Wednesday, January 30, 2013

An Over-due Christmas Thank You



This is my big brother Jon and me.
 He's the one with the movie star smile.

My brother and I are the oldest of ten siblings. Many years ago our family started the Christmas tradition of rotating names for gift-giving so we had one sibling instead of nine to shop and wrap and mail for each year. This year Jon had my name and I was like a little kid on Christmas when I opened the box he sent. First I saw this: 

My brother and his wife moved to the Northwest after we did but they managed to stay in one place all these many years since--so they are still Northwesterners.

 Inside the bag was this:

I'm not sure what magical materials were woven and sewn together to make
this amazing thing of warmness--but I pronounced it mine and have had to fight off
boys and dog and cat to keep it away from their pet hair and boy smell. Sam wrapped up in it only once. I heard his exclamations of joy and as I pulled it away I told him:
 "Forget you ever felt it. You must never touch it again." 
It has kept me from frostbite and hypothermia this "coldest winter on record" out here in our winter wonderland and I am grateful to my thoughtful brother and his wife for helping me survive.

But wait! That's not all!
My brother serves as a counselor in the Stake Presidency in their stake in Washington and the stake clerk happens to be in their ward and also happens to be Ken Jennings. You know, that guy who won Jeopardy a million times. And he wrote a book. My brother informed him that my blog had that title first.
 Don't worry, the lawsuit is pending.
 But in the meantime--how fun is that! Jon got him to sign it and he apologized for stealing my title.

But, Gentle Reader, I saved the best for last. Also in the Christmas box was an envelope of pictures. They were familiar pictures but I hadn't actually laid eyes on them for at least 30 years. As I shuffled through them my heart was warmed by sweet memories of my childhood with a kind, protective brother and I was thoroughly entertained by the commentary my brother had included in the form of sticky notes.













That's our Grandpa Hansen in the background. We loved to tag along with him--he didn't have a farm but he often took care of the livestock for farmer friends if they were laid up or had to be away from the farm for some reason. That jacket I am wearing hung near the backdoor of our Hansen Grandparents' house and was always there when I visited. When someone started putting that jacket on me I would get so excited because I knew I was going somewhere. It was Twin Falls, Idaho--so, you know, somewhere exciting. 



This one didn't have a note--but he's probably wearing those same brown shoes.
(He didn't end up pigeon toed so thank goodness the problem was corrected.)
This is actually us the evening of Orem High's Homecoming dance. 
We were double-dating. I was going with his best friend and he was going with mine.
He married my best friend-- but I was a player back in the day--what can I say?


This was also in the box--a very useful gift.
So, thank you Jon. I am counting this as your thank you note.
Now I have two things I can check off my To Do list.



(More stories of my brother's brotherliness here.)






Friday, January 11, 2013

Trailing Clouds of Glory

Sweet baby June Ardyn was born two days after Christmas~
9 lbs. 6 oz. and 22 inches long
She was greeted by her two big sisters that evening.
Bailey, as she stroked June's chubby cheek:
"Baby June is soft, and warm as a summer breeze."
So precious.

This picture of our son holding his third little daughter is
pretty precious too.

And Nicole is AWE-mazing.
A VBAC after two c-sections--and no meds.
And that baby was posterior--and you saw the weight up there right?





Friday, January 4, 2013

A Post Christmas Post Postponing Posting

Gentle Reader,
So much to catch up on--so little time. Or energy. Our house runneth over and that means late nights with older kids and early mornings with grandkids--and that means Nana has been burning the candle at both ends! But here's a little something I didn't want to forget:

Bailey and Norah got a new baby sister a few days after Christmas (yes--that's another post in the que!) so we had them here with us for a few days. We took them to church with us last Sunday and the Sacrament hymn was "I Stand All Amazed". I had four-year-old Bailey on my lap and quickly realized that she was singing along beautifully and clearly and knew every word to that hymn. After she belted out the chorus of
               "Oh, it is wonderful, that He should care for me, enough to die for me.
                 Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me."
She said, "I know this song because my Dad taught it to me."

I thought my heart would burst.
             

Happy Birthday Scott!

 It has been awhile since I updated this little family scrapbook on the internet. I like to pop over here from time to time and look at our ...