Utah Trip 2011, Part Two

Finally! The rest of our Utah trip in pictures. The first day we were there, the kids beat the heat in the kiddie pool in Grandma and Grandpa's awesome new backyard.Erica was happy to see family.Elle is so sweet with Erica. She shared all her toys and showed Erica how to play with dolls.On Independence Day we enjoyed a BBQ with the extended Anderson family and then did fireworks back at home. The kids had a blast with Grandma and her glowsticks! (Her brilliant alternative to sparklers.)Taylor and Jonathan put on the fireworks show for our little culdesac of fire.Joseph still just doesn't dig fireworks. It's the same every year. remember this, and thisBut he still managed to enjoy the show.The rest of us enjoying the show.Swimming at Grandma Mangum's house!Happy birthday, Grandma!We even made it down to Beaver to see Grandma Williams.As usual, more beautiful pictures my Dad took! We love you, Grandma and Grandpa!

Utah Trip 2011, Part One (LAGOON!)

Oh, it's been so fun to look through pictures of our trip in July to Utah. We did so many fun things. One of my favorites was our trip all together to Lagoon! We started with burgers at Inn N Out. Yum.I had warned the boys that I was going to force them to go on a couple of rides even if they didn't want to. (I found my love for roller coasters by being coerced onto the Colossus by my mother when I was young and wanted to provide the same opportunity.) The first ride we chose was one of those opportunities. It was the one where you sit in a car and go around on a circular track really fast. Here's the before picture:And the after picture. Justin recovered well, Joseph was still not happy.He was much happier playing the carnival games. He and Justin and Darren even won stuffed animals.Then it was time for snacks and dogpiles on GrandpaAnd a nap for Erica.I got to ditch my kids to ride the big rollercoasters with my sibs. The new coaster "Wicked" is super fun!The train is always a crowd pleaser.And my Dad took so many great pictures of the kids riding the cars!Cute cousinsErica finished out the night on the merry go round with Taylor.

She crawls, she walks!

I'm horribly behind and am still determined to catch up. We've just had way too much fun this summer. Who has time to blog? But while I haven't been blogging, Erica has been growing and learning like crazy. At 10 months, her crawl alternates between one knee and one foot and I think it's amazing the way she stands herself up all on her own.

All about Erica

Here's my 9 month old Erica.



She loves to play with ballsand clap for herself.Swinging is her favorite activity on earthand she loves stuffed animals! She hugs them and pats them on the back. It's adorable.This is the funny way she reaches for things she wants. She smashes her cheek into her shoulder.She wants to be on her feet at all times now. Sitting is for babies!Love this girl!

Birthday boys

I'm finally bringing you pictures of my new 7 and 4 year old boys. Here's my 7 year old in his Lost Boy costume.He got a big haul!Pokemon is all the rage at our house these days. You like my Pikachu cake? Several times Joseph has sadly expressed his sincere longing that Pokemon were real so he could become a great Pokemon trainer.Joseph and his teacher, Mr. Keller with his birthday crown. His classmates all draw him a picture and write him a message on his birthday that his teacher binds into a book for him. So cute. For Joseph's birthday we spent some time in the arcade at the Family Fun Center. An older couple gave us a bunch of tickets and we came home with all kinds of crappy prizes.Love you, Joseph. I can't see any trace of my little boy Joseph anymore. You're becoming such a great boy and I'm so happy to be your mom.Here's my cute 4 year old.Justin had a little party with some friends. Look at all his cute girlfriends!Yes, it was a Pokemon party and we broke a Pikachu pinata.I kept up the Pokemon cakes with a Piplup cake.It was very cute to see Joseph be so excited to give Justin the present he had picked out and watch him open it.The following thank you hug. So sweet.Cool stuff!I love this boy. I wish I could just freeze him at this moment. He's sweet and funny and easy to be around.

Justin feeds Erica

This is the traditional big brother feeds the baby clip for you. I just love it.

Joseph's school play

Here is Joseph's stage debut. The school play was adorable. It was a musical revue full of Broadway songs. Joseph's number was Peter Pan's "I Won't Grow Up."I wish I could convince Joseph to believe that the concept of this song is something he should embrace at his age. He is determined to be 7 going on 30.