Our Decision to Move

I just thought that I would maybe clear up a few things.

In December, Dan came to me with the question of, "There is a job opening in St George and I wondered if I should apply for it?" I asked him why he would want to, and the response was something like, "For You". This I didn't understand in the beginning, in fact I pretty much rejected the idea. I said that there was no way we could afford to live there and that I didn't want to uproot our family.

As a few days went by, it nagged at me that I had rejected such an answer as "For You". I started looking on the Internet to see what kind of house we could get there and a few things like that. I have 2 pets that I am VERY attached to, and it is important to me that they remain with us. What I found is that it is very similar to here, only more places allow the pets. After thinking about it and researching for a day or two, I told Dan that I would go if he decided to.

What I found out is that the reasons he even thought of this in the first place was because the cold here is really starting to affect my health. I am in horrible pain in the cold and it has been so bad this winter that I have spent much of it in bed.

I don't know how to explain how much this has meant to me. I feel unworthy of the attention, but honored that he loves me enough to do whatever he needs to to make me feel better. Also, our kids have never been out of this county and they need to see a little bit of the world. It wasn't easy telling them of our decision, but I think they are actually getting a little excited now. Jake will miss his friend Max and some others, but is genuinely excited to go. The others have finally decided to embrace it. They have googled to see where they might attend school and some things like that. Dan and I went there last week and looked at some places. Things will come together soon.

The decision of August was completely Dan and I's decision. It is because it's a time that the kids won't have to end or start school in the middle of anything and gives us time to get things in order. Dan is still not sure when this transfer will happen, but we will deal with that if need be. At the worst, he would have to make a trip up here about every 2 weeks for a month or two.

We are not selling our house, as we feel we should keep it in case something doesn't work out. If any of you know someone who is looking for a 5 bedroom house to rent, let us know. We will miss many people here. We have come to love many just like family, but feel it is time for us to move on to a new adventure.

I know it is a while away, but we are getting a lot of questions and I thought I would clear up a few. We are not running from anything and it has been hard making the decision to leave family and friends, but be assured, we have not taken this lightly. We just feel it's best for our family at this time.

Thanks to all of you who continue to support our family.

~Christy

Our Family

So the past few years have been quite the time for our family. It seems that someone is always sick or having some kind of "emergency". We are all still alive , thank goodness, a little worse for wear, but doing ok for the most part. I almost feel scared to say it, but things seem to be turning around for us right now. We are just hoping life stays on this course, at least for a while.

Recently we had family pictures done. I thought I would post some. People want to look at them all the time and so I thought this would be an easy way, and if you really want one you can copy/steal it from here. :-)

This picture is the one we chose to enlarge and hang on our wall. I spotted the tree when we got there and told Sherry(the photographer) that I wanted a picture at the tree. She agreed and I think it turned out pretty nice.

I have no idea what Kyler said in this picture, but whatever it was must have been funny. Rarely do all four of them talk together and actually laugh. I'm glad we have a picture to prove that it really does happend, rarely.

This is one of our favorites, not sure why, just cute. The wind was blowing and it was a little chilly, but I think they turned out pretty good.

OH MY GOSH!! They are touching and everything. THey look like they might just love each other. I love this picture. Kyler may be a brute and claim that his sisters are just an annoyance, but look they are smiling, at least as much as Kyler smiles, and look happy and everything. I can really say that I have good kids, they are just going through things like the rest of us.

OK, so trying not to let the gray hair blind you, it has been fixed since. I knew it was there, but wanted to cry when I saw just how much it stood out.

Obviously this is Dan and I. Dan isn't all that fond of this one, but I like it. I have this one sitting right on top of my computer desk I am at right now. That way I can look at it all of the time.

B&W has fast become more to my liking. I posted another of the kids earlier on the side bar of this blog.




I am really glad we finally had these done. Our family is growing up (Well some of us) and I'm glad we caught some of this time in photos. I look forward to looking at them in a few years.

We are really happy with the photographer. She is in our ward and does a great job. I linked her name to her website above. Her name is Sherry Ward. I recommend her to anyone, she is patient and does a great job. I have also linked her name above to her blog if you would like to see some of her work.

I hope that those of you who are reading this find it interesting.

Just an update on the Impending move to St. George. The word we have gotten is that we will in fact be moving, we just don't know when. All we do know is that it won't be before June 1st. Thanks to all of you for supporting us in our decision.

~Christy

Just Thoughts

So this is a picture of Dan while in the Navy. It was near the time he was done with his enlistment. I can only tell by the rank on his sleeve. Dan isn't real fond of this picture, but I really like it.

I have been thinking a lot lately about fate. What is fate really? Does it actually exist? Or is it that we were doing what we should have been at a certain moment? One could argue that it's the same, but I'm not sure that it is. I feel like there is a difference between something just happening because of some kind of cosmic thing, and listening to your "gut" and following it, even if it seems illogical. I have been in a lot of discussion lately regarding Dan and I and the fact that we are together and doing pretty well. We have a home and 4 children and are now raising teenagers. I don't feel like it was fate, but I truly feel that we were supposed to be together. We simply followed the illogical path and listened to our "gut". We have had the opportunity to go through some pretty hard things, but I believe that we are the perfect match for each other. One balances the other. Many of the things that have been going on lately in our family have been things that we have had to really listen to each other and what we really "feel" is correct. Our lives have been and could still be changing. Once again, we are chosing to take the illogical path that we aren't sure where it will lead us; however, we know that however and wherever we end up it will be the right place for our family.

This is a picture of me, before we were married, sitting at Dan's parent's house after coming home from church. Dan's family used to make homemade burritos on Sunday's. Dan and I would go there and have burritos, then go to my house and have dinner. Sometimes we stopped off at the Thomas' and had taco's as well. We called it dinner hopping. Sometimes we would bring Stephen along as well. We usually ended up at M&M's (Marsha & Mike) house for dessert or something. Good thing we had better metabolisms then. Life was good and fairly carefree then.

As I said before, I have been thinking about these times a lot lately . It wouldn't be hard to look back and say "Oh my gosh, I was crazy", but it is quite the opposite for me. Dan and I really are the completion of each other. I see this in many people. My wish is that more people would see their significant other that way.

This is a picture of Dan and I with Stephen. The three of us could be found together at almost any time. As we now have 2 teenage kids we have started to understand and more appreciate the importance of having good friends. We stayed together and helped each other through A LOT of things as teenagers. Again, I believe that it isn't fate, we were looking for good friends and found them. If I had not met Stephen I probably wouldn't have met Dan, and if I had not met Shannon, she may have never met Stephen. One more was added to complete our little group and we still to this day are friends who are there for each other. Not as much as before because life gets busy and things pull you away, but still there. Shannon will kill me for putting this pic in here, but it is so far the only one I can find. We were always

together. The 4 of us even went through the Temple and were sealed to our spouses and our kids on the same day. Not sure why I can't find more pics. Just four days ago we were all sitting around talking about what things are going on in our lives and making plans. Good friends are important. There is no argument there.

My hope is that those out there who are looking for answers as to why things happen will listen to what their hearts tell them. Keep good friends and give their loved ones credit for the part they play in their lives. Things don't just happend for no reason, there is always a reason, it's just a matter of looking for it and then following what you know to be right. Even if it seems illogical. Dan and I are living proof of that.

~Christy

More pictures and memories

OK, so I warned you that there would be more pics. Things around here are either going 100 miles per hour or at a snails pace. We rarely know what pace each day is going to be until we get up in the morning and find out. Anyway, hope you have fun looking at some of these pics.

OK, so I posted a picture of just me in a previous post. This is a picture of Dan and I at Sweethearts Ball February 1988. Yes, I know we look like babies, everyone tells us. It's weird to look back and see ourselves. This dance was our first official dance and we had a great time. Scary to think that it was 21 years ago.

So fast forward a few months to I think November and we are preparing to go to Senior Ball. This picture really does not do justice to how good Dan looked that night. My friend Shannon(Who is married to Stephen, whom you have probably seen in other pics) and I had gone to the beauty college to get our hair done and I was not very pleased with how they made me look like an old woman, but I toned it down a little and went anyway. This dance was held at then UVCC and we had a great time.

OK, so now we fast forward to Christmas time 1994. This is is our family picture. Kyler was our only child at that point, although it's likely that Megan is in this picture as well. You just can't see her. Kyler had such blond hair and pale skin that you can't see it. He really isn't bald. I love the long tie and the smile.

This photo was taken at my nephew Tobias and his wife Jackie's wedding in January of 1997. Kyler was a ring bearer and had a western cut vest and cowboys boots. Kyler did a good job and was escorted down the aisle by 2 lovely ladies.

Dan is holding Megan and it is quite likely Aubree is there as well, but as Megan before, you can't see her.







So this is somewhere around January or February 1998 after Aubree's blessing. Megan is peeking around the corner. The entire experience of pregnancy with Aubree was very unique. I spent almost half of it in bed. It was very possible at this point that this picture would be our complete family. But, as you all know, it isn't. Life wouldn't be complete without Jake.

This picture is of Kyler 3, Megan 2, and Aubree around 6 months. Megan had cut her own hair clear to the scalp right in front. I think I didn't a fairly good job of covering it up for the pictures.

So, haircutting seemed to be a thing for our girls. Not only had Aubree lost her front teeth, she cut her hair as you can see as well. This wasn't too bad though, not long after this picture was taken, she took a pair of scissors and cut right down the side. You see how long her hair was? It was about an inch long maybe 2 when the stylist was finished trying to make it look good. She was mistaken for a boy many times, so I think that that was what bothered her enough to not do it again.

So this is Jake, at 1 1/2 years, who's name is actually Jonathan Kirk Hansen. He was named after two uncles. One of mine and one of Dan's brothers who had passed away as babies. It seemed fitting as dates aligned and some other things that really attached to them. We came up with Jake as what he would be called, because if you put JK together and say it, it's Jake. He knows the story and will be glad to relate it to anyone who asks.

Jake was the child we knew was waiting for us. Although he was a stinker trying to be born. I actually went in to labor twice with him. Dan said he came out for a look and said no way, and went back. This is pretty much what happened, but the doc made him stay. Now our family is complete. The poor kid has to be the youngest child, and just ask him, he signs his name that way, Jake the Youngest. He is a good kid though.

OK, I think I have loaded you all up with enough for now. I will try and post some more later. Thanks for all of you who comment or tell us you like reading this blog. It's nice to know you are loved.

~Christy