A weekend of thanks and fun

This weekend was the annual Anderson family Thanksgiving dinner (always held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving). Celestra and I have missed the last few years because a certain young lady has been consistently performing in the Nutcracker chorus. While she is doing so again this year, as the practice Saturday was not mandatory and since this is her third year, she was able to miss and we were (finally) able to attend the family Thanksgiving again.

Once again this year, the food was excellent (as always), the company was top notch and Kristine and Eiko ran around like crazy (just like normal). So while we missed the last few years, nothing much has changed except the addition of a few new faces to the mix, though we did get a chance to meet all three of these darling little girls at the family reunion earlier this year...

Millie and Molly Wheeler. These active twins are already one year old. Hard to believe.

Zoey Green, the newest member of the Willson family

Marsha in her *beautiful* pilgrims hat

Looks like Tasia lost her head! Hope she finds it soon.

Robert waiting to carve the Turkey (his traditional job every year)

while Kristine scoops out the stuffing.

Kathy Clark, Our birthday girl

Colten playing in the bubbles

Mother and daughter: Annie and Katie

Aren't they adorable

The kids sing us a couple songs

Then it was off to spend the night at my friends Laura and Jim's place. They recently moved to Salt Lake and we hadn't had a chance to see them since the move. It was a fun night playing Life and hanging out with them and their two dogs, not that Cele was complaining about the dogs!

Bubba: This dog can

SNORE!

Jim and Laura as themselves

Cele with Hamlet

The next day (today) we headed out, met up with another friend who deserted Logan for Salt Lake (Jessica Allen) and hit the movie Harry Potter 7, part 1 at the Jordan Commons. Great movie. It follows the book really well and yes it ends in a cliff hanger but then it's only half the story. You should definitely all go see it! If you have little kids however, be aware that there is one scene where Ron destroys the locket. He is shown his worst fears wherein Harry and Hermione are together. They appear to be nude but you see nothing. Thank heavens! Just a slight warning for any who are worried. Something easy enough to skip over in the DVD version (just a suggestion).

A Spooktacular Day

Another year, another crazy Halloween. This Halloween marks Celestra's final year as a candidate for Trick-or-Treating so that being the case, she lived it up. She and her two best friends and younger siblings in tow headed out for a night of candy gathering to the utmost.

While I spent Friday at work dressed as a zombie along with my intrepid co-stars Dotta and Tracy. Yep, you guessed it, another themed Halloween at Subway. Always soo much fun!

The Subway Zombies

Celestra the Ranger (based off of a character from

the Forgotten Realms series - yep another book character

for the bookworm!)

My sister Alisha's family on Halloween

Autumn Sounds

The kids in costume: Jade, Jade's little sister, Celestra, Emma, and Erika L.

The first Band concert of the year has come and gone, and may I say, that was the shortest concert I have ever attended. So strange! The concert was great but the beforehand stuff was where all the fun was. To begin with the start time for the concert was changed to 30 minutes earlier than the original scheduled time. This made it quite fun to get Celestra there on time as she had choir rehearsal from 4:30-6. Then it was straight over to the middle school for the concert.

Now when I said short, I really meant it! The concert was no more than 30 minutes long and only the 7th and 8th grade bands played. Each with just three pieces.

Singin' in the cold

"Cache Children's Choir, Cache Children's Choir. If you love to sing, come to Cache Children's Choir"

"Shake, Shake, Shake Caprice. Twirl your sticks over head, Shake, Shake, Shake Caprice"

"2nd grade, 3rd grade Cadet Choir, Cha-Cha-Cha. 2nd grade, 3rd grade Cadet Choir, Cha-Cha-Cha."

"Concert Choir, Concert Choir, Concert Choir, Concert Choir. 1, 2, 3, 4 Everybody In"

"Cantate, Cantate, The Best"

"Hail the Utah Aggies. We'll play the game with all our might. See the colors flying. The Aggie Blue and fighting white. How they stir us onward. We'll win the victory all right. Hail the Utah Aggies. We're out to win so fight, fight, fight."

"Utah State, Hey! Aggies all the way! Go Aggies, Go Aggies! Hey, Hey, Hey!"

"Hail the Utah Aggies. We'll play the game with all our might. See the colors flying. The Aggie Blue and fighting white. How they stir us onward. We'll win the victory all right. Hail the Utah Aggies. We're out to win so fight, fight, fight."

(all this accompanied by fun rhythm and beats along with an assortment of Orff instruments)

Cele with some of her choir mates watching some of the other floats before the parade starts

my goofy kid

Cele with some of the other kids at the end of the parade

Yesterday was the annual USU homecoming parade. Another year, another cold walk down main street singing and chanting what you saw above. The kids had a blast and were as wacky as ever. And maybe next year I won't have to walk backwards the whole way again. Three years in a row. This is becoming a habit.

Holiday Concert Schedule

It's that time of year again. Time for me to let all of you in on the fun that is Celestra's concert schedule. This year should be lots of fun with, especially December, concerts almost once a week to choose from. So, once again, here are the bare bones concerts for the season. At least what I have so far. There may be more to come and we will let you know!

October

23 - USU Homecoming Parade with Choir 10am Logan Main Street between 100 S and 800 N

27 - MLMS Band Concert MLMS auditorium 7pm

November

26, 27, 29 - Nutcracker Chorus with Choir 7pm with a matinée at 1pm on the 29th Ellen Eccles Theater Logan

December

3 - Choir concert with USU Womens Chorus Location and time TBA

4 - Choir Concert in the Logan Tabernacle 7pm

15- MLMS Band Christmas concert 7pm MLMS auditorium

15 - Choir annual Seasons Greetings Concert 7pm Kent Concert Hall USU Campus

Yes this means we are double booked for that night. Should be fun

17 - Choir Holiday Home Tour more info TBA

20 - Choir Caroling at the local nursing homes

And so far that's all folks but there could easily be more added in as the season commences. We will let you know as things happen.

A Little Family Time

A little family time is always cause for fun, especially when we have ALL the cousins together. Yes all 14 of them! That and spending time with this side of the family is never a hardship. This time we got together for the last baby blessing of the year. Little Kason was blessed on Sunday and what a great excuse for a family get together!

My brother Nicholas and his wife Amanda

All 14 grandkids

Baby Thomas: the youngest grandchild (at least for a little while)

Cute little Jacob says Hi

Time for clothing swap again

Grandma with adorable little Connor

It was great to see so much of the family again. Sadly not all the siblings and spouses were there but we all had a great time together. Thanks Mom for continually finding reasons to get us all together as often as you can.

The Randomness Of It All

With school back in session, Celestra and I are back to our rather hectic schedules. Choir is back in session and I am starting to feel, once again, as if I am living at my computer due to homework. Ah well, such is the life.

In light of that, we haven't done too much exciting stuff recently but I though I'd share a few of the random pictures I've taken over the last little bit.

To start we have the wonderful world of Subway.

This is Tracy. She claims this picture is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We were a little bored one day and started different cleaning projects. Tracy got the fans. Now this is remarkable due to the fact that she's afraid of heights. Ladder + Plus Tracy = not so fun for her.

Here we have Tori (or Victoria), one of our newer employees, working the till like a pro.

Take note of the fabulous plastic bow attached to her hat. So Tori!

This is Dotta (or Charlotta). She HATES having her picture taken so this was the result. lol

Here we have our little heart that was found inside of one of our green peppers

(I did say these were random!)

Then we move on to choir...

The choir singing a patriotic song in honor of the fact that for this years tour we're headed to DC

Now you get to play where's Cele

And lastly, this weekend Cele is dogsitting this cute little yorkie. Her name is Lucy and she belongs to the daughter of Tracy (of above picture fame). Here you see her hiding under my desk because she's scared of the sounds Cele was making with her flute while practicing.