There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

It's been a mad scramble as we've tried to see everyone we could while in the States...On Monday we were in Utah, Tuesday Texas, Friday Iowa and Saturday Missouri...

We had dinner with Ken and Mo, and met new baby Charlie

We had a Christmas party at Kyle and Andrea's house, which included a white elephant gift exchange

We met with my old friend Maren and her husband Scott. Really the first time we've hung out since Jacob Lake. We ate at One World Everybody Eats which serves organic food and you choose how much you pay for the meal, then walked Temple Square.

Beautiful Salt Lake Temple

Two girls from home with their babies. Olivia, Jennifer's oldest, is so funny. She was scared of me because I didn't have a baby, but warmed up to me after a while. Maleah has a baby girl named Makani. It's so strange to see friends with babies.

We had sushi with Jared and Sarah

With our taco creation. Kai (and his roommates) was a good sport for letting me taking over the kitchen

We went to Texas Roadhouse with Jefferson and Erica. Felt like home!

The happy couple, Kenny and Iva

I had to give a speech at the wedding. First time I've ever cried out of happiness :)

Santa and Mrs. Claus came to the Hansen Christmas party! They were larger than life and sang Christmas carols!

Grandma loved her scarf from Barcelona

We sang Christmas carols and visited with Mrs. King, our high school choir teacher. That's her CUTE niece who I could hang out with all day :)

Jacob, Kai, and Jack bonded over Nintendo

Our Christmas tree with the typical amount of presents underneath. Jacob knocked the tree over this year, it was funny!

Jack, the whirling dervish
At the Christmas music party. I performed O Holy Night after a bit of social pressure, Kai did God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Jack jammed on his sax, and there was paper plate smashing to the Hallelujah Chorus and bell ringing one person to a note for Joy to the World. Afterwards, Jacob recited poetry in French. Kai called it "the elitist music party"

Christmas goodies at the Hillers

Grandpa Hiller is something else. Here is an exchange that happened the day after Christmas. Jacob and I were sleeping on the floor. It was nine am. Grandpa woke us up, saying we had to get to work.

Grandpa: You didn't have to work in Utah, and at your parents house you didn't have to work, but HERE you will work!

Me: (sleepily) Well, I cooked dinner at my parent's house.

Grandpa: (suspiciously) What did you make?

Me: Fish and vegetables.

Grandpa: Hmph. Store-bought fish?

Me: Did you want me to go catch fish in the middle of winter?

Grandpa: Well, that's what I did. Back in Minnesota, we'd cut a hole in the ice...

I got up.

Kate's boyfriend Bart is actually from Southlake, Texas! What a small world. Would've been funny if I'd wore my letter jacket to Christmas this year...he would've recognized it! We played Grandpa's rummy.

Al and Laura and Cindy. Cindy and I had each other for the gift exchange. I gave her a Moroccan pillow, she gave me a Hopi necklace, vase, and candy for Jacob :)

We didn't get to spend as much time with anyone as we would have liked to, but it was great to see all of them! We got lots of travel-helpful things for Christmas, such as an ebook reader, world phones, travel compartments for my computer and makeup, a scanner for business receipts, etc. We are now preparing for our next world trip... ASIA.

Back in the States

Whoa. I can't believe we were in the US for two weeks, because we rushed through it so quickly.

NYC!!!

Jacob in front of the cemetary with Alexander Hamilton, whom he studied in American Heritage!

Statue of Liberty

Times Square


World Trade Center Site



Almost got my Mom this card

From the YMCA window

Jacob's first time, my second. You've got to love this city. We stayed in Queens at a YMCA. Jacob could play basketball just by walking out the front door. We were in Asiatown with an amazing grocery store with a million things you've never seen before imported from Asia, and excellent Japanese restaurants.

Hmm, sorry. Messing with Picassa. This restaurant was fantastic, with Broadway star wannabes who sing while you eat. That was our waitress.






"We'll just pop on over to catch the bus." Didn't expect this mayhem of constant buses going all over the city, that's for sure.

Oh how I love Eagles, where you can feel every bit of turbulence. Not.

COLUMBUS, OHIO!!!

We went to go visit my college roommates Lana and Andrea. I had never seen Andrea's William or Lana's Dallin. They were born within a couple weeks of each other.

Lana and Andrea are the kind of friends for me that know my worst habits, weirdest traits, and still are always there for me no matter what! It was great to see them again—I don't think I'd seen Lana since my wedding, and Andrea since we decided to up and move to Missouri.

Lana and Andrea are both married to future heroes. Well, future healers of sorts, which to me is like being a hero. Lana's married to Scott, who will heal people's teeth. Andrea's married to Jordon, who will heal people's bodies. They're both in school. Unfortunately Scott couldn't make it up but he lent his family for a couple of days which was very nice.

We went out to eat and didn't get a picture! Oops. At least Andrea volunteered.



Kids Museum in Columbus

Andrea's grandma from Bolivia was there. She only spoke Spanish, but you could tell what a sweetheart she was by her soft voice and cooing over her great grandson.

William is a little sweetie, with huge eyes and looong eyelashes. He is really good at playing and focusing on his own activity. He seemed to take a real liking to Jacob, and played with him right away without being shy.

Dallin is a little guy with a sudden, huge smile that equals his sudden, loud yells :) He is snuggly and cheerful.

Jared, who is 3, I have met a couple of times now. He and I enjoyed going on the round and around, where we pretended he was a fireman. He is a sharp, adventurous fellow. And he called Jacob "Jacob the Basher" after his friend from church who hits a lot. He seemed to like Jacob despite the nickname though and wanted to ride the airplane with him.

Crazy to be around kids again. But fun!

I was really looking forward to Andrea's cooking and I wasn't disappointed. Together, we all made grilled salmon, asparagus, and pineapple. And I was introduced to Pinera. Great stuff!

KELLER, TEXAS!!!

My mom and dad have sure been busy arranging flights for us. We really appreciate all of their help. When we arrived Dad took us on a tour of his workplace. He has a lot of pride in what he does. He's been working for American Airlines almost as long as he's been married to Mom.

It's been so strange to be home after all the places we've been. I get really bad allergies at home. Here is the supposed culprit:

Mellie has allergies herself, however, and crawls around on her belly to itch herself. This is why she wears a dress. Maybe we have allergies to another source altogether, who knows?

Jack had the flu, unfortunately. So he was pretty much zonked the whole time we were there. He is such a super busy guy. He's in early morning seminary, choir, and marching band. He just made All-Region choir which as a freshman is very exciting.

We bought the Sony ebook reader and returned it the next day because the software is not compatible with most computers. Yet we have greatly reduced our load and are traveling much more lightly even though we are still carrying around heavy books.

We went to Olive Garden (instead of The Spaghetti House which got vetoed). The unlimited salad and breadsticks were definitely missed while we were abroad.

We went to the Texas State Fair. Randomly, I ran into my friend Kendall, who lives in Utah, but has a sister in Dallas. We were on the Vienna study abroad together. She was fun to have around because she would mother us while away from home. She always had medicine for sick people, etc.

We went to the Keller Homecoming Parade! Jacob says he has never seen so much candy at the parade. We each had our own way of getting candy. Jacob encouraged me quietly from the sidelines: "Look, Sue. A Tootsie Roll. Go get it!" He didn't want to chase after it being such a big guy among kids and all. But he would hold his hands out beseechingly and people would literally walk out of the parade and give him a whole handful. One little girl was very aggressive in her candy acquiring. She had enough candy for Halloween. I thought her mom was a little defensive. "She won't eat it all," she told us. "She's going to share it with the rest of the family. Probably she'll only get 1 or 2 pieces."

We went to The Mikado, which is an operetta written by Simon and Garfunkel. No, by Gilbert and Sullivan. I think BYU did it a few years back. I was surprised by the quality of the voices, costumes, and make up. It's just a little home theater, started by a BYU graduate.But, it was almost 3 hours long. That is a long time to hold my attention.

Biggest culture shock:

Definitely the amount of water in the toilets. America has at least 4 times the amount of water than any other country we've been. I ask you, is it really necessary? I vote for some water conservation. New York was the worst. It was filled three quarters of the way. When you flushed it splashed angrily up and got the seat all wet.

It's strange to have been with friends and family for the last month or so, and to return to going to a strange land…my first time in the Southern Hemisphere and for both of us the first time to South America. Buenos Aires! Anyone ever been?