Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend. On Saturday morning Ben and I took them to Thanksgiving Points Easter Eggstreme. It was RIDICULOUS! They should have put a cap on the amount of tickets they would sell because they completely overdid themselves. It was totally crowded with lines a mile long. The boys had fun with some of the activities we were able to get through and with the easter egg hunts. It didn't help that it was freezing cold outside too. On Sunday the weather outside was much better. The boys got their Easter baskets that the bunny left them that morning. We went to church and came home and started cooking dinner. My sisters, Roxanne and Holly, my brother Andre', Roxanne's boyfriend, Todd, and Ben's brother Zach, and cousin Andrew all came over later that afternoon and filled some eggs for me and hid them in the front yard for the boys. The boys had so much fun looking for the eggs. I will say the bunny was quite sneaky and hid some of them under ground and in really high places! At least the uncle's and cousins were their to help them out! After the hunt, Ben's older brother Justin and his wife Kate and their kids came over and we had a wonderful dinner! Everyone helped with food so it turned out perfect! I am so grateful for this holiday and what it means. So not to forget the meaning of Easter we sat down with the boys before bed and read the Easter story. I love my Savior and the sacrifice he made for each of us that have come to this earth, so that we can return to live with him!

Happy Valentines Day!

I absolutely HATE that Valentines Day was on a Monday. It made it really hard for me to be able to get the boys gifts. I went to Wal-Mart at midnight on Sunday night to get them their balloons and gifts. They were completely wiped out but I found some things for them. I bought them 2 balloons, a Valentines Day book and 2 ring pops. It was really fun to have them wake up Monday morning and see their presents. They loved it! Valentines was pretty stressful for me. I hurried and got ready for the day and packed the two boys bags for the night because they spent the night with my brother and sister down in Provo. I headed down to Provo where I met up with my brother for lunch. Then I drove over to campus to get Ben's gift. After leaving campus I went over to Victoria's Secret for Ben's other gift! :) Then I went to my sister Holly's house so I could feed Keaton. While I was there I tried calling Texas Roadhouse to give a take out order. I felt like I was calling into a radio show to win something. I kept getting a busy signal. I called like 15 times before I finally got through. She immediately put me on hold. I was on hold for about 6 min. before she got back on and asked how she could help. I told her I needed to place a take out order so she then transferred me. I was on hold for 15 min.! It was ridiculous. I finally was able to give my order and she told me it would be done in 30 min. I wasn't able to leave Provo until almost 6pm. So I called Ben who was right close to our home and asked him to go pick up the food. He said he would and I headed home to set up the house. I was doing everything I could think of and realized how long it had been. It was 7 already. I called Ben and said, "Where are you?" He proceeded to tell me that they had somehow given our order to someone else and they were going to have to remake it. I said that is unacceptable and to tell them we get it for free. So that's what happened, Ben told them it should have been done an hour before and that we should get it for free. So in the long run it was worth a free meal! He came home and I had the dinner table set up really nice. We watched a movie I had rented which I would never recommend. It was called The Romantics. It was awful! We had a really nice quiet night in. I was so grateful to my sister Holly and brother Andre' for watching the boys and keeping them over night! I love you guys!

Christmas

Christmas this year was in Reno. The drive there was probably really long for Ben because the weather was horrible but mostly because I was freaking out in the back of the car the whole 7-8 hours! Telling him to slow down, he was going too fast, it wasn't fair that the rest of our lives were dependent on how he drove and on and on and on. For about the last hour of the trip I kept my head low and watched Happy Feet! Sorry Ben!
We finally got to Reno late that night and it was just so nice to be out of the car and at home. Mom had homemade stew on the stove ready for us when we got there. EVERYONE of us was home and dad later informed us that this was going to be the last time we were all home for Christmas for a long time because of how a lot will change in the next year or two. It made me really sad but enjoy my time at home that much more.







That first week was great…we did a lot of shopping, went and saw The Chronicles of Narnia, went out to lunch with the girls, Ben and I went to Betos with Roxy (not the chain Betos, this is the real hole in the wall mexican food), more shopping, and more shopping. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve filled with seafood and a surprise visit from Santa himself…okay it may have been my Uncle Glen! :) Aidan says to Santa, "Santa take off your beard so I can see if you are Uncle Glen!" We all had a good laugh! Christmas morning was a blast. Santa got the boys an Escalade and they LOVED it! They immediately had Ben take them outside so they could ride it around the neighborhood. Christmas day was fun sitting around and visiting and playing games. Dinner was AMAZING! And like every year Christmas came and went so fast.



The second week we were there went by so fast. We celebrated my sister Carmen and Aidan's birthdays at Claim Jumper. Aidan loves that he shares a bday with his aunt. We did some more shopping that week and some more eating out. Everyone also went to see True Grit, I sat that one out at home with the boys! On New Year's Eve everyone except for me and the baby went sledding up at Galena. They all had so much fun! That night we all went out to eat at Siamese Hut for dinner, only the best Thai in Reno! At midnight it was pretty mellow. The boys were in the middle of watching A Team and I was watching Dateline. My mom passed out right before midnight, so you can only imagine how exciting ringing in 2011 was for us. :)







Sunday the 2nd, we sadly left Reno and headed home. We had a GREAT two weeks and we're so thankful for all our parents did for us. We LOVE you mom and dad!

This is what Christmas is about!

I LOVE this!

Temple Square

When it comes to the few traditions we have in our little family I am serious about them. So today wasn't the best day and our whole family is sick but this week is also the last week we are in town before we head to Reno. We hadn't gone to see the temple lights yet downtown and I was determined to get it done. I packed up all three kids in the car and headed downtown to meet up with Ben who works across the street from the temple. We bundled everyone up and walked around temple square. We saw the nativity, the Christ statue, a man playing his bag pipes, all the beautiful lights and had hot chocolate at Ben's office. We all had fun and for this I am glad I push myself to get these things accomplished!

The Annual Anderson Christmas Party

Well those of you who know the Anderson's know what a party like this might be like! A lot of people, LOUD, tons of food, and tons of FUN! The night started at 6:30 and everyone left just before midnight! We had a Cafe Rio dinner with lots of chips and dips and salsa and fruit and cookies and cupcakes and so much more! We of course had to watch the video Ben made of Zach's big horn sheep hunt, followed by a Nativity put on by all the cousins! How cute they were dressed up as Mary and Joseph, the angels, the shepherds, and of course the wise men! My little nephew who is now eight, dresses up as Joseph every year and this year he says to me, "I am pretty sure Joseph wasn't missing a tooth!", referring to his front missing tooth! I busted out laughing and told him he was probably right but that it was okay! Then we all went upstairs to listen to the walkie talkie to Santa! Every year we have been so lucky to have one of Santa's elves drop off presents for EVERYONE! But this year Santa came himself along with his wife Mrs. Claus! Oh the kids couldn't have been more excited. Especially the older kids! :) Each kid was called by name and Santa told him what he knew about them and also some things they needed to work on to stay on the nice list! Ethan the entire time just stood there with his mouth wide open. It was hilarious! All in all, it was a great night filled with lots of love and laughter with family. Thanks to everyone who helps put these parties together every year!

Thanksgiving Week Highlights

Our Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. The whole Anderson family was there minus Jerm of course who is in Italy on his mission. The family, the food, the movies, the shopping, all of it was great! We got to see Tangled which I can't wait for that to come out on DVD already! Ben saw The Unstoppable which he enjoyed as well. We went to dinner with Danny and Stephanie Dastrup who we haven't seen in at least three years! We went to dinner with all the Anderson's minus all our kids. On our last day there, the guys went shooting and the girls got taken out to Nordstroms for lunch by Kathy followed by some shopping in the mall! My highlight was when Kathy bought all of us girls a pair of boots from Steve Madden! I absolutely LOVE my new boots! Thanks Kathy and Belmont for everything that week, Ben and I are so grateful for everything you do for us!

Halloween Highlights

The week of Halloween was super busy. We had our ward trunk or treat on Wednesday night, Aidan has his preschool party on Thursday, we carved our pumpkins that night, we took the kids trick or treating at Ben's office downtown on Friday, then that night we took them to the Lehi City party, and then on Saturday we went to Gardner Village to see the witches and of course we took the kids trick or treating with their cousins down in Provo! I have never seen so much candy! The boys had a ton of fun in all the activities that we did! Here are some pictures of the highlights of the week….
WARD TRUNK OR TREAT

PRESCHOOL HALLOWEEN PARTY

CARVING PUMPKINS

KPMG TRICK OR TREATING

LEHI CITY PARTY

GARDNER VILLAGE

HALLOWEEN NIGHT