One Year Old

I really can't believe that it has been a whole year since our little Nellie joined our family. It was such a scary experience, and really trying emotionally, but time has still flown by. Even though Nellie cried for pretty much the first nine months of her life, she has been such a blessing in our life. She has the strongest spirit. She showed how strong she was by having no health problems even though she was eight weeks early and only 2 lbs. 15 oz. She is such a fighter and very stubborn, which can be a little bit frustrating at times, seeing as she wins every battle of wills with me which I am not used to. She is such a joy in our family. Lizzy loves her to pieces and Nellie feels the same way. I love seeing how much they love being together. I can't imagine what my life would be like without her. I am just grateful to be her Mom and to have been blessed with such a special girl.

Nellie just born, so tiny

The day we brought her home, August 27th, such a great day! Notice how big the seat belt is compared to her.

Getting bigger, but those preemie clothes are still drowning her.

Blessing day!

Happy Halloween little pumpkin

Six months old! And a whole 10 pounds

Sisters, they sure love being together.

Sitting up like a champ, and starting to get happier.

She sure loves taking baths

the happy baby we always knew was in there

Happy Birthday my sweet little Nellie Belle!

Sundance

The main reason we came out to Utah was for the Hansen family reunion. All of us were able to come except my brother Jarom and My brother Austin, his wife and three kids. Because there are so many of us and no place for all of us to comfortably hang out together we rented a cabin in Sundance for a couple of nights. It was so much fun, the cabin was so big and nice. We only wish it could have been a bit longer. Next year we will have to have a longer reunion. it was so nice to be able to see everyone but not feel like we were stepping all over each other.

The second day we were there we decided to go a a hike to Stewart Falls. I wasn't going to go because Nellie is past the point of carrying in a Baby Bjorn, but since everyone was going I didn't want to miss out on the fun, so I put her in the Bjorn anyway. She is small for her age, but it was still a bit hard to carry her that way for so long, but it was worth going with everyone. Lizzy did pretty well on the way up, but on the way back she wanted to be held pretty much the whole way back.

We all watched movies, did puzzles, hung around talking a lot. It was so much fun to be together with everyone. It makes me a little bit sad to think that we all can get together so infrequently, but I guess that is just how life is. It just makes the time we do spend together that much more fun.

Most of the grandkids (except the babies)Lizzy striking a pose

Me and my sister Janae

Our little family all dirty and hot

Lizzy and Grandpa ( I love this picture)

The dirty little urchins taking advantage of the sweet master tub

Family Pictures

While we were out in Utah we decided to get our family pictures and pictures of the girls done. There is absolutly no one to do pictures out here in Kansas. My sister told me about a photographer, but she was out of business, so I decided to google someone and found Jennifer Fairbanks in Highland. She did such a great job and I was so happy with all of the pictures. Of course the day we went to do them the wind was blowing out of control, We were able to get a family shot that we liked and then she took us back to her studio and she finished the girls. It was so worth the money spent. It actually ended up being less than the last time I got the girls pictues taken, because she gave us a CD and we were able to go to Costco and get the pictures printed for so cheap.
It was so nice to find someone that had the time and patience to work with the girls and get some good pictures. The only problem is I have so many cute pictures to choose from I don't know which ones to pick.

Independence Day

The Fourth this year was an interesting experience for us. We decided to go down to a town called Junction City, becuase they have a huge celebration, with a carival and all kinds of shows and booths. We went with our friends the McCall's. Jeff McCall works nights so we decided to go in the afternoon after he had gotten some sleep. We left aroung 1:30 and it is a little over an hour drive. It was a beautiful day, but when we got there, off to the west were very black clouds. We thought maybe it wouldn't get us, but over the next five minutes it dropped about 20 degrees and the wind started to pick up. The black clouds rolled in really fast and they were looking a bit scary. WE looked up and the clouds were actually rotating. Not a good sign. Someone said that a funnel cloud had been spotted nearby. We decided to hightail it back to the car and no sooner than it started to pour. So then we took the kids to McDonald's becuase not much was open and they were hungry. So I am thinking "Great we drove all the way down here to go to McDonald's." But after eating the clouds started to clear, so we decided to go back. I am sure glad that we did because Lizzy had a blast.


She wanted to go on the Tilt-a-whirl with her friend Bethanie, I thought she would be scared but she giggled and screamed with delight the whole time. About halfway through the ride she looked at me and said "Mommy this is so fun!" It was really cute and then when we got off she said "That was really cool!" She was a total daredevil.

I thought for a little girl that is so afraid of the water she would be scared of the rides too, but she rode the little roller coaster by herself and all the other rides and had a blast.

Riding with Dad down the Magic Carpet Ride. They have so much fun together.

Lizzy and her friend Bethanie

Nellie just chilled in her stroller the whole time. She was so good.

That picture of Nellie reminded me of this July 4th two years ago. Nellie and Lizzy look more alike than I thought they did.

New Jammies

For the first time in a long time I was actually able to work on a hobby. This last year has been a little bit rough with Nellie, but since she is moblie now she is so much happier and easier to take care of. Making it possible for me to actually have a little time for me. I made Lizzy this pair of jammies.

I forgot how much I enjoy sewing. I am excited to have a little more time now to be able to do a few things here and there for myself.