Let's start at the very begining, a very good place to start...

 Before                                                             AFTER!

Every time we get the coupon mailer in the mail, I find an add for recessed lighting that says, "GOT UGLY KITCHEN LIGHTS?" I laugh to myself, then show it to Ryan and ask him, "Does this look a little familiar?" I swear the "before" picture looks like they came to my house and took a picture of the ceiling light in my kitchen. We've had this giant industrial flickering light/bug trap in the middle of the kitchen ceiling forever. But not anymore. Phase 1 of project new kitchen was recessed lighting. The picture doesn't do it justice, but I swear this change made me feel like I got a brand new house.

We are slowly but surely on our way to a more pleasant, more functional, more beautiful kitchen. I'm SO excited. Good riddance giant moth trap of a light. 

Good Day.

Reasons why today was awesome:

1. I got a special visit from my good friends, Lana & Melany, who were visiting from Utah. I love them. They're the kind of girls that make you feel comfortable, even though you haven't seen them for years, even though your patio room is a wreck and you're not wearing any make-up, even though your lovely daughter decided to have a crazy meltdown because you won't give her "fifty-thousand m&m's for lunch." It's like we've been hanging out every day for years.

2. Wendy fell asleep cuddling with me on the couch during "quiet time" (the special mommy & wendy time when Harvey is napping, where we do quiet activities, so as to not wake baby brother up). She was obviously pretty tired after the show of a tantrum she threw for my friends. I loved the rare cuddling and the 2 hours that both my children were asleep at the same time.

3. After my babies woke up rested, we headed off to a little place called Disneyland for dinner with my parents & siblings. I love that I live close enough to just go for dinner and a ride.

Good day.

*our kids, minus sweet Penny, who was deep in dollhouse heaven

The life of a part time dental hygienist

Could it be any more embarrassing than going out to the dental office waiting room and saying, "Hi, I'm Heather. I'll be cleaning your teeth today," with a HUGE lower lip covered in an outbreak of blistering lesions?! I think not. I just kept my mask on the whole time. Don't want people afraid that I'll give them herpes.

NOTE TO SELF: when you spend an entire week on the beach and you cover yourself from head to toe with spf 55 every two hours, don't forget your damn lips.

Williams Beach House Twenty Twelve

A typical day at the Williams family beach house:

7am Wake up with my kids to find Grammy & all the cousins already awake. 

7:30am After a quick breakfast, I get my running clothes on, ipod hooked up and hit the boardwalk for a refreshing morning run. I run past the balboa pier, to where the sidewalk ends. It is amazing! The cool crisp air, the misty wind on my face, the row of beautiful homes on my left and the incredible ocean view on my right. I notice that the only people on the boardwalk this early are other runners and it makes me feel proud of myself. I want to throw my arms out wide, turn my face to the sky and shout, "I am one of you!! I am the kind of person that does this!" But then they would think I was crazy so I don't. Instead I look at each home as I run past it and pick my favorite feature on each house. I think I've got the plans for my dream beach house all figured out.

8:30am Grammy makes everyone a 2nd breakfast of pancakes, eggs and orange juice.  (1st breakfast is cold cereal)

10:30am We load up the kids, lug everything to the water and set up camp on the sand for the day directly in front of "our house." I carry my son in a geela sling, even though it's meant for babies and he's the size of a two year old. He loves it and I get to have my hands free to carry other things. We get lots of smiles from strangers on our way.

  *Harvey's favorite seat: mommy's chair anytime she gets up for a second :)

*Wendy's favorite seat: her special beach chair from Grandma

10:30am - 1:30pm We stay on the beach. I re-aply my fair skinned children with spf 50 sunblock every hour. We (my sister-in-law, mother-in-law, myself) eat yummy snacks, watch the kids play, read gossip magazines and chat our hearts out.

This picture shows Harvey's forbidden love affair with the ocean. He'd scoot his little bum almost to the waves, then throw a mini tantrum as I picked him up and walked him back to our row of chairs. But as soon as I sat him back down, he'd start scooting to the water again. You can even see his little bum tracks in the sand. The only things that stopped him from scooting away were...

... the Harvey sized holes that his cousin Charlie would dig him. He loved it in there. He would sit back like he was in a lazy-boy recliner and owned the world. Thank heavens for helpful, older cousins. I wish they didn't live in AZ.

*daily lunch menu: corn dogs, chicken nuggets, peanut butter & honey sandwiches, fruit and licorice

1:30pm At about this time I would take Harvey back up to the house and lay him down for a nap in a pitch black room with a loud fan. There he would sleep for 3 glorious hours each day! The very best part about this set-up was the fact that Ryan's dad prefers to stay up at the house, so I got to spend that time on the beach and my wonderful father-in-law would just call my cell phone when he woke up.

1:30pm - 4:30pm We continue to play on the beach. If Harvey's days on the beach are spent scooting to the water and hanging out in holes, Wendy's is definitely spent doting on her older cousin, Ruby. She worships Ruby. She follows her around like a puppy dog, begging me for clothes and hair "just like Ruby's." They spend their days holding hands, running away from or jumping over waves, burying each other in the sand, using the parachute as an indoor fort, and playing pretend. Tangent: They play "Mommy and sweetheart," where one of them is the mom and one of them is the "sweetheart" or daughter. They take turns spoon feeding each other bowls of water, doing each others hair, and putting each other to bed (with the full bedtime story, prayers routine). Wendy gets embarrassed if she catches me watching them play pretend, but something about spying on her playing the role of the mother, doing little things that I do for her and sweetly taking care of her "sweetheart" (which is what I call her) make me melt. Like maybe I'm not doing such a bad job after all.

4:30pm - 6:30pm We come back from the beach, bathe the kids, men watch kids while women make dinner, we all eat, we clean up dinner.

6:30pm - 8:00pm The evenings are wonderful on the beach. There's something about dusk on the beach, the heat of the day burning off to a fresh coolness and the sunsets over the water. We spend this time riding bikes on the boardwalk, flying kites, or going on evening walks. 

 *grandpa flying kites with Wendy and Ruby

*Harvey's 1st bike ride!!!

The first evening we were there, Ryan and I took Harvey on his first ever bike ride. I felt a little guilty realizing that, at 14 months old, he'd never been on a bike ride, but we live in a super hilly neighborhood. He didn't quite know what was going on at first, but he loved it! He kept clapping and slapping the handle bars. Then he noticed all the dogs that were being walked around him and forgot he was on his first bike ride. He would point and squeal and kick at each dog he saw. Toward the end of our ride, he started to get frustrated that he was stuck on a bike and couldn't pet every dog he saw.

Usually, at least once during our trip, Ryan and I find time to sneak away on a walk or a bike ride after we put the kids to bed. Last year we rode bikes to the Balboa Fun Zone, got some dessert and took photobooth photos. This year, we took a walk down the boardwalk and to the end of the pier. We watched the sunset over the water and just took our time. I love when Ryan suggests we put the kids down and sneak away somewhere, and I love the giddiness I still feel when he asks me out on a "date."

8:00pm - 9:00pm We always spend at least one evening walking down the boardwalk to get an ice cream cone. My in-laws have been doing this for 24 years, so naturally, the cute little Asian lady that runs the ice cream stand knows them. When Wendy was born, she crocheted her a beanie & matching blanket. My mother-in-law always makes us all take a picture with her, holding our ice cream cones up (as you can see, I inhaled mine before we even got to this point). All the Williams men grumble and make fun of us, but they do it to make their mother happy.

9:00pm - WAY too late We put the kids to bed and stay up playing games around the kitchen table. This is when the sillies come out. This is also when all the desserts come out. These are some of my favorite memories with Ryan's family. We all go to bed giggling, then do it all over again the next day.

After a week, you really start to feel like this is your life.
I think I could get used to it.

On the road again...

This was our view on the way home from our Utah/Idaho trip. The skies were amazing the whole time. I bet Ryan and Wendy got sick of me telling them to look up at it. As a kid, someone once told me that southern California has beautiful sunsets because of the smog. They must have never been to another state. The skies took my breath away. Even at night, when it seems like you can see every single star in the universe.  It's one of the few things Idaho has over California. Good show Idaho. Until next time.

Hansen Family Reunion

Our family lucked out this year and we got to have our reunion on Uncle Roy-Dan-the-Mountain-Man's Ranch in Downey Idaho. Uncle Roy Dan is a real mountain man. He came very close to being on the t.v. show "Survivor," and I know he would have got very far. He is a character. Wealthy business men pay him to take them out in the wild and teach them how to live off the land. He lived in a tee-pee for a couple years. He is the best story teller... he learned the art of story telling from the indian tribe he joined in the 1970's. He tells stories around the camp fire, decked out in a fringy leather outfit from head to moccasin'd toe and shoots blank gun powder from his gun. It's mesmerizing. During our reunions in Idaho, we eat fish and "game" (kinda gross) that he caught/shot himself. "You like that stew?" He'll ask in a gruff but friendly voice. "That there's elk. Shot it yesterday." Haha!

*Harper, Wendy & Eden crossing the bridge over the creek bed in search of perfect walking sticks

Uncle Roy Dan's 40 acre ranch is a child's dream. There is so much to explore. Not to mention the horseback rides, fishing, water gun wars, and nature adventures. Uncle Roy Dan even taught a bunch of the kids how to carve stones into arrow heads. The kids didn't need any type of electronics or even an single toy and they played their little hearts out all day, every day.

*Harvey & Ryan, my animal lovers, admiring the horses

*Harvey's 1st horse ride

Harvey was in love with all the farm animals that were close enough to him to touch, dogs, birds/chickens, fish, but mainly the horses! He was SO excited about them... until we tried to let him ride one. I thought it would rock his little animal loving world to ride them, but not so much. Our ride was cut very short. He was not happy. Luckily, I got a good ride in later that evening, when some of the younger married couples went on a moonlight ride under the stars. Ryan has now decided that he wants to be a cowboy and to have a bunch of horses and move to Idaho. "Or at least Yorba Linda," he says. Sounds fun, but I think horses are a little more expensive than birds honey. 

*Uncle Drew taking people on rides. Like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland but real

One morning, while staying at the truckstop motel, my dad and I got up early and went on a run along the open road. I'm used to running on a treadmill, starring at a wall, talking to no one. So maybe that's why it was so invigorating to run in the crisp, fresh air, along beautiful rolling hills and farm lands, getting to spend quality time with one of the men I admire most in this world. It was one of my favorite moments of our trip. 

*river rafting in Lava, ID

So, if you want to have the best reunion ever, go to Idaho. River rafting, fishing, horseback riding, beautiful scenery, authentic story telling, evening campfires, night time skies full of stars, and non-stop fun. What more could you ask for?

*Uncle Roy Dan's Tee Pee... the floor of it is covered with bear skins, that thing is legit!

Oh Idaho, I love you. 

The Flagwest Truckstop Motel

SO... this was our home for the last couple of nights! The actual name of this motel is the "Flagwest Truckstop Motel," in Downey Idaho. If you want to check in, fill your ice bucket or get your free continental breakfast, you do it at the gas station. There are nothing but hills, farm lands and an empty open road near by. Ryan said this was the kind of place you only see in horror movies. I felt like it was a fun adventure, but I just really love staying in hotels/motels. Maybe I would have been a little more nervous about it if every single room wasn't occupied by members of my own family (for the reunion). A.ma.zing.