Children's Museum of Phoenix

A while back I took Matt and Ray to the Children's Museum of Phoenix with a preschool group. From that trip we got two passes for free admission. Then, a few months ago I saw a great deal online where you could get 3 tickets for $16 (normally it is $11 per person). Since Hailey and Kade had the 20th off of school for a teacher development day, Nathan took the day off of work and we went to the museum.

The kids used the giant bathtub as a slide.

Making a pizza.

Waiting for our pizza to cook.

It was so much fun.

Hailey's Ears

Today we went to the mall because I wanted to look for Easter dresses at a couple of stores and Nathan wanted to look at Dick's Sporting Goods for a shotgun (which he's never going to get) and a gun cabinet.

Since Dick's had shopping carts Nathan kept the 3 youngest with him and I took Hailey to Penneys. On our way we passed Claire's. Hailey asked me what the store was called and I told her it was the store that pierces ears. She turned to me and said, "Could I get mine pierced?" I about fell over. For years we've (really I've) been trying to get her to pierce her ears but she wouldn't budge. I almost took her right then before she could change her mind. Instead, we went to Penneys and she tried on about 20 dresses. I even let her try on one of the "wedding" gowns (although there is no way I was going to buy it for her). Out of the 20 dresses one had sleeves. ONE! It is ridiculous. Out of the 20 dresses she liked one and I liked another, but neither of us liked either dress enough to compromise. So...no dress.

Anyway, after meeting back up with the rest of the family I told Nathan that she wanted her ears pierced. He okayed it and off we went.

Hailey chose rose crystal daisies as her earring then hopped in the seat. She did great. She flinched when the actual piercing took place, but she didn't cry. She has 6 weeks of 3x-a-day cleanings and then she can change her earrings. She can't wait.

(I bribed her to go to one more store with me by saying I'd let her look at all the earrings. She was amazed at Kohl's selection. I've never heard her say "Oh my gosh!" so many times. Apparently, Kohl's has EVERYTHING she could ever imagine when it comes to earrings.)

Disney on Ice Princess Classics

Waiting for the show to start. Hailey is pouting because she has cheapskates for parents--$10 for cotton candy with a plastic crown? No, thank you.

Sometimes, Nathan's job has perks.

One day he came home from work and asked if I wanted to take the kids to Disney on Ice that night. It was press night and his station had tickets. I debated because it was a school night, but gave in because I thought it would be fun for the kids and one night out late wasn't going to kill them, right? Turned out that we couldn't get tickets for that night, but we could go on Saturday. We chose the afternoon show (that way Matt and Ray could get a short nap and we could eat before we left).

We got to US Airways Center and made our way to our seats. I wish we had blinders for the kids so we didn't have to endure the "gimmes" on our way in. We were in row 7, I think, so pretty close to the ice. 

The show started and we saw scenes from the princess movies: The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Mulan. Then there was and intermission (and more vending) and Cinderella.started. It was a long show.

Rachel's favorite part was when Mickey and Minnie came out at the very beginning and then again at the end.
Matthew spent the entire time changing seats.
There was just enough prince/boy stuff to make it bearable for Kade.
Hailey liked it (though she had already seen it with Kristi). Her favorite part was recording it on her MP3 player.

Mom! Help!

I always chuckle a little bit when I hear Matt yell for help and I see this:

Rachel can definitely hold her own with him.

Rachel's First Hairs Cut

 I finally took Rachel to get her hairs cut. Now her hair won't be in her eyes for a while. Hopefully, now that all her baby shaggy hair is gone it will grow in nicely. It actually looks like she has more hair now.

Wildlife World Zoo Field Trip

We have a good friend in the ward that teaches preschool. Each spring she takes the kids on a field trip to the Wildlife World Zoo. It is such a great deal to get in that she invites pretty much anyone and we usually take her up on it.

This year, Nathan left work early (how sad is it that leaving at 8am is leaving early!?) and came with Matt, Ray and me to the zoo. We had a great time. The animals were pretty active when we got there--especially the monkeys. There were three gibbons that were making quite a ruckus. They were loud! The kids loved it.

Matthew liked to run ahead of us. One time he started running and a couple of peacocks flew from the roof down to the ground right in front of him. He stopped dead in his tracks and came running back to us. I wish that would have cured him of his need to run ahead, but it didn't.

Rachel had a good time, but she did not want to walk. We didn't take the stroller and tried to make her walk. She would just sit down in the dirt and cry, "I can't! I can't!" Luckily, we ran into Kelli and Joss and Joss didn't want to ride in her stroller so Rachel got to ride.

We had a great time and the weather was perfect. We can't wait for next year!

Grandma Hansom

On March 14, 2011, my Grandma Hansom died from complications of a hip fracture. She will be missed, but we all are so grateful that she won't be in pain anymore. We also know that she is in a much better place and has been reunited with her husband who died 16 years ago. She was 98.5 years old when she died--for anyone who knew her that half year is very important. She once told someone she was older than she actually was because "it sounded more impressive".

She and my Grandpa left quite a legacy--6 children, 31 grandchildren, 95 great-grandchildren (and counting), and 24 great-great-grandchildren (and counting). I am honored to be one of the 31 grandchildren.


I don't have many specific memories of my grandma. Mostly they are just general memories--the carpeted garden; her candy dish with those brachs royals candies; her cookies that she kept fresh with a slice of bread or orange peel; sweet peas and snap dragons; watching Capitol with her while she crocheted; and my favorite: she swore she was taking viagra for her allergies (we couldn't convince her it was called Allegra).

I do remember one time, though, when I was young. I'm not sure how old I was, but I was old enough that my parents left me home to babysit. I fell asleep while they were out and woke up at some point in the night. I got scared by some of the noises our house made. I didn't know what to do so I called Grandma. While I was on the phone with Grandma my mom came down the hall and asked who I was talking to. I didn't realize that my parents were home. It must have been very late but I knew my grandma would help me.   

Her funeral was March 19th. It was such a beautiful day. It was wonderful to spend it with family remembering Grandma. Her grandchildren and their spouses sang her favorite song "Where Can I Turn For Peace". We filled the choir loft at the church building. Then the great-grandchildren sang "Families Can Be Together Forever." It was a sweet tribute to her.

I am very thankful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation and what happens after we die. I am also grateful that my kids knew their Great-Grandma Hansom.

Grandpa Jumps With the Kids

Some time around the end of January (beginning of February?) we got new kitchen appliances. We had a lot of help from my sister and brother-in-law and Nathan's parents and brother. It involved taking our sliding glass doors out of the frame because the fridge wouldn't fit through our front door, the garage door or one side of the sliding glass door. It was a big job, but the appliances are great. We love them. Included in our package was a built in microwave. It didn't come with the mounting hardware so we had to buy that and then Nathan had to find time when he could get it up. Finally, today was the day. Nathan's dad came out to help him.

After they got the microwave up the kids asked Grandpa if he would go on the trampoline with them. He said yes and they were thrilled. Grandpa was sitting on the trampoline and Matt and Ray were jumping over his knees (that made me nervous) and then they convinced him to stand and jump with them. It was great and the kids will always remember the time Grandpa jumped on the trampoline with them.

I'm putting this picture on because I love Rachel's amazing trampoline form. She's going to be a cheerleader when she is older, I just know it.

Pump It Up!

Rachel getting ready to go in one of the bouncers.

 Last night I took the kids to Pump It Up for a friend's birthday party. I figured I could handle all four of them on my own while Nathan went to Shooters World to test out his new rifle scope. Once we were let into the first bounce room Hailey and Kade ran off with their friends (I hardly saw them the rest of the night) and Rachel went inside the basketball court bouncer that is like a big trampoline.

Matthew? Well, that's another story. He cried and told me he didn't want to be there. He just wanted to sit down and do nothing. After a lot of convincing on my part he reluctantly went inside the basketball court bouncer with Rachel--and loved it! I think he would have stayed there the rest of the night, but after 20 minutes I was kinda bored. So, after a lot of convincing on my part he reluctantly went down the slide. He never went back in the basketball court. I couldn't have kept him off the slide if I'd wanted to.

Matthew getting ready to go up the ladder for the slide.

After some time in the first bounce room they herded our group into a second room with more bouncers. The kids were in heaven. About the time we got in the second room I went to get something out of the diaper bag and noticed I had a missed call. I checked and saw that it was Nathan. About 2 seconds later I looked up and Nathan was walking in the door. Apparently, the wait for a shooting lane was too long so he decided to come to the party. He went down the slide with the kids a few times and they all had a great time.

At one point, I wasn't sure my kids were going to do anything but play the video games.

Then we were moved to another room for pizza and cake. The kids got balloons and goody bags and loved every minute of the whole night (I'm pretty sure the adults had a great time, as well.)

Hailey's Hair

Hailey has never really let me do anything with her hair. (I blame it on the fact that she didn't even get hair until she was 3 so I never really had to do her hair.)  She just likes having it straight and down. No ponies. No bows. No headbands. No curls. And absolutely no braids.


Last night after her shower, though, I asked her if I could French braid her hair and she said yes! Actually, I did 4 French braids since it was really the after-braid effect that she wanted. This morning before school we took the braids out and she was in love. She couldn't stop smiling and was so excited to get to school to show off her "Taylor Swift" 'do."

Who knows, maybe she'll let me do it again...in another 7 years.