Hanson Crew

Our crew brought in the New Year with some good friends from church and work this year!  We played games, had pizza, and a lot of good snacks.  It was a really fun time.  Our prayer for this coming year: To love one another more, be more dilligent in our family worship time each night, devote Wed evenings to family game night, and keep up with our weekly date nights. The kids all want to get in shape this year and go to AZ sometime this year again. We look forward to 2014 and are very excited to say goodbye to 2013!

John is slowly creeping to 40...Happy Birthday!

The kids and I decided to take a short road trip to Pueblo, Colorado where I grew up for my grandma's funeral. We drove 10 hours the first day all the way there. We watched tons of movies and took many short breaks at rest stops and gas stations :) We had a little time while we were there to visit important places to our family. Here are a few fun pics we took along the way or when we made it!   Caleb was super excited when we crossed the border! When they saw the mountains, they were in awe!  It was a little funny because we knew they has seen them before (3 years ago), but this time they loved them.  They kept taking pictures and videos of them over and over as we drove by them.. One of our first stops was to see the church where we were married in 1998 in Pueblo.  The kids were so excited to see it in person even though they had seen it in our wedding album. We drove by the duplex where we lived when Ashlyn was born.  We showed her...

We found out a week before Christmas my grandma had died in Colorado.  She was a fun, sweet lady who suffered from Alzheimer's the last 7 years. I hadn't seen her since she got sick, but had some great memories of her growing up.  Because we are on Christmas vacation and we hadn't been back to CO in 3 1/2 years, the kids and I decided to drive out there for the funeral.  I was nervous since I hadn't done the 11 hour drive without John in many years, but packed up the car and prayed for safe travels there and back.  We left the day after Christmas and returned on John's birthday (the 29th).  It was so nice to see my stepdad's side of the family and see my sisters and dad.  We took many pictures while we were driving.  The kids LOVED the mountains this time.  I don't remember them loving them this much 3 years ago.  They also loved the hotel and food we ate while we were there.  Here is a picture of them with their cousins.  My older ...

We have always looked at each child each year to determine what education system we will use that school year.  Ashlyn went to a private school K-5th grade where she went to school MWF, and then was home on Tues/Thurs.  We homeschooled for 6th grade full time and she is currently loving public middle school for 7th grade. Joshua attended the same private school from K through now.  Caleb attended public school for K to help with Speech and then that same private school for 1st and 2nd.  He is now loving the same public school he went to for Kindergarten this year for 3rd grade. He is done with Speech Therapy, but getting a tons of Reading help during and after school because of the delay caused by his Speech impediment.  We started Jonathan at the same public Caleb attended with every intention to send him to the private school like we did for Caleb in 1st grade.  Because he was also receiving Speech Therapy there and because Caleb was going back there ...

The kids made homemade ornaments and gingerbread cookies yesterday.  It sure made a mess in our kitchen, but was so fun!  This is what was left this morning.