We Feel So Grateful!

Our sweet, four-month-old granddaughter was born with holes in her heart. Hannah Rose was in heart failure, often having difficulty eating.  The congestion in her lungs was very bad at times.  On September 18th, she had open heart, bypass surgery at Primary Children's Hospital.  Many family members and friends joined in fasting and prayer for her.  We feel that as a result of those petitions of faith, the Lord blessed little Hannah.  Her surgery went beautifully.  Her recovery, even better.  She was released from the hospital just three days after such traumatic surgery.  She has since been home with her parents.

We drove up to see her on that Saturday.  She looked tired, but comfortable.  What a sweet, precious soul.  We brought Caleb and Lily, Hannah's siblings, back to St. George with us for a week, so Hannah's mom and dad could concentrate on only caring for her.  She continues to heal and now, for the first time in her life, thrive at home.

We had a fun week with Caleb and Lily.  They had moments of missing their mama, but really did well overall.
We enjoyed taking them to our wonderful children's museum and water park and I can't count how many times Grandpa took them to the park behind our home.

Oh no!  Two dragons!

Lily loves "driving" this truck.  

I love this quote.  

The dragon mining?  

For some reason, this is one of Lily's favorite spots in the whole museum.  She loves to get in the padded play pit and just sit on this little mountain.  

She also loved grocery shopping.  

Caleb was so determined to learn how to do monkey bars.  

We took the kids home on the weekend, and drove home in the big storm.   It was exhausting, but really fun to have them in our home and get closer to them.  We really are missing them.  It sure is quiet around here!  Again, we express gratitude to our Heavenly Father for preserving and now mending our sweet Hannah.  Thank you so much for your faith and prayers!

Ken and Audubon Society Visit Mt. Trumbull, Arizona

Ken went with the local Audubon Society to a place he's wanted to visit all of his life- Mt. Trumbull, on the Arizona strip.  He had a wonderful time and saw many birds- one a new to his life list.  Following is a report of the trip written by an intern working with the BLM, Sarah Thomas:

Red Cliffs Audubon Society visits Mt. Trumbull

            On Friday, September 12^th, four members of the Red Cliffs Audubon Society gathered their binoculars, bird guides, and cameras in preparation for the dusty trek out to Mt. Trumbull for a weekend birding trip.  Arriving in the cool ponderosa forest just before sundown, the birders quickly organized a night-time search for burrowing owls.  Though they didn’t spot any of these elusive hunters in the starlight, the following morning proved to be full of flight and feathers.  The Red Cliffs group identified over 30 bird species in the Mt. Trumbull area including :

kestrels,

chipping sparrows,

pine siskins,

Stellar’s jays,

and northern flickers. 

The talented birders identified some species, like the plumbeous vireo,

by their songs and vocalizations alone.  Special sightings included the Hammond’s flycatcher,

the dainty, yellow Tennessee warbler,

 and the zone-tailed hawk. 

This tropical hawk, whose northern range barely extends into Arizona, scored a spot on many of the birders “life lists.”  The trip wrapped up at an exquisite spot on the rim of a volcanic cliff overlooking an eternity of sienna and olive watercolor mesas and feathery side canyons tumbling down to the Colorado River.

 In awe, all looked out at the beauty of Parashant, too stunned to even raise their binoculars.

Ken and Kay Hinton Family Reunion, 2014: Hinton Origins

Hinton Origins: Family Reunion, 2014

We had a wonderful week with our whole family August 23-29th.  We rented a home near Orem, Utah for the week.  It was a beautiful home with four bedrooms, two kitchens, and lots of space for our growing family.  Michelle and Brian were in charge of the reunion this year.  Taking the challenge from Elder Cook in the last conference:

 "Families could hold a “Family Tree Gathering.” This should be a recurring effort. Everyone would bring existing family histories, stories, and photos, including cherished possessions of grandparents and parents. Our young people are excited to learn about the lives of family members—where they came from and how they lived. Many have had their hearts turned to the fathers. They love the stories and photos, and they have the technological expertise to scan and upload these stories and photos to Family Tree and connect source documents with ancestors to preserve these for all time. Of course, the main objective is to determine what ordinances still need to be done and make assignments for the essential temple work. "

Brian and Michelle did a great job of making the reunion all about our roots and branches and temple and uniting us.  Beware:  Many pictures to follow!!!!
  We rented a home in Vineyard, Utah - near Orem.  It was right on the Sleepy Ridge Golf Course- on the tee on the sixth hole.  The backyard was a dream for the kids.  They provided an excellent distraction for the golfers.

Our view was Y mountain.  It doesn't get better than that!

Talent Show

We started  on Saturday evening with a bang with the annual talent show.  

Jaron's talent was amazing somersaults

Soon all the kids had to get into his act.  It was so cute- all of those cousins rolling all over the floor!

Caleb did the wheelbarrow for his talent.

Brielle had a list of colors.  She went to each of us and we'd choose a color and a language (German or Spanish) and she'd say that color in that language.  Smart kid and great talent!

Of course, each was followed by an amazing group cousin hug (an idea we got from Stratfords)

Lily played a beautiful piano solo

Gabbi sang "My Favorite Things"  She knew every word and sang it beautifully

Jacob did magnificent flips

And Nathan played a mean "Yankee Doodle" on the piano.

Addie demonstrated phenomenal clapping skills

And sweet Hannah displayed unparalleled binkie- sucking skills

The Mackrorys (plus Shonna) did a really funny skit.

And Grandpa had every kid enthralled as he read a story.

But I have to say- Brian and Michelle stole the show with their song from Frozen-" Love is an Open Door. " It was so cute!!

Ancestor Stories

On Sunday, we attended church in a local ward.  That afternoon, each of us, as suggested by Elder Cook, told about one of our ancestors.  It was the highlight of the reunion.

I told about Grandma Libby Fox Peterson.  I told how she always made DI (divinity) for us and then I gave everyone a piece of DI I'd made just how she used to.

Brielle told about ME!

Brian told about one of his ancestors that settled Middleton, Utah- near St. George. 

This was so cute!  Caleb was "Gabe"- my dad, Lyman Conrad Gabrielsen, Jr. and Lily was my mom, Dorothy Gene Peterson.  They reenacted the scene where Gabe called Dorothy over long distance from Chicago to Oregon and asked her to marry him.  Lily brought down the house when she said "Yes!"

Kristen had every kid enthralled when she taught about Ken's mom, Leora Tolman Hinton.

Gabbi taught us about Caroline Goodsell Adams.

Michelle did a power point presentation on my Grandma, Erma Deborah Adams Gabrielsen.  

Blake told fascinating stories of some his ancestors that he's recently found from records that have been indexed from Ellis Island.  He pieced together his family and has done a lot of temple work for them.

Jaron told us about my dad's Grandpa Adams.

Nathan taught about his Grandpa Mackrory since he was named after him.

Somehow I missed getting a picture of Jacob.  He told about Grandpa Ken since he is named after
him.

Family Pictures
On Monday morning, we went to a park/amphitheater to have our family pictures taken.  This is the only one we have so far.  I'll have to post more when we get them.

Kristen and the girls were inspired by the steps and reenacted the "So Long, Farewell" scene from The Sound of Music.  It is Brielle's favorite movie.  It was so cute!

"There's a sad sort of clanging from the clock on the wall . . ."

"Cuckoo!  Cuckoo!"

Just Dance

Michelle and Brian set up their Just Dance.  Everyone had so much fun dancing to it.

Heber Creeper

We drove up the canyon on Monday evening to ride the Heber Creeper.  It was really fun.

The on-board entertainers were a lot of fun.  They had us all singing and dancing.

Mount Timpanogos Temple

On Tuesday morning, the adults took turns attending the Mount Timpanogos Temple.  Mackrorys and Princes' went first while we tended the children, then Shonna went with us.  Ken and I were sealed for two couples that were my ancestors.  It was the first time I've ever taken my own ancestors names to the temple. We also did many sealings for Blake's family.  What a thrill to take one's own family for these essential ordinances.

Cascade Springs Hike and Picnic

We drove up the canyon that afternoon to hike Cascade Springs and then have a hot dog and marshmallow roast.  It was a beautiful hike.

Already there was some fall color popping out up there.

Give the picnic a 9.  (We forgot the hot dog buns.)

This was such a clever idea for smores.  Instead of graham crackers and chocolate bars, Brian just got those striped chocolate cookies and we put the roasted marshmallows in there.  They were really tasty.

Jared built a tent for the kids.

BYU

On Wednesday, we headed to BYU for a golf cart tour.  We told our tour guides that their job was to convert all of these little ones to BYU.  I think they all think of themselves as little Cougars- well, all except Lily.  She is fond of yelling out, "BYU Aggies!"  It's confusion I'm sure we can clear up in the coming years!

Gathered to watch the BYU promotional movie.  Michelle is in the movie as it briefly shows folk dancers.  

Several people have told me that they have seen Michelle's picture in a display case in the Richards Building.  It's a display about the folk dance team and she's in a couple of the pictures, taken when she was on the team about eight years ago.

I was glad Brian took a picture of this as Michelle won the Outstanding Performance Dance award her senior year and her name is on this plaque. 

Michelle will be embarrassed that I posted these pictures, but I think it's pretty cool that she's in them.  Her cousin, Stacy is right behind her in this one as they were on the folk dance team together.  Sweet memories!

After shopping at the BYU Bookstore and visiting at the Bean Museum, we met at the Cougar Eat for lunch.

OgdenTemple Open House

We drove up to Ogden on Thursday and attended the open house.  It was so wonderful to have our whole family in the temple.

 Jungle Jims
That afternoon, we went to Jungle Jims in SLC.  The kids had so much fun.  They would get off a ride and just run to the next one with huge smiles on their faces.

Baby duty

Brian was determined to get his long legs in that little airplane.  He sort of succeeded.

We took turns cooking and we had a lot of good food.

The kids loved eating out on the patio.

This little girl would read in her bed every night.

In the evenings, after children were in bed, the adults had fun playing games: All, Pit, Newlywed Game.  You're looking at the All grand champions:

It should be noted that All is a magnificently fun game, but it's mostly dependent on luck- not skill~

All the girls made family tree crafts the last evening.  They turned out so cute, and we all have a family tree to display in our homes and to remind us of this wonderful time together!

This is an unfinished one.  We mod podged little ancestor pictures on the the little tags.

This is how Kristen finished hers.

We had such a fun time together- building bonds with ancestors and each other.  We all are so grateful for our Hinton origins!!!