Oh my heck, what can this mean? I have a daughter who has just turned FOURTEEN!!!!

Seriously! I can hardly believe we are to this point! My sweet Mikayla has turned the big 14! Where has the time gone? I remember being 14 like it was yesterday...I got my Learners Permit and was able to DRIVE (that was in Canada), and I got to go to Dances! That was a big year for me! I know it's an exciting time for her too, so we've been doing lots of celebrating!

We started by having a family party, where Mikayla got some wonderful gifts, and a yummy cake-- made by Nanny! She got her first pair of Buckle jeans as well, and that was a big moment!

She requested "Grasshopper Dessert" for her cake...not really a cake, but a marshmallow-ee/minty dessert-- YUM!

Then, we surprised Mikayla with tickets to the David Archuleta Christmas Concert! This was exciting because she got to go with Brenna & Brooke (who paid for her own ticket)-- with no accompanying adult!!! (I have to say I think I earned "Mother of the Year" for that!!) They had an awesome time!

On Thanksgiving Day (the day before her real Birthday), Mikayla ran her very first 5K with her dad! It was the Utah Human Race, and it raised over $50,000 for the Utah Food Bank!!!Mikayla did SO awesome. She placed 6th in her age category...not bad for never having run something like this before! We were very proud of her :-)

And then, today, her actual Birthday, we got up and served her Breakfast in Bed. We had a few of our cousins from California here, so we all stormed her room and sang "Happy Birthday"! I know she just LOVED it! ;-)

I am so grateful for Mikayla! She has been such a joy in my life, and I am so proud of the wonderful young woman that she is becoming! It's so much fun to watch her grow up, but I'm hoping we can keep the boys away a little longer...I'm not quite ready for that yet!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKAYLA!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Good Friends, Good Food, and Good Fun!

Over the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to spend some time with some lovely friends and share some good food, and lots of laughs! We went to The Cheesecake Factory for some lunch, and it was de-lish!

I found out about a class that teaches you how to make these AWESOME Temple pictures-- for cheap! So, a few of us got together and had a fun time crafting away!!! Unfortunately, we got the camera out at the end of the night, so there were several wonderful ladies that I did not get pictures of!

And finally... another Girls Night Out to see New Moon. It was a lot of fun...thanks to Laurie & Kristin for organizing it!

OcToBeR FeSt 2009

This post is all over the place--- cause I'm too lazy to try and put it in chronological order!!! We've had busy October-- Full of Fun Fall Festivities:

Here are the kids in their costumes: Landon was the Tin Man, Connor was an Evil Jester, Brooke was a Princess (but chose NOT to dress up on Halloween night), and Mikayla was Marie Antoinette. Loved her awesome wig!

Previously...On Halloween morning, Brooke had a piano recital. She played "The Prayer" from Quest for Camelot. She did a wonderful job, and it was a lot of fun. The kids all dressed up for the recital, so that was an added bonus!

Previous to that...we spent a fun evening carving our pumpkins. This year I was a boring mom, and we threw all of the pumpkin seeds away!

Of course, before we could carve pumpkins...we had to go to the Pumpkin Patch to pick em!!! We lucked out and it was a fairly warm night. It was the place to be on the night we went, and we all had a lot of fun!

AND Finally...the very First Fun Fall Festivity, was to make Caramel Apples. We had a ton of fun, and they were a tastey treat indeed!

Also:



a) I don't know why some of my pictures won't center, but I'm tired of trying to fix it!



b)Missing from this post are Connor & Landon's Halloween Parade at school, our Ward Halloween Carnival, and our excursion to go and see "Michael Jackson's- This is It!" movie (which was awesome)!! I didn't want to do a picture overload, but all of these activities were lots of fun, and we had a fantastic October :-)

Landon and the Honor Roll!

This morning Landon was invited to a little assembly where he recieved an award for SELF-DISCIPLINE. He was nominated by his teacher, and then the Principle awarded him his medal & certificate. He was SO excited, and wanted to make sure that I would blog about it! We are so proud of him, and how hard he works to succeed in school!

This is what his teacher wrote about him:

"My nomination is Landon Anderson because this student is an excellent example of someone who has Self Discipline. Landon completes his homework every night, and returns his homework folder weekly. He obeys the class rules even when we have a substitute. He focuses on his daily work and continues to improve his quality. Landon disciplines himself to study his spelling and dictation so he will do well on the weekly tests. I am proud of him and the wonderful example he sets for others."

Way to go Landon! We are proud of you!

Brooke turns 12!

Well, our sweet Brooke has finally turned the BIG 12! This seems so crazy, and I find myself wondering where in the world the time has gone. This is one of those milestone ages...she's now a Middle School student, she gets to go to Young Women's, and overall, feels like she's moving up in the world. Such a big birthday, of course, calls for lots of celebrating!

Brooke had some cute friends over for her party. They started out with Pizza & Punch...

Next came the Presents....

Then they had a delicious Ice Cream Cake...

Followed by a rockin' game of BINGO...

and FABULOUS Bingo Prizes (wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper because it's all I had!)...

Then, being "Mother of the Year", I made Brooke a Birthday Breakfast of French Toast & Fruit Smoothies. We even stuck a candle in her toast & sang to her again!

The celebration continued the next day with a Family Dinner at the Country Club, followed by a yummy dessert made by Nanny!

We all had a great time celebrating, and there were lots of reasons to do it! Brooke is such a wonderful girl, and we are so proud of her.

HaPpY bIrThDaY BrOoKe... We LoVe YoU!!!!

September Randomness

This is a variety post! Just a few little things that have happened in the last couple of weeks...

Our good friend Rachael, who lives in Italy, made some time to come and see us while she was here in Utah! She & Charlotte came over, and we had a great time!

Soccer season has begun yet again! Landon is so lucky because his uniform is NEON ORANGE! We can't miss him out on the field-- and he is having a great time playing this year.

Next...Joe had been working out so hard to prepare for the "Top of Utah" Marathon. However, in the week or two before the marathon, he injured his leg and wasn't able to do much training. After many days of anti-inflammatories, doctor visits, chiropractor visits, heating pads, & ice buckets, he made the hard decision NOT to do the run. We were all sad that he couldn't do it, but still went to Logan, cheered for some of the runners, and met up with some great friends to play a little!

The kids had fun swimming in our Brigham City hotel! (everything in Logan was sold out)

Our friends, the Wilson's, were so great & drove up to support Joe in his 'non-marathon'! We took some field trips while we were there. The first was to the Gossner Cheese Factory-- where we stored up on squeeky cheese & flavored milk boxes. We bought Rootbeer Milk, Orange Cream Milk, & Regular Chocolate Milk. The second was to the "Pepperidge Farms Outlet" where we found...pretty much NOTHING! Kind of a waste of time, but an adventure nonetheless!!!

And finally... I made drapes!!! It was quite the process, but I'm so happy with the end result. Now I'm feeling the 'project bug' again! Joe's gonna LOVE me :-)

And that's it for now!!!

Middle School

I don't quite know how we got to this point...it seems like literally yesterday that we had these 2 beautiful, bubbly, spunky, stubborn, loving, caring, funny, talented, happy...LITTLE girls!!!! Where has the time gone? They are now both in Middle School- Brooke in 7th grade & Mikayla in 8th.

Yesterday I sent Brooke off for her 1st day-- a 7th grade orientation. I still can't believe this is happening...

And then today, Mikayla joined her for her first day! I think I was more nervous than she was :-)

Even though I'm mourning the fact that my 'little' girls are growing up, I am so excited for each new chapter that they face in their lives, and am so grateful that they have eachother to lean on for support & comfort!

I sure love these girls of mine, and wish them luck in their journey through Middle School...YIKES!