Happy Anniversary!

Jason and I recently celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. Can you believe that it has been that long? Neither can I. Jason planned out a wonderful date for us to celebrate-complete with steak and jewelery. It was so nice of him to surprise me! In thanks I would like to do something I don't do enough. I would like to pay tribute to my Wonderful husband and say a few things that I love about Jason. There are probably a few things that you did not know here. Hopefully he won't be too embarrassed.

~ Jason gives random acts of kindness. Every once in awhile I come home to flowers on the table or my favorite treat. I love that he thinks of me when I am not with him. He is there to hug me when work or just life is too hard.

~ He's a great Dad. Jason is so good at making sad kids happy. He can always get them to laugh. Ever since I have been working weekends he has been the main caregiver for the kids while I am gone and he does a wonderful job. In fact, I think he is more "fun" to be with than me. The kids get more pizza and McDonald's with Dad. Maybe he is just as much a "sucker" as I am when it comes to the kids and how they wrap themselves around our little fingers.

~ Jason is a great reader. He always denies this, but he is so fast at reading. He says it is because he spends the time, but we can spend the same amount of time on a book and he will invariably finish ten times faster than me. Not only is he fast, but he loves to read. As a result, Jason always has interesting things to say.

~ Jason is not afraid of hard work. Jason is the one who will shovel the driveway or mow the lawn. I think he actually enjoys it sometimes-when he is not slipping on the ice and breaking his head. Also, when times are rough and Jason is between Jobs, I don't worry too much, because I know that even if it means doing something that he hates-he will take care of us.

~Jason is not that great a cook. This may seem funny to love, but what I love is that he tries. Even though he is not that experienced at cooking he makes a mean scrambled egg, which is all you need if you are nursing a sick wife, as we have found over the years. Also, Jason has always been good at making cakes. He says that he had a lot of experience with cakes from scratch in his scout days. Thank you America.

~Jason is musical. Most of you know this fact, but It is something that draws me to him. I love hearing him play the piano, however rare it may be these days.

~Jason is my personal IMDB. He knows all the actors names and what other shows they have been in. I ask him all the time when I recognize someone in a movie and just can't place them.

~Jason is an accomplished gift wrapper. He says it is all about angles. I think this stems from his days at Deseret Book.

~Jason is logical. This attribute balances me out nicely. If it were up to me we would spend all our free time at Disneyland and we would be homeless in a month. He keeps me in line.

~Jason loves us! Thank you for always being there and working hard for us! We love you too.

~Dacia

Merry Christmas Day

For Christmas day we were woken early by excited kids. We all got our robes etc. and went down to the Christmas tree to see that Santa had come. Also Mom and Dad had moved all the presents down under the tree. With Spencer around we couldn't leave anything in his reach. Even the tree is only decorated from the 3 foot mark and up. We had a great time opening stockings and gifts-especially the surprises.























Then we drove down to Grandma and Grandpa Spanns house.. It was a lovely snowy drive-complete with crazy people who go way too fast in the snow. We made it in one peice-Halleluia! Once we were there we had our second breakfast and opened a few more gifts. Thank you to everyone who sent presents-We all love them!
















AND...here are the cookies that we decorated on the 23rd with Breanne and the kids. I wish you could see them all up close-they came out so cute-and I don't think there are any left to see...
After presents we played a few scrabble and sudoku games and then had a yummy Ham dinner. The night was finished by yet another crazy drive in a white-out snow storm and we were grateful to get home safely!

Merry Christmas Eve

I can't believe it has been so long that I have neglected our poor blog. I'm sure you are all wondering what happened to us, but we are still here. Of course, as are all of you, we are busy with school, work, and babies. That is no excuse. I hope to do better-maybe that is a New Year's resolution...Anyway, we had a fabulous Christmas! We missed those who were not here, of course, and were glad some could come from far away. The kids got exactly what they wanted from Santa and Mom and Dad, but that is not what is important. We had a wonderful time with family and a delicious Ham dinner, complete with Diedre's empanadas.



Baby Willie is getting so big. Can sit alone and stand with assistance.




Spencer was happy for most of the night-except the hour or two when his arm may have been out of the socket...Hmm...shades of Jonah at that age.



Carole, Ed, and Emily put on a lovely reading about the baker's dozen.


So glad to have David and Mindy, the first time we have seen them since the wedding,


Boys sitting quietly-well- you know.


We wore Grandma Hansen out early!


Stephen performed some beautiful numbers.



Spencer enjoyed Uncle Rob's guitar playing by dancing along.



When not performing, making cakes, or helping kids Deidre and I got to watch.




Once the Show was completed we had a loverly French chocolate cake that Jason has wanted to make for some time. He recruited me to help and I recruited Stephen-so between the 3 of us we got them done quickly. With the custard creme, orange slices, and cinnamon-it was delicious. After that we had the annual white elephant gift exchange. The kids all got things that they liked. The adult exchange was actually pretty uneventful. There was minimal stealing going on. Hope everyone is happy with what they ended up with-except we know that Carole really wanted the DVD...maybe next time!
Thanks for a wonderful evening!

A couple of Treats

Yesterday Jonah, Jonathan, Spencer and I attended our bi-annual dental examination. I am grateful to say that there were no cavities in the bunch. Now I don't know if this is the kind of response that Dentists are looking for-and maybe Jonathan doesn't know any better, but as we were leaving the office Jonathan turned to me and said: "Mom, I wish I could live at the Dentist and have a check-up like that every day." I'm sure the Dentist would enjoy that! I was thinking as we arrived there that I probably should have set up the appointment a few days after Halloween instead of the day before, but at least they had a fluoride treatment before they eat all that candy.
This morning I made some Pillsbury Orange Rolls for breakfast-I know, that's not necessarily good for you food, but they were coming up on the expiration date so we needed to make them. Jonathan was enjoying his at the table when Spencer climbed up on Jonathan's chair and took the roll right out of Jonathan's hand and delightfully began to eat it. Jonathan cried, of course, but to his credit did not do any bodily harm to Spencer. Needless to say I procured another roll for Jonathan and he enjoyed eating it unencumbered. Tonight we will be attending the neighborhood Trunk-Or-Treat and then heading over the Grandma and Grandpa Gray's house for a bit of house to house Treating. It is supposed to be the warmest Halloween night in about 18 years. Hallelujah! Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

Fall Photos

Last week Denika, Bre, and I took the boys and Emma up Provo Canyon to get some photos of them with the leaves. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was pretty dark-and so the pictures are a bit pale-colorwise. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the leaves though and I Denika got some cute photos. We were up there during the BYU-TCU game-and we didn't miss much. :)

Cute Things

Jonah and Jonathan have said a couple of cute things lately that I thought worth mentioning to you all. Oh, and Spencer says stuff too-mostly he walks around all day and says "Go, go, go." Maybe that is his first word. I don't know what he means by it though.
The other day we were driving home from Mickie D's and Jonah had gotten a new Darth Vader toy. I asked him what it does and he said that it makes the "Darth Vader" sound. "You know...Hooper". I laughed so hard. I never thought as that sound as "Hoooper", but I guess it is.
Learning to read has been such a joy for Jonathan. He is doing exceptionally well, but there are still a few occupational hazards. The other day I had bought some drinks for the kids for after school and I gave one to Jonathan. He attempted to read it by sounding out the words. "C..r..a..p..p..y Sun, Crappy Sun!". I instantly corrected him that "No, it reads Capri Sun." I didn't want him going around saying that word all the time. I had to call Jason right away and tell him. It instantly cheered up his day. Pretty cute!

Finally!

It FINALLY HAPPENED! Jonah lost his first tooth last night. It was a bit of a dramatic experience-since I basically pushed it out, but it was just hanging there anyway and driving me crazy! I only had to push once. It bled a very little and then we put some oragel on the spot where it used to be. Once it was out Jonah was ecstatic. He ran upstairs to look in the mirror. I got some cute pictures of him rinsing out his mouth-and of the offending tooth that has served him so well for the last 7 years. I thought I heard the Tooth Fairy in his room last night so I went to check-and Jonah woke up. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was checking to see if the Fairy came yet. He said "Mom, I can't sleep. I'm so excited!" (sort of a problem if the Tooth Fairy wants to come.) I told him that the Tooth Fairy can only come if he is really asleep. He seemed to be more willing after that. And amazingly, She/He did come! When he woke up there were 2 gold dollar coins under his pillow! How did the Tooth Fairy know that Jonah liked Gold coins so much? We will never know.

School Days

2 weeks ago, Deidre planned a awesome 'back 2 school' party for the kids. They had dinner, then made adorable thinking caps, and played games with chalk on the driveway outside. It was fun to get into the school spirit and get the kids excited for school. Here are some cute pictures from that night!

Jonah started 2nd grade last week. He has 2 teachers who team teach his class, Mrs. Dew and Mrs. Reasch. They are both excellent teachers. He is excelling in Math and Reading and has made some new friends (and luckily retained the old ones). Today we all woke up as the first bell was ringing-but amazingly we were only 5 minutes late! Jonah has been great at doing his homework right after school without complaint. As long as I have an after-school snack things are good! Pretty soon Jonah's pictures will be mostly toothless. He has 4 loose teeth-one of which is hanging by a thread. I can't wait till that thing falls out! The other teeth are growing in behind. Poor kid! Braces for sure. We love you Jonah!

Yesterday was Jonathan's first day of Kindergarten. He really seemed to love it. He commented on how much he liked his teacher, Mrs. Waddoups. He gave her 2 goodbye hugs. She seemed to be very impressed at his kindergarten assesment and recommended him for the ALPS program (advanced learning) as he is already reading, writing, etc. We will decide on that later, but we are so proud of our Jonjon already. Such a great kid!

Learning to walk

Spencer is finally walking! It is really funny, because he is so stiff-legged when he walks. The following videos are post because Mom wanted to see some video of him walking, so here you go!

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I love the way Spencer dances. When music is playing he will sit or stand in place, and twist his torso back and forth. He's not the most coordinated yet, especially walking and carrying things...

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Not Spencer's Day

Spencer is learning to walk! He is using a spider-man 4-wheeler that Jonah received for Christmas several years ago, and a new grocery cart walker Grandma Gray gave to him for his birthday. Unfortunately, he is not as graceful yet as he could be. Last Sunday, he was walking around the kitchen table and chairs, while leaning on them, when he made it to his high chair, where he promptly fell and cut his lip. First wounding! Then I had him with me a hometeaching family, and he was walking around the front room with one of those really old plastic child grocery carts, when he tripped and fell, and fell on the lip of the cart and cut open the bridge of his nose right between his eyes, and underneath one of his eyes. Poor kid! More blood! Finally, he was playing with Jonathan before bed, and they bonked heads. No blood this time, but that was it for Spencer! The following pictures are after the 2nd tumble...