First Day of School!

There is nothing quite so exciting as the first day of school!

Our tradition is to take pictures by this school sign on the first and last day of school to see how much Rachel and Daniel have grown. I remember when Rachel was half that size in preschool! Now her head is almost touching the bottom part of the sign!

Here they are with new clothes, new shoes, new lunch boxes, new backpacks....all ready for a new year!

Being goofy!:)

Aren't they adorable?!

Daniel looking handsome as ever!

Rachel looking stylish and beautiful! I love this time of year! Especially because back to school means that Fall is coming very soon with cooler temperatures and falling leaves, etc! I know that Rachel will have a fabulous fifth grade year, and Daniel will love his third grade year. HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!!

Cub Scouts!

We have now entered the cub scouting world!!! Yea for Daniel! Doesn't he look great?!!!

Utah Trip - Part 5 - Misc.Pictures

This is the last post for our family trip to Utah. As you can tell, we had a lot of fun and took lots of pictures! Here are a few remaining pictures I wanted to blog; they are miscellaneous and random.
Here is some cabin fun with family! Aunt Marilyn, Rachel, Daniel and Mitchell. This was after Daniel's baptism when all of Sue's family congregated at the cabin for dinner and socializing together. Later that night, after everyone left, we got the cabin all to ourselves! We slept over and had a wonderful time enjoying the beauty of the mountains! We love it there!!!!

On Wednesday, July 29, we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Open House. We went with Brian's parents and some of his siblings. It was so beautiful!!! What an awesome experience to take our children through this holy and peaceful place, and be able to explain some of the special things in the temple.

After going through the temple, there was a big, beautiful "tent" set up for refreshments, gathering together, socializing and answering questions. This picture of Christ was absolutely breathtaking!

Here we all are leaving the temple to go to our cars. I don't know why, but I love these pictures taken from behind.

The day before we left to come back home, I took Rachel and Daniel to visit my maternal grandparents grave site. I used to visit this often when I lived in Salt Lake. It is a very beautiful and peaceful cemetary. I enjoyed sharing this with Rachel and Daniel.

I am so grateful for the wonderful trip we had, and all the family and friends we were able to reconnect with. We feel very blessed as a family to have two homes...our home in Utah where all our loved ones are and family and friends live, and our home in Clovis where our home is now, which we love so much, as well as all our friends who have become like family.

Utah Trip - Part 4 - Anderson Family Reunion!

On July 25, the Anderson family gathered together for our third annual family reunion. The first half of the day was spent at Sue's family cabin up Lamb's canyon. We all love it here! It is rustic and oh so beautiful! We met around 10:00 am and stayed until around 3 pm. We went on hikes, swung on the swing, had lunch, hiked around the lake, talked and played games.
Here is Megan, Rachel and Chiara sitting in the porch swing...the best seat in the house!
Daniel and Megan hiking together.

Ken and Hannah walking around the lake.

Brian and Hannah with the others in the background, enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery.

Adorable Hannah! Could you get any cuter than this?!!

After the cabin, we all met at Ken and Cheri's for dinner, games and fireworks. They had it very well planned, and everyone had a great time together.

Grandma, Grandpa, Natalie and Ramona enjoying dinner.

After dinner, we had some fun games, including this one...the marshmellow shooters. We had to blow the marshmellow to our fellow teammate and try and make it into the small cup. It was pretty funny!

Natalie and Michael trying to catch marshmellows.

Devin and Megan waiting their turn.

Rachel and Hannah giving it a try.

Now for the adults! This is when it got really funny! Tammy and Ramona getting serious!

Paul and Cody trying to catch their marshmellows. It was harder than it looked!

Brian showing me where to aim!

Dad and Brian waiting for the ammo....

Blow, blow, blow.....

Catch, Sue, Catch!!!

Mom was quite the good marshmellow blower!

Devin looking cool as always!

Cheri thinking about the many reasons she decided to plan this game in the first place!

Ken looks like he is about to take a serious aim at Cheri!

After the fun and games, we all went to the front yard to enjoy fireworks together. It started out with sparklers for the kids, and then got bigger as the night progressed. It was quite a good show!

Devin joined the girls in tag, and grabbed Rachel over the shoulder and did a spin with her, much to her delight!

Here is some of the last fireworks done before ending the night. It looked better in real life....I'm not quite sure how to capture fireworks on camera yet! All in all, this was a very fun reunion, thanks mostly to Ken and Cheri! They planned a lot of great events for us all to enjoy. Mostly it was just wonderful being together, bonding, laughing and playing together. We love being with family and strengthening the ties that bind us all together!

Utah Trip - Part 3 - Daniel's Baptism!

This was the highlight of our trip....Daniel's baptism on July 24 - Pioneer Day! We asked Daniel if he wanted to be baptized in Fresno with all his friends and teachers, or in Utah with all his family. He thought about it quite seriously and decided that he wanted to be surrounded by his family for his baptism. And surrounded he was....there were 72 family members that attended!!!! What an awesome experience for us to feel such great support and love from our family!
Here is Daniel and Dad (Brian) right before his baptism.

Daniel looking excited and proud to be following Jesus' example.

Here we are...what proud parents! A little tidbit of information...Daniel was baptized in the same church/font that I (Sue) was!

Daniel and Mom (Sue). When I saw Daniel in his white baptism clothes, I got quite emotional. Eight years flashed before my eyes, and I couldn't believe how fast the time had flown!

Here is Uncle Steve (Sue's brother) conducting the baptism. He is the ward missionary in his ward, and was perfect for the job! Thanks Steve!

Aunt Kimi (Sue's sister-in-law) conducting the music. Thanks Kimi!!!

Uncle Bob (Sue's brother) playing the piano. No one plays the piano like Bob! He can turn a "normal" hymn into a work of art! Thanks Bob!!!

Here we are after Daniel's baptism singing a musical number, "I like to look for Rainbows." It was fun to sing as a family!

Daniel had asked both of his grandpas to give the prayers; Grandma Anderson gave a talk about baptism, and Grandma Farley gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. The entire program was just family. It was so awesome! Bishop Jardine, who is my parents bishop set the whole thing up and presided at the baptism. We are also very grateful to him for all he did for us!

Grandpa Farley hugging Daniel.

Daniel and Uncle Reed.

Uncle Ken and Aunt Cheri (Brian's brother and wife) enjoying cookies after the baptism.

More family enjoying each other after the baptism.

Daniel with Grandma and Grandpa Farley.

Here are lots of the family and friends who came to support us! I wasn't a fast enough picture taker to get a group picture of everyone before people started leaving, but it was amazing to count 72 people who came!

Daniel with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson.

Here is our family after this wonderful occasion in Daniel's life. We are all so proud of Daniel and this important step in his life. He is very aware of what he did on this day, and we know he will always remember how many people love him and support him! Congratulations Daniel!!! We love you so much!!!