FOUR LETTER WORD

I have a new favorite four letter word.....PASS!!! Amazing how one little word can make all the difference. The word "pass" is sweet validation for the last three years of blood, sweat, and tears (okay, maybe just sweat and tears, and a lot of good times too). I took the NCLEX (for my nursing liscence) last Thursday morning, and honestly had no idea whether I passed or failed, but Saturday morning Ben and I got on the computer at the Radisson Hotel, and he looked up my results for me. I was SO sick to my stomach while he was looking it up, because I really felt it could go either way. I told him I felt sick, and he said "Well, you don't need to feel sick!" I didn't care who saw, I jumped on his lap and cried for a couple minutes because it was SUCH a relief! If you don't pass the NCLEX, you don't get your RN liscense. So, now that I have completed the last hurdle of a LONG series of hurdles I started three years ago, I can move on with life and enjoy not having to study all the time! No more locking myself in my room, trying to concentrate with poor Riley banging on the door, or sneaking off to the library for hours instead of spending the evening with my family. I am SO grateful that I decided to go to school to become a nurse. It has been a long, interesting and sometimes grueling process, but WELL worth it. I have had such good support from Ben through all this. In fact he has sort of become the "cook" of the family, and I told him tonight that because he has become so efficient at it and seems to enjoy it, I would never want to deprive him of that fulfilling part of his life so we will just keep him as the chef :)

Ben REALLY impressed me this weekend with a fun little getaway. I knew we were going somewhere for the weekend but didn't know where. He got us two nights at the Radisson in Salt Lake, and it was so nice! We were up on the 14 floor and had a great view. Friday night we went to The Roof, someplace I have wanted to go for a really long time. It's a buffet, and it was really, really great food. I can honestly say we have never spent that much on a meal (about $90) but the view, the atmosphere, and the food down to every little last piece of lettuce was PERFECT. And the desserts!!! There must have been 20 selections! I probably tried a few bites of eight different desserts. I just didn't want to pass up the opportunity, but I was totally sugared out at the end of the night. Then we walked back to our Hotel and tried to ignore all the horsecarriage drivers eyeing us down practically begging us to buy a ride. I felt bad for them because they have NO business, and they are all competing with eachother! We slept in until 11 am Saturday and Sunday morning! I wonder when THAT will ever happen again??? Saturday we saw two movies: Taken and He's Just Not That Into You. Taken was SOOOOO good. I LOVE Liam Neeson. The other movie was a fun show, but not one I'd see again. We ate at the Training Table later that night (love that place!!!) and then went into Smith's Marketplace to get some cookies and see what one of the huge Smith's is like. Well, we ended up walking out with quite a haul: for Riley, two shirts, swim shorts, and some new church shoes. For Malia, two adorable dresses, two cute tops, and some pajamas. Oh yes, and the cookies. I LOVE that store! I wish we had one here. It reminds me of the Fred Meyers in Orem before it went away. Well, I know I have gone on and on, but I wanted to write about this wonderful weekend! I had a great time with Ben, and although we miss Riley I know he is having fun with family and it's good for him to get out of the house too! I'm only mad I forgot my camera..Dang it!

JUST SHOOT ME!!!

I like the picture of this monkey, because that is how I feel lately... like I'm losing my mind! How old am I???? If anyone knows for sure, just let me know. The other night at work, at like, oh, 3 a.m. a coworker asked me how old I am. I had to sit and think about it and I debated between 27 and 28, and so in the moment while she was waiting for my answer I decided to go with 27. I told her "I'm 27 and I'll be 28 in July." Later that day, after a little sleep, I thought it through a little more and came to the conclusion that I am in fact 28. The fact that I even have to THINK about it, let alone that I came up with the wrong number is CRAZY!!! But my mind is on overload right now. I just started working as a nurse, and this is very exciting but very challenging for me. I'm working overnight, so this is an interesting challenge. I am spending every spare moment studying for my boards that I have next Thursday, and let me tell you I am on information overload!!! This is why I have no room left in my mind to remember my age. But really, is there every ANY excuse for forgetting your age???

The Things He Sais!

I remember when Riley was a newborn, and I wondered what his talking voice would sound like and what kind of things he would say. Like with most kids, he has kept his parents delighted with his hilarious logic and mind boggling statements. Here is one of the latest, and I seriously debated posting it but hey it's just too cute:)
Yesterday morning, as Riley was standing there getting ready to put his underwear on, he took a long hard look at the front of his underwear and noticed the little rocketship picture that is right front and center. Suddenly he looked all wore out and gave a big sigh, and said "Mommy, this rocket ship goes on my pee pee, and it makes my pee pee tired." He acted like it was such a chore to wear that underwear, but he still put it on. I'm thinking....WHAT?!? Makes it "tired"? I have finally started writing down these things to keep for him, and Ben and I together have tried to remember as many as possible from the last couple years. I can't wait until he's older to tell him the things he said!

In All My Glory :)

Well, here I am in all my glory! I decided it would be wise to take a picture for posterity sake since I have a similar one from my pregnancy with Riley. I wouldn't want this little gal to feel left out because I didn't take a prego picture. Well, here I am at about 6 1/2 months (yes I am rounding up)! I already feel uncomfortable, so it's scary to think that it's just going to get worse! I did a doosy last month in the weight gain department, but that month included Christmas and New Years, plus the after effects of Thanksgiving. I feel her kick all the time, so that is definately one of the perks!

Movies and Popcorn

My mom came to see us over New Years, and the highlight for me was all the movies and popcorn! I haven't always considered popcorn an important part of the movie theatre experience, but I have changed my mind and THOROUGHLY enjoyed several buckets of popcorn during the five days my mom was here. I am fully aware that all that popcorn probably contributed to my SUDDEN 11 pound weight gain. The nurse tried to make me feel better by saying "Oh, a lot of that is the baby. Don't worry." Thank you for trying, but I know darn well that the baby weighs not much more than a pound or maybe a pound and a half. Anyways....we had a GREAT time while my mom was here. She spoiled Riley quite a bit! She took him to McDonald's and he enjoyed a happy meal and two kiddie cones, and quickly learned that Grandma pretty much gives him whatever his heart desires :) We all went to Thanksgiving point and saw an IMAX movie. My mom bought Riley several things from the gift store, including this big dinosaur book. Pretty much every night since then he has fallen asleep with this book. I got this picture of him the other night....so sweet the little treasures children cling to. We also went to Body Worlds with my mom. The lines (even with tickets ahead of time) were horendous. By the time we actually got into the exhibit, we felt like cattle and started mooing. But it was pretty cool...just WAY to crowded.

Our friend Brian built this amazing hill in his backyard. It has a steep drop off and a smaller hill at the bottom that sometimes caused the rider to "catch air". The kids (and that includes Ben and Brian) had so much fun! Riley was in heaven. This hill is crazy tall, especially considering it was made out of scratch. These friends of our really know how to live it up! We also ate a REALLY good dinner. I can't remember the last time I've had such good chicken! In the picture below, notice Ben's cheek. When under stress, he puffs his cheeks up like a blowfish for some reason. Maybe it makes him feel safter...I don't know?

Riley and Morgan getting ready to go down the hill. Brave little souls :)

Fun Times!

We had a good time this year over Christmas! Ben had a few days off, and we enjoyed just being together and doing....whatever! Riley broke out with a rash at 4:30 am on December 24th, but I got him into the doctor later that morning and found out it wasn't chicken pox but rather a viral exanthema...not too contagious but still itchy. Wierd! But we were still able to have fun over the next few days with eachother and friends and family. Hope everyone else had fun too! And not too much stress :) My Dad and I. He was trying to make friends with this crazy horse who had been bucking at us when we first came to the farm. Looks like they are new buddies!

Ben, Darci, and Riley on the four wheeler pulling Ben and Sam on the sleds. Riley liked being on the fourwheeler watching Ben and Sam struggle to stay on the sleds and try to avoid the big weeds we would pull them through for the fun of it! My brother Ben actually got a bloody nose...all part of the fun :)

Family picture on Roger's four wheeler. Someday we will have our own, but where would we put it right now??? We have no room!

Riley got a new room! We moved him into the bigger room since we will be needing the baby room for the baby. His new room is Disney Cars themed. I couldn't get the whole room in the picture, but you get the idea. So far he is doing okay in it, but we are working on getting him to spend the WHOLE night in his new bed, not just the first half, after which he ends up in our room sleeping on the floor. I wouldn't mind so much except when he's dreaming he whines and kicks the floor really hard with his feet (like a tantrum) so this obviously interferes with my sleep! So I usually go into HIS room and sleep the rest of the night on his bed.

This kid LOVES four wheelers. I guess most kids probably do, but he just feels like such a MAN when he is on a four wheeler! We would like to get him his own little one someday soon when we have more space.

Our best Christmas present of all! Of course he just HAD to climb in this box.

We had a really fun Christmas together. Riley's really gotten excited about Christmas this year. He's loved having the tree with the lights, making treats, giving away treats, and eating treats. He loves seeing Christmas lights everywhere, the snow, the whole deal. So it has been really fun watching him enjoy the season. His favorite Christmas present from Santa (why does this guy always get all the credit???) was a big black remote control truck. I honestly think this is just as much for Ben as for Riley, but hey it's something they both love!

CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR

In the past, I have spent the month of December looking forward to (and stressing about) Christmas day. But this year, it feels different for me. Instead of focusing so much on what will take place on that one day, I am really just enjoying the season. It has been my goal this year to simplify Christmas in order to be able to relax and enjoy it. So it has been so nice this year. I think everyone realizes that most people are trying to scale it back this year with the money spending, and so the gift expectations for extended family has been very reduced. For example with the Cook family, instead of Ben, Riley and I each giving to someone, we just give something to one of the families and the price limit is $20. Similar cut backs are happening with the extended Hansen family, and I LOVE it! Not just because we are spending so much less...but it has made things so much more simple and I feel like it's taken the focus off who's getting what, and making sure we spend enough, etc. It's like a burden has been lifted, enabling us to enjoy the spirit of the season more. I hope this new "tradition" of keeping it simple can continue year after year so that we all can relax and enjoy just being together more.

After Thanksgiving, Ben and Riley were able to go with some family up to the Cook cabin to help get some Christmas trees. Riley LOVES going up on the mountain, and Ben even found a little tree for Riley which we decorated and put in his room. We didn't get a big tree for us because we have a fake tree which I love and won't part with even though Ben calls me a meanie every year and sais I'm infringing on his childhood memories of getting a live tree every year. Oh well, it's a small price for him to pay since he gets me for a wife!

And true to the words of my poem in the previous post...we have a little nose picker on our hands. The Ultrasonographer got a kick out of it, and snapped a picture for us. We are so proud of our little girl for this talent she is developing. She already takes after her big brother, who is an excellent nose picker :)