on holiday

It has been a busy time for Cory and I. Here are some photos of what we've been up to (the most recent being first). I don't have much time to fill in the details but I think you'll get the idea.

Steve and Cascia Lutes were in town for a few days. It was fun catching up with them -- and Sawyer and Cooper are soooo cute.


I thought it was time to come clean about what a dork I am. I can't really blame Cory -- It was my idea to lounge around the apartment dressed as twins.


Here are a couple of cute pics of my sister-in-law Charity. She always keeps things entertaining.

If you don't already know, Abby and I are now cousin-in-laws. Cory and her husband Mark are first cousins. We got to see them at the annual 4th of July Bar-B-Q at uncle Ray's in San Diego.

Cory is holding Abby and Mark's son Jack. He's a keeper!


We spent the 4th watching fireworks at the beach in La Jolla Cali. The top photo of of Grandpa Wallace and his wife Janee. We spent the week with the rest of the Carpenter clan at their beach house. Is there a way to live in the mountains and at the beach?



These photos are from our anniversary. We stayed in San Diego's Gas Lamp District at a pretty sweet hotel (that we got for cheap on priceline). We started the day with Cory being stung in the toe by a stingray at the beach. Luckily he fared better than the crocodile hunter. Forty minuets in hot water is all it took. . .the problem was just finding the hot water. The La Jolla Shores life guard station just happened to be out.

After Cory was all patched up and the poison has dissipated through his body, we headed to the hotel and out to dinner. We had Sushi for the main course and then off to our favorite ice cream shop Ghiradelli's for dessert.



The night before we left we went to an organ concert in Balboa Park. I haven't quite learned to appreciate the organ yet. The highlight was Charity (cory's down syndrome sister) booing and giving a thumbs down after the first song. Ahh, her honesty is refreshing.


Here are a couple of pics from the Arts Festival. We caught up with Heidi, Greg and Erika to take in a few minuets of the Disco Drippers. I am still waiting for my hearing to recover.


For Cory's Birthday we camping and biking up in American Fork canyon. We took our pimped out Element up there which was probably not the best idea but we made it. It was soo beautiful. I can't wait to do more camping this summer!


Here are some photos of the tail end of our trip to Brian Head. We showed off our stuff on Navajo Lake. We made those canoes look goood. . . . or maybe it was the other way around?

from may to june. . .

Sorry that we are awful bloggers. Life gets a little crazy for us. Today I have the luxury of sitting in the lobby of our condo in Brian Head. The rest of our family has headed off to Zions but Cory has a lot of work to do so I decided to stay behind with him to enjoy the rare opportunity of doing nothing.

Over the last few months a lot has happened. Cory has a new job working for a startup company in Provo called Entice Labs. He is a Business Developer and he loves it. He rides the bus two hours there and two hours back, but with gas and traffic it is worth it. Plus he always has stuff to do on the ride. I am still hanging out at Bad Dog and loving it. I just finished another quarter of school. Luckily I have a supportive husband because I am sure I was difficult to live with over the last 10 weeks. I am taking the summer off so no more school for me until October -- Hooray!

In April we went back to Iowa for a Hansen Family reunion. All three of my families are from the Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska corner of the midwest so we spent a lot of time traveling from family to family.

My grandma Hansen turned 88 so the whole clan got together -- 4.5 generations in all.

After the reunion we stopped by to see my Grandpa Berry. We took him to dinner and looked through all of the old family photos of him and Grandma back in the 50's


We also took a trip to visit the Hoebelheinrichs (AKA my biological father's side of the family). It was the fist time I had met my biological grandparents and some of my aunts and uncles. I get so much anxiety in situations like that so I am so glad I had Cory there. He is so good diffusing my panic. It was so exciting to see a little bit of my ancestry. The Hoebelheinirichs have lived on the same two farms since they came from Germany and Homesteaded in Nebraska. We went to see the local cemetery where they are all buried. I have no connections to any of my ancestors on my mothers side so it was very meaningful for me.

This is me, Cory, my biological father, and my aunt Karla's foreign exchange daughter from Germany.


This is Cory and I with my biological dad Warren, brother Tyler, and grandparents Elizabeth and Reynold.



In other exciting news, Megan graduated from High School! She has been through a lot and I am proud of her for always making school a priority.Currently we are in Brian Head for a family reunion on Cory's mom's side. We went to see Othello at the Shakespearean Festival on Friday. It was sooooo good. I have never been before and Cory and I both loved it. We are headed back home tomorrow but it was nice to get away for a couple of days. We head to San Diego next week for another reunion vacation.

This is Cory and I at the intermission of Othello


We took a drive out to Cedar Breaks with the whole family on Saturday. It is so amazing!


Okay, that's all for now!