my catch-up arizona post

I got to spend a lot of time in AZ with a ton of family and it was awesome.

We spectated at the Tempe Ironman, ate at Joe's Farm Grill, ate again the greatest omlette ever, the San Diegan, at the Coffee Shop, In-n-out, Cafe Rio, and Chick-fila (multiple times). Saw the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple with my brother, Matt and Grandma and played the dice game, Zilch, with them many times. Took a road trip to Vegas to see my one of my other brothers run the marathon on the Strip and got to see, and drive, over the supposedly unbuildable Pat Tillman bridge. It is so massive and beautiful! Got to see my niece's dance performance. Helped babysit my nieces and nephew with my mom and dad and loved being able to spend more time with my brothers, my sister-in-law, nieces and nephew, Grandma, cousins, and my Aunt and Uncle.

What made my Thanksgiving:
Stuffing, turkey, rolls and Grandma's Dixie salad and banana cream pie.
Watching my cousin's kids and my nieces and nephew reenact the story of Thanksgiving.
The beautiful table decorations.
Spending it with family that I am so blessed to have.

If you can't tell by this post, I think my niece, Hannah, is the cutest thing in the world.

sister hansen is home!

Kelli's back from serving her 18+ month mission for the Church. Of all the missions I have waited for loved ones to come home, this one felt like the longest. She served in the Marshall Islands and can now speak Marshallese (aka gibberish). It has been a great pleasure to read her beautiful, uplifting letters each week about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people she served and grew to love in the Pacific this past year and a half. We are so happy to have her back and love her so much!

Kelli's home! from Loral Hansen on Vimeo.

Some pictures of her mission:

matt's birthday

 The big 2-8!

Since we were going to be in California for Matt's birthday, I had to put up the awesome birthday banner my sister-in-law, Adrianne, had made for us a couple weeks before his birthday. Matt is wearing the North Face zip-up I got him as he is opening up my parent's gifts in the pictures below.

Once we got to CA, we had a fancy dinner at San Ysidro Ranch, a beautiful, romantic resort in Montecito the day before his birthday. On his actual birthday, November 3rd, we celebrated with family at Rusty's Pizza Parlor and Matt's mom had decorated the party room and got the best birthday hats and glasses for him and the kids to wear. Like last year, Matt wanted Costco's pumpkin pie and red velvet cake for his birthday. He also was sung to not once, but twice. Once for the cake and the other by his sister and adorable nephews.

the kids and their costumes

I am really happy we could be here for Halloween and see Matt's nephews and sister dress up. We had forgotten how awesome Halloween is. We loved seeing the costumes, watching Brandon and Justin pass out candy and the kids willing to share their loot with us wasn't so bad either.

back in cali-forn-i-a

Matt's sister, Kelli, will be back in the States Friday! Matt has always been planning to be home for her mission homecoming and he found a cheap flight for me to be here too, so we are lucky to be here celebrating Halloween, birthdays, and Kelli's return!

1. A beautiful sunset and crescent moon while flying into LA. We stopped at Chick-Fil-A for dinner (which I haven't had in a year or so) and I don't know how I have lived these 24 years and have not had Chick-Fil-A sauce. Seriously, how have I not heard people raving about what could be the best condiment ever invented?!

2. Playing at the pool with Kobe and Cassi. Matt's first priority was to lay out and get some sun.

3,4. At Justin's game, meeting our newest nephew, Jacob.

5. Kobe and that adorable smile!

6. Matt and Brandon.

7. The one and only Yanni's Tri-tip sandwich at Mackenzie's Market.