Welcome Home, Aaron!

On Friday, Fern's son Aaron returned home from his mission to Mongolia. Unfortunately, I have thrown my back out and we couldn't go to the airport to welcome him home. I was able to get enough pain killers and muscle relaxers into me so we could go to the open house on Saturday. It was way fun! I loved watching Parker try to get to know Aaron. I was pregnant with Parker when Aaron left on his mission so this was their first meeting. It didn't take long for Aaron to win over Parker's heart. It's an "Anderson" thing, my kids LOVE the Anderson family, actually, so do I! Welcome home Aaron!

Craftsman

I guess Parker takes after his daddy, everything needs to be the Craftsman brand!
I was giving him medicine, better to be safe than sorry.

Picnic in the Backyard

The weather was gorgeous today. I told the kids they needed to play outside. Carson wasn't so sure about that until I told him he could have a picnic. He grabbed his special levi quilt that Grandma Clark made him, and was good to go.
I laughed when I looked at them because they were staring right into the bush. I guess it doesn't take much to entertain my kids!

So I Don't Get Hit In The Eyes!

Sam decided to play "catch" with Carson yesterday. Carson ran into the house and came back out wearing safety goggles "So I don't get hit in the eyes!".
I really think Parker will be our athletic child...I'm just sayin'.

Birthday Cakes

As a Relief Society Presidency in my ward, we decided back in January to bake a cake for each sister's birthday this year. Now, before you all take a collective gasp, let me tell you how much fun I've had doing it! Between the 4 of us, we take our turn by baking cakes for the next 4 sisters on the birthday list. We deliver the cakes on their birthdays and it has been a wonderful experience so far. One huge benefit, we are able to meet the people who never come to church...it's casual, non threatening, looks pretty, and hopefully, tastes great!
April has been a busy cake month for a few reasons, 2 members of our presidency had babies, so two of us have been doing double duty. Plus, April is a baby boom month it seems. On Wednesday, I had 3 cakes to deliver. I thought they looked pretty sitting on my counter so I took a picture. Enjoy!

Strawberry Jam

Well, strawberries have been on sale this past week and I bought a flat. I made strawberry freezer jam about 3 or 4 years ago and we ran out last year, so I decided it was time to make more. Fern and I pooled our jam resources and made 2 flat's worth tonight. It took us from 6:00 - 9:00 PM
I think I'll be making jam in my sleep. 2 cups strawberries, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 4 cups sugar...let sit for 10 minutes...boil 3/4 cup water and 1 pkg pectin for 1 minute...pour over strawberry mixture and stir for 3 minutes...Is it morning already???

Old School Photos

At my parents house tonight, Curtis and Cody (or sometimes I like to say Curty and Codis) got laughing about some old pictures we have of ourselves. So, they ran downstairs and came back up with about 12 old photo albums of when we were young 'uns. We were laughing SO hard at how ghetto we used to look. I must have said "The older I get the better looking I get" like 20 times. At one point Shandy said "This is the first cute picture I have seen of you, Carrie!" Oh, DISSSSSSS!
Anyways, I took some pictures of the old pictures that made me laugh the hardest. I love the one of Cody, Curtis, and I in the back of Cody's old van. Needless to say, puberty hit us pretty hard! I wonder where we were going, maybe to Mt Saint Helens. That was a sweet road trip, we couldn't even see the volcano because it was covered in fog...
The other picture of Curtis and his bike: Red converse shoes, tube socks, bermuda shorts, and a wife beater belly shirt. CLASSIC!

Happy Birthday Dad & Nalani

Today is my dad's birthday and my cousin Nalani's birthday. Happy Birthday!
We had our 1st Barbeque of the season at my parents house in honor of their big day. It was really fun and as usual, my stomach is sore from laughing so hard.
My mom made a fabulous German Chocolate cake for Nalani, and for dad she made a pink lemonade ice cream cake with Bob the Builder decorations on top. It was quite pink. I must say dad, you must be confident in your manliness!

Ornithologists Unite

So, Carson has discovered the wonderful art of birding. We are starting him off easy, by putting very large birds in front of him and by using high powered binoculars. He honestly said "I can't see it!"

Down On The Farm

While I was checking out the garden condition at "This Is The Place Heritage Park", Sam and the boys were gallavanting about. They found a large bull that captured their attention.
I'll give you a dollar (Yes, dad, I know I still owe you for guessing 5 buck pizza) if you can tell me what Carson and Parker were so interested in.
I'm curious to know if Carson was burping or hiding something behind his back in the other picture.
Oh yeah, Parker has developed sort of a weird habit. Everywhere he goes, including bedtime, he holds onto DVD cases. Today he chose The Backyardigans but sometimes it's Dora the Explorer or Spongebob.

This Is The Place

Our ward has adopted the flower beds around the Relief Society Building at "This is the Place Heritage Park". Tonight we went up there to assess the work that needs to be done in the beds to get them ready for summer planting.
As you can see, the flower beds need some tender loving care.

Warm Weather = Dirty Feet

As soon as the weather turns warm and Carson starts wearing sandals or flip flops, that's when the stinky dirty feet begin! Don't get me wrong, I love that he can slip on the flip flops and run outside, but DANG his feet are black at the end of every day. However, now that he's older, he washes his feet all on his own.
Today I noticed he had been quiet for awhile and this is the scene I found. Good boy!

Abra-Ca-Dabra - Fungus Is Gone

Tree update:
If you recall from several posts back, Sam had to spray our trees with a fungicide because last year they were infested with black spots on the leaves. Well, the leaves are just starting to grow and guess what? No fungus!!! Thanks Sam!

Spring Growth, Updated

Here are a few more picture of the new growth in my yard. After all the snow and wind we've had lately the next few days are going to be a welcome change: Sunny and Warm!
The purple tulips are growing in front of 3 Lilac bushes. I'm hoping the tulips will still be blooming when the Lilac bushes bloom...that's a whole lotta purple!

By Carson

Today I went outside to take some pictures of my flowers. The whole time Carson kept begging me to let him use the camera. He kept saying "I know what I'm doing! Please let me use the camera!". I finally caved and let him use the camera. He ran all over the yard taking tons of pictures. I was really impressed with some of them. So, these pictures are all by Carson. Enjoy!

Successful Bread Making

Yesterday Fern gave me a ball of bread dough she made so I could go home and bake it. Well, I didn't have time to bake it last night so I put it in the fridge. Today I thought calzones sounded good for lunch so I used her bread dough to make calzones and some rolls. They turned out great!
Last Thursday I went to an Enrichment Activity for our ward where the instructor taught us the basics of bread making. We learned about yeast, gluton, kneading your dough, and so on and so forth. We were given homework at the end of this class: we had to go home and try making bread from scratch before our next bread class on the 27th.
Well, after using up Fern's dough I was on a roll (punny!). I logged onto AllRecipes.Com and found a bread recipe that looked good. I mixed it in the Kitchen Aid mixer until it sort of held together, and then I kneaded the dough with flour for about 9 minutes. I'll bet pioneers had great muscles in their arms from making bread. It was so fun because I felt like I understood it much better after attending the bread class. The dough rose like it was supposed to and baked quite nicely!
Tonight we had some with our dinner and I thought it tasted really good! A big thanks to Cathy Gilmore, who was the bread class instructor! I can't wait for our class on the 27th because we get to learn about yeast sweet breads, like cinnamon rolls! Speaking of rolls, I think I'll go have one of those I made from Fern's bread...

Dying Eggs, Part 2

After the Park, we went back to Curtis and Shandy's house to dye more easter eggs. Shandy made a pretty cool egg that said "It's a boy" because she is expecting their first child, a boy, in early September! Precious!

Flying Kites at the Park

After the Egg Hunt we went to a park by Curtis and Shandy's house. It was beautiful! We flew kites and played with the dogs. I know my kite picture doesn't compare to Darren's (it's tough having a brother who is a photographer!) but I really like the picture of Carson flying his kite.

Raja (yellow lab) and Lola (pug) were able to get plenty of exercise, which worked out well! Lola is a great sport with Carson!

Egg Hunt

We went to Curtis and Shandy's house for Easter Dinner. Shandy made a mean stuffed french toast! It had ham and swiss cheese inside the french toast and crushed almonds toasted on the outside... Now I'm salivating!

I had 60 plastic eggs stuffed with candy so Curtis and I hid them around his yard and everybody had fun looking for eggs. I think dad was pretty ticked off because he came in last place as far as egg count goes!

Dying Easter Eggs, Part 1

We dyed easter eggs at my parents house in the afternoon. It was really fun! We only had one trauma, Carson spilled the yellow dye on himself, on Grandma, and on the floor! At least it was yellow and not red!
Parker was content eating Oreos instead of dying eggs, which was fine by me!

Easter Sunday

I will probably have to do Easter in more than one post because it was a great day full of fun!

Here is Carson and Parker Easter morning. They got a "The Incredibles" bubble blowing machine. Carson was especially excited!
They also each got a book. Parker's is about animals and Carson's is about learning to draw. The Easter Bunny did a great job at choosing these items, because they were very happy.

Unfortunately, the Easter Bunny picked out a candy necklace, which also consisted of some bracelets for Carson. Carson eagerly put them on and said "Look! I have fashion!" Uh-Oh.

Outside Days....YES!

I love it when the weather is warmer because then the kids can play outside. They can scream, yell, laugh, make messes, and act crazy and it's OK! Today Carson got on his swim trunks and played outside in the sprinkler. He's got his mom's skin tone: so white it's almost blue!

Beautiful Mystery Tree

Help me figure out what kind of tree this is! When Sam and I were at this park by LDS Hospital, I saw several of these gorgeous blooming trees. I want to say they are dogwoods or magnolia trees, but I didn't think they could grow in Utah's climate.

Lunchtime Takeoff & A Tasty Turkey

I worked in the office yesterday, so Sam and I went to lunch together. We got the Tasty Turkey Bagel sandwiches (my favorite!) and then we went to a park by LDS Hospital to eat. As we were eating, Sam's eyes almost popped out of his head because the Life Flight helicopter on top of the hospital was about to take off. Some of you may know how much Sam loves helicopters, especially Life Flight. Here are a few shots of the lunchtime take off and Sam's tasty turkey sandwich.