Very Busy!

We have been very busy this last week. Doug has been involved in directing Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. It has been a great experience for him! He has had quite a few practices which I'm not too crazy about, but it has turned out great. I am going to go see it tonight with his family. I had juries this last week. I think they went pretty well. You never get used to playing for a grade. I had a big mess up at the recital part of my jury : ). I smile at it because it was avoidable. The guy in front of me got up and couldn't get his piece started. He would get a few notes out and then have a memory slip. He tried 4 or 5 times before he could get going. So I sat there and thought I don't want to do that so I better know how my piece starts. I thought through it picturing the notes on the page and what they were feeling confident I knew my piece. But when I sat at the piano my fingers simply would not start it. I stopped and thought through the notes once more and still couldn't get started. Now Doug and I have decided that my analytical side of my brain overpowered the side that feels and does things naturally. Its ok I played the rest of the piece great and even had the chance to play it again later in my jury to redeem myself. We also have been very busy finally tiling our bathroom but since I don't have the pictures on this computer I will leave that for another day.

Jewelry

I haven't ever been a really big fan of jewelry.  I like simple things. I don't own many earrings and have even less when it comes to necklaces.  So when one of my primary friends invited me to a lia sophia party a while back I wasn't sure what to expect.  I found I liked a lot of the stuff they had and was even swindled into booking a party for a free necklace.

So today I had a party at my house.  It was a lot of fun.  My family came and supported me (thanks guys).  We had a great time putting all of the Jewelry on and playing games the advisor had for us.  I had hoped a few other people would come but it was a great party anyways!  I know the stuff is more on the expensive side but it is really nice.  You know if you buy something that's cheap, thats what it is.  

I am just letting you all know that you can come and do an online party in addition to my party at home.  The products are all here at this link http://www.liasophia.com/sites/bernadette/page-catalog?CatID=20&TotalPages=61&PageNum=1  And if you find anything you like you can buy it under my name/party and I get a little closer to some rewards.  You just click on "how to buy" and enter my name in the hostess place.  They also are discontinuing a lot of stuff and have sales like buy one full price get two half off (make your most expensive one half off).  So for anyone interested have fun!

Hansen Reunion

We had our Rick Hansen Reunion last week!  We finally got everyone together and had a great time.  It was a pretty busy week.

Tuesday was Brad's birthday and we went repelling/climbing with him in the morning.  It was just us, Brad and Traci, and her brother and sister.  We drove out by Table Rock and repelled in the canyon.  It was definitely more beautiful than Heise : ).  It was kind of scary getting over the ledge to repel and then swing out over the canyon but exhilarating at the same time!  We got back, ate dinner, did presents for Brad, and had to rush to go see savior of the world at the college.

Wednesday Doug and I decided to go ride our bikes down to the splash park to watch our niece and nephews play.  However, by the time we got down there we had just missed them.  We turned around and labored back up the hill : ) (great exercise!).  We had dinner together and then everybody went to practice for the 4th of July concert.

Thursday we went boating!  The water was great.  We had a fun time waterskiing, tubing, and wakeboarding.  When we got home we all decided we needed a nap!  Afterwards  we had a great time playing games.

Friday was the 4th of July parade.  It was fun to see all of the people in the parade and grab candy for the kids.  We had a bbq for lunch and got ready for family pictures.  Following that we headed to Idaho Falls for dinner, a concert, and the best firework show I've ever seen.  It was a very fun day but I think we were all funned out by the time it was all over and we were sitting in traffic just to get out of the parking lot.  I guess its worth the show but I vote getting a hotel room next year and just going to sleep when its all over.

Saturday we went swimming at Heise and had a picnic.  It was fun swimming with all the kids.  They are all so cute and were so excited to get in the water.  The water slide was pretty fun!  I'm glad they had something to entertain all of the guys : ).  We had a great big nap when we got home! ( I know I think we got this reunion stuff figured out.  Do something then take a nap! Its a lot more fun that way : ) ).  We had a program where the kids sang, babies blew whistles, and the oldest played violin.  They were all so cute!  Bryce and Richelle sang a great song for us! I'm so glad we got that one on video.  And I played piano, Dallin played his violin, and Becca read her poetry.  Off course it wouldn't be a program without ridiculous skits : ).  Brad and Traci did a great one : ) then Mom, Dad, Becca, and Bryant did a more ridiculous one.  They each made us laugh and were so very entertaining.  All of the brothers sang some barber shop for us and we just relaxed.  Brad put up a badminton set and we had fun swatting the birdie onto the roof with a lot of help from the wind. (whew that was a long day!)

Sunday we had a testimony meeting in the morning before Dallin and Leslie had to leave.  It was a very spiritual and wonderful experience.  I am so amazed with the strength of this family and am so grateful to be a part of it.  It was a great family reunion!  

Suzuki Camp

Ok so I haven't posted for another week. And as always I have a good excuse. Really. I do. . . 

This last week Doug was teaching at Suzuki Camp in Boise.  It was my first time going and it was pretty fun.  It's just a camp where kids come and take classes from a bunch of different teachers who teach Suzuki.  

Doug had 4 classes he taught so I sat in and observed on some of the piano classes while he was busy.  I was never taught Suzuki method until I took some lessons from Mom Hansen so it was good to see how to teach younger kids (since the way Mom taught me isn't exactly how I would teach beginners).  I also got to observe another piano teacher which has given me a variety of ways to help students with different learning styles.

Dallin and Leslie came up also to teach and put their little girl through for her first time.  So my other time was occupied watching their very active two year old so Leslie would be able to be in classes without worrying about disrupting it.  It was a lot of fun for me.  I've always loved babysitting and its even better when you don't have to work very hard because this little boy entertains himself so easily.  

The other part of my time was taken up with practicing.  I have only 3 weeks till school is over which means juries are coming up.  I was glad that this was a music camp and I had plenty of time to access a nice piano to practice on.   

So that was my last week in a nutshell.  Very busy and no access to a computer (which is my other excuse for not posting).  We had lots of fun and are just getting prepared for another busy week.  The Hansen Family Reunion! I'm excited to see all of my brother and sister - in - laws.  It will be fun and I'll keep ya posted on activities.

Camping & Climbing

We went camping with Doug's Family this last weekend.  It was a lot of fun!  We went to Heise and camped by the river.  It was a different kind of camping than we are used to because it was all grass and the spots were pretty close.  There were a lot of trailers and we joked about all of the old folks eatin dinner and turnning in at 5:00.  But we had a blast. It was actually great to have the grass under our tent and it was a really beautiful night.  I loved sitting around the camp fire and sing songs.  I got to learn some new songs I had never heard before and Mom Hansen was great entertainment :  ).  

We got up early to go rock climbing with Brad, Traci, and Bryant.  It was a hot day against the rock but still fun.  This was only my second time really climbing and boy am I sore.  My forearms have been the worst but it is a good sore (you know the kind that reminds you that you actually did something that made you feel so alive? Yeah that kind of good sore).  I got halfway up the first face and then completely up the second.  Doug did great he got a little further than me on the first and did the second much quicker than I ever could.  Brad, Traci, and Bryant did great.  I'm always amazed when I watch other people climb.  Brad always makes it look so simple and Bryant is so tall it takes him about half the moves it would take me to climb.  Traci really inspires me!  Here she is the one with the baby but climbing (and doing great by the way). It was a lot of fun and I want to do it some more.  

We were so hot when we were done we got down and dipped our feet in the river.  Brrr it was cold water but felt great.  It was a great way to end the camping trip! 

Update

Ok so we really have been busy....So I'll tell  you all about it : ). 

 

Last week Doug had Fiddle Camp with Brian and Aaron Ashton.  It was a lot of fun for the kids.  They learned a lot and played some fun games.  The concert was really fun to listen to!  Some of the kids had improv solos for about 2 measures.  I think that was my favorite part and it was definitely the most entertaining.

I have been busy catching up on practicing piano and cleaning the house.  I finally got through the laundry from our long trip so Doug could put all the luggage away.  I'm still in the process of deep cleaning the house (a process that never ends by the way).  It seems like every time I am satisfied with one room we have something to do so I don't get to move on to the next.  But hopefully I can finish up this week.

 

Mom Hansen's Birthday was on Friday.  It was busy day but we went over after the concert and had birthday cake and played games.  Then on Saturday we went to Indiana Jones and had a blast.  It was a very entertaining movie and we all decided we couldn't see why anyone wouldn't like it as much as the original ones.  

Also on Friday we went rock climbing with Brad, Traci and Alaina.  It was a lot of fun.  We went to a new spot so the climb was a little more challenging for Brad and Doug.  It was a cliff face of lava rock and huge!  They only climbed up about 1/3 of the way.  There were lava rocks covering the ground so Lainy didn't have anywhere she could really go but she still had fun climbing with her Dad. 

Saturday morning we went to the airshow with Brad and Dad. It was way fun to see the planes that were involved in war.  Some of them bombed and sunk ships and were involved in all kinds of missions.  It was especially fun to see the trick planes put on a show.  I don't know how the pilots could stand spiraling towards the earth just for fun.  Scary if you ask me.  It was a nice morning and we all got sunburned staring straight into the sun

: ).

We wanted to find out all the details about putting the tile up in our bathroom so we went to a few stores on Saturday.  We are going to get all the materials and rent a saw so we can just do it ourselves.  I hope we can do it all in a day so we aren't without a shower for very long.  We are hoping to do it this week so I'll post pictures.

Then Sunday came and it was Father's Day.  I called and talked to my Dad and then we had dinner over at Doug's Parents.  We love our Dad's and are so grateful for their examples!  I don't think we could ask for better Fathers.  

Then yesterday I decided we should do something fun for FHE.  So I packed up dinner and we went to the park to have a picnic. The weather finally turned beautiful and it couldn't have been a better day.  So we didn't want to go home after we were done eating so we walked around the park.  Then got some ice cream at Mill Hollow and walked around the block.  We wanted to watch the sunset so we took a drive around and looked at houses (one of our favorite things to do!).  The sun finally started to go down so we drove up by the temple and sat on the grass in front of the chapel to watch the sunset.  It was beautiful and we had a great FHE.

So that is what we've been doing and I'll try to keep ya posted more often : ).

Our California Trip

Well I'm a little slow getting back to life.  I do have a good reason I haven't posted for a while.  We went with the Dad Hansen and the high school on their California trip.  It was a lot of fun!
We got to go to Disneyland/California Adventure for 3 days!  It was great because we didn't have to try and cram it into just one day. We got to go on all the rides and still watch shows and parades.  It was a lot of fun too because we got to see Dallin and Leslie and their kids.

We also got to go see Wicked in LA!  It was fantastic and the theater was amazing!

We had never seen it before and it was a lot of fun!  If you haven't seen it you all should.  Its the story of how the wicked witch of the west became wicked.  And it is a great story :)

We also got to go see Medieval Times and it was a lot of fun!  We've been to it  a lot but its   

always fun!  The food was great and sadly our knight, the Blue Knight, didn't win.  But then again this time none of them won.  Instead it was the prince who came and conquered the green knight.  Lots of fun!

We also got to go to the San Diego Zoo.  It was amazing to see all of the animals.  Here are the pandas.  

 They were so cute!  Its a picture of mom and baby Zhen Zhen, which means precious.  They were just lounging and eating bamboo.  It was too much fun.  We got to see polar bears showing off and all kinds of monkeys (mostly grooming each other : ).  The Gorillas were amazing to watch and so much fun.  We didn't get to se the tiger because he was being lazy and sleeping somewhere.  But we did get to see the female lions and a few other big cats.  The elephants were just huge! It was a great trip.