More basketball and more family visiting!

Last weekend, we had an amazing visit with the Dunlap aunts and Uncle Doug.  It was such a nice treat.  I had to work a little bit more than I wanted to but we still managed to do some shopping, eat some delicious food courtesy of our new Uncle and just hang out. It was almost like a little mini-vacation in January.  When we weren't shopping or eating, we also watched a certain almost 12-yr old play some basketball.  I don't know how but I managed to not take a single picture all weekend but luckily Aunt Vicky had my back.  

Post-game picture.  A little reluctant but that's basically what amounts to a smile from a pre-teen. 

Will's team is sponsored by CRMC which just happens to be where Aunt Vicky works and where she's getting her treatment.  Go CRMC!

Uncle Glenn on snuggle duty.  It''s hard for me to admit but the Baby Cousin likes Uncle "Gen" more than me!!  What?!  

cutie alert!  

On Sunday, Reina and I along with Grandma and the baby cousins went to see "The Kid Who Would Be King."  I'm always up for a King Arthur tale and this one was a lot of fun.  It was a little scary at times and I had to cover Baby Cousin's eyes.  I could tell when it was really scary because he wouldn't bat my hand away.  Preschool cousin spent most of the movie on Grandma's lap.  Reina and I have been dissecting the story all week and now I have to find her a good King Arthur book. 

Now we are back to real life.  We'll have to find something fun to do this Sunday because no one gives a fig for the Super Bowl.  Go Rams?  Will has to make a diorama about China and Reina is busy planning her upcoming birthday/slumber party.  Stay tuned......

Grown-up Cousin Visit!

Last weekend (how was it already a week ago!) we had a visit from our amazing Grown-up Cousin.  The baby and toddler cousins make many appearances on this page so it is with delight that we get to see Will and Reina's grown-up cousin Alena.  She graduated from college last spring and is headed to the Peace Corps in just a few weeks.  We were thrilled that she could squeeze in a trip to see her little cousins before she's heads off to awesome adventures.  And thanks to the government shutdown, Uncle Mark made the trip, too!  Yah for the government shutdown!  (Not really, the whole thing makes the Broncos Baby Mom angry but that's a story for another time.  Or a story for never because this is a FAMILY BLOG.)

What did we do with our Grown-up Cousin? What didn't we do?  We shopped, we jogged, we watched tv, we ate and ate and ate and ate.  She and Uncle Mark even helped babysit the little cousins so that we could celebrate Uncle Matt's birthday at a grown-up establishment.  Some of us showed Alena our prowess with video games.  Some of us choreographed complicated dance duets and had our hair braided.  Some of us thought about kidnapping her and keeping her in Wyoming - there's Peace Corps stuff to do here but didn't ultimately carry out a plan.  All of us had a great time and made some memories. 

We didn't take enough pictures and the visit was too short but everyone had to get back to work and school and international travel.  We are so glad that she came out to see us.  What a great start to 2019. 

Trying to get cousin pictures and the dogs couldn't stop getting in everybody's business. 

Will micro-managing the picture and hey that's Coco.  

Awwww... a little blurry but awwww.

Reina  and her fabulous braid and I snuck away to see The Sound of Music.  I bought the tickets months ago and almost forgot about it.  It was a great performance and all week Reina and I have been listening to different songs.  Her favorite?  Doe a Deer.  Mine?  Climb Every Mountain.  

Back to the chain gang

We are back in the swing of things, mostly, from a great holiday break.  This is our first full week back and man am I feeling it on this Wednesday night.  We had a nice little weekend.  We zipped down to Colorado for some shopping on Saturday and used the giftcards I received for Christmas and my birthday on new clothes and some cute shoes.  Reina was pretty helpful - pointing out when a shirt looked like something a doctor (in surgery) would wear and when something else made my bottom look weird.  This is the kind of feedback I definitely need.  Will and Glenn came with us and shoe shopped and Grandma Hansen helped wrangle kids and shoes.  When we came home, Will had a bad cold and a fever so we had to stay away from Vicky's house and kiddos so we didn't spread germs for the rest of the weekend. 

I had a lovely birthday last week. I got the chance to go with Vicky to chemo and we actually had a fun time.  I can say that because I didn't have to deal with all of that yucky medicine.  I helped her pick out some wigs and we had a few giggles.  She was the spitting image of our mom circa 1989 in one of the wigs.  The cancer center is a beautiful facility and the staff does a great job of keeping a cheerful attitude, even though the patients are all facing tough battles.  We looked at seed catalogs and picked out plants for the spring.  We also talked about canning and looked at new recipes to try this summer.  Time sped by (for me!) and before I knew it, it was time to drive her home. 

The morning of my birthday, the kids and Glenn gave me my presents.  Reina picked out some jewelry featuring the letter L, Glenn gave me a generous giftcard and Will had ordered some Nike running tights that came in the mail yesterday.  I am all set to tackle my forty-something year. 

This month, Will has school and city basketball leagues.  Reina is back at dance classes and piano lessons.  Will has a couple of confirmation classes.  Glenn has to keep an eye on legislative action for his agency.  My work schedule isn't too bad but who knows what's around the corner.  We have some family coming to visit at different times this month and a lot to look forward.  Let's go January!

Happy New Year!

 I didn't make my goal of blogging more in 2018 so I'm starting off the New Year with a new goal and a shiny post about our kitchen project.  But first, a little bit about our New Year's Eve.  We stayed home this year.  The wind chill brought the temperature down to negative numbers (I think -20 was the official low?) so we cranked up the woodstove and watched Office reruns as a family.  I made french dip sandwiches and we topped the meal off with an ice cream sundae bar.  I'd been promising Reina for about 6 months that she could do my makeup so I let her go for it.  No pictures will be posted here for several reasons (one being that Glenn said it looked like I was transitioning...) but we had a lot of fun with it.  It was a nice way to ring out one year and welcome a new one.

The other big project of the holiday break is our kitchen remodel.  We are getting ready for new flooring and countertops so we decided to paint everything before the big work begins.  Nothing like a four-day weekend for a painting project. 

Glenn painting over the infamous vine in our kitchen.  It's been on the wall since we moved in ten, 10! years ago and I've been meaning to paint over them since day 1.  Finally!  

Bye big blue wall! 

A view of the before floor and countertops.

No child labor laws here!  

While we worked on the kitchen, Will finished up a school project on ancient Rome.  He even talked his sister into helping him draw a Roman shield.  Siblings helping each other?  Holiday miracle!  

The warm gray walls.  Can't wait for the rest of the transformation! 

Happy New Year!