President Hinkley

What a legacy left behind by such an amazing person.  I have always loved president Hinckley and will miss him so much.  I am not going to write about his incredible life and the many contributions he made to this often  dark world.  What I want to focus a few lines written lines on are the crazy religious groups, anti-Mormons,  that are planning on coming to President Hinckley's  funeral and picketing and raising a ruckus.  

What I would like to know is what purpose does this really serve in their minds?  Saving souls?  These are the same groups who picket general conference, they picket the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti, they picket new temple dedications, and so on.  They travel from far and wide at, I'm sure great expense, to challenge and degrade the beliefs of the church.  These are smelly, scary looking, foul mouthed people who do this in the name of GOD?  To illustrate this, I was with my little family last year at the Manti Pageant and of course they were in front of every entrance and so you had to have some exposure to their rantings and ravings.  Where was my freedom to not have to pass through them with my little family?  What a dark, evil, disappointing feeling we had as we shuffled though.  After the pageant we decided to pitch our tent at the public park in Manti, which is allowed during this time each year during the pageant.  What a disappointing shock it was to see that when we returned to our tent that night, which we put up earlier in the day,  we were surrounded by these groups of people in their tents and chairs.  Oh well, we were just going to sleep there and then leave first thing in the morning.  Wrong!  We had to lay awake for quite some time listening to their filthy stories, bad language, and all kings of rude comments about the patrons of the pageant and how they had one upped them in their bashing comments.  After quite some time, I was committed to shut them up physically, but my good wife talked me out of that.  After a while they finally settle down, after some encouraging words from our tent to do so, and they went to bed.  We were woken up the next day by similar rantings by a group that arose early.  That was it for us, we were packed and gone in about five minutes.  These people will always leave with our family a nasty taste in our mouths.  SCUM!  Despite this encounter with these anti-Mormon protesters, I would strongly recommend seeing the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti, UT.  Especially if you have not seen it in recent years.  It is way better than it once was, and you can hear everything, unlike the past.

Back to the point, couldn't their resources, time and energy be spent in the service of the Lord by, sending money, supplies and help to victims of tragedy.  Visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, building the fallen, should be what these folks are engaged in.  You know, like Christ did?  It's amazing to me how Satan can control people to do pointless things like this in the name of religion.

  

Tribute to an Amazing Niece

Ashley Dawn Hansen was born May 8, 1985 in Provo Utah to Jon & Shellie Hansen.  At the age of four she moved with her parents to Mountlake Terrace, WA.  There her family expanded with the births of her twin sisters Aubrey and Amber, and then her brother Alex,  "The 4 A's." She graduated with honors from Maplewood PCEP and Mountlake Terrace High School where she sang with the Accent Choir and was the producer for the High School television station HBN.  She was a senior at BYU where she was studying secondary education with plans to become a middle school teacher.  She loved teaching and Helping children.  She found great joy in teaching at Renaissance Academy in Lehi.  Ashley was a great leader and had a wonderful talent in working with others.  She was an amazing example of kindness to her family and friends.  She had a tender and sincere heart.  She was, more than anything, the greatest example of a true friend to all who knew her.  Her beautiful smile would light the room as she spread the warmth of sunshine and true happiness and joy to all she came in contact with.  She loved and knew her Savior Jesus Christ and was Christ-like in all she did.  She loved to share her testimony with others and always found ways to share the light of the gospel with others through her example, her words and actions.  Family, friends and church were her priorities above all else.  She loved her family and friends.  She loved her students and rejoiced in the opportunity to be with them every day, whether at school or their many extra curricular activities.  She went to many of their games, plays, dance and music recitals or whatever activity she could because she loved to see them and encouraged them to succeed and do their best.   She lived the last three years, while attending BYU, with us her second family.  She will be missed by Me, her Uncle Shawn and by Aunt Rischelle, and her nieces Victoria, Annika, and Hadley.  We loved having her in our home.  She had the amazing support of her granparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, wonderful extended family and many, many friends and coworkers that love and miss her.  We will all cherish the twenty-two short years we had with her on this earth and look forward longingly for the day we get to see and embrace her again, for we know that families are forever.  

Written by Ashley's family (modified slightly by Me)

Wow! My first "blog" site!

Today is a great day!  I have just entered into the world of "blogging."  I have always thought that it was such a stupid name. "blogging"  I guess I need to look up the origin of such a thing.  Maybe it has some profound meaning that I need to find.  Probably not.  I guess I need to give credit where credit is due.  I signed up for a blog because of my friend Tom, who set up a site in September.  I have visited his a few time and get a lot of laughs, which let's face it, we could all use more of.  

I will admit, I am not some great writer, that is to be left up to my sister in Seattle.  I probably wont have great insights on life as we know it.  I doubt I will give new meaning to life for anyone. If nothing else, it will be therapeutic for me.  For all of you that know me, this is much needed.