Gag Gifts 2015

Dad here.  Todd and Keith asked me to post the videos of their gag gift exchange this year, and the files are too big to upload to the blog, so I opened a youtube account and uploaded them there.  In theory, the links below will take you to them, or you can search K&T Gag Gift and see what pops up.

 

https://youtu.be/FEw4_bq5cHw

https://youtu.be/ZLXj-QvmQqQ

Good luck and Merry Christmas.

Gag Gift Exchange 2014

Aren't traditions great? Keith and I have been doing this for like 20 years now and it's still one of my favorite parts of the year. So this time, due to scheduling issues, we postponed the exchange until after Christmas.  My gift this year was in two parts.  Firstly, my company had a dollar sale so I got him a nice fishing shirt.  After that...the real magic happened.  I thought up the design and a co-worker made it happen.

Keith can write a post about his intentions but this year he went with the ridiculous theme and not the rotting deer appendage one.  We were both hoping the tube was full of large SweetTarts but 5 million packs are good too.

Hello, friends.

Our blog is sad these days, so I'm going to brighten it up by asking for stuff.

I've updated my birthday/Christmas wishlist, and one of the items that I put on there is "psychology books".  I realize this is a little vague, so I thought I'd clarify on here.

First of all, I'm a giant nerd and I absolutely love my major.  I don't know how many of you know this, but I'm planning on getting my Master's degree in a year or two, and potentially a Psy. D after that.  That being said, I love reading books on the subject, but I unfortunately only have books that have been assigned for classes, some of which are just rented for the semester.  I obviously don't expect to get all of these, but I would love to get some contributions to my collection.

• The Principles of Psychology by William James
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, volume 5 (aka DSM-V)
• A Brief History of Modern Psychology by Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr. 
• Yes Please by Amy Poehler (not a psychology book, but I just really want it anyways)
• An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks
• The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks
• The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo
• Anything on sleep psychology, adolescent development, or paradigms.

That's about all I can come up with for the time being.  I love and miss you all so much!

Jennifer

Happy News!!

Most of you should already know that Kristen and I are hoping to adopt a kid.  We just finished our profile and are officially "published" online!  Now all we do is wait for someone to pick us.  The average wait time is about a year but we would love for that to go by quicker.  We truly appreciate the love and support we get from our family and friends.  If you would, please spread the news that we're hoping to adopt and share our profile with anyone and everyone.  Thank you so much.

Here is our profile link.

https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/30949977/ourMessage.jsf

Everybody dance!!

Christmas Exchange List

person below .... gives to ...... person below

Bryce ................................... Jennifer

Dena ................................... Kimberly

Aaron .................................. Rachelle

Sarah .................................. Kristen

Keith .................................... Bryce

Rachelle ............................... Aaron

Todd .................................... Sarah

Kristen ................................. Dena

Kimberly ............................... Todd

Jennifer ................................ Keith

Some Anderson Archive Photos

I have been going through our collection of family photos, trying to get them back into some semblance of order!  It’s like climbing into a time machine that transports me back to when I was younger, full of energy and you kids were still little and funny!  Not that you aren’t funny anymore, but you know what I mean; for instance, I present for your enjoyment, Exhibit A:

Photos taken by Aunt Tricia of Taylor, Kimberly and Todd at Sea World in May of 1991. 

ENJOY!

 

 

 

 

 

Mom

Graduation Fun

 

I have been wanting to post something to commemorate the college graduation of not one but two of our children in April. Kimberly graduated from BYU-I this month but chose to not attend the graduation ceremony, but instead traveled to St. Louis with some friends for a convention on the same weekend.  Todd graduated from UVU this month and we were able to go up for his ceremonies and help celebrate.  Grandma Anderson came a few days early and was able to come to the festivities as well as Mommer and Popper.  We all had a great time and enjoyed the visit.  But wait!  There's more!  Then we all loaded up and drove to Las Vegas for Jordan and Trevor's  wedding open house.  We were able to pick up Jennifer in Cedar City on our way through, so she was able to share part of the fun.  Here are a few pictures to commemorate the events:

Happy graduate...

and happier spouse.

 Grads and Grands

 

We were able to rent a house in Las Vegas for two nights for about the same as a bunch of motel rooms, and it turned out to be great.  We had a lot of fun staying together, playing pool, cooking and eating together and enjoying each others company.  (Sorry about the couches and futon, though, for those of you involved.)

Hanging out at the open house

Lots of Andersons



Thanks to all of you who were able to come and be there - sorry to those of you who couldn't make it.  Maybe next time.  Thanks again and love to all!

 

Sad News

I'm not sure if anyone else knows or not but apparently 3 of the 4 Blakes died within the last two months.  Johnny and James died back in January (not sure how) and Marlene died this past Monday night.  That's all I know for now, I just thought I should keep everyone up to date.

Rowan's birthday cake smash

By the time we finally gave Rowan his birthday cake, he'd been sitting in his highchair anticipating food for quite some time, all the while having an annoying crown forced onto his head over and over and about a million and a half pictures taken of him.

Poor guy. All he wanted was to be fed!

(Thanks for the video, Dad!)

A Christmas Tradition

For those of you who don't know, Keith and I have been giving each other gag gifts since we were little. It all started with Keith giving me a large box as an extra gift with nothing but a nasty potato in it. One particular highlight was at Mom and Dad's where I was presented with a delightfully wrapped deer's leg. A few years later he gave me a toy deer with a peg leg. So this year I gave him a little something in return...

Lighting of the Macy's tree in Atlanta (video)

Here's the video I mentioned in the post I wrote on the Hillgrove blog. It still chokes me up a little watching it now. The thrill that my children got out of that experience is part of what makes Christmas magical for me. I love watching them revel in this holiday. I relive my childhood when I see the excitement this season brings them. The video is short, but still captures the priceless reaction of my 6-year-old to something that I may not have found "awesome" if he hadn't been there with me.

A plea for old stuff.

Hey kids.  So this January, I'm moving into a house for the first time for college.  It's an ADORABLE house, complete with lofts in every room and paid utilities.  I'm really excited about it.  However, it doesn't come furnished for each tenant.  Fortunately, I'm buying my contract from a close friend who is willing to leave her bed frame and mattress behind for me to use. (Though I was secretly hoping I'd have to find my own bed, which would be a double, meaning I could finally take my memory foam mattress topper with me to school... bummer.)  Also, I do have a desk that I took with me last year and plan on moving to Cedar City again this year.

So basically I'm still left without a dresser, desk chair, and anything for me to sit on besides my bed.  I have this thing where I don't like to do anything (i.e. homework, reading, eating, watching movies, studying, internetting, blogging... oops.) on my bed but sleep, so I'd like to have some sore of loveseat/easy chair to put in my giant room in which to do my occasional chilling.  Also, I have my own loft in my room, so I think it'd be neat to furnish that a bit.

The point I'm trying to make is that if anyone who is coming to Mom & Dad's house for Christmas has any furniture they'd like to donate/sell to me, I'd be down with that.  Obviously I can still go to DI and find various things, but a) chairs of strangers make me nervous, and b) you all have great taste, and I'd love to be graced by the presence of your old stuff. :)

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, offers, funny jokes, double-sized beds lying around, or insults, give me a call or shoot me a text.  Unless it's the last one.  Then just keep that to yourself... *cough*Rachelle*cough*

Love you! I can't wait to see you all so so soon. :)

xoxo

P.S. This all goes for decorative things too, such as drapes, mirrors, framed prints, etc.

Old Pics

Hi there.  Dad here.  I got a new scanner the other day, and the first project has been scanning a bunch of old black and white negatives I have.  It's been fun to see them and remember some of the places and people back then.  Thought I'd share a few of them with you.  If I have left one or more of you out, I apologize and may try again later when I get more scanned.

I thought it was cool that the mothers are in the background.

In the other pictures, he's smiling. 

Is he supposed to bend that way?

I guess that's enough for now.  Hope you enjoy them.  If you want to repost them to Facebook for a wider audience, that's ok with me.  Dad