When I was first meeting most of the Hansen family and extended family at a Christmas party, I was feeling like I was being tested by the clan. Garren had just asked me about 30 questions about skills, abilities and hobbies that I had and I unfortunately, was unable to say that I was good at or did any of the things he listed. Once I got away I grabbed some fruit punch and dinner and was trying to find Madilynn. It was at this moment, that Cody reached out his leg and tripped me! I spilled my RED fruit punch all over Grandma Harley's carpet. He laughed which of course caused me and anyone else who witnessed the spilling to laugh. It was hard to get angry when his pranks were well timed and as funny as they were.
Not too long thereafter Madilynn and I were engaged to be married. I invited a bunch of friends and family to the bachelor party. When the time came for the party, very few of my friends showed up, I was not real happy with them, but Cody, he was there and that was one of the things I admired most about him, if he could make it he'd make it.
Months later, we went to Yellowstone with Cody, Shaun, Sharla, Shirelle, Skylar and Kyson. I vividly remember two experiences. One of them was that I tried to play Cody and prank him unfortunately for me it ended with me almost getting thrown in the river. He straight up picked me up and was carrying me to the river. I struggled to get loose, but it was at that moment that I realized I was not dealing with a normal human's strength. His arms were like iron bars and I would not be getting loose. Sharla making him let me go was the only way that I didn't end up with soaked clothes that day.
The other memory from that trip was riding down the river with him. I don't remember exactly what was said, but I remember there was a lot of laughter.
Madilynn and I lived with Cody at Shaun and Sharla's house for a while and we would spend multiple hours on end talking about pointless stuff. I remember most of our conversations would eventually lead to the Carl's Jr. hamburgers and sandwiches or some other food that we had enjoyed. We also would spend some time talking about movie recommendations.
Shaun and Sharla decided to put this cool landscape in their backyard with a waterfall and a pond. In order to do so, big old rocks needed to be brought in. I remember feeling like we had been working on bringing rocks over for a while. We were maybe halfway done, maybe a couple hours in, when Cody and Kade showed up. 5 minutes later we were completely done. They were like machines picking up and carrying those rocks. Not only did they pick up them up easily, but the work went so fast.
While at the cabin later on Cody invited me to go shooting with him, Shelby, Kade and Mikey. I remember him handing me one of the guns and then looking over to Kade with a bit of a smirk on (a sure indicator of mischief) and then me questioning whether or not I should actually shoot. Well, I did and nothing terrible happened, but it kicked more than I was expecting. It was a lot of fun as he ensured that I had the chance to shoot whichever guns I wanted to shoot (there was a variety to choose from). I was by far the worst shot of anyone, but nobody made me feel bad for being as bad as I was. In fact, I was encouraged to keep shooting and try different guns too see which one I liked best. My left ear is still ringing from that experience.
Sure excited to see him again.
Sean Neilson
