Elder Hancock's Return

Bart will be returning tomorrow.  Marissa is so excited it is crazy around here.  Aaron and her have been counting down the hours.  We are almost to 24 now.  We will post pictures once we get some.  He hasn't been very good about sending them home. 

Just thought I'd let everyone know that he will be speaking on Sunday.  If you need the address give us a call.  We will have food at the house afterwards too. 

ARISE

Well Arise is over.  As wonderful as it was and as happy as we are that Marissa participated, we are all glad it is over. The Young Men and Young Woman have been practicing since January for this spectacular.  They practiced about every other weekend.  They even practiced during the week.  Which is okay, but it is nice to have her home.

With Marissa being so short, they had to make her a special choir robe.  She wasn't too thrilled about having to run across the field just to give it to a certain person so she could wear it later.  Of course the last night because they had so many show up that week, they didn't even put their choir robes back on.  (They didnt' have enough she said.) It was a wonderful experience not only for her to participate in, but to watch. 

They started out with the YW/YM from the North Council all dressed in White on the field.  They were in rows and would run back and forth it was awesome to watch.  After dancing for a few minutes, they brougth out a had a parachute painted like the earth and as the kids moved down the field they would take off their white robes and with brightly colored shirts move towards the earth.  It was neat to see. 

Then the West Council had different years like the pioneers, 20s, 50s, hip hop etc.  It is OUR TIME!!!!Marissa was in the hip hop group in careers.  They were showing life on earth.  She is the short one on in the scrubs.  It was fun trying to find some small enough for her. 

The South Council had different countries.  They even flew some kids from Ireland to participate that had been recently baptized.  They did different country dances.

The finally was amazing.  They had the kids come down out of the stadium and walk around the track and into the center as they sang.  It was awesome.  They all had a little light they held.  Then they all walked towards a picture of Christ on the Jumbo Tron singing Celebrating the Light.  As they walked closer they had another picture of Christ come down.  Marissa said as the youth felt the spirit they would kneel down.  Oh I forgot, one of my favorite parts is when as the kids were coming down the Elders and Sisters from the Ogden Mission all went into the middle of the field and sang Called to Serve.  Okay so having a missionary out, I lost it.  Of course there were quite a few times that Aaron and I lost it.  It was truly a spectacular event. 

Relaxing Weekend at the Cabin?

The second weekend in June we went up to the cabin with mom and dad.  Aaron had another project to do.  Of course he loves working on the cabin.  Can't wait to see what he does when we are up there later on? 

We got up there on Friday night late.  Mom and dad had gone up earlier in the week.  Saturday morning Aaron and dad tore the back stairs off and put up a board so we wouldn't just walk off the deck.  Smart idea I think some of us forgot they were gone and would have.  Saturday despite the wind, dad and Aaron were able to get the cement poured.  I don't think I have ever seen or at least heard the wind that strong up there.  We were very blessed not to have any trees fall on the cabin. 

Sunday against Aaron's wishes we all went to church.  He had decided it would be okay to have a day off.  But I won out and we went.  Sunday was a beautiful day.  Of course, we knew it would be; day of rest.  Well Aaron did get the boards ready for Monday.  While he was staining them we happen to see a beautiful blue bird come out of the big birdhouse by the back deck.  Unfortunately the next morning we didn't see to much of them so we are afraid the little birds that nest in the birdhouse on the deck scared them away.  Hope not.  They were sure beautiful. 

Monday was a beautiful day!!! 

Monday morning at 7:30 mom was sitting by the window watching the river and happened to see an otter.  Aaron was so excited, but wished there would have been more.  After that (about 10 am) Aaron and dad started working on the back stairs. It didn't take long and they were finished.  Aaron let Marissa be the first one to walk on them.  Mom had a great time trying them out too.  They are beautiful.  Aaron did a great job designing them. 

Monday we were able to sit on the front deck and watch the river once the stairs were done.  Of course we also had fun mowing the lawn. There is something that makes work seem like fun at the cabin. Even Marissa seemed to like mowing the lawn up there. Tuesday we headed home and mom and dad stayed in the rain.  It was a great time at the cabin.  Thanks mom and dad and Aunt Carol for letting us go up so Aaron could work on the stairs.   

Transfered!!!!!

No new pictures, but Bart has been transfered to Chandler. He would love letters, but can't guarantee he will write back before 5 months. Which is okay, because in 5 months he will need something to keep him busy while he waits to get into school.

Happy New Year!

We had a fun time Christmas Eve going to see the "Princess and the Frog" with Mom, Carol, Julia, and Janet and Casey. Iggys was also great. Dad decided to stay home and keep the fire going or something. Christmas was great. We got to talk to Bart for an hour. I think Marissa got spoiled again this year! I don't think the rest of us did too bad either. For New Years Aaron decided to go to the cabin. It was 20 degrees in the cabin when we got there. It took about 5-6 hours to get it to 65. The roads weren't too bad on the way up, but coming home it was a solid sheet of ice from the cabin to the bottom of Ashton Hill. We shoveled off the decks and the back deck roof. Aaron was a little worried. It snowed about a foot Thursday night and he was afraid we wouldn't be able to get out. Luckily while we were shoveling the roof the snowblower showed up. YAH!!!! We stayed until Saturday. We had a great time even without the water on. Aaron kept us warm day and night by keeping the fire going. We over did it on books and DVDs though. There were about 40 or so swans on the river most of the time. Of course we slept right thru the New Year celebration. But had a great time.

Bart has been Transferred to Coolidge

I know Coolidge. Where the crap is that? Well it is just southeast a little tiny bit from Queen Creek where he first served. He says it is a small town with about 2 wards. A little different from Gilbert with 9 Stakes and 2-3 sets of missionaries per stake. I get the impression the two of them serve the whole area? Don't have any pictures from Coolidge yet but here is a picture he sent home from Gilbert! He is with Elder Muench in this one. Here are some from Queen Creek! Who is that Elder anyways? If you remember from the email he bought a guitar just after arriving in there. All we knew is her name was Samantha, she is black and he slept with her. Well here she is!!!!! Although not much to see. He did say the guitar kept him busy while his comp had swine flu! He was going crazy with the cleaning and smells of chemicals.

Aaron is Released :D

Aaron was released yesterday. It was a day of mixed emotions! He has truly loved being Bishop, but he also knows is it time to let someone else. He will miss working with the youth and the fun times he had. It will be a big adjustment having him home all the time, but we will enjoy it too. The new Bishop was his Second Counselor and will be great! It will be nice not to be interrupted during a meal or eating a burnt dinner, because he got held up. But he will miss it. Now we just need to keep him busy. There were a lot of fun times that our whole family will always remember. But there were some very sad times too that we would like to forget. He was a great Bishop, but now he gets to be just a great dad again!

22nd Anniversary!

Today is our 22nd Anniversary! 22 years ago we made my dad come home from hunting and Aaron's dad wait to go until after we got married. It was a wonderful fall day! I'm so thankful that Aaron chose me over all of the other girls he dated. Aaron is truly the best husband and father. He surprised me yesterday at work with red roses. He ordered 22 but they shorted him one. hahaha Bart gave us a baptism for our anniversary and Marissa is willing to stay home while we go to dinner tonight. (That in itself if amazing. She hates staying home!) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY AARON!!!!

Mesa Falls

Last weekend we went up and winterized the cabin for mom and dad. It is getting cold up there so Aaron volunteered while they were at Angies. Marissa couldn't remember what Mesa Falls looked like so we took her over. Aaron figured that this late in the year they wouldn't charge. Oops! He was wrong. Oh, well it was worth the $5 to see Marissa's face. Just thought I'd share the pictures. It sure was beautiful!

One Year Mark

Bart has officially been out one year! Not sure whether to be excited or sad. Yes we miss him. No one more than Marissa, but we are enjoying the few letters and weekly emails. It is also fun to watch him grow while he is there. He finally made senior companion after being acting senior for 3 months.

Happy 20th Birthday Bart!

Just thought I'd post the pictures we got from sweet Sister Ruth VanWagoner. Their family had Bart and Elder Kriser over for dinner on his birthday. They fed him steak and threw a party for him. Bart was excited because she always sends me pictures. The other pictures are from August. Now if we could just get Bart to send me pictures!!!!! :D

To the Cabin Again

We just got back from spending a fabulous, but too short time at the cabin. We arrived on Sunday evening to an enjoyably cold night. Monday we hung around the cabin inside because it was too cold outside. Tuesday we decided to drive through Yellowstone. It was fun. We had a crazy time. Aaron made up and taught us a new song. Not worth sharing though. There were lots of buffalo in the Hayden Valley. If only they would stay off the road so you could drive, it would have been nice. We saw a herd of elk and one moose. Aaron decided we should eat at the Old Faithful Inn so on the way to Canyon Jct. we made reservations. The earliest was 9 p.m. So we drove to Canyon then to Mammoth. Then we came back by Tower. Since it was still too early to go to Old Faithful we hiked down to the Lower Falls. It was a strenuous but nice hike. Then we walked out by the Mud Hotpots. It was a nice day. We made it to Old Faithful about 7:30 pm in time to buy postcards to mail to Bart. Then it was on to watch Old Faithful. He was 10 mintues late but well worth it. He shot really high. Then we went in to the Inn and waited for time to eat. The dinner was nice but not really worth the wait. It was fun eating in the old section though. We enjoyed our time and left at about 10:30 pm on the way out we saw 4 coyotes on the side of the road. We made it back to the cabin at midnight. Wednesday mom and dad Hancock joined us. Thursday morning we took dad on a drive to Sheep Falls. We started hiking down and decided it was too far to go without water. Maybe next year. Thursday afternnon Lynn, Jana and Maddy joined us. We celebrated Jana's birthday and enjoyed visiting. Friday after a nice lunch we packed up and came home. Aaron had a wedding to perform on Saturday. We had a great time. Just wish it would have lasted a little longer.

Kaye, Kathy, & Joyce (Taken in January 2009)

On July 30th & 31st, Joyce came down. Joyce, Mom, Marissa and I had a great time making card table tents. With very little help from me they were able to get 6 sewn together and 3 more cut out. Thanks Marissa and Joyce for doing all the cutting and mom for doing most of the sewing.

Kaye and Lindsy and her girls stopped by for a few minutes to visit. Pam and Kristen also stopped by for a few minutes. Lindsy's girls loved one of the finished tents.

Dad wanted a tent and kept telling Joyce what colors he wanted. She said when you can get under the card table I'll make you one. I only wish I had my camera to get a picture of him under the card table. Way to go dad!!! After he got out though he decided he didn't need one.

It was a fun couple of days. Now we just need to get together and finish the rest. I can't wait to get my three done. Thanks Joyce for cutting out my two.

I worked on one of mine for a few minutes last night. Aaron thought I was making it for him and even got under the card table. I told him to hang on maybe in 5 years or so he can get under there with his grandchild.