Hanson Christmas Party and The Unfortunate Chain of Events

Yesterday was the annual Hanson Christmas Party.  It was also Sam's first visit with Santa Claus.  Luckily, Sam is one laid back baby and could care less about who is holding him.  This provided his mother with great photo opportunities.  Santa brings ALL of the Great-Grandkids presents.  Sam got a really cute little toy to go on his car seat.  

Since the party was in Spanish Fork and we had an hour ride home to Salt Lake, we thought it would be a good idea to open it up and stick it on his seat.  That is when disaster struck.  Me, being the smart person that I am, decided it would be BRILLIANT to undo the zip ties holding the toy to the cardboard with Ben's Leatherman.  Yeah . . . not a good idea.  I managed to slice finger open, gushing blood all over myself and Sam's toy.  Ben handed me a diaper to soak up the blood and rushed me to the instacare.  Much to my dismay, the doctor didn't think that glue would be sufficient so I received my first set of non-baby related stitches.  

My sister-in-law Kristy is a lawyer, she thinks we could sue Santa and settle for more presents for Sam.   

Football and Turkey

I just looked at our blog and realized I haven't posted anything for awhile. November FLEW by! It was quite the month going back to work and then quitting. I am so happy to be home with Sam! Ben passed off his proposal and he is one step closer to being done with school.  I'm so proud! 

Sam is getting bigger everyday.  I keep trying to tell him that he has to stay little forever!  But alas, he's not listening.  We weighed him the other day and he is up to 14.5 lbs.  His new favorite things to do are eat his hands, smile and jabber constantly (hello . . . have you met his mother?)

Here is a picture of the little guy in his Utes gear on the day of the big BYU vs. Utah game.

  

I know that this will cause outrage from the Hansons but we have to support the school that is a) paying us b) paying for his PhD and c) giving us the degree that will make us the most money. Even Granny said we could support the Utes the other day when Ben was presenting his proposal.  Sorry Cougs, we love ya but we can't bite the hand that feeds us! 

For Thanksgiving we had dinner with my parents and desert with the Hansons.  Ben was in charge of the turkey.

 It was AMAZING!  

We had lots of fun.  My sister Karen was here with her husband Ryan and their little girl Kate. That little girl is a crack-up! The word we heard her say the most: COOKIE.  The last time she was here she wasn't so hip on Sammy but this time she seemed to warm up to him.  She would give him his pacifier and kisses.  She even pulled down his shirt if it rode up while he was laying on the floor.  The only family members that she knows by name and can point at are Grandma, Grandpa and Sam.  The rest of us, not so exciting.  I am sure that she will be a great big sister when the new baby comes this spring.  

Baby Steals

A couple of months ago Ben posted about the Baby Expo that we went to. His post included a long narrative about how he thought that this is where you went to buy or trade in your baby. I think he even mentioned giant claw machines that you can play to pick up babies. Ahhh, my husband the funny guy. The reason that I mention this is because I am about to let you all in on my favorite new website. Wait for it . . .

Babysteals.com

My cute fellow new mommy friend Brooke told me about it. (She named her baby girl Emerson. She is obvioulsy smart and hip) And now I am telling you about this before Ben can because he will probably make up some crazy story about a website that steals babies. I'm not kidding, it will involve scary vans and baby handcuffs or something.

Anyway, this is basically Whiskey Milita for moms (if you don't know what Whiskey Militia is, ask your husband or mine.) Babysteals is an awesome website that runs one killer deal a day. It starts at 9:00 am MST and goes until they sell out. Ben now gets daily emails of me pleading with him to buy whatever the "steal" is. Just Monday, I bought this super cute Ju-Ju-Be Diaper bag for something ridiculous like half off!

If you're lucky and live in Salt Lake or Utah County you can save on shipping and go pick the stuff up. No new baby in your life? Hello?! Baby shower gifts! Seriously, if you are reading this you are most likely one of our friends or family members and that means that like us, all of your friends are procreating. Anyway, that's my shout out for Babysteals. I wait with baited breath to see what treat they will have in store for me tomorrow.

All Night Long!!!

Yup.  He slept all night on Sunday! It's a miracle.  He went down at 10:30 and at 6:00 Ben woke me up and said, "Did you get up and feed Sam?"  I said no and asked if he had.  Much to our surprise (and shock!) the munchkin slept until 6:30.  Eight whole Hours!!! In the words of Grandma Dannelly, "What a guy!"  The last couple of weeks he's been going down at 10:00 with no fuss and then only getting up at 4:00.  Now, if we can just get him to do it again!

Seven more days

Now that is official . . . 

I gave my notice and my last day is December 1st! I'm only working 3 days a week until then and then I begin my life as a stay at home mom.  We'll see how long I last before I pick up some crazy hobby or job that I can do at home.  Maybe I'll take some photography classes and start something up.  Hmmm.  Here is the latest picture of Sam, Ben took it today.  This is the only one that didn't have bubbles coming out of his mouth.  

Hi Ho, Hi Ho . . .

It's back to work I go.  

Can you believe it's been 12 weeks?!  I go back to work tomorrow on an adjusted schedule.  Sammy gets to hang out with Granny and Grandpa Hanson a couple of days a week and Aunt Bethany (aka Bessie) one day.  He will be spoiled rotten for sure.  Granny and Grandpa fight over who gets to hold him and he LOVES Bessie! He actually laughs more for her than for anyone.   After much discussion, we've decided that this will be a very temporary arrangement and I will be staying home full-time shortly. I love, love, love my job but we feel like it is more important to be home with Sam. My bosses are super understanding and have been very supportive of my decision.  (I think they are surprised that I am coming back at all!)  After all, who could leave this face?On a happy note,  I will be picking up piano lessons again after the first of the year, so if you know of anyone looking for a teacher, send them my way!  

BMW Halloween

I know we are a little late to the game with the Halloween recap, but I figure better late than never. Since Sammy is too little to understand Halloween or eat candy we had a pretty low key day. Our one big excursion was up to Tracey's office where we were able to see all of the fun costumes and show off our little turkey. It was fun to see all of the BMW 2008 babies all dressed up. We were able to get  picture with ony half of the kids melting down. As Katie pointed out, the kids were crying with a whole group of adults watching and laughing.

I would like to point out Sammy just hanging out in the middle of the chaos. Tracey says it is because he is used to crazy kids with all of our nieces and nephews.

My brothers

I know I seem to have disappeared from the blog with Tracey doing the vast majority of the posting but I figured since our lives are dominated by little Sammy that she would be the much better source of information. This all changed when I found out that MTV now has a web site that has a ton of new and old music videos. To steal from the blog where I heard about it, it is like hulu for music videos.

This brings us to an old debate I have with my brothers Berkeley and Nathan (aka the twins). They were in high school in the late 80s to early 90s and as such had the semi typical musical tastes (Erasure, Depeche mode, etc etc). Now they claim that they had no idea that the musicians from Erasure were gay until they went to a concert I think in Park City and saw the lead singer making out with a dude on stage. I think the following music video should call into question the accuracy of that statement:

Erasure |MTV Music

I fail to see how anyone could not know after seeing that video, and I rest my case.

I would like to thank whoever left a comment correcting me about it just being the lead singer who is gay. It does not take away from my point that my brothers are lying

Sam's First Professional Pictures

Sam was in such a good mood this morning that I took him to get his picture taken.  That's right he's 8 weeks old and these are his first pictures not taken by his parents.  I'm such a slacker mom.  I've been debating whether or not to go get Kiddie Kandids or more artistic professional photos.  Kiddie Kandids won out for now because it was quick. We'll get the others around Christmas when he is smiling more consistently and hopefully get some family ones done. Anyway, they turned out pretty cute. 

  

Hanson Look-alike Meter

So I totally stole this from our friends the Sanfords. Thanks Traci! Anyway, I think this think might be off but what do I know, I'm his mom and I just think he's cute.
MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Little Turkey

Every time Sam is a stinker we call him a "Little Turkey".  Lucky for us, Babies R Us had the perfect Halloween costume.  I guess Ben and I will be dressing up as turkey farmers or pilgrims.

I wonder how long I have until I don't get to pick out his costumes anymore.

What . . . more baby pictures?

So I was re-reading some of our blog and I realized that we are turning into boring people that only drone on and on about our baby and how adorable he is.  Granted he is so stinking cute that we can't really help ourselves.  So in an effort to depart from this topic, I will tell you about our first non-baby evening. 

Our first night away consisted of the Weezer concert.  AWESOME!!! We had such a good time and Weezer of course was amazing.  Angels & Airwaves opened for them and were surprisingly great live. My only issue was Tom.  Tom, formerly of Blink 182, is the lead singer of the band.  Granted his vocals have dramatically improved since early Blink days but I'm not sure they have improved to the point that he can consider himself an "artist".  It was really distracting because without his guitar he seemed really uncomfortable on stage.  He used his hands WAY too much and made really weird "I'm trying to be deep and meaningful" poses as he sang.  Add to that the fact that he said, "We are Angels & Airwaves from San Diego California."  about 10 times. Oh really?  Is that why there is a giant banner behind you that says Angels & Airwaves? Now for all you fans out there that have stumbled across our blog, I repeat, they were really great live and we enjoyed their performance.  Maybe I'm just getting old but I miss old Tom that ran around naked in music videos. He did come out and sing the Sweater Song with Weezer. Very cool. Now, if we can just get doofy white dudes to stop jumping up and down with EVERY song.  

Speaking of doofy white dudes . . .  

Ok, he's not doofy.  I just had to sneak a picture in somehow.  

 

Ben's New Obsession

Ben is a pretty laid back guy, he really doesn't get worked up about much.  However, he does have a small fixation issue.  The "issue"  can focus on anything from finding the perfect snickerdoodle recipe to figuring out why his grandmother-in-law can't print on 5x7 photo paper. His newest fixation is Photoshop.  He's one smart cookie so needless to say he will have in mastered in no time.  Here is his first big foray . . . fixing his wife's subpar photography skills. I'll probably get in trouble for postin this since he still wants to work on it.  I'm just so proud!

Our Three Sams

Last weekend we took a trip south to see my grandparents and our friends Sam, Anya and their boys in Vegas. Our little friend Noah (Samuel Noah) was surprised to hear that this baby had the same name as him and his dad. (Coincidence? I don't think so) He started calling our baby "Sammy Do Do" I told him, "No, his name is Sammy Joe Joe." We then proceeded to start calling Noah "Sammy No No." I think he might have been a little confused.

Having so many Sam's also allowed for plenty of other jokes. For example, I was telling Ben that Sam needed his diaper changed. Big Sam then told me that he was fine. I'm not sure I would want to change Big Sam's diaper anyway.

Here are some pictures of our trip including a fun picture of our Sam and his Great-Grandpa Dannelly.

Big Sam, Medium Sam and Little Sam

Sammy No No
Sammy and Grandpa Dannelly

Music and Babies

A couple of months before Sam was born, a couple of our nieces and nephews were riding with us. We were listening to Weezer and one of our nephews asked if the baby could hear it. I explained to him that yes, the baby can hear the music. In fact, some people play classical music to their babies to help make the smarter. We then proceeded to tell him that we had the baby listen to Weezer and The Killers in order to make him cooler. (When he was born and one of the nephews saw his Mohawk he said, "Look he IS cooler from listening to cool music!")

A couple of weeks later I was listening to The Killers at work. One of the headphones was lying on my stomach so I could answer the phone. The Killers soon came on and Sam started kicking. I started laughing and emailed Ben to tell him. My friend Nate who sits next to me has been calling the baby "Sam's Town" since then in honor of The Killers album with the same name.

We hadn't though much about it until last week when Sam was having a particularly rough night. Ben took him and started listening to The Killers on Itunes. Sammy IMMEDIATELY stopped crying. We took some pictures to document the occurrence. A couple of nights later we were watching SNL with our crying baby and when the musical guest . . . The Killers . . . came on Sam once again stopped crying. So funny! We will continue to test this correlation and let you know if he is in fact a fan or if he's just messing with his parents.

Ben and Sammy rockin' out

BMW Baby

The other day we got a package from BMW. Enclosed was the above pictured onesie and a matching bib.  Not only do BMW's create loyal drivers, they create loyal babies.  Ben and I had to laugh because we were days from ordering my BMW when we found out that we were pregnant.  Sammy really is out "Beemer Baby" since he replaced my BMW . . . for now.   

Sammy's Big Day

We had Sammy's blessing today and had a great day. We had 62 people at church, I think we almost doubled the Butler Ward and definitely tripled the amount of kids in Sacrament meeting. Afterwards we had lunch at my parents (the Dannelly's) and had a great time. There were even more people there and we had a great time seeing everyone. Sammy got lots of attention from everyone today. He had the opportunity to be held by lots of relative and there were a couple of times I thought that we might have fights break out over the little guy. Here is a link to our web album if you would like to see pictures from today. If you are in any would like a copy let me know and I will email you the file.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tdannelly/SammyBlessing#

Just a little guy

We tried on Sammy's blessing outfit this morning.  Here a picture of my 9 1/2 lbs newborn in his newborn size outfit.  How is it too big? What you can't see is that his pants are pulled up to his chest.

Grrrrr

Is it part of being a first time parent that makes every baby moment so monumentally cute?  

Does this fade with each subsequent child like the need to take pictures?  (Ben is still bitter that there aren't many pictures of him as a child and in the ones that do exist he is merely a face in the crowd.)

Back to the point . . . Sammy does some pretty cute stuff.  I love it when he is almost asleep and gives us a gas smile while rolling his eyes.  So funny!   I wish I could get a picture. Ben frequently tells me that he has been usurped by a younger, cuter version of himself.   

Let me tell you about the funniest thing he has started doing.  .  .

My son thinks he's a puppy.  Considering he has NEVER even been around dogs I'm not sure how this happened.  During feeding time he likes to growl and clamp onto whatever or whoever  is feeding him.  He then proceeds to shake his head back and forth like a dog tryint to rip a rope toy from someone's hand. 

Always funny and sometimes painful.   

 "What? Who me?"

He must have learned that from his dad. 

Sammy cuteness

I'm guessing from Anya's comment that it is time to post again.

Sammy and his parents are doing great. I feel like we are adjusting to Sammy's schedule. In other words, nap and feeding times rule the Hanson household. He's still a good baby and the nightly feedings haven't been too bad. He is his father's son because he has already started to antagonize me. He likes to play a game that goes like this.

1 Wake up hungry
2. Cry
3. Refuse to eat
4. Calm down and start to eat
5. Fall asleep
6. Repeat steps 1-5

Here are some pictures of the little stinker.

First weekend home

Just wanted to give you all an update. Sammy and I were released Friday around noon and are so happy to be home. Everything is going well. Sam is such a sweet baby and so freaking cute! He is changing every day. Just today he is happy and will sleep without being swaddled. Amazing! Bedtime is going well. He has slept in his crib in HIS room every night and so far is averaging 2 or 3 feedings a night. I've been determined that he would and for now it is working, we'll see if my luck and resolve hold. Ben and I are quickly learning to adjust to parenthood. Our apartment looks like a baby store exploded in our apartment. We are finding out what it is like to plan our day around the feeding schedule of a newborn. Usually we spend our weekends running around . . . not anymore!

So funny...

When my sister-in-law, Kristy, had there most recent baby she told me that she knows it is just the parent thing but that she thought Cameron (the baby) was the cutest baby in the whole wide world. I now know exactly how she feels. I think it must be hard wired into our DNA that when we see our own offspring we immediately think they are the cutest baby ever and convince ourselves it is not just the parent thing.

Sam really is a great baby, hardly fussing at all except when I change his diaper. even when he does fuss all you have to do is swaddle him tight and he will immediately calm down and soon fall asleep. Today I speculated that this was a side effect of Tracey eating large quantities of Mexican food while pregnant and that he just wants to be like a burrito.

Hello World

I decided it was time for me to finally check in. Ben has been great about handling the correspondence but now I that I'm starting to feel human again I thought I should take a turn.

Sammy is doing great! He is the cutest little monkey (as the world seems to call him) or "Bunkee" as Grandpa Hanson calls him. Grandpa H says he has a hairdo "like the guys up in Canada". So far he is such a sweet baby. He only cries when Ben changes his diaper or when he becomes unswaddled. He has such a sweet face that according to my mom looks just like Ben. We know he has a dimple in his chin like Grandpa Dannelly (Paul) but there might just be a hint of dad's dimple in his cheek. I will be in BIG trouble if that is the case.

We had a rough day of labor on Monday but finally after 19 hours and a second epidural that didn't come until 8 (the first one DID NOT work) the kid decided to join us. I have an amazing doctor and seem to be healing really well. I even walked around this floor of the hospital yesterday AND was able to get up tonight at 3 am and go to the bathroom on my own. Shocking! I seem to be itching a lot and hot ALL the time but I think that just maybe this kid might be worth it.

Ben has taken to being a daddy so well! We all knew he would but he has gone above and beyond! He's changed yucky tar diapers, seen "gross girl stuff", dealt with a randomly emotional wipe and taken a million pictures.

Since I know that is the part you all want anyway, here are some pics of the little guy. SO CUTE!!! I'm the mom so I might be a little bias. . . in the words of my sister-in-law Kristy referring to out nephew, "Isn't he the cutest baby you've ever seen?!"

Samuel Joseph Hanson

Last night at 12:41 Samuel Joseph Hanson finally entered this world and promptly, for the first of what will be many times , peed on his dad. Tracey had him c-section which was the right choice since they said he would have never come naturally due to some girl stuf I won't go into. He was 8 lb 0.1 oz and 20.5 in long. We will have more and better pictures later but you will have to put up with this blurry one taken at 2:00 AM

Waiting for Sammy

Well . . . we're sitting in the hospital waiting. They started the pitocin so we should be getting somewhere in the next couple of hours. They were unable to break my water because he is still too high. You will all be happy to know that I survived the first needle!!! In case you didn't know, I don't do so well with needles. Luckily my nurse got me on the first try. She was able to take my blood and start the IV with one needle. Thank goodness for tender mercies. I still started feeling a little faint though. My sweet husband held my hand and worked on distracting me during the "procedure".

I'm not sure I have ever been this nervous and excited at the same time! Ben brought the Wii for me so I can distract myself with some Dr. Mario. The nurse said that they actually see a lot of people bring them in. So far now we will just hang out and wait. We will keep you updated throughout the day.

Ben . . . the Daddy

I have the cutest husband ever!!! I think that the baby thing is really setting in because he has made the cutest comments lately. The other day after he set up the crib and I put the bedding in he came out and said "There's really going to be a baby in there! I'm a little weirded out!" Yesterday we were walking into the apartment and he said, "I can't imagine how it is for you but sometimes I get so excited and then other times I think that we don't have everything we need!" The best came today though. A couple weeks ago Ben told me that he thinks he needs to stop wearing skate shoes. Today, he wore his Nikes all day! Then tonight he said, "I need a hair cut." I almost went into labor. Once he realized what he had said I heard, "What is happening to me? Real shoes? Haircuts?" I told him it's just his way of getting ready to be a daddy. So cute!

Doctor's appointment was good today. We've progressed a little bit and Dr. Y said he wouldn't be surprised if the baby comes before Monday (fingers crossed). We'll let you know if anything happens!

Monday!!!

I just heard back from the Doctor. We are scheduled for Monday at 7:00 am. Now if I can just talk him into coming on his own . . .

10 days . . . or less

It appears that we will be having a baby sometime in the next 10 days! I can't decide whether to jump up and down in excitement or pass out if fear! Because of my blood pressure they like to deliver between 38 & 39 weeks because the placenta has a tendency to break down early. I called the doctor's office this morning to schedule it and am now waiting for a call back. I should have a date a little later today. Ben and I are hoping that he will decide to come on his own before we have to help him but we will do whatever is best.

We had an ultrasound on Friday and Sammy is doing great. It seems like his little body has evened out, his stomach and head aren't seeming so outrageously large. They are still estimating that at 37 weeks he is 8 lbs 2 oz . . . give or take 15 oz. (That seems like a large window when they are that little) My placenta was in good shape and his head was down, facing a little bit to the right, but mostly towards my spine. YEA! Apparently he has tons of hair. You could see it on the ultrasound and the tech was quite surprised at how much was there.

I am officially off work and home for the duration. The doctors and nurses have been trying to get me to stay home for a couple of weeks. Dr Yamashiro got back into town last week so the decision was made to start today. We were quite happy we had given in when he told us that he was inducing.

We'll keep you updated and hopefully let you know when he is coming later today!

An unexpected side effect

There are a lot of side effects that go along with pregnancy. Heart burn is pretty universal along with morning sickness and a whole host of physical symptoms that are too gross to list. There are a lot of non-physical symptoms as well such as "pregnant brain" which I think is Tracey's excuse for just forgetting stuff. One of the unexpected side effects, at least for Tracey, has been a slight shift in her music tastes. This is exemplified by her enjoyment of the new Jesse McCartney song "Leavin'" and especially by her love love love of the new New Kids on the Block song. Weekend mornings we usually have the tv on VH1 for background music and Tracey will always stop what she is doing and watch if the NKOTB video comes on. Her favorite part is when they do the poses in silhouette and any part where Donnie is singing. Maybe it is not a pregnant thing but a "I am a girl that grew up in the 80s" thing. Anyway, for you perusal the NKOTB video

I thought they were called NON-stress tests . . .

We had a little adventure yesterday.  I went for my non-stress test and the "alarmist nurse", as Ben likes to call her, decided that my contractions were too long, too close and too strong for my too big and too early baby. They sent me down to Labor and Delivery to be checked and monitored.  I was thinking, "Oh, this will be quick."  Not so much. 

 

I learned that little boy's respiratory systems are slower to develop than girls so they decided that if I was having too many contractions that they were going to give me a shot to stop them.   They made me put on the gown and lay in the bed with about a million monitors hooked up (ok, maybe just 3).  Then they gave me a cup of ice chips and left me for a couple of hours!  Do you know what happened then?  Nothing!  That's what!  My contractions stopped and when they "checked" me there was no change. Apparently all you have to do is tell me that you are going to give me a shot and I will stop the contractions myself!  

 

Nothing like a good old panic attack and pregnancy drama to brighten your day.  I'm thinking it might be time to start mentally preparing for this whole birth thing.      

31 Days to go . . .

Well, we had our first "exam" today. Our male friends. . . you can stop reading now.

I am dilated to 1.5 and 75% effaced. I wish that meant something but apparently it doesn't. My sister was 1 cm and 50% went into labor the next day. Ben's sister was where I am for a couple of weeks. Blerg. The kid is measuring at 39 wks. We have an ultrasound a week from Friday to see how big he is . . . again. My doctor is back a week from today. So I'm voting for Sammy deciding to come on his own next week. Somehow I don't think I get much of a say in it.

My 3 yr old nephew did ask me where the baby was last night. When I told him my tummy he said, "Let's get him out!" When I asked how he said very simply, "A knife." And then proceeded to tell me that we needed to stick a hand in my tummy and "wake him up." Somebody may have seen a couple of episodes of "Baby Story".

Dr. Horrible

As some of you may know, Tracey and I love the show How I Met Your Mother. One of the best parts of the show is Doogie Howser playing Barney Stinson, womanizer extraordinaire. I was pleased to see he has been doing some other projects, including the following:

Number 16

Hanson grandchild #16 made its way into the the world last night. Margaret gave birth to a baby boy. No name yet but Jonathan is trying to tell Ben that they are naming him Sam.

I'm so jealous . . .

Baby pool

We had my work baby shower today and there was some predicting of when this kid is coming.  Here is the link to our baby pool so go online and predict his arrival.  We need to come up with a prize but as of yet I haven't figured it out. If you can't get the name or gender right then you need to start reading our blog more often.

 

http://bebepool.com/go/?a=babysam&view=list#stats

 

Sent to Baby Detention

For those of you who know me, you won't be very surprised to find out that I never had detention growing up.   Well, we went to the doctor yesterday and after a not so hot visit we are being sent to detention.  Ok, not detention, but we do get to have appointments 3x's per week now.  Non-stress tests on Tuesdays and Fridays and my normal weekly appointment.  My blood pressure was back up yesterday.  The first time was really bad.  He decided to take it again and then we would "discuss our course of action".  We found out that meant spending some time being monitored at the hospital and some blood tests. They took it a second time and it was a little bit lower. We BARELY dodged a bullet and didn't have to go over to the hospital.

 

The good news . . . my doctor is out of town for the next 2 weeks so I don't think they will induce me before 37 weeks.

 

The bad news . . . my doctor is out of town for the next 2 weeks so I have to see the other doctor who apparently isn't a laid back as my doctor. 

 

The 2008 Ben Hanson Invitational

This awesome event actually happened a week and a half ago but with all the fun to be had with endless doctors appointments, I am just now getting around to posting about it. This was one of the many activities in the Hanson Family reunion. This time it was held at the beautiful BYU bowling lanes which was nice since it allowed everyone to be able to talk without the music blaring and it being super dark. As I typed that, I think I aged like 30 years. Next I will be doing posts about annoying whippersnappers. Oh wait I already do that.

This year we had the whole crew here so that meant many more munchkins trying not to get their fingers smashed. Here are some awesome pictures of the event:

Here is Sterling after, I am just guessing here, a bad roll

Tracey loves this picture. Miriam found the hand dryer and proceeded to do her best Marilyn Monroe impression

Isaac definitely had the most unique style of bowling where he would get about a 30 foot running start to push his ball down the roller

Again I can only guess Eli's roll did not go as planned

And the winner of the 2008 Ben Hanson Bowling Invitational is..... (drumroll) Nathan. Here is his pose for the trophy

Nobody warned me . . .

Nobody warned me beforehand that Hansons have huge babies!!! We had an appointment today and he is measuring 37 weeks. If you look to the left on the baby counter you will see that I'm not quite 33 weeks yet. He's HUGE!!! I gained 4 lbs in one week, I have seriously sprouted. So far we've been having ultrasounds because they have worried that he will be too small. Now I have another on Friday because they are worried he's too BIG!!! Blood pressure was great but Dr. Y said I needed to go in this week and get checked and then we'll have another appointment with him on Tuesday. Goodness.

I blame Ben, before the doctor came in he said, "Wouldn't it be awesome if he decided we were a month off and he decided to induce you today?" I don't think I'm quite ready for that kind of awesomeness. I don't even have any bottles yet!

Hanson Family Reunion

Today was the first day of the Hanson Family Reunion. We had a fun BBQ at Great's (Grandma Hanson) house. Not only was there food, there was a water rocket so all of the kids got soaked. It was great having the entire family together. The family breaks out in the following way:

1 Grandma
2 Parents
6 Kids
6 Spouses
15 Grandkids
2 Grandkids in transit

As you can see, there are plenty of us for a good time. The week will include Seven Peaks, the Heber Creeper, Alpine slides, Zoo, Lagoon, Bowling, Baby Shower, extended Hanson Family Reunion and Mom and Dad's Homecoming. Oh goodness!!! Here are some fun pictures of the kick-off. I have also added a link slideshow to the left.

Isaac
Miriam

(Have I mentioned how much I love this camera?)

Hanson Reunion Day One- 4th of July

Ben and Mary Margaret
Great and "Her Favorite Son" Duane (her only son
Grant
Hallie, Maddy and Ben
Granny and Miriam