Five visitors from Norway arrived at the Regina airport on June 29 to visit family members in Saskatchewan, after leaving Norway on June 18. After making stops in New York, Seattle, Vancouver and Calgary (where they visited Jack and Donna Leuw and family), they arrived in Regina.

The five ladies, Eva Skjåkødegard, Liv Tostrup, Oddrun Bustad, Anne Gro Tundrali and Sonja Bustad, are granddaughters of Oline Bustad, sister of Magnhild (Jevnheim) Hagen, formerly of Lake Alma.

Several relatives were at the airport, and a Hagen family get-together was held at the home of Don and Thelma Grant that afternoon and evening. There the Norwegians met 35 of their Saskatchewan relatives, some of whom they had met previously in Norway.

Gene and Don Grant, Cheryl (Grant) Macleod, Ken Hagen, Sheila (Hagen) Tysdal, Verna (Hagen) Rude, Wayne Hagen, Janice (Hagen) Haugen and Kandis (Hagen) Peters are all second cousins to the five visitors from Norway.

The time together was spent visiting, with much discussion on the family both in Canada and in Norway, and Chinese food was delivered to the house for supper. The Norwegian visitors brought pictures of the house on the Jevnheim farm to give to their Canadian relatives. The house and farm is located near Skjåk, in Norway's Gudbrandsdalen Valley. It was in that house where Magnhild Jevnheim Hagen was born on Oct. 7, 1873.

The visitors stayed in Regina one night, and the following day they toured the Natural History Museum in Regina with Gene and Esther Grant of Saskatoon, and Don and Thelma Grant of Regina. They also saw the Legislature Buildings and the flower gardens at Wascana Park. Gene and Esther served lunch at the home of their son Gordon and Donna Grant in Regina.

A roast beef supper was served at the home of Wayne and Dolores Hagen on June 30 for the five Norwegian visitors, and for Ken, Grace and Matthew Hagen and Chris and Verna Rude. Sonja stayed at the Hagen farm while the other ladies stayed at a motel in Weyburn.

On July 1, a barbecue hamburger lunch was served at Ken and Grace Hagen's farm, which is the original Knut and Magnhild Hagen farm. Don and Thelma Grant, Donna Leuw and Wayne and Dolores Hagen also had lunch with them. Matthew Hagen was home for a few days at that time. The visitors were then driven out to Wayne and Ken's pasture to see the cattle. It was a hot day with a wind blowing which helped keep the mosquitos away. The sky was also hazy due to forest fires in northern Saskatchewan.

In fact, when Sonja checked on Norwegian news on the Internet, and she read about the forest fires in Saskatchewan.

Dinner on July 2 was served to the Norwegian guests and Donna at the Wayne Hagen farm. They then made a visit to the Nordalen Cemetery where the graves for Knut and Magnhild Hagen, their daughter Borghild Hagen, and their sons Herbert (and Emma) Hagen and Olaf (and Anna) Hagen are located. The ladies also had a tour of Lake Alma. They were shown the house which Knut Hagen had built and where he and Magnhild had lived after they retired from farming and moved into Lake Alma.

A barbecue beef supper was served by Chris and Verna Rude at their farm that evening. Also there supper were Rob and Rebekah Johnson of Oungre, Ken and Grace, Wayne and Dolores, Dennis and Ceta Rude. Following supper, Dennis, Chris and Derek entertained the visitors on their mandolin, guitar and violin.

Dolores Hagen accompanied the Norwegian visitors to the Regina airport on July 3. From Regina, they flew to Minneapolis for a few days of shopping. Sonja, Oddrun, Liv, Eva and Anne Gro arrived home in Norway on July 6.