to be here all the way but we keep getting little snippets of it before it snows again.  The weather has been nice for about 1 week at a time, and then we will get another little cold spell.  But that's ok. We are taking advantage of any warm days we can get!  Easter was a lot of fun this year.  We got to color easter eggs with Sadie and Griffin, and then on another day with our friend Grace.  We also had a little egg hunt with Grace.  We had Easter dinner at the Blacks and another easter egg hunt with Jenna's Utah cousins.  The dinner was delicious!  I like Easter dinner more than Thanksgiving dinner for sure! :) We made our traditional 'easter rolls' and had Easter breakfast the Monday before Easter since we thought Andrew might have meetings Easter morning.  It was fun to talk a lot with Jenna about Jesus, His resurrection, and why we celebrate Easter.
     The next week, Grandma Hughes came up to visit since it was her Spring break.  We went to the baby animal petting zoo at "This is the Place Heritage Park" and had a lot of fun!.  Jenna got to ride a pony! We also pet lots of baby animals like chicks, lambs, goats, pigs, and bunnies.  Then we got to eat some yummy donuts from "Brigham's donuts" and go on a couple of different train rides.  They had a big train, a little train, and a stationary medium size train.  We all had a great time!

 New Easter dress.  It was a fun, happy day.

 Jenna was so brave and excited to ride the pony! She even wore her cowgirl boots, so she was like a real cowgirl!

 We kept chasing this pig so we could pet him.  We found out that he was just looking for a spot in the sun to lay down.  Once he found it, he let us pet him.

Dinner and egg hunt at the Black's

Enjoying Easter egg hunt and treats at Katie's.

San Diego-Taste of Spring!

We went down to San Diego around Valentine's day this year to say goodbye to Sara.  She was leaving on her mission to Guatemala so all of the sibilings and their families gathered into the Hansen house for a few days to spend time with her before she left.  She is such an amazing missionary and we are so grateful for her awesome example!  While we were down there we took Jenna to Sea World for the first and second time.  She LOVED it!  She got to ride on some of the kid rides in the Sesame Street land, pet a couple of dolphins, hold some starfish, and see lots of cool animals.  Shamu had a baby while we were there so we didn't see the Shamu show but we did get to see Shamu, Shamu's family, and the brand new baby orca whale.  The beluga whale exhibit was closed so we will look forward to seeing those and the Shamu show next time we go.  Jenna had a lot of fun playing in Grandma and Grandpa Hansen's yard, hanging out in the hot tub and around the pool, playing with Roxy and Daisy (she loved the dogs), and running around and playing with her cousins. We had such a nice, fun, relaxing, warm trip!  We are Happy we are Hansens Yesiree!

Christmas

Christmas was a lot of fun! Jenna was really into everything this year.  We made gingerbread houses, read lots of Christmas stories, learned about the nativity, learned about Santa Claus, went to see the lights at temple square, made and delivered neighbor gifts, wrapped a lot of presents together, etc.  Jenna has made up a lot of new Christmas songs, mostly about baby Jesus, Mary Joseph, and the donkey. :)  We have one of them that she sand to us before bed on Christmas eve. She is so smart and adorable! She got a polly pocket house, her first barbies, some magnetic puzzles, her very own nail polish and more!  Christmas with a toddler is the most fun Christmas has ever been!

Jenna is three!

Jenna turned three last week and seems to have extra energy ever since!  Her birthday was a lot of fun because she totally knew what was going on.  She got a lot of fun presents and we went to the library and out for ice cream on her actualy birthday.  And then on Saturday we had a family party. We colored Mickey Mouse Clubhouse pictures and she had a Minnie Mouse cake per her request.  It was a lot of fun! 

Some fun facts about Jenna at this age are that she has an amazing memory! She is SO smart.  If you teach/tell her something once she seems to remember it forever.  She is very obedient and good at listening to us.  She has an awesome imagination.  She is really good at 'pretend play'.  She loves to tell stories and have us tell stories to her also, especially when we are driving somewhere.  She really likes going to the library.  She loves to read.  Some of her favorite things right now are anything to do with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and she really likes the Fancy Nancy books.  The winter cold weather has arrived but during the summer she loved being outside! She really likes hiking, 'rock climbing (she likes to climb on any rock or boulder she sees), swimming, boating, swinging and going down slides, including big water slides on Mommy's or Daddy's lap.  She is such a sweet, silly, smart, fun, amazing little girl! Happy Birthday Jenna!

Yellowstone Pics

Yellowstone

We had the Bedells at our house for about a week before the Yellowstone family reunion which was a blast! We made bubble blowing devices, went to Seven Peaks a couple of time, went bowling, and more! It was fun to spend time with them because they live the farthest away so we don't get to see them very often. Our trip to Yellowstone was for the Donald and Carol Hansen family reunion, so Andrew's Aunts and Uncles and cousins were all there. We were missing only a handful of people. It was a great turn out and we had a lot of fun! We went b.b collecting at Margie and Terry's cabin (the kids collected airsoft gun b.b.'s in plastic cups. Some of the kids and I decorated a Christmas tree in the woods with flowers and b.b.'s. :) Sadie, Makaylee and Jenna had a lot of fun catching butterflys around our cabin. We also did makeovers, played games, went fishing, river rafting, on a hike, and of course drove through Yellowstone! We all got up and left by 5:30 am and followed Uncle Brian's itinerary. Our goal was to see a bear. And we did! We saw a grizzly! He was super far away so it just looked like a blob but he turned a certain way while I was looking through the binoculars and I could the outline of his ears and head. So then I believed it really was a bear!

Flaming Gorge!

We went down to Flaming gorge with the Hughes clan (minus Greg) and we had SO much fun! It was beautiful down there! The natural landscapes around us were constantly changing dramatically, it was a fascinating drive. And there were so many beautiful red rock mountains surrounding us in certain parts of flaming gorge, floating down the river through the red rock canyon was especially beautiful. (Red rock is my favorite). It was just a quick trip but we made every second count! We fished, went boating, floated down the green river, played games, ate A LOT and had loads of fun! Jenna was fearless! She LOVES the water! She went tubing with us, was always asking to get out of the boat and swim, and even jumped off the boat into the lake into my arms when we had stopped the boat and were taking a swim break. She sure is one brave little fishy! Oh, and how cool are Grandma and Grandpa Hughes doing tricks on the water skiis!?