Happy 3 Month Anniversary!

First, I would like to let my lovely wife know that these last 3 months have been the best 3 months of my life, and that I love her so much. I am so excited for the memories that we are going to compile together in the future. Chynna always tells me that she wants to have 10 kids. Well . . . ok then 9, or is it 8? Ok then maybe half of that so 4. Speaking of children, have any of you seen a picture of Chynna when she was a little baby?
She was the cutest baby girl that I have ever laid eyes on. She has grown up to be the woman of my dreams. How did I ever become to be so lucky? Believe me, I am so thankful to be her husband and friend. I am so proud of her and for all of the things that she does for me. Chynna truly brings out the best in me and makes me want to become a better person. One of the best parts about being married is that you always have that special person with you at all times. Let me tell you of an example. One day I came home from school feeling frustrated and negative about the things that had transpired that day. Chynna, being the caring and considerate person that she is, grabbed me and comforted me. That totally made my day. That simple act of love changed my outlook and mindset of that day. I am sure that many of you have had similar experiences such as this. Cherish them, love them, and always remember them. Life is too precious to waste, so live it to the fullest.

This has been a privilege writing in the world's most famous blog. I hope that all of you will tune in next week as I lecture about the art of fishing Idaho's finest rivers and lakes! Until then, have a great day!

With love from Chynna's man,
Tyler

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

Awkward
-Making a new blog design.
-Not getting your water bottle rinsed out good enough so not only does it taste a little sudsy, people wonder what you are drinking just by the look of it.
-Getting an e-mail saying British Literature is canceled for today because the teacher is "sick." But you kind of have a little inside info that her phD paper is due tomorrow and she is behind on it. Is there some kind of rule about teachers playing hooky?
-Not knowing how to make double sided copies that are stapled on the corner when that is clearly in your job description. {Uhh, hang on a sec...lemme check the manual.}
-Those nerdy glasses people are wearing now. You know, the coke-bottle-thick ones that are shaped like this ....D... but tipped on the side. And most of them are fake prescriptions anyway. I'm sorry, but I will never understand this one. Will someone enlighten me please?

Awesome
-This new blog design. Yes?
-When I get up and say once more {in a real dramatic tone} "I have NoO-t-H-i-N-g to wear!" And Ty says, "you know what? Let's go shopping this weekend."
-That pretty much everyone around me is getting married. And that means we get to go to like a thousand (or 5ish) weddings this summer. Weddings are just wonderful, wouldn't you agree?
-This new secret I discovered to make your diamonds sparkle. Toothbrush, toothpaste, warm water and Voila! You have yourself a brand new rock. Serious, this is legit. You're welcome.
-That Ty is finally posting on the blog tonight! Yayyy!

Leave your awkwards and awesomes in the comment box below!

I'm gonna tell you all a little secret...

Made ya look.
Want to know the secret?
I know you do.
Here it is:
That little husband of mine...Yeah this one... {He is gonna kill me for putting this picture up. But he's out getting us some ice cream right now so he doesn't even know it yet. Hee hee.}
is writing up a little post on this blog.
For you people.
Manana. That means tomorrow.
And he isn't sayin' what he is writing about, so I guess we will all have to die of anticipation until then.
Or maybe I can get him to confess tonight.
We shall see.

Pics, peeps.

Aren't we talented egg decorators?
{We are still figuring out what to do with a dozen boiled eggs in a house of two people.}
This is us with the celeb blogger, Sydney. She is adorable, hilarious, skinny, has an addicting blog and a bazillion followers. And we're not obsessed with her or anything, we just waited in line for-eva to get a pic with her. {She invented "Awkward and Awesome Thursday...you know that thing that happens on this blog on Thursdays? Yeah. It all started on the Daybook.}
Does that just make you want a s'mores right now? Yeah, me neither. Nice modeling Jordan.
Sistas...
My husband is a hottie. Don't be jealous.
And he is a pro at building fires for girls who wear sandals all the time and stand around and freeze.


P.S. I was thinking the old bloggy might be in need of a makeover. Like something more fun, less crowded. Maybe a different color scheme. What do you guys think?

Weekend People

Guyyyyyssss.
I am feeling so deprived right now. We had such an amazing weekend and I have nothing to show for it. {Yet.} I left my camera at home this morning. Can you believe that? I can. This school thing is kicking my butt. I think I am getting old or something.

Anyway. This weekend was packed full of chocolate and goodness.

I {we}
-Made a tutu that is the mother of all girlishness for my new baby cousin Kennady. {Don't tell on him, but Ty even helped me with it.} It is so adorable and easy, {if I do say so myself} that I may just have to make a tutorial for it in all my spare time.
-Practically met a blogging celebrity. Serious, she is legit. Can't wait to show you a picture of that one.
-Spent some much needed girl time with my sister-in-law AND soon-to-be-sister-in-law. That's a long word, huh?
-Had a bonfire. That husband of mine is a bonfire man. He claims we will be having one every weekend this summer. Anyone like to join us?
-Searched the town for Carmel Cadbury eggs {'cause I'm a nice wife like that.}
Ty calls them Salisbury eggs. Like the steak. Does that just crack you up? It does me.
-Spoke in church. Eeeee! Yes, it's true. Scary! But we survived.
-Had a lovely Easter dinner with lovely family members.
-Remembered how blessed I am to live such a life.

If you haven't noticed yet, we are weekend people. So here I am waiting for class to start and writing about the weekend that ended two days ago and thinking how happy I am that there are only three more days until another one. Is that strange of me? Isn't there some quote about not living in the past or future or something?
Yeah, might need to work on that one.

Laugh, Think, Cry

Another great day at BYU-Idaho, right?
Ty and I are both loving our classes so far this semester. Although, I think he is ready for a little break from school. That poor man has been working his guts out for-eVa. I think this is the time of year when I can really start to appreciate the little moments that make this life so grand. Since free time is suddenly a precious and rare gem, I am learning to use it wisely. I am also learning to take the time that is not-so-free and turn it into a memory. Like last night for example...
6:00 pm. Estimated dinner time
7:00 pm. Real dinner time. (Serious, it's not me...I think our oven is broken.)
7:30 pm. Homework.
8:30 pm. More homework.
9:30 pm. Ohh, you guessed it. Homework again.
10:00 pm. Going slightly crazy from all the homework. And then getting distracted. And then laughing until my sides hurt because I am married to a funny, funny man. And then remembering this quote from my communications class today:
{tell me you don't just love this to death?}

To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it.
If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day.
You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.
-Jim Valvano

I had that kind of day yesterday. Laugh, think, cry. Profound, isn't it?

Shells in our pockets and sand in our shoes

Dear Friends,
I do apologize for the shameless neglect of this blog for the last two weeks. Please don't give up on us. Also, I have a sad confession to make. If you are an avid reader (or a reader at all) I'm afraid that the ol' blog might slow down just a bit. You see, school has started once again and that means a lot of late nights will be spent doing homework and eating junk food. Eeeeee! That makes me kind of excited though. Anyway, today is just a little photo post for you and a sneak peek of the Hansen's first true vacay. Enjoy!

This is what we left behind in Utah. Does that just make you super depressed?
Arizona is a lovely state to drive through with a broken air conditioner.
Don't try it, just believe me.
Vegas, baby!
Ty was not aware of the common knowledge that if you get a picture with Kiss, your tongue must hang out. HelllooooO!
After probably the second longest drive of my life (longest was on the way home, but that's a whole different story) we just had to see the ocean. This is Ty's classic beach pose. Needless to say, we were going a little crazy when we smelt the salty ocean air.
<3
Disneyland is A LOT bigger when you are 8. But equally as fun when you are in your 20s.

I am married to an iron man. I know.

Ya know, just a thirty dollar set of Pirate Mickey ears. That's why we just put them on and take a pic in the store. Isn't that smart of us?
After nearly an hour and a half of waiting in line for Space Mountain, we knew pretty much the life story of the family in front of us. At that point, we figured it would be ok if we asked them to take a pic.

San Diego Temple is b-e-a-u-tiful!
If you hate lines and love Sea World, I have some advice for you. Go on a Tuesday. We were practically the only ones there. No joke. We got up to this rollercoaster, asked if it was even open, and got right on. It was lovely.

Watching this man right here regurgitate a small fish about twenty times was entertaining.

Pretty much wanted to put one of these in my purse and take it home and put it in my bathroom.
And how can you go to Sea World and not see Shamu? And the three back-up Shamus swimming around in the pool behind. We were kind of cracking up about how all killer whales have a claim to fame by sharing the same identity.
That, my friends, is the star of Jay Leno. I know you're jealous.
I let Ty love on Angelina Jolie a little bit...as long as...
I could lay a big fat one right on the cheek of Matthew Mcconaughey.
And, in case our college educations do not prove to be useful, we now have an in at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.


California Adventure!
This is us after the third (fourth?) time on the Tower of Terror. See Ty in the back right? See me clinging to him for dear life? Yeah, that never wore off on any of the rides that day.

Another fabulous day at Hunnington Beach. Let me tell you something...if it is warm, but not hot, windy, but bearable, and you think you aren't getting a sunburn..you are wrong. For two days we couldn't sleep...now we are peeling like snakes in the summertime. Pretty sure someone in my Brit. Lit. class caught me picking my neck off this morning. That is when you nonchalantly push your hair behind your ear and pretend like nothing happened.


And that is it for our little Hansen vacay. I will spare you of the drive home. I almost {seriously, it was so close} went insane. This girl was not made for 14 hours in a car. Poor Ty. Sometimes I wonder how he puts up with me. What do ya wanna bet that next time that man springs for plane tickets just to avoid my insanity?

It's been a while since Awkward and Awesome, Guys

Awkward
-Making your husband drive you to another city because you just have to have white capris before you go on vacation. And then remembering on the way home that you actually already have a pair. Whoops.
-Driving to Salt Lake with 5 people in a tiny Honda. People I love, of course. Nevertheless...a little cramped and awkward.
-The tiny bombshell like bathroom stalls at Fort Hall. You kind of feel like you could survive an earthquake in there. Actually, you probably wouldn't even know it was happening.
-When people look at you real seriously and say, "Can I ask you something...?" Long pause. And then they ask you something that did not require that degree of seriousness.
-Getting irritated looks from the Wal-Mart man because "you have returned an outstanding number of items without a receipt in the last month." You know what I wanted to tell that man? "That is because we got a lot of wedding gifts that we may or may not need more than groceries. Ok? Don't worry about it, Sir."

Awesome
-Vacation only one day away. I bet you are getting tired of hearing about this one, huh?
-Getting fed delicious lunches probably 3 out of 5 days at work...just because.
-Finding old letters from friends of all the good memories we had together. A notable excerpt from a letter from Chelsea:
"One of my favorite memories with you is when we were sitting in Mr. Dickson's class going kind of crazy and being obnoxious like always and I started making this chainsaw like sound deep in my throat. I didn't think anyone could hear it, but apparently you could 'cause you started laughing real hard and you almost fell out of your seat. Then, the whole class was telling us to shut up and stuff but we just kept on making the chainsaw sound and laughing really hard. We have so many hilarious memories together."

{Don't judge us, ok? We were Juniors who were in serious need of a life.}

-When Ty wakes up and says "I don't want to go to class today, love...can we just stay home and be lazy?" Ummmm....yes. Are you really asking me that right now?
I just love that man.

Look what can be done in an hour and a half...

Last night I had a choice.
I could either watch this...Or make this.

Nothing against the men in flashy shoes and long socks, (or my husband) but I chose to craft. This project was so easy, I thought I'd share.
That way, next time a basketball game is on, you know that in an hour and a half you could have watched a basketball game...or...you could have a fabulous new kitchen decoration. This can be done in 6 simple steps.

1. You will need:

Mod Podge (I used matte finish, but you can use glossy if you like.)
A magnetic board with wooden frame. (I got mine at Robert's for about $15.)
1 small bottle acrylic paint
approx. 5 sheets of coordinating cardstock
2 foam brushes
2. Tape around the edges of the magnetic portion of the board. Then, paint all sides and insides of wood. I painted the part where I would be putting the card stock as well, just in case there were gaps between the paper.
3. Measure one corner of your wooden board and cut out squares of card stock accordingly.
I used 5 styles of cardstock, and only needed one sheet of each.
4. Use your Mod Podge as glue to tack your cardstock to your wooden frame. Make sure all edges are secured and there are no ripples in the cardstock. If your paper is starting to get ripples in it, smooth out the paper by applying pressure and sliding your fingers across the entire square. Also, stop using so much Mod Podge.
5. Then, Use your Mod Podge to paint over the cardstock. I did this twice, just so everything would be nice and smooth and beautiful. This secures everything and also gives your wooden frame a matte finish.
6. Make some magnets, hang on your wall, and enjoy the blankness of the magnet board before it is filled with all of your mail and calendars and junk.