87401 // 84097

Well...today was the big day! Moving day!! Hurray! It is finally here...and holy crap did it happen fast! Taft has been in Provo searching for a place to live since last Friday. We got lucky with a cute, quaint apartment! I am so excited to officially see it! eeek! (I've only seen it via Google Hangouts..thank heavens for technology!) My in-laws, Matt and Tammie, hauled our household goods from New Mexico to Provo for us, today! My mom, dad and I will caravan to Provo tomorrow. 

This move is definitely bittersweet. I am so excited to be up in Provo, to be closer to my family in Price and in Northern Salt Lake. I am excited for Taft to get the amazing opportunity to study at BYU and continue his education there. I am excited for all of the new and fun activities Taft and I will be able to experience. I am sad about leaving my mom, dad and sister. Along with Taft's parents, his sister and her cute family. My family has made really amazing friends here in NM, they became our family. I will be sad to leave them; but I know that we will visit New Mexico often and they will come to Utah often! 

I will post more about our UT adventures! 

xx,

Morgan

1 down // Forever to go

We hit our 1 year anniversary mark on August 3rd! It was a great weekend! We had a getaway to Durango, CO which is about an hour north of home. If you ever go to Durango go to Old Tymer's and get yourself the most delicious hamburger and fries you will ever taste. Seriously people. It is THAT good! Everything on the menu is absolutely delicious. You won't be disappointed.

This past weekend we had our pictures taken by the lovely Rachel Loya. She does an absolutely phenomenal job. If you live in the Farmington area do not count her out of your photographer choices. She was so fun to work with! I'm glad we chose her. So here is a sneak peek of our pictures. Once I get our disk I will be sure to share them with you all! I am beyond thrilled to get the rest of our pictures! Eeek!

Rachel Loya Photography

land of the free // home of the brave

I have been dying to do a pallet American flag for a very long time! And I finally did it! After some inspiration from my mom, who made hers a couple weekends ago, I finally made time for mine! And I absolutely love the way it turned out. This project is seriously so simple and a lot of fun. Get together some of your best girlfriends and make a night of it.

 I made my flag more rustic looking, rather than the bright white, bold blue and radiant red, I did a darker red and blue and a creamy white.

What you'll need to make your pallet flag:
-Pallet pieces
-Paint
-Paint brushes (if your pallet was rough like mine, I recommend hair brushes, not foam)
-Sandpaper
-Nails and a hammer OR Staples and a staple gun
-Star stamp or star stencil

You can make the flag as big or as small as you'd like. I used 8 pallet pieces, so 10 pieces total. 8 in front and 2 in the back. My friend Megan who made this with me last night did 5 pieces, so 7 pieces total. My mom used 6, so 8 total. You get the gist.

Make sure your pallet pieces are even in length... You can have them a little uneven for the 'rustic' or 'country' feel. Whatever style you like, do! It's your flag! If they aren't even, saw the ends to make them even. Then pick what side you'd like on to paint on and have that side face the ground. Take a staple gun and hold the boards together tightly while someone staples the braces onto the back. Flip the pallet over and start painting! I sanded a lot, my pallets were extremely rough. I would paint let it dry. Sand, and paint again. Sometimes two or three times. Until I reached the point where the brush wouldn't pull up parts of the wood.

I paint the blue first, I measured out my square and filled it in.

After the blue I painted my white stripes. While I had white on my brush and plate, I used the stencils and painted my stars in the blue. I had two different sizes of star stencils. I used the bigger one and the small one. My mom did hers in just the small stars. My girlfriend Megan is going to do even smaller stars and a bigger wooden star for the center of her blue. The best thing about these projects is you can make them your own! Don't be afraid to get creative!

Then I finished with the red stripes.

Xo,
Morgan


Tip: Lots of companies just leave their pallets on the side of the road, those are free game people! Get some pallets and get to crafting!

the living room is complete!

I was jumping for joy last weekend when we finished our shelves in the living room! The decor for downstairs is officially complete! *hallelujah* I had been pinning shelving ideas for weeks and we finally put our plan into action! [can I just say what an awesome husband I have? This man literally went looking for shelves at Target! I didn't have to drag him, he drug me to the home decor isle! I knew I was doing somethin' right when I married him! ;)] 

These shelves fit perfectly into our living room! I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out! 

This shelf is on the left side of the wall. The picture of Christ with the child is from Deseret Book. The candlestick is from GoodWill, the vase is a vase from our home we painted, the flowers are from Hobby Lobby and the clock is also from Hobby Lobby. 

This is the shelf in the middle of the wall. The vases are from a previous Pinterest project. The picture of the SLC LDS Temple is from Deseret Book. The mason jars are from my Great Grandpa Potter's farm in Utah, along with the holder. The flowers are from Hobby Lobby.

This shelf is on the right hand side of the middle shelf. The bird cage along with the silver vase is from Hobby Lobby. The vases are from a previous Pinterest project. The cream ceramic vase is from GoodWill. The picture of the Mt. Timpanogos LDS Temple is from Deseret Book.

The final product!

I am so pleased that the decor in the downstairs is complete! Our next project is the master bedroom and bath upstairs! I can't wait for it to be finished! 

H is for Hansen; H is for Home

So yesterday I was browsing through my bloglovin feed and I came across this post and it totally made me get into this "Martha Stewart" mode at my own house. I had one unfinished pinterest project and another project I was inspired to do. I actually wasn't planning on even doing this project but I found THE CUTEST paint samples at Target for $5.00! How could I resist people!

Unfinished Pinterest project is my very cute, red and gold H hanging on my door.

The process for making this is SUPER simple!! All I did was grab a letter from Hobby Lobby, some paint and ribbon. I painted the letter red, I applied a couple of coats to get it the exact hue I wanted. My husband did the gold lines on the outline of the H. He has a much steadier hand than I do, so he did a much better job than I ever could have done. Then we tied the ribbon on the H and glued a wire to the back and boom!! My super cute new "letter wreath" for my door! My inspiration for this project was this cute H, but I like mine better! It fits "us" so much more than this H ever could. 

My pinterest project that I started and finished yesterday are my $18.00 painted vases. Each of the paint samples were $5.00 and I went to GoodWill to hopefully find some unique and fun vases. I came home with four pretty simple vases. But I LOVE the way they turned out! And I can't wait to do more! 

I used two different paint colors. The lighter bluish-white is called, Devine Horizon and the darker blue is called, Devine Pond. Both colors are by Devine Color by Target. To do this project all I did was apply even, thin layers of paint to each vase until I reached the desire color. Super easy and super simple.


The thing I love most about Pinterest projects is you can make them your own! They don't have to be exactly like the picture. The projects can have their very own personality! And that's what makes them yours!

Enjoy crafting!!
xoxo,
Morg

Stop it!

For my theater class I'm taking here at San Juan College we were able to attend the play put on by students and other actors from the area. If you live in San Juan County here in NM and didn't take the couple of hours to go and watch The Laramie Project put on at SJC, you missed out! The play was phenomenal; it was thought provoking, raw and the emotion ran high the whole time. I cried, I laughed, I felt apart of the people in Laramie, Wyoming. 

For those of you who don't know what The Laramie Project is about: 
It is about a young man named Matthew Shepard who was beaten and left for dead by two young men because he was homosexual. This play was in documentary form, the actors broke the fourth wall many times and spoke directly to the audience. The words the actors spoke and the emotions they portrayed were from actual interviews, film and news reports from when Matthew was killed. 

It was very real. 

When this happened I was 5 years old. So coming into this play I was clueless on what had happened. But I liked it that way. I didn't have any expectations of this play; I wanted to see it for what it was! For what the people of Laramie really felt about this situation. It was incredible. 

Being a Christian, I have a definite stance on gay marriage. I do not support it. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints a Proclamation to the World was written and given in a General Relief Society Meeting in 1995. It states, "We, The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His Children." 

Just because I don't support gay marriage doesn't mean I am a bad person. (And because I don't support it, doesn't mean people who do support are bad people. We just have different views.) I know plenty of people who are gay. And I think they are great people! I don't judge them or think of them differently, I don't ridicule or curse them. I treat them as a human being. I treat them for who they are, a child of God. Just as everyone else should. I don't care who you are, you can't tell me that you don't love Ellen Degeneres!! She is a GREAT lady! She has helped and inspired so many people! And guess what, she is gay! Ellen even said this, "Do we have to know who's gay and who's straight? Can't we just love everybody and judge them by the car they drive?" 

Please just be kind. Be aware of others feelings and beliefs. Do not purposely go hate on people because of who they are. Because you don't believe one thing or another, it doesn't give you a right to discriminate those who do. 

Click the link below to see a short video about bullying and why it needs to end. 
Bullying: Stop it!

"The topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two word sermon. When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following: 
Stop it! 
It's that simple. We simply have to stop judging others and replace judgemental thoughts and feelings with a heart full of love for God and His children. God is our Father. We are His children." 
-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf 
Second Counselor of the First Presidency 
The Merciful Obtain Mercy

To know more about Matthew Shepard please visit: http://www.matthewshepard.org/

January-February Events

Time sure does fly when you're havin' fun! Here is a quick little update in what has been happening in our lives the past couple of months.

We added another sweet niece to the family, Miss. Daphnie Rae. She is the sweetest little angel I ever did meet. I love getting to hold and love on her! She is beyond precious. We will add a nephew to the mix within the next month or so! I can't wait to meet him either! Babies are just so fun!

School is crazy! But, when is it not crazy?! With us both working full time and going to school full time it seems like the last thing we have is TIME! Time for ourselves and one another. Thankfully Spring Break is coming up here in the next couple of weeks! Hallelujah! I cannot wait! We are going to Phoenix, AZ! It will be so much fun! We will be able to do a session at the new LDS Temple located in Gilbert, AZ! We will get to soak up some much needed Vitamin-D! :) But I just can't wait to have some good quality, no work, no school, no phone time with Taft. That is what I really need, just some quality "us" time.

We had our first annual, Love Week! That was a ton of fun! I really enjoyed the constant love being said or acted. It was great! Taft got me a super cute plaque to hang on the wall. Underneath it we are going to hang hooks for our jackets and bags! I'm really excited to get that project finished!

We are still debating on where to go to school and what we are going to do this next Summer. This weekend we are going to do a lot of prioritizing what we would like for our future education! Hopefully we will come up with our next adventure, soon!

Overall, things are going great! We are just trying the best we can at everything we do!

Love Week

I don't know about y'all but I LOVE Valentine's Day! I don't know if I love it because ever since I was a little girl I was spoiled by my parents or if I just love the feeling of love! Either way I LOVE it! When Taft and I got engaged I made myself a promise to always be a cute and fun wife! I always wanted him to know how much I love and adore him, or just when I'm thinking about him. Because to me that is really important! And what better time to show the man of your dreams how much you love him during the week of Valentines Day?!

On Monday Taft got a sweet treat that said, "Taft I love you to pieces!"
Super simple and really yummy... I may have eaten more of his special treat than I should have! oops!

On Tuesday I drew a boat on a lake and had me fishing and at the end of my line there were a bag of gummy worms and it said, "Taft, I'm hooked on you!"

On Wednesday....I forgot! But I made up for it on Thursday!

Thursdays treat was a candy letter!

Friday he received a tennis racket and a bag of tennis balls.
[[We have a tennis court half a block away from our apartment complex, so we decided that 2-3 times a week we would go and play tennis! It was a ton of fun! I can't wait to start playing more and more when it warms up for good here!]]

Remember ladies and gents, just because love is in the air on this special week doesn't mean that is the only time you do these things for your significant other!! Love is meant to be expressed constantly and fiercely. Whenever your spouse does something super awesome leave a nice little note, cook a meal and have it on the table when you know they have been having a rough day. It is the little things that matter!

Hello 2014

Happy New Year everyone! I hope y'all had a fabulous evening with those you love! I know Taft and I did. We spend the evening with both sets of parents at dinner then we got together afterwards and played some really fun games! We had our New Years kiss around 11:30 and then went to sleep! It was a great night with awesome people! I wouldn't have had it any different!

I have been thinking more and more about what I want to cross off my list in 2014. It may not seem like a huge deal to anyone but these are things I really want to accomplish in this new year. Throughout the year after I accomplish each goal I will write a short post about how I accomplished my goal. I'm also going to post a few goals that Taft and I have set together as a couple. Things we can work on every single day with each other.

My Personal Goals for 2014: 

Get fit and STAY fit!

I have this serious problem...I work out for a month or two then I just suddenly stop. I just quit working out or motivating myself to keep working out. We are doing a Hansen family workout challenge, so hopefully that will keep me motivated to stay fit!

Get an A in my Anatomy Class....and all other classes of course!

Yep, I am one of those people who makes getting  good grades a goal for the upcoming year. This class is supposed to be one of the hardest science classes you can take.... And guess what I am going to get an A! Taft and I are taking this class together so I have an advantage of having a live-in study buddy! Woohoo! My hubby already has a 4.0...proud wife moment :)... so it is just extra motivation for us to get an A in the class! I am really excited for this next semester!

Keep Calm and Graduate

Eeek! Graduation is in May! I couldn't be more thrilled! I am so proud of myself to have worked hard in school to graduate with my Associates within two years. I can't wait to see where this journey on education will take Taft and I next. BYU, NMSU, UVU, UofU.... the options are just pouring in.

Use Social Media to share my Testimony

I am going to try and post once a week on this blog about my beliefs as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was really inspired by Al Fox and how she uses the media only for good. Not to bash or to hate on anything. But to spread love, joy and happiness to her followers. I LOVE that idea. I want to inspire and share with others the happiness that I have in my life!


The Hansen Duo's Goals for 2014: 

Read Scriptures Every Night

Taft and I have been slacking lately about reading our scriptures. And it shows. We have noticed this difference in our relationship when we are not seeking the words of our scriptures. This year and from now on we will not miss a night of reading and writing in our journals.

NO Technology until after Scripture Study

I know you are thinking, "you guys are NUTS!" but no we really aren't. We will be able to use our laptops to do our school work but that is it. No Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Instagram or Etsy until after we read our scriptures! (This goal of ours is because of my AWFUL addiction to Social Media) Our relationship between us is ten times more important than what Susie Q has to say about Tommy. This year we will focus on us. 

Workout 5 days a week

Taft and I have a goal to get fit and stay fit, together. We have really let ourselves go since we have gotten married. It is pretty pathetic. It will be easier to stay fit when you have a workout partner who motivates you! I am really excited!

Eat, drink and be healthy

No more junk! No more soda! We are going to start implementing a healthier diet into our new and upcoming year!


I just can't wait to see what new adventures our new year is going to take us on! It is going to be a great year full of opportunity and adventure! I am so thrilled to start 2014 with the man of my dreams!