Happy Holidays from CA

It was fun seeing everyone at Kaylie and LJ's wedding! =) Me and Jason are very grateful to have been able to come. Next time we come perhaps we can stay a little longer...

Other than our trip to Utah, November was mostly uneventful. Now, being half way through December, we have some news: Jason has another calling... in the nursery! =D He keeps acting like he's not looking forward to it, but he's so good with our nephew (and kids in general) that I know he'll be good at it and grow to love those kids (even if he denies it). It should be a fun experience. I'm still teaching the CTR 6 class.

Jason is back in work as a substitute teacher for Riverside County, and it's been really good for him. He's not the type that likes to sit still and do nothing all day. So far only one of his substituting experiences has been less than satisfactory (he called it glorified baby-sitting of juvenile delinquents).

I finish my last two classes this week, and Jason is excited to be getting his wife back =). There were many times this semester where our together time pretty much consisted of "snuggling" on the couch while I typed up papers and did research and he watched sports (something he knows won't distract me). I'm looking forward to playing games and going on walks with him again. Maybe we'll even get the Christmas tree put up this weekend!

Have a very Merry Christmas and (since I probably won't write again until next month) a Happy New Year! We love you all and think of you often.

Brittany & Jason

F-U-N

Congrats LJ and Kaylie! What an amazing day for you (and for all of us to witness)!


The "dance party" was LOTS of fun!

It took a few men to get Steve "lookin' pretty."

September and October from Lehi by Steve

Things are really getting busy around here, but I thought I would take a few minutes and update everyone. Wedding plans are in full swing. Lynette and her Mom is really working hard to get all the dresses done. Thanks to Libby for helping out. The announcements have gone out, so if you didn't receive one, we may have gotten something wrong. Let us know. Everything else seems to be on schedule. The one thing that makes us nervous now is keeping everyone healthy.

This Sunday Tyson receives the priesthood. The following Sunday Nate is the featured speaker in sacrament meeting. It is hard to believe it is that close. Nate has gone up to Logan a couple of weekends to spend time with Zach. They have had a lot of fun together. Zach is pretty excited about his call. He wanted to go foreign.

Nate went through the temple 2 weeks ago. It was good to have Mom and Dad there with us. Since then he has been to 5 or 6 different temples. He has really been going a lot.

The Lehi girls soccer team won region and then went on to the final four in state. They lost a game they could have easily won. Another team from our region won state, so Kelsey and her team mates feel like it was a lost opportunity.

Anna finished up volleyball this last week. It is amazing to see how good she has gotten at it. It has been fun to watch her matches.

Tyson, Brianna and Max have been going to a new school this year. They are able to walk. No more busses. They enjoy that part. We really like the principal at this school as well. It makes going to school much more fun for the kids.

Well we are on the home stretch for the wedding. I have a hard time believing it is November and Nate is almost leaving and Kaylie and LJ are getting married. A lot of changes will be happening. Things are pretty busy, even at work, but we are going to do our best to enjoy it.

Love to everyone,
The Lehi Hancocks

Today is not a good day for me. I came home early form work. I won't be running today so I have lots of extra time. All I feel like doing is sitting around so I will do my first posting.

This summer I moved. I'm now is a duplex and don't have a roommate. It has been so great. I love living alone. My old roommate is now engage. I'm so glad that I am out of there and don't have to be trying to find a place to live. Once Sarah got engaged she decided to get married right away. They only had 35 days to plan everything. This makes my November even crazier. We have to squeeze in a prereception and a shower. She is getting married November 25. Yes the day before Thanksgiving. So with our family and my old roommate November is booked up.

I had a good October. It has been very busy. My friend Danielle bought a house right before I moved. It ended up needing a lot more work on it then she had excepted. She was just wanting to do a little painting. It's an older house and the walls are plaster. There has been some fixing of them. We have some friends that like to fix up older houses. Alison was going to help out a lot until she broke her femur. So she can't do much. I have been doing a lot of what she would have done.

The best thing about October was my trip to Las Vegas to see U2. There was 4 of us who went. We had a blast. We stayed at the Stratosphere. We went on one of the rides at the top. I am terrified of heights. Danielle has a picture of my terror. When she gets that to me I will post it. The concert was great. U2 puts on a great show.

For Halloween I was a Lawrence Welk girl. We found a prefect dress that inspired this. I had a bubble machine. I did have to explain my costume a lot. There are tons of people who don't know who Lawrence Welk is. I never watch it that I can remember but I know the show. It was a huge part of music. I will post a picture of my costume when I get it too.

That is all for now. See you all soon
love Dona

October...

October brought much of the same for me and Jason. We did have our sixth-month-iversary and Jason surprised me with me a long-stemmed rose =).

I guess another exciting thing for October would be my promotion. I've been training, so I don't know what the pay raise is yet, but I'm VERY grateful that I'm now guaranteed 40 hours a week, and that once I'm official I'll be eligible for benefits. We're counting our blessings.

On a different note, I am looking forward to January, when I get a new Sunday school class. I taught my class and the class below me this past Sunday, and the younger class is SO much better behaved than my boys (and they participate). I look forward to teaching them. =P

I'm counting down the days until we come see everyone in Utah (though perhaps not as faithfully as Kaylie's counting down the days 'til her wedding ;-).

One last note, Jason and I both have new phone numbers: Jason 951-500-6107, Brittany 951-500-5397.I finally remembered to set up my voice mail, so you can leave messages now. =) See you all soon!

Can you believe it is November. Where has the year gone. Since we have an extra hour this morning, I thought I would be the first to send my blog for the month. We are really excited for November. It will be an exciting month with a missionary, a wedding, and Thanksgiving. I hope all goes well especially for Steve and Lynette's family. WOW!!

It was fun getting together for General Conference. We had a house full. I hope it wasn't too crazy for Brittany and her friends. It was nice they could come.

For the past two months Grandma Hancock has been in a nursing home. She is unable to care for herself. Some days she just sleeps. and on others she will get up for a while. On the 12th, Dad and his sisters and brother went to Grandma Hancock's house to clean it out and get it ready to sell. He spent all day, and they were able to get it all done. He brought some interesting things home that you all will have to look at when you are here. It was pretty hard on him. They did have some help from some of Don and Velda's kids.

I went to an Orthopedic Surgeon the other day and he told me I need to have both of my knees replaced. (Does that mean I'm old or what?) I told him I was not ready to do that so he suggested the TOSH program that Intermountain Healthcare provides. They teach you how to strenthen and stretch the areas that are so painful, and also the things to eat that might help the pain. I had my first appointment with them last week. It was quite interesting. I was there for two and a half hours. We talked a lot about my symptoms, the physical therapist did some measurements on how far I can bend my legs, and then we did exercises. I was pretty tired when it was all done. The good news is that by the end of the session I was able to bend my knees more than at the beginning. So, I am hopeful that the exercises will help. Now I just have to do the work at home. It takes a lot of time. I am willing to give it a try because I really don't want to have surgery.

Dad has been busy taking care of the churches. The other day he had to clean a blackboard that someone had written pornography on. They had also trashed the church by throwing things all over the place. I don't know what it wrong with people. He keeps wanting to retire. He is tired of the phone calls and all the problems. He hopes that maybe in a year that might happen.

We went to Kelsey's soccer game in the state tournament. It was really cool watching the girls play. They are really good. They were able to win the first game, but lost the second. The team that took State (Timpanogas, I think) Lehi had beat before. So, I guess that makes them almost the State champions. Congratulations Lehi Girl's Soccer.

I hope all of you will send your news. We really enjoy hearing about the things thats happening in your lives. We love you and miss you. It will be fun to all be together in November. We are so happy Darrin and Kim will be able to make it as well. Take care. Love you all, Mom and Dad.

Better Late than Never

Wow, what a busy month.  We are experiencing for the first time having a child playing soccer.  You have the games, and the practices.  I can’t imagine it with several kids at the same time.  We have enjoyed going to Josh’s practices and games.  Josh has been taking after his dad and dominating the sport, its fun to see how excited they get when they score a goal. 

  

Josh also started kindergarten this past month.  He is  adjusting well and it is fun to see all the stuff he is learning.  We just had our first parent teacher conference and his teacher said Josh is doing great and is a nice kid and nice to his classmates.  Andrew started pre-school and is becoming quite the big boy.  It is relieving to see him overcoming some of his shyness.  There primary program is coming up so we are hoping he will be brave enough to do his part. 

  Josh also started riding his bike and within little time he was driving across the park, going off the curb, and going fast.  We were expecting that he would just be content going slowly up and down our street, but I guess boys need something more interesting.  Josh also decided to grow up and lose his teeth.  He has lost one and has another just dangling there as the new tooth is growing in already.   We need Grandpa near by to pull it out.

Andrew had his 4th B-day this past month.  He had a lot of fun getting a bunch of cool presents from family and friends.  He went to out of this world pizza for his birthday dinner.  He was really sweet about sharing his presents with his brothers and enjoyed the time playing with them while his brother was at school.  He wanted a Wii cake for his b-day and we attempted to make one.  He liked it and thought it was cool, so I guess that is what counts.  We definitely won’t be winning any cake decorating contests.

Andrew insisted that he had Jell-O for his Birthday.

Luke is still keeping us busy.  He is quite the busy body and a very curious little boy.  It is really starting to communicate and is getting really good with sign language.  He likes doing the same things as his brothers, especially when they rough house with their dad.  He is a lot of fun and we are just enjoying his delight in the world around him.

Kim remains busy taking care of kids, teaching, and volunteering at the school.  She just got a new assistant to help her as a Den leader.  They finally called someone that would help and not be a burden.  Kim is thoroughly enjoying her new assistant and all the help she is giving her with the scouts. Kim has been going a lot on girls nights outs and having fun with her friends.  Darrin keeps trying to get her to stay home and have fun with him, but I guess she doesn’t think Darrin is all that fun.

Darrin is trying to be young again and be busy with sports and being active.  This past week Darrin played in two soccer games and ran a 5k.  The 5k was one for Intel employees so Darrin tried to get Mike and Chad to run also.  Chad claimed to be injured and couldn’t run, but Mike took the challenged and whooped Darrin real good.  Darrin’s excuse was he had a soccer game the night before which drained him of all the super fast energy he needed to beat Mike.  Darrin is anticipating next year to hopefully beat both Mike and Chad.

Well that is probably more than you wanted to hear about us.  Sorry we have been terrible thus far.  We will repent and do better.

Love,
  Darrin, Kim, Josh, Andrew, Luke

Dear Family, Last summer on one of our get togethers, we had a watermelon for desert that esculated into a watermelon seed spitting contest. Well this summer we saw a plant growing in Mom's herb garden. In the later part of August the plant started to grow melons. Yesterday I picked the first of the melons, it was hugh!! I took it in the house to see how big it was. When I weighed it, it was 22.5 lbs.

That was Dad's contribution to the Blog. Sorry we didn't send anything last month. I was having a hard time figuring out this new-fangled system. We'll see if it works this time. It has been really fun reading the news from Brittany/Jason and Kaylie. I hope more of the grand children will let us know the happenings in their lives. Those of you who haven't blogged yet, get with it!!

Nothing too exciting has been going on with us. We are quite old and boring. It has been fun to have Brittany L in Utah and to be able to spend some time with their family. In August we helped Dona move to her new digs. I hope she writes about her new apartment, and living all by herself. She needed some furniture, so we gave her the chairs that were in our livingroom. It was a good excuse to get some new furniture. (I had been wanting some since we moved in five years ago.)

Jared was in a dance concert in September. If was fun going back to campus and seeing the program. He did really good as usual. I hope all of us get to see him dance before he's finished.

Every week after Cub Scouts we complain about how old we are. The boys are starting to progress, and that makes it worth while. Dad isn't as old as me though. The other day after Scouts he challenged the boys. We had gone about two blocks from the church to pick up garbage for a service project. He said he could beat them back to the church. Only one boy beat him, but he paid for it the next day. That old competitive spirit just comes out.

I helped with the election for Mayor and City Councilmen. It was really sad. Only about 6 percent came out to vote in the primary. I hope all of you take advantage of our freedoms and be good citizens and vote.

We are so excited for Natan and Kaylie. We hope all goes well for them. We love all of you and hope all is well in your lives. We hope to see you soon. Love The Parents & Grandparents

September...Survived

Seriously, I think it was a big accomplishment that we all survived September. Getting back into the routine of school, soccer, and such things was...intense.

I was going to make a Picture Post of our September, but Blogger is being slow and difficult. Thus, you only get a few pictures.

The boys spent a lot of time this September like this:

(These pictures were actually taken on the first day of school. Matt's in 4th grade, Jason in 1st, and Trevor is the king of the school in 6th grade.)

We've spent COUNTLESS hours to the pursuit of soccer. Nevermind, the countless hours of practices and games for 3 boys...but you also have to consider all the time it takes getting shoes, socks, and shin pads on AND gathering all the necessary supplies (AND having your Mom nag you to get all those things accomplished...). Plus, the travel time to and from such games and practices. See, I'm boring you now.

If you have wondered what Julie has seen the most of this month, it is unfortunately NOT the treadmill, but the dashboard of the van...running here, there, and everywhere.

Julie's parents came to visit for a couple weeks in September. It was a joy to spend time with them on our turf. They provided a bit of sanity to our crazy schedules. Amazing what a couple more sets of hands can accomplish!

I'm sure you've all heard about Chad's favorite activity for September...involving a larger than life stadium in Texas. I'm sure it's in his top 5 of best days of his life. (Maybe we should say "top 6" so all his kids' births are in there!). I couldn't do the story of the day justice, so I guess Chad will have to post about that. I did think it was funny that he and Mike spent the morning at Six Flags (trying to avoid too much dizziness) and then went back to the hotel for a nap in order to be ready for the game that night. Does that mean they are getting old?

Anyway, hope you are all well. We're looking forward to seeing most of you in November (thanks to LJ and Kaylie for making that a possibility!).

Mammoth Trip

Hi family! =)

Jason and I spent Labor Day weekend camping in Mammoth with his Dad's side of the family. It was quite an adventure! When Jason told me his family was a having a reunion in Mammoth, I excitedly responded, "I've never been there!" Funnily enough, the six hour drive looked very familiar, and by the time we got to the town at the base of the Sierras (Bishop) where we turned off the highway, I was showing Jason the Sizzler that my Grandpa Harrison had taken me to twice so we could binge after a week back-packing through the mountains. While I had actually been to the area, I'd never explored the town Mammoth, so Jason gave me the tour of the town and I showed him the trail-head off the Twin Lakes where my previous back-packing trips had begun. Also an interesting discovery was the fact the air mattress we'd found in the garage (left by a previous roommate; "Let's bring it!") is only twin size. So Jason and I were pretty cozy all weekend (between the knees and elbows). Oops! Jason caught the most fish this year (a fluke, really, but now he has bragging rights for a year so he's super excited) and I cast half my pole into the lake. I did get better from there though! I also learned to play horseshoes and Boinko Ball (which I won once). The day before we came home we also went on a hike in an attempt to hit a peak and FAR surpassed it (purely by accident), but the view was breathtaking (as was the 5 hour hike ;-) so this trip was definitely a success!

Back to the norm, I'm in four classes and working almost full-time at work every week so it's busy. I am sorry to report that my garden has missed a few waterings as it hasn't been the highest priority. Jason's thrilled that the football season has officially started and watches many of the games because his Fantasy Football players are in them. He's also a great cook and has been experimenting with salsa recipes, which is fun for the whole house. I appreciate all the cleaning and cooking he does between his work so that I can stay on top of school.

Lastly, I'm SO excited for Kaylie & LJ. =D I am happy ta say that my wonderful managers are letting me take the week before Thanksgiving to come to UT (provided I'm back the Sunday before Thanksgiving) so me and Jason will be able to attend the wedding. I'm thinking we'll drive up the Tuesday of that week... more updates to come.

Congrats to Nate as well! I hope you'll enjoy the weather her in CA. We do. =)

Love,
Jason and Brittany