Merilee Anderson: The Rest of 2012… 3 Years Later

Highlights of 2012

In June, a couple of my friends went to a Rocket Summer concert. I had not seen them since 2006 and I love this band. It was fun to spend the night rocking out with Kaitlyn and Emily to some sweet Bryce Avery tunes.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love Texas Roadhouse (It is in this blog twice). For my 23rd birthday. The main reason I wanted to go there, besides the ribs, was so I could ride the saddle. Everyone who came got a turn on the saddle but Kaitlyn and I did a twinsie picture. It was a great birthday and I was grateful for all the cousins and friends who came to celebrate with me.

2012 was a year of concerts. The last concert I had attended had been several years before in college. Kaitlyn convinced me to come to Warp Tour with her. Warp Tour is a bunch of bands, some who you have heard of and others who no one knows, who come and play on the same day. We saw lots of bands including Yellowcard, Taking Back Sunday, The Used, and a bunch of other ones I had never heard of. It was long day in the sun and we had a great time dancing and seeing a couple students, not really about seeing the students, it was awkward.

Ryan and Carrie came to visit Idaho the Summer before they left for Europe. I had the great idea for us to see the Manti pageant. I hadn't ever been, or at least that I remembered, and thought it would be a fun activity for us. I love the Manti temple and how beautiful it is, it looks like castle. I ended up holding Carver the entire pageant as he slept but I loved every minute of it.

The summer of 2012 was filled with working at summer camp, hanging out at our apartment pool where people were pretty classy (aka had lots of missing teeth), and running to sonic on a daily basis. These are the girls who made my summer amazing and I loved spending time with them.

I went to the Ogden firework show with these two lovely ladies. They were also my go to hang out people. I ended up living with Laura (right) for over a year. I am so grateful for the wonderful friends I met in Utah!

Our family can't stand to go any amount of time without trying to see each other. We planned a family reunion in Texas over the summer. Ansley, Stephen, Afton, Mom, Dad, and myself were all there to celebrate. Of course, all the babies were there too to celebrate the Anderson's being awesome. We had lots of fun swimming, going to Ckick-fil-A, SeaWorld, and just playing all day. I love any opportunity I get to spend with my family and can't wait till I get to see them again.

Dad, Mom, and Me at Sea World at the Seseame Street Show. It was over cast that day and we didn't want to get too wet but we ended up having an excellent day.

The highlight of my summer was probably the coolest vacation resort destination you can go to… ATLANTIS!

TJ's mom Mirae was kind enough to let me tag along as the babysitter. It was so much fun to spend all day in the pool and eat the best tasting food. I had an amazing time being the most spoiled babysitter of all time. They had a lazy river that had rapids and I think we probably went down 10-12 times during the week.

Another amazing experience we had while we were in Atlantis, is that we got to swim with the sea lions. As you can probably tell from the picture, I am loving every minute. They gave each of us the opportunity to hug the sea lion and….

KISS the sea lion… I loved both parts!

None of the group shots turned out very well but here is the best we could do.

I loved spending time with the whole family but most of all I love getting to be around my sister. She is so much fun to spend time with and I wouldn't trade her for any other sister. Plus she hooks me up with the best babysitting job ever! Love ya Ansley!

Leaving Atlantis, on our way to the airport and we were all so sad to have to leave. Seriously, I know why people live in paradise.

Before I started my first year of teaching, I had to say goodbye to a dear friend. I sold my Buick LeSabre 1998 custom edition wit the dent in the front. She was a solid lady and took me on many adventures in high school and college. She will be missed but I am loving my Toyota Camry 2006. Another hand me down from my mom but no complaints here...

Since I moved to Utah, I have opened my eyes to the various sport teams. I went to a Bee's game with my parents. Baseball is kind of boring so I have not been back to another game since but it was fun to go with my parents and go to Hire's Big H before the game. Great end of summer activity.

Another sporting event that I went to with my wonderful friends was Real Soccer Match. It was fun but I don't know a lot about soccer so it was difficult to pay attention sometimes. The atmosphere at the games is great. They have amazing fans who will keep beating drums and playing horns throughout the whole match. Go Real!

Besides being a grown up and buying a car that will survive the rough terrain of Utah (just joking, the buick could have handled it like a pro), I also bought a couch. I felt so grown up buying a car and couch and then reality hit me that I would have to pay both off. The joys of being an adult. I am happy to say that both items have been paid off since.

The third concert of the blog was The Big A Show. We got to see Imagine Dragons, which I got to see again with my lovely roommate Laura the next year. We had a great time parting all night. After seeing Neon Tree's and The Used (again, I don't even like them) we went and watched Pitch Perfect. One of my favorite movies and I got to see it with my favorite people, Kaitlyn and Laura.

UEA, something amazing that they celebrate in Utah and I had to make sure my first UEA break as teacher was epic. UEA is a fall break that is only 2 days off school but 2 days off school is wonderful. Laura and I decided to go visit my brother Spencer in California for the weekend. We made a pit stop in Reno for Wednesday night and then another pit stop at the Jelly Belly Factory before we went to visit Spencer and his family.

The Jelly Belly Factory was amazing and if you love Jelly Belly's I would recommend a visit. We got lots of Jelly Belly's to eat and shared with our gracious hosts.

We also visited Alcatraz, I didn't really know what that was but we took a ferry to get there and it is pretty much a prison where some famous mobsters went. It is really difficult to escape because all the water around it. It was fun and I would recommend for people to go at least once. It was really cold though.

Alcatraz in the background. We also loved visiting the piers in San Francisco, they had lots of yummy sea food and clam chowder!

We went to visit the Oakland Temple, it was so beautiful and the view from Temple is not bad either. I loved getting to spend time with my wonderful nephews. Thanks Spencer and Nikki for letting us visit you!

At the end of October, I went to another Real Game. The thing about this Real Game is that I met my best friend and husband. I am so grateful that I got to sit to such an amazing man during this game and get a glimpse at how amazing life can be with him by my side. Love you Kennedy!

For Halloween at school, I dressed up as Katniss from Hunger Games. A lot of my student's had said that I looked like Katniss so I went with it. It was fun to dress up but I don't know if I will be able to dress up every year.

I don't know why anyone would want to go to a Football game in Utah in November, especially an evening game, but when Dad asked me to go, I went. It was so cold and the game was not overly exciting. The crowd was making paper airplanes out of the papers they had handed out to see if they could make them down to the field. Funny story, Kennedy was also at this game freezing his butt off, but he had much better seats. I wish we were sitting together so you could have kept me warm Kennedy!

In December, our ward had a Charity Auction. I went thinking that I would maybe buy some desserts or a car wash but I was wrong. Laura and I were sitting next to some of our friends in the ward, Brittany and Melanie. As the auction went on we ended up being coaxed into buying a group date. It was fun date but I thinking the excitement of buying 4 boys for $130 was better than the date. No marriages or friendships bloomed out of this date auction. It went to charity but it is sad that I had to buy one of my only dates in 2012. Don't feel sorry for me, I got the best date a couple months from now with Kenny Boo Boo Bear.

Ansley came to visit before Christmas, since she would be in St. Louis. We had a great time hanging out in SLC and spending lots of time with her and the boys. I love getting to see my family whenever I can.

My beautiful roommate Morgan got married at the end of 2012. I was so happy to celebrate with her and Byron. They are so perfect together and I love them!

Byron, Morgan, and Me!

Christmas of 2012 was uneventful. It was a quiet Christmas with just Mom, Dad, and me. This was Christmas Eve and they both were asleep before 10 o'clock.