A New Year!

It's crazy to think that another year has gone by! There were days when I thought time was going by so slowly, yet here I sit at the start of 2010! Anyways, Christmas was a blast this year! Chris and I were able to go down to Moab and we thought we would get a break from all of the snow. Yeah right! Moab got hit with snow and cold weather the entire 2 weeks we were there. But we still had tons of fun!

Chris and I arrived in Moab the Sunday evening before Christmas. Due to rooming arrangements, I slept in Annabelle's twin bed and Chris slept on a matress on the floor of Annabelle's room. At first I wondered if it bothered Chris that he was on the floor. But then it dawned on me that he was probably relieved that I couldn't take up 2/3 of his sleeping room (I tend to sleep really close to Chris at night!). But don't worry, Chris is thrilled to be sharing a bed again. Natalie, David and Rylie arrived Wednesday afternoon and we celebrated Rylie's 1st birthday. Of course, she didn't really know who all of us were, so she cried most of the time. On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional family poker game. I think dad came out the winner??? Just kidding, dad, I know you won! And Chris was runner-up so he got to put his name in the book! Way to go Chris! (No actual gambling occurred).

Christmas morning was full of surprises and lots of excitment. After opening presents, the family was able to talk with Gordon! Chris spoke to him in Spanish and assured us that Gordon is really picking up the language. It was good to hear his voice, especially since Chris and I don't know if we'll be able to talk to him next Christmas. The festivities continued with the whole family going to see Sherlock Holmes on Christmas day and the start of a crash course on Mario Brothers Wii. The next few days were filled with endless Bowzer battles, football games, and fun. Natalie, David and Rylie said goodbye on Sunday and I did well not to cry.

The next couple of nights were occupied with intense football games and on Monday we celebrated Chris's 25th birthday! On Tuesday my mom, dad, Annabelle and I went to Grand Junction, CO for some "after Christmas" shopping. On Wednesday, my mom helped me sew some burp cloths for my visiting teaching companion who had her baby at the end of December. They are so cute! On New Year's Eve, we all spent our time at the Stake center in Moab watching the youth eat, dance, and karaoke. The Stake had a count down to the new year and hundreds of balloons fell from the ceiling of the gym--it was pretty cool. New Year's day was filled with nothing but football and 7-layer dip! It was a blast to observe Chris and my dad while watching these games! Chris worked at the Potash plant while we were in Moab, but I know he really enjoyed being able to come home and watch football--especially the games where a Big Ten team won (Go Buckeyes!)! All in all, we had lots of fun and appreciate the hospitality of our families. We love you!

Here are some pictures from our Christmas vacation. Enjoy!

Rachel licking the snow--crazy girl!

Rylie opening a present

My favorite picture! This is pretty much how the whole party went!

There's a smile!

Natalie and Rylie on Christmas Eve

Rylie on Christmas morning eating one of her presents...so cute!

Natalie, David and Rylie on Christmas morning

Rylie and Grandpa Garrett--Grandpa working his charm!

Grandma feeding Rylie. We had to give her a bath after this!

Sunday afternoon nap--arranged by Bob Ross!

Annabelle's cute toenails

Rachel on New Year's Eve

Chris and I on New Year's Eve

Annabelle on New Year's Eve

Mom and Dad Garrett on New Year's Eve

Annabelle and Susan at the New Year's Eve party--crazy girls!

Mom and Dad Garrett dancing before the balloons fell

Chris and I dancing before the balloons fell--our first dance since our wedding...!

Here are some videos from Christmas! Enjoy!

Rylie laughing!

Birthday preview!

Rylie's sneeze--so funny!

Christmas Day with the Wii!

Chris's birthday!

Rachel singing "I Will Survive!" on karaoke with some young women!

In addition to all of this excitment, Chris and I have begun a new semester and with any luck, we will be done in December! I can't wait! Both Chris and I have pretty hard classes this semester, but we're used to that fact, and hopefully we can once again pull through. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving trip to Ohio. We only used our camera for the first few days, so there aren't as many as we'd like. But when you're having fun, who remembers the camera? While we were there, Chris's niece, Hayleigh, was baptized. We were so glad that we could be there! We were able to attend the Columbus temple, which was a first for me, and it was a wonderful experience. There was horse riding, shooting, naps, and more food than I needed. "The Girls" went to see New Moon--which was a lot of fun for me--and surprisingly enough, there were little video games played, which didn't bother me in the slightest. We also got some face time with the local missionaries, which made me think of Gordon. His most recent letter said that he was able to enjoy Thanksgiving and I'm so grateful for the loving families that made that possible! Chris and I really enjoyed our time in Ohio with family. We wish we all lived closer so we could get together more often.

Hayleigh with her 1st set of scriptures


Hayleigh, Keith, Mat, Eve, and Chris's Mom at the baptism


Chris's Dad, Maria, and Olivia


Ella, Lydia, and Maddie--so, so cute


Olivia and Lydia--try not to get those names confused--and Landon, who didn't want to look at the camera


A video of Olivia playing the piano with Maria


All in all we had tons of fun and can't wait to all be together again!

Thanksgiving and Finals!

What an awkward combination...Thanksgiving was great, but finals are a killer (2 more weeks!!!)! Chris and I had the wonderful opportunity to fly to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with his family. Most of the family was there and it was so much fun! We played BANG! quite a few times and had late nights talking and laughing! There was also a lot of watching out for the little "chillin's" that were there! But more info and a few pictures will be coming, if I can get my camera to cooperate!

Some Projects

Here are some pictures of the projects Chris has done for his Advanced CNC class. This is an advanced programming class for different types of computerized machinery. Chris had to create the designs and write the codes for the cutting process. For the brass heart, he used a wire EDM; for the name plate, he used a CNC mill; and for the Horse head, Chris used a CNC plasma cutter. I don't know what all of that means, exactly, but I really like what he has been able to do! He is so creative and comes home with all of these ideas for his next project!

Chris originally planned to make the brass heart as a key chain ornament to give me for my birthday, but it turned out bigger than I thought it would! The name plate says "HANSEN" and has a Bugatti symbol on the left and a football helmet on the right (I really liked this one when he brought it home!). And the Horse head cut-out is actually a gift for Chris's mom. He created the branding symbol (her initials) in the bottom right corner. I am so proud of Chris and the hard work he puts forth in all of his classes and I can't wait to see what he brings home next!

Birthday!

Saturday was my 24th birthday and it was a good one! Chris serenaded me with "Happy Birthday" and surprised me with a digital picture frame. He remembered me saying something about it over the summer and kept the idea in the back of his mind for months--I am so impressed! He also treated me to dinner and the ever famous G's Dairy Delights, an ice cream shop that Chris and I enjoy. My family showered me with phone calls and text messages, birthday cards and cake and ice cream. I am so blessed to have so many people who love me and I am reminded all the time. So thank you to all those who helped make my birthday a GREAT one--even though it is somewhat depressing that I am already 24!

Birthdays are Bosh

Saturday is my 24th birthday and I'm not all that excited. The thrill of getting older is no longer appealing to me. And I wonder if it comes to everyone as they get older and are forced to become more responsible. When you are younger, the joy of parties and presents is overwhelming and then you reach the teenage years and the world begins to open up to you. But after 21 or 22 the world starts to close back in on you. You have to have all the answers and you are expected to have your life planned out until at least retirement. Bills are piling up but money isn't coming in--only failing grades. The pressures to do everything and be everything are amassing, and all of this as you're being told that you must make something of yourself or you will be of no value to anyone. I really never asked to get older. Why couldn't I stay little?

Drive-in Movie!

On Saturday night Chris and I had the unique opportunity to go to a drive-in movie theater. We were pretty excited considering neither of us had ever been to one before. We pulled in, they told us which radio station to turn to, and we found a pretty good spot to park our car. There were some serious drive-in-movie-goers who brought couches and mattresses to put in the back of their car or truck, and some people set up camping chairs and sat outside their vehicle. It was too cold for me to do that! There was a concession area and Chris got a milkshake and I got something to drink and a candy bar. We saw "G.I. Joe" and it was really nice to recline our seats back a little and have control of the volume! One of the only draw backs was that a few people arrived late and their headlights shone right into our mirrors. Other than that we had a good time. I still like the theater best, but at least now Chris and I can say that we've experienced the excitement of a drive-in movie!

I know, I know...

I haven't posted very much the last several months and hopefully with internet access that will change. But I'm going to get you up-to-date on what has happened since I last posted. Well, as some of you know, Annabelle came to stay with Chris and I in Wendover, Nevada for a week. She celebrated her 8th birthday with us and we had a lot of fun with her. We took her to the park, to see ICE AGE 3, to the city pool (where there are 2 really fun slides--right chica???), we made a cake for her birthday, and took her all over the vast city of Wendover. She had some crafts that my mom sent with her, which we did a lot of, but her favorite thing was to take the cushions off of the couch and build huts with them. Annabelle also swears she gained weight while she was with us, but I don't know about that! Anyways, Chris and I had fun with her and we hope she had fun too!
Chris and Annabelle at our pool

Annabelle couldn't wait to get up and celebrate her birthday!

Some of the stuff mom sent

Enjoying the fruits of our labors!

Annabelle decorated her own cake...

Chris and Annabelle eating cake!

Annabelle's makeover and photo shoot

At the end of August, Chris and I were able to go with his family to the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple open house. It is beautiful inside and is built a lot like the Rexburg temple--with numerous flights of stairs and such--but has its own unique characteristics. Hayleigh, our niece, counted all of the pictures of Christ in the temple and I think she got to 32??? It was a wonderful opportunity to visit this temple. And for those of you who don't know, this temple is the 13th temple in Utah (which makes Utah home to 10% of all the temples in the world. Amazing, I know!)
Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Also since our last post, Chris and I have moved back to Rexburg, Idaho. There are a few things we miss from Wendover, such as seeing my dad on his work trips, the sun and warmth, Wendover Will, our branch (especially the Young Women!) and of course our pool. However, I am glad to be back, but I know Chris misses working. What an upbeat provider he will be! We are happy to get the ball rolling with school, though. We have spent the last few days unpacking and getting ready for school, which begins on Thursday. Both of us are a little nervous for this semester, but we know with the Lord's help we will make through yet again.

No, We're Not Dead!

I'm sure many of you have wondered why our blogging has stopped. Well, we are in Wendover, Nevada and have no internet. I have to go to the local library or to Chris's work to access the internet, but I'm not allowed to plug anything into the computers. So we are in Moab, Utah for the weekend and I am taking advantage of the internet available here!
Anyways, we had a lot of fun going down the river, having a barbecue, watching the fireworks and shooting off some of our own. Here are some pictures from this weekend.




Here are some pictures from our trip to Disneyland. It was Chris's first time in Disneyland so we stayed as long as we could both days. We were sore, but it was totally worth it!




This is a picture of Chris and his favorite car at the car show in Moab at the end of April. There were a couple hundred cars at this car show and Chris took about that many pictures! Boys and their toys!!


I hope this post has given you a look into what's been going on this summer. Annabelle is going to Wendover with us this week and we (hopefully) will post some pictures of her time there. Until next time...

What We're Up To..

Well, it's been a crazy past few weeks! Chris and I have been hard at work studying for finals and they are finally here! On Thursday our finals for this semester will be over and the following Monday we will be on our way to Wendover, Nevada, where Chris will be doing an internship for the summer. We are sad to leave our ward and our friends, but we have been preparing for this adventure!

We made a visit to Wendover last weekend to find an apartment and we are lucky we did. There are lots of people who go to Wendover to make some quick money at the casinos and then they are on their way, so you have to hit the apartment market at just the right time. Although our apartment isn't what we have here in Rexburg, we are happy to have found the one we did. We have a washer and dryer unit and a swimming pool, but we have no dishwashwer and no microwave. I guess this is how "real world" people live--making sacrifices in one area for something in another area! We didn't take any pictures of our apartment, but we really liked the landmark that welcomes you into town (too bad it's so far into town that only the locals see it). Say hello to "Wendover Will"! I have a feeling he and I are going to be good friends.
I also had my last big hoorah with Enrichment and I think it went pretty well considering we had to tell the sisters that it was getting late and we needed to start cleaning up! We had about 30 sisters from the ward show up (that's maybe half), and we fed them soup and salad in celebration of the Relief Society's birthday and did a service project. Our Stake Relief Society President spoke to us about service and then we made lap-quilts for the nursing home here in Rexburg. This calling has been very stressful for me, but I know the Lord helped me in reaching out to the sisters, and I have felt many blessings from magnifying my calling. Here is a picture of some of the lap-quilts we made.

Gordon's "non-farewell"!

Gordon had his "non-farewell" on March 8th and Chris and I were able to be there. It was really great to see him one last time before his mission and it was a lot of fun. We got to see Natalie, David and Rylie, Grandparents, and lots of other family members. We heard Gordon speak in church about prayer and faith and he did really well. He's going to be a great missionary!!! We love him and are so proud of his decision to serve a mission. He's been preparing for it his whole life and the time has finally come! Here are a few pictures from that day. I'll post more later.

Dad (Grandpa), Shane, Matt, and Gordon

Mom (Grandma), Rylie, Matt, Gordon, and Kaylee

Gordon and Kaylee

Gordon and Rylie

Some of Gordon's Friends...

More of Gordon's Friends...

More Friends...

More Friends...

Still More Friends

Gordon