Mom's Birthday

I posted some pictures of mom's birthday on my family blog
http://candidhansens.blogspot.com/2009/11/grandmas-birthday.html

Haloween Weekend

I have all sorts of pictures on my families blog. But I thought I'd post a few here of State Farm. They did Batman this year. It's always really cool to go see. (dad was Batman's butler)

I had the honor of photographing Heather's wedding a month ago. I just posted pictures on my newest blog (I know, I have too many ;)

http://josweddingphotography.blogspot.com/


I just set this one up because I am looking for a photographer to team up with. As an assistant or a second photographer. It's the place I'm going to learn more and hopefully make a little money. I'll let you know if anything comes of it :)

There are pictures of James and Amanda's wedding too :)

Summer Fun

We're having a fun summer and I don't think it's even half over. We just celebrated Teresa's 11th birthday and Jonathan and I were able to get away, thanks to mom and dad. They watched the kids, we had fun, they had fun, it was a good arrangement ;)
Anyway, I just posted some pictures of those events on my blog if you want to see :)

NEW HOUSE!!!!

Hello all,
I am finally getting around to posting a few pictures of the new house and yard and such. We finally got the backyard done which was a lot of fun and hard work. But it looks good, and we can now sit and enjoy it. There are still a few projects to do inside the house, but we are getting closer and closer to getting everything done.



So here are a few pictures of some of the rooms:

Here is the front of the house (in case you couldn't tell)

Our piano room/studio

The family room

The kitchen, which we really love

Here is our patio and one side of the yard

Here is another look at the patio and the other side of the yard

Here is the other side of the yard, there is our little garden surrounded by bamboo, and our tiny orange tree back in the back

our large flower bed

no backyard would be complete without a Barbeque, so here we are breaking it in for the first time with some burgers, potato fries and some bacon

Here is the end product of the BBQ, they were quite delicious if I do say so myself

and here is Sophie enjoying the new spaciousness. She loves the backyard in particular

On another note of updating, I received a lovely white pink slip a few weeks ago and I have heard final word that they will not be asking me back next year, so now I am jobless. Not sure what I am going to do, but I guess on the bright side I have a lot of time to write some music. And on another note, I did get accepted into University of Florida's PhD program, but when the final package came down it just wasn't enough money, and there were all kinds of stipulations involving changing my permanent state of residence, which would have caused problems with some tax incentives we have because of the house, so in the end, it just wasn't right enough for me to go, beyond all of that Amanda would have had to stay here, because of her dads health, and that would just be ludicrous. So on the school end, I am going to be applying to a couple of California schools to see if I can do something more feasible, which I should have done in the first place, but you know hindsight and all that.

So that is what is going on currently with out lives. at the moment we are just enjoying our summer and the house.

an exciting bit of news, Amanda's friend that lives in Finland is getting married next summer to a Frenchman, in ITALY, poor souls, so we are planning on taking a European trip next summer for several weeks and travel all around. That will be a blast. We are really looking forward to that.

well I hope all is well with everyone else.

take care,

J&A

Update

Humm...I just wrote a bunch on my blog, so I'm going to send you there to see pictures and read what we've been up to :) If you'd like.

Stones in my belly

Well, we had an interesting adventure yesterday. I woke up with some abdominal pain around 2 am thursday and around 630 I decided I needed to go get checked out, as it was getting worse. It turns out I was passing a lovely kidney stone of my very own. So they hooked me up with some of the best pain meds I have ever experienced and sent me home to pass it. I passed it later that night, with some pain included.

They say next to childbirth that is the worse kind of pain... and I believe them!!!

anyhow, we are all in our new house now, hopefully we will get some pictures up here soon. It has been a lot of work, a lot of painting and a lot of soreness but it is exciting and we are having a good time making it our own.

pictures to come soon, I swear.!

take care

J&A

Biking for Health

In my effort to exercise, stay healthy, and all that stuff, I have been riding my bike to work. I look forward to the thrill of riding with the big boys (all the cars and trucks, some of which come pretty close). Yesterday, as I prepared to go home, I discovered I had a flat tire. I've had flat tires before and simply pumped them up enough to get home. But the air I pumped yesterday was going somewhere other than the tube. I called mom; she brought the truck, and I was able to get home.

I arrived home and investigated the situation. When I pulled the tire back a little, I discovered green slime, oozing out of the tube, like I had squished a few caterpillars. Bottom line? A new tube.

I think I experienced what avid cyclists call a "snake bite." It's something to do with the tube being pinched when force is applied against it (like going over a bump), causing a small split in the tube. I surmise the slime kept the air in for a while, but as the bike sat in the heat yesterday, the air pressure increased, and the tube finally failed.

Looking on the bright side, I now have the opportunity to experience changing a tube. I'm going to replace both of them since the front one oozes a little green stuff, now and then. I ran over a screw last summer; it's never totally healed.

Take care.

From a healthy dad (relatively speaking. We are relatives, aren't we?)

Monster vs. Aliens

It's a good movie. We took the kids yesterday and Nathan was mezmorized by it. He didn't want to wear his 3D glasses the whole time, but he didn't care. The new 3D movies are so amazing. It used to be that just parts of the scene popped out at you and the other parts were just 2D, but this one seemed to have great depth, it was very cool. I think we'll be adding it to our library. Only downside - VERY expensive. It was our first time taking Nathan to a full price theater, and then you had to add another $3.50 for the 3D. And what's a movie without popcorn ?! But we all had a really great time. Before the movie we went to Costco for hotdogs :) And after we went for a very nice bike ride. A great Sunday!

Teresa in her 3D glasses






(I added some of Teresa's art on my Family blog, this post is duplicated there)

Spring Break here in Cali

We are having a Super great Spring Break. I am slowly posting pictures of each day on my blog. If you'd like to see what we're doing check it out. I only have 2 days so far, but there are some nice pictures :)

Utah Trip

A week ago Thursday, we traveled to Salt Lake to attend Braden's baptism. It was a great trip, though I had to ignore the tiredness from time to time.
The baptism was a spiritual feast. The spiritual tone was set by Amanda when she offered her emotional thanks to Braden for his being the kind of person he is, and by Braden for being a great young man.

Boo to Renting

Well, it is almost official. Amanda and I are a few signatures away from buying a house. We go in tomorrow to sign the papers and we should close on the 24th of this month. We got a really nice deal and are very excited about it. So we will share pictures and more info once we get in and everything is official.

so if anyone visits, we will have lots of extra space.

hope all is well with everyone.

Hope to see you all soon.

J&A

Well...today I turn 65, a milestone birthday.

As I contemplate my life, as I do from time to time, I sometimes have difficulty sorting out what I've accomplished that could be classified as important. I lay no claim to talent, and as I get older, I question more what I really know.

But maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree; maybe I should not worry about what I have done that is important or what I know, maybe I should focus on other people and how important they are in my life, especially my family.

All families have good people and good times, somewhere, sometime; I am glad I have the blessing of the good people and good times in our family. Our common ground brings us together; our differences make us rich; our love blends it all.

I thank you all for who you are.

Happy Birthday Dad!

We love you!

John Et Al etc then (so far) it picks up again

Dad, I like the photo you posted.

I will start with the least important and go down the line.

The ebay business is going steady, every so often there is a little dip and I think it is because of the economy but then (so far) it picks up again. But even if it dipped for a bit I couldnt complain as this last fall things were better then they have ever been and I feel a bit guilty about that especially considering what is happening to the economy and to those around me. Rick moved out of hte warehouse completely this weekend and I will spend the next little while organizing the space to be more efficient so that I can spend less time there. Which is always the goal, spending less and less time there while maintaining the same income - perhaps it will end up I hiring a monkey for bananas while I never enter the warehouse again - does anyone know a monkey for hire?

Art career - woo hoo I have one (again - is the third time a charm?). I am currently preparing for a solo show at the Finch Lane Gallery here in SLC and have just finished an event at my house/studio that went really well. I am booked with shows until the end of the year and things are moving along rather quickly and busily (is that a word?). So far I will be in 7 shows this year. Emily and I just put an ad in the international art magazine "Modern Painters" based in London for the March issue - I will let you know how that goes. I will be the featured artist in the summer edition of the LDS alternative Intellectual magazine "dialogue" and I am meeting with a writer this week to begin my first collaborative effort. I am also planning on starting a foster art program in SLC as soon as I have the work completed for the Finch Lane show I will also be starting my national efforts to gain a national career again (second time) at that time. I have also been asked to be the Art/Culture Committie on our local community council.

Family - we bought a piano, yes a real live one. I got a prefessional Yamaha upright for cheap at an auction last month and plan on getting Aidan started on lessons soon. Aidan is Aidan, brilliant, big, polite and ever changes - he is currently involved in a rigid training program with Wii Fit (I have added yoga to my workout training). William is back in PreSchool at Montessori and doing well. Theo is a veteran walker and skips development steps here and there - today he decided that sliding down the stairs or crawling up them is for amatuers and has started walking up and down much to the increase in parental anxiety. Now that William is in preschool Emily is painting again on a regular basis and is doing well with that and the community council as always. She has also started attending a book club comprised of a number of our friends from Open Classroom (alas, men are not allowed - and I thought sexism was dead). We are all doing well and have been fortunate to meet very interesting people since moving here and are now surrounded by a great group of friends. We also spent the month of January remodleing the public spac of our house and I must say I love it.

More later, I have ignored too many calls from others for attention.

Love,

John

Well, I am the one who suggested this blog, and I haven't contributed since the first week. So, here goes.

As you all know, my job with State Farm entails supervising a unit of people who handle workers compensation claims. Thursday and Friday of this week, I had the opportunity to attend a conference in LA (at the Sheraton, on Century Blvd) put on by the California Department of Workers Compensation. It was a good conference, worth the time and travel. It was also good for me to mix with people from different environments who deal with the complexities and jargon of workers compensation. I've been in work comp for a little over four years, and I have been continually frustrated, wondering if I was ever going to feel comfortable with the ever-evolving work comp environment in California. As I experienced the conference, I realized my understanding of work comp is as good as most, and those things I don't understand perplex others, as well. I feel better.........for now.

Two weeks from tonight, Master Works Chorale and the Liberty High School choir are performing Dvorak's Te Deum with the Bakersfield Symphony. I've been told, with the two choirs, there will be close to 200 singers.

Last Tuesday, the Masterworks rehearsal indicated that, with some minor fine tuning, we are ready to perform. It should be a good concert; I'm looking forward to singing with the Liberty High choir. Their director used to direct Masterworks Chorale.

Teresa and Nathan are spending the night with us tonight. They came over this afternoon. Teresa helped harvest oranges and prune the orange tree, and during dinner, we watched "Horton Hears a Who."

Nathan watched me mow the lawn, and at one point, he would run across the lawn, in front of me, like he was playing the came of catch-me-if-you-can, with the lawn mower. Of course, he took no chances and kept at a safe distance, probably at least 20 feet in front of me. He would also pull grandma off the lawn if he thought I was getting too close to her.

Well, that's enough for tonight.

My love to everyone. What a great family you are.

Sick 'til Spring

We have been plagued with coughs and sore throats around here. Poor Nathan has had it for almost a month. But I think today he's finally showing improvement. I haven't had to wipe his nose once and he hasn't really coughed - Yippee! It helps that the sun is out and the weather is pleasant t-shirt weather. I'm itching for a trip to the beach or a picnic in the park. I know, two very different events, but if I can't have the beach, a park day will have to do :) I have the beach to look forward to, I've already booked a hotel in Morro Bay for Spring Break. We hope to see lots of tide pools. Alas, that is still several weeks away.

In the meantime Teresa is working hard on a piano piece for the School Talent show auditions next Thursday. She also plans to read a ton this weekend. The quarter is ending and she needs to finish Inkspell(200 pages to go), and a small book to reach her reading goal. She's not worried, and she shouldn't be, she's a fast reader. I'm trying to knit this really cute sackboy from a PS3 game. Isn't he cute? I'm using pink, because it's what I had, if it turns out I might try a brown one, or my hands might hurt to bad. For my brother-in-laws B-day(Ty) I am going to try and make a cake of this little guy. His wife Michelle will have just had a baby(March 14th) so I offered to make the cake. Should be fun!


So that's us in a nut shell. If we're lucky we'll get started on preparing a garden too. But that depends on the weather and health :) OH, I can't forget. Teresa and Nathan get to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's on Saturday. Almost better than that, Jonathan and I are going to a Rock Band Birthday Party, just the two of us. Thanks for that mom and dad!

Elise Lily Tiner

Oh, and here is our new niece, Elise Lily Tiner. Born Feb 2. She is a very content little baby and Alina Rose loves being a big sister.

The Children-less Sproul Family Update

Well, I suppose I will put an update on Amanda and myself. There isn't much going on, so it will be short.

We are both still teaching tiny children, which has its good days and bad of course, like all things. But at least we have jobs and that is something these days.

We have several different plans but they are all up in the air as we await decision letter from doctoral programs, which should be coming anytime in the next six weeks.

So in the meantime we are having fun looking at dream houses, as buying a house is plan B if the schools don't work out. So that is filling up the space that getting portfolios together for the last six months had taken.

For Amanda she is doing well, but her father was diagnosed with Lung Cancer a few weeks ago, it is small and they are confident they will be able to operate after a brief bout of Kemo and Radiation. So he is in everyones thoughts and we are hoping for the best. He is in good spirits.

For myself, I had a piece performed in October up at CSU Stanislaus as part of a conference, the same piece is being played in Oklahoma, at my old school, on the 27th of Feb. for yet another conference, so I am taking a trip out there. It is also being played two more times this year (april 4th and 9th) by the same people who did it up in Stanislaus as part of a "crossing-genres" concert that will feature everything from indie rock, to modern classical to chamber ensemble arrangements of two Radiohead songs that they asked me to do, which has been an interesting project.

Other then that, we are just in the waiting game and counting the days until summer.

Hope all is well with everyone.

J & A

The Hansen Family update

I'm just going to give a general update on everyone for the first post.

I'll start with Nathan, he is quite a character. You should see him on the computer, he surfs between his sites and plays all kinds of games, all by himself. His fine motor skills are pretty amazing for his age. His speech is getting better, he has a lot of words, some don't have endings. Like cake is ca. He has sentences he uses on a regular basis, I think my favorite it "Oh, I get it!" . He's in that part of life where he wants to know what everything is, so he's always asking "what c that be?" or What's that?" He likes to identify sounds. He doesn't have any activities he does yet. There's a kids gym I'm going to try soon, see if it's something he likes.

Nathan likes to help cook and clean (not his room though). He loves to read books, either with me or sissy or by himself. He likes to tell me "no" a lot these days, but doesn't usually throw a fit, he just keeps telling me no as he is doing what I ask. He's funny about certain things being in particular order. Yesterday we went in his room and he was telling me it was clean, but then started tucking things into his closet, some toys were over the line, and that just wasn't acceptable to him. Right now Nathan is getting over a cold. He's been sick for over a week -fevers, cough, runny nose, slight ear infections and pink eye. But I think he's on the mend now, I'm hoping.

Okay, I should move on to Teresa. She is 4ft 10in now and very excited to be taller than her teacher. She is and has been entering that stage of life that brings so many changes, but taking them in stride. We talk a lot about the physical and emotional changes that are occurring. We don't get enough time just the two of us, but we try. Last weekend we went over to Michael's crafts to do a free craft and then got some Jamba Juice for lunch, it was really nice. She is doing very well in school, she just got a progress report with all A's. We don't expect all A's, we expect her to try her best and learn. And she does a good job. Last year was so hard, it's been great to have an easier year. Last year she barely had time to do her homework let alone practice piano and be a kid. She is doing well in piano too, it's not always fun to practice, but she does love knowing how to play. The school is having a talent show in April and she wants to learn Fur Elise(the first part). She still loves to read, I hope that doesn't change. Right now she's reading Inkspell(the second to Inkheart) She's loving them. They have a reading program at school with tests and points, she said she has 70pts of 100. To give some perspective a Harry Potter book gave her 32 points last quarter, and her goal was 40pts. She has read so much her teacher upped her goal. She is a great big sister, she puts up with a lot and plays with him but is glad her door has a lock, for those, "I need my privacy" moments. She just got her second appliance in her mouth. They took the expander out and had to put something else in because while expanding the back of her mouth got too wide, so this device will pull the back in a little. So that sits there for another 5 weeks and then she gets her top 4 brackets on. She is very excited about it, which is great. She's always been so good about taking things in stride, nothing too dramatic. We're always telling our kids they're dramatic, but then I spend time with other kids and realize we don't have a lot of drama :)

This is us after our Jamba juice and craft at Michael's

Jonathan and I are doing great. He's showered me with lots gifts these last few weeks. It's been nice ;) We are playing the tour in Rock Band 2 and just ran into a set that is 84 songs long. Are they serious? We haven't tried it yet. occasionally we break away from tour and play hard, it's funner for me. I play the drums which aren't as hard as the guitar on Hard. We also downloaded Tetris for the Wii, so we're trying to beat the challenge where we are both filling the same grid. The goal is 150 lines and we can't get past 83, it just goes too fast. It's fun trying though :)

Things I'm doing...I'm decluttering my house, we need more room to live, so we're condensing the things we have on display. I'm loving my new lens. Jonathan goes to play airsoft next weekend, so I'm going to get together with the other wives and we're going to learn to knit. And then there's the cake thing. Which is way fun. Sometimes I wish I had more reasons to make cakes for other people, because I don't want to eat them.

That was really long, but a good start. Your turn!

Starting Out

I'm taking a look at this BLOG stuff to see if it could be a good medium to facilitate family communication. If it works, I think it could be a lot of fun to post weekly (or as often or as little as you like) updates on what everyone is doing. The posts don't have to be a big deal, just ordinary stuff will do.

Test

It's not hard, everyone can post their letters here and then they are archived and easy to read when you have the time. They won't get lost in email and you can add pictures. Also, if we label our posts with our names in it, someon can pull up all the posts from that one person.