The Anderson Family

We had a great Christmas Eve again this year. Steve had the entire day off so we went to lunch at Brick Oven and then watched a movie together. That is something that rarely happens so it was a great day. We met my family at the cemetery to light the luminaries at my Dad and Grandpa's graves. It is such a nice tradition. I love to be there at the cemetery with all of the candles lit and remember my dad and grandpa. It has turned into a really popular thing and the cemetery was packed. It was a little crazy but I am grateful that we have the opportunity to pause for a few moments and remember our loved ones who are not here with us.

After the cemetery we went to my mom's house and had dinner. Allyson and Kelli were with their in-laws so it was just us with my mom. We decided next time it is like that we are going out for dinner. But it was fun. The rest of the group came later and we opened a few presents. It was really fun. I love Christmas!!

Last night we got DUMPED on with snow. It was crazy. They even canceled school today because of all of the snow. I don't remember that happening for a really long time. Josie and Kate couldn't wait to get out and play in it. It's definitely going to be a white Christmas. Yay!!! I love it when it looks like this but when it gets dirty and muddy, it really gets old quick!!!

So last week we had our big Douglas Family Christmas Party. It has been a tradition since I was a little girl so I am always excited to get together with my family and celebrate Christmas. We are getting bigger and bigger each year and more and more fun. Here are all of the kids with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Can you believe that they knew we were having a a party and just showed up? Santa is so amazing!! The kids loved it and had a great time.

Josie told Santa that she wants a pink Ipod Nano.

Last week we got to tend our darling neice, Sydnee. She was so fun. The girls were SO excited for her to come and couldn't stop talking about it. She was really cute and I think she kind of liked us. Taylor walked in from school and she went right to him. He absolutely loved this. She wanted him to hold her and play with her. It was so cute.

She LOVED watching our dog outside. It was so cute. She was yelling at Belle and pounding on the door.

Brenden had his Christmas piano recital last week. He played "Angels We Have Heard on High." He did such a great job. We were really proud of him. He keeps getting better and better at playing the piano. Keep up the good work, Buddy!!!

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we decided to bundle up and take the kids to temple square to see the lights. We have tried several times in the last few years and haven't actually made it there so we were so excited to actually be there. We took my mom and my nephew, Ryan, and we had a fun time. The lights were amazing and the temple was beautiful. The kids really enjoyed seeing this. We need to try and get there EVERY year.

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We ate dinner with Steve's family and then spent the rest of the day with my family. Thanksgiving is such a great holiday and we enjoyed reflecting on the blessings that we have as a family. We tried to do a few activities together to help us focus more on being grateful and remembering all of our blessings. Our family is grateful to be a family and to have so many wonderful family and friends arounds us.

Taylor and his friends didn't dress up for school, but they had to dress up for a party that they went to on Halloween night. They thought it would be fun to dress up in my cheerleading uniforms. These guys were hilarious. They had so much fun acting like girls and dressing up. I could not stop laughing. Here is Taylor Harrison, Jason, Luke and Taylor! They are a great group of boys.

In October, Brenden earned his Webelo's Badge. He worked really hard to get it all done and we are so proud of him.

Brenden had a great time playing flag football this year. He had an awesome coach and was on a really good team. They made it to the game right before the Superbowl when they lost. The coach taught the team a cool chant that they did before the games and it was really fun to watch them do it. Brenden did a great job and loves playing flag football!

Kate played soccer this fall and had such a great time. She was the best goalie. She was not afraid to grab the ball and throw it as hard as she could back into the field. It was so fun to watch her. She didn't have very many goals scored on her and she had a blast doing it. She played with some girls in our ward and it was lots of fun.

So, this past summer our family decided that we REALLY love to play tennis. Steve and I have always enjoyed watching tennis and love to watch the Grand Slams on TV. The kids have been begging us to take them to play and when we did we all had such a fun time. We had a blast. We only got to do it a few times this summer, but we have big plans to play alot more tennis next summer. Here are a few pictures I took of us playing: