Memorial Day 2009 Family Camping

Stephanie and I had a great time camping with the Jones and the Hunts at Sibley State Park. The weather was great (a little cold at night) and we all enjoyed each others company. We hiked, ate, swam, and just sat around, what better combination could you ask for.

Family sitting around enjoying being together.

I caught Andie looking in the food box!

Where there is dirt, there will be kids!
Hunt Family taking a break on our hike to Mt. Tom.

Phil and his mini me!

We finally made it to Mt. Tom. Elevation: 1240 feet.

As you can imagine, with great cooks like Steph, Sarah, and Roxy in the family we ate well. Here they made enchilada hot dish (casserole, for those not from Minnesota)in the dutch oven. It was very goooood

Cute Grandma and her cute Grand kids.

The last night we cooked smores. As you can see from the pictures they were enjoyed by all!

Morel Mushroom Hunt

I went on my first morel mushroom hunt today. I had a great time climbing through the underbrush looking for the little critters, and boy did I find a lot. I went with a customer that is experienced. Fry these guys up in some garlic butter, and what a tasty treat!

For those of you that are not mushroom connoisseurs (Stephanie), morels are considered the the ultimate in mushrooms. Stephanie asked "Why haven't I ever seen them for sale in grocery stores?" My response was "We don't shop in high end stores". In these stores, they sell for $25 per pound.

Getting ready for the garden

Friday night we invited the Hunts over and Boyd tilled the ground so we could plant peas. Ethan and Eli were good seed planters. Ethan helped Grandpa till. I had a huge flashback from living in Kaysville and Boyd would till every Sat. but with our kids out in the garden - now it's grandkids. We are excited to have a garden. More planting towards the end of May. "Boyd the farmer"

5 Days at The Gold Coast

On Feb. 13th we made the 10 hour drive to to The Gold Coast area It is 550 miles north of Sydney. It was a beautiful drive. The entire area is subtropical and very green. As we were driving we could see small groups of kangaroos grazing in some fields. It was very cool.

The first day we got there it was, so we decided to drive north to Brisbane (1 hour) to check it out. We wanted to find the temple. We found it and it was beautiful.


Lecy & Steph with beautiful flowers in their hair in front of the temple sign.


The family standing at the entrance of the Temple.


The family standing in the Temple Gardens.
A senior sister missionary that walked us around told us that they have over 500 non-member visitors each month, and that they have the Book of Mormon in over 90 languages.

Day 2

On the second day we went to Dream World (one of 6 major theme parks). We had a very good time.


Steph and Lecy on the tea cups.


Steph bring eaten by a shark, or was it the other way around!




Petting our new found friends.


The beaches on The Gold Coast were incredible! They went on for miles and miles.

Day 3:Beach Day

We stayed in a community called Burleigh Head. It was about 10 miles south of the much larger town of Surfer's Paradise. This is the condo that we stayed in. We were about 200 feet from the beach.


We spent most of Day 3 on the beach, and amazing enough, none of us got sunburned.


Hans and his family being washed away by a wave.


The Anderson kids love the beach, especially Tyler. He was unhappy when he had to leave the beach, and kept asking when we could go back.

I will add more in the tomorrow.

First Couple of Days

While we were in Sydney we went to Wild Life Park at Darling Harbor, and look what we saw! What would a trip to Australia be without seeing a Koala Bear and a Kangaroo?






Stephanie and I went into Sydney today. One of our favorite places is Circular Quay (pronounced "key"). It is right downtown on the Harbor. It is a happening place, all of the ferries, boats and ships are constantly coming in and out. The Opera House is right there, as is the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Today there was a big cruise ship in the harbor.




Tyler and Grandma enjoying a good hug!




Grandma and the Kids swinging in the hammock.

We Are The Champions

Last weekend, We had some friends over to play games. When we finished one of the games there was a dispute between Stephanie and Pam Giblette over which team won. Of course, Stephanie was claiming victory for our team. It was suggested that they settle the dispute with an arm wrestle. They accepted the challenge. I am proud to say (even after I told Stephanie that I thought Pam would kick her butt)that Stephanie won the arm wrestle, and claimed the victory not only for herself, but for our team!

Artic Activities

So,when your kids are gone, and it's just the two of us, and it's 20 below outside, you still have to entertain yourselves. As all good Grandparents, we have a bottle of bubbles in the cupboard. We took the bubbles outside and started blowing them. It was so cool, they froze in mid air and settled on the ground and didn't break. Look closely at the picture and you will see the bubbles on the cement. They just roll around like little balls.

Artic Freeze

Yes, it's freezing here. We haven't been above 0 since Sunday. We will hit a high of -5 today. Needless to say it is a clear beautiful blue sky today. I went to the club (Dakotah Sports and Fitness) at 9:00 -20 below. It was busy there. And later going out to birthday shop for little 1 year old Ande. We are keeping warm - Boyd makes a fire every night and I love it!! Thanks Grandpa Anderson for calling and checking up on us. We appreciate it very much. So we carry on and say "And this too shall pass".

Elder Ian Anderson

All, Aimee has put together a blog for Ian. I have linked on my blog.

Convert Baptism

I am our Ward Mission Leader. We had a young women (Keodara) that was baptized today. The other Ward also had a baptism, I received a call about 2 hours before our's was scheduled to take place telling me that the water heater was not working. When I got to the chapel they had filled the font with cold water. I went into the kitchen and started heating pots of water to try and warm it up. It helped a little but the water was still pretty cold. When Keodara got the the meetinghouse, we told here the situation. She went in and felt the water and said I am too excited to put it off, I didn't even sleep last night. So, we went through with the baptism.

It was wonderful, and the spirit was so strong. We had great Ward support. It is so fun to see the enthusiasm of new members, and wonderful to welcome a sister into The Church