thanksgiving family reunion

Wilson said:

My favorite day was when we spent time at Andrew's house. I got to play his drum set and his PS2 guitar hero III. Andrew is a good wrestler and gets up every morning at 4:30 to work out. I liked eating dinner at the restuarant because they had a waitress who brought drinks and stuff. I filled my plate four times and could have eaten more. I also liked playing keep away at the hotel pool with my cousins. I would have liked to have stayed longer at Valley of Fire. I would have hiked to the top of every red mountain. It was awesome

Cooper said:
What I liked best about our family reunion was playing Grandpas one armed bandit. We used $150.00 in real silver dollars We lost it in less than 30 minutes. It would have taken me a whole summer to earn that much money. I also liked the movie at Zion's National Park. We went to the Valley of Fire. I liked the first hike best, the one with all the caves and blue bellied lizards.We had dinner at the Chuck o Rama. It was really tasty--the ham was the best. I had vanilla/chocolate ice cream with 1 lb of M&M on top. My favorite thing with the cousins was swimming at the hotel pool.

Max said:

We went on a airplane two times! We had peanuts. I raced the cousins. All the cousins know how to swim and we went in the hot tub and the cold pool. We had a feast at a restaurant. We could pick any thing we wanted. I got jello--red and green jello. and brownie and M&M on my ice cream. We went to the church and made stuffing guys. I put lots of stuffing in my guy because Grandma Poodle helped me. The guys were for the kids at the hospital. On our hike we went to the waterfalls and in a cave. We was a cougar in the newspaper, so we looked for it on our hike. I like Grandmas poodles too.


Eliza said:

On our first night we met Jake the dog. It was funny when Jake sat on Max and farted on him. We went hiking the next day in a place that looked like fire because of the red rocks. On our other hike we did a game called rock challenge. You had to jump to each rock and not touch the ground. I was the winner of that game. It was raining hard and we got too wet. We had to change our clothes. The first time I was the cousins was at the race. We had our Thanskgivign feast at a restaurant. I liked visiting my cousins in the motor home. We did a lot swimming. I helped make the dolls for poor people and people at the hospital. When we got home off the airplane there was snow on the ground--but none at our house.

Kelly said:

I overheard Uncle Blake answer his cell phone this way, " I want you baby, I want you bad." It was his wife calling. This is the line that sums up what I love most about The Lundberg family. I love being in the company of couples really in love with each other. From Grandma and Grandpa (almost 50 years), to a couple of very horny nieces and nephews with their boyfriend and girlfriend, Thanksgiving was about feeling the love. I feel more in love with Tony just being around all the happy couples.

Thanksgiving dinner involved waiting for over an hour in a line outside Chuck O Rama in the rain, the ambiance of feeding time on the farm, and absolutely no control over what my kids were eating (mostly ice cream). It was 100% worth it. We spent all morning stuffing and sewing dolls and animals and assembling hygiene kits. We didn't have food to prepare and got to think of someone other than ourselves for the whole morning. We still had the benefit of turkey sandwiches and pumpkin pie that night. Oh yeah--and minimal cleanup!

Tony's Mom and Dad, Russ, Pam, La Risa and I went to the temple on Friday morning. The St George temple was powerful. During the session I had an epiphany. As the movie started and the beautiful scenes of the earth were shown, I realized that the beauty was familiar. We had just spent the past two days hiking in Valley of Fire and Zion's national park with the kids where the scenery was breathtaking. No wonder I like hiking more than any activity I can think of--it's a temple experience.

It was so nice having Mom and Dad to ourselves for a whole night before the reunion. We kept Dad up very late asking questions about Tony's Grandma and Grandpa and looking at beautiful old books that once belonged to them. Mom and Dad's chicken soup was the best I've ever had. It was a miracle to see Tony's Mom doing so well. I was very worried about this reunion exhausting her, and it probably did, but she seemed so happy to have everyone together.

It was the perfect reunion and a wonderful Thanksgiving.

this and that

Sorry for recording this Cooperdog. It will be a great family legend in 20 years.

Cooper (age 9--not yet in puberty) woke up yesterday and announced that he'd had a wet dream. Tell me about it, I said.
Cooper replies, "I dreamed Wilson and I had a waterballoon fight and when I woke up I was wet." Probably need to review a few things with him.

Overheard a very serious 4 year old conversation today:

"OW, OW there is a bee in my shoe and it's stinging me on the toe!" Max says.
"Yep, it's hard to concentrate with a bee in your shoe!" replies his friend Thommy.

We had a service primary activity on Tuesday. I explained to the children that many people in Peru were poor and sometimes didn't have enough to eat, or clothes to wear. One of the activities was to write a letter to the children in Peru in English and then translate into Spanish. Some of the children said things like, "Dear poor people," or "I'm sorry you don't have enough to eat today." These were not mean spirited comments, but they were a red flag to me. I think there is a fine line leading from compassion, to pity, to disdain, to scorn. The lesson for me was to emphasize the doctrine that we are all children of Heavenly Father and he wants us to share with others because we love Him. I guess we have to beware of pride even when we are trying to help people.

Three days off of school this week. It was nice to relax a little. We gave the kids the choice of going to a movie on their day off or donating the money to humanitarian supplies. They all voted to donate. I probably set that one up a little unfairly, but oh well.

Yesterday was a day of rekindled friendships. Out of the blue I received a visit from my friend Denise. She drove all the way out to St John and we spent the afternoon catching up. I'd forgotten (maybe suppressed) how much I miss her. I also really like her kids. Later that night Tony got a call from our friend Rick. Rick lost his wife two years ago to cancer. He and Tony talked for a long time and laughed and cried. Rick told Tony that he misses his wife more every day. I felt grateful for these friendships that have and continue, even after years of little or no contact, to inspire me to be better. Perhaps I am coming to know Jesus Christ by recognizing His personality traits in the amazing people around me.

happy 2nd mother's day

Today after church I came down the stairs to signs proclaiming, "Happy 2nd Mother's day!" Almond Joys were taped to the signs and five giggling children were raiding the cupboards for linens, silverware and good china. Finally I was allowed into the kitchen where a "fancy table" had been set up complete with goblets of Koolaid and colorful plastic plates on gold leafed chargers. I think the whole idea was Cooper's but everyone was in on the surprise. Tony walked in with just as we were saying prayer and the kid's excitement and happiness was palpable. I (carefully) pointed out to the kids how great it would be if we could keep this service feeling all the way to Christmas. I'm learning to relish these instances without guilt or reservation when they come because they are sporadic, unpredictable and fleeting. Max explained the whole thing when he said, "Mommy, I made you dinner because you love me so bad!"

game day

Today was Wilson's first basketball game. He wore his suit to school with all the confidence in the world. During the game, he scored three baskets, 6 of the 10 points. He plays a little rough, but he played almost the whole time. It is sure fun to see him really enjoy and succeed at something. Hopefully he can keep his grades up and keep playing. We are grateful for the leverage.

halloween

We have begun refering to Marcos as "the greaser." This is not a racist nickname. Marcos simply has a bizarre attraction to all things greasy including vaseline and butter. He managed to get two tubs of vaseline and a cube of butter spread fairly evenly through his hair. The good news is that his scalp shows no trace of dryness. He is one silky smooth boy.








Halloween this year was straight out of ET. The most fun halloween we have had in years. We had dinner and trick or treating with our new Seventh Day Adventist friends who have 6 kids that match up with ours exactly. We partied until 10:30 and the kids were absolutely wacky on sugar and exhaustion. That's what itHalloween's all about.