WICKED!

So we went to California for Todd's parents 50th wedding anniversary celebration. While there we took in a little side trip to San Francisco. Here we are eating at the Cheesecake Factory on top of the huge Macy's. YUM!

In Macy's looking out over Union Square.

Then we went to see Wicked! It was Awesome! Love IT! Yes we forced Dallin to go. Don't let him fool you. He loved it too. He just won't admit it. But he is doing a fabulous job with that ,"I'm dying of boredom" look on his face. I little culture in the form of a Broadway musical never hurt anyone.

Mario Party!

Elijah has a little friend who's birthday is the day after his. So his mom came up with this fabulous Mario and Luigi party for them since they are obsessed with playing the Mario video game. Here they are in their Mario and Luigi oitfits for the party. They were still a little nervous and unsure about this whole thing at this point.
These are the Yoshi eggs I made from real eggs emptied out and filled with confetti. They threw them at stars on the house. Our backyard will forever glitter and shine. Yoshi even made an appearance.

If ever you're in trouble - just bubble. My friend Julie (the other birthday boys mom) came up with lots of cute ideas. They went to several stations and collected coins just like in the game. At each station was a question box just like in the game as well. These are the power up cupcakes I decorated to look like the red and green power up and extra life mushrooms in the game. They all got to chase down Bowser and save the princess. Here is Eli trying his hand at the Yoshi egg pinata that Julie made. A fun time was had by all. Here they are wearing the Mario and Luigi hats I made for all the boys who came.
As you can see they are feeling a little more jovial by now.

Elijah turns 5!

On the one hand I can't believe my baby is five. On the other hand I can't believe will have three high school graduates and he hasn't even started kindergarten. It sort of feels like it will go on forever. These are the cupcakes I made. No I didn't let him pick out what kind. I had been craving these lemon cupcakes for a long time and needed a reason to make them. He didn't complain. And they were soooooo good. At this age Elijah is so much fun. Yes there are moments when he has some pretty dramatic tantrums still, but really they are very entertaining. He is usually really positive and happy. And he is always good for a laugh. He just seems to love life.

Yep and a new Spiderman bike too!

Sadie Hawkins Dance

Bridget went to the Sadie Hawkins dance with a fun group of friends.

She makes a cute hillbilly.

Cheer Camp

The Cheerleaders put on a cheer camp for the little girls. I asked Miss Shy girl Lydia if she wanted to go. I expected her to say no since she didn't seem to enjoy it last year. But she really wanted to do it. Well she still didn't like it so much this year. She just clung to Bridget the whole time. Then when it came time to perform at the Basketball game she just stood there. But in one of the cheers they drop to the ground and it took her a half a second to realize she was the only one standing. She quickly dropped to the ground too. So we can be pretty sure we will not have another cheerleader on our hands. Unfortunately the only pictures I could get were from the back. That really annoyed look on Lydia's face was there pretty much the whole time.

Preschool program

We went to Elijah's preschool program. It is the same preschool and the same program that Bridget, Dallin and Lydia did. Sometimes I can't believe I am still going to these but when they are this cute you can't help but love it. They get to sing the songs and show off the dances and everything they are learning. I don't know if this little girl is really happy about the dance or if she is thrilled with her partner but...

this is how Eli feels about it.

Can't believe we will have three in College when this little guy starts kindergarten.

Lydia is 7!

She got to have a friend party this year. I gave her a choice of having a lot of kids and having a party at home or having three friends and going to see the Princess and the Frog and then Dairy Queen. She chose the movie. Here she is with the three friends she chose, Mike, Addie and Maddie. Maddie even said it was the best party she had been to all MONTH! It must have been really fun. The only problem was that the Frog movie was gone and we ended up seeing The Chipmunk squeekquel movie. They all loved it. She got an American Doll that looks just like her.

She chose Cherry Chip cake with Strawberry AND Chocolate icing.

She was especially lucky because Grandma and Grandpa Anderson were here visiting and got to spend her birthday with her. They even went with me to her school to take her McDonalds for lunch and sit with her all during lunch. She was feeling pretty special. It was a fun time for a sweet little girl.

Basketball Season

Woo Hoo! I made it to 2010! I'm really making progress! By January baskteball season is in full swing. It was a fun year since they had a really good team and a couple of star players. Bridget had a blast cheering for them. They got to go to state and made to 4th place in the 4A division. It was pretty exciting!

Christmas 2009

Our Christmas was a little bittersweet of course since it was the first Christmas where one of us was missing. We didn't even get to talk to Garrett on the phone since he was still in the MTC. But lucky for us he left shortly there after and we got to talk to him at the airport. He said it wasn't too bad being in the MTC for Christmas since they were all in it together and they really treat you right. So I felt much better after hearing that. We just couldn't leave him out of the annual Christmas Eve new jammies in front of the stockings picture though.
I will spare you all the boring details but we did have a fun Christmas. Yes we got Band Hero and Beatles Rock Band. There was a lot of this going on.And some of us really got into it.

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Time for all the fun festivities like putting up the Christmas Tree. This year we got a much smaller tree and it was SO much easier to put up and decorate.
And Christmas Concerts. I missed going to the high school band concerts last year. It was the first year we hadn't had a high schooler in band in a long time. The little ones really enjoyed it as you can see.

Lydia and I went to a Mother/Daughter tea party at the Cameo Heights Mansion. It was so fancy and yummy! I just love this spontaneous pose she struck on the grand staircase in the entry hall.

And here she is at her school Christmas Concert. She does not love performing but she still does a great job.

The Knights came for Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving at home this year. Todd's sister Kelly and her family came for the day. Here are the men in the kitchen taking on the turkey.
Here is the whole clan together. A fun time was had by all. It was our first holiday without Garrett home but we all survived.

After dinner we played a rousing game of nertz. We all got schooled by the cheerleaders. It was embarrassing. Then we hung out and talked while the kids played on the Wii Fit. And then the shopping began!

Argentina here he comes!

The first stop was at the Stake Presidents house on our way out of town. Or I guess I should say just on our way since he lives in a town about an hour away and it's in Oregon. He let Todd do the setting apart. It was a great experience. Pres. Brown made sure we had plenty of water for our journey because he was sure I would be dehydrated before we reached our destination.

I guess the worst part by far was watching him say goodbye to his siblings before we left home. There are no pictures because there was just to much sobbing. It was the hardest thing ever to watch. We stayed with my sister, Cindy, and went the next day to the MTC. We stopped by the MTC early to get some pictures before the crowds arrived. Garrett was feeling every emotion available. But seeing that MTC sign was very exciting. It was hard to believe this day had finally arrived. There were many years of planning and praying for this day. We went to lunch and to pick up a few last minute items. We stopped first just up the hill from the MTC to say our last goodbyes since there is little time for that at the drop off point. Yes there were many tears and last minute expressions of love and advice. We were sure we were done with the tears and all promised to be strong and not cry when we got to the MTC.

We all lied. Yes there were more tears and one last quick hug and he was on his way. I was so grateful for the big smile he turned around and gave us as he walked away. It did a mother's heart good. It was the most bittersweet day ever. We were both feeling misery and immense joy. Soooo hard to say goodbye. Couldn't even think of how long two years would be. But I wouldn't want him anywhere else. It's one of those experiences you just can't explain. It's something a parent has to experience to really know. The subsequent letters we received were filled with so much growth and maturity it couldn't help but make the distance much more bearable.