The Anderson's POL (Pad of Love)

Zoo Fun!

2011-04-21T16:43:00.001-07:00

So, I have been neglecting this lovely blog of mine. I was considering posting all the past pictures to get me caught up, but that seemed too overwhelming. So I decided to just move forward! We are on Spring Break, and we stayed at home this year. Today we went to the zoo! We haven't been to the Chaffee Zoo in years! The last zoo we went to was the San Diego Zoo two years ago. It was about time to hang with the animals!

Cute Rachel hanging with the Orangetan.

Daniel and Rachel taking a break....it was a gorgeous day...perfect temperatures....around 72 degrees!

We all loved this kangaroo who seemed to be posing for the camera!

Here we are actually feeding the giraffes! We love those long-necked creatures!

Daniel seeing how he measures up...

Pretty tall Rachel!

This is mama orangetan holding her baby! She had twins about 1 1/2 months ago! She was so precious holding her baby and loving it!

I love this picture! Mama cuddling her baby.

Isn't this precious???

I love elephants!!! What a fun day! We totally enjoyed ourselves and took whatever time we wanted with each animal. We must go back again before the heat sets in!

Fall Goodness!

2010-11-14T17:21:00.001-08:00

We went to the Pumpkin Patch before Halloween to pick out some pumpkins, and basically to bask in all those fall colors and decor! MY FAVORITE!

Rachel was a beautiful Cleopatra for Halloween!

Doesn't she just look Egytian???

Daniel was a Transformer....BumbleBee to be exact!

Halloween silliness!!!

Mr. Tough Guy!

Some Random Rachel Beauty

2010-11-14T17:09:00.001-08:00

Maybe I'm just the mom....but I think my girl is gorgeous!!!

I love you Rachel!!! Don't ever forget how beautiful you are....inside and outside!

Daniel's Favorite New Job

2010-11-14T17:02:00.001-08:00

I can't believe that my son is actually old enough to mow the lawn!!! Yikes! We never would have discovered this if Brian hadn't sprained his ankle one saturday in the middle of mowing. Daniel jumped right in and said he could do it. Well....here he is.....

How do you think he likes it??? That is a real smile! He loves it and begs his dad every saturday if he can mow the lawn! I know he will eventually moan and groan about this "chore", but for now, we are enjoying his excitement. It makes him feel big and responsible. GREAT JOB, Daniel! Love you! :)

Volleyball!

2010-11-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

Rachel just finished her volleyball season, and she did really great! She has a powerful serve and is getting more confident in bumping as well. She loves this sport, and worked really hard to improve her skills.

Rachel and her friend Alyson at the high school event.

I love her intense look of concentration!

There goes her serve!!!

Happy on and off the court!

Great job this year Rachel! We are so proud of you and all you did this year in volleyball! YOU ROCK!!!

Rain Gutter Regatta

2010-11-14T16:25:00.000-08:00

Daniel had a fun Cub Scout event this past summer....the Rain Gutter Regatta! The boys had to build a boat and race it against other cubs. It was pretty fun!
Daniel getting ready for his race...

BLOW....Daniel...BLOW!!!

A close-up of his fancy boat.

Daniel's boat did really well, and his hot air that he blew on it made it really fast! (Was it the boat or the hot air????) Either way, it was a fun event for all! :)

Random Stuff!

2010-11-14T16:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I haven't blogged for quite awhile, so I am posting a bunch of random stuff that has been going on for the past few months. Lots of pictures to follow....

This is a cute picture of Rachel and Daniel at our family cabin in Utah. This was taken during the summer when we were visiting there.

Here is Rachel on the first day of school. This is her sixth grade year, and she was so excited to begin her last year of elementary school!

All big and bad.....first day of school confidence!

Daniel on the first day of fourth grade! He was also excited to start this school year!

Rachel by the sign on the first day of school. It is our tradition in our family to take a picture in this same spot on the first and last days of school to see how much they have grown!

Daniel at the sign!

I love this picture of Rachel trying to dance with Daisy! Adorable!

Rachel at the grape harvest! Hot and dirty, but such a great service to participate in!

This is an apron I made at our Relief Society craft day. I was really proud of how it turned out...seeing that I am NOT a seamstress! I had some great friends who helped me every stitch of the way! (Literally!)

Cub Scouts!

2010-08-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

Daniel has been working really hard in Cub Scouts this past year, and earned his Wolf rank!

Here he is with Cub Master Rusty Moon who is explaining all the awards Daniel has received!

Here I am putting on his Bear neckerchief! He is now officially a Bear!!! Congratulations Daniel! We are so proud of you! Keep it up!

Daniel's 9th Birthday!

2010-08-22T18:44:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Daniel! July 20......I can't believe you are nine years old! The day started off with balloons in your room to begin the celebration early!

Love balloons!

Excited to open presents!

Finally.....the long-awaited pocketknife!!!

The cake!

Blow....Blow....Blow!!!!

Happy Birthday dear Daniel! We love you so much and hope your ninth year is your best yet!

Yosemite/Visit from the Johnson's!

2010-08-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

The day we came home from camping, Brian's sister Tammy and her family came to visit us from Utah. We rarely get company, so it was very exciting to have family come to visit! We took them to Yosemite to enjoy the beauty of that place and the gorgeous waterfalls!

Here is Tammy, Devin, Cody, Chiara and Tyson by the redwood trees!

Chiara, Tammy, Devin, Tyson and Cody at the beautiful lookout for Yosemite.

Rachel by a waterfall.

Chiara, Daniel, Rachel, Devin, Tyson, Cody and Brian posing by a giant redwood tree after lunch.

Postcard scene.....yes I took this picture! Gorgeous!

Daniel and Rachel inserted into the postcard! :)

Tammy and Devin!

Here we are! I love this spot!

Daniel acting cool!

Here we all are: Daniel, Devin, Tammy, Cody, Tyson, Brian, Chiara and Rachel. Love this picture! We had such a great time with the Johnson's! Hope they come back to visit real soon! We love you guys!

Family Camp 2010

2010-08-22T17:15:00.001-07:00

This summer, our camping trip was to Family Camp at Shaver Lake. We went with a bunch of other families, and it was for five days over the 4th of July. We had such a great time with such great people! Here are some pictures from our adventure!

Tent sweet tent!

Rachel and Daniel swimming in the lake.

Rachel getting pulled behind the boat...Fun!

I think she had fun!

Lot's of time to relax and read...

Brian and Rachel being pulled by the boat.

Daniel trying his hand at fishing.

Bathing beauties....Megan, Madi and Rachel

Evenings were spend around the campfire with all sorts of activities such as singing, talent show, skits, etc. It was so fun!

Daniel and Logan enjoying the fire.

Daniel playing in the sand.

Here is the "spread" of shade structures all along the beach. We had such a great group of friends!

Brian on the floating trampoline.

Brian and Rachel getting ready to swim across the lake.

Daniel with his glow hat....waiting for fireworks.

Cute Rachel and her hat.

Activities at the campground....lots of games, chatting, reading and relaxing.

Sunday morning feast! We all pitched in and had enough food for an army!

The anxious "army" in line for Sunday morning breakfast!

Sunday manicures! At least our nails looked pretty and clean!

Water fight! Very fun!

All in all, we had such a great time with so many friends! The mountains were so beautiful and we enjoyed every moment shared together! Thanks to all who went and participated and invited us to join in!

Happy 15 year Anniversary!

2010-08-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

Brian and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary in June, and we took a two-day trip to the coast. It was so beautiful! I never tire of seeing the ocean and standing on the beach and feeling the wind and smelling the salt air. We went to San Simeon beach, and it was quite windy and chilly the first day, but we loved it anyway!

We saw a little sea otter on the beach right where we were walking. He got nervous and jumped in the water and caught a wave out to sea!

Apple Farm! Our favorite place to go! We ate lunch at the restaurant there and shopped at the gift shops and walked around. We loved it! Happy anniversary to my love! 15 years of marriage have been bliss when you are married to your best friend!

Backyard Do-Over - Beginning To End!

2010-06-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

For the past year, we have been doing a complete renovation of our backyard. This is the post that gives you an idea from start to finish what we did and how it looked and now looks. Our yard was a lovely yard, with trees, bushes, a dry creek bed running throughout with lots of rocks (the big rocks cemented in), and a very small manicured lawn that took less than five minutes to mow. It was very picturesque, but not a kid-friendly yard. It also required a lot of maintenance!

These first few pictures are from a few years ago to give you an idea of what it used to look like. (You can notice the cute kids as well...:)

Here are two of the three Liquid Amber trees that were in our yard; great shade trees, but very messy because they dropped "pokey balls" everywhere! Also, the root system was very dense and spread throughout the yard, damaging our porch and coming up through the grass.

Here is a small portion of the rock creek bed that ran all around the yard.

The other tree, and more rock....

More rock and bushes throughout...

Brian took a sledge hammer to the entire creek bed, breaking it up. Then over the next few months, we carried the rock over to the far side of the yard. When we were ready to get rid of it, we invited the Fletcher's and all their big boys to come and help us load up. Then men formed an assembly line...

Here was Jason Clarke with his truck where they tossed the rock.

Conner, Brian and Mark handing off rocks.

Seven truck-loads that day! It was very tiring for them loading up the truck, driving to the Fletcher's and then unloading all the rock! Doing that seven times made for a very long day! Even then, that did not get rid of all the rocks, just the biggest ones. It took quite a long time to get rid of all the small ones!

Next came the chopping down of the three trees. This was very nerve-racking for me because the trees were quite tall, and I was afraid of home damage, fence damage, and worst of all - body damage of Brian or Russ...our wonderful friend who helped get these trees down. Thank goodness for Russ, who had done this many times before and lent his expertise in helping us!

TIMBER!!!

All three trees came down without any problem at all! To me, it was a miracle and an answer to the many prayers I was praying the whole time they were working on them!

Here is Russ working on one of the trunks.

Here is the HUGE pile of debris that we had to haul out to the street. The kids were great helpers!

This picture actually skips quite a few steps. After getting the trees down, there was the stump removal with a stump grinder (that was a nightmare!), digging the roots throughout the yard, removing the old sprinkler system, getting rid of all the weeds that had taken over the entire yard, roto-tilling, and then leveling it. Most of that was done by Brian and an incredible friend, Brent Last, who spent many a Saturday working alongside Brian. This picture was taken after Brian and Brent planned out the new sprinkler system and mapped it out with spray paint.

Here are the supplies for our new sprinkler system.

Here is more of the mapping out of the sprinkler system.

Here are the trenches dug for the pipes.

Look at those beautiful control valves!

And look at those beautiful pipes!!!

Ok, so I again skipped a few steps...like checking the sprinklers, covering them up, leveling the yard again and laying down compost to help the grass grow. We decided to seed the lawn, and within two weeks we started seeing this beautiful green coming through the dirt!

Here is the grass at it's early stages...not much....but so exciting to see color out there instead of brown dirt!

Ok....drum role......here it is! After the first mowing! Isn't it gorgeous?

Another view...

I can't take enough pictures of this beautiful grass!

Here is the view from our sliding glass door...nothing but green! I can't say how much I love this yard! Nothing but grass and a small area for a garden! Now my children can run around without tripping over rocks! Now we can throw a tennis ball to our dog and she has room to chase it! Now we can spread our blanket out and have a picnic or read a good book together! Now we can run through the sprinklers without tripping. I LOVE THIS YARD!!!

To end this very long post, I can't say enough about how proud I am of Brian! He did this whole project over the span of about 1 year without any professional help! With the help of some very dear friends, we turned our yard around, a task that I thought was pretty near impossible. He gained lots of experience through this, and lots more muscles!

Now, I'm going to go run my bare feet through the grass.....

Sugar Pine Railroad

2010-06-27T20:32:00.001-07:00

The day after school got out, we went to ride the Sugar Pine Rail Road Train. It is located in a beautiful wooded/mountainous area around Oakhurst.

Here is Daniel waiting for the train to start.

Cute Rachel eagerly waiting...

Cute kids looking at the beautiful scenery.

Here is the front of the train. It is pretty old and runs on steam.

Rachel and Daniel posing in front of the train.

Here we are at the half way point. We all got out and wandered around the woods while the train engineers got the train ready for the return trip.

In front of the Ticket Office.

After the train ride, we hopped back in the car and drove to Bass Lake. It was such a beautiful day! It was so fun to be together relaxing, knowing that the stress of the school year was now behind us!

Chill'laxin'!

Rachel and Daniel sitting on the pier coolin' off in the water.

What a great day and fun way to start off our summer!!!

End of the School Year - Rachel

2010-06-27T20:05:00.000-07:00

Rachel had a great year this year as a fifth grader. She kept herself very busy with Choir and Orchestra. Rachel is a beautiful, talented, artistic girl. We are so proud of all her accomplishments!

This is a beautiful picture I snapped of Rachel one day.

Here she is at her end-of-the year concert playing her violin. She did a great job with her songs!

Her choir performance was so great! They did a collection of The Beatles songs, and it was so fun to see them all really getting into their songs. She is very expressive when she sings!

More of her singing with the choir.

Here she is at Blackbeard's going down the water slide. All of the choir, orchestra, band and percussion went there and we spent the day playing! It was so fun!

Rachel received a very special award at the Award's Assembly. We did not know she was getting this, and therefore we were not there. This award was for "Outstanding Fifth Grade Girl" in choir. She was the only girl given this plaque, and it is so beautiful! She was so excited! (If you can't tell by her face!) She loves to sing and really has a beautiful voice.

Here is Rachel's last-day-of-school picture taken by "the sign." I remember finding a picture recently of the last day of school her kindergarten year and she only came up about halfway to the bottom of the sign. She has grown so much! We are so proud of you, Rachel! YOU ROCK!

End of the School Year - Daniel

2010-06-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

Daniel had a great 3rd grade year. He worked really hard all year and really excelled in his school work. He ended the year with a 4.0 which he (and us) was so proud of!

Here he is with his Principal's Honor Roll (4.0) Award certificate.

Daniel and his teacher, Mr. Piccolo. He was a great teacher who really pushed Daniel to perform his very best in all areas!

Here is his last day of school pic....taken the same place as the first day of school. It is our tradition to take pictures at "the sign" so I can see how much they have grown during the year.

Daniel is excited for summer, but sad to have the year end. He loves school and loves his friends. Great job Daniel! We are so proud of you!

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

Here is some pictures of our annual Easter Egg Hunt. It is just Rachel and Daniel, but we had fun!

Happy Easter to all!

New Kitchen Floor!

2010-04-04T12:47:00.001-07:00

Finally! This is the year we got a new kitchen floor! I have been wanting to do this for a long time. I very much disliked my floor. To me, it never looked good. It was a linoleum flooring in individual tiles. Here is the old floor.

Not very pretty...

This is a close-up. See all the black around the seams? That is the glue that always would seep out and make the floor always look dirty. The only way to get it up was to scrub it with comet. It was awful!

Here is our new floor in progress. Laminate flooring....Harvest oak....LOVE IT!

Here is the finished product!

Another view of our beautiful floor! Isn't is gorgeous! I love it! Everytime I walk into our kitchen I smile now instead of groan.

Now on to the painting.....

Time to Brag about Rachel!

2010-03-14T18:07:00.000-07:00

This post is all about Rachel. She had a birthday recently...11 years old. WOW! I still can't believe she is 11 years old! Where has all this time gone? She is such a beautiful young lady who is growing up so fast! She has developed many talents, and continues to find many talents. She is a talented violinist, a budding pianist, a very good volleyball player, a drama queen, a great student, a loyal and fun friend and an all around good person. Here are a mixture of pictures from her birthday and some of the other activities she has been involved in recently.

Our family birthday tradition is to fill our children's room with balloons after they fall asleep the night before their birthday, so they wake up to an instant party in their room! Here is Rachel with her balloons on her birthday!

Some of her presents....a cute t-shirt with the "peace" sign....her favorite!

A movie from her brother Daniel.

Drum roll please............FINALLY!!!! Rachel finally got her American Girl doll. She has been waiting and saving (half) for a long time! She was so excited to finally get her!

Look at that happy face! (Both of them! :) Don't they look alike? Happy Birthday my sweet Rachel!

Rachel had a fun "girlie" birthday party with eight of her friends. This is a picture of all of them crammed into our bathroom putting on the "mask" on their face. It was pretty funny to see them all in there. That's what the shine is on their faces. When it dried, they peeled it off.

While their faces were drying, they painted each others' fingernails. Rachel picked out a bunch of colors to choose from. They took this very seriously!

Here she is about to open one of her presents. Her friends were very generous, and there was such a variety of gifts!

Rachel and Alison.....her gift was a kit to make a memory stone. Very cool!

Rachel and Emma....Her gift was a kit to scrapbook a storybook. Very creative!

Rachel and Hannah....Club Penguin membership cards and a stuffed puffle! Fun!

Rachel and Madi....A movie gift card and some candy to eat at the movies! Yea!

Rachel and Abby....$$$$$!!! What 11 year old girl doesn't LOVE to spend money?!!!

Birthday cake time! Chocolate cake of course!!!

Here is the Oral Interpretation group from our school about to perform at the festival. The whole group memorizes a story together and perform it in unison with actions and expression. They did a great job!

Here is Rachel right after they performed.....the nervousness is replaced by relief!!

Here are some fun volleyball pictures. Rachel recently completed a six week training put on by the local high school. The girls were trained by the high school coach and the team. It was an excellent program of very intensive training.

They learned different serves, spikes and bumps, along with really working as a team and moving around the court.

Here is one of her spikes! She did a great job!

We are really proud of Rachel and all of her accomplishments! Way to go girl! We love you!

Braggin' on Daniel

2010-02-21T16:16:00.001-08:00

I haven't blogged for awhile, and I thought I should update since the kids have had so much going on in their lives! Daniel has just completed a six week basketball program through the local high school. He is a great player and loved learning more. Here are some great shots of him.

Daniel is also progressing in Cub Scouts. He is doing great! Here are some pictures of some of his scouting activities.

Here is the first time he did the flag ceremony. He carried the flag in for the pack meeting and posted it.

This is just a cute picture of my very handsome cub scout! :)

Here is another pack meeting where the boys were each given their indian name. Daniel's name is "Bright Arrow."

Here are the cubs sitting around the "fire" listening to Cub Master Moon. The Moon's do such a great job!!!

Bright Arrow!

OK....here is our first Pinewood Derby!!! January 30, 2010. This was very exciting! Daniel and Brian worked real hard on his car and he was very proud of it!

His car was #21 and was decorated with snakes and lightnening bolts.

Here is his first race. Daniel's car is on the right side of this picture. Cub Master Moon was the official race starter.

This picture is kind of blurry, but see the car on the right in the lead?..... That is Daniel's car!!!! He won every race in the Wolf Den except one! He had a great car that was very fast!

Here he is after all the races....very proud!

This is his certificate for participating in the Pinewood Derby. This was a great event and fun for all who were there!

Daniel got the Math Facts mastery award at the last awards ceremony at school. This is given to students in third grade who got 100% on a three minute timed test with 100 times tables problems. Great job!!!

Here is Daniel with his Principal's Honor Roll Award!!!!! He got a 4.0 this quarter!!! Congratulations Daniel!!! We are so proud of you!

Christmas Wrap-up!

2010-01-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas season with our family. It was just us here since all our extended family are in Utah. Christmas Eve was spent together having homemade waffles and wassil, reading the Christmas story in Luke 2, and Christmas PJ's!
Daniel sporting his polar bear pj's...so cozy and warm!

Rachel modeling Mickey Mouse pj's...looking stylish and comfy.

I love pictures of my children together!

Isn't this a great picture?!!! Racing around the corner to see what Santa brought! You can really see the excitement in their faces. It was magical and exciting!

Rachel with her ICarley calendar.

Daniel with his Laser guided remote control car.

Another remote control car from Uncle Ken and Aunt Cheri.

Rachel got a beautiful butterfly earring holder from Uncle Ken and Aunt Cheri, along with a whole bunch of earrings! She was soooo excited!

This was Daniel's face with everything he unwrapped!

Rachel got her camera that she has been wanting! She is quite the good photographer!

Peace! What a good message for Christmas and for the New year! We feel very blessed as a family, and love celebrating Christmas and remembering our Savior.

Christmas programs at school

2009-12-21T14:23:00.001-08:00

This last week was the school Christmas performances. It was a busy week for us! Rachel is involved in orchestra and choir. She plays the violin.

Here she is playing one of her songs.

This is a great picture! What a beautiful violinist! She played so beautifully, and she also had a solo....the only one of the night! It was perfect!

Here she is with the choir getting ready to sing. The choir did a great job singing the holiday songs!

The next night was Daniel's turn. He sang a bunch of songs with the entire third grade.

Looking good Daniel!

We are very proud of both Rachel and Daniel! It is fun to see their musical abilities improve and develop!

Beautiful Lights at Temple Square

2009-12-21T13:55:00.001-08:00

You can't visit Salt Lake City during the holidays without visiting Temple Square. It is the most beautiful place! So many lights and decorations...it takes your breath away!

Doesn't the temple look spectacular? (I'm quite proud that I actually took this picture!)

The reflecting pool

We love the lights on Temple Square! What a great way to start the holiday season!

Music and the Spoken Word

2009-12-21T13:36:00.000-08:00

We have always wanted to go to a live showing of the Mormon Tabernacle's Music and the Spoken Word, and what better time to do that than at Christmas! Temple Square is so beautiful this time of year!
Here is the choir after performing. It was so beautiful!

Lloyd Newell, the spokesman for the choir talking to us.

Here is the whole choir afterwards.

Here we are in the tabernacle. This was a great experience for all of us.

After the choir performance, we went over to the Visitor's Center to visit the beautiful Christus. What a perfect start to our Sunday!

Rachel's Pierced Ears!

2009-12-21T13:23:00.000-08:00

Rachel has wanted to get her ears pierced for awhile now, but was quite scared of the initial jolt. This held her back. But here we were, on vacation, in Utah, WITH AUNT MARILYN......she had to do it! The conditions were perfect! She knew that if she was with her mom and her crazy aunt, she could face anything!
Here she is, at Claire's before it all went down. She is looking quite confident.

It's getting closer....they are actually marking her ears. She is getting a bit more nervous.

Don't you love that face? She is quite nervous, but determined. Both ears were pierced at the same time.

Look at THAT face!!! I DID IT!!! What cute ears! She handled it like a pro! (Too bad mom almost fainted!) She loves her pierced ears and we were all proud of her for facing her fears! Good job Rachel! :)

More Utah Fun!

2009-12-21T12:54:00.000-08:00

So here are some fun snow pictures from our recent trip to Utah. The day after we got there, it snowed! Rachel and Daniel were sooooo determined to build a snowman. Well, if you've ever experienced Utah snow, it's more like powder!

Here we are trying to get some snowballs started. We were pretty persistent...

Look at him! He's coming together!

The nose....a carrot of course!

SUCCESS!!! Doesn't he look great! The kids affectionately named him Rudy!

Here is Rudy in all his glory! I think he is pretty cute! We had such a great time in the snow! This was Rachel and Daniel's first snowman! They loved it!

Thanksgiving! (Farley style)

2009-12-20T21:11:00.001-08:00

Here is Thanksgiving Farley style. After filling up with all the Anderson's, we headed to Bob and Kimi's home in Bountiful for the Farley's Thanksgiving. It started around 3:30. There were around 50 people there, and for those of you who don't know, we were missing quite a few! It was such a great time!

Here is one table, filled with lots of Farley's.

Here is one of the "cousin" tables.

Here is another table...there are people everywhere!

More crazies....especially you, Doug! Thanks for sharing!

Here is Jed and his Dad, Richard. (Richard is Sue's oldest brother....and the maker of all the pies!!!) Richard is an amazing dessert maker! He has mastered the art of baking! No one does it better! He had over 20 pies....10 different options. They were so good!

Here are the whip cream flippers! If you really want to know...just ask! It was so hilarious! Whip cream on the arm....flip it up....try to catch it in your mouth...you get the picture? Messy and very funny!

All in all, Thanksgiving was such a great day! We were surrounded by both sides of our amazing family, and we loved every minute of it! We are truly grateful for all our blessings!

Thanksgiving! (Anderson style)

2009-12-20T20:54:00.000-08:00

We were so blessed to be in Utah for Thanksgiving, surrounded by all our family. We had a very full day and was able to see both sides of our family. We started the day off with the Anderson's. The big meal was at noon, and we had everyone there - all 20 of us. I think this is the first time we have had everyone together for this holiday.

Cute Chiara, Rachel and Megan - cousins - anxiously awaiting the yummy food!

Brian's mother spending a quiet moment writing messages to all her posterity.

Here is the whole group! What a great looking family!

Here is Ken and Paul taking the "after the big meal" nap. It was very relaxing!

We feel so grateful to have been here for Thanksgiving! We love our family and loved sharing in the holiday with everyone!

Utah Trip - SNOW!!!

2009-12-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

We just returned from a two week trip to Utah to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family. The day after we arrived it snowed! This is the first snowstorm that Rachel and Daniel remember. They were so excited!!!

Here we are the next morning ready to play in the snow! It was so beautiful!

Rachel making her first ever snow angel!

Daniel's snow angel.

What a great way to start our vacation! That was the only snowstorm during the entire two weeks we were there. Rachel and Daniel really wanted to play in the snow, and they got their wish!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T15:27:00.001-08:00

Here is our fun Halloween pictures! We had a great time, both Friday night and Saturday. Friday was our ward party, and Brian and I actually dressed up....first time in our entire 14 years of marriage! It was pretty fun...for Halloween. (I am not a huge fan of this holiday!) Here is Rachel...the good witch! She looked so great! Everyone loved her costume! Click on the picture and check out her purple eyelashes!

Here is Daniel, the ninja! His costume had two swords and two knives in a cool pack on his back. He had some pretty good ninja moves as well!

Here is Brian as Dracula! I think he looks great (or awful...as dracula is pretty ugly!) Brian did his own makeup and hair...it doesn't even look like him! I guess that's what makes a great costume!

Here I am...the black widow witch. (I made that up!) It was a fun costume, and actually looked better at the beginning of the night. (This was taken at the end of the party.)

And we can't leave out Daisy! She made the cutest witch of all! Too bad she hated having that hat on! We all think she looks adorable!

All in all, it was a great Halloween! Lots of candy, friends, trick-or-treating, and more candy! Hope you all had as much fun as we did!

Volleyball...our new favorite sport!

2009-11-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

Volleyball season here in Clovis has just ended, and Rachel was on the Junior Varsity team at her school. We are so proud of her and how well she did! First of all, she didn't want to be involved in any sport. After encouraging her, she decided to try volleyball. She started the season not being able to serve the ball over at all, and ended the season's last game serving six over in a row! It has been amazing to see her progress in this sport and learn to love it!

Rachel and her best friend, Abby...cheering her on!
Coach Williams and Rachel at their last game. We love Coach Williams!!

Getting ready to serve the ball over. That was the hardest thing to learn for these girls. Usually the team who could serve over the best won the game.

Another game, another serve. I love to see her concentration!

Here is one of her mighty serves! This one actually made it over the net!

Waiting for an oncoming ball...she was pretty good at bumping over the balls!

Another attempt at serving. I think she has pretty good form! :)

Notice her look of concentration? It seems to always be with her lips pursed. I love it!

Coach Williams giving the team a pep talk! Go Mustangs!!! I am so proud of Rachel for giving volleyball a try, and for giving it her all! She was a great team player and really progressed throughout the season. We all wish the season lasted a bit longer! Good job Rachel!

Cub Scouts!

2009-11-02T14:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's been awhile since I have blogged, so I have some catching up to do. This is Daniel's first pack meeting. He received all his awards from Day Camp, he was given the "key to scouting", earned five belt loops, and earned his Bobcat!

Here he is with Cubmaster Rusty Moon....the best Cubmaster of all time!

Here we are receiving his Bobcat award! I am one proud mom!
Daniel and his Cubmaster, Rusty Moon! We are so grateful for all his leaders who put so much time into cub scouting! I know how busy that calling is! Congratulations Daniel! We are so proud of you! This is the first of many awards through your years of scouting!

First Day of School!

2009-08-27T17:47:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-08-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

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

Utah Trip - Part 5 - Misc.Pictures

2009-08-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-05T20:31:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-08-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

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!!!

Utah Trip - Part 2 - The McKnight's!!!

2009-08-04T11:27:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday, July 22, we headed up to Heber City to visit Candee and Jason McKnight! They lived in Fresno 6 1/2 years ago and we were best friends. We would get together all the time to play games and hang out. I was so sad when they moved to Washington. Last year when they moved to Utah, I was so excited because I knew we would finally be able to connect again! When they lived here, they had four boys....now they have six! They have a big, beautiful home with the most gorgeous mountain scenery for their front and back yards!
Here we are...Sue and Candee....notice our outfits? The color scheme was not planned!!!:)

They have a bunch of chickens roaming around their property, and Daniel became the expert chicken catcher. He loved running around chasing chickens! I think he was born for country livin'.

They also have a gorgeous horse that they were given! They have enough room on their property for this horse to get plenty of exercise. Daniel loved riding it!

Rachel also loved being on the horse!

Looking good, Brian!

Here we all are, right before dinner....making silly faces! Let's see if I can name everyone...Jason, Candee, Brian, Tyler, Rachel, Logan, Chad and Braydon. At the small table was Rikker, Daniel and CJ. The dinner was fabulous! We had homemade lettuce wraps that would give PF Changs a run for their money! For dessert, we had oreo balls! If you don't know what those are....don't ask! They are highly addictive and incredibly yummy!!!

After dinner, we proceeded to break out the Ma-Jong game and play until almost midnight....for old times sake! It was a blast!

Thanks Jason and Candee for hosting us in your beautiful home! We loved reconnecting with your family! The years apart seemed to disappear! We love you guys and can't wait for our next visit! (We have a new game we want to play with you....Dutch Blitz!!!!) Until next time....

This was one of the big highlights of our trip!

Utah Trip - Part 1 - Pinedale Reservoir

2009-08-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a fabulous vacation spent in Utah with all our family! We were there from July 18 - August 1. The first week was spent with my (Sue) family, and the second week was spent with Brian's family. On Tuesday, July 21, we spent the day with Sue's brother and family - Bob and Kimi Farley, Tanner, Christian, Madi, Collin and Andie. Bob brought his boat and two wave runners, and we had a fabulous day on the lake.
Here is Brian and Rachel heading out on the first wave run of the day. This was the first time Rachel had ever been on a wave runner. They had a great time until the engine died in the middle of the lake. They had to be towed by another boat back to shore. We were now down to one wave runner.
Here is Daniel and Andie being pulled by the boat. They had a great time!
Bob, Brian, Christian and Rachel looking for some excitement.... trying to see if they can get the stalled wave runner working again.

Lunch time!!! Everyone was hungry and made silly faces at me! The seagulls were out in force...they actually punched holes in our chip bags with their beaks!

The returning boat! Rachel loved riding in the boat, right in the very front.

Here is Daniel and Andie being pulled by the wave runner. Daniel said it was a bumpier ride than behind the boat!

Here is my handsome hubby relaxing on the shore! It was such a gorgeous day....not too hot, water just right, and company perfect!

Here is Brian on the knee board! I didn't know he could do this! He looked great and had a blast! Look at that form!

Here is Daniel being coached by Aunt Kimi on how to get on the knee board. He was pretty nervous and wasn't sure he wanted to do it. He is pretty brave, though, and he decided all on his own to give it a try.

What a pro!!!! Daniel got up on the knee board and did really well! He had a blast until he hit a wake and wiped out! He didn't like that part at all. We were so proud of him for his bravery! He told us (way later) that he would actually try it again! Go Daniel!

Rachel was our flag girl! Here she is at the front of the boat....her favorite spot!

Thanks Bob and Kimi for spending the day with us! We loved being with your family. It was the perfect day and one we will always remember!

Happy Birthday Daniel!!!

2009-08-02T16:59:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Daniel's 8th birthday in Utah with lots of family. Monday, July 20th started with balloons in his bedroom at Grandma Farley's home. We had a yummy breakfast and then opened presents. I thought all the Bakugan's and the new yoyo would be his favorites....
No....his new radio/alarm clock was the most exciting present he received! He got more excited over that than anything else! Go figure!
He also loved his new tie! I'm glad that he is so easy to please!:)
That evening, we headed over to Doug and Becky's for dinner. Bob and Kimi and Grandma and Grandpa Farley were also there. Becky and her son Caleb made Daniel's birthday cake.
Blowing out all eight candles!
Yum!!!
Later that week, we went to the Farley cabin for the Anderson Family Reunion. Part of the reunion was to celebrate Daniel's birthday! Yea!!! More presents!
Transformers!
Aunt Cheri's cupcakes! The best!!!

I can't believe that Daniel is 8! It was so fun to celebrate his birthday with family. There are so many wonderful things about Daniel, I could make a huge list! But here are my favorite eight:

1. Daniel is one funny kid! He has a great sense of humor and loves to make people laugh! He loves to be a goofball, and he is an optimist! He keeps us all laughing!

2. Daniel has the kindest heart! He is always concerned about anyone who is sad, and will do whatever he can to help make them feel better.

3. He is a hard worker and will always pitch in when it is time to work.

4. He is not afraid to bear his testimony. He has gone up in church quite a few times now, and has done it all on his own. It is quite touching to hear his sweet, sincere testimony!

5. He has the most gorgeous eyes of anyone!!!!!!!

6. He loves to read the scriptures, and is becoming quite the scriptorian! He knows how to look up things and is starting to mark his favorite verses.

7. He has an amazing memory! He remembers everything...down to the littlest detail! (He remembered the exact date of his dentist appointment six months ago!!!)

8. He is a very grateful person. He had 72 people come to his baptism in Salt Lake (mostly family), and he thanked them all for coming to his baptism. He always thanks me for "this wonderful and delicious meal," everytime he sits down at the table.

Daniel is a joy to be with most of the time! :)I am so lucky to be his mother! I love you Daniel!!!!! Thanks for bringing so much joy to my life!

Summer Arts Academy

2009-07-15T15:54:00.001-07:00

Rachel has just experienced three weeks of studying the Arts. The school district puts on a Summer Arts Academy which is a fabulous program! She chose photography as her area of focus. She was able to spend three weeks with a photography teacher, learning all about this area. She got to work in a dark room and on a computer with digital softward. The last day, we were invited to come and see her pictures and have her teach us all about the dark room and what she had learned.

The amazing thing about this program is that the students also got to rotate through all the other arts which included: ceramics, 2-D art, vocal, instrumental, drama and dance.
Here is Rachel with two of her pictures that she was displaying.

Rachel and her great photography teacher - Mr. Webb. He really inspired a love of photography in Rachel!

Here is Rachel performing her dance that she learned. She is a really good dancer!

Cute ending pose!

We are so glad that Rachel had this fabulous experience! She is a better person for attending!

Our Fun Fourth of July

2009-07-07T14:49:00.001-07:00

We had a great day on the fourth of July! We drove up to Shaver Lake to spend the day with friends who were camping up there. They had all sorts of water "toys" and the weather was perfect!

Brian and Sue trying out the Kayak for the first time. That was really FUN!

Brian relaxing on the boat. It felt so good!

Rachel, Brian and Daniel being pulled by the boat! It was so fun to watch them bounce around the water!

Here's Daniel, Emma and Rachel being pulled behind the boat.

Brian and Daniel Kayaking

Rachel and Emma trying out the kayak. They were pretty good at maneuvering themselves around the lake.

Daniel up on the water trampoline. It was usually filled up with kids, but at this moment, he had it all to himself!

Rachel skimming gracefully through the water.

We are so grateful to have such great friends here! Thanks to all the Ward's for sharing their Fourth of July with us! We loved it!!!

CAMPING!

2009-06-28T16:06:00.001-07:00

We had a fun camping trip to Family Camp last week. This was our first time to Family Camp, and we loved it! We stayed for three days, and we had perfect weather!

Our hike! This was Rachel and Daniel's "club" where they hung out. It was pretty cool!

Happy S'more face!

Another tired but happy S'more face!

We made friends with our camping "neighbors." They had lots of water toys. Maryann and Bonnie became good friends!

Daniel trying to maneuver the boat.

Rachel was happy to be in the boat and not the cold lake!

Looking at the tadpoles! They actually caught six!!!

Daniel made this tee-pee with Bonnie.

Rachel made her tee-pee with Maryann.

All around the campfire! Love it!!!!! There is nothing better than sitting by a campfire as the sun goes down and it gets cold. The heat from the fire and the crackling noises are just plain good for the soul!!!

Roasting weenies!!!! Yum! Hot dogs always taste better cooked over a campfire.

Happy camper!

Home Sweet Home!!! (Tent Sweet Tent!:)

Here we are! Dirty and smelly, but happy! Camping is the BEST!!!

Last Day of School!!!

2009-06-12T16:09:00.001-07:00

Do these kids look excited, or what? This is the end of the year, summer's here, throw the backpacks away, wear flip flops forever look! YEA!!!!! NO MORE HOMEWORK!!!!!! WE LOVE SUMMER!!!!!

Congratulations Rachel!!!

2009-06-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

We are so proud of Rachel for receiving her Block M Award at her school. This is a great accomplishment, and she has worked really hard to make this happen. She had to have accomplishments in three areas to get this award: Mind, body and spirit. The school has a special ceremony for the recipients. This year's theme was western, and she actually got to have her picture taken on a horse. There was a special film that showed each student on the horse with their own words on how to be the best you can be.
We are so proud of you, Rachel!!!

Daniel's Adoption Day!

2009-06-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

June 1, 2002 is a day that we will always remember! That is the day that Daniel came into our home and our hearts! It has now been seven years since that crazy time, and I can't believe how fast the time has flown. Here is a quick recap of Daniel's adoption. On May 31, 2002 (Brian's birthday:)) we got the phone call about a little ten month old boy whose mother was possibly placing for adoption. Our social worker was asking if we were interested. Of course we said yes. Later that night, our worker called again telling us that the birth mother wanted to meet us the next day in Sacramento! Ok...we weren't expecting that!! Our worker called us one more time around 9 pm telling us that if the meeting went well, we would be bringing the baby home. Now our heads were spinning! We could do nothing but dust off the baby car seat and go to bed. Saturday, June 1 dawned bright and early as we headed out to Sacramento. We had the priviledge of meeting Jeniffer and her sweet baby De'Shawn. Our first impression of him was that he was the biggest baby we had EVER seen! He was adorable, and looked like a miniture sumo wrestler. We met with them for about an hour and then Jeniffer, with tears streaming down her face hugged him and then handed him over to me. She then hugged us both and left. It was one of the most emotional experiences I have ever had! My heart was breaking for her! It took some time for this to all sink in, but what fun! We decided to change his name to Daniel and keep De'Shawn for his middle name. Just to let you know of his size, Daniel weighed in at 30 pounds at ten months!!! He had the sweetest disposition, and adjusted to our home and family rather quickly!

Daniel, you have been a blessing to us from that day! You keep us laughing with your silly antics and you are always the first to comfort one of us if we are hurt or sad! You have a heart of gold and we love you with all our hearts! We will forever be grateful to your sweet birth mother for sharing you with us! We love you!!! Happy Adoption Day!!!

Brian's birthday surprise!

2009-06-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was Brian's birthday, and I kidnapped him away to the coast! It was such a fun trip! We had Rachel, Daniel and Daisy staying with friends; I packed for all of us and had the van ready to go when Brian got off work. I wisked him away without him knowing anything! It was so fun! We stayed at San Simeon and walked the beach that night with a flashlight! That was so cool! There is something about the sound of waves crashing that is very calming to the soul. Saturday was spent exploring many different beaches, as well as driving to our favorite place ever....Apple Farm! We love it there! We loved spending this time together as a relaxing get-away! I love you, Brian! I hope your birthday was wonderful for you!

Happy Adoption Day, Rachel!!!

2009-05-28T20:55:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it was ten years ago today that I became a Mom! I will never forget seeing and holding Rachel for the first time and feeling the absolute joy that washed over me! That day is forever emblazoned on my memory as one of the most important days of my life.

Rachel, we hope you feel special today, on your day, as we remember, reminisce and look at pictures of you from that time! You were the most beautiful baby ever! We got attention wherever we went as people oowed and awed at you. You are still every bit as beautiful in every way, and we are so proud of the amazing girl you are!

Happy Adoption Day, sweet Rachel!!! We love you with all our hearts!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is a day that I will never take for granted! It is a day of many emotions for me, and at the end of the day, I find myself counting my blessings!

My first blessing I count is my dear angel mother. I was her ninth child born (out of ten), and I always grew up knowing that I was her favorite. (I still think that, even though I'm sure that my nine siblings think the same thing!) I can't say enough about her great example she has been and continues to be to me and so many others. She has unwavering faith in Jesus Christ, and is a very valiant woman. She is not afraid to share the gospel with anyone and everyone she meets at any time, whether she is shopping, traveling or exercising in the swimming pool. She is funny and warm and a very comfortable person to be with. I miss her so much and often wish we lived closer to "home" so I could bask in her love and friendship more often. I pray that I can be the woman she is.

My second blessing I count is my dear Mother-in-law. I have no doubt that she loves me and totally accepts me in our family. She is also very valiant and has an unwavering testimony of the Gospel. She raised her four children to be strong, hardworking, smart, loving, and totally dedicated to family and the gospel. I am the recipient of her dedication as a mother through my wonderful husband.

My third blessing that I count is my many childless years full of longing and heartache. You may wonder why I count this time in my life as a blessing. Well, during that time, I didn't see it as a blessing. It was too difficult. Every year on Mother's Day, I would cry many tears, often wanting this holiday to pass quickly. I prayed many prayers pleading for the great blessing of being a mother....wasn't that a righteous desire? I now see much growth in myself from that time of heartache. I also know how to help others who are feeling the same way. Isn't that exactly what trials are for? So we can learn how to succor others in their trials. I can finally say with certainty that this trial has been a blessing in my life. The longing and heartache will never go away, but I can now see the blessings associated with it.

My fourth blessings I count are my two beautiful children! I have two children that fill my heart with laughter, sunshine, curiosity, art, music, tears, work, giggling, tickling, stories, cuddling, hugging, kissing, cleaning up after, teaching and learning from. Rachel and Daniel are the joys of my life, and I will forever be grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with the two best children in the world! I love being a mother and learning from these two children who are so valiant and strong and talented. I loved sitting in church today with my children and my husband sitting close and snuggling together. I love being a mom!!!!

My fifth blessing I count today are the two precious birth mothers who gave the greatest sacrifice that can be given. Stephanie and Jeniffer gave us Rachel and Daniel in the most unselfish gift that I have ever received! These two mothers will forever be in my prayers of gratitude. I can never repay this gift in this life! The best I can do is to never take for granted the gift they gave me. I am trying to enjoy every day with my children. They are my most precious gifts and I thank these two women for sharing their lives with me.

I truly have many blessings! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!

The Best Part of May!!!

2009-05-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

STRAWBERRIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY JAM!!!!!!!!!!!! Need I say more?

TIMBER!!!!

2009-05-08T16:32:00.000-07:00

OK, so we chopped down three trees! What's the big deal? We are re-doing our backyard, and these trees HAD to go! They are Liquid Amber trees and they drop "pokies" all over the yard. Also, the roots are taking over the backyard and lifting up the patio. It was quite a scary process chopping down three very tall trees...(I was praying the whole time that no one would get hurt and there would be no damage to home or property. Thank goodness for our good friend and neighbor Russ for his expertise and help! Here are some pictures of the event.

Soon, even those lovely stumps will be gone!!! Then on to glorious grass!!!!!

Spring Break!!!! (Finally!)

2009-04-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally posting about our fabulous Spring Break trip! Last week, we packed up and drove to Southern California for a week of sun and fun. We left on Monday and drove to San Diego with a few stops along the way. We stopped at San Juan Capistrano Beach for some fun sand play. That was incredible for me because when I was a teenager, my parents rented a beach house right on that very beach three different summers. I haven't been back there for many years (I won't say how many because it makes me sound old!!!:) We walked down the beach until I found the right one. It was such a beautiful day, and the kids had lots of fun playing in the water and sand.
We then continued South until we came to the San Diego Temple. WOW! It is so beautiful! The grounds should have been closed because it was Monday, but there was a lone security guard there and he let us in. We were able to walk around and enjoy the beauty of that place for about half an hour. When we left, he locked up and it was closed.
Tuesday dawned bright and sunny (different than what the forecast called for!) We spent the day at Sea World! It was such an amazing day! We got to see the Dolphin Discovery show, The Shamu Show Believe, Pets Rule show, and at night we saw Shamu Rocks! It was awesome! We sat in the "soak zone" for each show, but we didn't get wet! Oh well. We also saw all the exhibits and went on all the rides.

For lunch, we had tickets for the Dine With Shamu meal which was amazing! We ate right around the whales pool, and they came right up to where we sat. We got to ask questions and talk to the trainers. The food was pretty good, too! All in all, our favorite part of the day was Shamu!!! We think he rocks!!!!

On Wednesday, we headed on over to the fabulous San Diego Zoo. We started the day off with the bus tour of the whole park. That gave us the scope of the place, and helped us figure out what places we wanted to see again. We got plenty of exercise walking around this gigantic zoo! We loved taking the tram that went over the park, and we loved seeing the baby cheetahs. By 3:00 we had seen just about everything and we were wiped out! We headed back to the hotel and rested up and then swam in the pool. It felt great!

On Thursday, we spent the day at the Wild Animal Park. That is an amazing place! We also took the guided bus tour and were able to see the animals in their natural habitat, without cages. My favorite were the huge lions that were very close, and the cheetahs. We felt like we were in Africa on a safari. We also saw two shows - Frequent Flyers which high-lighted some of the park's amazing birds, and Animal Encounters that showed a variety of different animals with their trainers. One of the highlights of our day was the Butterfly Jungle. This is a big enclosure filled with all kinds of beautiful butterflies - large and small - with every color! As you walked around they would land on you, coming and going quietly. It was amazing! We all got at least one butterfly on us, but Rachel got two that would not leave her - one on her hat, and one on her back. She walked around for quite awhile with these two. Finally one of the workers had to remove them for her so we could leave. We all loved it!

On Friday, we went back to Sea World and did all our favorites again! This time for Shamu's show, we sat in the soak zone where we knew we would get wet! This time we weren't disappointed! We got a really good splash! We also saw the Sea Lions show which was fun, and went on the Sea World Sky Tower. After doing some shopping and getting our souvenirs, we headed out of town around 3:00. We left for home and arrived around 10:30 at night. We were tired and happy to be home after a very full, exciting week!

We loved this vacation for many reasons! Of course, being together for an entire week without the stress and busyness of everyday life was great! But we were also reminded of the endless creations that we have been blessed with on this earth! Not only the numerous animals, but also flowers and plants throughout the parks that were varied and beautiful! We are so grateful to Heavenly Father for allowing us to experience so many of His creations in such a beautiful place! This was definitely a memorable trip!!!

Mini Vacation!

2009-04-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

Last week, we took a little trip up north. We spent three days in Fairfield, California for some appointments. We had a great time together! We stayed in a hotel with a "heated" pool (yea, right!) I was the only smart one in the bunch who decided to sit it out and stay warm!

We also visited the Jelly Belly Factory! That is a cool place! It is candy heaven! They have lots of other candy they make there...not just jelly beans. We loved the Volkswagen Bug with jelly beans all over it! We escaped with bags of candy!

We also had the great opportunity to stop over in Petaluma and see the hospital where Rachel was born. This really meant a lot to her, knowing that her birth mother was there at some point. She has strong feelings about connecting with her past, and this helped a little being able to see where she was born.

We also visited some very special people in our lives. Mark and Sharon Spaulding, who were Rachel's foster parents for the first three months of her life. These dear people took such good care of her as a baby, and we are so grateful for their love! The last time we saw them was when we adopted Rachel ten years ago. What an amazing experience it was to see these people again and remember that exciting time in our lives when we became parents. Rachel has always felt very strongly about them, even though she didn't know them. They made a special scrapbook for Rachel of her first three months of life, which we are so grateful for. Rachel has looked at that book numerous times throughout her life, and was so excited to be able to see these dear people again. We wouldn't have any pictures of Rachel as a newborn if not for them.

They took us out to dinner at a favorite pizza place, which we all enjoyed! It was like sitting with dear friends. We feel like we have known these people all of our lives!

This trip brought our family closer together in many ways, and we truly saw the Lord's hand in our family's life. There are so many people that come and go in our lives. Impressions are always made, whether good or bad, and I am so grateful for all the deep impressions left in my heart of so many wonderful friends who have always been there for me!

Breakfast in Bed (Almost!)

2009-03-15T15:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday morning, Brian and I slept in a little and the kids were already up. Instead of waking us up, they decided to start breakfast. Rachel got lots of muffin mixes for her birthday so she could do some baking, so she pulled out some blueberry muffin mix and proceeded to make some - all by herself! Then, she made scrambled eggs while Daniel got the fruit ready. He fixed a beautiful plate with kiwi and grapes. I was pretty amazed that my energetic 7 year old boy could create such a beautiful fruit tray! They also fixed hot chocolate for us. We decided to eat at the kitchen table, but Brian and I really didn't do anything to help. What great children! They were so happy to fix us breakfast, and I think they did a pretty darn good job! Thanks Rachel and Daniel!!!

Rachel's First Date!!!

2009-03-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, our elementary school had a Daddy-Daughter dance. It was a dress-up event, and Rachel was so excited to go with her dad. It was fun dressing her up and watching them go off to their "date". Afterwards, Brian and Rachel both said they had a great time dancing and being together. (I secretly wish I could have been there snapping pictures of them together!) I CAN wait for the real dating to begin!!!

Basketball!

2009-02-27T09:51:00.000-08:00

Daniel's new obsession is basketball. He plays it every day at school (except not so much with his cast on.) We also signed him up for Little T-Wolves at Clovis East. He was so fun to watch! He is a pretty good player! He makes a lot of baskets, it a great team player, and is very scrappy also! He fights for every ball and every position. He told me that he will not stop playing until he is a professional! Yipee! Here are some fun pictures of him playing.

Go Daniel!!!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

2009-02-22T16:31:00.000-08:00

Wow! Has it really been 10 years ago that my baby girl was born? As most moms will say, I remember it like it was yesterday. Rachel came to us through adoption after many tears, prayers, hopes and dreams. Tears for many childless years, prayers for a child to bless our home, hopes to be a mother in this life and dreams of what she would look like. I always knew my first child would be a girl, and my heart ached to be a mother and hold my child. The day I held Rachel in my arms for the first time, my heartache to be a mother was healed. The joy that coarsed through my very soul is hard to put into words.

Rachel, you have brought laughter, joy, happiness, sunshine, tears, drama, singing, dancing, love and beauty to our lives. I thank God every day for you and the blessing and priviledge I have to be your mother. I hope these ten years for you have been just as happy and blessed. I will forever be grateful to your dear birth mother for giving us the most precious gift she could offer. I pray that one day I will have the great opportunity to meet her and hug her and thank her for sharing you with us. I am grateful for the gospel and for our temple sealing that binds you to us for eternity! I love you Rachel with all my heart, and hope your birthday is happy and filled with joy. You will forever be my baby girl!

Happy Birthday Rachel!!!!

Broken Finger!

2009-02-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well, we have our first official broken bone! Daniel was running in his classroom on Friday and smacked his hand against the counter...hard enough to break! OUCH!!! To make a long story not quite so long, we saw the doctor and had it x-rayed Friday night. He wore a splint all weekend, and we found out on Saturday (on the way to T-Wolves basketball) that it was broken. Daniel actually played basketball with a broken finger! That is one dedicated player!

Yesterday, (Monday) we went to Orthopedics and the doctor decided that he needed to cast it. Well, Daniel choose blue, and thinks it is a pretty cool cast. Of course we all had to sign it. He took a black Sharpie to school and was excited for all his friends to sign it. I guess if you have to have a cast, you might as well make it fun! He has to have the cast on for one month. I think the fun will probably wear off soon!

Love you Daniel! I hope your finger heals quickly and you can start playing basketball again!

Snow Day!

2009-01-22T08:34:00.001-08:00

On Monday, we decided to head out of town and visit the snow! We drove up to Sequoia National Park to visit the beautiful Redwood trees and see General Grant. Wow! One sure feels small when standing next to such giants! Rachel and Daniel loved playing in the snow, and were old enough to appreciate the trees!

What a fun day spent together! What a beautiful world!

Cub Scouts Pack 33

2009-01-08T10:20:00.000-08:00

Last night was my last night as Den Leader for Pack 33. When I got home, I was quite sad for it to be over. I have been the Den Leader since July of 2008, so not very long, but long enough for each of those dear boys to wiggle their way into my heart. We have had quite a few fun, memorable times together and I am so proud of each boy and the progress they make each day of their lives. Probably one of my favorite things we did was in October when we wrote a pack story. The story of the dark lord Konsokowa! It was so fun to see the creative side come out. I was so proud of the way the boys rallied around a family in need at Christmas, with each boy bringing a beautifully decorated present for this family. So here's my last shout out to Jacob C., Jacob E., Trevor, Grant, Ethon, Nicholas, Logan, Brandon, Cordell, Matthew, Garon and Mason! Keep up all the great work you are doing and you will go far in life! Love you all!

The Holidays Are Over

2009-01-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is January already! Where did December go? It seems like I was just putting our tree up, and now it is down and put away. Our family had a great Christmas together and spent all our time with each other. We missed family very much, as we always do, but we have each other and our dear friends here. Here are some of our Christmas memories in pictures:

Looking at beautiful Christmas lights.

Christmas Pajamas!

The excitement of Christmas morning! We love Santa!

Opening Wii Fit! Yea!!!!!

Christmas morning casserole! This is our family tradition, and it is soooooo yummy!

Jingles!

2008-12-23T16:57:00.001-08:00

This is Jingles, our Magic Elf. He comes to us every year on December 1st. He lives at the North Pole and is assigned to our family from Santa. We have had him now for three years, and it is so exciting for us to have our very own Magic Elf! He flies around during the night and we have to find him every morning. He also has a card each day that teaches us all about the true meaning of Christmas. This is one of our families favorite traditions each year. WE LOVE JINGLES!!!

O Christmas Tree!

2008-12-23T16:41:00.000-08:00

I have a love/hate relationship with our Christmas tree. I love the finished product. This tree is big and full and it usually looks great when all is said and done. But it is a royal pain to put it up!!! I didn't know when we were buying it a few years back, that instead of putting it all up in sections, you have to put on each lovely little branch!

Here is Rachel, my awesome helper this year! She straightened out each branch for me, and then I shaped each branch and put it in it's place on the tree.

Here it is in it's early stages. It is amazing to me each year how long it takes to put this tree together!

Don't I look happy? I am almost done! It doesn't help being 4'11" tall, and this tree is 7' tall!!! The last few rows are really stretching it for me, but I somehow manage to get it.

Here is the finished product! I love our tree, and it adds so much beauty to our home each year! Someday I will have an easier tree to put together, and then I will look back on this tree and be grateful for the experience!

Funny Daisy!

2008-11-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

Today we came home from church and saw the evidence of our dog around the house. She had found a small garbage can and emptied it. Luckily it wasn't very full. Then we saw that she was chewing on something. She looked like she was sucking on a binkie! Hilarious!!! What do you think she is "chewing" on?

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-11-08T10:12:00.001-08:00

Here it is....my birthday! Where has the time flown? I feel so amazingly blessed in my life, so I thought I would list all the things I am thankful for, one for every year of my life. The only problem with that is that everyone will then know how YOUNG I am. Oh well! Here are the 41 things I am most grateful for:
1. Jesus Christ
2. My dear husband, Brian
3. Rachel, my darling, sweet daughter
4. Daniel, my handsome, funny son
5. Daisy, my dog
6. My wonderful parents
7. My four sisters
8. My five brothers
9. My dear parents-in-law
10. All my in-laws
11. My home
12. My friends
13. My good health
14. My testimony
15. The Book of Mormon
16. Our prophet
17. The sanctity of marriage that has been preserved
18. Good music
19. The opportunity to be a piano teacher
20. My husband's job
21. I am a homemaker!
22. I am a stay-at-home mom!
23. The hot summer temperatures are gone!
24. Autumn is here......my favorite time of year!!!!
25. I was raised in the gospel
26. 35 pounds less than I was last year!
27. Sunsets
28. My marriage in the Salt Lake Temple 13 years ago.
29. Temples
30. My heritage
31. Exercise
32. The scriptures
33. Family love
34. Prayer
35. Hugs from my children
36. Good books
37. Education
38. Being married to my best friend...Brian!
39. Being sealed to my family forever!
40. Chocolate :)
41. My life of 41 wonderful years!!!!!

Halloween Fun!

2008-11-06T13:58:00.000-08:00

Here it is almost one week late, but here are some cute pictures of our fun Halloween! (even though I hate Halloween, I consider it successful if my children look good!) What do you think? I think they looked pretty darn good!

Rachel was NOT Pocahontas...she was an Indian princess! Daniel was a Knight in shining armor. This was a fun Halloween!

Prop 8 Wave Party!!!

2008-10-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight our family joined many of our ward members in waving signs for Proposition 8. We stood on a busy street in Clovis for one hour cheering and waving to people to encourage them to vote. It was so much fun to be united with our friends in a common cause. It also restored our faith in humanity to hear so many people honking and cheering us on in support of what we were doing. It was a great experience! YES ON PROP 8!!!!

We ended the evening at In and Out Burger with quite a bit of our friends for a great dinner! What a great way to end the day!

Our Photo Shoot!

2008-10-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

Last week, a good friend was doing a portrait project for her photography class and asked if we could be the subjects. Since Rachel and Daniel are sooooo adorable and take such great pictures, I said sure! So here are some of the best ones. I love my children! They are such great blessings in my life!!! Thanks Jana for taking these great pictures! I love them!

Friends!

2008-10-23T20:07:00.001-07:00

I have always had good friends in my life. I consider this to be a great blessing! I remember my first best friend when I was just five - Cherie. We were neighbors, and we spent all our time together. Then she moved away in third grade. There was all my "Madrigal friends" in High School. That was a fantastic time! There was Becky, Allyson, Thayne, Brent, Reid, Dave, Taylor...my life was shaped by these people! After High school, there was sororiety at the University of Utah when Natalie came into my life! We were inseparable! Laurie was there as well as tons of friends! After I got married and moved to California I met Candee...we were so close and shared many "mothering" experiences together. Now there are so many friends in our wonderful ward, I hardly know where to begin!
But all through my life there has always been Chari. We met in eighth grade Mr. Willams english class, and we developed a friendship that is eternal! The whole reason for this post today is because of Chari! I found her again! We have not had any contact for NINE years! Yikes! That is almost a lifetime. After much searching, we connected again, and I called her on Sunday. We talked for hours; we laughed and laughed as the years erased away! I felt like she was just around the corner again and we were heading off on another crazy adventure! Chari became a part of my family, and spent more time at my home than hers. How fun to reconnect with her and hear all about her life as a mother. I miss you Chari and can't wait to talk to you again! Let's get together and do lunch sometime! Love you!!!

Skiing in Clovis!

2008-10-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

Sierra Summit came to our elementary school today, and Rachel got the chance to snowboard! She was excited, but a little nervous as well. She is in leadership at school, and that's how she got this opportunity. After getting fitted and given a board, they had a quick training session on the grass. Then they all lined up and waited their turn.

Here she is getting ready to ski down the hill. She was pretty nervous at this point, but we were all cheering her on. This hill felt like cold, wet, fake grass that was colored to look like snow.

Look at that smile! Good job Rachel! You gave it your best shot! Now you know (sort of) what it feels like to go snowboarding! Sure wish it felt like snow outside! It was about 85 degrees....Whew!

Let's Preserve Marriage!

2008-10-12T17:02:00.000-07:00

Our family feels strongly about preserving marriage in California. We have joined in the Proposition 8 team to help define marriage as only between a man and a woman. There are a few very good websites that have lots of valuable information to help us all understand this vitally important issue! We encourage everyone to read up on this whether you live in California or not.
http://www.protectmarriage.com/
http://www.preservingmarriage.org/

http://www.lds.org/
It is so important that this proposition passes! We have our bumper stickers on our cars, the yard sign out, and we just received some buttons to wear when we go out. I plan on wearing mine proudly every day until election day! I hope that I can be an influence for good!

BACK TO SCHOOL....The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2008-08-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are....the first day of school! What an exciting day for all!!! Rachel's excited because she's in fourth grade and she finally gets to have the same class with her best friend! She also got the teacher she wanted. Yeah!!!Daniel's excited to be in second grade and to be eating in the cafeteria again!!!! He's also been counting the days since the last day of school in June! Sue's excited because she gets a little more free time, and to be helping her family get back on a better schedule. Brian's excited because everyone else is excited!!!

The Last Splash!

2008-08-25T13:40:00.001-07:00

Here we are at our last swim party of the summer! Since I have forgotten my camera at every swimming event so far, I had to make sure I got some wet pictures! I love seeing my children in the water, swimming and playing with their friends. There is always so much joy on their faces when they are swimming!

It's also fun to watch them jump off the diving board. I love to try and capture the moment on the camera!

We are lucky (or should I say blessed) to have so many good friends to share our lives with. Rachel and Daniel always have someone to play with and have fun together.

2008-08-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

Entering the Blog World

2008-08-02T12:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, we caved!!! We have entered the blogging world! I'm not sure I know what I'm doing, but here goes!

We have just returned from our family vacation to Utah. We were there from July 11-26, and we had a great time. For the first week, we stayed with my (Sue's) parents, and the next week with Brian's parents. We were there for Sue's mother's 81st birthday party at Red Lobster. We got to have dinner at Marilyn and Dennis' home with Diane and Reed, and Richard and Denise. That lasagne was fabulous! We worked in the garden for my Dad, and went swimming. We drove to Provo to see Nick and Carissa's new beautiful baby girl, and then to lunch at Fudrucker's. YUM! Brian and I went to Migun Massage a few times which felt fabulous!!!

We then had a wonderful two day family reunion with Brian's family. We had a potluck dinner and talent show the first day. The second day we spent at the Farley cabin up Lamb's canyon. Then we all met at the Jordan River Temple for dinner and a session. This was the first time to have the entire family together at the temple. It was the highlight of our reunion!

The next day, July 20th, we celebrated Daniel's 7th birthday!!! Wow! He is so excited to finally be 7!

We were able to have a tour of the church's Humanitarian Center which was amazing! We then drove around the valley with Mom and Dad Anderson looking at the construction of the two new temples in the valley. We spent an afternoon with Ramona and Paul and their family and enjoyed pizza and games. We also slept overnight at the cabin which was so beautiful!!! We love it up there! We celebrated Pioneer Day up at the cabin with Sue's family with Mom and Dad, Carolyn, Steve and Terri and their family. That night we went to the Salt Lake Bees baseball game with Ken and Cheri and their family. We enjoyed a great dinner at the ball park, watched the entire game which we won, and then saw the fireworks at the end! What fun!!!

We loved seeing all our family and spending time together in Utah! It was very sad to leave and come home to California. But as always, there's no place like home, and it did feel good to sleep in our own beds again!!!