Happy Holidays 2012

Hanks' Smilebox 

Love to you and yours from me and mine

Alpine Loop

Bryan and I drove the Alpine Loop route when we were dating in 2001. We went again back 2007 and loved the rocks in the river and the beautiful fall colors. We've talked about going back b/c it was so beautiful to see all the aspen's in bright fall colors.  This year we decided to go this year early so we wouldn't miss it.  Oops, we missed it-his time too early.  We did see several leaves starting to change, had a fun short hike, ate pb&j sandwiches and carrots for dinner and took some fun pics.

More summer fun

Girl Tea Party

June

  From left to right- Jeni, Sarah, Emily, Maegan, Ashley.  We went to Gardner Village for a very lovely dolly and me tea party.  The treats and drinks were bite size and scrumptious and the dolls got cute dolly sized treats to take home too.  We got to put on hats & aprons while there.  Truly girlish, totally fun. 

Emily's Friend B-day Party

Thursday July 19th

 As uncle Garrett was graduating on Emily's 8th b-day, we did her friend party the day before.  She wanted  glasses party (mostly b/c she planned the theme right after she got her new eyeglasses), so we planned drinking glasses & sunglasses fun.  Maddie, Sarah and Jeni came.

Pin the glasses on the face. 

 Heart shaped glasses cake with sprinkles around the edge getting snitched by the birthday girl.  She got a magic set for a present the girls all loved putting on a magic show.  

 On her actual birthday she woke up to breakfast crepes in bed, surrounded by 8 or so family members who were in town for baptism/graduation. She was loving all the attention. Until it came time to eat and then it was too much as my siblings too it overboard- so funny!

Baptism Day

July 21st Saturday

The whole beautiful crew (except Moultries)

 Our fab five

Ashley loses a tooth

July 29th

 She pulled this tooth out by herself.  It took four days and lots of patience and bribes by mom.  Her other top tooth came out a few weeks later with a lot less drama.

Sunday Cereal
Our Hanks family tradition of eating junk food cereal on Sunday morning.  I started it when Bryan was trying out new Sunday habits/ beliefs and I thought of a way to make Sunday mornings more fun.  This is our new organic junk food so not as junky as we've had before. Recently I've switched a lot of our foods to more natural and fresh which means less snack foods around, which means if I leave Sunday cereal in the pantry Bryan will eat it all before the week is up.  So I now hide these boxes so we don't have sad kids.

Catching up: Summer fun

Been a long lonely, lonely time

So many things have happened!   Best news of my night is that we DO have a cable to connect our camera to the computer and now I can share all our happenings.
Ashley's Kindergarden Graduation

May 23

(Emily was at the snack table.) Grandpa took the picture.  Her cute butterfly shirt was made with her painted hand-prints.  We loved Mrs. Wilson.  We loved Ms. Bedford too of course.

Houseboat Trip to Lake Powell

May 27-29

Dance show on the top deck by the 3 ladies.  Lots of digging in the sand by the 2 men.  Lots of fam came out- Gpa David & Marlene (caught some fish, cleaned up shards of glass on carpet from wind storm that broke lots of dishes), Garrett & friend Jenna (did some power kiting which was highly entertaining on sand and on boat), Cameron & Spencer (lots of water sport fun, sculpted a sand goon), Grammy (kept us fed & organized, la cap-ee-tahn), Kade, Carlie and Cedar (drove the boat during major water fight, kept us fairly quiet, sucked bracelets), and us (Aaron didn't drown!, all loved tubing or wakeboarding & chillin).

Aaron's 3rd Birthday

June 5

Eating cupcakes with Toy Story /Buzz Lightyear ring toppers.  We had over Isaiah, David and Jonathan and had a lunch b-day party.  Perfect party for our little man.

Cute Boy Words

Aaron and I read "If you Give a Pig a Pancake" for the first time today.  It's about a pig who gets a pancake, then syrup, then a bath and then a ducky bath toy, packs a suitcase...
We read that story this morning around 10am.  Around 4pm he and I were sitting in the bathroom together (a very common occurrence in our house these days).  Part of our conversation went like this-
Aaron: "Mom, the pig turns into a mil-li-tion."
Me: (I am quiet and smiling, racking my brain for what on earth he could be talking about)
Aaron: "Yea, the pig is a millition and he does a magic trick and turns himself into a duck."
Me: (I smile for reals because I know now he is talking about a magician)
Aaron:  "Like the one at daddy's work, the pig turns into a duck, and then a puppy and then and alligator."
Me: And then it turned into some sort of combo of the following statements and questions: How do you clean yourself, yes shake shake, wipe, flush, close the lid, to the sink, don't pick up your car/airplane/motorcycle yet b/c your hands aren't clean, please turn on the water, with soap, wash all the bubbles off, don't put your hands in more bubbles, water turned off, dry hands, put towel back up, are your undies wet, okay put on undies, put on pants, no we haven't zipped up yet you can't go, is the bathroom floor cleaned up, please put your books and toys away, turn off the light... (30 mins later we are moving on in our day)

My take away-  The boy is a crazy rememberer of the past, and associater with the present.  At Bryan's work party back in June there was a magician.  He was amazed and we talked about it for a couple of weeks.  (In the show there was nothing of pigs, ducks, or any other animals).  And the book makes a comment that because the pig was holding the rubber ducky he missed his family on the farm.  And somehow that all got converted into 'the pig is a milition.'

Side note- We have been potty training now for 4 weeks.  He did great for a couple of weeks and the last two weeks have been lots of wetting himself.  Pull-ups again?

Double Nickels Birthday

Personalize your own digital ecard

Puttng vs. Pudding

Conversation between my three year old Aaron and myself a few minutes ago on the stairs.

Me: "Come upstairs and we'll eat some pudding."
A: What are we putting?
M: Huh?  Oh!  I see- putting.  Aaron there are two kinds of putting.  One kind is putting- like putting your toys away.  And the other kind is a treat- pudding.
A: I don't want to put my toys away.  That's three kinds of putting.  I want to get treats!

Family Chain

Today I re-found this paper chain hung in my closet and finally decided to read all the names on it.  The girls made this a month or two ago.  I remember vaguely the discussion going as follows:
Emily: I wrote all the names for our family.
Ashley: We need more names to make a longer chain.
Emily: Okay.

In the end here's what our family looks like
Ashley--Ginger (the hores)--Emily--Ashley Rose--Jenny E.-- Jenny A.--Dash the engine--Thomas the engine--Maegan--Dad (Bryan)--Bikealeena--littl moovr--Scoody Scooses (Princess)--Scoody--Aaron--Anna (the car)

Interpretation:  Jenny E and Jenny A are the twin American Girl dolls belonging to the Em & Ash, Ashley Rose is the newest American Girl doll with Ginger her horse, Scoody is Emily's scooter, Scoody Scooses I assume is Ashley's scooter, Dash & Thomas were Aaron's newest trains at the time, and Anna is the name of our van.  Bike-a-leena and little mover are new to me, but why not join the family? We could use some more names on the family chain.  

Today my brain is working on-

My consuming fear for the last two days- inadequacy.  Lots of areas: mother to Emily, mess control of my house, as a good wife, in my calling at church, school next year, etc.
The good news- God is mindful. He is in control. I can trust Him. After a 2 hour pondering session with Him last night, I felt less consumed and more open and aware.
Tender mercies I appreciated- texts from a friend letting me see that I am not forgotten, bunnies on a trail reminding me that God numbers all His creations, a listening husband, a counseling session set up for today made a week ago, Moroni 7 (hope and faith), and a running partner who listened and supported.
Thanks Lord.  I don't feel so alone when I see you around.
Saturday I was praising His name- finding His work in my life; going from "life is pretty good" to "life is great!" just because I knew He was guiding me.  I found Him in the temple and rejoiced.  Sunday night- wham-o. Is that what my future holds?  More times of finding such joy in the Lord and then He says you are ready for more.  I did get a good couple weeks of rejoicing in the Lord before the wham-o.  I guess He's finding out how deep I go.  Opening me to empathy, more truths.  An understanding of the quote by Joseph Smith "...that doesn't require the sacrifice of all things, will never produce the faith necessary..."  Now that I write that down, I realize that's a pretty messed up view of a loving God.  He's going to make it hurt the worst?  But oh yeah- it's for my own good.  Okay so if I focus on that then I can trust Him again.
Come on self- look on the bright side.  Serve others.  From a Jackie Chan movie I watched years ago Rush Hour, the guy's name was Kit; which stood for Keep It Together and he chanted that over and over when times were hard.  That will be my mantra for the morning as I deal with a sick baby boy and my fears "Keep it together, keep it together."  And be praying for the Lord to show me.  Teach me.  Help me find the way to Him.

Love quotes

I have learned of Michele through her book "Love Has a Face" years ago and I love her.  Then I got on general conference talks and found some gems from Saturday's morning session. Mostly I am putting them here for me to remember.

denouement by Michele Perry "The cross was not the end. It was the beginning of all things being made new. It was the climax of the story, not its ending. And if the cross was the climax, the empty tomb was the denouement of it all. I just like the word. Denouement. Pronounced day-nu-mah. It is a literary term meaning the solution of the mystery, the outcome, the end result, the sequence following the climax of a drama where resolution is reached. In the case of the resurrection story it is the point when Jesus steps out of the tomb to leave death an empty grave. The first walk with God in the garden was a walk of intimacy. Adam and God. Until the choice was made that would plunge creation into chaos. Next time we read of God the Son walking in the garden, it was a walk of humility. The will that was lost, given away to evil, by the first Adam was regained by the Second in an agonizing "not my will but Yours be done." {How many times do I fight for my will when His is better, always infinitely better?} And then Jesus walked out of the tomb into another garden in victory so that we could be embraced by Him for eternity. And that eternity starts now. And so we are sent out in authority to walk the land with Him, the story of the cross written on our hearts, us no longer alive in ourselves but yet bursting with His Life, with freedom and all that is good and true and Him. This resurrection journey: intimacy, humility, victory, eternity, authority all interwoven expressions of His matchless, endless grace. May I walk these paths with Him everyday. I want my life to be a signpost of heaven. Like the ancient Celtic crosses that dotted the landscape in the days of Columba and Patrick. These were not symbols of an ultimatum but rather an invitation. Come walk with us and meet the ever-present, always-good God who deeply, intimately loves you. Who numbers your hairs and knows your rising and sitting before you do. Come aside and learn of the story. The plot, the mystery, the climax and yes the denouement of the ages we live and breathe and move in. HE is the fulfillment of all the promises and in Him all things hold together. Even our stories, even our lives. His glory seeping out through surrendered vessels to transform a broken creation crying out for sons and daughters of God fully manifested, fully made known. May I be one of these. The cross-story etched in my heart, His resurrection glory circumscribing, transforming my dust, and even the world around me as I walk with Him, stepping lightly but boldly in love on fragmented lands that they may become whole, running to the margins, seeing the unseen, hearing the voiceless cries in the night, following this wild unpaved road with One Who is not at all tame or safe, but in all ways good."

QUENTIN L. COOK: We rejoice in the Lord’s assurance that He will stand by us and give us guidance and direction. The Holy Ghost testifies to our hearts that we have a loving Father in Heaven,

HENRY B. EYRING We never need to feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service because we never are. We can feel the love of God. The Savior has promised angels on our left and our right to bear us up. And He always keeps His word.

PAUL E. KOELLIKER The feeling of love from our Heavenly Father is like a gravitational pull from heaven. As we remove the distractions that pull us toward the world and exercise our agency to seek Him, we open our hearts to a celestial force which draws us toward Him. Nephi described its impact as “even unto the consuming of [his] flesh” This same power of love caused Alma to sing a “song of redeeming love”. It touched Mormon in such a way that he counseled us to “pray … with all the energy of [our] heart” that we might be filled with His love.

Both modern and ancient scripture are full of reminders of Heavenly Father’s eternal love for His children. I am confident that our Heavenly Father’s arms are constantly extended, ever ready to embrace each one of us and say to each one with that quiet, piercing voice, “I love you.”

Because of the heaven-designed pattern of the family, we more fully understand how our Heavenly Father truly loves each of us equally and fully.

Week & Weekend

Emily is home sick with a cold this week with a fever, sneezing & sniffly nose and had an earache from sinus pressure at one point too. Lots of half used kleenex around the house, but she's pretty happy about lots of reading time.

The girls are working so sweetly together on Ashley's birthday invitations. Emily typed the info while Ash supervised. Ash is drawing with markers on one side of the cover while Emily is painting on the other side. They are each loving their art and they are singing a duet with lots of compliments and working togetherness. Maybe homeschool could work. Maybe.

Aaron is sick with an ear infection and will be headed to the Dr's in a little bit. Tonight we'll be headed to a bonfire with my mom's ward. Tomorrow is 2 soccer games back to back, friend's party for Ash, lunch field trip to Indian food for Em, a RS sewing project at the church, and a national book festival at the university- lots of fun choices of things so we'll see what we end up doing.

We are headed to Utah in a week and a half for spring break. Skiing, temple, friends, family, haircut and Dr appts are on the calendar.

We decided last week that we are going to be living in Utah for the summer and then headed back to Tucson again for next fall. Big decisions are tough. No matter what good choice you pick, you lose the good things that the other choice would have brought.

Ash rides her bike!

February 7, Tuesday afternoon. Another gorgeous day in Tucson.

Bryan outside with Ash, he asks her if she wants to take off her training wheels and she says okay.

In less than a minute she was riding like a champ. (Em & I inside doing science fair & Aaron napping)

The next day she rode the 1 mile to school with the family. She took almost no breaks and when I asked her if she was tired she said that the excitement of biking just kept her going.

Since then she's upgraded to a new helmet- the same design and size as moms. Most Wednesday mornings you can see between 3-5 of us biking our way to school. Way to go Asha!

Science Fair 2012

Science Fair for Emily was optional: either do a weather project due early Feb. or a science fair project due late Feb. She opted for the later due date thinking that sounded easy.

The first topic she picked was about fairy houses, then it was growing seeds. Finally she settled on What will happen when I blow on different lengths of straws?

It might not look like much, but this represents lots of work and patience. At first she was excited about it, then got way bored yet excited again at the end. The favorite part was where we tested homemade panpipes' pitches on the keyboard.

Next time I think she and I both would vote for the weather project, but are glad for the experience.

Aaron's Faces

Oh my boy Aaron. 2 years and 9 months old. He is a joy and a pain-depends on who you ask and at what time. He's been sick this last week and we are all grateful he's on the mend.

Sweet face. Emily is the photographer. And Aaron is posing so nicely b/c he knows she will let him see the picture immediately after she takes it. Silly Face. This is the one he knows how to make best. He really loves to make this face on Bryan.

Sleepy Face. Here he's in his new big boy bed. Whenever he is sleepy, riding in the car, sad, hungry, or being snuggled up you can almost bet he will have either hand in his mouth. Three fingers- which three depends on the hand. And if there is a long hair wound around his fingers he will be content for a long time. If there are two hairs the better.

Train/Truck/Car Heaven Face. This boy is a train-o-holic. One night while Daddy was reading to the girls, he and I made a huge track of cars. It lasted 5 minutes before being crashed.
Cheese face. Usually he isn't the happiest in the morning b/c he's tired, and the girls are getting more attention while they get ready for school. You can see Ash filling in her morning chart. But for the camera- cheese!

Lotion Face. After bath. Lotion within reach. My friend Lightening could use some cream- we are in a dry climate. After all, mom puts lotion on my cheeks. And Lightening (who robotically talks) loves to say "Not the Face!" so why not put lotion on his face.

It's a good thing he's so darn cute, talkative, and that he's my third because otherwise he'd be in a lot more trouble. Instead of putting him in time out a lot, he gets a lot of hugs. Daddy being home is another great other lap for sitting on.

I needed to buy new diapers at Costco. I figured Aaron's about 30-35 lbs. Size 4 (what I have been getting) is up to 35 lbs. Size 5 is 27 lbs+. I've never had a child of mine wear size 5 diapers yet, but I thought maybe they'd be fine, I was being a cheap-skate (b/c size 5 is .02 more per diaper) and really my son could use some more room. I bought size 5 Costco brand- kind with an elephant (which I thought was a little insulting so I checked size 6 dprs and was pleased to see a giraffe and not a hippo or pig). We loved the new elephant diapers and Aaron named the elephant Blumpo. He leaked out four times in a row. We are not a size 5 diaper family yet.

Fairy Houses

Last night we decorated fairy houses. Bryan and Emily bought the supplies a week ago and last night we started the painting.

Ashley's first house has a picket fence around it. She has another one she started working on that is mostly blue.

Emily's first house is kind of castleish on the top and she painted the inside all pink.

Since the paints are acrylic Aaron got to have Bryan help him out. He went for the multi colored look and since he was a little sick and Bryan likes neat lines, he didn't paint too much.

My job was to keep the paint pallet full, monitor the messes and take some pictures.

The plan is for the houses to go out back. The girls love fairies! Their favorites are the fairy books by Daisy Meadows and the Disney series.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Today the girls had an assembly at school. The theme was Dr. Seuss and the kids all got to bring their favorite book and dress as a Seuss character. Lunch menu: Green Eggs & Ham with M&M cookie.

Ashley is Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch. (Christmas bow, red outfit, two pigtails, fluffy socks)

Emily is a Which-What-Who from I Wish that I had Duck Feet. (Green Eggs shirt, whale spout, pipe cleaner antlers, shoelace tail)

Both were really happy about leaving for school and came reporting there were a lot of Things 1 and Things 2 around Wilson Elementary today.

Soccer Girls

The girls started their first soccer season Feb. 1st. They had one practice before their first game on Feb 4th. Needless to say, they are learning a lot!

For the first game Ashley tried a running position but at first felt more comfortable doing goalie, while Emily skipped and pranced around learning how to play mid-fielder. Both girls like soccer and are on a team of 10 kids- 3 boys and the rest girls, seven kids are on the field at a time. The season lasts 2 months. I like how Ashley is trying something new and working out how to be brave even though she doesn't always know what to do. I like how Emily is getting lots of running in because she doesn't always like to exercise but while chasing a soccer ball she has a good incentive.

The picture was during the first game as they are waiting their turn to go in. During the movie Aaron asks "Where's the shooting star?" He was seeing the airplane's long white tail in the sky and thought it was a shooting star.

Aaron's prayer

In the last couple of weeks I have been praying with the girls at bedtime. Aaron has been noticing. Usually we help him say prayers by encouraging him to tell God thanks for his "trucks and trains", which he happily does.

Tonight he offered one of his first prayers without help while laying in his bed:

"Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for dirt in the water. Thank you for gushy. Thanks you for this guy (while holding up his tractor he was cuddling with). Thank you for trains that can go backwards. Vrrrm Vrrrm Rrrrr. (long pause) Mom, can I have a drink of water?"

What I loved was that is the way his brain works coming out in sentences to God. I know I didn't talk to him about mud, gushy, or trains that go backwards today.

What I love too is when I am talking to the girls about something (like what they learned in class, or about a plan we are making), Aaron gets insistent that he have a turn to say his idea. And his idea is usually always "There was a big strong rocket. And it was orange and big and strong and goes up in the sky- pshhhhhhhhh!" I think our trip to NASA over Christmas really had an impression. Everything cool/good enough is 'big and strong'. Like how much mashed potatoes he wanted tonight at dinner for his second scoop was a big and strong scoop.

Potty training is going well which to me means few accidents and few tears. I have him sit and pee on the potty once or twice a day and each time he goes. He has pooped too sometimes. I just am the initiator. He doesn't even need marshmallow treats anymore but does like it when I read to him. Wearing big boy train undies is still really cool and worth running over to dad to show him his 'undie buns' each time. I love that I am teaching all the routine parts of toilet training before actually pulling the trigger on undies all day. So far he can: pull down his own pants, take off his diaper, climb up on the stool backwards to sit down, scoot back to get in position, hold onto the toilet so he's not wobbly, shake before getting off, flush, close the lid, to wash because we have germs on our hands, with soap, and scrub, enough to make a bubbly lather, rinse, dry and that something needs to go on your bottom afterwards. Each one is a major success! Next step in procedure is turning off lights. I know his wife will thank me someday.

I am also starting to have him take his drink to the fridge after each meal and help with the velcro on his shoes. Cleaning up messes is really hard for him right now. But it's responsibility time dude.

He favorite toy is Thomas (the train). He thinks trainese. Brushing his teeth and riding his bike are both more fun when we are pretending we are trains. He asked Bryan tonight what he favorite train was and he wasn't satisfied with Victor or Percy, but Hero was good enough (you have to seen Thomas shows to know these names). He is a picky man.

Fancied Up

Taken this morning in front of our house before church. Girls got new dresses from Costco yesterday and Aaron is sporting a tie for the first time ever. We were looking good! 11 a.m. church is truer.

New Year, New Attempt

I am feeling updatish on my blog. In part because my first attempted family skype conference call is failing.

And it's a new year, why not?


Hair styling time in the bathtub. All my cuties in a row being stylists.

We woke up to snow falling while we were visiting Utah. Aaron on his way to the "O-bells" (Zobells house with 2 boys and all their toys) neighbor's house. He loves their whole family and their trains and gogurts.

Sending out some Hanks art love to Wes and Kristen as they are starting the chemo process.

Ashley and Aaron having a jam session in our living room on the pots and pans.

Bryan's 33rd birthday party, co-celebrated with a double birthday party with Spencer. They are laughing because Bryan blew out the candles on 2 of 1-2-3, instead of 3. Oops. No wish for Spencer this year.