Hansen Family Hike at Heise

First of all, happy 4th of July, people!!!!!!!  I love my country dearly and am soooo grateful for the freedoms we enjoy.  We are lucky to be born in such a land.  We must continue to uphold it's values both from within and from without.  God bless America!

 

On a change of note, I love it when my family comes to visit during the summer because we rarely get to see each other since we are literally spread out all over this great country of ours.   It's been so nice to have one of my sisters and all of my nieces and nephews (except for one, Canyon) visiting our neck of the woods for a week or two.  It was funny seeing the reactions of when the cousins all first met each other again...it was shocking to see how tall everyone has gotten! 

Two days ago we all went and hiked the Heise trail together.  I couldn't help but think of the last time we hiked this very same trail - all these kids were half their age and now the majority of them are teenagers!

Quite a crew, isn't it?  :)

All the girl cousins - from left: Aubrey, Nichole, Kaylee, Christine, Drewe with Brooklyn, and Zoe.

All the boy cousins (minus Canyon.)  An entertaining lot right here for sure.

Ronin just couldn't help himself - the water was too enticing.  

My older sister, Penni, and her daughter, Nichole.

Me and Jed....yep, we're still alive and kickin'.   ;p

Arizonians and a Floridian - Zoe, Christine, and Drewe.

After the hike we went for pizza!

Ronin with his dad.


Aubrey and Connor.

While the adults were chatting it up, the kids apparently got bored after they were done with their pizza.  We looked up and noticed they were playing the game Red Rover on the golf course just outside the restaurant.   I haven't seen anyone play that game since I was in Kindergarten!  So cute.  :)

Red rover, red rover, send Rig-don right over!!! 

He's going for it.....

Oh, he didn't break the line....now he's ours!!!

Yep...Carson is very much like Troy.  :)

After that they played the Partner Tag game...
Rigdon with his cousin, Ethan.

Love my Rigdon dude.

After the games, we all chilled out at a nearby park for a little while.  A few of us wandered by the river for a little bit.  Carson was skipping rocks, the others dipped their toes into the river.

A select few completely immersed themselves in the river...very cold water- - brrrr!

Love FAMILY!!!!!    We miss you Jodi, Ben, Carson, and Todd!  Wish you could have been here with us too!

Aubrey and Ronins' Birthdays

Hello blogging world...it's been far too long since our last post.  Yes, we're still alive.  Just popping in to say hello and post a few updates of our family.  Yesterday we celebrated Aubrey's sweet 16th birthday and Ronin's 11th birthday with our extended family.   

Dishing up ice cream and cupcakes after the presents.  My parents and brother, Cory, with his wife and kids came too.  :)

Sweet 16 Party

On the day of Aubrey's actual birthday, she had a friend party at our house - she had a great turnout.

They played the game 500.

 Afterwards, they played Eenie-I-Over.

 

A close family friend, Kendra, stopped by to give Aubrey 16 balloons...well, it ended up being 15 since one of the balloons popped in the car.

 The rest of the evening they played a few other games and laughed a lot.

 The evening was topped off by opening up gifts and cooking up smores.

Aubrey & Alexis.

 Aubrey's childhood friend, Keneisha, who moved away years ago stopped by and surprised Aubrey.

  Now that she's 16 she is old enough to officially start dating boys too - I'm not sure Jed is ready for that.  From the looks of it, I'm not so sure Aubrey's all that comfortable yet with male attention either.  :)

The only boy in the group that Aubrey welcomed physical affection from - her brother, Connor.

But even that is only allowed so far.  

After the family party yesterday, we went and visited my brother, Troy's, grave.

Happy Memorial Day from our family to yours!