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Hansens at Timp 2021

10 Jul
John Mark, Julie, Marcus, Me (and Skeeter), Blueberry Pie

In 2020, we were supposed to have a family reunion, but we had to postpone it due to covid restrictions. This year, when it was decided to postpone a second time, my dad reacted a huge group site at Aspen Grove so that any cousins who wanted to see each other and hike up Timp mountain could do so.

Matt and Pete

We had such a great time camping and hiking and visiting.

Mom and Marcus
Marcus and Lukey
Dad, Uncle Verne, and Aunt Christie
Cegan, Verna, John Mark
Sammy, Lukey, Kimberly, Jimmy
John Mark’s girls

I took the four littlest kids up to the waterfalls.

I almost took them up the wrong trail.
Here we are at the correct trailhead. John Darrell and Matt made it up to Emerald Lake.

The 4 little kids and I made it to the second waterfall (which, I believe, is 2 miles, but felt much longer.)

Zeke took baby penguin steps all the way up, so it was 2 hours up, and we only made it because I bribed him and Skeeter with fruit snacks most of the way.

Banana Cream Pie and Apple Pie ended up hiking ahead with cousins because the twins and I were so slow.

Zeke kept asking me if I would carry him, and I kept saying “no.”

Here is a very hot and tired Zeke at the waterfall
The water was ice cold and refreshing.

Skeeter had a lot more trail left in his legs. When we got to the waterfall, he asked “Where is everybody?” I told him, “all the little kids have gone back down ahead of us. The big kids are going to the top.”
“I want to go to the top,” says he.
“It’s 5 more miles,” says me.
Raising both fists in the air, he announced “I can do it!” (I considered it for about 2 seconds before I came to my senses and we headed back down to camp.

About 2/3 of the way back down, Zeke stopped a total stranger on the trail and asked super pitifully, “Would you carry me?”

I could tell that good-hearted guy was considering it 😂 😬 😬😬😬😬

I assured him we were fine and continued shepherding my boys down.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell on a hike if your 5 year old is actually tired or just bored. I think Zeke was actually tired.

Smiles at the Trailhead

The summit hikers’ report from the resident Captain

Great climb with the kiddos up Mt. Timpanogos, Utah elevation 11,752 ft. above sea level. This was a deceptively difficult climb, but we made it safely. The views were spectacular, and this ranks as the most scenic climb I have done. We hiked about 16 miles round trip and it took us about 14 hours.

First waterfall
We stopped at Emerald Lake where Pumpkin Pie and Peach Pie decided to stay at the lake while we continued.
After looking up at what was still left to climb, I didn’t blame them. This mountain teases and tricks you. If you look at the top center, you can see a small white speck which is the shed at the summit.
4 made it to the summit

This was the most difficult climb and tallest mountain that Cherry Pie and Key Lime Pie had attempted. Both of them did great.

Key Lime Pie was an amazing climber. She kept up with her uncles and made it all the way to the top. “I guess I inherited your climbing ability, Dad.”
Cherry Pie adds her name to the list of summit champions.
Going back down what is left of the glacier.

We decided to glissade down the snow field instead of hiking back down the trail. You can see the scale of the mountain by how small we look.

Family Vacation 2017

21 Jul

Pit Stop #1 Oklahoma City Walmart.

#me&8kids #walkingcircus #Sammyhelped

Sticker books for the winnnnn!

We visited Jimmy at Montezuma Creek, where he is teaching school on the Navajo reservation.

My first impression of Shiprock is- this is the ugliest place on earth.

But I would still love to move to the rez and teach.

The best part of vacation was JohnnyD’s wedding

Like my other brothers, JohnnyD picked a great new sister for me. Love that girl.

Scooter Pies: Zeke on the left, Skeeter on the right
Blueberry Pie and his best amigo, Sammy
JohnnyD, Uncle Nels, Key Lime Pie

We stayed with Linda and her girls in SLC during the wedding and wedding reception. ❤️❤️❤️

Christmas Eve 2014

24 Dec
The nativity
Mary and Joseph
King Herod
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
I’m Gettin’ Nuttin’ for Christmas
The Little Drummer Boy
Chipmunk Christmas Song
All I Want for Christmas is My 3 Front Teeth

Family Vacation 2014

20 Jul

Bagels & Nutella. What a delicious way to begin our road trip

Saturday: Rapid City, South Dakota

Cherry Pie, Key Lime Pie, Pumpkin Pie

We stayed the night in Rapid City. In the morning we got dressed in our Sunday clothes and found an LDS chapel, but the doors were locked, and a note on the door said they had Stake Conference somewhere else. So we decided to listen to Book of Mormon Stories in the car and drive on to Devils Tower.

Sunday: Devils Tower and Billings Montana

After hiking around Devil’s Tower, we drove to Billings and spent the night with my Aunt Lillian and Uncle Doug. Uncle Doug showed my kids a fun game called FlowFree, which became a family favorite

Monday: Rexburg Idaho

All the pies

It was my dad’s turn to be in charge of the family reunion.

I’m really proud of the idea I came up with to put posters of family stories in the hallway. That way when we were waiting in line for a meal, we were reading the stories. That was a big win.

Katie helped us make a coloring book of the family for all the little kids. She also had a bunch of hilarious minute-to-win-it games for us to play.

I spent hours on a family tree chart in a binder- that was maybe less of a success- I didn’t feel like it was visually pretty or easy to follow.

But all in all, the family history focus was 👌

The lengths parents will go to to get kids to smile for pictures.
Sammy, Cherry Pie, Cegan, Sariah, Bertie
Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Pie, Eddie, Kaitlyn, and Rowan
I led Zumba in the mornings for those who wanted to sweat before breakfast. that was really fun.

This reunion was the first reunion in 9 years that I wasn’t pregnant at the reunion, so I worked really hard to be skinny for it. I did lose about 10 pounds, and I was looking pretty good!

Nate brought his slack line, and Pumpkin Pie spent a lot of time being awesome on it.
Peach Pie tried it too
Jim did archery for the little kids. Key Lime Pie is deadly with a bow and arrow.
The Reed family
Eddie, Kaitlyn, and Rowan looking good.

This year our skit was to the tune of “Follow the Prophet” but the words were “Hansens are Awesome”

We also played at the St. Anthony Sand Dunes
Key Lime Pie

After we left Rexburg, we visited Aunt Cheli and Uncle Ed in Provo.

Blueberry Pie
Uncle Ed had all these sweet bikes in his garage, just waiting for kids to come ride them!
Banana seats forever!

After that, we visited the Great Salt Lake with Linda and Jonathan

Antelope Island

Arches National Park and the Delicate Arch. Junior Ranger Badges for the win!!
Mesa Verde
More Junior Ranger badges
Baby Bean in the car.

Centennial

2 Jul

100 years ago on Friday (the 6th), my Grandpa Arthur Hansen was born.  We lived pretty far away from him while I was growing up but I do have a few great memories.  

I knew that he loved me and my brothers and sisters a whole lot– pretty impressive that he could make me feel that from only seeing us a few times–we didn’t even get to visit once a year, but I knew he really loved me. 

When I was 6 or 7, he and Grandma came out to Missouri to visit.  He brought my sisters & me Michael Jackson paper dolls (Not the paper kind, but the plastic-y kind that stick to each other.)  We didn’t have a clue who Michael Jackson was, but it was obvious from the pictures that he was both cool & famous.  We had fun playing with those dolls, but we couldn’t figure out why he only had one sparkly glove instead of a pair. 

When I was around 11 or 12 we went out to Utah to visit Grandpa.  We had a big picnic in the park to celebrate his birthday (and a few other family birthdays.)  There was to be a pie-eating contest and Aunt Dianne made a banana cream pie for each person (that was alot of pies).  My dad is allergic to bananas so she made him a special pie with no bananas.  There was a big discussion between Uncle Mark and Uncle Nels about whether that would give dad an unfair advantage during the eating, but I was very impressed that she went to the trouble to make a special pie.  I don’t know who won the contest, but when Grandpa finished his pie, he had whipped cream all over his face and even in his nose.  He grabbed my sister in a big bear hug and said, “Give me a kiss, Mary!”
Grandpa had false teeth and whenever we visited, he would announce, “Careful where you sit, I’ve set my teeth down somewhere and they might bite you!”  Then he’d push his teeth out with his tongue and clack them at us.  (They’d been in his mouth the whole time.)  I was always pretty fascinated by that glass of water that his teeth soaked in. 
A funny story I know about his teeth from before I was born:  Grandpa taught classes for awhile and every day before he walked into the classroom he would stop and raise his hand to check that he had his teeth in, his glasses in his right breast pocket and his pencils in his left breast pocket.  Some of his students thought he was Catholic because of this.  (If you don’t get that joke, try it yourself.)
Grandpa Hansen served a mission in Norway as a young man and then he and Grandma served 3 missions in Iceland after he retired (or was it 2 missions to Iceland and 1 in Switzerland?)

Whining

9 Mar

Me:

I hate making decisions with only partial information.

My Sister, Amanda:

Calm yourself ! Just remember that you have birthed five children. If you’ve done that then making plans with only partial information should be a cinch. Just remember….they don’t offer epiderals for indecision. So man up.

Me:

Putting on Big Girl Panties Now