January

January was.....
A whole lot of Basketball playing.
And Basketball coaching,
And Basketball watching.
January was a fun month!

Some thoughts for March 30th

Today my Jacob turned 6.  I blinked and he's 6.  Although he was seven months when we moved here, he has celebrated all his 6 birthdays in Oklahoma.  That thought is quite the measuring stick for me.  How quickly he has grown.  How quickly our time here has flown.  Jacob, how do I even start to put in words what he is and means to me and our family?  To quote a favorite book, "Jake is an Indescribable Wonder."  He has an unmistakable and unavoidable twinkle in his eye.  Often that twinkle radiates mischievousness, to the 10 degree, but more often it radiates his happy, zestful, imaginative, loving personality.  He is Choice.  He is a hard worker, he is a good little player, he is charming and creative.  He is stubborn and tenacious and funny, and kind.  He is a good brother, and a good son.  He is strong.  He came to earth at a interesting time in our life, and during a stressful year, he was the best and sweetest baby ever.  He was so calm and peaceful.  He was the reminder of what was the most important, he was a gift from heaven that grounded us and helped us wade through change happily.  And then on March 31, 2010, the day after his first birthday, he started down the journey that would earn him the nick name HT (Holy Terror) from his Pops.  [It's funny how well Pops still gets him.  They are good buds, and the shenanigans performed by our Jake, that could drive most humans crazy, Pops calmly and ever so Pops-like leads him through and builds his confidence at the same time.] It was almost as if heaven said, "Ok, you've reached the top of the roller coaster, it's been a nice slow, ride but...HANG ON because now your in for the ride of your life."  And even though I often feel like throwing my hands up and screaming at the sheer thrill of the ride, it's such a favorite too. It is a ride that I would sign up for and wait in line for over and over again.  People are naturally drawn to that roller coaster of mine.  He has a way of wrapping everyone up in his little fingers.  One smile from that dude has everyone wanting and waiting for one more.  The things that come out of that cute boys mouth could fill columns and columns of the humorist's prose.  And the best news of all is that he belongs to me forever and ever.

Some random things about Jake:
He called Isaac Ikecob for years.
He was born with an impressive head of hair, and sported a permanent Mohawk for the simple reason we could' keep it down.
He hated nursery until he met Pitts and Ivy.  They loved him and he loved them back.  Especially that Pitts.  He wishes his last name was Pitts.
All Young Women seem to love Jake and he loves the ladies attention.
He is a dedicated cowboy.  Over the years, we've clocked hours walking to see the horses and feed
them a carrot.
He loves to lasso anything up.
He loves ropes.
He asked for a grappling hook for his birthday.  " he told me it was so he could climb the Devon tower."
He then asked for a parachute.
When that wasn't going to happen he changed his mind and wanted a mace, a spear, a hatchet, a sword, and nunchucks.
He gets in these funny, sweet, wanting to please moods, where he does funny things like, profess his love for salads and begs for more at the dinner table, while his big brothers are lamenting the side dish.
He has a mind of his own

I'm Thankful for Pig Mania

This morning Bracken brought me a little, baby, eraser looking pig.  It happened to be a lost pig from the game PIGMANIA, an old Isaacson family favorite.  Seeing that pig reminded me of all the fun evenings my family would spend together playing Pig Mania.  Everyone young and old can play this game.  All it takes is the ability to roll a bunch of pigs out of a can.  It was a regular occurrence on Sunday nights.  Grandma would play when she came to visit,  the missionaries would play it with us when they came to eat.  I remember an older cousins fiancés intense, competitive, playing of the game.  He was ahead and loving that fact, yet, with a simple roll of the pigs, the future of the game played when we all saw that those pigs were "making Bacon."  He lost so bad.  We little kids were secretly thrilled!  Did he end up marrying our sweet cousin?  Yes.  But at that moment, it was as if PIG MANIA, in all it's glory, became a right of passage, a test to enter our family. 

Pig Mania was simple, easy, family fun.  When I saw that little pig this morning I was so grateful for parents who spent time with us.  I'm grateful for these moments, these memories that bound out hearts together and strengthened our family.  It wasn't the pink, plastic, eraser, looking pigs, but it was the 20 minutes sitting around the dining room table throwing those pigs as a family that made a huge difference in our lives.  I hope I'm creating simple, fun, game playing moments with my kids.  Moments that will strengthen them and create unity in our home like there was in mine growing up. 

Trunk or Treat 2014

In keeping with Anderson family tradition we dressed up for the Halloween Trunk or Treat as a family.  We love this tradition and have had some pretty awesome costumes in the past.  This year however, we stewed and thought and couldn't decide or agree about what our family would dress up as for this annual event.  Until.........(insert trumpet music here)......the night the Aggies played BYU at cougar stadium.  It was a sign from heaven, yes, being the Aggie fans we are we had to go as the Utah State University football team beating those BYU cougars 35-20.  Victory is sweet especially when you beat the cougars on their own field.   We just had to celebrate a little longer and if I do say so, it was another Anderson family Halloween touchdown. 

Yes, another stellar year for the Trunk or Treat. 

 Wow!  Look at that cute kid!

 

 

Believe it or not, Big Blue even showed up to support the team.

 

 

 As far as the players themselves we had Chuckie Keeton, Nick Vigil and an up and coming player... Jake Anderson represent.

 

Another fellow Okie, Coach Matt Wells, honored the night with his presence as well as some tag along, crazy, super Aggie fan! 

It was so much fun.  Kiddos would come to our car, throw a field goal to score for the Aggies and then get some candy.  I think we even made a few more Aggie fans that night!  Success. 

We ran up that score!

 

 

 It was a great night!  I think we only offended a few people and those are people worth offending! (just kidding, sort of....no I really am.)

 

GO AGGIES!

 

SUMMER WAS.....

Summer at our house was......

popsicle and lemonade stands out front

a trip to the ocean, a first for the boys

a trip to the swamp, a first time for us all

baseball and t-ball, a dad who coached and three boys who played

a cute baby learning how to talk

SWIM TEAM and then more SWIMMING GALORE
 it's so nice to have a neighborhood pool in this Oklahoma heat!

Reading to the boys after lunch... our favorites this summer, Number the Stars and Snow Treasure. 

Snow Cones

Playing with Friends

A visit from our Wirthlin Cousins

Fire works!

The 4th of July Parade, Pool Party and Favorite Gier Get Together

The Annual anticipation of our trip to Utah

A Visit with Poulsons

A family reunion in beautiful Ephraim

BEAR LAKE IN ALL IT'S GLORY

Payson with Family

Payson Lake, Musti Bucks, 24th of July race, Cousins, the Grotto

Cache Valley

Cool summer mornings in Logan

Pick Ball

Discovering football card love with Papa

DI

Halleluiah with the Canadian Tenors and even more with the cousins

popsicles and more popsicles

Rocks with Pops

meeting a new cousin and loving the old ones. 

The other day on my way home from walking the boys to school I saw a lone kickball bounce across the deserted playground.  The bell had just rung and the kids where inside.  I had to stop for a moment the symbolism of that ball bouncing on an empty playground hit me hard.  Summer was over.  I had a sad pit in my stomach.  Time needs to slow down, I want my boys to stay little, and how can that happen when Summer is officially over?  But School came and beautiful September came and we celebrated an anniversary, we started playing football, we started focusing on school, Isaac discovered pokeman and all of third grade is addicted, Jake consistently wears his cowboy boots to school and gets to come home to me at 12:15, Will is a 5th grader, wow!  September is a beautiful month.  We enjoyed those beautiful warm golden days.  Now September is gone.  How the heck did that month zoom by?  So now it is time to embrace fall in all it's glory.  It is going to be great.  There are costumes to make, football to play, marshmallows to roast, grandparents to come visit, birthdays to celebrate, walks to go on, pumpkin treats to consume, and as always so many new Times to Keep. 
Here's to try to keep this little journal more up to date too. 

Mark Twain

Will recently had a wonderful week.  He started Enrichment, something he has been begging to do for years, and he had a major role in the 4th grade play, Tom Sawyer.  He was Mark Twain.  The main narrator.  We found a sweet wig, mustache, and eyebrows and Mawga hunted down a great jacket for the production.  I think it once belonged to a Logan Temple worker.  It was Awesome!  After a little tweaking, Will was ready to go.  Will was fantastic and learned all his lines so well.  We were pretty proud parents and I hope he felt like a million bucks, because he did such a great job.