Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Tribute

I found out last weekend one of my friends from college passed away last year. I've never had a friend die. It was kind of a shocker for me. So since I didn't get to go to his funeral, I decided to do a tribute.

Steve you were a great friend who inspired me to do my best and never think my ideas were dumb. I will treasure the memories of you always!

Steven LeRoy Hansen, St. George, UT

Steven received a job offer he could not refuse. Steven LeRoy Hansen passed away on April 21, 2010 of a massive heart attack. He was born on June 15, 1972 in Murray, Utah to Nyle LeRoy and LaVerle Turnbow Hansen. Steven was raised in Holladay, Utah were he attended Cottonwood Elementary, Olympus Jr. and Olympus High. In high school he was active in choir where he developed a love of music. After high school he joined the Air Force reserve where he was a member of the 405th Combat Logistics Support Squadron and was deployed for Desert Storm. He received many accolades including the 405th CLSS Airman of the Quarter, Air Force Commendation and Achievement Medals. In the business world, Steven worked in the IT field for major companies in help desk, network administration and network engineering positions. Through this career, he found his way to Seattle, Washington where he resided for over five years building lasting friendships at work, church, and the gaming world. Seattle held a special place in his heart. In 2003 after 15 years of IT, Steven returned to school to add to his education and earn that elusive degree. He graduated Cum Laude at DSC with an Associates and Bachelors degree in Business Administration. He also obtained a master certificate from Villanova University and his MBA in International Business at the University of Massachusetts. While at Dixie he was actively involved in NETO serving as newsletter editor and vice president of communications. He also spent time working with the art department designing ads and assisting at the Sears Fine Arts Gallery. This developed into a great love and appreciation of art. He was a good potter, and enjoyed oil painting and photography. Steven was a member of the Sons of Pioneers and the VFW and served as the Post Commander for the Saint George Cottam Hafen Post #2628 VFW for the last six years. He loved to serve. As an elder in the LDS Church, he gave tirelessly to any opportunity, church, scouting, country, friends and family. He loved to set goals from a young age and had accomplished all of them. He loved his cats Sam and Basheba Spice, teasing his sisters, nieces and nephews, going to the post office, bank and lunch with his dad. He had great love for all his friends and family with many special memories. His friends say he was a gentleman, scholar, hard worker, good man, and a great American hero. Steven is survived by his parents, Nyle LeRoy and LaVerle Turnbow Hansen of St. George, UT, sisters: Nyla Marie (Danny) Miller, Hurricane, UT, Julie Lynn (Neil) Reiter, Virginia Beach, VA, Leslie Ann Taylor, Hurricane, UT, and Amity Jane John, Tooele, UT, six nieces, seven nephews, three grand nephews and one grand niece. Memorial services will be Saturday May 1, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. with a gathering on Friday evening from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at the Panorama LDS Ward Chapel, 259 Mall Drive, Saint George, Utah. Arrangements entrusted to the care of Metcalf Mortuary, (435) 673-4221. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the VFW Post 2628, PO Box 4, Washington, UT, 84780.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Happy 3rd Birthday Jace!


Dearest Jace,

We can't believe it's been 3 years since you first came into our family. You have grown into such an incredible little boy! Your love for the outdoors, Daddy and his work, your brothers, and your ablility to learn and do things on your own make my heart both happy and sad. Happy because you are progressing, and sad because I know we will look back on these times and miss them. Thank you for being YOU and giving your Dad and I the gift of being your parents!

Love, Mom and Dad


Jace's list of interests has GROWN over the last month. His interests include: dinosaurs, stars, cooking, bikes, outside time (that one wasn't a surprise though), and his friends. For his birthday I tried to cover just one of the new ones. Dinosaurs. So he had a dinosaur themed birthday :)

His dinosaur cake! Which was SO fun to put together!!!




Then we took him to the Vernal Dinosaur Museum last Saturday. Katie and her kids were able to come too! Enjoy the pictures!





















Saturday, July 16, 2011

Life As We Know It...

Jace turned 3 yesterday! We haven't had his little party yet, but I wanted to do a post anyway. So pictures to come soon.

I also wanted to do a post because my computer is working! Yeah! Fast internet is back in my home and it's wonderful to do all my projects in my pajamas again :)

Life has been wonderful and exciting! I received a calling to be the primary pianist a few weeks ago and it's been such a wonderful blessing! Right now I can only play the top hand of 97% of the songs they sing, but I know with Heavenly Fathers help and a LOT of practice, my piano playing skills will greatly improve. With this new calling Ryan has become the "babysitter" with Kayson. Needless to say he's ready for November to come when it's Kayson's turn to go to nursery :)

My 2 boys are getting so independent! Here's what happened the other night...






I hope they remebered to get behind their ears.

We spend a lot of time with our neighbor friends: Katie, Dominick, Gabriel, and Katie's nephew Braxton. We went to another craft day at the Rec. center while Isaac was here. It was a lot of fun and got us out of the house.






4th of July craft:


We played with the games and went down the slide afterwards since it was raining outside. Jace LOVED the slide!







I'll post more soon :) Bye!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Summertime FUN!

The sunny days are FINALLY here!!! Need I say more???

Jace's friend Dominick had to get in on the fun when we decided to play in the COLD water the other morning.


Plumber crack! LOL!


Best Buds


Nothing like eating outside! A favorite for the boys!


Oreos at Grandma Merkley's :)


Followed by jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath!


Kayson didn't like the cold water on the tramp :)


Drying off :)




The Uintah Community Center sent out calenders of fun activities they were doing for free this year. We went to the Father's Day craft day. WHAT FUN!!!




There was a magic show afterwards, but I didn't get any pictures. Jace must have loved it because he keeps talking about how the man juggled the red balls and made them land on his head.

Hope you're enjoying the summer as well! More to come later :)
(Mom's computer is 100 times faster at uploading pictures, so I might have to blog at her house from now on...or fix mine)

Monday, May 30, 2011

Kayson's 1st Birthday!!!

Kayson turned 1 last Friday! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. We celebrated with friends and family by doing a bar-b-que followed by cake and ice cream. It was a wonderful day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYSONATOR!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!


Popcorn cupcakes for his birthday cake! (it was SO worth making all 250 popcorn pieces to decorate it, and thanks goes to my neighbor Katie for all her help!)


Kayson did NOT like getting messy with his cupcake. He didn't even eat it (despite Uncle Troy's attempts to help him). He'll probably make up for it next year :)


More pictures:






Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Walking!

It finally happened :)


Kayson is walking! (I think he's been holding out on me though) I've been helping him practice by holding his hand or using the walking toy, but all he would ever do is stand.

Well yesterday I was playing Celine Dions "I'm Alive" song and he started dancing like Jace used to. Just lifting each leg one at a time and swaying back and forth to the beat of the music while holding onto something. I thought it was so cute that I wanted to show Ryan when he came home from work.

I stood Kayson up when it was time to show Ryan. Then when Ryan turned on the music, Kayson SHOT across the room walking!

It was the coolest moment ever! Ryan liked it too because he got to see Kayson's first steps :)

I tried to do it again today, but Kayson wouldn't do it. Good thing I got a video of it on my camera :) If you want to see it, you'll have to look on my Facebook page since I can't seem to post it on my blog. Sorry :(

Guess now it's time to put the child proof locks back on the cupboard doors :)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

"Two much"

I'll ask Jace sometimes how old he is and that is what he says. Two much Mom.

That's about how things are going right now. There is so much that has happened in the last month that it's going to take me just as long to blog about it. I really wish I could start now, but our internet is extremely slow. We're working to fix the problem, so hopefully I can write about it soon.

Here's a small update:

- We moved back to our old house in the good ole basin!!!
- Kayson has learned to stand, but not walk yet. I don't think it will be too much longer :)
- Ryan has a new job
- I have a new passion that I'm keeping secret until I get more information on how to make it happen in my community.

There's so much more that I can't wait to post about!

Talk soon!