Alles Gute at the Oktoberfest

Today was a fun day and we went to Snowbird to see the Oktoberfest!  This is one of those things that is often on the "to do" list, but something that we rarely actually do.  We went this year in honor of my mom, who not only loved to go every year for the fun party and to honor her German heritage, but to see her brother Helmut who owns an awesome European import store and always has a booth there.



The drive up with the fall colors was so pretty even though this particular picture is the Big Cottonwood Canyon heading to Brighton instead of Little Cottonwood Canyon heading to Snowbird.  So we took the wrong road! What's your point?



Me and my uncle Helmut

My aunt Janet

Their store Edelweiss

We took the tram ride to the top of the mountain

More pretty colors on the way up

We made a new friend at the top of the mountain.

Gotta love the accordion and what my grandpa used to call "um-pa-pa" music :).

This is what German's do for entrainment.  It's a contest to see who could dance the longest while holding a raw egg between their heads.  No wonder they have a reputation of being crazy :).

 

We had a yummy pretzel...



... and not so yummy bratwurst and sauerkraut.  They trick you by making it smell really good, but it's a scam and the food is really overpriced and awful.  If you want to try good German food, come over to my house and let me make it for you :).

Still, we toasted Granny with our wurst...

... and listed to the Alpen horns.

The drive back down was just as pretty

 

It got dark and rained on our way home.  The sky was dark with just a little bit of Granny shining through the clouds.  Very nice!



Summer in Review

This was a fun and busy summer... too busy to update pictures of all the things I had intended.  I can't believe it's over!  Here is a little review of some of the things that we did....

Took Gabby and Riley to Seven Peaks.



Watched Sparks show off :).

Had a birthday party for Riley at Chuck-E-Cheeses.

Riley LOVED the inflatable birthday hat with tokens in it and...



he hit the ticket jackpot!

We have a ton of pictures of all the fun the kids had... way too may to post here.

Riley's birthday oreo cookie cupcakes... yum!

Me and Riley had a 24th of July Parade party and set up lawn chairs to watch the parade on TV.

 

We went to Seven Peaks again.

I took Riley to his first Bees baseball game. (Making the sign was his idea, Kristin helped him put it together and he was so proud of it).

Games for the kids at the stadium.

We made an English "Fish and Chips" dinner and watched the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics. (Notice my olympic rings cookies on the front right corner of the counter :).

Riley getting into the Olympic spirit.

Team USA entering the stadium

Celebrated Grandma's 86th birthday.

Celebrated Emma's 6th Birthday.

Went to Trafalga to ride the Mount Rushmore roller coaster, but it was closed that day.

Still managed to have fun though.

Celebrated my 37th Birthday.  My first one without mom.

Anneli made this cool Egyptian cat cake for my birthday.







Welcomed baby Ethan on July 19...



... and baby Hannah on August 1.

Got all of the Andersons together for the first family photo in 4 years.

Had birthday pancakes for Rob, Mom, Kristin and Steve.

Played in Salem.

Watched a summer hail storm.

 


Said hello and goodbye to Rob and Diana as they passed through on their way to move back to Arizona.



Saw a rainbow over our house.

Went to a somewhat rare Alleman Family dinner

Celebrated Kristin's birthday with the family at The Cheesecake Factory.

Saw the outside of the new Nordstrom at City Creek for the first time in Granny's honor.  It was beautiful!  She would have loved it!  I'm so sad that she never got to see it herself.  She tried so hard to hang on long enough to go there, but she was too weak to go on opening day and died two days later.

Bought a new piano.

Whew!