May Day...

Happy May day one and all!  Can I believe it is May??? Nope.  Last time I blogged was in January...just after Christmas...so much to talk about, so little time.  So here is the breakdown:

Christmas: Went through the Detroit Latter-day Saint Temple for the first time.  It was awesome!  I sure love the temple.  The next day we left the house really early to go to MEXICO for Christmas.  We got there Christmas Eve, stayed for a week and then came home.  It really did not feel like Christmas at all...it was really weird having warm sunny weather and a beach instead of Michigan snow.  We go to do some fun stuff though, snorkeling and also visiting the Mayan ruins.  We went shopping and then laid by the beach a ton!  It was a good time.  I only got sick the very last night, so that wasn't too bad.

Merry Christmas from Xel-Ha! :)

New Years: Went out with some of my favorite people to some parties in Salt Lake.  We toasted the new year with a balloon drop and some fun non-alcoholic jello shots.  Good times.

Work: Busy, busy.  I finally got a raise (HOORAY)! :) This summer we are going to be in the field a lot in Randolph, Utah (Up near Bear Lake).  This is my favorite place ever!!!  I love it up there. :)

Carly, Stephanie, Alicia, Kelly and I before a Zion National Park Hike

Adventures:  My roommate Alicia invited our house and some of her friends to a girls weekend in Vegas.  It was a blast.  We went dancing, went shopping, hiked around at Zion National Park.  Oh...and we went to Trader Joe's (my first time ever!) and jammed out to music in the car.  I also did quite a bit of snowshoeing the beginning of this year until I had my KNEE SURGERY!  Yay!  I am recovering nicely and I feel almost as good as new.  My knees are great, just have to get my leg muscles back up and running..literally...they told me I can start running! :)

New favorite trail for winter adventures is Donut Falls.  Easy, beautiful, and so close to home. :)

Family/Friends:  My Uncle Paul came into town on General Conference Weekend from Michigan and my cousin Boyd Paull came down from Rexberg, ID.  Along with my cousin Rachel who lives in Salt Lake there were 4 of us that went to a session of General Conference together and then had dinner at my house on Sunday night.  It was a great weekend to get to see them all.  I love family!  My freshmen roommate Jamie was in town to visit her in-laws and for a friend's wedding so I got to have lunch with her and Baby Jane (who every day is looking and acting less like a baby).  It was so fun to see them and get to catch up with Jamie.  Talking on the phone is just not the same.

We had really great seats!

Crafting:  I reupholstered a bench in February...with some help of course.  My Hansen Grandparents are pros and have all of the great tools needed so they helped out a lot.  The hardest part?  Recovering the 25 buttons on the cushion...that was pretty horrible.  I love it and I keep getting compliments on it.  Who knows, maybe a couch is in my future. :)

Isn't the fabric the cutest!?!?!

In other fun news my friend Spencer helped me make this awesome video for an audition for the Mormon Bachelor (yes, there is such a thing).  I am excited by this new possible opportunity and I'm anxious to hear back from them to see if I was chosen to go on a date with Season 4 Bachelor Kent Tuttle. :)



My last big news is MY BIRTHDAY IS THIS SUNDAY!!!  Ahhh...can't believe I am this old already.  I really still feel like I am 21.  Now I know what my Dad was talking about all these years when he said that he felt like he was still 17. :)  So yes, I have been working on my 25 before 25 list, and I think I have a lot of it done, or really close to being done (if it is planned in the next few months I am totally counting it too!).  I'll post again in the next week to show all of my progress and share a few fun stories. :)

Thanksgiving

So I know this post is loonngg overdue, but better late than never?  Thanksgiving post after the New Year is just fashionably late, right?

This year I was put in charge of the decorating for Thanksgiving at my Aunt Trina and Uncle Guy's home.  It was more than just their family though.  In total we had My step-grandparents and then 4 of their Children (with kids).  Needless to say there were quite a few people around the tables and that meant more tables for decorating!

I had everyone put something they were thankful for on the little tree branches on the Dessert table.  Here is what everyone said (Families in children age order).

Hansen Grandparents
~Lita, and our growing family (Papa)
~Righteous children and posterity (Lita)

The Hansen Family
~Grates that keep debris out of storm drains (Deren)
~Calm abundance (Liz)
~My chickens (Drake)

The Rosenhan Family
~My loving supportive spouse (Blair)
~Music (Serena)
~Family (Me)
~Temples (Stephanie)

The Harding Family
~Freedom! (Guy)
~Marching Band (Sheridan)
~Legos (Marcus)
~Life (Caleb)
~Family & Friends (Mitchell)

The Brown Family
~Children's Benedryl (Sam)
~My Body (Marenda)
~My Family (Addie)
~My family (Kasen)
~My paci (Nyah)

I only missed two people...Trina and her youngest daughter Eve (ran out of tags and didn't  have enough).  So don't worry, we'll get them next year.  Here are some long awaited pics. :)

The name tags and cute little turkeys that I made to mark all of the adults' places.

 This is one of the place markers for the kids.  They were little ships.  We taught them about the Mayflower that the Pilgrims came over to America on.

These place markers at the kids table also made for some good play time to keep them occupied.  My cousin Marcus came into the room, noticed them right away, went to find his and then said, "Yes!  These are awesome!!"...totally worth the work with a reaction like that.  Thanks Lita and Stephanie for the help. :)  Also take note of the golden pumpkin.  The kids sure liked their table.

A shot of the two adult tables...maybe one day someone will have some matching table cloths. :)  I found the white turkeys a few months ago at DI (they are terracotta).  I spray painted them using some leftover spray paint that I had from a project this summer and I can't wait to use them again!

Last but not least the pie table...looks yummy, huh.  The tree has the little tags that people wrote what they were thankful for.  I think it turned out great!

The most time consuming part was of course making the turkeys.  I had some help though and so it went pretty fast.  It was actually pretty stress free (as far as my preparation for get-togethers go).  A lot of the things I already had on hand, so all it took was a little bit of gold paint for the pumpkins, $1.00 for each of the spray painted turkeys, and then the feathers for the pine cone turkeys.  It think the whole decorations cost something like $5.50.  Talk about being on a good budget. :)  How was it done?  Using what you or your family already have on hand...and taking decorations from nature when possible (I found the pine cones under some pine trees at a gas station I stopped at with my dad...you can't beat free).

What I am thankful for this year...I know this is a little after the fact, but this year I have been really thankful for my job, my friends and my family.  I am blessed to have a good job that has been rewarding me for my hard work, friends that are there for me when I need them, and family that have taught me by their great examples.

Some Things Will Never be the Same

Have you even been to a place that is so rich with memories that any time you visit there you can't help the flood of feeling from coming?  The place where you feel happiness whenever you are there?  The place where you have more memories than anywhere else.  For me that place is my Oma and Opa's house.

Summers spend in the garden, cousin sleepovers, Thanksgivings in the basement, Christmas in the living room, and feasts prepared in the Kitchen.  I just can't help but love it there.  After my Oma passed away I wanted to make sure to get some pictures of the property because I know now that Oma is gone it is going to change, it won't be the same ever again.  I hate when some things change.  So here are some pictures I took to remember it.  All are associated with memories and some of the best times of my life.

Flowers on the back porch

The Whirly Gig

The big oak tree in the back yard

Raspberries in the Garden

Dark leaf maple tree

Geraniums on the front porch

Opa first taught me about flags when I helped him put one up in the front yard.

The bird feeders and the workshop out back

I won't ever forget the wood chucks we caught in traps, the possum Grandpa showed us sleeping in the tree, and the lily of the valley Oma always had in the garden.  Hopefully one day my grandchildren will have fond memories of my home and all the adventures that they had at their Oma's house. :)

Finding Yourself

Last weekend I was out with G-squared and got asked a really good question.  If I had 5 million dollars given to me, what would I do with my life?  Supposedly whatever you would do if you have 5 million dollars is what you should be working toward right now...why wait to do what you really have a desire to accomplish or do?  (Good point, except somehow you have to pay the bills.)  After about an hour of me chatting about a million different things I might like to do if I had a ton of time and money I realized that the real answer is I have no idea what I would do...talk about feeling a little lost.  Even before this question I started asking myself where I want to go...what I want to start working towards in my career, you might call it soul searching...deep I know...trying to find out who I really am and what makes me really happy.  Don't we all do that at one time or another?  Mostly I just wonder if I am going on the right path in my life.  It is not a bad one, I would say it is pretty good actually...but is it the best one to be on?

I think that is why my 25 before 25 list has some things like learn to break dance...or learn to play the ukulele.  Trying to find my niche...the thing I am awesome at.  Somehow I feel like it is not identifying plants and counting trespass cattle for the feds.  There has got to be more to life...more to me...maybe a more fulfilling job?

So here we go...self exploration...again.  I feel like these crises of self come every few years.  It mostly helps me check and make sure I am on the right track...but who really knows what the right track is until they blindly stumble upon it?  For a girl who always seems to have a plan I am at a little bit of a loss to put one together right now.  So I just keep on keeping on...until hopefully I stumble upon the right path...or maybe just the right path for me right now.

I think I'm gonna buy my ukulele this weekend.  Maybe I could end up like Zee Avi?  Ingrid Michaelson?  *I melt when I hear them sing and strum* :)

25 before 25

Remember the exciting introduction to 25 before 25?  Well I haven't reported on it since then...but I have been working on it.  I have added a few, just like I thought I would...so here we go...the progress report.

First I will refresh your memory on the first 20...
1.  Run a 1/2 marathon (this one might have to be after the knee surgery...so knee surgery #1?  Sounds pretty awful to put first)
2.  Complete hunter's safety (possibly even go hunting...without a boyfriend to take me...imagine that)
3.  Pay off my debts (student loans...yuck.  Once it is over with though there will be cause for much rejoicing).
4.  Sew 2 dresses for myself (I already have fabric and a pattern for the first one...lets hope I can follow through)
5.  Buy a car (sadly I am going to admit that the Rodeo is on its last leg...what should I get?)
6.  Have a yard sale...or maybe just sell some stuff on Craigslist.  (I have WAY too much stuff.)
7.  Simplify my life.  Do the most important things first and realize that if not-so-important things don't get done life will still go on.
8.  Learn to love my job again (I didn't get the one in Cedar City because I got beat out by a Vet...such is life)
9.  Freshen up my wardrobe (this means some cute new...or re-purposed things)
10.  Head back to the gym...basically be a yoga BEAST!
11.  Go to a warm beach for vacation...maybe Mexico?
12.  Learn German
13.  Start an Etsy shop (I am in the brainstorm phase of this...we'll see how it turns out)
14.  Cook more and better things for myself.  Maybe use 'Super Natural Every Day' to get started (I have had way too many frozen pizzas lately)
15.  Grow more spiritually.  I really want to focus on reading and studying the scriptures
16.  Get better at country swing dancing...I already have a bit of a start and have had some pretty good teachers
17.  Learn how to break dance...from Johnny Ahn...look him up here...he is amazing!
18.  Go on more hikes...enjoy nature and the mountains a little bit more.
19.  Learn to play the Ukulele.  I really want to learn "You and I" by Ingrid Michaelson :)
20.  Write in my journal more often.  I wish that my Oma had all of her stories written down for us to look at since she can't really share them anymore.  I'm going to be proactive and start sharing my own stories now so my children never have to worry about losing them.

Now the ones I have decided to add:
21. Practice and play my violin more.  I haven't seriously played in probably about 6 years (basically since high school).  I pulled it out to play some songs at my Oma's funeral/memorial service and still thought I sounded pretty good.  If I still sound okay after 6 years of not practicing, think at how good I could be if I practiced a bit more. :)
22. Make a bigger effort to serve others.  Being at my Oma's funeral and listening about her life I realized that one of the things she was such a great example of was service.  There are some big shoes to fill now that she is gone, so I am making a greater effort to serve others, just as she taught me by example.

So how am I doing on the goals?
Basically there is some room for improvement.  I have only worked on a few of them.

You will never believe which one I am claiming I checked off of the list.  Number 17...I am totally for serious!  I didn't actually have a class from Johnny though.  I went to a class in Salt Lake.  After an introduction class I thought it was pretty cool, but not really for me.  I still might dabble a bit more if I feel like it, but I am counting that one completed.

As far as number 8...still working on it, but I got a bonus, which helps a little.  They are also hiring more people so hopefully there will be less work stress in my life.  At least no more freaking out in front of my boss.

Number 14 has been going a bit better.  Summer is so busy with work that usually when I get home I can't even think of taking time to make something, but I have been doing a lot better.  Making and bringing lunch to work has really helped.  Also, I have been eating lots of Cole slaw...which I consider totally delicious and really quite healthy {if you forget about all of the mayo that is in the dressing :)}.

I have even done a bit of number 18.  I feel like it is going to be a work in progress though.  We'll see how well I do once winter hits. :)

So there you have it.  I am realizing more and more that some of my goals conflict a bit...like number 3 and number 5.  Not sure if I will be able to do both.  I might cross my fingers and hope that my car lasts another year and just go with number 3.  I may have to adjust my goals a bit. :)

Goodbye for Now

My Oma passed away today.  After a year and a half of fighting brain cancer she is back with family and friends on the other side.  Besides being pretty emotional today I just can't help but think of the amazing life Oma had.  My cousin Angela asked for memories with Oma to make into a book about a year ago now.  Here is what I sent her...I think it is very fitting for the day. :)

My favorite times and memories with Oma have been at her house. 

Spring meant planting the garden.  When I was younger my help would include squirting the plants with a small squirt gun, or squirting Oma’s behind when I got bored.  One of my favorite garden memories was walking behind Oma through the tall corn and squirting her behind as she picked the corn.  I remember her realizing what I was doing every so often and letting out little exclamations of ‘oh!’ or ‘ahhh!’. Every year my birthday card would come, even when I moved far away to college, reminding me that Oma loved me and was thinking of me.

Summer brings many fond memories picking raspberries out in the garden with her and the other aunts and cousins.  Every time I put one raspberry in the bucket I would put one or two into my mouth.  I am amazed that any raspberry jam was made while we were kids.  Long afternoons would be spent on the back porch snapping the ends off the green beans as we prepared them to be canned.  As with the raspberries a few fresh green beans would always end up in my mouth.  The harvest feasts were often accompanied by Oma’s prayers of Thanksgiving for the wonderful colors of the fruits and vegetables and the bounty we were blessed with every year.  Stories of the war and the hard times she grew up in helped me to realize and be more thankful for what I have.  Cousins were out of school during the summer, and sleepovers included watching Pollyanna and Wind in the Willows.  Mornings always meant crepes and watching cartoons in bed with Oma and Opa.  To this day I still love crepes, they will forever remind me of Oma.

Fall always meant Thanksgiving.  Food and family as far as the eye can see.  Gathering with family and seeing cousins, aunts, and uncles all together helped me to learn the importance of family.  Oma always makes way too much yummy food.  I have good memories making homemade rolls with her in the kitchen, and I still think that Thanksgiving is not complete without Red Cabbage (I even planted some of my own this spring).  Sitting together in the basement I learned how to recognize all of my blessings as we all went around the table and told what we were thankful for.  Leftovers were inevitable and many days after November 24^th we would still snack on the potatoes, ham, turkey, and other delicious food.  We enjoyed time with family playing, laughing, and having adventures in the back yard.

Winter snow is always deeper, and more fun to play in at Oma’s house.  Christmas is always the most magical at Oma’s.  Her homemade flaming pudding, German Christmas cookies, lit candles on the Christmas tree, caroling to friends, and the German ornaments that ting and jingle throughout the house are things I will never forget.  Caroling always includes a wonderful array of crazy hats (from the special hat collection), many enthusiastic singers, and Christmas goodies.  My favorite tradition and memory however is sitting around the lit tree (with Uncle Richard on fire extinguisher duty) as we all sang our favorite Christmas hymns and songs.  Silent Night in German is saved for the last because it is Oma’s favorite.  After 24 years now I still only know the first few lines in German, but the spirit of Christmas throughout the room will always stay with me.  Opa reading the story of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ completed the evening and we all went home filled with love for family, friends, and the birth of Jesus Christ.

Oma has taught me so much throughout the years from helping with homework, sewing projects, gardening, and the importance of being thankful for all you have.  She has and is always leading and teaching us by her wonderful righteous example, and I am so thankful for her influence in my life.

The Only Constant of Life

Sometimes when I think about how many billion people are on the earth and that they all have a life just as complicated and just as busy and involved as mine it makes me overwhelmed.  Think of all of those people, their feelings, their life situations, their experiences.  That is a lot of living and life out there.  In all of that life there are only a few things that we will all go through that are the same.  We are all born, and we all die.  The latter has been on my mind a lot lately.

My Oma, (German Grandmother) has been fighting brain cancer since March of 2010.  She has lived an amazing life.  She was born in Germany and lived through WWII in Berlin. She lived in two countries, two continents, and in two different cultures.  She raised 7 children, cooked, cleaned, and always, always served others.

In Berlin her mother, aunt, grandmother, brothers and cousins lived in a ½ bombed out apartment and that was after they returned to the city from living on a potato farm in a neighboring country as refugees.  She immigrated to Salt Lake City when she was 21 because she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  There she met and married Richard Paull Anderson and helped raise his two children as her own, later adding 5 to their bunch.  She moved from Utah to Michigan and worked jobs as well as raised their children.  Something she is always know for is her German hospitality which always included a bite to eat and an act of service.  She lived through so much and had so many experiences, it seems odd to me that none of those things killed her, and in the end an inoperable brain tumor will take her life.

It has made me realize how fragile life really is, and how we should take every moment we can to tell our loved ones that we love them.  Write down their stories, create memories together, learn from them and their lives.  Love and cherish family.  In the end you are the one charged with the responsibility to carry on their experiences, their family name and legacy to your children.  With each piece of history that we share, with each life experience we share there is a chance to be a little changed. To take something that is not our own, learn from it, and better your live and the lives of our children and future children.  How amazing families are.

Even though it was so hard to see my Oma at the end of her life, weak and struggling to speak I take so much comfort from the fact that I know I will see her again.  I know that there is a plan for each of us and that after this life we can be together as families.  I know these things because I have heard the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know we all go through trials and deaths of loved ones at one time or another.  Just remember that you are never alone and that the Lord, Jesus Christ is always there for us.  To find out more about what I believe check out the link here to mormon.org.