So here is Big John sitting on Santa's lap, prettymuch against his will and better judgement but he was a good sport and he really wanted his surprize gift (a real NBA basketball). A guy does what a guys gotta do, right?

Christmas with Santa

Bryan(right) had to sit on Santa's lap in order to get his present from DCFS at their annual Christmas party this year. (It was a radio CD player)
Dalton (left)didn't mind at all. I think he got what he wanted from Santa. He was very happy (his was a Hotwheel track. Very cool!)

Thanksgiving in Montana 2008

We were blessed enough to be able to go to Montana and spend the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend with Amie and Matt's family this year. Crazy maybe. We took three teenagers and a big dog. We traveled mostly at night. Bad for us, we were tired and arrived around 2:00am but great for the dog and kids who slept most of the way. I mean good for us!!! :0) Peaceful most of the way. They all did pretty well traveling. We had great weather all the way. After entering into Montana in the middle of the night, while Barney was driving, a deer ran out in front of us and we hit it. It took us totally by surprize and it took us about three miles before we could stop. the deer hit the center of the grill and didn't do much damage to anything other than the grill. It could have been so much worse. Our prayers were definitely answered. We were all OK and so was the car. there is still alittle fur on the grill. We arrived on Thanksgiving Day. We slept in alittle and then the boys played football while we got food ready. We all went to the Church that evening so we could eat with about 20 other friends of Matt and Amie's, where we would have more room. It was so fun. Nice friends. The guys played basketball and the kids played in the nursery and the mom's cleaned up and everyone was full and happy. Here are a few of our favorite moments while at Matt and Amie's.

Dog friends

Matt and Amie's Golden Lab, Molly, and our Black Lab, Buddy. Such good friends now. They were so excited to meet eachother. They have played together the whole weekend.

Amie's Haircut

I cut Amie's hair. Well ... just a trim really. This is cute but it is before she styles it. Wow Amie, you're a babe!

Bryan jumping on sleeping Matt

Sick grandpa

Sick Grandpa taking a rest break. Poor gramdpa, hope you feel better soon, we love you.

Sam's bare Butt

Sammy's loosing his pants while he plays with the empty box.

cuddling Sammy

Alittle cuddle time with Sammy

Jac and Sam

Having fun with Sam and Jac. So cute!

Christmas pillowcases for Post boys

Sammy's early Christmas present from Grandma Anderson

A Christmas pillow case

Jacob's Christmas pillowcase from Grandma Anderson

Thanksgiving at Amie and Matt's in Montana

Mom and Muffin day with Dalton Nov. 2008

Here is Dalton, 6th grade at Wellington Elementry School with Carolyn for an early morning "Mom and Muffin" breakfast together with lots of other moms and classmate friends. We had fun seeing so many of our friends and sharing some good juice and muffins.
Dalton realy was having fun!!!

Baptism Day for Dixons

Proud father with sons, John and Brian. The boys got baptized last week, Sat. Nov. 8th 2008.
Here they are with the Elders who taught them, on the day of their baptism. Elder Wilson and Elder Jackson. The boys were confirmed at church the next day.






This week the boys received the Priesthood, Deacon and Teacher.

Yeah for them! Good job boys!

Dalton joins our family in November.

This is Dalton. He is the newest member of our family. He has been with us for over a week now. He is 11 years old in the 6th grade. We have alot of fun with Dalton. We recently got Dalton a Journal and he loves writing in his journal every chance he gets - many times a day sometimes.
Welcome Dalton!

Beautiful Fall Season

I love this time of year. The Fall is so beautiful. Today the leaves have been falling like crazy. One good storm and it will blow them all off the trees and cover the ground. We are all helping to get ready around here for the snow to fall soon. I hate to think of that yet. I just want to enjoy the little bit of warmth left to this season. Warm days, crisp and cool mornings and evening. Awesome! I love it. But.... I do enjoy the winter, sort of. We need the moisture and love to see the changes, which later makes me very anxious for Spring to get here and see COLOR again, which I love. Oh, I just love being here in Utah. I can't believe that God created so much beauty to behold in this whole entire State, especially the quadrant of the State that we live in. So much to see and experience up close and personal, all year long. People used to ask me what there was to do in Utah, I would always say, "get out of the house and look around. There is so much to see and do". There is camping, fishing, boating, hiking, Biking - on road and off road, motorcycling, dunebuggying, 4-wheelin' of many types, on and on and on. Last year we went with my sister Terry and her family down near Hanksville on an all day hike. I thought she was trying to kill me :0). We walked for hours and hours throught beautiful very deep revenes that you could practically touch both sides at the same time in most places. They we several stories high. Many places had so much water that we had to swim for a long ways just to get across. It had recently rained. All of the animal dung on the whole entire desert had been washed down to these rivers we swam through. Yikes!!!! The dirt was red. We were covered with red dirt and dung and wet. Fun!!!! Thanks Terry. I couldn't walk for days after that. I told her I thought she loved me but now I wasn't sure :0= jk. Mostly it was just fun to be together. We did survive. We slept well that night for sure. If Terry and Gene ask you to go hiking with them, well, ask alot of questions first. Like, when were you there last? How long did it take? Are we likely to accidently spend the night out in the rocks? You just never know what kind of adventure you might get into with them but look how exciting their lives are. Good job guys!

Fall yard work all together

Today we all worked hard in the yard, getting ready for Winter. The boys all shoveled and moved dirt with the wheelbarrels While Barney worked so hard cutting down down a huge Lilac bush growing through the fence. It was out of control. He filled in the dirt the boys brought over and leveled it out. I picked up all the branches that Barney cut and stacked them onto a trailer for going to the dump later. It felt so good to get this done. There is still more dirt to move and alot of concrete around the back of the house which is totally flaking apart and needs to be replaced. Another, expensive, project for another day, maybe in the Spring! John went to the movies with a friend with his earnings from the day. Fun! John turns 15 on the 12th of Nov. Not long now. Cold Stone Ice Cream, here we come in only 11 more days. Yeah!!!!

Moving Dirt and Cutting down Lilac Tree

The boys on Halloween

Bryan (on the right) wearing the "Molit" wig (from Joe Dirt). John (on the left) looks like one of the Mod Squaders - Linc. He's missing the big gold chains. Notice the blue pick in his hair. They are lovin' it. Cute! they had lots of fun.

Our back yard in the Fall

Barney was sitting out in the back yard Sunday afternoon for awhile admiring the scenery there so he decided to take a picture or two of the beautiful colors of the trees. He said he wanted to say "Hey, this is my back yard. What about your?" So... From Barney to you. Here is our back yard.

Anxious to see the beautiful ocean of California

Brian and Joy Barker

San Diego , California bound!

Brian is in the Navy, AGAIN. He is being sent to Japan at the end of October with Joy for three years or so. So they came to see us in Utah on Labor Day but as time went on I felt like three years was such a long time and I wanted to see them one more time before they left. I doubt that we will make it to Japan ever. So we drove down to California and took the boys for a long weekend. We stopped at Tamara's first to spend the night in Menifee (near Temecula, norhtern San Diego). Then to the beach with Brian and Joys for the day, and to their house that night. We had dinner with our good friends, Denis and Marlena Asprey. It was their Anniversary and her Birthday that weekend too. The next day, on Sunday, we went to church with Barney's brother, Barry. It was good to see all our good friends in his ward, the Huff family, Ron Harvie, Barney's cousin, and alot of others there. Then went to Barry's house for dinner with his whole family of married and unmarried kids. The boys played in the pool and Jacuzzi while we were there for the afternoon. Then we went to Ron Harvie's house to see Aunt Carol and Uncle Ralph who go there for dinner every Sunday evening. That was so nice to see all of them too, Then back up to Tamara's where we spent the night and left for home early the next morning. It was a whirlwind of a weekend and tiring but so worth the drive to visit everyone. It was so much fun and great weather the whole time.

Visiting with Tamara's Family in California

Tamara, Nathan, Christian and Amelia

Having fun with Grandkids, Christian and Amelia

Wrestling at Brian and Joy's

Room to wrestle in Brian and Joys empty apartment. Furniture already go shipped to Japan.

Spending the day at the beach with Brian and Joy

A couple of Studs on the Beach

Bryan and John

LaJolla Cove, Calif.

John and Bryan had fun playing in the sand and surf while at LaJolla Cove, LaJolla, California.

Barney

Here is my handsome husband while we were at LaJolla Cove in California this last weekend to see our kids. What a fun time we had.

Our Blog Start up

Serious John

John, 14 years old, 9th grade, thinks he's so cool. Mr. G.Q. He's a silly teenager. Quit the comedian. We have alot of fun with him.

Silly Bryan

Here is cute but goofy Bryan, 13 years old, 8th grader, doing his SUPER-Pose. He's a riot to have around.

Here is the Zauss gang posing together before their first Roadshow performance of the evening.
Barney is Helaman, Telling a story to his grandchildren in their Family Home Evening about his father and grandfather, Alma the Younger and Ammon and co-horts. John (the tall one) is Alma the Younger. Bryan, the little on, on the right, is Ammon. Carolyn, believe it or not in the center with the beard, is Alma the older. (We couldn't round up enough boys for the part.) We all had alot of fun. Bryan and John have not been baptized yet. They are taking missionary lessons and John is in SEminary. They are doing great and learning alot about the gospel. Good Job boys!

Barney hates cats! Yeah, Right!

About a year ago or more while Barney was gone for the weekend working out of town, this beautiful full grown Silver Tabby male cat wanders into our back yard. the boys and I let it in and fed him so he would come back, which he did the next night and the next, the night Barney came home. When Barney came in late (and I had just let the cat out after feeding him and loving him and letting him wander around the house and play with the boys all evening, Barney looked at the cat on the porch who had a look like he belonged there. Barney said "where did you come from and why are you on my porch looking at me like that. Barney came in and said where did that cat come from. I said "I don't know. I saw him a few nights ago and let him in to feed him - so he'd stay." He did. Barney said, with a low tone, "I hate cats." Yeah, right. that's why the cat sleeps on his chest every chance it gets. Does this look like Barney is getting the cat off? This was not a one time occurrence. I will share more photos like this later.

Carolyn hates dogs!

So here I am with Buddy. Our new Lab puppy so lovingly given to us by Jennifer and Chad, thank you very much. See, I don't like dogs. Ok, just most dogs, most of the time. I don't mind some dogs, as long as they belong to someone else. Jennifer brought him to us when she came to visit us while Brian and Joy were here for Labor Day weekend. She thought Dad would like him. (Of course he did. He's a guy.) Who wouldn't love this adorable little guy. Look at him. He is about four months old here with me. When he arrived he weighed 20 lbs. Now he wieghs 45 lbs after just a month or so. Wow! Well, this little guy kinda grows on ya the longer he's around. I just didn't want someone else to take care of that wasn't going to grow up and move away someday. Now, when we travel we have to take him or kennel him. I have to be a poop pickin' up dog owner. I have to worry about his barking bothering someone (like me). Oh well. I guess I'd just better get used to it. I think he's here for good. The boys love him. Ok, I'm getting to think he's kind of cute. Maybe I even kind of llike him now. We are bonding more and more. Barney has been good to take time for him each day, training and exercising him. They go for morning walks together. I could almost get jealous sometimes. (Not.) Sometimes go to. He's such a baby. He still chews on everything. He doesn't get to come into the house, much. The cat is an indoor/outdoor cat. He was here first. The dog is curious about the cat but usually respects the cats "space". The cat and dog are getting more and more accepting of eachother and the gaps in their personal space is shrinking. They are cute to watch. Barney is always saying "your cat is taunting my dog" (just by looking at the dog, and hissing). I say " The cat is just protecting his space and making sure the dog knows who is boss. (The Cat.)

Just alittle something that Barney's been working on

I just thought you would like to see this gorgeous marble medallion that Barney made and set into a beautiful wood floor job that he installed for someone. It is one of my very talented husbands little specialties. He's awesome. Barney ROCKS!!!!!

Brian and Joy Barker

My son Brian and his wife, Joy came to see us on Labor Day this summer. Brian is in the Navy and found out that he will be going to Japan for about three years. Joy gets to go. They made the rounds to see everyone before leaving at the end of October. We sure did enjoy having them here for w few days. We will sure miss them.
We decided to see them one more time before they go so on Oct. 18th we will go to California to see them again. We will also be seeing my daughter, Tamara Michel and her little family.

This is our Great- Granddog, son of Jen and Chad's two Lab kids. Weren't they sweet to share. The said they weren't the first to have grandkids but they were the first to have greatgrandkids and actually give us one. :0) When this little guy came to live with us over a month ago at around three months old, he weighed in at 20 pounds. Now he is 4 to 5 months old and weighs 45 lbs. Wow!!!! His name is Buddy. He very cute and a good dog. Barney is having so much fun training him. They go for walks everyday and Buddy plays in the river near by.

Beautiful Utah Fall Colors

The Fall colors are beautiful around us this time of year. This is near Sunnyside, about 30 miles east of our home. We live in a beautiful place.