Hobble Creek

Our family has a favorite little spot up Hobble Creek that we try to visit as many times a year as we can. This year has been busy so this is our first trip of the year. The boys fish, hike, soak their feet and eat all day. Tyler and I just sit back and watch our little ones play, what a perfect Saturday! Here is a good view from our little spot.

Orrin, Vivin, and Tallon enjoying their lunch.

Tallon and RBK taking advantage of the fishing, using the grasshoppers of course.

Vivin

Orrin watching and learning, he is such a watcher.

Orrin

Twins enjoying some down time
Tyler trying his hand at fishing. It is never a surprise that we don't catch anything, with 3 excited little boys and a dog!

The boys examining the "dinosaur" bone they found on the hike.

What a wonderful way to spend the weekend. Time seems to be flying so fast lately, so it was really nice to spend a quiet day with just us!

Daddy Day

We haven't had many of these since Tyler started a different job 14 months ago. It was something that started when Ty was working shift work and had a lot of days off during the week (when I had to work) and took Tallon with him. With Tyler's new shift this last week he and Tallon haven't seen each other. Today they made up for lost time and went fishing. He was very content to listen to his MP3 player and fish.


What a great way to get some Daddy Time in. Tyler and Tallon had a great time. They fished, hiked, laughed, and came home full of stories. What a blessed relationship these two have.

Sweet Sucess

Man oh man, I have been working with the twins to "roll the ball", not "throw the ball", forever! This morning I found them in the kitchen doing this! I was sooo excited...

or maybe not?! I hate it when they get me so excited and then go back to their old ways.

First day of 1st grade

I just can't believe how fast the summer went! It has been so wonderful having Tallon home and being the big brother. He took care of RBK, watched the twins, helped run errands, and was just the best helper! What am I going to do without him!??!?!
He has been so excited for school to start. He was up bright and early this morning with a big smile. Here he is ready for the first day of school

He wanted to ride his bike with a bunch of his friends...

so off he went.

He is going to have so much fun this year. He went to back to school night and met his teacher, saw where his desk was, saw where to hang his backpack and hat, and came home so excited. He gets a real "school desk" this year complete with a pencil holder and everything. It is just cRaZy how big he is getting!

Relaxing Sunday Afternoon

Tallon came home this afternoon!! We missed him so much, but he had soooo much fun in Logan with Whit and Kaleb. I think he was a little sad to leave, so to cheer him up we went for a ranger ride up Swift Creek. It has rained all day and everything looks so pretty! Of course the favorite thing to do is to stop and throw rocks in the creek, so that's what we did.

Tyler has been teaching Tallon all summer to skip rocks and tonight Tal got one to skip!!

The boys love any time they get outside and after a day of rain they were all smiles.

Tallon found the best rocks to throw! All 3 boys were so wet by the end of the night.

This is to cute to see all their excitement over a big splash.

Simple entertainment, yet so effective!

We are blessed to live is such a beautiful place. If we looked one way we saw this...

and the other way, this.

It has been so nice to have a relaxing Sunday. Tyler had one meeting and that was it for our family this week. Next week we won't be so lucky, so we enjoyed every minute we had.

Wow! What a week!

We have not done a thing but run, run, run. This has been quite a week for the Afton 4th ward! 3 surgeries, 1 commodities order, enrichment at the Care Center and birthday visits. I left every night at 6:30 and have been lucky to return home by 10:00. Poor Tyler would come home (sometimes to dinner), keep the house going, and put the boys to bed. What a deal. I am so thankful that he is so supportive!
Today I had my first funeral. It went really well. I learned tons and hope the next one isn't for a while.
Tallon has been gone for the past 3 days and I miss him terribly. He went down to Logan on Thursday and will be home in the morning. His Uncle Kaleb and Aunt Whit invited him down for a long stay and from his nightly report it sounds like he is having a ball!! The first night Kaleb took him and Carter catfish fishing! He loved every minute of it. He has been swimming, went to the zoo, and is in no hurry to come home. How lucky we are to have such wonderful family that lives close enough to have fun weekends like this. Hopefully Whit got some pics. I will post some when I get them.

A day up the river...priceless!

Better late than never, right. It is hard to believe that it is August and we have only been up the river a handful of times. Today we were lucky enough to get a few hours in up Murphy. We say a cow moose and her calf on the way up and the rest of the ride was spent like this, looking for moose.

Notice anything a bit strange?

Tallon and Jace had a ball running through the woods and pulling on this branch...

until it broke and sent them flying! It was way to funny.

Of course no day would be complete with out bringing out the old .22.




They were pretty proud of all the holes, and it was FULL of holes!!

It was a perfect day! The kids ran and played, shot their guns, saw some wildlife, and fell sound asleep on the way home. Priceless!!

Out with the NeW and in with the oLd

It has been happening for a while now, the old "lets look at getting a different truck", that Tyler seems to get every year! Seriously in the 9 years that we have been married he has had 7 (this one makes 8) different trucks. This time it wasn't about just getting a different truck, it was also about getting out of a payment. Rumor is that the place where Tyler works is going to have a pretty hungry winter, so we were really excited to find something that Tyler LOVES!! What can I say, once a Ford man always a Ford man. Here is one last look at the Chevy....

and one look of them together...

and the first look at the Ford.

Tyler is really excited to be back in a "him" truck. He has plans of wheels and tires and all that goes on with starting over. It will look great when he gets done. Best of all... it is paid for!!!!

Tender Mercies

This morning my friend Kassie and I took our kids to Bear World (pictures to come) and on our way there I received a phone call from Tyler. Thinking that he was just calling to see if we had made it safe, I thought nothing of it. I asked how his morning was going and was surprised by his answer of "I am on my way home." I was a bit taken back and thought he was teasing me, so I laughed. When he didn't laugh I started worrying and asked why he was on his way home. He told me that he had had enough. I panicked thinking that he had quit! He was quiet for a minute and I could tell that something was wrong. When I asked again he simply said that he didn't want to tell me, and I started to fight off the tears.

He proceeded to tell me that he was on his way to the hospital because he had just rolled his dozer down the mountain. I was silent. "Down the mountain" I asked. Then he was silent. Down the mountain. Down the mountain or off of the mountain. How many times. Are you hurt. Are you okay. Do I need to come home. All of these questions were going through my mind, but I couldn't get any of them to come out. Finally I could speak. Down the mountain he went, one full time and then some. Fast this time, not slow like the last. Yes he was hurt but he was okay. No don't come home, stay and enjoy your day.

Enjoy my day?

With so many questions and no answers, it was hard to enjoy my day. I received a phone call saying that he had just come from the doctor and that he might have a fractured pelvis. The doctors said maybe but probably not and Tyler says definitely not, but the worrier in me hears the maybe.

I came home to a stiff and sore husband, who has on his strong face. I am not that strong and find myself in the dark crying. There are many times in our marriage of 9 years that I have thought "today I could have lost my husband". Today is one of those. Two weeks ago was another. He tipped his dozer over that day and I have worried each day he has logged since.

6 years ago I watched as a logging chain came through the back window of his truck and struck him at the base of his skull causing his body to go limp for a few seconds.

9 years ago I screamed as I saw a truck and semi squeeze on the road in front of him as they came around a corner and found Tyler loading his sled into the back of the truck.

For 9 long years I would listen as he would tell me about times of danger at the mine. I dreaded each time he would come home from Simplot and tell me "your husband almost died today".

I was thankful for the chance to work at a different company and have been thankful that he has not been put in harms way.

The past 3 months of logging have been hard for me.

Tonight I find myself very thankful to a Heavenly Father who watches out and is constantly protecting my family. He has blessed us again today. I don't know what we have done to receive such protection, but I am thankful just the same.

"...But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith...". Maybe that is it. Maybe it is because of our faith. Maybe it is because we are trying to live the way we should. Maybe it is because we are tying to raise 3 righteous sons. Maybe.

I don't know. But I am thankful.

Bear World

Oh how we love Bear World!! It was so fun to take the boys and go with some friends this year. We went with the Greene family and had a ball. Kassie and I braved it this year and left the husbands to work and took all 5 kids by ourselves. Tallon and Raf have been just the best of friends ever since we babysat him, and Skylar and the twins are only 6 months apart, so when you combine all of them it equals a lot of fun. The kids loved the petting zoo, especially the stinkin goats.

Of course we rode the rides for a couple of hours.

The animals are just awesome. They have a grizzly bear, who knows how many black bears, elk, deer, a wolf, and so much more.

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. The weather was perfect, there was hardly anyone there so we never had to wait in line, and the kids were soooo GOOD!

Tallon turns 7!!

I will be the first to admit that Tallon gets way to spoiled when it comes to his birthday, but it is just so much fun!
So for his real birthday day we woke up bright and early and headed for Logan. Whitney and Kaleb blessed Titan this morning at 9:00, which meant we left by 6:00. Orrin always gets car sick on the way to Logan and Vivin does about every other time, which made this time the "time". Dramamine would have been the thing to take because before we hit the bottom of the south end they had started. They were so sick the poor little things, and since they get it from their mother, I was no help at all! Tyler had them both sick at he same time at one point which was quite the thing to watch. They finally stopped throwing up right as we reached Logan and we made it to the church with 20 minutes to spare.
Kaleb gave Titan a wonderful blessing and then we were off to the park for a picnic. Titan was kind enough to let Tallon steal abit of the limelight and have a birthday cake. This year he picked a football cake, which was no big surprise. Here are a few highlights of Tallon's special day.

The birthday BOY!!

Grandma and Granddad brought his gift and he loved every single thing. He especially loved the gun money attached to each gift!





And a safe to store his cash in. Yes you counted right, $25 to be put away for "the gun", is he not his daddy's boy?!

Carter loved Tallon's cake and was so happy when he finally got a piece.

Here are the 5 grandsons on the Hansen side. Orrin, Vivin, Carter, Tallon, and Titan. Good looking bunch aren't they.

Tallon holding Titan. Oh how he loves the babies.

Granddad playing with his boys

Carter on the big toy

The terrorists

Tyler lovin on Titan.

Titan Gunner Redden. Seriously how cute is he!

Tallon playing on the slide. Doesn't he just look BIG!

We survived our trip and made it home in time for Grandpa and Grandma Dana to come spend the evening with us.

Two for one! Birthday present and school clothes!

Tallon Tyler Hansen. Born Aug 9th 2002 weighing 6 lbs 1oz and 19 inches long. In 7 years we have went to this!

Tallon is an amazing little boy. He has a heart of gold and is a complete joy. He is changing so much and discovering what makes him "him"!
My 7 words to describe Tallon are: delightful loving adventurous compassionate determined joyful energetic
Oh how I love this little one of mine. He has and will always be my "baby". He is my friend, my joy, my son. Happy Birthday Tallon. We love you!!