The Hanson Crew

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John really enjoys cooking and is a wonderful cook! His dream kitchen would include a huge gas stove and cast iron. So yesterday, we met at Overstock for his lunch and obtained half of his dream... An awesome cast iron set for only $90. The best news for me (the one who inspires to enjoy new recipes, whole spices and try gourmet marinades like him) is we found red to match the kitchen! We also picked up an 18-piece stainless steel set, which is something he had been looking for at many stores, including Branson outlets this past weekend. This set was only $50 (retails for $150). We LOVE Overstock! Bonus: We got rid of about 3/4 of our current scratched, bent and un -used pans, pots, and skillets. And Jonathan wanted to have his picture taken while I was re-organizing all this fun stuff! Now I have to go take some chicken out for dinner so we can try this stuff out!

Today is our last t-ball practice and Thursday is our last game. We will be missing the last game because of an annual carnival we go to in Kearney. Ashlyn has done so well and has really come out of her shell. We are uncertain if she will play next summer again or not, but are so thankful we did it this summer. She is a natural (like her Papa Phil, Aunt Adrienne, and mommy)!

Here is Joshua's little brother, K-LOVE (aka Caleb), as called by some close little friends!

So John and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in Branson this weekend and really enjoyed eachother. I say it this way because it was a great time together, away from our normal routines and business, and the best part of the trip were those moments we could say, "I'm so glad to be here with you." Of course, we had different feelings again about the city and people of Branson itself - it is way to commercialized and way to busy to not feel a little stressed at times...overall, well worth the weekend getaway in this wonderful hotel above (for free thanks to the Wyndham Vacation Resorts people)! After we checked in on Friday and ate at Landry's Seafood Restaurant, we hung out talking and watching the food network in our room (we don't normally have cable and watch our favorite shows through the library interlibrary loan program). Sat, we ventured on to Silver Dollar City for a few hours and then sat through our timeshare presentation for the free hotel, $80 cash, a

So we will soon see if two weekends away from J helps a little with his separation axiety (since one didn't do the trick)...we are praying that he will be grow closer to grandma and a little less to mommy this time :) Talk to you on Monday!

We don't think Joshua's boxers would look as cool!

So this weekend was one of those trips that I will never forget...girl gabbing in the car, a wonderful message from God's Word, night owl heart to hearts, great food, some pretty hilarious stories, and a luxury 1.6 million dollar cabin! What a great time! We ended up changing our plans last minute from driving an RV and camping to renting an awesome minivan (fits 8 people comfortably) and a vacation home (a real log cabin) in Minnesota. The drive went pretty quick going up as we played the UnGame and talked a lot . There were 5 people from my church Shepherding Group and 3 girls from my friends Sara's work ...man were they awesome! Once we got there on Friday night, we went straight to the Beth Moore conference , stopped at Applebees after (around 10:30) and then headed to our cabin...I think we went to bed that night around 1:30 or 2:00. The Friday night conference was amazing and was titled "Between a Rock and a Hard Place." It was based on Hebrews 12. The wors

A friend had a link to this blog awhile back and I bookmarked it. Last night I was reading through it and got excited...I am going to try a few before school starts back up...maybe there are some you might enjoy too! Oh yeah - I decided to save some money on shampoo (and stay cooler the rest of the summer) and chopped all my hair off this past week. It hasn't been this short since John and I were dating. I really like it though and it is super easy! I'll post some pictures of our road trip when I get back so you can see it...have a great weekend!

So yesterday the kids and I were at Target and were shocked by this great shoe sale they are having - mainly sandals, but also tennis shoes. We got Ashlyn some plain white sandals (for church) for only $2.48, Joshua light up Speed Racer tennis shoes for $3.48 and Caleb some Navy Thomas shoes for $3.48. What a deal! I had to share with all my Target friends so they can run out and see what their stores have - I am sure the Women's summer shoes are clearanced 50-75% off too, but didn't have a chance to look (man I miss those days sometimes!) after trying on numerous kid ones and Jonathan running all around the whole dept. Have fun shopping! PS - they also have great clearance on their garden/outdoor stuff too! 75% and really cheap!

Jonathan loves to dance to the Dora theme song so I tried to capture it on video...maybe I can try again when he doesn't see me filming him...crazy boy!

I was tagged by my friend Jamie and enjoyed her answers so thought I would play too ... so here goes nothing... How long have you been together? 11 years together, married for 9 1/2 How long did you date? Feb 1997 to August 1998 (about a 1 1/2 years) How old is he? 30 1/2 Who eats more? Probably me since he is always saying "I haven't eaten anything today!" Who said "I love you" first? I think him (in a letter) Who is taller? He is about 6 inches taller than me Who is smarter? Usually John, but I try to remind him that I am smart too :) Who does the laundry? Me Who does the dishes? Me (and sometimes Ashlyn now) Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Looking at the bed, he does Who pays the bills? Our online bank (we should probably check how that's going...) Who mows the lawn? We take turns Who cooks dinner? Mostly John (He does 4-5 days and I do 2-3 days) - He enjoys it and I really don't Who is more stubborn? Usually me, but he tries t

Disney released the "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" trailer today on their website...and yes, my children have watched it 4 times already. We are hoping to go see it opening night for Ashlyn's b-day - it comes out October 24 th ...click on the poster to see the trailer!

So I am not sure if it is ever a good idea to start letting children snack (or should I say drive-thru) in the car, but our crew sure has done it alot. Jonathan has joined in the fun...here he is eating an after t-ball snack (a little debbie fudge round) on the way to our fireworks show on the 3rd. What a mess!

The kids and I watched this 2005 movie this weekend and really enjoyed it while John worked on his Sunday School class...Ashlyn wanted me to share it with you so you could get it at your library too! It is inspired by a true story and was really cute.

After a horrible week of the stomach flu again (second time this summer), our crew is finally all well. Jonathan had a much worse case this time and was officially "sick" for the first time (minus the normal cold stuff in the fall). We hope not to get that one again, especially this summer... we might have all lost a little weight though. We had to cancel 4 fun events we had planned on doing and were pretty bummed. This week looks a little busy as we plan for the girls road trip and dad alone time, but nothing too fun. I am so glad they were all sick before I left. I am sure getting excited for the trip!

The (Red mulched, plastic showing, dead weeds) BEFORE: The (evenly spread, free brown mulched) AFTER: Our Kearney Compost not only allows you to take all your weeds, brush, and poison ivy to their compost for free (we had to pay for a $5 tag for our lawn bags in Liberty), but they also give you truckloads (3 today) of free mulch. We did our swing set and back garden area today while it rained...it looks much better!

John shared a couple of his childhood favorites with us this month... They were both actually pretty good! Have you seen them???

A few things to think about today... Why do you have to "put your two cents in".. But it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to? What disease did cured ham actually have? Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours? If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing? Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV? Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground? Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway. If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat? If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from? Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune? Why did you just try singing the two songs above? Did you e

Lisa took some family pictures for us before the 4 th at Loose Park and we decided to get some updated couple pictures too (these are only proofs and so they will be edited/cropped a little before they are printed) ... now if only I can think of a way to incorporate them into a tin/aluminum anniversary gift???

and hope you had a great 4th... we have a few funny stories, some new professional pictures, and some videos to share with you the rest of the week. Man I sure have missed blogging!

So here I am at the Kearney Library typing an update on our computer...yep, it is still broken. After multiple trips to the Geek Squad (and after installing the expensive part we don't need), have ordered the real part we need online and are waiting its arrival this week. We hope to have it up and running on Wed. It has been hard not having a computer this long. I randomly will check my e-mail throughout the day and feel so out of the loop for some reason. But, even after feeling this way, we have stayed very busy... Ashlyn had a 24 hour stomach bug all day on the 4th which interrupted our fun day we had planned with my best friend's family. We had a couple play days at the park and have enjoyed the pool too. We just bought a small snapset pool for the backyard today and have enjoyed "summer" weather finally here! Of course we spent too many hours shopping and cleaning too. We are going to re-mulch our swing set this weekend and are buying gifts for a couple