Airborne Rangers, Feats of Strength!

When life gets a little boring at our house.... enter airborne rangers. Yes, this could be a very.... alright an extremely dangerous pastime we share, nevertheless it is very fun. There is nothing better to wear out two extremely active, little boys than to send them flying through the air hoping to stick a perfect landing.

Rules of the game are as follow: Child lies on his back face up. Father counts down from 10. At blastoff moment, father grabs child by ankles, and swings them up flipping them face forward and sending them flying airborne into the Jump-O-Lene.

I tell you what, kids love this stuff.

The new Feat Of Strength at our house is for the boys to pull their shirts off midair during flight and land bare-chested.

I think it makes them feel manly.

Here are pictures of our latest airborne moment.

Ike's flight

Will almost successfully has his shirt off.

Perfect form!

And the shirt goes flying.

*** Need a Christmas Gift Idea... May we suggest the Jump-O-Lene. Santa left this at our house a couple years ago, and our lives have never quite been the same.***

Thanksgiving Memories!

We spent Thanksgiving this year with some great friends. All of us were sticking around, so we pulled a potluck meal together, met at the Institute and enjoyed some good food and company. The kids loved the space to run, the air hockey table, ping pong table and games as well as getting to watch the Polar Express. The adults loved, not having to cook everything!

(A few of our Thanksgiving Friends)

In our family Thanksgiving wouldn't quite be complete without a little flag football Turkey Bowel! The two wards here are pretty diligent in pulling together this annual event. We even had a photographer come this year. Wow! They met at the old stadium, which added to the serious ambiance.

(Mike coaching the little boys)

(They boys posing by the Wildcat, they thought they would look more serious, if they had "Dark Football" lines under their eyes.)

As always Thanksgiving wouldn't quite be Thanksgiving without stopping to be grateful for our many blessings. We have truly been blessed this year. Heavenly Father is so mindful of us, and we are humbled by his constant care! We hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving too!

Thank You Mr. 5 Year Old!

So I made Sweet Potatoes for dinner on Wednesday night.

The recipe said, "The Worlds Best Sweet Potatoes."

I like sweet potatoes ok.

Will's response to dinner:

"Mom, just so you know, this is not an appropriate dinner tonight."

You win some and you lose some.

I lost.

Would You Eat This??

I was recently going through some pictures on our computer and came across this beauty. I had to laugh out loud, remembering this little moment in our lives. A few weeks ago I was feeling under the weather, Mike, the super hero husband that he is, came home and told me that he would take care of dinner. Now I had good intentions of making delicious homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, you know the type with the yummy homemade noodles. Well, Mike stayed with the soup theme and continued to remind me that he had things under control in the kitchen. Soon he called us in to eat and this is what we sat down to....

Yum, a pot of Lentils!

(yup, he jazzed it up with some celery from the fridge and a few potato slices!)

Mike doesn't believe in side dishes either.

Honestly, I don't even know where he found a bag of lentils. I'm guessing it was somewhere in the deep, dark, trenches of our food storage. Why I would store lentils is unbeknown to me. I've never cooked lentils in my life.

I guess there is a first for every family.

I was proud of my boys though. As we bellied up to this euphoria, they dutifully took a bite or two.

Mike tried to set the good example and eat his legumes. Even he was overcome and had to stop, and in disgust stated that he felt bad that there was so much left over, but he just couldn't stomach another bite.

Trying to be a loving wife, (who loves that her husband is willing to cook dinner) I reassured him that those starving children in China wouldn't want it, and it would be OK to throw out.

Any good Lentil recipes out there that I could pass on to Mike would be appreciated!

And just FYI,

a 1 pound bag of lentiles, will easily serve a small, starving African Nation.

~

Really in all fairness to Mike, he does cook many things well. He makes the best stroganoff and he makes a killer biscuit's and gravy.

Better yet, he brings me flowers for no particular reason at all.

(and that is the very best reason to get flowers too!)

Flowers this Friday, just because....

I sure do love that man of mine.

October in Review

So how can it possibly be November already? Huh?

Time has flown by.

October was a great month! Halloween is always a test of mom's creativity. Will planned back in August that he was going to be Yoda, and that he was going to paint his face green. I'm not a big fan of the face paint.. a little spooky if I do say so myself, but he thought he would looked stellar and I had to agree. Ike was set on Superman. In fact, the man of steel has influenced our children. Perhaps saying our kids have been brainwashed to think they are "Superman and "Clark Klent" would be more appropriate. It is however, reassuring to have superhero's around the house.

Two amazingly attractive young men, on the big night.

A few days before Halloween, our ward had the annual Trunk or Treat. Mike was a good sport and let us dress him up as C-3PO. Just so you know, 30 square feet of gold wrapping paper will cover a 6'4" man nicely. Will said I could go as Princess Leah, naturally long hair came in handy.

Mike, still in the process of being wrapped up.

Carving pumpkins, Mike made the best pumpkin seed's this year. He washed them and sprinkled Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning on them and baked them to perfection. You should try it next year they were yummy.

Sadly, I burned my batch.

Not only do we get to celebrate Halloween in October, and had great weather, but better yet Mawga and Pops came to visit us! Will called my mom mid September and invited her to come to his Birthday Party at the end of October (at least we have one planner in the family). He then called her a few weeks later and invited her to come to his Primary Program on the 17th. He was one determined grandson.

Luckily it all worked out, and the morning of Will's primary program, my parent s showed up! Sadly, they couldn't stay until Thanksgiving like we begged them too. We are still in withdrawal, and miss having them here.

Clark Kent or "Klent" Mawga, Pops, and Superman.


Will turned 5, I can't believe I have a 5 year old. Clark Kent was the inspiration for his B-day cake this year. Surprisingly we pulled the cake off. However, Clark is suffering from a small case of Jaundice.

Will loved his Clark Kent outfit that Mawgs and Pops gave him for his Birthday. His shirt Velcro's shut for easy transformation action.

Celebrating a Birthday with Grandparents for the first time, Will thought he was pretty special.

Pops found lots of cool old Superman, and Batman cartoons to show the boys on YouTube.

What do you do on a cold windy Sunday evening with your pops?

Go Fly a bed sheet of course.

Mawgs and Pops on the Konza Prairie.

Hiking the Prairie with Mom and Dad.

We had the best time with Mawgs and Pops, and like always it didn't last long enough. We are sure thankful for an amazing family.

The Great Pumpkin Party

What do you get with a box full of pom poms, pipe cleaners, foam, felt, yarn, glue, scissors and paint, 4 recipes of Taco Soup, crackers, Carmel popcorn, pumpkin spice cookies, and 5 boxes of Capri Suns.....

THE GREAT PUMPKIN PARTY!

This year a new Anderson family tradition was born. We invited families to come to the park down the street from our house, and bring their own pumpkin. We would supply the food, decorations for decorating the pumpkins, and exciting prizes. What followed was a fun night filled with friends, pumpkins, creativity and memories.

After each family finished decorating their pumpkin, each individual got to vote anonymously for their favorite pumpkin. The winner got to take home a prize. This was a blast and something we will have to do year after year.

A sampling of the finished masterpieces

You can't go wrong with a little football.

And the Winner Is...

the Gambles and their winning Frankenstein Pumpkin.

Mike and the boys getting their creative juices flowing.





The decorating begins

Food is always a good idea.

More Friends and their craft.

Catch Up!

Well I've accepted that Fall is upon us. When I finally get around to letting summer go, I jump in with both feet. I actually do love Fall and all the beauty and fun that comes with it. Yesterday, between conference sessions we even put up Halloween decorations. I love that my boys get as excited about these sort of things as I do. They are expert decorators:) Here are a few things we've been up to so far this season: These pictures are a little out of order, but oh well.

Fall brings with it birthdays at our house. Ike recently turned 3. I can't believe my baby is so big. He wanted to have a little "Cowboy Superhero" b-day party with three of his friends. We held this party of parties at the park. (My motto, "do as much as you can at the park") The highlight of the little get together, was calf roping with Brother Gamble. A good "cowboy" friend in our ward agreed to come and show us some rope tricks. Mike went the extra mile when he brought a few extra ropes, and let the kids rope his practice cow. They loved it! Thanks Gambles. The kids also had stick horse races and a cowboy-superhero animal round up, which means they had to dig in some hay to find stray animals. A pinata, cup-cakes and the playground finished out the night!

Ike roping with Brother Gamble.

~

Fall also brings Football Season. We thought this year it might be fun to sabotage some good friends whose only downfall happens to be the fact that they are confused, mislead souls who like BYU. So our family had a blast making USU posters and flags the night before the Aggies played the Y. We were so sneaky and plastered USU paraphernalia all over the Poulsons yard late that night. It was almost as fun as Christmas Eve, and we tried hard to suppress our giggles of delight, just knowing that when the Poulsons woke up they would awaken to the truth.

One of our great signs that was strategically placed over their front door.

A little magic in the kitchen produced these little beauties.

We watched the game on-line and were thrilled with the results. Hey a win would have been nice, but scoring a few points, being the first to sack that quarterback of their's and realizing that those cougars lost a whole lot of yards due to personal fouls and penalities was great! And might I just add that the Y got pretty lucky with some on-side kick calls.

(Mike made me change this paragraph a lot. He reminded me that if I can't say anything nice I shouldn't say anything at all. He is usually right.... about things like this anyway:). )

We celebrated one of my favorite days. On September 15, Mike and I celebrated 7 wonderful years together. I really married up. I Love that man!

Will started pre-school again. Here he is on the first day of school. He goes one day a week and loves it. That's perfect for me although he is trying to talk me into twice a week. I'm so glad I don't have to send him to Kindergarten yet, I love having this guy home!

Another fun family outing. We went canoeing with some of our good friends on the Big Blue river.

More Ike birthday pics. He requested a Cowboy Boot birthday cake. He also requested green jello and DOTS for dinner. I told him that maybe we should eat something a little more healthy. He thought a while and said, "Ok, how about green jello and marshmallows." He finally settled on green jello and pizza.

My big boy with his new K-State football jersey (thanks Mutsi) and big boy bike.

Payson

Yes it's true, we did go to Payson this summer too. I recently found my memory card with Payson pictures that had been misplaced (makes me feel better than saying lost) for a while, and wanted to post a few. We sure love those Anderson cousins of ours and Mutsi and Papa. Thanks for a fun time and we are anxiously awaiting a return trip.

Papa, determined to catch the calf that leaped, flew, sailed, jumped, whatever... out of the horse trailer. It was quite a moment for all of us. After successfully loading the calf into the trailer in record amount of time, Mike jinxed us with his comments on the easiness of this experience. Oh boy, did that calf have a lesson to teach us. Our second attempt to get him in the trailer failed. And Papa's third attempt left him black and blue. "Beef it's whats for dinner" would be appropriate here.
Going to the farm is a true highlight of any Payson trip. Here the boys are trying to herd and entice the calf down to the shoot for loading. Check out the beautiful view! (The boys are pretty cute too.)

Mutsi and Papa told us about a beautiful hike that takes you to the Grotto up Payson canyon. We went on an exploration to find it and the boys couldn't resist the freezing cold water.

No trip would be complete without seeing Grandpa and Grandma Powell. These are two of the best people on earth. We love them and Sparky so much! As always they made us feel like superheros and fed us, this time yummy homemade bread and root bear floats!

Yea Right Stewie

I love my book club! It's three years in the going and it has been so fun. Each month a different lady chooses a book and we take turns hosting this little event at our homes. Well this month's book happens to be "Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook"

This little 720 page book (not including index) is supposed to inspire us?

Well let me just say YEA RIGHT, STEWIE! Before I get to pessimistic, I do have to give Stewie, or perhaps her brilliant staff members, credit for some pretty good ideas. Yes, I was even hooked, like a good book can hook you. In fact, yesterday I cleaned my bathroom celling vents the Martha way. I probably never would have cleaned my bathroom ceiling vents had it not been for this little encyclopedia of cleanliness. But seriously, does reality mean anything? I found myself getting more and more depressed the longer and longer I flipped through the pages. Then I thought, why am I waisting any time reading about cleaning my house, and how to properly polish my 16 different size sterling silver spoons, shouldn't I be cleaning it.

I don't even own sterling silver. Nor do I own a rotary Ironing machine,which I'm sure is a valuable investment for any household. Don't get me wrong I love cleanliness. I can't leave the house without beds being made, and with two little boys, I've gotten pretty good at daily toilet cleaning, but do I need to feel less of a homemaker because I don't weekly scrub my shower head and faucets with a toothbrush?

OK, I probably should.

So ladies, what are your cleaning secrets? I would love to know cleaning tips from the front lines.

Here's to whisk brooms, wedge pillows, and Bon ami. Happy Cleaning!

We Love Bear Lake!

Yes, I know it's September. Kids are in school, apples are in season, and Fall is just around the corner, but in my week attempt to hold on to summer a little bit longer, I thought I'd reminisce some more about our summer trip. So if you love Bear Lake as much as I do, here are some pictures of our annual mud-fling, sunscreen, sun-basking, water playing event. Thanks Mawga and Pops!

It was a restful vacation for Pops and Ike. Yes look close, Ike is in the towel.

A serious Isaac with a serious bucket of water.

Here's what we used the water for... The boys built a river leading to the Lake, we learned all about erosion, and dam building. Our cousin Josh was a good sport and is now a four year old boys hero.

Let the mud fight begin.

Pops sporting some great teeth. During our annual Bear Lake pinata fest, the boys each won some great teeth. They had a fun time wearing them around during the week, apparently so did Pops!

Ike getting ready to board Betty's Budget Buster. We sure had the sexiest boat on the lake. Thanks to Sue and Michael.
More Mud!

Take Down!

A man truly comfortable with himself.

Playing with Baby Emma.