Christmas Cookies ...

Defently one of the best things about the holiday season is making all of those yummy tastey treats. I took one day and devoted it to making my sugary treats. I cant forget my parents house too, my mom took a total of two days to bake cookies and homemade candy and fudge. mmm holidays !





I even got to watch the storm roll through and caught a glimps of two rainbows.



Happy Holidays !

I Sparkle More Than Edward Cullen ...

Do you remember the scene from Home Sweet Alabama, where Andrew (Patrick Dempsey) takes Melanie (Reese Witherspoon) to the jewelry store and tells her to pick out which ever rings she wants? Well let me tell you, that is amazing! Justin suprised me for Christmas and took me to pick out my new upgraded rings! It was so much fun trying just about everything on in the store. In the end I picked out a 1 1/2 carat round brilliant cut and a 2 carate round brilliant eternity band. I love these things and can't believe how much they sparkle!

E.L.F ...

Please vote for my cousin for the face of e.l.f modeling search!


http://www.exploremodeling.com/Contest/Faceof_ELF_2010/21524/Jessica_Otto.aspx

Saint Nicholas Day ...

Saint Nicholas is the common name for Nicholas of Myra, a saint and Bishop of Myra. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus. His reputation evolved among the faithful, as is common for early Christian saints.

The historical Saint Nicholas is remembered and revered among Catholic and Orthodox Christians. He is also honoured by various Anglican and Lutheran churches.

People then began to suspect that he was behind a large number of other anonymous gifts to the poor, using the inheritance from his wealthy parents. After he died, people in the region continued to give to the poor anonymously, and such gifts were still often attributed to St. Nicholas.

While feasts of Saint Nicholas are not observed nationally, cities with strong German influences like Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and St. Louis celebrate St. Nick's Day on a scale similar to the German custom. On December 5, the Eve of St. Nicholas Day, each child puts one empty shoe outside their bedroom door or on a staircase before they go to sleep. The following morning of December 6, the children awake to find that St. Nick has filled their footwear with candy and small presents. For these children, the relationship between St. Nick and Santa Claus is not clearly defined, although St. Nick is usually explained to be a helper of Santa. The tradition of St. Nick's Day is firmly established in the Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Cleveland and St. Louis communities, with parents often continuing to observe the day with their adult children. Widespread adoption of observing the tradition has spread among the German, Polish, Belgian and Dutch communities throughout Wisconsin, and is carried out through modern times.

MJH ...

It's never easy saying goodbye to a loved one. Justins mom passed away on October 20th 2009 at 9:45pm. Justin and I both were with her when she took her last breath. Marietta had a hard long fight with ovarian cancer until it took over her whole body. She was an incredible strong and passionate woman that opened her arms to anyone. I am truly blessed to have her as my mother in law and she will forever hold a special part of my heart.

This picture was taken the morning of her passing. We were about to leave the house to head to the hospital after letting the dogs in fron outside and Justin pointed out the rainbow. Rainbows will forever be a special part of me, for whenever I see one I will think of her.

We love you Marietta Jane Hanson.

Happy Sweetest Day ...

Sweetest Day, observed on the 3rd Saturday in the month of October has its origin in Cleveland in 1922, during the Great Depression. At present the holiday is primarily celebrated in the Midwestern U.S. states of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio. About 60 years ago, Herbert Birch Kingston, a Cleveland man and a candy store employee felt that the city's orphans and shut-ins were often being overlooked and neglected. To instill in them a sense of being cared for, he distributed small gifts and candy to those who had fallen on hard times, with the help of his friends and neighbors, on a Saturday in October. Other Clevelanders soon followed suit, and the celebration came to be known as the "Sweetest Day". On the first Sweetest Day, movie star Ann Pennington presented 2,200 Cleveland newspaper boys with boxes of candy to express gratitude for the service they render to the public. Theda Bera, another popular movie star distributed 10,000 boxes of candy to the people in Cleveland hospitals and also offered candy to all those who came to watch her film in a local theater.

Primarily a regional observance, Sweetest Day is gaining popularity and spreading to the other areas of the country. This tradition now seems to largely involve giving small presents, such as cards, candy and flowers, to family, friends, and lovers. It gives us an opportunity to reach out to the not- so-well-off sections of the society and spread happiness in their lives. Sweetest Day does not pertain to any particular religion, but is based on the broader and all-encompassing principle of humanity.

Monday Night Football ...

It was mighty saddening watching Bret Favre come out of the tunnel in a purple Vikings jersey last night. Its just something someone coming from Wisconsin would never see coming. Even though im a Bret Favre fan I had to stay loyal and cheer on my Green Bay Packers. Justin's grandfather even coached the Packers alongside Vince Lombardi. I had high hopes in the first half, but the second half is when I saw that light slowly fade. Green Bay defently stayed in tune with last season and having the most penaltys out of all the NFL teams. Its sad how undiscipline the team is now, and I point my fingers at Ted Thompson (GM) and Mike McCarthy (HC). Yes its sad, but I was born and raised in Wisconsin so i will never lose hope or stop wearing my green and gold.

Stephanie's Birthday ...

Justin took me to California for my 25th Birthday. We headed to Huntington Beach for our first day, where we met up with Bianca and Brandon. We had a few drinks at freds and then headed to the beach. The boys rented boogy boards and did that most of the time while Bianca and me enjoyed the sun. The boys finally got us out deep in the water and we tried boarding. I actually caught and road a pretty good wave all the way to the shore, but then missed a lot too.

We then headed to Anaheim and check into the Candy Cane Inn. I love this hotel, everyone is so nice and its so quaint. There is ivy and flowers growing everywhere. After a quick shower we headed down to Downtown Disney and enjoyed the outdoors music and shops.

Then the next day we enjoyed the hotels complimentary breakfast, mmm oatmeal with sliced friut and a bagel. and headed to Disneyland. Since it was my birthday I got into the park for free and got my own happy birthday button with my name on it. 31 cast members wished me a happy birthday throughout the day. Since all the little tikes were in school and it was middle week, the park was deserted. I dont think we waited anymore than twenty minutes for a single ride. Of course we went on all the rides and we even found secrets a long the way. I never knew you could actually go up into Sleeping Beauty's Castle. If we ever have a girl I know exactly where im taking her. The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, its a salon for little girls to be transfered into princesses. They do hair and makeup with glitter and little crowns. It was so adorable. We even found a surname shop. We ordered our family crest and family history that will be printed framed and then shipped to us.

Anyways it was a wonderful vacation and birthday, thank you to my handsome husband.

Suprise ...

I got off work yesterday headed to Marietta's house, where Justin was already. They said they had a suprise for me. It was an early birthday present. I opened both of my cards and then removed the pink tissue paper to find our itinerary to disneyland, One of my most favorite places! We are staying at the Candy Cane Inn (which i absolutly love) The whole place is decorated with ivy and roses, it just has the warmest homey feeling when you walk in. Plus we are making a detour at Huntington Beach to enjoy the sun, ocean, beach, and of course lunch at Ruby's. I cant wait to celebrate with my hubby and mickey mouse!

Little Ladybug ...

Nerissa and I threw Robyn and baby Isabella a baby shower. Little ladybug baby shower. She is the last of the five babies being born this summer. We had a great turnout and Nerissa and i did a pretty darn good job throwing this baby shower, if i do say so myself. We even made ladybug rice krispy treats. Here is a group shot of everyone that made it. (minus Justin, he is taking the picture) This is the second baby shower this summer that our gift was opened seventh. Tabitha's shower it was all by chance, but Robin made sure that our gift was seventh at her shower, thanks Robin for trying to make me a mommy. I only have two people on my "baby free" train. Everyone else is on the baby train.

1st Wedding Anniversary ...

Monday(24th)was our first wedding anniversary, so we wanted to get a little time to ourselves. We drove up to Mesquite for three days and two nights. We had a couples masaage booked for Tuesday and all we wanted to do was just relax and do nothing. and that is exactly what we did.





The last day we drove around the city and just did a little exploring and we came across the mesquite animal shelter. We decided to look at the kitties, and there she was 6 week old 1.6 pound molly. i fell in love with her. Justin didnt hesitate and got her for me. Their adoption fee is $15 dollars only. We just have to go back in January to get her fixed by their doctor so we dont have to pay for it ourselves.

Lee Canyon ...

We decided Wednsday that we were goin to take the dogs up to lee canyon and do a trail that we usualy do on our mountain bikes. its three miles up and then three miles down. We only did half and not the full six miles. The dogs loved it because no one else was up there so they could just roam free off their leashes.

Welcome To The Family ...

Congradulations to Sean and Marsha
Loryn Harley Peterson
August 14th 2009

Justin's Birthday ...

Justin turned 24 on Friday and so i took him to Battista's hole in the wall for dinner. Its such a cute restraunt on flamingo and audrie. call for reservations cause its always busy. Its family owned and operated for over 30 years. Service is always super and friendly. Its defently an old Las Vegas landmark.

This guy is the cutest. He has been working at battista's for 27 years. Im sitting down in this pictures and he is standing next to me. He was so excited that we were locals and sang us an elvis presley song.

The decore is really neat. very crowded and things are on top of one another. there is even a giant moose head in the lobby.

The menus is really simple. You have different prices for different groups, and then everything comes with soup or salad, garlic bread, pasta side, cappacino, and unlimited house wine.

Unforgettable ...

I made an awesome find the other day. When we got married our first song was unforgettable, and look what i found. picture perfect ! You may have to click on the picture to make it bigger, so you can see the bottom better.

Family Names ...

I have started justins side of my geneology tree, since i have gone so fare on my side (eight generations) I cant go any further on my moms side cause the church in Sweden that had all of the town records burnt to the ground many years ago. On my dads side i have traced it all the way back to Barthalamew Wallner. Here is a little bit of information i have collected on both family names.

Wallner originated in the German state of Bavaira. The surname is an occupational hereditary surname, a type of name that was taken fon a word describing the profession of the original bearer. It is a name for a powerful warrior or an army ruler. First found in bavaria, where the family made a considerable sontribution to the feudal society. The first individual bearer of the name to be mentioned in ancient chronicals was Hugo Wallner of Waldshut in the year 1298.

Hanson is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname that came from the baptismal name for the son of Hans. Baptismal names were sometimes given in honor of christian saints and other biblical figures. First found in Yorkshire where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before Norman Conquest and he arrival of Duke William at Hastinfs in 1066.

Mini Vacation ...

We decided to be spontaneous and take a trip to California. We both have never been to Santa Monica Pier, so we decided to start there. The weather was perfect and since it was the middle of the week there hardley was any traffic and the place was not very crowded.




We drive a short distance to Venice and Muscle Beach. There was many intresting characters and a guy, that may have lost a couple of marbles, with a pile of proken glass bottles. and of course it always seems that i get pulled in. (I have been on stage for a magic trick of david copperfield, hung a guy at the old nevada town, danced at the motown cafe, ect) I got to wear a cool yellow wrap, hang on to an empty bottle of booze, a plastic lizard, which his head was ductaped on, and dance with this crazy man. We even saw Kimbo Slice there. He walked right next to us, and man is he big.



We drove up to Malibu and Zuma beach. The clouds finally got burned off by the sun and there wasn't even a little puff of a cloud left. The beach was perfect there.We ended up in Huntington Beach where we watched the sunset, had dinner at rubys, enjoyed Main Street and spent the night.

Backyard ...

When we first moved in last year, we had to take all of the old ding plants out. We put in new plants and flowers and thought it would be nice to add white accent rock throughout. Well after almost a year the nice bright white has turned into a dirty yukky white. So today we had star nursery drop off a ton and a half of nice neutral rock and we replaced all the old rock. We even put some new tiki torches in the back, fish in the pond, and a turtle without a name.

Blogging ...

Well we are both new at blogging, so we will see how this goes. I got this as an idea from a friend. We figured this would be an easy way for family and friends near and far, to see what we are up to and to view some pictures. Hopeful you enjoy it.