A Very Eventful July

After we had a wonderful 4th, July just blew by.  Doug and I took a week and painted the outside of Grandma Hansen's house.  It was long hard work.  And it seriously took a week!  I kept teaching lessons through the summer so we were busy morning till night.  The house looks awesome though and really needed the paint job.

My sister, Brittany, came up the weekend after that.  It was so much fun to have her!  We got to spend time playing games, hiking, talking and just hanging out.  Her friend Amanda came down Saturday and we all went rock climbing out at Hiese.  Of course you cant go out to Hiese without eating Big Jud's!  We had a blast!

Me & my Sis hiking in Teton Canyon.  I just love the model look Britt : ).   I'm not sure she knew I was taking the picture. 

 Yes she is beautiful!

   

Not only are the girls beautiful but the scenery was just breathtaking.

And Brittany's first attempt at out door rock climbing.  I think she did pretty good eh?  It looks so tall in a picture.

  

Burley's attempt at rock climbing.  That's his 'Mom what the heck are you trying to do to me!?' look.

       

And the good lookin hubby...what else is there to say...: )

Oh yes I forgot, there is more to say.  I must record the battle between Doug and The Horse Fly.  As we were walking through the brush and flowers in the canyon, breathing in the fresh mountain air, flies buzzed in and out of our path.  I wasn't too concerned about them, with a quick swat they flew away.  That is until I noticed a particular fly landing on Doug's pack.  

This was no ordinary fly.  It was a horse fly.  It was trying to hitch a ride and give his wings a rest I guess.   I told Doug there was a fly on him and he swatted at it, but the fly persisted.  It landed on his arms, his pants, his pack, his pants, his pants (well a particular area of his pants if you get what I mean).  It just wouldn't let up despite the constant swatting.  Thats when Doug's 'fly dance' (I'm going to call it that) began. 

Now in order to do the 'fly dance' you must first grab a long weed or grass out of the ground for swatting.  Then proceed to turn in circles, stamp your feet being sure to raise your knees high, and swat at your backside as quickly and as many times as possible.  It helps to yell things like "Fly!! Go away Fly!!"...."Stupid thing!!"......"Get off me or your gonna die!!"...."Leave me alone!!"  and other loud and threatening statements.  

Mind you if you do the 'fly dance' for more than 10 minutes.....it's probably not working. : )  Brittany and I had the laugh of the century in the middle of the trail in Teton Canyon.  It was one of those laughs that 'hurts so bad you just want to stop laughing, but you can't help yourself' laughs.  I wish Brittany would have recorded it on her camera but maybe it was a 'you had to be there thing'  I don't know.  I just know I can't think about it without laughing.  And yes it went on for at least 10 minutes maybe more.

4th of July

The 4th of July was fun and pretty much the traditional 4th.  Sorry no pictures : (.  We started the day with the parade.  We went with Doug's Dad, Dallin & Leslie, and their kids.  We decided to bring Burley and see how he did.  He was actually great!  Besides trying to steal the kids candy and wanting to say hi to the millions of people there, he was content to sit and watch the parade.

After the parade we went of to Dallin & Leslie's house for a quick lunch bbq (which was fabulous)  and then all went to see Toy Story 3.  We loved the movie and it was nice to be able to relax for a couple hours.  We had planned to go rock climbing but our poor nephew fell and broke his arm a few days before the 4th.  So a movie was a great alternative.

We took a quick nap and then headed out for the Maleluca Freedom Celebration.  Doug, his Dad, and brothers usually play in the orchestra, which gets us a free meal and great seats for the firework show.  After eating we laid our quilts down to enjoy (with a few laughs here and there)  the patriotic program : ).  And of course after the program we watched the most spectacular firework show I've ever seen.  It was amazing and beautiful!  

On the following Monday we went again over to Dallin and Leslie's to enjoy some home fireworks!  It was fun to watch the grown men act like little boys and my niece and nephew doing sparklers and snaps.  All in all we had a wonderful holiday filled with family and fun!

Catching Up Continued...

Ok I've decided I just need to make time to write this stuff down before I forget it all!!!

After our fun time with my family in Nevada.  We met the Orchestra trip buses on their way to California.  They had a really rough night with multiple break downs!  Lets just say they were supposed to come pick us up around 2 or 3 in the morning and we got a wonderful  night of sleep.  They didn't even get to Logandale until around 9 in the morning.  Poor bus riders!  And then we still had another 6 hours to Anaheim!

We made it to California though and checked into our hotel.  We enjoyed 3 days in Disneyland and California Adventure, which is the way to do it!  Plus Mom Hansen's foot was hurt so we got to push a wheel chair around and get to the front of almost every ride in Disneyland.  Its wonderful to not feel rushed to get to every ride you want to go on.  For the first time I felt like we could wander through shops, watch shows and even watch the parade if we wanted to!  Here's our Disneyland/CA pictures.

     

The one character I got a picture with! : )

   

We got to go into the Lincoln Memorial thingy they have at Disneyland.  That was the first time both Doug and I went.  It was AWESOME!  I didn't even know that was in Disneyland (I guess I've always been too focused on rides).  

  

We ate down on the pier in CA, at the Sourdough Bread Bowl place!  They were delicious, can't ya tell?

We got to go to Medieval Times and enjoy a fun show with good food.

Then we got to go to the San Diego Zoo!  Which I loved!  It was one of my favorite parts of the trip.  I loved seeing all of the amazing animals.

  

   

Funny story about the Polar Bears.  They weren't playful because it was time to eat.  One bear just sat down and dug into the carrots, eating them right off the ground.  The other bear had to hold the carrot between its paws and eat (like you see in the first picture).  It would eat the carrot until it got down to its paws and toss the rest of the carrot.  Then it would grab a new one and start all over again.  It eventually had a little pile of carrots that were about half eaten because it wouldn't eat past where it was holding them with its paws.  It thought it was kind of funny : ). 

     

The giraffes were awesome!  I like the little baby one laying down!! : ).

  

The elephants all did a little dance for us.  The workers said they sway because they are anticipating the time of day where they get moved into their cleaning time or something like that.  It was cool to see 4 or 5 elephants all swaying back and forth and flapping their ears.  Each day they get a hose down and I think he said once or twice a week they get their feet worked on.

  

Haha this sloth was sleeping like this!  Now when they say fall asleep anywhere they mean fall asleep anywhere!  I would be afraid that I would relax too much and let go of the branch!

Peacocks were everywhere!! They would fly up and walk on the roofs of buildings or walk down the sidewalk.  I think we saw 4 loose throughout the zoo.  They sure are beautiful but man could they have a more annoying call?

After the Zoo we got to go see Broadway's The Lion King!!!  I love, love, loved it!  It was such an amazing production.  I'm excited we get to go see it again in September with Doug's family.  It is just so amazing how they transferred the story to the stage!  

  

The Theater was amazing!  I couldn't believe how those mirrors worked.  They were at the perfect angle to make continuous triangles go on forever.  It was beautiful.  Thats the best I could do of the stage curtain before the show started.  Anyhow, we enjoyed ourselves!

My parents watched Burley for us while we went and partied in California!  Thank you, thank you!  I think he had just as much fun as we did.  Now we know that he would be perfectly content to adopt a new family : ).  We were excited to see him and him us though so we felt happy that he still wanted us.

The buses again had trouble on the way home.  We were so happy to be driving our own car.  Those poor kids and Dad Hansen.  Man they had it rough with those buses. It ended up being about a 24 hour drive down and a 24 hour drive back.  But they were troopers and didn't complain.  Besides that the trip was awesome!  Thanks for letting us tag along Dad!

And that concludes our California portion of the trip!

Our Trip (Catching Up!)

Warning!!!: very long post with pictures.

Ok so our summer has been super busy from the get-go!  School got out for Doug a week early so we finished right before memorial weekend.  We were able to go down to Utah to camp with my family on the traditional memorial camping trip.  It was a lot of fun!  As always we enjoyed great food, good company, and fun games.  My brother was able to bring some friends and my sister as well.  We had a lot of fun playing card games, bases, and sitting around the camp fire.  Brittany made awesome coblers like always!

We brought Burley with us and after about .2 seconds he was the dirtiest dog he's ever been.  It was so dusty and he turned back into a brown dog while we were there.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures (we were missing a memory card for our camera).  We got to take him for some fun walks but I think he enjoyed playing with the Brady's Shih Tzus more!  I've decided that he is the biggest tease too.  He would go steal the other dogs toys and just taunt them with it.  Set it down and wait for them to try to get it, then grab it and run away.  He definitely doesn't know how to share haha! He had a blast but got tired of being cold at night and wondering why in the heck we weren't going to bed!  It was pretty cute when he went up to the tent and started scratching and whining because he was ready to go to sleep.

After camping we got back in the car and drove down to Logandale to stay with my parents for a week. I love being back at home!! Even though its ridiculously hot outside and you start to feel a little cooped up, its just fun to be back in my house.  We had fun playing games as always.  I killed my mom at poker twice.  She was so unlucky that night : ).  I don't know how I did it but everytime she thought she had something good I shut her down with something better.  I was very lucky.  We played the Train game, ripple, and all sorts of other things with friends and family.

We all went to Risa's (sortof) graduation and found out the the sound system in the high school gym very lacking.  Listening to muffled speakers for an hour and a half really starts to grate on your nerves.  Brittany and I had fun watching Dad hold his hands in praying position the whole night.  It didn't help that he looked like he had his hands wrapped and ready to box.  He had carpal tunnel surgery on his hands while we were there.  He had to hold them above his heart for like a week.  I think the worst thing about it for him was what he couldn't bike for about a week!  He is a biking machine!  He has lost so much weight and loves it!

Doug and I took Burley to the Valley of Fire.  It was awesome to see all of the beautiful rocks and petroglyphs.  Burley didn't know what to think about the heat!  He was excited to get out of the car and go on a walk, but after the first walk he was guzzling water from our water bottle.  The second short walk he made it halfway down the trail and when we turned around to go back he started walking like a snail!  He was so hot it was funny.  Here are all of the pictures we took from visiting the valley of fire.

On the trail to Elephant Rock.

We made it to Elephant Rock!  Burley was dying of the heat.

This is the trail to balancing rock.  Its the one Burley started walking extra slow on.  I wasn't sure he would make it back to the car.

The beginnings of a new archway (maybe:)

There are a ton of colors in the rocks.  These pictures don't do them justice.  Burley was posing so well though.

We got out and hiked around a little bit.  After a little exploring we found this awesome hole.  Burley liked looking up through it rather than looking down from above haha!  He got a little nervous at the edge of some ledges.

It also worked out so well that we were able to go to my friend Ashly's wedding.  It was such a beautiful day for her.  Super busy but wonderful!  We enjoyed waiting in the temple and watching her being sealed to such an awesome guy.  I'm so proud of her for finding an awesome husband and making all the right choices to be sealed in the temple.  The reception was just gorgeous!!  I got to catch up with some friends and again eat some great food.  Then they were off in a flurry of flower petals and popper confetti!  She was a beautiful bride and I'm going to miss her till I can see her again, but she had a blast in the Bahamas and I'm sure I'm the last person on her mind : ).

I'll post another post with my california/disneyland trip on it.

The Fruits of My Labor

I've finally had a chance to breath! Whew!  I finished 4 quilts and 2 quilt kits in a week.  It has been so crazy!  Everything has seemed to be falling into place so that I can get a little exposure to my quilting business.  Yes its falling, or rather crashing, into place.  

I found out about the store Mutt n Jeff's and had a week to finish some quilts that I already had started.  Right after those were done I found someone that would allow me to share their booth at the Farmers Market.  Could that really have only been a week ago?  Anyhow I was so happy to get into the market this year since the spots had all been filled up.  Happy to get in?  Yes!  Happy to have a week to get some quilts ready? No.

I don't know how I did it but they were ready.  Actually yes I do!  Prayer! I prayed a lot sitting at my sewing machine this week and somehow Heavenly Father helped me do it!  So if you are wondering what I got done come and see at my site.  I'll give you a peek at my favorite one.

If you want to see all of the fruits of my labor you'll just have to jet on over to that other blog of mine!  Oh and for the next two weeks only any quilt available online is 10% off!

Keep checking in for a free blog giveaway!

So Busy!

I've been very bad at blogging and I will continue to be bad for at least the next week.  Quilting has taken over for a little while.  I'll let you know when I find my way out of all the fabric and thread : )...... if I ever find my way out.....I'm hoping.

Now Announcing....

A Stitch A Day

Quilts by Jess

My quilting business is now open!  Come see what I've got.  

I also have my quilts in a store that is having their 'Grand Opening' next week. If you're out and about stop by and check it out.

Mutt n Jeff's Chotchkies 

Grand Opening

May 6th 7th & 8th

10 AM - 6 PM

Accessorize

~ You ~ Your Home ~ Your Family ~

113 W Main St

Rigby, Idaho