Halloween

What an awesome Halloween this year. The weather was absolutely beautiful. We were all set to travel to Denver for another weekend trip. My niece and Melissa made arrangements for a surprise 25th wedding anniversary for Deb and Dennis. You can always tell who does not have children because it was set for Halloween weekend. After telling some good friends that our children would not be trick or treating because we would be on the road to Denver we got the "lecture". The one about the kids having to trick or treat because it is the prime of their child hood. Sooooo.....we decided they were right and with this being Xenia's first Halloween in the US we better let them go door to door. With that being said we found a nice neighborhood in Douglas (1 hour from Casper). What a great area!!! It was the way Halloween should be. The people were sitting out on the porches and neighbors were hanging out chatting, and nobody cared how old you were. All 3 girls and 2 dogs had a blast. The laughter was so heavy I was suprised no one wet themselves. Here are some fun pics.

Congratulation

Becky Majeres delivered a healthy baby boy on October 17, 2008. Congratulations Donnie and Becky on another (3rd) baby boy!!

First Wyoming Snow

Not too much to report things are going really good right now. Fieldwork is good but long and the girls are adjusting well.

Liz had a very simple band concert with her Junior High band and it was beautiful. She has come a long way with this instrument. I would be happy to share a picture but....when your daughter is the shortest with the biggest instrument and 1 st chair, she sits behind the entire ensemble and you cannot see her. I did get some video footage but the lady next to me would not Be quite(that is saying it nicely) so you cannot hear it very well. Maybe next time will be better for photos.

We had our first snow on October 10th and it continued until the morning of Oct. 12th. It was a very wet snow but it was great for making a snowman. So.....guess what we spent the afternoon doing last Sunday. The best part was when the girls came in to ask dad to help lift the middle part onto the bottom...he goes out to find that the round ball was bigger then him. He had to teach them how to down size so we had no lifting injuries.

The kids had a blast, ending it all with a little hot cocoa to warm up.

Now for a girls update

I feel like I have not blogged forever....

Not sure what updates everyone has on Liz but here it goes. First thing is she loves Junior high! Second thing she has decided not to color her hair purple. (OK I am feeling like we are doing some decent parenting here) She has made 1st chair trombone in Casper Youth Orchestra, 1st chair in Junior high band, and has now been given the lead childs part in the upcoming Christmas church production. (When I say production I mean production...this is a huge community event for the holidays) Congratulations baby we are so proud of all you do!!!!


Mikaela is also succeeding this year. She is still only a white belt in Karate but has learned how to say she has had to much! She is very successful in school and loves to read. She however does not sleep at night if she has unfinished homework (I think I am in trouble here). Gymnastics is coming along still, I think she was a little sad the other day when her team had their first meet and she did not get to go. She will start swim lessons in later Oct.

Xenia is doing very well and excelling in her studies. Looks like she will start the high school cross country program in late Dec. or Jan. otherwise there has not been many activities for her to get involved with. She has made several friends and seems to enjoy her time with the two girls. Currently she has started volunteering her time at the nursing home (helping with bingo). The last time she went one of the ladies wanted to come home with her:( All is well and we are loving having her here as part of our family!

As for me it is off to a real working schedule next week. I will start the last of my eight week rotations. This will the schedules off and the entire family will fall into a whirlwind but as usual with prayer and effort we will make it through!

Love to all
Upcoming events:
Oct 9th - Liz band concert (school)
November - 22 CYO concert
Dec. 3-7 The Glory of Christmas production.

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.