Cinnamon, the ultimate defense!

Today I was making Amish bread and had to add cinnamon. Tucker asked me what it was; I said Cinnamon. He asked, does scripture power keep us safe from that?
it took a second for me to understand what he was getting at..sin!

Halloween Costume award!

okay, I am so proud! Today the student body president of Morgan High School came into my room to present me with an award (a court jester's hat) for the funniest faculty costume on Halloween! If you cannot tell I am a true "billy bob hick" ! Do you see my teeth? You may have to click on the actual picures to get the close up look you need!

Here are the rest of our costumes. Steve's costume scared a lot of the little kids they wouldn't come get candy from him.

Tucker is a ghost and Fisher is Spiderman!

We had a fun Halloween!

suppport ASL as a candidate for Sterling Scholar

I got this email from a fellow ASL teacher. Read and if you agree, please write a letter!
Dear ASL Friends,

We are ASL teachers in Granite School District who have a potential candidate for the Deseret News Sterling Scholar Program this year. The student applied for the Foreign Language Sterling Scholar and was denied because the Sterling Scholar Program does not recognize American Sign Language as a foreign language. Many of you have probably had similar problems so we feel like we need to come together to address this issue so ALL of our ASL students, now and in the future, can rightfully qualify to become the recipient of the scholarship available through the Sterling Scholar Program. Our own ASL students have put together a petition that we are going to send directly to KSL and the Deseret News to encourage them to change their position regarding ASL as a foreign language. If you are comfortable, we encourage you to join us by printing off the attached petition and having your students, and any other individuals who would like to support us in this cause, sign the petition and then mail it back to us at Skyline High School c/o Teresa Owino at 3251 East 3760 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84109. This can be done through regular post or through interoffice mail. If any of you would like to take further action regarding this situation, please feel free to do whatever you deem necessary. Also, if you know others who might be interested, please feel free to forward this email onto them.If we all work together, we really can show the Deseret News and KSL that there is a strong ASL community here in Utah and that our students have the right to compete with other foreign languages.Thanks for your support and we look forward to making a change for our students!!Teresa Owino & Jody Lynn Tolley Skyline High SchoolASL Teachers

I couldn't get it to attach so if you want to join us in this fight write a short note explaining what you are doing and start a petition then send it to Skyline High School or the Sterling Scholoar program.
Thanks!

Tucker's funny prayer.

Tucker said the dinner prayer Wednesday (10/7) night. It was so honest and sincere I have to share it. It went like this:

"Heavenly Father, thank you for the food. Please let Jesus come if there are monsters in my room.." and right in the middle of the prayer he burped. Without skipping a beat he said "...excuse me if I burp or fart or have to change my underwear, name of Jesus Christ amen". I had to bite my lip so i wouldn't laugh out loud! At least he learned to talk to our Father in Heaven like a friend!

I need to take more pictures!

I really need to take more pictures! My Grandpa Hanson died last month, and I was looking through my pictures to find some of him...I didn't find many!
My problem is I either bring my camera places and forget to take pictures or forget to bring them. New goal: take more pictures!!

The joys of teaching high school in the technology age!

Ok.. so here is a joy (or not so much!) that happened to me today. It is school policy that if any electronic devices (cell phones, mp3 players etc..)are on or even seen in class I have to confiscate them and turn them into the administration.
I have gone the whole year and not had anyone violate this, except today. One of my students had one out during a test today, (I heard and saw it) so I took it away. This student was so mad at me that they stormed out of class! Now not only does this student have a school rule violation, but they also have a truancy as well!
yeah..the joys of teaching hs in the technology age!
I really am a nice teacher, but do you know how distracting it is to me and other students if there is an electronic device in use while class is going?!

Goodbye Grandpa Glenrd Hanson

Today I lost my Grandpa Hanson. He lived a good long, life..87 years. Hopefully (my parents told me they think he did)he went pain free, that is how he wanted it. He wanted to go to sleep and not wake up one day. That is pretty much how it happened. He had a bad heart and has been fighting various illnesses. One finally got him today.

I have many fond memories of my Grandpa Hanson and am so glad I had the chance to make them. He loved Bear Lake. Every summer, all the Hansons would go camping there together. This July was his last Bear Lake trip. Lucky for me, I went. The last two years I missed it. This year I didn't. I got to spend some time with him and take a few pictures.

I will always remember our 4th of July sleep overs at Grandma and Grandpa's house then walking over to Grandma Greats with him. fun times!

I spent many a fun boating and water skiing trips with Grandpa, he came to many of my violin recitals and hosted great family parties. His family was his pride and joy. You are mine Grandpa!! I love you!

I remember being on the subway in New York with Grandpa Hanson and a really rough, scary looking guy sat down by us. Grandpa flat out asked him something like..do you think I should be afraid of you? I am not! They went on to have a pleasant conversation, even laughing with each other.

He held nothing back but at the same time did not offend anyone!

I also remember being in the Smithsonian with him looking a the World War II exhibits. With tears in his eyes he told us of some of his experiences at war. A stranger overheard him and thanked him for his service to our country. I am so glad I got to have Grandpa (and Grandma) come on that trip with us!!!

It was on that trip that we saw many of the church history sites. He bore his testimony to me at seveal of the locations, testifying that the gospel is indeed true. When we we in the sacred grove he told me he knew for sure that Joseph did see God the Father and Jesus Christ.

We had a fun time together on that trip. I was preparing to serve a mission and was glad I got to spend that time with him.

When we went to Gettysburg, it was a Sunday. He told us all he could feel the Spirit there of the many soldiers who lost their lives in pursuit of a free nation. His love and pride for his country was evidenced there.

I am so glad my grandpa came on that trip with us. I got to see my grandpa in a different light and feel his love and pride of his family.

Grandpa I love and miss you ,but am happy you are enjoying a healthy body without pain or any physical trouble. You also get to see your baby Phillip again!

To my Grandpa..I love you!

Holly

some things not to forget

Every now and then i have to post some of the cute things my kids say or i will forget. During spring break i took the boys to the zoo and they bought a back scratcher in the gift shop. it looks like a tiger and is very cute. they still have them and Tucker calls his a "scratcher backer". Every now and then he will ask me to get his "scratcher backer" and make it feel good. :)

i know there are problably sevreal other things that are cute, but now that i am in front of the computer I cannot think of them.

Tucker has been so exctited all july for woodbadge. he didn't really know what is was except for camping. He didn't understand that Dad would be in the training and Tucker wouldn't actually be part of woodbadge, just family camp...nevertheless, he had lots of fun! During family night they opened all the activites up for families. Tucker and Fisher loved the BB gun range! At first they didn't want to wear the protective eyewear or ear protectin, but once they got shooting they loved it! With Fisher i didn't really want to push the ear protection thing, because hey he's already deaf(!), but it was camp rules to wear them or no shooting, so we made him.

summer camping trips

some Bear Lake fun. i will post a separte post of all the bear lake pictures.

getting ready to iniate the fire pit steve got for fathers day

some of the George kids at our "campfire"

This is a cool picture right after the rainstorm we had in Morgan

the double rainbow we saw while having a "campfire" in our backyard

It's about time I posted something. It has been about 2 months since my last post! well. the month of July has been all about camping. Before we left for all our camping trips we thought we'd set up the tent and make sure it all fits. Steve got a fire pit for Fathers day so we tried that out as well.

Steve started the first week off by going to camp stiener with the varsity scouts of our ward. When he got home (saturday afternoon)he unpacked his stuff from the scout trailer and put most of it into our truck to leave for Cascade Lake Sunday morning. We spent sun-thursday at the 4H camp at cascade lake with Steve's stepmoms family reunion. Her family is so big (14 siblings all but one married with kids) that about the only place big enough for us now is a 4h camp. it was beautiful scenery and all our meals were taken care of so that was really nice for me! From there we drove to Bear Lake (thursday evening) to stay until Saturday night for the anual Hanson reunion. We were in a tent again here. Poor Steve only got to sleep in bed once in the last two weeks so far. Bear lake was lots of fun and surprisingly warm and calm for Bear lake.

We got home and washed all the clothes and aired out the tent for a week then left for Camp Barlett in Idaho for Woodbage/family camp..more scout training for Steve. This also was tents.

i have really come to appreciate my toilet and running warm water. Camp Bartlett has KYBO (keep your bowells open) and 6 showers for the whole camp.

While steve was off in training the family got to have fun. The kids were separted into age groups and did different acitivies daily. i was part of the spouse group and got to do several fun things like archery, shot gun range, minnetonka cave, horse back riding, and several other options. It was lots of fun, but i am glad to be home wiht running water and my own bed!

7 years and no itching!

Sunday (June 7) Steve and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we took a trip to St. George without the kids. We had a fun, relaxing weekend (Friday-Monday) with each other. It was fun just to be together without work or kids. As part of our Sunday there, we saw some of the church history sites in St. George i.e. Brigham Young's winter home, tabernacle, Jacob Hamblin home and the temple of course. I forgot my camera, so the only pictures I have are on my blackberry. As soon as I figure out how to get them off the phone and onto my computer I will post them.
We did a temple session Saturday morning and were lucky enough to be the witness couple. Its kind of funny, every time we have gone to the temple out of town we end up being the witness couple. We have been lucky enough to do that in the Nauvoo temple, St. Louis temple and St. George. We must have that glow. ha ha!
We cannot believe it has been 7 years since we got married! It has been a great 7 years full of adventure, learning, growing and bonding. We have accomplished a lot in 7 years and have two cute little boys from it. I love Steve and am so proud of him. He makes me laugh daily and is fun to share my life with. to Steve ...1-4-3!

Good friends!

Steve's good friend Dave Vassilaros ,who he met in the missionfield-MTC actually, and his wife Bonnie came out to Utah and we got to spend some time with them! With the exception of about 2 hours last summer, Steve hasn't seen him since his mission 10 years ago! Dave and Bonnie live in Pennsylvania and we do not. Last year on our church history tour we happened to stay one night in Allentown, PA , Dave's hometown, so we met up for dinner.

On their trip to Utah, we were able to spend half a day with them; it was fun!

They had not eaten dutch oven cooking before and Steve is an awesome cook so he cooked up a meal and taught them how!

As a fun way to bring back memories and laughs, he bought Dave a Flannel since he always teased Steve about wearing his in the mission field.

Here are the two pictures I managed to snap while they were here.

Thanks Vassilaros for visiting and your friendship!

Happy (belated) Mothers' Day!

Even though Mothers day has come and gone I have to give credit where credit is due...my wonderful mom!
I have the best Mom!!! She is so wonderful, Christlike, giving, happy, selfless, loving, compassionate, sweet, talented, nurturing, fun, smart, full of service and so much more! My mom is what I aspire to be like. When I lived at home there would be so many mornings i was up early for school ( community college) and would try and sneak downstairs so i wouldn't wake the rest of my family and would find her sitting quietly in the family room studying her scriptures with one little light on.
Other times when i would rush home from class and had about 1 hour til work she would be waiting there with a lunch for me so I wouldn't be late and offered to chat or just sit and watch one of my favorite TV shows at the time.
I cannot draw and my mom can..so there were numerous book report presentations or other assignments in elementary school that she drew for me!
My mom introduced me to the violin, my love of reading, family traditions and the joy of motherhood and having fun with your kids in the simple things in life. She would literally play in the rain with us or have leaf races after a storm.
She always made (still does) me feel important!
If I can be the kind of mother to my kids that my mom has been and continues to be to us- I will be a success! I love you Mom!!!

My dad is hip!

My dad got to meet Kiefer Sutherland aka Jack Bauer when he (Kiefer) was in Utah. He came to Simmons Media and met my dad and other X96 people. Apparently he is a fan of X96. My dad said he was really nice in person and does like X96.

Now how many other dads especially those over 50 can say they listen to X96 and have met Kiefer Sutherland? My dad is pretty hip. love you Dad.

Panic stricken evening!

Last night was TheUtah School for the Deaf North Division carnival. We went to support the school and help with the fundraiser. They hired a company called Custom events to put it on for them. They bring in a whole bunch of blow up toys like the ones at Bouncing off the walls or Kangaroo Zoo, plus some games, food and a climbing wall.

Our boys were having a blast going through the mazes and playing on the slides when about 2 hours into it Melissa, Fisher's teacher, approached me and asked where his hearing aid was. I told her on its on him..she then said no...the mold is in, but the actual aid is gone.

What?! I thought. IT'S LOST?! Steve and I spent the rest of the evening looking for his hearing aid all over the grass, in each slide. Many parents, teachers and ride operators assisted us in the search. Steve and I must have looked for 1 hour straight in the grass and on all the rides....no luck! They are small and hard to see. To make matters worse our hearing aid insurance lapsed last month..so they are currently uninsured. Basically we are out about $3,000. (each)

The school promised me they would go out and look with a metal detector first thing in the morning. I was hoping and praying it wouldn't rain (water damages them!)

Distraught I texted my friend who works for Starkey to find out my options. Didn't get any answers yet, he was still checking.

We finally gave up for the night and drove home, praying the whole way that they would be found. I retraced Fisher's steps this afternoon when I remember seeing him with both of them on. Steve took a flashlight and went out to look in the grass (our sprinklers had already been on though so if they were in the grass they now had water damage).

Steve then went out in the garage to look. He thought he heard something. (Hearing aids make a high pitch squeal when they are not in the ear.) He told me to turn off the lights (the florescent lights also make a noise) to hear better, then turn them back on. Steve made his way over to the bike trailer and FOUND THE HEARING AID!!!!! It was in the bike trailer. We had gone for a bike ride today and Fisher had on a helmet. When he took off the helmet it must have knocked off the aid from the tubing. Good thing one of us has good hearing..I cannot hear the high pitch unless I am right next the them holding it up to my ears.

He had gone to the carnival without even having the aid hooked to the mold and we didn't even know it!

Just when I was ready to give up something wonderful happens.

I am calling the hearing aid insurance company today!!!!

This is a picture of a Behind The Ear (BTE) hearing aid to give you an idea how small it is.

See how it can easily blend into the ground?! So the mold part (the part you actually place in the ear) was in his ear, but the tubing came unhooked for the rest of the aid.

Pictures from the zoo!

Since the kids and I all had the day off for Spring break we went to the zoo! The Hanson cousins (those that could attend) came along. Enjoy the pictures!

Easter celebrations

This year we had the easter egg dye/hunt at the Hansons on Saturday before Easter. All of the Hansons got together to celebrate. Here are some pictures of the fun day.

picture from the past

This picture was taken in the yard of one of our ward members. Steve had gone there to help reshingle the roof and the boys wanted to go. They played in the dirt all day and we were given this picture. I love it!

As you can see it was a while ago. summer of 2007. To get a bigger view of the picture, click on it to get the full effect!

Tucker singing Nickleback

Tucker loves the song "Gotta Be Somebody" by Nickelback and always sings along when it is playing on our Ipod speakers. He was singing along today and playing "air guitar" so I started taping. Soon he saw that i was filming and quit singing.

He loves this song and calls it "Nobody wants to be the last one left"

Presidents' Day weekend at the Hanson Cabin

My parents have a cabin in Oakley Utah, that they graciously let our family use together. Most major holidays are spent up there with them and the cousins!

Our boys especially love going to the cabin because they get to see Grandma and Grandpa, play with their cousins and ride Grandpa's snowmobiles.. they love those machines! We spent the whole Presidents' Day weekend up there having fun.

Cousin party!

All of the George cousins live in Morgan, and most of them live on our street. Faith, Riley and JD George all live next door. Faith and Fisher are only 4 months apart, Tucker and Riley are only 4 weeks apart and JD is a little ham! Our boys love to play with their cousins and invited them over for "cousin party" one night while Dave and Cami went out. We popped popcorn, played and watched a movie! They had a lot of fun and want to do it again with the rest fo the cousins.

My baby started school!

Today was Tucker's 1st day of preschool. Utah School for the Deaf started a program that allows the hearing siblings of the deaf preschoolers to attend the school in a different classroom. The hope is that they will both modle language from each other. Tucker will learn more sign and have lots of fun, while the deaf kids get to hear some more advanced spoken language. He was so excited to go to his preschool with teacher Lynell.

Here are some pictures when Steve dropped him off.

playing around

our boys just having fun with each other and playing around! This was Saturday January 31, 2009. Yep that is underwear on their heads! haha!

playing school

Steve has our camera so I cannot post any pictures, but here is what happened this morning:
I was e-mailing a picture to the primary when i heard some noises in the family room. Fisher and Tucker both had their snow boots on, backpacks and coats and the bar stools were lined up like a bus bench. "We're going to school!"
Tucker is super excited because he gets to start preschool Monday and Fisher already attends.
They walked down the hall to "class"
CUTE!

A pocketful of sunshine!

I had a great experience today! One of my students gave me "a pocketful of sunshine". She came up to me and asked (in ASL) how do you sign and fingerspelled favorite color? I showed her. She then came up to me and signed what is your favorite color? I told her and she quickly ran off. All of this was happening while my class was across the hall watching Channel one.
She later returned with a note made on my favorite color that said-
"You are such a great teacher! I have really learned so much ! Thank you for being not only a great teacher, but a great person as well! I am glad I have had the opportunity to learn ASL and have you as a teacher. You really do so much and are so amazing!"
That made my day!
Thank you !!! (you know who you are)
It was terrific validation for a first year teacher!

Fisher turned 5!

Fisher turned 5 on Friday, January 16, 2009 and boy did we celebrate! I didn't have school that day so we got to eat breakfast as a family and get ready at our own pace. Since Steve doesn't work on Fridays we had a whole day as a family! We took Fisher shopping for some presents and then to lunch at McDonalds with a play place. He and his brother Tucker had lots of fun!

That nignt Grandma and Grandpa Hanson brought him (ok the whole family too) dinner...Pizza and salad..one of Fisher's favorites! That night he had cupcakes then spoiled him with time and presents..stilts and a hippity hop!

we skipped saturday (celebrating) then had the Georges over on Sunday for more spoiling and cake!

We love you Fisher and cannot believe you are already 5!

Some of Fisher's presents