The Stockings Were Hung...

I'll just go ahead and admit I'm lame right now since Christmas is over and I have so few pictures to show for it. I wonder if it's psychological? I have been asking Rodger for a new camera, and I didn't get it, so maybe I'm mentally blocking the whole picture thing. Or perhaps I'm lazy, and that's enough said.


We had a lovely, white, cold, Christmas. It started snowing two days before the big day. Just in time to really mess up our drive down to the valley. We went down early to exchange gifts with my Mom since she was going to Utah for Christmas. We had a nice lunch, gotta love El Charro. It's a "hole in the wall" if there ever was one, but we love it. Nothing says holidays like Mexican food in our family. Anyway it was a good trip and we were happy to see Grandma.

We had a crazy Christmas Eve and the traditional Sloan family program was pretty good. I did take a gift to the face from a disgruntled (aka a poor sport) relative during the heated white-elephant gift exchange. Alas, I can't name names, but for those of you that were there, it's going to be a good laugh for a long, long, time.


Dean informed us right before bed that we needed to leave a plate of snacks for Santa. Don't ask me where this came from because we've never done it before, but far be it from me to interfere with the magic of Christmas. As we headed off for Grandma's in the morning we had just enough time to see that we had a visitor as we hustled out the door. Santa was also kind enough to leave a note which delighted the boys. I think we are safe for at least two more years.




Opening the presents took forever as usual and we all had a good haul. We also filled the baby Jesus' stocking with our gifts of service and love for the coming year. Since I haven't managed to complete it yet, I will be working on the same thing for the 4th straight year. I wonder if that's a sign?




We are glad we got to spend time with our loved ones, and I will have more entertaining posts about our shenanigans to follow :).




P.S. No your eyes are not playing tricks on you. Dean does have a black eye in the pictures. Thanks Austin, the boys had a great time, and can't wait for you to come back.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

A couple of funny stories:

While my mom and I were Christmas shopping she was telling me that I should get the boys this new electronic hamster that everyone wants this year. My response was that I already have a dog and two cats, and that we were bound to have more goats so what would I want with a "virtual" pet.

Then last week after we had put up the tree and got the lights on it, we decided to take a break before the decorating and head over to Dairy Queen. When we came home I saw the tree rocking slightly. Now last year at this time we came home from church to find bird feathers all over the house. We searched high and low for a little body knowing that our cat had dragged some poor bird into the house, but we couldn't find it anywhere. Later that day I saw movement in the Christmas tree and to my surprise the bird had managed to get free and was now seeking shelter in my tree. I opened the front door, and out it flew, minus a tail. This was my immediate thought when I saw movement in the tree this year. But no, I was wrong again. The kitten had climbed up into the very tree top as if this was his new jungle gym. He was having a wonderful time batting at the lights. Upon being removed he climbed right back up and then got a spanking. Now he waits until we are all in bed before making his nocturnal venture up the tree and knocking down the ornaments and destroying my branches.



The cats have also staked out my beautiful handmade Christmas tree skirt as their new bed...ugh. why do I have cats again?



Oh, and Oscar has discovered house plants. He loves them. Digging them up, sleeping in them, doesn't matter it's all good to him.




Merry Christmas to me!

Time Flies

Well I wish I could say that I haven't been blogging because I've been having so much fun, but that isn't really the case. It's been a rough month, but with happy moments too.

November was filled with family, tears, laughter, goodbyes, hellos, and of course lots of food. We had planned to go and spend Thanksgiving with my Mom, and we still did that, it was just a much longer trip than I had planned. The weekend before Thanksgiving my cousin Steven passed away, he was only 23.

Steven might have been the cousin I felt I knew the best, despite our age difference. I was his baby-sitter for several years. He was such a cute kid, even if he was a rascal. I wanted to post some pictures, but a lot of my pictures from earlier this year have somehow become corrupted. Steven was a mechanical genius, when he was young his parents used to go to D.I. to buy him old appliances to take apart and put back together. He was very hardworking, and even scored an internship with Honeywell while he was in high school. That later translated to a full-time job with them while he went to college. He also served his mission in California. He was very good natured and sensitive to the feelings of everyone around him. I can't express how hard this has been to get over. Life is so hard.

So we wound up staying in Phoenix for a week for the holiday and the funeral. We had a lovely dinner with family and were glad we have such fun relations.

I convinced my mom that Black Friday is the best day ever, and she actually went shopping with Ali and I. We got all kinds of great deals and had lots of fun together. I was surprised at how quickly we found everything we wanted and were back at home and back to sleep by 9 AM.
That evening we went bowling, and I have to say it was hilarious!




Now I haven't been bowling in a while, so I'm probably the last person to know this. The bowling alley now has these fantastic electronic bumpers that only pop up when it's the person they are assigned to's turn comes up. Dean was very happy for this new invention. Fabulous! Alec also started doing these funny little robotic dances after his turn.







One of my other cousins also returned home from his mission to Argentina that week, and so much of our family journeyed to Texas to welcome him back. Then they all turned around the next day and drove 16 hours back to Phoenix for the funeral. Lots of fun.

It was nice to be together even if we cried much of the time.

The day after the funeral we packed T.J. up and sent him off on his mission. He will be returning to the North Carolina, Charlotte mission and we couldn't be prouder of him. Dean and Alec already miss him so much, and our farewells included much more crying.

I have to say how much I love Rodger. He has been my emotional rock through all of the past few weeks. He has know just how to comfort me and what to say to ease through the transitions. I'm so grateful for him.

We are finally home and I need a stress-free, emotional breakdown-free, December. Good luck, right?

In my weakened state the boys also convinced me that we should keep one of the kittens. So now we have Oscar joining the family.

A Hauntingly Fun Halloween

This Halloween was a first for us. Alec decided that he didn't want to dress up for Halloween. "What," I exclaimed? "What do you mean you don't want to dress up?" I was secretly thinking that if I hadn't given birth to you I would know you were some kind of impostor.

You see I LOVE Halloween! I mean love, love, love it. I love decorating, dressing up, getting candy, scaring kids, and having parties. How could one of my children not want to dress up this year, I mean he's only 10? I shamefully tried to bribe him too, but no dice. I guess the growing up and getting embarrassed thing is starting even earlier than I thought. Oh well, he was a great helper with the fog machine and handing out the candy.


Dean decided he wanted to be Link this year. For those of you who don't know, Link in the main character in the Zelda video game series. I explained that he could be Link, but everyone would probably think he was Robin Hood, yes, there is a startling resemblance. Obviously we were not going to be able to buy a Link costume, so I knew I would have to sew it. So me, being me, I started the night before Halloween, but I did manage to get it all finished. It was a little big, but Dean was happy.

A group pic. Alec: unwilling to dress up; Parker: aka the neighborhood haunted scarecrow; Dean: Link, defender of a boys right to wear tights when their mom can't find white pants anywhere; and Rodger: every small child's worst nightmare on Halloween. And yes, that is a real axe Rodger insisted on carrying around with him despite my protests.

We also had a little Halloween party a few weeks before the big day. I enjoyed cooking up our spooky feast, and having good friends over to enjoy it.

I was lame and didn't have the camera ready, so the hand had nearly melted before I could get a picture of the punch. My friend came up with this fun idea, but I should have had the liquid colder so the ice wouldn't melt right away.

Don't even try and tell me that these aren't the cutest and tastiest Sea-Monster Subs you've ever seen

These Boo Bugs are Alec's favorite Halloween treat, we make them every year.

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.

Garage Shenanigans

A couple of nights ago I was making the evening rounds at our house making sure everything was closed and locked, when I got a little surprise. Rodger usually does this, but he was out of town so I was completing the nightly ritual. I went out to make sure the garage door was shut at about 11:30 so that the cat and her kittens would be ok since it's been getting kind of cold.

I've been leaving the garage door open about 5 or 6 inches so she can go in and out during the day. Anyway when I opened the door she was in the garage all huffed up like some deranged puffer-fish hissing. She was blocking her kittens and peering under my car at something she was definitely unhappy about.

The neighbors have a cat that she is not to fond of, and that's what I thought must be under the car. I walked around the car a couple of times waiting to see the cat dart out from under the car, but nothing happened.

I finally decided that I was going to have to get down and look. I was hoping to see one of these:

Or maybe one of these:





(they have been the bane of my front garden for several years now).




Or one of these:






I have seen some of these a few streets over, and thought perhaps they had migrated.






I was really hoping it wasn't one of these:











Nope, instead what I found staring back at me eyeball to eyeball was this:






That's right a coyote had somehow squirmed under the barely open garage door and was now under my highlander! To my credit I didn't scream or cry. I got up and grabbed the nearest weapon which happened to be one of the boys plastic baseball bats.

I would have thought that seeing a person would have been enough to scare the sucker off, but no luck. Coyote's are very skittish animals, and I couldn't believe it was still under the car. I guess it wanted the kittens pretty bad. Anyway I poked and jabbed at it quite a bit, but the bat wasn't long enough to reach all the way underneath the car so the coyote and I were doing a strange dance under and around the vehicle for about 5 minutes with me becoming more and more frustrated that it wouldn't just leave.

I finally had to yell for the boys to come and bring me something longer that would reach all the way underneath the car. So mop in hand I went after it again, and finally got it out from underneath the car where it started running all around the garage in a panic. Eventually I corralled it outside and was able to shut the door.

We went to bed, and the next morning I was regaling my grandparents with my little escapade when my grandpa again pointed out this is not how coyotes normally act. He thought it was probably sick.....(meaning had rabies) and that we were fortunate that it hadn't been aggressive. So then I got to go home and wash out and bleach my garage just in case.

Long story short, I better keep the garage door shut!

Grand Champion Y'all!

Our summer 4-H project finally came to an end this weekend, and I'm not sure if I am happy or sad.

Alec was able to show his goat at the Apache County Fair and took home the Grand Champion Ribbon and belt buckle. The buckle is bigger than his head.

This was the culmination of all the work he has done this summer in feeding, raising, cleaning, and training the goat. At times it was very hard and he had many injuries to show for all his time with Sissy and Nanny. Going into the fair I was not sure how much he learned, but during the shows I was amazed at how well he did. All the time really paid off.

After the show was over we were able to hang up his ribbons and get him a new belt for his buckle. He loved when the little kids would walk by Sissy's pen. He would let them come in and pet her as well as telling them all about goats. I saw his confidence sky-rocket, and I am so glad we stuck with it even though it was tough at times.

Saying good-bye was very tough. I am trying not to dwell on it to much or I get sad. Alec did cry some, but I still think 4 months of learning vs. 30 minutes of crying is a good trade. I think I am somewhat glad that he is tenderhearted towards animals. I would prefer that to a disregard for life.



I am grateful that this program exists for my kids, and we are trying to decide what if any animal(s) we may raise next year!


We also entered some of Dean's art work, and he won a blue ribbon too! I'm kicking myself for forgetting to get a picture of it hanging on the display board. I also entered some of my grandma's Dahlias. I tried to get her to do it, but she didn't think they were good enough. I waited until she left and then went and cut some and entered them for her. I figured if she didn't win anything I wouldn't tell her, and she would never know, and if she won, then she would know I was right all along. She ended up winning too, and was so ticked to see her ribbons and get her prize money.

The county fair was little, but still fun. It got me all warmed up for the state fair coming up in a few weeks, Woo Hoo!

Falling Stars

One of the benefits of home-school is that we don't have to be on any kind of time schedule, so when the Perseid meteor shower happened a few weeks ago we got to stay up and watch it.

The boys and I dragged our sleeping bags and pillows out on the trampoline at about 11:30 and snuggled up to wait for the shooting stars. Fortunately we didn't have long to wait. We were able to see 6 or so stars in about and hour. By then we were all falling asleep and ready for bed.

I know this will be one of my favorite memories of the boys childhood. In addition to talking about the stars and constellations we had lots of good talks about life and family. I felt so at peace lying there with them snuggled up at my sides. Soon they will be too old to want to snuggle with me.

Happy Birthday Baby!

For Rodger's birthday the boys and I woke up early and prepared a breakfast of bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and orange rolls. We packed all the food up into backpacks with juice and napkins and then woke Rodger up.

We all got on our bikes and rode down to the bike trail along the Little Colorado. The sun had just come up and the birds sounded beautiful. The air was so clean and fresh, it made me wish I got up earlier than 8 AM normally.....for just a minute.

We rode to the bridge and ate our breakfast while enjoying the breeze and the birds and the wildflowers. We packed up and went home so Rodger could get to work since he didn't take the day off of work. That evening we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes (Rodger's fav) and then the cupcakes he requested. We didn't get to have a party since he had to work until 8 that night.

The following Sunday we had Grandma and Grandpa over for dinner and had cake too.

Family Feud

Last Thursday I heard an announcement on the radio saying that the Family Feud would be in Phoenix that weekend auditioning families for their show. I of course got really excited because I love the Family Feud!

I ran home to call my Mom and ask if she would be interested in auditioning. We figured the odds of us getting an appointment were slim to none so we decided to give it a shot. Imagine my surprise that evening when we got the word that we had been selected to come and try-out.

This was a very spur of the moment trip so we packed up and took off Friday night because the appointment was early on Saturday morning. We had a safe drive down, and all was going well Friday night until I looked into the back and realized my suitcase never made it into the car. Then all hell broke loose. I had packed 4 different outfits so that I could coordinate with my mom and sister, but that was out now. In fact I had nothing to wear, kind of a problem when your mom is FOUR sizes smaller than you are!!!

So hysteria set in for the evening, but I was fine Saturday morning and I was able to find clothes of my Mom's that looked cute. We couldn't coordinate, but oh well.

The audition went well, and we did super with our questions, but I'm not sure we had enough enthusiasm. They set up a mock game against another family, and we beat them, but who knows if that even matters. We probably won't make it on the show, but it was a fun family memory anyway.

Once it was over we went and stuffed our faces at Macayo's Depot Cantina, that was my favorite part! The only part I'm totally bummed about is that I didn't get a picture of all of us.

Camping at Black River

Two weeks ago we decided it was about time we put all the terrific camping gifts Mom has been giving us to good use. We drove up to Alpine/Black River area a couple of weeks before we went, and found the perfect spot too.

We finally convinced our friends the Poche's, who are not sure if they like to camp, to come with us...and the camping trip was born.

We left Friday morning, and drove to the camp site. When we got there we discovered that a large group of campers was already there, RUDE! So while Scott was laughing at all my careful planning going down the toilet, we continued up the road looking for a spot. I shouldn't even call it a road because it was nearly impassable in some places. I'm still shocked that the Poche's van made it through.

We had lots of fun hiking, eating, shooting, eating, talking, and eating. I have to say, the Poche's are all very funny. They have kids around the same ages as our boys and I was very surprised the Katie and Dean became such good friends. Alec and Spencer also paired off and had a great time. All of their kids are so well behaved and fun to visit with, and we are glad they came with us.

The next day we headed down to Black River for some water shenanigans. The girls and I waded out into the crawdad infested waters where we were promptly pinched and ran back screaming. The second expedition went better crawdad-wise, but I ended up falling in. Rodger was taking a nice nap in the shade while all this was going on until I informed him that he was sleeping in Poison Ivy. This was followed by a looooong bath in the freezing cold river. The rash did indeed show up 3 days later, but was very mild thanks to the dip.






The Poche's headed for home then, and my Grandparents and Erin headed up to hang out with us.
They got lost along the way, and we spent some time driving around the woods looking for them, but all turned out well in the end.

We will be heading off to camp with my Mom's family this weekend, and I think we are definitely going to be making camping a summer must!

A Walk in the Woods

Last weekend we decided to go on a family picnic and hike to say goodbye to our relatives from Texas. We set out Saturday afternoon and headed for Point of the Mountain lookout for our picnic since it has a nice view and benches. The kids enjoyed tossing rocks and looking at the wildflowers.

After the picnic we headed up to Big Lake and the Indian Springs trail head. Erin and I have been biking this trail a lot this summer, but we decided to take the whole fam and take the Big Lake Lookout turnoff. Grandma and Grandpa spread a blanket and read in the shade while we hiked.

We found wild raspberries and the kids decided to sample them...they seemed to be a little sour.

The path was beautiful, and I could really enjoy it this time since I wasn't whizzing by 100 miles and hour and hanging onto the handle bars of my bike for dear life.

The lookout was on top of a big hill, and I must say the view was well worth the hike. When we finally got to the top we stepped into a parking lot full of other tourists. Turns out you can drive right up. I'm not gonna lie.....I thought they were Pansies for driving up, but then I didn't have to share my beautiful hike with a bunch of slowpokes. Guess I'm sort of glad they were all too lazy.


I don't have any pictures of the way back down because it started raining, and I decided it would be a good time to get my jog in before I was soaked to the skin.


We were all totally jazzed to see some wildlife since turkeys, deer, coyote, elk, and hawks have been seen on previous bike rides, but this was the extend of our sightings.....

we saw cows, a horny toad, a rabbit, and a chipmunk.
Woo Hoo!

I've seen better "wild" life in my own neighborhood. Oh well, I'm sure this is going to be a regular activity from now on so maybe next time.
Sami decided she wanted to pet the horny toad and it totally let her. So Dean decided to try it too, and the toad took off across the grass. They tracked it for a while and then Dean bent down for another try. He came up screaming that it had bit him, apparently it had used up all it's tolerance for the day.

Special thanks to Rachel for blogging about shutterfly collages so I was able to post a bunch of pictures and hopefully not bore those of you that didn't want to look through all of them individually. I love how they "pop" open when you click them so you can look at them up close if you are especially interested!

Girls Camp....the unedited version

So, it seems like years since I have posted anything new. The truth is I have been incredibly busy with family coming for 4th of July and then my sister stayed with me for a couple of weeks, and then I had Girls Camp. The sad part is I took hardly any pictures of these occasions even though there were lots of photo ops.


Girls Camp was finally over yesterday, and I have to say that it may just be my favorite year ever. The girls were awesome, and we had no drama! I know, girls camp without drama, who would have thought! I also figured out that this year was my 11th year at girls camp, I need a break!


I have been working with the girls on our skit for weeks and weeks.....they did so great, take a peek.






I only have these two pictures of the girl at the lake. I am so bummed that I didn't take more because we had 23 girls this year, and I wish I had a reminder of all their cute faces.

This is a few of our girls on the paddle boats....too bad I didn't get a picture of the girls that capsized their canoe.

Rachel and Kaeli were kind enough to pose for me.

Arizona still has the best sunsets, period!