My amazing 2 year old!

Okay, so I was minding my own business, checking my emails. I heard my little Kiara playing in my room and didn't think much about she was saying. All of a sudden, she was quite upset with me because I wasn't listening to her! When I did give her my attention, this is what I heard:

(you will need to pause the music near the bottom of the page to hear her)

I'm not quite sure where she has learned this accept that her big sis has been saying the pledge once and a while because she recently learned it at school. I am amazed at the things my kids learn at such young ages! Good job, Kiara!

The Awesome Polynesian Choir!

Back when we lived in St.George, I was a member of the Polynesian Choir (when it was just getting started) and really enjoyed travelling to different wards to sing for sacrament meetings and firesides, etc. I have really missed being a part of that choir and keeping up with my Samoan language. My family, however, are still in the choir, so on occasion we get to go hear them sing. Yesterday, they were here in Cedar and we were able to go to the Native American Branch to hear their program. The spirit was so strong there as the music was sung! I can really understand how it is said that a hymn is the same as a prayer, because that spirit was unreal! You know, when you feel those kinds of feelings, you just can't keep the tears out of your eyes! They even asked the primary children to come up and sing "I Am a Child of God" with them, so Lani was able to sing with them. It was great.

Most of my family had to head right back home to go to their ward callings, but my Mom and Dad (step-dad who raised me) were able to stay and spend the rest of the day with us. It is always special when we get to spend time with Grandma and Papa! We made a special lunch to eat together and my girls just "mauled" my parents! It was so nice to that relaxed time together.

Papa, Kiara, Lani and Grandma.

Lani showing her excitement at seeing her Grandparents!

A very competitive, rousing game of "Simon Says with Papa!

After lunch and a couple of games of "Simon Says" with Papa, I decided to take Grandma up on the mountain to enjoy some of the fall colors while we had the chance. So, while Papa had a nap, we rode up right-hand canyon and Grandma really enjoyed it. I couldn't help but think about last year at this same time when I called my Dad (Biological one in Salt Lake who passed away this February) to tell him how pretty the colors were. I didn't know, as we never do, that he wouldn't be here to talk to about them this year. It really brought tears to my eyes realizing that we should really never take for granted the time we are able to spend together. I found myself wishing that I could just call him one more time!

Kiara, so proud to be in a picture with her Grandma and Papa. She loves them so much!

Anyways, I really am thankful for the time we were able to spend with you, Grandma and Papa. Thank you, for taking that time with us. We love you both very much!

Mom's Day" at school".


Today was special for me, Lani's teacher is so great and she decided that she would have a special day for the moms and dads of the students to come and spend the day with their child at school. She just wants to show the parents what goes on in the classroom so that they can be a more active part in their child's education. I was able to stay the whole time with Lani. We really had a good time together. Man, they make school so much fun nowadays! These kindergartners were counting syllables and everything! I don't think I knew what a syllable was until what, 3rd or 4th grade? I was amazed at how well-behaved and quiet these 5 year olds were! Lani's teacher, Mrs. Topham has been teaching for 25 years. She has spent 23 years out of those 25 teaching kindergartners. She is so happy all the time and so patient with them. She really treats them with respect and so much love-I have always said that it takes a special kind of person to be a teacher! I feel like Mrs. Topham is an angel! How else do you describe someone who spends their whole entire day with 5 year olds and is that loving and wonderful? Thank you so much Mrs. Topham for everything that you do to make my daughter's days so great! We love you!

What it's all about!

So last night we had family night with our friends the Robisons. We rode up on the mountain to enjoy the fall colors and to take some pictures of their family. It was so much fun! Gene didn't get to go, he had to work, so we missed him. The colors were even more beautiful than the last time!

I was thinking that the beauty of the world that has been created for us, the love of family and great friends and the gospel of Jesus Christ really is what it's all about! We don't have tons of money, or fancy posessions or power, but what we do have really is everything! I realize more and more since I've gotten "older" (no comments on my ancientness, please!) that everything that really is of importance to me, I really can take with me! I even think that our good friends will still be close to us there. Everything else is important while I'm here, but won't have any more significance to me in the next life, will it? I really have it all! I'm so thankful for all of it!

Thank you Caitlin, Jason, Kinsey and Jonas for letting us tag along with you last night! Thanks for the ice-cream and french fries, too! You guys are wonderful friends to us and we love you!

The Colors are a Changin'!

A couple of days ago I looked out my window at the mountain could see no fall colors visible. Today, however was a totally different story! I could see lots of red, orange and yellow, so we decided to take a ride! This is one of my favorite times of the year, when the colors start to change and you can feel that little "nip" in the air that wasn't there a month ago. Just 10 minutes from our house up right-hand canyon is where we saw all these glorious colors! This is one of the things we love about living here in Cedar City-that we can be in the mountains, enjoying their beauty in a matter of minutes!

Lani and Kiara love to find the fall colors as much as I do and it is quite noisy in our car the whole way up. All you hear is little screams of "there's some red! There's some orange!" etc. I had my camera with me an decided to get a few quick pictures, they aren't the best ever, but they'll do!

So, for those of you that live down south and are wondering if it's time to see some colors, it's happening fast and in a week or two, the best will be over with for another year! So don't forget to plan your trip to check it out before it's over! Happy fall, y'all!

"Skyfest" was so much fun!

Okay this post is kind of late but, every year at this time, Cedar City has what is called "Skyfest". They usually have at least 20 hot-air balloons, lots of radio-controlled airplanes, have vending booths including bounce-houses, climbling walls, live bands perform and it's just a great time! Skyfest has become a tradition for us and even though Gene had to go hunting (that is way more important, you know!) with Corey in the morning and then work the rest of the day and into the night, I decided that I wouldn't break our little tradition.

A couple of sleepy-yet excited princesses!

So, Saturday morning, I got my girls up early, got them ready and headed to the park for Skyfest. When we got there at 7:00am there wasn't much going on yet, so we headed to McDonalds to grab some breakfast and got back just in time to watch them inflating. The girls were amazed at the size of the balloons and although it was cold, they were able to tough it out long enough to see them lifting off the ground. We headed back to the car to snuggle by the heater and in our heated seats and watched and chased them for quite a while. These pictures don't do them justice, but my camera wasn't cooperating, I think because of the cold.

In the evening at the park, they usually light up the grounded,inflated balloons and it's so beautiful to see them against the darkened sky. They look like huge stained glass windows, so at dark we went back, this time with some of our neighbors who have moved here recently from California. We had fun listening to the music and checking out all the booths, but none of the Balloons were inflated, all they did was turn on the (I don't know the correct term) flames now and then. All in all we still had a great time and will probably do it again next year!

Just Hanging out with Lani at school!

Yesterday was so much fun for me, I wound up spending the morning at Lani's school! I didn't know that this was possible, but her teacher has told all the parents that anytime we would like to come and spend time in her classroom, it is not only okay, but encouraged! So I showed up a little after school started and was able to sneak in and sit on the rug behind the class and listen to the story they were listening to! Her teacher then introduced me to all the children and the fun began. We got up and danced to music. The children were leaping, twirling, twisting, etc. Kindergarten is so much fun! It doesn't hurt that Lani has the best kindergarten teacher on the planet.

It happened to be picture day and I was able to help herd all of them into the gymn to be photographed. How cute are kindergarteners!? Their huge cheesy grins were so adorable! After that, the class was broken up into groups for more learning focusing on the alphabet. It seemed more like games than learning-so fun! During that time, as I was sitting on the rug with Lani's group and the cutest little blonde girl just decided to plop right down on my lap and make herself at home! Lani didn't really appreciate that much, but she tried to be nice about it.

I even got to go out for recess with the class. On the playgroung there was another adorable little girl that decided I should go with her down the slides. So, off went my shoes and down the slides we went! We did P.E. and everything! I had a wonderful time! I am so glad I was able to go and I hope to do it again soon and then periodically throughout the year. I know that Lani loved it, she still hasn't stopped thanking me!

"Just Stuff"


So, I just wanted to post some random pictures that I had. Here is one of my Hibiscus plant that I bought at a nursery that was just about to throw it away. I think I picked it up for three to five dollars. It was all dried up and had only a couple of leaves on it. Now to look at it, it is covered with these beautiful flowers! I love Hibiscus flowers because they remind me of Samoa. We had them growing everywhere there and I didn't think that they would even survive here! I am so excited to know that there are some species that will! Of course, the second picture of my little Samoan Princess model Kiara who wanted to wear one.

Okay, here are some of my little Kiara. She decided one day, that she would like to blow-dry her own hair! She really had it going and was sitting there working hard when I found her. I love how adventurous this child is-she is so much fun! She and I were actually watching the afternoon news the other day, when some "Greek Dancers" were performing. I asked her if she liked that kind of dancing and she blurts out, "Yes, that's what I'm going to be when I'm bigger, I'm gonna be a greek dancer and an olympic diver!" It was so funny! All I could picture was this person wearing a greek outfit diving off a high-dive! Hee hee! You know, at first Kiara can be really quiet and even shy, but once you get her warmed up, watch out!

This last one is of my girls just messing around with some wigs that a lady gave me when I worked at the wig shop in St.George. Kiara and Lani think it's so fun to be blondes! Our lives would be so dull without these little monkeys, what would I ever do without them? They keep me laughing day in and day out!

Breaking Camp
So today we picked Lani up from school to head up to Bryce Canyon to break our camp for the year. We have camped up at this particular spot for so many years that it feels like home to me. It is always kind of sad for me to say goodbye to it for another few months. We have had so many wonderful times up there fishing, hunting, hiking, scouting animals (many, many animals!) trophy elk and deer on the famous Pansagaunt, huge mountain lion, fox, coyote, and bob-cat, hunting for arrowheads, etc. We have had so many fun camp-outs with family and friends, that it really has become a home away from home for us.
We broke camp and drove home the Panguitch way. We wound up buying some food there and going to a fairly new park there for the girls to play a while. I love this time of year, you can really feel the fall in the air! Coming home through Bear Valley I even spotted some early fall colors up in a couple of spots! I always get an itching to go deer and elk hunting this time of year-it's so bad! I wish I had put in for the hunt! Oh, on the way out of our camp, we saw several different herds of antelope and I even spotted a coyote walking along right next to our vehicle! That made me want to get out and call coyotes! It was a great trip and now, I guess we'll just have to dream about camping up there again next year!

Yay She's finally here!

Brittney and Taycee

Photo by Hope Clyde

We got a great call from Corey this morning-he became a grandpa last night (technically this morning, I guess) at 2:07am! Our beautiful grand-daughter Brittney Hinze and her husband Grant (okay, he's pretty cute himself!) had their first child in St.George! Her name is Taycee Hinze. (They still haven't decided on her middle name, so I'll have to update when that happens.) She was 7lbs 10 oz. and 20 3/4" long. She is so beautiful! Her grandpa says it's because she looks like him-check the pictures out and you be the judge.

"Taycee"

As soon as the phone was hung up, we started getting everyone ready to make the drive to St.George to meet the newest litttle member of the family. We had to make a super quick trip because Gene had to be to work by 1:00pm. We made it there before 10:00am and after shopping for a little gift for her, were able to have about 20 minutes with them before hopping back into the car and heading for home.

Brittney admiring her beautiful daughter.

Gene and I are so excited to welcome our very first Great-granddaughter into our family and look forward to many more Great-grands! We do have another one coming in about 7 months, our grand-daughter Ember is expecting one then-we are hoping it's a girl so that Taycee will have someone to play with and grow up with.

Gene (the proudest Great-grandpa in all the world) holding beautiful little Taycee.

We are so happy and feel so blessed to have your sweet little spirit here Taycee. Welcome to this great-big crazy world!!


Love, Great-grandma & Great-grandpa Hansen.