{Mt. Rushmore}

The fun didn't stop after the St. Patty's Day

celebration...the next day we packed up

and all loaded in our van and headed out to

South Dakota...Destination: Mt. Rushmore!!!!

We drove out on a Friday afternoon and safely arrived

in Keystone, SD where we would be staying the night

in a fun Holiday Inn Express. The kids were fantastic

travelers but were sooo excited to get out

and get some wiggles out swimming in the hotel pool! The front entrance of the hotel was like a mini zoo for

the kids. They had all sort of stuffed animals for them

to see and complimentary hot chocolate which we all enjoyed!

And ironically enough our good friend who plays hockey

had a tournament in Rapid City, SD

(which was 15 min. away from our hotel) the

weekend we were there! So fun that we got to

watch just one more game. G &G Hansen

had never been to a hockey game before so they

were way excited to be able to watch one and meet

our good friends, the Rupps! And of course the kids

had a great time watching and runnin' around!

Go Oilers!!

First thing Saturday morning we headed out to

Mt. Rushmore. (which was only 2 miles away from our hotel!!!)

Addie was so excited to see these

faces that we had been telling her about.

They have really done up the place and have made it a very beautiful Memorial. As you walk toward Mt.Rushmore you first walk through these granite pillars with each state flag adorning them. it really is a beautiful site. Then it all opens up and you are standing right in front of Mt. Rushmore. Check. We can officially check Mt.Rushmore off of our list of places to see! It was absolutely beautiful and incredible! Here's our little family! I love how all 4 of us are lined up almost perfectly with the presidents in back! A little collage of the memorial. The statue in the middle is Gutzon Borglum... the brains and sculptor behind this amazing rock carving that he dared dreamed to do. From L to R: George Washington

Middle:

Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt

And on the Right:

Abraham Lincoln

Put them all together and you have an amazing

sculpture of 4 amazing men/Presidents that made

an difference in history.

There is a nice trail that takes you to the base of the mountain

so you can get a closer look. It was a beautiful day with

the sun shining and a light breeze.

And the 3 Randalls were kind enough to let us snap

a 3 generation picture of them!!! We had so much fun

there at Mt. Rushmore. We actually spent about

2 1/2 hours there between site seeing and the museum.

the kids were so good and we all had a good time.

After Mt.Rushmore we stopped in the little town

of Keystone (where we spent the night) which is

2 miles down the road from Mt. Rushmore.

It's a quaint little town with a population of 311.

Most of the shops were closed for the "season"

but we did manage to find an ice cream/candy

shop open!! yay! We walked down the one side

of the street and back up the other side. It's

not very long as you can see and yes this was

the extent of the town.

Yay for Ice Cream...we were all craving it!

Every DQ we passed along our way had big

signs on them that said, "closed for the season

come see us in April." We were so excited when

this cute shop was open and serving up nice

cold Land O' Lakes Ice cream. It was delicious

ice cream. they had every kind of fudge you could

imagine in there along with every kind of chocolate

covering every kind of nut! I could have gone wild

in that store but I stuck to just the ice cream!

After Ice cream we headed up the other side

of the street to see what other stores there were.

Spinning salt water taffy in the front

window of another cute little store

caught all of our attention fast. We actually got to

go in and see the entire process to making salt water

taffy. From the spinning to flavoring to coloring to spinning more

to cooling to shaping to putting it in the coolest machine ever

to watching that machine spit individually wrapped

pieces of delicious Taffy. They had every possible

flavor of taffy....even Jalapeno, which Tyler got to try!

Last stop of the trip....Hill City. They have an old

1880 steam engine train which runs in the summer from Hill City

to Keystone. Although it wasn't running we stopped anyway

to let the kids get out and see and play on the train. It was

a great stop before the 3 hour car ride we had until

we would be home. Overall, this was such a FUN trip.

The kids were fabulous, the company was fabulous,

the sites were fabulous! And a big thanks to

G & G Hansen for helping and joining us on this trip!!!

{Happy St. Patricks Day 2011}

We were fortunate enough

to have G&G Hansen here for St. Patricks Day which

made for even more reason to celebrate with our

traditional "Green Party!"

We had Cafe Rio pork salads and yummy

Green Grapes and Green Apples with Carmel

and a banana bunt cake with Green icing to top

off the dinner!

We also had Irish music to compliment the night!!

We were also fortunate enough to have to missionaries
over for dinner that night so they got to join in on the
"Green Party" festivities. All the boys got to play
the "try and pop my balloon" game. It was pretty intense
with 5 big boys stomping and doing an Irish jig while
trying to pop each others balloons!!! But hilarious to watch!


But the funniness did not stop there. Both tired and
running on a sugar high...Trey and Caitlyn were the
life of the party as they entertained us with their
tickle war and laughter! And thanks to Rachael
she got our 2nd Annual St. Patty's day picture
of the 3 kiddos on the couch in the exact
same order as last year!!!
What a fun night we had with friends and family!

{It's always fun when Grandma & Grandpa come}

Grandma & Grandpa Hansen came to visit!!! Yay!

It's always fun to have Grandma and Grandpa come.

We played, traveled, and had fun!

First on the list of things to do was "noodle swords"

G&G H made these over the summer for all the grand kids

to play with at their house. We ended up getting a couple

pool noodles at the end of the season when they were clearanced out

and they've been waiting to be put into swords.

Then with some PVC pipe and spray adhesive the swords were ready!

It made for the perfect project and good times playing together.

{So sad it's over...}

We are going to truly miss going to the

Casper, Oilers, hockey games. We all looked

forward to going to these games. The kids

always had fun as they could be right up

to the glass watching the game or playing

in the bleachers near by!!!

As for Tyler and I we just

loved going and watching the games and

spending time with great friends!

We were #97 biggest fan!!!

He is an amazing player and not to mention

he's our great friends son!!! We have become

very close with the family of one of the Doctors

Tyler rotated with. And both of their sons play and

are very good at hockey.

Their goalie over there in the net...ya shes a girl and shes

amazing. Its a tough position and she plays it well.

How would it be to be the only girl on the boys hockey team!!

Pretty sweet eh?

Like I said, Good times with good friends.

Cute little miss Caitlyn would dance the night away

in front of the glass for all the hockey players to see!!!

And we can't forget the "Puck Toss"

this happened every game after the 2nd period.

During the 1st and 2nd period the fans had the opportunity

to buy a puck to toss. Whoever got closest to the bucket

or triangle in the middle would get half of the cash they

earned from the pucks. Well the last couple of games

Addie caught on to this and so we "splurged" and

got her pucks. (the games are free so i think $1 is justifiable!!)

The last game (State Finals) we "splurged" big

time and everybody got pucks!! Trey would not let that

puck out of his sight. He loved that puck but he loved

being able to through it out onto the ice even more!!!

(oh and about Treys hair...he was wearing a beanie)

We are so sad the season is over.

Hooray for a great season Oilers!!!!


(And since I totally spaced bringing my camera to their last game
Rachael was sweet enough to share her pics with me.
THANK YOU so much Rach!)

{Things to Remember}

Addie at age 4 you:

*have 5 favorite movies which are:

Toy Story 1,2,&3, Tangled, and Tinkerbell

* are 42 inches tall

* Weigh 35 lbs.

* attend preschool at St. Marks Day School

* have very good writing skills

* can spell many different words

* can also read many different words

* love music and love to sing

* have a HUGE imagination

* are Mom's best shopping buddy around

* your favorite store is HOME DEPOT (yes Home Depot)

*your favorite dinner is STILL noodles with alfredo

* LOVE to build with Daddy
* build at least 1 fort of some sort a day

* your dream is to build a very big building someday

*love the story of the Restoration of the Church and Joseph Smith

* love to be with your cousins and Grandparents

* obsessed with brushing your teeth or knowing whats good for them and whats not

* are a great big sister

* say the funniest and most random things

* your favorite fast food place is "Old McDonalds"

* love to be in your pajamas 24/7

* your favorite game to play is "Go Fish" and "Hide and Seek"

* also love to go to Ross and Best Buy

* can be shy

*love to have books read to you

* love holidays and learning about all the different holidays we celebrate

*are a very good traveler

* are a good friend

* are the best 4 year old daughter we could ask for!

Thanks for being such a delight in our lives. You know how to spice things up a bit and keep us on our toes. We love you Addie!

{Happiness}

This sweet little bud brought me much

happiness today.

It finally warmed up to the high 30's today and I was

not about to spend 1 more minute in my house. So

still with runny noses and coughs I bundled the kids

up and we went out to play. They played in the mud

since all the snow is melted we have lots of mud on

one side of our yard and I sat and soaked up some

sunshine on my face. It felt sooo good. While

we were out I noticed several tulip buds surfacing!!!

YAY!!! Could it really be?? Spring is on it way?

It brought me so much happiness thinking about

the beautiful flowers I will soon have in my yard!

Now if only we could get over our lame colds I would

be really HAPPY!!!

{I'M. TIRED. OF. BEING. SICK...BLAH!}

If one picture could describe our week this one

would be it.

Yes thats right....nothing but sick, sick, sick here

in the Hansen home. I'm tired of it. I don't think I would

mind as much if I wasn't sick and it was just my kids.

But no, its been Trey and I for the most part and

Tyler and Addie on the side here and there. And

it has lasted WAY WAY WAY too long. I'm not used

to being down this long and its soooo annoying.

Besides my bad attitude of being sick and being

cooped up in my house for days I have had time to

reflect on little things through out the past week

that i've been grateful for such as:

*Addie and Trey playing overly well together (blessing from above)

*Trey still sleeping through the night, although he's congested and coughing

*Ty's awesome schedule the past couple days that has allowed him to be home more

*A very sweet friend who took and picked up Addie from school for me.

*Angry Birds game on the itouch...I think I'm a bit addicted

(tyler introduced me too it when i was spending a lot of time on the couch)

* For the crockpot who is hard at work making dinner for us and making our house smell delicious!

*That our sickness have not landed us in the hospital and can be treated at home

(it could always be worse right??)

*For the thought of visitors coming soon!!! We can't wait!

*For the sun that is shining and melting the snow away.