Instead of Daddy, Aunt Bekah tagged along for Kathryn's Disneyland trip. She made cute mouse ears for the three of us. Everything was so thrilling for my four-year-old princess-loving daughter.

 No ride went un-ridden in Fantasyland. Kathryn just couldn't get enough of all the bright colors and princesses who adorned the land.
 Kathryn is just barely tall enough for the Mountain Rides. She LOVED Splash Mountain!
 But Space Mountain was a different story! She said she had fun, but the picture says differently.

 We shut the park down on our second night there. It started to downpour about two hours before closing, but Kathryn insisted we keep playing. We rode almost everything in Fanstasyland within that time because most of the crowd cleared out.
All that fun was exhausting for my little peanut, but the memories made on our trip were priceless!

One of the highlights of Autum in Utah County is BYU football games. James and Jackson came up for Homecoming this year. They got to the game early enough to tour around campus, high five the players in the Cougar Walk, and enjoy a "cougar tail" or two.
Dad Andersen invited Neil, Grace, and me to attend the Star Valley Temple Dedication at the beginning of November. The cultural celebration the night before was fun and amazingly executed. You could really sense the excitement of the people of Southern Wyoming for their new temple.
During the Dedication we sat just feet away from Elder Bednar. The talks were amazing and the Hosanna Shout was the most electrifying, spiritual experience that left no one in the room with dry eyes. It was such a treat to have Grace there with us, enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be so close to an Apostle in the Celestial Room of a holy temple.



 My cousin Bree joined us for the holiday. It was a treat for me to have my very own cousin to show around Temple Square, play in the snow, and take to lunch at Cafe Rio--three Utah staples!
 At Christmastime, Mom and Dad Andersen took us around Orem, caroling to several of Mom's family members--most importantly being Grandma and Grandpa Bennion.

 Christmas was wonderful, and as always, the kids enjoyed the packaging just as much as they enjoyed the gifts inside them.
 The day after Christmas we drove down to Arizona to be with family when Spencer arrived home from his Mission. Kathryn and her cousin Peter had a combined birthday party in the afternoon and Spencer flew in late that night.
 The morning after Spencer's arrival, the adults did an endowment session at the Gilbert temple right before driving up to the cabin.
 There wasn't much snow, but we made the best of it. We broke all our plastic sleds trying to sled down the hill near the cabin, but we sure had a blast doing it!

Grace, Neil, and I woke up before the sun to catch a flight to Santa Ana, California. We took just enough time to drop our bags off at our hotel before skipping over to California Adventures.


Grace's favorite ride was a roller coaster called California Screamin'. Her least favorite ride was the Tower of Terror. The unexpected free-fall was a bit too much for her. Neil loved it.
It was fun to watch Grace do different things that we would not have done if her other siblings were with us. She was in heaven at the Animation Academy  where she learned to draw a Disney character.
When we bought her a churro, the vendor noticed her birthday button and gave her a second one for free. What a score!

We got a little wet in the splash zone for World of Color. It was a perfect ending to our long, busy, super fun day.

Grace was brave enough to hop on stage for Jedi Training. She fought Darth Vader with her light saber and resisted the force of the dark side.


Her souvineer of choice was pressed pennies. They were a fun yet inexpensive way to remember our special trip together.

The first day of school looked a little different this year. Kade went off to American Heritage School with the Cooks and Grace stayed home with me. We are giving home school a try in order to boost her reading and spelling skills. I'm surprised at how excited she is about it. We have purchased math books, and her First Grade teacher gave us some spelling books to use. We plan to read as many Illustrated Classics chapter books as we can.
 Grace went on a special date to IKEA with Neil to pick out her desk  for homeschool. We have it set up in the toy room where we will do most of our learning while Kathryn and Christopher (hopefully) play together.

The big day finally came, and Grace had several friends and family members in attendance to support her. Grandma Reichert gave a talk on baptism and Grandma Andersen gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Neil, Grace, Kade and I sang a 2-part harmony arrangment of "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." It was such a beautiful day.

August was a really important month for the Andersens. It started by driving to Dayton, WY to drop the kids off at my parent's home. A day later, Neil and I put our thrift store Pioneer Clothing on, equipped with a tent and a 5-gallon bucket of supplies, and drove to Martin's Cove. We were "Ma and Pa" to eight youth on a re-enactment of the Mormon Pioneer Trek. It was the most strenuous, inspirational, fun, and spiritual experience we have ever had. The struggles of the Pioneers became very real to us as we pushed handcarts across the Wyoming plains. We were well-fed, and had plenty of supplies to keep us much more comfortable than the pioneers ever were. But to walk where they walked and see where they huddled for shelter from blizzards, and visit the mass burial cites was humbling and enlightening. We want to take our family back again someday!

Grandma and Grandpa Reichert tagged along and we had a blast skipping rocks and bouncing on logs. True to form, Grandpa took us on a bit of a wild goose chase as we tried to find the last part of the Tie Flume trail. That brought back memories of hiking all over the mountain trying to find hidden lakes and other gems when Dad couldn't quite remember the path.
 As is tradition when hiking with me, we had to do some rock jumping on the boulders of the river. The kids thought it was the funnest game to skip from rock to rock without getting wet. Kade and Grace only fell in once!
On another adventure, we left Christopher with Grandma and met Uncle Guy, Aunt Cindy, Emily and Travis at Sibley Lake for some Kayaking. We were all amazed at how quickly Kade hopped in the Kayak and paddled all the way across the lake. Grace followed suit, and Kathryn had a good time riding with Uncle Guy and chasing ducks.

The evening ended with dinner at Bear Lodge. As we walked into the restaurant, Kathryn quipped, "We are going to drink al-cohol!" I have no idea where in her 3-and-a-half-year-old brain that statement came from, but she must have seen some of the drinks being served at the bar and it jogged her memory of a Primary lesson at Church about the Word of Wisdom. That girl...