The REITZ's get together.

Lisa and Jeremy organized a party for all the family of Robert and Helen Reitz. It was fun to see all of my Uncles and Aunts.

Dave and Nancy, Steve and Sue, Reuben and Carol , Bruce and MaryLou, Robert and Jeannie.



GREAT FOOD! We can all cook and eat well.



We played all kinds of games, and had a good time just visiting. Everyone had someone their age to play with. Thank you - Lisa and Jeremy for





organizing such a good evening. We need to get together more often.

The grandkids have all grown up, all but two of them are married, and a new generation of kids are getting to know each other. Everyone had a good time

Christmas Again

The little boys spent Christmas Day with their Mom and then returned to our house on the 26th. They could hardly wait until I got home from work to open their presents. It was fun being able to see the excitement in their eyes as they opened presents. It was like Christmas all over again.





We had a great time playing UNO spin with them.

Christmas

Santa managed to find his way to our house even with all the snow that we received a couple of days before Christmas and with the snow received on Christmas Eve.





Rachael got lots of clothes, Cd's, makeup, hair bands, games, ITUNES card, and more.

Richard got a motorcycle jack.






Holly got a new camera and rain pants.



We all opened our presents from each other. We got lots of fun things and had a great Christmas.
Rachael was pretty excited about the Skittles that came in her Sock. Holly loved her new UGG boots and we can hardly wait until Richard can cook us something in his new Charcoal Cooker/Smoker.




















We fixed Orange Rolls and Carmel Pecan rolls for breakfast. While Rachael loaded her new CD's to her IPOD, Richard and I headed outside to shovel snow for the first time of the day (We had to shovel three different times - I think we got a total of about 7 inches of snow during the day).






It wasn't very cold while we shoveled, but the snow just kept coming. It seemed as if we had to start over again as soon as we finished. There is something magical about getting snow on Christmas Day. I LOVE IT!! I wasn't the only one enjoying the snow. Take a look at these dogs playing in the snow. They had a great time.



They tried to say Merry Christmas to Chico and Regal, the dogs next door, but they didn't get to come and and play. That is probably a good thing, they like to bark at each other.


Chloe and Chubbs would run around the whole yard. Sugar stayed right at the fence waiting for the other dogs to come out. She had such patience, she didn't want to come in when we were done shoveling the snow, she wanted to continue to wait for Chico and Regal.

Even tho, the weather was bad and we couldn't get to Bountiful to see Mom, Dad, and Amy, Jay and their family we had a GREAT Day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and to all a GOOD NIGHT!

Playing in the snow!

The kids built a little hill in Keller's backyard and went sledding. They had a great time. Rachael took all of these pictures, she is having lots of fun with her camera.

Auntie Rachael

Rachael has a great time playing with Sean and Austin. She keeps them laughing and having fun when they are at our house. She is a Good Aunt to both of them.

My own personal CHEF!

Richard cooked us a lovely Christmas Eve dinner. Stuffed Mushrooms, Asparagus and Bacon, Home made Scalloped Potatoes, Rolls, and Prime Rib. It was a wonderful meal. Any restaurant would have been proud to have served such a good meal.




I am so lucky to have such a good CHEF for a husband!

Three dog morning!!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Today is Richard's day off, lucky him. I still get to work today. I got up had my shower and did my hair, Richard made me an omelet for breakfast. All of a sudden we hear the door to the basement open and we are thinking that Rachael has woken up early, but to our very pleasant surprise who was coming up the stairs, but Austin. We knew it was early for him, so we put him in our bed and closed the door. A few minutes later we again heard the door at the basement opening and up comes Sean. He joined Austin in the bed. The next thing I know, there are 3 boys in my bed and 3 DOGS - I guess it was cold enough to be a THREE DOG MORNING!

Just a little bit of snow

Monday, December 22nd, Winter arrives with GUSTO! Snow, Snow, and more SNOW! We woke up to just a little snow on the driveway, just enough to say a boom won't quite get it off the driveway, but a snow shovel is almost too much. But that was just the beginning of the snow that we were to get during the day. It continued to snow, and snow, and snow. By the time I came home from work at 5:00 we had lots of snow.


The neighbors had a good time in the snow today - Look what they built



With more snow expected in the last few days, I imagine that the igloo will get finished. I think it was interesting the way the snow stayed on the fence.








The dogs even seemed to enjoy the snow.

FIELD TRIP

I went with the American Fork Junior High School Women's and Men's Choir on a Field Trip. They were performing at the University Mall. I arrived at the Junior High and found them doing some warm up songs while roll was taken.




Then we loaded three buses and headed to Orem to the mall. I got to share the front seat behind the bus driver with Mr. Thornton, the choir director. Rachael and her friend McKaylee sat behind us. The kids on the bus sang Christmas Carols during he drive. At the mall we had to squeeze 150 kids plus chaperons into the hallway near where they would perform and try to keep them quiet while the choir from Lehi performed.




The women's choir started things off, they did the same songs they had done the night before at their concert at the school, plus a few extras. The mens choir sang their numbers. Then they still had time left so the women's choir sang a few more songs. It was a nice performance. We ended the day with everyone eating at the food court.



Then back onto the buses for the ride back to American Fork.


I had a fun day with all of those junior high students. How soon can I be a chaperone again?

American Fork Junior High School Women's Choir

On the 17th of December during the 2nd biggest storm of the season, the American Fork Junior High Choirs held their Christmas Concert. Rachael sings with the Women's Choir. There are about 90 girls in the Choir. It was a wonderful evening listening to the Women's Choir and the Men's Choir. I am glad that Rachael enjoys singing and that we were able to be there. The weather prevented Grandma and Grandpa Anderson from coming down - hopefully the weather will cooperate for the spring concert.

Words just aren't enough. . . . .

No matter how much we know of the eternal nature of life - it still hurts to have someone we know die. To lose a friend just reminds us of the importance of making sure that we let our friends and family know how much they mean to us. You never know when they might be gone. So to the Critchfield and Ludlow families, who have each lost their husband and fathers, we say "Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time." May you feel of our love and the love of our Heavenly Father.

To those who frequent our Blog - thank you for your friendship and love.

The many faces of Mindy

Mindy is my niece. For as long as she is old, she has not wanted her picture taken. I can remember her parents bribbing her with gum and candy to smile for a picture. So here are the pictures that I got of Mindy while she was here for Thanksgiving.



Mindy, you never know when a picture of you will end up - smile nice once in a while.



We Love you MINDY!!!!

We dressed up

Here are the three of us that dressed up at work for Halloween.

I am a Rubix cube

Char is Pebbles form the Flintstones

Sherri is a Mad Scientist

Pictures from Halloween

I had this really great idea for a story for the Blog - but as I am famous for, the idea was great but the reality of getting onto the Blog in a timely matter didn't quite pan out. So here it is 4 days until Christmas and I am posting something from Halloween.

We got some fun pumpkins to make into jack-o-lanterns.


So Rachael and I set out to create, covered the bar with newspaper, got out the biggest, badest, knives we have and started carving.


Next we have MASTERPIECES - back on the porch, lit and ready for the trick-or-treaters.



Okay - Rachael and I aren't exactly Picasso, but we had a great time.

DENISE

Denise is a woman in Pennsylvania. We don't know Denise. But Grandpa Blanco knows Denise. Denise is the woman at the school with a computer. Denise follows our Blog and lets Grandpa know what is happening, when we forget to tell him something important. Thanks Denise for helping us make this long distance relationship with our Grandpa better.

WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!!

Richard went to Colorado Springs to attend a Cycling Upgrade Class. He studied hard before he went, listened in class and learned from the other class members. He took his written test and his oral tests and passed both. He is now an "A" official. WAY TO GO RICHARD!!!!!

BOWLING

We relived an old Anderson Family Fun Time Activity. When we were kids we would go bowling often at Orchard Lanes. I remember that when the red pin came into position 1, we would always let Dad bowl the strike because then we got that game free. It was lots of fun!!

We again went to Orchard Lane, this time instead of 5 of us, their were 12. We used two lanes and bowled 2 games. It was even more fun now, everyone got to bowl the way they wanted. Some had the fences up in the gutters, so the ball would hit the pins. Some just watched. Some did well, some - well some just need to go more often.




So I guess we will have to have a new Thanksgiving Tradition - Bowling.
















We bowled two games - and the best part was that Holly had the highest score of the second game.











Here is Grandma getting a STRIKE! Way to go Grandma!