Mogul Skiing

We forget how lucky we are to live in Utah. We are home to many of the winter Olympic pre-qualifying events. And if you have never gone, I suggest you do! We went to the World Finals Duel Mogul Ski event at Deer Valley. Basically it is a race between two people based on speed and aerials. And there are always some good crashes too. Way cool! The men were definitely better than the women :( They go so fast and then twice have to control some maneuver in the air without killing themselves. Crazy people...

From Double mogul skiing

Suka and Alex Snowday!

Suka has gas :(

Ok so I am officially in love but dang, he can clear a room with his farts! Ahhhhh!!!

Here are some more fun pics to enjoy! He is growing up so fast!

Suka

Ok so I never knew the gratification of owning my own dog. I thought this would be a fun adventure but didn't realize how much I would love him. Suka is the most fantastic thing ever. He obeys so well and loves us both so much. The first night we put him in his crate and he whined for about 20 minutes then slept for about 3 hours a piece. Each time we put him back in he whined less and less. Now, 4 days later, he willingly goes to sleep in his crate and only whines when he needs to get out and go potty (maybe once a night). No protesting when he goes in. And guess what, NO ACCIDENTS! He totally understands that outside is for potty and not inside. But for some reason he will only poop when I am with him outside, which means I get to clean it up :(. We gave him a bath the other day which was traumatic. Won't do that for a while. We take him everywhere too. And best of all, he gets to play with his sister (Paula's dog Lyra) and another golden puppy (Nick's dog Kota). It is so good for them to spend time together each day. And so freakin cute. He understands "come" "sit" and "down" already and we are working on "spot". So dang smart! Anyone is welcome to come and visit if you need some puppy lovin!

Our new family members

So...
Alex and I finally decided to grow up a little bit. Yes that is right, we are pregnant. Ha Ha Ha just kidding :) But we did get a new member (maybe two) to our family! Suka and Lyra are English Golden Retriever puppies that are arriving from Southern Utah on 1/14/09! We are so excited to have them as part of our life! Alex and I are so geeked out that we have already purchased their sleeping crates and put toys and blankets inside. I even bought a baby blanket for Suka :) We have been reading up on training and are already scheduled for puppy kindergarten. Holy cow, wish us luck! Our lives as "DINKS" (duel-income-no-kids) are over. No more sleeping in on the weekends. AHHHHH What have we done?!?

Here is Lyra, the girl:

And Suka, the boy:

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree ENCORE!

So last year was the initiation of our annual Rockin Around the Christmas Tree Rock Band party. It was so fun that we decided to do it again. This time was 80's theme. It was a small gathering but a great time. Everyone plan on next year!!!

Our invitation:


My entire family. I think this should be our Christmas card for next year :)

Happy Birthday to me!!!

So today is my 25th Birthday. Wow. I am one quarter century old and every day am getting closer to 30 - yikes!!! Time goes fast. I don't really feel 25. I still feel about 22 but have definitely noticed changes in my body - how rude! Why when you get older does your butt sag a little more, your skin looks more wrinkled, you can't eat whatever you want to and you feel it after a long night awake - this is all a bunch of crap!

Well, at least I had a great birthday. Alex and I woke up and went to various pet stores and bought a bunch of stuff for Suka. I am the worst - I want to buy everything!! It is all so cute. So I broke down and bought him a baby blanket he he :) I am totally going to be the pushover. Alex was giving me a hard time all day because I was just so excited and "look at this" "look at that". When we got home we set up his kennel and put all his stuff in. Then we headed over to my parents for the Utah vs Alabama game. And we won! What a great birthday present! Then we ate cake and I opened a few presents.

New Years Eve

New Years Eve has always been an over-rated holiday. But I have to say this year was great! And it all happened without planning. 10 of us went to Mikado's by my house for sushi. Then we headed back to our place for drinks and hanging out. We chatted, danced and played guitar hero. The neighbors even joined us! It was a great New Years! Thanks everyone!

Winter Day at the Hansen's

We went back to my parents on Friday and played slap Uno all night. The winner of the round got to shoot the loser of the round in the butt with an air soft pellet gun. It doesn't really hurt but the anticipation kills you! Mom lost (again) and got shot the most, which then we mostly just feel bad for her. I would rather shoot my brother :) We went to bed at 1:30AM and Alex and Cam stayed up until 5AM playing online video games - a pair of crazies. We slept over and played in the snow the next day.

Christmas Day

We awoke Christmas morning to the doorbell ringing at 7:15AM. Grandpa and Grandma Hansen showed up early :) and then the kids woke up! We opened presents all morning (well the girls opened a bizillion, the adults a few) and ate yummy rolls, crepes, and bacon. I decided that when I have kids I would like to limit the number of presents that they get because holy crap - there were a ton! Good luck though right?!? Plus, Lyla and Emeri were most excited to pop the bubble wrap that Alex got in one of his boxes :)



After we left my parents, we went to Paula's for some more Christmas fun. Evan hadn't been downstairs yet to the "santa" pile so we got to see that. She was most excited about her new kitchen "chichen" as she calls it. She opened a few presents but then we all ended up opening the rest. Alex and I bought her a bunch of new clothes that look like big people clothes - so cute. We played mariokart wii and ate lots and lots more food. I was stuffed by the end of the day. In the evening we went to a movie called "Marley and Me" which I totally loved. It was just starting to snow outside when we left and when the movie was over, it had dumped over a foot of new snow. So at about 1AM Alex's cousins came to our house and we tied an extension cord to the back of Nick's truck then pulled 6 people on a blow up queen mattress around the neighborhood. It was hilarious. No injuries fortunately :)

Christmas Eve 2008

Merry Christmas Eve 2008!!!
This year we stayed at my parent's new house in Sandy - and my entire family was there, including Rachel, Tony, Siena and Emeri from Switzerland!!! We had the traditional crab and tri-tip dinner on the Christmas plates we've had since I was born. Then we acted out the Christmas story with the little girls - way cute. We played Christmas songs on the metal pipes that are all different sizes. Santa's sleigh bells were making noises in the backyard (thanks Alex) and forced the kids into their jammies and beds. Then the adults stayed up playing Uno and ping-pong. It was a great Christmas eve.

Christmas Cookies

Every year, our family gets together and decorates Christmas cookies and houses. For some reason, this year the kids were interested for about 15 minutes then the adults ended up decorating the rest :) As usual, they were the best sugar cookies ever with the best frosting from my mom - thanks mom for all your hard work!

Thanksgiving 2008

Alex's family took us all to La Caille for Thanksgiving this year. It was really great to not have to cook and clean! And really relaxing!

New Background

So I am working on learning Adobe Photoshop and this is my first project. Do you like the new background? I made it from scratch!

Sorry for the privacy

Alex and I decided to make our blog private - too many creepy people in the world. If you made it this far and are reading this, good job for figuring out the google account thing. Hope it wasn't too much of a bother.

If you want a different email address invite, comment on this and I will add you!

Thanks everyone!

Sundays...

I love Sundays (I seem to love a lot of things lately). We got to watch Evan, Alex's sister's daughter today. We all spent the first few hours just hanging out in bed in our PJs. She is so stinking cute. Gives us kisses, hugs and tickles. It is fun to have her around because it gives us a chance to see what having a kid is really like. Let me tell you, I am not ready. Props to everyone who does it. It is fun, don't get me wrong. And I love all 5 of my nieces, but wow- kids are a ton of work. I didn't get much done, well I take that back, much of what I NEEDED to. Changed her outfit because of chocolate milk, changed my outfit twice from cottage cheese hands and more chocolate milk. Mopped the floors, did the laundry (had to restart it a few times because she kept canceling it). Pulled out every book off our bookshelf, then off with the covers, then played polly pockets for a while. Then ate more snacks while sitting on the counter top (sorry Cyn). Then brushed our teeth. Tried to take a nap, not happening apparently. Played games with Alex, on and on. Then it always seems that at the last second, when they have had a great time all day playing and their parents come to pick them up, they slip and fall and start crying - crap. We did good all day I promise!


Getting ready for a night out - with her bible case in one hand, toothbrush in the other, and undone jammies with no diaper. Sweet


Sipping our coffee (well, my coffee, her milk in a coffee cup) She wouldn't drink out of her bottle after she realized how cool my cup was.

I love my new job!

I have been working for about a month and a half at my new job and I officially love it. I could not have asked for more kind people to work with. The two main docs I work for are Eric and Karen Heiden. 2 days a week I am in the OR and then we do clinic the other days. It is a mix of sports medicine and orthopaedic hand surgery. I am learning a ton and fortunately get to use some of my undergrad knowledge too (exercise science). We deal with people of all ages and goals - from Olympic athletes to everyday people. The best part is I am studying and learning about things I am VERY interested in. Of course I enjoyed learning all aspects of medicine in PA school but orthopaedics is especially fascinating to me. The human body is an amazing machine and how cool it is to see it in the OR!!! That is by far my favorite part of the job. I could not be happier about my decision.

So one interesting part is that Eric Heiden is a 5 time Olympic Gold Medalist in US Speedskating. He won all 5 events in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics (similar to our modern day Michael Phelps). He is currently the official medical director for the US Speedskating team. So the other weekend was the World Cup for short track and I got an all access pass to help out. We just hung around on the sideline watching, ready for any bad falls. Their skates are pretty sharp so you can imagine the possible damage (um like a femoral artery laceration). I was given a few pairs of rubber gloves to keep in my pocket in case we had to jump out on the ice and help. Not sure if I would have been a help or a hindrance since I probably would have eaten it once I stepped on the ice myself! But it was a load of fun. I got to meet Apolo Ohno in person (really nice). Alex came the second day and watched as well as Eric and Karen's son, Connor. Here is a funny pic of us all - Connor leaned over to Alex and said "I just farted on my dad's leg"

Update again

Hey all of you neglected people!
Sorry, been a little busy. We got back from AK on Monday but had to move out of our house on Tuesday. Now we are living at Alex's moms house in her basement with all of our stuff over in another house's garage :(
Good news is ... I passed my boards!!! Wahoo, now I can become a real adult and get a real job. Will update blog with AK pictures later on. Have a crap load to do still with moving etc.

Love you all!

Alaska Day 12

Our last full day. Alex and I decided to take a hike to the Mendenhall Glacier. We didn't know where we were going but SOMEHOW were able find our way. We took the bus as far as it would go then walked through neighborhoods for about 2 miles. The hike was a bit sketchy as we didn't really know where to go and the trail split a few times. Unfortunately we ended up going the long way and the hard way. We were hiking through trees following one orange marker to the next.

When we finally made it to the glacier it was unbelievable. Pictures do not do it justice. IT IS MASSIVE!! And so blue. It seems to be melting at a fast rate as well. There were constant drips and cracking noises. The scary part was that we were the last people there and it was getting late in the day. When we tried to find the trail again, we couldn't. We ended up searching around for almost an hour trying to figure out where we came out of the trees. I think we were both pretty scared at that point. And we were morons because we had no food, water or supplies - duh. But eventually we found it and we did in fact survive.

All in all, it was an amazing adventure. I would highly recommend anyone to travel to AK if you're thinking of it. And avoid all the touristy stuff. It really is an amazing place.

Alaska Day 11

A day in town...

We went to the Alaskan Beer Factory and took a tour today. It was great. We sampled all the bears before the tour then they talked for about 10 minutes. Then it was intermission for more beer tasting. Good thing we had Amanda and Gerard to drive :) The beer was really good. We bought a huge case and flew it home disguised as frozen fish (stupid Utah laws). Yummmmm.

That night, Krissa's brother fixed us a delicious home cooked meal of fresh crab legs, steaks and shrimp. It was so good. Not many places to buy a fish from the ocean then cook it that night. So fresh!