Thursday, 30 July 2009

Schellenberg/Arrington River Trip

Danny and Dalena thought it would be a great idea to get the two families together on a river trip! Most of the Schellenbergs were already in Island Park, visiting their family, so they drove on over to Alpine and we took them on a couple of runs. Magdalena and Cary, Dalena's mom and sister-in-law, were a little nervous about going down. In fact, they hid in the bathroom when we loaded up for the first run. But, they went on the second run and had a great time.The first group of Schellenbergs. They are officially Mad Hatters!Just before we gathered people for the second river run, Dan and Dalena came out with their river hats! How appropriate!Here are the folks on the second run, with the bride and groom, and Magdalena in the moose hat!After the river runs, we had Dutch oven cabbage chicken and peach cobbler. I think they liked it!

Sunday, 26 July 2009

Friday, 24 July 2009

Family Cookout and Backyard Movie

Many of the family went to the Pioneer Days Parade the morning of the 24th. Later on that day, we met at Jeff and Angie's for a cookout and some outdoor theater.There was lots of good food...And of course, Sharon's home-made ice cream!Yum!
.And a movie after dark. We love summer!

Sunday, 19 July 2009

Saturday, 11 July 2009

Clearing the Forest

Over the years, our backyard has gotten way too shady! With the new garden, we knew we needed to clear it out a bit. We put out the call and got lots of help! What a great family!Bryan climbed high into the tree to start cutting this first one!Of course, Sharon was right there with the chain saw - she enjoys using that as much as her blow torch!Thanks for all the help, y'all! We so appreciated it!The guys had to climb up on the roof to get some of the taller branches!Help from older kids and younger - making sure the tree falls the right way!When we finished cutting, the yard was FULL of trunks and branches!

Wednesday, 8 July 2009

Plain City Softball Tournament

We returned from Seattle to find Joann and Justin and their family settled in our basement. They are in the process of buying a home, and needed a place to stay, since Justin's brother Joe and his family returned from law school in TX and wanted their home back (a month early). Sooo, the day after they moved in, Mike called and invited Justin to play on a team for the Plain City 4th of July softball tournament. We packed up the kids and headed west. Justin, Jeff and Tyler, Gus, and Mike all played on the team, and when one player had to leave during the first game, Jack went in! Angie, Amy, Sharon, Joann, Amy's mom and sister-in-law and I were among the very vocal and enthusiastic fans! The guys won the first game, so played a second. They narrowly lost that one, but since it was double elimination, they played again - then they won and played again, and again and again! The games started at 6 PM and we didn't leave the park until 11:30!!! The kids played and played and played - and had a blast. The guys were hammered, but loved every minute of it! And all the fans had as much fun as anyone there!Here's a shot of the field. Gus was on 3rd, Jeff was left field, Ty was rover and Mike pitched.Jack was catcher, same as he was on the Blacker Furniture Team about 25 years ago!Justin played 1st. He and Gus saw a lot of action and are both still excellent ball players. All our guys were GREAT!!! Ty was all over the field as rover, and caught a ton of fly balls!Here are some of the loud and obnoxious fans! What fun we had! We named our team The Fogeys, because all but about 4 of them were between 36 and 66 years of age!Dad stayed until after the 3rd game - around 9:30 - then he decided it was past his bedtime, so I ran him home. He so enjoyed watching his family play ball!

GFOA in Seattle


We went straight from the reunion to the Salt Lake Airport, where we flew to Seattle for the GFOA Convention. In Seattle, we were able to meet with Dale's daughter, Shanna and her fiance, Eric. They met us for dinner at the India Bistro. Great choice of restraunts! We loved the Indian food! We enjoyed meeting Eric too, and visiting with Shanna is always a treat. What a cute girl she is!

The White Reunion


We left the rest of the family at Bear Lake and drove north to Montpelier for the annual White Family Reunion. There was not a huge turnout this year, and we were only able to stay for an hour and a half - but it was worth it. It was great to see family that we don't get to see very often!

Bear Lake Cabin

We had the opportunity to spend a few days at the Rasmussen's cabin in Garden City. We went with Jeff and Angie (the Rasmussen's are her parents) and Mike and Amy and their kids. Amberly stayed at home with the Boli because she had a soccer tournament. Jack and I took a couple of Bryan's kids (Jenna and Jace) up with us. We all had a great time! I believe the cabin has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, a living room, family room, kitchen and a loft. There was lots to do and the kids had a blast with the Wii, the 4-wheelers and Mike's wave runner and tube at the lake. We also spent time at the Sweetwater swimming pool.Here's a shot of the cabin.The view was amazing!4-wheelers, fun at the lake, campfire and, of course s'mores and the kids all zonked.I snapped this picture of all the kids right before Jack and I left for the White Family Reunion.

Saturday, 4 July 2009

Cherry Days 2009

Lisa and the Barbers got up early for the Kiwanis Breakfast at the Park.After breakfast, we headed over to the parade - where we met more of the family. Jenna and Jace were on the Sounds of Time float. Jack announced in front of the Baptist Church again.Dad and I went to watch Sounds of Time perform at the park. Both Jenna and Jace are in the show this year. Great show!Here's a cute pic of the kids with their Great-Grandpa Grose. He goes to their shows whenever he gets the chance!
Before fireworks, we met with some of the Kofords for a cookout and fun in Mike and Amy's big back yard.There was plenty of room for games - water slide, croquet, who-knows-what and tug-o-war.Can you tell it was a long, long day for Jack? Haha

Tuesday, 16 June 2009

Summer Games

We went to Summer Games for the second year last week. Seven of the grandkids played soccer - Tyler, Justin and Nathan played on Bryan's team; Lex and London played on a team, Amberly played and Jenna played. We all stayed in the dorms again - which was great fun. Sharon and her girls shared our dorm (Gus was working) and Nate stayed with us, since his family was not there. Mike and Amy and Jeff and Angie and their families stayed right across the hall and Bryan and Becky and their family shared a dorm just down the hall with the Wallaces.A few of the family watching Crew FC (Bryan's team).Fun in the game room at the dorm...There was dancing in the halls. Jeff put on Abba's Take a Chance on Me for Chance Blackman, from Crew FC.Nine members of Crew FC stayed in the dorm. There was a lot of interaction between them and Sharon's older girls. We called our dorm Hormone Hall. ÜHere are a couple of shots of the sky before the boys' last game. We got rained on, and the wind blew - but the game went on, and they won 6 to 2! They took the bronze in their division. Amberly's team took the silver, but I don't have a picture to post yet.Sharon snapped this shot of the team at medals.The three cousins and their coach. Nate told us that his priesthood leader asked him what the FC stood for in their name Crew FC. He said, "Freakin' Champions? I don't know."Here's cute Amberly with her silver. Thanks, Amy! Ü

Saturday, 6 June 2009

Double Partay!


After the recital, we went to Bountiful for Bo and Rachel's birthdays. It was a barbecue and swim party at Mike and Jeri's. There were a ton of people there - Barbers, Arringtons and friends. Both of the birthday kids enjoyed themselves and ate their fill of cake and home-made ice cream! (So did everyone else!)Here's a shot of Bo's cake - a FORD truck, haulin' dirt! The license plate on the back said, of course, BO.Rachel got a fishy cake. So cute and clever! Lisa and Justin got some better close-ups of the kids. I'll borrow some from them and post them here later.

Piano Recital


From the air show, we went back to the Piano Gallery for Becky's recital. Dean and Amberly are her students. When Dean walked in with his new suit and haircut (Ü) it was an ahhhhh moment for me! (Of course, Amberly was beautiful - as always.)Here's a shot of both kids after the performance, with their teacher - Aunt Becky. Amberly and Dean did a great job! Proud again!!!

Air Show



We picked up Dad and drove to Layton to watch the Thunderbirds perform in the airshow. We followed John and Ann and their kids to the home of Ann's co-worker and her parents, who live next door. Nice, shady back yard and a great view of the planes. At one point, Carson was watching behind us as he jumped on the trampoline. He yelled out, "Here they come! A family of four!"These planes flew faster than the speed of sound, and much faster than my camera shutter. I deleted about 20 shots of blue sky and clouds, but managed to get a couple of good ones of the planes. Ü

Friday, 5 June 2009

PAL Camp presentation

I think a couple of other grand daughters went to PAL camp, but we've never gone to presentation night until tonight. (We didn't know about it!) This year, Katelyn, Baylee and Amberly all went to PAL Camp (PAL is an acronym for Program for Accelerated Learners.) Kate was invited to both visual arts and performing arts. She chose performing arts. For five hours a day Monday through Friday, her group worked on a mini musical - Pirates. They presented it for a large audience tonight. It was amazing! Such talented 6th graders in the Weber District! Kate did a great job!!!Here's Baylee with her art display. I didn't get a picture of her sculpture, which was very good!Here's Amberly with her stuff - also very good!Here's a shot of all three cousins who went to PAL Camp this year. It was a great experience for them. I think they all want to go next year!