june 20 - july 3

our summer has continued to be a busy and fun-filled one {though we were totally bummed to miss out on the sorensen reunion!!!}. stryker is growing quickly and developing all sorts of awesome skills, one of which is sleeping longer for the first part of the night {he'll sleep for 5-6 hours now. wahoo!}! i am working up the motivation and time management to resume my church callings {stake activities committee member and relief society communications specialist}, though it is still a struggle. e is uber busy, as always, but he always makes the time to be with me and stryker, which we appreciate.

we are enjoying our time together as a little family and feel deeply blessed for all of the comforts, safeties, and liberties that we enjoy.

my favorite of stryker's sleeping positions
{and don't worry, he turned his head to breathe :) }


"for real" homemade root beer

for the hansen family reunion this year, we were extended a challenge to make the best homemade root beer for a friendly competition between families. e did some research and felt he found a winning recipe and procedure {as seen below}. we could not find "powdered yeast," so we improvised and unfortunately, the root beer failed. we did not have enough time to make a second batch before the reunion, but it was a fun process and we look forward to trying it again someday. perhaps we'll whip some out for the next powell reunion trip? ;)








brooklyn's visit

my oldest niece {on the hansen side} was kind enough to come and spend a few days with us before our reunion. she had lofty goals of cleaning my house and watching stryker so that i could nap and folding laundry and other such helpful delights. i, on the other hand, had a very different agenda for her...party hard! :) she was extremely helpful with all things meal, cleaning, and watching stryker related, but hopefully she had some times thrown in there too. i wish all of my nieces could come visit this summer. it is SO NICE to have a happy and willing second pair of hands around the house all day! we love you, brooklyn! thanks again!!!

cousins having some fun


man dogs, s'mores, and good times!





FIRE!


b snuggling on a sleeping s

hansen family reunion

anna and darrin hosted our reunion in logan this year. i didn't get any pictures except for the "official" family shots, but what fun times were had! thanks to sister and the new guy for all of your hard work - we really appreciate the time, effort, and love you put into our gathering!

little dude chillin' with the big daddy dude
{the very special hat is another of my handmade attempts...}

most of the hansen clan...our blood runs blue!!!

we don't bite...hard!

big e showing off his awesome jumping skills...

logan temple - this is where it all began

stryker's blessing

we had a dual blessing on sunday, july 3 for stryker and heidi. it was awesome to have so many wonderful people come and support us! {the sorensen clan "magically disappeared" before picture time, but we appreciated their attendance and love! :)} the babies were sporting handmade outfits from their grandma hansen - stryker in a white zoot suit like his dad and heidi in a gorgeous white german-style dirndl.

fabulous suit and my attempt at handmade wingtips...
stryker needed to match e in all things this day!

one dapper dude

heidi was very hot, tired, and hungry, but gorgeous all the same {just like her mama}!