Thanksgiving on the Farm

We are so happy we went to NY for Thanksgiving. What a trip. We had several days with grandma and grandpa and cousins, and also got to see DC and NYC. I'm not sure we'll ever top this one. We followed what felt like the entire country back home in traffic, but it was well worth it. Here are some photos. I will write more details about the trip on my family's blog.

Turkey Day Update

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We had a great day. We headed up to Mark and Robyn's to celebrate along with my folks, Kambria and Preston (who was very nice, by the way). The food was amazing...I was so sad that I only had room for one plate! I had just lost another 5 lbs a couple weeks ago from being sick, so my capacity for eating wasn't back to normal. Although I'm happy to say that it has stayed off even though I felt like I stuffed myself all weekend!I got to help by bringing a cranberry apple salad, turtle pumpkin pie, and homemade rolls using my mother-in-law's favorite recipe. That was a first for me, working with yeast...now I'm hooked and planning on various bread recipes to try this month.

Kathryn did really well for being away from home all day. She didn't take a nap at all, except for about 35 minutes in the car. She'd get fussy, then distracted so she'd get all perky again for a while, and then the cycle would continue. Not bad at all.

I didn't get a whole lot of good pictures at all (I blame triptophen), so if anyone else who was there has some, send them my way for posting if you wish.

Kathryn grabbing at Uncle Mark's BYU suspenders

Kathryn chilling with Grandpa (must have been when she was getting tired again because that crazy scowl from her early days is back!)

I hope we can hear from more of you on how Thanksgiving was...Jen, fill us in on how things went at the farm! Hope you guys had a good drive back home and saw cool things...definitely fill us in :)

New Hansen Family Picture

We went up Bountiful Canyon with some friends a few weeks ago and did some photo shoot swapping, where we took each other's family pictures. I look quite different than our Gabriel Family pics at the farm (about 10 lbs lighter and shorter hair, so of course I have to update your image of me), so here's an updated look on all of us:

Kind of a patriotic look, I guess...Kathryn was supposed to wear her black turtleneck and jeans, but she puked all over it right before we left. This was our backup outfit that we had to find in 2 minutes. But it fits us.

November Already?

Well, October sure went by fast! I swear hours aren't quite as long as they used to be...life is just flying by. I particularly am not thrilled by daylight savings this year. I think it really threw Kathryn's body clock off. Things are going well with us, same as always.

Kathryn's getting into more kinds of solid food. She's mastered rice cereal, pears, and is undergoing sweet potatoes (not sure if she likes them as much). I spent a couple days last weekend making over a month's worth of fruit and veggie purees to give her when she's ready for a new food (that's about every 4-5 days). I enjoyed it very much and felt accomplished that I learned a new skill and had more options than the baby food at Walmart, which is almost always close to gone because the baby stuff is in high demand there.

If I remember right, it seemed like there were crazy snowstorms in NY last week or so. How's life going out there? I'd really love to hear from you guys out there. Tell us what's new. Love you all!

P.S. Here's a picture of Kathryn in her ladybug costume for Halloween...yep, homemade and cost less than $3!

JJ's Surgery

I just thought I would let everyone know that JJ is having surgery on Halloween for an inguinal hernia, and while they're at it to trim his tongue tie. Please keep him in your prayers next week.
Thanks, Jen

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Bart and I took the girls to a nearby pumkin patch for Family Home Evening last Monday. As we took the hayride through the fields, I could only imagine how fun it would be to create an Autumn event such as this at the farm. It attracted a ton of people and had really simple attractions. It's obvious I'm formulating unrealistic reasons to go back. I really miss NY this time of year. Anyway, here are a few photos from our trip!

P.S. Note the photo where I'm walking along Sophie's pony. This picture was taken just moments before I stepped right in a pile of #*%#. Oops, I mean leaves.

Trendy New Style for Fall

The other day Sammi came running down the stairs to show me her new "shirt". She thought it genius to just tuck her dress into her pants to create an instant new shirt. She definately created something, but it was more like an instant new rump! It was all I could do to hold back the laughter. I didn't want to crush her obvious sense of achievement so I remained proud as I quickly snapped the photos. That's my girl!