Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!


christmas gift
Originally uploaded by SeXyMaMa316
Merry Christmas to everyone. We're so thankful to have such an amazing family and friends.

The dogs are enjoying the morning running around in the snow, Mark and I just had our breakfast. Now we're getting ready for the drive to Detroit to see family.

Have a safe and happy holiday!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Michigan or BUST!!!


View Larger Map

Our trip starts tonight. We drive from KC to Effingham, IL where we're spending the night. The next day, we jam up to Michigan!

We have two dogs in a little tiny civic and terrible weather! Wish us luck!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Merry Christmas!


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Originally uploaded by Rachel and Mark H.
Sassy wishes everyone a safe and wonderful Christmas!

Not bad for a floor that previously had 6 layers of vinyl and glue on it!


Floor 12/21/09
Originally uploaded by Rachel and Mark H.
Mark has been working hard on scraping the floor so its ready to be sanded and refinished when we get back from the holidays!

Doesnt that look amazing compared to the before picture?


Before:
hideous flooring in the office

In between:
Floor as of now...

Thursday, December 17, 2009

December snow and a visit from Lisa!

Mark's sister Lisa is famous for having travel troubles... It was only appropriate that we got 2 inches of snow the day she arrived. Thankfully, the snow came after her plane safely landed and melted before she left!

The dogs were excited to have their aunt in town and snow to play in!

I LOVE YOU!

This series I like to call "Slappy is going down" starring our foster dog Abbie!

Slappy's going down! Yeah, watch out!Get her!

We didn't do much while Lisa was here because she visited while we were both in finals, but we did make a trip out to the Louisberg Cider Mill in Louisberg, KS.

100_5816Louisberg Cider MillMark and his sister Lisa

Mark made sure to snap a few photos of Sassy in her elf hat.

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All in all it was a nice visit, and we're glad the snow is gone! Mark has one more final left tomorrow and then he can relax... of course by relax, I mean work on the baby's room!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

2009 in Review! (long post)

2009 has been a really crazy year for us. Lots of good, and certainly a lot of not so good, but all in all, we're feeling blessed and we're moving into 2010 with a lot of hopes and dreams. The baby is born in April, I graduate in May, Mark graduates in August, we open a chiropractic practice! What an exciting year ahead!

2009 started out well. We really didn't do a whole lot in the first part of the year.

We had a few foster dogs. We still have Abbie, but she is our last foster for a long long time. I have officially taken a break with the rescue and will not be fostering or doing anything else, so I can focus on our family.

100_3315 Hamilton aka Hammy or Hamster

Abbie Abbie the abbigator or destruct-o as we lovingly refer to her as.

We went to Paris, France in March. It was amazing, so wonderful and a great bonding opportunity for Mark and I. I am really glad we did this before the baby was born.

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We bought a car from my good friend Lisa and drove it home through Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and into Missouri. This was another trip that I can't even begin to describe. Life changing! We had an amazing trip, saw the Grand Canyon, Historic Route 66, Painted Desert, the studio where Buddy Holly recorded all of his famous songs, Muleshoe, TX, Amarillo, TX, Oklahoma City, OK and home. It was so fun. We fell in love with Flagstaff, AZ and the food in the southwest was better than anything!

100_4797 The Grand Canyon

100_4864 Possibly the best meal I have ever eaten in my life in Flagstaff, AZ.

100_4932 Painted Desert

100_4880 This is outside of the painted desert in New Mexico.

100_4958 Albuquerque has amazing food too!

100_5026 Mark about to explode holding a guitar in front of the microphone that Buddy Holly used to record, and his amp.

100_5080 The biker bar we ate at on Route 66 in Amarillo.

We went on a road trip to Memphis by way of Arkansas in the summer time. It was blistering. We saw the Sun Studios, Stax Museum, Graceland and Beale Street. We also ate some amazing BBQ.

Sun & Mark

100_5238 In line at Graceland

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We found out about the baby in August and found out she was a girl in November:

Mark Jr.! - approximately 15 weeks

We went to Michigan later in the summer to spend some time with the dogs and family. Beans, Slappy and Pokey had a great time on Lake Lansing on the boat, and Ill never forget that day!

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We lost a friend this year. Ryan Goodman was killed on his construction site leaving behind two young girls and a loving wife. We were very saddened to lose such a great guy.

We also lost our beloved Beans. I am still not comfortable talking about it because my heart is broken but he was a great, though troubled friend.

Beanie

Friday, December 4, 2009

Half Way Done! 20 Weeks!


We're at the official half way point today. I cant believe that 20 weeks from today is our due date. We're really excited. Its been a whirlwind week with everything else that's been going on. I'm just glad we have our little girl to keep us company. Thanks for all the well wishes.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

In much happier news: IT'S A GIRL!


We found out Friday that our little Mark Jr. is actually a girl!

Stay tuned for names!

We're due April 21st, 2010!

RIP Beans McCheese Hanses



I wanted to let you all know that yesterday at around 5 pm we had Beans put to sleep. He bit a close friend of ours while we were out of town. For us it was a last straw. We had the mobile vet come over and do it in our home, so we could hold him and tell him that we loved him. He passed very peacefully, and will be cremated.

Its been a long and hard weekend for us, and we appreciate all of your support. I enclosed some pictures of him on Lake Lansing in Michigan this past summer. Contrary to what everyone thought, he wasn't nervous and had an amazing time on the boat. Its rare to capture a moment of him smiling, but he had such a great time, he couldn't stop smiling. We will spread his ashes here in Michigan this Christmas.

Rachel & Mark