Its time for the stress wagon to set in...

The Holiday shop is OVER...THANK GOODNESS!!! Like I said before...It was CRAZY! It made Black Friday seem mild. Those kid's were CRAZY!! TRUST ME...I saw it in their eyes!!! They were WILD EYES!! The kids wanted EVERYTHING!! And there was ONLY Teresa and me working ALL week (and due to an emergency for a while -just me)! It was a MAD HOUSE!

BUT because of the Holiday shop --- I LOST A WEEK -- A WHOLE WEEK!! Do you know how much a week is during the holidays...it's a life time!!

I'm so far behind! In fact other than shopping, I've gotten nothing done!! NO WRAPPING, NO BAKING, NO CLEANING, NO NOTHING!!!

And I only have part of this week left because I lost this weekend, cuz, well we took the kids to DISNEYLAND for Seth's 8th birthday! It was a BIG surprise for the kids! And what a better place to try and get into the Christmas holiday then at Disneyland! Did you know they make it snow there? We soooo LOVE Disneyland!! More on our trip another time, with pics!

But because of the trip, which I'm sooo glad we took, our family really needed it, I'm going to lose A LOT of time getting things ready for CHRISTMAS! So this next 4 days will be crazy. Plus today, Seth has an appointment in town at 1 and then there is Christmas lights tonight...then Wed we are going someplace, can't say where yet, cuz we are taking my mom and dad, and well, mom reads this and then she will know where we are going. She probably knows where already but, I'm not going to say just in case! But the Christmas Eve party is coming up and I have to be ready by then. So much to do, and so little time.

I'm starting to look like one of those crazy women runny around with wild hair and bulging eyes!! Well, I'll some how get it all done...I don't know how...STAY TUNE!

Hansen Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends, December 2009

We know we say this every year, but its true…it amazes us when Christmas comes around because we really can’t believe that another year has passed. BUT here we are at the end of 2009, with Christmas fast approaching. There is so much to get done with all the hustle & bustle of the season but we wanted to take a moment & pause to celebrate the birth of our Savior. This year has found our family a little stressed but as we look back we realized that we have been so blessed with His love & we wanted to express our gratefulness for the blessings we have received.

We hope that as you are reading this you & your family are well &in good spirits. DJ, Suzi & the kids, Cayla (17), Joshua (11) & Seth (7-8 on the 17th of this month) have kept ourselves sort of busy this past year. We are still out in Buckeye watching it grow everyday. Like we said its been a busy but quiet year for the Hansen Family. The kids however, have kept us running from one place to another.

In 2 weeks, Seth will turn eight. Its hard to believe that he has survived this long without some major incident happening…you know, like mom trading him in for a nice quiet chinchilla...just joking (maybe). Really, he is a very loving, but very talkative child, he NEVER stops, EVER! But we love him! Next month he’ll get baptized for our church. He’s really looking forward to that. He’s also getting ready for Cub Scouts, which he is SO excited about. He’s been watching his big brother do it for 4 years now & he can’t wait. He’s working hard in 2nd grade, where he has his own little group of friends…most of which are girls, they adore him (it’s that smile)! They want to play anything he plays…even if its Indian Jones or Batman, the girls will do it, if Seth says so. It’s so fun to sit back and have him read books to us now, its kind of cute watching him sound out words. He’s still working hard on his speech & trying to stay out of trouble (that’s a hard one).

Joshua is our funny child. He’s such a cute kid. But he’s tricky. He has you thinking he’s such a quiet & shy kid & then BAM!! He shows his wild & crazy side. This year he has had a lot of changes in his life. He moved up from cub scouts into 11 yr old scouts & he is loving it. Right as he was moving into scouts he received his Arrow of Light which is a big thing in cub scouts. His first scout campout, Josh had so much fun~they got poured on (who would of thought it would rain in AZ)! He thought it was GREAT!! 6th grades going pretty go so far for him. He’s starting to come out of his comfort zone (alittle). He’s playing football & basketball & my shy kid has joined student council. This requires him to talk in front of others…kind of a hard thing for him to be center stage. Oh & he was asked to join Jr. National Honor Society this year. He’s been such a help to his mom when it comes to helping with Seth & things with School. We think he’s a pretty good kid.

Now for the busiest of our three, Cayla. She’s still juggling EVERYTHING in life! How she manages, I really don’t know. Her Senor year has proven to be busiest year. She’s balancing cheer, dance, school, NHS, Pom, student council, church, trying to find a college, family, lots more, & oh yes, can’t forget BOYS, BOYS, BOYS. At the end of her Jr. year she ended up attended 3 Proms, good thing we had 3 prom dress’(we love a good sale). This year Cayla was elected to the Homecoming court and ended up coming in as first runner up, Homecoming Princess. Cayla is still actively involved in her dancing & this year she has done so much singing for our church. She really does have a beautiful voice. She is working on her second YW’s medallion & should have it by Feb 2010. We really don’t know how she manages all of this & maintains a 4.4 grade point average, but she does. She is her biggest critic; if she doesn’t feel like she has given her all at something then she is the hardest on herself than anyone else is. That’s a hard thing at such a young age. She continues to be a help to her teachers, friends & family. She can be such a good example to us all with the amount of love she gives to others.

Suzi is working on keeping the family together. Keeping everyone’s schedule straight gets a little hard sometimes. This year Suzi’s spent most of her free time at the boy’s school working with the PTSA, where she serves as Vice President & Treasure. This really keeps her busy. She enjoys being at the school with the boy’s & having an active involvement in their lives. She continues to serve as Laural (16-17 yr old girls) teacher at church. Cayla enjoys this cuz she gets to have her mom as her teacher. We are grateful for all the balancing acts Suzi does for our family and we love her for it.

DJ is starting his Christmas off with an early gift, he just received word this week that he was made the 1st sergeant of his military unit. This made his year! He’s been keeping life busy between family, church, work & guard. He still enjoys teaching the Gospel Doctrine class at church. He kind of got depressed this year cuz he didn’t get drawn for elk hunting which ended up being a good thing, according to Suzi, because during the summer he hurt his knee & last month ended up having knee surgery. So it all worked out & there is always next year. We’re just grateful the surgery went well.

From our house to yours we hope you have a Merry Christmas and May your New Year be Fun and Happy!
All Our love,
DJ, Suzi, Cayla, Joshua and Seth Hansen

Ok~Ok...

I know~I know...Don't get on me like ugly on a frog!! I've been a SLACKER...AGAIN!! No surprise there~RIGHT!

But what can I say~Life's been~well~NO I WON'T SAY IT... we all have crazy busy lives, so I wont use that excuse... so let's just say life's been life, according to my definition of life!

BUT...I will say I SURVIVED BLACK FRIDAY!!! With all the insaneness and wildness (yes that would be my life, not just black Friday), I managed to get 90% of my shopping done!! (I'm so awesome if I do say so myself...now Suzi get off your cloud!)

The day was HILARIOUSLY INSANE if I do say so, and I do! The sales weren't really all that if you ask me! It was what I did and who I did it with that made it a FUN day/night! (yes that was the word night in there).

Thanksgiving Day...we spent it at my moms this year instead of home or at Disneyland (yes we go there a lot on Thanksgiving, its so fun) or at Kim's, cuz, you see my grandpa's in the hospital. We all needed to stay close so we could go back and forth that day. More on that another time, maybe....

So Teresa, my friend (yes I really have one, mom :))~I've talked about her before...anywho, we decided to be a little shall we say mentally ill. We went out Thanksgiving night at 11:35 pm! Yes, that wasn't 4:30 am like most sane Black Friday shoppers, that was 11:35 pm, the night before. Other than the first store we went to, where we had an hour & half wait, the rest of the stores we had NO~ yes NO wait ~ in and out in just a few minutes! We did decide that the mall was not worth going to! That's where we had the long wait! After we left the store and started walking around we were laughing at all the people in some of the lines that went the length of the mall (sorry if that was you). Then, as we were leaving Old Navy at around 3:30~4, we were laughing at the people at Best Buy camping out at their doors in Tents with little grills to keep warm! It was so funny (again if that was you sorry, and I know my laughing is going to come back and bit me in the darreair~it always does), but we were in and out with all our stuff with in 20 to 30 minutes, come on is that shopping or what!

At JC Penny's we had to have one of the guys help us out with our stuff & when he got to Teresa's truck he started laughing. Can you believe that...he laughed at all the stuff we had. Teresa had to buy for a lot of family. When we went to Target a guy was pushing in carts, looked at the back and just walked away laughing at the back of our truck!

Teresa and I got home around 11 or so still full of energy and then I turned around and left again with DJ and didn't get home till 5:30 or so. We went out looking for things for Cayla, came back empty handed! I hate shopping for her!

The two bad things out of all that is...I still have NO idea what to get Cayla other than clothes~ugh! And now I have to wrap the gifts! Stupid Teresa already has hers wrapped!!

LET'S REVIEW BLACK FRIDAY...

~The deals this year were SO-SO (at least I thought so)

~Got 90% of my Christmas shopping done~yeah me!

~Teresa & I had a BLAST!

~Sleep is SO over RATED!! You should try going a few days with out it!

OH and GUESS WHAT...

CHRISTMAS is COMING!!!!