June 2011

June was pretty low key. But we did get away to see the Manti Pagent.

I ran into one of my companion's parents.

Most of the family in front of the Manti Temple.

We also spent much of June looking forward to this . . .

May 2011

Over Memorial Day weekend we got to go to Lake Powell!!! Huzzah! We were able to go with some of our cousins.

The Hansen crew relaxing.



Emily seranading us.

A cold front came through the last day . . . you don't see sweatshirts and blankets at Powell too often!

April 2011

Our trip back to Jacksonville!!!

Yep . . . this is definitely Avery surfing on a McDonald's table . . .












St. Mary's Waterfront. I love this place.













While in St. Mary's I ran into some of my favorite Sister Missionaries. Especially my last companion, Sister Fitu.

Jekyll Island.

Dinner with Aunt JoAnn and the Corbett family.

Old St. Augustine.

While we were in Jacksonville we decided to take a little jaunt and visit the World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. We were in nerd heaven!

We also spent some time visiting people I love from the areas I served in . . .

At the end of the month we headed down to St. George, UT to celebrate Papa Mac's 81st Birthday!

There was even time for a little Bocce ball tournament.

Happy Birthday Papa!

Avery, Dad and I snuck away one night to hike "squish-rock." Dad chose not to attempt the squish but Avery and I are happy to report that we made it through yet another year!

March 2011

The Homecoming. It was also my parents 25th Anniversary.














Our trip to Sun Valley. I was freezing!!! But the skiing was great.











A Florida Flamingo!

Double Vision

Just before I left for my mission a peculiar thing started happening to my sister and I . . . people couldn't tell us apart! Strangers in stores even started coming up to us and asking us if we were twins. We would laugh (there's five years between the two of us). Those who knew us casually could tell us apart if we were standing side-by-side but if we were alone they would have to think about it. Little kids that my sister babysat every week would call out: "Hi Avery!" to me as I walked down the hall in church. The week after I went into the MTC a gentleman from church told my sister that he thought I was going on a mission. The whole situation was quite entertaining but also baffling to our family . . . there were definitely some similarities but not enough to get us confused.

Well, over time we forgot about it. I served my mission and returned home . . . only to find that the situation hadn't changed.

Some people I went to high school with saw my sister and welcomed me home from my mission.

Kids from Avery's high school saw me at a frozen yogurt shop and yelled: "Avery!" until I got a little closer and they realized their mistake.

I've even had someone offer me a job (teaching swimming lessons) thinking I was Avery . . . sometimes the situation has its perks.

Recently, we were boating and my dad took a picture of Avery (above) on my phone and posted it to Facebook on my account. Everyone thought it was me. But in fact, the photo on the right it me.

But by far our favorite of all these experiences is our adorable little cousin Emily.

When we went down to Lake Powell for Memorial Day I got to see some of my cousins for the first time since coming home from my mission. My cousin Emily is 4 now, so she doesn't remember me from before the mission. And at the moment Avery is her "chosen one," which is cute.

Throughout the weekend we worked on Emily, helping her remember my name and finally she got it down. That night, Avery and I were star-gazing with Dad when Emily came up and laid next to me. She pointed out some "wishing stars" and we spent some time making wishes. Then Emily wrapped her tiny arms around my neck and squeezed me tight. "You're the best cousin ever!" she cried. "I love you, Avery!" I laughed and told her I was Kenzie. She looked at me and promptly stood up and went to lay next to Avery.

The next day she called me the right name and I couldn't help but tease her. "Are you sure I'm Kenzie?" I pointed to Avery a couple feet away. "Maybe that's Kenzie!"

She looked at both of us for a few seconds and then gave up . . . "You two look the same!"

Just this past Sunday they were in town and came to our house for dinner. When I opened the door Emily was standing on the doorstep, eager to see Avery. She took one look at me and I saw the uncertainty in her face. "Ummm . . ." she said before someone rescued her by telling her that I was McKenzie. "Hi Kenzie!" she said as she skipped into the house, "Where's Avery?"

And so, we continue to revel in the situation.

Summer Snapshots

BYE BYE CHAPARRAL . . . HELLO LOVE!

The day we said goodbye to the Chaparral was a torrential downpour.

The first time I meet my new boyfriend . . .

Bye bye Chappy! We'll miss you, but luckily we get to see you at Powell!

Avery decided to dump a big puddle of water off the boat cover and on to me.

LAKE MEAD

Lawn bowling with Papa Mac and Val.

Look at that expert form . . .

CONVERTING THE MALIBU SEATING

Dad and I in our make-shift shade.

When we got the Malibu there were two captains chairs but we decided to convert the seating into wrap-around seating, so Dad and I got to work.

First, we stripped out the whole left side of the boat . . .

Then we stood on our heads for a while . . .

And now, whala, roomy, wrap-around seating!

THURSDAYS

Our appointed day to explore Salt Lake.

MISSION CALL TO JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA!

I opened my mission call on the lake, unfortunately in our excitement to get to the lake to open the call we forgot the camera . . . but it looked a little like this . . .

HANSEN FAMILY REUNION AT THE BAUCOM'S RANCH


Wiffle-ball tournament

Dad and Homer

Chillin' on the porch

Papa Mac, Val and Emily on the "Alligator"

FLAMING GORGE

The Red-Hot-Chili-Pepper on our Forth of July camping trip . . . randomly, I couldn't find anymore pictures from this trip.

LAKE POWELL . . . A LITTLE BIT OF PARADISE

The kids, and Dad, Cliff jumping

Avery surfing

Watching the firework show from the tramp

Our shaving rock this year was brilliant, plenty of room to shave with a nice place to layout afterwards.

Superman

FIRST ANNUAL HARRY POTTER BIRTHDAY PARTY!

To celebrate the great wizard's birthday (July 31) this year we decided to throw a party.

During dinner, which consisted of:

-House Elf Pies

-Butterbeer

-Dragon's Blood

-Herbology platter

-Cockroach clusters

-Licorice wands

-Chocolate wands

-Acid pops

-Treacle Tart

We played trivia games.

Then we held a Triwizard Tournament to see which school could create the best dragon . . .

Hogwarts students Emilee, Cate, Kirsten, and Nate Pope with their dragon.

Durmstrang students Nate, Carl, Carly, and Rachael with their dragon.

And Beauxbatons students Sarah, Luna Lovegood (me), Professor Umbridge (Avery), and Belatrix (Danielle) with our dragon.

We all had a wicked time and Harry even made an appearance . . .

And became Carl's date for the movie.

JACKSON LAKE

I love skiing with this backdrop! Jackson is truly heaven on earth, and we were lucky enough to have our cousin Brit come with us this time! The water was a toasty 61F (except for our 45F polar bear swim) but the air was a little chillier than usual this year.

Leek's Marina pizza night with the Carabines

Morning hike up Signal Mountain, the boys were too lazy to wake up and come with us.

Nate and Brit with the Grand Teton

The boys tipping trees on our hike to Hidden Falls

Avery and I after our hike to Hidden Falls

On our last night at Jackson the Tetons got a frosting of snow . . .

The boys weren't too excited that I wanted to walk the String Lake trail before we headed home, they said that their faces were numb . . .

The Red-Hot-Chili-Pepper and the Grand Teton . . .

DID I MENTION BOATING?

I got a few from the London crew out on the boat, Emilee, Laura and Kaitlyn, it took all summer but we finally made it!