Three Kids

Three kids is so hard and such a blast. I'm busier than ever, but my love for motherhood has grown by leaps and bonds. It's amazing how each child brings such uniqueness to your home and family and your love expands more than you ever imagined. I adore my children beyond words. On top of that, I love and respect my parents deeply and I look up to my sister so much. My sisters husband has this old family picture of ours on his blog. I thought it was cute that my parents had three kids in (they eventually had 6!) and Cami and I each have three kids now. I dug up a couple pics of my three and Cami's three.

This is probably about late 1983 which makes me about 3 1/2 (Cami 5, Timothy less than a year). Who loves my mom's Fera Faucet do? And who loves that my dad has hair?!?!
Sorry Cam, I just love this picture. It's just all real. That face that Cami is making makes me laugh so hard because I have seen it my whole life! I have to tell this quick story...One time we were at Rodizio Grill. Cami was a few people behind me in line for the salad bar. I accidently dropped one of the scoopers in salad dressing so I just pulled it out and put it back. When we all got back to the table, Cami was making that face saying "Someone did the rudest thing...I can't believe someone would just put it back and not wipe it off. So rude." I was, of course, laughing so hard. Maybe it's one of those "you had to be there" stories, but I still had to get it out... I have brought that look to Cami's face so many times in my life. Get use to it boys!Just us. We don't have a good family picture. I guess we need to take care of that.

Canning Meat

A couple weeks ago my good friend Monica Buckles taught me and a few other friends how to can meat. I was a little sceptical about, but I'm a covert now! It's so great. If you care to know details about it, read on...

I bought a pressure canner at Wal-mart for about $60. I found chicken on sale at Smith's for $1.69 (actually I have to give Jen credit for finding that). It takes about an hour per batch and you can get 7 cans (which is about 4 pounds of meat). Once they're canned, they will be good for two years! You just cut up raw meat (I did chicken and beef), fill the can (I used 1 quart-I think-wide mouth) almost to the top, add a teaspoon of salt, put the lid on and the ring on loosely. If you have a canner, it will give you all the instructions for the rest. The canning process cooks the meat for you, so it has the texture of being cooked in a crock pot. It just falls apart and is so good. I didn't think I would use it much, but I have used it a few times a week. I put it in tinfoil dinners for camping (I hate to wait for meat to cook in them, so this was perfect). I made a yummy, fast and easy chicken salad the other day. I'll throw it in with pasta or quesadillas. It's so convinient. I highly reccomend doing this. I'd love to help anyone that's interested (I do have the canner now!)

This is it raw and cooked. It kind of looks like brains floating in it's own fluid, but I promise it's good!
We had two canners going at once and it still took us all day!
YUM!
Mykin, Monica, Jen, Me
I'm such a Mormon mom! Woo Hoo!

Hogle Zoo...AGAIN!

Yes, I just took my kids to Hogle Zoo for the third time this summer on the hottest day of the year. Doesn't sound like that makes for a fun day, but we had a total blast. My brother Tim got free tickets from work that included a ride on the train and the carousel. The kids were totally thrilled with both, even Bailey! I thought the animals would be hot and lethargic, but most were up and moving around and gave us a good show. It was such a wonderful day. Thanks Timo and Shel!

On the carousel

JUJU (my mom) took Bailey on the carousel and she was so excited!

My bro Jonny with the kids in front of the zoo

on the train
This monkey was sitting right at the glass. I love the look on his face. He looks dreamy and happy. He must think Addie is pretty!
And I love the look on Addie's face in this picture
The zoo was perfect for Bailey who loves to look at animals, but is scared if they get too close. She walked all over and screamed at everything.

Google Reader

I am officially a google reader girl! I noticed my blog roll starting to get out of control, so as you will see (if you look to your left-and you're not on google reader!) I have put a little order to my links (by the way, notice that friends from my ward is not friends IN my ward. I realize some of you are no longer in my ward, but you are my friend FROM the ward). I used to just go down my blog roll about once a week and check out new posts (or see the same old ones) and leave comments at my leisure, but now there are just too many, so I broke down and am now a little more 2008 (John is so proud!). Please let me know if you change your background or add a new look, because I love to see all the cute and creative things my friends do. Then I will make a special trip to your blog to check it out. That is the only thing I am sad about with this new tool in my life. I think it will save me time in the end and I reccomend it to those who are still so 2007.

A Mini Vacation

Earlier this week we took a quick trip with our new BFFs Jen and Steve Marx. We left the kiddos (all three- a first for us!) with my mom. This made for a very relaxing trip. We left Tuesday morn and headed into St. George. After 2 stops (usually, with our 3 children, we don't stop at all. Jen and Steve are high maintenance) we made it. Once we got there, we did a session in the temple. Then a yucky dinner at Applebees (don't ever eat there) and off to see Les Miserable at Tuacahn. This is a cool outdoor theatre up against the red rock hills of St. George. It is beautiful and they put on an amazing show complete with fireworks and a real cannon. I love love love the story of Les Mis. If you have never seen it, it's a big must!
John had gotten a free hotel in Mesquite for buying his golf pass, so after the show, we headed to the classiest hotel ever- The Oasis (hey, it was free). We slept in until 9:30 then hit up the breakfast buffet (always a favorite of mine). And what would the trip have been without some lounging by the pool? The Oasis has a surprisingly nice pool. After grabbing In-N-Out, we headed home. Even the drive to and from was enjoyable and relaxing! This mini vacation thing is going to have to become more frequent. It was PERFECT!

This is the Tuacahn theatre. The only problem was, it was so hot, even after the sun went down. I was still thrilled with the whole experience. Poor Steve was less amused, but was still a good sport.
right outside the theatre
Madame Thenardiae was wonderful. I wish she was looking at the camera!
We are beaming because it was so awesome
On the drive home. Jen and I sat in the back and talked about old boyfriends and news in our ward while John and Steve talked business (boring) in the front.

My Seester is 30

Warning- Lots of text and pictures. Most will be funny!

On July 19, 2008 Cameron Claybaugh Hansen turned 30 years old! Cami is exactly 21 months older than I am. We have been best friends from the beginning. My very first memory of her is in our home in South Jordan, Ut. We were singing the song "teeter tauter bread in water, wash your hands in dirty water." So we sneaked some bread from the pantry, filled the wagon up with water and threw the bread in as we sang "bread in water." Then we put dirt in it and washed our hands to finish off the song. When we were done, Cami said that mom was going to be mad at us for wasting the bread, so I had to eat it to avoid getting in trouble. To this day, I can't eat any bread that is even slightly soggy.
Cami and I either shared a room or had our rooms right next to each other our whole lives (and I have the scars to prove it). After Cami graduated from high school, my mom and I drover her to Ricks and cried the whole way home. Who would answer life's important questions for me now? My mom only slightly humored the "which shoe looks better with this outfit" (with one on each foot and changing which foot you are standing on). We had a rule that if you wanted to borrow some clothes, you had to ask before you put it on (I'm sure Cami came up with this ridiculousness), so we got really good at hiding behind a door and saying "Can I wear your splattered t-shirt today." Clothes are the only thing we fought about it. By the way, laying on your back and kicking your legs uncontrollably is great defense to sharp fingernails!
Thankfully, she has gone first in almost all we have done in life...young women's, dating, college, marriage, babies, which has always given me great insight and example. She has always been there to advise and support. We have shared virtually everything in this life together. She listened patiently to all my college drama (and even seemed interested) while dealing with her own pain and heartache of infertility. She has kept all my secrets. She has been doing my hair since I was 15. She is clean and neat. She loves order and organization, but is shockingly laid back and humorous with her 3 messy boys. She has stood strong with her husband through various trials and is even still attracted to him with a shaved head!
She has always been the skinny and pretty one (it's ok, it allows me to be the fun one!). She is always very healthy and periodically gets into some new kind of exercise. My favorite is jazzersice! How cool is that? She is naturally good at almost everything, especially if it takes creativity. She's a great cook, a killer decorator, an inventive beader and scrapbooker, a heck of a budgeter, a fun mom, a beautiful and supportive wife, a perfect example and the absolute best sister and friend a girl could ask for. I always say that I have Bailey because I have Cami. I desperately wanted Addie to have a sister so she could experience the joy that this divine bond brings. This life would be nearly unbearable without Cami. I'm so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who knows me well enough to know that I needed you in this life to follow after. You are my eternal friend! HAHA- ETERNAL- FOR-EV-ER! I love you seester and am excited for 30 more years of this life together!

Here are some random pics I pulled out of the vault!
Her and her hub before he went bald! JK-B
Oh yea, we love to eat together
I really liked that bubble hair do! This was right after I graduated from high school (10 years ago!)
Family picture in, I think, 1996.
Shopping in Denver. Did I mention we like to shop together too? She's a great shopping partner.
At my high school graduation in 1998. She was always there for me!
At her wedding just a few weeks after my high school graduation.
Umm...Disco night! (With Laura Rife and Devry Arnett)
Cam and I with some of our cousins (Janice, Amber and Cyndi) at Bass Lake
Jumping on the bed together. Wish I could have that bod back!
I will have to dig up some younger pictures of us!

Thanks for indulging me.

Happy Happy Birthday Cam!

I'm SO behind on blogging!!

A Catch 22 of blogging...When you have nothing interesting to blog about, you have time to blog, but when life is exciting, there's no time to blog about all the fun.
Things I'm going to blog about in the next couple days:

• Cami turning 30
• Camping at Yuba
• Kidfree trip to St. George
• Pioneer day party at our house

This is all from the past week! Hope to get to it soon.

I've Lost My Prized Posession

This is something I carry with me everywhere. I usually keep very good track of it. I use it almost every minute of every day. This completely changes my personality and makes me feel slightly disabled. I never realized how hard life would be without it and how much I love it. I'm frustrated not to have it. Whatever will I do without...

MY VOICE!!

A Day on the Lake

Our good friends Steve and Jen Marx showed us a great time on Utah Lake yesterday. There is this new thing (well, new to us) called wake surfing. You aren't strapped to a board and you are using the wake of the boat as a wave to ride. It's very simple and very fun. I, of course, am happy just soaking up some sun on the boat and chatting with Jen, but it is nice to cool off in the water!

Winger's with my Friend

My dear, dear friend Michelle Hemple Jolley is in town from North Carolina. We went to high school together and were college roommates, so we have quite the history and a pretty strong bond.Winger's is a staple in our friendship, so we hit it up for lunch today. Thanks to my great hub for watching all six kids (our three and Michelle's three!) I love my great friend!!

Can't I get a good picture with my girls?

As I went through these pictures I just thought the progression of them is so funny. I know my job is just to sit and smile and pray the girls will do the same at the same time. Apparently, that's a hard to accomplish







This was the best we got!

Land that I Love

Parade in the morning and fireworks at night....Did anyone do anything different? I think that's the 4th basic, right?

Add and me with sparklers. She is at the fun age where she just loved them!Bailey liked the sparkler at first, but then she touched it! OOPS...no more likey (Joel, our good friend, put a good effort into it though!)
Brave boy...two at a time!
Dad and sis holding hands, watching the fireworks.
My girls

Sweet Land of Liberty!

The 4th of July was the perfect welcome home for us! I love this country.

The Provo Freedom Parade...

Los Presidentes enjoying their time together. (My parents very close friends, Ron and Debbie Bennion, just got back from serving as mission president in Guatemala. They have much to bond over)

Papa with my chicas

Adeline was captivated by all the "princesses" (you know...Miss Spanish Fork and all!)
She loved to wave at them
Austin with a real life BYU football player. GO COUGARS!!
Then we really saw real princesses! Addie's face was priceless. She didn't even want to turn for the picture because she just wanted to stare at them.
Cool tank