The Super Fun Happy Blog

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T22:06:00.003-07:00

We had a small family party to celebrate the new year. We pretended like 9:00 pm was midnight. We meant to pretend at 7:00, but we had so much fun at our party pretend trick-or-treating, playing tag, and blowing "those things that look like tongues and have fliers on them" that we just lost track of time.

Nigel chose the snacks and activities for our party, and also his party clothes. We had chicken and waffles for dinner. We shouted Happy New Year a million times. We tried to take a picture of us all together. And we also tried to interview our sons, which we'd like to do every year. They were really tired so it wasn't a fantastic start, but that leaves room for improvement in years to come.

What an exciting year we have in front of us! Bradley will turn the big ONE and Nigel will go to kindergarten!! I will turn THIRTY!!! We've been talking for quite a while about what we want this year to be like and I've come up with some really meaningful and personal resolutions. The thing I like about my resolutions this year is that they are mostly about focusing on what is already in my life and magnifying it. Also cutting out excess. So I'm not resolved to really start anything that I'm not already doing. I just want to be better at what I'm already doing.

Except for this public resolution for 2012: take a picture of our whole family together on each holiday of the year, including birthdays. I'm trying to catch up on all the blogging that I haven't gotten to for this last year and I've realized that we are rarely in pictures all together. It will be fun to be able to look back and see us together all year. We are also resolved to have summer family pictures taken and again in October.

Happy New Year to the max!

This is Bradley right out of the bath and on his way to bed. Micah kindly and quickly figured out how to use the timer on the camera, using the tripod. Nigel was having a blast at our party. I was wearing the apron Sarah gave me for Christmas and making up a recipe for chicken and waffles in the kitchen.

Bradley at Christmas time

2011-12-20T00:36:00.001-07:00

Is it strange that I like that blurry picture of Bradley? He loves us. We love him. We hope he has a Merry Christmas.

Nigel faces.

2011-12-20T00:32:00.002-07:00

I'm still shocked that Micah got Nigel to:
1. hold still
2. look at the camera
3. smile
4. several times

Four Year Old Gratitude

2011-12-20T00:26:00.003-07:00

We tried to talk about gratitude a lot before Thanksgiving. Every time I would ask Nigel what he was grateful for or what made him glad he said, "God." Every single time. I think he really means it.

He also thinks the word "spooky" is spelled and pronounced, "smooky." And he misses Halloween and often tries to convince me that it is his birthday or Halloween time.

Four wonderful people standing all together.

2011-12-20T00:23:00.002-07:00

Grandma Margaret Egbert Dahl, Olivia Dahl Anderson, Bradley Scott Anderson, and Micah Dahl Anderson.

Four of the most beautiful and wonderful people in the world. I love them all dearly.

He's a leg man.

2011-12-20T00:14:00.003-07:00

Micah and Brad fried a turkey for us this Thanksgiving (without destroying anything). Micah has always enjoyed eating the leg of any animal so I thought it only appropriate to document him eating this one.

Micah works hard for our family. I'm so grateful that he gets to work at what he loves. I'm grateful that he has a studio at home. I'm grateful that he is patient with me as I learn not to bug him while working. He is so patient with my piles and tendency to be easily distracted.

Everything that Micah does communicates love to me. I don't know why I got so lucky to find him. He is the perfect guy for me. I think I need a lot of love and he gives me love all the time, no matter what. It sounds cliche, but sometimes I truly can't understand why he loves me so much. But I'm grateful for it. It motivates me to work harder and be better.

There's something going on here.

2011-12-20T00:10:00.003-07:00

Bradley is so cute. Even Nigel says so of his own will. Look at this kid. Cute.

Though I think something is wrong with his digestive system. I wish I knew what. He has trouble digesting food and it causes him pain and to miss sleep. And he's still the happiest baby ever. Except today. Today he whined quite a bit. I like to think it's because he missed me. Because I was in my office all day while Micah was Super Dad.

I love my family. Isn't Bradley cute?!

Grandma and Nigel

2011-12-20T00:06:00.003-07:00

While we visited Stone Hill for Thanksgiving Nigel got to stay up extra late for Grandma to read a book to him in the quiet of the evening hours. He loved it. He's really good at listening to stories.

Have I also mentioned that he reads? He can read!

This kid!

2011-12-09T22:40:00.002-07:00

While we were in Nevada for Thanksgiving Callie, Collin, Catie and their families visited us at Stone Hill. Micah took Isaac, Nigel, Catie, Michael, Collin, and Jon shooting.

See the square in the dirt? Nigel drew the "safety square" in the dirt and didn't move out of it until the guns were put away. I can't get enough of this kid!

He does need a hair cut though. We are just being ridiculous parents and people taking forever like we do with everything. We can't decide how it should be cut and whenever we mention a haircut or going to the barber he tries to convince us that he likes his "crazy hair."

Oh Nigel, I love you so much that I don't mind that most nights you crawl over me into our bed in the middle of the night because you have claimed your "side" of our bed as the one between me and Dad.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-09T22:29:00.004-07:00

I wonder if our arms ever got cold because we were too cool not to wear our sleeves pushed up?

This is a picture taken of a picture at my Aunt Robyn's house. I'm wondering what other treasures Aunt Robyn has!

So there's Christine on the far left, Collin in the back, me in front of Collin, then Catie next to me, then Callie holding Sue. My parents named all of us children with C names and we call Carlie, Sue.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-04T20:03:00.002-07:00

I have so much to write and I'm hoping to catch up with everything before the end of the year. I'm watching the rebroadcast of the first presidency's Christmas devotional just after a phone call from my Grandpa Dee. We tried watching it earlier with the boys, but things were too rambunctious to hear very much so here we are again with two sleeping boys and a quiet house.

I wanted to remember the Christmas stories that my Grandpa Dee shared with me. He was asked to be Santa Claus quite a few times in all the different places he lived. Merced for the Kiwanas club, the City of Ogden's Christmas event, and in Crete for the Airforce base and a local theater.

When he lived in Ogden he got to dress up and play Santa for all the children in the whole city. He said that one little girl came to sit on his knee and he was curious to see how she would react to having her Sunday School teacher dressed up like Santa Claus. He decided to try his best to play the part just in case she wouldn't recognize him.

The classic conversation went well and the little girl assured him she had been good all year and obeyed her parents. Just before she left she said, "Santa, may I whisper in your ear?" My grandpa said, "Why, yes you certainly may."

She whispered into his hear, "Santa, I know you're Brother Davis, but don't worry. I won't tell anyone." And was off with a Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas indeed. This picture is of my first little Singers Company group performing for the residents at the Courtyard at Jamestown retirement home. It was decorated beautifully for Christmas and there was a great crowd for the girls. We were missing two girls due to sickness so we're really excited to perform again next week at our friends and family show. I'll definitely take a better picture of all of them in their darling costumes.

I LOVE Singers Company! I'm completely in love with the whole thing. These wonderful girls have been working hard since school started to learn the songs and dances that they are now performing all over the community. It's such a great experience for everyone. I have so much more to say about them and hope to devote more time to writing soon.

Merry Christmas!

Day of Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T20:17:00.002-07:00

We got to spend Thanksgiving at Stone Hill with Brad and Olivia, Grandma Dahl, and the Stevenson family. It was a wonderful ten days together. On our drive to Nevada Nigel asked if there would be a real live turkey that we could visit while we were at Grandma's house.

Hannah and Olivia are pretty much amazing and had a friend with a couple real live turkeys leftover the day before Thanksgiving. (All the rest were prepared for some lucky families' feasts.) They arranged a visit for us and all the kids to their family farm. Nigel was ecstatic.

Right out of the car we could see the turkeys walking around. Nigel jumped out and was immediately face to face with the male turkey. The turkey gobble-gobble-gobbled really loudly right in his face, and that was of course enough to make him a bit uneasy around real live turkeys. He spent the rest of the time around the turkeys either in my arms or a bit of a distance from them.

It was a dream come true to see them, but he learned that reality isn't always what we imagine. He had a blast with the kittens, alpackas, absolutely huge dogs, and billy goats. It was a great trip to the farm and I was very grateful to have a sister and mother-in-law who took such care to make Nigel's dream come true. They love him so much.

The things kids say.

2011-11-15T16:06:00.002-07:00

This is Nigel after his Halloween trip around the neighborhood. We all started out together, but I went home pretty early with Bradley because I was nervous he was getting too cold and tired. Micah said that Nigel loved trick-or-treating, but wanted to call it a night after not very many houses. It seemed like the perfect amount of candy to come home with. And I got to eat everything with nuts, which I liked.

We told Nigel that he could eat as much as he wanted Halloween night, but after that his jack-o-lantern would go back to the pumpkin patch to sleep, except for 10 AM - 4:00 PM. During those times he could be in charge of it and eat as much as he wanted. We think it turned out pretty well and we'll see how it goes next year and with multiple children in years to come. Sometimes we think we're so smart and then learn the hard way that we were just completely wrong.

So today, two weeks after Halloween, I drove Nigel to preschool. On the way he said, "Mom, what costume was God for Halloween?"

I said that I didn't know, but that was a really good question.

He said, "Oh I know what He was! He had a swimming suit and swimming gloves to help him swim better."

Oh, right. Of course that was God's costume for Halloween. I told Micah the story and he said he probably got the idea from the video they watched at Isaac's baptism. There was an image of Jesus Christ walking on water and Nigel had asked Micah about it. After the explanation Nigel gathered that Jesus had to walk on water instead of swim. He also gathered that God is Jesus.

We'll work on that.

Cousin sleepover at Gammie and Papa Jerry's

2011-11-12T09:26:00.002-07:00

Nigel spent the night last night at mom and Jerry's house with the Canlas kids. They were lucky enough to get rainbow mickey mouse pancakes in the morning. I miss Nigel. I can't wait to pick him up in an hour and hear all about it.

Even though I'll probably say, "How was it?!"

And Nigel will say, "Good," and then I'll say, "What did you do?"

And Nigel will say, "Nothing."

I think we have that conversation every time I pick him up from preschool or anything else that he goes to without me. Hours or days later he volunteers more information. Hopefully I can learn sooner than later how to put him at ease so he wants to volunteer more without me pressing him.

Happy Halloween.

2011-10-31T21:46:00.002-07:00

These are some of my favorites from the evening. This is Nigel as Captain Hook, minus the hook because we couldn't find it come trick-or-treating time.

We took a last minute trip today for a dozen pumpkins and Micah carved each one. We were determined to make the house look inviting because last year the porch light wasn't enough to attract trick-or-treaters. The plan worked and we had a lot more visitors this year.

Isn't Nigel the cutest Captain Hook you've ever seen? There are a lot more pictures to share and a lot more to write about the evening, but that will have to happen another time.

Sometimes I come home to this.

2011-10-28T22:34:00.003-07:00

He didn't seem to get nervous until Nigel closed the lid on him. I took Nigel with me to Activity Days last week while Micah stayed home with Bradley and worked in the back yard. I came home to find Bradley in a box with his table toy thing. He was totally fine with it so I took pictures. And Nigel tried to box him up.

We don't have any grass in our back yard.

We are in love.

2011-10-28T22:27:00.003-07:00

All three of us. Micah, myself, and Nigel. And also anyone who ever sits behind us at church or anywhere, for that matter. Bradley puts a magical spell on people that makes us love him instantly. It's so cute. He's always all smiles. Even after two nights of us letting him "cry it out."

We've never been able to let our children cry it out. At all. But we let Bradley do it for two nights, and then for two nights in a row he slept all night. I really hope it sticks. We felt awful when we heard him crying and just stayed in bed. I felt great after sleeping for EIGHT HOURS IN A ROW though. I haven't done that at least for 8 months. And it felt really good.

Halloween For The Andersons

2011-10-28T22:10:00.002-07:00

Every year I make a batch of my mom's sugar cookies and keep the dough in the fridge for when Nigel gets the inkling to do "cookie cutters." Frosting and sprinkles add to the fun.

Something new this year is that we bough actual pumpkin carving tools. Why have I never done this before?! They really are a lot safer than using kitchen knives as they claim. It's the right tool for the job. And the tools came with a book of patterns so Nigel chose the bat cat pumpkin and "carved" it, which means he cheered me on while I did it and he still genuinely believes that he carved it. I'm okay with that.

There is a sneak peak of Nigel and Bradley's costumes. Not that it's a secret, but I am hoping to take some more pictures on Halloween and post again. I painted the mustache on Nigel's face and he checked it out in the bathroom mirror and shouted to me, "Mom, it's great! But you missed a spot!" He came back into the family room having smeared the two lines together. I guess he thinks that curly mustaches should not have a space in between them. I thought they had a mustache part, but what do I know? I kind of enjoyed the fact that he had an opinion.

Micah is a good guy.

2011-10-12T23:25:00.002-07:00

A really good guy. Isaac voluntarily cuddled up with him to talk about some pretty important things and get Micah's point of view. I really appreciate the love Micah has for everyone. Seriously he loves everyone.

Except his old imaginary enemy, Zor, whom he hated because he believed that Zor was responsible for making the wind blow in his face. I don't know if Micah had imaginary friends, but isn't it awesome that he had an imaginary enemy?!

Can you imagine a much younger version of Micah walking home from school with a back pack on and the wind blowing in his face and Micah turning into the wind and shouting, "Zor!" with fists clenched to the sky? That actually happened.

Nigel gets his imagination from Micah.

This is my son.

2011-10-12T23:23:00.003-07:00

Looking ultra cute out of necessity. The sun was in his eyes so he needed to borrow Micah's sunglasses. I often wish I could see the world through Nigel's eyes. Just by looking at him you can tell there's a lot more going on in his mind than what's happening in real life.

What a great kid.

We're friends.

2011-10-12T23:19:00.002-07:00

And we both got to be at the hospital when Kalani was born. Christine is super cool in a lot of ways. One way is that I mentioned to her that I'm collecting cereal boxes to use for a craft with the Activity Day girls and so today she brought me a million cereal boxes. She also writes actual letters to Sue in the mission field. I'm pretty sure she and Collin are the only ones who do that. I want to be more like her.

8 months old

2011-10-12T23:12:00.002-07:00

He has four teeth. He pulls himself up on everything and has just started trying to stand on his own. As soon as he gets more balance this will start working out for him. Right now he just plops right back down with gravity. He gives pretty good kisses. He's starting to learn to wave. He's such a happy baby. He has a lot to say, in his very deep voice. We can't wait for him to learn our language so we can hear what he has to say about everything.

I can tell he has a different personality than Nigel. I can't really say how, other than Nigel is a really mellow kid and I think Bradley will be different. We'll see how that goes, especially when he's two.

The poor kid still has acid reflux and after seeing a chiropractor I feel like we've tried everything for him. He's back on prevacid which is giving him total relief in the day time and most of the night, but he still wakes three times in the night with bubbles and gurgles in his tummy and I can't figure out how to help him with the gas. It will be awesome when we all sleep through the night again, well, him for the first time.

I love having two boys. Nigel made me a mother for the first time, but Bradley has made me feel like a real family for the first time, as opposed to two hipsters who had a baby because it was cool. Nope, we're not cook hipsters. We have two kids.

Well, maybe Micah is cool, but I'm not. I'm a mom. Super mom, in fact. Nigel told me so today. And that's better than being cool.

Up on all fours

2011-10-12T23:09:00.003-07:00

This kid is about to stand on his own any week now, but this picture was taken back in July when he was just starting to get up on all fours and rock back and forth getting ready to crawl. I never got a good picture of it, but he would do push ups everywhere, on everything. He's a strong boy, Baby Bradley.

I love being Uncle Beal.

2011-10-12T22:25:00.003-07:00

This was taken at a cousin sleepover this past July. I think we were making oatmeal cookies because Beepa was coming to town and those are his favorite. Everyone was helping, but Ila got to wear the apron.

I love being Uncle Beal. I also love being an aunt. My nieces and nephews are so special to me and I'm beginning to realize that we get to have this relationship forever. I'm excited to read the third Harry Potter book at the same time as Isaac, though I'm worried that he'll beat me. He's so fast!

I love getting hugs from Ruby. She is the best cuddler! And is always so thoughtful to share cuddles with me. I hope she never grows out of that.

Ila makes me feel so special when I stop by there house. She always wants to know how long I can stay.

Lulu is amazing. She's so tough and rough and has dimples and genuinely loves people. There's so much to say about Lulu. Micah wants to dedicate an entire wall at our house to pictures of Lulu because she is so special and beautiful. Right now she loves carrying Bradley around and is really great at putting him down again gently, which is hard for a 4 year old carrying a creature more than half her height.

Weston is adorable. The whole time he stayed with us I loved hearing him call out, "Beal?!" It was much less annoying than the whining version of, "Mom?!" He's learning to be soft with people and babies and he's the cutest big brother to Kalani already.

I have a lot of getting to know Kalani to do, but I'm sure he's great. Right now I'm expressing love to him by doing my best to keep my children and all of our germs away from him so he can stay healthy.

Johnny is a kind hearted boy. He is so good at imaginative play and the perfect playmate for Nigel. They pretend together to no end. He's been away for a couple months, and his speech has improved so much since then! It's fun to hear him articulate everything he's thinking. He's amazing. He and Nigel are taking a gymnastics class together right now and it's so fun to watch through the window from the parent's waiting room. Adorable!

Evelyn is a doll. I think she is a miniature Christine. She's gorgeous. She is so workable too! I love putting her to bed at my house, or anything really, because after I explain to her what is going on, even if she wants to protest, she says, "Okay Beal." Oh! It melts my heart! And also reminds me of the responsibility I have to have good expectations of my nieces and nephews because I feel like they would say Okay Beal to almost anything I would ask of them.

Davis is a grown up baby. He's so tall and handsome and a blondie! People always comment on how blond Bradley's hair is, but I think, nope, you don't know his cousin. He's a blondie. Davis is a cool kid with lots of smiles to give. I felt pretty bonded to him the other day when he was spending the night at our house and I didn't really know his evening/bedtime routine, but he let me know what he needed and I picked up on it. And he goes to sleep like a dream too!

I can't wait to see how many more kids I get to be Uncle Beal to. I can't imagine my younger siblings having their own children, but it will happen! And it will be so fun. I miss my Anderson nieces and nephews that used to live so close to us. Nigel had the best playmates in Scout, Laurel, Maisy, and Norah. And there are 9 other Anderson cousins that Nigel loves playing with at Grandma and Grandpa's house when we get the chance. I'm truly grateful for the Anderson reunions we have to give these kids time together and the stuff that childhood is made of.

Childhood happens so quickly and I'm so lucky to be and aunt and an "uncle" to so many

The Canlas family is complete.

2011-10-12T22:04:00.002-07:00

Last Thursday, October 6th, as Micah and I were on our way home from our hot date Callie called me with what I thought was going to be more questions about contractions. She had been having a lot of contractions lately and they were making her nervous because she has never had a contraction before. She had 5 children and had never experienced a contraction! She had to be induced with Isaac and had scheduled c sections for Ila, Ruby, Lulu, and Weston. I think it's one of the few mothering experiences that SHE has to ask ME for advice for. I'm usually asking her for the advice.

So anyway, I took the call, but she wasn't calling with a question. She was calling to tell me they were on their way to the hospital because her contractions were 5-7 minutes apart and becoming painful! Micah and I both were so excited and we went home to make preparations for me to go to the hospital then spend the night with the Canlas kids because Jon had to get on a plane to shoot a wedding at 6 AM the next day.

Our fingers were all crossed that Kalani would be born before midnight so he could share his birthday with Jon and also that he would be brown. It turns out that Callie's doctor was the doctor on call, but was picking up his daughter from the airport in Salt Lake and had to make it back down to Orem to perform the c section. So it happened a couple hours after midnight, but he is a brown baby! With dark hair, which is a miracle because all the other Canlas babies have been bald, bald, bald.

Christine and I both were able to be at the hospital for the birth with Callie and Jon. It feels so good to me to be with my sisters. And I was so happy to meet Kalani right after he was born. He was all bundled up but his eyes were wide and looking around. I kissed him on the head before he was rushed away to get bathed and measured and whatever else they do to babies as soon as their born.

Everything went perfectly. Callie had been a bit nervous, but it all turned out fine. Jon did leave a few hours later, but Callie was ready to bunker down at the hospital for some rest before going home with Kalani on the following Monday. She was amazing. She did it! She is the mother of six children! I admire her so much and I'm so happy for their family.

We had the other kids come stay with us while she was at the hospital and Jon was away. It was such a special time to be with them. We did lots of fun things including getting their flu shots. Please don't believe me for a second. That was not fun at all. It was hilarious to me, but not fun. I didn't consider that taking older kids to get shots would be traumatic, but man Ruby and Ila screamed and screamed!

Westy was scared to get his shot too, but as soon as he got the prick he was fine because it doesn't really hurt. Ruby was terrified to get hers and I had to pick her up and hold her on the table so the nurse could do it and she was turning in to "terror Ruby" (which will have to be a post all of its own to explain) and I was wondering to myself how long it would take for her to calm down and terror Ruby to go away and then she got the prick and completely stopped crying and screaming and smiled and asked if she could have a sucker. Totally adorable.

Ila was not pacified at all until we left the office. She took the sucker after her shot, but man she was not happy about it. She mellowed out as soon as she knew we were leaving and especially after Isaac announced that they usually get to pick a new toy after getting shots.

Isaac was genuinely concerned about getting his shot, but he was calm and collected, especially after he found out that it would be in his arm, not his bum.

And they did get to choose toys at Target on the way home. They were rock stars. Ila chose a Barbie and I hope Callie's okay with that. Ila kept telling me that her mom said that modest ones were okay...

Anyway, the point of this entry was going to be this picture. I love this picture! The evening of the shot day - which was also the reptile show at the Monte Bean museum day - Gammie came and made us breakfast for dinner and bathed the kids and put them to bed. It was soooooo nice to have her help and I love this picture of the girls helping her make the blueberry pancakes. They loved being in the kitchen with her and helping.

I love all these girls.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-12T22:00:00.003-07:00

We have lots of great ideas for Halloween decorations this year, but it's already October 12th! So we'll see what we can get to. Nigel and Beepa and I carved a bat cat pumpkin today and it's on the porch. And this Nigel zombie picture is pretty great too.

Micah and I both love this holiday. My fingers are crossed really tight so that Nigel will hopefully still be excited about wearing his costume on Halloween. He loves playing in it now, but I'm wondering if I should have kept it put away until it was time to dress up? I just figured that he should get as much use out of it as he could. We'll see how it goes.

Family Picture

2011-10-12T21:56:00.001-07:00

This is only the second picture that has ever been taken of Micah, myself, Bradley, and Nigel all together. It's kind of my new favorite. We are in love with our boys.

I want to remember.

2011-10-12T21:42:00.004-07:00

Or maybe this time I want to be remembered. A few months ago I was looking for a picture of me with my mom from when I was little and I couldn't find very many of us together. Since then I've been trying to remember to try to take pictures with me and my children. These aren't the best pics, but show me with my children and I love that.

Hey everybody it's family night!

2011-10-09T22:43:00.001-07:00

This is what family night looks like these days. We still always play our family night song and begin with a dance party. Then Nigel loves to have lessons using the microphone. It's like he made a family rule. You can only speak if you are holding the microphone.

We once taught him about being resurrected. I told a story about a man named Bob, who died because he was hit by a car, because he didn't look both ways and listen before he crossed the street. But he came back to life because of the gift of the resurrection, and he got to live forever. Nigel still talks about Bob fondly, months later.

Randi Ketcher was at my house!

2011-10-06T21:18:00.002-07:00

I know her last name is now Dierlam, but you know how a lot of people still think of me as Camille Davis - I will always think of her as Randi Ketcher. Daughter of Bob and Linnea Ketcher. Grew up around the corner from me. We walked home from the bus stop together. We liked the same boy in junior high. We made up really great ad campaigns for school dances and other events always having to do with stick figures and conversation bubbles. We have done so much together!

I should post some of the stories she's emailed me over the years. She writes our memories down just like you would tell a story and they're so funny!!! SHE is so funny! She always has been and she was at my house for less than 24 hours and all we did was eat good food and laugh a lot.

It was so refreshing to have her around. She's a lifelong friend. One time during spring break in either 7th or 8th grade we were both in town for the whole week and spent our days together doing things like trying to see if you really could scare the crap out of birds by screaming as they flew overhead. We never made it work. But we had a lot of fun trying all week.

We were so ridiculous! One of our skits for a night pep rally was prerecorded on cassette tape and we all just acted it out on the football field. We were nerds and all I can remember is getting beaten up and saying, "I have a problem with my arm." I can't remember what it was all for, but it was hilarious. That's how I like to remember it anyway.

She once came with me on my monthly trip to Sonora, CA for my orthodontic appointment. I drove our family's ford econoline and I passed a car on a one lane highway right in the face of an oncoming semi truck. We were both shouting, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" And then it was over and we couldn't stop laughing for some reason.

We also got our hunters' safety permits in case we ever wanted to hunting. I never did use that permit, but I was prepared just in case. I also eventually got a date out of it with the instructor's son. He took me to see Prince of Egypt I think and we also got lunch. I know we went with other people, but I can't remember who...

Remembering things is fun. I loved my childhood and adolescence. And Randi Ketcher was a huge part of my growing up. So fun. I love my Merced friends.

Two peas in a pod.

2011-10-05T22:40:00.001-07:00

Nigel and I are pals. We love each other. And we share the same hoodie sometimes.

Bradley has three and a half teeth.

2011-10-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

And here he is showing us two of them.

Bradley Bathing

2011-09-19T21:51:00.001-07:00

From September 18, 2011

It took me forever to figure out how to focus the camera, but as you can see, Bradley is very cute.

Nigel's First Talk in Primary

2011-09-19T21:43:00.002-07:00

From September 19, 2011

He wasn't really in to it when we filmed this for family home evening tonight, but it's still darling. He did great in primary this last Sunday too. On Sunday he said the words, not me. We were just trying to make him do it tonight so we could show grandmas and grandpas all over the country who wanted to be there :)

We've started painting

2011-09-19T20:35:00.002-07:00

Bradley's room, but not finished yet. But see that crib Nigel's climbing on? That's Bradley's crib in his own room, which means he is finally out of our bedroom! He's still waking up several times a night because of acid reflux but we're on a diligent mission to get to the bottom of it and have a sleeping-through-the-night baby. Unless he's all grown up by the time we figure it out.

Either way, one day we'll all be getting good nights of sleep soon. Especially Micah. He's so good to take loooooong turns in the middle of the night with Bradley.

The First Day of School 2011

2011-09-03T23:24:00.002-07:00

Nigel is participating in two preschools this year. We're doing the neighborhood co-op school twice a week and he goes to Learning Dynamics twice a week. Learning Dynamics started a week before our neighborhood school, so this wasn't actually his first day of school, but it was the first day of the neighborhood school.

This was the only picture he would be still enough for me to take. Lulu was staying the week with us and she was very matronly and helped Nigel make sure he had his back pack before we left and helped walk him to school each day and pick him up again. Totally cute. We love Bug.

Nigel had the summer of his life.

2011-09-03T22:18:00.002-07:00

Of course these were in the opposite order I wanted and I wish I would have written about each experience individually, but here they are at last. Nigel's best summer of his life. Cousin sleepovers. Anderson family reunion. Duck pond with cousins. Climbing trees with Johnny. Extra sleepovers with Lulu.

He had the most care free kid summer. I should ask him what he remembers. There was so much more than just these pictures. I hope he remembers Summer 2011 fondly for the rest of his life :)

Some of my favorites from the Anderson Family Reunion back in July

2011-09-03T22:16:00.001-07:00

Nigel with all of his brothers.

Micah with all of his brothers.

Michael climbing a tree

2011-09-03T22:08:00.002-07:00

This is a picture of Michael climbing the big tree in our back yard. It's a big, beautiful tree that is really super old. It lives in the middle of our back deck. It shades most of our house and makes it so that in the Spring and Fall we really can't tell if it's cook or warm enough outside to have the windows open or if we should still have the heater on. It does a really good job keeping us cool.

Michael is cool too. He really is. His name is Michael Scott Vineyard and he loves Catie. They are the most perfect match for each other in every way and I love that he always calls her, "sweety."

He is studying at BYU to be a lover of rocks, or whatever you call a professional person who has earned a degree in geology. He drives a motorcycle named Jimmer. He just joined my ipad club. And he's hilarious. He said something the other day about someone asking him a while back, "Where did you get that shirt, the baby gap?" and I just think it's hilarious to think about because Michael is a buff dude, not a baby gap looking kind of person :)

Here's to Michael.

Happy Birthday to Nigel and Lulu

2011-09-03T21:27:00.002-07:00

So we did Nigel and Lulu's birthday breakfast party at Nielsen's Grove as has become tradition. It was back in June kind of right in between both of their birthdays. I was absolutely terrible at taking pictures because there was a lot to be done. I think I remember Jon taking pictures so I'm just hoping he got some great ones because it was a pretty awesome party from a kids point of view. I hope anyway :)

I set up an obstacle course for the kids including a "balloon room" crawl, fun noodle slalom, hula hoop/ring jumping thingy (which turned out to be a throw-the-hula-hoops-over-your-head-and-behind-you-and-run-to-the-next-thing because that's how Lulu did it first so everyone thought it was supposed to be done that way. SO CUTE!!), and then I think they just had to do a crab walk to the finish line, which was actually a tree. Micah was at the end to give them a finisher's medal and my favorite part of the day was the kids cheering for each other as they ran through the course one at a time. Oh, I just love kids.

Callie did amazing things with food for us for breakfast.

The picture of all the people is my friend, Megan Stubbs, and her children just hours before they moved away from Utah to their dream life in Virginia. I just want to take a minute to write about Megan. She is amazing. We were in dinner club together for the year before they moved so I got to see her once a month and do our best to catch up between delicious food and other conversations. They had a huge family Halloween party last year where we figured that the adults were out numbered by the kids and it was so much fun for everyone. And we saw each other here and there for other things.

I think not spending more time with her while we lived in the same state is one of my biggest regrets in life. She's so genuine and kind and quality and funny and talented and a really good person and a really good friend. So we've decided to stay friends for the rest of our lives no matter where we live.

She and her children introduced Nigel to Richard Scarry books and it's totally changed our lives. We love reading them! And they are such good books for children. Which is another part of my regret, not having our kids spend more time together! These other pictures are Nigel and Flynn playing in the fountain (that I think you're not really supposed to play in...) at the park. Flynn is older than Nigel, but they are so similar and I hope we can nurture their friendship over the years as well as with Sobe and Afton, the younger girls. Sobe is actually Nige's age and she's definitely on the list of girls that I wouldn't mind Nigel having at least a summer fling with. (I try not to promise his hand in marriage to anyone. He should make that decision on his own, but I have no problem with setting him up for summer love I guess.) Afton's on the list too for that matter.

And her husband Brett is high quality too. Oh, they're just the best people and I miss them so much! We're planning a destination dinner club some time in life so I can't wait to see them again. In the mean time I'm totally going to send her an invitation to the "sticker club" that we just got in the mail from Suzie and Eliot.

Junior Bird Men

2011-08-28T23:15:00.003-07:00

On one of Dad's recent visits he tried to teach Nigel and I a song about Junior Bird Men and the super special finger eye mask that goes with it. Lulu and Nigel and I were practicing tonight. I love it when kids try to do this special finger eye mask thing.

Here are the words to the song.

Up in the air Junior Bird Men,

Up in the air, upside down.

Up in the air Junior Bird Men,

Get your feet up off the ground.

When you hear your door bell ringing,

and you see our rings of tinm

Then you'll know the Junior Bird Men,

have sent their box tops in!

Junior Bird Men was an organization for boys interested in building model airplanes and this was the song that went with the group.

My whole life I've asked my Dad what his hobbies are and he's always answered the same, that he is lucky to have his work be his hobby. He loves to fly. He told me that when he was little he knew that he wanted to be a pilot.

He went to the Air Force Academy. He also played basketball for them. He was just like Jimmer, but for a different school! He may have been on scholarship too... I'll have to ask him about that for the record.

After college he worked for the Air Force for a while and then switched to commercial airlines when I was pretty young. He's a Captain for American Airlines and has been for quite a while now. Isn't it great that he loves what he does every day? He still tells me that he loves to fly every single time. Who has that?

I think that's why it was always important to me to marry a man who did something he loved. Micah definitely loves making music and that's definitely what he's doing to provide for his family. I really look forward to watching his business grow. Not just because I want to actually own our home by paying off the mortgage, or things like that, but because I can see the progress Micah has already made these past four years and we can both see the potential he still has. He can do anything that he sets out to do!

And I'm so happy to be the one to support him on the way. And also I'll try a lot harder not to roll my eyes when I ask him what time he'll be done with ____________ and he tells me there is no possible way of knowing the answer to that question. Creation is a beauty and a beast. Now that I think of it, I've probably got just as much potential for growth in the supporting department that Micah does for growing his business.

I can do anything, right? I'll try harder at that so my husband can keep enjoying what he does for work. It's really important.

I swear this was his idea.

2011-08-27T21:17:00.002-07:00

Nigel asked me to pose him this way so I could take a picture though it looks like he was forced in to helping feed his baby brother and then I even made him be in a picture for it. Not true. It was all his idea.

I love Bradley's little thigh creases. I also love his hand up to Nigel's face. These boys love each other. I love watching Nigel get excited about Bradley's development. He always shouts things with such excitement. "Mom, he has a TOOTH!" "Mom, he's ACTUALLY crawling!" And he also often says, "Mom, Bratley just yawned," because there's a new rule at our house that we can only have the TV on if Bradley is sleeping because he's too little to watch. Sometimes he really did yawn and sometimes Nigel was just trying to get me to put him to bed so he could earn a show.

Have a mentioned lately that I love my boys? Well I do.

And it's hard to believe that 2 months of this year I spent kind of hating them because I hated myself because I was depressed. The hormones plus sleep deprivation that came with an undiagnosed acid reflux baby really got to me and I had "severe post partum depression."

I keep wanting to write about it for posterity for so many reasons. I had even thought of a name for the entry: The Super Fun Happy Depression. I keep getting distracted and not making it a priority, but these are the things I want to remember from the experience.

It happened. I was depressed. And I think I thought I was "better than that" before. Nope. It got me and it was real.
Micah saved my life and my family's life. He cared for us so completely perfectly every hour of every day and night. Examples: He let me sleep while he would walk around bouncing a screaming baby or sleeping in the armchair holding the baby upright so Bradley would sleep for longer than 30 minutes without totally waking up. He only woke me up when Bradley was ready to eat again so I could get the best sleep between the both of us. He didn't think I was crazy when I genuinely believed I was. He loved me when I genuinely could not understand why he still did. He didn't judge me or freak out when I told him about my "thoughts of harming myself and my baby." And he told me all of these things every day. Dark stuff, but that's what happened and Micah really saved our lives. He was completely consistant with his love, attention, and service and has never ever complained about it.
Micah wasn't getting new work during those 2 months and in my depression I just kept thinking something like, "Good, because I can't take care of these two kids..." And really it was true. I couldn't even take care of myself. But Micah did. And as soon as I started coming out of depression and staying out, Micah started getting work again. This is not a coincidence. There is a loving God who provided for our family perfectly this year.
More sleep, exercise, and a better diet are what kept me from slipping back in to depression or even anxiety about slipping back in. WORD OF WISDOM

Those are the most important things. So forgive me for being so un super fun happy, but I want to remember these things, especially Micah saving our family. He was so amazing.

Nigel's Pictures

2011-08-20T21:35:00.002-07:00

I love it when Nigel asks me to take a picture of him or anything he does. I feel like other times I'm trying to convince him it's a good idea to put his arm around someone and say cheese while he looks at me.

The other day he made this one eyed robot guy out of his trios and asked me to take these pictures. I'm so proud of everything he does. Really. Learning how to live life is hard. There are a lot of things that are okay and a lot of things that are not okay and Nigel is learning about those things. My favorite thing is that he knows how we should talk to people. He sometimes forgets and whines or doesn't say please, but it's easy to remind him and he always corrects himself. Even when he's feeling especially grumpy or misunderstood.

I'm so proud of my boys!

Bradley eats food now.

2011-08-16T21:05:00.002-07:00

The mess was my fault really. He's much tidier at meal times now.

Also I want to remember how HAPPY Bradley is. He's such a happy baby and everyone always says something about his happiness after spending even just a minute with him. It's so fun having him around. His smile melts my heart every single time.

He's just about to start crawling so he spends a lot of time up on his hands and knees rocking back and forth.

I can't find the picture I thought I had of him up on his hands and feet. It's to cute. He sticks his bum way up in the air like he's doing yoga - up dog position. Or is it down dog... I'm not really sure which is which. If bum up in the air is up dog, then that's the one...

He's always laughing. He flaps his arms when he's looking at something he wants to hold or be involved with. He flaps his arms at Nigel a lot and I can't wait for them to run around together.

Nigel is such a good brother. He plays really well with "Bratley." And he still calls him Bratley every single time. I really can't tell if he knows he's doing it or not.

Man, they are both so cute and I feel so lucky!

Nigel will start school next week. Still not even half days, but I already miss him. But also I'm hoping to pull our house back together and set up some more order in our schedule. I know he will love his school too. And I think he's probably going to learn how to read! I can't wait for Nigel to read a book to me.

Everything is the best.

Developmental Milestones

2011-08-12T20:25:00.004-07:00

This kid has his first tooth as of two nights ago.

And this kid is at his first ever Father and Sons campout right now. It's Micah's first too. I took this right before they left.
I LOVE MY BOYS.

Our oldest son turned FOUR!

2011-07-24T17:01:00.006-07:00

We're party animals around here.

Nigel's fourth birthday started with buttermilk pancakes and bacon for a birthday breakfast and lots of gifts from lots of generous people.

Every time I asked Nigel what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday he said a beehive cake. Easy. Yellow cake mix. Large beehive cupcake mold. Smear frosting on top. Candles. Cake done. We sang and blew out candles after lunch while Johnny and Evy were over hanging out. Though Johnny actually slept through it.

Grandma Jeanne came to visit Nigel on his birthday and she brought another gift for him, as well as my Great Aunt Avy who I'd never met before. We had a great visit and Bradley fell in love with Grandma Jeanne. He had just woken up and was so cuddly with her.

So far Nigel has been a great four-year-old. We really want to take him to Disneyland this year because he would love it. He always talks about going to SanDiego too because that's where Scout lives.

Nigel's birthday was also the day we got air conditioning at our house. It was a wonderful day for all of us.

I love this picture.

2011-07-23T23:21:00.001-07:00

A lot of times I love the pictures that turn out like this. I have one just after it that was the perfect cute little pose, but I love this one more. Evelyn is so cute! Also I think she looks a lot like Christine.

Memories.

2011-07-23T23:17:00.002-07:00

Nigel helped us paint at "our old house" and he loved it. He loves to paint. So much that he wouldn't stop looking at it for me to take a picture of him.

Nigel thinks Bradley is a winner.

2011-07-23T23:16:00.000-07:00

I came downstairs to this the other day.

I-80

2011-07-17T15:56:00.002-07:00

We drive on I-80 quite a bit. It's the road to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Bradley has already been there and back twice in his 5 months of life. This is he and I stretching our legs somewhere in between our house and theirs.

Arms around cousin pictures

2011-07-16T21:41:00.003-07:00

I have billions of pictures to post from our family reunion at Stone Hill, but these arms around cousin pictures are totally my favorite!!! I wish I would have done this with Nigel and each of his cousins! Look how cute they are!

There's Scout and Nigel together and then Clayton and Kyuss with Nigel.

Much, much, much more to come one day soon.....

The cutest thing coming to Provo!

2011-07-08T22:04:00.002-07:00

I've found my next project. Never mind that my motto for 2011 was "say no to projects." I made it all the way through June until I said a big fat YES to this. And you will too...

Starting this fall I will be bringing Singers Company to Provo! It's a non-competitive musical dance performing group for preschool through elementary-age girls. It's a fun way for girls to increase music and dance ability, strengthen confidence and make friends. We'll meet once a week for about an hour. I could talk about it forever, but I want to write about why I'm doing it here.

In no particular order....

I am good at making people feel loved. That's what's behind this pink singing and dancing group. Love. It really is a great way for girls to have a place where they feel safe and to be among friends. My favorite thing about working at the Montessori Learning Center all those years ago was making each kid feel like they were my favorite.
It's a low stress project. I'm actually buying in to the Singer's Company franchise so they are doing all they icky work for me. My job is to love the girls each week and put on a show at Christmas time and again in the Spring.
It's a way for me to get high satisfaction and fulfillment spending quality time with girls,
making more friends in the community,
and serving our community through song and dance at our performances.
And the foot work is low to nonexistent for me. I don't have to use my brain power or other resources to come up with this fantastic thing. It just is. And it makes me happy!
It's something that I count as "me time" because things like this are very fulfilling to me. I like this kind of "me time" because it's not just about me. It's a big community thing as well and I like getting more comfortable and friendly in this community.
I'm planning on it helping me get in to more of a life routine. I'm sure when our kids are in school we won't be able to help ourselves, but this seems like just enough work that I have to do to get me rolling in other areas/to do lists. You know how when you have more to do it seems like you do a better job at things? That's how I am anyway....
I think love translates into success. The girls in my Singers Company will feel loved and they won't be able to help themselves, but to have success in other areas of their lives no matter how big or small. Self efficacy. It's what I wrote a big research paper on in college so I could talk about that forever too...
Music gets to be a part of my life again! It's funny, but when I married Micah I think I just let him take over the music department, but I'm really excited to have music be at the forefront of my own life too. In high school I was in a singing group with 5 other friends. We just did it for fun and performed around the community.
The owner of Singers Company is my best friend's older sister. I actually went to her singing groups as a teenager. Back then she had special summer sessions for teens. I can honestly say that I had more confidence because of those! Katie made me feel important - even though during the modern dance sequence my bouncy ball was the only one to roll off the stage and I'm pretty sure Cami still teases me about my body roll turning in to something like a tree being chopped down. It was *FUN* and Katie Parker is a genius for making it available so widely and I'm so happy to be bringing it to Provo!

That's a pretty good list for now. If you want to read more about the Singers Company you can check it out here. If you know someone who would want to join my group you can have them check it out here.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!

Oh, and I have this great new email address too... camille@singerscompany.com

PINK SMILEY FACE EMOTOCONS TO THE MAX!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Nigel and I rode a ferris wheel together.

2011-07-01T21:13:00.006-07:00

He absolutely loved it! To be honest I got a little nervous when the ferris wheel stopped while we were at the top. It was magical for Nigel. He was so excited.

Grandpa bought tokens for all the kids and their moms to ride the ferris wheel. There was so much tension in the line waiting for our turn! I'm so glad we did this together. It was magical for these little ones.

And the best part is that it was just the ferris wheel at Scheel's in Sparks, NV (smiley face emotocon).

Son mejores amigos!

2011-06-30T22:32:00.002-07:00

Well, good friends at least. We are at Stone Hill visiting Grandma and Grandpa Anderson and getting ready for the Anderson family reunion. People are trickling in slowly. Hannah's family was here first because they live here. Then we came. And yesterday Jordan and Ruth came. More to come by the end of the week.

Nigel and Massey are the perfect playmates and I'm so glad they like each other! Maybe they'll grow up to be just like their dads.

Lulu Briggs Canlas is important.

2011-06-30T22:27:00.002-07:00

At the last second Sunday dinner at my mom's house things were understandably crazy with all the kids running around and what not. Lulu stood up on a chair and shouted over and over, "I am important! I am important!"

I really would have loved to know what was going on in her mind at that moment. You could tell she wasn't fishing for validation, but that she knew that she was important and was just telling everybody else about it.

Such a special girl.

It was another family night.

2011-06-30T22:11:00.003-07:00

We had all my siblings (minus Sister Sue Bear Davis) and nieces and nephews over for a family home evening before we left town this week to be all together one last time before the Coveys take off on their summer adventure: Book Tour USA in an RV!!!

Covey wrote a book and is promoting it through corporations all over America. The guy is a creative and open minded genius and instead of leaving his family all summer to fly all over the country they are all going together! What an adventure! I can't wait to hear all about it. But I already miss them.

Some notes about the pictures: the kids were trying to build a huge spider web in the family room with yarn. They thought it was the coolest thing ever and so did I so I tried to take a picture, but by the time I got the camera out the magic was kind of gone and the web wasn't so webby. I was proud of them for doing it though.

Nigel colored on his chest and arm with a red marker and told me it was blood because he had been killed. He's kind of obsessed about "getting killed" these days. Maybe future family home evenings should focus on the sanctity, value, and beauty of life....

Micah started teaching Isaac and Nigel how to play chess. There's just nothing like learning how to play chess. It's like you're old enough to be doing something intelligent and smart that the grown ups do and the beginning of being on your way to being a tweenager.

My kid is huge.

2011-06-30T22:09:00.001-07:00

And really cute.

And he also told his cousin the other day, "Johnny, if you don't want to be a Safety Kid I could give you some drugs."

What?!

My favorite attempts.

2011-06-17T22:32:00.002-07:00

Cousin Camp 2011

2011-06-17T22:11:00.003-07:00

This was our best effort at getting all 10 of these kids in the same place at the same time and smiling or at least looking at the camera. I like to call them our ragamuffin children. Callie had been at girls' camp for 4 days so that's why her kids look so motherless :) My favorite is Ruby in her swimsuit with pajama pants on top. Did they sleep in their swimsuits? We took this pretty early in the morning... I remember living in my swimsuit in the summer time. Ah, childhood.

I miss Nigel.

2011-06-17T21:57:00.002-07:00

Nigel posed for each one of these pictures. I got the camera out because the boys were being all cutesy wootsie, but then Nigel asked me to take pictures of him. Seriously, he planned each pose.

(I miss him because he's at Cousin Camp right now. It's officially a tradition. Once a year our kids stay at Tiney's house for 3 days and 2 nights. Christine gives these cousins invaluable experiences. I can't wait to hear about everything they've been doing since Thursday morning. )

When did Nigel get so big? I love his growth spurts because he gets all chubby in the face and then all of a sudden his pants are too short for him.

In other exciting news, I cleaned up that messy corner that's in the background of all these pictures. It serves us well as baby central in our family room with hardly any furniture. And now it's tidy. We'll see how long it lasts.

I can't wait to cuddle Nigel.

Hey everybody it's family night!

2011-06-13T21:03:00.002-07:00

We're trying to be more regular with Family Night. I'm glad too because it's so fun! We started with our good old song and then our lesson was about having weaknesses so we can learn how to be humble and have faith in Christ so they can be made strengths. Ether 12:27.

It was a great application for Nigel because he has allergies and today he went to see a specialist to see what allergies he's grown out of and what new ones he has. We found out that he's not allergic to eggs anymore! So we talked about his allergies and eczema being a weakness and how we can have faith in Christ and work hard to figure out how to beat the eczema and make it better. He talked about how Jesus could heal him. Good kid.

But also, the poor kid. We found out he's allergic to his environment, which is why his eczema has been so bad lately. He's allergic to trees, grass, weeds, cats, dogs, and a bunch of other things.

I'm really happy about the egg thing though. He's still allergic to a bunch of nuts, but probably not cashews. We'll find out for sure by Friday when we get the lab results back. Nut allergies are pretty easy to manage, but keeping him away from eggs has been a little more problematic.

We were both so happy when we heard the news and kept talking about all the things he can eat now. I can tell he's still being cautious though because when I dropped him off at his summer kids' camp right after the appointment and all the kids were eating cookies he looked at me as if to ask if it had eggs in it. I reminded him that he can eat eggs now and we both had a big celebration all over again.

We have to have the lab results confirm that he truly is not allergic to eggs any more, but we're pretty sure. Just for fun we're going to have a crepe fete after we find out for sure. I'm so happy he can eat eggs!

So back to family night - we decorated sugar cookies for a treat and played duck hunt on the wii for our activity. It was a fun night.

2nd Sunday Dinner - Minute To Win It.

2011-06-13T20:44:00.003-07:00

It's a tradition we love. The second Sunday of each month mom cooks a super fantastic meal for us at her home and we hang out and eat dessert until our kids can't take it any more.

Yesterday we celebrated Father's Day by playing minute to win it games. I'm still not clear about what minute to win it is. Is it a TV show? A game? Both? Just something that's online? I don't know. I'm totally out of pop culture, but I do know that I can move an oreo from my forehead to my mouth without using my hands. I can also balance 5 oreos on my forehead.

We also played a game with dice and chopsticks where the kids could only use one hand and they had to roll the dice to show the number that matched their age. So cute. It was the perfect level of difficulty. They could do it, but they had to work at it.

And we played good old telephone. That is a FUN game. I forgot the rule about only being able to say the phrase once. You can't ask them to repeat it. So fun!

These are a lot of pictures, but it's for posterity's sake. Or just my own sake in a couple of years. Yesterday at mom's we started watching old video clips from the last three or four years and it's so fun to see all the little babes and people at different stages in life. Hence the billions of pictures.

We love cousins.

We grow grass.

2011-06-06T22:06:00.002-07:00

We've been growing grass in a nylon sock in the bathroom window for a couple of months now so we could turn him in to this guy named "Computer," (by Nigel) and give him haircuts throughout the summer. It was a fun project that Nigel brought home from his co-op preschool a while back.

It's so fun to watch Nigel enjoy something. He's so genuine. I'm enjoying learning how to use my camera, but unfortunately taking good pictures of Nigel is hard for me because he moves around so much and isn't really in to posing long enough for me to get any good shots at the right settings. Not that I know all the right settings yet, but I'm trying to learn.

I like the portrait of "Computer" by his new house in between the parsley and my verbena. Quite dramatic with his new hair cut and outfit and all.

I love playing with Nigel.

This happens a lot.

2011-06-06T01:08:00.001-07:00

Nigel jumps on the back of the person who is changing Bradley's clothes or diaper.

I'm glad that music is a big part of our lives.

2011-06-06T01:07:00.002-07:00

We miss Sue.

2011-06-06T01:05:00.001-07:00

And Nigel is grateful she's a mormon.

Ila Marie Canlas

2011-06-06T01:02:00.001-07:00

I didn't tell her to pose like this....

I have no words.

2011-06-06T00:47:00.003-07:00

I love my boys. And they love each other too.

I have no words.

2011-06-06T00:47:00.000-07:00

I don't think it was actually that funny.

2011-06-05T07:50:00.001-07:00

I remember when I took that first picture I was glad Nigel looked so happy, but also that whatever it was he was laughing at really wasn't that funny. He does love his brother though.

Bradley Faces

2011-06-03T22:54:00.002-07:00

2011-06-03T22:44:00.004-07:00

They both loved playing in this fort together. The blanket they used to build it was made by Grandma Enid Anderson. I think it was the last quilt she ever made. She gave it to us for our wedding. (Along with a book about intimacy. This from Grandpa Anderson, who's advice to newly married couples is to have a prayer together every night and after the prayer have a kiss. A good kiss, like you were young again! Totally a side note, but I'll never forget that...)

After I took these pictures I realized a few things. My kids are cute. They deserve to have better pictures taken of them. I have a camera that can take better pictures. It's time for me to learn.

I am reading a book about my camera and have learned so much already. From here on out I'm actually trying to make my pictures look good. It's all about light, which is really cool and makes me want to study light more.

We jump on it. A lot.

2011-06-03T22:40:00.003-07:00

Kids three and under are completely free at Jump On It and they absolutely love all the jumping. How can we not go there as much as we do? This is Davis and Bradley towards the beginning of their life long friendship.

"Hey everybody it's family night!"

2011-06-03T22:29:00.002-07:00

Every Monday I play the family night song from the old "I'm a Mormon" record all day long. Nigel loves that song. There are a couple of drum solos in it where we always say, "Doo de kah. Doo de kah. Doo de kah. Doo de kah..." Okay, okay, I love that song too.

So we listen to the song all day and usually take all day to plan and prepare a dinner and treat - not because it's awesome, just because I'm easily distracted especially with a needy infant around and it just takes us the whole day to get anything done. When it really is time for family night we shout the song as loud as we can and get started.

This night Micah taught a lesson about the church being built on a foundation of apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers... primary, sunbeams, etc. The organization of the church, and if you take any part away from it, the church cannot stand. Hence the red plastic cups. Also hence Nigel playing, "Build the church," all week long. Super cute.

Our activity was a simple game where I would call out body parts and the boys had to place them on their mat. The picture is of Nigel's turn calling out the body parts and Bradley's turn obeying.

I love my boys.

Bradley Faces

2011-05-16T16:12:00.002-07:00

Isn't he just the cutest?! Jon took these while we were hanging out at his house the Sunday after Easter Sunday. He said that anyone with a light meter can take pictures that look as good. Maybe I should learn more about light. How much are light meters?

Micah had a birthday.

2011-05-16T16:06:00.002-07:00

And all he got was a plate of eggo waffles with candles in them. And that was super late at night. Really I can't remember what we did on his birthday. I'll have to have him chime in on the old blog and recall the day. I know Nigel started swim lessons that day and we all went to watch the cuteness.

Oh yeah, I remember Christine came and babysat our kids so we could go out to lunch. We had a delicious and quiet meal together at the best table at Communal.

We also got a new vacuum!

Happy Birthday Micah for the 33rd time. Oldy, but goody.

Co-op Preschool Graduation

2011-05-15T20:06:00.003-07:00

Here are a lot of pictures in almost exactly the opposite order of events at Nigel's preschool graduation at the park. My three favorite cute things include: Nigel in his gown and morterboard, Bradley in Nigel's morterboard, and the little graduation cupcakes. This kid is growing up!

These kids were a lot of fun in school this year. We all live in the same neighborhood and took turns hosting preschool at our houses. It was the perfect thing to start socializing Nigel.

These are our squishy faces.

The future graduate.

So hopefully all this pomp and circumstance will encourage the idea of high school graduation and then college graduation... just down the street from us. If we stay where we are Nigel will be a Provo High Bull Dog and it's no secret that I would love for him to be a BYU Cougar, though Micah is hoping for Princeton.

I sometimes think we should move away from this place just so our kids will definitely want to go to BYU, but kids around here say the proximity isn't a deterrent. BYU is that great of a school.

Here's to all kinds of graduations!

Sunday morning hanging out.

2011-05-15T20:00:00.002-07:00

Nigel always asks if he can "pet Baby Bratley," and this morning he asked if I could "scootchie out of the chair so he can pet Baby Bratley," and could I "please take pictures of them?"

Yes. Yes, I will take pictures of you petting Baby Bratley, Nigel.

Cousin Sleepovers

2011-05-13T20:53:00.002-07:00

Callie, Christine, and I are trying out hosting cousin sleepovers. It's great for everyone. The cousins, the aunts, the uncles, and this time - for Beepa. Dad was visiting for Catie's college graduation the same weekend we hosted the cousin sleepover. It's the kind of fun I remember having with my siblings growing up. We do our best to put them to bed on time, but with all the excitement these kids stayed up super late.

And then of course I gave them coco puffs and pop tarts for breakfast. Next time we'll try to unleash the out of control fun while maintaining bedtime and less sugar :)

I found the music and workbooks for The Safety Kids so all these little cousins are growing up "knowing the rules" and "playing it cool." I'm saving volume 2 for the next time they're over...

Easter Sunday

2011-04-30T19:29:00.005-07:00

Our Easter Sunday was nice. It felt like a special Sunday that reinforced all the other Sundays in my life. It's lovely to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. "He is not here: for He is risen, as he said." The "as he said" is my favorite part. He really did what he said he would do!

Micah played the flute in sacrament meeting along with a harpist and someone playing the obo, whatever you call a person playing the obo... They accompanied the choir singing My Shepherd Will Supply My Need. It was beautiful. And it all sounded just as good as this...

I'm really not sure how Easter egg hunts got mixed up with celebrating Jesus Christ's resurrection and now Nigel is confused about it too. All during sacrament meeting he kept asking where the Easter Bunny was. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, but next year we'll have our hunt on Saturday morning and then a special breakfast and family devotional on Sunday morning.

It was fun planning the hunt for Nigel though. Micah thought of some simple and fantastic traditions for our family to do every year and as the kids get older I think we'll have a lot more fun with the actual hunting. This year we pretty much just laid things in plain site, but Nigel LOVED it. We told him the night before that the easter bunny would hop in to our house while he was sleeping to leave an easter basket for him to fill with things that he would hide all over the place.

Seriously, Nigel was in heaven finding all these things marked with his name on them. Though he could care less about easter candy. I've never liked peeps so I didn't buy them, but I wonder if he'll like them....

He's pretty much the luckiest kid ever because later that day we went to the Canlas house for dinner and another easter egg hunt.

I learned the no dry clean rule again. Nursing mothers just cannot wear clothes that require dry cleaning. I think I ruined my favorite gray pencil skirts (yes, I have three gray pencil skirts) because of my vanity and wanting to look nice on Easter Sunday. It has spit up all over and still looks pretty bad after coming back from the cleaners. And that's another thing - pencil skirts. I think they're just a little too restrictive for a mother with an infant and an almost four year old. I need to rethink my "mommy" Sunday clothes and swallow a little pride in the process.

Other mothers may be able to pull off looking a little nicer on Sundays and other special occasions, but I'm going to try to let go of that hope for myself for a little while. I'm still going to try to take care of myself, but to do it in less time and definitely in 100% cotton. Maybe I can even cut out some ironing time for myself if I put my clothes on as soon as they come out of a warm dryer.

I feel silly writing about this kind of thing on my "Easter Sunday" entry, but that's where I'm at. It has been a few years since I had a young baby and I'm having to re-learn all of the little meaningless sacrifices that a young mother makes for her family that add up to having less time for herself. And I mean that in a good way.

My baby Nigel grew into a little boy. He'll never be a baby or a toddler again and he just keeps getting bigger! Baby Bradley has already grown so much and is pretty much on a predictable night time sleeping schedule. He'll (hopefully) never be the baby that I have to hold 24 hours a day again. I already miss those constant cuddles.

What I mean to say is that I know this is supposed to be hard. While there is nothing necessarily happy about spit up, or celebrating each poopy diaper from a baby with a really sensitive tummy, and going to church knowing that I should have washed my hair because I can still smell the pint of spit up in it from the night before, every day I am learning to find more joy in this tired, messy, whirlwind of a stage of life.

It will never be like this again and I feel like it's for the better and the worse. I also wonder what kind of whirlwinds the future stages of life will feel like.

This was fun!

2011-04-25T20:52:00.001-07:00

Last summer we celebrated Lulu and Nigel's birthday at the park on a super hot day with lots of good food and people and games. And here's the movie of it...

Lulu's 3rd Birthday from Jonathan Canlas on Vimeo.

Nigel in Starr Valley

2011-04-13T19:38:00.001-07:00

Nigel Harvey Anderson running around his Great Grandpa Harvey Dahl's ranch in Starr Valley, Nevada.

These are my boys.

2011-04-13T19:37:00.001-07:00

Bradley Scott and Oliver Bradley

2011-04-13T19:31:00.002-07:00

I should have waited to get some of Hannah's pictures too. We were two proud mommas shooting our little babies side by side. We have high hopes for them to be great friends, even if they won't grow up living ten minutes away from each other since Hannah and Jeff decided to leave us. We don't blame them though. We live in Provo, Utah for goodness sake!

Grandma and Bradley

2011-04-13T19:28:00.002-07:00

After Bradley was born Olivia came to stay with us and take care of us. We were always full. The kitchen was always sparkling. She brought quilts and gifts for both boys. Projects were finished. And she made us granola. We can really tell she loves us. Her trip was cut short so I never got any pictures of her with the boys, but here is a super cute one of Grandma and Bradley during one of the few mellow times Bradley had at their house. The rest of the time he was trying to figure out his acid reflux and terrible gas, probably caused by the acid reflux medicine.

"Hey everybody it's family night!"

2011-04-13T19:18:00.002-07:00

So could you please stop running all over the house and eating dessert and come to the family room so we can get started before these kids get too far past their bedtime? Is what some of us may have been thinking for about thirty minutes before we actually started family night. But what can you do? And as you can see, it was worth the wait. I think these are in the exact opposite order of chronological.

Grandma and Grandpa's, The Big Move, and General Conference

2011-04-13T19:01:00.003-07:00

There is a lot to write about our last trip to Sparks. It was such an event! We helped Hannah and Jeff move in to Brad and Olivia's basement with their three girls and week and a half old "Baby Ollie." We visited with Aunt Jennifer. We said goodbye to cousin Jessica who had been living with Brad and Olivia and caring for Grandma Dahl. We fulfilled who knows how many paper doll orders after a surprise feature on the Nienie Dialogues, the day before the big move. We watched general conference and listened to it again and again.

And we fed children, changed diapers, bounced babies, took naps, made messes, and hopefully cleaned up enough messes. It was sad to say goodbye to Hannah and Jeff and their bundle of four children because it's the end of an era. It's officially the end of us living close to any of Micah's siblings. First Cedric and Sarah moved to San Diego. Now Hannah and Jeff to Sparks en route to Boise. Who knows what the future holds. Micah and I both grew up in families that moved when we were each twelve years old so we both have always imagined having one big move. But where? And when? And can we take our house with us?

More pictures to come, but here is the first batch.

Story time with Grandpa.

Laurel and Nigel flying kites with Grandma and Grandpa.
Micah multitasking - playing with Bradley while sleeping. Micah has been so good to me these past two months. He takes care of me better than I take care of myself at the moment and he spent most of the nights in Sparks in a big chair holding Bradley or walking him around the downstairs while I slept. Because he knows I need sleep. And I guess he figured out how to get at least a little while still being the best husband/father known to humanity and playing with our Baby Bradley.
Cedric's painting hanging across from the reading loft. I'll have to post his super fantastic poem that goes with it.

Say, "Spreadable cheese!"

2011-04-13T18:51:00.002-07:00

I've only made one actual grocery list/menu/meal plan since Bradley's been born and it was for two weeks and of course I totally forgot that we would be out of town for one of those weeks! (Good thing we have three freezers!) So even though I haven't been making grocery lists, I have been shopping at Costco. I'm pretty good at not going out of control there, even without a list, but lately when I'm there I always pick up a convenience snack.

We have a huge drawer that is easy for kids to reach and it's full of these convenience snacks - something that's not easily perishable, they can open on their own, and hopefully doesn't have too much sugar. This way there is always a whole drawer full of food that is accessible to Nigel and any other kids that are here whether I can get them something from the kitchen or not.

So this is how the Canlas kids were introduced to spreadable cheese. Remember those little packages of crackers with the spreadable cheese and the red stick to do your spreading? We were playing at the park after my latest Costco trip so I got to teach Nigel and the Canlas kids that orange goop is spreadable cheese and you spread it with a little red stick.

The day at the park was beautiful and my favorite part was getting some sun on my face! I think rain and snow are in the forecast for this week. The week of Utah Valley's spring break. Bummer. But we'll always have the spreadable cheese day.

To Love A Human Bean

2011-04-13T18:31:00.002-07:00

When we had Nigel we were amazed at the new kind of love we felt. Now that we have Bradley we're amazed at the new depth of love we feel. And it's fun to watch Nigel love a brother.

Also, we read Roald Dahl's BFG to Nigel so he thinks that humans are called "human beans."

Happy Birthday to me for the 29th time.

2011-04-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day. I got to go to lunch with my mom and sisters, minus Carlie, which is still really weird for me. Then I got to go shopping with Callie. Then I got to run errands alone. Then I got to go home to my boys and make my favorite meal of chicken, rice, and vegetables. ?Then Nigel and I made Banksy chocolate cake and we all ate it.

Nigel was so excited that it was my birthday. It was so fun to make the birthday magic for him. He sang happy birthday to me with such gusto. There is just nothing like being three. We already started planning Nigel's fourth birthday party. He's pretty consistently chosen a monster/super hero theme every time I've asked him what kind of party he wants. We'll have to wait and see how many of our great ideas we can pull off before July 21st.

In the mean time, happy birthday to me! I'm 29!

Bradley Scott Anderson

2011-03-27T19:38:00.004-07:00

Doctrine and Covenants, section 20, verse 70:

"Every member of the church of Christ having children is to bring them unto the elders before the church, who are to lay their hands upon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in his name."

This happened for Bradley today. Micah gave him a name and a blessing in the Grandview 16th Ward of the Grandview Stake here in good old Provo, UT. It was such a special day. Full of family and the feeling of forever.

Thanks to a last minute miracle and answered prayers Dad was able to make it out to be here for the blessing. He had been scheduled for a flight, but was released at the very last possible hour so he jumped on a flight to Salt Lake last night and surprised us all by showing up this morning at the chapel.

Thanks to another last minute miracle and answers to prayers Micah's dad and Grandpa were able to make it to the chapel in time for the actual blessing. It turns out they went to the wrong chapel, which is easy to do in my neighborhood because there are 5 church buildings all really, really close to our house. Micah stalled as long as he could and our bishop thought quickly and took care of the ward business to give them more time to show up. They walked in and up to the front just as the bishop was finishing up with the ward business.

So it was two small but very meaningful miracles that got both of Bradley's namesakes to the church on time. Bradley "B" Anderson and Dee Scott Davis. To be a part of a very special blessing that gave us an idea of the special kind of person Bradley will be. Quick to serve others and charitable - oh, I just melted!

We've been blessed in our little family so far to have children who are very sensitive and receptive to love. You can tell already that they value love, including sharing it with others.

Families are so special and I'm so happy to be the mother to two sons. I'm grateful for the family I grew up in and I'm grateful for the family I married in to.

Today was a very happy day.

Good thing Teetee takes pictures of my cute baby.

2011-03-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

Goo baby. Goo.

The infant comparison.

2011-03-16T20:54:00.003-07:00

These are all Nigel when he was a little, little baby. I think he and Bradley look so similar as babies, but I don't see the resemblance between infant Bradley and three and a half year old Nigel.

Some Nigel faces.

2011-03-16T20:33:00.004-07:00

Note the tongue out and the hair cut. Quintessential Nigel. He is in to writing his name lately and it's the cutest thing ever. He remembers how to write the capital N and from there he copies what I've written for him and he does it backwards, like from right to left. He writes the letters in the correct order, just the wrong direction. I should take a picture next time.

l e g i N

I just think it's cute because he's three. It doesn't mean he's dyslexic does it?

Some Bradley faces.

2011-03-16T19:48:00.009-07:00

Yeah, he's pretty cute. Don't look at the mess in the background (yes, that's a box of fishy crackers laying on the couch) or blurriness of the photos, just check the cute. He's so cute. We're going to keep taking millions of pictures like this until we capture the one that is my favorite. I don't know what to call it yet, but it's kind of like "Magnum." So far I've spent more time cuddling with him than taking pictures of him.

Also, Micah is THE man of all men.

Happy Birthday to Auntie Teetee!

2011-03-16T19:30:00.003-07:00

To celebrate we visited Catie at her house where Nigel got to sit on Uncle Michael's new motorcycle, Jimmer. Aren't they both cute?

It was a great day though. Catie had the day off of work and she let Nigel and Bradley and I crash her birthday lunch with Michael and mom at mom's office. It was nice to be so out and about.

Happy Birthday Catie! Here's our favorite birthday song. (You have to click on it. It won't let me embed it here...)

Man I love that kid!

2011-03-06T14:12:00.002-07:00

Micah and Nigel just walked in the door from church and this is what I heard:

Nigel, opening the freezer door: Okay dad, I found the ice cream!

Micah: Well, we need to eat some lunch first...

Nigel: No dad, I already ate lunch!

Micah: Oh yeah? What did you eat?

Nigel: Dad I ate fishy crackers at church!

Three weeks old today!

2011-03-02T13:03:00.002-07:00

The day Nigel said, "Mom, I don't like Baby Bradley."

2011-02-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

Obviously I need to learn how to photograph with the super orange light in our family room in the evenings, but that will come another day....

Today is the day that Nigel told me he doesn't like his little brother. Nigel has had a lot of changes going on the past couple of weeks and changes plus not napping and playing lots of Wii can make for a very mixed up and confused Nigel. We're all still in the middle of a huge transition and we're all definitely still learning.

For the past 16 days Nigel has been bombarded with the questions, "How do you like being a big brother?" or, "What do you think of your baby brother?" and the like. He always responds in the positive: "Pretty good." "His name is Baby Bradley." "He's so cute!" etc.

Nigel has been in love with his new little brother. He's so soft to him, kind, and freely expresses love to Bradley in his little three-year-old way. He's genuinely sad when Bradley cries and wants to be a part of the solution to make him happy. He often tries to sing songs for him, pat his back to help the burps out, or tickle him.

Today, on the 17th day of Bradley's life Nigel just said out of the blue, "Mom, I don't like Baby Bradley." I just said, "Okay," and thought Here we go... I don't really believe Nigel that he doesn't like him though. These pictures were taken a few hours later and Nigel was so genuinely concerned when Bradley started crying. He tried shhsh-ing him, patting him, singing to him, giving him his pacifier, and when none of those worked he asked me if we could work together to help him be happy. So we wrapped him up tight and walked around the room with him.

Nigel really has a soft heart for his little brother. Micah and I have been praying for a long time that they would get along and be a support to each other. I'm so proud of Nigel and how he's stepped in to the role of big brother. It's going to be a fun rest of our lives with these two boys.

I can tell that Nigel recognizes that Micah and I aren't as available to him as we used to be and that it has to do with Bradley. I'm curious to see how he continues to deal with that. Though he thinks and says that he doesn't like Baby Bradley. I know different. This is definitely a kid with a lot of love for another little kid.

We'll just have to see how it goes.

Sleeping Brothers

2011-02-26T11:21:00.000-07:00