When It's Reunion Time

Last week my extended family had a reunion up at Bear Lake. We rented the same large house that we have rented two times before and gathered for activities, meals, and lots of conversation. We had a fun time and I hope everyone enjoyed it.

Monday night was Family Night where we sang a few songs and then played a few games related to family history.

Tuesday was the Undokai. My SIL has Japanese ancestry and Undokai is the name she uses for a bunch of team relay races. In the afternoon, I worked on dinner (salads and pulled pork sandwiches) and Scott helped drive an expedition to a small lake with a rope swing which my teenagers enjoyed. Unfortunately my son accidentally left behind a shoe, now lost forever. That evening, we had a talent show. Later Scott built a fire and helped the kids make s'mores which was very popular.

This is my SIL, organizing the Undokai.

This relay was run up the field with your teammates serving as obstacles.

Heidi was too pregnant to participate so she was my photographer and took this picture of her youngest.

This was the carry a cotton ball on a rubber spatula relay. We started spitting on the cotton balls to make them stick better.

This relay was stick as many toothpicks into a marshmallow as possible without using your hands. It was pretty impossible.

This relay was empty a bottle full of apple juice using a straw as fast as you can. I was pretty concerned about backwash.

Early Wednesday morning, I went with my brother and SIL and a few of our children to the Star Valley Wyoming temple which was about 1.5 hours away and we did baptisms for some distant Dutch relatives. Talmage got to do a lot of baptizing which he enjoyed. I hadn't done baptisms since before I got married so that was fun for me.

On Wednesday afternoon, we rented a jet ski and a couple of paddle boards at Bear Lake and did some boating. That evening, we took a big family picture and then had a testimony meeting with the adults and older kids while the younger kids watched a movie.

My siblings and I are sitting in the chairs on the second row with my parents in the middle. Our spouses and a few children are standing behind us.

Testimony meeting:

Thursday morning we packed up and left. We left as soon as we could so we drop our girls off at camp which they had missed for the reunion.

Comments

Visiting Susquehanna: The Priesthood Restoration Site

On our way home from Palmyra, we decided to go a couple of hours out of our way to visit the recently opened Priesthood Restoration Site along the Susquehanna River. This is where we believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist which gave them the authority to baptize. This site also has the restored Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home where Joseph and Emma lived for a year as well as the home where Joseph and Emma lived on their own. We spent a couple of hours there and I wouldn't have minded a few more minutes but we had a long way to go that night. It's a beautiful setting, very much in rural Pennsylvania. However, on the day we were there, cars at a racetrack nearby were detracting from the peace and quiet. I'm guessing that's not as big of a problem on weekdays. The Hale Family was quite well-off for their day so their home was probably nicely decorated with wallpaper and carpet. ...

Hansen Family Reunion 2026, Wednesday and Thursday

We had another Hansen Family Reunion at Bear Lake! In total, there were 93 of us there with 11 missing--our biggest yet! We enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up a little bit. Here are some pictures. My goal was to get a picture of everyone, so if you don't see a picture of yourself, keep scrolling. Also, more individuals coming on the post for Friday. Sorry for the weird angles on some of them. Michelle made dinner the first night, chicken and vegetables with Michelle's specialty--lots of sides and plenty of leftovers. After dinner and clean-up, we had a FHE lesson outside on the lawn with Melanie in charge of the lesson after a few raucous songs. The newest addition to the family, #103. On Thursday morning, Kent and Melanie chaired breakfast with eggs and sausage and plenty for everyone. The cook with his breakfast sandwich: After breakfast, some of the group went rock-climbing, courtesy of Everett, David, and Susanna while more people went on a hike--the Limber Pine Hike....

Nauvoo Pageant!

I have been a negligent blogger this last month. My reason is that we have been super busy. At the end of July, we went to the Nauvoo Pageant. We were able to participate once again in the Gold Cast like we did in 2007 and 2014. We picked up our daughter at the end of her cross country camp in Price, Utah on our way out of town. Then we drove to our friends' house in Golden, Colorado near Denver to stay the night. It was fun to reconnect if only briefly. The next night we were in Lawrence, Kansas, visiting my brother and sister-in-law and their family. That was also fun but short. We left the next morning, attending nearby church before taking off. We arrived in Nauvoo around 4pm with just enough time to have dinner at our cabin before going to our orientation at the pageant building. The next day we went to the pageant building to get our costumes and to learn how to do our hair in the 1840 styles. ...

Search This Blog