Nana & Papa

Back to Wisconsin - New Auburn

2011-08-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

In June we spent a week visiting our "Wisconsin Sisters" again

on Lower Long Lake. We had a wonderful time relaxing

and enjoying the beauty of that area. Maxine, Darlene

and Dody are truly pros at pizza and malts!

We love the friendly atmosphere!

Chilling out on the Lake was so fun......

you can't beat that kind of vacation :)

Fun in the water at Thanksgiving Point

2011-08-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

Matt and Meggan their boys came for a quick visit in June.

We spent one afternoon at the Children's Garden at

Thanksgiving Point.....the little boys didn't come in

swimsuits, but that didn't stop them from getting wet!

Ty is checking out the Rhino and Bode is loving the

water on this hot day.

Nana/Papa Camp

2011-08-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

We went to Las Vegas for our yearly Nana/Papa Camp!

The bonus to having it there was that we got to see our

Ballstaedt grandchildren.

Rocky is trying out his thumb.....so cute :)

Meika and Sienna joined in on the fun with McKyna!

Pool Time

2011-08-01T18:55:00.000-07:00

This year we had Nana/Papa Camp at Lake Las Vegas

It was for our grand-children age 12 and up.....

MaClane, Nick, McKyna, McCall & Brook
Crazy Fun!

MaClane was the champion of the

"Minute to Win it" contest.

Busy with too much fun!

2011-05-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

This a cute picture of Beckham......growing too fast!
He is 9 months old already.
Grandbaby #14 - Rocky! He was born April 2nd and I am
just betting around to posting his picture. Don't ask what
took me so long.....I am too busy too think up a good excuse.

Here is a follow-up picture just taken. Wow! That 7 weeks
went by way too fast.....stilll cute as a bug, though.

Yep, it's that time again. I love Spring and I love it when

I get helpers in the yard, even little ones. Sienna

and I had such fun planting annuals......she also loves

picking my tulips, also! Oooooops!

A Cousin Reunion!

2011-03-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

Recently a long lost cousin, Sandy, found me on facebook!

It has been so fun to get re-acquainted by e-mail over

the past several months. In December Sandy came to Utah

to visit her mother and we all got together for lunch while

she was in town....it was a great reunion,

Aunt Bonnie and Uncle came for the get-together! So this is me, Penny and Sandy.....we were all born in the same year 1949 and share many childhood memories. It was so fun to be together again. My mother is in the foreground of the picture. She and my dad came with me..... it was a special time for all of us.

Family From Germany!

2011-03-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

Helmut's sister Isabella, her husband Werner and their son Moritz

came for a visit from Germany during the monthes of

January and February. This is a picture of the gang one of the

times when we were together.

One night for dinner Isabella made homemade German

noodles for us-----yummy!

2011-03-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

Werner, Isabella and Helmut before heading to the slopes.

Helmut went skiing several times with them......and

he loved it and he can still walk!

2011-03-24T16:37:00.001-07:00

One day the four of us went snow mobiling....ugh!
Tab Bingham was our guide. That is not my idea of fun.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-30T13:52:00.001-08:00

There is so much more to Christmas than Christmas....

to me! Baking, shoppping, music, decorating,

sharing, serving, relaxing, sewing, reading,

entertaining, and SNOW. Altnough we didn't have

a white Christmas Eve or Christmas Day we did get

quite a bit of snow the week before and the week

after and it is so beautiful.

The week before Christmas my mother said she

was thinking about having few friends over one

afternoon for pie and ice cream. She invited

me to stop by....was I surprised when I got there...

she only had 26 of the ladies she invited show up!

What a party girl!

Dad hung out in the basement with the dogs.

Grandpa Bingham

2010-12-30T13:44:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple pictures taken when we went to

breakfast with Grandpa, Elaine, Tab and Pam.

Christmas Eve 2010

2010-12-30T12:24:00.000-08:00

We had 18 for our Christmas Eve Dinner! So Fun!

Stryker, Ty and Krew are ready for the

party....

This year our Christmas Eve dinner was based on the

traditions from Norway, since one of my ancestors

came from Norway in the mid 1800's.

The meal consisted of leg of lamb roast, boiled

potatoes, cauliflower, raisen bread, dates, figs,

nuts and "Christmas Beer" (soda).......it was a

real party!

The grand-children opened their gifts from nana

and papa.
We had a candy cane hunt...McCall won.

This is Krew showing some of the candy canes he gathered!

Christmas Day

2010-12-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

Helmut talking to his mother on the phone Christmas morning....

an important part of every holiday!

2010-12-27T10:52:00.000-08:00

Paul and Max

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The smartest thing I did this year was "not" wrap

presents! I put everything into bags......this

approach sure saved me a lot of time!

2010-12-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

Nana and Papa enjoying sweet Bode, Matt & Meggan's

youngest son.
Meggan and Bode.

Matt & Ty......Ty needed some candy!

Brian and "Curley"

Christianne and Tony

Europe 2010

2010-10-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

We recently returned from a 3 1/2 week vacation in

Europe. As I begin to update the blog I realize it

would be impossible to share everything we did and

saw........so I will only post a small part of a holiday

that we will forever remember and be grateful to

all of our family and friends that made it so

memorable! Each time you get to the bottom of

a page...click older post to see the next pictures or

you may miss some of our trip pictures.

Here we are with a newly discovered relative, Erwin Bambl,

who treated us to an unexpected trip into the Czhec

Republic. Johann Weinzierl and his wonderful family made this

meeting possible.

We went to the lovely little village of Oberammergau

and saw the "Passion Play".

2010-10-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

...seeing wonderful old family friends,

the Hoblers in Munich.
...eating Apfelkuchl in Tegernsee...

The world's biggest cuckoo clock....

The beauty of the black forest......

... A fun evening with family at a historic Tiergarten....

Family Fun!

2010-10-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

Here we are in Ausburg with Isabella and most of her family.
Our three wonderful nieces in Germany!

Werner and Isabella.

This time while in Germany we spent almost a week with Helmut's

brother, Ralph and his

sister, Isabella and their families. This is a picture with some

of us in Treiberg by Germany's tallest waterfall.

2010-10-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

This is the view from the castle in Heidleberg.

Here Helmut and some of the family are

looking at the castle ruins.

....taking a river cruise in beautiful Bavaria.........

The traditional band playing in a hoffbrau ...so fun to
listen to while we enjoy our meal!

Poland

2010-10-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

On this trip we again went into Poland for a few days

to see Halina and do some family history

research. Once again I am touched by the

beauty of the countryside.

We went to the Pila Civil Archive in search of

some genealogy questions still unanswered....

not really much success, but interesting?

The town square in Poznan is always a fun place to

eat and stroll around!

It is always so nice to see Halina. This time she took

us to the home of her daughter Berta where we were

served herbal tea and cookies.

The Winklers in Berlin, Germany

2010-10-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

We could not go to Germay without some time with our

wonderful friends, the Winklers. As in the past they

were so much help getting to and from.........as we make

our regular pilgrimage into Poland from Germany.

This is a picture of Helmut with the Winklers in

front of their lovely home in Berlin.

2010-10-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

Before taking us to the airport to catch our flight to London

our dear friends invited us to walk to the nearby

cemetery to see the grave of their daughter, Dorene.

We felt honored to be included in their weekly time to

visit this place and do a bit of cleaning around her

grave and tombstone.

London, England

2010-10-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

We spent the last few days of our trip

in London, England. One of the best parts

of this time was meeting some distant relatives,

Mark and Ann Wyatt.

The rest of the time in London we went sight-

seeing.........so interesting!

In the background of this picture of Helmut is
the "Millenial Wheel". It is similar to a
ferris wheel...but it moves slowly so that
those going for a ride can enjoy a view of London
and it's many sights. We didn't go on that this
time...but hope to someday.

We enjoyed "The Original Tour" bus ride
all around London!

It is a BIG city full of history and it would take
more than a few day to see everything there.

Nana and Papa Camp - August 2010

2010-08-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

Nana and Papa Camp has become a wonderful tradition!

It is for our grand-children age 5 and older. This year

we had 6 old enough to come and they were all

wonderful. I can't wait until next year to do it

again.

We (actually the kids) set up

two tents....one for the girls....

and one for the boys, of course. We spent 2 and a 1/2
days doing a variety of activities. I hope
they enjoyed their time together. Making memories
is fun, but so exhausting! Here are some of the things
that we did............

2010-08-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

Meika and Papa are trying to escape the camping

adventure. They both eventually came outside

after watching some tv.

They all participated in a brief moment of
scripture study.

The girls made some really delicious banana bread!

The boys were assigned to dig the dutch oven
pit. But Mieka volunteered, co cute.

Meika admitted that she can't read?

What?! So, Papa helped her

with the worksheet on joy.

2010-08-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

The kids did some service at GG and GP's.......

kind of. Next time I will pick the jobs for

them GG let them off soooooo easy.

The annual KFC dinner at the park followed by

a water fight. So funny!

Seven Peaks was a lot of fun, even in the rain.
Papa and Meika were "best buddies"
by the end of the day.

Saturday evening the girls we did some exploring in the

basement and

we found some of grandma Ollech's old gloves,

purses and hat box. What a find.

Grand-baby #13 - The Tie-Breaker! It's a Boy!

2010-08-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

Kim and Erik are now the proud parents of 4 boys and

3 girls.....A real party is going on at their house and

it will be for several years.

Do we look like proud grand-parents?

His name is Beckham Lyon.

Hawaii - A Great Break!!

2010-07-17T19:11:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed a wonderful week of sun, water

and our friends Rob and Joy Sanders.

Helmut and Rob are testing the water....

the girls watched from the beach.

The best part of this vacation was watching

Helmut and Rob act like a couple of goofy

teen-agers!

We went to the Cultural Polynesian Center...

This is a picture of us on the balcony of our room....once
again thanks to Molly we enjoyed first class
accomadations!

Rob and Joy - just like old times!

A week in California----

2010-06-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

Our time in California started with a few days in Morro Bay with

Helmut's parents and Werner and Janice.

Wow! Nothing is more relaxing than a picnic by the

ocean.......we loved the fresh air and a break from

our normal hectic schedule.

Newport Beach

2010-06-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

You can see some of the family in the distance

checking out the tides pools.........so fun!

Time to build a sand castle.

Krew

Ah, what a life.........

Disneyland

2010-06-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

The Fun Begins!

Where's Sienna and Bode?

Meggan, Ty, Matt and Bode

Bode was our best behaved little
Mouseketeer of the Day.

2010-06-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

Our family performers.......

Since more than 1/2 our group was children we

spent a bit of time in the kiddie section!

and tending the needs of the "little ones"....sure
brought back the memories!

Can you see the excitement in Ty's face? His dad just

said he gets to buy a sword!

This adorable picture is Krew explaining to Sienna how
she got lost......he used his map of Disneyland to show
her where she went wrong....so cute.

Time by the pool is always fun!

2010-06-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

Cairen, Kim and McKyna

Sienna and Cairen

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Reagan is loving the ice cream

San Juan Capistrano

2010-06-07T18:18:00.000-07:00

Our last day in California we visited an old Catholic Mission. This is a picture of the kids all lined to go into the mission.
What a great group of kids!

Time With Grandchildren!

2010-05-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

Kim and Erik went to Salt Lake for the night and we got to have

their children stay over.........we love it!

Krew didn't want what I made for dinner so he talked

Uncle Paul into making him a P&J Sandwich....

what a push-over, huh?

Looks like Stryker got in on the P&J Action!

McKyna baked cookies and McCall made breadsticks.....
they are both awesome helpers.

Stryker ate Ice Cream.......and where's MaClane? With
Paul or Brian most of the time he is here, of course.

2010-05-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

Not long ago Krew and Stryker came over for the morning..........

They were great little helpers in the yard.

Krew gathered quite a few small sticks left on the hill

from dad trimming the trees and Stryker spent most of

his time figuring out how to stay away from "Beto". That

was pretty funny since Beto could hardly move.

Las Vegas - Dad and I get to see the Ballstaedts

2010-05-17T18:03:00.001-07:00

Dad had a meeting in Mesquite, so I went along for the ride

and then we went on to Las Vegas to visit Cairen, Seth and

their girls for a couple days. It was a short visit, but we

had a fun time. Dad, of course, wanted to go look at boats

at Pro Bass . This might have been annoying if it wasn't such a

nice place to hang out as you can see!

Meika and Sienna were very helpful with the boat studies!

Two little Cuties!

Girl's Trip - Las Vegas 2010

2010-05-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

2nd Girl's Trip for the Bambl Girls was in Las Vegas again this year!

We had a wonderful time, but felt so bad that Molly couldn't

come this time...........next year!

We stayed at the Marriott JW Resort......so nice.

The time always goes by too fast. Here is Christy

packing her stuff out to the car to go home.

Kim & Cairen

Meggan and the one "boy" that was allowed to come

on our trip! That was a big improvement from the bus

load of children that came last year.

2010-05-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

What a a cute group!

Mother's Day Cupcakes!

2010-05-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

As You can see the cupcakes that Ricky and Molly sent

for Mother's Day were a big hit!

Stryker, Ty and the rest of the family gave them a thumb's Up!

Good-Bye Beto

2010-05-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

We were sad to say good-bye to Beto. We have had him for about

thirteen years. Which made him over 90 in dog years. It was

getting so dificult for him to get around the yard!

A Big Thank You to Brian for taking him in for us...there

is no way dad or I could have done it.

2010-04-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday.

It is such a blessing to have my parents

close enough to be a part of our holidays!

They are at the top of my list as I count

my blessings..........

East 2010

2010-04-05T10:45:00.001-07:00

One of the best parts of the Easter Celebration is the

East Egg Hunt!.......the race in on!

2010-04-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

Wow! Look at Krew run for those eggs!

2010-04-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

Ty got more excited about the East Egg Hunt this year
and he was pretty happy about what he gathered.

2010-04-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

It was amazing to see how fast the little ones were at gathering eggs.

Once again Krew was the champion!

2010-04-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

Stryker checking out what was inside his eggs! So fun!

Grand-baby #12!

2010-04-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

Matt and Meggan's 2nd little boy was born March 22nd.

They named him Bode.

He is so addorable and the whole family is excited to have

a new baby to pass around!

Stryker is especially happy about his new little, tiny

cousin.

Christmas Eve - 2009

2010-01-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

I really love Christmas Eve! I don't know if it's the anticipation

of Christmas Day, our fun Christmas Eve traditions,

or the quiet reverent remembering

of the 1st

Christmas that I enjoy that night after everyone else has gone

to bed.

This year we enjoyed a "Danish" Christmas Eve Dinner...

of Pork Roast, boiled potatoes, red cabbage,corn

and rice pudding! YummmmmmMany famlies in Denmark on Christmas Eve

gather round the tree and sing carols..........

...we circled around a small tree singing "Silent Night". I really

loved it! I hope the rest of the famly did.......Stryker seemed to

be having fun.

Christmas Day

2010-01-24T14:56:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning this year we had a small

group at our house.

It was so fun to watch Meika &

Sienna open their gifts...........cute!

After opening gifts at our place
we headed over to see what Santa brought to
the Rash children and enjoy a yummy breakfast.

This is a picture of Helmut trying out the new racket he

got from Kim & Erik for Christmas.

Guess who won?!

A Family Reunion in Las Vegas

2009-11-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

This was the first time we've had a

reunion for Helmut's family and

27 came to Las Vegas! It was

a great success and we hope to do it

again in November 2011. Our

activities included feeding the

fish at Lake Mead.....
(The ducks even showed up for this

special occassion.)

Here we are heading in mass to the

fish feeding frenzie...it is kind of

scarry!

2009-11-10T10:25:00.000-08:00

While in Las Vegas we saw

The Hoover Dam,
Ate Ice Cream,
Made Caramel Apples,
And enjoyed a German Dinner at
the Hoffbrau in Las Vegas....

More Fun!

2009-11-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

We also played the Candy Bar Game,
and enjoyed a yummy "Fiesta"!
Mostly, we just enjoyed being
together as a family...
and seeing grandma & grandpa Ollech.

Labor Day at the Platt Farm in Rocksville.

2009-09-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

This is the last picture of the summer as we get

ready to leave Rockville and the Platt Farm. We

had a great time and appreciate Joe and Sue

sharing their wonderful, peaceful country

retreat. The only thing that could have made

this time better for me would have been to

have ALL of the family there with us!

This is where we hung out at for Labor

Day weekend. It is owned by Meggan's

parents.........we called it camping, but

it was so much more comfy than sleeping

on the ground in a tent and cooking over

a fire pit!

On Saturday we went to Zion's Park....we

even went on a hike! What were we thinking?
Dad and I roughed it in a trailer we rented
from a rental place in St. George.
Paul slept in it also. We had room for more,
but they would have to be people 4 feet or
shorter.

Parting is such sweet sorrow. This is Sienna
and Krew saying good-bye on Monday. So cute.

Labor Day -----------bye, bye summer.

2009-09-08T13:06:00.001-07:00

The hike begins------

This is the gang preparing for the after the hike

activity........eating ice cream.

Sunday dinner........yummy.
The three princesses!

Some how dad managed to talk me into more

fishing.........not as productive this time, but

it was a beautiful, peaceful setting.

Our last fling of summer 2009.....

2009-09-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

The gang worked hard and fast to put up 2

tents.........kind of funny that no one slept in

either one of them.

Our first night with everyone there the rain,

thunder and lightning scared them all into

the trailer.......we did plan on "camping"!

We had such a great time just spending time

together.
Thanks to "grandpa Joe" the kids all enjoyed
a bit of adventure on a homemade swing.

This is a cute picture of Meggan and her

sister Kallie on the more comfortable swing.

Who turned 60?

2009-09-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

Wow! Are we getting old! To celebrate dad's

60th we went fishing.......it was scarry for

me riding in a 14 foot boat. But dad was

so excited about catching 3 good sized

trout. They were sure delicious.

I brought a book to read and some handwork

to do.......and I did okay until the wind

started to blow and the sky got dark

with clouds. I was very happy to get back

on dry ground.

Doesn't this birthday boy look happy?!
That smile made the day perfect for both of us.
Great to be at a point in life when his happiness
makes my day.

Those lazy days of summer........

2009-09-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

As another summer comes to a close I feel some saddness....I thought that those days were a thing of the past, now that our children are all

grown. But now I see that as each summer passes it means our grand-chilren are growing up even faster! This is a cute picture of papa playing

crochet with the kids the first evening of nana and papa camp. We had so

much fun.

No doubt about it they are the best part of our summers. We have a

bizillion pictures of all of them from this summer and here are a few

our favorites. This first picture is of Stryker hanging out with papa after

dinner on a Sunday afternoon.

This picture of McKyna, Krew and Ty helping to harvest the cheeries

cracks me up........so funny, I would send them all out back and

they would come back in an hour later with one small bowl of

cherries..........hmm?

Our three oldest grand-daughters looking so beautiful just

before their musical performance. Just looking at this

picture makes me melancholy. They look so grown up!

This is another picture from Nana/Papa camp............the kids

are working on a quiz about the family and they are all trying to

squeeze the answers out of papa.

Ah, more sweet memories of summer........

2009-09-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

Reagan napping on the couch.........so peacful.
Sienna snuggling by the pool with Nana.
Nick and MaClane getting ready to hit the velcro wall at
"Jump On It". I sure laughed hard watching them stick

to the velcro wall.
Ty sleeping on his dad's shoulder after a busy day at the "Platt Farm"
with his cousins.

Meika helping water the day lilies in Nana and Papa's backyard. As you

can see this was before the infamous "haircut"!

Tony and Christy's New Truck!

2009-09-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

Tony is on a new adventure with trucking...........he is now an independent

truck driver with his own truck. We wish him much success and safety.

Missouri Trip

2009-07-30T16:08:00.000-07:00

Helmut and I took a one week trip to Missouri with Rick & Molly and their family and Kim and

Erik and their family. It was a fast paced vacation! We got to see so much history.........it

was like stepping into the past. I got a new and enriched feeling for

the lives of my ancestors. It was so interesting.

The first picture is of Ricky & Molly and their children by the Mississippi River.

Erik & Kim and their gang in the same spot. This at the west side of Nauvoo and

on the "trail of tears", where the pioneers crossed the river to escape persecution.

Helmut and I on the edge of the Mississippi. It sure is a big, dirty river!

Brothers

2009-07-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

While we were in Fresno, California we had a really nice evening with Helmut's

brother's and their wives. So, here is Helmut with Werner & Ben.

The California Coast in July

2009-07-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

Helmut and I just got back from California. He had a meeting in San Francisco and

I decided to tag along. It was a nice break from the heat in Utah. After his

meeting we spent a few days on the coast with his parents. The first picture

is of them walking back from an hour of sitting on a bench at the end of the pier in

Pismo. They really enjoyed just soaking in the ocean air and watching all of

the activity there.

This is the beach in Pismo..........a favorite family spot when our children were young.

We were surprised how cool it was there.........definitely called for a jacket.
How quickly we forget!

The bench...........

Rick, Reagan and Nick brought grandma & grandpa to the coast....

We met them in Monterey. Here we are getting ready to order a yummy bowl of

clam chowder.

Our Wisconsin Trip - May 2009

2009-06-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a wonderful vacation with

grandma and grandpa Przybyla. It was so nice to

spend a week with them.........just hope we didn't

wear them out and wish we could do it again......we

will forever cherish our memories of this great trip.

They were real troopers all the way!

There is no way I can post all of the fun pictures or tell

you everything we did........but here is a small portion of

our Wisconsin Trip!

Dody, Darlene and Maxine

We all agree on one thing about this fun outing.........and

that is that the best part was spending time with our

newly found "Wisconsin Sisters"! They are for sure

3 of the nicest people we have ever met and to think

they are family!

We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for

our wonderful, relaxing, peaceful, fun days on the

lake in New Auburn.

2009-06-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

This a picture of the three cottages at

Max's Resort. We stayed in the one on the left, which is the

largest of the three. It was very cute, comfortable and clean. We

really enjoyed the amazing view of the lake from our window!

We sure enjoyed the boat ride they treated us to around the lake.

We were surprised how big the lake actually is and had fun

taking in all of the interesting sights!

You can tell from this picture that Helmut really enjoyed

visiting and get better acquainted with our wonderful

"Wisconsin Sisters". They really treated us like royalty

the whole time we stayed there.

On Sunday we went to church hoping so see someone

Helmut would recognize from his mission 41 years ago.

That didn't happen, but everyone was so friendly and

sure tried to remember who he was......so funny...........

he may look a bit different than he did in 1968! Ya think?!

This is the building the ward met in when Helmut was

serving in Eau Claire as a missionary. Since then they

sold it to another church and have built a much larger church.

Time marches on............

This is my favorite picture from the trip.

None of the homes my dad lived in as a child in

West Allis were still there and everything had

changed. But, this a corner that he stood on

to sell newspapers back then and the same

building is still standing there. It was a

"hamburger joint" back when..........we were

so excited to find an original building that I

didn't even notice what it is now!

Milwuakee Fun!

2009-06-03T16:58:00.001-07:00

Here are pictures from just a few of the things we did in

Milwuakee.........This first picture is from the Public Market.

It was not very big, but it was nice. The candy, ice cream

and baked goods all looked so yummy! Too bad we weren't

hungry after a whole week of "pigging-out".

We took a boat tour of Milwuakee and this is picture of

grandma & grandpa by the river before we got on the boat.

The ride was so relaxing and we got a great tour of the city

from the water.

One of the things that my dad wanted to see was the

"Greenfield Golf Course". It was one of the

places he sold newspapers when he was a kid. To our

surprise it was still there. It looked like a

very nice golf course.

He also had some pretty funny memories of a

"really steep" alley near one of the homes their

family lived in when they were in West Allis.

This is a picture of it........we all got a tickle out

of how steep it wasn't...........funny how we remember

things from our childhood.

We spent quite a bit of time looking for the cemeteries

where dad's grandparents and uncle were

buried. We found all three of them and this is a picture

taken by the tombstone of his grand-

father, Jan Przybyla.

Spring is Here!

2009-04-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

The storms are quiet for now and the snow is melted.........a good chance to work

in the yard. One of our neighbors needed their garden plot rotatiled and so dad

is off with his riding lawn mower and pulling the cart with his rotatiller in the

cart.......so tricky! I was afraid that it would tip over and make a

mess of him and the equipment. But, it worked.

Ooooops! Guess it needs gas.

April 16th - Paul gets his new hearing aid!

2009-04-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

Paul's appointment included a brief visit with Dr. Shelton before meeting with the

audiologist to get his new aid. It was very interesting.........first they tested with

the computer the implanted device and then they tested the aid on him.

This first picture they are testing the device........parts of the testing was

so loud that it was uncomfortable for him.

In this picture the audiologist is showing Paul the

hearing aid and telling him all about it.

On it goes!

Paul can hear with it, but it sounds like a bunch of

mumbling to him. He will go in again in two weeks for an

adjustment..........I don't know how many times that will be

required. Paul was dissapointed that it wasn't immediatly

similar to his life long experience with the other aids. This

is a different kind of technology and he has to relearn how to

process what he is hearing.

This is after we got home and he is watching tv.......trying to understand

what they are saying. After fiddling with it for a while he said it got

better, but it will take time for him to be completely comfortable with

his new hearing aid.

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

After dinner Brian and Paul hid the eggs for an Easter Egg Hunt in the front yard. Krew

did an awesome job!

Ty was much more interested in riding the car than gathering eggs, so Meggan covered for

him, though. So funny!

The eggs were in some pretty clever hiding spots!
That didn't stop us from gathering them all.

Stryker was content with one egg........the older kids each found a bag full.
Sorry there's no pictures of them, papa was in charge of taking pictures!?
We missed all of the grandchildren that live so far away and we look forward
to the summer when they will come to visit.

The fun of having grandchildren!

2009-04-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun when Cairen and her girls came to visit for a week! One day we did some

bread baking.........which included grinding spelt. Meggan had more help then she needed.

It was so cute how they all wanted to turn the hand grinder.........in a few years they won't

even want to help if we offer to pay them!

Stryker enjoying his birthday cake.........where did that year go?

One day when we had Krew and Stryker at our house we had a movie on to entertain
Krew. Everytime I came into the room Krew was watching the movie
from a different comfy spot.......so cute.

Krew and Sienna were watching me in the kitchen while their moms
were working on a project..........I love having the grandchildren at our house.

Meeting the "Wisconsin Sisters" in Las Vegas!

2009-03-19T16:23:00.000-07:00

This month we made an unexpected trip to Las Vegas...........where we got to see our cute Ballstaedt family and meet three really lovely ladies from Wisconsin.

McKyna went with us........she is great company! McCall was going to go, but at the

last minute things changed........we were all sad about that.

This is Helmut with Dody, Maxine and Darlene. They are the daughters of his

grandmother's(Rosa Kreuz) brother(Max Kreuz). Helmut was so happy to meet some more

family in America!

We all went to dinner at the German Hofbrau in Las Vegas to celebrate our

common ancestors. And we had a great time.

Paul's Cochlear Implant

2009-03-03T12:44:00.000-08:00

March 2nd Paul had the long awaited surgery. His surgery started at 9:45 and took about 2 hours. The doctor said that everything went well, but we won't know until April 16th if it will

give him back some hearing. We are hopeful and the doctor is very positive!

In the first picture he is on his way to surgery.

Here he is after surgery........but not looking quite as good.
This is the day after the surgery when we had to change the dressing.......
....I am glad dad was here to help.

He is starting to return to normal........back on the computer and using the phone to text

his friends. His pain has been minimal since he came home from the hospital and for that

we are so greatfull!

The Mom's get away?!

2009-02-23T11:06:00.003-08:00

This is the begining of a real adventure..........I sure appreciated Krew letting us know that

" we weren't so far up" as we were taxing down the runway!

2009-02-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

On the 18th of February all of the gals in the Bambl family except Christianne headed for a

3 day trip to Las Vegas. We had big plans for a fun, relaxing time for just the moms......

Oh, surprise..........6 little ones came along and that made all the difference!

The flight from Salt Lake to Las Vegas is only an hour, but we were all ready

to get off the plane when we arrived.

2009-02-23T10:39:00.000-08:00

The yogart shop and the park turned out to be the 2 favorite spots for our group in Las Vegas.

That may seem strange to some, but it worked for us.......

As you can see Ty was a big fan of the stop for treats!

Reagan was quick to master the slides.

Meika and Ty..........

Does this really look like a mom's get away?!

2009-02-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

One of the amazing moments of our trip was watching Stryker enjoy his first sucker.
Bathtime was also an event to remember. Truly we didn't let having 6 children along
totally cramp our style.

We still managed to catch a magic act or two performed by several

escape artists.......Reagan being the pro.

I think my favorite event of the trip was the ballet performed by Ty. Too bad his dad

wasn't there to see it first hand.

Although we stayed away from the casinos we did manage to play a game one night...

that was crazy!

2009-02-23T10:10:00.000-08:00

Some of us enjoyed a foot massage, compliments of Meika and Sienna.

The movie night was certainly something to remember!

This is Krew peaking out to see exactly what goes on at a "Girl Party"

(as Meika called it).

A make-over would have been fun.......but as you can see we were on our own.

2009-02-23T09:59:00.000-08:00

This is the whole gang waiting to be seated at the Cheesecake Factory on our last day of the trip.

It was very comical asking for a table for 5 adults, 1 child and 5 high chairs! What a party!

TThis is Reagan, the birthday girl. She turned 2 while we were all together.

Krew loved the salad dressing.

Stryker was the youngest in the gang.

2009-02-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

Ty - getting the eye from aunt Cairen - so cute! He knows how to give it back......

Although our "girls trip" to Las Vegas wasn't exactly what we had in mind we still had

a good time and made memories that I will forever cherish.

2009-02-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

It is February 2009 and the 24th of this month Helmut will be 59 1/2. This means he could

retire, but as you can see he is still working away! I apppreciate all the years of work that he has

put in to take care of me and our family. Wow.......what a guy!

My friend Marie is a very talented knitter(is that a word?). Anyway she made me a

darling little reversible Cinderella doll. This is a picutre of the doll in her rags. You can

turn the skirt and she is in her ball gown. So cute and the details are so amazing!

I love dolls!

We finally got our new kitchen counter top installed. We noticed that the origonal one was warping quite a while ago.....but it took us a very long time to pick outsomething to

replace it and find an installer......don't ask me why?! It's in now and we love it.

I am especially happy about the new desk that we added. Now my computer is in

the kitchen instead of our bedroom.........so great!

Christmas Eve Memories

2008-12-30T12:25:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful

Christmas with all of our children and grandchildren here this year. We

realize that we will not always be this lucky. And this causes us to cherish this busy,

and sometimes hectic season of our lives.

We hope that our friends and family all over the world had as great a Holiday as we did.

On Christmas Eve this year we had an English Dinner.....so yummy and fun.

After dinner we learned to sign "Silent Night" and then tried to sing it in German.

Our four toddlers were so cute in their pajamas!

This is Reagan, Sienna, Krew and Ty.

More Christmas fun!

2008-12-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

This is some of the family playing Rook on Christmas Day at Kim and Erik's home after a wonderful Christmas Day turkey dinner.

This is our six older grandchildren on a outing to "Build a Bear".

When we went to spend a few days in Salt Lake City we stayed in the Marriott
with an ice skating rink just out the back door.

This is Matt and Ty getting ready to hit the ice, with a little assistance from Nana.

This is Helmut serving up pizza at the Pie Pizzeria.

We are worn out from all the fun! But truly I am already looking

forward to the next time we can all get together again.

Tis The Season

2008-12-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

Our celebration has begun...........as always the first sign of Christmas is decorating the tree.

This year we decided to do something different and we put on just blue and white lights.

This did mean I had to leave off many of my favorite red santa ornaments.......didn't

really want a red, white and blue tree. It is quite pretty and dad is happy since his

favorite color is blue!

The dogs seem content to sleep near the tree no matter what color the lights are each year.

Thanksgiving Point

2008-12-03T15:51:00.000-08:00

Even though we didn't get to have all of the family with us for Thanksgiving dinner this year we still had a wonderful month of November. Cairen and her girls came for two weeks and we had so much fun while they were here. One day we took the younger ones to the animal farm at Thanksgiving point. Ty was for sure the bravest at feeding the calves.

We had our first "Clara's Club" meeting at mother's clubhouse. This was, I hope the

begining of a girls organization for the Christiansen family. I really did appreciate

our girls coming.

McKyna spent the night while Cairen was here and pulled off a curley hair day!

Don't you wish you could get your hair to look like that?

Our Thanksgiving morning started off with the neighborhood "Gobble Walk". The plan is to

walk off some of those extra calories ahead of time.......not sure it worked?!

We got a new entertainment center to fit Helmut's big screen TV and as you can see he had

some expert help getting things set up. Actually Paul and Brian were very helpful and Seth even

contributed some muscle between his studying.

Thanksgiving Point - more pictures from our outing

2008-12-03T15:38:00.000-08:00

This a picture of Meika taking a pony ride at the animal farm.
Krew is ready to get off!
This month was my parents 60th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful 3 day

celebration........this is a picture of the family dinner on Saturday night. The talent show that

followed dinner was amazingly entertaining.

Happy 60th to mother and dad........what a cute couple!

oops.......guess I posted this picture twice...........too bad I'm not

skilled enough to take this one off!

Our Trip To Las Vegas & California - November 2008

2008-11-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

We took a trip to California - to attend Brett's Missionary Farewell & to help gg and gp Ollech
move. We had a great time.......The bonus was that we got to see Cairen & Seth and their girl
and Ricky's Family. We sure wish that everyone lived closer.........but it was a treat to see
them all! The above is Meika being creative with the playdough.

Sienna is mommy's little helper.

Ricky's family in Visalia is doing well.....we were so surprised to see how much
Reagan has grown since last summer.

Helmut is working hard to help with the BIG MOVE!

Does this house look familar? Could be because this is where Helmut's mother

and step-father lived from abt 1968 to 1986. And now they are going back to

live on the farm by Ben & Shirley. Kind of like going home..........

This is the last of our Pictures from Europe!

2008-11-13T13:07:00.000-08:00

It was so great to see Halina in Poland again. Here is a picture of our tranlator and transportation, Lukasz and Halina looking at the computer and discussing family history at Halina's house.

This is another picture taken at Halina's.

We cannot say enough about how much we enjoyed our time in the Berlin area! Once again

our dear friends, the Winklers did so much to help us enjoy our time there. We were

sorry that we didn't get to see Marie........maybe next time.

Our Family in Haunkenzell

2008-11-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

This is Johann Weinzierl and his family. We met them in 2004 and enjoyed visiting with them again in 2006 and this year. Johann is a first cousin to grandma Ollech. Each time we go he and his family show a new and special family spot of interest!

German Bakeries

2008-11-12T17:23:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite parts of going to Germany is eating goodies from the bakeries. They are

everywhere and so good! On my birthday I was treated to a beautiful cake made by

Susanna and Rainer's handsome son, Peter.

We had to take a picture of the beautiful cakes at the bakery where

Peter is training..........tempting, huh?

Here is Peter at the bakery. Doesn't he look like a pro?!

Denmark

2008-10-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

Copenhagen , Denmark was really fun...........we especially enjoyed our time with

Bor. & Sis. Thomsen. Here we leaving church to go do some sight seeing. They hold

church in the Ballerup Train Station.

Here we are eating a sack lunch that Sis. Thomsen packed for us before entering the

Freiderekborg Castle.

After the castle and a fun custom tour they took us on of the area we went to their home. That
was very special........she treated us to a typical Danish lunch.........a declicious open-faced shrimp sandwich.

Our second day in Copenhagen we went in search of a couple family history spots. First I wanted to find the home where our ancestors lived when Niels Peter Christiansen Sr., my great-great-grandfather was born. We found the street, but couldn't really be sure which

building they lived in, because the house numbers have changed since the mid 1800's. This

building looked like the oldest on the street to me, so that is our best guess! Maybe next

time we go we can get better information on the history of this area.

This is the Lutheran church where he was christened! It is a famous church in

copenhagen........called the "Church of Our Savoir".

2008-10-31T09:43:00.000-07:00

Here is what we saw in France.

2008-10-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

We actually only spent a couple days in France, but what we saw was really interesting. We

visited two sights. One of them was the beaches of Normandie, the

American WW II Monuments and the Cemetery.

This is Omaha Beach, where thousands of American soliders died before and after the

famous landing!

This is the American Monument built
in of honor all those that gave their lives that day............do you know the

date of D-day?

This is the cemetery.......do you know
how many American boys are buried
here?

The other sight we visited in France
was la Mont St. Michel. This is an abbey originally built in 700 a.d. It was very interesting, but it had way too many steps for me!

Uncle Karl

2008-10-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

While we were in Munich we saw Uncle Karl several times. We tried to get him to go out to dinner, but he didn't really want. So, we ended up bringing food back to the apartment for him. Even though he usually said that he wasn't hungry he always seemed to enjoy what we brought, especailly the deserts! He is moving very slowly now days and no doubt he is lonely - since most of the time he is alone in his apartment.

Our Munich Heroes the Schobers!!

2008-10-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is dad in front of the flat that Susanne and Rainer let us use for several days while we were

in Munich. They drove us to our day trips from here and even let us borrow one their cars to drive to the Schonsee area. Sussanne was also very helpful with our search for more genealogy

informaton. We doubt if they realize how much we appreciate everything they did for us.

2008-10-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

So, we are back after spending 3 weeks in Europe. As always, it is so nice to be home!

We will be adding pictures from our trip for the next fews days. This is a picture of the inside of one of the beer tents at the Octoberfest in Munich. We went to this our first day in Germany

with Rainer and Susanne. It was amazing! This tent holds about 6,000 people all sitting

like a bunch of bugs in a rug drinking beer and eating great German food. The festival attracts

about 6 million people each year. Crazy, huh?!

The Best Part of Our Trip was meeting Family!

2008-10-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

We were really pleased to be able to find information on, locate and meet some of dad's family from his birth father, Helmut Streicher, on this trip to Germany. This is his brother Ralph with his wife Petra and their two daughter Theresa and Franziska. They are very nice people.

Helmut's Family in Germany

2008-10-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

This a picture of Isabella and her husband, Werner.

Here is a picture of Helmut finally united with his brother Ralph and his sister Isabella

2008-09-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

On Friday we said good-bye to our last puppy. The last one that we found a home for was our only male survivor. We called him Jr. because he reminded us so much of Max.
Most likely our "puppy days" our over! Even though we had fun with both bunches of puppies, the poopies weren't so fun. I'm sure that my laundry room will never be the same!
The people that bought Jr. were from Green River...................this is Linda and Jr. when she came to pick him up. It does give us some pleasure to know that he will fill an empty spot in the home of these very nice people. They had to have their 15 year -old Schnauzer put to sleep recently and their other dog has been so sad! She did call on Sunday to give us an update and assure us that he has adjusted well to his new home. We sure hope that all of the new puppy

owners love their new pets as much as we love our dogs.