Another "Light"????

I would like to introduce Aaron Montgomery Light. He will be turning 18 this year and has been united with Brett (dad) and half sisters Danielle and Chelsea. He is doing very well and the current background I have is that he is a chef at "The Fort" very nice restaurant. He will be graduating high school this year. Brett is very happy to have the opportunity to become a part of Aaron's life. As for me I am very excited to but have not had the opportunity to meet him just yet. The last pictures I have of Aaron are when he was about 1 1/2 years old and a couple odd ones that his mom sent to me through the years. So Brett and the family took some to share with me and now I get the chance to share them with you. I am completely shocked at the resemblance of father and son! See what you think:)

Aaron as a baby

Brett Light with his girls

Aaron Light with the his new found family!

Aaron, Chelsea, and Danielle Light

fun in the race cars...sorry they are out of order!

racin the cars

More singing in the Car:)

singing in the car:)

Colorado Rockies in the Fall

Our weekend adventure was a trip to Denver. It was probably one of the best trips we have taken. No family arguements, everyone got along, the weather was beautiful, what else can I say except that it is times like this that will be remembered forever!

We headed to Denver on Friday evening and spent some time at Deb and Dennis' before heading to Ted's for bed. Saturday consisted of getting up bright and early for some shopping!. Liz and Xenia went to the "big" mall while Deb, Mikaela, and I hit the craft stores. The boys....well who knows what they did except I do believe it consisted of using golf clubs.

Pics of Liz and Xenia let loose at the mall. The stories are pretty good that go with these pictures:) They had a great time.


For the afternoon we headed up the mountain to view the Colorado Rocky Mountains in the Fall. We could not have picked a better weekend to do this. The view was fabulous and the laughter and fun in the car was the best.

Pictures in the car for a family drive.

Family Photo

Colorado Rocky Mountains in the fall (makes me want to go back)

After the drive it was off to Beau Jo's pizza in Idaho Springs (this is tradition whenever we have a new member in the family) Xenia was impressed with this pizza we introduced her too.



On Sunday I took time out to go see Danielle and Chelsea as well as Brett. They are all doing wonderful and the girls had a good time visiting. It was a short visit but when you have only 1 1/2 days to get things done you have to get what you can.



On the way out of town we stopped at Boonedocks Fun Center. Here we drove go carts, played mini golf, lazer tag, and of course video games.

Dad and Mikaela racing the girls

The girls racing dad and Mikaela

We were exhausted but it was well worth it. We took so many beautiful pictures that I had to download them to Walmart. Let me know if you cannot view them. I also have some great videos please enjoy.

videos of the falls

Photobucket Album

Sunday Afternoon

I (mom) was gone a good chunk of the weekend doing a mom thing(scrapbookin). So the kids and dad stayed home and did just about "nothing". So on Sunday afternoone I decided to take a trip up to the "Falls". Xenia has never been there so I figured it would be a nice quick drive and get out of the house.



Here are some videos....

OOPs I posted these backwards, if you have not already just click on the picture of the above post and it will send you to the album and you can view all the clips. Who would have known Mikaela would have been a monkey LOL!

Baptism

What a great weekend. (of course most of them are:) There comes a time in life when our parents baptize us within the church and then there comes a time that we have to make this decision for ourselves. This is the time in our childrens life that they have made the decision to accept God and His way of life as their own. Both girls were baptized at Highland Park Community Church this weekend. After long nights of talks and readings the girls both said this is how they wanted to show their commitment. Then....after a wonderful service two weeks ago Ken felt it was his time to also show his commitment and what better time to do then when his two girls do it. This was shared with many friends and family members both present and absent and we want to thank all of you for being there. It was said that after the baptism half the congregation left (this tells you how many people support our family) I love it!

This was truly a symbol of how God works in our lives.

This was also fun for Xenia to see, as the baptism in Germany are very different (Catholic version).

Mini Golf/Dancing/DQ

Family night was Friday night at our house. We were able to accomplish a round of minature golf, dance dance revolution (if you havent tried it you need too:), and a trip to Dairy Queen. There was lots of laughter and of course new experiences for Xenia.

Teaching Xenia how to Macarana at DQ

Ken Dancing at the arcade (dance dance revolution); Theresa will not post pictures of herself doing this activity because....well lets just leave it at that:)

Putt putt golf
Girls just want to have fun! (and they were)

After Family Friday night Ken and Theresa headed out of town on Saturday for golfing and shopping with Jeff and Christy. Can you guess who was golfing and who was shopping? Now I will tell you that my husband (as wonderful as he is) did not think this trip through and the only thing on his mind was golf. Buffalo (first day of golf/Saturday)is very small and it is a holiday weekend so do you think any of the fun stores were open....NO! Not even the bakery he told to go eat lunch at. I do have to say the evening was fun and was spent in Sheridan with a nice dinner and even some small bar hopping. (I felt very old). Sunday consisted of another round of golf in Sheridan at a very fancy golf course, this leaving Christy and I to do more shopping....NOT. It is Sunday and a holiday weekend can you guess what was open? Thats right......NOTHING! Oh except JC penny and if you have seen one of those you have seen them all. It was nice to have good company and we got a nice kick out of it. The downfall was I was sick on Sunday so I was not the better part of the good company (no it was not from drinking to much:) Another story another time.

As the adults were off by themselves the children were hanging out with the Harshman family and if you know them at all you will know that the Anthony kids (including Xenia) were not bored. Saturday Xenia was introduced to High school football and good ole American teenage fun. She says she did not understand the game but had a good time. I explained to her that I did not understand football either and if you just pick a color to follow its all good. Sunday the Harshman family took them all to the movies. I think they were exhausted by the end of the weekend.

Harshman fun....a little to much fun and Mc Donalds can go a long way:)

High School Football with Harshmans is always fun...who said you had to understand football dynamics?

Xenia is doing great in school and communication. She is willing to try anything and will be honest if she was not interested. I love it! She has tried Wednesday youth group at church and drumming circle with Liz. Please be sure to read her blog as she updates it with all her opinions and pictures. You will find the link to left of my blogs called Adventures in American just click and read. I will try not to duplicate pictures but if I do sorry:)

Labor day weekend was a joy to explain to Xenia, she does understand the "labor" day holiday when everyone works anyway. I explained that none of us really understand either and just enjoy the day off from school.

Another School Year

School has started...this means "the magic day". Life gets back to normal with real schedules and structure.

Liz: Junior High???? As I have stated to her you could not pay me to redo junior high. However, I do have to say she is loving it. She is in a cooking class, gym, band, and normal core classes. Friends...oh ya lots of them! After school activities are: Casper youth Orchestra (trombone), and drumming circle. She is still debating on joining a school sport. If not she wants to join the drama club. It is wonderful see how well this is going for her. Lots of prayers that it stays positive.

Mikaela: 3rd grade all she can say is "I get to learn cursive". Her teacher is awesome and as the Anthony girls have a reputation at Oregon Trail to uphold she is off to a good start. It is sad to say that she has quit the gymnastics competitive team. She says she does not like it. So with that said no more 5 hours at the gym. She is continuing her tubbling class one night a week. This is her handsprings and more flexible tricks that she enjoys. Now we are trying Karate as our new task. So far it is going well. School is great but I think she is a little lost without her sister there. They have gone different directions but yet I see them growing closer together. Lots more hugs and laughter in the past week.

Mom: I will finish my last weeks starting in Oct. and be completely done in Dec. as my husband says..."the free bandwagon is over" I think he is trying to tell I actually have to grow up and get a job. :( For now I am subbing and taking on daycare kids for a provider that had to leave town.

Dad: Hate his job ...need I say more. He is doing great and all though it has taken all summer he does have 2 sides of the house painted. Next weekend we are off to a trip to Buffalo/Sheridan with Christy and Jeff (great friends of ours) for some golfing and shopping...Ithink you can figure out who is golfing and who is shopping.

Lots of love to all!

End of the season Rafting

Okay...it is off to our last rafting trip down the river for the season. This was also our first adventure with Xenia. I think it would be safe to say that she enjoyed it. Thanks to the Spaulding family for another wonderful summer of trips down the river! Cant wait till next year.

I am going to share some photos but as I am setting up Xenia with her own blog so she can share her experiences with her American friends, her family, and our family I am sure she will want to tell you about her times and share her photos on that blog.

The kids: Xenia, Liz, Nathan, Mikey, Jarrod, Mikaela, Jenna

The Adults: Jim, Ken, Tammy, Theresa

Xenia Arrives

After longs travels for Xenia consisting of a cancelled flight in Germany causing a 24 hour delay in her arrival she made it safely to Casper on Friday at 11pm. This left worried parents in Germany and an excited host family in Casper. The remaining travels went well.

We arrived at the house and got Xenia settled, after everyone relaxed on the couch before heading off to bed we had a black out leaving us with no electricity for several hours. This meant our new student had to experience brushing teeth and bed preparation on her first night by using a flash light. I guess if you are from another country you could have thought when we mean bed time and lights out we mean business:)

Saturday went well...as we all adjusted and Xenia got unpacked. We even took her American shopping at the "mall". Some small comments from Xenia are "americans are so friendly" "do you really know everyone in this town?" What she has yet to learn is that no not everyone knows everyone in this town just me (well it seems that way, anyway).

So we are off to a good start.

To church we headed on Sunday....Xenia adjusted well and went to the High School Sunday school where everyone greated her with open arms. Her eyes were very large when we entered a church of 300 members. Again it was stated how friendly Americans were (I love it!) She did join us for service at the second hour. Her later comments "I love the music" "not really sure about the speaker". We are going to try Wednesday night at church this week and she said she would like to return to church on Sunday. This is great as we have only offered it to her for the experience and she has the choice to go or not. After church we headed to the river for our summer floating.

Again Welcome Xenia and her family to the Anthony House!!!

Cant Travel???....

The Anthony family has always wanted to travel abroad....Germany, Italy, ect. With Theresa in school for the past 3 years this has not been able to occur. Except of course to areas around us or within the states. So our feeling is if you cant travel abroad you bring it to you. Now that you are all wondering what I am babbling about, I will tell you that we have found yet another adventure.

As of next week we will be hosting an exchange student from Germany for 9 months. The only thing we have to give up is the extra bedroom in the house, which is usually occuppied anyway. As we miss Kendra and hope that she is doing well we are all very excited to have the new addition to the house.

As stated before, Xania will arrive next week and start high school. The girls are very excited as to what we can offer her as well as what she can offer us.

I will send arrival announcements and pictures when she arrives. Please make her feel welcome as we feel we have such a loving family and friends that everyone will be a part of her United States experience.

Pray for us during this time as we feel this is where God has guided us once again!

Natural Bridge pics

Ayres Natural BridgeNo pets are allowed in the park because of health and safety issues. Located smack dab in between Douglas and Glenrock is Ayres Natural Bridge. This massive 150 acre solid rock arch is a perfect peaceful place for picnicking and free camping.
The Oregon Trail passed through this area, and it was a haven for white settlers passing through Wyoming. Legend has it that an Indian was struck by lightning and killed while atop the bridge. After that, Native Americans would not ever go near the bridge or its surroundings. The Natural Bridge was often visited by emigrants. It was, perhaps, Wyoming's first tourist attraction. An 1843 pioneer described it as, "...a natural bridge of solid rock, over a rapid torrent, the arch being regular as tho' shaped by art...." The stream, originally known as Bridge Creek, is now called LaPrele Creek and flows through a beautiful public park surrounding the Bridge.
Contact: (307) 358-3532; open April through October
Ayres Natural Bridge Park is located 11 miles west of Douglas, WY on I-25, Exit 151 (Natural Bridge Exit), then 5 miles south on County Road 13. It is one of the few natural bridges that still has water running under it. It is in a very nice little county park with some camping.

The Gang (Chelsea, Bri, Liz, Mikaela, Danielle)

Theresa and Tearney up a tree:)

Playin around

The Falls and Natural Bridge

On Friday we headed up the mountain to the falls...this is our little water fall we have right here in Wyoming. We made this trip with some special friends Tearney and Bri. The falls did not take long so Tearney and I decided to make a day and go on a road trip. This was to the Natural Bridge about 1/2 hour East of Casper. Here we took some more beautiful pictures and enjoyed the weather.

The Gang

Chelsea

Danielle

Bri and Mikaela

Liz (such a teenager:)

Next outing....

Theresa was feeling generous this day and took 5 girls age ranging from 9-5 years (Brianna is the darker haired young lady who is good friends with Mikaela, the littlest is Riley and the rest of the blonds are related to me:) to the movies. After the movies we went to Washington park for some more gross motor play.

Visitors...

Danielle and Chelsea (Theresa and Kens nieces) came for a visit for 5 days. We had many adventures as well as many rocky roads to cross. As all the girls are close in age there were many challenges that had to be overcome. Both girls were wonderful to have and are going so very quickly.

Our first trip or outing was the Castle park, Liz came and played chase with the girls on the playground.

Brett is doing great and sees the girls 2-3 times a week. He is staying clean and doing well for himself! I am very proud of him and these two girls and the road they have all had to travel.

New Style

So after long contemplation mom has decided to go with a new hair style. This took lots of magazines and debating. But all in all I love it and it feels Great!

Mom is Home!!

To start with I want to again thank everyone for the support and help through the past 8 plus weeks. My trip to Thermopolis was wonderful and I had a great experience but can honestly say I am glad to be home. During my trip of being away many things occured.... our niece Rachel went to Poland to lead and English camp and returned safely, Dennis and Deb are leaving this week for Poland and a wedding in England, and Brett is staying clean and has been reunited with his two girls and 17 year old son, and hopefully my best friend Becky Jo does not mind me sharing that she is pregnant with her 3rd child. I am so glad to have family and friends that I do and all the exciting things that God leads them to.

I have had no difficulty falling back into the mom role and the girls and Ken have had no problems allowing that role to be filled.

The girls did come for a week to visit in Thermopolis and I wanted to share a few pics of the Thermopolis scenery.

Theresa softball team from her Thermopolis

Two fawns that came to visit nightly at the house I was staying at.

Mikaela checking the sulfar water as well as Kayleen and Liz

It's the final countdown

This has been one of the toughest fights for this reporter to have to cover. We have seen both conventional and unconventional fighting styles from both of them and truly one of the strangest fights I have ever seen. I have immense admiration and respect for both of these fighters. They trained very hard for this bout and now it comes down to this final round. It is now or never, all or nothing, leave it all out in the ring tonight. These two have forgotten all about the bumps, bruises, and cuts and are ready to get this fight over with. The judges have the fight scored evenly through eleven rounds, so lets see who wants it more. The bell has rung and both fighters come out of their respected corners confidently. After eleven rounds this has become second nature for both of them. They meet in the middle of the ring and exchange some meaningless jabs. There was a rumor circulating that this fight was fixed, but anyone that has been watching would know that nothing could be farther from the truth. Theresa starts to move Ken back into the corner and starts working on his body with some mean hooks to his stomach. It is like she threw a roast in the crock pot and turned it up to high. Ken pushes her back and lands a couple of quick jabs, but I think he is grilled cheese. The two of them square off in the middle of the ring and it looks like they are both going to try and deliver the knockout punch. If either one of them lands this it will be all over. I cannot watch! OH NO! They both missed! I cannot believe this most unfortunate series of events. They both fall to the mat from the momentum of their misguided punches and have knocked themselves out. As I look around the ring in utter disbelief, I see "The Tude" is getting ill in the other corner. As the two fighters try and come to, Liz looks like she is in some serious pain. The ref has started to call both of the fighters down and is starting his count out...1....2.....Liz is calling out to Ken, but there is nothing he can do from his position....3.....4......Liz tries to call out to Mom, but she is not able to do anything........5...........6.....
....Liz is getting worse and is doubled over................7....................8...................Ken calls out to a friend who tries to get Liz to the hospital, but cannot move her. Luckily there is an ambulance here at the arena, so they whisk Liz off to the hospital.......9.......and in Theresa's corner they are getting ready to throw in the towel and in a surprising move Ken's corner stops them............10!
The arena is as quiet as ScotiaBank Place when the Avalanche kick the Senator's bottoms in hockey. Both of the fighters have lost and to come this far only to literally fall must be heart breaking for these two competitors. I guess that concludes our coverage of this fight and .....wait! Someone is entering the ring from between the bottom two ropes. It can't be....NO WAY! It is....it's.......it's....."Mood swing" Mikaela is doing her signature tumbling to the middle of the ring and she is grabbing the microphone being lowered from the ceiling. Let's listen in....."Before my Mom hit the mat she reached out and touched my hand thus "tagging out". "In doing so she relinquished her power to me and I declare myself the winner of this fight". "I am the only one that did not have a glove laid on me during the twelve weeks, so the belt is mine". There you have it folks and we have received word from the hospital that Liz just had the stomach flu and has made a full recovery. Unfortunately there is no cure from a broken heart delivered from a boy who remain nameless, so we will just call him Joey. Only time will heal that wound. This fight has been brought to by these fine sponsors: The two Christy's, Guitar Hero Queen K, Grandma L, Grandpa L, Opa, Older Den and Deb, Bev, Tman, Unk B and Ant S with the precious O, and Paulster. You all have no idea how much we are indebted to all of you. Sometimes it was watching the girls, a phone call, an e-mail, or a game of golf, but you all were a huge help to our family. Thank You from the bottoms of our hearts.

GO! Go now! Go now and leave me!

It looks like Theresa is pulling out her bag of tricks this round and Ken does not know if he is coming or going. After "The Tude" and "The Swinger" arrived at the fight, Theresa quickly whisked them off to her corner. This has turned out to be a brilliant strategy by Theresa by finding Kens one true weakness....being alone. She has discovered Kens kryptonite as he has been listless and uninspired these last three weeks. It appeared back in round eight that Ken had an insurmountable lead in this fight, but Theresa has played Ken like a Stradivarius. Enough fiddling around and lets get back to the fight. Ken had to back into the kitchen to try and cook up something to defend himself from this onslaught. He resorted to calling Theresa names like Chicken Fajita, but that did not seem to faze her. Then he dug deep and lashed out with Turkey Tetrazzini and that seemed to hurt her a bit. Then without hesitation he we went with a low blow, he didn't...not....oh yes he did, Cookies and Cream Malt. Theresa stumbled back into the ropes with a little drool coming from the corner of her mouth. She shook her head and stretched her jaw and charged at Ken with both fists a flayling. She smacked Ken with a game night with the girls and then a combination of a family walk, minus him, and girls only television show. He wouldn't understan. Ouch! I think Kens eyes have swollen shut and they are going to have to get some cold compresses on those puppies ASAP. I cannot see how the judges cannot have this fight scored equally between these two fighters. We have seen a lot of action and thrills throughout this fight which seemed like it would never end. When this fight started it seemed to drag on and on like a gay parade in San Francisco, but now the rounds seem to be flying by. Next week is the final round and it is up to those of you who read this dribble to decide who is the champion. Please do not vote per family lines for Kens family is much smaller and riding the fence and saying that they are both winners in my book. Gag! I believe both fighters have left everything they have out in the ring and the fight would not have been if they didn't find a way to make it work. The two of them will be pulling out all the punches in the final round, round 12.

Can they go the distance?

It is the middle of round ten of this scheduled twelve round fight and both fighters are looking strong. They both received assistance in their corners this round from new and old friends. The alone time this week for both fighters has seemed to rekindle a mutual respect and, dare I say, love for one another. They took this round to "feel" each other out and there was a lot of hugging and dancing out on the mat. We predict that this round will produce a lot of the same as they gear up and figure out how to deliver that knockout punch in the final two rounds. Both fighters will be rejuvenated in between rounds ten and eleven when they will receive that added boost with the arrival of fighting legends, Lizzy, "The Teen with Tude" and Mikaela, "The Mood Swinger". Both of these fighters have fought each other numerous times and have even tried to spar with Ken and Theresa only to find themselves grounded back to reality. The "Mood" and "Tude" may come back in need of attitude adjustments after being at Camp G.A.I.N. (Grandma Always Is Nicer) for two weeks. One is claiming to be homesick while the other one is holding out and refuses to show any sign of weakness. This reporter wonders where she gets that from.

Getting back to the fight at hand and a quick review of the highlights of round nine. Theresa had the upper hand this round showing her agility and fancy footwork. She danced around Ken like he was a statue. Ken usually is solid as a rock, but this round he had his foundation shaken and started to show signs of crumbling. By the end of the round he had gotten back into his groove and came back to his true form. Near the end of the round Theresa had some equipment malfunction when she had a blowout in the rear of her shoe. She tried to call Kens corner to get a spare, but Ken only heard "blowout". He tried to call her back and to no avail with all the noise in the arena. Luckily she text Kendra who is over in Kens corner and let him know that she had a replacement and a passerby was changing the blown shoe. Theresa did not get home until late in the round. She decided it was time to clean out her corner and got rid of a lot of dead weight by having a "garage sale". Items that were laying around not carrying their weight were traded or gone. Ken was seen in his corner between rounds practicing his golf swing. That is the way he ended the ninth round and how he started the beginning of the tenth round.

There will be fireworks at the end of round ten, but they are not going to come from these two fighters. We hope to see these two fighters finish strong and that they both walk away to fight another day. Ken has tried to land a couple of windmill punches, but Theresa has kept her guard up. Theresa started out this round a little sluggish after drinking some outdated orange juice. Ken is still looking puffy and red eyed, but he claims it to be allergies. Will there be a victor in this bout or do both of these fighters walk away with their own personal victories? Both fighters have shown signs of greatness and moments of weakness. You will be the judge of the winner as you vote in the final twelth round. GO KEN!! Hey, no bias or bribing of the judges. GO THERESA!!! Now stop that!

Ha, Ha, Ha..Oh Superman

We are now two-thirds the way through this fight and we have some sad news to report. You hope that the allegations are not true and that something like this will not rear its ugly head in your sport, but it has. At the end of the eight round one of the fighters tested positive for speed. We are not at liberty to tell you which one, but SHE showed 52 and the legal limit is 40. Sure there is going to be a fine, but she will not lose her license and will be able to continue to fight. Some other oddities between rounds eight and nine was Ken running back to the dressing room in Denver and shipping two priceless packages to Gma and Gpa L. Ken would not elaborate on what was in the packages besides saying, "A dance with Cinderella" and "butterfly kisses". On the way back to the ring you could visibly notice that Kens eyes were red and puffy. We hope that he has not fallen into the grasp of performance enhancement drugs and he said it was from watching "My Girl". In round eight both fighters looked good and it was a well reffed round by Kendra. She called it like she saw it and was more than fair to all parties involved. In Kens corner he had two huge supporters who will be dearly missed these next two rounds, but before leaving they told him, "Ken let the dogs out, ruff, ruff, ruff" (Just don't use any other names, true that L) Ken did receive a boost at the beginning of the round when the Breester abducted him and took him to dinner as a belated fathers day gift. Theresa is looking strong this week as she did last week. Last week she was given her midterm report and she is doing very well. They would love for her to come back and work their after she completes her last eight weeks. Ken is looking like popeye without his spinach. Ken looks like he has no wind beneath his wings. We shall see how these two fighters do now that it is just the two of them. I think we are going to see a lot of hugging and dancing in the middle of the ring from these two. Theresa may tie Ken up in the ropes and....well this is a family blog so I will leave the rest up to you. At night when you go out and look at the moon, know that I will be looking also and I hope to see the reflection of your face smiling at me.

one and won

That one / won was for you OPA. Round seven was not a very exciting round. Ken is showing signs of fatigue eventough he was off from work this round. He tried the training habits of Rocky Balboa in Rocky III and the karate kid in going old school in his training by prepping the house for painting when he prepared for this fight. Sand on, Sand off ladder balancing boy! The weather co-operated with Ken on the first two days and then some nasty cold front came down from where else, Canada! Forty degrees for a high in June and the mountains to the north got up to 15 inches of snow. As Ken says, the only two good things that ever came out of Canada is hockey and a very precious niece. Enough mushy talk lets get back to the fight. Theresa has been a step behind this round and seems to be at a slight disadvantage. She did not have any animals to take care of this week and was able to find the time and energy to go workout between rounds. Ken WON this round by bobbing, ducking, and weaving around everything Theresa threw at him. Watching Mikaela is not hard work, but keeping everybody fed and entertained is a cross hook that Theresa cannot defend. If both of these fighters are still standing at the end of this fight, then there will be no loser. It will all come down to how the judges score each round to determine the winner of this war. At the halfway point Ken has managed to stop the early bleeding inflicted by Theresa and Theresa has been able to dance her way back into the fight with some nifty combinations. The ultimate challenge comes for both fighters in the ninth and tenth round when we will be near the end of the fight and both fighters will be unleashing everything in their arsenal with no support from their respective corners. We will finally see what these two fighters are made of when they go head to head on their own. Theresa may gain an advantage here since she will have had more experience of being on her own in the previous rounds. In the other corner, Ken may be posting more blogs, going golfing more, or completing the many jobs he needs to get done around the house. In the final two rounds be sure to vote for who you think has WON this epic battle.

2008 Family Photos

Hard copies to come out soon! What a darn good looking family:)!! Love to all!

Home for the Weekend

I am glad to say really there is not to much to report. My fieldwork in Thermopolis is going good and we are heading into week 4. YEAH! Needless to say Ken is holding down the fort nicely and believe it or not I have no complaints. During the week after I get off from my site I go to the hot springs pool for and aerobics workout two nights, then I use the facilities wellness gym and work out two days a week. This is how I keep myself from getting depressed from being away from the family. I have learned so much in the following 3 weeks and really realized that even with all the academic education I am not ready to be on my own just yet.

Liz so far this summer has hung out with friends and started in the new youth ministries at church. She is loving this. This current week she is on a missions trip in South Dakota (Wounded Knee Reservation). They do not have phone service there except for emergencies. Guess what kind of call we got......yep it would be my kid who got the flu:) She is doing fine and has stuck it out but they made her call just we had a heads up. Liz also got a letter in the mail just before leaving stating she was accepted into another year of Casper Youth Orchestra playing her trombone. This was awesome!!

Mikaela has spent the summer lounging around the house. She goes to the movies with Riley and Christy once a week and had a sleepover with them this last week. She spent this week with dad trying to get the exterior house painted. This is not an easy task living in WY where the wind blows 350 days of the year. She has been a big help. Mikaela has even admitted to missing her big sister this week. Gymnastics continues and both girls head to Grandma and Grandpa Lights house on the 22nd to spend two weeks with them and their aunt and uncle and baby cousin Olivia.

Ken had the week off this week and as stated tried painting the house. I will keep you posted on this job.

I hope everyone is doing well...as the Anthony household still stands and no knock outs just yet!!!!

For whom the bell tolls

Fooouuurrr!.............Everything is white with little colored stars dancing around....Fiiiivvvveee!.......What? This cannot be. Ken is on the mat and the ref is counting him down. Get up KEN!!! Siixx!........Ken grabs the bottom rope and tries to pull himself up, but his legs feel like two cooked pasta noodles. He shakes his head to clear the cobwebs as the ref asks him, " Are you going to burn the ribs tonight?" "What?? Come again?" He says, " Are you ready to fight?" "Uh,yes, I am ready to fight." Obviously Theresa's added support in her corner between the fourth and fifth round did her a world of good. Ken lost the fifth round when he let his guard down and torched the ribs. She unleashed a flurry of punches to his head like she was beating a rug. When the dust cleared Ken was staggering wondering where he was and it was to late to defend himself. Then she unleashed the knock down blow to his cheek that cut a gash into his manhood. During the graduation melee, comments were made about Ken and Ken would say that this was a low blow, but that would open the door to a ton of inappropriate jokes. We are now in the midst of the sixth round and both fighters are seeming tentative. Neither one wants to make a mistake so they are both dancing around with a few jabs here and there. Theresa has Toby in her corner this week and he is giving her an added boost. The hospital that she is at in Thermopolis is giving her ample opportunities to prove herself and she is proving herself to be up to the challenge. Ken has the added support of Opa in his corner this round and the last. He will head out on Friday and then Ken will be off next week to be with Mikaela. Liz will be heading up to S. Dakota on a mission trip. It looks like Ken will have the upper hand in the next round and both fighters will be challenged in rounds nine and ten when the girls will be with Gma and Gpa in Missouri. Though the bell came close to tolling for Ken in this last round it appears that things have equalled themselves out once again and that it is any ones bout to be one.