Mom & Dad's 60th Wedding Anniversary

     

(photo taken Feb. 13, 2009 at Sarah Amundson Brough's Wedding)

     Fred and Edith Amundson, of Roy, will be celebrating their 60^th Wedding Anniversary on May 29^th, 2013. They were engaged on Valentines Day 1953 after a two year courtship, married on May 29, 1953 in Roosevelt, Utah, and sealed the following February in the Salt Lake Temple. Fred and Edith have lived their married life throughout Utah: Roosevelt, Salt Lake City, Granger, Richmond, Vernal and, for the last 24 years, in Roy. They have 4 children; Vicki, Luann, Jim and Bryan, 18 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Fred supported his family working as a plumber, but he can do anything. He is talented in building, remodeling, creating and inventing. Edith worked in banking. She enjoyed playing sports in her youth, bowling in her middle years, and playing games and cards with friends and family.

     Both Fred and Edith have been active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, serving in many positions of leadership and service. They have enjoyed traveling, gardening, meeting regularly with close friends and getting family together as often as possible. They have been great examples of generosity and service to others.

A more recent photo reflects how they are often found.  It was taken on a warm afternoon in Preston, Idaho after the blessing of Jenna Marie Bodily. 8-5-2012

The newest member of our clan, Analise Biehl, was born October 7, 2011. She is the daughter of Lisa and Erick Biehl. Lisa is the daughter of Luannn and Grant Cooper. Analise has an older brother and sister. Welcome, Analise.

Reunion Report

Our family reunion at Willow Flat was a lot of fun. We enjoyed existing together in the beautiful outdoors. Camping provides a way of bonding that we get in no other way. For one thing, we all smell the same...dirt and campfire is the prevalent aroma. Another thing that brings us together is the preparing of and partaking of food. We learn from each other how to dutch oven cook, good salad recipes, ideas for picnics, etc. We also get to enjoy activities together. We had a scavenger hunt for the young children and the young adults helped the children find the things on their lists. They found things such as grass, pine cones, flowers and leaves of different kinds. The purpose was to help the little ones discover nature and learn to trust and get to know the older cousins. The older cousins who helped had the opportunity to bond with the little ones. It worked and was great. After checking in and telling me everything that they found, the children got to choose a prize. They were happy. Later, throughout the day, I saw them seeking out the young adults who had helped them, just to spend time with them and share delights with them. I was very pleased! I must mention what good mentors our young adults were. I was proud of them.
Another fun activity was the photo scavenger hunt. Willow Flat has a beautiful hike, about a mile long, up to the spring...where the water comes right out of the mountain. We went in teams, each team with a camera and a list of things to photograph along the hike. The list contained a couple of things that no one could find: snow and clouds. One team was very creative...capturing the word snow from the list and drawing their own cloud on the back of the list and taking a picture of it. They even created a wild strawberry by placing a fruit snack in a leaf arrangement. They won first prize! Why not?

We spent two nights in that lovely camp. After supper was all cleared away, we all sat around the campfire and visited. The first night we sang Happy Birthday to Lisa, Jim and Bryan and gave them our gifts...mostly T-shirts with amusing logos. Then, both nights we cooked smores and just visited. One or two at a time people trickled off to their tents, leaving only the stalwart fire huggers to star gaze and philosophise until the fire went out.
Mom and Dad were good sports, even excited to come to the reunion. The original plan was that Jim would bring his new trailer with all the comforts of home for them to stay in. The Sunday before the reunion, Jim and Artus decided to go for a drive and check out the facility. They found that the extreme high run off had badly damaged the road to the campsite to the point that they did not dare bring the trailer if it was not repaired. Monday morning, I called the forest service to see if repairs were in the plan. They were so busy repairing damaged roads and washed out campsites that they could not promise anything. Jim then decided to bring tents instead. They even bought a new tent and air bed just for Mom and Dad to use. We equipped the tent with a necessary porta-potty and figured they would get along just fine. We didn't forsee how cold it was going to get at night...44 degrees inside the tents. Mom and Dad didn't have enough bedding to stay warm. But, that was not the only problem. Sleeping together on an air mattress, as we all know, causes the two people to roll together. When you are young, that's not a problem. For Mom and Dad, it created miserable challenges. Mom needed to get up to potty several times during the night but couldn't get out of the bed. Dad had to try to push her out but she fell back in..they just sat there and laughed. Dad couldn't get over to his side of the bed because there was nothing to hold onto to pull himself over. Neither one could get comfortable or warm. I got up at 7:00 am to find Mom sitting near the cold fire pit wrapped up in a blanket. She told me about their terrible night and that they had decided that after supper, they were going to go home. All they would be missing is breakfast and they could not spend another night like last night. She laughed as she explained their follies but the humor did not deter them. They left after the dutch oven dinner. They arrived home safely at about 9:00pm. They showered, watched the news, then went to bed. They both slept til 9:00 the next morning. They felt much better and were grateful to be home. They did enjoy watching everyone have a good time together while they were there. Next year we will have to do something less strenuous for their sakes.
The newest member of the Amundson family is Jana's dog, Dex.

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Reunion information

Amundson Family Reunion

Everyone circle the date on your calendar: July 21 - 23
At: Willow Flat Campground
Fun for all ages!
...
Games: Scavenger Hunts, Bingo, Fish Pond (for little ones), Minute to Win It contests, (more suggestions welcome)

Activities: Baby Quilt tying, hiking, visiting, relaxing

Campfire Program: individuals or groups willing to share their talents, stories, singing, s’mores, etc. If you have a musical instrument that you could bring, please do. (Please be considerate of neighbors, though.)

Dutch Oven Cook-Off: Our Friday night meal will feature your favorite creations. Let me know what you plan to fix so that I can coordinate the meal.

Family History: As I have been getting into family history, I have been disappointed that our grandparents, etc. have little or no written history. I would love to read about their lives and get to know them. Let us not condemn our posterity to the same dilemma. I ask each person to write a page of their personal history…something that you have experienced, achieved, or learned and how it has impacted your life: how you feel about it, how it has changed how you look at things, how it has affected your testimony or you decisions. I will have an Amundson Family History Book there for our stories to go into. Please take a few minutes to write your page to make our collection complete. We can add to it each year. I’m so excited! I hope you can catch my enthusiasm!

I will be making some assignments so check your e-mail often! Any questions or suggestions are welcome!

Love you all!

Vicki & Steve











Update:
Note the check in and check out times above. We have reserved the group campsite #51 and #52, so there is plenty of room.
The only meals we will be eating together are Friday, night and Saturday morning. Plan your own food for the other meals. Thursday night and Friday night we will have campfire get togethers...Mom and Dad are furnishing Smores both nights. Come ready to sing and tell stories, or share talents, if desired.

Food:
Friday Night :
BBQ Ribs (furnished by Mom and Dad)
Dutch oven potatoes by Steve and Vicki...we need two more
DO Beans by Bryan and Jana
Cobbler by Bart and Kate...we need two more
Salad by Jim and Artus...we need one more
Rolls...we need three dozen...who volunteers?
Drinks BYO
Eating utinsels, plates, cups, napkins...BYO
Other suggestions? Speak now or forever hold your peace:)
Saturday morning breakfast:
ALL FOOD WILL BE PROVIDED, we will all help cook as assigned below:
Pancakes...Jim and family
Eggs...Luann & family
Bacon/Sausage...Vicki & family
Drinks, butter, Syrup, set up...Bryan & family
If anyone has a camp chef stove we can use to facilitate meals, let me know. Also if you have extra dutch ovens we can use, let me know.
Remember your written history page and your cameras.
It will be here before we know it:)

Family Reunion information

I updated the family reunion information on facebook. Please check it out there. It has all the information you need to know...I think. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. It is going to be lots of fun!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger