While Kerali's family was here, Kalen's friend Sarah came to visit from Virginia, and wanted to see the mountains, so we went on a hike up Big Spring Hollow trail in the South Fork of Provo Canyon. It was such a hot day that we didn't go much farther than this bridge. In the second picture we have Trysten, Alden, Owen, Sarah, Tamlen, Kalen, Sheridan, Caleb, Drake, and Marcus. Drake, Liz, the big boys and I did hike a little further to find the meadow in the 3rd picture. In the fourth picture, Caleb is being "King of the Forest."

Here are parts 1-4 of the Hansen baby boom. It's a first for our family to have more than 2 babies born in a 12 month period. I had Mitchell in October, Kerali had Taren in November, Shanda had Talia in March, and Marenda had Kasen in July. Kendra is expecting a little girl in October to complete the boom. We wanted to document these four babies, but it was quite an adventure getting them to sit or lie together without someone crawling away, pulling someone else's hair, or poking their neighbor in the eye.

Our newest nephew, Kasen Brown was born on July 17th. Unfortunately, he experienced some complications which meant several-days stay in the NICU at Utah Valley. I took this picture when I went to meet him for the first time. I'm happy to report that Kasen is doing great, and is a strong, healthy one-month-old.

July was filled with family events, several of which were held at our house. The first picture shows part of the crowd that was assembled in our family room to celebrate my Mom's 70th birthday (She definitely doesn't look/act that old), and my niece, Kalen's 18th birthday. It was the first of several such gatherings. The second picture shows all the Hansen grandkids (except for Kendra's 2 1/2 kids who'd returned to Arizona) after playing in the pool in my parent's backyard. It can be a bit chaotic, but it's so fun to have people around.

Proof that Marcus does stop moving--for a few minutes anyway.

Hello, Blue-Eyes!

Mitchell, 9 Months Old, Part 1.

Some pictures speak for themselves.

(June and July) Mitchell has been a bit slow to embrace the whole eating-solid-foods-thing. Instead, he rapidly adopted the food-as-beauty-treatment approach to nourishment, and managed to become the messiest eater I've ever seen. He's always had a hair fetish, so the hair rarely escapes a meal without needing a washing. The bottom picture shows the after-meal cleanup ordeal.

I do have to say that since we returned from our trip to Omaha, Mitchell has had a much greater appetite and has stayed relatively spotless during mealtimes--relatively. . .

Most days, Mitchell keeps us all quite entertained. In June, he cut his first two teeth, and loved walking so much we thought he might skip crawling. But he discovered a funny one-foot-one-knee crawl that allows him to get just about anywhere he wants to, so he's pretty pleased with himself.

Caleb (almost 4 in these pictures--June and July) is definitely a character. One minute he makes me want to pull my hair out, and the next, he could charm the stripes off a tiger (see the last picture).

Sheridan received his Bear Badge at Cub Scout pack meeting--after he and Guy participated in some character-building (?) silliness.