Hannah Lou + 2

McKay

2011-09-23T21:55:00.000-06:00

McKay is now 5 months! Where has time gone? I have been meaning to write about him since he turned 4 months and am obviously a month behind.

Here are a few little tidbits about little Mac.

He has been sleeping through the night since he was about 6 weeks old. I keep thinking my luck will run out at some point, but so far so good. Mac is such a good natured baby and has lots of smiles for everyone. He especially loves Hannah and already follows her (with his eyes) wherever she goes. His eyes light up and he gets so excited when she sits and plays with him. They are good buddies already. Mac got his first tooth (bottom left) the day before he turned 4 months and the other bottom tooth quickly followed a few days later. The first thing I noticed about Mac when he was born were his big hands and how sturdy he was. He has continued to put on weight and has been wearing some 9 month clothes since he was 4 months. I have been disappointed a few times when I have gone to put on a 6 month outfit and he had already grown out of it. Mac is really starting to become vocal and babbles all the time. His favorite thing to say is "dada" which makes Jake very happy. He is getting pretty close to sitting on his own. He just needs a little support every so often.

Here are his measurements from his 4 month appointment:

Weight: 17 lbs, 2 oz (90%)

Length: 26.5 inches (90%)

Head: 17 inches (75%)

you can see his two bottom teeth in this picture

2 years!

2011-09-21T18:52:00.000-06:00

Hannah turned 2 a few weeks ago and I didn't want too much time to go by without writing about it. Hannah's birthday was on a Friday. We had a few friends over that day to play. When Jake got home from work that evening we took Hannah swimming and out for an ice cream cone.

The big party with family was the next day.

One of Hannah's favorite animals is a monkey, so we went with that theme for the party. Hannah and her cousins all had fun playing in the little pool.

Hannah loved opening her presents. She had to put the presents that were clothing items on as she opened them.

Before her birthday we took Hannah to the store to try out different tricycles Hannah insisted on wearing a helmet. So we decided to get her one. It is still a little big, but I can't complain, she is learning to be safe early:)

Hannah was so excited to open her new bike. She kept yelling "my bike", "my bike" as she opened the present. It was definitely a hit!

The kids dove into the cake after we sang. Luckily we had plenty of cupcakes for the adults!

Here is the cute 2-year old. My little girl is growing up way too fast!

Here are Hannah's measurements from her 2 year appointment:

Weight: 27 lbs (55%)

Length: 35.8 (90%)

Head: 18.5 (25%)

A few things about Hannah:

One of my favorite things about Hannah is that she has always been really friendly since she was tiny and doesn't hesitate to go to anyone. She is still that way. She is a little timid about trying new things at first, but she usually gets over it pretty fast once she realizes that whatever it is she is doing (swimming lessons, music group etc.) is ok. She is pretty resiliant and bounces back quickly after getting hurt. She dropped a brick on her little toe a few weeks ago and lost her toenail. She hardly even cried and never mentioned it again as her toe was healing. Hannah has inherited her dad's fear of heights. I am actually glad about this because I never have to worry about either of them doing anything too crazy. This trait has also kept Hanah from being daring enough to climb out of her crib (another plus). Hannah loves music, dancing, dressing up, reading books and coloring.

I had to throw this picture in here also. My birthday is just a week before Hannah's (she was actually due on my birthday but was 1 week late). I had such a wonderful day spending it with my kids and sweet husband.

The Winning Streak Continues

2011-09-14T21:22:00.000-06:00

Check out Jake's latest contest winnings
http://www.meatmanvan.com/#!winner

Megan comes home!

2011-08-12T16:13:00.000-06:00

My little sister Megan came home from her mission to Orlando Florida about a month ago. It has been so fun to see her again and spend the past month with her. Hannah is already in love with her and is loving all of the attention Megan gives her.

All of my sisters came to town during the past month for Megan's homecoming. We packed a years worth of fun into a few weeks.

We began the month water skiing and tubing with my cousin's family. This was Hannah and Mac's first time on a boat. Hannah was a little hesitant about being on a boat at first but ended up loving it. She even got on the tube and went for a ride with Jake. Mac was mostly oblivious to the whole thing except for the part when we stuffed him into a very uncomfortable life jacket.

(Hannah and Jake on the tube)

We spent a day downtown visiting Temple square.

This is a picture of all the grand kids except McKay. He was asleep in his stroller at the time.

Hannah and Grandma

Hannah loved visiting the statue of Christ. She kept standing in front of him jumping while reaching her arms way up toward him. (I wish I would have gotten it on video.)

All the girls got dressed up and danced to the music at the Children's section of the Church History Museum.

We visited Wheeler Farm,

and the zoo.

We went swimming.

We went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. While we were there we went on a wagon ride.

Hannah got to ride a pony and loved every minute of it.

We took advantage of the 50 cent ice cream cones.

We spent an afternoon with Great Grandma and enjoyed hearing her tell stories about her childhood. She just turned 99 in July!

We went to the aquarium.

My sister took family pictures for everyone while she was visiting. Thanks again Rachel.

That wraps up a little chunk of our summer. It was so much fun to have my sisters and their families in town for a while. We miss seeing them already. (More posts to come from earlier this summer.)

Catching Up...

2011-08-12T16:07:00.000-06:00

I feel so overwhelmed when I think of how far behind I am on this blog. I have decided to start with the most recent events and work backward....
Jake and I celebrated our 4th anniversary about a week ago. We went and saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at the Hale Center Theatre and ended the evening with an amazing dinner at The Melting Pot. It was the first time either of us had been there and we both rolled out of the restaurant and into bed that night with very happy and full tummies.

The greatest accomplishments and blessings over the last 4 years....

are these two little cuties in our lives.

Strawberries!

2011-07-06T21:20:00.000-06:00

1 Month already!

2011-05-16T13:45:00.000-06:00

1 month ago today this little guy joined our family. At his 2 week doctor apt. Mac had gained back his birth weight plus some. He weighed 9 lbs 2 oz. I feel like he is probably up to 10 lbs now. He is such a great little eater and so far (we will cross our fingers) has been such a great sleeper. We all love him so much! Hannah has adjusted surprisingly well (again I am crossing my fingers) and she loves to shower him with hugs and kisses. (We took these pics when Mac was 3 weeks old.)

Introducing...

2011-04-22T15:03:00.000-06:00

McKay Jacob! Little Mac surprised us and arrived 4 days ahead of schedule on April 16th at 1:18 pm. Coming early didn't stop him from being a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz (exactly the same weight as his sister) and 22 inches long.

18 months

2011-03-15T19:41:00.001-06:00

Hannah turned 18 months a few weeks ago.
At her 18 month appointment her measurements were:
Weight: 22 lbs 14 oz (30%)
Length: 32.5 inches (80%)
Head: 18.1 m (30%)

Here are a few of the fun things Hannah has been doing over the past few months:

She loves dressing up. This is one of her favorite things to wear. (It is a little purse she uses as a hat.)

She loves walking around in our shoes.

More dressing up.

This is the first time (and so far the only time) Hannah has colored on something she wasn't supposed to. I am sure it is only a matter of time before it happens again. I was cleaning the bathroom and turned around to find Hannah with a blue marker coloring all over the toilet seat. Thanks to a magic eraser it all came off.

Hannah and I spent one morning together building this snowman. It was all I could do to keep Hannah from eating the eyes and nose off of it (grapes and a carrot). The snowman lasted for a few days and every time Hannah was over by our back door she had to stop to wave and say hi to the snowman.

We went on a short trip to St. George. We didn't pick the best weekend for weather, but we were still able to enjoy the outdoors a little. Hannah loved feeding crackers to the ducks and watching them bob in and out of the water. Every time the duck disappeared under the water Hannah would get a concerned look on her face and say "oh no, all gone".

Hannah and I have been taking a mom and tot swim class over the past month. It has been a lot of fun. Hannah cried through the whole first class, but since then has warmed up to it and loves it. She loves to talk about splashing and kicking (and will do the actions) when you bring up her swimming class.

We took the class with some friends, Abby and Kenny.

This is Hannah's serious floating on her back face.

The last day of class. Hannah is enjoying the candy the instructor gave the kids.

We have been painting our house. Hannah has insisted on helping when she is still up at night and we are working on it.

Hannah loves her baths. There is a funny story behind this picture though. One night I put bubbles in her bath thinking she would love them. When she was still outside of the bathtub and saw them starting to form she got really excited, but once I put her in the bath she started screaming and cried throughout the entire bath. She wouldn't let any of the bubbles touch her body or she would start crying harder and acted like they were going hurt her. The next night we were getting her bath ready and she kept asking for the bubbles. I tried to explain to her that we weren't going to put them in because of what had happened the previous night. She kept insisting and so I put a few in the tub. She was still a little weary when I put her in with them, but gradually warmed up to them. Now she can't take a bath without putting the bubbles in and as you can tell from this picture she loves them.

Hannah is still such a people person. She started going to nursery about a month early and went right into the class without any hesitation. She loves being around other kids and adults and actually prefers them to me most of the time. It is nice that she is so independent, but somtimes I get a little sad that she is not more of a mommy's girl:)

She still loves basketball. Jake is currently serving in the Young Men's organization in our ward and has taken her to a few basketball games. I was a little worried she would just want to get down and run around, but she sits on Jake's lap during the whole game and claps and cheers right along with everyone else. When they get home from the games she usually spends the next half hour telling me all about the "baketball".

Happy 18 months Hannah. There is never a dull moment with you around. Thanks for keeping us entertained and for being such a sweet and good natured little girl. We are so blessed to have you in our family.

"Baketball"

2011-02-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

We have another basketball fan in our house. We took Hannah to a BYU basketball game yesterday and all she can talk about now is basketball. Last night she fell asleep on the way home from the game and the first thing that came out of her mouth when she woke up was "baketball" and is is pretty much her favorite thing to talk about now. Jake is a proud daddy:)

Holidays

2011-01-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a little summary of our holidays. It was nice to be able to spend so much time with family:

Waiting for Thanksgiving dinner.

Hunting for the perfect Christmas tree (one of our favorite traditions).

We found it! The perfect tree.

Enjoying hot cocoa and cookies with grandpa after the tree hunt.

Visiting Santa... What have my parents done to me?!!

Visiting Santa's reindeer was much more enjoyable.

Hannah kept saying "moo" to them. (She thought they were cows.)

We had a party at my parent's house on Christmas Eve.

My dad put together a great nativity program.

Hannah was an angel.

My uncles got roped into being the sheep.

It was pretty entertaining.

Baby Jesus cuddled up all snug in his manger.

Charlie loved just laying in here.

Christmas morning!

Hannah had her first experience sledding.

She was much more content to be pulled around in the sled than to go zooming down the hills with dad. Maybe next year dad.....

It's A Boy!

2010-12-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

Our second little miracle is on his way (notice I said HIS). We are expecting a little boy due to arrive on April 25th. We are thrilled and couldn't be more thankful!

Halloween

2010-11-08T22:25:00.001-07:00

October was full of fun activities for us this year:

Hannah and I went to Gardner Village with our play group and visited the witches.

My mom has a Halloween party every year with the grand kids. Everyone came dressed up.

Hannah was a cute little monkey.

Here are Hannah and her cousins in their cute little costumes.

Hannah was Curious George, Jake was The Man with the Yellow Hat, and I was Curious George's mama.

We played pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern. Hannah actually participated which surprised me.

We ended the night carving pumpkins.

It was kind-of fun having Halloween fall on a Sunday. We were able to celebrate all weekend!

Friday night we had a ward party.

Saturday night we went with Jake's brother and his family to their ward trunk-or-treat. Hannah loved it and got the hang of trick-or-treating really quickly. Even though she can't say "trick-or-treat" yet, she quickly figured out how to take the candy from the bowl and put it in her bag.

After the trunk-or-treat we went to Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood and trick-or-treated with a few cousins.

Sunday we went to a farewell up in Logan and visited Great Grandpa and his farm on the way home. Hannah loved all of the animals.

Sunday evening we had a Halloween dinner at Jake's parents house. These two are the cutest pair!

The fun weekend ended with stories on Grandma's lap.

End of Summer Fun

2010-11-02T22:03:00.000-06:00

Jake and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary at the beginning of August. We spent the evening painting our front room, but did get out and celebrate the next day by going to the temple and to dinner.

My birthday was also in August and Jake took Hannah and I miniature golfing to celebrate. Hannah had a lot of fun chasing our golf balls around the course.

Two of my sisters came to town at the end of August. We had so much fun while they were here. I wish they could visit more often. We packed every day with fun activities:

Feeding the ducks at Wheeler Farm

A wagon ride

Visiting all the animals

We went to the Dinosaur Museum

Played in the water at Grandpa and Grandma's house

We spent a day at the aquarium.

Grandpa put on a puppet show.

We celebrated Nicole's birthday and let off balloons with notes to her at the cemetery.

A few weeks after my sisters left the few of us left got together for the day and canned peaches. This is the first time I have done it. It was a lot of fun and we are enjoying the "fruits" of our labors.

Hannah's 1 year photoshoot

2010-10-12T15:20:00.000-06:00

Here are Hannah's 1 year sats:
                                               Weight 20 lbs 13.6 oz (50%)
                                                Height 291/2 inches (75%)
                                                Head 17 inches (25%)

Hannah's Birthday!

2010-09-25T14:23:00.004-06:00

I can't believe my little girl is already 1! The last year has flown by. We had such a fun time celebrating Hannah's Birthday.

On her actual birthday Hannah opened her presents from Jake and I and then we took her to Arctic Circle and let her have as much of a cone as she wanted. She devoured both Jake and my cone. I was afraid she wouldn't sleep that night with so much sugar running through her system, but surprisingly she slept just as well as usual.

First reaction, a little cold, but that didn't stop her...

We celebrated her birthday a couple days later when family was in town.

We started off the day swimming at the local recreation center. It was a lot of fun. We even took Hannah down the big water slide and she loved it.

After that we went back to our house for a BBQ. It was so much fun to have a lot of family in town to help us celebrate.

Here is Hannah's cake and matching cupcakes for everyone else.

She did surprisingly well opening all of her presents.

This was one of her favorites.

And then the grand finale.... the cake. I think Hannah was a little overwhelmed with everyone staring at her while we sang Happy Birthday.

She started by delicately pulling off the eyes.

And then came the head.

The first taste.

A little encouragement from her cousins.

And then she really got into it.

This is what was left by the end. She really didn't eat much of it, it was more fun to play with.

Here are most of her cousins who came.

Happy first birthday Hannah! We feel so blessed to have your sweet spirit in our home!

Changes....

2010-09-13T20:59:00.000-06:00

I have been such a slacker at blogging lately. I guess I have a pretty good reason though. We finally bought a house! I have never been a big fan of changes, but the latest change for us has been great. It actually was really hard leaving our old neighborhood, friends, callings, and ward. I really haven't missed our old apartment and all of its quirks though. We really wish we could have transplanted our new house into our old neighborhood. Our new house is located just 3 minutes west of where we used to live.

Here are Jake and Hannah taking a break from packing in front of our old place. We have so many great memories here.

Here is our new house!

Catching up

2010-09-13T20:58:00.000-06:00

Here are a few other things we have been up to this summer:

Learning how to make scrubbies with Grandma. My grandma spends a lot of her days making these scrubbies and donating them to different organizations. She also likes to make them for all of her grand kids. We use them all of the time at our house. My mom, sister and I decided we needed to be able to carry the tradition on, so we spent an afternoon with grandma learning how to make them. Mine didn't turn out as pretty as hers, but she has had a lot of years of experience. Grandma just celebrated her 98th birthday!

Jake's sister Tara got married at the end of June. All of the kids in Jake's family are now married. We had a lot of fun celebrating with Tara and Ryan.

These are all of Jakes siblings and spouses.We all were married in the Salt Lake Temple. (All of the siblings have also graduated from BYU).

Sleeping in weird positions!

Celebrating Christmas in July by pretending to be Mary. Hannah loves wrapping blankets around her head and snuggling with them.

Catching up with former gradschool classmates

Taking rides on Grandpa's motorcycle and in his Corvette

We went to a Salt Lake Real game celebrate Jake's birthday. The game we went to just happened to have David Cook performing after the game.

There will be more posts to come (hopefully in the not too distant future) on the rest of our summer activities.

Happy Birthday Hannah!!!

2010-08-19T20:53:00.000-06:00

One amazing year down and many more to come. We love you Hannah!

Reunions

2010-08-08T10:21:00.000-06:00

We started out the month of July at my extended family reunion. We camped at our usual spot up in the mountains above Fish Lake. I realized after the reunion was over that I only took these three pictures the entire time. It was a lot of fun catching up with some of my cousins that I hadn't seen in years. No matter how many times I have been up in these mountains I am always amazed at how beautiful it is.

The very next weekend we headed out to Jake's extended family reunion on the Oregon coast. We were able to spend 8 days in Lincoln City at a beach house that we shared with Jake's immediate family. We split the 14 hour drive into 2 days. I was a little nervous about how Hannah would do sitting in her carseat for that long, but thanks to Baby Einstein, Fig Newtons, and Mo-Tab she did great (we learned that "High On A Mountain Top" is one of her faviorte songs).
I was amazed at how beautiful and green the Oregon coast was. I was also amazed at how cold and windy it was in July! We wore jackets most of the time we were there. Here are some of the things we did:

Lots of hanging out on the beach and playing in the water

Hannah had to be in on all the action- helping to bury cousin Spencer

Playing with cousin Kate

Building sandcastles with dad

We visited the fishing docks at Newport

We went out to the beach at low tide and found some neat starfish and sea anemones

We visited an old lighthouse in Newport

We went to the aquarium in Newport

We did lots of hanging out with family

We spent a lot of time with family at the beach house

Wasatch Back

2010-08-08T10:14:00.000-06:00

At the end of June Jake and I ran the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay with some other members of my family. One of the funnest things about this race was the training we did prior to it. It was fun to spend some quality time with Jake and Hannah in the mornings and to be working toward a goal together. It was also a good motivator to get rid of my pregnancy weight. Hannah was usually our alarm clock bright and early in the mornings and then we would head out with her in her jogging stroller.
The actual race was also a ton of fun. Jake did it last year also, but this was my first time. One of my favorite parts was running in the pitch black at midnight up a mountain pass. Even though it was up-hill it felt relaxing and peaceful.
The total distance of the race was 188 miles, which is split between 12 runners. I ran a total of 12 miles and Jake ran 16. Our team ran the relay in 32 hours.

Our van members:

Jake

Scott (Jake giving him water)

Ben (Scott giving him water)

Aunt Carolyn

Uncle Doug

This is Jake running at about 1:00 a.m. He is all geared up with his reflective vest and headlamp.

Our team truck

Trying to get some sleep. We got a total of 2 hours that night.

Our entire team at the end of the race

Hannah was there to meet us at the end.

Ya Mon!

2010-06-22T10:22:00.002-06:00

Back in January Jake and I went to a travel show one Saturday afternoon. We had a 2 for 1 pass and at the last minute decided it might be fun to go and daydream for a little while about all of the fun places there are to visit in the world. Little did we know that the $5 we spent on getting into the show would end up buying us an all expense payed trip to Jamaica. I won the grand prize drawing that day. They paid for our airfare, hotel, food, and some of the water sports. It was a much needed vacation and not having to pay for anything besides our excursions made it that much more relaxing.

So here his the low down on our trip. (Caution- there are a lot of pictures!)

This is a view of the pools and beach from the balcony of our room.

Another view from our balcony of the beautiful sunset.

We took this picture on our first night while we were relaxing on the beach. Our flight left at 1:00am on Monday morning and we didn't get into our hotel room until 3:30 that afternoon. We spent most of that first day catching up on our sleep and relaxing on the beach.

I was never hungry the entire time we were there. They took such great care of us. We could eat whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.

The meals were just the right size and so pretty that I almost felt bad messing up the chef's art work to eat it.

We could order drinks any time of day. They even had a couple of swim-up bars.

The resort had entertainment every night. Most of it was pretty good. This guy was balancing a chair on his forehead with his daughter sitting on it. Crazy!

My first taste of sushi.

It rained every day we were there, so we did a lot of relaxing in the lobby.

Enjoying a drink on our way into Ocho Rios to do some shopping.

A woman in Ocho Rios braided my hair. I only left the braids in for a day because they hurt so bad.

We spent a day at a waterfall called Dunn's River Falls. We were able to hike up the 600 foot falls. It was so much fun and so beautiful. This was my favorite day. (Jake is the guy in the black shorts in the pictures.)

Jake is standing behind me in this picture. Our guide tricked me and positioned Jake so that the water went right over his head and right onto me.

More relaxing and eating.

Windsurfing!

Reading our books on the beach.

We spent another day at a place called Dolphin Cove. We were able to see and hold a lot of different animals.

We were able to swim with the dolphins. Now I can check it off of my list of 100 things to do before I die. It was such a neat experience. We loved it!

Jake got to drive a little speed boat out on the ocean for a while. The place where the waterfall is in the background used to be McJagger's.

Showering in a natural spring.

The best part of our trip was being able to spend some quality time with my amazing husband.

We missed this little girl a ton and are so grateful for such wonderful family who took such great care of her while we were gone. According to them she did amazingly well.

Hannah's First Camping Trip

2010-06-14T21:23:00.000-06:00

At the end of April we decided to go on a mountain biking/camping trip with the members of my family who still live in Utah. Originally the plan was to go to Moab, but thanks to unpredictable weather Moab ended up being way too cold for camping that weekend. So we decided at the last minute to head down to St. George where the weather was supposed to be more reasonable. The last minute change in plans made the beginning of our trip a little rough. Jake and I found a campground that still had spots available, but we got there just after they had locked the gates for the night. After driving around St. George for an hour trying to find a hotel room (the Iron Man race was that same weekend and all the rooms were full) we finally found a place to stay. We were able to get into the campground the next morning, and the rest of the trip was a lot of fun.

We spent a day mountain bikinig. Two of my sisters are pregnant, so they and my mom stayed back and watched the kids. I ended up being the only girl. Luckily the trail we chose had different skill level options, so the boys were able to do their crazy tricks, and I happily stayed on the easy trail.

Here are all the boys. I was really impressed with how fearless my dad was and how well he kept up with the others.

Here we all are after our ride.

This was Hannah's first camping trip. She loved being outside and exploring everything.

We spent part of another day hiking to some lava caves. Hannah loved being in her carrier.

Here is the whole group minus my mom who was taking the picture.

This is a picture of my sister Heather inside the cave with the opening behind her.

I think we sufficiently wore Hannah out. I felt bad she looked so uncomfortable. Her cousin Weston decided to copy her and pretend to be asleep. It was pretty funny.

The boys were desperate to watch the Jazz playoff game one night, so we all jammed into a hotel room for the evening and crowded around the TV. We went swimming and stayed long enough to watch the game and then headed back to camp that night to sleep.

Here is Hannah in her "bed" in the tent. She had a rough time falling asleep the first night, but did really well taking her naps and sleeping through the night during the rest of the trip.

Happy Birthday Jake!!!

2010-06-08T12:11:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday today to the world's greatest daddy and my best friend!

Crawling and Climbing

2010-04-27T21:15:00.001-06:00

The day everyone warned me about has finally come. Hannah is officially a crawler and a climber! She is all over the place. It has been so much fun watching her explore everything, but it has also been a lot more work. Gone are the days when Hannah would sit happily on her blanket in the living room with her toys surrounding her and be totally content.

Hannah is also working on her third and fourth teeth (the top two). This has made her a little more grumpy, but I am always amazed at how consistently happy she is.

I have a video of her crawling, but am still figuring out how to put it on here, so for now here are a few fun pictures of what Hannah has been up to:

Hannah's first trip to the zoo with some of her cousins. This look on her face about sums up what she thought of the zoo. Hopefully by the end of the summer or maybe next year it will be a little more exciting for her.

Hannah loves sitting in the laundry basket while I fold the clothes. I think she thinks she is helping because she will pull out a piece of clothing, shake it around for a while, and then choose something else and do the same thing over and over. It is one of my favorite things Hannah does.

She also loves playing peek-a-boo while we fold the laundry.

I don't know if most babies sleep like this, but I think it is the cutest thing. Hannah sleeps like this every night. In the morning she always has big red circles on her knees and I always wonder if her legs fall asleep.

Hannah climbed in here one day and just stayed like this for 20 minutes while she played with some toys.

This is Hannah's favorite toy right now. She loves pulling herself up on here and exploring all the different buttons.

Hannah's first Easter

Last Saturday morning we heard Hannah babbling in her crib. We went in to get her up and found her like this. That was the first time she had climbed up and was waiting for us at the side of her crib. Now it has become a regular occurrence.

The last 8 months with Hannah have been so much fun. I love my little girl and I love being her mom!

Happy Valentines Day (a little late)

2010-04-25T22:04:00.001-06:00

We celebrated Valentines day a little late this year. Back in February Jake and I decided we would put the money we would have spent on each other for Valentines Day toward tickets to see Lifehouse and Daughtry. (We bought the tickets around Valentines Day, but the concert wasn't until April). Jake has always wanted to see Lifehouse in concert and we really like Daughtry, so we thought this would be the perfect concert to go to. It was a lot of fun spending the evening with my sweet Valentine and listenting to some fun music. Lifehouse was a little disappointing, but Daughtry was great.

I made sure Jake and I both went equipped with our handy dandy earplugs to protect our hearing (it is the speech pathologist/audiologist in me).

6 Month Pictures

2010-03-24T13:11:00.000-06:00

Thanks to a new camera, photoshop, a fun park, the DI, and some borrowed props we were able to take some fun pictures of Hannah at 6 months (luckily we took them a couple of days before she turned 7 months). Jake and I had a lot of fun experimenting with photoshop. I wish I could say Hannah thought the photoshoot was just as much fun. She was a trooper tolerating the different poses we put her in. Here is what we came up with:

Snowshoeing with Hannah

2010-02-25T18:03:00.003-07:00

Jake and I decided to get out of the inversion back in January and go snowshoeing. It was our first attempt to take Hannah with us.

Hannah liked being outside and looking at all of her new surroundings, but....

She only lasted 10 minutes in her carrier before she wanted OUT!!

We decided to try again a few weeks later. This time we made sure Hannah had just taken a nap, had a full belly, and we chose a trail closer to home.

This look on her face says it all. I think we have sold her on it! Good thing, because eventually she would have had to learn to like it anyway.

I think we successfully wore her out.

We're definitely going to try this again!!!

Christmas

2010-02-25T18:03:00.002-07:00

I know this post is WAY over due, but since this blog is a history of our family I decided I couldn't leave out Hannah's first Christmas.

We spent most of Christmas with Jake's family this year. It was so much fun especially now that there are quite a few grandkids. We had a Christmas Eve program and attempted the Nativity. It was impossible to get a picture with all of the kids holding still together, so these pictures were the best I could do:

Opening our Christmas pajamas

Christmas morning

Enjoying the wrapping more than the presents

Showing off in front of the tree

We took a trip to temple square.

Hannah was smart and slept the whole time staying nice and warm in her stroller.

Hannah in her Christmas dress for family pictures

Some of my good friends were in town for the holidays.

It was fun to spend time catching up.

Where did 6 months go?

2010-02-23T15:53:00.004-07:00

I can't believe how fast this little baby has turned into...

this little lady!!!

Hannah turned 6 months last Friday.

Jake and I helped her celebrate her half year
with some Half Baked. Hannah celebrated with bananas!

(we look for any excuse we can find to have this yummy stuff)

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

2010-02-14T23:13:00.001-07:00

Jamaica Here We Come!!!!!!!

2010-01-30T20:38:00.002-07:00

I just had to post today and share my good news! Jake and I decided to go to a travel show down at the South Town Expo Center today. Our intentions in going were to enter contests to hopefully win a free hotel stay or something like that and maybe get some ideas for future vacations we want to go on when we are able to. It also helped that we found a 2 for 1 coupon for the entry fee. To make a long story short..... I ended up winning the GRAND PRIZE!!!!!! (I have to give Hannah some credit for the win. She chewed on my entry form while I wasn't looking, so my ticket was all bent up when I turned it in.) We thought the trip we won to Vegas this last summer was pretty good, but this trip makes that one seem like nothing. I won a 6 day, 5 night stay at an all-inclusive resort in JAMAICA!!! It also includes free airfair, all of our food, and some water activities!!!! We have from now until next year at this time to use our winnings. I still can't believe that I won! I never used to win anything when I was single. I think being married has brought us some luck.

Here I am with my winnings.

Here is the hotel we are staying at!

5 months!

2010-01-19T22:28:00.001-07:00

Hannah is 5 months old today! I can't believe she will be 1/2 a year in just a month. Over the past month Hannah has grown and developed so much. Here are some of the things she has been doing:

One of the biggest accomplishments is that Hannah is sleeping in her very own room. It actually was a sad day for Jake and I when she graduated from her cradle in our room. We miss having her close at night. She has adjusted amazingly well and continues to sleep through the night (most days).

Hannah has started eating baby food. I still can't decide how much she really likes it. She usually pulls some pretty crazy faces when we give it to her, but she keeps eating it. It has made diaper changing a whole new experience.

Another big event was when she got her two bottom teeth. They actually popped through a week after her 3 month mark, but now they are all the way in.

Hannah loves her toys! Some favorites are her jumper, exersaucer, Ellie (her elephant), and lately her very favorite is our laptop. Jake keeps promising her the laptop whenever we get a new one, but we will see:)

(h k,g,ki ,u n hm.,hny n ,kgt gban)

This is Hannah's contrabution to the blog.

Hannah has started babbeling a lot more. She likes to say "mama" the most. She usually says it when she is getting upset and I like to think she really is calling for me to come rescue her.

Hannah loves cuddeling and eating everything in sight.

Hannah has become a lot more cuddly especially after just waking up from a nap; these are some of our favorite times with her.

We have been so blessed with such a happy and good natured baby. Hannah always has a big smile for everyone. She has been battling her first cold over the past week and I am surprised at how happy she still is even with all the congestion and coughing.

My Sister Missionary

2010-01-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

My little sister Megan left the MTC this last Monday and arrived in the mission field: Orlando, Florida. She sent a short email along with this picture to let us know she arrived safely. It was so fun to talk to her on the phone while she was at the airport waiting for her flight to leave. Talking to her brought back a lot of fun mission memories. In some ways I miss those days when you could spend the whole day serving and teaching others and learning the gospel, and the only big decisions to make were which street to go tracting on. I guess in some ways my life is back to the simplicity of that: serving and teaching Hannah all day and deciding what to make for dinner:) Megan is going to be such a wonderful missionary. We are so excited for this opportunity she has to teach and bless others for the next 18 months.

Thanksgiving with the Homers

2009-12-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

It was our turn to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family this year. We had our Thanksgiving feast at Carolyn and Doug's home (my aunt and uncle). The food was so good it makes my mouth water thinking about it. We always follow up the feast with either a game of football or ultimate frizbee. This year it was frizbee.

Here is Hannah watching her parents' team lose. Somehow our team ended up with 2 pregnant ladies and one post pregnant lady (me) who is still getting back into shape:)

After the frizbee game we were ready for more yummy food. It is a tradition for all of the grandkids to build a log cabin out of pie crust and whipped cream and then eat it along with the pies.

My favorite tradition comes the day after Thanksgiving when we head down to Richfield (where my mom grew up) and search for the perfect Christmas tree in the mountains there. Jake and I saw this Santa as we were driving through Richfield and thought it would be fun to take a picture of him with Hannah. We decided that this Santa was a little scarry looking. He needed to lose the glasses.

Hannah did pretty well hiking all over the mountain strapped to Jake in her carrier. The only mishap was when she got so excited about finding our tree that she had a blow out. Jake was a little nervous about what we might find when we unstrapped Hannah. (we brought a change of clothes for her, but not for Jake) Luckily we had bundled Hannah up in enough layers that she only blew through the first two (lucky for Jake).

Here we are with our tree before we cut it down.

Here it is after.

We had Rice Krispie treats and hot chocolate after everyone found their trees. We forgot to bring cups, so we did some improvising.

We ended the weekend festivities with the BYU vs Utah game. We went to my sister Heather's house and watched it with some of my family. Hannah and her cousins, Griffin and Weston, faithfully cheered for their Cougars.

Teeth!

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

My little girl is growing up way too fast! This last Tuesday (December 1st) two little teeth popped up on Hannah's bottom gum. Jake and I thought she had a little cold for the past week, but come to find out the runny nose and random tantrums were for a different reason. We thought the teething thing didn't happen for a while yet since Hannah is just over 3 months. I just hope it is a little while before she gets any more.

Hannah's Blessing

2009-12-06T15:41:00.001-07:00

This post is a little overdue, but we were waiting to get these pictures back from my sister Rachel. Hannah was blessed on October 11th. We are so grateful for all of the family who attended. The blessing was beautiful and it was such a special day for our little family.

Four Generations

Here are some pictures my sister Rachel took of Hannah in her blessing dress a few weeks before the actual blessing.

My sister Lisa made Hannah's shoes to match her dress

Rachel also took some famliy photos.

Happy 3 Months Hannah!!

2009-11-19T20:30:00.001-07:00

Today is Hannah's 3 month birthday. The time has gone by so fast, but at the same time I think I have forgotten what life was once like before she came along. This past month Hannah has really started interacting more with her surroundings. Whether it is with us, strangers at the store, or her stuffed animals, she has a big smile for everyone. We have been blessed with such a happy girl.

We also have been blessed with such a drooly girl. Hannah spends most of her time chewing on things. Some of her favorites are:

Mr. Duck

her thumb and fingers

Ellie the Elephant

and her washcloth (she loves sucking the water out of it- yuck!)

Of course I have to brag about how smart Hannah is, she has already learned her first animal sound. She growls like a cougar and often she and Jake have growling contests. I think the best thing Hannah has learned over the past month is to sleep through the night (most of the time).

sometimes she uses her headband as a sleep mask

Finally, over the past month Hannah has spent plenty of time mastering her blow-outs. She has definitely gotten better at it.

We love you Hannah and feel so blessed to have you in our family!

Bumbo Pumpkin

2009-11-15T15:22:00.001-07:00

A few weeks before Halloween Hannah learned to sit in her bumbo seat.

We had already gotten her a little giraffe Halloween costume to wear, but when Jake came up with the idea for this additional costume we couldn't resist. We ran to the craft store and created a "bumbo pumpkin". Hannah loved her costume and was able to show off her new sitting skills.

Here are some of the fun things we did for Halloween this year:

My family got together and carved the pumpkins my parents grew in their garden. Some of the pumpkins were pretty unique since they were home-grown which made for some pretty creative jack-o-lanterns.

Here are all the carvers.

Here are all the pumpkins. My favorite is the one on the end :)

Hannah and I took a trip to visit the witches at Gardner Village with my sister Heather and her boys.

For Halloween breakfast we had monster eyes :)

We visited family throughout the day on Halloween. This is Hannah and her cousin Abbie.

It's Official

2009-10-21T14:38:00.010-06:00

As of Monday Oct. 19 I am officially a stay-at-home mom. I have been on maternity leave for the last few months waiting to see if Jake found a job (his job ended at the end of June because of the economy). Over the past few months Jake, his brother, and his dad have decided to start a law firm together. We are hoping it continues to be successful. So I called my boss on Monday and let him know that I wouldn't be coming back. I was a little nervous and sad before I called him knowing that I would be unemployed for the first time in 5 years and that my career was about to officially end. It ended up being a lot easier to tell him I was leaving than I had anticipated. When I hung up the phone I felt so relieved and happy. I think I realized at that moment that I was finally going to have the "job" I have been dreaming of for years.

Me with my co-worker Melissa on my last day of work.

This morning while I was walking with Hannah I found myself a little nostalgic thinking about all of the lessons I have learned from the people I was able to work with as a speech therapist over the past 5 years. I decided that I needed to write some of them down so I wouldn't forget them, so bear with me.
There were many people who taught me to be grateful for the little things:

* The lady who was so excited to be able to eat again after 2 months and went on and on about the canned peaches I gave her. I never realized eating canned peaches could be so exciting. (speech therapists work with people on their speech as well as on swallowing and eating).
*I was with a family as they heard their teenage son talk again after 3 months following an accident and watched them shed tears of joy.
*The man who was very active and in the military and now is too weak to eat or move his limbs who always was concerned about me and asked me each day (especially when I was pregnant) how I was doing.
*The woman who had to go to an assisted living center instead of home following a brain injury who told me she had watched a presentation about the people in Africa who don't even have homes and how when she thought of them she decided assisted living wasn't so bad. This is the same day I had been complaining to Jake about our tiny apartment without a dishwasher. I decided that day that I should be grateful that at least it isn't assisted living.
*I learned how fragile life is from the 27 year old father who was dying from brain cancer and whom I had the privilege of helping him find ways to communicate with his family up until the day he passed away.
*The little 6 year-old girl whose voice was affected by a car accident and when I asked her what she wanted for Christmas her response was to have her voice back and maybe a few "jewels" (meaning a necklace and earrings).

I am also grateful for the patients and their families who kept things entertaining:
*The little old men who told me they loved me and proposed quite frequently (this is before I was married).
*The family who persisted in trying to find someone to marry me (also before I was married) and brought their 40 year old nephew (this is when I was in my 20's) in who was a dentist to talk to me about how dentistry related to speech therapy. After he got there I figured out the real reason he was there.
*The older gentleman who when the song "I believe I can fly" came on the radio one afternoon began to sing along with the words "I believe I can die". His version actually fits better with the rest of the lyrics of the song.
*The teenage boy who flipped me off while in a coma. All I could figure was that it was such an automatic thing for him before his accident that he even did it in his sleep.
I could go on and on and of course there were definitely some bad days, such as when families were angry their loved one was not making progress and the horrible manager I had right before I quit.
All in all it is interesting to look back and see how Heavenly Father has guided my life, helped me choose a career, get through school, and find the perfect job for me. Working until almost 33 was never in my plans, but I know Heavenly Father knew more than I did and led me to the best situation for this last phase of my life . I am excited for this new phase and all of lessons and experiences I will have and have already had. I am so grateful to now have the job title of "mother" and to have the privilege of taking care of this little cutie every day.

Catching up with Hannah

2009-10-08T15:04:00.026-06:00

I am sitting here on the couch using one arm to hold Hannah and trying to type this with the other. I feel like time is slipping away and I haven't had time to document Hannah's life yet. Before I had her I remember thinking I would be so much better at blogging once I was at home with her all day because I would have all the time in the world. All of you moms out there are probably laughing at me right now and I am sure it only gets worse with the more kids you have. It is interesting how perspective changes depending on the stage of life you are in. When I was working, a productive day was getting ready for the day and seeing 4 of my patients before noon. Now a productive day is getting Hannah and I ready for the day and getting a morning walk in (if we are lucky) before noon. Learning to be a mom so far has been both exhausting and wonderful. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have loved watching our little Hannah grow over the past 7 weeks.

Here are a few things we are discovering about Hannah:

Hannah loves going to bed late (2:30 am was the usual bedtime for a while, but it has gotten a little better). As a result we have all learned to take advantage of nap time when we can. Hannah is better at this than Jake and I are.

Hannah loves her bath. This is her first official bath after her umbilical cord came off (2 weeks old).

Hannah loves her car seat. She would sleep for hours in it if we let her.

Hannah loves going on walks. She and mommy go on a walk together every morning. Daddy got home from work early one day and came with us. We decided to go up to Silver Lake and enjoy all the fall colors before it got too cold.

Hannah is a true girl. She loves looking at herself in the mirror and often talks to and laughs at herself while doing so. She also loves the hair dryer. She will be screaming at the top of her lungs and all we have to do is turn the hair dryer on and it calms her right down. (She usually only gets this luxury when we get desperate).

Hannah loves her changing table. Lots of times if she is upset all we have to do is set her on there and she calms right down. This is her first blow out. There have been plenty more since then and little did we know at the time that this is a pretty mild one.

Hannah loves her daddy. We called him on the phone while he was at work one day and I put the phone up to her ear while Jake talked to her. When she heard his voice she got a huge smile on her face and started cooing. I thought maybe it was a coincidence so we tried it two more times and she did the same thing. Her daddy knows just what to do to make her smile. This is Hannah visiting him at work one day.

Hannah loves her Great Grandma (Louise) Miller. She is named after her. We were visiting with grandma last week and Hannah was upset. Jake was trying to sooth her and grandma asked if she could give it a try. I was a little nervous about this at first just because usually Hannah needs you to stand up with her and bounce her to calm her down, but I decided to let grandma give it a go. As soon as Hannah was in grandma's arms she calmed right down and started smiling. She loves her Great Grandma.

Hannah loves visiting all of her family. This is her with her cousin Clair "playing" together.

Luckily Hannah has a pretty tough stomach and has never spit up much since she was born. The few times that she has spit up have come after she has had a bottle. This is what happened this particular day when Jake fed her a bottle while I was teaching Young Womens. She conveniently both peed on Jake and spit up on his suit pants 5 minutes before he was supposed to go home teaching.

This is Hannah's first Halloween party. My mom loves celebrating Halloween and has a party for the grand kids every year. We had it a month early this year because my sister Rachel was in town and my other sister Lisa is moving next week. Hannah was a giraffe.

Part of the Halloween tradition is my Dad telling the story of "The Harry Toe" to all the grand kids.

When my sister Rachel was in town she took family pictures for everyone. She is still working on editing most of the pictures but sent me a few of Hannah. Rachel did such a great job. We are excited to see the rest of the pictures. This is Hannah at 1 month.

We love our little girl! This Hannah at 7 weeks.

Marathon Relay

2009-10-08T15:01:00.001-06:00

Jake, 2 of his siblings, Nick & Cami, and two of my siblings, Ben & Megan, all ran a marathon relay together in September. Each member of the team runs 5.2 miles for a total of 26.2 miles (a full marathon). The medals they got said "A full marathon 1/5th the pain" (That is my kind of marathon.) They had a lot of fun doing it together. Here are some pictures of the runners.

Happy Birthday Nicole

2009-10-08T14:39:00.000-06:00

I am trying to play catch up and have been meaning to write this entry for a couple months. My youngest sister Nicole passed away 4 years ago on Aug.31. It was the day before her 15th birthday (September 1st). Each year my family goes to the cemetery and celebrates her birthday by writing her a note and tying it to a helium balloon. We then sing Happy Birthday to her and send our notes off up to "heaven" for her to read. I am sure the people driving past the cemetery while we are doing this probably wonder what is going on, but I love this tradition my mom started. It gives our family the opportunity to continue celebrating Nicole's life each year and let her know how we feel about her. We miss you and love you Nicole.

Two Weeks

2009-09-02T13:02:00.003-06:00

We decided to celebrate Hannah's two week birthday by doing a photoshoot. Thanks Cami for letting us borrow your camera.

Hannah Louise Anderson

2009-08-23T13:20:00.005-06:00

Hannah Louise Anderson was born August 19, 2009. Thankfully Bev didn't need to be induced, she went into labor on the 18th. Hannah was born at 4:50am, weighed 8lbs 10oz, and was 21 1/2 in long.

Bun still in the oven...

2009-08-15T11:17:00.003-06:00

Well, here I am full term, and this is how I still look (maybe even a little bigger). No, our little girl has still not come. She must really be enjoying herself in the nice warm oven. So here is the update: We went to the doctor on Thursday and if she still has not made her appearance by next Wednesday the 19th I will be induced that day. I am still hoping that she comes on her own before then, but it does feel good to know that either way we don't have to wait too much longer. We will keep everyone posted.

NEWS FLASH!!!

2009-07-30T21:40:00.002-06:00

We returned from the doctor today with news that the baby has begun her descent. This leads us to believe that we have discovered a surefire way to get babies to drop and get that cervix dilated. What's the magical method you ask? Go boating, and make sure to get out on the inner tube. Our trip to East Canyon last week must have worked. Now we're calling anyone we know with a boat and tube to see if we can speed our little girl's descent just a bit more.

What we have been up to...

2009-07-19T15:54:00.022-06:00

These are some of the things we have been up to this summer:

1. Jake and I have finally been separated (don't worry it's only at church, we still live together). For the last almost 2 years we have had callings where we have served together. In our last ward we were ward missionaries together and in our current ward we taught the 11 and 12 year old kids in primary. Unfortunately that has come to an end. We knew it had to end some day. We had so much fun preparing and teaching together and will miss being with our kiddos in class.

This picture about sums up how class was each week. You are probably wondering why we will miss it:)

2. Camping. ...

I was able to spend a day with the Young Women at girls camp. My new calling is the Laurel Advisor (Jake is now the 1st counselor in the Elders Quorum). I was a wimp and decided that being 8 months pregnant and sleeping on the ground without a bathroom nearby was probably a little too much for me to handle, so I went up one morning and stayed for the day. There were two other leaders also expecting...

Jake and I also went camping and spent the 4th of July weekend at the annual Miller reunion. (Yes, I was again a wimp and Jake and I slept in my parents motor home instead of our tent.) It felt so nice to be up in the mountains and relax for a few days with family.

Some of my cousins and siblings decided to build a log cabin out in the woods. It actually turned out pretty well considering they had no hammer, nails, or other tools. A few of the brave ones even slept in it both nights we were there.
We went on a short hike to the beaver ponds with some of my siblings and their kids.

This is how the kids looked the entire 3 days we were there. Their parents would wash them up and 5 minutes later they looked exactly the same. (I think their parents gave up after the first few times and decided it was better just to let them be dirty.) Next year Jake and I will have the fun of trying to keep our little girl clean.

Grandma Miller enjoyed being with the great-grandkids and singing songs with them.
3. We were able to celebrate Grandma Miller's 97th birthday with her. We are so grateful for her amazing example.

4. Waterskiing and tubing: Heather and Scott (my sister and her husband) invited us to go waterskiing and tubing at East Canyon with their family last week. I was able to get off work early that day so we could go. I was expecting to sit on the boat the whole day and be the official flag girl, but Heather and Scott had other plans for me...

Somehow I ended up on this tube! They talked me into it by telling me that it may help induce labor. (At my last appointment the doctor told me that he would be surprised if the baby came by my due date.)

Jake, Heather, Griffin (my nephew), and I

Heather and Jake doing tricks around me. (My trick was just staying on the tube.) We will see if any of this worked at my next doctor appointment:)

Jake, Scott and Megan making a pyramid.

Heather

Scott

Jake

5. Watching the belly grow...

February 12th

March 12th

April 12th

May 12th

June 12th

July 12th

It is getting pretty close!

Ragnar Relay

2009-06-30T19:30:00.008-06:00

What happens when you take twelve ordinary people split them between two vans and then force them to run 187 miles through the Wasatch mountains? Well, besides having two stinky vans you get twelve exhausted yet jubilant people. I ran the Wasatch Back Relay a week and half ago, the reason it's taken me so long to write this entry is because it has taken me a week and half to recover! I ran as part of team "Not a Scrub in the Bunch," a family team put together by Bev's Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Doug.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Ragnar races, the Wasatch Back begins in Logan and ends in Park City. Each of the twelve runners has three different legs to run during the 187 mile experience, and the race never stops, you run all through the night. We started at 6:45 am on Friday and finished a little after 2 pm on Saturday. We had a lot fun being together and cheering each other on. We were also entertained by the other 650 teams, 1/3 of which belong in mental institutions, there were some crazy runners. Some of my favorites included the Winder Dairy van equipped with a microphone and blaring music, the disco team that ran in 70's shirts and Afro wigs, and team tumor (a team made up of cancer patients/survivors). It was clear that it was not about being the fastest, but more about having fun and loving the experience. Our whole team met just before the finish line and we all ran in together, a true team effort.

Even though I'm not a runner, by any stretch of the imagination, I enjoyed every minute of it, even the running. It was great to have a team cheering you on as you ran, encouraging you to keep going, and supplying you with water and food. To say that we were exhausted at the end would be an understatement. My body hurt so bad Saturday night that I could barely walk, but I still had a smile on my face. You may be wondering if I would do it again or recommend running a Ragnar Relay. The answer, absolutely!!! I'm planning to run again next year. Honestly the toughest part of the whole experience was being separated from Bev for two nights, this was the first time since being married that we were apart for more than a day. Hopefully next year we can do it together.

This is van #1 at the starting line in Logan.

My first leg, 7.5 miles up Avon Pass.

Our team running across the finish line together.

I forgot to mention that Megan and I are now famous. We were interviewed by the illustrious Park City news team. I'm sure the interview was seen by at all 10 people that watch the nightly park city news.

Our team at the finish line with our medals. Me, Sheila, Clint, Danielle, Megan, Nelly, Scott, Heather, Doug, Carolyn, Ben, and Kendal.

Happy Birthday Jake!!

2009-06-11T21:13:00.009-06:00

This last Monday was Jake's birthday. We were able to spend the whole weekend and Monday (his actual birthday) celebrating. We spent most of the weekend in Vegas. Neither of us are huge Vegas fans, but we won a free trip there, so we decided to take advantage of it before the baby comes. This is how the free trip came about:

Last fall I was home sick and Jake stayed home from work to take care of me. We decided to turn on the TV that morning and happened upon a contest one of the local morning shows was having for a free trip to Vegas. We heard them announce it and didn't really think much of it, but then about 5 minutes later they announced it again and said they still needed people to enter. At that point we thought maybe we were the only ones watching (it was a pretty lame show and we have tried to find it since then and are pretty sure they have canceled it). So we sent an email in to the station with the answer to the question. A couple minutes later Jake's name appeared on the TV as the winner. Well, long story short, we didn't really know what we had won until we got the prize pack in the mail a few days later, and we still didn't realize what a great prize we won until we went to Vegas. This is what we ended up winning:

A free hotel stay at the Palazzo. This was not just any ordinary room. It was a luxury suite on the 43rd floor looking out over a beautiful golf course (Jake was excited about the golf part). The bathroom was bigger than our living room, there were 3 TV's (one in the bathroom, one in the sitting area, and one by the bed). The curtains even had a remote to open and close them from the bed. It was the nicest room either of us have ever stayed in.

We also won tickets to see Blue Man Group. Our tickets were on the 6th row, which made for a very loud concert that the baby danced all the way through.

We also won tickets to see Phantom of the Opera. We both agreed that we like the Broadway production better, but the special effects were still amazing and they had the whole theatre set up as the opera house.

The last thing we won was a gift card for $50 to spend at the mall there, but it is also good at some of the malls here in Utah. We spent some of the money on a souvenir and a few treats like yummy gelatto and will probably spend the rest on some more practical things.

Since winning this contest Jake has become a crazy man entering every contest he can find. He hasn't won anything as great as this trip, but some of you may have heard him a few weeks ago on Good Things Utah. You will have to ask him more about what he won and the whole story. It is pretty funny and a little embarrassing to him, but I don't think that has stopped him from entering more contests!

So, on to the rest of Jake's birthday. Monday (his actual birthday) we both had to work during the day, but we had fun celebrating that night with some of Jake's family. We surprised Jake at the local bowling alley and had such a fun time bowling. Jake even ended up being the big winner! We ended the celebration with a yummy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory later that night.

Happy Birthday Jake! Thanks for being such an amazing husband! I love you!

Memorial Day

2009-05-26T21:01:00.011-06:00

Memorial Day weekend gave us a chance to get out of town. We spent the weekend in Venice (that's Utah with cows, not Italy with gondolas), at Bev's grandparents, and Capital Reef National Park.

We had a great time in Capital Reef even though a severe rainstorm closed down some of the park. The rain let up just long enough for us to get in some hiking and it even created some new waterfalls for us to see. We started with Hickman's Bridge which is a short hike to a natural bridge, we stopped along the way to enjoy some of the other geological wonders.

This is not Hickman's Bridge

This is also not Hickman's Bridge

This isn't even a bridge

This is in fact Hickman's Bridge, we finally made it.

This is everyone that went: Bev's sister Natalie and her husband Bretton, Uncle Doug and Aunt Carolyn, us, soon-to-be brother-in-law Gary, sister Megan, and brother Ben.

Fat Man's (Pregnant Woman's) Misery

We decided not to take the same way back, because we'd already seen it and wanted to try something new. Instead we opted for a slot canyon called Fat Man's Misery, for obvious reasons. Bev was a trooper and didn't complain at all as she was forced to squeeze through narrow passages and climb boulders.

In a couple more weeks Bev and baby wouldn't have fit.

You can see just how steep and narrow the canyon was.

We finished off our trip to Captial Reef with a visit to the muddy Fremont River waterfall.

It was the perfect weekend getaway and was fun to spend the weekend with Bev's siblings, aunt and uncle, and grandma.

Taking A Bite Of The Big Apple

2009-04-19T20:32:00.025-06:00

Back at the beginning of March we took a trip to New York City. It was supposed to be a girls only trip, but I was invited as the body guard and tour guide. We had a memorable trip and enjoyed spending time with the Anderson girls and seeing the sites. Here are some highlights of our first trip to the Big Apple.

We began with a trip to the Empire State Building, to better orient ourselves, you know, "get the lay of the land." It was amazing to see the vastness of the city from the 88th floor, and I didn't even vomit from the height!!
Then we took a double-decker bus tour around the city, yeah it was touristy and freezing cold, but it was fun and we got to see a lot in a short amount of time.

We had the chance to walk around ground zero and witness the large void left in the city from the missing Twin Towers.
We ate lunch at the famed Serendipity restaurant, the peanut butter frozen hot chocolate was so good it was worth the trip just for that!

We had a lot of fun playing at FAO Schwarz (ginormous toy store), posing with the lego statues, and especially playing the huge piano from the movie "Big"

We couldn't go to New York without going to a Broadway show, so of course we went to "Wicked" and loved every minute of it.

The next morning we spent time with our Lady Liberty and at Ellis Island. We were suprised to learn that we were the only people who bought these amazingly patriotic hats and actually wore them.

We took an evening harbor cruise around Manhattan. It was a fun way to see the city even though it was so freezing cold we couldn't enjoy it from the open-air top of the boat.

We capped it all of by visiting the Manhattan temple Sunday morning for sacrament meeting.

Our first trip to the Big Apple was definitely a success, we only wish it could have lasted longer. Thanks again Mom for such a fun trip, we'd go again in a minute.

Half Baked

2009-03-24T21:45:00.005-06:00

It's official, we've reached the halfway point and our little one is now. . .

We decided to celebrate with some Ben & Jerry's Half Baked ice cream, the "baby's" favorite.

Even more exciting, we had our 20 week ultrasound and found out that we're having a little girl!!!! We were so excited to see our cute little girl and learn that she is healthy and growing right on schedule. Pink is our new favorite color!

Winter Adventures

2009-03-01T18:16:00.003-07:00

For Valentines Day this year along with some really pretty roses Jake gave me a cute little book that he had made. I just had to share what a cute and creative husband I have. He took a childrens book called Guess How Much I Love You and glued in pieces of paper that replaced the names of these bunnies with our names. The little Bev and big Jake are competing throughout the book to see who loves the other more. I just posted a few of the pages:

Now that the projectile vomitting has eased and I am feeling a little better we have begun taking our little adventures again. Jake and I both had President's Day off of work and it was a nice day outside so we decided to do a little snowshoeing up Mueller Park. It felt so nice to get out after being cooped up in the house all winter and especially nice to be off the couch exercising again. The scenery was beautiful. I love being in the mountains when it has snowed, everything is so white and peaceful. It felt like we were the only people for miles.
We have been wanting to go to a BYU basketball game all season, and finally had the chance yesterday. It ended up being such a great game to go to. They played the U of U and the Mariott Center was intense. Our ears were still ringing after the game and Jake's voice finally has come back. We went to the game with a few of my siblings and my parents. It was a lot of fun! Best of all the mighty cougars triumphed!!

Parasitic Growth

2009-02-15T13:20:00.006-07:00

We recently went to the doctor and learned that Bev had a parasitic growth in her abdomen. Scary, I know. Unfortunately this growth also has side affects like: projectile vomit, fatigue, back aches, headaches, etc. The doctor showed us its arms, legs, and head and then explained that this particular growth would be with us for a very long time. We're having a baby and we couldn't be more excited!! Even more exciting, the baby's due date is Bev's birthday, August 12th, what a great birthday present. It took a little longer than planned for this new addition to be on its way but with the help of modern technology and Heavenly Father it finally happened. We're excited about beginning our family and the changes this will bring. Don't forget to check back often for new pictures and info on our growing family.

We decided to take a picture every month on the 12th to catalog the growth of our cute little parasite. Here is Bev at T-minus 6 months.

2008-12-24T11:01:00.003-07:00

Merry Christmas!

Three Months in Review

2008-11-12T20:03:00.013-07:00

Here we are again, behind in our blogging. Why have we delayed posting an update for so long, you ask? I like to think it's because we've been doing so much we just haven't had the time. Or maybe its the depression of a future controlled by the Democrats. Who knows, but here is an update on the past few months.

We took a weekend trip to Moab with Bev's sister Heather and her family. We spent the time mountain biking, visiting Arches, pushing the stroller up Slickrock (I think the mountain bikers thought we were crazy), catching lizards, and camping in the beautiful southern Utah red rock.

We watched Megan, Bev's sister, run the Top of Utah Marathon. It was her first and she did amazing, finishing in under 4 hrs! Way to go Meg.

We took a short trip to southern California and luckily timed it just right so we missed the first Utah snow storm. We spent some quality time at the beach, and loved the warm weather. We also got to visit and stay with Bev's old roommate Becky and her family. Thanks again Becky for letting us stay with you.

We rescued this dragon fly from a watery death only to later be devoured by seagulls. ( I think the watery death may have been better)

We rented a tandem bike and road it on a path along the beach. We highly recommend tandem bikes, it's the best way to travel along the beach.
We went to LA and saw the Broadway musical Wicked. Neither of us knew much about it before we went, but we loved it. It was fun to get all dressed up and go to a show.

We also spent a day at the happiest place on earth, Disneyland. They were all decked out for Halloween. If you look closely the A's on this sign are candy corns. Neither of us had been to Disneyland in years, and it brought back a lot of fun memories. I think we leave just enough time between projects to forget all of the pain and suffering that come with them. We painted our living room red. It actually turned out better than expected, but of course was also a lot more work than we were planning on. Just in case any of you are planning on painting your walls red expect to put about 6 layers of paint on before it looks like the color on the card.

We'll try our best in the future to be better bloggers. But this Democrat depression could last 4 years.

We Moved!

2008-08-17T21:18:00.005-06:00

We know it's been quite a while since we have updated our blog, but this time we actually have a good reason. WE MOVED!! What do you get when you move from a 3 bedroom 3 bath to a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment??? A lot of nice lawn funiture! It has been quite the process since the place we moved to is quite a bit smaller than our last place. It is amazing how much junk you can collect in just 1 year.
The place we moved to also needed some fixing up before we moved in. One of the bedrooms was painted a bright turquoise blue (including the ceiling) and the other was a light green and grey. The owners told us that they would pay for the paint if we wanted to re-paint the place. Ruth and Dan were so nice to come help us paint. We are also so grateful for everyone else who helped us move. We couldn't have done it without you! We still have a few projects to complete, like putting door knobs back on, and painting the living room, but for the most part we're finally settled in and enjoying our new place.

As if moving wasn't enough we've kept busy this past month with various other activities, some of which are:

We went on a hike up Adams Canyon with our friends Jeff and Michelle. We are sad they just moved to Oklahoma for Jeff to start Law school.

Jakes parents have apricot trees at their house. They were nice enought to let Jake and I pick a few. We got a food dryer for our wedding and thought we would try it out and put the dried apricots in our food storage. Sadly after drying the fruit we brought it to our new place and our wonderful swamp cooler did a great job of rehydrating them!
For a date night a few weeks ago we went to a drive-in movie. Jake borrowed his dad's truck and their ginormous lovesack and put it in the back of the truck. It was the most comfortable movie I have ever watched and we are hoping to do it again soon. The movie we saw was cute but a little boring for the drive-in (we found ourselves watching some of the other movies on the other screens around us).
We celebrated our 1 year anniversary! I can't believe it has been a year already, but at the same time I can hardly remember life without Jake. This last year has had some unexpected trials, but I feel like my love and admiration for Jake has grown so much more through them. I can't believe how lucky I am!
We ran a 5k in memory of our triathlon last year (we're still bitter we didn't get into it this year).
Jake and I have been trying to find ways to save some money, so I attempted giving my first haircut. Jake was brave enough to be my guineapig. Lets just say that Jake won't need another haircut for a couple months! I also gave a trim to one of our plants that had a hard time with our move. Which haircut looks better? You be the judge!

Jake was so sweet for my birthday. This year he made me breakfast before we headed off to work that morning. When I got home after work he had rented a canoe and had it waiting for us to go canoeing! It was such a fun adventure.
Hopefully you will hear from us again soon!

Reunion Time

2008-07-14T21:50:00.011-06:00

What do you get when you take forty people, including three infants, to the wilderness of central utah for three days? Well, besides a lot of people in desperate need of a shower, you get the spectacular Annual Miller Family Reunion. Evey year over the July 4th weekend we get together with the Millers for a few days of camping near Fish Lake. We play games, sing around the campfire, go hiking and biking, have scavenger hunts, eat amazing food, and just enjoy being together as a family.

This year we went a day early with the rest of Bev's family so we could enjoy the 4th of July festivities in Richfield and hike to Lost Lake before the reunion began. The Richfield parade was fun, especially for the kids who hauled away more candy than any two halloweens combined. To the adults the parade seemed more like an excuse for local businesses to get some cheap advertising, there were only two floats during the 90 minute parade, but plenty of average cars and trucks with a company logo. We still enjoyed watching the kids scramble for candy and the vintages cars that were part of the parade.
We then headed up to the Lost Lake Trailhead and began the 6 mile round-trip hike. We enjoyed the cooler temperature on the mountain and the smell of fresh pine. We hiked past a few monsterous beaver dams and eventually made it to the lake. We had fun at the lake and took a much needed rest and some took a swim in the freezing mountain water. The only casualty of the hike were my feet that had 5 blisters each, some the size of silver dollars, by the time we reached the cars (next time I'll be sure to wear some better shoes). It was a wonderful hike and great to finally see the Lost Lake I've heard so much about.
Friday night we set-up camp without any problems, and caught-up with all of the extended family. Of course it rained hard for about 15min, just long enough to soak all of the camp-chairs but we managed. Saturday we played bolo golf (the most popular game this reunion), volleyball, ticket-to-ride, and went for a bike ride. We were also introduced to the game of Sow, a thrilling game that involves everyone (all 40 of us) swinging big sticks at a can and at each other's shins until the "sow" gets the can in a hole and then we all run like mad to the designated area. Thankfully we only had one casualty, Megan took a stick in mouth, however, she is accident prone so maybe this wasn't an actual casualty but just another "Megan" incident. We capped the night with smores and singing around the campfire. Sunday we held our own little sacrament and testimony meeting. It's amazing how close the spirit is when you're in the mountains surrounded by God's creations. We then sadly broke camp and made the long drive home.

We enjoyed the time off from work and more importantly the time spent with family. This was our first camping experience since we've been married and have decided that we need to go more often. So if anyone is in search of camping pals let us know, we're there!

Happy Birthday Jake!!!

2008-06-15T21:12:00.007-06:00

I know it is amazing that we are posting again. We had some fun adventures over the past week. The most exciting thing is that Jake had a birthday! It ended up being on a Sunday, so we spent the whole weekend celebrating. Well, I should say that the plan was to spend the whole weekend celebrating, but a few things came up unexpectadly. Friday night we were planning to see the new Indiana Jones movie, but as we were getting ready to head out the door we got called to emergency temple duty (a couple in our ward who had signed up to do sealings that night had to cancel at the last minute). When we got to the temple it turned out that they weren't really expecting us, but Jake and I both felt like we needed to be there that night. It was the first time we had done sealings since our own and it was a really special experience for both of us. Saturday we planned to spend outside hiking or biking, but it turned out to be a cold day, so we caught the Indiana Jones matinee instead. We visited my sister, Heather, and her new little baby, Weston.

We went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse- Jake's request. Then to Color Me Mine (taking us back to our pottery class days). My family grew up using a special birthday plate that you were only allowed to use on your special day. Jake and I decided to start the tradition with our own family, so we designed our own little cake plate, painted it and had it fired. We're excited to start using it.

Sunday (the final day of festivities and Jake's real birthday) we went to my parents house for dinner and of course cake and ice cream. We sang happy birthday and came really close to needing the fire department's help putting out all those candles!

Since we didn't get to do anything outside the weekend of Jake's birthday, we decided to go mountain biking yesterday. It was really fun, but also turned into an adventure. We decided to go on the benches above Bountiful. They have quite a few trails, however we didn't realize that the trails went straight up and then straight down again and were filled with gravel. Jake handled the trails well, but I am just a beginner and they were a little much for me. If anyone has any suggestions of fun trails to take (for a beginner), we would love to hear from you.

FRP and Feelin Old

2008-06-01T19:40:00.010-06:00

Back by popular demand! We've had numerous requests to update our blog, so here is the latest.

Earlier in the month we set out on what would become an age defining adventure. We decided to hike the "Y", in happy valley, mostly because Jake had never experienced this during his 4 years there. We met up with Ben, Bretton and Natalie (Bev's siblings) and began the arduous hike. It soon became apparent that though we exercise on a regular basis it is no match for youth. We seemed to lag behind no matter how many breaks we took. What was their secret to having so much more energy? A breakfast consisting of browines and cookies!! Needless to say by the time we reached the top we felt old. We did survive the day and enjoyed the view of the valley perched atop the "Y".
We also did our best impression of BYU.
The rest of the month has been occupied with our role as F.R.P.s (Friendly Reunion Planners). We were in charge of and have been planning the annual Anderson Family Reunion the past couple months, the culmination of which was 4 fun-filled days at Bear Lake. Our theme this year was "Anderson life is good" and we planned various activites to remind us that life truly is good. We spent an afternoon at Lava Hot Springs, went golfing, threw 2 baby showers, learned to make jewelry, played horse shoes, had a handshaking competition at church, made and raced cucumber boats, went on a nature walk/scavenger hunt, played games, had a campfire, ate good food, and just enjoyed being together. It was great to see everyone and we hope we dont have to wait until the next reunion to be together again. We're hoping next year will be a little less stressful, now that we've handed off the clipboard to Ali and Mark. Thanks everyone for making this year's reunion such a success and so enjoyable. Though we may not be able to keep up in the hike to the "Y", at least now that we're not consumed by reunion preparations we'll be able to keep up with our blog!

Lessons Learned

2008-03-30T20:31:00.005-06:00

Back in November, we began a project that we thought would only take a few weeks to complete. Many months later, here we are finally at the end of a long road. When Jake went to law school he bought a table set from the illustrious K-mart for $30. The table and chairs were a gorgeous orange stain color which though we loved, didn't quite match the rest of our kitchen. Rather than buy a new set at K-mart, we thought we'd refinish the old orange one. We ended up saving money, so long as our labor was worth only a penny an hour. We did learn many valuable lessons from this experience though. Lesson #1 Choose the colors you want BEFORE you start painting. Lesson #2 Cheaper paint from Wal-Mart is not always better. Lesson #3 Sanding inside the house makes a little bit of a mess! Lesson #4 Winter time is not ideal for refinishing furniture, most of which needs to be done outside. Lesson #5 That old orange color wasn't so bad. Lesson #6 Paint fumes will fill the entire house and give you a buzz for a week. Lesson #7 Don't plan a get-together at your home to force youselves to complete the project (our guests are still coming down from the buzz they got). Lesson #8 Ask for advice before starting, not once you've alread screwed-up. Lesson #9 When painting indoors use a drop cloth or a lot of newspaper. Lesson #10 Refinishing furniture is an adventure and was a lot of fun doing together. Having learned all of these vital lessons we would definitely do it again.

Grand Canyon Adventure

2008-03-02T21:51:00.009-07:00

We decided to get out of the cold weather for President's Day weekend and go to the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately the Grand Canyon didn't get the memo that it was supposed to be warm. We headed out Friday morning and made the drive though southern Utah and stayed that night just over the Arizona border in Page, AZ (near Lake Powell). Just seeing Lake Powell made us wish we had a boat. Saturday morning we awoke early and made the two hour drive to the Grand Canyon. There was snow on the ground, the wind was blowing, but the view was spectacular. We spent the day driving along the south rim, braving the cold at each of the look-outs or vistas along the way. Some of the stops were a little precarious with icy trails, severely lacking guard rails, and 5,000 ft drop-offs. We enjoyed the day there and have vowed that we will never take our kids there until they are grown.

We drove back to Page that night, and at some point picked-up another passenger, a broken tire chain. After arising early and getting ready for church we were surprised to find we had a flat tire thanks to the broken tire chain. How grateful we were that we weren't in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road, and that Bev had the impression to fill-up the spare. We spent the next hour changing the tire. It was an adventure to say the least, as the jack didn't lift the car high enough to change the tire. With some help from a kind stranger we were able to make it work.

We then decided to head to Zions National Park where we hoped the weather would be warmer and the spare would not fail us. We were blessed on both accounts. Zions was gorgeous, and most importantly warm and sunny. We spent the rest of Sunday looking at some of God's amazing creations. Monday moring we decided to hike the Emerald Pools and had a wonderful time looking at waterfalls, and the beautiful red rock canyons. We made the trip home that night and thankfully the spare tire held-up. We had a wonderful trip and were glad for the vacation. We're looking forward to warm weather and many more adventures.

Goodbye to a Prophet

2008-03-02T19:25:00.004-07:00

We have been wanting to write this entry for a while and are finally getting around to it. We had the special opportunity to attend the viewing of our beloved prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley. We both left work a little early in hopes of beating the crowd, unbeknownst to us everyone else had the same idea. The line stretched around the conference center in both directions (a testament to how much President Hinckley was adored). It was cold but the sun was still shining and we thought it would be an hour wait outside . . . little did we know our adventure had just begun. Three and half hours later we were finally rescued from the freezing wind and cold temperatures. We literally could not feel our fingers and toes by the time we made it in. Then we began the hour and half wait inside dethawing and watching the recording of President Hinckely's birthday celebration. Finally it was our turn. We had the opportunity to walk beside his casket and see the prophet one last time. The five hour wait was well worth the experience. It was a solemn moment to see the mortal tabernacle of one who embodied a life of service, a moment we will not soon forget. We're grateful for his wisdom and service and now look forward as President Monson assumes his new calling.

Winter Adventures

2008-02-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

It has been far too long since our last post. For all of our faithful readers (Mindy)... this one is for you:) We thought we would catch you up on what we have been doing to try and enjoy the crazy weather we have been having. On New Years Eve day we went sledding with Megan and Ben (Bev's siblings). It was a lot of fun with just a few minor casualties. The first casualty was when Ben's sled broke in two after going off a jump, however that did not deter him for using it for the rest of the day!
The next casualty is when Megan started feeling a little breeze down her backside. We were all very thankful she had snowpants on.

The final casualty was on the last jump of the day. Ben finally made it all the way down the hill and made the jump, however he ended up with a sprained ankle. He was proud he had finally made the jump though, so I guess it was worth it.

Somehow Jake and I escaped any major casualties and just ended up with a couple of sore tail bones. It ended up being a very entertaining and fun day.

* * *

Our other winter adventure was going snowshoeing a few weeks ago with some friends. We went along the pipeline trail up Millcreek Canyon. It was such a beautiful day and felt so nice to be outside enjoying nature again. We had a lot of fun playing in the snow and especially sliding down the mountain on our bottoms. It was a little scarry weaving through the trees as we slid down the mountain. We lost our voices screeming and laughing the whole way down and I think the people at the bottom may have wondered what kind of crazy creature was coming towards them. We can't wait to go again sometime soon.

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

2007-12-19T22:09:00.001-07:00

Okay, so it's been nearly a month since we actually put up our christmas tree but since not enough people live close by to see it, we felt we must post it for your viewing pleasure!!!

Bev's family has a yearly tradition of cutting down christmas trees the day after Thanksgiving. Every year they head down to central Utah near Richfield and spend the day at Grandma and Grandpa Miller's house and on the mountain in search of the perfect tree. We had a wonderful time at the house this year, catching-up with family and eating hot-chaws (a topic for another time).

This year Bev and I were the last to find our tree. Some were lucky enough to find their perfect tree close to the base of the mountain and right off the side of the road. Others of us had to search the whole mountain for the perfect tree. Bev and I hiked to the top of the mountain, where we stopped and found our tree for the year. Then we had to wait for the chainsaw (operated by Bev's dad) to catch-up to us. We then began the journey down the mountain carrying our fresh tree.

After some hot cocoa we loaded up the trees and headed home. We couldn't wait to put up our tree, so the minute we got home we put it in the stand, turned on some christmas music and decorated it that night. We stayed up way past our bedtime, but we had a lot fun decorating the tree. Best of all, our house smells like moutain pine...a perfect air freshener.

We wish you all a very merry christmas!!!!

Let The Bidding Begin. . .

2007-11-16T16:46:00.000-07:00

Well our pottery class officially ended this past Tuesday when we picked up our creations we've been working on for the last couple months. Let's just say that they didn't turn out quite like we'd planned. The art of glazing isn't exactly precise: colors change (especially when mixed), some become really glossy, some glazes run and blend together, etc. We were somewhat disappointed in the way many of our "artistic creations" turned out, and think they looked much better before we glazed them. Nonetheless, we loved the class and the chance to learn something together. We'd love to take it again sometime (now that we're experts we'd surely make amazing pieces of pottery). In the end we each took home five different "creations."
These are Bev's five:

These are Jake's five:

And this is the tragedy of the decade!!! At the pinnacle of the class, while in the prime of my wheel-throwin' skills, I created a perfect chip n' dip bowl (all one piece). It was eventually supposed to be glazed blue and white with Cougar symbols on it. Alas, the teacher failed to mention that these only work 20% of the time because the center bowl and outside bowl dry at different rates and the clay cracks. I was heartbroken.

Anyway, these ten ceramic wonders, miracles really, are still on display on our kitchen counter because we have absolutely no idea where to put them. So let the bidding begin . . . do I hear a nickel? Who'll give me a dime?

Cougar Game

2007-11-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

Our latest adventure has been cheering on our Cougars. We recently watched our Cougars stomp the CSU rams. We enjoyed our trip down memory lane in Provo, the nice weather, and dinner at the Malt Shoppe. We're looking forward to the rest of the season and especially stomping the guts out of the Utes!!

Award Winning Chili....Well ALMOST

2007-10-31T20:00:00.000-06:00

Tonight was our annual ward trunk r' treat and chili cook-off. We had a lot of fun handing out candy to the kids and seeing their costumes. But the highlight by far was the chili cook-off. This was my first attempt at cooking chili, and really I had no idea how much effort it took and how much fun it would be. I found a receipe online and then adapted it by adding things and taking things out (like the beer). It took about an hour of prep time and two hours to cook. It was yummy....but apparently the judges would have rather that I left the beer in!! I lost by one clove of garlic...whatever that means!!

Tonight also gave us another chance to don our cute halloween costumes. Bev made them from literally nothing and we were able to wear them to the Homer Family Halloween Party. She did such a great job. I don't think there is a cuter hot dog in the world! Really this was such a great costume.....because it meant I got to hold her all night long. Obviously, I was the bun, fully equipped with mustard and ketchup.