Nick & Becca

Canning Dayz

2009-09-25T11:17:00.001-07:00

When I was pregnant with Cason, my "nesting phase" manifest itself in obsessing over getting my year supply. My sister-in-law Gena (aka Preparedness Queen) opened my eyes to the wonder of canned meat. (You have to know that I had never canned anything in my life up to that point.) But, Gena said it was one of the most SIMPLE things you could can!! I borrowed two pressure canners, was given some quart jars, bought 15 round roasts and 20#'s of chicken. It took two days to get all that meat done, but it was SIMPLE and I was hooked! It is so CONVENIENT when preparing dinner to have meat that is ready to go as soon as you pop the top. Sunday dinner of roast and potatoes has never been so easy!!!

STEP #1 Buy chicken, ground beef or roast when it goes on sale. (Or kill your own rooster!) I always buy the boneless, skinless chicken breats and cut off the little pieces of fat.

STEP #2 Stick the meat into your jar. I just stick the whole breast into the jar, no precooking needed (unless you're canning ground beef - that needs to be browned). I've found about 4 breasts (just less than 2#'s) fit into a jar and 2#'s of ground beef fit into a jar. Make sure your meat is below the neck of the bottle. ADD 1 tsp of salt, make sure the rim of the jar is wiped off and put your lid on. NOTE: You do not add any water or broth in with your meat, it cooks in its own juice.

STEP #3 Put the jars in your pressure canner and fill the canner with water about midway up the jars. Put your lid on and turn the stove on high. Wait until you have a consistent stream of steam shooting up through the thing that you put your weight on. Let it steam for about 5 to 10 minutes and then put your weight on. Chicken, beef, and beans all need 10#'s of pressure for 90 minutes if using quart jars and 75 minutes if using pint jars. (High elevation needs 15#'s) Keep the stove on high until your gauge reads 10, or your weight starts to "rock". That is when you start the timer for the 90 minutes and also turn your stove down to about med-high or whatever temp keeps your guage at 10.

STEP#4 Enjoy the convenience of your cooked meat!

P.S. Those of you worried about the "safety" of canning and eating your own meat...all I can say is we're all still alive and kicking!

PopUp Joe

2009-09-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Nick and I are both country kids at heart and we really want to raise our kids the way we were raised. Living in a subdivision makes that pretty hard. We were happy that at least our house backed up to the desert so our girls could climb the fence and go make forts or play in the wash. Unfortunately that came to a halt one day when the girls and I were out playing in the wash. Nick had been chasing our dog and when he came back he saw an illegal walking towards us. As soon as the illegal saw Nick he turned and walked away. No more backyard adventures. We needed a way to get our family some "wide open spaces". Nick and I love the outdoors but aren't so keen on sleeping on the ground so...Popup Joe joined our family. We love Joe (born 1989) and have absolutely loved our home away from home.

Popup Joe has a king size bed, a queen size bed and even the baby's wee little bed (playpen) fits in! There is a sink, stove and lots of little storage compartments.

Our 1st Popup adventure was to the Huachuca Mountains in Sierra Vista for the 4th of July. The road to the top was really steep & switchback but worth all the fear once you got to the top. This is a picture of Carr Peak. We didn't realize how long of a hike it was but once we start something doggonit...we're gonna finish it. It took over 4 hours and a game of "Mother May I take 2 steps backwards? No, but you may take 20 flying pegasus steps forward."
Our girls really are troopers.

The girls loved our first camping trip...everything of course except the hike! Kalee made a boat out of leaves. The girls made those little boats the entire 2nd day. They would make them and then sail them down the little stream we were camped by. They kept doing experiments using big and small leaves and even used a stick to make a mast. We feel so blessed to have those two gals. They sure keep life exciting!

My handsome Hansens.

Because I Love You...

2009-08-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

Because I love you so much Nicholas Christian, I will try and keep up this blog for you. I know you started it hoping I would catch the fire...which I haven't, but I know it is something you would like and you don't ask much of me...so here goes!!!

Rebecca's 1st Entry: Lifelong Goal Fulfilled!
I've always wanted to see a chicken run around with it's head cut off. The Rasmussen's made the dream come true on Friday August 28,2009. Needless to say I was not disappointed.

Afterwards Nick and Clay skinned and degutted...it was AWESOME!!

Baby Cason

2008-12-01T06:53:00.000-08:00

I'm just stating the obvious here, but, this is only my second posting. But I do have a good reason. I wanted to wait until the baby was here to be able to jot down some thoughts.

So, a week late and very much to our shear anxiety, on Thursday, November 27, 2008 Rebecca gave birth to a cute baby boy. Yes I know, how could he be mine if he's so darn cute? I had the same question, then saw all the hair on his back and thought, "That's my boy!" He is darling. I need to stop using those "fluffy" adjectives (I'm use to talking about my girls). He is manly, stout, and handsome...borderline grizzly and tough! He's great. Many have asked, "are you so glad it's a boy!" And honestly, and I think this is mutal between Rebecca and I, we have been waiting so long for number 3 in our home, we were exstatic just to have a strong, healthy baby. How fitting that he came on Thanksgiving, too! Don't let me depreciate the fact that we are excited to have a boy, though. That's like an added bonus to the blessing! As the nerdy engineer I am, I can best explain it using an equation:

healthy baby = awesome
healthy baby boy = awesome+1

Some already know this, but Rebecca and I don't find out the sex of our babies. I think that's more me than Rebecca. But I love the surprise! So, that means we have to go into the hospital with two names - boy and girl. Unfortunately, as has been the case with the other two also, we could not agree on names. So, instead of going to the hospital with two names...we went with zero! We did have our book of 60,000+ names, though! I tell you what, those things are worthless. Who is going to name their kid Abu or Naem or Quint? I mean really, about 55,000 of the names are toss-outs. The book was no help to us. But, there was a name that Rebecca said a few minutes after he was born that I really liked. I thought she liked it too...but then she began to doubt. Apparently, a neighbor friend had mentioned they liked the same name. So, that name was out. Rebecca didn't like any of my thanksgiving names like Squanto or John Smith either, so we were at an impasse. I was so frustrated around noon on Friday that Rebecca sent me away to the movies. Of course, she sent me with the agenda to find a name while watching the movie. I went to see the new Bond movie...no help at all, but a good flick! I went back to the hospital determined to use the neighbor friends name. My mind was made up, he was my boy, and that's all there was to it! Oh, and I took ammunition with me...some "outside" food. The outside food was good, my plan - not so good. We got into a "spirited" discussion that turned into a throw out any name on our mind. Not bad names aimed at each other, baby names. It was a heated brainstorming session. Then, Rebecca said it, "Cason". I stopped in my tracks, "Cason, mmm...that's not bad. In fact, that's pretty cool! Cason, I like it!". And we were done! 20 hours after he came into the world, finally, Cason Nicholas Hansen had a name. It's funny how names seem to fit, too. I looked at his face and yep, he is Cason.

I was nervous to have a boy. A boy is so different. I mean...there's circumcision! Our delivery doctor, Dr. Sherman, barely made it to our room in time to deliver Cason. She had been over in the ER getting her pinkie stitched up. She had cut off the tip doing Thanksgiving dinner. Not the person I wanted to circumcise my boy! Luckily, she was "off duty" when circumcision time came. Instead, it was a meticulous, well-organized, spanish gentleman - everything went great...I mean, all things considering!

Four days later, we're trying to get back into the swing of things as best as possible. The girls love their new baby brother. Rebecca is doing great. She's excited to be down 15 lbs. from Thursday, when most of us are up 15 lbs! She looks great. She's a beautiful, wonderful mom and wife. She did so good during the delivery. She didn't want the epidural (sp?) again. She didn't have one with Kalee, our first, but she did with the second, Alana. So, Rebecca definately knew the bitter from the sweet before making the decision. She is a trooper! And like I said, she did so good. This may sound funny, but the best word to describe her is disciplined. Just like when she trained for and ran her marathon...she is so mentally sharp. When she wants something, she prepares and when the time come, she focuses so well on the end goal. She's amazing! John 16:21 is fitting of her ordeal:

"A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world."

It was a long road, and I understand not as long as others may have to travel, but it was a long road for us and we are so grateful Cason is here.

Learning the ropes

2008-09-03T20:11:00.001-07:00

This is going to take some time to learn...but, and this is going to sound pretty funny coming from a guy, I want a blog. I read over my family and friends and love to see what they're up to. So, it's time for the Arizona Hansens (sorry Dad and Adam...you live too close to California to count) to get in the game. Hopefully it doesn't take long to learn the ropes and make this thing look somewhat decent. So, here we go...