The only girl . . . .

Growing up the only girl in a house full of boys is bound to bring a few challenges.

One afternoon, I was *gently* reminding the boys about their diligence in keeping the bathroom clean. Of course, I gave them the opportunity to find joy in gloves and Lysol and a huge roll of paper towels and let them "go to work!" You can imagine their excitement!

A few hours later, as I walked by the bathroom, I found it looking like the picture above. Gracie walked in and announced that the bathroom was GROSS and that she now needed to put toilet paper down on the seat because of the BOYS!!! I wish I had a video of the way she waved her arms around as she showed me the disasterous state of the now- clean bathroom.

Watch out boys!! Gracie's mad!!

It's OVER!

Two days ago - thanks to All Stars - baseball finally ended. Today, the batting cage that fills a huge chunk of our yard, just came down. Aaahhhhhhhhhh. Is it really true?Ben set a goal this year to hit 10 home runs. Here's his favorite picture. He just crushed one and is watching how far it will go.Every day he would talk about meeting his goal and what he needed to do to accomplish it. He managed to head into his last game with seven homeruns under his belt. His first two at bats he hit two more home runs. And the count is at nine. One last at bat and one more homerun to accomplish this 7 month goal. I have to admit I was slipping in a few tiny prayers between innings that he would have the chance to make it. He'd worked so hard! He had an awesome hit but didn't quite hit it far enough. Nine homeruns in one season is awesome, and something to really be proud of, but Ben was bummed. Who wouldn't be? He set a goal and wanted to accomplish it. Seven year old's assume that's how it all works. He's a better kid because of it though. Life's full of those character building little lessons. We'll see what next year holds. He still ranks as my #1 pick for the homerun derby! Love you Ben!!

Who would have thought baseball season could have lasted 5 months????? For as much as I love baseball, I never thought it would actually end.

I spent 6 days a week shuffling the kids from one baseball game or practice to another. My dear Matty coached every single one of those practices and games so he was gone just as much as the boys. We ate more dinners on the run, at the snack shack or at 8pm than I care to remember. I reconfirmed to myself that I'm a nervous Mom. Brett LOVES to pitch and he did well this year.

(Can you see the ball whizzing toward a batter in the top corner of this picture?) I'm a wreck when he's pitching. It all started with the first kid he hit. Matt replied to my anxiety with, "It's part of the game." That didn't make it any easier. Then it lead to the pressure that can come from bases loaded, full count and up by one run and you are the guy throwing the next ball. Nightmare for me. Brett lives for it. Deep down I just want to run out to the mound, pluck him up and run for the hills. :) Run Brett, Run!!! This is more than any nine year old should have to bear! :)
I know it's a mom thing. I'll survive. My boys love every single teeny tiny thing there is to love about baseball. For that reason alone, I will gladly spend the next 16 years at little league parks cheering on my favorite players. Go team!

Fan #1. Can't even count how much Big League Chew she went through this season.

Fan #2. Who whould have thought a baby could learn to crawl and then walk at a baseball park? He's even smart enough to know that the snack shack is a cool place to be. Snow cones were his snack of choice.


Until next year . . .

Hair - glorious HAIR!!!

Hair. It's been a big topic around our house over the last few months. How long does it take to grow? When should she ditch the wigs? Is it long enough now? How about NOW???? My cute Mom, after months of chemo and radiation for breast cancer, now had HAIR!!!! We think she looks awesome - you'll have to judge for yourself. She now has curls that she never had before!

Dad-Mom - Chris (at BYU)-Me - Julie (my awesome sis) - Joe (her "strong man" husband)

Nine months ago Matt bought some awesome tickets to go see Wicked in San Francisco for the family. As the night approached, I noticed a little anxiety in our home. Brett's baseball team, that Matt was coaching, was winning everything!! They were in first place and their second TOC (Tournament of Champions for all of you without baseball kids) game was the same night as Wicked. Isn't that just great? What to do? Matt coached the game and I took my cute brother as my date. The play started at 8. At 7:58, my phone rang and I got the news that they WON. :) It sure made the play much more enjoyable. Way to go Brett! (I have to share one highlight of the play. Chris went surfing at 5 that morning and crashed half way through. Nice. Hundred dollar tickets and he's snoring next to me! Chris. You owe me!) :)

Don't breakdown - break through!

This is my new motto. What do you think?

Six weeks since I wrote last. Six weeks of good, bad, fun and not so fun. Mostly busy, rarely slow. Somehow (???) I got overwhelmed, overtired and overdone - but I'm back. :)

It's good to be back. I'm sure Matt agrees. He was putting up quite well with the "stressed-out Me" but I know how tiring that can be. :) Although, I have a cold right now. Thanks a lot Gracie and Brik! As if wiping their noses a hundred times a day isn't enough! It should be against the laws of nature to catch a cold in the summer. I love every single thing that has to do with summer and adding a stuffy, runny nose to it just doesn't fit. I'm downing all the herbs and vitamins in our cupboard. Hope they help!! Any suggestions??

So, what's happened over the last six weeks?

It all started with another funeral. Matt's sweet Grandma, or "3G" as the kids called her, died. That would be our third grandparent to die in the last 6 months. *sigh* Our kids are getting way too comfortable at funerals. We had Brik's picture with her at Easter and then about 2 weeks later she was gone.

She is the reason my kids will be lifelong Dodger fans. (I have yet to convert.) She is the reason that baseball is such a HUGE part of our home.


(the great-granddaughters on the Hansen side)

She always had a dollar in her wallet to give each of our kids and loved to call them cute little "toads." We love and miss her.

One of the grandkiddies accidentally got locked in the car, in a car seat, at the cemetery. A huge fire engine came to the rescue. The kids loved it.

Matt, Mark, Big Mark, DeeDee, Jen and Becca

Cookin' with Marsha

This is my cute Mom. Right now she looks a little different from this picture. We are celebrating because her hair is finally starting to grow back. She has about a 1/2 inch of hair all over her hear and she looks great!!!

Each year when we go to Hawaii, our favorite place to shop is on the Marine base because you can get AMAZING deals on great clothes. We always come away with some USMC (U.S. Marine Corps) t-shirt or sweat shirt or something. Well, my cute-short haired- Mom was walking around last week with her USMC sweat shirt on and was wig-less. :) Yea Mom! She looked the picture perfect Marine with her short hair and actually had people ask her in awe if she was in the Marines! I need to get a picture of her and post it. You'd be amazed how cute she looks!

Anyway, now to the reason for my post. This is my Mom ( did I already mention that she's cute??) in her kitchen. Her favorite place to be. She is the most amazing cook and loves every second of it. She had her own catering company for years. Unfortunately Julie and I didn't inherit her skill or passion for cooking. (We did inherit the desire to EAT all the yummy things Mom makes but spent most of our growing up years washing all the dishes she messed up!!) She once spent 3 days making a new recipe for dinner. No kidding!! So, Mom gets weekly phone calls from us when some part of our meal is failing or a recipe needs explaining. Usually she is in hysterics as she answers our lame questions. We love her for being our culinary encyclopedia. :) BUT, when we are able to wow her with one of our own recipes, it is a true feeling of euphoria.

Julie ( a.k.a. Wonder woman) wowed us all with an awesome meal. I'm sharing the recipe below. It is a definite keeper. Enjoy!!



Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

4 lbs pork roast
5 (8-oz) cans tomato sauce
3 cloves garlic
3 cups brown sugar
4 tsp. cumin
4 cups Dr. Pepper
4 TBSP molasses
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Cook in crock pot on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Shred meat an hour or two before finished and then let finish cooking in sauce. Use this meat in burritos, salads, sandwiches--- whatever!

We did pork salads. We got the flour tortillas at Costco that you cook yourself. Put cooked tortilla on a plate. Pile plenty of lettuce next, then the sweet pork, black beans, lime rice, shredded cheese, tomatoes and Cilantro-Ranch Salad Dressing. The recipe for the lime rice and the dressing is below:


Lime Rice

2 Tbsp. Butter
1 1/4 Cup uncooked rice
2 1/4 cups chicken broth
3/4 tsp salt
1 large lime
2 TBSP chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp cumin

In a skillet, melt butter with rice, add liquid and other ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes. (Or if you have a rice cooker, dump it all in the cooker and adjust the liquid according to your cooker's instructions),

Cilantro -Ranch Salad Dressing

1 1/3 cups sour cream
3/4 cups mayonnaise
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 pkg ranch dressing mix
4 TBSP Salsa Verde
2 cloves garlic
1/8 tsp Tabasco
1 lime, juiced

Mix together in food processor or blender


YUM!

Go BEN!!!!

When we were in Provo, the boys wanted to go see the baseball field because they are both planning on playing for BYU. :) I don't know why it was open, but we walked right in and were able to head right down on the field. We probably shouldn't have - but it was "soo cool" according to the guys! They peeked in the dugout and the mysterious "other side of the dugout." (There's actually a huge batting cage in there as well as the locker room!)

They even took a few practice swings with a bat left in the dugout and "ran" the bases - just to get a feel for the field. :)

It must have been lucky because Ben crashed 2 home runs in his game today! Way to go Ben!!! BYU - here we come!!

We love skiing!!

I started learning to ski when I was 6 years old. We were living in Germany at the time. My rather vivid memories are of my Mom and Dad dropping me off at all day ski school where no one spoke a word of English. I hated it. I cried. I hated it. I was furious that they abandoned me!! I hated it. (Poor Julie was only a 6 month old and they left her with some random German nanny! Nice guys!!) My Dad now laughs when I remind him of the torture he put me through. He loves to remind me that I learned to ski in the Alps. No 6 year old cares one whit about that. He and my Mom were in similar classes of their own, learning to ski. Now, in hindsight, I'm so glad that I learned when the distance from my rear to the snow was much closer than it is today. Thanks Dad. I forgive you.

Fast forward to the next time I was living in a land of snow. Utah. BYU. Matt had never had much of an opportunity to ski because he was so involved with basketball and basketball coaches that wouldn't allow him to ski. I think the first time we skied together was Matt's second or third time in his life. I was LOVING it. It was the one and only sport that I could whip him in. Needless to say, the competitive Matt didn't love that so much.

We've had lots of practice since then, but still fondly recall the wipeout of '97. It was one of those falls that you see on tv that makes you grab your eyes and peek through your fingers. Thankfully, it wasn't me. Poor Matt. If only I had video. He managed a triple back flip, double cartwheel, back handspring, and finished it off with a wicked roundoff. All the while he left a trail of glasses, gloves, hat, poles, skies, granola bars, prayers, a scarf, chapstick and a few choice words from the top to the bottom of the mountain. I giggle each time I think of it.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. All of the above feelings were replayed when we took Brett and Ben to Alta for a beautiful day of skiing. Someday they'll thank us.