Busy Weeks

It has been very busy here in AZ. I look foward to the summer for more family time. I am busy with work and Young Womens and of course the Biggest Loser. I hope Ron gets voted off next week (Just in case anyone follows the Biggest Loser). Macy is getting so big. She is really trying to put words together to make sentences. She is also the most headstrong 1 1/2 year old I have ever met. You would've thought she was the queen of Sheba or something. Charlie and I try to put our foot down but other times she has us wrapped around her little finger. This picture is a good example of Macy's independence. She decided she wanted to wear about 4 layers on the bottom and 5 layers on top. I took her to the grocery store and admit that I got a few funny looks. Oh well you are only 1 once.

Sky Diving

I didn't tell to many people that I was doing this but I went Sky diving today. We went in Monerey California over the bay. I was only going to 15000 feet but everyone else in our jump was doing 18000 so they bumped us up. Its the worlds tallest tandem jump with 90 seconds of free falling. It was so much fun. The only scary part was the beginning when I signed my life away on a 6 page waiver. Here are some pictures of me and my instructor Mark.

Road Trip

My trip started Friday around 1 o'clock. We filled Laurel's car and drove to Utah. We had a few complications along the way but we got to the creek house just in time to go to bed. We were tired from cleaning and packing all night and driving all day. Then Saturday we drove to Henderson and it rained almost the whole way. We stayed at Grandma's and had a nice Easter with her and Charlie and Chelsea and Macy. We then drove to Riverside California to stay with some of our friends. Monday afternoon we went to the State Citrus Park and the Mission Inn. Then we drove to Oceanside. We stayed the night at a hotel a few blocks from the beach and watched the sunset. It is my first time at the beach since I graduated and it was missed. The next day, Tuesday was freezing. We tried to play at the beach but it was freezing. So we left. We stayed in San Luis Obispo and left Wednesday afternoon and drove along the windy coast on Highway 1. Now I'm in Los Gatos at Laurel's house.This is a tree in Amboy CA way off the path that we travel to where people put their shoes.

This is at an Orange Stand in Riverside. We walked around the orange groves for a while and found some oranges on the ground to eat. YUM The beach in Riverside. And it was freezing so I have to wear my sweater.

A phone call

So saturday evening, Charlie called me. The phone conversation went like this: Oliver: *Picks up phone* "Hey, what's up?' Charlie: Random breathing and noises.... can hear Chelsea in the background talking. Oliver : "Uh, hello?" Charlie: *Tiny girl voice babbles* More Chelsea in the background. Oliver : "Macy?" Macy: *More babbling. Singing. Random words" Oliver: "Hi Macy, did your mommy or daddy call me or did you?" Macy: BEEEEP BEEEP *Babbles* BEEEEEP Oliver: "I hear your mommy in the background, does she know you have the phone?" Macy: *Singing followed by more beeps and babbling* The conversation went on for a minute or two more when she finally hung up on me. She didn't even say good-bye. How rude. If you are gonna teach her how to call people, at least teach her proper phone etiquette.

Easter Egg What?

The program that has been working with Evan for the last year had an Easter Party on Thursday. Unfortunately, it was raining so it had to be inside, but it was still fun. We went to see what it was all about. Well, they gave out balloons(which have been a big hit for the last two days since the party) and there were 4 tables of stuff to do. One was some sort of craft. I saw glue and turned the other way. The next table had very cute Easter bags that the kids could color, we continued walking. On the other side was a table of balls and bean bags that you could toss and throw or rings to toss on wooden bunnies. We played with the balls and bean bags for awhile as Evan spent his time just watching all of the other people walking and talking and playing. The fourth table we didn't even make it to, foam eggs that you could decorate with foam stickers. Cute, but we just didn't make it that far.

They did have an egg hunt. They separated it into two groups: 2 and under and 2 and over. The 2 and unders had their eggs just on the floor of part of the room. The older kids were on the stage where they had a few more obstacles. Needless to say, Evan and Ryan weren't quite sure what to make of the whole "find the eggs and put them in the bag" thing.

This is taking the eggs already in the bag out.

I think they still had fun though.

"Now what?"

There was also an Easter Bunny that Evan was determined to behead and Ryan was not really fazed by. Sorry for the blur, but you can still see the "I'm bored" face. I'm glad we went, and I'm glad I don't have to worry about doing all of the holiday stuff yet. Although sometimes I want it done for me. :) Hope everyone has a happy Easter!

I'm finished

I just turned in my last final for this semester. It has been a crazy last three days. I have spent 20 hours in the photo lab printing in the last two days (Monday and Tuesday). I am very ready to be done. I took my last test this morning and turned in my last portfolio today. Hooray. Now I have to pack, clean and move out by Friday at noon. Here is one of my photos I made yesterday. To see all of them you can go to my blog. bethhansen.blogspot.com

My weekend in the snowy desert

Hey fam! I just got back from my "science excursion" to Capitol Reef. Basically 20 of us students and professors went down to Capitol Reef National Park from Thursday morning until Sunday night. The school built a very nice field station that was just barely opened a few months ago. It sure beat camping since it was FREEZING cold! The high for both Friday and Saturday was around 35 degrees, and it snowed on us both days. We did manage to go on some amazing hikes anyways, and only got our van stuck in the mud once. It was so cool having 2 geology professors, a chemistry professor and a botany professor hiking through some of the most spectacular geological formations on the planet.

I posted some photos on picasa CLICK HERE TO SEE. I should have a bunch more in a week or so when everyone combines their pictures from the trip.

If you are curious about Capitol Reef, look it up online, there is some amazing scenery. When the first explorers were trying to get through this region, they stumbled into what is essentially a 1000 foot cliff that extends north and south for roughly 100 miles. Some of these explorers had backgrounds in sailing, and remarked how this area was like a reef. It was pretty much impassible and they had to go around it, just like a ship would have to go around a reef. Some of the formations also looked a lot to them like a lot of the state and our nation's capitol buildings, hence the name capitol reef. Capitol Reef and the adjacent Henry Mountains were some of the last few places to be explored in the 48 continental states.

Crazy Camping

Macy and I went camping with some of our neighbors last night (Thursday). It was really fun going exploring on some trails next to the river. My neighbor is training with me to do the triathlon this summer and suggested that we ride our bikes out to the camp site (about 16 miles from our apartments). He has a bike trailer and I borrowed one from a ward member. We filled them with all of our camping gear and strapped our kids in and we were hoping to make it there before dark. We left a little later than we planned and the spot we planned on going to was only for day camping. I remembered seeing a camp area a little farther down the road last time we were out there, but couldn't remember exactly how far away it was. So we continued biking and about 3-4 miles later found the place we were looking for. It was just getting dark when we arrived, so we called our wives to let them know we made it safe. We put up the tent and started the Coleman stove. After dinner we went exploring near the river and saw some spiders and rolly-pollies (which the kids thought were really cool and shinned the flashlights at them). Getting to bed was rough, because the kids (Macy and Gunnar-he just turned 4) were still pretty hyper when we got in the tent. Eventually we got them to settle down and went to sleep. Morning came fast and we got up to do some more exploring and take some fun pictures. After breakfast we Loaded up the bike trailers and headed back. It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get back. My legs, arms and back were all pretty dead afterwards. That is the most I have ridden a bike before, and I was dragging about 100 pounds behind me. It was definitely a fun adventure and it will be fun showing Macy the pictures when she gets older.

One week left

School is officially over in one week. I have one Tuesday/Thursday class and it ended last week for me. I turned my final in already. So next Wednesday is my last day of class for the semester. Crazy! I woke up this morning at 4:15 to go to the Idaho Falls temple with some of my old roommates. I've been doing this every Thursday for two months now as a project for my religion class. (Yes I know there is a temple in Rexburg.) It was pretty fair weather for being 5 AM. I came home and went back to bed because my class is over on Thursdays. When I woke up the again it was snowing. This is the view out of my bedroom window. Weather here doesn't know whether it wants to be winter or summer. It's been snowing everyday for the last three weeks. It warms up enough to melt pretty fast. Its just a little annoying when you go to class in the morning and its snowing. Then in the afternoon your walking home and your really hot because you had to bundle up in the morning but it decided to be warm again. Or if you go to class with out your coat and come out of class and hour later (or three) and find that it is snowing and your freezing. Can you tell I'm excited that this is going to be my last winter semester in Rexburg!

So I don't know how many of you know my plans for the summer so I'll share them here. Right after school gets out I'm going to California with my roommate Laurel. We are stopping in Provo and I have an interview with a photographer Friday night at 6:30 for an internship. Wish me luck!! Then we are going to spend the night at Grandma Hansens. Easter will be spent with Grandma Paul. Then we are off to California for a few days. The furthest south we are going is Oceanside (where mom was born). Then we are driving up to San Fransisco with a day in LA. I'm really excited to go to the beach again. Its been three years. After California I'm going to be in Utah again for the summer. I'm looking forward to be around family again soon.

New Adventure

Hello everyone! I'm writing this morning after dropping Oliver at school where he was going to be heading off on a 4 day, 3 night field trip(he'll be back Sunday night). This means that for the first time, I'm alone with Evan and Ryan for more than a day. I'm a little worried, but then Mom has had to do this often enough that its not scary. I'm just worried that by the time Sunday night comes around, I'll have gone slowly out of my mind. For example, Evan has already started it by not sleeping last night. AT ALL! And he's still going, even through the car ride to UVU, run into Walmart, and car ride back home(although he did fall asleep on the way home for about 15 minutes). There are a couple things that make this adventure more positive: Oliver loves the outdoors, as you all know, and he gets to be focused on nature for the next four days! I'm so happy for him and glad that he's getting joy out of school again. I'm sure he'll have lots to share when he gets home. The other nice thing is that we got a delivery in the mail yesterday. And it has given me lots of joy. It will allow me to actually leave the house with the two boys without too much difficulty and with so much ease whenever Oliver isn't around, like the next 4 days. I am excited for General Conference this weekend, even though I will have many distractions, but we'll see if I can focus a little bit in order to share my favorite points with Oliver when he gets back.