The Pianist

The kids had their first piano recital at my Mom and Dad's house. They all did great. The next day I was in my room and I could hear Mandy out "playing the piano" and singing. So I walked out to watch and this is what I found. She hadn't seen me so I ran and grabbed my camera. So here are the results. Who knew that you could look so good with a blanket and a winnie the pooh honey pot on your head.

Maybe I should try it next time I am asked to perform a musical number.

The Olympics?

Amanda loves to ice skate. At Anna's Birthday Party I decided to take some video of Amanda skating with my camera. I learned that unlike a Video recorder my camera only takes upright pictures one way and doesn't change if you turn your camera. That being said I hope you can get past the fact that the video is sideways and just enjoy the talent.

Is she really 12?

Anna is officially 12 now. She has been practicing being 12 for a quite awhile. Now she wears contacts and makeup.It is amazing how overnight she is no longer my little girl but someone who is much smarter than I can ever hope to be....at least that is what she thinks. Maybe it is the makeup (although she did ask for pointers so she didn't look like she had a black eye.) Anyway she had a party and invited her best friends for ice skating and a sleep over.

They had a lot of fun and there was a lot of giggling. They really enjoyed the ice skating.

There wasn't too much falling....but the skates did hurt their feet. So there was a bit of sitting.

Hunter had never been skating before and she seemed to catch on quickly but she liked to have someone close to grab onto. Anna had a great time and was so glad that her friends were able to celebrate with her. Happy Birthday Anna.....only 4 more years until you can drive and date....scary!!!

My Weblos

Zach had a busy summer and earned several pins and badges in cub scouts. He also earned his Weblos badge. He has only a couple of more things to do before he earns is Arrow of Light.

This is Zach giving me the mother's pin.

Zach showing off all of his pins.

Roosevelt

About a month ago we went to Roosevelt and stayed with my roommate Carrie from BYU. On Saturday we went out waterskiing on a lake close by. My kids have only tried to waterski one other time. Zach loved the wakeboard and it didn't take long before he had the hang of it. Zach takes all sports very seriously and if you watch the video he has his game face on the whole time.

Anna didn't want to try the wakeboard but she had a lot of fun on the kneeboard.

Even Kayla surprised us all and tried the kneeboard.

Like me Amanda was content with just riding in the boat. It was only about 70 degrees that day.
I have to end with Craig's crash. He never just lets go...he has to crash.

We had a great time and my kids talked about how fun it was for a couple of weeks after. It was fun to see them having so much fun with Carrie's kids. They want to know when we are going to see them again. Thanks to the Wallaces!!!

Almost Just Me

We hit another mile stone this year. Amanda started preschool. So for four hours aweek I am by myself. Almost 12 years ago (when Anna was born) I thought this day would never come. But it has and quicker than I ever thought it would. Mandy loves going to school and I am more than happy to let someone entertain her for a few hours a week.

The Hanson Family Reunion

Last summer my cousin Heather and I decided that it had been way too long since we had a Lynn Hanson reunion....so we put ourselves in charge of having one this year. Of course last year I couldn't have know all that would be going on in my life this summer. The last eight blogs have been about a 3 week period in July....plus Craig was a full time student at Utah State. I will admit that putting together this reunion was stressful but well worth it. We had a great turn out and I am so happy with how it turned out. I wanted the reunion to be more than just two days of just sitting and visiting. I wanted to come up with a theme and activities that we could mix the families up so that everyone would get to know each other. This is how I remember the Raymond Hanson reunions when I was growing up. Kerry helped me come up with the Family Olympics. With the help of Amy, Mary, Heather and Kim we put together our own olympics. We started out on Friday night with dinner. My good friend Liz helped me get the balloons and decorate the gym for the opening ceremonies.

I loved how it turned out. We lined everyone up around the gym and split into four teams. Each team had a color and was given a arm band to wear with their color on it.
To open the ceremony we had the olympic theme music playing and Amy (with her usual flare) danced around the gym carring the torch with Kim and Heather waving the colors of the teams behind her. We then gathered everyone into teams to decorate a flag. As you can see everyone got involved in coming up with their name and how to decorate their flag.
We assigned Glen and Margaret, Bruce and Joann, Reed and Etta, Ray and Beverly and Lynette to be captains of the team.
There was a little bit of trash talking but it was all in fun. I have to mention that I was surprised that my father was one of the main instigators of the trash talking and because of this added entertainment his team recieved the most entertaining award. After all of the flags were done each team presented their flag to the rest.....of course the olympic music was playing in the back groundThe next day was moved out to the pavilion for the games. We had alot of fun and everyone that could, participated. Those that couldn't were able to cheer on their team. We had four different events. The balloon toss, the rely, the sponge game and the obstacle course. The sponge game was a lot of fun and with it being close to 100 degrees outside no one objected to getting a little wet.

More pictures of the sponge game.
This was the start of the rely race. When it was all over we had four awards...one for each team. It was a lot of fun and I had a great time seeing everyone having a good time and getting to know each other. I know that Grandma and Grandpa were looking down loving that we were together as a family, playing games and having a great time together. Thanks for coming and making it a great reunion. I can't wait for the next one.