Mexican Train

Aunt Janice introduced us to Mexican Train. Michael and Natalie wanted to play every night and went up the street several times for a game night. Arild bought one for Bestemor Grandma and Natalie bought one to bring home to Norway.

Great laughs! Great memories!

Olive Garden

One of our favorite places to eat, is Olive Garden. We always end up stuffing ourselves with salad and breadsticks and are basically full when we get to the main dish.

Melissa enjoyed eating out with uncle Arild!

Relaxing at the Pool

Ah! Sunny days. Hot. Hot. It felt soooo good to spend some time at the clubhouse pool. Playing with noodles, eating popsicles and snacks, sun tanning and cooling down again. 

Favorite popsicle flavor: Cherry! :) To match the bathing suit?

Melissa loved animal crackers and water! Favorite snack.

Look at the beautiful backdrop! 

Strawberry Days Rodeo

Our cousin Andy invited us to The Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days Rodeo. 

We got really nice seats and enjoyed a night full of Mutton Bustin' (little ones brave enough to ride a sheep), Calf Roping, Team Roping, Barrel Racing, Steer Wrestling, Bronc Riding, and Bull Riding. There was also a performance  by the Pro Tour FMX motorcross team, complete with jumps and back-flips. Wohoo!

We also got a taste of the famous strawberries!

Norwegian viking or cowboy?

The rodeo fireworks were awesome!

Oh no! Flat tire!

On our way back home, we got a flat tire. There was a rock slide in the canyon and two more cars got flats. The fire department and ambulance were there when we pulled over and helped us replace the flat with a spare. All in all, we were lucky while unlucky. Somebody was watching over us, I guess. 

Unfortunately this meant we had to bring the Yukon back to the rental office and they replaced it with a Ford Expedition. Let down...

Potluck

If the kids' favorite part of the reunion is playing games, mine is definetely the potluck lunch! The food was great! And a lot of family members showed up! I am sorry I didn't get to talk with everyone as much as I wanted. 

Most memorable for many, I am sure, was the beautiful quilt aunt Janice had finished that Grandma had started. We all bought raffle tickets and Melissa helped draw the winning ticket. Which belonged to aunt Ruth. We all felt good that she got it. A special moment.

Let The Games Begin

Roylene had planned a lot of fun for the kids.  Candy Hunt was great!

 And the Pop Ring Toss Game was a big hit!

And for the older "kids": Horseshoe pitching. The Norwegians did pretty good! ;-)

Campfire program

My cousin Andy was in charge of the Funside part of the campfire program. He did a great impression of Herman the Worm. Uncle George took us Lion hunting and Kelly and Owen got us all moving with Father Abraham. The kids learned about Bombs and cars. Fun traditions that are now passed on.

Uncle Doug had a devotional based upon our heritage and being lights of the world. We were all sitting in the pitch dark, just the flames from the campfire. As Doug read from Nephi 3:12
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house; Therefore let your alight so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven  a light was lit on the hill above us. It was quite effectful!

On the Zip Line

Michael and Natalie enjoyed the Zip Line! Yahoo!!

Here goes Natalie!



And Michael!

Visiting with family and friends

How fun to see my children enjoy visiting with cousins and making new friends just like I remember from when I was a kid. The younger kids played forever and ever in the huge sandpile. Michael learned a new card game called Wizard and loved to hang out with the Nielson's. Natalie found a lifelong friend in Adalynn. And Melissa followed uncle Arild everywhere. The best part of a family reunion is just visiting and talking to everyone .



We were such good taken care of! Family members provided tent, sleeping bags, food. We slept on the most comfy air mattress and the tent had an open skylight view and we went to bed gazing at the starry night. Beautiful!!

Weight Family Reunion 2012

2012 was a special year for The Weight Family Reunion. Both my grandparents were born in 1912 and would have celebrated their 100th birthday this year. It felt nice to be able to attend the family reunion with uncles, aunts and cousins. 

My grandfather spent a lot of hours working on the Weight ranch in Wanrhodes valley which his father and brothers homesteaded, hard farm work like raising sugar beets, grain crops, alfalfa, peas, etc. Taking cows to and from the farm and all related farm work gave each family member a job to do every day including cows to milk, chickens to tend, hay and grain to haul and stack, pigs to feed and much more. 

Today my uncle Doug and his family put in a lot of work at the ranch. I am grateful for the family legacy they maintain and share so generously with the rest of the family. 

Family members have also put in a lot of effort to collect memories of my grandparents and published a book of family history for the anniversary. Such a treasure! I am thrilled my three children will be able to know their roots and understand the great heritage that comes from being a part of the Esther and LaMar circle of love. 

International House of Pancakes

First stop: IHOP! For some reason, visiting the US seem to evolve a lot around places to eat!
IHOP is probably the restaurant we frequented the most. Breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner, night snack. We were there.

Excited? Oh yeah! Let's see what we ordered....

Breakfast sampler for all! And a picture of Dr. Pepper. We're all happy!

@Grandmas place

Finally we got to see Bestemor Grandmas home! She has a lovely house in The Red Door Community in Springville. It was such a nice area and we loved camping upstairs. The Rocky Mountains are so pretty. Feels like home to me! :)

USA ~ here we come!

On June 21st we left for our US vacation! Here are some of the highlights from our trip overseas!

Here we are at the airport in Norway. Michael was brought in for a full bodysearch and extra security check. We travelled with only carry-ons which made the check-in painless and quick. Everything went smooth - untill the plane ride...

Poor Natalie got airsick. She passed out after 2 hours and in the middle of our meal. The cabin crew took really great care of her and both her and Glenn were taken up to ride first class for the rest of the flight. Massage chairs, hot cloths, open buffet. Oh yeah! They were alright! Melissa, Michael and mom were in the back, trying to make time pass. Melissa didn't sleep for the entire 9 hour flight. She was so excited. She loved the take-off and landing and squeeled with delight because her tummy tickled. She played with her jewelry that she got for surprises during the flight. Michael entertained himself with movies and his DS.
No delays.

Pit stop in Newark and Dallas. Because Natalie was sick on the plane, she was treated VIP, brought in her wheel chair past all the lines. So even though we felt so bad for her getting sick, we had a lot of laughs! And finally, our last destination - Salt Lake City! Where we were thrilled to meet Bestemor Grandma and uncle Arild who took us in the GMC Yukon to Springville.

Turning 40

June 7th I turned 40! Had a great day at work, receiving a lot of kind words and greetings. It was Bollywood style and just awesome! My family made cake and spoiled me all afternoon. Glenn took me out for dinner at a steakhouse in Kongsberg. Nice to spend some time together, just talking and laughing.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now. ~ Chinese Proverb

We planted three trees in our front yard in June.
Look forward to see them grow!

May 17th 2012

For May 17th we went to the children's parade here at Ormåsen. It was raining the whole day, but luckily just overcast for the parade. So we hurried home and spent the afternoon with Linda and kids playing games!

Countdown

The girls made a countdown paper chain for our US trip. Melissa liked cutting with scissors. Her jaws went up and down while cutting. Sooooo consentrated! :)

Gardermoen Air Museum

Time to play with some air models again! And with that an aching need to go see some actual planes. Glenn took Natalie, Michael and a friend to the Gardermoen Air Museum and had a nice revisit with the Junker 52, Heinkel 111, Spitfire and some jets. Good times!

Trip to Hamar

 Took the two oldest kids to see uncle Arild! Enjoyed some card playing games and the season premier of soccer. It was freezing cold! But fun!

Also stopped by my father's grave to prepare it for spring. I miss him!

Cake Boss

May 2012 was Cake Boss month! Glenn and the kids all had a thing for baking. Michael enjoyed watching Cake Boss, Natalie made treats from the cookbook  she got on her 11th birthday, Glenn made all sorts of cakes and Melissa helped licking the kitchen utensils. Family home evening, family get togethers, week end treats - all cakes! :)