St. George Trip

I have always thought taking a vacation to a warmer climate is a good idea in February.  After all, we've already plowed through (literally!) several months of winter, and my desire for warm weather really rises this time of year.  Luckily for me, I got to go to St. George with my Sainsbury side of the family over Presidents' Day weekend.  Thank you Englands for letting them stay at your house down there!
Here are some of the fun activities we did.

 Mckay is a HUGE fan of the hot tub!  He would stay in there until he turned into a raisin if we let him.

 I managed to get Chase in the pool, if only for this family shot.

 Chase took us on the "short and scary hike" (the hike above the 'Dixie' sign).  It was lots of fun, and gave me a chance to try out this little baby pack.

We had a wonderful time in St. George.  I am excited for when it's 60 degrees in Orem!

Quarter of a century!

Chase had a birthday last week . . . the big 25.  He is now officially a quarter of a century!

 We spent his birthday weekend up at the England Kamas cabin.  Later that night, we went to Park City's Main Street to celebrate Chase's b-day and to enjoy pizza for dinner.

 I got some cake decorating supplies for Christmas.  Here is my first attempt to use them.  I think, all in all, that I did a pretty good job.  The blobby shape in the bottom right corner was supposed to be a football . . .

 The devil is in the details.  I forgot the candles!  Luckily, Chase improvised.

 Hooray for birthdays!

Family Home Evening was spent on the farm.  There, Chase got Birthday Celebration Round II.
All in all, turning a quarter of a century has it's perks.

Look out . . . he's mobile!

My child can crawl.  This is a day that I have waited for, yet now that it is here, I find that I can't turn away from him for one SECOND, or else he - and therefore me - gets in trouble.
On the other hand, it is really great to see Mckay explore his new world.

Though I wish that look of excitement was because he was crawling towards ME, the next picture will show you his favorite toy . . .

Yes, that's right, my baby is already in love with cell phones.  They develop expensive taste so young!  This picture also captures the first time he accidentally phoned someone . . .  I apologize in advance if you get a phantom phone call from me:)

Ah yes, let's not forget the "boingy thing".  Is this thing called a door stop, or a wall guard?  Whatever it is, it is a Mckay magnet.

Sorry, I thought this image was properly rotated.  Anyway, the heating vent is the new, coolest thing!  He literally spent 15 minutes running his hand down it.

Thus begins a new and exciting chapter in Mckay's development.

My Favorite Things

I have been reading several blogs lately that have people sharing some of their favorite things, and I thought, "Hey, I have some things that are MY favorite!"  So I am taking this opportunity to share them with you all.  Caution:  viewing people's favorite things will leave you with a desire to buy/try/rent them. . . you have been warned.

1. Guittard Chocolate chips.  Can I just say yum?  These chocolate chips are not only really good, but they are really big, and since chocolate is my favorite part of any cookie, this is a must-have for a cookie-phile like myself.  In fact, just posting this makes me want to go open a bag . . .

2. "Matched", by Allie Condie, is my new favorite book.  For those of you who love Uptopia/dystopia books like Hunger Games,  this is the book for you!  The only downside to this book is that it is the first book in a series, so I am, once again, stuck waiting to see what happens.  Oh well, I guess half the fun is looking forward to these type of things, right?

3. Ticket to Ride is my favorite game.  If you love board games, you will love this one!  If you don't love board games, I'm willing to bet you will still enjoy this one.  'Nuff said.

4. I hated winter until I bought these boots from R.E.I.  But ever since I bought these little babies, winter and I get along fabulously.  I can tromp through the snow or just a wet slushy parking lot, and my little toes stay toasty warm!

5.  Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bags are wooonnnndddeerrrffffull!  They are not cheap, but I am willing to skimp in other areas for this bag.  Considering that I lug the thing everywhere, there are worse places to sink your dollar.  My favorite thing about this bag, besides being cute, is that they have back pack straps so that you don't injure one of your shoulders and a built in changing pad.  

 

6.  I had to give a shout-out to my favorite cooking blog,  simplysogood.blogspot.com.  Looove this blog.  It has some fabulous recipes and the author, Janet Barton, gives you the step-by-step instructions so even a dummy in the kitchen (like me) cannot possibly go wrong.  I also like that her recipes contain mostly basic household ingredients.  You may have to go buy one thing, but not six.  

So there you have it folks.  These are some of my favorite things. . . I had so much fun writing about these things, I will probably have to do this every couple of months.  Let me know what your favorite things are, I love learning what makes others happy . . . and usually I want to try/see/know about them too!

Cruises and Christmas!

The Christmas season is over.  I always feel like after Christmas I am completely exhausted from doing a lot of relaxing.  But on the other hand, what a lot of fun, relaxing things we did!
Our Christmas present from Todd and Jeannette this year was to go on a cruise to the Caribbean!  We left early the 18th of December for San Juan, Puerto Rico, and from there, on to St. Croix, Antigua, St. Lucia, and then back to San Juan.  The weather was hot, the beaches were beautiful, and the islands lush and green.  We enjoyed going to the beaches, shopping, and just spending time on the ship with family.

Mckay and Chase at the beach.  In the background, our ship, the Serenade of the Seas, is in port.

Mckay was afraid of the ocean (see the first picture) , but he looooved the swimming pool.  Check out my white legs. . . yeah, instead of bringing back a tan,  I only brought back a few freckles.

Most nights we opted for the fancy dinner rather than the buffets.  It was so fun not having to cook or clean up.

Chase and I spent our last day walking around historic San Juan.  We both thought this part felt like a hot, humid Europe.

We arrived home to cold and snow, just in time for Christmas Eve.  We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day on the farm.

As per tradition, we read the story of the birth of Christ, and the grandkids acted out the nativity.  Talia and Aerom were the cutest Mary and Joseph!  Mckay was sick, so the role of baby Jesus went to Talia's old doll.

 Christmas morning on the stairs!

Mckay was quite sick on Christmas, but he still managed to love and play with his new toys.

All in all, it was a spectacular day.  The rest of the holidays we spent relaxing, eating, visiting family, relaxing, eating, getting sick, getting better, and watching movies.  It was a perfect way to say goodbye to 2010 and hello 2011.

Stander Family Christmas Party

This Sunday night we braved the cold and the fog to travel to downtown Salt Lake for the Stander Family Christmas party!  For those of you who don't know, the Stander is Jeannette's (Chase's mom) maiden name.  We got to have the party in the conference room at American Towers, and it was so fun!  The food, the company, and the activities were a blast.

 The oldest and youngest in the group, Grandpa Stander and Mckay enjoyed a nice long talk with one another.

 We enjoyed hearing the nativity story, as narrated by several family members.  The real star of the show, however, were the puppeteers. . .

 Cole was the star of the show (I terrible pun, I know, but I couldn't resist)

 Cody checking out the shepherd puppet he was in charge of.

 Jax and Clayton admiring the Christmas tree.  I wish I could've gotten a better picture, but my camera takes a few seconds to take a shot.  I wanted to capture Jaxton in the act of taking ornaments off, and Clayton putting them back on.  Eventually, I think Clayton realized he was fighting a losing battle:)

Mckay was an angel because he has discovered that he likes a bottle!  Hooray!  My life has just become so much easier!
All in all, it was a great night.  Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make it so!

Thanksgiving fun

This year Chase, Mckay, and I took the much anticipated trek to Broomfield, Colorado, to spend Thanksgiving with my Anderson side of the family.  I have not been to Broomfield for 5 years, so I was really looking forward to going back.
We left on Tuesday, just ahead of what was supposed to be that horrible storm, and had a very peaceful trip to Broomfield.

Mckay was an angel the entire trip down, sleeping almost the whole way . . . we later found out it was because he was sick.  Don't worry, he got better about 24 hours later.
On Wednesday we went to the Harry Potter movie, and Chase played basketball with the boys for about 4 hours while I lounged around, talked, and hung out with the family.

Thursday, we began the very cold holiday by either watching or participating in the Anderson Turkey Bowl!  The boys played or about 2 ours. . . the girls and the kids watched for about 2 minutes before deciding that sitting in 10 degree weather with the wind blowing was insane.
Later that day we went to the church and there we had a great dinner.  After the dinner, we cleared away the tables and played lightning (or knockout, or speed, or whatever it is you call it).

And, of course, we had the traditional pie eating contest.  Neither Chase nor I came close to winning, but we managed to get the stuff all over our face and it made for a good picture:)

Friday we went to Disney's new movie Tangled (which I loved and even Chase loved . . . go see it if you haven't!), and spent time in the Manwaring's hot tub.  Mckay loooovvved the water, and splashed everyone, including himself.  And since Friday was our anniversary (2 years and counting!), Chase and I  got a babysitter, and drove to Boulder to look at the CU campus up there.  Chase might go there for grad school, and we wanted to check it out.  It was a beautiful campus, and it had a great street nearby called Pearl Street, where you could shop and dine.  For anyone going that way, I highly recommend it.  It was a wonderful, romantic evening.

Saturday, the rest of my family went back to Payson to avoid Sunday's storm, but Chase and I stayed because there was a certain U of U vs. BYU game that had to be watched.  This pic doesn't actually come from that day, but I thought I would show it just in case anyone wasn't aware of who Chase cheered for.  And for those of you who are BYU fans, I had Mckay dressed in red AND blue, and it will probably stay that way until he's old enough to pick a side:)
After the game, we drove to Green River, arriving there at about 10:00 p.m., and stayed the night in my Uncle Stephen and Aunt Theresa's house.  The next morning, we braved the storms and finished the trek home.  It was a fun-filled week full of relaxing, family time, good food, and good memories.
And now . . . . ON TO CHRISTMAS!!