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

It's Been a While...

Sorry that it's been a while since our last post--there's been a LOT going on! First of all, I had mild bronchitis for about 3 weeks. This did not serve me well. No one likes being sick and coughing all of the time, but it is especially bad when your classmates start asking if you've been to see the doctor yet. That's a tad embarassing! Also, it's been difficult with my calling as Enrichment leader to get meetings and activities together. But I was somehow able to pull it off--with the help of a few of my committee members!
Also, Chris and I have been busy with school. This past week we had midterms, which is always hectic and leaves little room in our schedules for anything else. But we were allotted a little break from school during Presiden't Day weekend and we went down to Utah to see Krystle and Corey. We were able to visit, sleep in, and play with Baily (which mostly Chris did). We also ate some yummy lemon chicken made by Krystle, and now Chris is on a "marinade everything" streak! We had a lot of fun with them and it was good to get to know them better (of course, I already knew Krystle!). While we were down in Utah, we spent a day in Wendover, Nevada at the potash plant there. Chris has an opportunity to do an internship there this summer and we were checking it out. We feel really good about this internship and Chris is in the process of filling out all of the necessary paperwork. We will try to keep posted about the internship and post pictures of Wendover when we visit again. We look at this internship as our little adventure!

Other than that, we are happy and healthy (mostly) and keep trudging on with school, friends, family, life, etc.!

An Update

This post is just to keep people updated on what's going on here in good ol' Rexburg! Chris and I are going strong with school, church callings (don't even get me started!), etc. We have some good leads on internships for this summer and are hoping things work out for the best. We also will be coming up on 18 months of marriage next week (the 27th) and can't believe how fast the time has gone! But we still love each other and like each other's company so that's a good sign!

The Past Few Weeks!

Well, the past few weeks have been adventurous, exciting, crazy, hectic and awe inspiring! To start off, Chris and I were to arrive in Ohio for Christmas vacation at 7:25pm on Tuesday, December 16th. Amongst all of the delays caused by snow and not having a pilot for two of our flights, we eventually landed in Columbus, OH at 8:30am Wednesday, December 17th. I will spare all the gory details.
Once in Ohio, being with family was a ton of fun! We played games (mostly MarioKart) and had some late nights of friendly competition. We ate a lot of good food with dessert practically every night (thanks Gail!) and are now both trying to lose the holiday weight. We visited Cosi (a science museum), went to the church sites in Kirtland, bought Chris some new steel-toed boots from Amish country, rode horses, went target shooting, put in a ceiling, celebrated Chris's and Marty's birthdays, etc. We caught up on our visiting and became, as usual, the favorite aunt and uncle/sister and brother/daughter and son!


After Ohio, we flew to Arizona for New Years to see Natalie and David's new baby, Rylie. she is SO adorable! We were also able to get family photos because guess what--all of us were together!!! Arizona was warm and I didn't want to leave my sister and her baby. Nonetheless, Chris and I left Mesa, Az and rode home with my parents, Gordon, Rachel and Annabelle to Moab, UT.
We left Moab the next morning and finished our trek to Rexburg, ID. Upon arrival to Rexburg, Chris and I met our home with 18" of snow and our parking space chock full of snow on top of ice. I always knew I didn't like Rexburg! In addition to all of this chaos, school started on January 7th for Chris and I and we are getting back into the school routine. Overall, we LOVED our break and can't wait to retire to Mexico.

To my sister, her husband and her brand new baby...

Chris and I just wanted to say that we are so proud of Natalie and David and we are so glad that everything went well with Natalie and baby Rylie!

We are sad that we weren't there, but we will see your new little family in a little over a week! Love you guys!!!

Two Things...

First, I wanted to post a picture of our Christmas tree. I love Christmas decorations and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE curling up on the couch with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate with only the tree lights on. We don't get to have our tree up for very long because we are going out to Ohio on the 16th, but I wanted to post a picture of it so all of you could see what we see!


Also, our friend Taylor, who is in the Marines, got married last weekend in the Salt Lake temple and Chris and I were able to attend. It was beautiful and we are so prould of you Taylor!

Kimmy!

Chris and I just want to give a shout-out to Kimmy on her 13th birthday! You're now a teenager...yikes!!!

It's Official!

Well, all the paperwork finally went through and we were able to bring home our (big) bundle of joy about a month ago!! He came from China and we couldn't be more thrilled to have him in our home!











For those of you who really know us, you know this isn't true! This is our neighbors little boy and he is so cute we just had to put up some pictures of him! Enjoy!!!

Us...

Well, my mom said that I don't post enough pictures so here are a few. The truth is that Chris and I don't really take a lot of pictures of ourselves and even when we want to, who do we have to take them? Anyways, we are both doing well. Chris just finished potato harvest last week and is now coming home earlier---yeah! I only have 4.5 weeks left of school for this semester and couldn't be happier! We got our first real snowfall last night and are so grateful that it came so late in the year. We are now preparing ourselves for another Rexburg winter and hopefully we don't get frost bite or die of hypothermia over the next 5 months!

BIRTHDAY!!!

Well, yesterday was my 23rd birthday! I had four hours worth of classes and Chris didn't get home until 10 pm. But believe it or not, it was a good day! My parents called me and I was able to talk to them, Rachel and Annabelle. Gordon called me and Natalie and Krystle sent me texts. I also got a package from my family with way cute stuff in it and a card from Natalie--totally cute also--and a card from Chris's parents and my Gma and Gpa Nicoll. When Chris got home, we went over to our neighbors and they had a German chocolate cake with candles and all and sang "Happy Birthday" to me! It was a lot of fun and I am so lucky to have a husband that likes to surprise me! Thanks to all who made my birthday a great day!

October...already?

I just have to say that I can't believe it is already October! I truly believe that the older I get, the faster the time goes! However, I do want to state-for the record-that October is probably one of my favorite months. I love the fall leaves changing and the way the air smells as it cools (poetic, I know!). Some of my most cherished memories are those of the football lights on over the players during the fall season (Chris made me put that--just kidding!). But all is well here in the Hansen house. Chris is working hard and long and getting those 'taters harvested. I am forging on with school and can't wait until Thanksgiving vacation--ha-ha! We are anxiously awaiting General Conference and want to thank our parents for instilling in us the importance of the gospel in our lives. We love you!!!