Alec's 10th Birthday

I can't believe my sweet little Alec is 10 years old. He is no longer my baby. Every time I think about it I want to bawl. Fortunately he will still give me hugs and kisses, and he still giggles when I come to tuck him in at night and tickle him, but I know that the day is coming that he won't want to do these things. I like to climb in the big recliner and read with him, but now he prefers to read by himself most of the time. He will still give me kisses and hugs, and he will still giggle when I come to tuck him in at night and tickle him a bit, but I know my time is limited. Things are starting to be embarrassing to him. He hates it when I dance around and try to get him to sing with me. My favorite thing happens on cold mornings when he comes and climbs up next to me in bed to start his school work.

Alec is my sensitive boy. He is always concerned about others feelings and he likes to make sure everyone is having a good time. He has a good little sense of humor, and I am glad he tries to be polite. He is a good example to his little brother, and almost always lets Dean tag along with him. I love that when I ask him to do a chore he says, "well that's not too bad," and does it without much complaining.

He still loves anything military, and wants to be a soldier when he grows up. He also really likes strategy games, and he got a new version of Risk for his birthday.....hmmm, I wonder where he got that trait. I'm so proud of him and feel blessed to be his Mom.




I found him one night asleep in my bed at 7:30 watching "Patton 360" I was surpried that he fell asleep because it's one of his favorite shows, I on the other hand, completely understand being so bored by it.


He requested a spooky cake for his birthday this year and I tried to come up with something. It's a graveyard scene with graves, tombstones, and spooky trees. He was thrilled! I'm glad he's still easy to please.

State Fair 09

This year we were going to pass on the state fair since we had already spent 3 days at the county fair, but Alec was unhappy with this decision. Therefore, he chose to make a trip down to the fair his birthday "party." My mom and brother took the day off work to go with us, and we had a day filled with rides, food, animals, food, shopping, food, and more rides.



Alec has turned into quite the little daredevil. He absolutely wanted to go on every scary ride there was. Dean, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with things that flipped you upside-down, or went too fast. So Rodger, T.J., and Alec went off to some gravity deifying ride that makes you completely sick 50 feet in the air, while Dean and I went to the fun house. When Dean and I were done I looked up in the air at the ride the boys were supposed to be on. I wasn't sure if they had gotten on yet, or were still waiting in line. Then I spotted the two whitest, skinniest, legs spinning through the air and I knew that was my boy!

Everyone was a bit sick after that one, so we toned it down. The petting zoo was not quite as great as last year, but we still enjoyed it. I don't know, but there's just something about pot-bellied pigs, they were so stinking cute! T.J. and the llama had a stare down that was enjoyed by all. I kind of felt like I was in, The Emperor's New Groove.



After the fair we had Panda Express, Alec's choice, and enjoyed and night of Rock Band with the family.

Hail, Hail, Go Away!

Well, it's definitely not summer anymore in the White Mountains. A big hailstorm came through and decimated what was left of my sunflowers, and soundly abused the dog. Fortunately my car was in the garage, wish I had closed the windows....

Halloween Preparations

Things are going spooktacularly at the Hanson House this fall. The last week was spent decorating for Halloween and working on provident living. We also had a fun visit from T.J. and the boys have been having a blast.

I love Halloween, anyone that knows me can attest to this fact. I have 5 huge plastic bins filled with all my decorations. I love getting them out and sifting through all my stuff trying to decide just the spot for everything to go. Dean on the other had wants to rip everything open and drag it all out at once. He gets terribly excited and has everything put out in about 3 min. I was lamenting this to Rodger after the boys were in bed last week and he started laughing. "He's you," he replied. "He gets all exuberant about holidays and decorating, and can't hardly contain himself." Upon further reflection, I decided he's right. I have a mini-me at holiday time.

This is one of my latest projects....aren't they cute?

I also sewed these pumpkins, plus a bunch more. So easy!

Recently I started thinking that I don't know how to do anything "provident." What I mean by that is that I buy everything. I have been busy sewing, crocheting, canning, and using our garden produce more. It's actually fun, and my Grandma and I have been having lots of fun. We made the cutest fleece pull-overs last week for the boys, and I'm ready to make some more.

T.J. also came for a visit, and the boys were in heaven. While he was here he also got all of us hooked on Rock Band. I am amazing at the drums, who would have thought? Rodger has the best voice, I keep trying to convince him that he ought to go sing in the choir, but he refuses. We also went hiking down in South Fork, and the poison ivy was lovely. It was changing color, and had beautiful reds, but none of us dared get close enough to take pictures. I am also posting pictures from our trip to the Mesa Southwest Museum, although I think it's now called the Arizona Museum of Natural History.