Digital Scrapbooking 101

While preparing for all of my Young Women duties, I always wander the Internet looking for good ideas. I am constantly coming across all of these amazingly crafty women creating all of these wonderful digital designs. Their creations were always impressive, but I found myself getting annoyed that I didn't know how to do the same thing. Finally I came across a blog and website with tutorials and free downloads...yea!! This is my first attempt at digital scrapbooking. I have a long way to go, but I am excited to have actually done something. Plus, Photoshop used to freak me out and now I am a lot less intimidated.

The website with tons of free downloads and the tutorial I used to create this page is www.shabbyprincess.com. The blog that tipped me off to this is http://jillsldsyw.blogspot.com/2008/11/trade-secrets.html.

Happy Halloween

We celebrated Halloween this year at our ward's annual Trunk-or-Treat. This activity never fails to please. The girls got more than enough candy, we were fed dinner, and we got to hang out with friends. I am a little bitter, though. I entered the Chili and Apple dessert contests and came away empty handed. While I had no expectations for the Chili (I made it from a store bought mix), I expected big things from my Caramel Apple Cheesecake. I know, just the name should have won something! I think it was rigged.

Super Girl, doing a super hero pose, of course.

I don't think that there ever was a cuter Bat Girl. She was so proud of her costume. She knew who she was dressed as and whenever anyone said "Bat Girl" she would point to the bat emblem on her costume and smile. Every year Sheri Clark takes a picture of our family at the Trunk-or Treat. It is seriously the only picture of our family that ever turns out. I officially designated her the Hansen Family Photographer after this picture was taken...third year in a row!
Ella just learned to say "cheese" when she sees a camera.
Grace and Buzz (alias, Cameron Taylor). They are such great crime fighting friends!

Fall in Florida

The leaves don't change color here and the weather doesn't get cold, so the signal to Floridians that Fall has arrived is when the pumpkin patches start popping up. I was so excited to carve pumpkins this year and was sure that Grace would, too. The idea was appealing to her, but she quickly lost interest in the actual execution. Grace actually picked a great pumpkin. She spent a lot on time selecting the right one. She even checked out the stems carefully to get the full package. I was impressed.


She told me she wanted a Princess pumpkin and we found a stencil online. She helped mark the pumpkin, and then played until the hard work was done.

Yes, I let my child run around without clothes in what appear to be a saggy diaper. Don't judge me...We live in St. Cloud, what do you expect!

The final product (Ariel, a.k.a The Little Mermaid) turned out pretty dang good.

Monster Truck Mayhem

We entered a drawing at the local library to win tickets to the upcoming Monster Truck show. We didn't win, but a friend of mine did. She was going to be on vacation for the show and offered us the tickets. Thanks, Amber! I had never been to anything like this, so we thought we would give it a go. It was actually a really good time and the girls loved it. Our sweet little Grace. This is what I got when I asked her to, "Look at Mommy and smile."

Oh, Ella. We were totally unprepared for how loud it would be. When we got there we bought ear plugs for the girls, but Ella had no desire to leave them in. for some reason she kept pulling out one, but leaving the other in. We figured saving her hearing in one ear was better than nothing.

This guy got a flat tire trying to do some sort of fancy monster truck rally trick. That sucks!

Lately, Grace feels the need to do super hero poses when having her picture taken.

The Magic Number

While at Disney a few weeks before these pictures were taken, we discovered that Grace had finally reached the "magic number"...40 inches. Once the height is reached an entirely new world of possibilities is opened. The first "big girl" ride Grace went on was Test Track at Epcot. She was not scared, AT ALL! Not that we were surprised. A few days later we decided to head to Magic Kingdom where the real action happens! Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, here we come. The properly prepare herself for the mature rides to come, Grace was sure to apply ample amounts of lip gloss. She wouldn't want to stand out among the other "big girls", would she.
Ella, as always, is generally happy to be along for the ride.

Eric took Grace for her first ride on Splash Mountain. When did she get so big?


This is them coming down the huge drop. It is hard to see, but they are in the back row. You can see Eric in the white shirt, but grace is hidden.

After the drop with a huge smile on her face! I love it. I took her again right after this and that time she put her hands in the air on the big drop! She is crazy. We also took her on Thunder Mountain and the story was the same.

She's Official

We finally broke down and bought Grace her own annual pass to Walt Disney World. She turned 3 at the end of July and technically we should have bought her one then, but we were hoping to avoid the big purchase as long as possible. We went a few times after her birthday, and every time I was sure the Disney age police were going to bust us. I felt so guilty. Plus, Grace is not a 3 year old that could pass for 2. She is huge for her age and we got funny looks from the people at the gate before her birthday. Sneaking her after she turned 3 was a stretch. About a month after her birthday I was preparing a lesson for Young Women about honestly. I felt like such a jerk, so that afternoon we went to Disney and made her official. Grace proudly displaying her official pass. She was so proud of herself!
After having watched us go through the gates a million times, she knew the drill. She didn't want ANYONE to help her.

Jail Birds

Ella woke up from her nap and was happily greeted by Grace and Morgan. The big girls climbed right in and the party started. I think they would have stayed in the crib all afternoon. If I wasn't afraid that their weight would cause the crib to collapse, I would have been more than happy to leave them all there!