Basketball Season

Well Basketball season is in full swing and, well, almost over. The Boys came in 1st place in Districts and are doing well in Regionals. The girls were #1 all year and ended up 3rd at Districts and are also doing well in Regionals. This makes for a fun cheer season for Bridget. We also have really enjoyed watching the games.
She loves being a flier and doing all the stunts and gymnastics. The more dangerous the better. That's pretty much been her motto her whole life. Who knew all those years of pulling her off the top of the fridge and every other precarious location she could get to would turn out to be so handy?

The cheerleaders put on a cheer camp for all the elementary kids. Lydia went to the camp but refused to perform at the game. She is completely unimpressed that her sister is a cheerleader. Means nothing to her.

Every week they take turns hosting a dinner. Here they are at our house before the game.

Here are some videos. One is of one of the dismounts they do and the other is of the dance they performed a few weeks ago. Bridget is in the front of the of the group on the right.

This week she is campaigning. She is running for office as the student body secretary. She has to give a speech in front of the whole school at the end of the week. Then everybody votes online. I don't know why that seems odd. I guess the way we did it (go in a booth and mark your choice on a piece of paper) is archaic. At least Bridget thinks so. She has been making posters and fliers and putting tags on candy to hand out. Garrett helped her with her speech and it turned out really cute.

Speaking of Garrett. He is still very much enjoying his college experience. Although he is not loving his job. He is taking surveys over the phone. He is thinking about getting a second job selling his blood. I am nervous about this one as he has gotten so skinny since being away at school. I don't think he has anything to give.

Samantha is now working at WalMart. She is working at getting back to school also. Not her favorite job either but we are all happy with what we can get in this economy.

Last night Dallin had a jazz band concert. Todd had a meeting and I was home with Lydia who was sick. Samantha was working and Bridget was cheering at a game. So poor Dallin was unsupported at the concert. But I got a text from an audience member telling me he rocked his solo. He was very nervous about it but it sounds like he did great and he was feeling pretty good when he got home.

Eli is now a big Sunbeam. No more nursery for us! I love his little sincere face when he tries to sing with me during singing time. He is loving it.

Valentine's Day

My Sweetheart bought me flowers for Valentine's Day. I didn't get around to taking this picture until they were about a week old so they are a little droopy. The funny thing is, when I saw them on the front porch my first thought was that someone sent Bridget flowers. Todd never "sends" me flowers. He sometimes brings them to me but never has them delivered. When Samantha walked in the door and saw the flowers she immediately asked who sent Bridget flowers. I told her they weren't for Bridget. Then she wanted to know who they were for. I let her know they were for me. She said,"Who sent YOU flowers?" Hmmm...let's see..I wonder. The only person who didn't think they were for Bridget was Bridget.

The little kids loved giving Valentines to their friends and Lydia loved the party at school. On Friday night we went to the stake adult dance. We spent the night in the kitchen preparing and serving food. Which was just as fun for me as anything else. We poked our head out every once in a while to watch the old people cuttin' a rug on the dance floor...very entertaining. When we got home there was a card on our bed for us from Lydia. On the outside it said,"I Love Mom a Dad. She hasn't figured out and, she just writes a. On the inside it said, "I Love You?". Apparently she is learning about punctuation. Either that or she is having some ambivalent feelings. Either way it cracked me up.

The next day we had our annual Valentine's treasure hunt. I buy each child a small gift and make a treasure hunt for each one. Then they all have to run with each other to find the treasures. I have been doing this since they oldest kids were small. I didn't do it last year because of the circumstances and my mind wasn't on Valentines so the little kids didn't remember any treasure hunts. They LOVED it. It was so much fun to watch them.

Happy Birthday Lydia!

Lydia Clair Anderson was born on January 20th 2003 at 4:05 pm. She weighed 8 pounds and 14 ounces. Can you believe it's been six years since this little sweetie joined our family? It had been a long time since we had a baby and there was a lot of excitement surrounding her birth. Bridget was beyond excited and kept calling Todd to find out, "What are you doing?". My friend Sheree was my nurse when I got there. After she got off work she picked up my kids and took them to her house to play so they wouldn't die of anticipation. We called to let her know it would be soon and she brought them to the hospital. They stood out in the hall and got to hear her first cries. Here they are getting their first look.

Bridget spent the previous six months letting everyone know that she would be the first to hold the baby. The whole time I was pregnant she couldn't get enough of rubbing and hugging my belly. She was 11. Two years later at 13 when Eli was born she wouldn't come anywhere near me. So sad how that happens.

She was a very loved baby. She was never put down. I just held her all day while the kids were at school. I was experienced enough to realize how quickly they grow and I wanted to really enjoy her.

Here she is on her blessing day.

One day Garrett asked me if she was really cuter than all the other babies or if there was some genetic thing that just made us think she was. I just laughed and said,"Oh Garrett...of course she is cuter than all the other babies."

Here she is wearing the same little pink dress that both Samantha and Bridget wore.

We all have enjoyed her so much. She is a quiet little thing. She loves to help and she will spend hours drawing and coloring. She loves school. She is really good at sharing with her little brother. And when she got two of her favorite gum for her birthday she, without hesitation, gave one to Eli. She plays very well with him even though they have very different personalities and he can be a challenge at times. She is always telling everyone how much she loves them. We are very blessed to have this little girl in our family.

The Big Game

Well it's not the super bowl. I'm still back on Ohio State's big game. Okay so we haven't done so well in the bowl games recently. But seriously it's been the National championship. Not too many teams make it there in the first place. And I don't want to hear the trash talk. And Texas again? Well this was our chance to show them.

It turned out to be a real nail biter.

We were optimistic.

Samantha couldn't help taking a picture of her love, Eddie George. He was a star when we were in Ohio. She had quite a crush on him. Rub the gnome for luck.

Some of us took the loss harder than others.

Well at least it was a close game this year. But that touchdown in the last seconds of the game was a heartbreaker. We'll get em next year.

GO BUCKS!

Christmas

Okay, so it is officially February and I am just getting to Christmas. Here are our two little sweeties in their Christmas best. Except I lost Eli's pants that go with this outfit after the trip to Utah. I just found them today. (They were hung up. Who would've thought?) Eli wasn't so sure about this photo shoot.

Lydia was all over it.

Elijah warmed up after awhile.

Here is the annual picture by the stockings. You just can't see the stockings these days.
All ready for the mad dash down the stairs.Samantha sporting her new blue tooth.

Lydia with her new purse and jewelry from her cousin Eden. She filled it with all her new lip glosses and had it with her all the time.

As always Dallin loves his new Ohio State gear.

Garrett with the headphones Bridget gave him.

Eli opening another light saber to add to his arsenal. After opening the Batman mask he didn't take it off for days. He still wears it much of the time.

Bridget wearing her new Twilight shirt. She's obsessed with all things Twilight.

We had the missionaries over on Christmas Eve for our Traditional Prime Rib. On Christmas we always make toasted cheese steak sandwiches. Low key and Yummy! The best part of Christmas is laying around the house all day doing nothing guilt free! And Todd is even home all day.

Snowmobiling

We had enough snow that we could go snowmobiling out at the land. With ours and our friends on our road there are over 40 acres. Luckily some friends have snowmobiles and are storing one in our shop. So we put a heater in the shop with some hot chocolate and enjoyed all the snow. Here is Todd with Bridget and her friend Shaylee.
Bridget and Shaylee took turns pulling each other on the tube.

Lydia and her friend took a ride on the tube too. Lydia only tolerated it.

She much preferred just playing in the snow.
Here is Todd, Garrett and Dallin on the snowmobiles too.
Garrett took Eli for a ride. He loved it and wanted to go faster and faster. But it was pretty cold.
Elijah was covered with snow when he got off.
It was a good time had by all. And we didn't even have to go up to the mountains to find enough snow.

The Very Big Snow

While we were in Utah it started to snow. When we got home there was a lot of snow on the ground. After that it kept snowing and snowing and snowing. I have never seen this much snow in this town. The icicles were huge. They went from the roof above to the roof below. It looked like we had bars on our windows from the inside.

We were buried.

Garrett and Dallin went outside to play one day. Dallin was the photographer.
Garrett decided to take a bike ride. He didn't get too far.This is how the snow piled up on the mailbox. I'm not sure how it stayed like that. It looks like something out of Dr. Seuss. The snow was almost up to the mailbox. We got about three feet. The kids ended up getting out of school three days early for Christmas Vacation. They were happy and sad. No school but also no Christmas parties and lots of the concerts were cancelled.
I loved the way the Christmas lights glowed through the snow.
Garrett says this is how his dad wakes him up in the morning.

And this is his audition for the scary guy next door on Home Alone.

It is kinda a nightmare trying to get Garrett out of bed.