Ryan's 8th Birthday

Wow! Ryan is getting so big! For his 8th birthday we had over family and friends to celebrate. Ryan didn't want an extravagant party "just a football cake and some #8 balloons." Easy enough to do. We had pizza, played lawn games, talked a lot, and ate some cake and ice cream.

We had the party in the evening because Ryan had baseball practice right in the middle of the day. He woke up to a "Birthday King" crown and his pick of donuts :) He wore the crown all morning, even after getting his baseball uniform on. When he came back it was party time. He got his first San Diego Charger's jersey (yes, he's always loved the Chargers ~ or "Shockers" as he used to call them), multiple Star Wars Lego sets, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen DVD, a G.I. Joe assault vehicle, and a DVD player for his room. The boys played football outside for a bit but it was getting dark.

Ryan had his friend, Michael Velez, spend the night and they watched G.I. Joe on the big tv and went to bed late. Oh, yeah, and we found out Ryan can be easily tricked by Des. I found these cute little football candles and Des convinced Ryan they were made of caramel ~ so he tried them. He found out they are made of wax. What a nut!

We also celebrated Daddy's birthday since we couldn't celebrate on his actual birthday. He had to take advantage of the good weather for work. I made him a lasagna and some fresh Honey Wheat Berry bread. Yum! I had sent 2 bags of Reese's Pieces easter eggs home with Britt on his actual birthday. Mmmm....food. Daddy came to the party and also got a crown that barely fit on his head. He accessorized the crown with some light-up, flashing green glasses! They didn't show up well in the pictures but they were a hit at the party!

Here are some pictures of the party!

Centerpiece Inspirations

It's been difficult thinking of centerpieces that aren't flowers. I didn't want flowers for many reasons, but what else was I going to use? I searched the internet and rejected (and had others reject) games, succulents, apples, pears, and others I can't remember. I really liked the ideas of pumpkins, though, after seeing some other people's ideas. Here are some of the photos that will inspire my centerpieces. (That means mine probably won't look anything like these :)









I love the idea of having apothecary jars because I love those jars, but I couldn't justify buying tons of those. I love cake stands and glass bowls, also. I thought about having fall leaves around the bottom because the tables are pretty large (I believe they fit 10 people). I could add some berry branches as well because they have that beautiful fall red, too. Other ideas include tying the pumpkins with ribbons of various colors. Painting the pumpkins may be an option, but I plan on buying all sorts of pumpkins in different sizes and colors. My friends Katie and Raylene also offered their very cute Partylite Pumpkin pillar holders. I think they may be at the wedding table or with the wedding cake. They are so nice to offer them to me.

If you don't know already, my main color is a cranberry red. The accent colors are gold and orange. The pumpkins are fun and it represents the season we're marrying. I just wanted something different from the traditional floral centerpieces.

If anyone has any great ideas, please share them with me. I'm open to anything still at this point. xoxo

Bridal Gown Shopping

Yikes! Time for bridal gown shopping. I thought I had a clear idea of what I wanted in a gown when I went, but discovered I didn't. I went with mama, Des & Britt. We had a lot of fun. I was a little overwhelmed because everything looked so pretty on me. Initially, I thought I would like a really simple dress without a lot of bling, but I found that I did like all the sparkle (but not too much). I narrowed my choices down to 4, which I can't post because Bruce will not see the dress until we walk down the aisle. Des and Britt had a lot of fun judging the other brides that were there that day. Apparently, I was the prettiest and I'm not going to argue with them. I'll be going back on 2/28 to make my final decision. Daddy, Erin & Britt will be coming with me. I have 7 whole days to fret. I won't regret my decision because they are all really great choices.

Valentine Hike

We are not Valentine's Day kind of people. Don't get me wrong, we like seasonal treats and the spirit of a good 'holiday'; however, showing someone you love them should happen everyday, not just on Feb. 14th. We had a 4 day weekend and were really excited to go away for the weekend somewhere inexpensive but the flights were really expensive for those 4 days and hotel prices were up and many were already booked. You know why, right? It was Valentine's weekend. I was not happy.

Lucky for me I have someone who is nice enough to follow me as I dragged him to the Olympic National Park. I've wanted to go to Crescent Lake near Port Angeles because it is a glacial lake in a rainforest. Bruce let me lead him into the woods once again (something I thought he wouldn't do again after the accident 20 mile 'short' hike I led him into last summer). We hiked Marymere Falls, visited the viewpoints of the lake, and went to the Dungeness Wildlife Refuse to walk the Dungeness Spit which is the longest spit in the US at 5 miles one way. It was cool to see, but it was super windy the farther you walked the spit so we didn't make it to the end.

We saw an Elk herd and deer wandering about, as well as eagles hanging out in a field. I thought I was going to get killed by the man in the suspicious van that stopped next to us to watch the elk so we didn't stay for long. I'm glad we got to see them because a lot of the drive was super foggy and I thought we were going to end up dead in the middle of nowhere. Good thing that didn't happen :)

Time to Plan the Wedding of the Year!!!

Well, I guess it was time to start planning the wedding since it's only 10 months away!!!

My mom and I are going to be going to a Wedding Expo in Lynnwood on January 30th. I'm kicking myself for procrastinating because there was one in Seattle on January 15th/16th that I could have gone to and saved us an extra hour of driving. What can I tell you, this sort of thing overwhelms me. My mom had sent me a link but I'm a procrastinator. I don't really know what to expect other than it better help me. I'm very tactile and if I can see and touch ideas rather than read them online I feel better. (Crossing my fingers).

That also means I had to coordinate with my bridesmaids (Desiree and Brittany) and my mom to go dress shopping. We'll be going February 21st~ Yep, that's how far out in advance I have to plan things with my sisters. We will be going to Alfred Angelo in Tukwila. They have cute, simple dresses that are affordable (if Bruce is reading this: I didn't realize how affordable they were until after I had ripped out countless pictures from magazines so it's not about being cheap!). We'll also be goin to The Wedding Bell in Tacoma. The dresses aren't as inexpensive, but they have the designer I keep clipping out of magazines. I went with the 2 designers that I had the most clippings for. They were voted Best in Western Washington by KING 5 so they better be good :)

Here's what we have completed so far:

Date: Sunday, October 10, 2010 (10/10/10, Bruce's favorite number)
Place: The Attic in Sumner
****photos can be found here: http://www.attichansen.com/ThumbGallery/attic_main.html ****
Color(s):cranberry/merlot red and maybe a deep orange
Ring Bearer: Ryan (of course)
Bridesmaids: Desiree and Brittany
Groomsmen: Greg and Kyle
Caterer: Act III Catering (but we need to decide what menu to serve ~ Tuscan, Pacific Rim, Northwest buffets????)

I also just ordered "Save the Date" photo cards from Shutterfly. They are cute (and, again, affordable). I ordered extras because I liked them so much. Bruce HAD to approve the pictures and insisted that Ryan be in one because I'll marry into the family. I have updated addresses for almost everyone. I think getting them from Bruce's friends will be the hardest because that would mean he had to do something. I love him despite this.

We already have the wedding rings since they were being discontinued at EE Robbins so I snatched them up early.


I wish I could say there was more to what I've decided on so far but I've been very good about putting things off. I do have to say that I at least have a binder of ideas ready for some input. We'll see what the next month has to offer us :)

December 2009

Oh my gosh December was hectic (at least for me, not so much for Bruce). I had lots of parties to go to for Christmas and birthdays and I did a lot of shopping trying to find perfect gifts but I was usually unsuccessful because I was getting more things for myself than others :)

I have some pictures here from Desiree and Mike's annual Christmas party, from Christmas Eve with Bruce's parents and Ryan, and Christmas day with my family. We had our first Cookie Contest and I tried a lot of new recipes. I wasn't thrilled with any of them and apparently the judges weren't either because Desiree came in the winner of the Cookie Trophy. I have to say, I really liked some of Des's cookies a lot. Britt's were good for gingerbread cookies, but I'm not really a fan of gingerbread (even though I made some myself) and mama's almond cookies were eaten really quickly because I loved them too. Erin's cookies were cute and one was used in the trophy. She could not sway the judges either. Apparently biscotti is not a favorite of the boys.

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November 2009

This November has been mostly Bruce and I trying to avoid getting sick at all, but especially trying to avoid the spooky H1N1 flu. So far, so good (knock on wood).

I have been out with friends a lot this month ~ reconnecting with friends from my childhood (thanks to Facebook). It's been a lot of fun.

Bruce had a lot of time off for his sanity and because work has slowed. He stayed home with Ryan for 3 days because it was suspected that Ryan may have had the swine flu (although he didn't have the symptoms who am I to argue about what a doctor said).

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. It was a lot of fun to have so many people over and everyone brought 1 or 2 dishes. I made a turkey and a ham, we had 2 types of stuffing, home-made bread, green bean casserole, sparkling cider and, of course, 5 different pies. YUH-MMY!! Did I also mention that we had our first Thanksgiving Day FIRE! Des was broiling some suffing so it would have a crispy top. She made it crispy alright. What fun! Lucky I was prepared with the camera while Bruce and Des figured out how to put out the fire! I love this kind of stuff!

Here are the photos of Thanksgiving and from one night out with my friends and co-workers (Rachel, Lindsay and Kristin). I only photographed our dessert ~ it was enormous and delicious.

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