First BBQ of 2011

I enjoyed our fire pit so much last year that I didn't want to wait until summer to have a fire out there again. Sunday the sun was shining, it was a beautiful 32 degrees, snow on the ground and I wanted to be outside with a fire.

We had Austin and Sean here so we got the fire going, cooked Hot Dogs, and ate S'mores. It was a successful BBQ - even better that it was January 23rd - I still love the fire pit!
It is great that we have such good neighbors who want to come enjoy our fire pit. Thanks Fran and Gary for bringing the S'Mores fixins.



Here's to another great year ahead of enjoying the fire pit!

The "CIRCUS" Begins

Saturday was the Evaluation Show for Winter Guard. Each Guard in the state comes and does their show for 5 judges who give their opinions on what needs to be done to make the show better before their first competition.

Richard and I were at the High School by 7:00 am to put down the Association floor. Then we watched Rachael's guard at 8:00 am. I spent the whole day at the school timing the different guards in the warm up room. None of the guards came with their uniforms - they all wore just wore black shirts and shorts/pants. Some guards don't have their own floor, some don't have all of their props ready yet. Some don't have their flags to match the show yet.

Our guard has their floor painted


They have one of their three flags ready to use

Some of the Mom's (and Grandma's in our case, - thanks GRANDMA ANDERSON) spent a few hours at the school today sewing flags.


And hopefully the uniforms will come in soon. The first competition is on February 5th.

I enjoyed the show and am excited to see it all come together. The judges had some suggestion that the Guard will work on in the coming weeks and hopefully they will have a winning show.

Here is a sneak peak:

The AUTO SHOW

The three of us went to the Auto Show at the South Towne Exhibition Center. We had lots of fun wandering around looking at all the different cars and trucks.

Daydreaming of this one
for Richard.



Or maybe this one for Rachael


And this one for me.


It is fun to go look, daydream, and wish. If only we had the money for all three. So if any of you win the lottery . . . you know what is on our wish list.

PAINTING the FLOOR

The Winter Guard performs their show on the basketball court at the school. Each guard paints their floor to tie into the show. Today was the day to paint the floor. We have to lay the floor out on the court, and use duct tape to cover any holes that might be in the floor so that the paint doesn't go thru to the court. Rachael's guard's floor was easy to paint this year. A big white circle with purple all the way around it. We had lots of "band dad's" and guard girls there to help. So even tho it is a big project it went well.




Another of the "mysteries" of the show is now unveiled. (Next week flags)

Winter Guard - January 15th

With one week to go until the Winter Guard Evaluation show, the Guard added a Saturday practice. I get by their practices every couple of weeks and it is fun seeing the show come together. But . . . each time I see it something has changed, a section didn't come together the way they wanted and so it gets changed. the show will continue to evolve each week and as they start to compete, things get changed based on the comments that judges give them. It is always fun to see if I can spot what has changed. I saw the show from start to end for the first time today, and i liked it. I can hardly wait until they have the floor painted, their costumes on and the flags sewn. It doesn't fully come together until all the pieces are there. So I must continue to be patient to picture it all in my head and wonder what it will look like in the end. Until then I can dream about it while watching them practice.

HELLO 2011

WOW! Is it really 2011? What happened to 2010? (I guess if you really want to know just look back thru the Blog). This past year has really gone by fast.

2011 has already created a lot of excitement for us. We watched the Rose Parade this morning and talked of the 1998 Rose Parade. We were there along with our daughter Jessica and the American Fork High School Marching Band. We had bleacher seats to watch the band as they marched past us along the 5 mile parade route. It was an exciting time.

We also talked about the 2012 Rose Parade, we will again be there with another daughter, Rachael and the American Fork High School Color Guard and Marching Band. We wondered what kind of things the band will do during their trip. I know that the bands in the parade all perform on one of the days before the parade. The band will perform at Disneyland one day. The excitement is already building, as you can see by the countdown clock now at the top of the blog.

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson are again planning to join us on the Rose Parade trip.

It will take lots of planning by the Staff of the High School, all of the parents involved, and practicing by the colorguard and band members to get 250+ students, staff, family members and fans there. We can hardly wait!