Christmas Time

I can not believe that Christmas is already over! It should be barley Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful Christmas, the kids were so much fun this year, I say that every year I think. Sariah really got into it and understood so much more than last year. James and Haylee were so good with her, really playing up the Santa thing. James finally got the x-box 360 he has been dying for; and he got a .22, that Josh has been dying to get him since he was born! Haylee got a new bed spread and about 30 pillows for her bed and she also got a Karaoke machine. We would ask Sariah what she wanted Santa to bring her, she would always say "I want a crown, princess dress and glass slippers" So she got plenty of them! I am so sad that it is all over, even Sariah said to me today, "I miss Santa". James said today,"364 days and counting till Christmas comes again". So we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!

My attempt at a family picture

So much for trying to get a nice picture of the kids for Christmas cards. It doen't help when I am behind the camera yeling at them to "SMILE dang it!

James

This has been a wild week! James has three wrestling matches in one week. First was Mogollon which was a great match! James got his first PIN!!! It was great, he really needed that, his last win was last year at the Cottonwood tournament, which was his only win. So it was so much fun to see him pin his guy, granted his opponent was probably a forth grader and he was really small, BUT he still won! And he got a bloody nose so that made it seem a lot cooler for James. Yesterday was crazy! We had a match in Blue Ridge. It was soooo not fair! My knowledge about wrestling is very limited and I think I knew more about it than the ref and the score and time keepers!! It was a joke! So we lost, we have been undefeated for years and we lost unfairly to Blue Ridge. James was matched up with a nice kid who was really good, he lost but again I think it was unfair, not just because I am his mom either!! His poor nose kept bleeding! The ref had to call the match three time for him to go clean up his nose and then lost his patience with it and just called the match over!!! OH I was NOT happy! The ref started to do another match, and James and the other kid wanted to finish. So when he was done I told him that these boys want to finish their match! He looks at me like 'woman go away' so he lines the boys up and lets them wrestle for maybe 5 seconds and calls the other boy the winner! I was so pissed! This wrestling brings something out in me!! But for some crazy reason I love it! So when all your boys are old enough for wrestling sign them up! It is so good for them. James is not the best athlete, but it doesn't matter, he is out there trying and the whole team is so good to each other, No one has ever made him feel bad for not winning, it is always praise, and I just want to hug every single one of those boys. Sorry I forgot my camera again, so I have no picture, I will take some tomorrow in Cottonwood.

Sariah's Hair Salon

Sariah has a new hobby, she thinks she is a hair stylist. Arrrrrg, 2 year olds are so much fun. She has cut about four Barbie's hair now, I keep finding them and the hair all over the floor. So far, I know I just jinxed myself......she hasn't cut her own hair, YET! And she is also a baker. I have found her so many times with cereal, or chocolate milk, or pretty much anything she can pull out of the pantry and take it to her kitchen and "Cook dinner". She fills all her cups and plates with food and sets it all over her room. Life would be so boring with out a toddler! A little cleaner but boring.

Peaches, peaches everywhere!!

The whole gang helping out!

Such a big helper!















Seriously..........how beautiful is that??!!

Just a little bit of peaches :)










My friend Mendie was putting in an order for fruit from Utah, so I told her I wanted to order two boxes of peaches and one box of apples. Josh and I got to talking and thought that we should get one more box of peaches so I told mendie and she changed the order. Well the fruit came in when I was gone so Josh went to go pick it up and he remembered that we wanted another box, so he told Mendie that I wanted one more box! So he came home with 4 boxes of peaches and one apple!!! Holy cow it was a lot of fruit!!! So we got busy making jam and half peaches and applesauce and apple butter! My sister and family came up for the weekend to help me with all the canning and we had so much fun. It was a lot of work but we got a lot of jam! I have never in my entire life seen such perfect fruit, every single one of them were perfect and so tasty. Last month I was busy canning zucchini relish trying to get rid of all the zucchini, next is more tomatoes!!

The fair!

Oh how I love the County Fair! I have always loved going, ever since I was a kid. The animals, art displays, cooking, sewing, school displays, and lets not forget the most important........the FOOD! Oh my HECK, I love funnel cake way too much! And the curly fries! What more can I say. I have to starve myself for the next week and work off all the calories I consumed during the fair but it was worth it! James was doing another fund raiser for the Jamboree scouts, they were selling BB-Q sandwiches and the moms were in charge of the hospitality room for all the fair workers. So I spent many an hour at the fair this year. I can not tell you the number of snow cones that I bought for Haylee and Sariah, it's probably in the 30's! We could keep the LaFevers in business ourselves. All in all it was a great fair, but I am glad it's over! I am TIRED! And best of all Haylee won some ribbons! She was so excited! Last year she got robbed, so she was not sure if she wanted to enter anything this year, but I talked her into it. She entered two drawings and some zucchini relish. She got a first place ribbon and a second place for the drawings. And she got a first place on her relish! I entered some relish too but got nothing and she got the first place, she thought that was great! I also got a third on my salsa. So she earned 9 bucks! Way to go Haylee!

Catchin' up

Our men cookin breakfast

James' big catch!
I think Haylee's looks bigger! She wouldn't touch it so she put the stick in it to hold it up.
All ready to go for a ride!!

I guess I better post something, since it has been awhile! It has been busy busy around here! But mostly fun stuff. Well school started, as you well know, and I lost my camera so I have no first day of school pictures! I hate it when I loose my camera! The kids got good teachers this year, again, we have been lucking out. James is in 6th grade, it doesn't seem possible that he is that old....does that make me old? Naaahhhh. Haylee is in the 4th grade, and is really feeling like she is something because she goes to the middle school now. She was quite concerned with her school clothes this year, she "couldn't look like a dork at the middle school"! I am sad that the summer time is coming to an end and Fall is on it's way. I LOVE summer here. And I HATE winter! It is so cold and ugly. I will just savor the last days of summer. We have been canning lately, a bunch of zucchini relish, 6 batches! So if any of you want some, I have plenty so come get a jar! I have 16 tomato plants in the garden and they are all getting ripe so I will be canning those soon, yummy! I would take a picture of the stuff I have been canning, but the camera is dead. I did find it but the battery is dead and I can't find the stupid charger! We went to Lake Powell last weekend with the Lee family and had a blast!!! We were there four days and loved every minute of it. The weather was absolutely perfect. We had our boat, John Lee brought his and then we rented two jet skiis. So much fun! I have always been a bit afraid of the jet skiis, I know I am a wimp! Josh talked me into going on a ride, and I loved it! I even drove it for a bit and it was so much fun! So sorry, I have no pictures of the lake either. I was so mad about the camera, we almost went to Wal Mart to get a new one. So now this week is the fair, I love the fair! Or I should say I love FUNNEL CAKE at the fair!!! It is my weakness! Why do I have to love food so much? James is doing another fund raiser for his Scout Jamboree he is going on so we are busy with that. So if you go to the fair this weekend, stop by and buy a BBQ sandwich from the scouts in the big building and help send these boys to the Jamboree! Well I have kinda caught you all up on what is going on here at the Anderson household! I will post some pictures of one of our camping trips of the summer, this is the one that we went with the Ashtons and Josh's cousins.

"Best in Show"

So July has been a little CRAZY!! So much has been going on, I am ready for things to slow down a bit. First, for the 24th of July celebrations our ward float was given to the primary to do. No big deal right? Well thats what we thought, wrong!! Mendie and her hubby were also in charge of the Rodeo so she would be busy with that and couldn't help too much. Jaime had other things going on so it was Amber and I. Well we had late nights and early mornings, thank goodness for our hubbies and good kids!! And in the middle of doing a float James had a fundraiser for the Scout Jamboree. So I had to help him sell tickets, and make a spaghetti dinner for a couple hundred people. That turned out well and he made some money to go. He needs $3,000!!! I know--Holy CRAP!! But it will be an experience of a lifetime! A small group of boys get to go and they are going to New York, Washington DC, Boston and check out the church history sites there. Tons more plus the 100 year anniversary of the Boy Scout Jamboree, which the President of the US goes there to see the boys. So anyway--thats what the fundraiser was for. But the float was totally worth it because we won "Best of show"!! And we were not humble about it either!! It was fun and I had a great time with Amber. So after all that was our Whiting reunion, which I was asked to give a demonstration on how to make my great grandmas Danish Dumpling recipe-----to 800 people! And to make enough to give everyone a sample. Thanks to my great family we pulled it off! It turned out to be a lot of fun, and I got to hear my grandma tell some stories about them that I haven't heard before. I love to hear her stories. So after the reunion was over my mom and dad took James and Haylee back to Canada with them, thats where they live right now. So they are having a great time, they went to Niagara Falls yesterday and loved it!! They fly home Saturday (by themselves) and start school Monday!! WOW! And to top it all off, I noticed last night that our freezer in the garage was not shut all the way and all the meat in there was thawed out, it was about a 1/4 of a cow and a 1/2 of a pig!!! A lot of meat! It was still cool and not spoiled yet so Josh and I stayed up all night canning it! It was kinda fun though, we rented some movies and canned all night in the basement. Not a very romantic way to spend our time without the older kids but it was nice to hang out. Well I think that I have blabbed on long enough, Sariah just came in here wearing tons of make-up and smelling like a cheep hooker, looks like she found my make-up bag :0) Gotta go give her a bath!!

I've been TAGGED!!

How to play this game. Post these rules on your blog; List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.
3 Joys:
*My family.
*Summertime
*Great food!!
3 Fears:
*Speaking in church/bearing my testimony. (I'm with you on that one Michelle!!)
*Something happening to my husband or my children.
*Rattle snakes in the back yard!! (Josh found one last night in our back yard!!)
3 Goals:
*Travel far and wide!
*get more organized
*Get my year supply all caught up
3 Current obsessions/collections:
*Reading
*gardening
*Cooking
3 Random surprising facts about myself:
*I have sky dived
*I have a tattoo
*I am very spontaneous
Okay, I played along now all you have to!! If you read this you are "Tagged"
Annie

High School Musical!

We got Haylee tickets to go see "High School Musical" the play at Gammage, ASU. It was so much fun, the best part is she had NO idea! It was a complete surprise! We left James and Sariah at my sisters house and just Haylee, Mom and Dad had a special date. She thought we were taking her shopping, then we parked at Gammage parking garage and started walking. We told her we were not going shopping, but somewhere else, then she started to see the signs hanging around the building and started to get excited. We walked in and I showed her our tickets and she was so excited!! Holy COW it was crazy in there, if you have a pre-teen girl you might know what I mean :) and you might also have both CD's memorized as I do because it's playing at our house non-stop with practiced choreography moves! When they turned out the lights and the stage was lit up it was crazy loud with girls screaming!!! It was so funny! Haylee was still in shock and just sat staring at the stage. I have to say that they did a great job on it, it was really good, Josh even liked it! It was a lot of fun, the best part was seeing Haylee's face when the realization hit her what we were up to!

Livin in the Country

Oh the joys of living in the country! James and Haylee like to swim in the irrigation ditch in the backyard. A couple days ago they were out there and Josh and I were in the house, well Haylee comes screaming into the house yelling "Snake, snake!" We go running out to see, you never know with her, she gets scared easily.....it could have been a stick :) She was right it was a snake! Our dog Molly was barking at it and James was poking at it with a stick. It was a huge blow snake. I think that was the third one we have found in a week that big. We are trying to teach Molly to find them. Yesterday I heard her barking out by the shed, so Sariah and I go see what she had found, I was expecting another snake. She had something cornered up behind a door laying on it's side. I called out to Josh to look behind it to see what it was, he pulled the door back and a big grey squirrel ran out right for Sariah and I! I spook easy so I screamed, Sariah was laughing at the whole scene. Molly was ecstatic that Josh freed her victim and took off chasing it! It was funny to see Sariah! She was telling everyone the whole day "Molly chasing a squirrel!"

Mexican Cruise

Josh and I just got back from a week vacation, we went on a cruise to Mexico. We had so much fun!! We left the kids with Melissa, my sister, so it was so nice to be just Josh and I.....alone!!! Whoo hooo! I didn't feel too bad, cuz the kids love to go to Melissa's, we brought our water slide for them to play with and they had a good time. But if you have never been on a cruise, you have to! It is the way to vacation. You get on the ship, and that all you have to worry about. All your meals are right there, with tons of food you could eat all day and night! You can do as much or as little as you want. They have games and bingo, comedy acts, magic shows, goofy golf, swimming and then when you get to a port you can do tons there also, or nothing. My highlight was winning $300 in bingo!! I know its for old people but I have a secret passion for it!

This is a sand castle that someone built on the shore at Catalina....so cool! Josh wanted to smash it! He is so ornery!

We are at La Bufadora here, it is blow hole in the ocean in Mexico.

If you can't tell we took this picture ourselves, I know we are dorks. Look at all the gray in Josh's beard, I'm married to an old man!

Fun in the SNOW!!!

For Memorial Weekend we went to the Whiting Homestead. Every year our family has this weekend set aside for projects that need to be done at the Homestead. For this year there was a 3 page long list of ""to-do's". So we were excited to go help out and have a fun time camping. We were a little concerned about the weather, when we left SJ's, it was windy as all heck and it started to hail! As we were getting closer to the Homestead we could see snow on the mountains. Yikes! Josh was pulling the 5th wheel with the truck and behind the 5th wheel was a little cargo trailer full of tools and supplies. I was driving the Durango pulling a trailer with the ranger on it. We pulled off onto the Homestead road and boy was it slick! Mud, puddles and snow sure makes it hard to pull anything! We didn't get stuck but it was wild getting up there. At the Homestead there was about a foot of snow!! HELLO, it's almost JUNE! We had so much fun, we had to go back into town and get snow boots for the kids and of course a snow sled for them to play with. There was about 70 people that had planned to come, but I guess everyone got scared off by the snow and only about 12 people came! We did more playing than work, and we had a great time, one last romp in the snow before next winter.

Dancing Girls

Haylee had a dance recital last night, she did so good! She is having so much fun with dance. She has been practicing at home for her recital. Well Sariah wants to big like Haylee too so she has been practicing with her. So when the music started last nigh Sariah had to get up and dance! It was so stinkin cute!

He made me do it!

Poor James! Well I have to start from the beginning..............James likes his hair long. So our deal is that if he gets straight A's in school, he can have his hair any style he wants. Which was dumb on my part, cuz the kid is smart! Of course he gets it from his genius mother! So his hair has gotten pretty long and he did need a trim to keep it looking like a hair style not just overgrown hair. We tried to get it cut last weekend when we were in Mesa, but the stupid place had over an hour long wait!! Yeah right! So the last few days he has been asking me to trim it around his eyes and neck. I told him I didn't know how and we would just have to wait till we go to Wal-Mart to get it cut. Well Mr. Impatient didn't like that answer so he kept asking me to just do it. So I finally said I would, but I warned him that I didn't know how to do it to make it look good. He said he didn't care...just do it. So I did it, and I screwed it up so bad!! He looked like the nerdy kid from "Eight is Enough" from like 20 years ago! James said "MOM...I can't go to school like this" I tried to get an appointment somewhere here in town to fix it, but no luck. So I tried to "fix" it some more, only to make it worse! I told you, I don't know what I am doing! Then I remembered that Jana knows how to cut hair, so I called her and she was able to come over and save the day. She looked at the mess I had made out of his hair and said she would try to fix it and blend it in. Well I had hacked away to much in the wrong places so we ended up having to use the CLIPPERS! POOR JAMES! What a good sport he was though. I think he looks handsome, I told him that now all the girls will be able to see his "Dreamy eyes", that didn't go over well, he hates it when all the old ladies make a fuss over his eyes. Well thank you Jana for saving the day and letting James go to school with a little of his dignity still in tact. And I promise never to pick up a pair of scissors again! (the first picture is a few weeks ago, Haylee loves to do James' hair, it was cute so I thought I would through it in!)

Totally Obsessed!

I LOVE THIS GAME!!!!! I am completely obsessed! I know I'm a retard, but I love it, and I can kick some serious BUTT!! We got it a few days ago for the kids, it's sad when mom plays it more than the kids do! If you haven't played it yet, you have to, it is a lot of fun, and I don't play video games that much. We got the Wii for Christmas and I have to say it is way fun! I love to bowl and play tennis. OK enough of talking about what a nerd I am, but......does anyone want to battle on Guitar Hero??

Before-Middle-After

Here is the Bathroom, before the flood, in the middle of the project, and the grand after photo. The toilet is not in yet because of course Odems doesn't have the right parts, and so we need to make a trip to Home Depot. This is one of my favorite things we did to the house. What a huge improvement! Before it was outdated, and it had a shower stall, with three kids...you need a bathtub.

We are pretty much done with the basement, a few finishing touches are left, but that will be all taken care of this weekend. I am so excited!! The kids have their rooms back, and everything is almost back to normal. Now it's time to have a PARTY!!!

Pretty in Pink!

I finished painting the beadboard in Haylee's room. It was an easy fix to the damage the flood caused, and I think it turned out really cute!! Haylee can't wait to have her room back!

Happy Birthday Haylee!!!!

We had a little birthday party for Haylee this week. We were talking about what she wanted to do for her party, and she asked me if she had to have birthday cake, cuz she doesn't really like it. I told her it was not a law that she had to have cake. So she wanted to have a brownie sundae party. So the girls got to create their own sundae. It was a lot of fun. So my little baby turned 9!!! Where does the time go? REALLY?!

Tag you're it!!

Tagged by Jennifer
Where were you born? Mesa, Az
Middle name: Sue
How old will be this year? 31
Nickname: Annie
Are you taller than your mother or father? Shorter than both, I wish I was as tall as my mom
Do you cry often during movies? Nope
What is your biggest pet peeve? Laundry
Favotite color? Purple
Favorite foods: If it's food I love it! I am a food Junkie!!
Favorite restaurants: Joes Crab shack, Emerils in Vegas, Sonic
Favorite beverage: COKE
Favorite cold cereal: don't really have one
Favorite smells: Fresh laundry, baking bread or cookies, brownies, again with the food thing, it just smells yummy! I should weigh about a thousand pounds or so.
Favorite time of day: Kids bed time!!
What brand of shampoo/conditioner do you use? Biolage
Favorite make-up products? Clinique, or Almay
How many pillows do you sleep with? just one
Do you play an instrument? I did in middle school, the clairanet
Have you ever been skinny dipping? Holy crap, OK I did, a long time ago
Did you do any sports in High School? Are you KIDDING me, that would be a NO!
What was the last movie you saw in the theater? I am Legand, it was good but disturbing!
What is your favorite article of clothing? Pajamma pants and comfy shirt!
What is your dream vacation? Mediteranian tour, maybe the cruise, but for like 2 months with my whole family.
What was your first impression of your spouse? Who is this guy sitting on my balcony?
If you were an animal what would you be? My dog Molly, she has a sweet life.
What is your favorite "me- time" activity? I love to read, garden, be outside, visit with friends and family.
Favorite TV shows: Dora, Diego, elmo, Hannah Montana, Drake and Josh.......oh wait thats the kids' shows, no time to watch tv, but I do like Desperate Hosewives when I catch it.
What is your dream car? A sporty little Mustang
What is one of your weaknesses? Who says I have a weakness??? KIDDING, I can't say no when I should
What do you fix for dinner when there's nothing to fix? Cheese crisps, cereal, mac & cheese
If you could live in a different decade/era which one would it be? Civil war peroid
What is the emotion you feel the most? Love for my sweet children
Do you consider yourself outgoing? I can be.
What is something you are constantly working on? Your joking right? MY HOUSE!!!
Any hidden talents? If I do, they are hidden DEEP!
What is a word or phrase you overuse? I don't know
What was the hardest thing that happened to you this past year? Wow, it wasn't just the hardest thing that happened this past year, it was the hardest thing that happened in my whole life. It was when our house flooded. It wasn't just the house, possesions are not important to me, it was trying to explain it to the kids, and helping them understand. They lost everything.
What is the best thing that happened to you this past year? All the blessings we have received because of the flood.
What is one thing you hope to accomplish this year?Getting the house finished, and being able to start on the outside, we want to paint all the sheds and fences and barn, and trim all the trees.
The best piece of advice you learned this past year? I have heard this before but it really hit home and became a reality this past year, "If he brings you to it, he will bring you through it." And another,"If money can fix it, it's not that bad" OK one more, "If nobody died, it's nothing more than a bad day"
Tag : Anyone who wants to join the fun!!!

!!!DONE!!!!

We are done!! I wish we could say that for the whole house, but this is still a victory! This room was a small room before, and it is where the water came in from. It came in from the walls and through the bottom of the door, and then down through the bottom of the steps, under the steps is James' window well in his room in the basement. Thats how the basement got flooded. So this room was the first thing we had to tackle, since it was the biggest problem, it's why we got flodded in the first place. So the pictures are a before and after of the room. We made it a little bigger by enclosing the screened in porch. We did all the work ourselfs, so it took a little longer. But I think it turned out great! Now its time to finish the basement, we have gotten a lot done down there as well. I am so excited to get it all done! It will be nice to actually move into the house we live in!

I thought I would throw in one more bed head picture-cuz this one is just too silly!! My baby is 2!!! I'm so sad, Father Time has not been nice to me! James is 10 1/2 Haylee will be 9 in a couple weeks and my baby is 2!!! I still think of her as a little tiny newborn, it's pathetic! I think she will still be in diapers and sleeping in her crib when she is 6! I hate to see her grow up. Someone slap me! (The other picture is of her eating her birthday cake.)

Mommy's big helper

We are finally to the point we can PAINT!! (well the upstairs part anyway) The basement still has a way to go before we get to that point. There was no way to keep Sariah out of the paint, she wanted in it sooo bad! So if you can't beat 'em, let 'em join ya!! I love this kid! I am so sad, and in denial, that she turns two next week :(

Christmas Morning

I know that Christmas was forever ago, but it's been crazy around here (well, what else is new). We absolutely love Christmas morning, the kids are so excited, mom and dad are so excited, all the mess, the new toys, the happiness, and not to mention the good food. Those of you who know me know I love FOOD!!! This Christmas was wonderful, so much fun at the age Sariah is at. I'm sad it's all over and we have to wait a whole year for it to come again.