We'll start out the month by saying we are blessed to have three birthdays to celebrate and remember this month-- Danica, Dale's mom aka Grandma/Great-Grandma Hansen, and Jorie. All beautiful daughters of God who have and are making an imprint on our hearts. Happy Birthday gals, we love you!!
Dale and I were able to have Garrett and the kids stay in our trailer with us at Bear Lake for General Conference weekend. They brought over their UTV, we had our Razor, and Andrew, Lindsay, and their kids met up with us in Logan Canyon and we went on a trail ride up to a WWII plane crash site by the Beaver Creek area. It was SO pretty with the leaves in full bloom and the weather was perfect! We got a bit dusty, but we all had a good time. We took a lunch with us and ate it at the crash site.
After we got back from the ride, we all got cleaned up and then walked across the street and got a ice cream/gelato treat and walked over to see The Pickleville Playhouses production of "The Adams Family" with the group.
My friend, Andrea Davis, was the only character that they wanted to have their picture taken with. Maybe they didn't feel as threatened because she was a grandma, like me? We all enjoyed the show though.
The guys went fishing at Grandpa's favorite spot and came back all smiles. Titan's face says it all. It was a good day.
After dinner Andrew and Lindsay and the kids headed home. We didn't have a very hard time getting Jorie and Luke to go to bed, they settled down pretty well. Garrett, Dad and I played games and hit the sack as well.
This conference was done at the Conference Center and people were able attend in person, but they had to wear a mask, and the seating was spaced out. The choir also participated live as well. It was good to see conference this way, somewhat back to normal.
"...Please make time for the Lord in His holy house. Nothing will strengthen your spiritual foundation like temple service and temple worship.
We thank all who are working on our new temples. They are being built all over the world. Today I am pleased to announce our plans to build more temples at or near the following locations: Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Tacloban, Philippines; Monrovia, Liberia; Kananga, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Antananarivo, Madagascar; Culiacán, Mexico; Vitória, Brazil; La Paz, Bolivia; Santiago West, Chile; Fort Worth, Texas; Cody, Wyoming; Rexburg North, Idaho; Heber Valley, Utah; and reconstruction of the Provo Utah Temple after the Orem Utah Temple is dedicated.
I love you, dear brothers and sisters. The Lord knows you and loves you. He is your Savior and your Redeemer. He leads and guides His Church. He will lead and guide you in your personal life if you will make time for Him in your life—each and every day.
May God be with you until we meet again, I pray in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen".
It was a wonderful weekend in many ways. We are blessed to have kids that enjoy hanging out with us, to live in a beautiful world, and to have a prophet that leads and guides us in helping us to feel God's love.
For a "Guys trip" Dale and Garrett flew to Washington state and stayed in Burlington, WA as their home base for five days. They went salmon fishing on the rivers around that area. Nate was able to meet up with them by one of the areas they were fishing. He went running on a new trail while they fished and then met up with them for dinner and visiting.
The trip proved successful after the third day when the rain stopped. They each came home with fish on dry ice in the cooler. Garrett brought home four and Dale brought home three good size Coho Salmon, which put the icing on the cake for the trip. Fresh salmon, YUMMY!
I ushered at the Eccles for "Thriller" and "The Moth" this month. Two totally different types of shows. One was put on by the Woodbury Odyssey Dance Company and the other was a group from New York that does "Storytelling of Personal Experiences". Both were quite impressive.
While Dale was gone, I went to dinner and the Four Seasons production of "Cinderella" with Lindsay at Sky View High School. The set and costumes were pretty impressive and for a local theater group, it was a very nice production. It was nice to have a "Girls Night Out".
This home was probably my favorite. It was in Hyrum, and it was SOOOO nice and had quite a view of the valley. It's fun to dream, isn't it?
I enjoy hanging out with the kids when I can, and I think Dale does too. It's a win, win deal.
Dale has been back to the office a few times to help out with questions the new Business Administrator, Jared, had. He also had to stop in and say "Hi" to a few of his past co-workers. I sense that he misses the people he worked with more than the job though. The joys of retiring...come and go and do as you wish.
We had our Stake Conference, and a new Stake Presidency was put in. Elder Sikahema and Elder Eddy were the visiting authorities. Our stake is so big that there were only three wards that were invited to attend in person conference at the Stake Center because the Tabernacle is closed for upkeeping repairs. So, our ward watched Stake Conference via Zoom.
The speakers all did a nice job and the choir sounded great.
Our new Stake President came from our ward, he had been the Stake Executive Secretary. He lives close to us, and his wife was released as the wards Relief Society President about two months ago. Kevin Westwood is the new Stake Pres., his counselors are Tandy Olsen, and Kurtis Knudsen. The Stake Executive Secretary is Art Lancaster. The Stake Clerk and Assistant Stake Clerks stayed the same.
Pres. Westwood will be awesome. He's such a great man and father to seven kids. two of which are currently serving missions. Their youngest is in First grade. Sandra, his wife, is so organized and fun. Our stake will be in good hands.
When Elder Sikahema was closing his remarks, he told us that he had heard that there had been talk that a new Stake was going to be formed in Hyde Park. He said, "I guess those rumors are coming true, but it won't be for another 2-3 months before it will actually happen though". I guess now we know that another change is going to happen. Hyde Park has grown a LOT these past 5 years and is still growing. Really the whole valley is seeing a lot of growth.
It's crazy!! I guess Utah is a pretty great place to live and words getting out, darn it.
In our neighborhood alone we had a LOT of mature trees have large branches break due to the heavy snow. Luckily the trees we had that lost branches weren't ones that affected the trees to bad. The rest of the week we heard a lot of chain saws going. Dale helped those in the neighborhood out by using his lumberjack skills.
Well, the weather cleared up and you would have never known we had a big snowstorm by the end of the week if you didn't see piles of branches along the roadways or on lawns. The schools had its Fall Break, so the kids got a couple of days off of school. The Mallory's invited us to join them on their excursion to The Loveland Living Aquarium in Draper, UT. We'd never been there, so we thought why not experience it. I love aquariums and this one didn't disappoint. The River Monsters, jellyfish, octopus, and penguins were probably my favorite. The company was pretty awesome as well. It made for a fun day.
Dale treated himself to a used/new 2019 GMC Sierra SLT truck. He'd been looking for one for a while because he wanted one with lower miles. Well, after the test drive, we both were sold. This truck, though used, looks almost new, and it had a little over 10,000 miles, so low miles! He claims that this will be the truck he'll drive until he goes in the grave. Time will tell, right. At least he's smiling.
Both Dale and I treated Jorie to a "Birthday Date" for her 6th birthday. She chose to go to lunch and then Build-A-Bear for her date. So, we took Jorie to lunch at Zupa's because she loves the chocolate covered strawberries they have (I have to admit that I do too), and then we walked over to the Build-A-Bear store in Farmington Station, and she picked out "Stitch" from the Disney movie Lelo & Stitch. She knew what outfit to put on him and what scent she wanted in him, which was Cotton Candy, so he'll always smell sweet.
We had a fun afternoon. Thanks, Jorie for letting us celebrate YOU with you!! Happy Birthday!!
Dale and I helped Lindsay with a Halloween Party she hosted at their house for the kid's neighborhood and school friends, and cousins. She rented a big bounce house with a slide attached for the kids to play on and then filled a pumpkin pinata to the top with candy. Dale ended up having to tie the rope around the pumpkin because the hanger broke on it. It took Lindsay's swing to finally break it, but the kids loved all the candy they got. They went home with their treat bags and pockets full. It was a nice day too, which helped because we had a lot of rain prior to the party day, but we needed it so I'm not complaining.
We also went to my cousin, Liz Maughan's, funeral. She passed away of a brain tumor. She was a beautiful woman.
We joined up with the Mallory's and Matt's dad and stepmom and went to the Pocatello Temple Open House in Pocatello, ID. It was a little chilly, but it wasn't raining! What a blessing this will be for those living in the area. It's a beautiful temple.
We met together for dinner after at a Thai Food Restaurant. Very tasty. We all had a nice time.
We cashed in on our USU Men's Basketball Tickets that we purchased before COVID hit and were able attend the first pre-season game for USU with their new Coach Ryan Odom at the helm.
The head coach at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County for the past five seasons, Ryan Odom was named USU’s 20th head men’s basketball coach on Monday. At Wednesday’s event inside the Wayne Estes Center, Odom was introduced to a small gathering of Aggie fans and media by USU athletic director John Hartwell.
They won their first home game against Montana Western in an exhibition game 81-51. We hope that's a sign of what's to come.
For some Halloween fun Jason's mom and Aunt Jill hosted a "Mummy to Be" Baby Shower for Danica. Dad dropped me off at Jill's "shed" and then I met up with Zandra and Jorie for the shower to represent Danica's side of the family. It was a well-attended shower. Danica and baby June got some nice things. They served a nice lunch and we played BUNKO (a Hassell favorite). Some in attendance dressed up and some didn't, Zandra, Jorie, and I dressed up to add to the fun.
Dale went and spent the afternoon with Garrett and Luke helping in his yard. Zandra took me back to their house and we spent the evening with them. We visited and went to a nice dinner at their neighbor's house and then I went trick-or-treating with Zandra and the kids and some of their friends while Garrett and Dale stayed home and handed out the candy. We had fun. It was fun being with the kids and seeing their excitement.
Dale and I hosted a family Halloween dinner and some games here to celebrate Halloween. To make it fun I named the food we ate to go with the Halloween theme. We had "Monster Mucus" aka Breaded Chicken Bites, "Vampire Blood Veins" aka Red Rice, "Frog Eyes" aka Grape salad, "Witches Warty Fingers" aka breadsticks, "Bat Brains" aka a cheese ball w/crackers, "A Pumpkin Head" aka a vegetable try that looked like a jack-o-lantern, "Graveyard Grunge" aka pumpkin and sugar cookies and cupcakes decorated with spiders etc., with "Putrid Porridge" aka apple juice or cranberry juice w/Sprite. We played Halloween Twister, Spell Bound, LRC w/ gold coins, broke a cat pinata, and had Jaxson and Kennlyn be the monsters for our "Monster Mash" relay. While we were eating, we played a Halloween Trivia game and learned why Halloween was started and how it got to be what it is now.
Luckily the weather cleared up so that we could do the majority of the games outside. Those that wanted dressed up and I think we all had fun. Happy Halloween!
While we were having some fun Nate found time for some fun as well. He and Diana hiked up Vesper Peak in the North Cascades area as well as got in a trail run on the North Twin Sister trail, but he had to bail on that run because close to the top there was ice, snow and a lot of rocks and he didn't feel good about going up further in running shoes (this was the trail he took when he was visiting Dale and Garrett). I think he's a wise man.
Washington's had quite a bit of rain fall this month. So, to stay active Nate and Diana hit the Climbing Wall a few times to get in a climb.
They also got out of the rain and caught a flight to Las Vegas, NV for a weekend of rock climbing and hiking in the Calico Basin in the Red Rock State Park. Nate also free climbed this rock called Plumbers Rock. I guess looking at the picture the name fits.
They needed this get away because he had to make some changes with his office staff and so he and Diana were manning the office for a while. He got two new gals to work for him now. I hope things keep looking up for him.
For some family fun during Fall Break from school the Mallory's did a "Staycation" and did something each of the kids wanted to do each day. The aquarium was Langston's and we joined in on that one. Mazin picked The Jump Zone, Kennlyn wanted to do the Flowrider, but it was closed, so they did IRock (indoor climbing) instead, and Jaxson picked IFly, an indoor sky diving experience. What an adventurous clan they have.
They also spent a night at a hotel in Ogden and got in some mini golf to add to the fun.
Andrew and Lindsay are keeping an eye on things concerning the building of their house. It's been fun to see and hear the progress that is being made. I hope things continue to work in their favor and they don't have many delays.
Zandra got to get away for a "Girl's trip". She flew to Portland, Oregon and spent time around Portland and Cannon Beach with two of her longtime friends living in Washington.
While she was gone, Garrett and the kids spent the weekend at Bear Lake with us, so it was a win win deal for both.
When we got the big snowstorm that left areas of Cache Valley without power, Garrett and Zandras area got dumped on as well. The kids took advantage of the snow and made a two headed snowman. By the size of the snowman, you can see they had a fair amount of snow as well, but they never got as much as we did.
For some Halloween fun they attended a Trunk or Treat activity that Academy Mortgage helped with. Garrett shared this on Facebook--
Had some fun last night with my little witch and storm trooper, helping with the Trunk or Treat at Ridgeline Realty. Great community turnout! Thanks for everyone that came out, was a fun night! Especially to all the little Spiderman's out there keeping it real that came by.
Danica and Jason had some fun celebrating Danica's 28th birthday. They spent some time at Bear Lake in the great outdoors enjoying the beautiful fall weather.
They came across a deal and took advantage of it and bought a used/new boat! Boy, with three in the family now with boats maybe we'll sell ours and get a fishing boat to make us well rounded.
Fun times ahead.
To get out of the rain and cold Jason and Danica headed south to St. George to watch the Red Bull Rampage motor-cross event. They also went there for a friend's wedding.
Beyond proud of this amazing hubby and baby daddy of mine!!
He just finished his first ever Olympic Triathlon in 3HRS and 2MIN and took 11th place out of 67! CRUSHED IT!!! So fun to watch him completely just thrive each leg of the race and finish so strong!!! 
You are my hero baby!
You are my hero baby!@ethanvandenbosch killed it! And did it on a bike that’s twice the age he is!!! So proud of these guys!
They also got to go to the Jazz game and sit on the 5th row behind the team thanks to a VERY good friend for getting them tickets from his dad. Man, they could smell their sweat! It helps to have friends with parents that have a generous heart. What made it better was the Jazz won 122-110!
I'd say as far a Halloween costumes go these two won every costume prize and the party held. They went as Rednecks, as the characters Hopper (Danica) and Eleven (Jason) from the show "Stranger Things" and then Jason was the drummer Travis Barker and Danica was Kourtney Kardashian, two famous celebrities. For her baby shower she dressed up as a "Mummy" too. That girl loves Halloween, and we love her many faces.
The one face we can't wait to see is sweet baby Junes. Danica had another ultra sound done and it looks like June's smiling and waving at us, doesn't it? Pretty cool!
The sunsets we've had have been pretty fitting for a Halloween month full of color. So pretty!
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