Visit from the Benham Family!

Thursday afternoon I got a text from one of my Besties asking if we'd like some company for lunch on Saturday!  She and her beautiful family had been vacationing in Branson for the week so they were going to head our way on Saturday!  That made my day!

Folks, Trista Faye Benham is NEVER late.  And in true never-ever-ever-late style, Trista was about an early arriving this morning!  The plan was for them to arrive between 11:30 and 12.  About 10:15 Trista sent me a text that it'd be more like 10:45 that they'd be here ... and then, there she was just 15 minutes later ferociously ringing our doorbell!

We decided on BBQ for lunch and headed out a little after 11.  It was great that both of our kids joined us, too!  We went to Holy Smoke BBQ in Lee's Summit.  It's a little family owned restaurant that has great food!  Trista has three girls - Madison is 14, Kalli is 13 and Lexie is almost 3.  The "big" girls sat at a booth and the adults (and Hunter and Lexie) sat at a table a short distance away.



Bryan ordered The Porker and Trista ordered The Porkette. Does it get any sweeter than that?

After our lunch we headed home and the Benham's stayed for about an hour and we enjoyed the beautiful afternoon!  The girls played hide-n-seek and played with water balloons while the adults visited (and swatted away the wasps galore!).

As with all good things, the Benham visit had to come to an end and they headed home a little after 2:00. 

The Benhams will be back in Lee's Summit at the end of July for the Kenny Chesney concert and we look forward to it!  There is never a dull moment and always stories to share ... and new stories to create!

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

The Hansen family, yet again, had the pleasure of spending the holiday weekend with family - the Ruestman's.  An added bonus was that we were able to spend it with our friends, Chris and Jennifer Aswegan (and John!), as well! 

The holiday weekend started just after noon on Friday!  I got off work early and headed home to pack and settle all the deatils of the trip!  I had made arrangements for a friend from work to house/dog sit for the weekend so Oz wouldn't be alone!  It worked out great!  She loved him and he loved her!

We hit the road about 3:30 Friday evening and headed to Grove, OK.  We had the heartbreaking experience of traveling through Joplin, MO (it had been just 5 days since the tornado hit).  The images on TV are heartwrenching, but seeing the damage in person is very surreal.  Very quick way to ground oneself.

We arrived at the Ruestman Lake House about 7:00 and were welcomed by Dick, Marilyn and Zoe!  We ordered some pizzas for an easy, relaxing dinner and settled in for the evening with a few beverages and some good company!

The next morning, about 10:30, the Aswegan family arrived!  Jennifer has been my best friend since 7th grade and Graden and Chris (her husband) have known each other for about 15 years.  Having them both there was great for us both!  To make it an even better love story, they recently had their first baby, John, who is just six weeks old.  It was great having all THREE of them there to join us for the wonderful weekend!

The epitome of mornings at the lake.

Saturday afternoon the boys spent fishing and the girls spent sunnin' on the deck!  Dayne and Zoe wandered around the neighborhood, "swam" in the hot tub, played with the turtle that Dick rescued (then unknowingly held hostage in his truck for a full day!), walked down to the lake, made prank calls to boys, put on modeling shows, styled the creepy manequin head's hair ... just to name a few things!


Dayne, Zoe and John

Saturday night for dinner we feasted on hamburgers, chips and salad. Every meal was wonderful!  I am sure the cooking was good, but the company made it even better, no doubt!

Saturday evening was spent laying low and listening to some new stories offered by Dick & Marilyn. Their stories are the best, I tell you! Dick recited his experience of crashing his plane into a Florida swamp -- that may have been the best story of the weekend.  What makes it funny is the way he minimizes it.  Long story short, he is the only one to have survived a plane crash in this particular swamp and he insists that the media made a bigger deal out of it than it was.  He said, "they didn't know ....they weren't there."  Funny, funny man!

Sunday morning we made French Toast, fresh fruit and sausage for breakfast - so delicious!  The boys had gone out fishing so we had a late breakfast - well worth the wait!  After breakfast was settled we headed back to the deck for more sunnin' time.  It was a really rough weekend, I tell ya!

Sunday dinner was the pinnacle of our weekend feasts - Dick's famous smoked ribs!  Paired with corn on the cob, baked beans (which Marilyn and I prefer to be dry, but others prefer to be runny!), salad and baked bread!  I would guess that we all gained a few pounds this weekend! 

Graden and Dick preparing the ribs for our Sunday feast.

Sunday evening we all turned in kind of early .... we were beat from all the hard work we did that day (not!).  The boys had plans to get up early Monday morning, too, for one last morning of fishing. Up til this point, fishing hadn't been real good due to the high & muddy waters. 

Monday morning the women made a hearty breakfast - biscuits and gravy!  The boys came in from fishing about 10am (sadly, their fishing expedition didn't get much better!) and we all feasted until we thought we'd pop!  After breakfast settled in, the girls took Dayne, Zoe and John shopping to a few of the local shops - Factory Connection, STAGE and Cheapo Depo.  Cheapo Depo is one of those odd stores that you never know what you might find -- it's always an adventure!


The Hansen Tribe

After an afternoon of shopping, we packed up and headed back for home.  The lake is about three hours from home and we wanted to stop in Joplin to visit some family so we headed out about 3:30 Monday afternoon.

We waved our good byes and yelled out THANK YOUs to our wonderful host and hostess!  Always a great time and plenty

Needless say, the drive through Joplin was jaw-dropping.  The damage and devastation was very saddening.  And to know of some of the heart breaking stories behind some of the damage, and the lost lives of so many people -- so many young people! -- was enough to ground us all real quick.

We got to Rocky and Mindy's house about 5:00 and spent just over an hour and a half catching up with them and listening to some of the tornado stories.  Their son, Luke (who just graduated high school just hours before the tornado hit), is a volunteer Fire Fighter and had been out helping with search and rescue so they had a lot of stories ... many of them sad, but many of them about every day heros.

It was such a great feeling to hug our family this weekend.  We look forward to our next visit!

Dayne Graduates 6th Grade

Dayne and Lina

Tonight Dayne's school hosted a Graduation party for the kids "graduating" from Elementary school to Middle School.

The program opened with the kids singing a song followed by their big walk across the stage, then on to celebrate with cake and punch!

After the festivities, the Hansen Family went to dinner at SPIN! Pizza to celebrate!  (Graden and I loved the meal, but I don't think the kids will add that to their favorites list!)

My Visit to Johnathan Aswegan

Iowa Roadtrip Photography

My best friend, Jennifer, had her first baby this past April and I couldn't be happier for her!  I took off work for a few days and headed to Iowa to spend some time with her and her lil' family!

I headed out Wednesday about noon and arrived at their house about 5:30.  Chris had prepared a wonderful meal - brats and chips!  It hit the spot!

While there, I told the new parents that I would get up with Baby John in the night so they could rest up!  Although she said that sounded good to her, I knew she'd still wake up when he did.  It's what new mother's do!  That night he only woke up once and was up for about an hour ... then slept til about 8:00 the next morning!

Jennifer made her and I coffee and blueberry & walnut oatmeal for breakfast - so delicious!  Shortly after breakfast, we all headed out to run some errands and grab a bite for lunch.  We went to a quaint little place called The Farmer's Daugher's Market for soup and salad and home made sweet tea and lemonade!  After a few hours of running around we headed back to the house for some rest and relaxation!

That night we invited Jennifer's friend Kayla "Fishy" Fish over for steak, salad and tater dinner and then headed out to a couple of local bars - the Wine Bar, Whiteys and The Three Finger Saloon.  All that fun and we were still home by 11!  Poor Baby John was kind of fussy for the first hour or so, but eventually settled down thanks to some great ol' country music and fishing shows!

That night Baby John slept til about 4am and was up til just after 5am, so he slept in pretty late Friday morning - which meant Jennifer and I did, too!  Friday we just stayed around the house for the most part, except we did go out to lunch to a friend of Jennifer's restaurant in Cedar Rapids.  Had a delicious Buffalo Chicken Sandwich! 

Friday night we laid low ... I cooked Bourban Salmon, mashed garlic taters (Jen's request!) and a salad.  We coupled our dinner with some good wine, of course!

The next morning I took off about 8am because I wanted to be home by 1:30 so we could head to Joplin for Graden's (2nd) cousin's high school graduation.

I loved my time with the Aswegan family and am very grateful for the time we got to spend together!  They are a beautiful little family and I am exctied to watch their family grow over the coming years.

Happy Mother's Day 2011

This year for Mother's Day the Hansen Family debated between going to the KC Royals game or fishing at Truman Lake.   After some pondering I decided that since it was a warm, sunny, calm day that I wanted to go fishing with the family!

About 11:30 we all headed out for a day of family time, sunnin' time and fishing!

We arrived at our destiation just before 2:00 and the boys got to work trying to catch some Big 'Ol Pigs!  (Bass, for all you folks who aren't subjected to the endless amounts of fishing shows that we are!)

Hunter aims to get us where we're going!

Ahh ... kicked back and relaxing!

The boys were reeling in the fish pretty steady and even Dayne got a chance to catch a few fish!

... and I got some relaxing time to take some pictures of the beautiful surroundings!



(Graden quipped, "Do you want me to take you back to Truman Lake so you can take more pictures of dead trees?"  I guess he didn't see the beauty of this picture!  His loss!)

We called it a day about 7:45 that evening and headed back in.  On the way out of town Dayne had a hankerin' for Golden Corral so we stopped in Clinton on the way home.  I was quick to make sure Graden knew that didn't count as my Mother's Day meal outing!!

The next day, Mother's Day, we spent the day relaxing and just hanging out.  Any time the kids are getting along is a great day for me!  We enjoyed a meal out at one of my favorite places, Bonefish Grill ... and THAT did count as my Mother's Day meal outing!  It was a weekend that helped me realize all that I have to be grateful for!!

Me and my  Babies (Hunter, 17  Dayne, 11)

Mother Daughter Trip to Omaha

My step mom's son, Tyler (my step brother) got married this past weekend in Omaha, NE.  I took advantage of this opportunity to spend some time with my dad and step mom & make a Mother-Daughter weekend getaway!

Dayne and I headed for NE on Friday morning about 8:00.  We had an appointment for a pedicure at 1:00 so we didn't want to be late and miss out on that pampering event!  The drive didn't take as long as I thought it would take, so we got there in time to enjoy a quick lunch at Subway with Dad & Susan.  Then the girls headed to the nail salon!  (This was Susan's first ever manicure and pedicure!)

After the  mani-pedi, we headed to the hotel to get ready for the rehersal and rehersal dinner.  While the wedding party headed to the church, Dayne and I headed to the rehersal dinner location and set up for the Mexican feast for all!

Saturday, the day of the wedding, was a whirlwind of events!  We were all going non-stop from the moment we woke up!  Susan pampered herself with having her hair professionally styled, then on to Younkers for her make up to be done at the Clinique counter ... then to the church for pictures.  While Dad and Susan were at the church for the photos, Dayne and I headed back to the hotel to get ready.  The wedding was at 2:00 and we were pushing the time limit, for sure!  We only had about 10 minutes to get dressed and do our hair & make up!  Gahhh!

We made it to the church on time and everything went off without a hitch! It was a beautiful ceremony, with several moments of tears and many more moments of joy!

Tyler and Keri

Tiffany & Dayne at the wedding reception

After the ceremony we all headed over to the reception hall for dinner and dancin'!  It was a fun night!

Susan, Dayne and Dad - dancin' the night away!

The next morning Dayne and I went to Village Inn for breakfast (we don't have them close by, so we had to take advantage of one of our favorite breakfasts!).  After breakfast, we headed over to Keri, the new bride, aunt & uncle's house where they opened wedding gifts and cards.  After staying for a short while, Dayne and I headed back home and got home about 2:30.  It was a fun weekend!  I really cherished the mother-daugher time, and time with my dad and step mom!

Spring Break 2011: Spring Cleaning & Painting the House!

Hard to believe we have lived here for 5 years already!!  ... and after five years of looking at the same drab, flat, getting dirty walls ... I decided it was time to paint!

One day at work I asked, hypothetically more than anything!, if anyone knew of someone who paints and would be wiling to help me paint.  Sure enough, a girl I work with said her brother, who was a laid off union worker at the time, paints and she was sure he'd be interested!  I gave him a call, he gave me his price and we set a date!

This is the drab color the covered every wall in our house.  Not only is it drab, it is flat paint so it is virtually impossible to clean!  .... and with two kids, a dog and a man in the house the walls are destined to get dirty!

That was then .... this is now!

Next up: Dayne's bathroom!