Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas from the HansenFamily to all our family and friends!

2009 has been a roller coaster of a year for us and we are ready to take on 2010. Logan has one semester of school left. Yes, one semester. (we hope... boyyyy do we hope!) It has been a long hard road for him and he's made it to the home stretch. We are so proud of what he's accomplished so far and continue to pray and keep our fingers crossed for these last months coming up.

He also continues to enjoy his calling in our ward/congregation as the financial clerk. It requires him to stay after for a couple of hours every Sunday, but serving in that capacity has been something he really looks forward to and a wonderful experience.

Doing ceramics has taken a back seat to writing papers, but Logan finds a little time every so often to do a couple of things here and there.

Lisa continues to drive her family crazy with her "Lucy Ricardo-esque" tendencies. Her website, TwilightMOMS.com, is still growing and thriving thanks to all her "partners in crime." At any given time, approximately 40-50 volunteer women from all over the world help maintain the online community. (For which Lisa is eternally and ever increasingly grateful for.) Amazing opportunities continue to present themselves and the site has received media attention in 2009, like never before, including pieces featured on World News Tonight with Charlie Gibson, The New Yorker magazine, The Today Show, CNN.com and lots more. Too many to list so feel free to just google it at your leisure. ;)

Lisa was also involved in an event held in SLC called the New Moon Experience which was basically a movie premiere party on steroids. (HUGE Thanks to all the TM volunteers for all their blood, sweat and tears!) There were Twilight Moms premiere parties held all over the country and each one helped to raise funds for ALSF, a foundation to raise money for childhood cancer research and families with children battling cancer. All together we were able to raise over $20,000!!! Many thanks to NY, SLC, Dallas, Austin, Anaheim Hills/Corona, Myrtle Beach and Macon! (Bring on Eclipse!)

What's Lisa up to next??? you ask??? Well, along with some of her fellow Twilight Mom administrators she will be involved in another website set to launch Jan 01, 2010 called Eve's Fan Garden. ( evesfangarden.com ) So, stay tuned. (Life is never dull for someone with such a short attention span)

Becca is quite the young woman now. And quite the pre-teen. As always, she is ALL GIRL - pink, sparkles, makeup, Hello Kitty, ipod and attitude! She loves loves loves to shop. Her special needs class gets to go on field trips every week and her favorites are going swimming or bowling. Sometimes they get to stop at the mall and she gets to put her super shopper skills to work. Becca's teacher and all the aids and therapists are phenomenal! She's such a busybody, and they keep her learning new things and necessary skills every day. And Becca loooves doing homework, turning it in and getting lots of happy faces and smiles on every page! When there's no homework, she goes crazy doing all kinds of crafts at home. We're so extremely proud of her growth this year and we continue to brace ourselves for the impending teen years coming quickly!

As much as Becca is all girl, Caleb is all boy! Legos are everywhere throughout the house always. Burping is a prestigious sport. He would melt his brain playing video games for 24 hours straight if it wasn't for the timer and parents enforcing strict time limits and game-free days. Caleb's getting very bold on his bike, trying all kinds of tricks. He's gone through 2 sets of tires just this past summer! Let's hope next year he gets curb jumping down and cuts down the number of popped tires.

In school Caleb is a great student! He's doing an amazing job learning to spell, read and write and do basic math. We're so proud every time he brings home his spelling tests and does his homework with very little help. But learning does have it's drawbacks- you know how you get to a point as a parent when you're conflicted about your child being a good speller because he can finally figure out what you and you're spouse are talking about when you're spelling words in a conversation, trying to be secretive? Well, we're there. No more "code-talking" for us. :(

Caleb also has a buddy in his class who, if we didn't know better, we'd think they were separated at birth. Those two are quite a pair! Lots of giggles and rough housing. Caleb's teacher is one patient woman! She has been fabulous and we're so glad he's having such a fun school year and is always progressing and growing.

All in all, this has been a great year. It kept us all running constantly to the point that we can't figure out how it is already December! We've been truly challenged and truly blessed all along the way and are looking forward to what the next year has in store for us. (well, the good stuff anyway.)

To all our friends and family, we wish you the Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest of Holidays! We hope that the coming year is abundant with laughter, blessings and joy! We are so grateful for you in our lives!

Season's Greetings!

The New Moon Experience

Don’t just see New Moon… Experience it!

TwilightMOMS, in conjunction with RLegacy Entertainment and The Mitch Hansen Band presents:

The New Moon Experience

November 19th – 20th at the South Towne Expo Center

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Join us for 2 days of Twilight Saga craziness and live the New Moon Experience by visiting Forks, La Push and Volterra all under one roof in Salt Lake City!

Check our blog for the latest news!

*Two Day Admission for the event is only $28!!!*

UNTIL TOMORROW! Sept 13th

A portion of the proceeds will go toward childhood cancer research with:

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation

Click HERE for all ticketing options,

including reserved movie seating!

Sponsored in part by:

Reelz Channel, Game Crazy, Hollywood Video, Ken Garff Volvo

Tickets include at no extra charge:

• FREE! Tons of Twilight games, trivia, contests and chance at prizes!
• FREE! Performances by the band MTV calls THE number one Twilight entertainer, The Mitch Hansen Band!
• FREE! Pamper Yourself at Alice's Salon sponsored by Cameo Beauty College
• FREE! Souvenir photos from ALL Event photo booths sponsored by All Events Photo Booths
• And there will be plenty for the guys to do—FREE! Video games at Emmett's Lounge, motorcycle riding at Jacob's Garage and the big game on a flat screen at Billy's Place sponsored by Game Crazy & Hollywood Video
• Shopping among a variety of Twilight and family friendly vendors
• Much much more!
• Thursday only, The Volturi... er, I mean... The American Red Cross will be on hand accepting blood donations. Each donor will receive a free gift!

• The New Moon Experience supports Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation in raising money for childhood cancer research. A Silent Auction will be held for a hand made New Moon inspired quilt with proceeds going to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation

There's something for everyone! Secure your tickets before they're gone!

Discounts available on Deluxe and Ultimate Experience ticket packages*

*Discounted prices are subject to ticket availability so hurry and secure yours now!

The Twilight Factor

The Twilight Factor

Lisa Hansen

FOX Cable news show, The O’Reilly Factor, aired a segment posing the question, “Is there a downside to marketing vampires and vampirism to teenagers?” Radio show host, Laura Ingram filled in for Bill O’Reilly and was joined via satellite by famed vampire author, Anne Rice.

Ingram begins the segment suggesting a new “vampire chic” as a result of phenom books, movies and shows such as Twilight and True Blood. Pointing out the amazing box office success of Twilight, she noted the popularity specifically with teens and wonders whether Twilight Saga vampire fantasy books and movies might be “blurring the lines” as to what’s acceptable, what’s good, what’s evil?

Could Twilight possibly be confusing perception of good and evil for millions of teens? Anne Rice doesn’t seem to think so. Speaking from her own personal experience with teen response to her books, Rice tells Ingram, “I really do think the teenagers understand that this is a fantasy. I mean, the emails they send me indicate that they do.”  Through running clips of the movie Twilight and the popular HBO series True Blood, she goes on to explain, “And of course everything depends on  the content of the book and the content of the movie, and there is a blurring of the line here… there is a question about that, but I really do think that we go to books and we go to movies to fantasize and we visit there and then we go home.”

While both women engaged in what was an interesting conversation, it was evident that Rice was not about to place judgment on another’s vampire work and it was apparent that Ingram has not read The Twilight Saga, or at least not enough to have realized that just because Twilight has vampires doesn’t mean it can be thrown into the traditional category of grim vampire stories or the new "vampire chic."

Rice discussed how her books were somewhat affected by where she was personally in her life. In the past she wanted to write about the dark and lonely world of being a vampire but she says she wrote those and then “it was over for me.” She said, “I changed and moved on to a new spiritual territory.”

Rice has recently rediscovered and renewed her dedication to her Roman Catholic faith and tells Ingram she even made a promise to write for God and Him only. Ending the segment Ingram remarks, “Maybe the authors of Twilight and True Blood and all those others, new ‘vampire chic’ endeavors… I mean, who knows? … maybe down the road they’ll actually come to the same conclusion. Redemption. Grace. We’re all certainly seeking it.”

We certainly are. In fact, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer came to that conclusion long before she ever thought she'd write a book, which is evident in the content of her books. Perhaps Laura Ingram might want to meet a few vampires who have dedicated their own eternal lives to the search for redemption and grace. A few vampires who have learned, “… just because we’ve been dealt a certain hand… it doesn’t mean that we can’t choose to rise above – to conquer the boundaries of a destiny that none of us wanted.” (Twilight, pg. 307) Fictional vampires that actually challenge the mind of the reader (whatever the age) to see the very clear distinct line between good and evil in our non-fictional world.

Perhaps the Twilight fans should introduce Laura Ingram to a good family who goes by the name “Cullen.”

• For more on this segment go to www.billoreilly.com
  
• Email your opinion to oreilly@foxnews.com Keep it short and pithy (not rude and disrespectful) and include your name and town… if you wish to opine.  ;) 
  

Kindergarten Graduation

Caleb graduated from kindergarten today! The class sang lots of songs to all the parents and family who attended but the best one was their graduation song. To the music of Sinatra's New York, New York, they all sang, "We're gonna be a part of it! First grade, First graaaade!"

Feeding the Fish

  

Today I took the kids down to the duck pond in the industrial park near our house. You'd think we like to go there to feed the ducks, right? Guess again. This duck pond is full of hungry and daring fish too.

When they see you walk up to the edge of the water they start swarming along with the ducks and geese. But you have to be fast if you're a bird because these fish are fast! As soon as we dropped a bit of bread they splash and fight for it and pile up on top of each other. They basically jump out of the water. But the most fun thing to do is to just throw out a giant piece and watch them scoot and nip at it all around the pond. 

 

My Birthday Weekend

One year older and wiser too! Well, older anyway. I turned 36 over the weekend and had a fabulous birthday. I've never seen so many birthday wishes! I tried to keep my birthday a secret last year but you know how it is... someone who already knows is always gonna tell anyone who asks (I know because I do it too. LOL!) , so the cat is out of the bag and I think it's safe to say it's public knowledge now. 

I had only one birthday request from my family and it was that we go to The Sweet Tooth Fairy and everyone pick out a cupcake (I have to say, I also got one of their ginormous sugar cookies with frosting and it was heavenly!). Pickin's were slim at the end of the day but we made off with 3 Lemon, 1 Cookies n' Cream, 1 Vanilla Squared, and 1 Chocolate with Vanilla frosting. It goes without saying they were fabulous! We all had to taste each others. I seriously have never tasted better cupcakes in my life! I think they secretly sprinkle each one with a pinch of sin! 

And speaking of sin... my dinner choice was the current local food obsession for my husband and I. Zubs (Pizza and Subs). Logan and I have had Zubs so many times in the past month that I'm worried the owners will think we are stalking them! But rest assured owners of the awesomest sandwich shop on the planet... it's your food we want! I've even begun referring to this place as "Lucifer's Sandwich Shop"! It's SO good it has to be bad! And I would never have thought this if they hadn't started serving breakfast too!!! Give me a break!!! These guys make a monstrosity of a cinnamon roll that is not only irresistible but it is affordable too! $1.99 for a cinnamon roll bigger than my children! Ugh! I should move... somewhere I'm not surrounded by great stuff to eat! Either that or I should just accept my increasing voluptuousness and enjoy.  

Whatever I choose in the end, it was a great birthday with birthday wishes from friends around the world, family surrounding me, and good food to top it off. You can't get better than perfect! And that's what I got! 

Twilight Gadgets! Gotta Love Google!

As if I needed another way to obsess over Twilight! These are gadgets that you can add to your iGoogle page and get a daily dose of whose ever team you're on! Everyday there is a different picture. My neighbor just told me a about these and I just had to share with everyone!!! I'm totally gonna try and figure out how to make some TwilightMOMS gadgets!!!

Click the Google button to add them to your iGoogle page! =) 

  New Moon Count Down

  Twilight Photo of the Day

  Bella & Edward

  Robert Pattinson

  Taylor Lautner

  Twilight Cast

  Twilight Hotties

Birthday Wishes

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRITTEN!

For Britten's Birthday she gave one request to any and all friends in the general vicinity of this AMAZING shop:

... to go there and eat a cupcake for her. How could we resist?! It was her birthday wish! And we wanted to make it come true... right??? That's the least we could do for her... on her birthday, right? (You bet your sweet bippy it is!) When I'm given a crucial mission to accomplish, and if there are pastries involved... I'M IN! No questions asked!

And so Britten, I just hope it was the BESTEST birthday EVER!!! 

Love ya!

... p.s. The cupcakes this place are the best I've ever had in my entire life! 

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday Georgia!!!

I LURRRRRRVE YOU!!!

Click HERE to give Georgia aka *gypsy wings* lots of love and birthday wishes!

Fun With Hate Mail Part III

Has it really been this long since my last post??? I'm terrible! So much has happened in the last exciting and tumultuous month. Yet I have so little time right now. To make up for my blog-neglect, I will share with you THE BEST hate message I've gotten to date. I don't even have a response to it because it just speaks for itself. So without further adieu I present: 

Fun With Hate Mail Part III

Submitted on 2009/04/09 at 1:29pm

You guys are sooooooooo LAME!!!!! Gosh! You make Twilight embarrasing! Like OMFG~!!!!!!!! Like I don’t even know~! You make the younger fans feel gay….and…lame…and old….and I just think you guys need to get a life! Like seriously…seriously.

Muah ha ha.
Get a life.
Losers.
Haha..ha.

I'd also like to thank Mrs. "feel gay" for adhering to the TwilightMOMS strict No Foul Language policy (for the most part) and wish her the best of luck with her self esteem and tendency to blame everyone else for everything wrong in her world. 

p.s. You think we make YOU feel old??? 

The Chronicles of Caleb

Once again, my 6 year old son, Caleb, proves he is the strangest and funniest character I've ever met. I need to have a whole series of just little entries starring him. I thought I could call it The Caleb Chronicles or Caleb Clips or something like that... anyway, most mothers will dote over their sons as being so smart for their age or so talented, maybe even a natural at sports. But my Caleb... he's just hilarious! 

The day before yesterday I was doing dishes and he came up behind me and told me I should go into my bedroom and sneak up on Daddy then jump on him and roll him over and smack his butt. Why? I don't know. He just really really wanted me to do this one thing for him. I told him no, I was busy trying to get the kitchen clean. He continued to beg, "Pleeeeeease? Pleeeease Mom? Come onnnnn... pleeeeease? just do it!" I told him "no" multiple times, then he knew he'd have to play rough and open his puppy dog eyes a little wider and raise his eyebrows a little higher. (Any parent knows it's the most difficult thing in the world to resist... and the kids know it too! And boy do they use it!) Caleb looked up to me and said, "please?... do it for me, Mommy?" I stopped and one last time said as directly as I could, "no" thinking that was that and laughing inside.  Then I went back to putting dishes away and without missing a beat he said, "Then do it for Blankie, Mom! Do it... for Blankie." 

I almost caved with that one... almost!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just tonight, maybe 30 minutes ago, I caught him outside on the trampoline wearing his sister's pepto-pink bathrobe and singing, "The Dark Lord is a'bouncin'.... The Dark Lord is a'bouncin'... " It was like some sort of bad Star Wars musical being performed in my backyard. LOL!!!! He's just such an awesome, fun kid to have. 

 

Website Progress

I'm making a little progress on the website. Slowly but surely. I'm trying to organize and add content while my ninja webmaster is working on the design and theme. The boring one we have up right now is temporary so initially it doesn't look like the place of fabulousness and fun that it will be eventually. 

I've been working on it while the kids are at school and when they go outside to play. (My fingers are triple crossed for the nice weather to stick around!) I need all the time I can get, being the technologically challenged individual I am. You'd think I'd be an old pro by now, but... well, that's me. =) 

I'm taking a break right now for American Idol (my religion) and then after I get the kids to bed it's back to work!!! 

Wordle Fun

Has it really been a month since my last blog??? Well, I went into this knowing I was a terrible blogger and that this is not the best blog you could be reading. But hey, I've been busy busy busy. 

But you'll love this... I've been obsessed with wordle.net for the past couple of hours and I have some great TwilightMOMS creations. Some are made from the list of all the Twilight fansites on stepheniemeyer.com (except for a bunch of the foreign ones b/c that would have taken me a whole day-it's not just copy and paste for all of them.) =(  The rest of the wordles are made from words that come to mind when I think about TwilightMOMS and what it means to me... I'm sure I left out plenty of good words. Create your own and let me see what TwilightMOMS means to you and what words come to your mind.  

Feel free to scroll down to the bottom of my blog and just click on any of them to get the code and post on your own blog, myspace, or facebook. =)

I Have Conquered Oatmeal

In an effort to be healthier and hopefully shed a few pounds, I've sworn off refined sugar and enriched flour including foods containing those ingredients. Infusing the right amount of sweetness and flavor for my taste into a bowl of oatmeal has been a particular trial for me. 

My perfect bowl of oats used to be topped with brown sugar, a dollop of butter, a good squeeze of maple syrup and a dash of vanilla. I don't even want to know the number of calories or grams of sugar I desecrated my healthy, plain oatmeal with then. And since giving up all the good stuff I have tried all kinds of combinations and experiments with my oatmeal to no avail... until now... 

This morning I tried a couple of scoops of powdered sugar free vanilla pudding in my oats. It made all the difference! I added some cut up strawberries and viola! Strawberries 'n' Cream Oatmeal! I am so excited about this it's ridiculous, but I just had to share this amazing breakthrough! The countless new possibilities are all running through my head right now and I can hardly wait to try them! Woohoo!!! Yay for oatmeal!

Redraw The Line Between Hollywood And Washington DC

I'm just so troubled over something. Normally, I don't think I would give it so much of my energy and almost non-existent time, but I think it's eating at me so much because the source of this annoyance is from an actor I have absolutely loved... and I mean LURRRRRRRVED! for 20+ years of my 35 years of life! I thought anything this guy touched (or even his lovely wife and kids touched) turned to gold on screen. I had even further respect for him as his personality off screen seemed to ooze greatness and well roundedness. One of the rare examples in Hollywood that it is possible to be "in the biz" but not "of the biz." 

All of that respect (20 years plus!) I held suddenly got gut punched, square in the center when my hero, of sorts, Tom Hanks said this: 

“The truth is this takes place in Utah, the truth is these people are some bizarre offshoot of the Mormon Church, and the truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen,” he told Tarts. “There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them. I do not like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states in America, but here's what happens now. A little bit of light can be shed, and people can see who's responsible, and that can motivate the next go around of our self correcting Constitution, and hopefully we can move forward instead of backwards. So let's have faith in not only the American, but Californian, constitutional process.”

uhhhh... EXCUSE ME??? ... WHAT THE JUNK???!!! Thanks for that proverbial punch in the stomach, Tom! Oh and by the way... the truth is... you have NO idea what the TRUTH is!!! 

Tom Hanks is an executive producer of the HBO series "Big Love" which is good soap opera drama if that's what you're into, but FARRRRRRRR from accurate portrayal of any of those offshoots from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, of which polygamy practicing groups are in NO WAY WHATSOEVER tied to. Nor do the members of these groups or compounds just mingle among mainstream society in Utah any more than they do in Arizona, Colorado, or Texas. So, in short, Tom... first and foremost, I think you have a pretty tainted or maybe even twisted view of the truth about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

For the next part of the punch in the stomach, I'd like to clear up that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints did not give money to the church "to make Prop 8 happen" members gave a lot of money to the cause itself. Just like other churches such as the Catholic, Baptist, African American denominations, etc. etc. etc. did. (I find it so interesting how the mormons are singled out in this whole Prop 8 issue... how many churches were involved? with how many dollars raised aside from what LDS members raised? ... look into it.) So, as for the "people can see who's responsible," you might want to go fact check that one, too, Tommy boy. 

And for me, no curse word can sting worse than the slur "un-American." GAH!!! What is more American than exercising the right to vote? Why is it "un-American" for anyone to believe differently than another fellow American? 

Ahhh... Tom, Tom, Tom... *shakes head* I'm so disappointed. I adored you from the beginning. From the cross dressing comedy Bosom Buddies, to your guest star appearance on Family Ties as the alcoholic uncle, to The Man With One Red Shoe, Money Pit, That Thing You Do, Philadelphia  and on and on and on, I loved them all. And then you go and spout mindless political blame-throwing statements like that. UGHHH!!! 

I don't care what political ideals you subscribe to, if you're an entertainer your job is to entertain. If you're gonna publicly run your mouth and politically finger point, you run the risk of alienating those who otherwise would continue to enthusiastically praise your talent. The line between Hollywood and Washington DC is far too blurred in my opinion. And the guys on the Hollywood side are ruining all the fun and enjoyment of going to a movie, watching a good TV show or even watching an awards ceremony, which are common forms of escape from all the exhausting political back and forth bantering. 

Man, what a bummer... Tom Hanks was really cool. *sigh* 

Fun With Hate Mail - Part Deux

Once again I fall victim to blame for events which I had no prior knowledge of. Apparently, members of my website have been committing the unforgivable sin of "cheating" on an online poll! *gasp* - say it isn't so! - but, in defense of this concerned email writer, this is an online poll of the utmost importance! This isn't just ANY poll! This is a poll by hellomagazine.com asking, "who is the Most Attractive Man?" (can you feel the urgency now??? ... or at least my sarcasm?)

Below is the email I received from a concerned online voter... whose choice of hottest male celeb is obviously losing.

*names have been changed to protect the stupid

xxxxxx to admin
show details 11:39 AM (10 hours ago)

I would like to say that it seems a bit pathetic that your members
feel they need to insult another human being in order to appreciate
Rob Pattinson.

But...beyond the insulting, nasty comments I've been seeing... it
would probably help your cause in this magazine poll if your members
didn't PUBLICLY discuss your methods of cheating the "one vote per 10
minutes" rule.

Hello Magazine will be checking the votes, and probably the IP behind
those votes, before they publish the final results. Isn't it best to
play fair, than to cheat and feel like you're winning, only to have
tens of thousands of your votes removed because of cheating?

Those of us on the other side of the battle have simply been using
timers to make sure we know when our ten minutes is up. No cheating,
and we encourage all our fellow fans not to cheat. For us, we already
know who's the best, and we already know that attractiveness goes
beyond mere shallow appearance. We'd rather lose honorably, than win
by cheating. Now, if both sides were like that, it would be a much
less nasty competition.

Just thought I'd let you know the reputation your members are giving
your forum, and it's not pretty.

In response to this, I ask - is life so bad that losing an online poll about who's the hottest has you that stirred up? Personally, I'm not even a fan of the Rpattz! My website has plenty of other members who feel the same way too! 

For anyone to think that this is about such a noble and worthy cause as finding out truly, who is the most attractive male, female, or whatever is terribly naive. Likewise, for anyone to think that there is going to be a team of highly trained professional judges to be sure that this vote count was completely and totally accurate by cross referencing tens of thousands of IP addresses from the frantic teen-to-middle aged female online voters and questioning every cyber hanging chad, is absolutely... absolutely....... oh... I can't even come up with a word for it... I've already used "naive," and "stupid" is just condescending. (Fill in the blank with something combining those two words and there you have it!)

Let me educate you... When you go to this website to vote, you may notice something other than the actual poll off to the side, top and/or bottom of the page... those are called "ads." Websites make money from these "ads."You may notice that lots of times the "ads" change each time you click and the page loads again. Each click by each visitor makes the website money thus, lots of visitors means lots of clicks which means... money.  But, how does a website go about getting lots of visitors to their website? Once the visitors are there, how does the website get the visitors to click lots and lots of times? Hmmmm... I think a poll involving highly popular celebrities will do just the trick! After all, we females are fiercely loyal to our favorite attractive celebrities... even to the point of wanting them to, say... win a fun yet ultimately meaningless online poll. So, we vote and vote and vote! And how do we vote? We click! And what does each click mean for the website? That's right - $!  

And so, in summation, I'd just like to say - Chill out... it's a gimmick! - a stupid online poll about who's hotter!... all's fair... And can you really account for each of the individual voters on your "side of the battle... using timers???"... yeesh! come on!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to vote for Orlando Bloom...