I don't even know where to begin!

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

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

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!!

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....