family gathering in st george

there is nothing more important to me in this life than my family. okay, well. let me rephrase that, my testimony stems from the fact that we have Heavenly Parents, who love us and want us to be like Them and so they sent our Elder Brother to save us from ourselves. They also sent me here to earth into a family, and have guided me in creating a family of my own- another link in the chain of Their family. i think my perspective of everyone being my brother or sister (including my parents and my own children) is both a blessing and a challenge. i feel pulled towards my family in ways i can't describe. so when we get to be all together it is my FAVORITE thing ever. up until this trip, i have been at war with myself during vacations because i feel this need to soak up all the time and presence of my siblings and parents while i can but it is at the expense of my husband and children. after the last time we saw my family kent and i had this awesome discussion on the way home and had an ah-ha moment about what was happening and we committed to change and be more united as a couple during family gatherings. and you know what? it worked! (ok so getting ready saturday morning at the hotel was rocky, but hey, no one is perfect!) we had such a great weekend with everyone and i can't wait until the next one!!

we met in st george to have a life celebration for my greatgrandmother who we called grammy growing up, but that was the name my mom chose for the grandkids to call her so for the past 8 years she has been 'great-grammy-in-utah', and recently 'great-grammy-who-used-to-live-in-utah-but-lives-with-grandmom-now' in our house. she was a character! i love her and i am grateful my kids all got to meet her and spend a little time with her before she passed away.

we arrived in ivins, ut on friday and after a quick stop at katrina's we headed to the slot canyon for a hike. it was beautiful and so fun!! (ps. i stole SO MANY pictures from others to make this post so sorry for the duplicates sisters and thanks for sharing ha ha =o] )

cute girl cousins! (including the baby bump in the background!)

hello pollution free skies! we enjoyed the fresh air for sure!!

the moms and littles got left behind the first round...

seth loves rocks. he tries to eat them all the time lol

jonathan found his own way to the top =o]

christine decided to brave it with donny

the red rocks are beautiful! i don't know what it would be like to live there, but it sure is pretty cool to visit!

jenna wanted to climb up the slot a bit, but then turned back around when it started getting too skinny.

then rebecca and melissa headed in (it is a tight squeeze!!)

with me close behind once kent got back and could be with jenna and seth to make sure they didn't eat any rocks lol

triumphant at the top!!

the view from above of whitney and caleb going through for the 3rd time

when i turned around i saw that kent had climbed up with the littles and was (in my opinion) precariously perched on the top of a cliff! 

awesome picture right? but i have to admit i was super nervous about them being up there!!! jenna is so independent and unpredictable! 

i hurried over to where they were and we made our way down safely together =o]

natalie and katelyn exploring

natalie told me this was "cousin cave" =o] they had a blast!! i am totally all for hiking continuing to be a part of hansen family gatherings! 

after the hike we headed over to the splash pad for more good times before dinner. kent dropped us off and then checked into the hotel and stopped by the store for us. way to take one for the team!!

my little fish =o]

jenna ran wild the ENTIRE time!!

the four oldest cousins played ninja. like, the whole weekend! lol totally our fault ha ha. as rebecca said that night, 'they didn't even care about ninjas a few hours ago and now they know more than i do about them!' ha ha sorry!! (hopefully it died out when they went back home, but as for us here it has only lessened a bit because they are ninjas for halloween)

it was so fun to hang out and talk and take cute pictures of the cousins!

then it was back to katrina's for a barbecue dinner and more hang time. ah, aunt melissa. what would we do without you?!? my children adore her! we all do. but we talked about how they don't "need" her now like they did while we lived with her and how much that changes their relationship. i think it is just another testament of how much service binds us in love as both the giver and receiver. she did SO MUCH for us! it was a blessing we hadn't realized until we missed it. i think there is still a stronger connection and a deeper relationship for sure, but it has shifted. hopefully it just makes her all the more excited for her own children someday because she is going to be one awesome mom! 

it was super fun to talk with everyone! i feel like i got to know my sister in law a little better this trip and was grateful for those moments. we sing a lot at our house and as i was holding seth and getting his dinner ready i had subconsciously started singing "a long, long, time ago, in a galaxy far away-" and christine chimed in "naboo was under an attack" from the next counter over and we both cracked up laughing. it was such a little thing but it was cool to me not only that she knew that dumb song that was my kids' top pick for the trip cd we made for that weekend, but also that she felt comfortable enough to jump in and sing it! and she was also comfortable enough to answer our questions about what was overwhelming when she joined our family because derek was bringing his girlfriend and we didn't want to scare her lol  we are so loud! and there are so many of us! anyway, amongst other things she said she felt welcomed and loved and that was so good to hear. 

at bedtime we headed back to the hotel. that night was HORRIBLE. but that is to be expected with a family of 6 in one hotel room with a timezone change. but let's just not write about it. or the next morning grumpily getting ready and out the door by 8am. because then maybe we won't remember it, right??? 

we headed over to the ranch where we were taking family pictures before breakfast at the park. it was a gorgeous day! and such a picturesque place!

ah, family pictures. good times! lol

trying to get the grand kids to smile lol

after/while snapping pictures we played in this AWESOME tree house. since my kids are all about magic tree house books, especially natalie was in heaven! and they haven't stopped talking about it since actually. every few days they tell me another thing they have decided is going to be part of their tree house when we build one =o]

whitney was such a sweet cousin to jenna! i think they get along swimmingly ;)

derek and raycelan =o]

the end results were totally worth the effort. don't you agree?

we should have just taken a mackay family photo too, but it would have been just one more thing and everyone was ready to head to breakfast. and anyway, we had family pictures scheduled for the end of the month. so off we all went to the park!

we ate and talked and practiced the song we were supposed to sing for the service and just enjoyed being all together for the first time in years. we also exchanged names for chirstmas =o]

oh and melissa fell in dog poop. 

we basically just hung out until it was time for the service.

i had never been to a funeral before, and i'm not sure this one actually counts. it was a nice service with several people sharing memories (natalie even got up!) and my grandad dedicated the grave. we sang "come to the church in the wildwood" as my grammy had requested and the little girl cousins sang one chorus by themselves that was so cute. anyway, i love this picture my aunt posted of the cobb cousins because it makes my uncle rodney stand out and i had a special experience with him there. the whole extended family got up to sing 'families can be together forever' and he came right up too. he was standing behind me so i could hear him singing along with us! it brought tears to my eyes and i was so grateful that he would stand and participate in something that was so important to us even if he didn't believe it any more. i wrote him a letter to thank him for that special gift, and he responded that he was happy to participate in cultural celebrations even if he didn't 100% believe them, and that since he sang that in primary 100s of times it just stuck! =o] 

i'm not sure why this picture i stole from fb is like cut and copied on itself??? but it's all i've got.

seth actually hung out with jenae for a few rare peaceful minutes of being not with a parent =o]

then we all went out to lunch/dinner. it was yummy! the trio was joined by my cousin tiffany's daughter sarah =o]

i have to say that i am impressed with derek. i heard him introduce raycelan as his "girlfriend" more than once to our relatives. i know so many people who are not willing to commit to relationships because it is too hard, or ties them down or who knows why, but he wasn't and i am glad. way to make a girl feel valued! we need more men like that in the world! at least that is my perspective. get in, or stay out!! no fence sitting, i say! =o] (ha ha i didn't even know i had such strong feelings about this until writing it) 

and here's jenna our little carnivore (at least by our children's standards) eating half my mom's turkey!

after that we went back to the hotel to change and then over katrina's house for a bit. we brought all of our halloween books, which was a hit! 

seth fell asleep in my arms as i made pumpkin spice cookies with jenae. by the time they were all out of the oven everyone had gone over to the park to hang out so we walked over together. it was fun to get to catch up with her and we had a great talk. my favorite line of hers was "you can't really choose who you fall in love with...but you can choose you you kiss!" i agree! =o] i am planning to finish my thoughts to her in a letter about dating and college because we got to the park and couldn't really continue the conversation then. but i also got to see her senior pictures which were gorgeous!! 

at the park kent played basketball with the brother in laws, the kids ran around wildly getting more and more exhausted, and i got to chat with several people including two of my favorites in the world- my cousin tiffany and my aunt karen! my aunt was just called to be the RS president in her ward, so she took a picture by this historic building near katrina's house. she and my uncle wade are absolutely inspirational! i am grateful for all the different kinds of examples in my family. Heavenly Father truly is a God of miracles. the Atonement is as real as the smile on her face!

finally the kids had had enough and we headed back to the hotel. after getting everyone in bed kent stayed in the room with them (bless him!) and i went back to hang out at katrina's house. it was a fun night! it made me so happy to hear my sister say how much fun kent was this trip, playing with the kids and joking with everyone. it was true! we really did have a great time! and i got to have a good talk with donny about our callings, and teaching, and college life, and being married. my siblings are each so cool in their own way! i know this is silly, but years ago i had each of them take this personality test that a professor i TA-ed for created to help teachers understand how to work with their students. and donny is SUCH a blue! it strikes me every time we talk! 

the next morning we all went to katrina's ward and then each went our separate ways as the day passed. it was fun to go to RS with my mom and sisters! i took these last few shots before lunch and our departure. i'm sure the cravens were ready for some peace after hosting such a huge crowd but we are so grateful for their hospitality in hosting!

as i said before, I LOVE MY FAMILY! they are the best for me and i'm so grateful for them!!

hooray for family gatherings! hooray for life!!