Baptism Day!

Jeffrey was baptized on July 2, 2011 in Orem, Utah.  We were so glad he could be baptized in Orem so that his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins could all come!  As you  can see from the pictures, it was a perfect day!  It's wonderful to have all of the Hansen kids baptized!

Junior Prom

Hayley went to Prom with Jacob Gover.  He is a nice young man from her seminary class.  They had a long wait at dinner--in spite of making reservations--but the rest of the evening was a good time.

Hayley looked beautiful.  Watch out for that dad!

Spring Break

The kids wanted to go somewhere exotic for Spring Break this year.   They had friends going to Orlando, on a cruise, to San Diego, etc., but we had a big kitchen project looming and limited funds.  I thought we should get away for a couple of nights though, so I found this interesting cabin in Estes Park.  It is called Stone Haven and was built in 1927.  I didn't care much about when it was built, or what it was built of, I just wanted the hot tub!

 We did some "exotic" stuff in Rocky Mountain Park.  First we tried the sledding area.   It was so icy that it was almost more treacherous climbing up the hill than sliding down!

Next we tried snowshoeing.   Overheard: "Why would I want to strap tennis rackets to my feet and trudge through the snow?"   Mara didn't say that, but she did demonstrate her skills. :)

 

 We ditched the showshoes and had a much easier climb to a frozen, snowcovered waterfall.   It was so snowcovered, that you wouldn't know it was there except for the sign.  Guess what kids?  We are going to do this hike again in the summer!   Get ready!

 It was a gorgeous day.

 This is where I found Jeff after getting a little lost (I got lost, not Jeff.  Hey, it's hard to tell which trail you are on when everything is covered with 15 feet of snow!).   Jeff was waiting for Neil at the fork in the trail.  Some concerned hikers were waiting with him.  I felt like a bad parent. :(

 Now this is what made it all worth it!

We enjoyed our stay in Estes Park.  The national park is awesome, but it was also fun window shopping down main street.  The rocky moutain fudge and toffee is to die for!

And now back to reality and the rest of our Spring Break vacation.  Work, work, work!

Sunday Drive

I have been feeling a bit nature deprived.  I've been feeling this way for a while now.  Neil has gone up the canyon a couple of times with the scouts and keeps coming back with glowing reports of the beauty of the earth.  I haven't been snowshoeing yet!   The kids have been reluctant and I have grown weary of the fight.  But today my family was willing to take a spontaneous drive up the canyon for me.  We planned to drive all the way to Cameron Pass where the snow is, but we couldn't leave until after church, around 3 p.m., and Cameron Pass is about 1-1/2 hours away.  As we were driving up the canyon we saw snow-covered cars coming down.  In my imagination it should have been a beautiful, sunny, blue-skied, white piney-treed world.  Not a cloudy, blowing blizzard.  So we started looking for places lower down in the canyon to pull off and at least walk around a bit.  It wasn't my ideal snow-covered world, but it was nature.  We found a campground near the frozen Poudre river and piled out of the car.   The river looked frozen enough to walk on--at least near the edges.  It was actually a blast sliding on the ice, climbing rocks, and posing for pictures.  We had a great time and my nature cup was filled for the time being.  I still want to snowshoe though. . . .  (You will notice that Hayley is absent in the pictures below.  I gave her a choice and a guilt trip, but she was suprisingly immune!  She chose the quiet afternoon at home over the crowed van drive up the canyon.)

Climbing to New Heights!

Hayley and Emily have discovered a new hobby!  Hayley's friends go to a climbing gym several days a week after school.  Hayley started going and then invited Emily to try it too.  (Emily has more time on her hands now that she has retired her clogging shoes.)   It is good, clean fun!   They are getting pretty buff too. :)

On Friday they took the little brothers along.  It was pretty exciting stuff! 

A perfect outlet for little monkeys!

Merry Christmas!

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas just flew by.   They were some of the busiest weeks of the year for us with all of the concerts.  They were also some of the busiest for the high school girls as they wrapped up projects and studied for final exams.   I don't know how they did all of that homework, got up for early moring seminary, and still did well on their final exams on so little sleep!   Christmas break was sorely needed!  

Two days before Christmas we got in the van again and drove back to Orem.   It has been about 15 years since we spent Christmas in Utah.   We weren't quite sure what to expect!



We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Hansen.  They even let us cook dinner!   Neil made delicious Peruvian food--lomo saltado.



New Christmas jammies!

It was fun to spend Christmas morning at the Hemmert home.  Tyson and Holly live there too!

Grandma Joyce carried on her Dad's tradition.  She set out a huge gunny sack for Santa.  She asked him to fill it up with lots of presents.   When she opened the sack on Christmas morning she discovered that Santa had filled it with sticks, bricks, newspaper, and coal.  He reprimanded her for being so greedy.  :)  Did someone take a picture?  We have it on video.   Tyson was very concerned that Grandma got in trouble with Santa.

The Sing-a-ma-jigs were a fun novelty.

Jeff was so overcome with his gifts that he "fainted."



At my request we dragged out the Nativity costumes and acted out the Nativity story.  We have always missed this tradition, being in Colorado.   It is usually a comedy of errors and I think Grandma wanted to let it die, but she gave in.   My kids had fun dressing up and we tried to make it as short and painless as possible.   We had a very pregnant "Mary."  Julie was a good sport.  I don't think the shepherds got into any "cane fights" this year.   The grandkids are growing up!





We went tubing near Park City.  It wasn't a huge thrill, but it was fun to be outside and with cousins. 





We got to help take care of Mallory and Mason when Julie was in labor.   It was fun to dress up the little guys and get them out in the slushy snow for a little while.  Mallory and Holly were especially adorable.  Emily said they looked like little "podlings" toddling in the snow.

 Our Christmas week in Utah was very memorable.   It was wonderful to spend so much time with our families. We loved spending quality time with our grandparents.  The kids were able to share some of their musical talents several different times.   Jeff said, "What? Another program?  We've had 17 already!"  Some of our other activities were shopping, laser tag, movies, visiting BYU for a prospective student tour, eating at Tepanyaki, and a beautiful Carl Bloch art exhibit.   We stayed a day longer than we planned because of poor travel conditions.  We decided to leave the next day anyway, even though the roads hadn't improved much. Hayley and Emily wer anxious to get back for the stake dance too.  It might not have been the wisest decision--especially when we were driving in a complete white-out on a closed  highway outside of Rawlins, WY.  But we made it home in one piece and just in time for the dance!