four years

Four years ago Ammon and I went on our first date. I was stupid back then and didn't take any pictures with him, so all of these pictures are from the following summer. I sooo wish i had pics from when we were first hanging out... but i was too embarrassed and honestly never thought anything would come from going on dates with this boy. :) So glad he is the most patient person I have ever known!

Love you Am! And i am glad we picked each other :)

Elder Hansen is Home!

The best part of Halloween was welcoming home my cute little brother from his 2 year mission in Guatemala. It is SO good to have him home again. I have missed that kid. East and I have always been really close.. we would sit up late at night telling stories and laughing together. He is the GOLDEN CHILD of the Hansen household. East loves giving hugs and I have missed those hugs so much!

Hansen family finally reunited

Halloween at the Zittings

It's no secret that I LOVE Halloween. I always try to think of the best costumes, but usually I cant think of anything until the day before. It is seriously a curse. I was determined to not let that happen this year.

Say Hello to Mr. Tooth and the Tooth Fairy! I ended up making both costumes and I am so happy with how they turned out! Our primary kids thought ammon's costume was the funniest thing they had ever seen, and all the little sunbeams kept touching my tutu. Cutest thing ever.

The 26.2 Experience

Running has never been something that I enjoy. Even when I was little and just stepping into the competitive soccer arena, running a timed mile or two was the most incomprehensible thing I could think of. My mom had to come run with me. And believe me, if that would have been acceptable for my college soccer fitness tests... I would have had her right there next to me. Running just plain sucks in my mind.

Sooo then I did something stupid. I signed up for my first half marathon. 13.1 didn't seem too bad. So i casually began training. I still hated running and randomly.. i decided that if I was ever going to run a marathon, this would be there year to do it. I was training for a half, so I might as well continue training for two extra months or so and run a marathon. *insert expletive*

Training was hard and did not get any easier for me. I'll be honest.. I didn't train like i was supposed to. I did however feel prepared for my half marathon in July. That day was one of the worst days of my life.. but i did it. Then, a wrench got thrown into my plans. I accepted a coaching job at the local high school... not realizing the affect it would have on my training. I was now working 8-5, and coaching 5ish-8ish (game nights were more like 10), and my training slowedddd down substantially. I tried my best to run with the girls on conditioning days, but even that was maybe only a mile or so. My only real training happened on Saturdays when I would complete my long runs. These runs were LONG, took forever, and HARD. I was constantly sore and felt like crap every weekend.

Two weeks before the marathon I ran my first 20 miler. I felt great the whole time, and as i ran to my finishing desitination where ammon was picking me up.. i started bawling. I was so proud of myself for doing something I never thought I could do, and mostly i was just so happy to be done! :)

On October 5 I ran my first marathon. I was 30 minutes slower than I originally had wanted to be, but i quickly forgave myself because my body and mind felt so great and positive the whole race. (something i would easily sacrifice a good time for) Ammon met me around mile 16 and i was feeling great. Then my sister in law ran with me from mile 22-26. She kept me running at a good pace and kept my mental emotions in a positive place.

As I was running the last two blocks of the race, I was so overwhelmed with happiness. It is quite the indescribable feeling seeing the bleachers full of people who love me, cheering me on. I crossed the finish line and was instantly tearing up. I was SO proud. Then i looked up to see my friend Kami (who also happens to be the St George Marathon head coordinator) crying right along with me! She gave me the biggest hug and said some of the nicest things to me! It was an experience I will never forget.

I was so excited to see Ammon and my mom. My mom was my biggest mental support through out my training.. she kept me positive on bad run days, and helped me realize that timing didn't matter. Ammon was my biggest physical and emotional support. Although i was stubborn at times, he always made sure I did my runs. He woke up every Saturday morning with me at 4:30 to drive me up to my running route. He would then wait for me at the bottom of the route.. a some 3-4 hours later.

Running still isn't my favorite thing. But i am so happy that i pushed myself to do something that I really never thought I could do. I am convinced that if I can run a marathon, anyone can :)

Red Sox vs Yankees

Ever since I was little I have loved baseball. I remember as a toddler watching my dad play in his softball leagues, then all growing up every weekend was filled watching my brothers play ball while my dad coached. Some people don't get that my love for baseball did not start when I met Ammon. :)

I fell in love with Ammon watching him play baseball. That kid I tell you is one of the best shortstop's I have ever seen play the game. I will forever cherish the many days and times spent at the ball field watching Am play. 

Obviously, baseball has now turned into a thing we like to do together! I can't tell you how bad I flipped out when Am surprised me with tickets to the Red Sox Yankee's game at Fenway. We had planned our trip around a few different aspects (mostly when it was convenient for our family to have us visit), but secretly I reallyyyy wanted to try to catch a game at fenway during our time out East. We didn't think it was a smart possibility since ticket prices were off the wall, but somehow Am managed to surprise me! The game was definitely one of the MANY highlights of our trip. 

The game! 

Fenway

Checking out the field the day after the game.

The oldest baseball field in America!

An Explanation of Absence and pics

In case you were wondering why I have been completely M.I.A lately it's because of a few things...
1. working at ydraw 35-40ish hours a week
2. coaching high school soccer.. takes about 25 isn hours a week (done after work at ydraw)
3. planning bridal showers and other fun things like halloween decor for the house (ps halloween is my fav)
4. attempting to keep up on housework (ammon is like mr mom right now)
5. trying to decorate and find cute new pillows/curtains for my family room
6. still playing catch up from our vacation.. I swear until last night there was laundry all over my house
7. trying to organize our pics from the trip so I can post them
8. entertaining friends when they come stay for the weekend (our favorite)
9. training for my marathon in 17 days. WAYY too time consuming. (training only really happens on saturday mornings.. I am so stupid, it's true. I run 20 miles this saturday and may or may not die) pray for me.
10. Freaking out about my cute missionary brother who gets home in 5.5 weeks! WAHHH. ladies line up.
11. working on preparing for the primary program on SUNDAY
12. planning a talk for a youth fireside Am and I were asked to speak at... eek.
13. brainstorming something fun to do (to tease ammon) for the Utah BYU game.. I want to dye all of ammon's clothes red. (jk, obviously.. really he would die).
14. planning a trip to idaho next week.
15. trying to keep sane while all this is going on... somewhat working for me.

Honestly it is really weird... I am so much better off when I am busy and have a lot more going on. Coaching soccer has been the biggest blessing and I have come to really love the busy lifestyle we are living right now. I am making it my goal to blog more, but in the meantime enjoy a few pics.

fishin with friends

Demo Derby with more friends

Fenway with the hubs

hiking with the fam and Madi :)

welcome to me in all my morning glory. This was my accidental shirt I wore on the day of the BYU  vs Texas game
little things to make ammon glad he married me :) 

Rodeo with our visitors! :)

Let's talk Texting

Today I was thinking about texting. And well, a funny story came to mind that reminded me of another story..something so awkwardly hilarious that I just had to tell both stories on the blog so I never forget.

Ammon and I broke up 4 months previous to this story. At the time I was dating the boy I had dated in high school and things were going great. I hadn't spoken to Ammon at all in those 4 months with the exception of one text when I arrived home from my one month trip to Kenya, London, and Italy. So I'll be honest and say Ammon was not on my mind at this point in time.. not one single bit. Wellll.. one day I look down at my phone and I had received a text message from Ammon. Shocked, I opened the message to see that it was a picture message. .....the picture was of the Draper Temple. I found it extremely odd, and kind of uncomfortable to be honest. Ammon and I had previously spoken about his desire to want to get married in the Draper temple so his mission president could be his sealer someday. Obviously I was taken back to say the least. Not 2 seconds later I got another text from him.. deeply apologizing for the text and how it had been sent to the wrong person. I was relieved, and replied with something along the lines of 'don't worry about it'.. and that was it. Not a big deal whatsoever. BUT to this day, ammon will tell me just how mortified he was when he saw that picture sent to me and not the person he meant to send it to. Honestly.. even in the text i remember thinking.. wow he is sooo embarrassed! So that was the end of that.

...Until... things started getting sort of awkward with my boyfriend at the time. I really wanted to tell him about my previous relationship with Ammon, because I felt like I was hiding things from him if I didn't, and obviously he deserved to know the details. Every time I would try to tell him about the past relationship, it would get so awkward and he would cut the conversation very short. I thought it was so strange. UNTIL, one day the boyfriend and I got in a argument to which he mumbled something about me texting ammon and something about the temple. I was SO confused. He then admitted to feeling insecure because he had read through my text messages and seen that ammon had sent me a picture of the temple! I immediately felt terrible, but at the same time i was trying so hard not to laugh. Well.. i failed and I busted up laughing! Yeah.. not the best way to handle the situation. When he originally saw the text he was so appalled, that he didn't think to read the next message that explained the misunderstanding. Seriously though.. how bad does that really look? It was even more awkward trying to explain the situation, while trying not to laugh, but secretly wanting to, while being mad he went through my messages..yeah not one of the easiest situation. BUT SO FUNNY. Thinking about it now seriously cracks me up!

Speed up time. The other day at work I was texting Ammon.. just like we normally do through out a days time. I had received a message from one of my male coworkers (happily married with kids might I add) that works out of the office. He had messaged me an insignificant message about a project I was working on. So i briefly skimmed the message and forgot about it. An hour or so later I decided to text ammon and thank him for  putting everything in the crock pot so dinner would be ready on time. The text said "Hey Babe! I am so sorry I won't be home until late, but thank you sooo much for getting dinner squared away for when everyone comes over! I love you soo much!"... as soon as I hit send.. i realized "SHIZZZZ i just sent that to Jared (my coworker)! Oh my gosh worst feeling ever. And there is NO way to cancel a message on an iphone so I just had to sit there and watch the little blue bar become more and more blue. It was awful! I was mortified and not quite sure what to do. He responded something kind and light hearted.. but even then I felt like the biggest idiot on the planet! And to make it even worse.. the next day his wife came in to 'visit the office'.... can you say awka awkard?!

Things like this seem to constantly be happening to me. I really need to monitor my messages before I click send cuz seriously I don't know how many times this has happened! Maybe an iphone isn't the best phone for me and my texting capabilities?

Have you ever sent a significantly important text to the wrong person? I want to hear about it! ... Or are Ammon and I the only ones that have done stuff like this before? Make me feel better about myself.. (please!) :)

Happy Wednesday

1 Year

Holy Moly.. this happened one year ago. I can't even believe it!! It has been an amazing year and makes me so excited for the many years to come. Love you Am!

Haley and Ammon Temple video from Haley Hansen on Vimeo.

Ammon & Haley // Reception Highlight from Nathan Pickett on Vimeo.

Two years

Last month Ammon and I celebrated our two year anniversary! It's crazy how fast time goes by, and at the same time I feel like I don't remember what it was like to not have Ammon in my life. 

This year we reminsced by watching our wedding videos which we still LOVE, looking through pictures from that day, and talking about some of our favorite memories over the last two years.

My favorite memories included:

Buying out first home and our first night staying there.

Traveling to Fenway Park and watching the Red Sox play the Yankees

A funny experience we had while swimming in the ocean on our honeymoon in Jamaica. 

Ammons favorites included

Our trip to Newport Beach and watching the Angels game from a suite (thanks Andrizzi's!)

Buying our new car!!! Wahoo!

Selling our house

Our big trip back east last summer

To celebrate Ammon and I spent the weekend up in SLC. Some people might think this is lame, but we never make it up to Salt Lake City.. And the one thing Ammon loves is Food, and the one thing I love is Shopping. Sooo being withing walking distance of city creek was a win win for both of us. We ate our little hearts out, relaxed, watched a lot of prison break, shopped, and even went to the animal Body Worlds Exhibit. It was a perfect weekend!! I am so grateful for Ammon and our relationship as a family! Here's to many more :)

News and such

>Ammon got a 4.0 his first semester of Grad school. (he rocks)
>I got a new (second) job... My title is.. high school soccer coach at Desert Hills. SO excited.
>Ammon played in an all night softball tourney (stupid), but it was awesome watching him work his magic on the field. Seriously get butterflies every time.
>I changed positions at my full time job and now am working in sales. I can't decide if it was a promotion or a demotion. ;) haha
> We finally bought something with our million Crate&Barrel gift cards.. an awesome rug for our kitchen.
>We also made another semi-big purchase which is picture below. :)
> I got asked to speak in church.. from the bishop.. at the pulpit... in the middle of the meeting.
> Oh and I almost peed my pants in that moment.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>...Life is good people.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

And on Friday it is our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY. Maybe I should post some wedding pictures?

THE RUG!

Our new toy :)

And a picture of my cute husby.. ;) This is my favorite expression he makes.... :) love that man o mine!

The Half--13.1

I have been meaning to blog about my half marathon for over a week now, but I really had to wait until I had a better attitude about the dang thing! :) Lets put it this way... I woke up feeling shaky and had a stomach ache, (not to mention Mother Nature decided it was the right time of the month for me the night before). Is that TMI? I feel like only women read blogs so it really isnt that big of a deal. Anywho.. so I didn't feel great, but i was excited to get going.

Miles 1-3 were pretty flat and I felt a little better. Miles 3-6 were primarily downhill.. Mom, Andrea, Nic and I cruised. We were averaging 8:20 ish miles-- which is fast for me-- and then we hit the 7 mile mark. BOY did I get sick. I decided I needed to use the port a potty.. and once we got there, it was already occupied. Not wanting to have to wait and slow my time down, I kept going. For 4 more miles I kept saying I needed to stop and never did.. DUMB. Finally around mile 11 I stopped and tried to feel better.. but to no avail. I felt bloated, not to mention I was cramping (lady cramping), and I was dehydrated cuz the water at the water stations tasted like straight acid. Ha! So off I went trying to run again. Then it hit me.. my legs were cramping! In all my years of playing sports I had never cramped like that. Like the jolting "oh my gosh i can't move' cramping. So yeah that was awesome too.

I will be honest.. I broke down and was a crying mess at a few parts of the race. Honestly I was disappointed because my 11 mile run the week before had gone fantastic! I felt so great, kept a good pace, and wasn't too tired when I finished. So when I felt so crappy during the race, I was really getting down on myself. If it weren't for my cute sister in law Andrea, and my momma I would have never gotten to the finish line.

BUT! Let me tell you. When I finally did get there.. it was the best feeling ever. Mostly I was just happy it was over! But now a few weeks later I can look back and say that I am so proud of myself for doing something so out of my comfort zone. I still hate running, but after a week off I really am excited to get training again. It is weird to me that I am missing it. Thank you for all the kind comments, texts, and posts! You guys are all soo great.

Liana! Thank you for the sweet tip about running in my clothes before.. I would have never thought of that! and I am now using the schedule you suggested to train for the full. You are a gem and I am so excited to get to know you better!

Andrea. Me. Mom

momma and myself. She is my hero.

My favorite fan :)  Love that boy

Don't let that smile fool you.

I had no idea my blisters were going to be so bad. I guess it really is time for new running shoes.!

A vacation for the Zittings

The weekend in Newport with short explanations :)

Ammon and I on Balboa Island watching the 'Boat Parade' with my aunt and uncle. We LOVED Balboa Island and the fun beachy atmosphere of the little quaint island.

We were told we had to try the famous Balboa Bar..Obviously ammon was all over that idea.

I stuck with the Frozen chocolate covered banana.

We spent the next morning at the beach hanging out. It was cool cuz on these rocks there were little crabs, fish, and starfish. We had fun walking along the beach looking at all the 'little' beach houses... they are adorable, but scare me ever since i watched The Impossible. (for those who have seen it..you will understand). 

The main event! We were so excited when my uncle texted us last may to see if we could come down for the game. We were both sooo excited we couldnt hardly wait. It was my first MLB game, and not only that.. but my two favorite teams were playing each other!

My Uncle had a suite for the game.. it was amazing! Ammon was in heaven.. all the food he wanted and baseball all night? what could be better! (oh and duh I was there too, so obviously he was happy).

My favorite player on the Angels.. Mike Trout. Can you believe he is only.