July Justified

Our Hansen Reunion continues----

 Day 3: We woke up to a tasty breakfast of French toast, bacon and fruit. It was topped off with juice or milk. Prince Jason and Princess Danica knew just what we needed to get us up and going. Dining on the deck with the beautiful view in the background helped us enjoy the meal even more.

Prince Nate had gotten word in the night that a dragon had been in the area, so he called upon all of his knights, as well as the Lady's and Duchess' to help find this dragon. It ended up that Princess Diana's Lady-in-waiting, Kennlyn, found the dragon, with some help from Lady Arwyn. 

 

After that task was taken care of Prince Nate led the group in sessions of dueling swords, and jousting. To help their skills in case of an attack on the castle. It was all in fun and all had a good time. The big kids got into it as well. It appeared that the jousting needs to have more practice, but we were all entertained.

                                 

Lady Kennlyn had been assigned to be the producer of a play for entertainment after dinner and before the grand ball. She assigned parts to all the children for the production of "The Quest for the Golden Chicken". 

While the play practice was going on some of the guys went golfing to practice their swinging skills with a bucket of balls. We also had a Billards Tournament arranged by Prince Jason. The final game was against Prince Jason and Princess Danica. I'd like to say that was quite a game, but Prince Jason won. 

We played card games in the evenings as well. All around fun for all.

Dinner was hosted by Prince Nate and Princess Diana. A true feast for all, consisting of grilled chicken, ribs, rolls, fruit, macaroni & cheese, and a tossed salad. After dinner we headed over to the stage area to watch "The Quest for the Golden Chicken" that the children put on. Then we did some dancing and joviality. It was a nice evening for all. 

Once the children were settled the women joined together for a soak in the hot tub and chat. It was a nice way to end an eventful day. 

Day 4: Prince Andrew and Princess Lindsay prepared a fitting meal for us to end our stay at the Chateau Nighthawk. For breakfast, we had cereal, fruit and any left-overs we could eat. It was a perfect blend of yummy for all.

We packed our bags and left the Chateau with some fond memories. 

We had time to waste before catching the ferry so we checked out what Orca Island had to offer. We walked along the beach, found a fun trail to take us into the woods, and checked out the stores. Others checked out other areas of the island.

When it was time to load up we jumped in our vehicles (the ferry was around 45 min. late) and got on the ferry where we visited and played games and enjoyed the scenery.

Once on land we went our separate ways. Thanks Nate & Diana for pulling us all together!

Andrew's crew headed towards home, Garrett's crew headed towards Oregon, and the Hassells, Mallory's, Nate and Dad & I went to see the Washington Mariners vs the Kansas City Royals baseball game. The Mallory's joined up with us at Nate & Diana's. Jason & Danica were staying at a hotel where they could walk to the game, but we caught the light rail train. 

This was a big-league game, and traffic would be tricky, and because our ferry got us in late, we were late for the game, but because I asked where our seats were, a nice worker at the ballfield gave us top treatment and put us in a section for special guests. We were on the lower area around row 14!! Great seats!! Our original seats were in the upper bowl at the top. There are nice people in the world!! To top it off the Mariner's won the game too! I haven't been to many professional baseball games, so this was a treat for me. It was fun seeing the reaction of the kids and crowd when big plays happened. One guy even hit a home run!!

The Hassell's walked back to their hotel and the Mallory's joined up with us to ride the light rail so they could get their car and head back to their hotel. We got back to Nate & Diana's quite late, so we hit the sack. 

Day 5:  After a short, but good night's sleep, we visited with Nate & Diana for a bit and had breakfast, then we loaded up Nate's Sprinter van to head out to go check-out Mount Rainier National Park. Nate was very generous and had us cancel our car rental and let us take his van for a couple of days. We arrived at the park with no lines to get in the park and went to the Sunrise Visitors station parking lot. Then we went to the White River Campground where we took the Emmonds Trail to get a glimpse of Mount Rainer. It was a beautiful hike with a lot of green and waterfalls. We also saw a green lake that looked pretty cool. We ate lunch in the van and checked out the Visitors Center then headed to Enmuclaw, WA where we would be staying and checked into our hotel, got cleaned up and went to dinner. 

Day 6: We had breakfast in our room, packed up our bags and headed out again to go to the Sunrise area again, because the other entrance we were going to go to wasn't open yet. Again, no wait lines to get in the park! We didn't get a great night's sleep due to thin walls in our hotel, where we could hear them talking, or crying like they were in our room, so we took a nap in the van before hitting the trail. This time we went on the Frozen Lake trail that started at the Sunrise Visitor's center. It was beautiful, and just great to be outside in nature. 

We saw the lake and talked to a ranger that was there to see if we could take a longer trail back. There was snow on the trail, but he said he was going to go that way to check out the trail and that we could go with him, so we did. He shared a lot about the area, and we learned a lot; like why the snow was pink in areas. It was due to the minerals in the dirt. We learned about a rock wall that had been built on the trail and why certain plants only grow in the park.

                                     

It was so pretty. We were able to get a great view of Rainier and got some great pictures. 

                       

We did some shopping in the shops there, got back to the van and had dinner on the way back to Nate & Diana's. It was July 4th, Independence Day and the neighbors around us put on a fireworks show. We roasted marshmallows on Nate & Daina's deck and visited. Nate showed us the route he and Diana took when they climbed Rainer (on the picture above). Wow, huh!

It was a great way to end the day.

Lili, Diana's dog, didn't like the fireworks though, and I don't blame her, they're loud!! Nate makes a great dad, doesn't he?

Day 7: Nate was scheduled for a surgery today, so he stayed at the house until he needed to go. We helped him with some yard work and realized that many hands make light work. We got his bushes trimmed and the beds cleaned up. Nate also planted a tree. Their yard looks nice. It's a beautiful area they live in. Our flight didn't leave until later in the afternoon, so Nate and Diana took us to the airport, and we said our good-byes. They've been wonderful hosts, and it was good to have time to visit with them. 

We arrived home and found out that we'd had a few days that were in the high 90's. The house was pretty warm, but luckily our ductless air helped cool it down so we could cool off before having to go to bed. It was a wonderful week spent with family.

Back to our busy normal days I served in the Youth Center, did an endowment session, and initiatory at the temple. Dale & I were able to spend a day at Bear Lake with Andrew & Lindsay's family. 

Dad, Andrew & Garrett rode in the Grand Fondo Bike race, it's a 77-mile ride for them, and Garrett has done it before, but it was a first for Dale and Andrew. They all came in together and finished an hour earlier than they thought they would! Nice job guys!!

I ushered at the Eccles for the production of "The Price of Egypt" put on by the Chach Theater Company. It was very well done and well received by the community. 

          

We helped with a Fundraiser for the Cache Valley Humanitarian Center at Culver's to raise awareness of the center and to raise funds to help our cause.

Dale and I headed over the mountain at stayed at Sun Outdoors to celebrate our 44th anniversary. We played pickleball, rode our bikes, got in some fishing, and went to see Pickleville Playhouse's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" production. It was quite windy while we were there, so we didn't do any kayaking. We also played games and relaxed. It was a nice out for us.

For Titan's 14th birthday date we took Titan out for dinner and then Dale took him out on the Weston Reservoir, and they went fishing. They both caught fish and didn't get home until dark, so that means it was a good time. Happy Birthday Titan!! We love you!

At the end of the month, Dale & I went to "The Beach Boys-Forever Summer" Tribute Band concert at Cherry Peak with our friends, the Bullen's. We ended up having some friends in our Empty Nester group sit behind us as well. It was a fun concert and definitely got you bouncing and singing along. Great music from our younger days to reminisce on. 

  

Diana had surgery on her knee for a torn ligament. Nate took over watering duty when he could, and then 3 weeks later they went to Norway to celebrate their 3rd wedding anniversary. They did some trails and saw the sights while driving around in this cool looking van. Happy Anniversary Nate & Diana!! 

They both deserve a much-needed as they are preparing to sell their practice to a company that will rename Hansen Foot & Ankle to Integrative Foot & Ankle Mill Creek next month.

The Mallory's and Hassell's had some time after the reunion before they had to catch their flight, so they went to see some more of the sights in the Seattle area and met up with the Hassell's and went to the zoo.

It was also Matt's 49th birthday this month. He wanted to go water skiing with the family, so that's what he did. Dale took them out in the boat and they all skied, or tubed, or did both. I had to usher at the Eccles, so I missed out on the fun, but we did go over to their house for his birthday dinner.  Happy Birthday Matt!!

Dale got a call from Langston asking him if he wanted to go fishing, and of course he did. So ... they went fishing at Weston Revisor and caught some decent fish but let them go after they got their pictures. 

Elder Mallory was able to sing in a duet at their zone conference, met some new investigators, ended up having to have an ingrown toenail removed, and had a baptism. He also got transferred to a new area, Poza York. He was able to play some soccer with some kids and found that the field is ripe and ready to harvest. He also got to see some of the sights in the area. 

 

After the Hansen Family Reunion, Garrett & Zandra's clan drove to Oregon and spent some time on Cannon Beach. They relaxed, took in the beautiful sunsets, and enjoyed some family time. Fun times for all.

They also met up with Granpa Dennis, Zandra's dad, at a water park in Idaho for some summer fun.

The Hassell's ended up taking the kids to Lagoon with friends for some summer fun. 

Danica's also doing her painting but broadening her skills by doing animals as well as homes and people. Pretty awesome, I'd say.

Locally we had a fire in Logan Canyon by Ricks Springs. A vehicle had a chain dragging and it sparked and caught the dry brush on the side of the road on fire. It was blowing and that fanned the flames up the hill. Luckily, authorities were alerted and able to call in back up for a helicopter water drop and airplane retardant drop to help contain it and it got put out 12 hours later. They had to close Logan Canyon though due to the fire. 

It's been a hot, dry summer. We've been into the mid 90's at times and their have been a lot of fires around the state. There's still a fire burning in the Monroe Canyon in UT that is only 50-60% contained. Sad deal for that area. We were blessed.

The deer have been visiting our backyard again; this time Dale caught a picture of two bucks eating in our garden. He got pretty close to them and even talked to them as he took their picture and shooed them away. Our squash, and the tomato tops of the plants have been their target so far.

One evening I got some Chinese take-out when Dale was gone for dinner and got this in my fortune cookie. I'm wondering what my next big adventure will end up being. I guess time will tell.