Family Trip #9: Back to Utah

I remember the summer of 1995 being a little stressful. We had three little boys including baby Garrett, living in a two-bedroom apartment with 600 square feet. Scott was trying to finish up his research for his Ph.D. He was driving out to the "Synchotron" to do research every day. He would leave at 5am and get home around 6pm. We didn't know exactly when he would be finished with his degree but he had two job offers: one with Sylvania in Boston and one with NIST in Gaithersburg, Maryland. We decided to go with NIST since that seemed like a better situation overall. At the end of the summer, Scott went to a conference in Paris on "International Conference on Atomic Spectra and Oscillator Strengths."

Meanwhile, we had to put in our 60 days notice for our apartment, not really knowing when Scott would be done, and we had to find a new place to live in Maryland. Additionally, Scott's future boss, Tom Lucatorto, was trying to work out the details of how to pay Scott. We thought the moving expenses would be covered by the government but, in the end, it wasn't which was a definite financial burden. But somehow we made it through. Not everything was bleak. David and Jan had lots of buddies to play with in our apartment complex. We had made lots of friends in our neighborhood and ward. We had a good support system. We finally moved away at the end of September after David attended kindergarten for a month in Madison.

This picture makes me laugh. I'm not even totally sure which one is my child but I think David is the second one from the left. The weather was extremely hot.

David learned to ride a two-wheeler that spring.

Our good friends and neighbors the Cohens were moving away and this was a goodbye party for them. Jan was buddies with Isaac.

The weather was unusually hot. We had temperatures above 100 with high humidity. In Chicago, about 2 hours away, over 700 people died because of the heat. People didn't have air conditioners because the weather just didn't get that hot. We had a small room air conditioner which helped.

Cute little Garrett was learning to stand

In the middle of all that, we made a trip to Utah at the end of July. My brother Craig was coming home from his mission to London and we wanted to visit before we moved even farther away.

Heidi's on 2nd with David as baseman, Kent is playing shortstop

We participated in a family softball game. We also went to the zoo with Scott's mother.

We went to the airport to pick up Craig.

We attended Craig's mission homecoming and then we drove back home to Wisconsin with some good memories.

Comments

Our Cousin Drew

This last week, my brother and his wife lost a very precious son, just 13 years old. He collapsed while running with a cross-country team and passed away before he could be revived. Everyone that knew Drew is broken-hearted at this loss. He was the happiest, most agreeable kid we knew. I remember him being at my house without anyone close to his age to hang out with, so he found our Duplo blocks and started building even though it is a toy that boys his age don't usually enjoy. He was so content. He didn't complain that I ever remember. His mother always called him the perfect child. He will leave a big hole in not only his immediate family but our extended family as well. Here is a poem my aunt shared that seems fitting: Leave Taking How I would have liked to wave goodbye and watch until you turned and smiled and disappeared on the horizon. You who taught me to dance and let me teach you, who laughed at my stories and winked at me when I was sad. I can just see you trav

Remembering Drew

This weekend we celebrated Drew's life. On Thursday night, we gathered as an extended family and had a dinner then sat in a big circle and talked about our memories of him. I took some notes and here is what people said. Grandpa (Gary Hansen): The last time we saw Drew was last week on the 4th. I remember all the cousins on the trampoline, bouncing up and down and playing basketball. Grandma (Susan Hansen): I asked Drew to come over last winter to teach my Activity Day boys how to make origami stars. He was very patient in working with them even though they were pretty clueless. Eventually they all went home happily with their stars. Paula: This last winter we invited Bruce and Michelle over for dinner and we didn't have anyone his age for him to hang out with. I remember that Drew found the Duplo blocks on his own and played with them all by himself, quite cheerfully entertaining himself. I asked him if he wanted to play with a different toy--maybe something more sophistica

Drew's Funeral

Yesterday was the viewing for Drew and then today was the funeral. There were a LOT of people at the viewing. Bruce and Michelle greeted people for almost four hours yesterday and then again this morning before the funeral. Bruce said that if weren't for Drew's death, it would be the best week of his life with so much love being shown to them. Friday actually began with a family run in Drew's honor. We started at a church by the new Lindon temple and ran to Bruce and Michelle's house with breakfast following. Friday night was the viewing. There was a very nice display of all things Drew. This was one of the pictures displayed and I recognized someone I know: We stood in line and the paramedics who worked on Drew stood in line behind us so we got to talk to them. Here's a fun fact: They cover both Orem and Vineyard but Vineyard gets a lot more 911 calls than Orem per capita. It's a younger population and they are quicker to call. They said it's hard when the

Search This Blog