Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009 in Review

As I sit down to write this I hardly know where to start. This has been a momentous year for us. The beginning of the year was pretty standard for us, we were expecting our first child and anticipating her arrival. On January 8th we were scheduled for our 20 week ultrasound. I had scheduled it for Tyson's day off but a riot at the prison prevented him from being able to come. We talked about putting it off, but in the end I just couldn't stand to wait any longer. Anyway, we had been thinking that it would be a boy, but every time I imagined say "It's a..." "girl" would always follow. Turns out that bit of intuition was right, we were told that we would be having a baby girl.
In February Oscar decided that it would be a great idea to tear apart one of his favorite toys and eat it. After a couple days of him refusing food and water we took him to to local vet and found out that the bit of toy that he had swallowed had become lodged in his intestines. Our only option was surgery. Oscar came though it like a champ though. Poor guy had his belly completely shaved and has a rather large scar, but is healthy and happy as can be. We also set Oscar up with a local dog trainer to help prepare him for the baby. He still is a little energetic around strangers, but he loves his little sister and it wonderfully gentle with her.

In April the courts finalized the adoption of my six youngest siblings. They have certainly become a big part of our lives, and a trying part as well, but we love them. They are sweet kids and we are thrilled to have them as part of our family. In June we all got together to be sealed and then we took a family vacation up to Cascade. It rained the whole time, but it was so much fun.

Also in April we celebrated our one year anniversary of home ownership. Our house is still a work in progress, but we have come a long way in one year. We are excited for all of our future projects and we are grateful at this time to have a home. We were luck yo be able to buy when we did and to be able to buy one that will fit our growing family.I enjoyed getting the house ready for Lily's arrival. I spent a lot of time working on various crafts and projects. In April I was placed on bed rest and Tyson and I started making bi-weekly trips to the doctor which were so much fun. After a bit of a bumpy road and a few little scares we welcomed Lily Ann Hansen into our family on May 12, 2009 at 10:42 pm. We are so grateful for her. She is such a sweet little thing with loads of personality. We always knew that we wanted to have a baby, but I don't think that we every came close to realizing just what an amazing adventure we were embarking upon. It has been difficult and ever arduous at times, but it has been more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined.

In July we took a short trip to go camping at Redfish Lake in Stanley, ID. For anyone who hasn't been there, add this to you list of places because it is beautiful! It was Lily's first camping trip, she was almost 2 months old.While it was still rather cold she handled it well. We went for some wonderful hikes up the mountains and enjoyed the lake views. It was a little cold for us to put her in the water. Maybe next year.In August I decided that I was getting tired of typing out recipes and emailing them to people over and over so I started up a blog for some of my favorite recipes. It is still a work in progress, but I have enjoyed working on it. It helps motivate me to keep trying new things which we both enjoy. Thankfully I have a husband who will eat anything so I am free to mess up all I want.

In October my twin sister Liz married Eric Roundy. It was fun to help plan another wedding, but I forgot how much work they are. Thankfully my next sister in line is only 7 so we get a bit of a break. Anyway, the wedding was beautiful and it was wonderful to be together as a family again.
Also in October we got to have fun with another first for Lily, Halloween! I had far to much fun making a costume for our little girl. Sarita and I took Lily and Junior to Boo at the Zoo and had a great time. She was a little too young to take her out trick-or-treating so we stayed home and passed out candy to all the neighbor kids.
In November we celebrated our second wedding anniversary. It is interesting to me how quickly time can pass and yet how it can seem like more time has passed. It seems like we just married, but at the same time it is like we have always been married. I'm very grateful to have such a wonderful husband and fantastic father for our baby girl. I could not possibly ask for better.
And as with any year, this year ends with Christmas. I don't think that I have been this excited for Christmas in all my life. I know that Lily is young and certainly won't remember this year, but I will. On Christmas Eve we were sitting in the living room at my parents house while my dad read Luke chapter 2. I sat there cuddling my baby girl and couldn't help but marvel at the birth of the Savior.After writing this rather long entry it still seems like such a brief review of such an eventful year. This has been a wonderful year for our little family and we are looking forward to a great new year to come. We have a lot of plans for 2010 and some new challenges heading our way, but we can't wait to face them head-on.

Happy New Year to all! Our best wishes to you and your families!

Visit to Utah

On Sunday we headed down to Utah to visit Tyson's family. I was a slacker and didn't take nearly enough pictures so I stole some for my sister-in-law Brandie.
Stewart got a new puppy for Christmas and Lily loved him. Milo seemed to like her too.
Lily FINALLY got to meet her aunt Brandie! Playing with her Aunt Brittany.
Visiting with Great Grandma Spencer.
Playing with Great Grandpa Spencer.
Since everyone was there we had family pictures.

Christmas Eve 2009

Christmas was fantastic this year. We spent Wednesday night at the botanical gardens. There had thousands of lights and it was beautiful! It was also freezing! Lily finally got to visit with Santa Claus though.Christmas Eve was passed at my parents house where we older kids sat around and did puzzles and visited while the little ones played and caused trouble. We spent lots of time in the morning cooking and prepping for the day and the evening eating all of the yummy food.
Lily played with everyone, and decided that she liked sitting on her uncle Ricky's head. In my family we have a tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve. So Tyson and I decided to keep that going with Lily.In my family we always get a pair of Christmas PJs and in Tyson's family they get an ornament each Christmas, so we did both on Christmas Eve! Lily also got the book "The Polar Express" which we read before bed.It was a fantastic Christmas Eve. It could only have been better if Tyson hadn't had to work and could have been there for it.

Christmas 2009

Christmas morning was so much fun this year. We were at my parents house so the home was filled with little kids and their excitement can be contagious. Lily seemed a bit confused by the entire event, but enjoyed the paper and the bright colors.
Here she is examining the stocking that I didn't get around to finishing.
And opening one of the presents that Santa left for her. She struggled with unwrapping at first but seemed to get the hang of it as the morning went on.My sister Sarita knitted Tyson and Lily matching beanies. They are kinda cute together.Sitting on the couch amongst some of her gifts.Her "big gift" this year was her big girl car seat. It makes me sad that she has outgrown her other one, but it is exciting to see her grow up. And her Christmas jammies are super cute.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

...Seven Months...

Well, yet another month has passed and our baby girl is now seven months old. She is growing so quickly and learning new things everyday.

She isn't crawling yet, but that is just fine with me. She has finally decided that she wants to be mobile though so it is in our near future. She loves her solid foods. So far her favorites are applesauce, sweet potatoes, and avocados. She loves her cheerios and rice rusks as well.

Anyway, another month means another onesie.
The front:
The back:Lily modeling the front and looking ever so cute!Lily showing off the back and the fact she her hair is finally starting to thicken up!And of course we have the baby with her luvy. She prefers her toes to just about any other toy at the moment though.Just for a fun comparison, here is Lily at 1 month and again at 7 months.











And finally, a short little clip of Lily trying to scoot around.

Monday, December 7, 2009

First Snow

This morning we woke up to the first real snow of the season. I love the look of snow and how quiet it makes everything, but I will admit that I have driving in it. It is Lily's first snow so I thought that I would take her out and see what she thought of it.I got her started on her snow angel and then she kept it going.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Getting Ready for Christmas

I love Christmas, but this year is something new all together. Now that we have Lily I find myself thinking about so many different things and it is a little more stressful than before, but so much more fun. I love planning things for our own little family and working out some new traditions of our own little family.
I always try to get things done early so that I can relax and enjoy the season. Tyson hates shopping around Christmas so he stays happiest if the only store that we go to between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the grocery store. So, all of our shopping is done, gifts are wrapped and all is well. Our tree is up and Lily is fascinated with it, especially the lights.It looks like Lily and Oscar are trying to open some packages a little early.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Jumping, Jumping, Jumping...

Since I was a terrible mother and didn't take any "First Thanksgiving" pictures of Lily (since she slept through most of dinner) I thought that I would share a cute little video.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Family Pictures

When we were all together for Liz's wedding last month we managed to work in some family pictures. The family has grown so fast that our latest group picture was terribly out of date.
Our little family...We couldn't get a single picture with Lily smiling. It had already been a long day.
This is the current Kesler Family photo.If you want to know who anyone is ask, I'm too lazy to type out all the names.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

...Six Months...

We are simply in awe of how fast this year has gone by. I can hardly believe that our baby girl is already six months old! This is such a fun age though. It is just such a joy to watch her grow and learn new things.

And as always, another month means another onesie!
The front:
The back:And as always, our favorite little model ...
Showing us the front with her big happy smile:The back: And of course our growing girl with her luvy:Lily has come to love her story books, but she always want to be the one to hold them these days.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Working the Camera

Lily was playing with daddy's cap this afternoon and I decided to take some photos. She has figured out how to work the camera!