A White Christmas in 2008

Well, it's been a very white Christmas!












Christmas Family Memorabalia

Merry Christmas

As we get ready for Christmas, we think about family. How much we miss those who are no longer with us, how we miss those who are far away, how we miss those who have moved on to start their own family. We are thankful for having them in our lives to create wonderful memories. We have been blessed and we're preparing for another grandchild!!

SNOW!

If you've seen the movie "White Christmas" you'll know what I'm talking about. Remember when Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Cluney and ?? (sorry, I can't remember her name) were singing about "Snow" while they were riding the train to Vermont? I cannot get that song out of my head! It's a great movie! "SNOW...." we've got "SNOW..."!

Odin turns 2 yrs. old

Odin is 2 yrs. old now. He's changed mainly in size, but still a puppy at heart with a great personality! A slight difference between 8 weeks old and 2 yrs. old

Pre-ceremony video

I believe they were having fun!

A Beautiful Day in October

The day we all waited for finally came. And what a beautiful day it was!!
The Bride and Groom were all smiles.

Father and Daughter

I love this picture of Jason and Paisley. So, so precious.

And they are married

The little bride and groom had their place at another wedding. The first time 72 years ago, then only 3 years ago and again 1 week ago. I used to play with this little bride and groom and Mom used to tell me to be very, very careful with them because someday I may have them. I never thought that I would be so lucky to have sons and their wives want to give them a special place at their own weddings.
Thank you Jason & Traci and Matt & Shea.

Around the corner

It's not too far away now. Before we know it we'll be celebrating a wedding again!

Our sunshine

Paisley helps us to remember to smile, laugh and play. What a joy!!!

Fathers and Daughters

There's something special about a father and his daughter. Very special indeed.
Ken and Susan, Father and Daughter.

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away......there lived a family....

Thanks to my brother, Ken, I had the wonderful opportunity to revisit my past, to go back where I grew up as a little girl. It was a quiet moment that I hesitantly breathed in while listening to the crickets and an occasional gunshot from the gun club down the road. We picked up rocks from "our land" to take home. It's a family tradition to pick up rocks from where you've walked. Looking across the expanse of land that our family used to work hard on, it all seemed so foreign in some ways, and yet I pictured us there, eating peanut butter and pickles on dark rye bread, drinking koolaid while takin a break from the guys baling hay.
We share some of the same memories which is so comforting. As all people do, we have a tendency to want to forget certain things in our lives, but it's more important to not forget where we came from, not be ashamed, but in all things give thanks to the Lord for His blessings. I am thankful.

Our Boy, Odin

Fun memories with loved ones

What a great time we had in California! Walt and Mickey were there to welcome Paisley back.

Fun rides for Pais

It's so fun to witness the first rides at Disneyland.





Experiencing the parade with our granddaughter is one of the most emotional and heartwarming times in our lives. What a joy!

Mom loves chicken

Mom is the easiest person to please. She loves chicken! She could eat chicken every night for dinner.

Happy Mother's Day!

What an amazing weekend I had! First of all, I met Beth, my niece, at the PHX airport, we rented a car and successfully, drove to our hotel. It was a little too late to go see Mom since she goes to bed rather early, so we organized ourselves in our hotel room and walked to PF Changs and had an interesting dinner and wonderful conversation! I will never forget the time I spent with Beth. What an inspiration she is! Thank you, Beth! and thank you to your family for sharing her with me.
Since we are so frugile, we were thrilled to enjoy a nice continental breakfast at the hotel before we went to see Mom.



Our Mother, Grams, Great-grandmother is the most amazing woman I have ever known. She is a strong woman, with great character and faith in our Lord. I think these pictures will tell the rest.




Thank you to all of her family, near and far, and all of her friends who have helped her through these difficult days. Your visits, cards, phone calls and love keep her going and reminded just how much she is loved, admired, respected and cared for. She told me that you all give her strength to go on.




What a sweet spirit she has and I love her eyes and sweet expressions.

Next weekend I leave for Arizona again to see Mom. She's had a tough time lately with Dad's passing, then she broke her leg. She continues to inspire me and gives me more reasons to strive to be like her. She is an amazing woman. I hope to get a video of her so I can archive it so she'll be with us forever, just as I've made her promise to do....to live forever. Recently she reminded me of the song from "The Titanic". Mom said to me, "I miss your Dad. I love him so much. But you know, he'll always live on in my heart". Oh my goodness, it is amazing how much love there can be between people.
We have so much to be thankful for, so much to look forward to. We are going to visit Jason, Traci, Paisley and Isa this summer. Paisley is walking and growing up so fast. We cannot wait to see her in action. It's always fun to spend time with Jason and Traci. They make such a nice couple. We can't wait to see where Jason's new office is, go to "In and Out" (the Burger place) and of course, Disneyland!!!
We look forward to Matt and Shea's wedding in October. We are fortunate that they come over and have dinner with us. Matt helped with yard work last weekend. It was wonderful to have his help@ I got a sneak preview of Shea's wedding dress and all I can say is "WOW! she is beautiful!" But then, both of our daughter-in-laws could wear sweatpants and sweatshirts and be beautiful. What's more important is that they each have a good heart. They are loving, kind and respectful. We are blessed.
Our sons.....we have always felt that we have been blessed with them in our lives. They are so similar, yet very different and we love them both so very much. They are talented, kind and respectable men. They are good family men, just like their father and their Poppy.
Skip, my soul mate. My energetic husband who just turned 60 yrs. old and could run circles around me. He is also one who continues to inspire me. He is intelligent, loving and would rather put a smile on someone's face than to do something for himself. He is generous, forgiving, loyal, fair, forthright and creative. I am blessed.
Odin, what a kick in the pants!!! He makes me laugh, helps me to remember to play and exercise. I swear there's a human inside of him. He seems to understand and communicates in ways that I'm afraid if I told you, you would think I'm embellishing. I love this furry friend of ours.
Samantha, our cat who adopted us. So needy, high maintenance, but full of love and devotion. Full of tolerance and patience with Odin. What a sweety, what a pill. I'm not sure what we'd do without her.

Odin

We haven't posted anything for so long that I hear people have quit checking on our blog. Well, we can't have that! We decided to make a movie of our dog, Odin. He knows many tricks, goes to classes and is so smart. The only problem is that when he's not in the mood for his tricks, or as I like to call it, his lessons, then he just looks at me with those big brown eyes as if he's saying "you like these tricks so much??... then you do them!" So, here he is. Our circus dog doing numerous "tricks".
Enjoy!

Time with Paisley and Traci

We have had the pleasure of spending time with Paisley and Traci while Jason is studying and travelling in Europe. What a sweet family Jason has, he is blessed. Matt and Shea have had the opportunity to get to know their niece and experience what being Uncle and Aunt are all about.
Traci, Jason and Paisley will have a sweet reunion upon their return to California. They are blessed to have each other.

Kenitzer Family History

The Kenitzer family started in Prussia. Liebschutz and Liebengrun are the 2 towns where family lived.
Raymond Frederick Kenitzer, Sr. was a semi-professional football player and baseball player.
He worked for Pabst Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wi. He married Pauline Adams and had 2 daughters, Sally and JoAnne, and a son, Raymond F. Kenitzer, Jr. "Skip".
To be continued......

Henjum/Johnson and Eitreim/Buer Ancestors

Some family members have shown interest in our ancestors and have come up with intersting questions. Where did our family originate, what were their names, what was life like? Some questions, unfortunately, may not be answered because history gets lost in time. With our busy lives, it takes time to dig into history. But if we don't start somewhere by trying to fit the jig saw puzzle together and fill in the blanks with names, dates, links, even more history will be lost. In my opinion, that is a shame and very sad. Afterall, our ancestors may have had some wonderful stories to share, pictures to show, explanations as to what makes us tick.


As time passes, I realize more than ever, why I would rather be out of the spotlight, why do I love everything in nature, why do I love to hand stitch, why am I so darn frugile!!! I am a Norwegian. I come from a strong Norwegian, Lutheran heritage, where I thought everyone ate oyster stew on Christmas eve and everyone ate lutefisk and lefse on Christmas day, and everyone's parents went to Songerfests.





We didn't go to Disneyland when I was little.
Instead, our family and aunts and uncles would rent an entire lake resort filling numerous cabins with fishing equipment, flotation devices to play with in the lake, mosquito repellent, lots and lots of food, pots and pans to prepare fish dinners, warm sweatshirts for evenings by the bonfire and of course, our allowances to spend at the little store. I had to have my daily fudgesicle.
My Dad and uncles cleaned fish in this little shed and told jokes in Norwegian while they flung the bones and remains of fish out the door. I sat while eating a fudgesicle and listened, wondering what they were saying and figured it was a pretty good joke when my uncle Marty would laugh and laugh. What a great laugh he has! My uncle Marty has the kindest eyes you ever saw. He was a barber and he used to cut my hair until my Mother thought I should go to a lady's "hairdresser" and "get my hair done". I cried and cried and wouldn't come out of my room after a visit to "the hairdresser". I wanted to go back to uncle Marty and get my haircut. He was nice to me and didn't tug on my hair. He also didn't put rollers in my hair that made my forehead stretch so tight, it looked like I had a facelift at the age of 9 years old!
I liked the boyish bob haircut my uncle Marty gave me. I also loved the chair I got to sit in. It was a huge, black leather barbers chair and it smelled like shave cream.
So, I guess since uncle Marty was so good at cutting hair, he was pretty good at cleaning fish as well. He was pretty good at telling jokes in Norwegian too.

Family stories, family history, family......cherish them. Take time for them. Keep them alive and share the history with your family. Play with your grandchildren. Play with your children



I am in the process of scanning in more old photos of family. So be patient, there's more to come of pictures and family history.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Christmas 2007
Twas 4 days before Christmas and the last day of work.
Creatures were shopping and not a sole being a jerk.
Potatoes were boiling, lefse to prepare.
Over night it shall cool, for next day to take care.
Family will arrive.
The house will come alive.
With warm hugs and a good time.
Until the clock does chime.
Little Paisley all decked out
in her new Christmas threads.
Jason and Traci full of life and
adventures ahead.
Matt and Shea just engaged!
What a wonderful couple they will make.
Our family is growing,
and our love overflowing.
We hate to see it end,
but know there's so much more ahead.
For now we'll say our good-byes,
and continue to post on blogs,
We will continue to enjoy the warm memories
that will carry us through until we gather again.
A poet, I am not.
So the last lines went to pot.