A Day at the Lake

Every once in a while you tend to have one of those days that is just a great day from start to finish.
This last Saturday was one of those days.
Actually it started on Friday night when we went with some friends of ours - the Jacobs to their lake to camp Friday and play all […]

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10 Years & Counting

Yesterday, Cami and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary and it has been wonderful. We have had fun times together and I look forward to the rest of our lives and eternity together.
For our anniversary this year, we decided to think about what we did when we were first married and lived in Fort Collins, […]

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New Garden for the Summer of 2008

This is really cool. Prepare yourselves.
Ever since I had a garden in this house, it has been a hassle to water it consistently as I would have to go outside and drag the hose around the house and set it up to water the whole thing evenly. Then after it was done I would have […]

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Greeley Stampede Rodeo

Family Comments (0)

This morning I took the two older boys and met up with some of my family at the Greeley Stampede for a “scratch rodeo”. I am not sure what the status of the contestants, but it was free and called a “scratch.” Based on their performance and the lack of excitement from everyone in attendance, I can only assume that they did not qualify for the “good” rodeo.

The boys had fun running around the stands and watching a few of the cowboys jump off their horse and tackle the calves.

My parents came up to see it with us and also to see the kids a bit. That is always fun and we love it when they come up for any reason. The boys get really excited and have fun, especially because the visits usually end in a trip to get ice cream or something like that.  Well, today it was just to a stand in the Stampede where they sell cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk.

We always look forward to this time of the year because we get to spend time celebrating Independence day. I will post pictures and more info about the weekend as it happens.

bmhansen @ July 3, 2008

Swimming the Amazon

Amazing Things, Books Comments (0)

Ever since I was on my mission and had the chance to meet some Brazilians, I have thought it woul be neat to see the Amazon river. I read an article tonight that made me think about how simple my ideas are as compared to others.

This is a story about a man who swam through great rivers like the Mississippi, the Danube (the 2nd longest river in Eurpoe) and the Yangtze (the longest river in Asia, third longest in the world). He also was the first person to swim from Africa to Europe (in 29 hours, 36 minutes). Completely insane. Insane but awesome.

Well, last year he swam the entire length of the Amazon river. All 3,274 miles of it. Incredible.

(Sidebar: I was at a pool in California a couple years ago and saw a lady swimming laps for about 45 minutes and thought to myself that it looked relaxing and like something I would enjoy doing. I came home, got a membership to a club with a pool and hit the lap lane. No problem right?
It was the hardest sport I have ever tried. Hardest by far! I went down the lane and back and thought I was going to puke. I tried it again and was in so much pain I had to stop.
I kept practicing though and after a couple months I got to where I could swim about 5 lengths of the pool before puking my guts out. I gained a new respect for swimmers.)

So anyways, he not only had to deal with the physical part of the swim, but imagine having to deal with the other junk - the snakes, spiders, piranha’s, aligator, larvae, bull shark, candirú (a very dangerous fish which lodges up human orifices with a razor-like spike and then sucks your blood) and oh yeah, Pirates.

No thank you.

But he did it, and lived to tell about it.

bmhansen @ July 2, 2008