(August 2008 - As always, click on photos to enlarge)
The Hansen group all met up at some condos in Solitude. We ended up with a lot of space for
just the 6 of us. We did some hiking...
Now, all I was trying to do here was show how much smaller cousin Maddie is than Jeffrey -
Maddie is one month younger. So I laid them side by side, but Jeffrey just then decided he was
extremely hungry. So my mild, mostly quiet baby started screaming his head off...
...And then look what happened.
Seems he told Maddie about being hungry and she either felt sorry for him or remembered that
she, too, was hungry.
We spent a day at Snowbird, and there's a whole lot to do there. We were there last year as well
and the kids (K & T) had a blast then too. There was the alpine slide, a zip line, climbing wall,
electric bull, bungee trampolines, and some moonbounces for younger kids.
One thing I thought was fabulous was that when EV and Kayleigh got in line for the trampolines
(and unfortunately it was long just then and they waited over an hour), EV was just going to
jump, but the nice lady working there helped her and taught her how to do a back flip. And she
got where she could do it all by herself. Yahoo. Kayleigh already knew how to do the back flips
from last year, and was flipping all over by herself.
2 things about this next photo. First, Grandpa Hansen had fallen out of bed the night before and
really whacked his face on the table there. Seems he was dreaming and sorta lunged out of bed,
something about saving the US Olympic swim team, as I remember. So in some of these pictures
he's sporting a pretty nasty black cheek. But also in this one, Melanie has fallen asleep on his lap
while riding the chair lift down the mountain.
We definitely had a great time hiking around and just getting completely worn out.
(August 2008)
We had dinner 2 different Sundays at Chad's folks house. The first time was with Grandma
Hansen, who'd come up from St. George and was leaving soon to catch a flight in SLC.
[slideshow]
A week later, Chad flew out to drive back with us, and we gathered for more good food and
photo joy.
Wrestling poor Grandpa
Melanie had been getting Uncle Michael confused with Daddy. At first I thought she was just
playing, but then realized that she thought Michael was her Dad. I even tried calling Chad on the
phone and letting her talk to him while Michael was sitting close by, but that didn't seem to help.
She hung around Uncle Michael quite a lot (she had stranger anxiety for everyone else and they
had to work at getting to know her) and finally called him either "My other Daddy" or "Uncle
Daddy". This was probably a drag for Michael, as he had his hands full already. Mel would ask
Michael for help, ie, going to the bathroom.
(This is from back in August, when we were visiting in Utah. As always, click on the photos to
enlarge)
There are 16 grandchildren on my folks side. And there were 16 grandchildren at their house, all
at the same time. Yes, 16 grandchildren but only 2 moms. The oldest is in college (Aubrie), then
there are 3 teenagers. The rest are relatively closer in age to each other, and in available noise
making manners. But I must say, it was a lot of fun.
Maximizing trampoline fun by adding water and plastic...
Group grandpa hug!
And the ever popular photo on the back steps.
BUT, tell us how you really feel!
Yes, lots of good food...
Then good naps...
Yes, a good-looking pile of young-uns.
But, once again, this is how they were REALLY feeling about all these photos!
Then one Monday evening, we got together at the park...
...And Grandma J told everyone stories about her life.
And just one last one. There's a blue phone in this photo that I remember playing with when I
was about this same age. Grandma's toys were always (and still are) the most popular toys.
Just one more of Megan with Jeffrey. They were so cute!
(As always, click on these photos and they enlarge)
Well as you will see, the kids and I had a fabulous time in Utah. It was a long drive there, and we
were all getting sick of the car. But Mom made it easier for us - we just kept driving into the
night until we got there, arriving about 3 in the morning, I think.
First off, THE TENNEY COUSINS!
They were staying with my folks for a week, while their mom and dad went to a wedding in
Nauvoo, Illinois. So my kids got to spend a lot of time with the cousins they've seen the least
(my sister Lori Tenney lives in Washington).
Here's Grandpa Paul with Megan, EV, Hailey.
This is cousin Megan, and she was batty about Jeffrey. They were tight, right from the start.
Grandpa Paul took the kids to see some horses, owned by a wonderful nice friend of his named
Odell Minor. He was terrific - he let the kids ride his horse, even coming out and saddling him up
for them.
These were 2 young horses, not broken yet, that Odell let the kids feed apples and alfalfa
(growing on the ground close by) to.
Here's each of the kids that came that evening, on Geronamo.
[slideshow]
The next day, Grandpa took the remaining 3 kids.
[slideshow]
Gramma J with Jeffrey - she loved all his smiles, and he sure gave her lots of them.
Gramma wanted us to help her make an apricot pie. She prepared the fruit, Kayleigh and I did the
crust. With the remaining dough and filling, Kayleigh made small tart-things. She wanted to
make them herself - NO HELP.
This is as far as I can go b/c my blog manager has gone to bed and I'm out of photos. The rest
will be forthcoming. But my last photo is when Grandma Hansen came over to my folks house...
It's been a month since our trip to Utah, but I'm going to go through and do some catching up.
I'm finally figuring this blog thing out, little by little. So I'm separating things into smaller
subjects.
First up, Chicago. I drove with the 5 kiddies to Chicago where we stayed a day with Krista and
her fine family. Also saw Kevin there, who kindly drove over after picking Mom up from the
airport.
[slideshow]
Mom drove the rest of the way with us - poor lady. But she was a trooper. It seems that if the
hotel has a pool, everyone's happier. And after we left Chicago, the one hotel we stayed at in
Omaha had a pool.
