lucky in love

We might be just a bit lame that we make note of five month anniversaries and such.

{It gets us through the mountain of books and homework, ok?}
but we do. And today happens to be just that.
And sometimes it feels like it has been fifty years since this...Anyway, we probably wouldn't have even thought much about this 150ish day anniversary if we hadn't read this last night.
Have some tissues handy and be prepared to tell your hubs that you love him
over
and over...
and over
again.
'Cause I don't care who you are, you are lucky to have him.

We partied in the woods

Sometimes it feels different to be a grown-up. Like when you go to the woods without anyone to plan meals or tell you what time to leave or to clean up your messes. Suddenly, you realize that is your job. And your sis-in-law's. And even though you act like you're all stressed out about planning and such, you secretly kind of love not having any rules.

And bringing along a handsome man or two doesn't hurt a bit.

So this weekend, we had a fabulous time at the cabin being grown up.
Did I mention fabulous? It was.

We did a lot of nothing, and a lot of eating, and fishing, and reading books, and having bonfires, and relaxing.

And of course we fished. Because how could we go one weekend without it?
Just ask Ty...he would love to tell you some horror stories about weekends spent shopping instead. I tell ya what though, there's nothing like a sexy man standing out there on the dock at sunset.
{Ty claims he caught a fish...once again, he had no proof so I am skeptical.}

And mostly we just enjoyed being outside. And being married. And being grown up.

Then, we put a mattress out on the balcony and slept under the stars.
And that was dreamy.
{Except for when I almost froze to death.}

Turns out, we're classy people sometimes

After being inspired by some cookbooks my mom had given me last week, I decided I was going to be domesticated for a week or two. So, every night this week I have made something new and exciting from my '5 ingredient' cookbook. Except for last night. We had leftovers. {also, don't judge 5 ingredient cookbooks. you gotta start somewhere.} Anyway, after three attempts at buttercream frosting, a few batches of cake mix, and 2034 calls to my darling aunt and mother, I have fulfilled a lifelong dream of making beautiful cupcakes. And, I'll tell ya what...there wasn't a clean dish in the house by the time I was finished.

This is where you can all ooohh and awwwhh...

They even had chocolate covered strawberries on them,
which is pretty high-class if you ask me.

Looks like Tyboy mighta married pretty well after all.
What can I say?
We're classy people every now and then.
{except after dishes I died my hair from a box.
That should take care of all previously gained classiness.}

taking the bad with the good

I really cannot decide whether this weekend was completely fabulous and wonderful, or possibly full of a lot of bad luck? Let's start with the cons, shall we?

-Horkley's did not have the video we were in desperate need of watching. {really, is was necessary.} You know when you have seen a funny movie and you find out someone else hasn't? They HAVE to see it asap so you can talk about it, right? So we improvised. On the way to our second movie-renting destination, Ty decided to play a little game of "let's see how many potholes we can dodge at 50 mph on this country road." Bad. Idea. We got a flat tire...which leads me to my next item of bad luck.
-We didn't have a jack in the car. We're dumb. We know. So, a stranger helped us. (That part really should be on the fabulous items list.) Bless his little professional mechanic soul.
-By the time we got the car fixed, it was much too late to watch a movie. Plus, we had to find an alternative vehicle to take 150 miles away this weekend. Lucky for us, Ty's gparents live right here in little ol' Rexburg, and they have trusting and generous hearts.
-And what kind of bad luck night would it be without getting some drive-thru ice cream and being informed that they just ran out of waffle cones? We weren't surprised. Let's move on...

Pros
-We got to visit with some good friends and family. And my dad enjoyed telling us all about the wondrous beauty of North Dakota. Which consists of flat land, wind, 4 grown men and 3 dogs sharing a camp trailer, some more wind, and no showers for 50 miles. And a few other choice words which we won't mention. Jealous? Yeah, me neither.
-My mother, who is a better cook than your mother I'm sure, sent us home a lovely home cooked meal complete with homemade cinnamon rolls. Poor Ty, that doesn't happen often in our house. Or ever, really. I think he devoured half the pan of rolls.
-We spent time with/Skyped with ALL of the important Dad's in our life. Grandpas, step-dads, in-laws, etc. {The number of dads in your life goes up a lot when you get married.}
-We attended the exquisite wedding of two people who are madly in love. With every detail in place, a glowing bride, and a groom who couldn't stop smiling, it was perfection. Ty and I couldn't help but think of our own 'I do's' as we attended all the festivities. Nothing like a wedding for a reminder of how lucky we are to be married to each other.

Dads.

Dads.
You ever think about 'em?
How wonderful they are?
How much they influence the lives of their little babes?
I happen to be lucky enough to have a great dad. And step-dad. And father-in-law. And husband {who will be a great dad someday years down the road.}
This week I am especially grateful for that dad of mine who taught me practically half of everything I know.
(Other half comes from madre, of course.)
I think I'll just go ahead and tell you a few of the things
I love most about my ol' man
(as my brothers so lovingly refer to him).

He taught me when to be tough. And when to be kind.
He taught me about hard work and about having pride in America.
He taught me that a late-night rootbeer float can fix
practically any kind of bad day.
He taught me that it is more important to be honest than to get ahead.
He taught me that you don't have to demand respect, you can just live your life in a way that people will want to respect you.
He taught me that it is important to not judge or compare ourselves to others.

(Picture below is example of when to be tough. Tears rolling down my face while he drags me around the lake. My little buns nowhere near out of the water. by golly, his daughter was gonna learn to ski.)

He taught me that a father's love is really unlike any other kind of love.

And even though his little girl is all grown up, he still sometimes reminds me of the phrase he used when I told him I was getting married...

"I'm happy if you're happy."
Gotta love them dads.

Weekends are for one pound hamburgers and picnics in the woods

This, my friends, is a hamburger. And I'll tell ya what, you haven't eaten a hamburger until you've eaten one of these bad boys. They are available exclusively at Big Jud's in Archer, ID...the kind of greasy, cramped hamburger joint that made America America. They call themselves the "Home of the 1 lb burger." This puppy weighed at least that.And if you eat it, you get your picture on the wall. Except Ty says he can't eat it anymore 'cause he is getting old, but he has indeed eaten it before. I say I need proof and he could definitely eat it if he wanted to.
We decided to share. It was cheaper that way.
And apparently the Hansen boys weren't all that interested in impressing their young brides with the amount of beef they can dispose of because C & J shared too.
Then, (since we are still doing our touristy thing) we took a nice little drive with Ty's g-parents up to Heise. And we fell in love with how beautiful it was up there. So the next day we packed ourselves a little picnic complete with pitas, fresh pineapple, and baked lays and set out to find a perfect spot in the woods. It was quite possibly the most fabulous picnic there ever was. And then, because we cannot go anywhere near a river without Ty foaming at the mouth, we fished. And listened to three hours of country music and sat in our brand new lawn chairs.
And didn't catch anything. Whatta weekend.

And we're makin' plans

Do you sometimes wish you were like 7 again? Think about it. Life was so easy then. Pretty sure the biggest decision I made during the day was whether or not to play hopscotch or ride my bike. And those dang 7-year-olds today take that stuff for granted.
Now the big decisions we are making are actually fairly monumental.

Like where to go for grad school.
{Yes, grad school. Pretty much freaks the heck out of us! }
Where to student teach next fall.
Depends on where we go to grad school.
Which depends on how rich we can get to pay for grad school.
Also depends on grades and test scores.
Also depends on how many credits we can take over the next three semesters without being committed to the insane asylum.

You see the kind of stuff that keeps us up at night? Big decisions.

BUT
{Sorry to get all mushy on you again}
I feel so grateful to have the opportunity to make these choices. I know not everyone does. I am so excited to see where this life is going to take us. It is such an exciting/terrifying feeling to not know exactly where you are headed...just that it is somewhere good. And since I am kind of a planner, these decisions are pretty fun to make. I feel pretty dang lucky to have that husband of mine to make these tough decisions with. We have been so incredibly blessed.

Kind of reminds me of that country song...
"Cause I'm not easy to understand,
But you know me like the back of your hand,
I'm your girl and you're my man....
And we're makin' plans."

Hi, we're the Hansens and we're visiting Idaho this summer...

Well, it is our favorite time of year again, thank goodness. At this time at last year Ty was suffering from sweaty palms and a severe fingernail chewing habit 'cause I was taking him home to meet my dad. Poor kid. We will always remember the summer 0f 2010 as the summer we spent falling in love. It was pretty dreamy, (like most love stories are) and, after taking him home with me, I knew I was going to spend my life with him. That sets the bar pretty high for this summer. So...what shall we do about that?

You see...there are about a thousand things this summer we would like to do, and we have a lot less than a thousand dollars to do them with. Is everybody with me? I thought so. Here is our challenge for summer 2011...you should probably join up on this bandwagon 'cause it is most definitely going to be amazing.

While we do not plan on purchasing fanny packs and khaki shorts and things to hold our glasses around our neck,
we do plan to be tourists in our own state.
And I tell ya what, there is actually a lot to do here in little hometown USA. We are going to try new foods, new activities, and new places. (And then document on the blog, of course.) That way, we can get all filthy rich someday and know how to be professional tourists {preferably in Europe.}
You see how this all works out?

Here is documentation of touristy-type things in Rexburg, week 1.

1. Tennis Match. How on earth have I never played tennis before? I am ashamed of myself because I love this game right here.
And, by the way, I appreciate all of the friendly folks at Porter Park for throwing us our ball every time I hit it over the fence {which is nearly a mile high}.
2. A quick hike up R Mountain. And from the road, it doesn't look very big. We know. But we also know that it is big. And long. And steep. And good grief, a heavenly workout for your little buns.
And even though Rexburg is flat and dry and windy, it is sort of beautiful from this view. Wouldn't you agree?


3. Ok, maybe not very touristy, but I'll throw this in. We visited a new video rental store in town. I know, I know, who even knew those still existed? But yeah they do, and it was a blast from the past walking through isles and isles of movies trying to decide which ones to rent.

For the record, we vote that having a movie marathon and eating popcorn on your couch until one a.m. beats sweaty palms and meeting your future in-laws.
So far, summer '11 wins.

What a lovely little snowfall in the summertime

Gosh, don't you love when it snows at the end of May? What we had hoped would be a weekend full of fishing, bonfiring, bbqing, and possibly soaking up the sun ended up being a cozy sit-by-the-fire-and-read-a-book type of weekend. Even though it is that point in the year where you kind of hope for sunshine in the summertime, this is Idaho. And we try not to kid ourselves over stuff like that. Anyway, a weekend spent in sweats watching it snow out the windows of a quaint little cabin in the woods turned out to be equally as charming.
And if you think 6 inches of snow would stop this fisherman from standing on the dock all day, think again.


Also, I would like to add that Ty looks slightly like one of those men modeling pajamas in the JCPenney catalog. They're always sitting by the fire or doing something cozy and romantic...aren't they? {He's not quite as cheesy as them.}

As much as we love spending entire weekends inside, someone please pray for some sunshine. We'll be sure to return the favor.
K thanks.
Happy Thursday Everyone!
Tomorrow is the weeeeekeennd.