September Sensation

 

Happy Birthday Mom and Dad!!

This is the year Dad would of turned 90 on Sept. 1st and Mom would of turned 91 on Sept. 15th, if they were still with us.

Thank you for your unselfish love, hard work, patience, and endurance. You taught us the importance of family and were an example on how we should treat others. Thanks for some wonderful, memorable, memories. Love you!!!

 

 



For Labor Day, Dale and I went out for breakfast and then went on a hike up Logan Canyon, on the Mill Hollow Trail. The leaves were starting to turn into the yellows, reds, and oranges of fall. It was a nice day and beautiful. Later that night, Dale sang with the American Festival Chorus in a memorial program.

 

Garrett had his 23rd birthday. We celebrated with a dinner of his favorite foods (steak, mashed potatoes, cauliflower & broccoli salad) and then we all endured a game of RISK. Guess who won? The birthday boy of course! It's been fun having them around.

 

  

I started up my DIBELS testing. It's been good to get me back on a schedule again. School is in full swing for Nate, Garrett, Zandra, and Danica. Dale's got the districts finances in balance so all's well. In fact well enough that Dale and I were able to get away for a few days to go to Iowa and catch a couple of Danica's games. She looks great and was glad to see us.

 

 

She showed off her home away from home to Dale and I and we watched her in action on the field. We cheered, they won!!! Dale even got to watch the USU vs Utah football game on TV in our hotel room. He was pretty excited about that and to make it even better, USU won!

 

We took Danica shopping and got in some sight seeing. We checked out some of the church history sites in Council Bluffs and Omaha. We also checked out the Winter Quarters Temple in Omaha, Nebraska. Beautiful!!!!

 

 

We got in another game, but they lost. This was their first loss!! We took Danica to lunch for one last outing with her and then we caught our plane for home. It was a quick trip, but it was great to see Danica doing well and looking good. Looking forward to seeing her again if they go to Nationals in November.

 

 

Matt and Amie are coaching Jaxson and Kennlyn's soccer teams. Jaxson plays on one in Burley and then plays on one with Kennlyn in Oakley. From what we hear Jaxson's got the idea of the game, but Kennlyn's still got a bit to learn. We're looking forward to going to see a game next month.

 

 

Dale got busy and we re-did the rocks around the driveway. We got the old rock and dirt out and put down new ground cover and river rock in. It looks real nice. Nothing beats working the rock pile, right?

 

Dale had another concert with the American Festival Chorus (AFC). It was more formal so he was dressed up in a tux.  Must say he was looking mighty fine!! The program was a variety of songs

honoring Great Britian and Queen Elizabeth. Very entertaining.

 

For Dale and Garrett's birthdays I'd given them a Zip-line ride in Provo Canyon so we cashed in on that and headed South with Garrett and Zandra. The zip-line had 7 different stations, was above the trees or among the trees and was fun, exhilirating, and beautiful. The leaves were in full bloom so the mountain was a blaze of color. We stopped and ate Thai food in Provo and stopped at Cabela's so Dale could cash in on his Cabela points. It was a fun outing.

 

 

The news from our fellow out-of-staters----life is busy, life is good.  Nate's preparing for a 50 mile run next month in his off time. Andrew's still waiting to hear if he's got a new job for next season, his season winds down next month. In between, they are both working hard and playing hard.

 

 

 

I've ushered for Les Miserables a couple of times and was able to serve in the Youth Center at the temple to fill in my spare time. We've also gotten together for dinner with some long-time friends, the Griffiths and Folletts. While I was serving at the Youth Center, Dale, Garrett and Zandra went on the Teddy Bear Benefit Ride. I'd say they were the Rednecks of the group, because they were the only ones not wearing black, but they had fun.

 

 

We hadn't done our annual Neighborhood Get-together in the summer, so we fit one in before it got too cold in the evenings. We got a fire going in the firepit to roast hot dogs and marshmellows, had BBQ, as well as potluck fixings. We live in a pretty good area, you know. Nothing's better than good food and good company. It all makes for a great September Sensation.

 

 

 

 

August Adage

We started out the month looking forward to leaving the humidity and high 90's of Iowa, but with a bittersweet feeling about leaving Danica there to be on her own. Making new friends, learning how to do her own wash, budgeting her money, finding out what she's really made of, and hopefully getting the grades to keep her scholarship. Will she make it? Time will tell----we'll keep our fingers crossed :)

Amie, Kennlyn and I hit the road, stopping in Cheyenne, WY for the night and then back on the road. We ran into alot of construction, stopped in Bear Lake for a famous raspberry shake and got home to find that Tag hadn't forgotten who I was and all the outdoor flowers in pots still alive. Dale did alright as a bachelor.
Thanks Amie and Kennlyn for being true travel buddies. It definitely made the trip bearable!
It was a fun trip, but you get home and life goes on-----

I was one of the ticket takers at the Eccles for My Fair Lady and L. Tom Perry, an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints came through the line right by me! I must say it was pretty exciting for a bit.
More excitement came when Garrett and Zandra pulled into the driveway!!! They made our home their home for awhile until they could find an apartment. Both will be going to USU and working. Looks like we'll have some family close. What a great feeling!

For even more exticement we found out that Nate passed his big exam for school. Looks like he's got what it takes to be able to become Dr. Hansen after all. He was pretty excited and so are we.

 

Our garden has survived the heat and looks like we'll be getting a decent crop of produce this season. I was able to bottle enough beans to get us through another year and we've been eating fresh cucumbers, squash, corn, tomatoes and onions. Tastey---love that fresh taste!!

Our ward had a end of summer party and put up a HUGE water slide. Any guesses on who went down? Yours truly---I had a blast and must say I was only one of three women that braved the slide. Maybe I'm not as old as they think I am!

Dale had his 35th year Sky View class reunion. It was good to see and reaquaint ourselves with our old school buddies. You know we don't look so bad (or it's just we all look the same and feel like we don't look bad)! Mine's coming up next year.

We got Garrett and Zandra moved into their new apartment and so we're now officially empty nesters. Should we laugh or cry?

We took Garrett and Zandra over the mountain with us to visit the Mallory's in Oakley, ID. We celebrated Kennlyn's 4th birthday. We played games, visited and had some of her unicorn cake. It was a quick trip, but it was good get our hugs and kisses from the grandkids. Jaxson has started 1st grade and loves school. He says his teacher is pretty!!

Our Californians are still hitting the books, managing their apartment complex, staying in shape, and getting in what fun they can.

Our Motor homers have been in Flordia seeing the sights when Andrew has down time and have applied for another job, hoping to get something where they can stay grounded more in one place. Andrew will still be flying though, but is ready for a change.

 

We'll keep our fingers crossed. Hoping all goes well for all of us, and we'll carry a little prayer in our heart.

July Journeys

Danica started out the month in St. George helping coach the SV girls soccer at a camp at Dixie College. We started out the month celebrating our freedom with the whole Mallory crew.  The group Kansas also preformed with the American Frestival Chorus for the show, and Dale was a guest preformer with the chorus. It was very entertaining! Made me proud to not only be an American, but also proud to be a Hansen! Way to go Dale!!

We also went to Hyrum's Parade and then to Salt Lake City to see a Bee's baseball game and fireworks show. To make it authentic we ate hotdogs and peanuts to get in the spirit. On the way home we saw fireworks being shot off all along the freeway. Couldn't of asked for a better seat!





We got out the 4-wheelers and took a ride up to the top of Willard Peak. Stopping on the way to check out the scenery and stretch. We even saw 5 mountain goats when we were walking along the ridge!!

Lindsay and Titan left Andrew in Indiana and came to visit us for 3 weeks!! Andrew's still working with B & S Air, based out of Lumpkin, Georgia as a field manager for helicopter spraying. It was good to see them and you know, I think Titan still remembered us! We got the boat out and went water skiing with them and the Mallorys.

Danica got her wisdom teeth out and even though she got a little swollen, she did all right.

I bought my first fishing license and went fishing at 1st Dam with some ladies in our ward. I caught 5 rainbow trout and 1 brown trout! No lie!!! We also walked along the River Walk trail. It was a fun evening.

Danica purchased her very own lap top with her very own money so she'd have one for college. Way to go Danica!!!

Dale, Danica and I joined some of our Hadfield cousins at Willow Park and participated in the 2nd annual Bobcat 5K walk/Run. Danica got 3rd place and Dale got 4th . (I was part of the walking group) Then we headed to River Heights Park for the Hadfield Reunion. Nothing better than spending an afternoon with family.

We celebrated Titan's first birthday with Lindsay's family and let him entertain us with his antics. He's quite the little one and it's hard to believe that he's already turning 1 !!! Lindsay and Titan celebrated with Andrew before they came here, so Titan's thinking life is a party.

Dale and I celebrated out 31st wedding anniversary. We gave ourselves cement curbing to go along the driveway and around the house. It will be an asset to the home and looks real nice. Dale had board meeting so Lindsay, Titan and I went out to eat for dinner and then went to the Disney show "Brave". It was a nice evening...Thanks Titan and Lindsay for celebrating with me!

It was my turn to be in charge of the Petersen Reunion this year, so I planned a Yellowstone Revisited Reunion. Dad and Mom had honeymooned in Yellowstone, and as kids we took a lot of our vacations there, hence Yellowstone Revisited. We had a total of 58 show up even.
Day 1:  Mesa Falls, where we walked to the falls and had a picnic --- then our group drove to Big Sky, MT where we would be staying. About 15 min. away from Big Sky, we saw a brown bear grazing in a field off the side of the road!! Our trip was worth it, I saw a real bear in the wild!!

Day 2: We met up with the Sparks group and hiked into the Oscas Waterfall, had a picnic, then tried out the paddle Boats on the lake by our condo. We met up with the rest of the group in West Yellowstone and went to the IMAX movie about Yellowstone. After that, we ate in the park and played games at the park with the group. We had 48 with us today!

Day 3:  We had 58 of the S.L. and Amy Petersen Crew Revisiting Yellowstone!!! We all lined up after getting in the entrance and used walkie talkies to communicate with the lead cars of the two groups. We saw quite a few animals, but my favorites were the bison calves and the elk with the huge antlers! We had a paper that we'd mark if we saw certain animals. In our car the Canadian Geese took first, Elk took 2nd and Bison took 3rd. Craig's group even found all but one license plate from all the 50 states in the USA!! It was pretty crowded.

It was a little tricky getting us to all stay in our groups, but we did it and eventually we all gathered at Old Faithful for taco salads in a bag and watermelon for lunch, and to see Old Faithful erupt. It didn't let us down, we got a good show.

After getting in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, we then headed back for a late dinner and a good-nights sleep. We saw even more animals! It was fun traveling through the park with cousins, aunts and uncles. I'm looking forward to our reunion where we can get-together with the group again next year.

Day 4: We hung out at the condo in Big Sky most the day. My brother, Danny and his wife, Terry, were with us. Danica and the Mallory's led us in a gospel discussion and after dinner we played games and watched a movie. We also went on a bear hunt and ended up seeing 4 deer and  3 foxes. Two were playing in a grassy area just off the road . We'd pretty much given up on the bears until we pulled into the road taking us to our condo and saw a black bear on the hillside probably 200 yds. from our condo!!! We watched it for at least 10 min. before he wandered into the trees. Pretty cool!!

Day 5: Danny and Terry left after breakfast and we hooked up the boat and headed for Yellowstone Lake to do some serious fishing. Danica was the only one to catch a fish however. It was a 21 inch Cuthroat Trout!! Not bad for a beginner. Dale was a bit jealous I think. The dark clouds and lightning had us turn in a little earlier than planned, but we had a good time. On the way back we saw more elk and bison. We even had a huge bison walk right down the center of the road who could of cared less that the traffic was backed up for miles.

Day 6: We left Big Sky and stopped at Yellowstone Bear World on the way home to see if it's what it's all they claimed it is. We were pleasantly suprised!! We saw bear cubs, at least 20 bears, 3 grizzly bears, elk calves, elk, a white wolf, bison, a moose, deer, fawns, and huge trout! They had a petting zoo that Jaxson and Kennlyn loved as well as some carnival type rides for the kids. It was well worth the money. The bears would come right up to the Tahoe and boat, what a thrill. Well worth the money! We droppped the Mallorys off in Pocatello to get their car and then we headed home. It's been a wonderful time in the good old outdoors, with God's creations, and family.

I didn't take much of a break before Amie, Kennlyn, Danica and I were back on the road. This time we were heading to Iowa to take Danica to Iowa Western Community College where she'll be living, going to school and playing soccer. We broke the trek into two days, driving 9 hours the first day. Only an hour into our trip, just crested the summit above Bear Lake and Kennlyn threw-up!! She'd been saying her tummy hurt all morning, but we didn't take her real serious, I guess we should of though. I was driving and it was a pretty smelly ride until I could pull over where we could take care of the perdiciment. We found the first gas station and luckily they had an area to the side of the building that had a hose. We just hosed off Kennlyn and the carseat the best we could, put plastic sacks on the carseat and then a blanket and bought a can of Febreeze and drove for another 8 hours. Kennlyn seemed fine after her spewing, and we were fine after we got the smell somewhat gone.

We were low on gas and hadn't seen any places to pull off to refule so the GPS had us go into Colorado for gass! So on Day 1 we traveled in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska!! What an adventure!! We stayed in Sydney, Nebraska our first night. Not the greatest hotel, but it was a bed and the room was clean.

Day 2: We went to church in Sydney and low and we walk in and Keith Grunig, who grew up in Hyde Park was leading the singing!! Amie and I looked at each other and said, "Don't we know that guy leading the music?" Keith came up to us after Sacrament Meeting and got caught up on the family news. We headed out and let Danica drive into Iowa and when we crossed the line we all cheered!! Iowa watch out, Danica Hansen has arrived!!

We got checked into our hotel and the desk clerk even helped us get some cleaning supplies to do a thorough clean on the carseat which helped immensely! We chilled in the room and took in the Olympics. Way to go team USA!!!

Day 3: After a tastey breakfast at the hotel we headed to IWCC to get Danica checked into her new home. We met her assistant coach and started setting up her room. I must say, if she can make her bed and keep it picked up she'll have a pretty nice room! We had fun buying some needed accessosries and helping her settle in.

Day 4: For our last day with Danica we decided to go to the famous Henry Dooley Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. It was a fun zoo with a cool aquarium, but it was hot outside!! We were very grateful for the places we could go inside to see the animals. I enjoyed the aquarium and the monkeys the best.

I dropped off Amie and Kennlyn at Danica's room and Danica and I went to a Parent/Player/Coach meeting with the team where we learned the IWCC coaching philosophy and met the girls. Danica is in good hands and I think she'll do alright. After the meeting we said our good-byes and she'll break in her bed and start a new chapter in her book of life. I wish her the best in this new adventure.

 Life is what you make it, right?

Nate's still hitting the books and has started rotations. He and Kim did a little traveling this month when they had a break. They went to Lake Tahoe and did some biking, hiking and sight-seeing.

Garrett and Zandra finished up their stay in Oregon. Both made pretty good money for their summer jobs. They got in some of the sights and beaches ended up staying with the Dennis' for a bit before they head home.

July has been FULL of FUN with family---enough said!!!