Vacation!!!

We took our family vacation in April this year between Dave's time of switching jobs. We loaded up the boys and headed south to the Branson, MO area. It was beautiful and warm and just what the Hansen clan needed after a long cold winter! We stayed at a beautiful resort just south of Branson in the Ozark Mountain area. Our place was much nicer then we had expected! We enjoyed our own cabin tucked in the woods and really enjoyed the peace-fullness of this place. It was such a great week and even though the defination of "vacation" is a bit different with 2 young children, we all had a good time and it was so nice to have quality family time with no distractions! We spent a lot of our time just laying low and hanging out, exploring the grounds of the resort, Silver Dollar City 1 day, and Dixie Stampede 1 evening. Our cabin was a peaceful place where we spent a lot of our time...grilling out, naps (well, the boys anyways!), hot tub, cozy fires at night, and just being together. We liked it all so much that we hope to go back soon! The boys did awesome in the van ride... I can't believe how well they were. Family vacation with four was a success all around!! I love that Dave has a strong passion for making family vacations a family tradition that we do in some way or form each year. It was a good week to reflect on the fact that we are so much more connected when we don't allow distractions to interfere with quality time spent together... Phones, emails, internet, TV... these were missed at first I think, but after a couple days it was so nice to just "be". We are so distracted by these things at home and I hope to be more conscious about how we spend our time here to allow for quality time spent as a family instead of keeping our noses plugged into whatever technology thing is appealing at the moment. It is so wonderful to just be together for a short time and experience fun, laughter, new things, and connection time with each other. Below are some pics from our trip ...enjoy!Jaxon would tell you his favorite thing was the pools! The place we stayed had an indoor and outdoor, as well as a 30 person hot tub and a few smaller hot tubs around the main lodges.

Jaxon and Dad goofy golfing at the resort... in the mouth of a big fish! One of the holes.

Jaxon & Austin posing for a brother pic!

Austin rolled over for the first time while we were there! He was so proud of himself!

Like father, like son... I was nursing Austin and I looked up from the couch to see Jaxon had climbed half way up our fire place. Remind you of anyone who also climbs up walls??? :)

Grandma Pat sent a little extra money for the boys to use on vacation. Jaxon used it for a special pony ride at the pace we were staying. They offered a pony ride with hat, badge, hand-cuffs, and pictures at their stables there. Jaxon smiled the whole time he rode that pony I think! Thanks Grandma!

Jaxon and Dad on the river ride at Silver Dollar City. Jaxon got brave enough to go on this one with his dad!!

Jaxon loved running through the shooting water at SDC. It was 80 this day and it felt good!

Jaxon was so intreaged with this air making machine that threw balls around. He spent a lot of time doing this :)

Mom & Austin waiting while Dad & Jaxon go on a ride. The boys were both so good at the park.

Austin happy to be outside!!

I loved this... Jaxon & Austin layed here like this for almost 20 minutes just talking and smiling at each other. It was so sweet :)

Dad & Jaxon on the paddle boat... I think Dad did all the work. :-)

Austin liked the pool too! if you look closely he's grinning a big smile back at Dad...

Jaxon as we began the long van ride. I made a chain for him and after each hour passed of driving time, he could tear a chain link off so he could tell how much longer we had. He thought this was so fun and it helped with the "how much longer?" and "are we there yet"? questions!

Austin is 4 months old today!

Austin is 4 months old today! He went to the doctor on Thursday for his check-up and was 16 pounds and 13 ounces and 25 inches long. Jaxon was actually an inch longer and 1 pound heavier at this age! Huh, and we thought Austin was our rolly polly baby :) Austin has gotten his own little personality in the last few weeks. He is giggeling more, watching everything around him, and still loves to be cuddled. He experienced his first ear infection and yucky cough this last month and he's pulled through like a champ :-) He continues to be an awesome sleeper!! He had a few bad nights during the ear infection, but he's getting his rythem back in that department- thankfully. Austin is very content just laying and watching you or whatever is close to him...so rolling over may be a few weeks still. Jaxon was rolling over by 3 1/2 months, so maybe this is a sign that Austin will enjoy being still a bit more then Jaxon. They are both good qualities to have in different ways...a mover and a sitter! Can't believe we have a 4 month old and a 4 year old somedays... pretty awesome I must say! Kids are such a nice part of life!

Austin 4 months old today!

Jaxon & Austin just laying around!

Season's changing...

I saw proof this weekend that the season's are changing again...soon! Saturday, Jaxon and I spent some time outside...bike races, baseball, stick searching, and side walk chalk. We walked around our yard and looked in our flower beds to see if anything was poking through yet... and we found some! Yes! Proof that spring is on it's way... Jaxon would get so excited each time we found some tulips starting to come up through the wet soil (and still frozen in some spots!). We found tulips, hostas, and 1 of our trees budding! What a fun time to watch the start of new life growing! I can not wait for my yard to be full of shades of greens, purples, yellows, reds, and pinks soon!! I can not wait to hear Jaxon playing and yelling and laughing in our back yard again! Change is good!

We've also got some season's of life changes coming up... This spring Dave will train a new person (Eric Blanchard, GREAT guy with a GREAT wife, Ashley!) to take over his position at Orchard Hill Church. Dave has been doing some heart searching the last couple years about where God wants him to be and Dave is really feeling called to come work for DTI (where I work part time). It is totally different then what he's been doing at church...and Dave is excited about that. Dave has worked at 2 different churches doing pretty much the same thing at both places for eleven years! He was starting to feel like it was time to move ahead into something else and is really looking forward to what he's going into now. DTI will be a different pace for him and our family. No weekend hours, no heavy lifting/physical work, and more time to serve in the ministries he's become so passionate about in the last few years. Working at the church didn't leave him much time to serve in these areas. Funny how that works, huh? He (and we) will be so sad to leave such an awesome staff and family of co-workers. He seriously LOVED his staff at church and will miss that the most. However, life takes us through different seasons and now is his time to move into a new season for all of us. Dave is leaving on great terms and we will continue to be very involved at Orchard with our family and are committed to raising our boys (and any future kids someday) in this church family. We're looking forward to being a part of the DTI team together and serving our community in a whole new way :)

So...we're just full of change at the Hansen house these days... new baby, new job, new seasons :) Life is good and we're excited for the changes coming up and going on around us! Here's a few pictures of our ever so quickly changing boys!

Two happy brothers! Just hanging out :)

Mom is actually in a picture! Thanks Jaxon for snapping these!

Austin is smiling more and more!

Jaxon has gotten pretty good at snow-boarding on his sled, thanks to uncle Aaron's lessons! This was one of the last days before all the snow melted in our backyard to form a small lake :-)

Good Friday

Click on article below (it will enlarge for you to read easier) to see what Jesus's obituary may have read like...


Isiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

Preparing for Easter...

It seems we have fast approached the Easter season this year and with that comes a time I love to use to sit and really dwell in God's unconditional love and grace for us. I mean, really? God loves us so much that He sent His ONLY son to die a painful and hard death on a cross. Have you ever truly thought about how Jesus died? First he was beat so bad that he couldn't stand...whipped with hard leather and a crown made of thorns laid on his head...cutting deep into his skin... he was forced to carry his own cross up a hill after this... can you imagine what that must have weighed? People standing back watching, some laughing, and calling ridicules at Him? Can you imagine what that felt like inside his heart? He was nailed to a cross... they say the way He was nailed would have caused him to suffocate... being spread like that would have caused his lungs to give up. I think it hurts when I get a rose bush thorn stuck in my thumb... I can not imagine a large nail being pounded into my hands & feet. They pierced his side and it bled... so much PAIN. When I truly think how this happened and what it means...I am so humbled. I am so desperate for God's grace and love. I am so thankful.

I think the first year I really started to see and understand more in depth how much God really loved me was the year Jaxon was born. That year our church had a service where we placed a man on a cross outside for all of us to watch as we listened to the story from the Bible... This man playing the role of Jesus was a good friend of ours and I was standing next to his mother and holding my new baby. I stood there and finally realized how much God loves us at a different level then what I'd ever felt before. I loved my own new baby SO much and could not imagine giving him over to have anything so cruel done to him. I stood next to my friend and watched her watch her son with such intense love and concern, knowing she wanted to just go place a blanket over him and get him down... it was a cold evening and her son was just pretending on the cross and was struggling in the cold and anxious for the long 30 minutes to be over, so he could come inside and get warm and rest his arms. I stood there and cried realizing how much Jesus had done for me... He died so that I could live. He went through so much pain and suffering for ME...and you! God loves us so much that He gave his one and only son, that whoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life. Light has come into the world... let's hold onto that light this Easter season and take it with us as we live for Him here today.

I hope you have an Easter season full of meaning, grace, and love. I pray this is a time when you can hear and feel God's words and love for you. I pray our children will come to know this time of year as a time to realize God's love for them and the celebrating that comes with knowing that in our hearts. I am so thankful we have a Savior and pray we can be His light here on this earth. Happy Easter to you all...

3 months old today Austin...

Austin is 3 months old today, already! He has been a good baby from day 1... he's a pretty content serious little guy, as you can see in the pictures. He does smile, but he prefers to just look at you with a straight face most the time :) A deep thinker, right? His favorite things to smile at our...mommy (of course :), his monkey hanging over his changing area, Jaxon when he talks softly to him, and when you first put him in his car seat he's all of a sudden very talkative and smiley! Austin is a good sleeper and is taking 2 big naps everyday and in bed by 7:30-8:00 each night. He wakes to eat once during the night and sleeps soundly the rest of it. I'm SO thankful for that! Austin is around 15 pounds I'm guessing...so he's surely eating just fine! Ha! I love the baby stages and have really enjoyed having this beautiful baby boy in our family. Enjoy the 3 month old pictures and have a great Holy week!

Jaxon's 4 years old

Jaxon turned 4 years old yesterday, March 12...and boy did he soak it up! He really wanted a football party this year where everyone wore their football outfits...I talked him into having everyone wear their favorite football team shirts, since I was guessing most of our family members did not own football uniforms complete in their sizes. So, for his family birthday party most of us gathered in our football team attire of different sorts and celebrated with the big boy by enjoying "concessions" and cake & ice cream. 1 hot dog, handful of nachos, some football cake and "white" ice cream (as Jaxon calls it), an assortment of gifts, and some fun play with cousins & aunts & uncles & grandparents made for a pretty awesome 4th birthday party! He fell asleep this night in his tent (from Aunt Heidi & uncle Aaron) already set up in his room, thanks to grandma Pat.

On his actual birthday he wanted to have some friends over to play and make pizza together. So, being the brave mom I am some days...I invited 4 children over to indulge my now 4 year old and we partied it up! Let me tell you... I have taught, cared for, baby-sat, and watched over many children... I was not trained for the energy that 5- 3 & 4 year old children could make during a birthday party! I am so glad I invited (okay, begged) my good pal, Jen, to come and help!!! We laughed SO much during this time and the kids had a blast! They played pirates, hide & seek, piano game, wrestled, baseball, hid under bed & in tent, yelled, screamed, made pizza, ate pizza, ate cake & ice cream, did sidewalk chalk, sledding in our backyard, had snow ball fights, drew in the snow, stomped in water puddles, threw things down my laundry shoot, played with our race track, and climbed all over 3 guys that made a surprise visit (I work w/ these 3 fun guys and they showed up just in time to wind the kids up a notch or two!). Yes, take a breath now...I was reminding myself of that about 2 hours in. I have to say...it was a successful birthday celebration! I had so much fun getting ready and enjoying all of it with my first baby boy, family, and friends.

We ended Jaxon's 4th birthday by eating more pizza at Family Time at church (Wed night family meal) and snuggeling on the couch to watch the Bee Movie, as Jaxon requested, before bed. My wonderful blessing of a son fell into bed that night sighing "I love being four". It was a good year to turn 4! Happy Birthday my son :)

Jaxon and his friends who came for the pizza party... Eli Mickey, Mason Reisetter, Gabe Middleton, and Joelle Wessels.

Enjoying the home-made pizza and kool-aid bottle drinks (a treat in our house :)

Jaxon and his cousin Kyler at football party. Jaxon and Kyler are such good buddies!

Dad, Mom, Jaxon, & Austin... football cake, birthday song, and blowing out candles..whoo-hoo!

Jaxon and his football field cake! We had a good time making it together.

Jaxon and baby brother all ready for the football party fun! Dad is so proud...Go Vikings!