Christmas Party

Santa Claus showed up at our ward Christmas party on Dec. 8th and the kids loved him! I was unsure how Ash would respond to a strange guy with a beard but I think all our books about Santa helped. Both kids sat on Santa's lap and Emily told Santa what she and Ashley wanted, 'Polly Pockets'. Both girls will be getting the same so there is less fighting.
Our Christmas travels are underway and we are having fun. We left Utah to Arizona on the 13th and had a great trip. Uncle Garrett got home from his mission to Iowa and he got to meet Ashley for the first time. Emily was very young when he left so she didn't remember him and they also needed to get reacquainted. We went to a Bedford family reunion party on the 15th and had a fun time reuniting with Maegan's cousins and their kids. They called the reunion 'Winter Olympics' and the day was filled with fun and games. Emily, Garrett, Wesley and Grandpa David all won medals for different events. Fun times. We heard Garrett's homecoming talk, which was excellent. Emily threw-up in the middle of church all over mom and Grandpa which made for a really memorable day.
We left from Arizona to Texas on the 18th and have had more fun with the kid's cousins.

Painting Emily

Emily loves to paint. She especially loves to get her hands in it and move it all around. She'll paint with yogurt, lotion, hand soap or anything she can (i.e. diaper cream is not a fun medium to clean up). The only time I let her paint is during Ashley's nap time, otherwise it is a gigantic mess. She started out with 6 different colors but by the end it was a purple-brown. She had her art shirt on and it all washed off her skin pretty easily. :)

Gingerbread

We bought a gingerbread house kit and we had a great time making it! The girls had a blast opening and eating all the little candies. I think Emily ate more candy that night than she did on Halloween.

The Game

BYU vs. Utah Football, November 23rd in Provo, Utah. Kevin was in town for Thanksgiving and wore around his red jacket all weekend for good luck. Bryan and Spencer were decked out in navy and all 3 headed off to the game, kick off was at 12pm. They sat together on the row dividing the BYU and Ute fans, and the heckling was intense. The last quarter of the game was exciting- both teams had their chance to win. BYU ended up victorious. Luckily the rivalry between the Hanks' men was all in good fun. The atmosphere at Bryan's office wasn't so friendly.

Monday Night

This is our normal Monday night family home evening. Mom and both girls start at the piano with the "Family Night" song. Then comes a prayer, lesson, game/activity and we finish with treats. To our kids, it's the best night of the week! This last time we had a lesson on saying family prayers, we colored pictures to remind us to pray, we put up our Christmas tree and had root-beer floats.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving Grandpa David, Grandpa Hanks and Uncle Spencer came to celebrate with us! We had a good fried turkey thanks to Bryan and the rest of dinner turned out too. The girls were thrilled to have new people to play with. On Saturday Grandpa Hanks, Bryan and Spencer went to the BYU vs. Utah football game and all had a good time. Here Emily and Grandpa David are being goofy and having fun.

Mr. Maestro

Bryan has finished memorizing his piano song, Dark Horse by David Lanz. He started learning it probably over 2 years ago. He now has all 10-11 pages completely memorized and plays it very well. He plays it quite often and the girls love dancing to it. This picture shows his grand finish- tongue out and hands flying!

This week

Sunday we had the time change- fall back 1 hour. I realized that with kids, that change means nothing. The kids still do their thing at the same time. We've been able to make Emily change what time she wakes up, Ashley no. So now my kids are not on the same schedule and that is dumb and Bryan comes home and it is already dark. Down with Daylight Savings! We had a really nice church day.
Monday we had family night. We had a lesson about love and then we colored happy notes and cards. Ashley was so excited she started doing this funny low voice saying 'colors, colors' right close to my face. She kept us laughing for a while.
Tuesday While Emily went to school, mom and Ashley went shopping at our new Wal-mart :). That afternoon the 3 girls went voting. Emily got tricked again this year and thought we were boating and was sorely disappointed. When I was there signing in, the lady stated my name. After I was signed in, Emily walked over and said, "My name is Emily, E-M-I-L-Y, I need to vote too." The ladies there loved her! Dad went to Provo to hang out with Spencer for a while and he voted later that night.
Wednesday we went to the library for story time and then off to the park with friends. Our weather is surprisingly warm here this time of year and we are loving it.
Thursday Emily went off to school and mom and Ashley cleaned all morning. YUCK. My mom trained me well on what it takes to clean a bathroom but that doesn't mean I like it. But 2 bathrooms are so clean today- yeah! Tonight Bryan and I went on a date- dinner to Indian food, dance show at UofU and our favorite smoothie (Keva Juice chocolate PB- yummy)!
Friday we'll have friends over in the morning to plan babysitting exchanges for the month.
Saturday Bryan will go mountain biking with his brother Spencer. And I will host a HOA meeting and try to get some other sucker to sign up for my position as treasurer.
In case you were wondering, that's what we are up too.

Arches National Park

Today we went to Arches National Park, next to Moab, Utah. We went on a mile hike, saw 4-5 arches and had a pretty good time. The arches are a little amazing and a little scary- like they are going to fall on you at anytime when you are standing underneath. We drove down to Moab on Friday and Bryan and uncle Bill went on a 12 mile bike ride on "slick rock trail." We stayed at a great cabin and had lots of fun on our mini vacation.

Happy Halloween!

Bryan's work had a Halloween party on the 30th with trick-or-treating too. My cousin Hannah came along and we all had a fun time. Bryan was a pirate, me the tooth fairy, Emily went as a butterfly princess (she loved her wings), Hannah was a poker girl and Ashley was a ladybug. We got lots of candy and got all warmed up for the real night.

Coloring for Dad

Ashley and Emily were so excited tonight to color a picture for dad. They both shared the crayons and the paper really well. And both needed to sit on dad's lap when they gave it to him. Ashley called the picture 'colors' and Emily called it 'sand'. They both love their daddy!

Happy Birthday Maegan!

This is me as a 27 year old. I had a really fun birthday with lots of people calling and stopping by to say they cared about me. I had a family party on Sunday night with Steph, Jameson and Spencer. And Monday night we had Amy, Tiffany and Hannah Foster come down and party. Bryan blew up 50 big balloons and decorated the house, he made breakfast, dinner and apple pie dessert for me, and gave me some fantastic presents. I got a new haircut and a full body massage and a whole bunch of fun upcoming date nights. We start swing dance lessons on Thursday and go the symphony on Friday. I have a very thoughtful, wonderful husband who makes birthdays so much fun! Thanks to everyone who thought about me on my birthday- it was the best!

Autumn Aspen Loop

The girls new favorite game is throwing rocks and sticks in a river. We had a really fun time!

I love my pony!

We had a family play day last Friday. Bryan took the day off work and we went to Thanksgiving Point for Barnyard Boo. They had Halloween games, a hayride, pony rides and some farm animals to feed. Emily took 2 pony rides and Ashley took 1/4 of a ride. After that we went to drive the Aspen Loop where we took some fantastic pictures! Then we went to IKea and did some shopping. Emily was having so much fun she asked if it was Christmas.
We finished the day off with a babysitter putting the kids to bed and Bryan and I went on a fun date! For our date we ended up in Barnes and Noble reading THE FUNNIEST BOOK! It is called SignSpotting 2. Whoever ends up getting that for Christmas is one lucky person. We both laughed for an hour straight-it was awesome!

Pie Eating Contest

Our Elders Quorum had a Fall Festival the other night. I took the kids since Bryan was out of town. They had face painting, pumpkin carving and tons of desserts. They also had a pie eating contest. I noticed that there were only men signed up and so I decided to represent the ladies and I signed myself up, much to the delight of my girlfriends who were cheering me on. The contest was to see who could eat half a pie the fastest without using hands. I chose strawberry rhubarb and looked at the other 8 contestants and decided I was definitely the least likely to win but I was sure going to try. The guy who won was the EQ president, a skinny tall guy but guess who came in second place? ME!! My neighbor Bob afterwards looked over at me and said, "Maegan you are a better man than me." I loved it! The only downside was whipped cream up my nose, and that Bryan didn't get to see me. Even better would have been that I beat him in the race too. Next time...

Zoo Field Trip

We went to the zoo as part of our learning about our earth and all the animals in it. We had 4 moms and 10 kids- it was a little crazy and a lot of fun. We went in the morning and got to watch some animals eating breakfast, heard the howler monkey, and of course we all loved the train ride. The pictures are of the kids climbing on the tiger statues. The group picture has the 5 preschool kids in the middle of the group and the Ashley picture shows her fantastic impression of a tiger growl.

Cute Kids

Here are the girls in the backyard. They were in a great mood after dinner one night.

Wes is Engaged!

My brother Wesley just got engaged to Kristen. He popped the question on the beach near Huntington Beach, CA on September 29. They plan to get married in San Diego temple in the summer 2008. This picture was taken July 2007 in Hawaii. Wes graduated from UofA and is working for VanGuard financial in Phoenix and Kristen is finishing school in Tucson at UofA. They are a cute couple!

Chocolate Painting

Emily having fun finger painting with chocolate pudding during Joyschool. It was a day of discovering our 5 senses. We even got to taste it as we painted! Emily loves painting and eating- a perfect activity for her. And we all like joyschool (Ashley sometimes has a hard time). There are 5 kids and 4 teaching moms, which means I teach 3 days each month. The prep is a lot, but the results are lots of fun. I really like the curriculum- it's so not like normal school with letters and numbers. It's about becoming aware of the wonderful things around us (our bodies, our world) and learning crucial social skills (honesty, imagination, service, communication, etc). I like the other moms in the group, I like the low costs, I like playing/learning along with the kids, I like the time off when I am not teaching, and I like still being involved with education. In other words, we are having a great experience and having fun too!

Bye-Bye Binky

I read in the paper how a lady was going to be dressed as Snow White and the store would be giving out free ice cream. Emily is really into Snow White because aunt Amy bought her a dress up outfit of her for her to play in. I told Emily that Snow White was coming to Utah and she was going to give out treats. But that the treats were not just for anyone, they had to give her a trade. And not just any trade, but she was giving out ice cream and suckers for pacifiers. I asked her if she wanted to do it and Emily said yes! (this was success number two). Number one success happened the night before when we were camping and she fell asleep without it and didn’t ask about it once. And even before that, Bryan and I were cutting off the top part so it was more for holding than sucking on.

We got to the store and Snow White was in the entrance and both she and Emily were thrilled to see each other dressed the same. We walked up and told her that we heard she was doing a trade today. A special trade for suckers and ice cream (and as I said this I plopped down 3 suckers in Snow White’s lap) for pacifiers- and I handed Emily her pacifier to give to Snow White. She totally did it without hesitating and was so happy to take the suckers. I totally started crying as their interchange was happening- to watch my little girl do a big girl thing and get rid of that binky. (I did only get 4-5 hours of sleep the night before while camping so I was a bit emotional). Then she and I went over and got ice cream with all the toppings and sat down to eat. We watched other kids come by and get ice cream, including 2 other girls dressed as princesses. Although I think she was always on the lookout for other kids trading binkies, she never asked about it. I took the binky back from Snow White and chucked it in the garbage as I went out to the car to get my camera. I did not want to be tempted to give in. I took a photo of the two of them and we went home. That afternoon for rest time (when she usually had binky, didn’t ask about it once). That night as she was going to bed she got up 4 times, and only once did she ask me for the binky. The next day it was no asking about it at rest time, and only once cried for it at night. The third night, did NOT ask for binky. I can not even believe it- we are free from binky! I love you Snow White!! I love you Emily.

Now it’s Ashley’s turn- yikes!

Camping!

Bryan and I felt jipped for not getting to go camping this summer so we decided to go for it. WOW- what an adventure! We went to the Big Cottonwood canyon (about 40 minute drive south) and it was gorgeous! Fall has begun and some trees were already all red and it was very beautiful. It would have been perfect had it not been raining. The rain came off and on all night and at one point it turned to hail. Other events that made it interesting- cramming our car full of stuff, Ashley turning grouchy in the car ride there, and not enough room for all our tents at our site so Spencer was Emily's bed buddy. The Foster family came too and they seriously saved the trip. They had supplies for smores and peach cobbler and Emily was in heaven. The morning before camping Emily decided to make a list of stuff we needed. She included marshmallows, suckers and chocolate. The other factor that made our trip hard was Ashley not liking to sleep in her portable crib. She and I both went to bed at 11pm, awake from 2:30-6am and then awake at 8:30. She was surprisingly a happy kid all the next morning. After camping, we went on a small hike and threw rocks in a river. You have never seen happier kids-just throwing rocks in the river. We decided to alter our Texas Christmas camping plans after our experience here. In the end we are glad we did it and we definitely had the get-a-way experience that we hoped for.

Daddy is so fun!

Just a fun night of being silly!

The Lion, The Princess and The Couch

This was another fun day of dress ups. Ashley loves the Disney princesses! I still am not sure if I should be happy about it because it is so cute or repulsed at how I am letting our media culture influence who my kids love. But whichever it is, Ashley says "Rella" for Cinderella and "No White" for Snow White and she will point them out wherever she sees them. Emily loves being the lion to scare all the princesses. Perfect playmates.

The Deck

The wood work is all done! The first coat of deck protector is on and we only have a few more hours of work to do and then it is really done! Hooray!

First Day of School

My baby went off to her first day of school today! Okay, so it was only at my friend's house 3 doors down but it was still school. Joyschool preschool is a group of moms who decide to be the teachers and then rotate who teaches throughout the year. I will teach next week and I am excited to see what it is all about. There are 5 kids plus everyone has a younger child that will be there too.

We've been talking about school a lot (on the calendar, bought school supplies, got her show & tell ready) and Emily has been nothing but excited, except for today. She was so nervous- it was cute (kind of, mostly it was annoying). I told her it was time to get shoes on and she had a big fit and as we walked over she kept talking about Ashley being all by herself. But in the end she had a great time and told me all about playing playdough, a puppet who makes funny faces, melting crayons with an iron, and all about the rules of school. It's two days a week and I think I will really like just having one kid again for those few hours. Today when she was gone, Bryan and I worked on the deck.

Ashley got a hair cut!

Oh my goodness, my child changed from a baby into a kid in one 30 minute haircut. She just got her first haircut tonight by my cousin Tiffany and got 4-5 inches chopped off. She sat pretty still with the help of two suckers. We are so used to seeing her with long hair that she looks like such a different kid now!

She is still definitely the same kid though- opinionated, persistent, makes the funniest faces, and loves Emily and wants to do everything she does. Right now she loves to carry around little toys, especially Little People toys. She even knows all their names and it is so cute to her talk with her sweet pronunciation. She also loves to try on clothes. Her latest trick is to take Emily's pants and panties and run away while Emily is on the potty. She loves to wear the pack-pack (backpack) around too.

Emily plays violin

We got Emily her first violin on Saturday. It's so little! (size 1/16) I wanted to have her do a fun class and told her some options and she chose violin. A friend/neighbor of mine will be her teacher. She said to start young and they learn by watching and mimicking. We will start lessons on Saturday.

Already she loves to put on a show, especially with dad accompanying her on the piano. She has three sounds: the regular slow, a fast fiddler kind, and the guitar type plucking sound.

Cuties!

Here are the latest pics of our girls. These were taken for Emily's 3rd birthday. Aren't they sweet? :)

Texas Hanks come to town

We just had a fun visitors- Grandpa and Grandma Hanks from Houston who got in on Tuesday. We spent Thursday up in Pocatello, ID visiting Grandpa Clair Hanks (age 84) who is in a nursing home. Friday we had a family party here at our house: Grandpa, Grandma, Bryan, Maegan, Em, Ash, Spencer, Stephanie and Jameson. We had fun talking copyrights and celebrated Cameron's 22nd birthday without him there. Saturday morning was spent working on the deck (again) and our guests were all gone that afternoon. We were happy to spend time together and it got us excited to spend Christmas with everyone in Texas.

Ouch!

We were at a friend's house playing croquet in the backyard. Emily tossed a ball up and looked up to see where it went. And then down it came right on her forehead. OUCH! We told her she looked like a unicorn and she thought that was funny. Ashley also had a rough night and skinned both her knees. Not a super fun night for anyone.

Most days we have lots of fun playing outside. Just in our neighborhood there are 10+ playmates. So we spend a lot of time playing bikes, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, picnics, etc.

We are the Hanks

We are the Hanks- Bryan, Maegan, Emily and Ashley. We have a nice home in North Salt Lake, Utah and it is almost going to have a nice deck in the backyard. We have two pet fish. We love the fall weather and playing at parks. We have family in AZ, TX, CA, CO, WA, ID, PA, NV, IA and UT. We love our family, being together and having fun.