November 2012

Ok...  alert the presses!  I had to work all day on Saturday and came home to this.


Jeremy re-created a meal from our favorite Greek restaurant in Germany including slow cooked lamb, home-made tziki sauce, french fries (he actually bought a deep fryer for them) with spices to taste like Germany's pommes frites, ceasar sald, bread, and even a bouquet of flowers. Oh! And the house was spotless and he was with the kids all day!! 
I swear I don't deserve him.

Football Champs!!!

Connor's football team ended up winning the championship and were number 1 in the league!!! 

 

The boys BEFORE the cheerleaders showed up...

...AFTER the cheerleaders arrived!! :)  They are a great group of kids!

These kids have been playing together, on the same team, for the past 4 years.  Connor was 1 of only 2 new kids this year.  They really welcomed him in their group... I guess it doesn't hurt that he's one of the best players!! Unfortunately not a single one of these kids go to the same elementary school as Connor, but they will all be in middle school together next year.

Music Performance

The Kindergartners put on a music performance that was just KILLING me with cuteness!!!  Whitney was SO excited for this.  The day before she came straight home from school and ran to her bedroom, put on her pj's, and went to bed!  I asked her what she was doing and she said she had to go to bed because when she woke up it would be time for the music performance. 

Whitney is VERY social and is friends with everyone.  However, these 2 girls' names come up a lot more than others. 

Whitney has sure handled this transition back to America and right into a full day kindergarten so well.   I am so proud of her and so thankful for her cheerful personality.  She is (almost) always happy!!!

The kids school has made a pretty big deal about doing community service.  Connor came home, panicked that we needed to do community service for school.  So I signed us all up to clean our church for a couple of hours one Saturday.  I took their pictures and sent them to the school to go on the board.  See if you can find all 3 of them!

Road Trip!!!

Two years ago Jeremy and Whitney flew from Germany to Utah for a large family reunion.  Ever since that reunion they've been planning for the next one which was this year for Thanksgiving. But this year we all get to go!!

The drive was loooong.  It took 2 days to get there (20+) hours.  But, it wasn't too bad because we caravaned with Chris and his family.  However, between all 6 of our kids, every single one of them threw up at least once!

Quick stop at Little America

We went out a little early to show the boys some stuff in Utah that they've never seen.  One stop was the new City Creek Mall.  They had it all decorated for Christmas with Christmas music.  I loved it!

Seriously??? Whitney is such a ham!  She stood by this Christmas tree, posed, and said "Take a picture, Mommy" , readjusted and said "Take another picture, Mommy", again and again!!  She cracks me up.

Temple Square



We stayed with one of my friends from my BYU days for the first couple of nights in Utah.  We saw her last in France and now they are here in Salt Lake. It was such a treat to see her and her family again.  When we pulled into their drive way we were greeted by 3 deer in their yard!  Can you see them?

The view from their house of Salt Lake City at night. 

Sanders Reunion 2012

Next stop was Aspen Grove for the Reunion.  This was an amazing thing to experience!  The organization and planning that went into this thing was unbelievable.  There were 77 people there, 29 Grandkids and 29 Great Grandkids (Connor is the oldest Great Grandkid and he's only 10!!)  The incredible part though was that there were so many activities planned that kept all the kids (and adults!!) happy and entertained all week long! 

Whitney kept looking for Uncle Brian all week

A very INTENSE game of flag football! 

Connor got right in there with the big boys and didn't back down!

These old guys should really not play so rough!  They were limping the rest of the week!!  lol.

 

Lots of challenges.  Here Whitney is trying to walk with a potato between her legs to get it in the bag

Garrett is right in the middle between Connor and Aiden and it works out perfect.  The 3 of them are inseparable when they get together.   I'm so glad they are the best of friends!!

A beautiful quote and family tree. 

Everyone drew a picture of what they were greatful for and we sewed together a blessing quilt

A four generation picture with Jeremy's mom and his Grandpa.  Behind them are shirts they made for previous family reunions.  Jeremy designed the shirts for this reunion that everyone is wearing

The whole family!!! (And not even everyone was there!!)

Dinner time!  We had 2 full kitchens and about a dozen crockpots. We ate like kings and it all ran so smoothly!

On the first night we drew names for the secret angel.  I was Scotts secret angel all week.  The kids really got into this and made it fun.

Robin with all the kids.  They are going on a bear hunt.

Looking for the bear

There he is!!!

This game was a repeat from last years reunion due to popularity

One of the family challenge games

Another family challenge game. I love it that the kids and adults are equally into it!

Spicy soup eating contest

Early morning Zumba workouts.... awesome!!

Celebrating Brad's birthday

Family skit night.  Our family did a lip-sync, dance to Gangnam Style
**Someone recorded it.  I will try to post a video later**

Some of the kids got up to sing I'm a child of God.  Connor and Aiden did not want to be up there.

All the great grandkids (that were still awake anyway)

All the Grandkids

Great friendships that will last a lifetime!

 

Driving home was not as fun as the ride out.  Chris and his family got up early and were gone by 8am.  We opted to leave later and do Zumba before hitting the road.  The highlight of the trip though was that Chris' kids put a note in a secret location at a bathroom somewhere along the way and since we were only 3-4 hours behind them we looked forward to finding the note each day.

The first day the note was at a gas station that was really crowded.  I took a picture so I could send to them showing that we found the note.  But, the kids were embarrassed because everyone was watching us so their picture didn't turn out so well.

The next day the note was at a rest area and we had a little riddle to follow in order to find it.  The kids made an effort to look much more happy this time! lol!

After we left Aspen Grove we realized that we didn't have our iPad and we were too far away to go back.  Our incredible luck that Jeremy's cousin, who drives a truck all over the country, was driving through Kansas City in just a couple of days.  He picked up our iPad for us and hand delivered it!  It was fun to see him and his wife again!

 

They both live in this truck and go on so many fun adventures together.  Now, they are doing it with a dog too!  They are very adventurous!!