March Madness

 There more than one reason besides basketball why I called this post March Madness. 

The U.S.A. collaborated with Isreal in an attack to kill Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his Tehran compound., marking a significant escalation in the Iran -Israel conflict. 

Because of these actions our gas prices are up to $5.49 a gallon for diesel and for Premium  Unleaded it's $4.19 per gallon, with Regular 85 octane at $3.99 a gallon as of now. 

The cost for food is also rising due to the gas prices. President Trump is working with leaders in Iran and Isreal to help with getting oil prices down. I sure hope that he succeeds in doing this.

The DHS (Department of Homeland Security) is still having TSA workers work without pay because the Republicans & Democrats can't come to terms to agree on the funding for the DHS.

Workers are quitting and airports are trying their best to keep things running smoothly, but time will tell, I guess. I know I'm not going to be flying anywhere until this gets settled.

In basketball, the Utah State Aggies held their last home game in the Spectrum and honored the Seniors. They went on to win as the Mountain West Regions Champions and ended up going to the NCAA basketball tournament. They went in as a 9th seed team and played the 8th seed Villanova Wildcats in the first round. The Aggies won that game and moved on to play the #1 seeded Arizona Sun Devils. USU came out with a loss in this game, but played a great game.

The USU Aggies also faced another loss because their head basketball coach, Jerrod Calhoun, accepted an offer from his alma mater, Cincinnati to coach them next year. This will be the 5th new coach that USU will have to hire in the last 7 yrs. We need to get a guy that wants to stay with his team more than one or two years!!

Speaking of USU, Dale and I were able to go watch the last USU vs New Mexico at home game, where they won, and then eventually won their next two away games, which gave them the spot as the Mountain West conference champs. Mason Falsev was named player of the year for the Mountain West conference and USU's coach Jerrod Calhoun was named Coach of the year.  Pretty awesome for USU to have this happen.

I was able to usher at the Eccles for The International Guitar Festival, USU's Dance Company, and Hadestown. A great variety of great talent on stage.

I've served in the temples Youth Center, did some initiatory work, and Dale & I did some sealings. We're trying to get in as much temple time in as we can before we leave on our mission next month.

Dale & I were able to meet up and play some games and visit with some couples that we'll be serving with at The Heber Valley Camp. It will be good to know a few people when we get there.

I went to Lunch Bunch with a group of ladies in our area. We ate at a new restaurant, Vessell's Kitchen, and I LOVED every bite!! Nothing better than good food and good company. 

I also went to a ward Relief Society Getting to Know You Activity. We each put 3 items in a brown paper bag that showed some of the things we liked to do. Then we tried to guess who the person was. We've had a lot of new people move in our area and ward, so this was fun. I put in my hiking boots, sandals, garden gloves, and a bag of plastic bags because I love walking trails in the mountains, walking the beach, working in the flower beds, and serving at the CVHC. 

Speaking of the CVHC, Dale and I were able to help with my brother, Danny & Terry's ward Empty Nester Activity one evening. We all had a nice time preparing, cutting, tying, and weaving to make mats for the homeless. 

The last day of our service at the CVHC, they had chicken salad sandwiches, a fruit tray, and cookies for the group. The Whittaker's also gave us a game for us to play while we're on our mission. We made some great friends and have some great memories from serving there.

Dale and I have been well fed this month.... we've gone to dinner with our friends, the Griffiths, to The Beehive Grill and ate and visited, and also with the Anderson's who invited us to their home for dinner to visit and play games. They both wanted to hang out again before we leave for our mission next month. Good friends are wonderful to have.

I also went to dinner with some dear ladies that I served with when I was the Stake Primary President. Two of the ladies I worked with, Linda Crockett, and Lisa Jarrett got me to join them for dinner at Olive Garden to visit and catch up. 

I was treated to a surprise overnight stay with Amie, Kennlyn, and Danica at Danica's mother-in-law's house in Bear Lake. We ate, played games, visited, and did a little pampering. Kennlyn painted my toenails, and Danica brought stuff to do facials.  

The weather was rainy, windy, and chilly, so we did a little shopping and played more games before heading back home the next day. Surprises like this are always a treat. I sure feel loved.

Dale went fishing at Pineview Reservoir with Garrett and Luke (they didn't catch any fish though), while I went to a Girl's outing with Danica for June's 4th birthday. We ate at a fun crepe shop and then went and had pedicures or manicures. June had some of her Aunts, friends, and Grandmas there. She felt pretty special. 

After these events, Dale & I took Garrett & Luke to the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City to watch Jorie compete with her "Momentum" gymnastic club team for State competition. Jorie did great and she medaled in the uneven bar event. She's only been taking gymnastics for almost a year now and has improved more each time I see her preform. 

We went to dinner with them after to celebrate. Way to go Jorie! It was fun watching her, we were glad we could go.

 

We had the Mallory's, Garrett's clan, and the Hassell's join us for our annual St. Patrick's Day meal and festivities. Both June and Jorie got into the spirit of the holiday a bit more than the rest of us, which made it fun. We had our traditional corned beef and cabbage meal, but dale smoked up some ribs to go with it, which was a big hit. Maybe that will become part of the tradition as well.

I went to our wards Empty Nester activity at the Family History Center that's in North Logan. Our neighbors, the Hansens lined it up and our other neighbors, the Allens showed us all the Center has to offer. Who knows maybe Dale and I will be able to serve there sometime too.

Dale joined up with us for dinner, because he got caught up in an issue with our computer that needed to be taken care of. We all had a good time. We have some great people around us.

Speaking of great people, we have some pretty great kids. Nate and Diana have been on a few adventures this month. They went up to Crystal Mountain to spend a weekend in the outdoors in their Sprinter van. They woke up to snow up above their knees in the Buck Creek area. Nate didn't have a snow shovel in his van, so he used a cutting board, and Diana used a fry pan to dig them out. I call that being quite resourceful. 

The snow kept coming down, and they were stuck in their van for a day, but they finally got out and finally got to the resort to find that it was closed due to the storm. So, they headed home. The plows finally got out which helped. Wow, what a memory maker for them.

                                                                        

Towards the end of the month Nate & Diana decided to take advantage of the warmer temps in the Peninsula area. They went clamming and enjoyed quite a feast! Lili loved being around the water too.

The Mallory's got indoor soccer over for Kennlyn (and Amie, who was her coach), and Mazin's done with indoor and doing basketball. 

Langston played in a 3 vs 3 indoor soccer tournament and medaled and Mazin played in a 3 vs 3 basketball tournament and medaled. Not bad guys.

Kennlyn went to their schools Girls Choice Spring Fling Dance. It looks like she picked a nice guy to go with. It's hard to believe she'll be a Senior next year.

Langston got his Hunters Safety certificate and so now he can now buy a hunting license. Mazin has taken the Hunters Safety class, but still needs to take his final test, then if he passes, he can get his certificate too.  Grandpa likes that idea. He took them to get some target practice in already.

Elder Mallory got transferred into the biggest zone the mission has ever seen. He said he's seen a lot of miracles. His first day out they put down 3 dates with friends that were in teaching. They gave church tours to 3 groups of people and the next day all of them showed up for church! Let the teaching begin and the Spirit touch their hearts! 

He said his area has the lakes of Xalapa and it's pretty cool. There's a lot of people to contact. He called it the Promised Land and knows that with 4 months left he's got a lot of work to do. His zone broke the record for baptisms in a month with a week still to go.

He truly has seen a lot of miracles in his new area. He had 3 baptisms, interviews with the mission President, and zone conference. He also ended up meeting up with a couple from his old area that got baptized and is happy and has changed for the better. 

He said he loves the area he's in so much. So many cool people are in the ward and the Bishop is doing a great job as a Bishop, the members love him. 

Andrews crew met up with some of his friends (JJ Hansen and Dylan Harmon), in St. George to catch up on life with the buddies.

He also took the kids and explored the newly remodeled St. George airport. Who knows maybe they'll be another pilot in the family.

                                                                  

Andrew went on his work tour to Arkansas and while there he went to the horse races. He even bet on a horse and won and few bucks.  Quite an experience for a country bumpkin!

                                                                 

Eloise is taking a theater class and had a lip sync battle in her class. Looks like a fun class to me. She's the one on the left, in the blue tank top, but the picture is a bit blurry :(

Garrett decided that he wanted to start taking pilot lessons and had his first lesson and flight this month. I think it's in the Hansen blood. He loved it!! I hope all goes well for him in this endeavor. 

Garrett's crew also took advantage of their Spring Break from school, leaving a couple of days early to go see New Zealand!! I can't wait to hear about it when they get back the first of next month. 

The warm weather got the Hassell's out and about. They may have run through the sprinklers and had some hot tub time.

June also celebrated her 4th birthday big!! One day with the mom's and friends, and family in a more subdued way by being pampered, She also got her ears pierced. Then the next day was spent with friends and family doing a dance party and having a pillow fight. Fun times!!

We ended the month with temps in the high 60's-70's and no rain, but it is forcasted to come. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

We also got a notice from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, that women will now be able to serve in Ward Sunday School Presidencies. It looks like Pres. Oaks is starting to make some needed changed in his leadership through his position as our Prophet. Each prophet receives their own revelation in what needs to come forth. 

We had some pretty sunsets this month as well. I took this shot from our front porch. With all the crazy in the world going on, it's moments like these that make you appreciate the beauty we have around us and stills your soul some.