still snowed in...

to my friends in california--complaining about the rain--i don't want to hear it and to my sisters in utah--complaining about -3 degree temps--i don't want to hear it either!

the midwest is experiencing the blizzard of the century apparently and guess who is stuck in the middle of it? anyways, it all started monday afternoon with lots of warnings on the news to get home and stay home. the owners of the company i work for were amazing and thoughtful and gave us tuesday off--letting us know around 2pm so we worked like crazy to get the next couple of days' work done in the remaining hrs at work. i drove home at 4:30 on monday and i haven't left my house since. everything is closed and all the roads are a disaster so here i am. well, at least i have really clean floors and baseboards, right?

i decided to make a few valentine crafts with what i had in my paper box. i think this garland turned out pretty cute. let me know if you want one-it doesn't take too long to make and i have all day to fill.
this morning i woke up an hour early to make sure i had lots of extra time to shovel a path to my car (or wake david up to do it) and to drive to work very slowly. as i was making david shovel i got a text saying work was cancelled again!

here are some pics of the snow for your enjoyment. (feel sorry for me)

this is our side yard. with the snow drifts i would say that is between 3-4ft.
here is david snow blowing our sidewalk. i don't want to get a ticket. thanks for letting us use your snowblower neighbor! (don't worry, i always bring them donuts or treat for letting us borrow it. i'd say that's fair)
crazy neighbors that left their cars out last night! at least with all the wind the snow got blown off.
this blizzard has been crazy! i went to bed hearing thunder and seeing flashes of lighting amidst white out conditions. i'm so glad we're possible half way done with the midwest. i love it--but i don't have to like it right now.

also, happy february! we are less than 2 weeks away from my favorite holiday. well... skype me, call me, text me-- i'm available!

just a christmas teaser...

best pic of the trip...i love these crazy kids.

it was somebody's birthday...

our little typod turned 13! on saturday... so this post is dedicated to the best dressed 13 year old at lexington.

before everyone left for utah/wisconsin we had a birthday celebration in tyler's honor at Kobe and it was the best birthday party i've ever been to (including the sailor themed disaster of '06).

his favorite part of the evening is when everyone went around the hibachi and said their favorite memory of him. (seriously--he was loving it! v)

here we are with monster kourtney--if you could see the hood to her outfit you'd get it. she's seriously the best baby. i hope our babies are as nice as she is.
sexy.
here the birthday boy is with his 2nd niece (addie was being naughty--so she wasn't there, but we missed her!)
gang's all here.
cuties
skinny! i miss you and all your chins!
nothing says, "it's my birthday and i'll do whatever i want" than second dessert.

and this is just a bonus pic of the birthday boy and justin beiber being twinsies.

happy birthday tyler! we love you.

christmas time is here

maybe i just exhausted all of my table-scaping energy at my mom's... but mine just kind of looks like a jumble. perhaps an edit is in order. but notice the mercury glass garland that was one year in the making... it also arrived almost in perfect condition... just a few breaks.

here are my nutcrackers. i just love them. always have. if was blog savvy i would have dance of the sugarplum fairies playing right now.
this is my old world christmas ornament for 2010. it's the camel from their nativity collection. the wisemen are amzazing... i'm holding off on buying the holy family ornament. their version is kind of weird--let's hope they make a good one before i run out of filler ornaments.

the doctor ornament is the one i am most proud of finding. i've been searching everywhere for the past year and i finally found a decent one that matches my style.

this is our "our first home" ornament. i am definitely my mother's daughter. an ornament is necessary for every life event. including wednesdays.
here's the tree! the skirt isn't how i had imagined it, but it will do until next year.
this is the stocking i made for myself this year.
and this is david's. (i'm not sure why this one is so blurry... my camera's drunk. so is my ipod, but that's another story)
and here is our "mantel." if you don't have a fireplace, where do you hang your stockings?

p.s. apparently there is first christmas in wisconsin. it's called "st nick" and i think it's this weekend. all i know is you put your shoes out and st nick brings you a present. so i'll be busy lining all of my shoes up tonight.

if perfect's what you're searching for...

then just stay the same.

(tyler sang that song... a lot. and i loved every minute of it.)

fast isn't for everyone...

while i'm waiting on the slowski to send me some pictures from thanksgiving i guess i'll just have to paint you a picture with words...

it all started wednesday after the longest day at work. milwaukee also decided it would be nice to have our first snow that day. so the freeways were crazy trying to get to their airport. i was a little stressed to begin with and let's face it... i do not travel well. if you're a hansen 10 minutes early is late and 1 hour early is definitely late at the airport. so arriving with 30 minutes to get through security and on to our plane was killing me.

well. we made it. then we started 3 straight days of no sleep, too much food, lots of shopping and returning of christmas trees (mom--you owe me $500! i knew you would cave and get a real one, but i guess i'll just keep my garland and call us even?) and decorating, ambie's birthday and so much fun! (we missed you andie--but thanks for the macarons, i'll remember you the next time i ditch family time and take a whirlwind trip to europe). i think i slept a total of 10 hours. there was just too much to do and eat. it was a great weekend and it was so much fun to catch up with the nielsen siblings and see all of our nieces and nephews in one day! i don't think that has ever happened. anyways, as all good things must come to end we headed back to LAX on saturday at 12am. don't worry our flight was only delayed a few hours and our terminal had no heat. nbd. we made it back to milwaukee around 8am or maybe later... most of sunday is a blurr.

but since then we have managed to get a few things decorated around here. let's start with a little tree hunting recap.

california christmas tree picking:

i kind of miss looking for trees in tents set up in korean bbq restaurant parking lots.

i can't believe my mom thought she could do a fake tree. she's not 80!

tree hotties.

he loved it more than madden.

wisconsin tree picking:

i'm pretty sure it was like 28 degrees out.

she's the one.

david hard at work.

don't worry, the tree only fell of the car once on the freeway. long story. but we made it!

uh....

Sorry Fans!

I know I know, I've been such a bad blogger lately... but it's getting colder outside so you know what that means--more us time.

Let's see. Since we last spoke we've done tons of cool things. I can't remember them right now, but I'm sure it was fun. I did upload pics tonight, so let's see what we have...

well, we went to the Chicago temple a bit ago and afterward we went down to the city and enjoyed some Xoco (a newer rick bayless restaurant). I saw it on the food network and knew we had to check it out. it's amazing. if you don't trust my palate-trust the hour wait for sandwiches and churros. worth it!

it was so good, david couldn't be bothered to look up from his food.

this was one of the pork tortas. i dream about it. if we've spoken since october, i'm pretty sure i've mentioned these.

they make churros from scratch to order and they dust them in the most amazing sugar/cocoa coating you have ever tasted. heaven! if you come visit, we will take you there.

since then we've done a few minor house projects. picked up some necessities (like the bird armoire from anthro for a steal!), eated too much, tried to exercise, studied too much, worked hard and hardly worked, visited with friends and family, had 5 thanksgivings and decorated a bit for christmas... more on that when my pics finish uploading!