Summertime

 Summertime in Utah is somewhat different than Idaho.  There is actually something to do... anyway.  I had an amazing first summer in Utah.  I plan on blogging the big stuff on its post but here are some of the little things that I did.  I got my passport!  I was so ready to go to Atlantis, also in a future post, something to look forward to all my blog fans. (I know that only my family reads this so I am joking when I say things like that.)

There is the cutest place in Sandy called Gardner's Village.  Kaitlyn took me there when we were looking at apartments and shopping at the teacher store.  We were in the neighborhood and I was hungry so we had lunch.  This make my mouth water just looking at it.  It was so good and I love taking visitors here.  Come visit me and I will take you! 

 In honor of my sister-in-law Afton, I had to take a picture and go ahead and go inside.  I might have left with a couple of sweet treats....

 Living in Bountiful, aka "the rich part of Utah", we found ourselves invited to many pool parties.  A member of our bishopric had a pool and summer FHE's consisted of many activities being pool side.  We didn't complain! 

 Some of you may have heard of Mary Anne's families tradition of doing alphabet day summer's.  It is not hard to understand how it works but every week day in the summer you have a letter of the alphabet and you do things that start with that letter.  I got to partake in this adventure a couple of days last summer.  I loaded up my bike in my trunk and we went for a bike ride on "B" day.  I also bought my iMac on that day.

 I got my laptop for my birthday right after senior year, that is June 2007, for those who are not aware of what year I graduated.  Well 4 years later and that laptop was not cutting it for me anymore, 4 years of college had killed my laptop and maybe some maintenance that Dad and I had done on it.  We had taken it apart and fixed it and I don't think we put it back together properly.  It lasted long enough for me to get through student teaching and until I got my iPhone.  While it is fun to watch Netflicks on my iPhone, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new computer.  

My new set up!  I didn't have an office chair but who needs one when you have a exercise ball.  Ansley would be proud since she once asked her work to get her an exercise ball instead of an office chair.  This one is for you Ansley.

 City Creek opened up in March in Salt Lake City and has become one of our favorite places to shop/hang out on any given day.  It is so beautiful and I am sad I don't have actually pictures of the shopping center.  You will just have to settle for the parking garage.  Kaitlyn always takes pictures of where she parks and we decided to be funny and pose.  I look really dumb but it was such a good memory that I couldn't pass it up.

 Another alphabet day with the Wiseman's, we went to Ensign Peak on, you guessed it, "E" day.  We were ecstatic to climb to the time and we carved "E" things out of caramels.  We also visited the capital building and rode the elevator.  Later on in the day we had eclairs and english muffin pizza's.  Thank you Wiseman's for entertaining my summer.

 Another exciting adventure was going to the Parade of Homes.  I have always wanted to do this and I now live in a big enough city where it will be worth my while, no offense Idaho Falls.  We visited some beautiful homes, but the one that is pictured was my favorite.  They had a garden growing on the wall, inside their house!  I can't remember what it was called but it had a fancy name.  They also had a mini golf course on their patio, and a 4th floor just so you could go down a slide to get to the third floor.  Of course I would never want to live in this type of house but it was fun to look at.

 They also had this amazing library and fireplace pictured above.  I wouldn't mind having this part of the house.

My friend Shalese has an aunt and uncle that live in a mansion in Bountiful and invites us over for parties on a regular basis.  They have really weird stuff in their house and we found these two gems.  I am in the gorilla suit and Shalese is in the bear suit.  Shalese had the bright idea that we would get into the elevator and when the newest guests had arrived and wanted to use the elevator we would scare them in our costumes.  Well we put 4 people on the elevator and it got stuck.  The plan didn't work out at all and we ended up looking like crazy people dressed as animals.  We were able to get out of the elevator and salvage some of our dignity but I was ready to get out of the hot gorilla suit.  Spoiler: The guy I am dating now (a year later), Kennedy, was there that night and when I told him about this experience he said, "That was you?"

A Visit from the Bunnell's

 In May, Ansley, TJ and the boys came out to Idaho. It had been such a long time since I had seen them, two blog post ago to be exact.  I will never complain about seeing my sister too much.  I hate living so far away from her and get so excited every time that I do get to see her.  TJ was making a new scrapbook desk for my mom so I came and hung out with my sister and her boys for a couple day.  We of course went shopping and found these adorable orange sunglasses for Cohen.  He is a stud.

 I decided to do a little fashion shoot with the boys since they were dressed so cute for church.  The first  one of Ledger is just so funny.  He was so happy and Cohen is just as cute as ever.

 This was the winning shot and they are too cute.  I love these boys so much and look forward any time that I get to spend with them.

 Little Ledgie was practicing crawling and trying to get my phone as I was taking photos of him.  He is just so adorable that I have to take picture of him!

 This one was close up and blurry but that smile is so tute!

 He almost got my phone and is ready to take a bite.  This boy loves to eat!

 Ledgie poo and his favorite Aunt!  There really is no competition... who got to go to Atlantis?  That is right, the favorite Aunt Meme.

 This boy is wild and crazy but is so stinkin cute when he is taking a snooze.  

Ledger loves to be busy and always doing something but was having a hard time staying awake.  He kept trying to wake himself up.  It was so funny.  I can't believe how fast these boys have grown!

A Visit From Marjorie

 Before Summer Semester started up at BYU-Idaho, I got a visit from my bestie, Marjorie.  Marjorie and I were roommates Spring Semester of 2010 and have been best friends since then.  I had a job interview on one of the days she was visiting and it didn't go very well so we went to Ikea for some retail therapy.  We had a great time laughing and looking at all the stuff I could buy if I had a job.  (I realize that my blog may be out of order and I got my teacher job after Spring Break and my visit from Marjorie but I haven't blogged in a year and I forget the order.)  

 While Marjorie was visiting, she really wanted to learn to make Sushi and since I was given this amazing knowledge from the one and only David Mann, I was willing to share this knowledge with my dear friend Marjorie.  We first had to hit but an Asian food market and you can check out our spoils.

 We didn't really take pictures of the process or really the after product, which was more Sushi than 10 people could eat, but we did take some crazy pictures.  Disclaimer: I had just worked one of my 10 hour days and was pretty tired and a little out of it. I am pretty sure I look like a crazy person in this picture but Marjorie looks so cute with her rice hand.  The rice is extremely sticky and get all over everything.

 So happy to be making Sushi with my bestie!

 Weirdos...

Enjoying our wonderful Sushi while still looking attractive.

Thanks Marjorie for always being my friend and coming and spending a couple days with a crazy girl.

Spring Break/Easter

 I had a week off for Spring Break and so Mom, Dad, and myself drove ourselves to Omaha for a family visit.  For the most part, the car ride was boring but we did see Abraham Lincoln's face on the side of the road.

 This was a picture at Kelan's request.  He thought we should have a picture of the Pizza Machine.  Beckham and Kelan absolutely love this place.  They would live here if they had the choice.

 Crew isn't quite crazy about it yet, he was more interested in snoozing...

 Kelan was so excited!  Love this cute boy!

 Kelan and me, we are besties!

 Next on the Spring Break trip was Kansas City, Missouri to go visit Ansley and TJ.  Almost there!

 Baby Ledger is so very tute.  I love this sweet boy!

 Crew and Ledger, 6 months apart but you can definitely tell who is older.  

 These two boys are already best friends.

 Thank goodness the Easter Parade came while we were there.  The kids loved it!  These Easter Parade not only came through once but twice and was complete with a Easter Rock Band!  How lucky are we?

 Beckham pulls some of the funniest faces!  We did go for a little shopping after the Parade and Kelan got to go to Build A Bear with Grandma and Grandpa.  Thank goodness I was there to help him pick out the best bear.

 The Easter Rock Band was great but on top of that, they gave us Easter Egg glasses so we could look as cool as Kayne or whoever wears these?  Fortunately, there are no pictures of me looking fly in these glasses but maybe next time... 

 Cohen was pretty much too cool for school in his Kayne Egg glasses and Easter Bunny ears.

 They had an adorable phone booth and it was a perfect opportunity for a photo opt with my favorite little guy Kelan.  As you can see, we have our Build the Bear Box.  Kelan got a camouflaged bear that he named Petals.  It is not like the flower petals but as in the bike petals.  I think his name got changed after Spencer heard about it...

 While we were there, the Kansas City Missouri Temple had an Open House.  We got to go inside and it was beautiful, Kelan even came and wanted to sit on all the pretty couches.  I was glad I got to see another open house.  Normally at Open Houses for Temples, at least the ones I have been to, there are no protestors but of course because in the mid-west we got to see some protestors.  

 Before Dad and I took off on Sunday morning we got to see what the Easter Bunny brought the boys. These boys were way to spoiled.  Look at the all those EGGS!!!!  The adults didn't participate this year.  The kids are still to young to handle how aggressive and competitive we get.  We will give them a couple of years and then they will experience a true Anderson Easter.  

All 3 boys got bikes and they were digging in to their spoils.  Cohen looks especially satisfied in what he got from the Easter bunny.

These two are only a couple months apart and they are mainly trouble but they are still so cute!

A little video of the boys trying out their awesome new bikes from the Easter Bunny.  

Thanks Spencer, Nikki, Ansley, and TJ for hosting an awesome Spring Break/Easter.  It was great to spend Easter with the family again.

I am a "REAL TEACHER"

In April/May-ish I found out that I got a job at Union Middle School in Sandy.  I was so excited that I actually got a job and that it wasn't in Ogden.  I was sad to be moving away from Bountiful but excited for a new adventure.  To celebrate any occasion, I love to get a bottle of Martinelli's.  Kaitlyn and I celebrated my job and hoped that she soon would be celebrating.  It took a couple more months but Kaitlyn got a job in North Ogden.  It was bitter sweet knowing that we would no longer be roommates but we had both got amazing jobs.

My office, although I hardly used this space, it was still nice to have a separate room away from the kids that I could put my teacher stuff in.

These are pictures of my classroom when it wasn't decorated and I never got around to taking pictures of my decorated classroom.  It has been a crazy first year and I can't believe it will be over in 9 days, not that I am counting.  I would take pictures not but everything is half torn down and no longer cute.

One of the happiest days was getting my Utah teaching degree in the mail.  It was a lot of hard work and plenty of tears to get to this point.  I am so grateful for all the support I got from teachers, friends, and most importantly my family who helped me get to this point.  My parents believed in me the whole time and let me follow my dream of being a teacher, even after I was over half way done with my accounting degree.  Thank you to everyone!