Halloweenie Pun-kins!!!

The kids and Dan helped take out the "guts" as Nora calls them.  I made the kitty one for Nora and Dave made the cyclops one for Nathan.  Good times had by all!

Czipar's Apple Orchard

First Grade Field Trip to Czipar's Orchard

On our way!

I got one Mom!  He is doing so well this year!  Just in awe of him!

Nathan's whole class, plus Nora!  We had great fun!

Nora is so dang cute!

The Book of Mormon

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a very important part of my life.  Listed here are one scripture from each book in the Book of Mormon.  

1 Nephi “And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.” 1:20

2 Nephi “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” 25:26

Jacob “Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.” 2:35

Enos “And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.” 1:4

Jarom “Wherefore, the prophets, and the priests, and the teachers, did labor diligently, exhorting with all long-suffering the people to diligence; teaching the law of Moses, and the intent for which it was given; persuading them to look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already was. And after this manner did they teach them.” 1:11

Omni “And it came to pass that he did according as the Lord had commanded him. And they departed out of the land into the wilderness, as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord; and they were led by many preachings and prophesyings. And they were admonished continually by the word of God; and they were led by the power of his arm, through the wilderness until they came down into the land which is called the land of Zarahemla.” 1:13

Words of Mormon “And it is many hundred years after the coming of Christ that I deliver these records into the hands of my son; and it supposeth me that he will witness the entire destruction of my people. But may God grant that he may survive them, that he may write somewhat concerning them, and somewhat concerning Christ, that perhaps some day it may profit them.” 1:2

Mosiah “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” 3:19

Alma “And this he did that he himself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them.” 4:19

Helaman “Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.” 12:2

3 Nephi “Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do.” 27:21

4 Nephi “There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.” 1:17

Mormon “O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you!” 6:17

Ether “For he did cry from the morning, even until the going down of the sun, exhorting the people to believe in God unto repentance lest they should be destroyed, saying unto them that by faith all things are fulfilled.” 12:3

Moroni “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.” 10:32

Pirate Party

First of all . . . a huge shout out to Alyson!
She is awesome and everyone should have a friend just like her.
Thank you for letting us use your house and for lending your creativity.

Treasure box and map.  Unfortunately we got rained
out and couldn't use the map.  

Our booty, ring pops, necklaces and gold candies.

Homemade cupcakes.  Soo tasty!

So glad our friends could make it!  The best pirates around!

Naturally you would use a sword to open it.

Pirate ship piñata

We had a few pirates helping us out.

Nathan, The Birthday Boy

              

Josh as Skeleton LaGoose

Captain Spencer

Nora, The Birthday Girl

Abram, The Ham

Maila and Abram, The Pirates Mata

The only time I hope to see Nathan with
a mustache like this!

The awesome mast Craig made.

Nathan's favorite toy, it was
just what he wanted.

Nora got a doll that looks just like her.
She named it Aurora.

Craig did what we all felt like doing :)

So there you have it.  A very successful combined birthday party.  I had a blast, and I think the kids did too!  Now we have to start planning so we can top it next year!

Nora is 5 today!  She is such an amazing girl!  Love her to pieces!

Nora's Doll house

My Mom and I spent countless hours doing this doll house for Nora. I bought it at Gordman's, it was completely unpainted. So I decided to embellish it at bit.

The stickers are just scrapbooking stickers.

My Mom made the curtains and the bedding.

All in all I am pretty proud of it! I guess we will see in the morning if she likes it!

Family Christmas Letter

This is my first year writing a family Christmas letter. The letter that I mailed out to people is so cute and has tons of photos on it. I wanted to load it on here but it is just too large so you get just the text. Sorry!

Another year has come and gone; what a year it has been! We have all been so blessed. We started our Christmas season last year by moving across the country to Smithfield Utah. It was a pretty uneventful trip, aside from a flat on I-80 with the van. We arrived at our new home (Brittney’s brother’s basement) on December 8th. The winter there was interesting. Winters in Utah are a little short on snow for our tastes.

We were only able to build one snowman during our winter in Utah. Nathan was enrolled in preschool. He did very well there. Nora and Brittney stayed home most days enjoying our time with the Caley's, our neighbors upstairs. Brittney also stayed pretty busy setting up house downstairs and starting a new craft of making hair bows. Dan was on the job search and kept himself busy with that as well as doing some photography jobs on the side. In the spring, Brittney’s parents Chris and Marianne came for a visit from Iowa. We had a very nice two weeks with them. Upon their departure back to Iowa, Brittney and the kids joined in the caravan and visited with her sister Amanda for two weeks in Colorado. Dan joined later and we all had fun exploring what Colorado Springs had to offer. Upon our return to Utah Dan was offered a job at TAG Lending. It was so exciting to be starting a new chapter in our lives. We enrolled Nathan in T-Ball with high hopes that he might actually play and enjoy himself. Much to our delight, he did! It was great to be able to see him enjoy such a social sport.

We really enjoyed every game he had. At the end of summer, Nora turned four and Nathan turned six. In the fall, Nathan started kindergarten and Nora started preschool. She had the very same teacher that Nathan had for his preschool. They were both doing very well in school. Nora was able to join a dance class that her Aunt Lori taught and she really enjoyed it. At the beginning of August we made a quick trip to Iowa for Dan’s parents 50th wedding anniversary. It was great to have almost all of his brothers and sisters together again. Shortly after arriving back in Utah we received the unfortunate news that Dan was being let go from his job. TAG Lending couldn’t afford to keep him on during the winter. After much prayer and a trip to the temple we made the decision to move back to Iowa. Within two weeks we were on our way. We are currently living with Brittney’s parents in a little town named McCausland, just north of Davenport, IA. Brittney’s Grandparents also live here. It has been a blessing to be able to have four generations under one roof. Dan continues to job search and to develop his photography skills.

Nathan and Nora go to a very small elementary school and even get to ride the bus! Nathan is reading, doing some math and even participated in a choir concert for school.

Nora loves her new preschool and is flying through her workbooks at home. She has become quite the singer, dancer, whistler, and piano player. Nathan, on the other hand has requested that he take a karate class. Brittney has been involved in a wellness challenge for the past 12 weeks and has lost almost 20 pounds. We have recently found a local park full of trails that the whole family has been enjoying. This year has been a year of self discovery and blessings. Through it all we have learned that it does not matter where you live, as long as you have your family. We are so grateful for our Heavenly Father and for the peace that his gospel brings into our lives. And for his greatest gift, His Son Jesus Christ.

God Bless and Merry Christmas!

~ The Hanselmann Family