4th of July in Midway

So unfortunately, I didn't take all too many pictures on the 4th of July... but it was a great day. Our little family of 4 started out by taking a 4-wheeler ride from Hobble Creek Canyon, up over the top of the mountain, and coming down at Daniel's Summit Lodge. It was a bumpy but extremely gorgeous ride. I have no pictures of the adventure. Afterwards, we went to our annual BBQ at my parents in Midway. Happy Hal-Bal gladly posing for a picture! Love that smile!!!

Here is my dad with his 4 gorgeous girls.

My parent pushing their only 2 grandkids (at the moment) in the swings. By next 4th of July their grandchildren will have doubled to the amount of 4!
The entire family: L-R Jeff and Jessie Bryner, Grandma and Grandpa De Castro, Kirstin, Joe, Damon, and Halle Anderson, Alison and Travis Jarrett, Annika De Castro, and her FIANCE Vance Brown!

It was a fun evening, with many loud games played and funny stories told... all ending with the famous Memorial Hill Fireworks.

Tonsilectomy and Adnoidectomy...

WHAT A SPORT!

And wouldn't you know... The SNORING is completely gone!

*Damon had his tonsils and adnoids taken out due to extreme old man snoring and possible sleep apnea! He was a champ. It took a good week and a half for him to fully recover... and at moments, I wondered if the surgery was even worth all the complaining, whining, lack of sleeping, & medication taking. But now he is a whole new man. He sleeps so quietly I now worry that he is even breathing!

Swimming Lessons

Here are just a couple of shots of my baby growing up. Damon did swimming lessons this year over in Payson. He had a blast and thought he was so grown up doing them. It was adorable watching him... and it was great because there were only 4 little boys (including him) in his Pre-3 swimming class. Unfortunately he had to miss his last day (Pass Off Day) for a not so fun surgery... But he loved them reguardless... This kid is basically a fish if you put him anywhere near water!

Good Job Money Man!

D-Money and Hal-Bal have some Exciting News...

Pregnancy Tickers

A BIG YEAR

Someone in our house is turning the BIG THREE-ZERO this week....

Can you taste the excitement? Happy 30th Joe (on Wednesday)! Until then, he is just 29!

JUST LAST NIGHT...

Just last night, Joe and I were hanging out in our front yard, pruning trees, and talking about how we have THE BEST shade tree! The tree in our front yard is big and bushy, and allows so much shade to be enjoyed in the summer time. The kids love climbing it, and frankly, I just love everything about it. Just last night...

Fast forward to TODAY...

DANG SANTAQUIN WIND! I want to cry a little...

Cadillac Cowboy

Damon LOVES country music! His favorite??? Chris LeDoux! He knows so many songs by heart! The other night he just started singing the chorus to Cadillac Cowboy and I died at how cute it is, and amazed that he for the most part just knew it! So here is Damon singing for all to see. I announced the song wrong in the video... So correction on my part! It is Cadillac Cowboy, NOT Cowboy Cadillac!

Stitches

Does this look like the face of a sad girl who just fell off the retaining wall, slicing the top of her ear completely open, causing blood to gush out everywhere, needing stitches?

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Good thing she recovers quickly from the crashes and scrapes and bruises she inflicts upon herself!

The top of her left ear required 2 stitches to put it back together... and we decided to just throw away the shirt she was wearing at the time of her accident since it was white (now permanently stained deep red!)

Graduation [Preschool that is]

I survived another year of teaching preschool! I held preschool graduation in my backyard on our last day of preschool in May. All in all it was a success (Minus a little boy in my afternoon class who did nothing but cause a ruckus while his parents sat there and laughed). Halle started coming to my afternoon preschool class partway through the year as she decided taking naps were no longer for her! Damon attended both the morning and afternoon sessions... loving it and turning into the smartest 4 year old alive ; ) It was a great year of preschool, but I am so excited for it to be over and for summer to officially start!!!

Halle sitting there proud as punch that she is "graduating". (Yes, I planned on dressing my own kids up rather nicely since it was mine and their graduation... but they wouldn't have it, so my two kids are the ones looking a little grimy!)

Damon adjusting his cap while showing off his criss cross applesauce skills!

An end of the night picture of my two favorite preschoolers! Ballerina has blue frosting inbetween her nose and lips from devouring the refreshments!

And last but not least... drumroll please... Damon has learned how to wink, so he wanted to show it off for the camera!

LOVE YOU TWO!!!

Cinco de Mayo on the Heber Creeper

My dad surprised us with tickets to ride on the Heber Valley Railroad during the month of May. Growing up in Heber Valley, I can now, at age 28, say that I have finally gone for a ride on the famous train! Damon and Halle were so excited to go on a real train... needless to say, the excitement wore off about 10 minutes into it when the trian was slowly creeping along, and the kids just wanted to eat! But the novelty of the train was fantastic while it lasted! I believe it was children's day or something to that effect, so the Wasatch County Library passed out train conductor hats for all kids, and then read books and sang songs while on the train! It was a great experienceAlthough the kiddo's look extremely grumpy in all the pictures, I assure you they weren't! They just weren't fond of getting their pictures taken. Thanks Grandpa with the cat for the fun day!

From the Mouth of HALLE

A conversation with Halle...

Preface: Halle has been walking around the house holding her baby doll and cell phone, and carrying her purse on her arm. She came walking back in the room with just the baby doll and purse.

Halle: [Singing] Mom and me have purses, mom and me have purses. (As if to make her brother and dad jealous!)

Me: What do you keep in your purse Halle? Did you put your cell phone in it?

Halle: No, I gotta gun!

Well OK then! Sure enough, I checked her purse later, and she had one of her brothers toy guns tucked away inside. What am I going to do with you little lady?

Happy 6th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to my baby cakes. Yes, if I could only have one friend left on this earth, it would be you! Thanks for being a fantastic husband and even better dad! Here's to 6 more years... [And then some]. LOVE YOU!

A Weekend Away to Beautiful Bryce Canyon

A couple of weekends ago we decided to take a little weekend trip to Bryce Canyon... I was born and raised in Utah, and can honestly say I had never been there before. I was a little bit sad that the weekend we were headed there, the weather here was supposed to be warmer than there (And there was still snow on the ground in Bryce), but it ended up being perfect, beautiful weather down in Bryce Canyon. We had a great time, and Damon even did all the hikes all by himself... never needing help! What a guy!

LOVE this picture of Damon and Halle...

I drove Joe and the kids nuts because I was always wincing and yelling when anyone got too close to an edge... But no one ever got hurt (except when Damon superman'd it onto the flat ground), and that is what mom's are for anywho! Thanks for the mini vaca Joe!

ODE to HALLE

This is our AMAZING daughter Halle. She is 2 1/2. She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. She wanted a bike because her brother has one. So of course her dad went and bought her a bike as soon as she asked. I have to say, I was a bit surprised that this petite little girl could touch the pedals and make them move. To some, it is not all that impressive that a two year old can ride a bike [with training wheels]. But I have to tell you that I am ONE HUNDRED PERCENT, FULLY IMPRESSED with my little lady here. For those of you that personally know Halle, you know she has a drive, determination, and HEART with all that she tries that is unsurpassable. To me, she is the most amazing person I have met, and I at times look at her and can't believe she is mine, and can't believe that Heavenly Father trusted her in my care... But I tell you what, I am one lucky mama, and not complaining one bit that she decided to become an Anderson. So KUDOS to you Halle for riding your bike. We couldn't be more proud of you! You are INSPIRING!

Check out the *BLING*

Yep, Halle is all decked out in her fancy nancy bling! Doesn't she look just divine?!?

LOSING MY MIND!

Am I losing my mind? Really?!? At only 28? Yesterday I went to run a few errands just around town. My last stop was to the post office to buy a sheet of stamps. I bought the CELEBRATE ones, and got back in the truck to head home. I remember thinking as I looked down at the stamps on the short drive home that I better put those away as soon as I get home so the kiddo's don't think they are fun stickers to play with. And I have lost complete memory about the stamps since then. I was laying in bed last night, when I suddenly thought... "I don't remember putting the stamps away." So I got out of bed at 2 a.m. to go look. I looked in the cupboard where we keep the stamps, and lo and behold... NO STAMPS. So I looked through my purse. Again, NO STAMPS. I took the lid off of the trash, and started sorting through all of it (old food and all). NO STAMPS! So first thing this morning I went out to the truck, and start scouring it looking for this $8.80 sheet of stamps. I can't find the dang things anywhere. How in the world did I lose a sheet of stamps inbetween the truck and my house? I am not even upset about throwing $8.80 down the drain.... What I am upset about is that I CAN'T FOR THE LIFE OF ME REMEMBER WHERE THEY COULD BE! If anyone has any suggestions of weird places they have found something, please let me know cause I am making myself so anxious trying to find the [DA*#] Stamps!

Look What My Baby Boy Learned How To Do!

Even with all the crashes that come with the learning, this boy can't be discouraged. He is big grin, ear to ear, proud as punch. And you know what???? He should be!!!

Conversations With A 4 Year Old

Yesterday I had a few different conversations with my 4 year old! He is constantly making me crack up. These are things he said to me yesterday...

Me: Uh oh Damon, you better not use your toilet today, I think the wax ring must not be working and your toilet is leaking again...

Money Man: Where? Let me see....

Me: Point to the base of the toilet where it is SOPPING wet (We have already had a wax ring problem there and had to replace one, so I just assumed that was the problem again).

Money Man: Oh no Mom... I just pee'd EVERYWHERE there today. It was an accident.

(Then turns, and walks away shrugging his shoulders as I am dry-heaving cause I had just been on my hands and knees mopping it up like it was water.)

Then at dinner time we had another conversation.

Me: Damon, your room is a disaster. It looks like a tornado just blew through it. How did it get so messy and what are we going to do about it?

Money Man: It wasn't me mom. It was probably the Leprechauns!