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Archive for the ‘Georgia Noldens’ Category

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Aug 30

Grandma Nolden’s Book: Escape from Hellfire to Freedom

Frank’s mom is German. She was a young child during WWII and she and her family suffered much due to the atrocities of war. Frank’s parents recently wrote a book about her experiences. It is called, “Escape from Hellfire to Freedom,” and was recently spotlighted in Das Fenster Magazine (“America’s oldest and most popular German language magazine”). The preface of the book says this:

“This book is an accounting of a German family and their struggle to remain in tact, to survive the hardships and destruction of war caused by the bombing of their home, and the city they lived in. It is the story of two women, a grandmother and mother, and the two small children with them.

It tells of the death and destruction of thousands who lived in a city that was completely destroyed by constant bombing by the British, and finalization of this destruction by creating fire storms with the final blow to the city by the Russian assult and capture of the city.

The story goes on recalling ship passage to Denmark, and the daily life and struggle of four years in a refugee camp. Additionally the book describes the subsequent displacement to other camps to reach their final destination of Heilbronn, Germany, and the reuniting of the family.

It is the story of their plight to stay alive, remain together and find refuge with other sympathetic German families, foreign countries, other German cities and relocation after the war.”

CLICK HERE to Purchase the Book

Helga and Harley Nolden - taken on their 50th Wedding Anniversary (this year)

Jun 15

Trip to Brunswick 1: Coast Guard Beach

We took a trip to Brunswick, Georgia, over Memorial Day Weekend. The main reason for the trip was to celebrate the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Frank’s parents. All three of their children were there with them to help them celebrate. It was a fun weekend.

The first thing we did though was go to the beach:

This is the best place to swim on St. Simons Island.

Mikayla eating her lunch on the beach...

Da crew

Lynn and Marc (Frank's brother). They live in Brunswick and can go to the beach whenever...so they didn't come to swim.

Larry (Frank's sister's husband) - Is that a smile, Larry??

Hannah (niece)...she's sooo cute!

Megan and Mikayla just hanging out in the water.

Jesse (nephew), Seth (nephew) and Ashley enjoying the sun and sand...

Megan

Ashley

Sandi (Frank's sister) with Hannah (niece)

Donovan, PJ & Megan - trying to figure out skim-boarding...

Swimming in the Ocean – May 2010 – Coast Guard Beach 360

Jun 15

Trip to Brunswick 2: 50th Wedding Anniversary

We had a catered dinner and then presented Grandma and Grandpa Nolden with a gift that Sandi had worked hard on. It turned out really nice.

Grandpa and Grandma Nolden with most of the grandkids. They had just given all of the grandkids the red T-shirts as a present. The shirts say: "Freedom is Not Free - Support our Troops." It is to be worn on Red Shirt Fridays in support of the troops. Grandpa Nolden is a Vietnam Vet. Both of Frank's siblings are veterans as well.

Grandpa and Grandma Nolden - 50 years of wedded bliss.

The gift - plus a picture of Frank's brother, who recently got a promotion in the military.

Hannah and Donovan...who had a rough-looking, but very benign wound to his leg.

Here's Donovan putting on a show to make it look worse than it was :-).

Frank chillin in the back yard talking to his family.

Uncle Marc

Nolden 50th Wedding Anniversary – May 2010 – The presentation of the gift

Uncle Marc teaches PJ a Lesson – May 2010

Jun 15

Trip to Brunswick 3: Jekyll Island Walk

We were able to take a nice Sunday Stroll along the beach on Jekyll Island while we were there. It was low tide and the kids were able to find some cool treasures.

This was the family walking to the beach through the moss-covered trees (that's Mikayla).

Mikayla and Liz: "What IS that?"

Ashley and a treasure

Mikayla and Donovan found a crab

The kids getting ready for a photo op...

And...the photo op... :-) -- Remember, you can click on a photo to make it larger and get a better look at it.

The funny photo op...

PJ and Frank

Treasures

Hannah Banana and her treasures

Mikayla

Mikyala and a dead jellyfish we found...

Megan

Shayne and Frank

PJ, Liz, Aunt Lynn, Mikayla & Megan

Frank, Liz and a boat

Don and Ashley hunting for treasures...

Seth and Ashley

Liz with Aunt Lynn

Liz and Ashley

Aunt Lynn and Liz being photogenic

Headed back to the cars...

We also had to stop at the Horton House...one of Frank's favorite places on the island. Here is some info on it: Constructed around 1740, this site represents one of the most significant tabby ruins remaining on the Georgia coast. Consisting of a mixture of shells, lime, sand, and water, tabby has long been a popular building material along the Georgia and Florida coasts. Built by Major William Horton, one of James Oglethorpe's most trusted officers, the Horton House served both as a British Empire outpost and Horton's residence until his death in Savannah in 1748. The Horton House Ruins are maintained as part of the Jekyll Island Historic District.

Yeah, I let my kids play in the road. (Mikayla)

Jan 21

Christmas with the Noldens

We were able to have a second Christmas celebration with the Noldens & Jacksons again this year. Grandpa and Grandma Nolden were there as well as Sandi and Larry. Marc and Lynn weren’t able to make it this time.

Sandi's family opening up presents...

Frank and his mom watching kids open presents...

Shayne, "Woohoo, an ergonomic keyboard!!!"

The Jackson Bunch

Ashley scoring another cool present...

Grandpa Nolden, Grandpa Slade and Grandma Slade....Wake Up Grandpa Slade!!!

More presents...

Grandma Nolden, Frank and Liz

Mikayla, "Woohoo, iTunes cards for my new iPod - and socks to wear while I buy music!!!"

Sandi and Seth...

Cody

Hannah Banana striking a pose...

...and another...

So, we had a non-traditional Christmas Dinner (the day after Christmas). Grandma Slade helped us make her famous chili beans and we had Navajo Tacos. Yum!!! She did a LOT of cooking while she was there....which we all loved.

More cooking with Gr. Slade...

We all pitched in...Cody, Shayne & Mikayla hard at work.

Cody...it was so great to have him home...if only for a short visit...

Grandpa Slade supervising the action...

We rolled out massive amounts of dough for the fry bread...

I love this picture of the girls with Grandma Slade. We were on our way over to Sandi and Larry's house for another great dinner...this time it was a German affair...

Cody holding one of the pies that Gr. Slade made.

Larry and Gr. Nolden busy in the kitchen. Gr. Nolden was born in Germany and has passed on her great German recipes to Sandi.

This is a shirt that Frank made PJ for Christmas. PJ wants to get a Smart Car really bad when he is old enough.

Time to eat.

Cody chillin' by the fireplace before dinner.

More chillin...

Larry hanging out before dinner...

Jan 05

Thanksgiving 2009

We were able to have both of Frank’s siblings and their families over for Thanksgiving this year. The weather was great and the kids were able to play outside in the forest and ride the 4-wheelers…it was a LOT of fun.

Uncle Marc (Frank's Brother) surrounded by all of the kids....

Frank with his two siblings: Marc and Sandi

Frank and his brother Marc...

Frank and Marc again....

Marc and Marc Anthony...

Sandi and Hannah...

Me taking a photo of Sandi taking a photo...and Hannah posing for a photo :-)...actually, I think Lynn took this photo...that's why she's not in any of them. I didn't take any photos...which is very odd for me...so I'm glad Lynn got some for us.

Seth and Hannah (Sandi and Larry's kids)

Marc Anthony taking both Donovan and PJ down at the same time on the trampoline.

Marc Anthony...what a stud!

Mikayla

Donovan

This is at the annual "Turkey Bowl" at the church. Ward members get together and play a game of flag football...while others of us were home cooking the turkey ;-). It looked like they had a lot of fun! See the video below.

Being crazy...

...and crazier...

Marc Anthony was the quarterback and we were very impressed by his skills!

That's Frank in the middle there...he LOVED playing...

The sisters: Whitworth and Leavitt. This is the first time we met Sister Whitworth. She was out on the field taking everyone down (including Frank)...so we thought she was going to be a wild woman...but she is the sweetest person you'd ever meet... :-)

Marc Anthony throwing a pass to Larry, with Elder Delgado ready to take him down...

L to R: Elder Peterson, Randy, Elder Kilpelainen, Sister Leavitt, Elder Delgado, Frank and someone else that was visiting (can't remember his name).

Donovan...they don't appreciate my mad skills!

Liz, "Yeah...I'm a star football player..."

Uncle Larry...sad that an injury kept him from playing at peak performance...

Megan...uh...I don't know...

Here is short video of the “Turkey Bowl” Football game. Watch Marc Anthony as Quarterback…and then watch Frank…he almost loses his pants!!

Turkey Bowl 2009 from Shayne Nolden on Vimeo.

Aug 08

Another BBQ with the Nolden Family

Grandma and Grandpa Noldenvisited in early August…so, of course, that called for a family BBQ!!

Above: Mikayla holding Sophie.

Above: Mikayla and Grandma with Sophie.

Above: Liz with Aunt Sandi.

Above: Liz and Grandpa.

Above: Frank with his parents.

Above: Grandpa Nolden

Above: The master BBQer.

Above: Sister and Brother...at it again ;-).

Above: Sandi, "The paparrazi are everywhere!!" Liz taking her photo through the door.

Above: Larry...it can't be THAT bad ;-).

Above: Almost ready to eat.

Above: Sandi let Liz practice her Makeup Artistry on her...she looked beautiful!

Above: Close-up on the eyeshadow...

Above: Let the feasting begin...

Above: Liz can't miss a photo op...

Above: AAAWWWWW...Sandi just has a way with animals.

Above: Megan and Grandma Nolden deep in conversation.

Cody and Eric were there…I promise…they were just a little late for dinner because they went to downtown ATL to visit Coke World…so they missed out on all of the pictures.

Jul 21

Trip to Brunswick 09

We got to spend the 4th of July with Frank’s family in Brunswick, GA, this year. It was a lot of fun.

We only had 5 kids, which was weird. Cody was at BYU and Liz was still in Vegas visiting friends.

Above: We went to a beach on St. Simons Island on July 3rd. It was great. Then we went again on the 4th of July. BIG mistake. There was NOwhere to park and we had to hike down the beach with all of our gear for quite a ways. But…we still had fun.

I don’t know who the person on the far left is…but after that it goes PJ, Mikayla, Megan, Donovan and Ashley.

Above: We hauled all of our boogie boards down to the beach…then we realized that we were the only ones on the beach with boogie boards. If you notice…there are no waves big enough to justify a boogie board! I guess it’s a West Coast thing?? You could walk out a LONG way and it would only go up to your waist (knees most of the time).

Above: Hoping for a wave.

Above: Megan

Above: Mikayla

Above: PJ

Above: Frank and Ashley

Above: So, later that night we decided not to go back to St. Simons Island for the fireworks show. We were told that it could take 4 hours to get off the island afterward. Instead we opted to do our own little fireworks show in front of Grandma and Grandpa Nolden’s house.

That’s Shayne and Grandpa Nolden on the porch before the fireworks. The fuzziness of the photo is because of the intense humidity in the air. We had just taken the camera outside into and it hadn’t adjusted yet.

Above: The camera was still fuzzy from humidity when we caught Grandma Nolden and Uncle Mark watching the fireworks show. I’m thinking Uncle Mark isn’t liking the show

Above: Frank and Aunt Lynn taking the safe approach to fireworks.

Above: PJ, Megan and Mikayla were actively involved in lighting off the fireworks.

Above: PJ, Megan, Uncle Mark & Mikayla. It was TOTALLY dark right before the flash went off…so no one knew that Uncle Mark was “lurking” in the shadows .

Above: Uncle Mark still lurking .

Above: Megan, Aunt Lynn & Mikayla

Jul 02

Six Flags (again)…

Frank had to work this time…and Liz is in Vegas…but the rest of us went to Six Flags this week with Larry, Sandi (Frank’s sister), Seth & Hannah. It was WAY hotter and more humid than last time…but we still had a lot of fun. This time we checked out “Skull Island,” which is a mini water “park in the park.”

Above: Boy, I think Donovan was having too much fun. None of the kids actually liked this one.

Above: Ok, a little bit better.

Above: Seth

Above: Hannah, Ashley & Don

Above: Hannah

Above: Seth & Ashley

Above: The water…before they got wet…

Above: …and after.

Above: Seth & Ashley

Above: Skull Island.

May 17

Annual Father Son Campout

Frank took the boys on the Annual (church) Father/Son Campout in early May, which was held at the Charlie Elliot Wilderness Preserve, which is about 45 minutes from where we live. Larry and Seth got to go with them this year.

They had a great time until they went to bed and it started POURING rain (they were tent camping). They got a little wet and uncomfortable…but overall I think they had a great time.