Henriksens

Mom and Dad hosted a "Henriksen" family party on the 7th of December.

Below are the groups by generation and the "leftovers"-

(those who married into the family)

This is the group of attendees that were non -Henriksens!

Cousin Donna's husband Steve on top, Luke's wife Amanda and Craig's girlfriend Tara on the next step, Mark's wife Donna and Rick's wife Happy next and finally, my Dad and Aunt Lynne's husband Don on the bottom.
The "third" generation.
Amanda, my daughter, granddaughter of Sandy, great granddaughter of Elmer Henriksen.
Craig, son of Candy Lee, grandson of Sandy, great grandson of Elmer Henriksen.
Allison and Alex, children of Donna, grandchildren of Sharon, great grandchildren of Melvin Henriksen.

The "second" generation.
Teddy, Candy and Micki, children of Sandy and grandchildren of Elmer.
Mark, son of Candy and grandson of Elmer.
Donna, daughter of Sharon and granddaughter of Melvin.

The "first" generation.
Shirley, daughter of Alice Henriksen.
Sandy and Lynne daughters of Elmer Henriksen.
Rick and Sharon, children of Melvin Henriksen.

Sweet Sixteen

In about 30 minutes .... it will be my "little Princess' " sixteenth birthday.

WOW ... seems like just yesterday that we were blessed with her.

Amanda will be taking her driver's test this week - hoping to become an official licensed driver in the state of WI.

In addition to driving - she is about to finish up the first semester of her Sophomore year in high school. She keeps busy with Student Council, French Club, Tennis, Soccer, school activities and hanging out with her friends. (no basketball this year)

She has always been on the honor roll at school so she also spends a lot of time studying and doing homework.

Once Amanda gets her license, she would like to get a part time job to earn a little gas and shopping mall money. With her experience working for her Dad's catering business since age 11 - she shouldn't have any trouble finding employment. She is an excellent worker and very responsible.

Happy Birthday Amanda!!!

Catching Up with Jake

Jake and Hannah are back from college. They're here in WI until January 12th.

This photo was taken this past fall - beautiful scenery in WVA.

Jake has now completed his first semester of college - and is going back to WVA for more. He has decided to change his major to criminal justice. Yes, he still has that dream of being a cop.

He has gone on about 5 ride a long trips with various officers in the area during his time off from school. This seems to be the career he really wants to pursue.

In addition to being a full time student, he continues to do online moderating for Sony and has applied with another company for a paid position doing the same thing.

During his breaks from school - back in WI - he works for Best Buy in the mobile phone department and swings into computers as needed. He also has put in some holiday hours working for his Dad in the family catering business.

Other than that, most of his time is spent with Hannah. They celebrated their 1 year "anniversary" this past November. Hannah will be joining him for a second semester at WVA starting in January.

Finally, despite his busy schedule -- he did recently find time to take his little sister over to the high school parking lot -- to instruct her in the fine art of doing "donuts" in the freshly fallen snow.

Yes, Bub ......I did hear all about this little adventure.

What's Up?

WOW !!! This is the longest I have gone without blogging since I started my site. Life has been busy-crazy. I am hoping to get caught up tonight because, as usual, I have fifty things to do today and no time to load photos.

Today I have to go watch "my kids" from school play basketball. It is so fun to see their little faces light up when their teacher walks in the gym to catch their game. They only have 3 games in their season. It's the 40 minute drive each way that is so time consuming.

Then I am dragging Jake to storage to retrieve our Christmas decorations and a few other things. Yes, no tree or decor for the season yet. On the "to do" list for today.

Right now I am downloading photos that I was hired to take for a family's Christmas card. Gotta burn a CD and drop it off this afternoon.

I could keep going here............but time to finish the photo shoot stuff and get going.

Back later.