Correction

I was reminded that by 1980 we had four children. Sorry, the date should have been 1970 and has been corrected.

New Fence

In 1970, two years after Mom and I were married, we bought our first NEW car. It was a 1970, fire engine red, Chevy Nova. We ordered the car because we wanted it just so. It had to have what we wanted. The cost was a little over $2800. It was a classy car with a V-8 engine and was a lot of fun to drive.

This last week, after 22 years of staring at the ugly back fence, we tore it down. It was falling apart and was held up by sheer determination along with some steel post on the other side. So we put in a beautiful vinyl fence, 6 feet tall and 94 feet wide. It cost more than my 1980 Chevy Nova!!
Now all I have to do is keep Kevin from shooting it with an arrow.

Goodbye to an old friend

Over the last 10 or so years, I have had a very close friend. We have spent many hours together watching football games, movies, the Science Channel, family pictures and a lot of other fun activities. This past week my friend was killed by a freak storm that came through the neighborhood. Lynette was spending some time with my friend when the accident happened. We tried to revive him a number of times but it was of no use. His lights had gone out for the last time.
The next day I called a Doctor to see if there was any way that he could be made whole again. Doc worked on him for two solid hours and finally said that he thought he had him back to life. We tried again, but it was not use. Even the Doctor was saddened by the loss.
Now I have to decide what to do with my old friend. He is too big to bury and unless we cut him up in little pieces, we can't hide him in the garbage can. He is even too heavy to carry out in one piece. I called the Doctor today to see if he might have a place to put my friend. He said he might be interested so we'll have to see.
There was such a hole in the room where he used to set, it looked funny. I looked on the Internet to see if I could buy a replacement friend but friends are so expensive. Finally, Matthew said that he had a friend I could have to replace my dead old friend. He is younger and in better shape; not quite as big, but sharper when you look at him. So we moved Matthew's friend in place of my old friend and the room seems brighter again. So when you come to visit, you will have to get to know my new friend. I say goodbye again to an old friend.

Summer Camp Out & 4th of July

Well, we survived another camp out and 4th of July. They seem to be almost one activity because they are only one week apart. It is two great weekends together.

Our yearly Camp Out this was held at Camp Timpanookie, at the top of American Fork Canyon. We all arrived in the early afternoon to set up camp. It is a beautiful spot and thanks to Laura and Lyle, we had really good camp spots. The afternoon and evening was spent talking and having fun together. The grandkids really have a lot of fun when they get together, exploring, finding bugs, mice and all sorts of things. Lindsay and Holly brought their pet snails which I would not hold. We had a great supper that night, all the hamburgers and hot dogs you could eat. We spent some time listening to Great Grampa Hansen telling, in a recording, how he, his father and brother discovered two of the three caves of Timpanogos Cave. Also, that evening a new activity was created; roasting red licorice over the fire. The kids really had fun. This went on until it started to rain. Finally, about 9:00 we were all wet and decided that it was time for bed.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and then about 11:30 loaded up to go to Timpanogos Cave where we had reservations to climb to the cave. For most, it was their first time going to the cave. It had been a really long time since I had been up and the memory dulls with age. I forgot just how steep that trail was. The said it was only a mile and a half but the didn’t say it was all straight up. We started out with 23 hikers and after 2 hours of hiking, we got all 23 to the cave entrance. I was really proud of all of them as it took each one to help with the smaller kids and the old people.

They limit the tours to 20 people but I asked the ranger, since we were all decedents of Martin Hansen, is we could go as a family. They bent the rules and let us all go together. So the tour was just or family and the ranger. It was really special. The grand kids even remembered what they had heard the night before.

I am not sure what was the hardest, going up or coming down. My knees felt like that roasted licorice, all soft a wobbly when we got down. We made it without any blisters, that I know of, or accidents of any sort. There were a lot of stiffness for a few days but great memories of participating together and learning some family history.

That afternoon, we had a special edition of Family Fued, complete with a guest host. We all had a great laugh at each other and ourselves. After a super meal of corn, pulled pork sandwiches and baked beans, we hand froze ice cream and had it over Greg and Annette’s famous apple, peach and pumpkin cobblers. Man they were good.

Jill and Michael then took the older kids on a snipe hunt when we set up for the slide show that Lyle had prepared. Again we all laughed at some of the old pictures of each of us. After roasting a few more licorice, we all hobbled to bed.

Sunday morning we just had some breakfast, cleaned up and came home. Some, like Roxie, didn’t want to leave because they had so much fun. There’s always next year and we have already started to plan for that one.

The 4th of July sleep over in the back yard was a lot of fun this year. It was the first time we have had Carrie, Matt and their family and it was great to have them with us this year. The kids got to make a lot of noise with the snappers, all 2500 of them. We had a great supper and plenty of time to talk play and enjoy each other. Of course, there was the annual movie on the back yard and then bed. The night was spoiled some time around 1:30 A.M. by the thunderstorm that drove everyone into the house to sleep where ever they could find a spot.

Breakfast was omelets in a bag, bacon and pancakes. I don’t think anyone went away hungry. It is always fun to spend the day together and to have a great holiday. I makes you thankful that we live in a place where we can do that without fear and to be free.

History Repeated

In the “Olden Days”, when a person was called on a Mission, you reported to the Mission Home in Salt Lake for a week of training and then they shipped you out to the field. In February of 1963, when I was called to serve in the West Mexican Mission, I dutifully reported to the Mission Home which was located where the Conference Center is now. At the end of the week, rather than sending me to Mexico, I was sent to Provo to the newly organized Language Training Center housed at Allen Hall. This was an experiment by the Church to see if they could speed up the language learning time in the field. There was one group ahead of ours that had been there two weeks. I spent 5 months there learning Spanish and waiting for Visas into Mexico. During that time, the LTC grew from 45 missionaries to over 300. Portuguese and German were added and it became the Language Training Mission. This was the beginnings of the MTC.

Now, 46 years later, Lynette and I find ourselves in much the same situation; in an experimental program for the Church. We attended our first training meeting last night for our mission. It was a really eye-opener. We found that what we are doing is only being done in that ward in the entire Church, only in the Grandview 20^th. Yes, there are other Church Service Missionaries but none that are doing what we will be doing. Some of our duties will be working directly with the full time missionaries, teaching and converting non-members. We are the only Service Missionaries that are actually authorized by the Area President, under the direction of the full time missionaries, to teach from Preach My Gospel to investigators. We may be asked to split with the missionaries or if need be go on or own and teach missionary lessons when the full time missionaries are not available. No where else in the Church is this being done. If it works out, as it seem to so far, it will be expanded in other parts of the world.

It as close to real missionary work as you can get. Even full time missionary couples do not teach investigators, they refer them to the missionaries to teach. This is a real special opportunity that neither one of us thought we would ever have. We really feel like pioneers.

Richard Holdaway 1943-2009

The neighborhood is saddened this morning with the passing of Rich Holdaway, long time neighbor and friend. He passed away yesterday afternoon of heart failure. We extend our sincere condolences to his wife, Maureen and their 5 children. He was 66 and had been fighting a number of illnesses of the last number of years. The funeral will be next Saturday, May 23.
As I stood on the sidewalk yesterday, with concerned neighbors as they performed CPR trying to revive him, I was once again struck by the thought of just how fragile life really is and how quickly it can be taken.
Please keep their family in your thoughts as each of my children grew up with his children and were friends with all of them.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Well, here is a shock for you!!

Lynette and I have been extended a Mission Call for a 24 month Church Service Mission. We met with the Stake Presidency last night and received the call. We will be serving in the Provo South 20^th Ward (Spanish Speaking). Yea, that’s right! Mom is a little taken back because she does not speak a word of Spanish and mine has not been used for 44 years. She has not figured out how this will work with her working on Sunday but we’ll have to work around that.

We may be asked to work with the full time missionaries and do splits with them. This ward is the fast baptizing ward in Utah, so we may get to assist in seeing new conversions. Whatever activities that ward has we would attend. We would be visiting ward members during the week and a lot of other things.

We will be released from all callings in our home ward but our memberships will remain there, we will just attend church in the new ward. They meet just below the hill. We are not sure what we will be doing but will be assigned to the Bishop of that ward and do whatever he asks us to do. We both are still a little numb. They gave us a few days to think about it so we have a lot to talk about.

This was a complete surprise as we had not applied. I got a call Sunday night that they wanted to meet with us and last night they told us why.

Please let us know of your thoughts and concerns.