Hansen Cousins Day Two

Sunday, 28 April, we left Henderson, NV and traveled bumper-to-bumper to Los Angeles. (I guess all of SoCal goes to Las Vegas for the weekend and heads home on Sunday.) Instead of following the GPS, we came into LA on the San Bernardino/Hollywood Freeways and out to Westwood via Santa Monica Boulevard. This was the route we took in and out of LA in the 1950s when I was a young lad, so it was a ride down memory lane. After checking in and getting settled, Kris and I drove around Westwood, checking out some my old haunts including the Temple grounds. The wonderful mission home where we lived has been demolished and replaced with new houses. Only the incredible guava tree from the original inner court yard remains.

We gathered at Phyllis and Phil's spectacular home in Bel Aire for visiting, dinner, and my DVD of all the old Hansen photos. Their house was designed by Phyllis's son Michael. He is a fantastic architect who worked for a time with Frank O. Ghery.

 San Bernardino Freeway

 The guava tree from the original California Mission Home

 Millie and Kris

 Kreg and Michael

 Cameron Calder and Chris Christensen

 

 Uncle and Annie with Kreg and Dorothy

 P&P's home

 The house sits secluded in its own little canyon

 Gathering and visiting

 Kay Lynn (Hansen Smith) and Kreg

Dinner with the cousins

SKT and Phyllis

It was great to visit and reminisce with these fun cousins. The activities continue today (Monday), so I will keep you posted. That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Walkies, Ordination, Hansen Cousins Day One

The morning walks have continued with the pleasant company of Katy Kathryn. Spring has been wonderful this year with loads of blossoms unaltered by late frost.

Today Daniel was ordained an Elder by his grandfather, Roy Steven. The house was full of family and friends gathered for the occasion. Katy made a wonderful lunch for all the guests.

After the ordination, Kris and I hopped in the car and headed down I-15 to St. George, where we met Hank and Colette and Stephen and Ann for supper at Capelletti's. The trip was marked by stretches of heavy rain and wonderful skies.

Spring along the ditch (on the day they turned on the water)

With Katy Kathryn and Uncle at Wasatch

Sunrise in Rock Canyon

Ordination day

Grandpa Steven ordained Daniel

Family and friends gathered

Those who stood in the circle

Beautiful skies north of Beaver

Dramatic skies south of Beaver

Wonderful pioneer design: St. George Tabernacle

St. George Temple

Fantastic gnocchi

HDT, SKT, CGT, KBT (Ann went walkabout)

I am posting from Henderson, NV. Tomorrow we will finish the journey to the City of Angels and the Hansen cousins reunion. I will report more from there.

Thats all for now.

OXO

D.

Easter 2014

In the last post I mentioned that Debby visited us. When she left she went to Salt Lake City for the festivities surrounding Katie Brown's wedding. On Friday night Kris and I rode to SLC with Daniel and Katy for the Brown reception. Later that evening we drove Debby's rental car back to Provo for her. Saturday evening we dined at Yamato with the Ostergars and then headed south to J. Kirk Richards' home and studio in Woodland Hills. Sunday the family, joined by the Matt and Whitney Nelson and their kids, gathered for Easter dinner/Katy's birthday. Stephen and Ann returned from England and Uncle and I started our walking regimen again.

Saturday, Easter weekend, the family gathered to dye eggs and hunt with Uncles family. Katy and Daniel, just returned from a whirlwind trip to Reno, California, and St. George, joined us for real Easter dinner. Daniel's mom, who returned with them, also spent the evening here.

 Hilary Brown and Elizabeth

At the reception in SLC 

Debra Sue with Andrew and Ryan Brown

 KBT, DAT, and DSDG

 The spectacular view of Utah Valley from Woodland Hills

(enlarged you can see Timpanogos right of center)

 Whiney, Eloise, Katy, and Matt

 The birthday girl with trifle

 "Heavy, heavy hang over thy poor head..."

 Morning walk through campus

 All sorts of colors

 The Ensigns

 The Taylors and an Ensign or two

 The cousins chilling in Opa's yard

 Gathering for the hunt

Ready to go

ODT doing his thang

 Meg counting her spoils

 Lizzy with a find

 Ollie and Max grabbing the low-hanging eggs

 After the hunt

 Taking Uncle's new toy for a spin

 Grammy giving Max a fresh look

Daniel sorting out Jan's devices

We are off to LA for the Hansen Cousins Reunion at the end of the week and then to NY for a week with the Gibbs. So there will be more.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.

Spring Break 2014 Part II

Part I was posted first and appears below. Thanks to the aunties who shared some of their photos.

The fun continued right through the end of the week with hikes to the Y, hot dogs with the Soelberg cousins, screening of the new Muppet movie, dinner at P712, and a BYU-Creamery-ice-cream extravaganza.

 Hike to the Y

 Y Trail gate

 Cousins at the top of the Y

 The intrepid aunties

 On the Y with Provo spread out below

 Relaxing in the warm sunshine post-hike

 Porch time with the cousins and 7-11 Slurpees

 Hot dogs with the cousins

A fun new movie

 A quick visit the the Beijing Browns who were in Provo to do

a few BYU-related things

 Dinner at P712

 Reenacting the Doors' "Break on through to the other side"

 Ice cream feast

 Nobody could complain that there wasn't a flavor they liked

 On a beautiful Thursday morning...

 The Hastings...

 Piled in the car...

And headed down the road to Reno and home

What a fun time we had with the Hastings and Debby. We will be seeing Debby again in just a couple of weeks when we meet in NY for a spring visit with the New-York Gibbs.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.