Sanders Family

This post is all about belief. Here are the rules - some of your answers can't be religious. You should include at least one belief about food and one belief or unbelief that reflects your philosophy about life.

6 things I believe:

1- You should smile and wave at everyone.
2- You can't hold your baby to much and you shouldn't make them scream themselves to sleep.
3- Jesus Christ is my Saviour and that he loves me (and everyone) very much.
4- Two- year-olds are terrific not terrible.
5- Your husband (or wife) should be your best-friend.
6- We are all born with our own unique personalities and talents which we develop as we grow.
7- Anyone you get to know well you will learn to love ( a few exceptions are people who are truly evil, like Hitler)
8- Serving others makes you happy.

6 things I don't believe:

1- I don't believe in "diets", counting calories, or skipping all desserts. ( Just have a healthy over all lifestyle)
2- I don't believe that everything bad that happens to us is a trial sent from God ( but obviously some are).
3- I don't believe that having money makes you happy.
4- I don't believe that carbs are bad for you.
5- I don't believe that parents always know what is best for their kids (especially me)
6- I don't believe that you should marry someone who is just like you

6 things I am unsure about:

1- How to put my kids to bed without having a fight.
2- If I could ever really give up chocolate.
3- If I will ever be comfortable and feel adequate as our wards Primary president.
4- What the right balance is between family, friends, church, community and myself.
5- Why authors wait years sometimes to publish the sequel to a book. (It drives me crazy!)
6- If I will ever master my temper. (but I am working on it!)
7- Why I got so lucky getting such a wonderful husband.


This post was harder for me to finish than I thought it would be. But I think it was good to express myself and get myself thinking about my beliefs ( so thanks Holly for the challenge!)

I tag Rhonda, Brandie, Kim, Becca and Kamie

Wow I can't believe Cadance is old enough to be baptized. She is such a great daughter and I hope that her baptism felt really special and neat to her. I love her so much and hope that the decisions that she makes will continue to be good ones. She has a sweet testimony that I know will continue to grow and develop as she does.

Also I have to mention all of the family support that we had. My whole family (parents and brother and sisters families) came and Chips parents and his sister, Char, and her kids were able to come.

She was confirmed on Sunday by Chip and it was so special. Chip has been looking forward to this day and the day of her baptism ever since we found out that I was pregnant. I am so grateful that he is a worthy priesthood holder and that he was able to confirm Cadance a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Cadance said she felt really happy after her confirmation. What a great weekend!

Thanksgiving was so nice this year. We stayed with Char and had Thanksgiving with the Sanders. The kids LOVED it! Alissa was obviously in heaven with 3 whole days of Avery time. (Yeah just ask Alissa who her favorite person in the whole world is. Not me I think I am like 5th or 6th.) We had a scrumptious dinner with all the trimmings. Special thanks to Char for the Turkey and Ham she made. (yeah I was supposed to help, but kind of ended up basting Char and her kitchen more that I basted the turkey.) Also special thanks to Brandie for all the yummy pies.

Black Friday was really fun as always. It was just Char, Brandie, me, and Kiley this year. We went to Wal-mart, K-mart, ACE Hardware and then the IFA in Salina. It is always fun to get up and get all excited. I wouldn't think that much of it except it is fun to go with the Sanders (My family is not big on it.) We got some pretty good deals, but the lines were incredible. We don't shop for anything that is not a super deal, so in years past we have been in and out pretty quick. This year we were in line at Walmart for a half an hour, and K-mart for about 45 mins and at ACE for a half an hour. There were no lines at the IFA in Salina.

We celebrated Cadance's birthday later this day! I love you Cadance!

The Christmas Tree Hunt has been my favorite part of Thanksgiving and the kick off of Christmas for as long as I can remeber. We were able to see some of my Jensen cousins that I haven't seen for a long time. We picked and cut a beautiful tree after much hiking around. It was nice though. Chip and I took a four-wheeler because the four-wheel drive in my Dad's truck wouldn't engage. We ended up leaving the kids with my parents, because Connor was sick and we didn't want him riding around in the cold for that long. We got to have a date! For us anytime without kids is considered a date.

The whole weekend was really nice and it was great to get away from Cedar and every crazy thing that is going on her right now. We almost had to take Connor to the emergency room, because his croup was so bad, but other than that is was a perfect weekend.

Cadance's 8th birthday was Nov. 28 we celebrated a little more low key this year, because of her baptism on Dec. 6. We had a family party at Char's house. It was really nice. We gave her the baptism dress that she had picked out.

Some of my favorite things about Cadance are:

1. Her super cute smile.

2. That she is kind to and likes everyone.

3. She is a great friend.

4. Her totally contagious giggle.

5. Her testimony.

6. That she loves to learn.

7. That she is so artistic.

8. That she is my precious "baby" girl forever.

Connor went on his first trip to the dentist. (In Oct. Yes! I do know this is late) He was such a good boy and even let the hygienist clean his teeth and floss them. He even asked for some more paste after she was done. It must have tasted good! No cavities Yeah!

Connor trying to escape from the playground. He really just wanted to run around and be free.
Cadance, Alissa, Sadie and Maci with Aurora. We went to Disneyland with our friends the McOmbers Sadie and Maci belong to them.

So I know that I need to post some pics of Disneyland (which was wonderful by the way), but I don't have time. I just wanted to make sure I got this down before I forgot.
Alissa and I were working on her alphabet homework. She had written all of the uppercase letters out in order by herself without making a mistake. (She is very motivated by treats so she had earned one) I asked her what kind of treat she would like, and she said," I don't rightly know." I thought it was hillarious. It still makes me smile. She said that she heard it on Backyardigans and she is picking up all kinds of words and phrases right now. You gotta love her!

So our labor day weekend this year was a little too exciting for us. On Saturday we had asked our next door neighbors, The Fains, over to BBQ with us, but the wind was blowing so hard that we decided to go inside instead of having it outside. We BBQ ed our chicken and got everything ready. The Fains and their friend Wade who was staying with them at the time came over and brought some dutch oven potatoes and a cookie salad. Well they had been over for about 45 minutes and we were just finishing eating when someone came pounding on the door and said the neighbors house was on fire. We freaked and ran over there. One of the older neighbor kids had called 911, but the whole back of the house was in flames. The dad, Chad, and Wade ran in to get their dogs out, but they couldn't find them. Chip got the latter off his truck and got on the front of the roof, by an open window to try and coax the dogs out there, but there was to much smoke billowing out the window. We grabbed our hose and started spraying the vehicles down, because they were next to the house and the keys to them were inside. The police and an ambulance got there pretty quickly, but because of a problem with dispatch and the fire department didn't get there for what seemed like forever!!!! By the time the fire department got here there were flames shooting out from the front door. They did their best but the house was pretty much a total loss. Though this whole thing. I was so worried about Kerry, the mom, she is pregnant with twins and was about 6 months along. She started having some contractions and was totally stressed (major understatement). This was the first time we had invited them over for dinner. What a dinner party.
As bad as this all was the out pouring from people here was incredible, before the fire was out they had a place to stay at his bosses cabin which was completely furnished, they had formula and diapers, for their baby, Miles, and some clothing and necessities. They weren't able to get the dogs out which was probably the biggest blow to the family, but the firefighters were able to get the bodies out later. Someone called an animal mortuary and let them know what had happen. The mortuary arranged for the dogs to be cremated for free and even came up from St. George to pick them up and deliver them. When their land lord found out what had happened they allowed them to move into another house in town that they owned. When they moved to the house one of the young women in another ward had arranged from couches, tables, beds, chairs, clothing and food to be brought and the support was overwhelming. They didn't have renters insurance and they lost almost everything so this was especially needed. Also many people gave money. I just have to say how proud I am of my neighbors although the first two days they were extremely stressed, they have been amazing in their attitudes and their optimism. I am also proud of the church and community. This is how we should work when someone is in need. They received so many clothes they didn't need them all, probably not even half of them so they gave them to other people who needed them. We counted at least 15 kids who got clothes that were needed from this. Wow! I'm not sure why this happened, the Lord works in mysterious ways, but I know he lives and loves us and I am so glad I have that knowledge!





There aren't any pics of the inside of the house on here, but it was pretty much charcoal all the way through. The little girl in the pic is the daughter of the family, Alyssa. They think the fire started from the BBQ on the back porch. Chad had made the potatoes and put out the coals, but with the wind blowing so hard, they think that a spark blew up into the eaves and it went very quickly from there mostly because of the wind. Luckily the owner of the home had insurance and should be able to rebuild. She said after it was rebuilt they could move back in, WOW, what a great woman. She knows that it was an accident and could have happened to anyone. WARNING: if your BBQ is next to your house I seriously suggest that you move it away!

Alissa was so excited for school to start, but was kind of put off when Cadance started before she got to. We are so proud of her! She is learning fast and making lots of new friends. Her teacher is Mrs. Weber. Doesn't she look absolutely adorable?!

Connor and Alissa are such good buds. Connor can't wait to see her in the mornings. Usually Alissa wakes up before him, but on some days he wakes up first and has to go climb in bed with her to wake her up. He says "Lissa where are you!"

Cadance was so excited for school to start this year. She has some good friends in her class and I was really excited about her teacher. Since it is October when I am posting this -ha, ha- I can let you know that Cadance loves her teacher, and I am really pleased with her. She sings all the time and has a whole bunch of extra learning activities for the kids to do. They had snail races with live snails and they have learned about ants also. They have tadpoles and frogs in the class room and Cadance has never been more excited about going to school. I go and help on Tuesday mornings and Mrs. Apgar, that is Cadances teacher's name, lets me bring Connor.

So our trip to Disneyland is now official. We got our hotel this week. Now we just have to get our Disneyland tickets, which in case you were wondering are going to be more expensive then our four night stay at a three star hotel. Yikes! The girls are so excited. We are too. We don't go until the middle of October, but Alissa has already started a count down.

We went down to St. George yesterday to get Connor's 18 month pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids. I think they turned out great. We got a couple of Chip and him together that were really fun and one with his nose crinkle. We got a CD so if I can figure out how to put the pics on here I will.
We also went to Old Navy and hit the 12 dollar pants sale. Yeah, I was able to get 2 pairs of pants for me and we got two pairs of pants for Chip too.
We also went to eat at Chuck-a- rama (Chips idea). Not my favorite place to eat, but he was really excited about it. Believe it or not we had to coaks Alissa into trying a dessert. All she ate was some strawberry lemonade, a few fries and a piece of garlic bread. But Chip got her to try his cinnamon pull apart bread and then she wanted some of that and she saw my ice cream and decided she wanted that. And then just before we left she told me she was so so hungry. I got her to eat some rice and some more garlic bread, but she wouldn't even eat watermelon or pineapple. Strange!

The Jepson Reunion was a hit this year. Chip and I actually did well on horseshoes this year. I even got a "ringer." We were going to play in the championship game but were rained out.



One of the most interesting things we did was the relay. It was hilarious. You had to spin around with a bat on your head and then run to a line and back with a bean bag on your head. The person who I though was hands down the most ridiculous to watch by far was Michael. His team had to catch him as he fell down and I have never seen anyone run while being angled toward the ground before.