Nativity

I have to tell you that my Dad's family (the Palmer's) are not really big into the Christmas thing where religion is concerned. I don't remember very many times even hearing the Christmas story out of the Bible with Palmers. But this year Grandpa and Grandma had a party at their house. The grandkids did a nativity. Thank you to my aunt Susan for the costumes. The kids had a great time and Kimmie has been trying to talk everyone she knows into doing the nativity with her. Johnny and Kimmie made great a great Mary and Joseph. Baby Jesus was played by my cousins baby Timothy.

Christmas Letter goof up

I was in a mood when I wrote this year's Christmas letter as you can see. Although with this mood came a few weird things. Including a few things that I need to apologize for.

Christmas eve I gave Jeanette our Christmas letter and she freaked out after reading the first line. She also found my typo at the end it is suppose to say with love and affection. So Jeanette gets the star for pointing out my mistake! Also sorry to Erik for being hard on you (my brother-in-law said I was too mean).

SORRY! I guess I will chalk up this years letter to being too tired when writing. I will have to get a proof reader before sending next years letter.

Christmas Clothes

My mom is famous for getting my kids new Christmas church clothes. This is this years outfits! They look so cute!!! I can't believe how big they are getting.

Bingham Alumni Choir

Yes, I did put on their choir. Minus a few rare occasions I haven't sung in public very much since high school. As I posted a few months ago. Bingham high school (where I gradated from way to many years ago to post) had their 100 year celebration. A bunch of us got together and performed at the annual Candlelight concert on Saturday. I had a wonderful time. I don't think I have thought that much about high school in years. I really started to look forward to rehearsals. Our choir teacher from back in the days LeAnna Willmore lead two of the three numbers that we did. The performance was great! I think I even saw a standing ovation at the end of the third number! Although the lights were in my eyes so I could have been imagining things. We also sang with the choirs during the traditional Hallelujah chorus (photoed here). Thank you Bethany for these photos. My camera's batteries died. Thank you also to those that put this together I really had a wonderful time! Thank you also to my husband for taking care of my kids and helping me so that I can do this. I appreciate all you did to help with this. It really put me in the spirit of Christmas again. The other photo is one of those of us who sang in the choir together in high school that participated in this fun opportunity. I also learned something again. If I rehearse enough I can still hit a high C!!!

This years Christmas letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, Erik quit his job of 12 years at Target, we sold our house, pulled the kids out of school, and are moving to a commune in Montana to grow organic food, raise animals, and live in peace with the universe. Ok, maybe not . . . we changed our minds once we realized there was no indoor plumbing. Truthfully, we sold our home and moved to another home in West Jordan. We are still in boxes (therefore no cute homemade Christmas cards this year) but we are enjoying more space. We wanted to start this letter with something more interesting than "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!" (It still got in!).

For those of you saying "but Kris, your Christmas letter is the most exciting part of my family's Christmas celebration and we look forward to it with joyful glee and anticipation" - OK . . . this section's for you . . . the usual facts/stats about kids, etc. - or, as Erik says, "the blah, blah part."
You are welcome to skip this section and jump to the "with love" part if you want.

Hansen family 2008 facts and stats (read in a monotone, it gives you the full effect).

Erik: is still at Target and after 12 years he got demoted then promoted and now is back in charge of electronics where he loves it! He is missing our calling as the Young Single Adult reps in our old ward and is looking forward to new experiences in our new area.

Kris: Still works for Intermountain Power Agency part time. I am also the President of Epilepsy Association of Utah. I am still enjoying the working with the summer camp and Crop Because You Care. I have had the opportunity to speak in a few different places this year and am scheduled to do a lot more speaking next year. I also worked really closely with the legislatures to pass HB361.

Kimmie: Is now doing well. She is now in 5th grade. She is learning to read and is now “large” seizure free for the past eight weeks (knock on wood here please). The doctors are really impressed at how well she is doing. We had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Chiron from France in August at the International Dravet Education Conference in Chicago. Aunt Lara came the last couple days of the conference to play with Kimmie. They had a great time. We are incredibly grateful for the friends and family that did so much to get us there. It has made a huge difference in her life the past few months! She is also starting to read!

Johnny: Is now in Kindergarten, and is doing well. He has a few girls that he likes although no girlfriends yet (he is way too young for that). He is loving being in school and learning. The teacher tells us that he is incredibly tender hearted and amazingly smart. He is incredibly shy at school although none of the rest of us see that side of him. He is looking forward to a full day of school next fall (Mom is looking forward to that as well). He is also learning to read and is enjoying helping his sister with the reading process. He started playing tee-ball this past year and loved it. He can’t wait until spring so that he can try soccer.

Ok . . . now before you go to sleep we do wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in 2009!

With Love and Affliction,

Erik, Kris, Kimmie and Johnny

Johnny's School Again

Okay this has not been the greatest thing in the world. All the drama associated with Johnny's decision to stay at the same school all down the drain. The principal wouldn't sign the papers to keep Johnny at MS until the end of the year. I was so frustrated. He had already said he would then he wouldn't. We apparently there is a new law. So he couldn't. With some major HELP I got Johnny's new school to put him in AM kindergarten! I got his old school to agree to keep him there until Christmas. It has been a total nightmare and a half. But the short of the whole long thing is thank you to those who helped me figure this one out and get Johnny's school taken care of.

Festival of Trees

Every year Kimmie's school class attends that Festival of Trees. The kids really have a great time. Erik and I seem to be taking turns every year and going with their class. So here are photos of Kimmie at the Festival of Trees!!!

Christmas Tree Dress

I really don't understand this thing that my mom and Kimmie have. I love it although I don't really understand it. My mom has always been really good at making dresses. Kimmie is such a girlly girl that she is the recipient of many of her creations. In fact Kimmie has a hard time wearing any dress that Aunt Lara hasn't bought or Grandma hasn't made. My Dad asked me to stop the two of them about this time last year. I asked him which one started it and which on is willing to end it. With that being said Kimmie is the receipent of two dresses a year, an Easter dress and a Christmas dress. Plus anything else the two of them come up with. About three or four years ago my mom made Kimmie a dress that has Eggs on it for any Easter party that Kimmie goes too. Well this year Kimmie asked for a Christmas tree dress to wear to parties. First of all how many parties does this child go too and who needs a Christmas tree dress and what in the world is that anyway? So here is a bad photo of my kids but my mom's latest creation the Christmas tree dress.

Black Friday

Yes, I am one of those crazy shoppers that went out on black friday!!! Erik had to work it and Bethany and I wanted to shop so Jarin took care of all six kids. Thank you Jarin!!! We brought him pizza as a thank you! Bethany and I had a great time. I got so many good deals! I am almost all the way done. I have a few things left to get for my kids but not much. I also have only three individuals of the 15 we buy for between both families left. We weren't crazy enough to go out at 4 or 5 am. Although Erik had to be at work at 4. This year he was not harmed in anyway execpt being overly tired by working Black Friday for 13 hours! About ten years ago when a certain elmo was the rage he got in the middle of two Grandma's fighting over one. For some reason this years madness seemed to be worse than in years past. I don't know if the economy being so bad spared people to run over a individual and kill him or what.

Then my evening came! Once a year my family gets together to honor my aunt Ann and we go do sealings at the Temple. This was a far cry from the shopping I had done earlier in the day. It was an amazing experience like it always is. Thank you to my family for having such a neat tradition. Ann is definately watching and smiling at all of us!

Family Photos- November 2008

Laura came to visit this last weekend as I said in my earlier post. She hasn't edited these photos but I couldn't wait to share them (sorry Laura).

Johnny's School

The decision has been made to keep Johnny at the same Elementary this year that he started at. I am really glad and rather relieved that things have worked out this way. I know a few people aren't happy with me about it but we went with what was best over all for our family. He is doing so well there. His teacher is incredibly good and he has been working really well with the speech therapists there. I went to register him at the new school. We had nothing but road blocks. I decided that maybe that was our sign that he is suppose to stay where he was. The minute Erik and I went over the pros and cons of keeping him where he is, verses taking him to his new school and decided that he would stay this burden lifted. The new school couldn't put him on AM which messed with the babysitting schedule which was okay. He needed to be picked up from school at the same time Kimmie was getting home and I couldn't leave her alone at home either. I talked with the busing departments and they could move Kimmie to last on the list but that would put her home way too late when the weather gets warm to keep her from having seizures. Plus a few other things. So keeping him where he is has turned out to be a great decision for him right now, we will move for first grade to his new school. Plus he was having stress moving away from the three girls that he likes.

Tee-Ball Fun

I really am not a baseball fan. Although I thought tee-ball it would be good for Johnny. He loved it. These are photos from the last game. He was so cute! Yes, I did almost cry when he got his award at the last game.

Wedding Flowers

In the middle of packing and moving, and putting together and speaking at an Epilepsy Conference I did flowers for a friends nephew's wedding. I thought I would post these because they aren't like anything I have ever done before. It was a little stressful although I think things turned out really pretty.

Halloween Update

I am updating everything and I am doing it all today, before I forget or get involved in something else!!! I finally have internet connection so I am going to take advantage of it. I never did a Halloween update. We have a very uneventful Halloween for once. I am really grateful! It was so calm and fun. Danielle let me borrow a costume for Johnny and Kimmie was Sleeping Beauty. Thank you to Grandma's pink Easter dress we were set.

Grandma came over and the kids made cookies with tons of frosting and sprinkes. Erik and Kimmie did the pumpkin and we had pizza. It was really a fun and relaxing Halloween. I hope for every Halloween to be this calm.

This weeks hospital trip

Not that moving isn't enough stress in a families life. But Kimmie had another hospital trip this week. I have to tell you that no this isn't what you are thinking. Tuesday after a very long hard morning I finally made it to work. Although the moment I put my purse away, hung up my coat and turned on my computer the phone rang. It was Kimmie's school teacher. She said, "Kris I didn't want to call and tell you this." I don't think that is a good way to start a phone call so I asked, "What has happened?" Kimmie had crashed heads with another student and fallen to the ground. The teacher exclaimed that she was bleeding really bad and was fine but she would probably need stitches. I turned myself right back around and put my coat on and left. I picked her up, by that point the bleeding had pretty much stopped. I called her doctor and he couldn't see her for another two hours. So I took her to the nearst instacare. Bad mistake. Don't take a child with seizure and a head injury to someone who doesn't know her. They were too scared to see her. So therefore we ended up at the emergency room. As we walked in the door. The nurse at the front desk says, "Kimmie it is nice to see you standing up and walking, and not in an ambulance." I think it is pretty bad when the ER nurses know you by name and what your condition is. Finally two hours and some glue later we finally headed home to put her in bed and go on seizure watch. Notice I could have saved myself some money waiting for her doctor. She had a few small seizures as a result although nothing horrible. Her cuts weren't very long but deep. So if she will leave the glue alone we can avoid stitches. Tuesday we head to the doctor to have her head injury checked out by her pediatrician. So this is a photo of her with the cuts by her nose and on her forehead before Laura does her little touch up with them and makes them disappear.

My Twin from Another Mother

I have some amazing friends and so I don't want any of you to think that I don't absolutely love all of you and appreciate all of you. I am so very blessed for the people that surround me. It is one of the things I am most grateful for in my life.

With that being said, the day that Laura and I met we knew that we would be best friends, many people thought even that first day that we were sisters. She lovingly referred to me all through college as her secretary. We had many people in the early days refer to us as the other one and a few guys thought that we were twins. I swear our bowling teacher still didn't figure out there was too of us. One guy even took me out thinking I was her. She dated Erik before I did. I also dated Kelly. So the fact that we are still best friends through all of that is amazing. This is not to say we haven't had our rough times. But we have always been able to work through things. We always have relied on each other.

While Laura was down this weekend she took family photos. They are still in the editing stages and will be posted soon. They are too cute and there is way too many to just pick one or two. Although while we were taking photos Laura commented that the two of us don't have any photos together since college. One or the other of us is usually behind the camera. Thank you Erik for taking these photos.

Because I have so many dear friends, new referrence to Laura is my twin from another mother. Erik has always referred to her as my twin. We always thought we would have been sisters but neither one of our mothers could have handled both of us. Laura thank you for always being there even at 2 or 3 in the morning. For always knowing when I need you and for dropping everything to help me no matter what. For spending a week taking care of my family when I was too sick to get out of bed, and for making me get out of bed when I didn't think I could. Thank you for15 wonderful years and many more wonderful things that you have done for me.

Thank you for the help

I wanted to thank everyone for their help in getting us ready and moving us. We are still in boxes althouh we are a lot farther than I thought we would be at this point. I lost my make-up and curling iron for a while but other than that the move went fairly smooth. I am really grateful for everyone helping with this insane project and being there for our family in this crazy situation. I am so incredibly grateful to everyone who came and helped. I had my old house clean and into my new house by 7:00 pm. I couldn't believe it. The help that we received was amazing. I know that this move is where my family is suppose to be at this time but it was incredibly hard. Thank you to everyone for making this hard situation a little bit easier.

All my love!

Moving

I wanted to let everyone know that we are moving. We will be moving to a house not far from my high school home territory. Kimmie's meds and the house are running to high, so we have sold the home and are moving. I am really sad that we have had to make this decision although happy that we found a wonderful place and are still close to everyone were we have been. So if anyone is interested in a moving party we are moving on the 15th. Lots of Love to everyone here.

Halloween Birthdays

First of all Happy Birthday to Adrianne and Shelly!!!

I don't know how many of you know that me and both of my sisters were born on/near holidays. So we have always been a really big party holiday family. Shelly was born on Halloween! She has always loved the Halloween carnival parties and things that go along with it. Then she had Adrianne on the 30th! Adrianne is following in her mom's footsteps with the Halloween parties. I helped this the party last Saturday and we had a great time. I loved the being in the back of the fish pond! The kids were all dressed up cute and had fun. Until I add the photos I just wanted to say Happy Birthday and I love you!!!

UEA booth

I had the great opportunity to attend UEA and have a booth with the Epilepsy Association. I had a wonderful time. Although it has been a week I am still feeling a little run down from all the work that went into the booth. I learned a lot and we are invited back for next year. I really think that next year I will do things a little bit different. I was so grateful that I attended. I had an opportunity to talk with some amazing people. We didn't give out as much information as I would have liked to. Although we booked many seizure information classes and I hope we will boost the attendence for crop and the conference from all our advertising. Even if it doesn't, if all of our work helped one person handle a seizure properly than it was all worth while! Plus we are ahead of the game for next year! Thank you to all of you who helped make it possible. I love YOU!!!

Yearbook Yourself

My friend put this on her blog and I thought it was fun. I don't have too many photos of me without others so this isn't a great photo for this but it was kind of fun. To do this for youself go to http://www.yearbookyourself.com/

1954

1960

1974

1980

1984

1990

1994

HEE HAW farms

Every year Kimmie's school goes to a pumpkin patch. This year it was HeeHaw farms. Erik went with Kimmie. They had a great time and Kimmie is ready to go back. From the photos I wish I would have gone with them.

Johnny's Birthday...

Johnny turned six at the beggining of the month. I can't believe he has gotten so big already. He is such a sweet boy. I am very grateful to have him in our family. His birthday was really different this year. He wanted a Hollywood movie party. So we had award night invitations. We had the kids dress up and they put on a birthday skit and then did the movie pinata. He had a clap board cake. Not one of my best cakes although he loved it. We really enjoyed all the friends and family that joined us to celebrate Johnny.