Back to Wisconsin - New Auburn

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

Happy Holidays

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

Here are a couple pictures taken when we went to

breakfast with Grandpa, Elaine, Tab and Pam.

Christmas Eve 2010

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

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

an important part of every holiday!

Paul and Max

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!

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

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".

...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!

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.

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!