THE ANDERSON FAMILY

Current pics of the girls

2012-02-08T20:41:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it has been over 3 months since I last posted. Where is time going? I think I say that at the beginning of each post I write. Really, I WANT to get back on the blogging train...it's just overwhelming to think of how much I haven't posted about!

The girls are getting big! Especially Lucy. Riley is still loving kindergarten. She is learning so much and it's very exciting. Izzy is starting to read a little bit. She isn't as motivated as Riley was. She is my laid-back kid. So I don't push her too much. We just sit down and sound out some really simple three letter words for now. She needs help with a few letter sounds still...but it is coming. She does get easily bored and disinterested. One thing she can do much better than Riley could starting out is blending the sounds together to say the word. Riley would say the letter sounds over and over and over...and I would have to help blend them for her to get the word. Izzy on the other hand hears each of the sounds once and voila! She knows the word. It's fun to see little minds at work.

I try to document the funny things the girls say. Sometimes as facebook statuses other times in these little notebooks I have started for each of them. It isn't enough. I know there is so much I don't record...but oh well!!

Lucy is 8 months now. She is crawling all over, sometimes even pulling to standing ....she can wave, say "mama" and "dada" and click her tongue. The is so fun! I can't get enough of her. I love the baby stages and milestones. I am still trying to soak it in...knowing babyhood will all too soon be over and toddlerhood, though fun, just doesn't compare.

The holidays were wonderful. The magic and excitement of Christmas with kids is the best. I loved that Christmas fell on a Sunday. We got up, went to church and then came home and had Christmas morning. That is how it should be every year.

Lame attempt at an update. But it's something, right? Hopefully more to come. NOT in three months, either!

Lucy's Newborn pics

2011-10-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

...5 months late. But as the saying goes, "Better late than never", right?? Thanks to our good friend Justin for his amazing photography talents :)

I love how she is peeking in this picture!

So teeny-tiny and precious.

And 5 months later:

Time flies when you're having fun, and this girl has added a lot more fun to our lives :) I'm not even sure how the past 5 months have flown by so quickly. But I guess it's because Lucy and everything else has kept me busy, busy, busy. And can I just say as much fun as it is, baby #3 was by far the biggest, hardest adjustment ever. The good news is I think we are gonna make it! Slowly but surely I am adapting to the new "normal" for us. It feels good to be a family of 5!

Lucy's Letter

2011-10-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this is like the other girls' letters...at least I feel like it's different. I have sort of been putting it off, because I am full of many emotions for my baby.

Lucy,

I am trying to savor every moment; every gaze you share, every smile and giggle...

I keep hoping time will slow down- that life will allow me to be lazy (even lazier than I already am) and ignore my housework and other responsibilities.

No matter how much I really am soaking it up, basking in the wonderful-ness of you, my baby...time is flying, the seconds keep slipping away. Sometimes I feel a little guilty because I am very aware of your sisters watching me love and adore you. I have to then tell them, I used to do this with them, too. So they know how much I love them. I just hope that they understand. I love all my girls so much. But there is nothing in the world like a baby. Like your own baby. And babies only stay small for such a brief time. Nothing compares to this. Someday you will know. Someday you will be calling me, crying because your baby is growing and changing too quickly. I know, because I call my mom. I always tell her (and I did with your sisters as well) that you are growing so fast.

I don't mean for this to sound sad. I know this is what is supposed to happen. I know you are supposed to grow and learn and change. But I can't help that my heart is literally breaking. It aches. I can't breathe. The sadness I feel with the passage of time- that reality is suffocating lately. You are so precious. You are so loved. Don't grow up! What if you are my last baby? Can't I keep you that way--a baby? I will never feel satisfied with "no more babies" but I also don't really want more, or can't imagine more at this time. I know we all have limits and I think this might be mine. I want there to be enough of me to go around. Enough of me that you, and your sisters, and your dad all feel like you get enough of me and my time and my love. It's a tricky thing...life. But wonderful, too. Maybe I don't want you to grow up too quickly because the adoration you show me is so evident in those blue eyes of yours. I feel needed and loved more than I ever have before. And I know all too soon, these days will be gone. You won't always NEED me in the sense that you are dependent upon me. (Then I have to get real and remind myself that you don't really need me now, either.) I think I have realized lately that my love language isn't necessarily one of the 5 love languages in the book, but that I need and want to be needed...and no one makes me feel needed more than you, Lucy. And all too soon you will become more and more independent with each passing month...just like your sisters have done. Right now I can make everything right for you. I won't always be able to do that. But being a mom of a baby is so simple. I have the ability to make you feel loved and happy and solve your problems. And I want you to know that when I can't fix things for you in the future, I wish I could. And I will always love you more than you can wrap your mind around. (this is another thing you will understand when you are a mom yourself) Part of me has put off this letter for the last month because it might sound so sad, or like I am depressed. I am not really. I promise. You have brought so much more joy to my life than I already had. I know I am so blessed. I am blessed beyond what I deserve and yet all my selfish self wants is to be able to keep you small longer, forever. I know that our real purpose is to come to this earth and grow and go through many experiences- some that are tough, some that are tougher than you can imagine, and also that we might experience the most amazing, wonderful things that life has to offer. It is not always easy. Most of the time it isn't easy. But it is all good. It is a beautiful thing, to be able to realize that despite trials, the lessons learned are well worth it. I hope you can learn to have that mentality about experiences as you go through your life.

It's hard for me to say much else in this letter. In future letters I am sure I will have many fun things to record about your personality.

Although you do have a big personality already. You are rolling all over the place and I know before long I will blink and you will be crawling and sitting up on your own. You like to squeal and hear the sound of your own voice. I love those baby squeals. You are so willing to share with me those big, gummy grins. My heart bursts with happiness when you look and smile at me. I love that you will find me from across the room and try to keep track of me with your eyes. The way a baby adores their mom is an out-of-this-world kind of feeling. Yes, I am savoring it. Enjoying every minute I can of your babyhood. There are other things that distract me from it of course, but I am able to bring myself back into the moments and soak it up.

You are lucky to have two big sisters who ADORE you. Oh! They won't leave you alone. They won't get out of your face! I am telling you this because sometime in the future, you will do the same thing to them and they will get annoyed and mad-but really they love you. They will be your best friends forever. Even through the times that it doesn't seem that way.

I love you, my baby. Our little "goosey". I'm so happy you are part of our family. So thrilled that words can't really express the happiness.

Love,

Mommy

Sisters

2011-10-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

They each have their own look. And 3 different colored sets of eyes. Riley's are brown, Izzy's hazel, and Lucy's blue.

Who do you think they look like? We have heard every combination. I have had people tell me Izzy looks like Travis, that Riley looks like him, and even that Lucy looks like him. (But I have only heard that about Lucy twice). To me, there is no mistaking that Izzy looks like him. Oh my gosh. I look at that girl and see her dad. Always.

Then I have heard that each of them look like me. I recently had someone tell me about Izzy, "She looks just like you, Jenna." Which was so funny to me because as I said, I see all Travis. I have never really seen myself in the older two. But when Lucy came along, I remember Trav handing her to me at the hospital after her bath and asking me if it was like looking in a mirror. And it was...a little bit in a weird way. I just saw more of me and my side of the family. As she has grown and changed (as babies do) I still see more of me in Lucy, but she is definitely just another good mixture of us. We have beautiful babies :)

October thus far

2011-10-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

Look at me, trying to be all caught up with my blogging. Ha.

October has been busy. (Then again, isn't every month?!) We spent a week in Las Vegas as a family and a couple days with all my siblings as well as my paternal grandparents and Dad and Rachel. This was such a great opportunity for us to get together. The last time all 5 siblings were together was July 2008. Izzy was just a baby and Brad wasn't even married yet. Now we have two new little girls in the picture, Kim, and Alyce and Maria's significant others. Fun times!

In case you were wondering, yes- I am the shortest one of the bunch :P

Two family pictures in one week. That's some kind of record :) The M&M Store on the Strip

In other news, we decided to put our house up for sale. It isn't exactly a great time to be selling. It IS however a great time to be buying and building. Which is what we would love to do IF we can sell this house. We sort of have plans for something in the works. But it may fall through if our home doesn't sell in the next 3-5 months. Which we are very aware may not happen. I am prepared for whatever. I figure what's meant to be will happen. We are so blessed either way.

With Halloween approaching Travis is trying to out-do himself by making a bigger and better costume than last year's. (Remember THIS?) Hey- it won him $1,000. Therefore designing the perfect costume this year cannot be taken lightly. Last year he spent about two weeks on it. This year he got started at the beginning of October with the building process. Which means coming up with an idea was in the months leading up to it. STAY TUNED FOR PICTURES :)

Being the mean mom that I am Lucy got her ears pierced last Friday. At 4 1/2 months old. Izzy had hers done at 5 months and Riley at 6 months. I kept saying I would do it earlier with Lucy and almost missed the opportunity. This kid does so well with her immunizations. She hardly cries and never needs tylenol. I figured ear piercing would be no big deal. Man was I wrong. She was the biggest drama queen. She cried more than the other two which was shocking. The good news is that just an hour or so later she was back to her usual self and giggling and happy. Her ears have looked great. I have always said if any of my babies ears had looked red/painful/ etc. for more than a few hours or anything like that I would promptly remove the earrings but thankfully all 3 have done well. Just before...and just after, being consoled by a bottle.But just look how cute they look!And she's happy :) My pretty little baby...I can't get enough of this face. I was thinking that the other day and that's when the chorus of Smash Mouth's "I Can't Get Enough of You, Baby" started playing in my head. Random.
Also in October I started Lucy on rice cereal (to my dismay). Let me explain. The other two girls started it right at 4 months. But also right at 4 months I stopped nursing Riley and Izzy. My experience breastfeeding was pretty miserable. This time around, I spent my whole pregnancy telling myself this time would be different. I was determined to make it work and feel better about it. And it has been (mostly) successful. I have had a way better experience and wanted to hold off on any "solids" aka MUSH for as long as possible...say, 6 months? But Lucy was ready. She watches us eat and chomps on everything and just seemed ready. Not to mention my milk alone has not been able to satisfy her. She has one bottle each night before bed. I introduced bottles with all three girls right away, that way if I ever needed to be away from them, they could still eat. So the routine has been that Lucy gets a small supplement of formula each night. But even with that, she was ready for more. I also feel like my milk supply has been really low this time around. Maybe it is because of the bottles, I don't know. Regardless, I nurse her as often as I can if I am at home during the day. I am still determined to keep going with it as long as she seems happy and wants to go with it. My goal is 8-9 months. I have already outlasted myself the first two times...so I see it as success either way. I wanted to hold off on cereals and baby foods to keep her my "baby" a little longer. The minute the first two started eating baby foods, they grew chubbier and bigger even faster. I don't want that to happen!!! It's sad! They don't stay small long enough as it is!

The below video clips are of Lucy's first attempt at rice cereal, Riley making Lucy's laugh in the van on the way home from getting her ears pierced, Lucy's second attempt at cereal, and Lucy enjoying her bottle. She GRABS it from our hands most nights. We are impressed. She still can't really hold it on her own. She can, but she doesn't hold it up enough/at the right angle to eat. I love holding her and feeding her anyway and she is too little to need to know how to do it on her own. Still, sometimes it's fun to see her try things for herself.

Lastly, Izzy FINALLY got her first haircut. That's right, she is almost 4 and NEVER had ANY trims or anything. I love long hair on little girls. But let's be honest...it was getting a little ratty on the end. That fine, tangled baby hair and those sweet curls had to go. The first picture is just after a bath and we had blow-dried her hair so the curls aren't even there. But she still had them, if we let it air dry. a few really good ringlets. So that's why I have been putting this off...I will miss the curls.
Yes-her jeans are on backwards. LOL. This girl puts everything on backwards or wrong. Her shoes are often on the wrong feet. Almost daily we have to turn at least one item of clothing around. As you can see, her hair wasn't even, it was a few inches shorter in front.

Much better :)

Back to September (& August, too)

2011-10-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

(Not sure why this photo is rotated. It isn't in my folders and I even deleted it and uploaded again but it STILL came out this way...and that has never happened before!)

Things have been busy as usual around here. It's so funny how when you add a new little person to your family how all of a sudden it's like they have always been a part of the family and you can't even remember life before them. At least that's how it goes for me. It's sort of sad, I don't remember not having children. I don't even remember what it was like with just one or two. On the other hand, it's okay. I know this is how our life should be :) Since Lucy was born it's such a blur. I can't remember life without her and yet these first months are passing too quickly.

In an effort to catch up a bit I just wanted to post some Lucy pictures & videos from September.

September brings football season. And I love me some Pittsburgh Steelers football. I have to say Lucy wasn't too impressed with the first game of the season. And who can blame her? That was just embarrassing! But she still sported her Steeler colors anyway :)

Football season also means watching some Cougar Football. We watched the first couple games of the season at John and Dana's. Here are Tyce and Lucy in their Cougar colors :)

Lucy watches the games intently for a little while :)
Lucy's first giggle was back in August. Since then we are getting more and more laughs out of her but also a new thing is how vocal she is becoming. These two videos are of her using her little voice :) I love how babies discover they can make noise and then just love the sound of their own voices! I think you can tell from the clips, but this girl is a pretty content baby. We are so lucky. Don't get me wrong, girlfriend can have her moments. She is mostly happy if she has attention and if mom (or anyone, really) is holding her. She sleeps pretty well. Not as good as Riley did but better than Izzy in those first long colicky months that Izzy had. She goes down most often around 9:30-1o pm and wakes up once to eat sometime between 3:30 and 4:30. I am up with her for maybe 20 minutes and I lay her back down and she goes back to sleep for a few hours. I almost always lay her down awake and she will go to sleep on her own, NEVER fussing. All the girls have pretty much done that with the exception of Izzy during the first fussy months we had. I love that my babies look forward to bed time and can put themselves to sleep and I am a firm believer they can usually learn that early on. Lucy has maybe cried 3 nights out of the 3 1/2-4 months since I put her in her own room. And if she is crying, I know she just isn't quite ready. She LOVES her crib.

Below, Travis gets Lucy really giggling. This wasn't the first time she had laughed, but a first decent time caught on camera. It was at the end of August. And there are a few pictures from August as well.

Izzy giving her goofy smile.
Girls in matching dresses from Grandma Barb.
Cousins at the park
Family picture. I have been trying to take more of these lately. I really do not like photos of myself, but I do know it is important to have some of me with the girls and Trav.

This video was from Pat's wedding reception. The girls were dancing around a bit. But of course a camera makes them shy.

To the one in the middle

2011-09-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Dear, sweet Isabelle...

You are in the middle. I, too, am the middle child. And for some strange reason every time I think of that, I think of a book I read in second grade called "The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo." (Yes, it's a real book, look it up). Don't ask me why I think of it...I just do.

Izzy you are full of spunk. I can hardly handle it- in a good way. You are quick as a whip and have a zest for life that I don't understand...and I love that. I want to learn it from you. I hope that is possible. That you rub off on me instead of me rubbing off on you. The last thing I want to do is stifle who you are and your growth. Never lose the spunk. I love it.

When you smile, you get a dimple on your left cheek that is to die for. IT IS SO CUTE. You make lots of silly faces. In them, I see your dad when he was a little boy. And in them, I see your dad now, too. The two of you sure enjoy making goofy faces. They are much cuter on YOU! You are Daddy's little clone. I swear. Maybe that's why I can't get enough of your face. Because you remind me of him. And in case you didn't know, I like Daddy a lot. I know you and your sisters do too. I hope you know how lucky you are to have such a great dad who loves you and loves to play with you and be silly with you. Lots of kids don't have that. And I know all kids need dads. I am glad I chose him to be the father of my children and that you chose us to be your parents. We were a little surprised when we found out you were joining our family but Heavenly Father knew it was just right. I couldn't agree more. The transition to a family of four was natural. You had a built in friend in your big sister. You were my two babies. You came at the right time. Even if I didn't know it was in my plans.

You are a little mama. I love how you love babies. I think that is the one thing you get from me. I wish I could always have a baby. I am glad you were one of mine. You sure were a pill for the first 4 months you were with us. You cried A LOT. All. The. Time. You were especially fussy from about 11:30pm-3:30 am. Often I just held you and let you scream. It was tax season. And daddy needed his sleep so you and I spent lots of nights on the couch downstairs. That was an exhausting winter. But you grew out of it and soon found you LOVED to sleep. We used to lay you in your crib and bring you your bottle and blanket and you would just giggle with delight and anticipation that it was time for bed. I will never forget that! You still love your sleep most nights. You can somehow fall asleep even with Riley singing songs and reading books aloud from the top bunk over your head.

Riley started Kindergarten a few weeks ago and you miss her so much. I know she is your best friend. I know because you have said so. But I also know because of how much you want to follow her around, play with her things, and be in her personal space. I know because you do things to aggravate her- and that really just means you want her attention. She loves you too. She just expresses it differently. The two of you are very different, each your own person and that is so fun to see.

I see you growing up too fast. It is wonderful to watch you learn and grow but so darn hard at the same time. You are at a fun age and I wish I could stop time. Let's just stop growing and getting older, okay? DEAL! You speak so well for your age. (Except when you revert to that darn baby talk...) There are a lot of words that you don't necessarily use the right tense of or conjugate correctly and most of the time it is hard to correct because it is so darn cute. But soon you will learn and I will wonder how it all changed so quickly. I love your laugh. Keep laughing :)

You are so opposite of me in that you are so laid-back and free spirited. You have such a shy side to you. You are the cuddliest, coziest preschooler I know. I hope you will always want to snuggle your mom. I hope you know that I am just a person, who will make lots of mistakes like every other person. But I hope you know I still love you. Even when I might not be the best mom. I am trying. And I will try harder. Help me be better everyday. While you are learning about life, I am learning about being a mom. We should never stop learning and life allows us to go through different seasons to learn different things.

Your imagination is out of this world. You play so well with others and on your own. I love to overhear the things you come up with to play. Don't lose that imagination. Don't lose your love of books. You and Riley both love books so much. I am glad you let us read to you. If you keep reading that imagination will stay incredible.

I wrote a letter to Riley in a previous post...in it are a list of things I hope to teach you both. I want you both to know what your value is as a daughter of your Heavenly Father. It is so grat you cannot comprehend right now. We all have limitless potential for good. Be kind and loving. Have compassion. You are so precious. Respect yourself. And know that I am always here for you, to help you out with anything you may face. Life isn't without trials, that is a large part of why we are here, but it is also full of blessings beyond your comprehension. I love you, girlfriend!

Love,

Mommy

Riley the Kindergartener

2011-09-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

Riley started kindergarten at a charter school on Monday, August 22nd as a 4 year old! Then she turned 5 the next day. I can't believe how big she is getting. She will always be the youngest in her class (or darn close to the youngest)!

She was so ready for school! She has had two years of preschool and can read easily as well as any 1st grader. That being said, there is still much for her to learn in Kindergarten! She is loving it so much.

The two best things about charter schools are: parent involvement and uniforms! I love the dress code. It makes school shopping easy and kids in uniforms look so darn cute. I bought pretty much all of her clothes used. Which was a HUGE savings. Uniforms are expensive when brand new!

On her birthday, she chose to go to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. She got to sit on the saddle and they did their little spiel. Then they brought her free ice cream. That night we also had Cold Stone and opened presents. Grandma Debbie was in town for it :)

The night before school started (Sunday evening) we had family over for dinner and birthday cake :)

Sometimes I am afraid to be honest

2011-09-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

...and to say exactly what I am feeling and thinking. But that is really no way to live. So if I start posting a few more raw, full of un-edited feelings and emotional things...well....good for me. After all, I am no good at keeping a journal and I think it's good to record what I can where I can. Even if it means it's here for the whole world to read. I am not perfect. And neither is anyone else. I am trying hard...but I fail most days. Who doesn't?

To my first baby

2011-09-11T22:26:00.001-07:00

Dear Riley,

I have experienced so many emotions in the 5 years since you made me a mother. It has been a scary, wonderful, exciting ride so far. Just one thing...what makes you think you can go and get so big so fast? STOP IT!

Seriously. You made me the happiest mommy alive when you came to our family. I am so grateful you chose us and that Heavenly Father has entrusted me with your care. That responsibility is HEAVY. I feel the weight of it everyday. Being a mom is not for wimps. However, I have to admit...I am a wimp.

My heart aches for time to slow down. I wish I could rewind and pause things. I wish I could rewind moments over and over again. I want to film it all, so I never forget. I wish I could re-do certain moments, too. So I could be a better mom.

I go to bed praying every night that I can somehow do better and be better. I don't want to let you down and yet I know so often I do. You are my big girl and so I am always expecting so much of you. I am sorry I am hard on you. I hope you can forgive me and know I am trying. I am just a human being like everyone else. I can do better. I will do better. But it is a learning experience for us both and that sort of thing takes time.

There are so many things I hope I can teach you. You are such a sensitive girl. (I know where you get that and I am sorry.) Not that there is anything wrong with being sensitive...but it sure makes it hard. Even the small things seem to hurt in a big way. But you have a good, tender heart. And THAT is NOTHING to apologize for. Perhaps we feel things deeper...and as crummy as that is when it's something tough, when things are good the joy inside is indescribable. (One of my favorite scriptures is 2 Nephi 2:11 We can't know the good without the bad)

Here are some things I really hope I am able to teach you:

Be proud of who you are. Don't let others break you and your spirit

Stay close to your Father in Heaven. He is always there. Speak with Him often.

Gain your own testimony. Don't rely on anyone else's.

Stick to these values: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue

Study the scriptures. Know them well. In them, you will find much guidance and peace.

Be a kind, loyal friend (and person in general)

Stay close to your sisters. They will be some of your best friends.

Always strive to be and do better.

Believe in yourself. YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS.

Life is beautiful. And hard. And while there is a lot of crap out there, don't dwell on it. I worry enough for our whole family (that's a mother's job, I guess). Be a positive person. And know you can't control much except for how you handle yourself in all of the situations you will find yourself.

I pray you will make good choices that will enable you to feel great joy. But know that we all make wrong choices and that is a part of our learning and growing process in this mortal life. Those wrong choices are only worth making if you learn from them. So please...learn the lessons the consequences have to offer. Be as smart as you can in your choices. You do not have to be alone in making them.

I want you to know you are so special. I think you're the most. Really I do. Know that when you hurt, I hurt. When you succeed and feel joy, I am feeling that joy too. I hope you know I am here for you always. I am proud of you. It's a big world out there and I want to protect you from it. But that isn't possible. The most I can do is be here for you and teach you to be prepared for life. You are so beautiful. Inside and out.

I love you, my big girl.

Love,

Mommy

Where is time going?

2011-08-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

I can't believe summer is practically over. I can't believe our oldest "baby" is starting kindergarten next week. I can't believe my newest baby is almost 3 months old. WHY CAN'T TIME JUST S-L-O-W DOWN ALREADY?!

I am learning that every month, every week as we get older goes by faster and faster. Sure there are days/weeks/seasons that may seem (at the time) to be dragging on, but then you blink and wonder where that time went!

That's how I feel about this summer. Where has it gone? I have spent a good bit of it soaking up the lazy days that come with a sweet new baby but I wish I had savored it even more. Lucy's getting huge, people!

I have been telling myself for weeks (about the past two or three) that tomorrow was the day to blog. Tomorrow would come and go and there are no posts to show! So here is yet again another attempt to play catch-up.

Lucy had her two month check up and immunizations on July 28th. Remember how she was my smallest baby at birth?? YEAH...well let's just say she isn't so small now. Riley was 10 pounds 6 ounces at two months. Isabelle was 10 pounds 7.5 ounces. And Lucy? Well she weighed 10 pounds 13 ounces. It appears someone has been eating well!

I don't even know where to start with her. She is holding her head up so well. She has an infectious smile...that she makes us work for. At least for awhile. Now she shares it a little more frequently! And this past Wednesday she giggled for me. TWICE. I feel a little guilty that Travis wasn't around to witness it. But it was just a tiny giggle...so for the past 5 days we have been trying SO HARD to get more out of her without much luck. Girlfriend is holding out on us...she sure is stubborn...wonder who she gets that from?! :)

She is such a good baby. Sure, she gets fussy...but don't all babies? She loves to be held and bounced, and snuggled by mom. She adores her big sisters and loves giving them smiles. And she sleeps. Oh man does she sleep! She is an angel in her car seat as long as it is in motion, and even sometimes when it isn't (I wonder how long this can last?). At night she wakes up between 3:30-4:30 and eats a little bit. Then she will go back to sleep until 7 ish or so. Really I only am up once in the middle of the night. I think that's pretty decent. She has slept through the night about 5 times. But not back to back nights....so it's nice to have a glimpse of what I have to look forward to. I am getting sleep but I am still EXHAUSTED TO THE MAX! The best thing about Lucy is that I can feed her around 10:30 at night and lay her down in her crib WIDE AWAKE. Then I just walk out and she will lay there babbling to herself or go right to sleep. She never cries when it's bedtime. She loves it. And we are all just enamored with her!

We all went to a Real Salt Lake soccer game for a quarterly morale activity with the commissions department from Adobe. Not really a baby-friendly place to be, but Lucy did alright.
My big girls-such good helpers! Here they are preparing Hawaiian chicken for dinner

Her onesie says, "I am Loved" Because she is. So, so loved!

And this onesie says "Hand picked" It's also the only "outfit" we have with BYU colors. So notice I accessorized with her BYU flower and bracelet!

Many of these photos are not in order...who has time for that?! ha ha

Giving mom smiles after her bath

This does not look comfortable, I know...she fell asleep, I snapped some pics, and took her out of the seat to lay her somewhere more comfortable.

Brad, Kim, and Katie were here for dinner last weekend when I made Cafe Rio style sweet pork for salads/nachos. Katie is quite the climber and here she is on our table eating pretzels

GO COUGARS!
The girls got to meet Rapunzel! She even had her frying pan with her!
And Jack Sparrow....even though the girls don't know who he is! Trav's dentists' office had a pool party for their patients and their families/friends. That is where the above photos were taken.
Lastly, the big girls took swimming lessons (for the first time) this summer. I am wishing I had started them earlier. They love swimming but by swimming I mean playing safely in shallow water and not getting their heads and faces wet. I think the lessons helped some, but we have a long way to go! Here they are on one of their last days of lessons.

Pictures from the last 4 weeks

2011-06-25T10:34:00.001-07:00

What a month it has been! I can't believe Lucy is already a month old (tomorrow). Here's the thing about life with kids...when you add another to the mix, all of a sudden you can't remember life before that time. I don't remember what life was like with just one, and I can barely remember what life with two was like now. It may just be me, I have a really bad memory!

Grandma Debbie visited for a week and Grandpa Gary came for a few days as well. The older girls LOVED having them here and talk about seeing them again...they can't wait for the next visits with grandparents. We head to Coeur d'Alene next week and the girls are giddy about seeing Grandma Barb and Grandpa John. They have lots of plans in their heads!

Lucy is such a good baby. She does fuss a bit, but that's because she LOVES to be held and have attention. She is a snugly little girl just like her big sister, Isabelle. She eats well and packed on a full pound between birth and her two week checkup. Since it has been two more weeks since then she has of course, continued to grow and change every day. She sleeps pretty well. Most nights I have to get up twice to feed her. The first time is in the middle of the night, the second time is more around 6 am. Last night however she slept from about 10:30 pm-4:30 am which was great! The only problem is, I woke up at 3:30 wondering when she was going to wake up! Still, I am coping alright with the sleep I am getting. Some days are better than others!

I survived Travis going back to work (which I was dreading for days prior to his return) (Adobe gives dads TWO WEEKS PAID PATERNITY LEAVE. I LOVE ADOBE!). I have also survived my first trip to Wal-mart and Costco (on two different days) with three kids. And yesterday I even took the girls to the Alpine splash park with friends. Still, I would much rather stay home than have to go out with them all without help...because it is EXHAUSTING!

Below are a ton of pics taken over the last 4 weeks...they are NOT in any kind of order.

As you can see, the girls LOVE Lucy and can't get enough of holding her! The transition for them has been much easier than I anticipated *sigh of relief* Kids really are resilient and adjust easily. At least our girls seem to with change and I am super grateful for that! In my head the adjustment was going to be awful and hard on all of us. I think the only person it has been "hard" for is me. And that's just because it's difficult to enjoy a sweet baby when you are trying to recover from giving birth and don't feel so well. (And let's not forget all the raging hormone levels that are all out of whack!) I felt immense joy to have my baby here, but it was hard to enjoy feeling so crummy. Either I had forgotten what it was like the first two times, or this time around it really was harder to recover. I'm not sure which is the case.

Riley reading to Lucy. How cute is that?! Lucy was just chillin on the floor so Riley sat down to read to her. She even read the book upside down so Lucy could see it right side up. lol. Riley is reading SO well it's unbelievable!
Grandma Debbie visited for a week and here she is with our three girls!
Her shirt says "I'll always be daddy's little girl"

Izzy with Aunt Maria at Katie's 1st birthday party

A friend who recently started up a photography business took some newborn pictures of Lucy for us. This is one of them. Check out others at his website!
Her onesie says "Miss Marvelous" I love it!

Izzy can't give Lucy enough kisses. So loving!

Lucy had high bilirubin levels for a few days after birth. We had to take her back to the hospital THREE times and it was stressful to me because my other girls levels were never anywhere near as high as Lucy's were. The above photo is her "sun bathing" in hopes that we could help bring her levels down quicker :) Fortunately on her fourth screening, the number had started to go down, a move in the right direction!

More photos to come in the coming weeks! IF I survive our road trip with three kids, that is!

Better Late Than Never

2011-06-13T12:08:00.001-07:00

The past 2 1/2 weeks have been a blur. Before I forget too many more details, I wanted to post Lucy's Birth Story.

I really wanted MY DOCTOR to be the one to deliver Lucy, not just whichever doc from the office was the one on-call. So my doctor put me on his schedule to be induced May 26th.
I received a phone call on Tuesday, the 24th from the hospital wanting to give me details for my induction the next day. I was like, wait...I am being induced Thursday, not tomorrow! So they said alright, no problem, and put me on Thursday's schedule and said they would call me the next afternoon with details for Thursday. Then that whole evening I was so depressed thinking, "Darn! I should have just said okay to having this baby a day earlier!" but my doctor definitely had me on his schedule for Thursday and I didn't want to mess anything up! Not to mention at that point I was still really *hoping* to go into labor on my own before being called in to be induced.
Wednesday afternoon the hospital called back to tell me I was 7th on the waiting list of women to be induced. At that moment I was SUPER FRUSTRATED because sometimes they make it through the list and other days they don't if they get busy with women in true labor on their own. Plus I was thinking I wouldn't have been 7th on Thursday's waiting list if the hospital had just had me scheduled the right day to begin with!
The one good thing about being down there on the list was that I would be able to go to the girls' preschool graduation Thursday morning (post on that coming soon). Leaving preschool graduation (10:40 am) I called Labor and Delivery to see how things were going. They had told me to call and check if I wanted. Much to my disappointment I was told they had 5 women come in that morning who were in labor on their own. I was now 3rd on the waiting list but there was a woman who was priority due to a medically necessary reason to be induced. With how busy Labor and Delivery was, the nurse told me just to keep my cell phone handy (DUH!) and call back around 2pm to see if things had slowed down. I was SO BUMMED. So we (Travis, the girls, and I) all headed to lunch. (I had been told to have a light breakfast...and if things were really slow and I hadn't been called in to go ahead and have a light lunch as well) but I was so disappointed with the update I had just received I said the heck with it, my light breakfast had been light and I was starving. We went to Pizza Pie Cafe and I ate to my heart's desire, sort of. I didn't over-do it, but I sure enjoyed what I could fit in my stomach :)

We hadn't been home from lunch ten minutes when I received a call from Labor and Delivery (12:32 pm) telling me they would like me to be there between 1 and 1:15! The craziness began! I was trying to get in touch with my friend Brooke who was taking the girls, calling my sisters to let them know since they would be attending the delivery, and letting a few others know as well! Travis left home to take the girls to Brooke's house and I headed to check into the hospital alone.

I got there and was taken to my L&D room and told to get my hospital gown on and wait for my nurse. That part seemed to take the longest of the whole day! Really it was probably about 20 minutes, but I was just hanging out alone in the room still. Once the nurse came in she started to take some history and whatnot and Alyce showed up. Yay for company! The nurse put my IV in and left. When she came back she said that two more women had just showed up in labor and if my IV hadn't been in already, they would have sent me home. YIKES. My doctor came right in and broke my water just to make it definite that I wasn't going anywhere! I was his last patient to fit in that day! I was really only about 3cm at that point...so now it was time to wait. Maria showed up around 2 (Travis still wasn't there). So it was just us girls hanging out. That was also when I was given my first dose of my antibiotic since I am always Group B Strep positive. That means I had to have two doses before the baby was born. The second dose can be given 4 hours after the first. So my nurse said I could have my second dose at 6pm and deliver at 6:01 as long as the second dose had been administered. Though I knew it wasn't likely to be that quick...my past experiences told me that...

Travis showed up soon after that and when the doctor came in and checked me he moved the baby's head to let more amniotic fluid out and that helped. I was only at about 4cm. He told me not to wait too long to get my epidural. I wanted to wait as long as I could. I think around 5 I told my nurse I was ready for it and she let anesthesia know. I received the epidural and the nurse turned the pitocin up. The epidural was heaven. I had one with both Riley and Isabelle's births and had great birth experiences but I had been SO nervous about having the epidural again. Once I got it done, I was so relieved and my body felt SO relaxed. I was able to relax and let the pitocin work it's magic while I didn't feel any more pain! My nurse had to go assist with the delivery of her other patient (she was assigned to two ladies in labor). She told me that when she came back she would put in my catheter. Oh joy. We were just sort of waiting around, time was moving pretty fast for me. And before I know it, it's after 6 and past time for my second dose of antibiotic and we haven't seen my nurse, I haven't gotten the catheter put in...and I am watching the baby's heart rate on the monitor. It was slowing down a bit and making me nervous. So I pushed the call button and told the person on the other end that I wanted my second dose of antibiotics and that I hadn't seen my nurse in awhile. A different nurse came in and gave me my antibiotics and said my nurse would be in shortly to check on me. Good!! I hope she hurries! Was all I could think. Sure enough, she came in, asked if I was feeling some pressure and I said, I guess so...maybe. But also that I wasn't sure because I wanted to be feeling pressure so maybe it was all in my head. She checked me and sure enough goes, "You're ready to have a baby." WHOA. I was not expecting that! She told me she was going to get the doctor...but not MY doctor, he had stepped out to catch his son's soccer game. NO!!!! ha ha It didn't matter at that point of course, but I felt a little disappointment. The doctor on-call came in, got everything ready, put in the catheter to drain my bladder and then told me to push with a contraction. Everyone was really encouraging. I had my nurse at my right leg and Travis at my left. Alyce was down behind the doctor on my left (doctor's right) and Maria was down at my right. And there I was, pushing. The only thing I remember is that I was pushing and a few tears were running down my face. I am not sure if it was from the pushing or just the emotionally charged moment of it all. I am sure that it was from the emotions because I remember thinking...I feel nothing physically, maybe I am not pushing hard enough and so I was trying to push harder. The other thing I remember is that I was focused on Maria's face. She was just smiling and nodding her head, encouraging me. Everyone was encouraging me but I was focused on Maria. I could tell things were happening even though I couldn't actually feel anything.

Two contractions of pushing is all it took and Ta-Da! Lucy Kate Anderson had entered the world at 6:49 pm. (Earlier than I thought it would happen.) Our third baby girl, my third delivery that was awesome....and everything was great! I feel so lucky to have had such good births. I love my birth experiences and say I would do it ten times if it weren't for the pregnancy and actually having to raise the children! Don't get me wrong, I love my girls but it isn't easy and I know I am not cut out to have 6 kids! We all have our limits.

My doctor walked in just after Lucy had been weighed. (Yes, he only missed the delivery by probably 5 minutes--sad!!) But the delivering doctor was great and I have no complaints! Lucy weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. (Riley had been 6 pounds 9 ounces, 18 inches....Izzy was 6 pounds 14 ounces and I think 19 inches) So Lucy was my lightest but longest baby. I remember Travis telling me she had hair like Izzy (meaning it was light-like Izzy's was at birth) but she had a lot more hair than Izzy had. Also I remember Travis saying she "definitely has an Odasso nose". My sisters say they loved the experience and so I am glad I shared it with them. Big sisters showed up within an hour to see baby sister and both were smitten at first sight.

Tomorrow is the day!

2011-05-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned, I am scheduled to be induced sometime tomorrow. Although let's be honest, "scheduled" is being used loosely here, as I am 7th on the list...I think the nurse who called me used the term "on-call". Basically, I am on call and when they call me, I gotta get myself to the hospital promptly. It could be 7 am, it could be 2pm...but it SHOULD happen as long as there isn't some sort of crazy baby boom. Also, any of the other ladies before me could go into labor before the morning, or could decide to put it off a few days, or I COULD GO INTO LABOR. *wishing really hard!!* The good news is if you go into labor, they won't turn you away! I have to be CLOSE, right?!

But a couple weeks ago my doctor promised me it would happen, no matter how late in the day it may be.

Big, big changes! Lots of excitement. Ready or not...we are about to be a family of FIVE.

I will try to post something within a day or two. And facebook will definitely have updates :)

Riley's new 'do and a little bit about her at 4 1/2

2011-05-16T21:13:00.002-07:00

A little over two weeks ago Riley got her hair cut. Back in September she got 6 inches cut off and ever since, she has been asking to get more cut. Well, in 7 months it had definitely grown back a few inches and I had been contemplating chopping it because it was so hard to brush through every day. She just has that kind of hair that tangles easily. So we chopped about 7 inches off! She loves it and we love it. It definitely makes her look older.

SO cute!! And so much easier to deal with, for the most part. Happy kid, happy mom.

Riley is at a fascinating age. She and I definitely butt heads, but I think that's because she is probably a lot like me.

She is reading really well. I think she will likely be ahead of many of the kids in her kindergarten class in the fall. Yep, she is going to be starting kindergarten, OH MY GOSH! Where did the last (almost) 5 years go?!

She got into a charter school that is really close to our home and I am so excited for her. I have heard a lot of great things about this place and I like that there is parent involvement and that the kids wear uniforms. I have pretty much got her wardrobe completed for the upcoming school year with a few exceptions. Fortunately I have been able to find most of the things at second hand stores and sales which has saved us A TON of money. She still needs some long sleeved polos, tights/socks, and new shoes...but that should be about it.

One thing I love about Riley is her drive to learn. She is so inquisitive and it is amazing to me. She will read or hear a word and ask me what it means. Then, the best part is that she will incorporate that word into her vocabulary as much as she can. Recently she read the word "impressed" in a book and asked about the meaning of that word. I have since heard her use it countless times. She asks all the time if I am "impressed" with things she does and I overhear her telling Izzy to help her with things to "impress Mom". Genius. I love it! Just tonight the word she heard was "task" and she wanted to know what it meant. Then she listed all sorts of things that are "tasks" that she is supposed to do around the house.

Also a few months ago I bought a separate small notebook for each girl that I keep in my purse. I started to write down all of the hilarious things they say. I regret not starting this sooner because I know there are so many things I have already forgotten, but at least I am recording these things now (when I remember to record them).

Tonight as I was drying her hair, she looked at me and asked, "Do you love me?" And I responded, "Yes! I love you SO much!" Then she said, "But sometimes, I do bad things to Izzy." (what she meant is that she isn't always a very nice big sister...) and I said, "But I still love you!" It was a cute moment. She has become more loving toward me lately...even if she doesn't listen to me as well or as often as I would like.

Riley loves to color, draw, try to spell and write things, play games including on the Wii (which I don't really love, because she gets REALLY upset about not winning and I am trying to teach her that it's not about winning, it's about having fun). She also loves to sing and dance around. She unfortunately LOVES to sit and watch cartoons a little too much...but because she is also so driven to learn, I am sometimes okay with it because she learns new words from shows.

Another funny story is that on Mother's Day at church she drew a picture of a girl and a boy with hearts all around them. My initial thought (since it was Mother's Day) was, "Oh, how sweet! She drew a picture of me and Travis" for me. But just to be sure, I asked, "Riley, who is in this picture?" Her reply, "Me and daddy!" Of course...I should have known because the boy, I KNEW was Travis with the way she drew spiky hair...and had I looked closer, the girl had short hair just like hers! She sure LOVES her dad!

She is also fascinated with my belly and very excited to meet her baby sister. She says she wants to change diapers (yay!) and be nice to the baby. I told her she needs to practice by being nicer to Izzy. And also that she likely won't always feel like being nice to baby sister once she starts bugging her like Izzy does! Izzy will tell anyone who asks that her best friend is Riley. It's sweet how much she adores her big sister. Riley doesn't really find it to be flattering much.

Riley is bossy toward everyone. She is a "little mother" already and I know she wants to be a mom when she grows up. I think she likes the idea of being in control. (like I said, she is a lot like me in many ways! ha ha)

But I am trying to teach her that at this point, she isn't my boss, Izzy's boss....or ANYONE ELSE'S boss!! She literally has no shame about telling others what to do. The one thing I find odd about that is in situations where there may be some "peer pressure" from older friends and friends in general, she is too trusting and will follow the crowd. I have witnessed a few poor choices on her part as a result but I try to use those instances as teaching tools. I hope it all clicks soon and that she will grow and learn to stand up for the things she believes/knows/feels are right vs things that are questionable and not right. I think it's an especially crucial time for her to learn these things because she is starting school so soon.

Anyway...that's a bit about Riley right now. She is such a strong-willed girl and as much as she is a challenge, I know I have a lot to learn from her just as she has a lot to learn from her parents!

So much to post about, so little time

2011-05-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

And I am not sure where to begin...but I can start with, "Nope, still no baby."

So this is how I will pass some time as I wait "patiently".

This past week my friend Angela invited the girls and I to go to Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country with her and her three boys. Normally this kind of thing sounds like too much "work" for me being in my 9th month of pregnancy. But I am up for anything that gets me walking around these days. And let's face it, the girls deserved to get out and have some fun too!

We had not been to Farm Country before so it was something fun and new and exciting to the girls. Spring is a great time to go because 1- it isn't too hot yet and 2- there are baby animals!!
I would say the only down-side may have been that there were several school groups on field trips there...but still, it wasn't too bad.

Riley is a struggle for me to take almost anywhere because she is independent and doesn't like to listen to me... I have to repeat myself over and over and over like a broken record, I get frustrated, and then I start to get mean!! She wanted to run free and do/see whatever she pleased without staying with our group. She has no fear and doesn't understand crowded places and strangers and getting lost. It's a little scary to me.

Izzy on the other hand stays with me really well and listens pretty well too in crowded places. She just understands the safety of staying close to me and keeping me in her sight. Complete opposites!! Izzy's only complaint the whole time was telling me how "stinky" it was...repeatedly. Can't say I blame her because as you can imagine, any place called "Farm Country" does smell a bit.

Here are a few photos I snapped

With each admission, every child gets a pony ride. Izzy, being my cautious one was a little nervous and I had to walk beside her pony the whole time because she would have fallen off if I weren't by her side.

Riley on her pony
Here you can see Izzy isn't too happy with the smell.
Owen and Riley having a snack, waiting for the wagon ride. I think it's funny how there is a whole, open bench and they are sitting so close together.

Owen, Riley, and Izzy on a cow bench. Poor Luke was not feeling well that day and therefore didn't want to be in any pictures.

Thanks for inviting us, Angela! We had fun!!

No pictures and not a whole lot to report...

2011-04-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

...but I still felt like posting. This is definitely not a post people should even bother reading as it's more for me to remember....that not ALL nights are sleepless lately (at least not last night).

Last night I didn't get up to pee. I think it was a miracle...or a tender mercy. Or both.

See, I have NO CLUE the last time I slept through a night. I can't even say for sure I slept all night...I may have awaken once or twice, but I was able to get back to sleep immediately. (No getting up to empty my bladder!) I never heard one of the girls talk in their sleep or Travis snore. I woke up to my alarm feeling rested (the feeling didn't last long, but it was refreshing first thing this morning).

Anyway, a miracle because I get up AT LEAST twice a night to empty my bladder pretty much my whole pregnancy. And that's on good nights. There haven't been many good nights lately. A lot of times it's three or even for times that I have to roll out of bed and waddle to the bathroom. And often times I have trouble falling back asleep afterwards. Two nights ago I actually laid awake for an hour or so before I grabbed a blanket and headed downstairs to do some reading snuggled up on the couch. That eventually put me back to sleep....sitting up on the couch. I assumed I would have a sleepless night again and be up watching the royal wedding...but I slept right on through it. WHICH IS FINE WITH ME! I wasn't planning on watching, I just assumed it would be something to do when I couldn't sleep.

Anyway, YAY for not getting up to go in the middle of the night. I enjoyed it and I know there likely won't be another night like that for at least a few months.

Can't wait for there to be something CUTE to get up for instead of going potty. We (Travis and I) are so ready to meet this little girl. The girls THINK they are, but we will see how they feel once she is here and everything. I am still really nervous for the transition. And three kids still sounds really scary. But it's going to happen soon, so I am as ready as I will ever be. Hoping I don't make it to May 26th. Send some labor thoughts our way?

The past couple months

2011-04-11T11:16:00.000-07:00

Guess it is about time for an update! I have been meaning to update for months! This winter seemed really long to me. Maybe it's because our normally healthy girls caught every cough/cold/ear infection/etc possible. Before I complain, I should say I am grateful we have had such healthy kids to this point. Neither had ever had an ear infection. Well for some reason, fall hit and Riley got a sinus infection. She has since had one or two others. And I am not even kidding when I say the girls got coughs in December that lasted straight through sometime in January. Then I had them to the doctor AGAIN at the beginning of February...more coughs and colds. And coughs are the worst because they just LINGER FOREVER. And they are worse at night...which keeps ME awake, worrying about my poor kids! I thought it was the last straw when Riley got her first ear infection at the beginning of March and Izzy had yet another cough/cold. I mean, I know it's pretty good that Riley had never had an ear infection in 4 1/2 years. And Izzy hasn't ever had one and she is almost 3 1/2. BUT STILL! I kept them home from preschool a whole week thinking we would get rid of everything once and for all. WRONG.
It's like the first of April hit and Riley has her second ear infection in 5 weeks, both got some type of eye infection, and yet again--COUGHS. Coughs that have kept me up for hours on end night after night and just in case you forgot, I already can't sleep because I'm only 7 weeks away from having a baby! Every time the girls get sick I think, OK, this has got to be it, we need to get rid of this and have time to air out the germs before baby joins us. I am starting to really stress. I almost want to pull them out of preschool for the rest of April and May in hopes of not bringing anything else home. But then I remember preschool is the little shred of sanity I have these days. I don't know what to do, but luckily for the sickies, this week is spring break...so hoping that staying home will finally get everyone better and be the last of it. But if things seem iffy at all when they return to preschool NEXT week...I don't think I will have much of a choice but to pull them out for the rest of this school year. I cannot have sick kids with a tiny newborn! I am a paranoid germaphobe.
Here are a couple recent pics of the girls. They are getting so big and they are so ready (or so they think!) to meet their baby sister.

Hard to believe we cut 6 inches off of Riley's hair at the end of September. It sure has started growing back. Izzy still has NEVER had a haircut because I know all her natural curl at the ends will never come back once we do cut it. She has no desire to get it cut anyway...so it's long hair for now in this house! I'm hoping baby comes with a head full of dark hair like Riley did at birth. However, Travis and I were both REALLY blond babies and kids, we aren't sure how the girls started out darker than us!
The preschool class had a field trip to THE QUARRY in Provo at the end of March. It is a place to climb rock walls.

Riley didn't go much higher than this, but I guess it was a good start and a fun thing to try!

And Izzy seemed all gung-ho...
but once we got her all strapped in the harness, she wanted OUT. :(
Here are the two sickies this week. Laying low. At least they are pretty much best friends. Except what little sister doesn't know how to push her big sister's buttons? Izzy can really get Riley going when Riley wants a little alone time!

And as far as really good news despite all the sickies, I have been a neglectful mom...as in, I have never taken the girls to see a dentist, officially. (No, that isn't the good news, stay with me!) I finally made an appointment and thought it would be the biggest nightmare and they would have a ton of cavities...but nope! Instead, Izzy (who I thought would be a pill) was a total angel and neither girl had a single cavity. CAN I GET A HALLELUJAH?! Riley does have one spot on one of her back lower teeth but it isn't enough to call it a cavity at this point. If it becomes a hole, it will of course need filled...but for now, we are in the clear! *Sigh of relief*

Travis has been busy at work (though really, what's new?!). He just hired two new guys who are currently being trained. I am just hoping and praying they are sufficiently trained in a few weeks so that he will be able to enjoy some paternity leave. (Thank you Adobe for being awesome and giving a guy two weeks paid!) Aside from being busy at work, he fills the rest of his time with his church calling, playing with his adoring girls, and is getting ready to put our yard in over the next several Saturdays. He is getting really excited for baby too. It's cute :) Last night he told me he thinks I better get my hospital bag ready. I was happy to hear it, I had started to think about it but didn't want to seem too eager.

Now for an update on me aka...the baby I guess. The growing of a baby is pretty much consuming me right now. It's hard to think about much else when I am constantly in the bathroom, hungry, achy, exhausted, you get the idea! We painted her room. And so I have been unsure if I wanted to unveil it because her name is on the wall...but I figure why not?
The above picture has really poor lighting, but the two pictures on either side of the window are just cute flowers that match the colors we used.

And now for the dreaded belly shot. I apologize for the weird facial expression...I don't like to have my picture taken anyway but add to it that it's a pic of me alone and it's like, what am I supposed to do? I apparently can't just smile naturally. Still, I feel strongly about having a little photographic proof as a pregnancy memento. 6 1/2 weeks left! And I am starting to swell :(

My doctor put me on his schedule to induce labor May 26th if I don't go into labor before then on my own.

That's all for now! Stay tuned, I suppose. The next time I post maybe there will be a baby...here's hoping I can be more on top of blogging when she comes! I do have that goal. But I am nervous for the transition and adjustment to THREE kids.

Bun in the Oven

2011-01-28T13:42:00.000-08:00

So by now, I am sure everyone who reads this blog (you know, all 5 of you...) knows we are expecting our 3rd baby in May. I didn't wait to post this long on purpose, I meant to post about it a couple months ago after announcing it but as anyone can tell, I have been a major posting slacker (again!)

In my attempt to catch up on our lives here is a post about Anderson baby #3 and how it all came about.

By fall of 2009 Travis was pretty much baby hungry. Not overly, but I knew he had a stronger desire for a baby that I did. That was the FARTHEST thing from my mind. I had zero desire and so I told him maybe in the summer of 2010 we could start to try.

Well next thing I know, it's spring and summer is around the corner and I was like no, not this year. I was still not ready and felt we should put off trying until summer 2011. And I was happy with that. Summer came and almost went...and I felt really good about my decision to wait another year. And then BAM! The end of August something changed. No, I didn't feel some intense need to have another baby...but I told Trav we could try this one cycle and if it didn't happen, we would wait until summer 2011. Fast forward a few weeks and the next thing I know...

BAM. That's a positive test. Just to be sure I took a different brand test on the same day and sure enough:

It was apparently "meant to be."

I wasn't surprised, but I didn't know it would happen in one try!
SO...First weekend in October the morning sickness hits with a vengeance. And it was THE WORST EVER. I was SO sick. Sicker than the first two times and it was no fun. I know I shouldn't complain. I do take it to be a good sign, being sick. We had our first ultrasound November 10th and sure enough, there was a baby in there. (Not that I doubted it, seeing just makes it more real!)

October through most of December were pretty miserable months. I'm sure it played a part in my lack of posting and also the complete lack of housework around here. Thankfully I have been feeling much better. No more puking! Still exhausted and achy and uncomfortable, but also manageable (Whew!) Seriously, this month has felt like a tender mercy! Except for the hormonal basket case that is Jenna lately. My hormones are SO out-of-whack and uncontrollable when I am pregnant! Poor Travis!

Anyway, Travis felt like it was another girl. I was "sure" it would be a boy. Turns out it IS another GIRL. So much for motherly instinct. lol.

We couldn't be more thrilled though. Here are some pictures from the 20-week ultrasound. She is on track and all looks well. That is the biggest, most important thing to us!

Cute profile (18 weeks)
Profile at 20 weeks. Her face was right up against the placenta.
There's nothing to see between those legs!

These two are 3-D ultrasounds. And because her face was half resting on the placenta, it was hard to get good pics, but you get the idea, no? Above: her face sort of peeking through...
I know this is scary. She is just a thin little skeleton. But you can totally see her skull! This second half of the pregnancy is when she will fill out and put on some fat. :)

She has been really squirmy which is sort of fun but not always. It is so reassuring to feel all her kicks, punches, and turns though! The movements are becoming stronger and more controlled and the girls are able to feel her now, I think. It's hard to tell, but they are very willing to sit and TRY to feel her kicks. The other night she even kicked enough for me to see my stomach move. That's when it gets really cool, because I think the girls will LOVE to watch my belly move.

And although I HATE pics of myself, (I have very few photos of me from the first two pregnancies) I know I need to try to get a few from this one too...just for memories sake. Here I am, 23 weeks! Definitely past halfway! And since both girls were early...I am hoping this one will be a couple weeks ahead of schedule too!

As for names, we have a few ideas. As in, I know what I like, Trav knows what he likes...but as a couple, we don't really agree. People keep asking but I promise we haven't even discussed it lately. Suggestions are welcome! I know there must be a name out there we both love!

Christmas

2011-01-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, I suppose!

I actually took ZERO photos of Christmas. Maybe that's why I have been putting off blogging lately, my crazy photo taking days seem to have passed. I used to take pics of anything and everything we did...not so much lately.

Oh well, even without the pics to prove it, our Christmas this year was fabulous. We stay home and spent the day with our little family plus Maria.

The girls got SPOILED. I swear every year we won't go all out. And then I'm eating my words. It's just so easy to do. It helps that they had piles of gifts that weren't just from us, but also from their grandmas and grandpas.

Their big gift is a new bunk bed which has been awesome to have! The girls love it and they also love sharing a room (for the most part). They each got new movies, lots of new clothes, and some fun toys!
Travis spoiled me as usual too. I seriously hopes he quits it one of these days! My big gift is an amazing new blender that is AWESOME. and he has benefited from having it quite nicely. (He had his wisdom teeth removed two days after Christmas...milkshakes and smoothies were a must!)
I also got $70 worth of iTunes gift cards! Some from Travis, one from Maria, and one from my awesome girl friend Angela! (I had a wish list of songs I wanted...and you would think that amount would cover it, but even after getting new music, there is still more I want! ha ha)
Barb got me some new clothes. I love them all!

Travis got new clothes, a soccer bag, a board game and some other miscellaneous things too.

It was really fun being home and doing our own thing. (We did the same thing two years ago, but this was the first time in our house.) We miss all our family we don't get to see very often but there is also a time when it's good to start your own traditions! We hope maybe next year we might get some family to join us for the holiday. Anyone is more than welcome! And if you join us, there is always sure to be lots of goodies...I go way overboard on the Christmas cookies and candy!

Little Miss Izzy turned THREE in December

2011-01-27T16:09:00.000-08:00

Yep. I am not sure where the time has gone...

One day you are giving birth to this:

(Picture taken December 11, 2007 the morning after Isabelle Jane was born)

and the next thing you know, it's three years later... Her birthday was very low key. We didn't have a party or anything, we just had her open some gifts at home, ate some dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and then had cake with Aunt Maria.

Izzy also got a present from her friends Owen and Luke, too! (An adorable fairy book with stickers to dress up the fairies and decorate the scenes around them...it was a HIT!)

She opened presents first thing in the morning. She got a new winter coat that is a bright pink color, some Dr. Seuss books, money from Grandma Debbie (for new clothes), a princess puppet from Grandma Barb and Grandpa John, and a singing princess Rapunzel doll from Aunt Maria.

That week in preschool she also got to be the "Star of the Week" meaning we provided snacks that week and I went into the preschool class to show pictures of Izzy and talk about her. She also got to be the line leader all week. She thought being star of the week was pretty cool!

Some things about Izzy at three years old:

She weighs 33 pounds, her favorite movie is "Despicable Me", her favorite foods are "chickens" (nuggets), as well as candy and snacks. She has such a sweet tooth! She still acts like the baby and anyone would tell you she totally gets away with it where I am concerned. I can't help it! She IS still the baby! She loves, Loves, LOVES her big sister and wants to play with her or terrorize her constantly. She totally knows how to get under Riley's skin. It's so funny. Poor Riley! She finally became fully potty trained not long before her birthday...it was a loonnnggggg time in the making. But she does really, really well and hasn't had any accidents in several weeks and the accidents she has had have been very few. She is becoming more and more independent but still is a HUGE cuddle-bug. Anyone and everyone who knows her comments on it. She is a lot like her dad...the faces she makes, her expressions, the things she says...it's all so Travis. She is solid and I bet she will be a good little athlete someday. Hopefully she likes soccer :) Guess time will tell!

She is a ball of spunk (and sugar and spice and everything nice....you know...) She has brought us so much joy and I'm sure she will continue to do so!

Adobe Holiday Party

2010-12-30T14:37:00.000-08:00

Adobe didn't disappoint with this year's holiday party. Not that they ever disappoint! There were tons of fun games, lots of yummy food, and NEON TREES performed. Pretty awesome!

I was so grateful it was a casual event! Omniture had really formal holiday parties and I am not much of a formal wear kind of girl!

*I tried to post a video of Neon Trees singing "Animal" but I guess the file was too large because it wouldn't work...maybe one of these days I will edit it to a more manageable size. yeah right.

I don't even know where to begin!

2010-11-22T12:37:00.000-08:00

I am SO behind on updating this thing! And I am so mad at myself for letting it get so out of control.
Things I haven't posted about include:

-Riley's 4th Birthday. WOW. Can't believe she will start kindergarten next year!
-Our family pics that we won! (see a previous post from August)
-Riley getting 6 inches chopped off her hair
-Trav's 29th Birthday
-My sister getting hired at Adobe and moving here! YAY!!
-Halloween
-and probably so much more that I am forgetting about.

So ready for the catching up?!
Friends at Riley's birthday party
Riley's birthday present from Grandma Barb is this cute cowgirl puppet the girls call Freida. Riley got lots of wonderful gifts!

Izzy and Luke
Cam, Owen, Riley, Hailee....I had the kids sit on the floor around this table cloth and decorate their own cupcakes. Can you say MESSY?! We also played some games, opened presents, and handed out treat bags. Not sure I am the right person for throwing kids parties. I don't think I was organized enough or prepared for the craziness of 10 kids. Even with all the help I had!

In September BOTH girls started preschool and I got my hair colored DARK like I have been wanting. We visited Temple Square when Aunt Maria visited...and toured the Conference Center because Maria had never done that. We had family pics taken then Riley got her haircut. SIX whole inches. And for the most part people don't even notice because she still has lots of hair, but when I see pics of her with her long hair, I miss it. It's definitely nice not to have to deal with washing and brushing and styling as much hair as before though!
With Aunt Ria on the roof of the Conference Center
My new dark hair color!
Silly pic, but this was saying good bye to the kids when I took them to preschool
Walking into first day of preschool. Bittersweet. It's lonely without Izzy who was home with me last year...but SO nice to have a little bit of FREE time to do whatever I want with NO KIDS!
Oh! And Travis got called into the Elders Quorum Presidency at church and they asked him to shave his facial hair off. So here I am being sentimental and taking a pic before he shaved. I think he actually looks younger without it and I am used to it now but at first, the girls and I were so sad that he was shaving :( The girls cried! lol.
Our family pics!!! It was a mostly good experience since we had never had any taken...but as you can see...Izzy didn't really cooperate! TWO YEAR OLDS! AH! The photographer took almost 200 pics and I don't think we have single GENUINE smile from Isabelle. Oh well. By the way, photos courtesy of Josh at PVM Photography in Rexburg, ID.

For Halloween the girls were: Peter Pan.... (this is Riley post-haircut. See how much hair she STILL has?!)........and Tinkerbell! SO cute. Costumes courtesy of Grandma Debbie. (Grandmas are the BEST!)

For Adobe's Halloween party Travis decided to make a costume in hopes of winning one of their two $1000 prizes. So he decided to build a Lego Man costume!
This was the work in progress
And this was the final product. Luckily, the hard work MORE THAN paid off....because he won $1000!!!!!!!
Hilarious!

Travis turned 29 on October 28th and so we went on an overnight getaway to Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake. John and Dana kept our girls overnight. We have never had a night away from the kids, just the two of us. In fact, in over 4 years, I had never had a night away from kids. So this was much needed and it was so fun. Can't say thanks enough to an awesome aunt and uncle for being brave enough to accept two extra kids for a night...and two kids who had never not had mom around at that.

I also mentioned that my younger sister interview and was hired on at Adobe. She works in the Order Management department. Congrats to her!! I know coming to Utah from Albuquerque wasn't an easy thing to do, but it's so nice to have her here.

And as for me...I worked a TON in September and have managed to keep fairly busy since. For now, I guess that is enough of an update...but stay tuned for more, soon!

For Time and All Eternity

2010-09-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

In August, one of my besties got sealed to her eternal companion in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. The festivities that week were awesome and I couldn't help but feel SO grateful and blessed to have been able to be there.

I wish Lisa and Scott all the happiness they deserve! They waited to find each other a long time but neither of them could have found a better person to spend eternity with, making the wait well worth it.

Lisa was probably my very first friend...I have known her since the day she was born just weeks after I was born! And I am not evening kidding when I say she was THE MOST STUNNING BRIDE I HAVE EVER SEEN.

We started off with a bridal shower at my house early in the week thrown by Lisa's older sister Megan and myself. It was a hit and there was a massive turnout!

Me with Lisa and Lauren (Aren't Pennsylvania girls so cute??!)
Megan and I. Love this girl! SO happy to live so close to her and be able to raise our kids together!

The night before the wedding, there was a dinner at an Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo. It was for family and close friends. Travis was supposed to go with me...but Izzy was SO sick that I left him home with the girls and went with Brooke and Lauren. It was awesome!

Then Friday was the wedding and reception!!

Their first appearance as Mr. and Mrs. Scott Johnson!
Gorgeous Lauren with her beatiful little girl, Lylah

Anderson Family Reunion 2010

2010-09-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

Some things are better late than never, right?

At the beginning of August a bunch of Carl and Naomi's posterity gathered for a reunion that happens once every other year. These things are always so fun! Percy planned this year's and it was really amazing. I just wish there had been even more of a turn out! Try for 2012, okay guys??! The girls and I watched people float the river. There goes Grandpa John!
Travis floating behind Isaac, Liz, and family
Sitting watching people float....
Richard and Crystal
Izzy Jane....such a cheeseball lately.

We had a family home evening one night where Percy had Roger talk about being a patriarch and Char spoke about the role of a matriarch. It was really awesome and we got to hear all 6 of Granny and Papa's kids and 5 spouses share things they had been taught by Carl and Naomi. It was awesome. Percy and Jozette even compiled a book of memories for Granny and Papa and a lot of the family contributed. It was really neat!

The grandkids playing a hymn...
Check out this family!!! And there were a lot of people missing this photo! Some had been there and left already, and others couldn't make it this year.
Granny and Papa with all six of their kids: Roger, Percy, Mary, Dot (who is hidden), Martha, and John
Granny and Papa with the grandkids who were there the morning of pictures. Missing: Brandon Hanson, Johnny, Skyler, and Randee Anderson, Darcy Pingel, Brooke Mills, Emily Lindblom, Mitch Lash, Crystal Taylor, Isaac and Shawn Eaton. I figured it would be easier to name who wasn't in the photo than who WAS. But maybe not! Hopefully I didn't forget anyone! As you can tell, there were a lot who missed photos!
Granny and Papa with half of their great-grankids. (15 of the 30)
Martha and Kurt's family with Granny and Papa minus Brandon, Emily, and Collin who had left before pictures
Dot and Rich's family with Granny and Papa. Lots missing here, too. (Eleven, I think?)
Percy and Jozette's family with Granny and Papa. Way to all show up guys! ;)
Roger and Char's family with close to half missing
Jacque, Tyler, and Family. CUTE kids!!!
Martha, Jim and family. Mitch and his new bride weren't there because they had JUST gotten married days before. Lexi was napping, and Nicole's husband Rob couldn't make it due to work

John and our family. Most disappointing turn out! Unfortunately due to work, money, etc Travis was the only one of the 5 kids to show up. The girls had a blast being able to play with grandpa John!

Overall, it was a fun time. I just wish more of the family could have made it. We only gather once every two years so its fun to be able to visit, catch up, and meet new members of the family.

Excited!!

2010-08-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

Our cute little family has NEVER. EVER. had professional photos taken. It pains me, really...all the time. I love, LoVe, lOvE, LOVE to look at pictures that have been taken professionally. But then I get green with envy. I can't help it, I am not perfect and I know I should work on the whole being envious thing. It's not cheap to have pictures taken. And I sort of am. Cheap. I mean, not terribly, but we have a house and two little kids, and life is expensive, you know?! But OH! To have our cute family captured in priceless (expensive!) photos??? YES PLEASE. SOMEDAY. That's what I keep telling myself.

TO THE POINT ALREADY, I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So you see the button on the upper right corner? It's for this amazing cause that is trying to eliminate child trafficking and exploitation in the US and Canada. And my old roommate and sweet friend sponsored a giveaway for an upcoming event/benefit concert taking place here in Utah. She had tons of fabulous prizes lined up and I entered to win. Anything. Because who doesn't love a giveaway?! (I know I do!) It never hurts to try anyway. Especially when it is for such a great cause.

Anyway...turns out I won something. Not just any something. I won my family a one hour session with a photographer!!!! And so...now I am like....what will we wear?! How should I do the kids hair? my hair? so...I am asking for some opinions....

Lately, Travis has been really wanting to chop Riley's hair. The thought pains me. Because her hair is SPECTACULAR. Seriously, I envy it (how sad is that, envying my own child. Still working on it, I swear). She is 4 (next week) and has only ever had one haircut. Back in February we had 3 inches chopped off to clean up the ends. I just measured her hair, it is 17 inches. She is about 40ish inches tall(I think)...so its almost half of her! It falls just above her bum near her waist in the back. And here is why he wants it cut...when she sits on the potty and her hair is down, it basically hangs to her bum and almost in the toilet. Nasty. He is right. So do I just trim it up 4-5 inches and keep long hair or do I do something more drastic? Do we add layers? Bangs? (Travis says no, the simpler the better. He's opinionated, people!) And should I wait until after our family pics have been taken?! Or what?!!
It's a little longer than this. These pictures were taken about a month ago and I can tell by looking at her it's already grown since then.

And Izzy's hair has that natural curl....but I use my straightener on it because it makes it longer....so what do I do with her? Leave it natural or straighten and then style? In the pics below, you can see its straightened. You just never know if her curls in the back will have a good curl day or a not-so-good curl day.....

As for what to wear, I want it to be casual I think. Because I am SO NOT girly in the way that I hate to dress up. I have always been about casual comfort. Sundays are a struggle for me. The only time I really liked to get all "pretty" was for my wedding day. That was sort of fun. Sort of. :) Ok, maybe there have been a few times. But overall, GAG ME when it comes to dresses, skirts, heels, etc...

I can't pull it off as nicely as some ladies. I envy girls who love it and look fabulous. I don't even know how to work on the envy here. Some girls are just way cuter/more beautiful/made to be dressed up!

Then I think how sweet the girls look dressed up. But I am not dressing up. Do we all wear jeans and solid colored shirts? Or do I dress the kiddos up?

PS....should I dye my hair brown? Because I LOVED it when it was dark. But I also chopped it off when I went dark. The cut I didn't love, but now that its getting longish like I want, I want long dark hair. The problem: EVERYONE and their dog thinks I need to stay blond? WHAT'S the DEAL, PEOPLE?! I mean, people who I think it's weird they even have an opinion are saying stay blond and it's not enough to tell me that, I need reasons. Or I'm going back to being brunette. Because I want Darcy's hair. And while mine will never look that amazing and thick, I will take long and dark :)

Me, with shorter darkish hair. But I want even darker than that!
Current hair. Me with my friend Megan. I want her color :)

Darcy...even though it's not a fabulous hair pic. Cute family huh? And speaking of Darcy, Hair-py Birthday, Darc. I want your hair. (You already knew that, though!) And I love your hair. And you. And your cute little boy (Jack)....although Adam's not bad either. ;)
Another of my current hair and the girls' current hair....

Girls Night

2010-07-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

Recently I have realized that as hard as it is, it is VITAL to find time to spend on myself. Meaning I need an escape from the mommy responsibilities. And as mothers, many of us don't give ourselves that time away from our children to enjoy some quiet time or pampering or whatever. Sometimes it's nice just to get to the grocery store alone. And others, it's nice to have date nights with the hubby. And then there is this thing called girls night. I heart girls nights :)

I haven't had a lot of girls nights in the last several years...but there have been a few and now I am pretty much hooked and hope to have a girls night more often.

In May my friend Angela invited me to a girls night where we went to see the new Robin Hood movie and then her sister did free chemical peel facials. Awesome.

Then my little sister-in-law to be Rachel told me her sister did glitter toes and I knew I had to host a girls night!

So Friday night a bunch of friends came over and snacked and talked and got their toes did! And let me just say, our feet all look SO cute! AND I can't wait to do it again! In the meantime, who wants to host another girls night soon?! ;)
Brooke and Dana getting their toes glittered!

Feet belong to: Dani, Christy, Brooke, Camille, Angela, Dana, and me

And in this shot: Carrie, Sonja, Rachel, Jenna, Dani, Me, and Christy
Dani removing her nail polish before getting her glitter toes. Notice my paraffin wax bath on the floor. Almost everyone dipped their feet in hot wax for some extra pampering :)
Angela with her feet under the UV light, Camille with lots of glitter!
Dani and Rachel
Brooke with her wax-dipped feet and Dana
My toes. I picked a silvery-green...or a greenish silver. And as much as I love it, next time I know to do something really bright!!

It's great to have good friends to hang out with! Seriously I am so grateful!

"Ka-Ka-Ka-Katie"

2010-07-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

So the title of this post is because in elementary school a music group came and did some sort of concert and they needed a girl from the audience named Katie so they could sing to her. All these years I have remembered this song but can't seem to find it...although I found what I believe are the lyrics online. Just a random thought....

Now for the post!

My brother and his wife and their baby were down for a few days last week since Brad came down to work in the Lehi office. I feel lucky that we live close enough to get to see them somewhat regularly. As previously stated in another post, the girls adore Katie and I love playing with her too. She is such a doll. Pictures make her look chubbier than she is. Her cheeks really are quite chubby but the rest of her is pretty average as far as babies go. She isn't stick thin but ths isn't super chunky...yet :)
She seriously is smiling more than any newborn I have ever seen. She is only 5 weeks old but smiles ALL THE TIME.

Look at that pouty face!

Videos for grandmas :)

Coeur d'Alene 2010

2010-07-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

Since Adobe gives employees a full week off during the 4th of July, we decided to head up to see Trav's family. This post will be loaded with photos. And it's only some of what I took...
It was a long drive. Loooong. We left Friday night and spent the night at Uncle Percy and Aunt Jozette's in Shelley. Then Saturday we drove to Caldwell area and spend a night out at Granny and Papa's. Then on the 4th we went to the Wallace Branch for church because John had to be out there on assignment. Sort of bummed we didn't get to go to John and Barb's home ward.

Travis listening to one of the Harry Potter books.
Sunday night we did some little fireworks at John and Barb's house. Here is Adam showing Jack a sparkler. Fascinated much? so cute!

The girls with Grandma Barb. Watching some fireworks

While up there I went with Travis, Darcy, and Randee to see Eclipse (even though I went to the midnight release, too).

And Tuesday we went to the Valley and took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese. It was seriously a blast. And after that we went to River Front Park where the girls got to play on a massive Radio Flyer wagon slide (I wish I had my camera on me for it!). They loved it and just went down and up and down again several times. Then we walked over and they rode the carousel there and grandma bought us ice cream. What a fun day!

Wednesday afternoon we went out on the boat. Here is Uncle Adam water skiing
And Travis water skiing

I put the girls in the water with Travis. Izzy was SO scared. It was freezing. She was climbing up Travis to get out of the water.
Riley didn't like it either, but she smiled for a couple pics before jumping back on the boat.

Jack!
A view from Hayden Lake
Wednesday evening the girls got to ride horses!! John and Barb have some great property by their house and so someone keeps their horses there. The girls were so into the horses and the owner offered to let them ride! They had never done this before, but it was a hit!

They even got to help feed the horses!

On our last full day in town we went to Silverwood which is an amusement park. There are rides and an awesome water park. We spent the morning doing rides then the afternoon at the water park. The girls LOVED it.

We sat the kids in the wrong spots on this kiddie roller coaster. They should have been on the outside...oops. So you can't really see Izzy but she LOVED it!
Riley went on the log ride with Grandpa and Grandma
And Izzy rode with daddy and Aunt Randee
Travis and Randee on the panic plunge. They did it twice....crazy people!

It was seriously one of the most fun trips we have had up there! And I am sort of thinking it might be a good time for us to go up every year. Especially because we may not keep alternating our Christmas up there. It is so hard to travel such a long way in the snow and to have to bring up all the stuff that goes along with Christmas.

The girls loved the trip and so did we because we got to spend so much time with Trav's parents and his sisters along with Darcy's family. We had beautiful weather all week and the kids weren't ready to leave Grandma Barb's!

Mom visited in June

2010-07-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

On June 11th my brother Brad and his wife Kim welcomed their first child, a baby girl (of course)! So mom flew out at the end of the month to spend a few days in Utah with us then we took her to Idaho to spend a couple days with Katie the new grandbaby :) Izzy napping on Grandma Debbie

Girls getting picked up at Kindermusik. Grandma wanted a picture. She is way better at remembering to take pictures than me!

Girls on the way to Rexburg. Izzy fell asleep with her sunglasses on as you can see above

Brad, Kim, and Katie

Katie with Uncle Travis and cousin Izzy
Group pic. All of my parents grandkids in one picture. Three girls :)

Girls just love Katie. Maybe as much as I do :) Seriously just love her so much! And NO, it doesn't make me baby hungry.

Izzy exhausted at Uncle Brad's apartment

Real Salt Lake game again

2010-07-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

In June we went to another Real game and took Rachel with us :)

The girls adore Rachel and we just love her too! Can't wait until she and Sky can finally get married!
The mascot! He came right up the aisle beside our seats so I grabbed the girls and got him to pose for a pic! It was AWESOME! He was super busy with people wanting to get pics, so I was rushing before Izzy was even prepared.
Oops. Of course the kids don't look for the picture!

Other recent pictures...

2010-06-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

We have gotten to play with Hailee and Cam a lot lately!! Riley and Hailee even had their first sleepover at our house this week. Unfortunately I didn't take pics during the sleepover, but I have some from a different day!
Don't mind my girls hair!!! It's not done in ANY of the photos in this post. oops!!

Izzy was "stuck" in her kitchen. She didn't know how to get out. She was crying for me but when I saw why, I ran for the camera and she smiled :)

Izzy napping :)

Riley napping. This is a rare sight...she doesn't nap anymore...but this was taken the day after the sleepover. She was tired!! Missed out on about 4-5 hours of her normal sleep that night.

Camryn!!

Such a cute pic of Hailee.

Too hard to get all 4 kids smiling and looking at me!

And here is a pic from a recent bloody nose. Both our girls are like Travis. All 3 of them get bloddy noses that are pretty bad. I never have. I think I had like, one bloody nose my entire life.

KINDERMUSIK!!

2010-06-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

The girls started their four week Kindermusik camp and it has been a hit! I get a break NO KIDS (6 hours a week)!!! and the girls love it.

Izzy was SILENT the whole way to Kindermusik the first day. She was nervous and excited!! Here is the video I took of her before I took them in!

REAL SALT LAKE

2010-06-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

Anyone who really KNOWS Travis knows he loves soccer. He grew up playing and when he can find the time, he still plays. Well, living in Utah has some perks. One of them happens to be there is a MLS (major league soccer) team here. And they rock. Last year they won the MLS cup. I think that's what it is called...in case you don't realize, I don't know a TON about soccer, but I know enough that I find it fun to watch.
We have some friends (old soccer friends from Rexburg days) that frequent the Real Salt Lake games (that is the name of the team here). And they invited us to go to the season home opener back in April and we have been hooked ever since. When we went in April, we didn't know it was going to happen, but David Archuletta sang at half-time!

Sorry about the lame photo...That is David singing on the jumbo-tron screen thing.

I have a video of him singing....but its too large a file to upload here and I'm so tech-retarded that it would take a long time for me to edit it down.

Well, this past week RSL were playing the LA Galaxy...who they happened to play and beat for the title last year. So this game was sort of a big deal. And we decided we needed to be there. So our friends the Schanz family came down from Idaho and went to the game with us again! And THIS time, David COOK sang the National Anthem and then put on a concert after the game. Pretty sweet. I didn't know that was happening this time, either. We have picked awesome games to go to. Not just because of entertainment, but because the team tied or won.

Yep, RSL beat the Galaxy 1-0!!! It was awesome. Especially since that lone goal was scored in the the 82nd minute or something like that (it was near the end of the game).

Sorry about the pics being in reverse order. Blogger=headaches

Anyway, we are going again tonight "for Father's Day" ha ha. That's what I am telling myself. Because we couldn't really afford a gift...so this is it! We got a good deal on four tickets from someone John works with and so we are taking the girls and Rachel (Skyler's fiance) with us!!! GO REAL!!!!!

The End of the School Year

2010-06-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

Well, Riley's first year at American Legacy Montessori Preschool ended on Thursday. Luckily there is Kindermusik camp starting next week for four weeks. But then I am sort of hoping that July and August fly by because Riley LOVES preschool!!! And I am hoping when I send both girls in the fall, Izzy loves it, too!!

Thursday there was a little graduation at Miss Rebecca's house and we had a potluck while the kids played. It was lots of fun! Riley with Miss Rebecca. Each kid received a certificate with their photo saying they had completed "Year One" of the Montessori curriculum. Super cute!!
I happened to be sitting in the perfect spot when the kids came out. Riley was the second one!! Lucky!

The kids wore dad's white dress shirts backwards for graduation gowns. How cute!

Riley with Miss Ariel
Riley with Miss Miley
Daddy with the girls
Mommy with the girls.
Izzy can't make a normal face for pics, I guess!!

The kids sang several songs that they learned throughout the year.

Can't wait for Year Two. And the FREE time I will get each week in the fall! Happy summer for now though!

Life never slows down!

2010-05-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

Yet I still keep waiting for that to happen!!! Even though I know it won't!!! Oh man, I can't believe how scarce my blog postings have been this year. Just wanted to give a little (or big) update...we will see how much I have to post.

Not a whole lot is new with us, we are just living the good life :)

The girls are growing and getting smarter and prettier all the time.

Preschool is ending this coming week and I am sure Riley will be sad. She has LOVED going to preschool this year! And she has been thriving! She has started READING!! At 3 1/2 that's pretty impressive. Her teacher just raves and says she is way ahead of other kids her age. So that has been a proud parent event for us. She knows MOST letter sounds and the book series the teacher uses begins with the short a vowel sound for 6 books, then the short i vowel sound for six books, which Riley is about done with. But because she knows the other vowels, she can read a lot more words than what she has learned. At first it was hard to get her to blend the sounds together, but now she totally gets it. We have a wall hanging with hooks in our hall that says FAMILY. The other day I overheard her saying FFF-a-mm-i-ll-ya. Then she said, "that's not a word!" and I said, Riley, you almost had it. It says family, when you see an ly together it sounds like "lee". :) She wants to read more, but its hard for me to know how to explain things like "ch", "sh" and when there is an "e" at the end how the vowel in the word is really a long vowel sound. That's why I sent her to preschool in the first place!! I am so not smart enough to know how to explain things at her level! Also, someone asked her what her name was the other day and she said "Riley, R-I-L-E-Y" it came out so fast. I had never heard her just spit out those letters so fast! Adorable!

Luckily, even though preschool is over, for 4 weeks Miss Rebecca does a kindermusik camp in June. So I am sending Riley to that and Miss Rebecca says she will continue to send books home so she will keep reading! AND Isabelle is going to go to kindermusik with Riley to try out the preschool environment. I would love to send them both in the fall!!! I can ALMOST imagine the freedom 3 times a week!!! ALMOST. I hope it works out!!

Izzy is so smart, too. She talks way beyond her age level, for sure. The things she comes up with are impressive. At almost 2 1/2 I was starting to worry she would never want to potty train. Because Riley was about this time and any time I would try with Izzy I just got frustrated. Once in awhile she was into, but for the most part, it was a general lack of caring. But last week I decided I had had it. It wasn't Izzy's problem, it was more my issue. I would start gung-ho and then tire of the process quickly and give up. Well I decided Friday was the day. So we took off the diaper and put on big girl pants and she has done incredibly well. In once week, she has used the potty about 50 times. I know this because she has sticker charts and that's how many stickers she has earned, each time she has gone. Do you go toilet 50 times in one week?? Does that sound like a lot? And she has had several accidents and still wears and wets diapers at night. Little kids go a lot!!! But overall, she is doing so well. Friday was super successful, the weekend was incredibly rough...but I knew if I was consistent with stickers and treats and stayed patient it would pay off. She isn't fully potty trained, but she is so, so close. She wakes up every morning and goes straight for her potty! She hasn't peed in a pair of big girl underwear since for 3-4 days. So I am saying it's been a success!!

The girls are so different from one another I can't get over it. Most times they are great friends. Though there are plenty of times when they fight...which I know is normal. It's just they are two totally different spirits/personalities. Riley is super sensitive and bossy. Both girls can be quite argumentative. Riley is also very interested in learning, constantly and is pretty flighty at times. She has less common sense and more "book" smarts it seems.

Isabelle is spunky and has this love of life that I can't get enough of. She is cuddly and sweet. And while she likes learning too, she isn't as driven as Riley currently. Both girls love to be read to, to dance, to play outside, and keep me SO BUSY!!! The girls are usually pretty protective of one another which I love! It seems I butt heads with Riley more than Isabelle and I know its because we are just similar. We all are stubborn though in our own way!

Izzy is better with manners. But I really am working hard to teach them BOTH their P's and Q's!! Riley tends to be the whinier of the two, but Izzy definitely has her moments. I find this preschool age is super hard but so fun, too. I am such a baby person. If babies stayed babies longer, give me ten!! The problem with babies is they become toddlers and preschoolers...lol. I really love my girls so much. But they are trying to teach me patience!!! Apparently it really is hard to teach an old dog new tricks :) They keep me so busy I am EXHAUSTED!!

As far as me and Trav, we are both trying to make the most of our gym memberships and get in better shape!!! This summer we have trips planned to Coeur d'Alene for the 4th of July and the Anderson reunion in southern Idaho in August that happens every two years. Also, I am looking forward to the birth of Brad and Kim's baby in June (or any time now!). Yay for a new niece and cousin for the girls!

So I guess that's about it. Remember, these posts are more for me, for journaling purposes...but the pictures below, those are for the grandmas and grandpas, and aunts :)
Still finding it to be nearly impossible to get them to cooperate for pictures!!!

Izzy's first ever BRAIDED pigtails. Had never tried to braid them before now! At least I am good at capturing "firsts" for our kids, even if they are pretty lame! lol
The girls told is they were building tents....this is what we found!

We had never tried this but Trav's aunt had talked about putting her girls hair in "rags" and then it is all curly. So we decided to give it a whirl. I did Riley's....
...and Travis did Isabelle's. And he did a much better job than me. This was after bath time. Then you sleep with the rags in your hair and have curls the next day!!

Unfortunately I had somewhere to be early this particular morning and I had to pull the rags out before heading out...and because Riley has so much hair, it wasn't dry enough to hold the curls, they didn't stay in more than an hour :(

Good morning, beautiful! Isn't she sweet?
Her hair seemed to hold the curl much better. For one, she has curls anyway and secondly, her hair was dry because its so much shorter!

Izzy love's Aunt A's poety book.
This is Riley, sleeping in the car with Sunglasses on. I thought it was cute
It's been so long I didn't post about Easter...which we spent down in Albuquerque, NM with my dad, his wife, my two younger sisters, and two younger step sisters. Here are the girls on Easter. Riley's hair is often in her face. Travis is ready to get it chopped off I think. He says she looks like an orphan or something. lol
Izzy is still trying to wake up. They had fun looking through their baskets!

Family Picture!

2010-03-26T21:08:00.001-07:00

Our stake is having a temple fireside at the end of April and they are asking for pictures of every family at the temple. So our ward set up times for the families in our ward to go over and have someone take the picture. The sun was sort of in our faces...but I think for having two fidgety kids and too bright of sun this turned out pretty well.

Today's pictures

2010-03-24T21:52:00.001-07:00

I have been doing less than great lately with picture taking. So we broke the camera out so the grandparents can see how big the girls are getting. There are VIDEOS at the bottom. I am always a little bit nervous to post them because I hate hearing myself on them. But I wish I took more videos of the girls. Because I know all too soon they won't be so little and I won't remember these days if I don't have some actual video along with the pictures...

I also recently have straightened Isabelle's hair a few times...hard to believe how long it is in the back!!

Look at this serious face!! LOVE it!

I also love her ONE, tiny dimple.

MMmmmmMM. slobbery kisses from Izzy. Her kisses are always pretty wet...
Making time for daddy :)

When I look at Riley...I can't believe how old she looks. SAD!!!

I know I ask Izzy what she is eating twice....but I like the way she says Macaroni and Cheese. I think our girls pronounce a lot of things pretty well/clear. And I am always amazed at what they sometimes come up with to say. For example, a couple months ago when I was getting Isabelle dressed, I put her pants on her and she said "Oh! You're a good helper, Mommy!" I really need to start writing these things down somewhere. Because my memory is TERRIBLE. (sorry if I told that story about me being a good helper in a previous post...I can't remember!)

Just putting it out there, I don't normally serve Mac n cheese for dinner (it's more of a lunch thing) but we were busy today and mom failed to prepare! Girls didn't seem to mind!

Also, I took another, longer clip of Riley that wouldn't upload...it is a little too big of a file. :P

I cannot keep up!

2010-02-26T15:42:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe that we are two full months into this year already. Where is time going? Why do I seem to have less and less of it?! It's just not fair!

Here are the latest happenings around here.

One afternoon the girls were watching a movie and this is how I found Isabelle, passed out on Riley.

We took the girls to their first BYU basketball game where they fell in love with Cosmo, the cougar mascot and got to yell for the cougs. "GO COUGARS" !!!! Having fun watching some basketball

Impossible to get them both to cooperate for photos still. Blah!

Izzy sleeps. Any time, any where if she is bored enough.

We don't let her stay in weird/uncomfortable positions. We will find her, take the photo-op and then move her to her bed. I just love pictures of our girls sleeping. They are so peaceful and perfect :)

Oops! Woke her up that time. :)

On February 8, Riley got her first ever hair trim. I had never trimmed her hair in her almost 3 1/2 years of life. And while Riley did try it once herself (back in September) it wasn't enough to count as a haircut!
Before
Getting ready to lose a few inches

Fresh, clean ends! Love it.
The above photo was Before the hair cut.

Izzy is not so fond of having her picture taken...

Riley hiding her face
But what a CUTE face it is!

My sweet friend Rachael helped me make this magnet board for Riley's room. YAY for taking up some space on the MASSIVE pink wall. Also, check out the chair rail! That board is really centered on the wall. Sorry about the weird angle!

My dad visited for Valentine's weekend and this is the best picture I could get of him with BOTH of our girls. The individual ones of him with the girls turned out better

And of course, I don't want to forget to post that February 18th marked FIVE years of wedded bliss for this man and myself.

Yep, five whole years. And an eternity to go.
I LOVE HIM. and he puts up with me. somehow. :)
Lucky me.

We finally painted Riley's bedroom.

2010-01-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

We have lived in this house for more than 9 months now and just got around to it! I have been wanting to do it for quite sometime, but didn't really know WHAT I wanted to do, just that it was way too white in there and in need of some color....

BEFORE: ALL of her furniture is white. With four large, white, empty walls. It was just awful.
The problem is, I am no interior decorator. I don't have much vision. I am not great with colors and style or anything like that. If you know me well, you know I am all about casual comfort. And I am sort of plain. My house, my clothes, everything.
I searched for inspiration online and found some. I googled little girls bedroom designs. And I found this one room with an ARGYLE wall. And it was C-U-T-E! But I would NEVER do that. First off, I don't have the guts. Or the patience (although patience is on my list of resolutions this year...to have more of it). And I don't have the experience in painting. Or the math skills it would require. Let's face it, it seemed IMPOSSIBLE. I showed it to Travis anyway. And he liked it, too.
So I mentioned to my friend Rachael that I was wanting to paint Riley's room. And I told her about the argyle wall. And....Rachael had helped her sister paint argyle on a wall before. AND Rachael LOVES painting. Let's just say she has some experience painting. You know, she's done it a few times. Or more. And she said we could totally do it. And the project that ensued was ALL because she was there encouraging me.
The planning phase was ALMOST harder than the actual painting. Rachael was part of that as well. In fact, when I pitched the idea to Travis, we were going to do LIGHT/pastel colors. And thankfully, Rachael was smart enough to talk me out of that. She didn't really have to try. I was all for it. I figured why not? If we are doing such a bold pattern, may as well go bold on the colors. It was hours of discussing and then measuring. The above photo showed the start of taping off the room. It was an epic fail. We had to rip it down. And then we decided to let Travis, the master, work his magic. That man spent hours perfecting the diamond pattern.
I moved Riley into Isabelle's room. Let's just say it was a little crowded. But I think they were happy.

And so I went to work taping off the lower part of the wall, where we were painting stripes.
It was time consuming. The plan we decided on was stripes on the bottom third (ish) of the walls (all four of them). Then ONE wall would be argyle...the wall across from the argyle would be the darker pink from the argyle on the upper part, and the remaining two walls would be the green from the argyle pattern on the upper part.
Friday night Travis measured and figured and taped off the first set of diamonds that would be bright pink like the opposite wall. I painted the pink wall.
THEN we painted the dark pink diamonds. That way when Rachael and her husband George showed up Saturday morning to help we had already gotten a small part of the work out of the way.

One color-DONE. Four more to go.

Saturday was a BUSY day. Travis taped off the lighter pink diamonds. Then we painted them. while those dried, I had begun painting the darker brown stripes around the bottom while Travis and Rachael tackled the green walls.

Then we taped off and painted the GREEN diamonds.

Check out the brilliance! The lines were so clean. Travis did an AMAZING job on the math for this wall! I can't even say it enough.
Lastly, the lighter brown stripes got painted.
Where that white strip is, we are putting up a chair rail. So while the room isn't quite complete, the painting is done :)

I re-painted Riley's name letters with the light pink. I love it!

Travis admiring all our hard work.

So we will hopefully be getting up the chair rail by the end of the week and I will be out shopping for new bedding to match. Right now, it's still a work in progress but so close to being complete. YAY!!

The kitchen Santa brought

2010-01-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry I didn't post these pictures with my December post. But this is what the girls got from Santa. It has been a hit so far.
Chef Izzy in her apron

And here are some more examples of how cooperative the girls are for photos lately... BLAH!

Fakers....I can't get genuine smiles from these girls....

December is over...

2010-01-04T09:33:00.000-08:00

and I am glad because it was B-U-S-Y! Maybe now I will be able to breathe. But probably not. Oh well. At any rate, it was crazy and packed full of fun and THAT is why, once again, I am BEHIND in posting. This is going to be one mammoth post. So I am sorry, bear with me, etc.

December started off really great because I updated this darn blog and got all caught up. But then I fell to pieces trying to get things done for the holidays. Go figure. I think we will skip Christmas next year. Just call me the Grinch but it took a lot out of me. Thankfully by the time it actually rolled around I was pretty happy. The girls got overly spoiled and so did Travis and I, really.

I was just going through my pictures of the month of December and I am not joking when I say I wrote down 105 that I liked enough to maybe post. Now....that's just the ones that turned out decent. I probably took triple that. And I wasn't in a single one. Typical. I obviously don't want to sit here and upload that many, so I will try my best to narrow that number down...A LOT.

So....where to begin...

Isabelle turned TWO on December 10th. Yes, I am a little sad. But she is so fun right now that I don't mind that much. But we really don't have a BABY any more at all. She speaks in full sentences and is SO, so smart. She is strong and rambunctious and so funny. She hops and runs everywhere and has some nice muscular legs to show for it. She seems more coordinated than Riley...who is a little more clumsy and seems to be in her own world a little more than her little sister. They are two very different personalities that clash on occasion but they are the best of friends. They are quick to tell on each other when the other is being "naughty" and thankfully, quick to forgive.

Isabelle opening gifts. She was a little slow, but it was great practice for Christmas morning. Which went a lot faster! She got some pots and pans...which was a preview to what Santa brought the girls for Christmas. A gorgeous kitchen to share. Photos to come of that later.

Opening Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's gift to her. A very cool laptop that Santa considered bringing...but good thing he didn't!
Big girl. No baby any more :(
She is naked because she had a blow out diaper DURING her party. I know, she is two, we thought blow outs were a thing of the past, too. Apparently you are never too old for a blow out (if you are still in diapers, that is). Hopefully potty training will be happening soon. Less than 6 months is my hope. Immediately is my dream.

Isabelle trying on some of her fairy dress up stuff.

Also in December the girls wore these new, beautiful dresses that Grandpa Gary bought. Aren't they gorgeous? (The dresses, not the girls...the girls were NOT cooperating on this morning!) Silly girls. We couldn't get just a normal, stand together and smile photo.
Isabelle being uncooperative, she turned to run as I was taking a picture!

In December...my massage room FINALLY got painted. And while it still isn't fully decorated, this was a huge improvement. WHITE walls are NOT relaxing! So finally one morning Travis just started taping it off (perhaps because we had just begun reading "The Five Love Languages" together?). I had only been asking him to paint it for...3 months, maybe 4? ha ha. And I even gave him the freedom to go choose the paint color without me knowing what it was. I put my full trust in him and he did not disappoint. So the room is still a work in progress like the rest of our house and my life, but it looks MUCH better already! I LOVE the green walls!
Also, the red curtains have got to go...I know! But I need to have something over the window for now and I have had those for years, so that is what works for now.

Before shot. Here is part of the room taped off and all the furniture pushed to the middle of the room. It was such a mess!

Riley's preschool went to a nursing home for their December field trip and sang some songs for the people who were there. It was sort of cute. I mean, what can you expect from 2-5 year olds? But it was a photo-op, nonetheless.

After the program, Izzy and I hung out at school for a little while.

Riley is smallish, but her friend Tierney is TINY!

On December 18th Travis had surgery to get the hardware in his wrist removed that had been put in 5 years ago when he broke it playing indoor soccer. We had to be at the hospital at 5:45 am. They didn't even take him back to surgery until after 7. Surgery was expected to last 45 minutes to an hour. An hour and a half later, a nurse found me in the waiting room and told me the doctor had just called from the OR to give me an update. Travis was fine but they were having trouble removing one of the screws. Apparently it wouldn't budge. So it would be a little while longer. Just after two hours had passed, the doctor came out and told me that surgery went well but I was going to have to wait at least an hour while Travis was in recovery. They ended up just breaking off that difficult screw down in the bone where is shouldn't cause problems because it is so stuck there it won't budge. Travis was hilarious in recovery from coming out of anesthesia. He couldn't keep his eyes open and I wish I had counted how many times he told me how tired he was. I estimate it was roughly 30 times. Seriously. He was going to have to keep his arm totally wrapped and not use it for two whole weeks. We called the doctor's office ten days later to get in and have it unwrapped and stitches removed. He was feeling so great and has had a good recovery. Before the nurse unwrapped it and removed his stitches
After the stitches came out
X-rays. There are still some things in there, obviously. He hasn't had any problem with ulnar side where that long screw is. So they left that one in there. But they did remove two plates and 7 or 8 screws from his radius. You can see where the radius meets the carpal bones that little spec-that is the screw they broke off below the bone.
Also, its a little hard to see but if you look closely, you can see lots of little "holes" in the bone...that's where screws used to be. So hopefully in a months time those fill up and this bone is nice and strong. He is also working on his range of motion and I will be massaging to help his recovery. We don't want physical therapy to be suggested when he sees the doctor the first week of February.
Also, notice the date...stitches came out on my birthday, so happy birthday to me. ha ha

For Christmas (23rd-28th) we went to Coeur d'Alene to be with Trav's family. It was a fabulous trip for several reasons...first off, there has been hardly any snow this year. Which meant clear roads and mountain passes. We bought tire chains that we didn't even need going there OR coming home. That was my Christmas miracle. And I thank my Heavenly Father for it. I dread that drive in winter. Or rather I dread the ride, while my husband drives, but either way, I am usually SO anxious and this year there was no need to be! I also got to work (aka give a few massages) while I was there and made a few extra dollars (which helps with gas...or paying off student loans, whatever). Christmas was so wonderful. John and Barb had all five of their kids home which made for a house full. There were 15 of us in one house for a few days. After Christmas morning ended Travis and I decided to check into a hotel and have our own space to sleep at night. It was nice because I like to have my own space to get away to if I need it. Can't help it, that's just how I am! It was Travis's suggestion and I thought it was considerate of him. Christmas miracle #2. ha ha

I have so many pictures of Christmas eve and Christmas morning I don't know what to post and what to leave out. But here's my attempt. And they are all out of order. Hailee and Riley. Riley is into making the cheesiest faces for pictures right now.
Our sweet Isabelle.
Camryn. This is the best solo shot of her I could get.

Cousins. All 4 girls. Only Anderson cousin missing is 7-week old Jack. Who the girls all adore. And so do I!
It proved incredibly difficult to get any GREAT photos of all 4 at once. So I took about 30. And still wasn't all that pleased with the results :P
Grandma Barb bought these matching pj's and hats. So cute! Oldest to youngest Hailee (5), Riley (3 1/2), Isabelle (2), Camryn (1 1/2)

Grandpa with Jack on Christmas morning. I didn't really get pictures of Jack, I took more videos of him. He is so, so sweet!
Christmas eve with Santa!
Santa reading The Night Before Christmas
Isabelle was a cow in the family nativity. It was hilarious because she followed that dog around ALL NIGHT. And the dog just kept trying to get away from her and she just kept following him. The dog was a good sport and so patient with her though!
Riley was a sheep in the nativity

Mmmm Izzy kisses are the best. :)

Riley coloring with Uncle Dan after Christmas dinner

The chaos that was Christmas morning. I know two people who will kill me for posting this picture. Sorry.

Hailee turned FIVE on Christmas. Happy Birthday!!
Our girls LOVE their Uncle Johnny :)
Finally, December ended with us being home for my birthday. And I have discovered, Thanks to Travis, a delightful cake store in Sandy that is called NOTHING BUNDT CAKES. And I am addicted. So in a snow storm, we trekked up to Sandy for dinner and to pick up my Lemon bundt cake with cream cheese frosting. Pretty sure it was worth it. At least I think I am. The scale disagrees. That sort of sums up December. And that is the very short, very edited version. It was so, so busy. I know I said that already but it was and I am glad it is over. Happy 2010.

Playing catch up part two. November.

2009-12-03T12:37:00.000-08:00

Look! I am posting AGAIN this week. Wow, I am really motivated to get caught up. And then keep up. Although I am sure I have said that at least a hundred times before.

November came and went before I could blink three times. No Joke. I don't even know where it went. I already posted about the most exciting November event for our family. The birth of our nephew Jack. November 2nd Darcy and Adam had their baby boy and he is the first boy grandchild on Trav's side of the family. The girls love him and love to look at his pictures.

So we went to Rexburg the weekend following Jack's birth to meet Jack. Grandpa John and Grandma Barb were there. We also got to meet Skyler's girlfriend and Randee and Richard came up from Utah, too. We were just missing John and Dana's family. It was fun to have mostly everyone together. And I am sure Christmas will be a blast.

THEN on November 13th we headed down to Albuquerque to visit my dad and crew down there. My younger sister Maria lives there, so we got to see her, too. YAY!!
The girls had a BLAST with Rachel's daughters, Taryn and April and it was so nice to have people around to entertain the girls! Wish we had Taryn and April around more. Dad let me have his ticket to the BYU vs UNM football game so Travis and I went to the game on Saturday and it was a terrible game. I mean...I suppose a win is a win. But that game should never have been close. The New Mexico fans sure loved it though. They said it was the best game for them all season. (OBVIOUSLY). We visited an aquarium while there and ate out a few times. Rachel made breakfast a couple times and it was just a nice break away from home. Dad and Rachel have a gorgeous home and it was fun to be able to visit. Also, Riley fell down their stairs and scraped her nose pretty good. It has since healed fine. I can barely see the scar. Riley and April
Riley and Taryn
Riley with Aunt Ria
Look how lame. Hardly any people in the stands at UNM. Crazy. But it WAS pretty cold there, I mean, not too cold to us, but cold for what they are used to in Albuquerque.
Girls at the aquarium. Much too busy to look for a picture.Riley's nose.
These two pictures were taken of Riley's nose just shortly after she fell down the steps. Not so bad in pictures. But it looked worse to me. And the scab she had on it a few days later was pretty big. But since she picked it off a few days later, it looks great.

Izzy with Aunt Ria

The night before we left to come home from New Mexico I got a message on my facebook account asking if I still wanted the tickets I had won to see a prescreening of New Moon. UM! I had entered this drawing weeks ago and never went back to the page to see who the winners were. Well...you can imagine my surprise! The movie was being release just two nights from when I got this message. And I won two tickets to the screening at 8pm 4 hours BEFORE it was being released. And I was ecstatic to say the least. What a treat! I hadn't been able to get midnight showing tickets so I just figured we would be seeing it whenever we could, sometime in the first few days it was out. Now I was getting to see it FREE and EARLY! So, on Thursday night, November 19th, Travis and I went to the New Moon prescreening and LOVED IT! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU ELE and KID to KID in American Fork/Lehi.

NEXT was Thanksgiving. Skyler had an entire week off of school at BYU-Idaho for fall break or something so he spent 10 days here in Utah. It was fun to have him here. He watched the girls a few times for us. We got to go to the BYU vs Air Force game in Provo. Thank you, Johnny for the ticket! So I got to go to two BYU football games in a row, one away and one at home and it was fun. Even despite the cold :)

Thanksgiving day was a success. The food was delish and it was our little family plus Skyler, Randee, and Richard.
That night Travis decided he was going to partake in the madness that is BLACK FRIDAY at BEST BUY. A week or two leading up to Black Friday, we found a steal of a deal on a desktop package and for several MONTHS now I have been wanting a desktop. We haven't had one for years as we have used laptops but those things won't last forever. And with me starting my massage practice, I needed something reliable to keep records on. (AND to blog, too....but mostly for business reasons, of course!)
So Travis left here shortly after 5pm on Thanksgiving day to set up a tent and camp out at Best Buy (which wasn't opening until 5am). I went over and hung out with him for about two hours in the middle of his time there. Too cold for me. But man, people are NUTS! There were about 20 tents lined up when i headed home after midnight. And Travis was about halfway back. At 4 am Best Buy employees started handing out tickets to people in line for their big ticket items. The ads had said each store would have a minimum of 6 of the deal we wanted. That made me nervous. What if he camped out all night and didn't even get it? Well, by the time they got to Travis in line, they had given out tickets for TEN of what we wanted. Thankfully our store here was well stocked. They had 18. Whew. So the waiting in line paid off and we now have a beautiful new computer. With a large monitor that I love! YAY! We also did a little more shopping on Black Friday. Including online at Toys R Us. It was the most we had ever participated in the craziness and it was rewarding to get great deals! Camping in the tent outside of Best Buy :)

Then we got out the Christmas stuff and put of the tree. And let the girls "help" decorate it. Sorry no pictures. Not that exciting. It looks the same as is did last year, you can check my archives from last December if you'd like.

Painted Riley's nails in November, too!

And then November was over.

And now here we are in December and things will not slow down. We have Isabelle's birthday on the 10th, Travis having a surgery on his wrist on the 18th, and then Christmas in Coeur d'Alene and my birthday at the end of the month. Is it 2010 yet?? I need a break! *Wishful thinking*

PS for those of you who miss the sleep pictures that used to be a frequent topic on here, I think it should be noted that in November, Isabelle fell asleep in one of the girls toys baskets :)

'Tis the season...

2009-12-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

to give thanks. I think it's stupid that there is a season for it. I know it's a good thing because it gets some people to think about it more than usual, but just for the record, I feel deeply grateful for many things ALL THE TIME.
I am constantly thinking of all the wonderful things I have to be grateful for or about.

BUT, in the spirit of the season, I wanted to make a list of some of the things I am thankful for

life and to be alive
a husband who I love and who is my best friend in the whole world
a husband who is able to provide for the basic needs of our family
his job
two healthy, smart, gorgeous daughters
our home
our health
to be a woman
to be a wife
to be a mom
to have had the opportunity to go to school and do something I love
a supportive family
parents and siblings
Trav's parents and siblings
good friends
all the THINGS I have that make life so nice and easy (I know they aren't important and won't matter once this life ends, but they do make it so nice!) Seriously, everything we own, I am thankful to have it: clothes, my bed, vacuum cleaner, kitchen aid mixer, you name it.
technology
the gospel of Jesus Christ
the atonement
temples and covenants
chocolate
baked goods
yummy food
education
to live in America
to live in Utah (never thought I would feel that way!)
weaknesses that allow for growth and learning opportunities
trials that make me stronger
my body, what amazing things a body is capable of
my van
good movies
funny shows
free time (though it is a rarity)
extended families
modern medicine
hospitals
every blessing in my life
inspirational women
other people's blogs that give me inspiration and strength and motivation to be better and do more
goals
service
open mindedness
love

I think that covers a lot of it, anyway. There are obviously so many individual things I could list. And it would go on and on. But overall, I am just grateful. For everything I have in my life.

So far behind I'm not sure where to begin!

2009-12-01T13:05:00.000-08:00

I know, I've been doing some serious slacking lately. The past several months have felt really busy. And I just kept telling myself to wait until school was done and things would slow down. Yeah right. I have come to realize that no matter what, life won't slow down. So now I am trying to figure out how to catch up and stay with it. There is always plenty going on to distract me from the things I need to do! I wouldn't even care to try to catch up if this blog weren't acting as my journal. But because I am a poor record keeper, I need to at least mention the goings-on of our lives.

So....this may be one MASSIVE catch up post in hopes that once I am finally caught up I will feel less overwhelmed and stay up to date better. Here's hoping, any way!

Riley has been loving preschool thus far. I have posted a time or two about it, I think but I never posted about the September or October field trips. In September we went to Hogle Zoo. Yes, we go there all the time but on that particular trip to the zoo it was our first time to see the new baby elephant. Who is so, so cute, by the way! And then in October we went to the Vineyard Garden Center in Orem because they have a corn maze and other fun stuff set up for fall. The girls both got mini pumpkins and had lots of fun seeing small farm animals.

October was graduation, which at least I DID post about. My mom flew out from Pennsylvania for a few days. We went to the zoo. Again. We love it every time. Even I do. Baby monkey. It was SO cute. Unfortunately the fence is what the camera was more focused on.

Trav's work. I am always making some sort of dumb face when he tries to photograph me.

And then of course, Travis became an Adobe employee and Omniture became "Omniture An Adobe Company".
And then there was Halloween. There was trunk-or-treat at preschool and Trick or treating at Omniture (An Adobe company)and the girls made out with tons of sugar. We still have some.
Izzy reused Riley's Minnie Mouse costume from last year. And Riley, after changing her mind SEVERAL times decided she wanted to be a WITCH.
Trav's birthday was in October. AND I made probably 10 batches of sugar cookies as well. Not just for his birthday, but through out the month. Because Travis requested them several times and because one week at preschool was Riley's snack week. Guess that's exaggerating a little. It was more like 7 batches. Still. I know I ate way too many cookies during the month.

And lastly, in keeping up with my picture taking, I took several dozen MORE pictures. I have thousands of pictures of my kids by now. And I don't know what I will ever do with all of them but I have trouble just keeping the good ones. Because even the ones that aren't that great still are funny or quirky in some way. At least I can see the good in things, I guess.

Riley's hair getting SO long!
This is NATURAL curl in Isabelle's hair. I love it. Travis and Randee. Not sure what else to say about this pic.
Riley decided her long hair may need a trim and took about 3-4 inches off a small section in the front. Thankfully I caught her before much damage was done. That was a close one!Ri was jumping here and the picture turned out so funny but so cute.
Whew. All that posting photos has me worn out. ;) So that's all for today. Coming soon: an update on what we did in November. At least I am almost caught up!

Sweet Baby Jack!

2009-11-07T14:56:00.000-08:00

Peek...
Passed out.

Jack is so, so cute!! I snapped about 30 pictures of him already. He already doesn't like his Aunt Jenna because of the camera attached to my face. I'm okay with that. My girls are sick of pictures, too!

Of course, newborns sleep all the time, and trying to get a picture of them with their eyes open is difficult. Haven't had much luck yet. But here are some photos. Babies are just as precious asleep as awake, anyway!

He has slept basically the entire time we have been around him. I have only heard him cry when getting his diaper changed. Otherwise, he is content and quiet as a mouse!! Such a good first baby! I remember having Riley and she was such an easy baby and that makes transitioning to parenthood so nice!
Eyes open! But mad at me for the flashing lights in his face!!

Aunt Randee
Riley and Izzy checking out their new cousin with Grandma Barb
Isabelle is totally smitten. She just wants to hold him and touch him. Don't worry, we were sanitizing hands like crazy and not letting her touch him too much!
But she couldn't resist giving him some cousin loves! Precious!!
Look at Izzy's goofy/cheesy happy face! So funny. AND...can I just say look how gorgeous Darcy looks!! She always looks great, but she is beaming and thrilled! And so is Adam, of course...he is so busy right now though!! So I haven't gotten any pictures of him with Jack.

Jack Oliver Pingel

2009-11-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

Darcy and Adam welcomed their baby boy this morning after an extremely long night of labor. But he is here and healthy!! And we got our first nephew and John and Barb got their first grandson. So exciting!

I think I am more excited than anyone. Seriously. Is there something wrong with me?! A BABY IS A BIG DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I just can't contain myself! We will get to meet him on Friday when we head up to Rexburg.

Anyway, I don't have pictures yet...but when I get some, they will get posted! Congrats, Pingels! You will be great parents! See you soon!

Today my husband is 28 years old!

2009-10-28T10:01:00.001-07:00

So I of course do not want to miss the opportunity to gush over him for a few minutes!

Happy Birthday, Travis!

I love you and love celebrating your birthdays with you. I love that you are mine. For eternity. I love how great of a Dad you are to Riley and Isabelle. They adore you and I love to watch them get excited about you coming home from work everyday. Although their excitement may lead you to believe they are more excited to see you that I am, that is not the case. Inside, when I hear that garage door open my heart is singing with joy and my stomach still has butterflies. I swear. I LOVE it when you come home far more than the girls. I just contain my excitement better ;)

I have loved the 5 years we have been together. They have been lots of fun. We have made lots of memories and been through a lot. I am just glad I can honestly say you are my best friend and that I really am so happy we belong to one another. HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY (if you can at work...)

I know it isn't Halloween quite yet, but in case you are wondering why our girls are all dressed up...Riley's preschool had trunk or treat today for the students and their siblings. And so...that is why they are dressed in costumes. Not because it is Trav's birthday!

Graduation has come and gone...

2009-10-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

and it's hard to believe!

Man, my last several months have been busy! Where did summer go?! I didn't do so well with posting...but now I have high hopes things are going to change. My evenings are more free. And so are my days since I don't have to be studying a lot. My housework is easier to get done. I said easier, not necessarily EASY. But I will take it :)
Friday, October 16th I had graduation so I thought I better post about that somewhat important accomplishment. It was a tough year. I feel like I sacrificed a lot. I missed out on many, many evenings at home with my husband. And my family sacrificed even more. And I am glad they still love me (most days).

BUT NOW I AM DONE!!!!!!!!!!!! Monday morning (the 19th) I went straight to the Department of Occupational and Professional Licensing to get my Utah License to practice massage and bodywork. Now I am just waiting for my application to go through. Shouldn't be more than a few days now...Or at the very most a week....

I set goals for myself at the beginning of the school year and was able to reach two of the three main goals. And the one I didn't meet wasn't that big of a deal. I was hoping to get the 100% attendance award, but then I realized some evenings, it was okay to miss class if I needed it, or if my family needed it. As long as it wasn't a habbit.

I DID, however get my High Five award (meaning I gave five 1 hour massages in 5 1/2 hours for ALL 21 weeks of my clinical internship).

AND I was the ONLY one in my evening class of 22 students to graduate with a 4.0. Which is quite an accomplishment!!! I worked hard for it, I really did. So I think it's okay for me to feel a little bit proud, right? I know pride can be a bad thing, but hey, I deserve to enjoy it for a little while!
Sarah, Me, Latissa. My bestest friends in my class. I have some really other great friends from school, too though. Just not pics from graduation day.

My diploma!
Family picture afterwards. The girls were sort of done. They had just sat through an hour and a half of what was probably a really boring ceremony to them. So...they weren't gonna cooperate long for a picture!
Me, receiving my diploma

I think I was being recognized for the High 5 Award here.