8 years together!

I meant to blog this last week, but my days got away from me. So, here I am writing and reflecting on 8 years being married to Dave Hansen! My, my... it's been a journey. One that has been filled with every emotion, lots of love, lots and lots of grace, and of course plenty of laughter. Some days I can hardly believe it's been 8 years already and some feel like it's only been a few... I mean, we're all still like 25 right? Most of the time though it just feels like life has never been any different... like I've never lived without him. I can not imagine life without him and even though he drives me crazy at times, he's still the best friend I married 8 years ago and even more. Today he is much more to me then he was back then... I guess the longer you are in someones heart the bigger role you have in that person's life. Dave is undeniably my other half.

Dave has taught me many things about myself over the years and I have no doubt he will continue to teach me more. Marriage is something we are so thankful for and we're having a blast doing it together! My husband is a very real person, hard working, giving, responsible, respected, hilarious, sometimes too honest, practical, light hearted, empathetic, sports crazy, can't sit still, did I mention funny?, super fun, forgiving, and just all around good man. He is the best husband and father I know. And I mean that. I'm blessed to be his wife and thankful for 8 great years! Happy Anniversary, babe!

I have only a few pictures of just us on this computer... so here's to "us"... we're so often a group these days (couple plus 2 kids!), but we constantly are trying to remind ourselves to be just us when we can. We love spending time just the two of us and I hope we can find some more of that this next year... we'll work on that during our 9th year :)

July 21, 2001~Our Wedding Day

July 21, 2008~ Our tradition has been for Jaxon to take our pic each year on our anniversary. This was last year! Before our also traditional Brown Bottle dinner :)

a weeeknd away in 2007

right after being announced "Mr & Mrs David Hansen" Whoo-hoo!!!

July 21, 2009 ~ Post Brown Bottle dinner, again :)

gotta drown a bit before you swim

Session two, group four... swim lessons are here again. As Dave and I weave through all the possibilities for a five year old to be involved in we always end up with this experience being a "non-negotiable". We may let our children choose what other activities they participate in down the road, but swim lessons is one thing we think our kids need. It is kind of like a life skill, something to be used forever, and something worth pouring a little bit of moola into. We want our kids to be comfortable swimmers and feel confidant around water. Thus... our third year of swim lessons! Jaxon is doing great and fortunately loves the pool, so even these cool mornings haven't been too much of a fight to get him there. He likes going and is usually pacing the floor ready an hour before we leave!
As I was sitting on the side today entertaining two 1 year olds I was watching Jaxon attempt a new swim form. He is now in the bit deeper water, so I really pay attention as he builds confidence and technique. Some of you know that water frightens me a bit. I LOVE the pool and the ocean and even like a boat ride on a lake every now and then... but inside I am an anxious person whenever I'm around water. Especially unknown waters. I am NOT a good swimmer and I am not confidant that I could save myself or my child if I found myself drowning. Today as Jaxon learned a new thing in the water I watched him struggle a bit and it made me think about life in general for him. I love to see my kids succeed and it's hard to see my kids fail or struggle with things. As I watched I realized that there are many times in my children's lives when I may want to whisk them away from what they are struggling with or just do it for them, to save them the pain or hard times. I started to think back on my own life and I realized that often in my past the times I learned the most, grew the most, or finally figured something out...was after I had struggled immensely. I thought about that as Jaxon bobbed up and down in the water and I forced myself to not walk to the side and pull him from the water. He even gasped for air a bit and I sat and prayed for strength for him. He would get it and if he didn't a trustworthy lifeguard was at his side to help. Kind of like when God throws us a life line when we need it at certain times in our lives. He knows how far we can go before He needs to intervene with His own form of help. As Jaxon's mom, I'm going to need to know when to let him drown a bit in life... to figure it out on his own... and when I need to throw him a life jacket and pull him from the deep waters. I hope I do not react too soon and deplete any lesson in life from happening and yet I hope I don't respond too late and let him drown miserably. Either way... I learned today that as my children grow I will often times have to let them drown a bit, as painful as it is to watch, so that they will find their own strength and ability to master their skills. I pray I can do this quietly and be an encourager as they gasp for air a bit in this lifetime. I am thankful for the "life guards" on duty through out my children's lives and know that sometimes it may not be me who gets to do the saving. I pray for them too... cuz we all need a few "life guards" in our own lives!
Tomorrow we'll do day 8 of swim lessons and chances are.... after today's experience Jaxon won't be bobbing up and down trying to get air like today :) Way to go Jaxon!! Thank you to our great swim instructors and thanks God for strength to learn a new life skill!

half way point

I have just been thinking the last few days that we are at about the half way point... the spot between when summer vacation started and when school begins again. I LOVE summer time, always have, I'm sure always will. I used to cruise through summer time hardly thinking twice about the end nearing, except for looking forward to sweet corn and fall days to begin. This is a weird summer because I love all the summer things we are doing. However, I'm doing my best to s-l-o-w our everyday lives down here in our home, so that I really embrace these last summer days with my two boys before Jaxon heads off to school.
I love having my kids home with me and I'm not really the type of mom who flips calendar days off the chart just waiting til the kids go back to school. (at least not yet anyways- :) It has been such good learning moments for me lately... really stopping what I'm doing and just playing, or reading with the kids more, or ignoring the phone and just being outside... whatever our day brings, as long as we're together. I've been thinking a lot about how busy we get here at times and we let many moments just slide by without even realizing it. I know I'm very aware these days because my daily life with Jaxon is about to change drastically, but I hope I look back and read this someday and am reminded again to just take a step back from whatever I'm doing and just be.
If I pause long enough and really embrace the moment I'm in I can truly FEEL the moment instead of just going through the motions. I want to remember these days as wonderful, just what they are, with my family!! I want my kids to remember them as me being "here" and not "there". So... just some thoughts from my mom zone these days :) I hope you are letting yourself be in your daily moments and not just letting them play out in front of you. Laundry, dishes, floors to be cleaned, and so on will all still be there tomorrow... your kids are only at this stage for this summer once! My, they grow up so fast... Embrace these beautiful summer days with your little ones!!! I'll be trying to do the same with mine! Here, here to the second half of summer!!!

what have we been doing???

Well, Austin has been spending hours riding bike... he has mastered making it go forward with his feet on the ground and gets moving pretty fast!

Like I said... this kid rides bikes or tractors EVERY DAY for most of the time we are outside!

We spent a long afternoon up in Denver with some of Dave's siblings and families one day. Uncle Aaron was very generous to be the "fun guy" in the pond. Jaxon loved getting thrown into the air! Weeeee!

Dave's sister, Holly and husband Kyle, recently moved into their new house after building it themselves for the last year. One of the perks is it comes with a pond! Here's Dave dad after he purchased life jackets so that most of us could play in the water together... I think I heard a water-polo match is coming up? That could be interesting with 11 adults and 13 little ones! We look forward to many family gatherings at the Matthias pond!

If you look close enough you'll see Jaxon and cousin Kyler hanging out on a raft in the pond. These two were the first ones in and the last ones out. :-) Fun times!

Whoo-hoo! Dave and I got a date night in this last week! Our good friends, Mark & Kris, watched the kids and here are Addelyn and Austin having a drink together :)

Our good buddy Kendyl came to visit!! Jaxon and Kendyl spent a lot of time playing in the yard, hanging by the campfire, and just chatting. We sure like having her around :)

We had a few play days with the Middleton crew!! What fun our house sees when they all come!

Slip n slide... Jaxon fixed it up so the pool was at the end of the hill in our yard and they slid for hours down the slide and into a water filled pool. There were a couple days we were out doing this by 8am! Summer mornings can be fun!!

Roger from next door has been helping Jaxon learn to ride with no training wheels!! Keep trying Jaxon!!!

More slip n slide... it filled a lot of summer days in early June!

We've been enjoying our flower gardens. It's always nice to see your hard work pay off in such pretty shades of color.

Jaxon attended TWO VBS's. Mason and Jaxon spent two weeks in a row traveling to Naz and Orchard Hill for Crocodile Dock!! We're still dancing to the tunes from these two weeks!

Backyard pool time ...

Playing in our backyard has been a nightly activity. We LOVE our yard!!!

I found some early sweet corn and Austin loves it... yummy, can't wait for sweet corn season! We (or should I say "I") love fresh vegetables in the summer!

We kicked off the summer with a vacation to St Louis... our friends the Hoskinsons joined us for the end of it. I still need to post this trip :)