Happy Thanksgiving!

This week seems to have been the beginning of the marathon that I believe ends on January 2, 2010! Thanksgiving dinner was planned to be at my house with my parents and my aunt Marie attending along with my sister-in-law, LeAnne, and her girls (my brother had to work.) Thanksgiving means nearly a week of planning and cooking. I actually enjoy preparing Thanksgiving. My sister and I usually talk on the phone and compare recipes that we are going to try. This year, it seems to have snuck up on us because the weekend before, I went to Beaver to help celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary--Happy Anniversary. Before I knew it, it was time to start unthawing the turkey.

We had a great Thanksgiving day. It was pleasant and everyone stuffed themselves, then stuffed themselves again. My favorite part is going around the table and sharing what everyone is thankful for. I always enjoy hearing what the kids have to say. We usually get answers that range from family to toilet paper and everything in between. We did have a brief moment where James and Marie got in a bit of a political discussion, those who know these two can only imagine how that went, other than that, dinner was a success.

After the dishes were cleared, the sale ads were brought out. I was leaning towards not shopping on Friday but Lindsey asked what Black Friday was. After explaining the event to her, she declared that we must participate. My mom, of course, was looking forward to it. So, at 4:30 am, I began my day of shopping and standing in line. My day of shopping did not end until 6:30 pm that night with a two hour visit to Smith & Edwards with my dad. Those that are from Beaver, and have not been to Smith and Edwards, imagine a Variety Store, blown up 100 times. I did enjoy spending the time with my dad and I did find some good bargains.

Saturday was spent bringing in the Christmas decorations and wrapping the loot from Friday. Of course, time was taken out to stress over and eventually enjoy the BYU- U of U football game. Since that time, I have been decorating, cleaning, shopping, and starting to stress over Christmas. I want to enjoy the holidays, I really do, but I think I'll breathe a sigh of relief on January 2, 2010.

Matthew falls down and "breaks" his head!

Last Sunday I was talking on the phone with my mom when the kids came in and told me something was wrong with Matthew. I turned around and was greeted with the sight of blood pouring down the back of his head and soaking his pajamas. I quickly hung up the phone and tried not to panic. James was at tithing settlement so I was on my own (or so I thought). I took Matthew upstairs and attempted to clean his head so I could evaluate the damage. The kids told me he had been jumping on the chairs in the theatre and fell back, banging his head on a cup resting in a cupholder. The wound began to swell quickly and I was afraid there might be glass in it. The kids brought me the cup, however, and it was unbroken. I was bundling him and myself up to take him to the doctor when I had an impression to go next door and get my neighbor. My next door neighbor is a nurse. I rushed out in the blizzard and found Sister Jacobs. Her sister-in-law happened to be visiting her and is also a nurse. They agreed to come help. They arrived with super glue in hand. They quickly went to work cleaning the wound and gluing it up. I valiantly held Matthew's head as still as possible and tried to keep my composure from breaking down. We had a little mishap with the glue, a little too much was applied to the wound and seeped out into his hair, but other than that, he was as good as new. I was so grateful for loving neighbors who are so willing to help whenever we call and I was grateful for being watched over while James was away.



Matthew is doing great. He still has a goober of super glue on the back of his head. He won't let me touch it to get it out but he did finally let me wash his hair. I've decided we'll wait until the hair grows a bit and cut it out, in the meantime, he'll wear a hat. "No more Matthew's jumping on the bed (or chair, or anywhere)!"

Savannah Loses Her First Tooth

Savannah has been telling us for some time now that her tooth was "wiggley". This week it finally came out! I was putting away laundry and she came running to me to tell me that she had pulled out her wiggly tooth. Unfortunately, in her excitement, she dropped her tooth and we were unable to locate. The good news is, the tooth fairy is very willing to accept notes explaining such mishaps. The good fairy that she is, left Savannah a note explaining she was able to locate the tooth because, after all, she is the tooth fairy. In exchange for the fresh tooth, a crisp dollar bill (I guess you have to count for inflation, I used to get a nickel) was left under Savannah's pillow.

Trip to San Diego

The last week of the kids' vacation, Luke, Lindsey and I took a trip to San Diego. It was a different experience travelling with the older kids as compared to the younger ones. We left early on Monday morning and arrived in San Diego around lunchtime. Our first stop was to pick up a rental car. Luke was anxious to see what car we would get. He was hoping for a Mustang and was a little disappointed when a generic four door arrived. I cheered when the generic car came, I didn't want to be responsible for a Mustang.

Thank goodness for Garmin!! I have to say, the GPS systems are one of the greatest inventions of our time. It is so nice to be able to look up places and get directions right in your own car. I only wish we would have had one in the mission field, we would have saved a lot of time (of course, how would we have mounted it to a bike.) After leaving the carlot, we found our way to the Air and Space Museum. We spent the afternoon there. They had a Leonardo da Vinci exhibit that Jame and I actually saw in Rome. It was fun to see it with the kids. Da Vinci really was an amazing man with an incredible mind. Aside from his artwork, his inventions were ingenious for their time. The kids got to experience a flight simulator. I'd like to say they were good, but they weren't. I don't think I'll be flying with them at the wheel any day soon. I could watch them inside the simulator on a monitor. I could always tell when they were upside down because Lindsey's hair would stick straight up and she'd fall towards to belts. They said it was fun and I thought it was funny to watch them.

We headed to our motel later that evening. James had booked us in a Marriott with his reward points. It was on Coronodo Island. Island means you have to drive over a big bridge to get to it. I had flashbacks of living in Portland and having to drive over those bridges all the time. I told the kids I was a little bridgeaphobic. Everytime I would drive over those Portland bridges with the kids buckled in their seatbelts, I would worry about falling off the bridge and not knowing which kid to try to save. They thought I was nuts. I guess you have to be a mom to understand. After they laughed at me, I told them since they could unbuckle their own belts and swim, they were on their own if we fell off the bridge.



SeaWorld was our first destination the next day. We had a lot of fun there. Luke went on all the rides he had been afraid to go on when we went years earlier. In fact, because the park was so uncrowded, he went on them a few times. In the beginning, the kids weren't interested in seeing the shows because they were "dumb". (I discovered that 'dumb' and 'stupid' are common words in a pre-teen language, I immediately banned those words from the rest of the trip.) After the sea lion show, they were singing a different tune, Luke was actually upset when we were late to the Pet Show. Of course, Shamu is always fantastic to see. Luke and Lindsey sat in the splash zone and I took pictures from the dry zone. We headed back to the motel as the park closed so the kids could splash some more in the pool.




The next day we headed to the San Diego Zoo. This was probably my favorite place that we went (once we got through the snake house!) I had a great time walking with the kids and talking with them. It was a very relaxing atmosphere. Lindsey had set a personal goal to take a picture of every animal that we saw. Her camera battery ran out about half-way through so I gave her my camera. The zoo is so big, we weren't able to see everything but that was OK. The time that we spent together there was the real adventure.


After leaving the zoo, we went to the Science Museum. They were scheduled to have a planetarium show later that evening and then have telescopes set up for star gazing. We had a couple of hours before the show started and the kids used that time to explore the museum. They had a blast going through all of the projects. We got some good science fair ideas. Their favorite area was a room where a recorder would record the room for about five seconds then play the recording backward, forward, backward quickly and forward slowly. We did that over and over and over and over (you get the picture). When the show started, we headed into the planetarium. The lecturer was a college professor from San Diego. He told us how to find different constellations and then dove into an in-depth lecture on super novas and what happens when they collapse. It was everything and more that I could ever want to know about collapsing stars. I had to laugh though because I could tell the kids were really bored and I told them that was what a lot of college classes were like. I told them how I used to fall asleep in one of my Book of Mormon classes everytime. I took that class when I was a janitor at 3:00 am, and no matter how hard I tried, I would fall asleep in his class. They thought that was really funny and they were surprised I took Book of Mormon classes in college.


Our final activity before heading home was LegoLand. We had been there before when the kids were younger. There is a lot to do for younger kids and not so much to do for older kids but they had fun anyway. Luke has always been a fan of Legos so he loves seeing all of the things they build. We did go on a new ride called the Gauntlet. They sit you in seats and you choose what level you want (we chose the highest), then a hydraulic arm flips you around, upside down, and every which way. It was the craziest ride I've ever been on. If anything was freely floating around in my head, it's been shoved against something now. Just to give you and idea, before you can go on the highest level, you have to remove all jewelry and put your hair in a ponytail, I've never been on a ride that required that. Because the park wasn't crowded, we were able to enjoy this torture experience a few times. I have to chuckle when I think that we pay money to do these things to ourselves. The miniature villages are always fascinating to see. They actually have the new World Trade Center built in the New York City. I found that amusing, since the real one is still a big hole in the ground. Luke was able to get some fun Lego sets to bring home and we actually got free sets when we left the park because we agreed to do a survey.

Overall, it was a great time that we spent together. I realized how fast my kids are growing up. It wasn't long ago that Luke and Lindsey were running through the water park at LegoLand and going on all the rides that they are now too big to fit on! I think they had fun going together. They had a few power struggles along the way but most of the time they were good friends.

Halloweentime at the Andersons

Halloween this year was full of many fun activities. I think we kicked off the season with a party at Mark and Elizabeth's house. The kids look forward to going to Logan to spend time with their cousins. Elizabeth always does an outstanding job hosting the party. She goes above and beyond!! We feasted on skeleton bones, seven feet deep bean dip, witches brew and many other delicious, creepy treats. Thanks to Mark and Elizabeth for hosting us, it was a lot of fun!

Our next big activity was the annual Anderson Halloween Party. This party seems to grow each year. I think that is mostly due to the fact that we keep switching wards, even though we never move. With each new ward, we get to meet a lot of new friends, this means the invitation list grows longer and longer. I think our biggest concern now is that we'll accidentally leave someone out. It was nice to have the kids home from school. They helped a lot with the invitations, party planning and especially, cleaning the house. The night arrived and we had about fifty to sixty kids come. I think the night was made for me when I had a couple of kids tell me that they look forward to this party more than Halloween itself! That makes it all worth it. The hardest part about this party is finding an appropriate "spooky" movie to watch. We finally settled on Gremlins. We had to use the Clearplay filter because those 80's movies seem to have a lot of bad language that I either blocked out or didn't pay attention. The kids said the filter cut out some of the best parts, like when the gremlin explodes in the microwave, but other than that, it was a hit. I already have an idea for next year, I'll have to work on it early to make sure we can reserve it for that night.

Halloween day was full of fun. Our ward had a trunk or treat that started at 4:00 pm. I was skeptic at first because it seemed to be one more thing to worry about but it actually turned out to be a fun way to start the trick-or-treating. You got to see everyone's costumes and talk with the kids for a longer period of time before they came to your door.
My kids all picked out their own costumes this year. Matthew wanted to be a dinosaur and my sister, Melinda, was gracious enough to send us her old costume. (I guess I should say Brock was gracious enough to part with his old costume.) Savannah and Lindsey were both witches. Heather was a phantom with a block cloth covering her face so no one would know who she was. Luke was a jawa from the Star Wars movie. I made him a cloak and put lights in the front for eyes. It turned out pretty good.

After trunk or treat, we met back at our house for Stew in a Pumpkin and Ghost rolls. It's always nice to fill their bellies with a warm meal before they head out to gather candy. Luke's friends came over to pick him up and some of them had dinner with us. Their plan was to trick-or-treat all night. Lindsey, Savannah, Heather, Matthew and I headed out a little later. Matthew had a great time at first. As the night wore on, he got a little grouchy. He would insist on ringing the doorbell and if someone came to the door before he could ring it he would start to cry. The poor person thought it was because of the candy and would give him extra to help him feel better. I'm not sure if he was really upset about the doorbell, or if he figured out a system to get extra candy. Savannah and Matthew and I headed back early, Heather and Lindsey found friends to hook up with. Savannah had as much fun handing out candy as she did trick-or-treating. Luke and his friends actually got back before Lindsey and Heather. They dumped their candy on the floor and started trading pieces. Lindsey and Heather arrived and joined in. Before I knew it, my floor was covered with candy. Of course, this didn't last long because kids don't usually leave candy around, especially when Matthew is in sight. Halloween is one of our favorite holidays and this year was no exception.

Matthew is Finally Three

Matthew, I think, has been looking forward to his birthday more than anyone. He watched Luke's, Mom's, and Savannah's birthdays, wondering when his was going to come. He fully expected breakfast in bed, presents, and cake; and he had opinions about what he wanted for all of them. October 28th finally arrived for him.

Grandma Marcia and Grandpa Dan started his birthday off early when they brought his presents out on Monday. Grandma had found a card that, when opened, said, "Matthew!!" then sang a heartfelt rendition of 'Happy Birthday.' We could have called it good right then and there. He wasn't interested in anymore presents. He just opened that card over and over (and over), giggling each time. The other kids kept trying to hand him presents but he wasn't done enjoying the card. When he finally put the card down, he opened gifts to find a car set and a set of dinosaurs. Both of these items are at the top of his list!

The morning of his birthday, Matt had breakfast in bed with Savannah. I'm not sure how she got in on this again, but she did. Then we openend presents. He got more cars from Grandma Yardley and a big truck, stuffed animal, and a fun Leapfrog toy that helps teach him how to write. All of his gifts were a lot of fun for him. For dinner he requested pizza which was easy to do. Lindsey made his birthday cake for him. I think she had a lot of fun doing it and she did a great job! Matthew loved his race track cake. He did make her rearrange the cars so that his favorite was in first place.


I can't believe Matthew is already three. It seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital and getting the kids ready to trick or treat. I remember people telling me when Luke and Lindsey were babies, how fast they grow up. You never believe them when you're a young mother but it sure is true. I often want to slow the clock down and enjoy these moments a little longer.

Lindsey goes to Alaska

Lindsey's trip to Alaska, in her own words. . .

Sweet Savannah Turns 6

October 22 was the day Savannah was born, six years ago. Savannah was very excited for her birthday this year. She kept counting down the days. I kept telling her she had to stay five forever because she was so sweet. Her response would be, "Can I stay six forever, I want to have one more birthday." Well, that day came and she is now six and still just as sweet.

Savannah woke up to breakfast in bed. Her breakfast of choice was blueberry pancakes. Lest you think I am an overly ambitious mom making blueberry pancakes early in the morning, I'll let you in on a secret--you can buy a big bag of frozen blueberry pancakes at Wal-Mart and they are delicious, and the best part is they are ready to eat in one minute!! Anyhow, after breakfast we had presents. Savannah wanted the barbies from the new Three Musketeer movie. Between mom and dad and Grandma and Grandpa Yardley, she got a few of them. I think one of her favorite presents was a Belle music box Heather and I were able to get at Disneyland without Savannah knowing it. Savannah saw it there and really wanted it. Heather kept her occupied in one store while I purchased it. Heather was really excited to give it to her. That night we had the traditional birthday dinner. Savannah picked pot roast with all the trimmings. We also made a lemon blueberry cake. This was the first birthday cake that was eaten entirely. I usually throw away more than half the cake because no one really likes cake. I'll put the recipe up on this blog. Thanks to Nicole and mom for the cake mix recipe books that have opened my eyes to a whole new world of cakes!


Savannah had a party with her friends a little later in the week. She wanted to have a "Butterfly" party. She invited some school friends and friends from the ward. They made big butterflies out of posterboard, played a butterfly treasure hunt, painted butterflies, and hit the piniata. Of course, this was all topped off with cake, ice cream, and presents. Her cake was a combination of ducks and butterflies because those are her favorite things. She says it was her best birthday ever. I'm sure that will be her thought until next October 22nd.