Planning ahead

Now that school has started, and Shaunie's birthday is over, we have a few more things to plan for. The most important at this moment is the new baby, tomorrow. Rachel finished all of her pre-registration today and the Dr. says everything looks really well. Rachel asked him how big he thought our new little girl will weigh. He replied by saying about 7 lbs, but not more then 8. He also emphasized to Rachel, with a smile, that he has never been off by more than 5 lbs. He is a great guy and we are truly blessed to have him has Rachel's physician.
Once baby Millie has come to earth, it'll be time to prepare for Shaunie's baptism and confirmation. She is a little nervous, but she passed the bishop's interview with flying colors. Immediately following the baptism, we will have Millie's baby blessing, and then off to lunch. Once that busy weekend is complete we look forward to Shaunie and leah's first soccer game of the season, and Rachel's birthday, then Leah starts pre-school, then Samuel starts karate. Originally he was going to play soccer with Shaunie and Leah, but he changed his mind and said he needs to do karate first.
So, the next 3 weeks will be full of many FIRSTS in our family. What a blessing to live where we live with the family we have. Life is great, busy, but great!

Happy 8th Birthday, Shaunie!

Holy Cow! who said Shaunie could grow up so fast?




At our "Family dinner" last night we also celebrated Shaunie's Birthday. As always, the kids get to pick out the style of cake they want and Rachel creatively makes it for them. Shaunie searched the internet for ideas and came to her mom with the idea of a "Book of Mormon" cake. This is kind of appropriate since we have been talking a lot about baptism with her. She reads it periodically and we like to sing Samuel's favorite song, "Book of Mormon Stories" at night.



Aunt Michelle also had a birthday this month, so she chose the kind of cake it would be. Anyone know Michelle's favorite? Well, she chose Rainbow Chip. We ended up putting the 2 cakes together with Michelle's rainbow chip cake acting as the support base for the Book Of Mormon cake. Grandma Mangum added a little chocolate chip ice cream to seal the deal. Thanks Mom!

Back to school

No first day of school would be complete in our house without a little celebration. Rachel made this cake last year and decided to make it again, because it was such a hit. After talking about school and the importance of it with the kids, we broke out the "cake", actually made of brownies and frosting, and enjoyed a small piece. Needless to say that when I got home from work the next day, there wasn't anything left. Oh well!

Troy Turns Two

We had a small, simple birthday party for Troy Boy on the 7th. He turned 2. I can't believe he is getting so big. He is so much fun right now. His vocabulary is growing every day and he loves to tell us all what to do. His favorite words include:

MINE!

ME!
Ni-Nite
baby (that's what he calls his ratty bear blanket now)
nums (that's any type of food he wants)
bobbie (any drink or cup)
B-ball
WHOA! (to anything awe-inspiring)
das' cue (he calls everything cute)
why? (I don't think he knows what this means)
NO!
EEWWW! (Sam taught him this and he uses it freely)


He still loves to throw his balls around, crash his cars into each other and pretend he is a doggy. He has even started to play little make-believe games with Leah. He'll make me food from the play kitchen and pretend to take care of his "baby". He is so much fun to play with and talk to. Of course, he is two and he loves to throw his fits and draw all over himself, but his age also preserves my right to give him tons of hugs, cuddles, and kisses and smile at his contagious laughter. He is my little Troyboy and we love him so much. Happy Birthday Troy!

Troy's all-cousin party was a swim party. Troy's little pool is in the background above. Here is Troy telling us 'I code"

Troy and cousin buddy Carson enjoying the birthday cake and ice cream.

Sam ummm....helped Troy open his presents. Sam understood what was going on much better so his excitement was a little ummm... less-controllable than Troys. This is a fun book he got from Grandma Mangum.

I usually try to make the cakes according to what the kids are in to at that time. It's sorta a way of capturing that age (and then devouring it, I guess). If you have been around Troy you know that he LOVES dogs and baseball. Since his dog cake turned out a little small, I decided to add a few baseball cupcakes to make sure we had enough.Here is a picture of both. I was just happy that he recognized what they were and enjoyed eating them.

4th of July

The 4th of July is a fun time to celebrate the independence of this great country where we live. To start with, we'd like to thank all those who have served or are serving in the armed forces to protect this great nation and allow us the freedoms God has given us. We were able to celebrate the holiday with some friends in the front yard of our house. It was relatively quiet, and when all was said and done, we didn't have to fight through traffic to get home. You may think that we didn't get to see any of the real "cool" fireworks, but alas we live in an area where illegal fireworks could be seen and heard all around us. Yes, we missed the shows synchronized to music, but we saw lots of neat displays.

Here is Sam watching a fountain firework



Some neighborhood friends eating and watching. I don't have a clue what Shaunie is doing; Crazy cuke!



Troy and his friend couldn't help but enjoy the sweet watermelon that is a necessity for any 4th of July celebration. It was straight to the bathtub for him.

Shaunie . . . Reading Time

Shaunie has always enjoyed reading. She has an amazing talent for picking out words, even difficult ones, and learning their pronunciation rather quickly. Many times we will find her reading to her brothers and sisters, like in this picture. Her favorites to read to someone else include Dr. Seuss books and Junie B. Jones. For a while I thought she was going to jump on the Twilight bandwagon; she started reading it, but has since moved on.

Jordanelle reservoir

On our last day in Utah, we went with most of the family to Jordanelle reservoir for a day of fun in the lake. There's not much of a beach when you compare it to California, but I think it still beats Lake Mead. Grandpa Jay rented a boat and we had a great picnic-style lunch. Good times, great eats!




Samuel and Lucas loved pointing out all there was to see



Leah and Troy got a little cold, but they loved the boat ride




Mckenna looked like she was about to lick the table, Hmmmm



Nice hair Grandpa!!!!



A little of the beach action . . .



This little bird was protecting it's eggs. Everytime someone would walk close, it would let you know that you needed to back-off.

From Arizona to Utah

We got home from the Anderson Reunion in time to do laundry and then we had to get ready for our next summer adventure. I went with the teachers and priests up to high adventure camp in Southeastern Utah. We had a great time at Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort. We were able to do some rock climbing, repelling, zip-lining, GPS course tracking (make sure your batteries are good if you do this, otherwise you may be WAY off your mark!), clay pigeon shotgun shooting, swimming, camping, firesiding, and lots of eating. It was a good time!
While I was camping with the young men, Rachel took the kids up to Northern Utah to be with her family. After summer camp, I flew up to Salt Lake to meet up with everybody for a couple more days. It was so nice to be where it was cool. Gotta love Utah's weather.While there, we had a talent show for Father's Day.

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Anderson Family Reunion June 2009

It has been a while since the Anderson Family has had a reunion, so we were way excited to go to Cottonwood, Arizona for the Ray and Gloria Anderson Family Reunion in June (I know the posting is way late, but better late than never). Most of the activities took place at the American Heritage Academy, owned and operated by the Steve Anderson family. Thanks guys!!!!


There was a talent show. . . . and amazing MC's . . .














There were family history displays. . . .


















There was even a showing of the next Siskel and Ebert, critiquing the talent of the night.

















There were Relay races . . . and even bow and arrow shooting




And after a lots and lots of fun, it was nice to rest in the hotel room. Troy and Samuel were mesmerized by something on the TV, I think it was a show about sharks on Discover. Notice Troy still likes to keep his baseball's close by at all times.



To see some of the live action, check out the video Cousin Todd made. It's posted on YouTube. if the link below doesn't work, copy and paste it in your browser. And watch out for flying shrapnel from the steel fridge!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr7MXIeILSc

Sam's still creative

Here is another of Samuel's amazing creations. He is always so proud of his masterpieces.

Shelled-visitor

While hanging out at home, Rachel and the kids found a shelled visitor. It seems someone left the back door open and "Big T" wandered into the house; looking for a treat no doubt!

Magic Chocolate Ice Cream

1 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder (I used Pero, this enhances the chocolate flavor and makes it not overly sweet or taste like coffee, so don't be afraid of this ingredient)
1 TBS hot water
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream

1. Melt Chocolate Base: Combine coffee (Pero) powder and hot water in small bowl. Let stand until coffee dissolves, about 5 minutes. Microwave chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and coffee mixture in bowl, stirring every 10 seconds, until chocolate is melted, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stir in vanilla and salt. Let cool.

2. Mix and Freeze: With electric mixer on medium-high speed, whip cream to soft peaks, about 2 minutes. Whisk one-third of whipped cream into chocolate mixture. Fold remaining whipped cream into chocolate mixture until incorporated. Freeze in airtight container until firm, at least 6 hours or up to 2 weeks. Serve.


NOTE: I tried replacing the bittersweet chocolate with the same amount of white chocolate. It seemed to taste pretty darn good. I have added in some mix-ins such as M&M's and other chocolates just for the fun of it. In tastes tests, this beat out the premium commercial brands. That is saying a lot for homemade ice cream. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

End of the Season

Well, T-ball season is done and I feel guilty saying that I am happy about it....but I am. It has been fun watching Sam get so excited about the game and his team and all that stuff, but it has been exhausting going to the games. I hear it gets better as they get better, so we'll see. He still has the same zest he did starting the season so I think we'll be back next year. Here is a picture of his party and the cool trophy, ball, and dog tags. It was a swim party so that is why he is partially naked. He has already asked for a special shelf for all his trophies (this is his first one).

Playin' Ball

Troy has apparently been watching Sam play more than I realized. I had noticed him hanging on to the fence and yelling at the players, but I didn't think he would have picked up the basic jist of the game. While Jeremy was getting the bbq ready for some yummy cookin' Troy decided to play a few innings. We caught him hitting the ball off the T and then running around the jungle gym as though he was running the bases. He obviously forgot the part where you drop the bat, but he might have been hanging on to it just to make sure the other kids didn't snatch it while he ran his home run. Later on, when the other kids caught on to the game he got so defensive that we would scream if they stepped on the grass while he was doing his thing. I must say that I was very surprised by his knowledge of the game.





Just a little fun note, Troy LOVES to watch baseball on tv. A few times on a Saturday I've been busy with things and he was at my feet crying so I put him on my bed and turned on the tv. Well, there just to happened to be baseball games on and it caught his attention immediately. Apart of being relieved that he found something besides my shadow to entertain himself, I was very amused to see that the reason that he did yell for me when I was out of the room was because the game had gone to commercial. He would ask "Were'd da'ball go?" Try explaining commercials to a 22month old.

What the HECK are they doing?????