Monday, December 15, 2014

6 Months of Life: Part 1

So...I have been more than M.I.A around here in the last 6+ months, and life has change A LOT for the Hansen family.  I decided it was best to sum it up in a couple posts! :)  Here is what we have been up to!

June
To start out the month of June, I actually have to start at the end of May...Keith surprised me with a trip to Kansas City for my 30th Birthday.  He packed our bags two days in advance and hid them in the basement and just told me to get dressed and we were going somewhere on the day of our trip.  He did an AMAZING job...we were on a strict budget with our life changes, so he used some hotel rewards for Argosy Casino and got a free hotel room and free meals for us, he worked my my sister, Vickie, to watch the kids so we could go for a night out and when we were waiting for dinner, I got an extra surprise...our great friends, Robyn and Courtney, walked in!  We had a great night out and it was an incredible weekend!

Robyn took this pic right as they walked in...yes, I was a bit surprised! ;)
We got back home and on June 3rd, I officially turned the big 3-0...It was nice day with our little family, complete with my special present that I told Kolten I had wanted pretty much all year...a Little Mermaid Balloon (purchased with Daddy's help, of course)!  Keith surprises didn't stop at the weekend get away either.  For years I had told him about this Snoopy Sno-Cone machine I had when I was little that I absolutely loved, and he found one at a garage sale!  This guy...I tell ya, he is a keeper! ;)

After our celebrations, we started to really pray and come to terms with the position our family was in. With Keith out of a job, I had started to look for some part time employment to at least be able to help with bills and hold us over until Keith was able to find a full time position.  He applied to a lot of places, but was not finding any possible leads. I had some luck to be offered a couple part time jobs, but our answer came one night during a call with my niece, Candace. We found out that they were looking at purchasing a new home and their current house would be available for us to rent in Garden Plain if we decided to move home.  We prayed a lot and felt like God was really telling us to move back, so we gave notice to our landlord in Iowa and made plans to move home to Kansas in mid-June.  As we were packing up we experienced heartache as Keith's Uncle Jim passed away after a battle with cancer.  We put a stall on our packing and traveled to Nebraska for Jim's funeral.  Because of our limited time to get out of our house in Iowa, we had to travel back from Nebraska the day of the funeral and on the way home, we got the call that Keith's other uncle, Norm, had lost his battle with cancer that day as well.  We made quick plans and changes in the next couple of days and with a 4 hour round trip to pick up a truck, and with help from our AMAZING church family at Trinity, we packed up and drove a Uhaul truck to Nebraska for the 2nd funeral in less than two weeks.  While it was incredibly stressful, I was amazed at the way I saw God work in our lives and He truly provided the strength we did not have to get us through.

We arrived in Garden Plain on June 15th in whirlwind, my wonderful brother, Dale and niece, Nicole helped us to unpack our truck in a few hours.  In just a week, we got pretty much everything unpacked and our new home was ready for a fun filled afternoon to celebrate Kolten's 4th birthday!  We had a wonderful afternoon, complete with a visit from "Uncle" Newby in the firetruck!  After the celebration of Kolten's birthday, we got ready to pack our bags and head to Montana to see Grandma and Grandpa Hansen!  Yes, if you are keeping up...we did A LOT of traveling in June! ;)

We arrived in Montana on June 28th, and Kolten got to celebrate his actual birthday with a fun filled trip to the zoo and a really awesome cake from Grandma and Grandpa Hansen that had an actual Transformer on it!  He was so excited!
Kolten's birthday party in Kansas, pic of the kids on their 1st airplane ride and Kolten with Grandma and Grandpa at the Zoo

July
We started out July still in Montana and Uncle Dan joined us for the whole family to take a fun filled vacation to Yellowstone National Park.  We had an AMAZING time...we saw so many animals, lots of Buffalo and Elk and an adorable Black Bear to name just a few!  We also went to the Battle of Little Big Horn (I think that may have been in June technically - I can't remember now!) and Kolten got to take part in the Junior Ranger Program.  He LOVED it!  Keith helped him work through some little work books and they learned about all kinds of stuff (that he tried to teach me as well :))!  Grandma and Grandpa also got him a pretty awesome vest to put his badges and patches on (which of course we will have to plan more trips to get all filled up). We had such and incredible time and are so thankful to Grandma and Grandpa Hansen for making the trip possible for us! :)
All loaded up and ready to go!
Our ADORABLE Junior Ranger!
 

As we got back from Montana, it was time for our new life to start back in Kansas.  I interviewed and was hired back at Wichita State before our trip and started the Monday after we returned.  Keith started a new job as well as the Manager of the Distribution Center for the Wichita Eagle.  We got started with our "new normal" and geared up for a busy and fun fall because Kolten was going to start PreSchool!!! 

I am sure there are things that happened here and there that I may have forgotten, but that's our "highlight reel" for June and July!  Check back (hopefully) tomorrow for August and beyond! 

Have a blessed day friends! :)

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