A New Year's Christmas!

We are in Lincoln, Nebraska celebrating our 3rd Christmas of the year with the Hansen side of the family this time! More presents...yay! Our 4-year-old nephew Gabe was pretty upset that his Marley-like dog wagged her tail so hard that she ripped a hole in Gabe's present before it was time to unwrap gifts. After unwrapping gifts, Kara played pirates and ninja turtles (who are mortal enemies in case you didn't know) for approximately 5 hours straight!!! I've always told Jen that I didn't know how to play with boy toys...but now I'm an expert! :) Our 6-month-old niece didn't get into the presents as much as the wrapping paper and ribbons...AND she is all smiles all the time! So cute.

Jen took pictures with her new camera...so we'll have to post those later!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Here's hoping our baby finds us in 2009!)

Christmas is almost here.

Well, Christmas is almost here. It's hard to believe that Christmas is only 3 days away. Kara and I are both keeping busy. Kara's been working at A Touch of Country this holiday season and still really enjoys it. Although, she seems to think she should get a foot rub when she gets home. Somehow she always forgets that I think feet are gross!! I've been hanging out at home recooperating from bronchitis and enjoying my Christmas break from school. I've made a tree skirt (well, it's halfway done but it is under the tree) and I'm almost done making myself a scarf. Next I need to do the quilting on a baby quilt...hmm, do you think I can get it done for Christmas?

Kara and I are spending our first Christmas together in Laramie this year. We will miss our families, but at the same time we are very excited to stay home on Christmas day and not having to worry about the weather as we travel. Time for new traditions. On Christmas Eve we are going to spend the day making candies and cookies. Hopefully it all turns out okay.

We love and miss all of you.

Adoption Website Update!

Hello Everyone,

Sorry we haven't posted in awhile. We were in Iowa for Thanksgiving, and December is just so crazy and busy...

Anyway...Over Thanksgiving break, we got lots of great pictures of some of our favorite little munchkins: Carter, Clay, Aiden, and Kallie. So...we decided to update our adoption website. Check it out at www.jenandkara.com (or use the link to the left).

Africa

I (Jen) just found out this morning that I have been accepted to go to Africa for 3 weeks in July!!!! Iwill get the opportunity to be involved in 1 week of intensive multicultural training, 1 week of trauma counseling in Botswana, and 1 week of trauma counseling in South Africa.

Needless to say I am absolutely ecstatic right now! As I learn more I will keep everyone updated.

Jen

BABIES R US!

So we got most of our Christmas shopping done today. Yay! When we went to Babies R Us, I thought maybe we should register for baby stuff and then realized....we already have everything!!! :)

Christmas Shopping for 'lil Ones

Yay! Today we are off to go Christmas shopping for our nieces, nephews, and little friends.

We were just thinking that last year we only had two nephews to buy toys for and this year we have 7 nieces, nephews, and little friends to buy toys for! Yay!

Our Good Friend, Anthony

Check out this cutie in the hat that Kara made for him! Apparently, he loves it. But I think his mama is the one who loves it.



Kara had a training in Cheyenne today and went shopping afterward (unsupervised by Jen). And I bought more baby clothes. I think the one thing that we don't need anymore of is baby clothes. Now we just need a baby to fill 'em! :) We just can't wait for that day.

KARA'S A GREAT TEACHER!

This week in honor of Halloween we carved a pumpkin and made a scarecrow. The scarecrow keeps scaring everyone...including Kara.





I am especially proud of this activity. We used our 5 senses to explore a pumpin, the inside of a pumpkin, and a jack-o-lantern.

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight Kara and I carved our pumpkins. It is a family tradition, regardless of the fact that we don't have any kids yet! Molly tried to carry off Kara's lid, but we stopped her...barely. Then we had to fight her off a few times because she wanted to eat the pumpkin innards and the seeds. Somehow Pseudo did manage to get some of the pumpkin and a seed. He ended up with pumpkin guts on his forehead. It can be a challenge to carve pumpkins with three dogs, just wait until there is a little one too! Everyone be safe Trick-or-Treating.

Kara used an apple corer to make "Boo"

and I made "Magoo"

(I'll have to get a better picture of this one!)

Poll

No...it's not a political poll. We just want to know if anybody looks at our blog on a regular basis. If you are a frequent flier...please let us know. :)

Gabe and Hayden

Gabe is 4 years-old already and Hayden is 4 months old. Being at Gabe's birthday was great...we hadn't seen him in 10 months!! That is way too long to go without seeing him. Anyway, here are some pictures of his birthday and his baby sister.

This is Gabe's "mean" face while he was playing with Grandma Kate.

Turtle Power!

Hayden in her Bumbo chair getting ready for the party.

SMILES!!!

Last weekend we went to Lincoln for Gabe's birthday party. We also met his little sister Hayden for the first time. We had a blast! Check out the picture below to see just how happy everyone was to be together!

At the end of the day, Gabe's mommy asked him what the best part of his day was and he said it was blowing up balloons with Kara. (Of course, we didn't just blow them up...we let them go and they flew all over the house!) How sweet to be the best part of a little kid's day! :)

P.S. - We just got back from a drive in the mountains AND we saw a MOOSE! The pictures of the moose aren't very good, he was too far away and in the shade....but we got some other good pics. Check back because I'm sure Jen will be posting some pics. soon.

Traveling

Things are busy here. Jen was in Breckenridge last weekend for a conference, this weekend we are going to Lincoln for Gabe's 4th birthday, and next weekend is Kara's birthday. Plus, Kara had parent teacher conferences this week and Jen is trying to finish two chapters of her dissertation by the 17th (Kara's B-Day)!!!

We hope everyone is doing well...and we will try to get better at keeping everyone updated. Hope everyone is enjoying Fall, it might snow in Laramie this weekend.

Thank-you!

So... I (Kara) obsessively check our adoption website statistics. Usually we get 1 or 2 hits a day. That means only 1-2 people look at our website everyday. However, today we have had 11 people look at our website. I'm not sure what is going on. Usually nobody looks at our website on Sunday and today 11 hits by 3:00. That's unheard of! So I have figured out that most of the hits are coming from a mail.yahoo.com account. My guess is that somebody added our link to the signature of their yahoo account...but I don't know who might have done this. So I'm sending out a big thank-you to this person. We will take all the help we can get! We are so excited to be moms! :) My other thought is that God works in mysterious ways...do you think He has a yahoo account??? :)

Jen's Photos

Well, Jen has finally gotten a few items posted to her etsy shop as well. Right now it is her photography, but she has a few knitted items she plans to add as well. Her shop is at:
www.naturepics.etsy.com

The weather is changing in Wyoming. Summer is gone and Fall is upon us. It's only in the 50's today, but Jen still refuses to turn the furnace on....Hopefully we can wait until at least the 15th before we have to turn it on. The more money we can save now the more we will have for the adoption.

Baby, baby...

Tonight, we went out to eat with our good friend Krista who has the sweetest baby boy! He is 11 weeks old and is growing like a weed! After we ate, he was getting sleepy so I (Kara) took him and he fell asleep on my chest. He slept there for quite awhile and just snuggled right into me. Well, my heart just melted...

As I sit here typing, I can still smell that baby smell on my shirt. It makes my heart skip a beat every now and then. I am so ready to be a mama!


P.S. - Jen wants everyone to know that every external hard drive she touches, doesn't work! Hmm... Any suggestions?

Pictures from vacation

Here are some of Jen's favorite pictures from the 531 pictures she took on our 5 day vacation. Hope you enjoy them!!

Blooming Thistle

Blooming Water Lily

The blog is being silly so check back for more photos!

We are Busy

Well, we are back from our vacation to Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and Red Lodge. Jen had to jump right into things by getting a draft of her first two chapters of her dissertation to her committee members on Tuesday the 12th, when we got back late on the 11th. Kara had a busy day Tuesday and then started 3 days of training on Wednesday.

Our summer is over and we aren't even really sure where it went. Hopefully, in the next few days we will get pictures from vacation posted for all to see. We really had a good time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JEN!!!

For Jen's birthday, she took the day off and we went to Estes Park, Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park. (BTW, we bought a yearly pass to all the National Parks in the U.S. So if anyone wants to come visit us, we'll gladly take you to RMNP!) Anyways, while we were there we saw a herd of 12 Elk up close. Check out the pics and see how close one came to Kara.

What the heck is this critter? There was a whole bunch of these running around at 12,ooo feet. Kara named them Rocky Mountain Hamsters....but we'd like to know what they really are.

Kara has her own store!

I am selling handmade stuff on Etsy now. I just set up my store the other day and only have a few things posted. I plan on making and posting more things today! Check it out at http://www.karabeaner.etsy.com/ Here's a sneak peak of what you'll find:

My mother was appalled to hear that I made a baby blanket with skulls and flames! Heehee.

Grandmas

Grandmas are cute and funny. Today Grandma Kate (Jen's mom) went shopping and bought a stroller for Paddington (that's what Grandma calls the child we will someday adopt). She found it on clearance for $118 instead of $190! She was so excited...it was pretty darn cute. She said she couldn't pass up this deal and will worry about how she will get it to us later. Apparently it is hot in Iowa because she said she was dying of heat and had to go to Applebee's ASAP!!

If Grandma Kate reads this just wanted to let you know I love you!!

Below is a picture of the stroller we think she bought. And below that is a close-up of the design on the stoller.

Springtime in the Snowy Pass

Today we spent the morning in the Snowy Mountains, out past Centennial. We love having the mountains only 30 minutes away! It may officially be summer, but in Wyoming it still feels like spring. It was great to see the wildflowers in bloom, but they won't be in full bloom for a few more weeks. We saw two mule deers, some antelope, and some hairy cows. The hairy cows are Jen's favorite! This video is of a creek up in the mountains, we don't think we have ever seen it this high.

The newest Hansen

Weighing in at 6lbs 12 oz and 19 1/4 inches is the newest member of the Hansen family. Hayden Weber Hansen was born today, June 20th at 3:30AM. We can't wait until we get to get meet her in person.

Here are the first pictures we received. Mom and baby are doing great!

Our pseudo nephew Carter

While we have been vacationing in Iowa and visiting family, we got to spend a lot of time with our two and a half year old pseudo nephew Carter. His mommy is like a sister to Kara, so that pretty much makes him our nephew.

Here I told him to smile and Aunt Jen smiled just like him. Unfortunately this is a morning shot and Aunt Jen is probably going to kick Aunt Kara's you know what for posting it here! Haha!

Carter loves dogs...especially Molly (or as he pronounces it "Mowndy"). Here he is going in for the kiss.

Task accomplished! Too cute!!

He he also pronounces Psuedo as "Noodle." I don't understand...but it's incredibly cute...so who cares!

Miss Molly Moose

Well, Kara and I are home on vacation. Kara is visiting with her mom right now and got to spend the weekend at the lake. I'm at home with my parents. Saturday night (actually sometime in the wee hours on Sunday) Molly got into some of Cisco's medicine (Cisco is grandma/grandpa Hansen's yellow lab). She was extremely lethargic, wouldn't eat a treat, and had lots of drool! Thankfully Doc Stafford is a good guy and he took great care of Molly. She had to stay at the vets on Sunday to get her stomach pumped and get IV fluids. She still scared me last night because of her shallow and rapid breathing, but she is doing great today. She's eating and alert. I guess I can stop worrying now.

Peanut Butter Anyone?

Last night a naughty little puppy got a peanut butter jar off the counter and cleaned it out. Well, tonight Pseudo decided there was more inside the jar. Check it out!

I can't breathe!

Get this thing off of me!!!


Defeated...

Snow, Snow, and more Snow

Well, today is May 13th and this morning there was another two inches of snow on the grassy areas. Most of our friends and family who live elsewhere in the U.S. have had to mow their lawn, some of them multiple times!! Not us out here in Wyoming. We are starting to get grass and the tree in the front yard finally has buds on it. It snowed this weekend too. It always seems to snow on graduation/mother's day weekend.

Kara's dad and stepmom are out to visit right now. We will get pictures posted later this week.

Jen

Toddlers

We have a home daycare in our neighborhood and this morning, on my way to work, a little kiddo got away from his mom and started to walk out in the road. So of course I slammed on my brakes, but I must have been nervous because I tightened the grip on my steering wheel. When I did that, I accidentally honked my horn. Well, you should have seen the look on that poor mother's face. She thought I was ticked off that her kid was in the road and all I was trying to do was make sure I didn't hit her kid. But the best part about this story is that when the mom finally took her kid's hand and drug him across the road, he waved at me the whole way. Kids are awsome! I can't wait to have one of my own...and I will try not to be mad at people who honk at me, because it might just be an accident.

Baby Clay

Over Spring Break, I went to Utah to visit my nephew Clay! He is so cute!!! Don't you agree?

April brings more snow showers

Well, it snowed again. This morning there was snow and this afternoon I saw a Monarch Butterfly. I don't think there is another place on Earth that has weather as wacky as we have here in Wyoming.

This morning we got up and went to a Baby Gear Swap. Kara found a bumbo chair with a tray for only $15 instead of $50!! She is getting good at bargain shopping for baby stuff.

This morning I also completed my first knitting project that incorporated two colors of yarn and a pattern. It is for Kara, I like it so much though that I went and bought more yarn so I can make one for myself.

Here is model Kara wearing her new hat! It only took me two weeks to make this (that's super fast for me).

Jen

April brings Snow Showers

It is April 10th and there is a lot of snow out there and all the roads into and out of Laramie are closed! There is no reason to shovel the walk because by the time our neighbors are done it is time for them to start over again. I'll take some pictures later today...

It's April for crying out loud!!! Actually, it's peaceful for me, but it is driving Kara crazy!!

Today we went painting

Today we went to our friend Krista's house and helped her paint the nursery for Anthony Craig Manton who is due in early July. She traced the logos for the Colorado Avalanche on the wall and then we painted them with the official team color paint bought at Home Depot. It took us 4 hours and there are still touch-ups that need to be completed!

It was fun, and now we have practice for painting the nursery here at home. We still need the paint, but we have an idea in mind. Stay tuned to see what happens.