Merry "Season" to All!

Only a few days left to shop till "season";-). I think the only one that didn't get in trouble while trying to take a cute picture was Elmo. It's funny that Bryce actually likes wearing ties right now...that won't last long.

Should be a great Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa time with Clark and Racinda home from their two years in Japan (and hopefully no tsunamis this year).

A Very Merry Nebulous Celebration of something or other to you and yours!

Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat...

Do you remember that song? We used to sing it in school growing up (gasp--what? the word Christmas is in that song...). Yes, Christmas is just right around the corner now (or as many in America are fighting for "the seasons" or "holidays"). Well, forget you all--it's Christmas, so there!! Anyway, sorry it's been 3 weeks, but I guess with all the Christmas programs we've gone to, not to mention having the flu around our house, it's been a little hectic. Also, sorry, no pictures either. I (Jenn) have not mastered the art of putting the pictures on the blog. Every time I write and try to put the picture on I do something wrong. And everytime I say, "oh, I'll remember next time." But lo and behold, I forget. Rick thinks this is hilarious, of course. However, in my defense, my brain was not wired for computer memory skills. I'm lucky that I can write a paper, an e-mail, and this blog! So, sorry Rick, laugh all you want, but unless you are writing this blog, no complaining! ;0)
Christmas is coming--so make sure you get those last minute gifts (amongst the thousands of others crammed into the Wal-mart aisles) and make sure you are wearing a smile on your face!

And You Thought You Had Bad Hair Days?

Meeting A Personal Hero

I had the huge opportunity to have Huldah Buntain (her late husband was Mark Buntain) -- missionary for 51 years to Calcutta, India and founder of Mission of Mercy -- here in Karlstad (!) to speak for our Harvest Festival. She flew in Saturday and flew out Monday, and I had fun the whole weekend (though I was ready to be done with all the stress). I had to schedule the service with her missionary booking agent! Wow, it was a huge privilege! (pictured: Jenn, Rick, Huldah and Nancy Gibson [former AGWM missionary and now fellow traveller with Huldah])

Just Having Fun With My Grandpa!

From Winter to Fall

It's hard to believe that just 2 weeks ago we had snow. Instead, we spent most of the day Saturday mowing up our leaves. 15 bags worth (and that is the big lawn and leaf kind)--and that was only the back yard. But before we cleaned up the yard, the kids enjoyed a rather nice, sunny day playing in the leaves.

Is Six the new 13?

Well, it's already begun...Bryce received his first phone call from a (gasp) girl. There's nothing like answering the phone only to hear this high-pitched voice on the other end saying, "Is Bryce there?" uh and who is this? Dariann. Last year "the" girl was Naomi. At least the whole conversation was about ladybugs and spiders (from Bryce's end of the line, anyway). Now I am a little old fashioned, and I'm not even sure I approve of girls calling boys. That argument was a 'little' different when I was 13, though. I'm sure my mom remembers the arguments. ;0) But I can't blame these girls, because of course Bryce is a complete heart-throb!

80 Degrees On Sunday?

I find it hard to believe it was that warm this weekend, but it was. And now look at the weather. The high today is supposed to be low 30's. Oh, well. At least I'm getting a little break from beet harvest ;-). We didn't even get as much snow as some places (6-12 inches in parts of North Dakota with 3 foot drifts). Last week, I (Rick) got to substitute teach Bryce's first grade class...talk about "exciting". Nothing like trying to manage 19 six-to-seven year olds, but at least it was only half a day. I did have visions of Arnold screaming in his Hungarian accent...by the way "it's not a tumah! [sic]".

Deep thoughts with.....Bambi?

There's just nothing like seeing your 3yr. old's brain growing! As she's watching Bambi this morning, Abbi begings to ask me the deep questions. "Mommy, what happened to Bambi's mommy? Why did she fall down? Is she dead? (we get the dead question often ever since our fish Oscar died about 5 months ago) Is Bambi hurt? Where is Bambi now?" and my favorite, "Where is Thumper's daddy?" That is a good question! It's neat and a little scary to see her brain working out complex issues instead of just sitting and taking it all in without a thought in the world. And by the way, have you ever noticed how often the "dad" is missing (whether by death or not) in many of the Disney movies? Where's Dumbo's dad? Cinderella's dad dies. Bambi's dad is mostly absent. Lion King? dead dad. Snow white? dead dad. You get the picture...

Routines and more routines

The last few weeks have just gotten away from me. I guess just trying to get back into a routine will do that. The house sure is quieter with Bryce back in school. Abbi is pretty good at entertaining herself and Cambria is just her own little person now, too. My newest endeavor (Jenn) has been to FLY in my home (www.flylady.net). I never knew I was such a perfectionist--okay, yeah I did! It has really helped me make some routines in my life that I really needed. It all started with the book Sink Reflections and now the website.
A couple of things this last week: Bob (Rick's brother--those who don't know) had a birthday on Sat. Happy Birthday Bobbo!! and he is actually Master Bob now! :0) as he officially completed his masters program. Congrats! And also this last Sun. we had Rick SR. and Carol come and speak at our church (our sectional meeting). They both did such a terrific job--Thank you so much!!
I never seem to bring my cameral with me for the times I want to take pictures, though! sorry!

By the way, it was pizza

Bryce had his first day of 1st grade today! But he's still at that age when you ask him what he did in school, the answer is almost always an, "I don't know..." comment. Although he usually can remember what he had for lunch! Must be a boy thing. I guess he did tell me that he was chasing girls at recess--must be a Wadholm thing! :0) 6 years old and in the first grade--can you believe it? Where does the time go? I can still remember when I was in first grade. Oh the memories...

If only it wasn't every 100 years....

What a fun and busy weekend we had! It was Karlstad's centennial celebration this weekend, and there were lots of activities to keep us busy. First we had a parade with over 200 entries (for a town of 800, that's just crazy). Rick rode in the ambulance since he's squad chief. The kids thought that was really cool! We think we had over 5000 people there for that. You should have seen the bag of candy that we came home with...and my fingers were hurting from holding on to it while the kids picked it up. When we came home we filled up 1 and 3/4 icecream buckets full of candy! We spent the afternoon with Rick's family who were up for the day. Then we had 4-Him in concert. That was really fun. Actually it was 2 and a half HIM since one of the guys was a fill-in for one of the regulars and one ended up getting really sick and had to go to the hospital in Grand Forks. It was still a great night. And what centennial would be complete without fireworks? Only we thought we could see them from our yard only to find out after seeing glowing sky in the distance that it had already started. So we ran to the car and flew down main until we could see it clearly enough. Oh well! All in all, the kids had a great time--stayed up way too late and ate way too much candy--and no naps! :0) Yay!

Here she is...

Well, here's my new "baby" sister, Ashley Michelle Gunderson. Doesn't she look like she fits right in? We had a special family get-to-gether with all of us siblings home and had a "WELCOME to the FAMILY" party. Talk about coming into many roles at once--a daughter, granddaughter, sister, auntie, niece, cousin.....and all Gunderson's on top of that! But she's a tough cookie--she'll survive!:0)

We're Baaaaaack!

No, we did not spend a whole month on vacation, but it has been a little crazy since we've been home, and therefore we have not written anything. What a fun time we had on vacation. First we went to the Gunderson family reunion. Then off to MT to fish. We went to the beautiful town of Ennis--right in the mountains. It's supposed to have the best trout fishing from anywhere (unfortunately the only one who really caught one was Jenn's 5 yr old niece). None the less, it was a very relaxing time. We traveled through MT with Jenn's parents and sisters Amber and Ashley, and Jenn's sister Heather, brother-in-law David, and niece Brianna (from WV). This is the very summed up version of our vacation. In the next few days, we'll post some more pictures and tell you a little more of what we did.

Run Away! Run Away!

We are leaving for vacation tonight (family reunion this weekend then loads of mindless fishing for the rest of the week). It should be fun living with the kids in a tent for 10 days ;-) I may have to talk with them about dad's "no man's land"... haha. We're just praying that it's neither 100 degrees nor really rainy. Speaking of which...last night during my board meeting we got slammed by a storm that produced golf-ball sized hail! It got pretty intense, especially concidering the news said it would go south of us. Obviously they meant south of Canada. Oh, well. We'll have pics from camping when we get back.

You Should See Rick Eat!

It's a first (as most things are for babies)! Cambria had her first tastes of "real" food--yummy carrots! We've had MANY firsts over the last two weeks. Her first ear infection, first viral pneumonia, first nebulizer treatments, and her first two teeth!! You can probably imagine what our house has been like for the last two weeks! But after all this crazy stuff, she is a happy, healthy baby girl! And speaking of happy, healthy babies...we are a new auntie and uncle (and cousins). My sister Heidi had a baby boy last Friday--July8, 2005--Richard McCabe Shannon! 8lbs and I don't remember the length (oops, I'm a bad auntie). Richard is after Eddy's (her husband) dad and McCabe is my dad's mother's maiden name (did you follow that?). I should be able to see him next week when we go on our vacation--so pictures should follow soon!

Families a'campin

We just got back from MN Family Camp and had a wonderful time. It sure wasn't ND camp where you know everybody and they all know you, too, but it was a really nice camp all the same.
We only actually got to spend one whole day there (which is the day these pictures were taken--down at the lake for swim time). We stayed in a rather "rustic" (meaning old) cabin, but that's what makes part of the experience fun. At least that's what we'll tell our kids. At least they have an air conditioned chapel, and to that everyone says, "AMEN"!

A little more rain

Just north and east of us got about close to 10 (!) inches of rain last night plus 3 tornadoes. We only had a severe thunderstorm and maybe 2-3 inches of rain. It was an exciting storm though. Hopefully it will stay dry for our church picnic we're doing tonight after church and also for the celebrations tomorrow on the Fourth. Hope everyone has fun blowing stuff up on this great day of festivities (just a note to Bob - don't wear polyester shirts when people fire roman candles at you ;-).

A new Gunderson...

Wednesday's entry would probably make a little more sense if the cute picture of Abbi would have shown up! She was wearing some pretty butterfly wings she got for Christmas last year. Oh well!!

We finally have some sunshine today (as we've had a week of RAIN, RAIN, RAIN). And now it's JULY 1st!! (Happy Birthday Racinda) And as of Wednesday, we have a new addition to the Gunderson clan. Jenn welcomed a new sister, Ashley. (No, my mom did not have another baby...but she is a cute 13 year old who looks just like the rest of us Gunderson's) Whenever we figure out our picture problem, I will post a picture of her. Now my mom can delay the empty nest syndrome for a few more years. :0)

A Pretty Butterfly

"Butterflies"

Orange and black and sometimes spots is what a butterfly is.
First a caterpillar, then a butterfly, that's how it is.
Red, yellow, orange, black, and white.
Wings soft as petals while in flight.
As grace to a swan, it dances in the air.
Dances here, dances there, dances everywhere.
To be free as a butterfly, to fly in the air.
Oh how I wish I could be there.

Tasha, Mtn. Grove, Missouri,2nd Grade

AAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGG!

Just this morning, Bryce was looking at my arms (particularly the hair on them) and commented about it as follows. "Wow! Daddy you have a lot of hair!" "Do you think I'll have that much hair when I'm a daddy?" "HAHA, maybe I'll have more hair than you and that will be cool!" He's probably at least correct about having more hair (as long as he's referring to the head;-). Everyone loves a wookie!

Another Martian Invasion !

Jenn and I just came back from her 10 year reunion out in western North Dakota and we spent some time with Grandma Esther. Grandma has gotten hooked up to the Internet (though she mostly only e-mails). It seems someone sent her an e-mail about Mars being closer this coming August than any other time in history (so close in fact that, according to the e-mail, it would be as visible as the moon with the naked eye). Well, grandma thought I'd be interested to have a copy. So I did some checking and discovered that it was a letter being circulated from 2003 and that Mars has never and will never be that visible. Oh, well :-( So much for the much anticipated invasion. I've attached part of the article that I found dealing with the actual facts of the Martian experience.

___________________________________________________________________

August, 2003

Mars

by Valerie

The top story in the news this month is Mars. On August 27, a day before its opposition, Mars will be closer to Earth than any time in recorded history. The next chance to see it closer will be on August 28, 2287.

NASA

While I like to follow astronomy news in a casual way, we don't own a telescope and our viewing of the sky is generally limited to eclipses, comets, and meteor showers. I was already aware that, although being quite bright, Mars would still just look like a large star in the sky. Without mechanical aid, we cannot see any detail of its surface and it doesn't even have the advantage of quick movement to make it more exciting. Our binoculars, which work admirably for viewing the moon during eclipses, are of little use for a distant object like the red planet.

I was therefore surprised when I happened to look out my bathroom window several nights ago and saw, through a reticulated cloudy sky, the full moon and the nearby planet Mars. No stars were visible, but those two celestial bodies glowed like beacons between the clouds, and Mars even appeared pink. It was a breathtaking sight.