Merry Christmas:
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As a family, we had a
wonderful year. We took the kids to see their very first Opera, “Hansel and
Gretel” at the University of Utah which they absolutely loved. We had a great
time at another year of Folklore Camp up in the Mendocino Woodlands. We cut down
some trees in our backyard, put in a concrete patio and built a wooden fence
which will make things really nice this next spring/summer. We also were able
to attend the “Hansen Family Reunion” in Arizona over Thanksgiving which was a
lot of fun. We figure if you haven’t been following our adventures on Facebook
or in person, we’d sum up the year for you.
* * *
Daniel started his last year
of grad school. Yes, you read that correctly he will actually be FINISHED with
school in May. He will graduate with a Doctorate in Musical Arts and we
couldn’t be more proud of him. This past year he not only performed at the
University of Utah but also as a chorus member for Utah Opera at the Capitol
Theater in Salt Lake City. He was in the chorus for Puccini’s Turandot and Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio for Utah
Opera, and he performed as the Count in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro at the University. This past October he did a
joint recital with another Doctoral student where they sang songs from
Bernstein shows and then performed Trouble
in Tahiti for the second half. Although he is very busy getting ready for
this next year’s full schedule of shows and performances he always makes a
point of having family time.
Brandy turned 30 years old
this year and in honor of that Daniel made her a 7 layer cake (it was literally
7 cakes stacked on top of each other covered in frosting and sprinkles!). At the beginning of the year Brandy ran in
the “Hale Freezes Over” 5k run in Orem with her mother. She finished in 34 min
(which is her best time so far) on a very cold winter morning and received 2
tickets to see “Big River”. In July she became the Primary President (In charge
of running the program for all the children in our local church congregation)
which has kept her very busy. Besides
chasing around 3 crazy-cute little boys she is trying to develop her talents in
photography, cake decorating, and crocheting.
Johnny turned 6 years old
this year and celebrated with a Ninja Turtle birthday party with his cousins.
He finished his 3rd and final year of preschool and started
Kindergarten at a charter school called Pacific Heritage Academy. Although he
is still in speech therapy, he is progressing well and loving his class. After
a visit at the eye doctor we found out Johnny has “Refractive Amblyopia” which
means he got glasses.
He lost his very first tooth
a few months ago and now the tooth right next to it is also loose.
Joshua turned 4 years old and
had a really fun Star Wars birthday party. He started Preschool this year and
absolutely loves it. He loves coloring, singing, listening to music and playing
(well, fighting) with his brothers. He’s such a sweet and cuddly little guy who
also loves Ninja Turtles and of course pizza!
James turned 2 years old this
year. He had a little bit of a rocky start learning how to speak but now we
can’t get him to stop talking! James is by far the most mischievous child in
our house. He gets into EVERYTHING and is constantly getting into trouble.
Brandy is constantly having to fish things out of the toilet, scrub pencil and
crayon off the walls and furniture, or wipe up something else he’s spilled all
over. Then while she’s distracted doing
that he makes his way into a bedroom to pull things out of the drawers or make
a fort out of all the pillows and blankets in the house…then makes it rain
cookie crumbs and cereal everywhere (who
needs a clean house right?!) . Despite all of that Jimmy is such a sweet boy
who absolutely adores his older brothers.
There’s never a dull moment when Jimmy’s around!
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