Cute Kids and The big farewell!

On Sunday we had two big events for our family, one a whole lot bigger then the other. At our ward we had our annual Primary Program. It is always so fun to see the little cuties doing their thing. They sing songs that they have been practicing all year (our church does most of them in sign language as well since the song leader translates for the deaf-which is a cool bonus). And all the kids have little speaking parts, which is interesting for us because Tressa is very stage shy but for some reason in the program she always does her part with out freaking out. She told me it is because she knows that she is supposed to. If only she knew that she was supposed to bear her testimony after she drags her Daddy up to the stand with her. And of course Josie jumped right up and said her part in a very LOAD voice. I love them both so much, but even more so when they make me laugh! Tressa even got to have her picture printed onto some of the programs.

The best part though was seeing Jon's parents waiting for us in the chapel when we walked in that morning. The girls were so excited to see them and I know it meant a lot to Jon that they would take the time on such a busy day to show our girls how much they love them.


Right after the program we had to leave to make it to Jon's home ward to listen to his parents talk in church one last time before they leave on their mission to the Philippines. They have been looking forward to and planning for this day since they were married over 30 years ago. And they couldn't be happier. It was really cool to have two ladies that Steve baptized during his first mission to the Philippines 35+ years before there to see him off today.

So I guess it is 2 weeks and counting until they enter the MTC and say good-bye for 18 months.

My Favorite Night of the Month is Back!

Pioneer Theater Company has started another seasons run, Whooo Hooo. I love that I get a chance to go and usher for them and even more that I get to watch all the plays for free.

This season is looking really good they are doing Noises Off, Romeo and Juliet, and Miss Saigon (and of course many others), but now for this months play.

It was so good to be back at the theater to see My Fair Lady. This wasn't my favorite play I have seen there, but only because I have seen so many amazing pieces they have done in the past. I did however love the character of Professor Higgins. He played the part that it was easy to forget about the other characters. I found myself wishing that I had my daughter their to enjoy the cute little story about a poor girl becoming a princess. Tressa would have loved it and now I am going to have to rent the movie so she can watch it with me. I also loved seeing all of the cute old couples coming out to see one of their old favorites that has lasted through the years simply because it is that good. I hope that is me someday. And of course all the costumes at the race and ball were funky and outrageous and therefore wonderful to look at.

Tree Time Again

It is September 22nd, so it is time to check up on our little tree again. And just for fun I am putting up some of the earlier pictures of the tree for quick comparison.

June August

September

On the road again....

We finally made it to Denver so that we could visit my big brother Dan and his beautiful wife Dana. They moved there last spring for his job and I have been wanting to take a road trip to see them all summer. But this timing was probably better since last weekend was his 30th birthday.

The trip was both great and awful at the same time. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone and going on little outing but while we were there all of my kids, Becky, and even I got sick. So it was all very interesting.

We arrived at their house at around 1:30 in the morning, after getting a little lost thanks to my GPS, got hugs and kisses then went to bed. And since we got to bed so late my kids slept in until the late hour of 6:30AM. Seriously what normal child wakes up that early every day. It's okay though because I have learned to live without sleep. Later that day we went to Aurora Reservoir and tried to play in the water, but it was very cold. Tressa dove all the way under the water and ended up freezing for a very long time, which I think had more to do with the fever she developed that night. Once the kids were worm again we played at the park and even took out a paddle boat for a while. The kids thought it was great and I was exhausted. My legs were so sore from a work out with a friend earlier in the week so moving the boat was very hard for me, but at least I got a workout in on vacation.

The rest of the time we ate great food, played guitar hero, talk, played with and held baby Naomi, and of course listened to Dan and Will quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was so nice to see them again. My girls really miss having them around and I do too.

The drive home is when the real adventure started. We were about 1 hour out of Denver going home the long way on I70 when Aspen threw up, and that was just the beginning. We ended up stopping 30 to 60 minutes so she could use the bath room or to clean her up from another gastrointestinal mishap. She went through 7 set of clothes and one time in KFC even managed to mark me as well. All in all it took us just over 13 hours to get home, and of course she woke up at 6:30AM the next day and was feeling great. She was so brave through it all though, she never complained about having to keep driving and rarely cried.

It was a good trip but I really hope it goes better next time we visit Denver.

P.S. If you want a laugh ask my girls were wind comes from. Uncle Will was very instructive on the purpose of the wind mills we passed in Wyoming.

Co-op, Crazy but Fun!!

When ever I tell someone about our little co-op group for Friday Nights they always say how nice it would be to get out every Friday and how hard it must be to have all the kids on my day to watch the kiddies(there are 10 kids when all of them come). But I really love the days that we GET to watch the kids as well. It is just one big party at our house once a month. They are load, crazy and very messy but nothing makes me smile more then to see the games they make up and all the silly things they do. Sometimes we have rough nights but for the most part it is great. So thanks kids for being just wonderful- I love you all.

So the reason for this post is to show what happened the last time we hosted. I decided to forgo the traditional Mac & Cheese dinner and cook German Pancakes (or Poppi Pancakes) instead. The kids quickly came when called for dinner and when it wasn't on the table already they proceeded to chant for their dinner. I was so funny.

This was with just 8 off them since Christean's kids were not their since as usual Christean was being the goodly servant and helping out someone in need. We sure missed her girls.

And hear are some pictures that little hams decided to show off for.

These pictures aren't from the same night but I want to share them anyways. This is McKenna and Aspen Anderson (and yes my kids really do call her Aspen Anderson) playing in our castle turrets while I watched them one day. Aren't they cute.

One year older, another day gone.

August 31st was my birthday and I turned 27 years old. I am getting dangerously close to 30 but I just can't seem to care about it. My age has never bothered me, except for feeling to young for my place in life sometimes, but I am sure that will change.

I had a wonderful birthday this year. Jon sent out Little Ladies up to the mountain with my Mom on Friday night so that we could go to dinner with some of my high school friends. It was so much fun to get together with some of them again. We ended up staying out way to late since we didn't have to hurry home to our kids.

However when we did get home and Jon went to put new sheets on the bed our water bed sprang a leak! So we ran to Walmart at 2 am to look for a patch kit or anything that could help us for the night. We ended up with a quick fix patch for tires. We went home tried to patch the bed with lots of duct tape then laid towels under the corner with the leak and went to bed on the pull-out down stairs. Needles to say we didn't get much sleep that night and the patch didn't due much good, so we spent the whole next day that we were supposed to be at the cabin with out girls emptying the bed and looking for a new bed and mattress. Not the most fun of days but it was really nice to spent the day with Jon working on something together. It has been years since we did that. We finally finished our work and headed up to the cabin around 6 o'clock to enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend.


The cabin was what it always is, relaxing and fun. We rode ATVs, read, ate, and slept. And again they loved riding the child sized ATV that Grandpa Bob got. So below are all the pictures form our labor day weekend.

Aspen on the 4 wheeler...