The Grandkids:)

Emilee made the shirts and onesies for all the Grandkids and they turned out sooooo cute. My only sadness is everyone is bare foot except Ruth.

Left to Right and Oldest to Youngest: Olivia, Naomi, Bella (John and Emilee's), Quinn (Dave and Lauren's), Ruth (Ours), Maddie (also Em and John's:)

Christmas Vacation So Farth

Despite the rain Disneyland was AWESOME!!!!!!!! We rigged a poncho over Ruth's stroller so this was how she looked through he head hole.

First time in a regular stroller.

Small World was SO pretty! The park really was decked in all it's Christmas finery.

The Fantasy Land Castle.

Ruthunzel

Ruth apparently didn't want Maddie holding her hand. Maddie's 2 months younger.

Vacation Starts Tomorrow!!!

Well kids. I've been packing for 2 days, filled 3 suit cases, 1 bag, altered 1 pair of jeans, fixed a shirt, added stuff to some PJ's, made a Bundling Bag for Ruth's car seat, gave Ruth 4 shots:( and emptied my fridge. We leave for Christmas Vacation tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!! First week we'll be in CA playing at Disneyland with Mike's family then about 2 more weeks with them in Monticello UT. Then we're headed to Payson to play with my family. Mike's heading back to Durham on the Jan. 10 to start school and Ruth and I will stay till Feb. 2.

LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

I didn't send out Christmas Cards this year so this is for all you people out there. Thank you all our Family and Friends for supporting us this past year in our move and the starting of our own family. We love you!!!!!!!

Notice.

For those of you requesting pictures of Ruth I would love to oblige but our camera is M.I.A. :(

Are Violent Video Games Preparing Kids For The Apocalypse?

Some of you may have seen this before but I thought it worthy of replay.

Hallelujah!!!! (I spelled that correctly on my first try:) Ruth took 3 naps yesterday and went to bed at 6:30pm-6:30am. My sanity is slowly being restored. However. Mike stayed up approximately 36 hours strait so he could level up his character in W.O.W. and then proceeded to shove me off the bed all night. I finally got up and went to his side of the bed which actually worked but he did make some grumbly protests when I took one of the four pillows from him and some blanket. Apparently he just wanted my spot and all the pillows. This will be forgiven if he concedes to sleep on the couch if he ever attempts it again.

Heartache at the Anderson's

Ruth absolutely lost her mind today!!!! She won't take naps, won't play on the floor pleasantly for longer than 5 minutes and insists on crying over EVERYTHING. She doesn't have a temp. and isn't paying attention to her ears so that rules out an ear infection. Her gums aren't a different color than normal and their still smooth so I don't think she's teething. PMS is also ruled out and she's supposedly past the Purple Crying stage. The only conclusion I can come up with is that her heart has been broken by a cruel infant boy. It must have happened at church. I saw Caleb eyeing her yesterday in Relief Society. It doesn't matter that he's 3 months younger than her. Mike's younger than me so I don't judge. And I can't confront him about it cause he's never alone.

Truthfully this has been going on for about a week..........save me.

WOULD YOU PEOPLE BLOG ALREADY!!!! I NEED SOMETHING TO READ!

This excludes Molly, Brooke, Becky, Dari, Ashley, Debi and Emilee who have all posted recently.

Updates:

Well....Thanksgiving was so great!!! The stuffing and pies were good, SO RELIEVED!!! The rest of the food was also tasty. For the first ten minutes of dinner all that could be heard was a chorus of, "This is great turkey!", "Who made the yams they are sooooo good.", "Who made the stuffing? I really like it.", "I love mashed potatoes. Good job!" and so on... and on....and on. We couldn't help ourselves. When you're normally not the one doing the cooking for a very important food consuming tradition and lots of other people are going to eat stuff they'd rather have their Mom make it puts a lot of pressure on a girl! So when it goes so well you have to talk about it for a lonnnnnng time:) The end.

Mike is just about finished with school to his, mine and Ruth's relief! One more semester behind us HURRAY!!!! He mentions every once in a while that the new version of WoW (World of Warcraft for those of you not plagued with this computer game) is coming out in a few days....which causes him to spontaneously salivate. The end.

Ruth is a crack up as usual. She now growls on a semi-regular basis and baby garbles to. LOVE IT!!!!! What I don't love is being woken up everyday at 6:30. There's no reason to set alarms when you have your very own rooster:) The end.

I was looking up info on Baby Teething and came across this picture.

A Milestone

Ruth rolled over on Wednesday and neither of us saw it. She started to cry so I looked over and she was on her stomach:) She was crying obviously cause she was stuck and needed assistance.

Just a note: If you save the scraps from your stuffing ie. carrot ends/skins, celery leaves/ends/heart, onion skins with just a few more things from the spice cupboard you can make home made vegetable stock then freeze it for later use:)

My Thanksgiving List

In no particular order:

1- The Internet-What did I ever do without foodnetwork.com, or Hulu for that matter?

2-Blogging-Being able to get regular updates from friends and family is awesome. I'm not much of a phone talker, never have been (not even for my boyfriends, pore guys. And there were many, many of them......I'm highly desirable.)

3-Coupons-We save money and I get to buy stuff I would normally have to pass over.

4-Baby Ruth-She makes me smile everyday. Does the FUNNIEST THINGS, cracks me up and has the best laugh ever!! Watching her learn and figure things out blows my mind.

5Michael-He works so hard at school!!! Just about every night I thank Heavenly Father for putting me in the path of a man who understands his responsibilities and wants to take care of his family in every way.

6-Craigslist-One year ago our apartment was empty except for an air mattress and a baker's rack. You think I exaggerate but I don't. Now our apt. has a couch, chairs, 2 desks, kitchen table/chairs, rocking chair, shelves, baby dresser and a mirror.

7-Sibling's/Parents Who I know have prayed for us over the last year. Prayer works. I've seen it.

8-Friends-Those were also things were didn't have in Durham 1 year ago. Now we have a friend network we can count on and we're not lonely:)

9-Scriptures-It's been a while since I've read the Book of Mormon. I started it again a few weeks ago and it's been amazing. I almost see it in a different way because of all the things that have happened in my life since I last read it from cover to cover. It's a true testament of Jesus Christ.

10-Fall/Winter- This is my favorite time of the year!!! Among other things there are so many trees in Durham and they've been lovely this Fall. In the winter the leaves all fall so I can see more........there are less trees in Utah blocking the view around you and though I'm used to it now I still miss it.

The Best Yummiest!!!

• This is quite possibly the BEST trifle on this earth!!!!!!! It's a Paula Dean recipe. You can sub. the Gingerbread for Spice Cake and definitely sub. the frozen whipped topping for real Whipping Cream.
• 
  
• Ingredients
• 2 (14-ounce) packages gingerbread mix
• 1 (5.1-ounce) box cook-and-serve vanillapudding mix
• 1 (30-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
• 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping
• 1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional

Directions

Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding.Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. Sprinkle of the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl.

Monet

So excited!!!!!!! I've decided to also make an Apple Pie for Thanksgiving:) My Mom makes the best freakin pie. Have I mentioned what a fabulous cook she is? Well, she's FABULOUS!!!!!!

I'm not huge into art but I can appreciate a beautiful painting. I looked Monet up online today and these are a few of my Favorites:)

Turkey for the girls and Turkey for the boys.....

I have made the shopping list for Thanksgiving!!!! We're doing a Pot Luck with our friends like last year. SSSSOOOOO excited for the food! Last year it landed right in the middle of my morning sickness faze.....not so good. But THIS YEAR I am at my best hungry Thanksgiving self.

Mike isn't so much of a traditional Thanksgiving fan so he will be making some yummy Shrimp Kabob's for his and our enjoyment:) My assignment is Sausage/Apple Stuffing, Rolls (last year they were bricks cause I killed the yeast), and Peach/Candied Pecan Pie!

HURRAY FOR TURKEY DAY!!!!

What does Pizza, Baked Potatoes and Calzones have in common? Ingredients!!!! I made homemade Pizza the other night and felt kinda guilty at how much I spent. I justified it cause we were feeding the Missionaries but when I figured out what to make with the remaining junk I felt better:)

Shopping List

1 can olives

1 carton mushrooms

1 Lrg yellow onion

1 gr bell pepper

1 pkg pepperoni

mozzarella cheese

1 jar spaghetti sauce

Betty Crocker pizza crust (super cheap and work great for me)

Pillsbury ready made dough (in the roll canisters like the Biscuits and Crescent rolls)

Potatoes (we already had these as I'm sure most people do)

Divi up all ingredients between the Pizza, Baked Potatoes andCalzones (1 roll made 3 med ones, 2 for dinner and 1 for Mike's lunch. 375 for 14 minutes but watch them, we dipped the calzones in pizza sauce). Very nice!!!

Sat-Pizza, Sun-Potatoes, Mon-Calzones.

I'm totally listening to Kosy 106.5 right now and their playing Christmas Music!!!!!!! So Awesome!!! The only downer being the Utah weather forecasts and traffic updates.....mmmmm homesick a little.

But I Want It Now!

OH MY!!!!! I can barely contain myself!!!!! I want to decorate for Christmas soooooooo bad!!!!!!! If Mike would let me I would Deck the Halls right now.....but he won't. The decor goes up traditionally the day after Thanksgiving. I tried to explain that because we're leaving for Christmas vacation on Dec 18 that deprives me of 2 weeks of Christmas BLISS!!!! (i usually take them down New Years Day) But this year they're coming down on the 17:( Unfair. Therefore, I think I should get to do it 2 weeks early which would be November 12, one week away.

This isn't over Mr. Anderson.

OH NOOOOO! My babies a thumb sucker! At 4 months she has taught herself to suck her thumb when she's upset. So mainly this happens at nap time, or when I have to ignore her ie. making dinner, having slimy hands and such. But being an uncoordinated baby she holds her right hand in a tight death grip so there's no escaping her mouth. Got her out of bed last night for her late bottle and she had her thumb in her mouth till I pried in out to replace it with the bottle. So awesome.

So I waited a whole month to make Ruth's costume then spent 3 days making it so she could wear it for 5 minutes:) but she did look dang cute in it!!!!

....and she looks massive.

So we came up to DC to visit Mike's brother Rob and decided since we were close by we would stop in at the John Stewart/Steve Colbert Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear. Couldn't get that close and couldn't hear but had lots of fun reading the various signs.

Rob, Mike and cousin Hunter with his wife Lisa.

Thats the Capital Building in the background.

This sign solves everything.

I voted Rob's sign was the best. It's called "the emptiness of the ideas being expanded'

Their reasoning was legalizing pot would stop the drug problems at the Mexican/American border freeing police to focus on drunk drivers and child molesters.

All in all it was kinda disappointing but walking around with good company and eating yummy food made it all worth it.

Ruthie's New Fatty Stats

At 4 Months old:

Weight: 18 lbs 2 oz >97%

Length: 25 3/4 in. >95%

Head Circumference: 44 in > 97%

She gained 4 pounds since her last appointment.

In other words she's the size of a 6 month old:)

I can finally start on her Halloween Costume!

This is our version of Tummy Time.

My mind has obviously checked out. I think I've taken about a million pictures of Ruth and I still keep taking more!! I can't help myself she's so freakin cute. Also, since most of you are so far away I want to post every single one. But don't worry! I've set a limit for myself.........sort of.

Fat Baby Bumbo

Mike's started his second wave of classes this semester. Time is just flying!!! Ruth has started draping her arm over her eye's like she just can't take anymore of life....poor thing. Being a babies so hard. And I'm trying out couponing. It's harder than I thought it would be but very rewarding.

Fall Picture Books

You can't have Halloween with out pirates.

Key feature thats fun-they're Little Girl Pirates:)

The Night Pirates by Peter Harris Illustrated by Deborah Allwright

Fabulous!! "This is the tree, crooked and strong, that grew the apples, juicy and red, that went in the pie, warm and sweet, that Papa baked."

The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson Illustration by Jonathan Bean

Love the characters and art in Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper. It's the first in a series of three, at least I'm calling it a series cause all three books involve the same characters. The other two are A Pipkin of Pepper and Delicious!

My friends Molly and Jeb Ingram just welcomed their baby girl (to be named later) into the world. Dang Dang cute!!!!

8 lbs 12 oz 21 inchs

Some of my favorite...

As Christmas approaches, yes if you know me well you aren't surprised that I'm already talking about it, I decided to post some of my favorite paintings of Christ.

For Unto Us a Child is Born by Simon Dewey

The Gentle Healer by Greg Olsen

O Jerusalem also by Greg Olsen

Be it Unto Me by Liz Lemon Swindle.

Is there a more unique fun name out there? Maybe. I met a Modern Dancer several years ago at the UofU who's name was Liberty Valentine:)

Don't you just love movies you can watch over and over again? Particularly the one's you watched as a kid and still enjoy as an adult. They were so entertaining that even though I didn't understand the references or the plot it was still a favorite. For instance My Fair Lady is one of those movies. Loved, loved, loved it when I was young. The music and the costumes were what hooked me and I think Audrey Hepburn was the first actress I thought was beautiful. I don't know a single girl that doesn't envy her in the white dress she wears to the ball. And now that I'm more "mature" I get an absolute kick out of Alfred P. Doolittle, Elisa's father. So stinken funny. And all the lines Rex Harrison (Professor Higgins) has that just went right over my head....anywho. I love movies like that.

On the flip side. Occasionally I'll watch a beloved movie from my kidhood and gasp at how naive I was. I must have been clueless. Like South Pacific which has somewhat scandalous (I'm exaggerating a little) parts in it.......the specific one's escape me now which kinda ruins my example but I know someone out there know what I'm talking about:)

I'm amazed that even though I spend all day with Ruth everyday I still love looking at pictures of her while she's sleeping and they make me smile.

This was my latest and greatest project. I was going to put it on my front door but the sky's been crying for three days strait and isn't going to be consoled anytime soon. So, rather than let the sky's melt down ruin my paper leaves it's hanging cozily in my living room.

Today when I finished feeding my Chubbykins she kinda laid back all relaxed like with her eyes half shut and puckered her lips a little. If she could talk I picture her rubbing her belly in small circles and saying in a early 20's male voice, "That was sooooo good......I'm totally satisfied Mom".

I tried to find video's that would go well with the post but instead I found this disturbing video. and this one.

Bath time with Chubby Wubby. We've hit some milestones this week:) Ruth reached out and touched my face on purpose!!! It was so awesome. 15 minutes later she was trying to grab a rattle with both hands. Today she is trying to pick stuff up. I love it!!!

And my fattykins loves bath time.

Is it bad to think that babies crying is funny? Not the in pain wailing or the super ticked off stuff but times like this when Ruth is sleep crying around her hand which is shoved in her mouth. I don't know if you can see it but her eyes are shut tight. I can't help but giggle a little.

How do I learn to be southern? By visiting southernliving.com duh. Now I can learn to make comfort food, BBQ, decorate cosily and appreciate the confederacy.

I think my Dad has been waiting to see his favorite fast food joint happily displayed on his newest grand baby and here it is:)

I bought the pattern for Ruth's costume today and I'm so freakin excited to see it on her!!! I'm going to make the crab cause lately she's been really crabby:) ha ha that was lame. Truly I got it cause I think her fat cheeks would look super cute in it. Sorry for the fuzziness of the pictures.

Trick or Treat?

Ruth has discovered a new trick to play on me. In the morning I pick her up oh so happily cause I haven't seen her in about 3 hours and I give her a big squeeze....then it hits me. My arm is wet and something smells. OOOHHH NNOOOOO!!! Not only did she poop her diaper, poop her clothes, poop the sheets, and poop the non-removable so I can't wash it mattress, but she has now pooped me. I'm sad to say this has been happening quite frequently and I'm now to the point where I feel I need to replace the poopey Pack-N-Play (not so sad cause it was sagging in the middle so I wanted to replace it anyways and don't forget I got it off of craigslist used). But still.

So Ruth and I talked about it and I think we're going to see some improvement and maybe next time I pick her up from bed I will get a Treat (however babies don't bake or go shopping so who knows what it will be) Maybe she will laugh!!!! I would love that. And can I just say how much I love that she's so excited to see me when I go to rescue her from her prison:)

I finally finished Ruth's dresser. I looked for one on Craigslist for months and then found this little gem about a month ago. It was light green with horrid forest green trim. So I sanded it, painted it yellow and put new hard ware on it.

It's mostly made of particle board that was chipping and nasty. Drawer liners wouldn't stick to the bad "wood" so I lined the insides with fabric:) Thumb tacks are cheap and very handy.

Before our little meatball was born I bought several bags of Walmart diapers, which I will never do again. I remember my sister using them and swearing by their superiority to other more expensive diapers. However they must have changed how they make them because now they resemble cardboard. I don't use them but Mike hates the waste so I occasionally find her sporting one of them. To make matters more fun they are now to small but that doesn't stop Mike. We call this look Bikini Diaper.

Very unimpressed with us I think.

I don't know why but I can't upload video's right now:( So we will have to due with pictures.

I'm very much in love with baby gowns that have elastic on them. So easy to change her bottom in the middle of the night. Not to mention how freakin cute she is in them! There's no hiding that big round belly. Did I mention she's wearing 3-6 month old clothes at 10 weeks old? We upped the size last week. By next week I'm pretty sure she'll be in the 6-9 month onesies. She's at 14 pounds.

I'm concerned that by the time she can hold her melon up steadily she will be to fat for her Bumbo. It's a good thing we're having more kids and that most of the stuff is unisex or everything would get only one or two uses. Check out that mid-forearm wrinkle.

Who needs swaddler's when you can just untuck the arms. A baby strait jacket.