Early Fall at Sagamore Hill

We knew Krista and Will would enjoy Sagamore Hill, the beautiful family farm where Teddy and Edith Roosevelt raised their family, lived and died.

When we visited in the Spring we loved the cherry blossoms, and our first Fall visit, Saturday, September 20th, the leaves were just beginning to turn. We gathered acorns in the parking lot that had fallen from the big oak trees overhead. We also savored my Greek salad, fresh peaches, and roast chicken in the nippy air during our picnic there. There is a wonderful feeling at Sagamore Hill. The picture of Krista and Will (below) reminded us of the poem of growing old together. They are experiencing such an exciting time of life, expecting their first little one, and truly "the best is yet to come!" We loved our special time with them.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

We headed back to Queens with the missionaries and Will and Krista visited The Met for the afternoon. They strolled through the exhibits and loved their afternoon together. Later they found a little Mexican restaurant for some eats and then they fulfilled a dream of seeing "Wicked." They have read the book, know all the music by heart, and were delighted by this show, proclaiming,"It was the best thing they've ever seen..everything was incredible!" We are watching EBay for cheap tickets! We picked them up at the train at Ditmars and 31st about midnight and got to hear about their memorable afternoon and evening. We thought the temple in the morning, art in the afternoon, and "Wicked" in the evening...way to stay well balanced guys!

Anniversary Temple Trip

We were especially blessed to be given the assignment to accompany the Elders and Sisters from our mission who had completed their first and second year of faithful service to the Manhattan Temple on Friday, September 19th. Making it especially memorable, Krista was with us. We are so thankful every time we are able to attend this sacred place and enjoy a break from the madness that is NY. Congratulations to all the elders and sisters who were able to join us. Pictured with us are Elders Bae, Engebretsen, Jones, Palanite, Wiggins, Nehmer, Kaveinga, Miller, Scott, and DiGiovanni and Sisters Gao and Richey. We have a special love for these dedicated servants of the Lord. After hot dogs and Jamba Juice we headed back on the train and back to work. We were able to give out many pass along cards on the trains. Special thanks to our photographers, Krista and Will.

Fabulous Family, Todd and Blake Arrive in NY

Thursday, September 18th, we were joined by our nephew Blake Rossell from Gilbert, AZ. My youngest brother, Todd was "in town" for Macmillan meetings too. We always have a great time with Blake. He's just so easy and wanted to come to NY and do some missionary work. What he experienced was that people see missionaries with name tags and ask for help. As we were entering a subway a young mother asked for our help. Her baby had fallen asleep and she needed help carrying her stroller up the stairs. Blake jumped right in happy to get the job done! Also, we met Nate and Cari, friends of Krista's who live in Manhattan. They have made several trips to Utah and know a little about our church. Blake will be 18 in October and when Nate asked him what his plans are, Blake was quick to answer that he was looking forward to serving a mission for the church in another year. In need of sustenance, we made our way to The Shake Shack again where Chas and Blake had some "NY dogs and concrete." That afternoon we explored the American Museum of Natural History, and were fascinated by the dinosaurs, and artifacts of ancient people and cultures. After 4 floors, Blake had us start at the top and work our way down, we were ready for a break. We took the train to Harlem and met Todd and Will at Sylvia's for soul food. Mom and Dad used to frequent Sylvia's in '92-'93 and took me there. The food was not what I remembered...only so so, but the company was fantastic! We had a wonderful visit and train ride together at they headed down to South Park Hotel and we made our way back to Steinway Street. What a special day for us to be with Todd, Blake, Krista and Will. We are excited for Blake as he is attending seminary and preparing to serve. Who we are really happy for is the man who will be able to serve as his mission president. He's going to be a great missionary!

Broadway Daddy-Daughter Date

Tuesday we prepared our institute lesson that consisted of Matthew, chapters 3-10. It was a huge amount of material that we had to teach in 90 minutes. Krista agreed to take a portion along with us. I also made the treats and we worked on handouts for our student's notebooks. We taught our class in Jamaica that evening and then got home about 10 PM. Wednesday morning with our lesson for that evening ready to go Krista wanted to go to a matinee musical. Chas and Krista decided they wanted to see A Tale of Two Cities. I had other things that needed to be done and opted out of the activity. They had a great time together and had lots of good things to say about the show, and especially enjoyed the story. It opened officially on Friday, starring James Barbour, a celebrated actor, with an amazing voice. I'm so glad they could have a Broadway date together while Krista was here. That is what memories are made of!

Queensboro Zone Activity

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY" Sister Thomas and Elder Jemmett

Monday, September 15th our zone met at Queensbridge Park for a barbecue and birthday celebration. Elder West grilled lots of burgers served with all the trimmings, watermelon, chips, and carrot cake. Picturesque on the East River and nestled under the Queensboro Bridge, we enjoyed the shady trees and it was practically empty! We played Frisbee and football, had time to write in journals, and visit together. Krista enjoyed getting to know all the missionaries at our Friday district meeting and then Monday afternoon in a more informal setting at our activity.

Will's Bright Future!

We are cheering for Will who started a new job as a Publisher's Representative for Learning Institutions at Macmillan Publishing. He had training meetings all week in Manhattan and suggests the endless possibilities of what he can do as he posed in front of Macmillan Headquarters in NYC, the famous Flat Iron Building, a fantastic landmark of Midtown.

The Haslers Hit Manhattan

Our family party officially began when Will arrived in Astoria on Saturday morning, September 13th. We headed for Manhattan on the N train. This was Krista and Will's first trip to New York and they were both enjoying all the sights and sounds of the city.


We met one of Will's former BYU roommates, Dave Almon who is living in Manhattan and finishing his PHD at NYU in Biology. Dave joined us at the city's famous burger hang-out, The Shake Shack, in Madison Park... the city's classy In and Out! We recommend the stuffed portabello mushroom burger... worth the trip. They even served it with lettuce, minus the bun for me. We loved Madison Park with the incredibly beautiful trees, flowers, fountains, statues and glorius gray squirrels who are not shy around crowds of people. A lively bluegrass band was playing tunes and it was just a gloriously lazy lunch together.

Give a Cheer...K-R-I-S-T-A...is Here!

After teaching institute Wednesday night at Richmond Hill, at 11:15 PM we picked our youngest daughter, Krista Hasler up at LaGuardia and she is staying with us for two weeks. We have missed all of our family and it's a delight to have her with us. Thursday, 9/11, we were all tired, but had time to do something fun together. A good friend told me to visit Pema Nail Salon for a memorable NY mani/ pedi's for $15- After Krista's long flight plus she's 5 months along with her first baby, a little girl, and after a hugely, busy, week we convinced Elder West that he could use a little TLC along with us. It was a first for do-it- yourself-ers! Foot, leg, hand and arm massages and then for Krista and myself polishes, and then while our hands and feet were under the dryers we had a back, neck and head message for 15 minutes. What a much needed few moments of relaxation we each experienced. Oh yes, if you come, we will go! Krista joined us for our meetings today and will teach with us all next week. She came really close to serving a mission to the Philippines. Just before her farewell she met Will, and the rest is history. So this is a chance for her to serve a mini-mission with us! Will flies in tomorrow and has meetings all next week in Manhattan. We can hardly wait to see him. It's so great to have our family here in Astoria for a visit. We couldn't be happier!

Pio Pio..our New Favorite Place

Traveling down Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights we've seen a Peruvian Restaurant that is busy every night. We decided to try it and discovered why it's so busy. We loved the colorful atmosphere and the families and friends celebrating there. The food is fresh, healthy, and surprisingly, reasonably priced! We learned there are 6 NY locations. After our two hour institute training meeting Monday we asked Elder and Sister dePaula to join us at our new find. It was so nice to relax and visit over a delicious meal before we raced to the store and then home to cook our dinner and get our lesson ready for FHE. The dePaulas travel 90 miles twice each month for our meetings. The least we can do is discover places to party...like Sister dePaula says,"Even institute teachers have to eat!"