In Memorium

Russell Carl Anderson
1976 - 2009
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
John 14:27

Lake Farmpark Country Lights

The Country Lights at Lake Farmpark is one of those must-do things in Cleveland at Christmastime. You get to take a horse-drawn wagon ride, see LOTS and LOTS of Christmas lights, pet the farm animals, visit Santa, and make a toy one-on-one with an ELF! How cool is that?!We all enjoyed seeing the lights display from the wagon ride. Logan, who sat next to me kept saying, "I'm so excited! I'm so excited!"
After the wagon ride, we stopped in to the barn to see a horse show and visit the animals. The cows were pretty stinky, but we all loved the new baby piglets.
Hannah wasn't too thrilled to visit Santa. Logan asked for a remote control truck and Andrew asked for an ALARM CLOCK. Really. I'm not kidding. Santa had a pretty good chuckle about that.

Then we headed to Santa's Workshop where the kids were each assigned an elf to make a toy with.
Hannah helped make her Hummer.
Here are Andrew and Logan showing off their newly made F-16 jets.
Time to paint the toys! This is about where Hannah had a full blown meltdown in Santa's Workshop. Too much excitement for one night, I guess. Luckily, just then a whistle blew and it started "snowing" indoors! Hannah stopped mid-sob and just stared.
Once the toys were painted, glittered, and wrapped, we headed out to the van where Bryan surprised us with a big jug of hot cocoa! Just what we all needed!

Happy Turkey Day!

Here is our Thanksgiving mantel. My amazingly crafty friend, Sarah, taught me how to make the cute bunting last year. I had good intentions to sew "GIVE THANKS" onto it, but I ran out of time. Again. Oh well. The sticks came from my neighbors' yard after a big wind storm and the apples were on clearance at JoAnn's way back in February. Hooray for cheap decorations! On Pie Day, I made four pumpkin pies (the boys in my house LOVE pumpkin pie!) and one Very Berry pie. I found this recipe in the Lion House Desserts cookbook. YUM!These cute turkey-shaped butters were from the Fresh Market. I think people were afraid to use them, because even after dinner for 26 people, all three turkeys were barely touched.

Once again, we felt so blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving with wonderful friends while we are away from family! I felt a little sad that this was our last Thanksgiving in Ohio; we've made so many good memories with friends here during the holidays. Our celebrations have never been very fancy - just plastic tablecoths and paper plates, but there has always been plenty of delicious food and good friends to share it with.My amazing friend, Angie, and her beautiful fresh fruit cheesecakes and chocolate-covered strawberries. She and her daughter, Hadley, made adorable place card favors with the names of each guest.

About halfway through the meal, Hannah climbed up on our laps and discovered the CRANBERRY SAUCE! I gave her a little taste, and she liked it so much that she started eating it by the handful! She also helped herself to the chocolate-covered strawberries and the fruit on Angie's little cheesecakes.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

More Logan Quotes

**Driving to church, a baggie of dry cereal (I think it's Lucky Charms) sitting on the back seat.

Logan: Somebody smashed the cereal!!
(Logan pronounces it "C.E.O")
Summer: okay
Logan: Will you answer the question?
Summer: That's really not a question - it's a statement.
Logan: Then answer the STATEMENT!!

** Then as we are leaving the church parking lot after the block, Logan looks up at the steeple of the church.

Logan: Dad, did you know the church is a sky-scraper?
Dad: really?
Logan: Yeah, look at that pointy thing (pointing at the steeple).
Dad: You mean the steeple?
Logan: NO!!! - That pointy thing!!!

Something WICKED This Way Comes!

AMAZING!!! Bryan, Andrew, and I got to see the musical, Wicked at Playhouse Square last night. We were so lucky to get an extra ticket at the last minute, so we were all able to go. Thank you, Days, for watching Hannah and Logan for us!

Andrew has a tuxedo from my sister's wedding last year. He doesn't often get the chance to wear it, so I was so glad he agreed to wear it to the show. He looked so handsome! All night at the theatre, ladies kept pointing and whispering, "Look how cute he is!"

Bryan and I absolutely loved the show and I think Andrew liked it too. A lot of things need explaining and I'm not sure he's convinced that the Wicked Witch wasn't really wicked, but he loved the clock dragon that breathed smoke and the song Defying Gravity when Elphaba flew on the broomstick.

The gift that keeps on giving...

Bryan has been having some trouble with his teeth lately, which is probably what inspired the following conversation between my mom and Andrew:

Mom: "Andrew, I just can't figure out what to get your Dad for Christmas! Do you have any ideas?"

Andrew, thinking for a moment: "Well, he has really been wanting a rool canal for a while now."

Happy Halloween!

Andrew and Logan wanted to dress as Shaggy and Scooby-Doo for Halloween this year. I snagged an awesome Scooby-Doo costume from eBay, and thought making a Shaggy costume would be a piece of cake.

I didn't realize, however, how impossible it would be to find a men's v-neck lime green t-shirt in October. I made a "help-me-Mom-what-am-I-going-to-do" phone call the morning of the ward party. Of course, she saved the day, suggesting I buy a white v-neck mens undershirt and dye it green. Brilliant!!! I bought a shaggy men's wig to complete the ensemble, but Andrew said it made him look like a girl...

...So we ditched the wig for the costume parade at Andrew's school. I'm not sure how recognizable he was when he was when he wasn't standing right next to Scooby, but Andrew seemed satisfied.

Hannah and Daddy enjoying the costume parade.

Pumpkin Hannah at the ward party.

I think the boys love ward parties because I'm too concerned with keeping Hannah from making a mess that I seldom monitor what they choose to eat there. Here I caught a glimpse of Logan's "dinner": shredded cheese, sour cream, and a handful of candy corn. Yeah, I'm a good mom.

HaHaHa! I loved this costume! When Logan fell asleep in the car and his head bobbed down a little bit, it looked like Scooby was riding in the car with us.

It was so fun to have Nana here with us for the Halloween festivities. On Halloween morning, she made us pancakes shaped like ghosts, bats, and jack-o-lanterns! They were sure tasty spread with pumpkin butter!

Thanks for all the fun Halloween goodies, Nana and Papa!

Carving pumpkins with Nana.

Poor Logan was grossed out by the whole pumpkin carving thing, and kept his head down while we scooped out the seeds and pulp. "It's yucky," he announced, "I don't like yucky things!"

SO, I bet you can guess which son chose the nasty puking pumpkin design and which chose the benign smiling pumpkin design. The cute girly Minnie Mouse was for Hannah. What a grouping!

My Lil' Punkin

Scooby and ShaggyWe had a great time Trick-or-Treating with the Weights and Brimhalls.

My favorite moment of the night: When we found a giant blow-up Scooby-Doo in a yard,

Logan walked up to it and shouted, "ARE THERE TWO OF ME?!"Happy Halloween!

IT'S OFFICIAL...

We're going to be WASHINGTONIANS!!! Olympians, to be exact. Yesterday Bryan signed the papers with a great anesthesia group in Olympia, Washington to start in Aug 2010. It was a very difficult decision, choosing between Olympia and Puyallup; the people we met in the Puyallup group were so great, like instant friends. It was so hard to turn them down. However, we feel really good about Olympia and are glad to finally know where we will be going.

Since I didn't take any pictures while I was there, I thought I share some pics of Olympia that I "borrowed" from the Internet.

When Logan heard the news, he said (with a concerned look on his face), "What do they have in Olympia? Do they have any playgrounds?" I showed him some pics of playgrounds in the area, so now he is satisfied. Glad he's so easy to please.