The Anderson Family: April 2010

Update

So, I know I haven't been very good at keeping my blog up to date. Hopefully, this will do for a little while. I have had a few reasons why I have been behind. The first is because I lost my camera and didn't have any pictures to upload. I finally found it so that really helped a ton. The second reason is because I have been so busy with school. I have been taking a few classes this semester that have kept me really busy. I am done with one of my classes and will finish up the other one in a couple of weeks. I will be happy to be done and move on to my next classes. I am going to take 3 more classes this summer.

I have really enjoyed going back to college. As hard as it is to juggle everything, school, kids, working at the school and just life in general, I am really loving it and am so glad that I have decided to do this. I still have quite a while left to go, but I am really dedicated and focused on graduating from college. It is something I have always wanted to do and I want to set an example for my children.

I am looking forward to this spring which brings lots of baseball (yay!!!) and other fun activities to our house. I love spending time at the ballpark and watching my kids play. Taylor's season started today and it was so fun. They won one and lost one but it was sure a beautiful day for baseball.

In a couple of weeks, Steve and I have the opportunity to go to Hawaii, which I am totally excited for. It comes right in between my semesters so the timing was perfect. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to go. It is hard to plan to leave my kids for a week, but I know it will be worth it when we get off the plane in sunny and beautiful Hawaii!!!!

Kate's 5th Birthday

On Friday, April 16th it was Kate's 5th Birthday. HOLY COW!! I can't believe that my baby is 5 years old. I never really thought I would ever get to this point where I really do not have a baby anymore. I cannot believe it has been 5 years since she was born and they placed her in my arms for the first time. I cannot believe it has been 5 years since she was in the NICU and we were so worried about her. I cannot believe that it has been 5 years since our family was completed. It has been a wonderful 5 years, that is for sure!!! Kate is such an amazing little girl and such a blessing for our family. She was so excited for her birthday. She could hardly wait.

Here she is opening her presents first thing in the morning.

My good friend, Cheralyn, made these cute letters to put on our door. It turned out so cute. Kate loved it!!!

Kate and Grandma Linda

We had Kate's little friend party on her birthday. We took her friends and cousins to Build-a-bear. It was so fun. The little girls were so cute and loved getting a new bear. Kate was absolutely in heaven. She had been looking forward to her party for so long.

This is Lilly, Brighten, Savannah, Kate, Preslee and Emma

They are all such cute little girls.

And here they are with their new bears. It was so fun!!!

After Kate's friend party, Steve's family came over for cake and ice cream.

Lilly got to help Kate open her presents. She was so funny.

This is Kate blowing out her candles.

She was so excited for her Strawberry Shortcake cake.

It turned out to be a fabulous day for Kate. She got some really fun birthday presents and she was the princess for the day, that is for sure. She loved every minute of it.

Here are 5 reasons why I love Kate:

She gives the best hugs (she still pats me on the back when she hugs me, so sweet) and kisses!
She is so clever and smart and comes up with the funniest things.
She loves her brothers and sister so much. She always wants to be just like them.
She is a good friend and loves to play with her friends and cousins.
She is a great helper (when she wants to, of course)!

These are only a few of so many reasons why I love her. She is such a sweet and special child and I am so grateful to be her mom. She teaches me about patience, kindness, love, forgiveness and so many other things. She is truly a light in my life and I love her so much.

This year for Spring Break my mom took a couple of days off of work and took my kids and Kelli's kids to the Children's Discovery Museum. It was kind of cold that day, but the kids had a fun time and really liked spending time together.

Here is Taylor getting stuck in a little kid's toy. He really had a hard time getting out of it.

It was hilarious.

Since we were in Salt Lake we decided to take the kids to the Conference Center and have a tour of that amazing building. The kids actually really liked this part and thought it was all really cool. I had never taken a tour before so it was really fun for me as well. And since were so close to Temple Square we walked over there for a little bit so the kids could see the temple up close and see the Christus there. The kids really thought this was neat.

It was a fun day that ended at grandma's house with pizza for dinner and all of the kids slept over. They loved spending time with her.

We didn't do anything else too exciting for spring break, but it was just nice to take a break from all of our regular activities. For the most part there were no sports, no scouts, no dancing, no 4H, no activity days, just alot of taking it easy and playing. I got my house cleaned and organized and it was really nice to have the week off. It was pretty hard to get back into the routine after a full week off. I love week long spring breaks. They are the best!!!

Baptism Pictures, Continued

Josie had lots of family and friends there to support her on her special day. I didn't get my camera out fast enough to get a picture of all of them.

More Baptism Pictures

So we had to do a little photo shoot before Josie's baptism. She looked so pretty in her baptism dress. We both totally loved this dress when we first saw it. It is a little poofy and fancy, but she looked so beautiful. My little girl is growing up!!

Grandma Linda stopped by our house before we left for the church. So we wanted to get a picture of Josie with her grandma.

Kate has to do whatever Josie does so she wanted to be a picture as well.

Josie was so excited to have her daddy baptize her. It meant alot to both of them to be able to do this together. It was a beautiful day.

Basketball Season

We spent alot of time at basketball games this season. Brenden played city league and Taylor played on several teams to make for a fun and busy basketball season. I didn't take any pictures of Taylor's games but here are some of Brenden. Steve and Cort coached their team this year and Brenden really had a great time. He learned alot about basketball and learned to be really aggressive and to play great defense. He was also a really great sport at times when he could gotten really upset or angry during his games. I was so proud of him.

Grandma Linda came to watch some of the games. Josie and Kate loved to hang out with her when she was there.

Here Brenden is under the basket waiting for the pass.

Brenden really like having his dad coach him this year. Here they are sitting on the bench watching the game.

Josie's 8th Birthday!!!

On February 27th, Josie turned 8 years old. It is so hard to believe that she is that old. She was so excited for her birthday and to finally be 8 so that she could get baptized.

Here she is opening her birthday presents.

We went to dinner at Brick Oven for her birthday.

They made her stand on her chair as they sang Happy Birthday to her.

Here is Josie with her daddy and Kate, of course.

Kate likes to do everything that Josie does.

Steve's mom and dad went to Brick Oven with us to celebrate her birthday.

She had a great day!

Little Hoopsters

Back in January, Josie and Noah did the Little Hoopsters basketball program. We signed them both up for Riverview Elementary hoping that they would be on the same team. They ended up on different teams but played some of their games at the same time. Josie loved playing basketball. She has been to so many games to watch her brothers, I think she really just loved to be able to play in a game herself. She learned alot about basketball and had lots of fun.

This picture was taken when Josie's team was playing Noah's team. Josie is actually trying to block Noah's shot. It is kind of blurry, but it is the best picture I was able to get of her playing basketball, it is just funny that she is defending against Noah.

They are so cute and growing up so fast!!!

Swimming in January

So, I know this post is way late, but back in January on Human Rights Day, Sharla and I decided to take the kids swimming at the Lehi Legacy Center. It was really crowded and a little crazy, but I think that the kids had a good time. It did seem weird to be swimming in January.

McKenna and Brenden always have fun no matter what they are doing.

Josie and Noah were a little nervous swimming with all of those people,

but I think they had a good time.

Kate just likes to pose for pictures no matter what she is doing.

Her and Lilly had fun playing in the little kid pool. It was lots of fun.

4.17.2010