Happy Birthday/Fathers Day

Eighteen! An official adult yet still a teenager. After the last weekend being all Garrett all the time. The next was Garrett's Birthday. Good thing he had to share it with Father's Day just to keep him grounded. Garrett was born June 15th 1990. He was my biggest baby (9lbs 9 oz) and the quickest labor. He was five days late which was a relief after the last one ( two weeks and induced). I woke up at just after 2am with a strong contraction. Ten minutes later another one. Five minutes later another one. From then on two minutes apart. I just got up and did some things to see what was happening. After being induced with Samantha I wasn't sure what to expect. In any case since her labor was so long I was sure I had plenty of time. I woke up Todd and leisurely got ready to go. We took Samantha next door to Grandma and Grandpa Roskelley and drove very slowly to the hospital. We were thinking we would be very embarrassed if they sent us home. By the time we got there I was having trouble getting the gown on I was in so much pain. By the time they checked me I was in transition. I was not in my room very long and the doctor barely made it before Garrett was born at 6:16 am. Four hours from first pain to baby. Garrett is squished between two intense girls. (I had all three in three years and three months). How is it that he is the most laid back kid in town? Garrett likes people and can get along with just about anyone. He has a great sense of humor, loves music and film making. He has a great sense of who he is, he doesn't need to be the center of attention but people are drawn to him. He is not afraid to pull someone up when they are down. He is very compassionate. (Although this can be hard to believe when he is driving you crazy just for fun.) He has high standards yet he is still "cool". He has a great testimony and is a wonderful mentor for his younger brothers (who idolize him). I love the person he has become. It's amazing to watch the growth and at this time of life. When it's time to let your kids go you have to wonder, did I teach him everything he needs to know? Is he ready? Did I do everything I wanted to with him before he goes? But I know he is going to be fine. I'm just not sure I will. He will be missed around here.

Anyway, enough mush, he had a fun birthday beside the fact that he had to spend that day , and the two days previous, learning how to be a lifeguard. The good news is he is now a certified lifeguard! He works for the city lifeguarding and does farm work on the side when he has time. He got some clothes and stuff and a gift card to Best Buy for some cool stuff to go with his new lap top he is getting for school.

It was also Father's day. So here they are together. Unfortunately someone in the ward passed away so Todd spent most of dinner in his "office" (his car) on the phone. Todd got the thing he got me for Mother's day and then stole the next day. It is a GPS with a MP3 and bluetooth. He decided he wanted to keep it for Father's day and my camera died so I bought myself a new one for Mother's day. Todd doesn't even know how to find this blog so he doesn't read it. But I must say he is a wonderful Father. He is a great example to his children, he is hardworking and does so much for us. We are so blessed to have him.

I know this is really late but it is summer and school is out and computer time is scarce.

Happy Birthday Dallin!

Dallin was born 13 years ago on June 11th 1995. An official teenager! We officially have 4 teenagers right now. He is our only baby born in Ohio. Although he can't remember Ohio, he is a huge Ohio State fan because he was born there. Todd had a huge paper route while we lived there. We would start getting the Sunday inserts on Monday and they would come all week. On Saturday we had to collate the papers. Then on Sunday morning Todd would add the front page section. We never once left the collating until Sunday morning except once. We had Garrett's friend birthday party on Saturday with a whole bunch of five year olds. Then we went to dinner at some friend's house. We came home really tired and just decided to take care of the papers in the morning. Todd fell asleep on the couch. I went to bed and woke up at about 2am with contractions. Well this was not unusual. So I just laid there trying to go back to sleep. Surely this couldn't be real. It would make him born on his due date. That couldn't possibly happen to me. NO ONE wanted to come on time in this family. The contractions kept coming so I woke up Todd and told him we better get out there and do the papers. So it's the middle of the night and we are in the garage collating papers. I kept having to stop and breathe through contractions which were now coming every two and a half minutes. Todd kept begging me to go in the house and take a shower (because he knows I would want to do that before I leave.) But I wanted to stay and get the papers done. When the papers were all done they filled the the entire van floor to ceiling front to back with just a little spot for the driver. I went in and called my friend Marcie that lived pretty close several times but she never heard the phone. Then I called my friend Sharon. She lived farther away but I knew she was willing and the kids were comfortable with her. Todd called his manager from the paper to get someone to do the route. Sharon came over and so did the guy from the paper. And now both the girls were awake (Garrett could sleep through a train wreck). Todd was outside having a conversation with the paper guy. I was in the house waiting for him and now the contractions are coming hard and fast. This was a little disconcerting for everyone in the house. Sharon was about to go out and punch one or both of those men. So I went out and hung on Todd doubled over in pain until the guy got the hint and left. Well he took our van with all the papers so we had to borrow Sharon's van to get to the hospital. Of course as we left Bridget started to have a melt down. All the neighbors told us they knew we were going to the hospital because they could hear Bridget screaming. We got there about 6:00 am. This hospital had a brand new maternity wing with private rooms and no waiting in line for a shower. This was a new experience from the first three at Kaiser. When we got all checked in I called someone from the primary to let them know I wouldn't be there to take care of my responsibilities that morning. The nurse tried to talk me out of an epidural because I was so close but I said I would take it anyway thanks. I did natural once and that was enough. And Dallin was born at 8:37 am. It was a very comfortable and easy delivery. The nurse had to put her hand under him on the way out and tell the doctor to pay attention because he was turned away and didn't notice that the baby was coming right now! Dallin started to cry as soon as his head was out. I didn't even know that was possible. When they took him to the nursery to get bathed and weighed you could hear him all the way down the hall. I was worried I had a screamer on my hands. But he must have gotten it all out of his system because after that he was always a sweet and compliant little boy. Starting with being born on his due date and having an easy delivery he was no different from then on. When he was little people always would ask us how we make him be so good all the time. We just told them he was born that way. He has always had a strong moral compass and a tender heart. He likes to stick up for those who are picked on or the underdog. Notice the furrowed brow in this baby picture. He is a worrier and I think he started as a baby because he would always furrow his brow like that.


There was no one who was more excited for this baby to get here than Bridget. She LOVED babies and couldn't wait to start taking care of Dallin. Well really we didn't know if he was going to be a boy or a girl and only had girl names picked out. So his name came on the spur of the moment in the delivery room. But Bridget was true to her word and was always right there to help with him. She continued to watch out for him and would always play with him as he got older. I have some great pictures of her with him when he was tiny but I can't find any of them right now. So this will have to do.
Dallin thoroughly enjoyed his birthday. Grandma was still here and Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came back just for his special day. He got to have his favorite meal that I wont make very often because it is a heart attack on a plate (Shrimp Fettuccine). Then he got, among other things, a digital camera which he was very pleased with. He has been taking pictures nonstop ever since.

Apparently he loved the present Garrett gave him, accessories for his Nintendo DS. Not to mention he idolizes his brother.

A couple days later we took Grandma to the park. Here they are in the Gazebo that they love to run and slide in. We played, climbed trees and looked at every bird in the aviary. Lydia loves the birds and wants to look at each one for a very long time.

Okay so this was a very long post but I felt like I should get it down for Dallin and, you know, posterity.

22 YEARS

Our anniversary was on Saturday June, 7th. The same day as Garrett's court of honor. Sometimes I look at this picture and think we were BABIES! Who let these two children get married? Yet here we are with 22 years, 6 kids, ten years of school, 5 years of being bishop and half a shop behind us and we are still going strong. Okay well strong is a relative word. If the kids don't kill me and the shop doesn't kill Todd then we're doing really well.

Biking in the Rain

I think this picture captures the essence of Garrett. Biking in the rain on a tandem bike with an umbrella in one hand and a caramel apple in the other. If you know Garrett it is so perfect on so many levels.They were just riding along when this car whips a u-turn and a guy jumps out with a huge camera and starts taking their picture. Then he stopped them and asked them a bunch of questions. It was in the paper the next day, Wednesday, June 11. Which happens to be Dallin's birthday. (More on that later.) If you can't read the caption here it is:
"Like an adaptation from "Singing in the Rain" Michael Hui and Garrett Anderson say they're just "biking in the rain", Tuesday afternoon along Second Avenue. Hui steers while Anderson holds the umbrella and enjoys a caramel apple from the back of their tandem bike. "We are out of high school and it's summer so it seemed like a good day for it," Hui said. Adding, "It wasn't raining when we left."
June has been exceptionally cold and rainy. I like how they are wearing flip flops in honor of summer even though it is only in the low 50s. Garrett and Michael have been close friends since elementary school. It will be sad to see them go their separate ways come fall.

Just some of the pictures from Garretts Eagle Court of Honor slide show

Eagle Court of Honor

We held Garrett's Eagle Court of Honor on Saturday right after the Barbecue. Yes, eight days before his eighteenth birthday. And four years after he could have done it since he had all the badges by then. But he did it all on his own. This was not a mommy or daddy eagle. He did it! It was a very nice day. Here Dallin is doing the color guard. Don't worry Dallin. You will be able to see over the podium some day. Look at Garrett he was that short once too.

Here is John Rowley, who currently serves as the Scout Master, presenting the eagle award pin thing.

The Bishop finds it easier to make comments about this Eagle recipient than he has the rest. After that we had a sweet slide show of Garrett's life till now. Can I say it again? Wow it's gone fast.

Garrett had a big weekend with graduation and the barbecue and his Eagle Court of Honor and then on Sunday was Seminary graduation. If you think his shirt looks a little small. Well I bought it big when he started scouts never dreaming he would get this big. He was very small at the time.

Celebration!

On Saturday we had a Barbecue for Garrett and Ethan. We had about 85 people and LOTS of food. It was fun to have Kelly and her girls and both Grandmas and Grandpa and Samantha here. Kids were running amok. It was all kind of a blur for me because I was running around a lot. It didn't last long because we had to run to Garrett's Eagle Court of Honor right after.

Graduation!

Here is the day we have all been waiting for. Garrett Graduated! As always it is a day full of many emotions. Excited for the independence and changes to come. Longing for the security and familiarity of high school. It's hard to believe it's already over. Here is Garrett playing with the band for the very last time. He is right in the middle. The Seniors get to choose the song the band will play which was Bohemian Rhapsody. Then the band secretly planned in advance to play Louie Louie. Not on the schedule so the Band director just stood there for a while with his hands dangling with an incredulous "what are you doing?" look on his face. Finally he just went with it. After the speeches it took about forty five minutes to read all the names. One of Garrett's close friends, Brian, went to school and did all the practice and everything but about the time his friends were graduating he was having an emergency appendectomy. I felt so bad for him. But by the next night he was already hanging out with his friends. Albeit moving slowly. Samantha came for the big day and so did all the grandparents. It was so fun to have everyone here. You might not be able to tell but we were freezing and we got rained on. I have only seen it rain on graduation twice since we have lived here in the last twelve years. Those were Samantha's graduation and Garrett's graduation. Well at least we weren't too hot.

Senior Academic Recognition Night

Surprise! Garrett got an unexpected scholarship at Senior Academic Recognition night. He saw a friend filling out an application one day and just grabbed one and spent the next two periods filling it out then forgot about it. When he was called up to accept his scholarship we were all surprised. We didn't even know he had applied for it. So we thought it would be a hundred or two. But we were pretty excited to find out it was for a thousand dollars! It was for academics, citizenship, contribution to the school etc. I'll take a surprise thousand dollars any day! Way to go Garrett! This is a bad picture but I forgot I was going to take a picture of him up there until the last minute.

This is Garrett and his friends singing the alma mater at the end of the night. They are laughing because they never even knew they had an alma mater.

Dallin is Flyin' HIgh

Dallin had a fun day a couple of weeks ago with his friends Connor and Jake. They got to go on an airplane ride around the city for about 20 minutes. First they had a little class about aeronautics and how planes work and all that and then they got to fly in the plane. They had a great time and it was all free. We have a little airport and they have one day where they teach them and let them ride for free. I have to thank Connors mom for all of it. She signed them up and took them. I wouldn't have even known about it if she didn't tell me. It was loads of fun and Dallin loved it!