Also

I ran across these gems today....

(Both taken before we were dating.)

May 2009, hiking in Bryce Canyon

Fall 2008, hanging out :)

Happy Birthday!

Today my wonderful husband and best friend turned 26!

We had a great time celebrating this week....

Pizza and a movie on Thursday.

Dinner at IHOP last night.

Presents: two polos, a Braves shirt, and the last two James Bond movies.

Conference, breakfast, and cake today!

I love Kyle so much.

He has brought me so much joy in the last (almost) four years, and I am so glad and grateful that he is mine for eternity. He is so wonderful, and so perfect for me.

It's crazy to think that this is the 4th birthday of his that we have spent together.

Here's to many more!

The Hunger Games

Hey, friends.

I've been super absent around these parts, lately. And April is gearing up to be an extremely busy month! But I wanted to tell you about THE HUNGER GAMES.
These books are fantastic.
I don't remember who introduced them to me.... But I do know I read the first book in one night. And I read the second book in one night as well. The third book I pre-ordered, but it came in the mail when we were in Yellowstone. Luckily, Nathan had already downloaded the audio version, so we listened to Mockingjay on our drive up, around, and back from Yellowstone.

And when they announced a movie version, I was thrilled. And have been counting down to it since last year. And this past week, it came out!

And it was fantastic.
I know a  lot of fans found some things to be nit picky about. Usually, I would join in with them. But I thought it was so well done, and I was so riveted to the screen that nothing bothered me. The only thing that I thought could have been done a little better is introducing how Katniss knew to go find Peeta by the stream, and that he was hurt. But that's it.
They did a wonderful job casting. I loved all the characters so much.
I knew the shakyness of the camera was not loved by all, but I didn't mind it, and thought it was a pretty cool effect, actually.
I loved that they inserted scenes: President Snow and Seneca Crane talking, the end of Seneca Crane, the gamemakers in their "studio" manipulating the arena, shots of the districts watching the games, the uprising of District 11. I loved them all.

I loved it, loved it, loved it.

You should check out  my Hunger Games board here.

Blessed

Sometimes I get reminded of just how blessed I am.

I have a good job that provides for our family.

We live in a cute little basement apartment that may not be the greatest, but works for us both space-wise and rent-wise. Not to mention we have great landlords.

I have a college degree.

I have a wonderful husband who is also my best friend, who loves me and is always there for me. He's also a super hard worker who is currently pursueing his masters degree.

We both have wonderful families.

We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and were married in the Temple.

I have such a great life, and I am so grateful.

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

—Marianne Williamson

**I know I haven't posted in a while, so I wanted to share one of my favorite pieces of writing with you.

I have like 5 drafts started and not published.

I was just about to work out. I had my work out clothes on, was about to go get my weights, and put on Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I was prepared to die. And then I was going to make some brownies. But, as I was crossing the living floor from our bedroom to the kitchen, I saw a spider scurry across the floor and perhaps disappeared in my slippers or under the couch. I was even kind of brave and nudged it with my shoe while holding Kyle's slipper ready to get that bad boy. But nothing moved. Was there really a spider? I don't know. But I sure as heck ain't working out anymore. I am now on the couch on the opposite side of the room, looking over at the slippers every 20 seconds, and sure that every little tickle I feel against my skin is a rabid spider. I didn't even put my back against the couch for like ten minutes, but that got uncomfortable.
And Kyle is at a game which is why I am not moving from this couch until he comes home. No sir.

So I thought I would blog. Since, like the title of this blog posts says, I have a bunch of things to say that are probably not remotely interesting.

First,
March is the favorite month in the Hanson family.
Why?
March Madness, Corned Beef, and Kyle's Birthday. Plus Easter and General Conference are just days away! Mmm, mmm, good. This is also a crazy busy month for Kyle, poor guy. I will also start working out this month. (Yes, I know it's the middle of the month.) (And clearly I just failed for today.)
I really am going to start a work out routine and stick with it. I started the 30 Day Shred once before... and did it once. Fail. But it made me really sore that first (and only) time so I am sure that it will yield awesome results. I might not do it every day. I'm aiming for 3 times a week. and perhaps running the other 2 days? That might be pushing it... I am not an athletic or working out type of person. But I am really going to stick with it and get the results I want. Don't go all "oh but you're so skinny and you look great on me." Thanks, but no thanks. Although I do enjoy when people tell me I look like I've lost weight. That, I'll take. I know I am small and not as big as some people. I also know what I used to look like, and what I look like now. I know what I used to weigh, and what I weight now. I know what clothes I used to fit into, and what clothes I do not fit in now.
I would like to lose some tummy flab, tone my arms and legs, and lose a little hip fat as well. I have hips. I have a bum. I know that and to be honest I love that. But I still have pounds and inches to lose.
Ok, rant over.
ALSO another reason to work out is because we are having a biggest loser Hanson family challenge! We all weighed in last Sunday, and will see who "wins" by the time we all get together for our California vacation in 4 months! I don't expect to win, but I do expect to show some improvement.

Ok, now really this rant about working out and weight is over.

Last night we had a Bishop's panel youth fireside. It was so much fun. We had all the youth in the ward together, plus leaders. The youth had all submitted questions annonymously that they wanted answered, and then we had a panel of three couples - the Bishop and his wife, a couple in the ward who have three children, and a young couple, not even married a year. They took turns answering questions, and we ranged from laughing hysterically to feeling the Spirit so strongly. It was amazing. I love my calling.
And speaking of my calling - last week we had a clothes swap. Every one (including leaders) brought in clothes that we had lying around that weren't getting worn, and we laid them all out and went "shopping"! It was so fun. There were a ton of clothes - and we all got some great stuff. I got about 4 shirts, a pair of dress pant capris, a pair of work out capris, two skirts, a scarf, and a pea coat made out of sweatshirt material, if that makes sense. We had a bunch of clothes left over that we donated to DI. Oh man. Free clothes. My favorite. And spending time with those girls. My other favorite.

Another random thought - my long hair. I haven't had hair this long since my junior year of high school. I still don't really want to cut it, although it will need a trim soon. And also, my hair is not only long, it is thick. And so I feel like it is taking me over sometimes, especially in pictures. All you can see is my crazy hair. It takes over my clothes, and people in pictures with me. Still loving it though. Not going to cut it for a while....

K and I are awesome. I love him. He loves me. We have an awesome life together and have done awesome things together and things are only going to get better.
My life rocks.

Wow. Ok.
That was a word vomit post if there ever was one. Sorry about that. Kudos to you if you got through it!
And there weren't even any pictures... So, here are some random ones - as if this post wasn't random enough already.

We are best friends. (Ish, who's not in this picture? ahahaha)
And this was at the Kenny Chesney concert, summer 2007.

Crayyyzyyyy. Love my Nat and Em.
Festival of Colors 2010.

I love burgers.
2007.

I do not love celery?
2007.

Not a flattering picture - but hey, see how skinny I was!
I'l like to look like that again, please.
2008.

Again. Example of skinny.
2008.

I hope you enjoyed this post.

My New Favorite Picture

Oh Logan, your Aunt Britt sure loves you!

Food I Could Live Off Of

Pizza, cheeseburgers, fries, chocolate milkshakes, donuts.

Throw in a little pasta, and some water, and some chocolate, and some orange-peach-mango juice, and some toast, and some french toast or pancakes, and some Dr. Pepper, and crepes.

I'd be a happy camper.
and also very, VERY obese.

Just an Update

I realized that I haven't really posted anything about Kyle and I lately, as far as updates go. I've only been posting about our recent activities, when I've been posting at all.... :)

So, I thought I'd give you a little update on our lives.

K: Still really enjoying school. This semester he has started actually doing clinical time with clients, so that has been exciting. However, he has had a hard time getting hours, even with two facilities. He first has been working on getting client hours on campus in the counseling center there - right on the same floor where he has all his classes! But they have been really slow at getting hours for him. So then he came to my work and got all set up to see clients here... But has yet to be schedule with anyone. So that is really frustrating for him as he is halfway through the semester and only has 2 direct client hours out of 60. Hopefully he will start getting hours soon!

He is working so hard at school! He was invited to join Chi Sigma Iota which is the Counseling Honors Society, and he hopes to be an officer next year. He also had a research proposal accepted for Research Day, which is next week. 

On top of school, he is also playing ward basketball once a week, and participates in an intramural basketball team with some of his counseling cohort - they play about twice a week. However, he sprained his ankle playing last week so he might have to wait to get back into playing. He also goes to appointments with the missionaries, and serves in the service committee in our ward. 

He is such a hard worker, and I am so proud of him!

B: I was made the Billing Manager about two weeks ago, which is great. I feel very blessed to have found this job. I am really enjoying working 8-4, even if 8 am seems really early some days :) 

Other than work, I am serving as the Young Women's Secretary in my ward, and I love it! All the leaders are awesome and we have such a fun time with the girls. I'm also trying to work out more... Trying being the key word :) I'll probably do a later post about fitness, so I won't go into it right now.

And that's us! Between trying to keep our house clean and tidy, spending time together, watching HIMYM and sports (March Madness starts soon!), K having homework, and various other responsibilities we do keep busy. But it's a good busy :)

The Best Family

Seriously.

We have the best family ever. We love them.

Our weekend activities went like this:

Friday: Get to Nate and Mel's around 4. Ate dinner with the whole family (Mom and Dad, Mel and kids, Blaine and Brooke and kids, Alan, K and I) minus Nathan and Jess and Claire. After dinner we all drove up to meet Nathan at his work (where Jess and Claire also joined us). Nate works doing computer programming for planetarium type things, so we were able to have our own private viewing of some of the different shows in the planetarium dome thing. It was pretty cool. The kids loved it.

We went back to Nate and Mel's after and just chatted before K and I went over to Kyle's cousin Lori's house in Magna, which is were we slept since there were so many Hanson's in town.

Saturday: Got up, got ready, and headed back over to Nate and Mel's. Brooke and I went and did a little shopping. Then we came back to the house and all just spent time together. Alan, Jess and Claire came over, as well as Kyle's Uncle Dennis and Aunt Sandra who brought up Grandma Hanson as well. We ate a big lunch together and just spent more time together. Later that night, my mom and Charity came up, and we all went to baby Claire's blessing, which was great. 

Afterwards the majority of us went back to Nate and Mel's and chatted after the kids were put to bed.

Sunday: Got up, got ready and went to church together. We came home, ate some lunch and had quiet time/nap time. The whole Hanson family then had dinner together again, and spent more time together before Kyle and I were the ones to break up the party as the first to leave. 

It got a little crazy - I mean all together there are 10 adults and 7 kids under 8 - but we had a great time being together. K and I were glad to come back to our little, quiet home though :) But we are looking forward to August when we are all together again in Oceanside, CA!

And now... Wayyyy too many pictures. Enjoy!

K playing with Logan.

Me and Avery.

If Avery saw that I had the camera out she would run over and get right in my face saying "chee, chee"!

So freakin' cute.

She's my buddy.

Ohhh cute Logan.

Grandpa and Luke!

K, Liam and Allie. 

Grandma Hanson, Evan, and Whit.

Logan and Luke! Our twin nephews!

K and I at Claire's blessing.

With my mom!

Sis and I.

Sweet baby Claire.

Me and the newest Hanson.

Evan and Holly with Claire.

Brooke and I!

Ohhh sweet baby A.

Holly and Luke just chillin'.

Evan and Claire.

Little Luke. He's quite serious, so this is a pretty good smile to catch on camera!

Evan and Holly with their seven grandkids!

Me with Logan and Luke.

Me with Liam and Allie - they didn't really want to take a picture.