Remembering 2009 - Part I

Wow, lots happened in 2009!!! It was a fun and eventful year in which Zane and I grew together, laughed together (and at each other), and overall it was a year of blessings and trials. Here is a little bit of what 2009 was :)

Draper Temple Open House!!

Zane and I had the opportunity to attend the open house for the Draper temple along with the Fails and the Provo Hanzons. We were able to enjoy the beautiful spirit that was present, the gorgeous art inside the temple, a fun bus trip, and some delicious gyros at a Greek Restaurant. We love temples, families, and...... food!! :)






Our friend Jessy gets married!

2009 was a year of weddings for us. Many of our dear friends tied the knot during that year. We felt honored to be part of their special day!

I felt privileged when Jessy asked me to do her hair and makeup for her bridals and for her wedding day :) We had so much fun! She was a gorgeous bride












President's Day Fun!

My mountain man and I decided to go on a little hike for the President's Day holiday. It was a GORGEOUS sunny winter day!!! We ended up in doughnut falls in Little Cottonwood Canyon and took some pictures. We absolutely love nature and we feel so blessed to live by so many beautiful surroundings!

Happy New Years 2009 at the Malzl's!

Being the amazing hostess that Laly Malzl is, once again we joined them and their friends in the biggest and funnest New Years party in all of Mapleton!! :) We danced, sang, ate, celebrated, and had lots of fun!! Happy New Year everyone!

Haha! I love Zane's face in this one!

Christmas 2008: Our 1st Christmas Married!

We were so happy to spend our very first Christmas as a married couple! It really was unforgettable! We purchased our 1st Christmas tree, our first Christmas ornaments, we sent our first Christmas cards....we had lots of 1sts! The big question when it came to our Christmas tree was...colored or clear lights? Even though we both preferred the clear ones, we decided that we wanted to have a colorful Christmas, since we will probably have clear lights in the future. After getting our little apartment all set up, we headed to Colorado for some Colorado Christmas with the Hanzon family! Here are some highlights!

Zane getting ready to take out our super fake/super cheap/super LOVELY Walmart Christmas tree!!!




It's coming along!



TADA!! The final product! Oops...but you get the idea ;)



Our GORGEOUS nativity from Ghana. We bought it from a man who runs an NGO that buys Christmas nativities from people in need from all over the world. Ours is made out of ebony :)



Merry Christmas everyone!



A Colorado Christmas!



Ready to go snowshoeing! WE LOVE IT!

A Shout Out To My Wonderful Husband!!

So I have been trying to get our blog "up to date" for a while now. There has been so much going on and there are just so many pictures, (and they are currently in 3 different computers, plus we got a Mac Mini, so we are trying to figure that one out!) that I have not done the work as fast as I would want, but I promise that it will get done...sometime? :) So I will not wait until I update it to write this today.

I just wanted to say about how grateful I am for my husband. He is just incredible. He really is WAY more than what I bargained for. First of all, I am just in AWE of his spirit of service. I could write for hours about the incredible way in which he fulfills his callings, the way he cares about his friends and family, etc. But I will be selfish and write about his service to me.

For a couple of days last week I did not feel well at all. I suffer from migraines, and when I do I become paralyzed, my day is "over" unless I take a very strong pill that I have avoided to take lately. Zane has been so caring and understanding with me when I get them, he usually will turn the lights off in the house, he will get me an ice pack for my head, he will tuck me in bed and bring me food, he will try not to make noises and so on...you get the idea. But last week I was just out. We had to do many things before our trip to Vegas (for Jimmy and Dawn's wedding), and I just couldn't do anything. I don't think I cooked anything, I did not clean at all, and basically just vegged in bed after work. As Zane came home, he cleaned, cooked, did dishes, did laundry, gave me kisses and took care of me. He kept asking me about how I felt and if I needed anything. On one particular day I slept for a long time, then when I woke up in the middle of the night, I realized that our apartment looked spotless and everything was taken care of. Really. Everything. I was so impressed and grateful!! The next morning Zane told me to look at our coffee table (which I hadn't noticed), and there was a little gerber daisies flower plant that looked like sunflowers. Sunflowers are my favorite flowers. He had gone to the store while I was asleep to surprise me when I'd wake up. And he said that he hoped that they would make me feel better. That just made my heart melt!!!

I mean, Zane will bring me flowers, clean everything, and surprise me like that, but this time I felt like I was going to explode in gratitude and love for him. Zane and I try to split the work around the house as much as we can (although I really think he is better at it than I am.... I get too distracted...), but he really is such a great help ALWAYS, he is SO service oriented it amazes me.... I need to learn from him!!

I just wanted to put into words the feelings of gratitude and love I have felt for him. Thank you Zane for serving me, taking care of me, and loving me, especially when I needed it the most. What a guy! I am so lucky I am married to him! :) Zane, I love you so much!!! Thank you for everything you do for me!!

Hanzon Autumness Part 4 Savior of the World!!!

What an unforgettable, fulfilling, spiritual, amazing experience was to be part of the cast of Savior of the World last Fall/Winter. For those of you who do not know anything about Savior of the World, (quoted from lds.org): "Savior of the World: His Birth and Resurrection was written by a council of seven Church members (Mormons) who consecrated their time and talents under the direction of the Church's presiding leaders. As a sacred musical drama depicting events surrounding the Savior's life, the production is foremost a testimony of Christ and His divine mission as the Savior and Redeemer of the world." I was so happy to be able to sing, dance, and act in such a marvelous production about Jesus Christ as one of Mary's cousins. Zane was SUCH a HUGE support in every way. I learned SO much, and met wonderful, talented, and spiritually strong people!!! I highly recommend everyone to go this year and take a friend. We had friends and family come, and it was a delight to enjoy it with them. Tickets can be found at lds.org after September/October.

Hanzon Autumness Part 3 The Making of the Gingerbread Houses

This was the first time ever that I, Nany, made a gingerbread house. I had no idea how much fun this would be! If you have never done it, I highly recommend it for this year! (by the way, I just noticed that there is a spell check in this thing...this will make things a lot easier!). However, you do need the initial help of the experts a.k.a. Fails, Provo Hanzons, and J&D.


We went to the Fails home for the Gingerbread House party along with Jimmy and his then girlfriend, Dawn, who stayed with us for a weekend, (now they are engaged in case you were wondering :) It was fun to visit with J & D and to go the MoTab Fall Concert with them. They make a very cute couple!
Kirsten did an amazing job at baking the house parts (which again, I had no idea you could do, since I had only seen kits at the grocery stores). I was SO impressed by Zane's craftsmanship! He really did an incredible job with our shingles, and I was assured that if we are every in need of a Wheat Thins roof, they will be top notch!

To be completely honest, I cannot remember who we gave the 1st place to...Kirsten and Haley remind me!!! Or....you could just judge for yourself! Behold our finished product:






Ps: Jimmy and Dawn had to go back to Vegas, they got the "merit" award.