Hanssen Adventure: 2010

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Chris Tomlin - I Will Follow w/Lyrics

As our family has embarked on this adventure of picking up our lives and moving to Denver to help plant Harvest Denver www.harvestdenver.org this song has become our "theme song" of sorts. It really does describe how we feel about our God and what He has done for us!

I know I have not been great about keeping up on this blog. The Facebook age has seemed to take over....but I plan to make this blog private and post more about all that our family is doing at the beginning of the year. So if you are interested in checking this out send me an email and I'll be sure to send you the private blog info.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Gabe's 4th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Gabe!

Yes....is has been 2 months since Gabe turned 4 and yes I am only posting now....oh well!

We had a super time celebrating Gabe turning 4. What a fun age! Fun toys, fun parties, fun friends :). Here are several pics of the celebration!

Gifts....drill set..ready to work!

Make-shift swim party :).

Since we decided to wait a whole month to have Gabe's friend party (grandma/pa were in Africa) we had a last minute swim party with same of Gabes fav friends!

Making pizza for dinner (after a soccer game :)

THE PARTY!!

We had a fabulous party at Grandma & Grandpa's house...for sure the coolest place on Earth!

My best girlfriends Brooke and Kenzi!

Activities included.......

Hay ride...

Face painting (or should I say "body painting" for many....I think we know who will have tattoos when they grow up!).....

4-Wheeler rides.....

and paintball.....

Dale did such a great job "organizing" a crew of 4 yr olds! Way to go dad!

And of course a monster truck cake!

....and singing...

who needs cake and ice cream when you can just eat the icing off your monster trucks!

In all it was such a fun day...or should I say, month celebrating Gabe! (you can do that when you only have 1 kids ;).

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Valentine's Day, Soccer, etc

Here is a collection of pics from the last month...random thing we've done :).

Swimming play date at the RiverPlex with Luke!...we were all drenched...including mommy!

SOCCER!!

Oh, how we are excited for soccer. Dale and I are loving watching Gabe in his first team sport! After his first game (which happened to occur before his first practice...wierd) Dale came home and said "we need to get Gabe on the treadmill and work on his running technique"...spoken like a true ex-exercise physiologist!

Watch carefully to find Gabe :)......you'll notice, he hasn't quite figured out the strategy yet....you know the one that says "go after the ball and KICK it!" .......Well, what can you expect, he has yet to have a practice yet....love it!

Snowman with Sarah and Emilee!

VALENTINES DAY!

Making the cookies for the cookie decorating party.

Notice the apron...yes Home Depot for cookie making :)....gotta work with what you have on hand!

Gabe and Luke eating lunch...or something like that :)

Intense decorating!

Valentines Day Dinner for my two boys

The menu:

Leg of Lamb

Sheeba/Pup

Rolls

Salad

Veges

Custard and ice cream for dessert

ALL of Dale's (and now Gabe's favs!)

Love you boys!!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Monster Trucks!

Monster Trucks! A little boys dream! Dale and Gabe had a guys day and went to monster trucks. Dale gave Gabe hints all week about the "surprise" then the day before they heard an interview with one of the drivers on the radio and he figured it out. Tell you what....this kid was soooo excited (and daddy too, of course) :). They had a blast and even got to go down and see the trucks before the show.

This picture is hard to see..but was Gabe favorite. A "dragon" came out and picked up the car and smashed it. Sometimes I don't totally understand this boy thing....but just smile and play along! :)

Various Winter Fun...continued

HAPPY 10TH ANNIVERSARY!!

Feb. 5, 2000

Wow 10 years....we just can't believe it! Looking back on the past 10 years it has been an incredible journey with Lord. He has given us many twists and turns that we did not expect, but looking back we are so grateful for it all. We have grown through joys of getting to know each other more deeply and growing in our relationship, the fun of travel, stretching of our faith in missions, trials of infertility, pain of never concieving, overwhelming excitement of GABE, fun times spent with family in Africa, heartache of leaving friends and family in Utah, adventure of our new life in Peoria, rich friendships in Peoria, blessing of super supportive inlaws, lots of new cousins, blessing of being able to see the new cousins often, working out our work relationship, growing tremendously in our relationship with the Lord, and learning to love each other for who God made us to be!

Thanks Dale for believing in me and loving me like no other!! Can't wait for the next decade with you!!

Out to dinner! (gabe took the picture just before the babysitter arrived :) ). Our real celebration will be a cruise once our babysitters get back from thier trip to Africa :)

Play date to the zoo

FOOTBALL!

Heading out to cut down some trees!
Dales winter project was putting in a wood burning furnace. He says he feels like man and that he is really providing for our family when he can heat our house by himself. So off he goes every week to his parents place (they live on lots of acres with lots of trees) to cut down trees. I must say our house is really warm and our gas bill very small! Despite the occasional coughing attack from all the smoke (maybe an exaggeration? :) ) we are warm and cozy in this very cold winter!

SLEDDING!
Fun time in the snow! It is usually to cold and icy to sled...so when we get the chance we jump on it!
Gabe with his two best girlfriends :) These girls need someone to teach them how to be tough! Might as well be Gabe!!

Various Winter Fun

Even though it has been a cold winter here in Peoria we have found ways to have lots of fun!! We took a trip to Chicago to take Gabe to Winter Wonder Fest (which I forgot to bring my camera...so we don't have any pics of that day :( ) and to the Shedd Aquarium. The greatest part...we rode Amtrak! Fun, fun for Gabe! We had such a great time! Unfortunately it was ranging anywhere from 0 degrees to 2 degrees the whole time so we FROZE and all the time I spent trying to get a hotel within walking distance of Navy Pier was in vain since there was no walking to be had....cabs all the way! In any case it was always a short ride :). Truthfully, we actually did walk sometimes and we were OK as long as there was NO skin showing at all!

Grandma and Gabe on the train.

Gabes new friend....we had to wait hours for our train ride home......our train was frozen (I told you it was coooold!) and they had to wait for a new one.

The whole "Amtrak" experience was surreal...I felt like we were in Africa. No structure, people everywhere, nobody knew where to go, etc...it was crazy! I'm guessing it is not always like that...just happened to be a holiday weekend and cold.

SHEDD AQUARIUM
Gabe got to pet a penguin at the show. I'm telling you this was one incredible place...shows were amazing! (yes the lady is also dressed like a penguin...part of the show :) )

Have you guessed yet what Gabe's favorite animal was at the aquarium??

Super cool kids center where they could touch and feel real water life.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We had a super great time at the Schwarzentraubs ringing in the new year.

Popping those stringy things..

Kids table and treats

Adults table and treats

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Christmas 09

We were fortunate enough to spend Christmas in SLC this year. Even though it was a Hanssen Christmas the 5 Peoria Hanssens came to SLC. Fun times were had with all the kiddos! Thanks Verne and Hal for letting us bombard your house!

Christmas morning present opening