honor society

Jared was inducted to National Honor Society today!  Congrats!  Keep up the good grades and community service.  You are awesome!

fall break in southern utah

 We managed to coordinate schedules with Alan, Heidi, & kids and head to southern Utah during the fall school break.  Our first stop was a hike at Taylor Creek inside Kolob Canyon outside Cedar City.  It was perfect hiking weather -- cool, but not cold.  The fall scenery was amazing!  Along the way we found some great crevices and a couple old cabins.

 Matthew always seems to find a big rock to climb or a crevice to crawl into.

 The colors in the canyon are just beautiful.

The hike ends at a big arch/cave.  Jared and Matthew both showing victory!

 Matthew was a super-great hiker.  I think the hike was around 5 or so miles round trip and he did it all himself.  The trail crosses over the creek too many times to count, so that's another thing that kept the kids going on their own power!

 Another scenery shot.  Someday maybe I'll own a really great camera, and my quest will be to take awesome scenery photos.

 Like I said, lots of fun places to explore on the trail, which keeps the kids attention and keeps them going!

The next day we ventured out around Silver Creek and after traversing some crazy dirt roads with our non-off road vehicle, managed to find this old kiln.  Kinda fun.

 

 After the kiln, we headed south to St. George.  We visited the Jacob Hamblin home and then headed out to another off-the-road type adventure to find these incredible petroglyphs.  They are amazing!  There is a million of them all over these lava rocks and you can climb all over and get up close and personal with the petroglyphs.

 Lots of fun!  And of course a few of us (Alan, Jared, and Matthew for 30 seconds) had to bask in the sunshine and take a nap!

These next two pictures are from Kobob Canyon again.  That's Katie, Jacob, & Matthew perched on the rock.

 Part of our St. George day included a round of mini-golf.  It was Matthew's first time.  We all ignored the rules and did whatever it took to get the ball in the hole.  Fun!

 A ride on the go-karts was a favorite with all the kids.  This is Jacob & Ethan, and Matthew & Ryan on the track.

 Here comes Jared & Rachel on a lap.

 We took the long way home through Cedar Breaks to end our vacation.  Incredible views. Also very cold.  We had a great time and were glad to have Ethan, Katie, Rachel, Heidi, and Alan join us.

raingutter regata

The cub scouts had a raingutter regatta at pack meeting.  Each boy made their own boat out of a juice box, straw, and construction paper.  Then they had fun racing them down the raingutters!

immigrant doll

Jacob had to do an immigrant project for school.  Each of the kids were to chose an ancestor that immigrated to America, make a paper doll representing that person, and give an oral report.  Jacob chose to do "Oma" -- Grandma Hansen.  She is Jacob's great-grandmother.  Here's a little information about her that Jacob shared with his class (from Jacob's perspective):
Clara Freda Oelkers was born in June 1904 in Efendorf, Germany.  Her father died when she was 9 years old.  Her family was poor and she and her brothers and sisters had to be split up and sent to live with different family members because her mother couldn't care for all of them.  That made her sad.  When Oma was 19, a relative who lived in America wrote to her mother and asked if she had a child that she would like to send to America to be a housekeeper.  Oma told her mother that she wanted to go!  She took a boat to America and landed in Chicago.  It cost about $300.  She didn't speak any English, so she had to learn it all here in America.  She later met her first husband while living in Chicago and they had 3 children, including my grandmother, Betty Jane. They divorced and she moved to Los Angeles, California to live and help her brother with his dairy.  A couple years later, she met and married my great-grandfather, Fredrick Peter Hansen - "Opa".  He was about 20 years older than her.  They raised their family in Los Angeles.  To provide for their family, Oma worked in a tuna factory and Opa was a longshoreman on the docks. Oma and Opa moved to St. George, Utah when they retired.  Oma died at 98 years old in February 2002.

hulk hands

Matthew has been wanting hulk hands forever!  And today, ol' softie Dad, broke down and let him buy them.  A dream come true!

anniversary

Happy 19th wedding anniversary to us!



hike to the swing

 Over the weekend, we decided to check out a local hike that we'd never done before.  It is known for it's swing!  This is the swing -- a seat on a rope hooked up to a huge tall tree. 

 A couple hikers were on the swing when we got there and showed us how to get on it.  Basically, you pull the swing over to a big boulder, grab the rope high and jump for all your worth and hopefully catch the seat with your backside!  Or, like Jacob is doing, get some help!

 Ryan was actually the first to go and had no problem man-handling the take-off.

 Jared managed just fine on his own as well.

 The kids even talked me into swinging after they helped me on the swing.  I wasn't brave enough to jump on my own (I'm a big chicken!)  The ride was totally awesome!