Zions

We spent a beautiful two days in Zions over Presidents Day. It is a tradition we've had with my family the last few years and we were really looking forward to seeing Grandma, Grandpa Greg and Aunt Katy there this year. We drove down on Friday and arrived just as the CA van got in. We hadn't seen Grandma, Grandpa or Katy for a whole month-so we were thrilled and Lucy was so excited she could hardly contain herself. First thing we went on our favorite walk behind our hotel. It was such a nice escape from the cold up north-it was 65 degrees the whole time we were there! We ate at our favorite Pizza Noodle and just had fun being together. That night Becca and family arrived and Lucy loved playing with Ruby.

The next day we left the kids and Danny, Dad and I hiked Angel's Landing.  The men had hiked it before but it was my first time.  Okay, I need to preface what followed even though I would rather skip it, but it changed the whole hike and trip for me so, for historical accuracy, I will embarrass myself on the internet and tell you.  When we arrived at the trail head the parking lot was full-it was a gorgeous day so unlike past years that the boys hiked it, there was little to no snow, so we met quite a few people on the trail. There was one empty parking but it had a thick strip of snow in it.  Dad suggested we go clear the spot a bit. Not thinking I jumped out of the car and, without testing it, kicked the small snow pile with all my strength. The pile did not move. I think I broke my toe. Yes, it was an incredibly stupid thing to do and no, I was not thinking at all. Danny then broke into hysterical laughter. Now, normally I am pretty good at laughing at myself, but who wants to be laughed at when they hurt so bad they are doing all they can not to cry and already feel really really stupid? I was furious with him and he wouldn't let the whole thing go.
 Anyway, we started the hike and I limped up the trail. I'd already felt like I'd been called an idiot so I was determined not to be weak too. I kept us at a pretty brisk pace all the way up. By the time we reached the first set of chains he had wiggled forgiveness out of me, mostly because I was scared on the chains and needed him right up behind me so I wouldn't die. Climbing up the chains really hurt my foot so when we reached the top of the first hill I stayed behind and the boys went on to the very top. I don't regret not going on at all-Danny said it was the scariest thing he's ever done. There was snow and ice in places that made the trail and chains very tricky-so I'm just glad they made it off the mountain.

We relaxed the rest of the day and by that night my big toe was as swollen and black. I limped around for the next week:) Oh well, the trip was worth one little accident. We can't wait until next year.

Mom the photographer

Now that I have an iPhone the number of real pictures I take has decreased rapidly to almost nothing. I had the hardest time finding pics of the girls for my ten month post because I only got out the camera twice in February.  I decided to make an effort to pull it out more to make sure I document the awesome stage my children are at.
Then I realized why I don't bother. Whenever I sit down at the babies' level to take pic of them-they attack me. Most of the pictures i take look like this:
Aim camera at them, they notice me

 Then they come for me:

 Then they're on top of me. It is impossible to take a picture with two babies on your lap. Okay, except for this first one.

 Oh well, I like seeing them close up.

This is the Place

We live just a couple blocks away from the This is the Place Monument. One Sunday when we were all sick we stayed home from church and went to experience some church history instead. They have really made the monument cool  and we had a great time stomping through the snow and telling Lucy about our pioneer ancestors.

 

Lydia doesn't look too thrilled at the view of the Salt Lake Valley (I thought they should have moved on to CA too baby:)

 Lucy acted interested but was mostly thrilled I let her wear my sunglasses on such a bright day. Isn't that a gorgeous view?

10 Months

My babies are in the double digits!  With Lucy I felt like ten months was OLD.  She was such a big girl with so much personality (she was walking so that made her feel extra big too).  Ten months with my twins feels different. They are such little babies still-and I want to keep them that way. That said, they are not lacking in personality:)
My babies at ten months:

Joyce:

Joyce is a cuddly and she is very attached to me. She would love it if I held her all day long. As it is, she is held only 75% of the time.  She can get very jealous when I hold Lydia or give anyone else too much attention. That said, she is fun to hold because she nuzzles me with her neck and gives me lots of affection.  She laughs the most often, especially at Lucy's funny faces and antics.  She is very ticklish and has a tiny dimple that pops out on the lower corner of her mouth. While she likes to always know where I am, she can be very adventurous and likes to explore. When she's tired she scratches and pulls her hair behind her left ear. She doesn't often smile at strangers or people she doesn't know very well with the exception of Uncle Jason who she beams at and finds hilarious. She is a big talker, usually repeating "da da da da da da da":) She is constantly trilling with her lips, sputtering and getting spit everywhere.  I adore her cheeks.

Lydia:

searching for binkies

Lydia is my outgoing girl. When I pick her up in the morning she beams at me, but then looks excitedly at the door. While I'm trying to get her to smile at me again (because it is such a gorgeous smile-I can't get enough of it) she wants to get going and see what is going on.  She has so many different smiles- and every one expresses a different emotion for her-it is so fun to figure out what each one means. She has an incredibly long tongue and clucks it constantly.  She loves to play and explore and doesn't care as much if mom is present. She LOVES her binkie. I usually only give binkies in the car or at bedtime but Lydia will find them and hoard them.  I've walked in on her with a binkie in her mouth and one in each hand.  If Joyce has a binkie and she doesn't she will ruthlessly go up and yank it out of Joyce's mouth, even if she already has one in her own mouth-it is a source of entertainment around here:) She has just learned to replace the binkie back in Joyce's mouth after taking it. She thinks she is so funny.

Now the details so I remember:
Both girls can stand alone for awhile, but neither can quite stand up from a sitting or kneeling position yet. Both girls also have two bottom teeth and are getting in their two upper canines. They're looking like jack-o-lanterns right now:)
Sleeping: We are still on a 7pm to 7am schedule. They are great sleepers- I was much better at training them then I was with Lucy. I lay them down in their sleep sacks, say I love you, walk out and they angelically fall asleep. Nap times are the same but they occasionally have a harder time settling down and I have to go in and put a binkie in. During naps they sleep in different rooms so Joyce usually sleeps in the pac n play in the laundry room downstairs ( luckily she's too young to realize it is kind if a creepy room:)

Eating: I feed both girls at the same time. Lately I have to push their seats apart because Joyce loves grabbing the arm of Lydia's bib and yanking.  Joyce is also a spitter- so I often leave mealtimes covered in orange goop. I was making my own baby food in CA, but have been buying it since we moved to UT. We had been told there was a microwave in the house so we didn't bring our own, but it turns out there isn't one here and I hate to spend money on a microwave so we have been living without one-it has been remarkably easy:)

L.O.V.E.

When my sisters and I were little we were asked to sing at church and activities pretty often. Not because we were any good mind you, but usually because my mom was the leader of an organization and it was easier to make us sing during a program than ask someone else. I think we sang the same song at every baptism in 1993. Anyway, we were asked to sing for the adult session of stake conference one year. It was a spelling song. "H-U-G means time to go to bed, night-night. D-A-D says I love you and squeeze me tight" etc. etc. Well, I was never a good speller and it took some serious thought to figure that song out. The last line was "The most important is L-O-V-E that spells Family." Well, that was a very long intro to what love means to me.  I love and adore Danny and each of my girls.

This year we celebrated Valentines with a Saturday family date. "Family" because we couldn't find a babysitter:) We drove to Provo and went to all of the places we have significant memories of while we were dating/engaged.  First stop was the spot where Danny and Jared Collette serenaded me on the night we got engaged

then we walked over the the Maiser building where Danny proposed. Danny reenacted his proposal and I was swept off my feet for the second time:)

We drove up to Rock Canyon and went on a little hike. We used to hike up there a lot when we were engaged and newly married. On one occasion we picked a favorite spot and told ourselves we would come back to that spot whenever we visited Provo. We looked ahead and imagined what our future lives would hold...we were just as corny back then as we are now:) This is the first time we've been back-seven years and three children later. 

After our reminicing we went to my favorite place for lunch-Bajios. Oh how I love Bajios!

We finished our day with a trip to The Chocolate. A cute dessert cafe Becca and Kyle introduced us to in Orem. Their salted carmel brownie is the best thing in the world. I dream about it...

Valentines day is not usually one to the holidays I care very much about, but this year we decorated about a month early so the anticipation has been building. Yesterday was Lucy's preschool party and we decorated sugar cookies with the Blodgetts, so we got the celebrating started early. Today we are celebrating by hanging out with Becca and Ruby-our favortie thing to do.  Later we will go out to eat with Danny at our traditional Valentine's restaurant: Arby's.  We ate there on our first Valentines day when everywhere else in Provo was packed and we hadn't gotten any reservations. It has been our place ever since:)

We're not sick of it yet...

Like the rest of the country we are enjoying a warm winter. Thank heavens-it has really helped my weather adjustment. It frequently looks so nice outside that I don't think to bring hats/gloves or even jackets and then we all freeze in the car when it is actually only 20 degrees. (Don't worry, I have Bundlemes for the babies so they are at least warm. I'm not neglecting them:)

As a result of this nice "warm" weather we haven't had much snow. We get super excited when the snow actually does fall. We have a park across the street from our house and it is the perfect place to run around and get in snow ball fights. It snowed pretty hard the week we got here and we immediately went out to enjoy it:

Christmas 2011

Every year I think I blog about Christmas over a month after the fact. Moving on New Years Eve is a pretty good excuse for this year though. I feel a need to document so here are the main events.

The week before Christmas we moved in with my parents so we weren't living in a moving-zone throughout the holiday.  It was so nice to have a break from the move and just hang out with family. One day we went to the city with the Leinfam. We took the ferry in and went ice skating at the Embarcadero. We did this last year too and I hope it will continue to be a tradition because we had a great time. Lucy loved being with her cousins all day.

It was an Anderson Christmas this year so as is tradition on Christmas Eve we started the evening at my Grandma Joyce's house.  We acted out the nativity with Lucy as Mary, Katy as Gabriel and me as a multitude of heavenly hosts (I just talked very loud:).

We also played the Toy Symphony, carols and the Christmas Concerto as a family. This is a big tradition and something Grandma loves. Lucy loved seeing me play my violin and I loved seeing my Dad play his viola.  Lucy played the toy trumpet during the toy symphony, which is the same instrument I always played for that piece. She loved it. This year I played the water whistle during that piece and let me tell you-it was intense.

We went home to my parent's house to enjoy other traditions like singing "Hang up the Baby Stocking" and watching a Muppet's Christmas Carol. I wish I knew how to use my camera because this would have a been a super cute shot of Lydia:

On Christmas morning we all managed to stay asleep until 7 AM. We let Joyce stay asleep and went down to see what Santa brought us. Santa brought Lucy a new singing Rapunzel doll. Santa learned from his mistakes and braided Rapunzel's hair this year.

Lydia and Joyce got this new play stand from Santa and loved it.

 We opened presents for awhile, had a wonderful breakfast with Grandma Joyce, and went to church. After church we continued opening and playing with our presents. This time Joyce got into the wrapping a bit.

I was very spoiled this year. I got a whole winter wardrobe from my parents, a new diaper bag from the Leiningers, two awesome shirts from Becca and a tripod from Danny.  Katy gave me some increidbly thoughtful gifts: she made this plaque:

  and she shadowboxed these jammies.

Isn't she thoughtful? I cried.
We had a fantastic Christmas.  We loved spending quality time with our families, especially knowing we'd be leaving so soon. Okay, gonna cry if I keep typing. The end.