The Anderson Family

Lottie's First Birthday

2011-12-12T07:11:00.000-08:00

It was Lottie's Birthday yesterday. I can't believe how time flies. It was kind of a crazy day because we had a so much going on. Trent had meetings all day and I had to speak in church and then there was a long choir practice to get ready for the Christmas fireside were doing. So finally, at 7:30 we were able to have some cake for Lottie.

I need to work on my cake decorating skills but I'm giving myself points for trying. Lottie liked it but she was so dainty about it. She just took a little pinch each time and then when she ran out of frosting she quit eating.

Lottie draws attention wherever she goes. Mostly because she starts waving as soon as she sees you. She weighs about 16 lbs. She isn 't walking yet, she is quite timid. She will stand on her own but is really uneasy about it so she just slowly squats to the ground. She loves her friends and babies. She eats a TON of food! She loves to make messes and look at books. She'll follow Olin around until he gets mad and then she'll smack him in the face. She is not afraid of him at all. She LOVES JayLee. Jay has been a great helper with Lottie and she loves to take care of her. It's hard to imagine life without our Lottie. Happy Birthday!!

Lottie

2011-09-24T18:52:00.000-07:00

This is our Lottie!! She is so much fun! Not many people get to see this side of her because she is such a mom/dad's girl. She isn't too keen on going to anyone else....unless you are loaded up on the jewelery, then you can be her friend.

We went in for her 9 month check up. Her stats are, weight: 14.4, length: 26 in. I told the Dr. She is focusing ALL her energy on growing hair, she'll gain weight later.

Swimming

2011-07-25T06:56:00.000-07:00

Swimming in Castle Dale is always so much fun. I love it when Bryar and JayLee get together because it is like they are long lost friends. They always play so well together and never want to leave. These girls went down every slide together. If JayLee got sprayed, Bryar wanted sprayed. We love the swimming pool in Castle Dale because it is pretty shallow and we can just let them run!

Here is Melissa and her little Ava. Ava just might be the only redhead my mom gets.

It took Olin a little while to figure out he could go on the slides himself. When he finally decided he could do it though watch out! He didn't wait for anybody to clear out at the bottom he just went!

Uncle Carl, Bryar, Olin, and JayLee. Carl is probably the only guy in our family that will pose for a picture. Uncle Carl taught Olin that they are buddies so whenever you ask Olin who his buddy is he says, "Uncle Carl."

(I still can't get blogger to turn my pictures, is anyone else having this problem?) Here is Lottie and Trent just waiting to leave. Lottie doesn't love swimming. Every time her toe hits the water she lets out a little moan but once she was all the way in she started to splash and play.

We were all in Emery County because my Uncle Jim and my cousin Dillon were getting baptized. We're so so happy for them and it was fun to get to share that experience with them.

July 4 - Stillwater

2011-07-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

On July 4th Uncle Colby and Aunt Nicole came out to visit. We drove to up Stillwater to see the water spilling over the dam. This year there is a lot of water out here. There has been a lot of flooding and sand bagging because of it.

It started raining right when we got up there. Of course we didn't bring jackets so we weren't there for long.

It is really pretty up there. Before we headed up to Stillwater we had lunch with Nicole and Colby. We played the wii for a while and of course did some roping. Nicole brought soda pop and of course Olin was on her like a hound dog. Before they left I told them to take some food and Olin knowing how this goes calls out "Leave me some pop!" Thanks for coming out to visit. It was lots of fun and thanks for the pop.

SLC Trip - - Temple Square

2011-07-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

We got to the hotel room on Sunday night too late to do anything. We just checked the swimming pool out and then went to sleep for the night. However, you all know how "fun" it is to sleep with kids in a hotel room. We ended up making a line of pillows between Olin and JayLee because they were on each other's side. Or someone was talking to someone. Or someone got pinched. You all know the drill. And as you can imagine Lottie wasn't cool with brother and sister not settling down so she didn't want to either. I finally got them to go to sleep by telling them that our friends down the hall had 5 kids in 1 hotel room with them and we would give their beds away if they didn't go to sleep. It worked.

Trent was in meetings all day up there so the kids and I, with a friend and her said 5 kids went to Temple Square on Monday. It was so much fun and you can bet the kids played in every water feature/fountain on the walk from out hotel room to Temple Square. We went to children's museum which was lots of fun. I almost didn't get Olin off the little truck inside there and I had to beg JayLee to take the costume off and stop dancing. We toured around temple square, played in some water at the Joseph Smith Memorial building, (yep the kids played in the fountain on the top floor), then we headed back to the hotel.

But on our way back they played in this fountain, can't remember where it was though...somewhere downtown in between temple square and the Sheridan. It was kind of funny, there was a security guard that stood and watched us the whole time. He never said anything to us so I figure it was OK that they were playing in the water.

When we got back to the hotel room we went swimming and you can bet after that long day we didn't have to fight them to go to sleep.

On Tuesday we took it easy. It was pretty interesting having Olin in a hotel room. I thought it was going to be rough because he would be bored and he doesn't really like to watch TV. He definitely surprised me though. there was an overstuffed chair with a foot rest in our room that quickly turned into his skidster. No one was allowed to sit on it because "It is my skidster" the foot rest was the forks and I had a full bag of diapers that quickly became his bale of hay that fed a lot of cows. Lottie even had to fight for her binkie because "That is the key mom" I think he is way more inventive than Jay is.

We went swimming a couple of times and then when Trent was finished with his meetings we headed to the Gateway and then rode Trax back to our hotel. Then you guessed it went swimming. That was definitely the highlight of the hotel for sure. The pool was outside so it was freezing cold but the kids would run back and forth from the hot tub to the pool.

On Wednesday Michele and Alese came up with Otto and we all went to the Living Planet Aquarium. After that Michele took JayLee and Olin with her back to Spanish Fork and was going to take them to St. George with her on Thursday night and then we were meeting them down there Friday morning. St. George was hot. 105 degrees pretty much the whole weekend but we stayed in the pool a lot. I didn't get any pictures of St. George but I'll see if I can round up some pictures from Alese.

Living Planet Aquarium

2011-06-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to SLC for 3 days. Trent had some meetings up there so one of the days Trent's Mom and sister, Alese and her little guy Otto, came up and we went to the Living Planet Aquarium. It was kind of crazy chasing these kids around but it was fun.

The penguins were the best part. We ended up standing in front of their exhibit for a long time so I pulled Lottie out of her stroller to have a look. She loved them! She sat and watched them swim around and then she would touch the glass when they got really close.

Olin was pretty bored with the whole thing but then JayLee found this giant frog they could sit on and he decided he liked it a little bit. I had to beg him to stand next to this penguin for a picture ( I know it's turned sideways but blogger isn't letting me rotate them today so, like I tell my kids "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.")

Grandma, Jaylee, and Olin in the sunken ship room.

After we left the aquarium we went to lunch and then JayLee and Olin went with Grandma for a couple of days. We met back up with them in St George on Friday morning. I of course took no pictures in St George but it was a lot of fun. Hot, but fun. We spent a lot of time in the swimming pool. Most of the family was there, it's so nice to hang out with all of them. Were all too spread out to get to do it very often, but we all have fun once we get together.

Thanks for the weekend, Michele, it was a lot of fun.

She is 5!!!

2011-05-08T16:52:00.000-07:00

JayLee turned 5. I was looking through pictures on the computer and decided she needs a post all to herself. CAUTION: There is a picture overload in this post!!

She was a colicky, ornery baby. It may have just been that we didn't have a clue what we were doing but JayLee was rough. I used to dread every night at about 7:00 because I knew she would cry and cry and cry. She didn't want to eat and who knew when she would sleep. Nevertheless we all survived.

And we love this little girl!! When she got over the colic it was like having a different baby. Very social. Smiling at everyone. I remember one morning we woke up to her laughing in her crib, cutest thing ever! She loved her binky. She was and still is afraid of men (hope that lasts another 20 years). She was also terrified of the vacuum but she still doesn't really like anything that is too loud.

She is one beautiful and crazy, funny girl!!

She LOVES

Babies
Horses
Cameras
Aunts, Uncles, Grandmas, and cousins (in no particular order)

I cannot count how many times she fell asleep on that rocking horse. It was a lot.

I have to beg her to wear anything but cowboy boots. stillThis is a picture of my Dad and JayLee when she was almost 2. Just a couple of weeks before he passed away.

She loves to be outside, swim, sleigh ride, swing, ride bikes, RIDE HORSES or just play with friends.
She rides her stick horse ALOT!! inside or outside, it doesn't matter. We have had to lay down the law about riding in my bedroom since she busted my full length mirror.JayLee has NEVER been afraid of horses. She has wanted to lead them since she could walk. There has been many fights over who gets to hold the leadrope.

She loves to sing and dance. She memorizes songs super fast. We really only listen to the radio in the car but that is all it takes. She LOVES Taylor Swift and Cowboy songs (Chris Ledoux). About once a week she has some ballet dance she has made up to show her dad. She is creative and smart.

She is so fun and we are so proud of who she is.
She is 5 and she is ready for Kindergarten.......except she failed her vision screening so next time you see her she may be wearing glasses.

Ioka Lane

2011-04-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

The only thing I don't like about living where we do is the long, cold winter. This winter wasn't so bad because my friend and I got our kids together to play and the two of us pulled out some power tools. We have been talking about doing this for a while and I know some of you don't care about the crafty stuff I do, so you won't have to hear about it here anymore. For those of you who do care, we started a blog. go to http://iokalane.blogspot.com/ to see what we've been up to. Here is a sneak peak though....

JayLee's dance recital

2011-04-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

Jay's dance recital was this Friday. Here is a video of Jay's class. Her class is 3-5 years old so she is one of the oldest in the class. When she stops she is trying to get one of the younger girls that ran off the stage to come back out. I was really proud of her for stopping to help, she is a really neat girl. It was fun to see her watch out for someone else when she could have been nervous herself.

She had a blast and she was really excited to wear makeup. Let me just tell you that her eyelashes are AMAZING!! They are so long! I was so jealous while I was putting mascara on her. She is one lucky girl. Sorry about me moving so much while taking the video. Olin was on my lap and kept moving back and forth. I finally had to put him on the ground but he was so excited to see JayLee.

This is part of her class. She is pretty good friends with the 2 girls in the yellow and the littlest girl in the purple is the girl she tried to get to come back out on stage. She is definitely sad that dance is over for the year.

As I was talking to her teacher, she told me that she was really excited for when she starts teaching them to turn out because JayLee is so naturally turned out. I just laughed but it puts a whole new perspective on being bowlegged.

Hannah's visit

2011-04-10T20:20:00.000-07:00

Not much has been going on here lately. Lottie is growing up fast though. She is a really fun baby. She has a 4 month check up tomorrow so Ill let you know how big she is then. This picture is just when I was changing her into her pjs. She is almost always smiling and you can get her to laugh quite a bit now too.

JayLee's dance class went to a nursing home a couple of weeks ago to perform. Of course my camera died after one picture but atleast I got one right? Her dance recital is coming up and she is pretty excited about it.

My sister Hannah came to visit yesterday along with her 2 kids Liam and Kahlen. Hannah came out to get some pictures taken. (My friend Nichole is AWESOME. Check her out on Facebook or her website and then come and visit me to have her do your pictures....she is AMAZING!!!) Hannah left for a couple of hours to get her hair done and then get the pictures. She was worried about leaving me with 5 kids under the age of 5......rude huh? I even got them all in one place for a picture. OK honestly, it was really cold outside (too cold and windy for Trent to work outside) and Trent helped...ALOT. And Lottie and Kahlen and Liam slept for most of the time. But you have to give me props for getting them all to sleep and the picure.

Her is cute little Kahlen. She is so fun and her little brother Liam LOVES her.

Of course there had to be a little disagreement between the 2 boys. It all started with me using Olin's precious beloved John Deere blanket (click here, here, or here if you need to be reminded) I was feeding Lottie and that was the closest one. Liam saw it and thought it was pretty cool and wanted that blanket so he grabbed it and laid down on the floor.

What? you don't see the green blanket..... Enter, Olin. Yep, he took it and he thought it was really funny. If you don't know Olin, he is a tease and he likes to wrestle so Olin saw this as the perfect opportunity.So Liam eventually caught Olin and they wrestled for a bit. Then Olin being a year older (but not much bigger) than Liam got the blanket back and said triumphantly, "I'm stronger than him." It was all in good fun and Liam, being a pretty big tease too, just laughed when it was all over. It was fun to have Hannah come and my kids thought it was pretty cool too. Thanks for coming out Hannah. We love you!!

JayLee and Kash

2011-03-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

JayLee has grown up so much in the last year. It's crazy to think that just a year ago she couldn't reach the stirrups on her saddle and now we had to lower the stirrups. Lowering the stirrups is something that didn't happen much for me, she doesn't know how lucky she is. It has warmed up here so we've been riding more. Here is a video of Jay riding Kash in the pasture. She LOVES to lope on him. We're still working on steering but luckily Kash takes care of her.

Inside Out and Backwards

2011-03-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

If you've met Olin, you might think he is a sweet sweet boy. He looks at you with his blue eyes and smiles and he has you wrapped around his finger. He is funny and cute and he is the first one of my kids to break a window. Yep, that would be Olin. How? you might ask,

Well most kids might accidentally break windows by throwing a baseball from the outside of the house in. Right? Not Olin. He threw a baseball bat inside and almost out.

After he did it, he was so surprised that the glass would actually break. He just stared at it until we came and sent him to timeout. Were just glad it happened now and not 2 months ago when the temperature was well below zero.

Another Baby Blessing and Warm Weather

2011-03-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

I stole this picture from my sister in-law Alese. Last Sunday we went to Levan for Otto's blessing. Alese had a lunch at the firehouse after church and Michele once again (with groans from men in the family) pulled everyone together for a family picture. Way to go Michele, I love it!!

Were so excited for Alese and Ryan but I think Olin is the happiest. He can't wait for Otto to get big and rope with him. Notice Otto's blanket in the family picture. Alese bought one for Olin and gave it to him for his 1st birthday (it is his favorite blanket) seen here, here, and here. She also had the forsight to buy one for her future child but Olin can't quite wrap his brain around it. Everytime were together he tries to claim that for his own. But can you blame him, it really is a cool blanket.

This Saturday it was FINALLY warm enough to take all the kids outside to ride horses. Lottie was so cute. She was only out for about an hour but her eyes were wide open the whole time and her little mouth formed into an "o" shape, she was pretty fascinated with the new world she discovered.

And just in case you know Rio, this was him snooping Lottie and my camera out.

Before we say anything about riding horses to the kids (mostly JayLee) Trent and I do a lot of whispering. If we say, "maybe we should ride horses today," very loud or loud enough for JayLee to hear we never live it down. She wants to go out right that second and ride her horse. And if we tell her, "yeah Jay, we'll go out in a while" she can't really contain herself. She just says over and over, "Is it time yet? Can we go catch Kash now? When are we going to go...." You get the idea. She is definitely horse crazy.

Olin isn't quite as horse crazy as JayLee is. Don't get me wrong, he loves them but isn't quite as comfortable on them. He would rather ride with someone. It was kind of like pulling teeth to get him on alone. He rode with me for a while even though he loves his Dad's horse "Hazel Girl"

Trent took Hazel into the pasture and trotted some circles for a while and Jay, Olin, Lottie and I stayed in the trees by the house. I took this picture when he was coming back and thought it was pretty cool. Zak likes to stay pretty close to whoever goes in the field riding.When Lottie fell asleep, I got a turn to ride. JayLee and I went and rode in the pasture for a bit. She is getting pretty good at making Kash do what she wants. Last year she got really frustrated with him when he would go back to the tack shed and would just yell for someone to help her. On Saturday she didn't let him get away with much though. I was really proud of her.

Lottie's blessing

2011-03-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

On February 13 we blessed Lottie. We blessd her in Benjamin at Trent's parents house. Thanks Michele for letting us crowd your house for a couple of hours. It was a little crowded with all our family there, but a lot of fun.

For those of you who don't know, we named Lottie after Trent's Grandma. It is fun having them together but nobody tell Grandma that we took her picture.

Before church we got some family pictures. Thanks Michele, for thinking about it. I always have good intentions of taking pictures of the kids before church when they are all dressed up but we rarely get it done.

Notice how Jessie ,Woody and Bullseye HAD to be in the pictures. I guess it is kind of fitting because Grandma has those toys at her house and they are the favorites.

It was a really fun weekend. I love it when we can get the whole family together. It doesn't happen very often with us living so far away but maybe one day that will change.

And since we can't have Lottie and Kahlen together without taking a picture of them, here they are. They were born on the same day and are too too cute

Meeting Otto

2011-02-03T20:45:00.001-08:00

Trent's sister Alese had her first baby last week so over the weekend we took a little road trip. They live a little over 3 hours away from us and it is on the way to Trent's parents house so we took the truck so we could get hay for our horses while we were going.

Olin got to ride in the backhoe with his Dad which definitely made his day. You can see his hand on some kind of lever and he didn't let go of it the whole time. He thought he was pretty cool.Once we got the hay loaded Trent had to restack the straw around the hay stack. Well considering Trent hasn't ran that backhoe for over 5 years it was al ittle slow going and we had a little blooper. He was pretty lucky the hay didn't come rolling back. Luckily he was watching close enough that he rolled the bucket back forward and the hay just got stopped right there.

I about had a heart attack. Then the front wheels kept coming off the ground and again, I about had a heart attack. I'm definitely the worst person to watch these situations. I could ride a roller coaster all day but to watch a wreck or a potential one makes me crazy.

Once we got the haystack put back together we stopped to see Nicole and Colby's new house they are building. It is going to be so pretty. When we finally arrived at Alese and Ryan's house to see Otto......

JayLee got to hold him first. And she doesn't take short turns holding babies. She takes her sweet time loving on them.Here is Lottie (7 weeks old), Me, Alese, and Otto (5days old). Alese and Ryan stole our next boy name, just in case anyone was wondering. Just kidding we almost named Olin, Otto. But we decided on Olin. Then when Alese and I found out we were expecting at about the same time, Ryan really wanted us to be having a girl so they could name theirs Otto.

And here they are together. It was a lot of fun to be together and to meet Otto. We even got to stop and see our friends Matt and Aimee on the way home. It was one loaded trip but we had a lot of fun.

A Visit from Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Jenna

2011-01-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

Grandma got to come and see Lottie while she was in the hospital but Grandpa and Jenna didn't get to see her until she was about a month old. Of course JayLee and Olin had lots of fun with Jenna. And Jenna got to hold Lottie quite a bit.

Olin talked Grandpa's ear off about heifers and bulls, and calves (it's never just "cows" with Olin) We don't even have any cows right now but he chases pretend ones all over my house. So far Lottie is sleeping through the "shouting associated with chasing cows"

Grandma and Lottie did get to spend some time together. It was interrupted quite frequently by the other two though. They had her up in their clubhouse and playing games.

We have finally decided Lottie's eyes are going to go blue. We couldn't tell for the longest time. Grandma Lottie's eyes are brown so we thought it would be kind of cool if baby Lottie's were brown too, but it doesn't look like it is going to happen.

This is Lottie at about a month old and down below....
is JayLee about 6 weeks. I think they look a lot alike. And lots of people have been commenting on how Lottie looks a lot like Olin...

Olin is about a month old in this picture. I think my babies look a lot alike.

What do you think?

Just like my Dad

2011-01-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about having a boy is they want to be just like their Dad. When I put Olin down for his nap every day he says, "and when I wake up, I go outside with my Dad..."

I can't wait until it warms up out here so that he can go out with him more. Olin isn't a fan of the cold. Then the snow came and he really doesn't care for it, so his time outside is usually pretty limited.

Here is a picture of Trent and Olin putting the kids' new beds together. Trent sanded everything outside and then brought them inside to put them together.

For Christmas Trent's Mom sent Trent a bunch of his old hats (thanks Michele). When Trent saw this yellow hat ( I think it was his Dad's hat), he remembered his Mom had a picture of him wearing it with his Dad's gloves on. Olin loves to have a hat on. He always says to me, "Mom, I need my cowboy hat on like my daddy" or "I need a hat on cause it's cold"

Olin usually has one of our old cell phones in his pant's pocket and when his Dad gets a call he gets one too. Trent always answers it in the other room and this time Olin followed him. Trent started hollering at me to come and see what Olin was doing. I shouldn't have been surprised that he was doing exactly what his Dad was doing.

Christmas Clothes

2011-01-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

My kids in their new Christmas clothes

I saw this dress (thanks to my sister Melissa) and knew that JayLee HAD to have one. However, the dress comes with a hefty price tag of $140. So I told myself "I can make that" (Trent hates it when I say this) and I did for a lot less than $140.

If anyone else has both has this attitude... 1. Your favorite little girl HAS to have that and 2. You can make that, let me know and I can help you. It really is simple to make, just time consuming. I would love to help though, so let me know.

And for all the Olin lovers out there.....

We had a fun little photos shoot one night but they didn't cooperate very well. Lottie didn't want anything to do with it but here she is 3 weeks old.

Christmas

2011-01-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve

If you were my neighbor.......

I would have brought you a plate of goodies.

Then the kids got to open their Christmas pajamas. Olin got Toy Story PJs and of course he had to open them with his glasses on. And knowing Olin there is probably a cell phone, some chapstick, and a set of keys in his pants pocket. "Because, I have to" is what he says. Here is Jay opening her PJs. She got cute Christmas trees on her PJs and slippers. She is the only one that didn't have any in our family and she has been feeling kind of left out.
Christmas Morning

Olin got a train, even though he told Santa he wanted treats. And when asked what Santa brought, Olin will respond "Treats" because lucky for us he did bring treats too.

Jay got a chalkboard/whiteboard easel....and treats. She also sent another letter to Santa this weekend. I told her she better send a thank you note before she asks for more stuff.

And then, just to make JayLee's day better Dad moved Cash up to the coral so we could start feeding him. That meant Jay got to ride him from the tack shed down to the coral. That girl is horse crazy!!!

The day after Christmas is my Mom's birthday so this year we planned for all of her kids to go to church with her, then have dinner and open gifts. So we ate some great food and then watched 5 of my Mom's 7 grandkids open gifts. It was super chaotic but lots of fun.

In one of the chaotic moments where no one was watching JayLee, she opened this Barbie doll from Mike, Marie, and the boys. Oh my word, you would have thought she opened up a million dollars. She let out this high pitched squeal that made all of us stop what we were doing. It was definitely the kind of excitement you remember having about Christmas when you were a kid.

To be honest, I didn't see Olin much the whole night. He is pretty social. He just wanders around smiling at everyone and batting his blue eyes, trying to get candy. And considering Uncle Bro gave him a belt (one more thing he thinks he HAS to have) and had 5 lbs. of gummy worms in his possession, I was not #1 on his list of friends.

Lottie spent all night with her Great Grandma Greenan just sleeping away. And I can't believe she slept through it all.

And when the presents were gone the kids climbed underneath the Christmas tree. That is Melissa's little girl Bryar in the middle. Her and Jay are best buds when they get together, and Olin just follows/chases them. Something the girls take advantage of when they want to run from a monster.

These are the 2 of my Mom's grandkids that weren't running around all night. Hannah's baby Kahlen is on the left and Lottie is on the right. Both born on December 11.
And here is the proud Grandma. It was so much fun to have these 2 little ones together. They are 2 weeks old in this picture.

At the end of the night we tried to get a picture with all 7 of my Mom's grandkids. If you want to see how that turned out scroll down to the next post. I did manage to get these pictures of my kids in their new Christmas clothes.

We had a great Christmas, I hope you all did too!

Grandkids.....

2010-12-29T20:40:00.000-08:00

Our best attempt at a Grandkid picture for my mom.

Snow Day

2010-12-29T20:09:00.000-08:00

This was right outside my front door.

Tuesday before Christmas we got a very big surprise. When Trent woke up at 5:00 he thought we had about 6 inches of snow. When I woke up at 7:00 Trent was still out pushing snow with the 4 wheeler. He came in shortly after we woke up and said he seriously underestimated how much snow we had, we had at least 14 inches with more coming down. He took the day off work to dig us and the neighbor out and I kicked the kids outside.

It was a good day for me. I had a very quiet house.

JayLee loved it as well....

Olin wasn't a big fan. He stood and watched JayLee and we tried to get him to jump in the snow but didn 't want to. I was inside and heard him screaming and walked out to see him kneeling in the snow. He fell down but didn't like it at all. However, when he gets mad at you (inside) He says "Ugh, I'm throwing snow at you!!" So watch out this 2 year old might get you.

Oklahoma

2010-12-20T19:15:00.000-08:00

On our way to Oklahoma!

Last June, my kids and I went to Oklahoma with my mom. We were going out to visit my Great Aunt Ruthie and her son Grant and my Great Uncle Glenn. We stopped on the way out of Moab to snap this picture. It was super windy so we didn't climb up there very far. The kids thought it was cool though.

A long time ago when we were on our way home from Oklahoma, we broke down in Amarillo, Texas and spent a couple of hours at the American Quarter Horse Association museum so when we went through this time we had to stop to show my kids all the fun things inside.

They loved the "quarter" horses. Grandma gave them some tokens to ride them. Later I had to explain to JayLee that she actually has 3 quarter horses at home in the pasture but they don't eat tokens.

This is at my Great Grandma's old house and my Aunt Ruthie lives there now. My Uncle Glenn is the one covered in Olin's favorite blanket. They had a blast playing with that.

Uncle Glenn would put he blanket over his head....
Olin would get JayLee's help and then pull it away and then they would do it again....

Then Olin would forgive him and give us a good smile for the camera.

When we were in Oklahoma, Olin found his love for Cameras. He saw Aunt Ruthie's flash go off when she was getting her camera set and he ran in and yelled "cheese" We got a really good laugh about it and he just loved the reaction he got.

Here is Olin, Jay and my Uncle Glen

JayLee, Aunt Ruthie, and Olin. They all had so much fun playing. I was worried my kids would be bored but they were always laughing and playing aroundwith something. But their favorite game was playing around in the walker. and this game went on for a long long time.

They're back

2010-12-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday night, Trent met his parents to pick up the kids. JayLee and Olin were so happy to meet their new little sister. They ran straight to her bed and had a little peek. She was asleep but we got her out of bed so they could hold her anyway.

No surprises, They LOVE her! Olin wants a picture with her every time he holds her and then he loses interest pretty fast. Jay on the other hand wants to hold her even if her arm starts hurting her.

Olin has a favorite blanket. It is the John Deere green one underneath Lottie in this picture. We teased him the whole time I was pregnant about giving the blanket to Lottie but he protested quite a bit. He would always bring out another blanket of his he would give to her. Well when he got home from Grandma's house on Tuesday he had his peek at her in the crib, pet her hair(yes

pet, he says "I HAVE to pet her") and then laid his blanket on the floor so Lottie could play with toys on it.

Lottie May Anderson

2010-12-13T18:09:00.000-08:00

Our baby girl arrived on Saturday December 11.

My little sister Hannah had her baby earlier that day and apparently these cousins wanted to stay together because Trent and I ended up rushing to the hospital late on Saturday night. My contractions started at 6:30 PM but were very short and sporadic so I didn't think much of them until they jumped to 8 minutes apart at 8:30 and those didn't last long. They jumped to 4 minutes apart and then we knew we had to hurry. We got to the hospital a little after 10 (I was dilated to a 7.5) and had Lottie at 11:49. She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz. Smaller than any of my others (Thank you Lottie)

While I was in the hospital on Sunday Trent had the camera with him (or should I say JayLee wanted to check out her skills) and they got some nice pictures of our Christmas tree for you to see. It really is only half of our Christmas tree. "Half,?"you say. We cut a Really Really big tree this year. So we had to cut it in half to fit into our house. It was a really fun trip we went up with friends and our kids loved it but maybe more about that later. Here is some of JayLee's photography....

This is my favorite one. It is a good thing that Olin is a camera hound.

I got home from the hospital at about 1:00 today and since I know you all want to see more pictues of Lottie, here you go. She has quite a bit of light brown hair, which should be pretty fun to play with, hopefully we can keep it from falling out. Trent's Grandmas name is Lottie and I have always loved it. So ever since I found out I was pregnant I was hoping for a girl so I could name her Lottie and we've got her.

JayLee and Olin haven't seen Lottie yet. They have had some kind of flu bug since Friday. When Trent got home from the hospital on Sunday morning around 3:00 Michele was awake with Olin puking and then JayLee followed them. Lucky for us Trent's mom came out when I started having contractions. So she was nice enough to take the kids home with her for a couple of days. I'm hoping Trent can go get them tomorrow so they can see her.

Fun in the Jumpolene

2010-09-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

This was at the first of the summer but thought I would post it anyway. I don't put the jumpolene up very often because it takes up the entire living room but when it goes up it is so much fun.

Olin, Dad, and Hazel

2010-09-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

Here is Olin with just a couple of his favorite things....Dad, Hazel, and a cowboy hat. All that is missing is his dog.

JayLee learns the barrels

2010-07-05T11:29:00.001-07:00

It's no secret that JayLee loves horses. If she isn't on them outside she is on her stick horse inside. She loves watching barrel racers so this past week we've been teaching her the barrels.

And just to show Cash how much we love him....He gets plenty of carrots after working so hard.

Busy, Busy!

2010-05-23T17:58:00.001-07:00

I haven't blogged for a long time so instead of boring you with lots of stories you get captions with pictures.

Here is Jay in her Easter dress. My friend and I did the same pattern for our girls so they think it is pretty cool that they kind of match at church.

This is JayLee, Olin, and Bryar hanging out the morning Ava was blessed.

This is my sister's baby Ava. I really wanted to make a blessing dress so Ava turned into the project. Thank goodness Melissa trusted me becasue this turned out really pretty. The same weekend Ava was blessed a friend of ours got married in Logan so that was one long weekend for us.The next weekend Trent's sister Alese and her husband Ryan came out for a visit and we all got to ride quite a bit. JayLee of course LOVED this. She is 4 now and I have to say she loves riding horses more than anything else. If you ask her what she wants to do that is definitely the answer you are going to get.At the end of March cows started showing up. Trent could tell you how many we have but I stop counting at 300.Olin has turned into a man! If someone isn't on the computer he jumps right up there and If by some strange chance he is sitting in the recliner watching TV he has to hold the remote. He is talking sooooo much. His favorite phrase is definitely "No Way" Which gets lots of laughs wherever we go. and if you ask him if Rio is his mom's horse he says, "no mine." And thanks to my brother and his wife Tawny, we picked up another horse. His name is Cash and he is going to be really good for JayLee to learn on. He also came with a hot pink halter that JayLee is very pleased with.

The new horse

2010-03-18T16:22:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we went to Delle (past Grantsville) to get a new horse. Trent's friend had her and has been doing ranch work on her. She is 6 years old and pretty cute. Her registered name is Tiny Flash Hancock A.K.A.... we have no idea. They called her Hazel but that didn't really stick for us. JayLee named her Sally before we even got her but we don't think that is going to stick either. Here she is.

Trent wasn't very happy that I cut off his head in this one. He thought it was a pretty cool picture.

I took these a couple of nights ago. I was trying to get some cool pictures toward the sun but it didn't work like I pictured it. Enjoy anyway.

JayLee seriously LOVES horses!! She gets so excited and loves to ride.

Olin likes them OK but he would rather play with a ball.

You can tell Trent just got done riding. notice the pants tucked in the boots. He never starts that way ( I'd tease him) but by the end he gets so fed up with his pants riding up to his knees that he that he just tucks them in. hehe!

She seems to have a pretty good disposition. Overall a pretty good addition to the herd.

JayLee the Cowgirl

2010-03-12T09:23:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would share a picture of JayLee all "cowgirled up" I think she may have learned a thing or two from the rodeo queens in Vegas

Olin

2010-03-09T19:52:00.000-08:00

This post is all about Olin. He is 18 months old now and it just hit me how crazy that is. I really can't believe that he is a little boy now and not a baby.

We went in for his well check today and he weighs: 21 pounds and he is 30.5 inches tall.

Here are some fun facts about Olin...

He thinks riding horses is pretty cool. Even though he calls them "cows". He rides stick horses with JayLee now and really anything else that resembles a saddle. i.e. the arm of a couch, a stool, pillows, and mom and dad. (PS check out my new saddle!!) ok not all about Olin

He is goofy. The class Clown really. He loves to make people laugh. He loves to smile. He thinks when you say, "ow" it is funny. It is when he does these things we call him Grandpa Wayne.

He will build with JayLee but prefers to knock things down. Especially if it will make JayLee scream. Most of the time he does what JayLee is doing but when he comes up with something fun to do and JayLee follows he says, "Get."

He can say "ball" He likes to play with balls and gets really excited about them.
He can say "hand" and likes to take you on walks. If he wants to go somewhere he'll pull you up and show you where he wants to go. He also says "Help Me" The closer you get to what he wants"
He is a good helper. He LOVES to help pack wood in the house and gets really upset when you don't let him help.

He likes things that are his size. Grandma's little rocking chair is one of his favorites.

He likes snack foods. (it is jerky in his mouth not a cigar like it may appear) He will eat most breakfast foods. He doesn't like noodles or rice or potatoes and plenty of other things!

He loves to be outside. He likes Zak until he starts to lick him. If you let Olin go where he wants to go outside he will take you to the four-wheeler or the sled. JayLee would take you to the horses no questions asked. As soon as he can get the door open, I'm in trouble!! It's a good thing he is short.

He loves to Drive. If you put him in a car cart at the store, he'll be all smiles until it is time to get him out. That is when you have to peel his fingers off the steering wheel and try not to laugh at all the emlpoyees gathering around to watch.

That is Olin in a nutshell. We love him!! I hope you enjoyed it.

Trent's Fun

2010-01-23T21:33:00.000-08:00

I was surprised to even hear it running. In fact I've never heard it run. I forget that we even had snowmobiles because Trent doesn't go that often.

We told Jay that we had snowmobiles and she didn't believe us. But there you have it. Trent having a little bit of fun.

Sleigh Riding

2010-01-21T13:23:00.001-08:00

We've had quite a bit of snow here this winter but in my opinion if the temperature is in single digits it is too cold to go enjoy it. But this past week it has warmed up. We got up to 30 a couple times. Wahoooooo!!!

JayLee has had a blast being pulled behind the four wheeler. She is actually getting used to wrecking and thinks it is kind of fun. Olin has been sick though so he has had to enjoy watching from the window seat.

He just stands there saying "Woah!, Woah! Woah!"

What the????

2010-01-20T13:51:00.000-08:00

You can laugh. It is really funny. She had been to school and when she got home she decided she needed to go to a dance. Apparently this is the best thing she could come up with to wear.
It makes you ask yourself a couple of question. What the heck are you thinking? What will she wear when I don't pick her clothes? and Why the heck do they sell red tights in the same box with black and white?

Christmas Program and Tawny and Bro's Wedding Reception

2009-12-23T10:37:00.001-08:00

JayLee had a pajama day at her preschool and then they had a program. It was alot like the Halloween program where I laughed at JayLee being a goof ball. The little girl to JayLee's left was swaying to the music (it happened to be the same girl with the wings at Halloween) and bumped into JayLee so then JayLee, instead of swaying with the girls decided to go the opposite way and just bumped into them for a song or two. It really is hilarious watching 3 year olds sing songs they don't know that well. They try so hard but it really is just funny. The little girl in the pink pjs is JayLee's friend Oaklie (her mom is Nicole, look for her blog on my friends and family like, she does the cutest pictures, seriously she is so good) she always talks about Oaklie and wonders if Oaklie is going to be a school each day. Preschool has been so good for JayLee and she is way into tracing. I can't tell you how many times during church I have to write her name in dots so she can trace it. Which brings me to this website I found, http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/print-k/choose.htm . It is so cool. You can type in any phrase and you can print it out and they can practice their tracing.

Here are JayLee and Olin at the wedding reception, that is the best picture I could get of them holding still. My sister Melissa's daughter Bryar was there and JayLee and her wouldn't stop. They had tons of fun!

Here is JayLee, Bryar and Tawny. I made the girls' dresses and Bry kept saying "My dress is beautiful" They are so fun together. BTW the dresses were super easy. A girl I went to high school with has this etsy shop http://www.ohsosassy.etsy.com she has lots of dress kits that are so affordable and I promise it was way easy. I tried to make it harder for myself by doing them both at the same time and ended up very confused. So halfway through I grabbed what I thought was JayLee's 4T dress and the red pieces that went with it. When I got it done I thought this is way too short for JayLee and of course I had done the 2T but luckily the OhsoSassy gal had given me enough red fabric that I was able to make the 2T pieces work for the 4T.

JayLee modeling her dress in front of the Christmas tree. Which, I'm wondering do you guys like big beautiful Christmas trees or skinny Charlie Brown type Christmas trees? My mom always picked big pretty Christmas trees but this year we put it off so long that the only thing left were perfect expensive trees or Charlie Brown type cheap ones. Since I'm cheap I went for the skinny one and I LOVE it. It is seriously so Ugly every time I look at it I laugh. Way to bring the Christmas spirit right?

Merry Christmas everyone! I plan on catching up on blogging one day. I still haven't showed pictures of Colorado that was on Halloween, one of these days.....

Las Vegas

2009-12-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

We may have just had the longest weekend of our lives. We left home at 5:00 a.m. on Thursday and headed for Vegas. My mom bought us tickets for the NFR and my brother was getting married. Here are the kids in the car. They really did pretty good considering we were in the car for so long

We got to Vegas at 2:00 and they were SO HAPPY to be out of the car.

Then we took the kids to M&M World and to the MGM Grand where they have the lions. It was really cool. They have a glass window that you walk under and there was a lion asleep. A little while longer he woke up and was licking the glass. I didn't think Olin would care too much about it but he was so excited and kept shouting, "Cow, Cow, Cow"

We wanted to take them to more places but ran out of time. There was some Nascar thing on the strip so it took us forever to get around. This was my first trip to Vegas so I found it kind of amazing that all the hotels have all these things to draw people in. Since we had our kids with us it was nice.

On Friday we went to Cowboy Christmas. We walked and walked and walked but we got to meet Charmayne James and Billy Etbauer and some other rodeo people that I kind of recognized but didn't really know. Trent and I went to the rodeo on Friday but Trent's sister Alese and her husband Ryan came down this weekend too so they watched our kids while we went to the Rodeo. Thanks guys. I can't imagine taking them there. This was our ride to the rodeo, Pretty Sweet huh?? There is Bro and Tawny and my mom. Hannah, Cody, Kaitlin, Melissa, Carl, Me, and Trent all went Friday night. Then most of them went Saturday night too. Saturday was Bro and Tawny's wedding (my camera was dead by then) Of course I don't have pictures of the important things right?? Then we headed to Tropic to see Slate and Pennie. That was a 4 hour drive and then we spent Sunday there and headed for home at 5:00 but hit a little bit of the snow storm so we didn't make it home until 10:00. We had a lot of fun but we are really glad it is over with. I have tons of blogging to catch up on maybe it will happen one day.

Halloween Program at Jay's preschool

2009-11-04T18:19:00.000-08:00

Hi it has been a while but it isn't my fault. Trent made me go camping last week in Colorado! I know you are thinking it is too cold and I don't even like camping but it was OK I survived it. It did snow about 6 inches but we were in the camp trailer for most of the time. Anyway I'll post pictures of it later I just wanted to tell everyone about Jay's preschool program.

I didn't even know they were having one until I dropped her off and her teacher said to come back early for it. They sang 3 or 4 songs and it was really cute. but you know the obnoxious kid...you know every program has them. they are the ones that won't stand where they are supposed to and they are louder than the rest. Then in the middle of the song her little brother starts laughing at her and then JayLee (you know the obnoxious kid in the program) says
"ha ha Olin thinks were funny! He is laughing at us." but she covered up well when the rest of the kids started singing she just jumped right back in.

Here are some pictures. I do have pictures of Olin in his Halloween costume... Well Jen has them by the time Halloween rolled around in Colorado (yes we went trick or treating camper door to camper door) my camera was dead. So as soon as I get them I will show you one cute cowboy. For now you get (as JayLee calls it) The Stature of Liberty!

Jay's teacher Mrs. Jessica

Jay's class (this is when she makes her move. that cute little girl's wings hit her so she decides to stand in front of her)

She had fun and she loves going to preschool.

Funny Kids

2009-10-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

Olin is getting old enough that JayLee and him are starting to play alot. He is walking all over the place which is wonderful!!! I love it when they can walk. Here are some pictures and a little story of my two funny kids....

Here they are sharing a sandwich. Not bad, sharing is good.....

They share a room and it was about 7:30 in the morning when I went to get them because I finally heard a rattle or something well this is what I found when I walked into the room.....

Yes that is Jay's bed EMPTY... So I look to the right and see she climbed in bed with Olin to play. I thought it was pretty cute... Who knows how long I could have left them there
So last night we put them to bed at 7:30. Shortly after JayLee comes running out of her bedroom saying, "The baby can't get out!" I was a little confused. So I went in and saw this...

If you haven't guessed what she was talking about. Look closely, she made little steps so Olin could climb out of his crib. Luckily it didn't work. I love these two kids!!

Crafty Stuff

2009-10-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I've posted last becasue I've been sort of busy getting ready for the craft fair were doing. My mom, Hannah, and I did it last year and did really well so we decided to do it again. People here are still talking about the aprons we do so we are going to have to step it up and get a ton ready. To get ready for it I designed my own pattern. Here are some of the ones I've done...

If you want an apron and are in Emery County you can go into my mom's shop and buy one there. If you aren't in Emery County, go to our etsy shop. And if you want to make an apron like the ones above leave a comment and we'll sign you up. The class is on November 6 and 7

check out this skirt I did for my mom's blog and let me know what you think. I might even give it away or something since it doesn't fit jay.

JayLee's halloween costume is almost done she is going to be the "Stature of Liberty" (according to jay) I'll show you pictures in a couple days

Oh Yeah this girl named Tamara is doing a series of contests on her blog called Drabby to Fabby and she is featuring me the second week of November. Visit her blog every Friday for some pretty cool contests.

And just in case you are bored with me talking about me, here are some pictures to make this post worthwhile for those of you who just want to see Jay and Olin.

Family tradition, Trent cooks us crepes for breakfast on Conference Sunday so here is Jay and Olin enjoying their crepesAnd last but certainly not least, here is Olin....being none other than OLIN!!! He is such a tease, we don't know what to do with him half the time. So we just laugh and love him of course.

Happy Birthday Olin!

2009-09-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

It was Olin's Birthday on Monday. We had a little get together with the family on Sunday. Thanks to everyone who made the trek! Here are some pictures
He was so funny with the cake. At first he was just getting frosting so he quit eating it. So I got him a fork and then he just dug in. I can't believe he is 1 already. He has a really fun personality and is of course full of mischief.

Look What I Can Do!!

2009-09-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

If any of you have been to our house you know that this is the ladder that takes you to the finished attic. We keep it open in the summer to keep the house a little cooler. I was looking for something up there so I was going up and down and Olin thought it would be fun to climb it. He has been trying for a while but this time I stood right behind him and he made it all the way to the top.

PS Please ignore the messy corner of my house that I sew in.

First day of Preschool

2009-09-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

Today JayLee went to preschool. She has gone back and forth from excited to not wanting to go at all for the last couple of weeks but I figured it was just nerves after finding out her boyfriend wouldn't be going to the same school. So here is JayLee on her first day of preschool

And here is Olin on his first day of preschool.....

Ha ha! Just kidding but isn't he cute? He is so funny about having a pen. He can't just have a pen he has to have paper too. He totally knows what to do with it.

Olin will be a year on Monday. Time flies! We got this car for Jay for her 1st birthday and Olin is enjoying it just as much as she did.

A little update

2009-08-31T07:18:00.000-07:00

It seems like when we get to a weekend it is time to pack everything up and go somewhere. That has sort of been the routine for the summer anyway. The last couple of weeks have been especially bad. My mom and I had a booth at the Helper Arts Festival and we were very prepared. Then, wouldn't you know it Hannah had her baby that weekend too. He was 5 weeks early but healthy. He weighed 5 lbs. 6 oz. and they named him Liam. Since he was early no one was prepared for him to come. It is Hannah's first and they had been waiting to buy things until they were in their house and until after her baby shower. My mom didn't have any baby quilts done because she had been too busy quilting for the Helper Arts Festival. Her car seat and stroller were ordered but wouldn't be here for a week. Since I had Olin a year before I just packed up a bunch of stuff and my kids and headed for Salt Lake (I only got lost a couple of times getting to the hospital) So that night I stayed at Trent's parents house in Benjamin left my kids there for Friday and Saturday (sold most of the aprons I brought) then Michele (one L = mother in-law) brought my kids to me in Helper on Saturday ( I have a GREAT mother in-law) so here is a picture of my mom (two Ls = mom) with baby Liam. He is seriously so tiny and so cute.
Here are my kids after the trip. JayLee was asleep when I got home so I just put her on the couch hoping the noise of me unpacking everything would wake her up ( she has to wake up on her own otherwise she is a BEAR) but Olin just took care of it for me. He is the biggest tease. He crawls over there and we were watching him so every once in a while he would look back at us and smile. So he stands up being kind of sly and slowly raises his hand but always turning to smile at us then he pulled her hair or rub her face. This age is really fun but they are into everything.

So Olin will be 1 next Monday, so I figured I better start letting him have the spoon (this is what I consider the most daring thing a mom can do, I hate giving them the spoon) So here is the result.

I had some friends come over and make some hair clips for our girls' hair. We thought it would be the perfect day. We would make hairclips and chat and our kids (six of them 2-age 3, 2-age 2, and 2-under age 1) would just play with toys and have a good day. Yeah, I know you are laughing because of course it didn't go like that. It was AWFUL! my house has never been that loud, any kid that could scream did scream or fight over a toy. We even moved outside because we thought they would all be happier out there (how do you fight over dirt right?) Wrong. I did capture one rare moment that these 3 decided to get along. This is JayLee, Aften, and Stayton. (Aften, the one in the red JayLee considers her boyfriend)

Jay starts preschool tomorrow. I'll post some pictures

My First Refinishing Project!!

2009-08-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

These chairs were in my house when we moved in. I almost threw them out several times but I finally decided that I liked the chairs I just hated the color and the upholstery.

There were actually 3 chairs and I have only refinished 1 because they are a pain in the bum!! All that spinny (is that a word?) stuff up each side. I thought I had to strip the old stain off so I did and it took about 6 months for me to finish the one chair that I have done. (mostly because I lost all motivation to finish them a couple of times) Next time I'll just sand down the flat parts of the chair and rough up the "spinny parts", prime it and then paint it. The only reason I'll sand the flat parts is because I like to see the grain of the wood. Any way here is the one I have finished and I don't think it turned out too bad for my first ever project of this kind.

Just in case you were wondering (Melissa) I spray painted it almond and then antiqued it with dark walnut. (brushed stain on with a paint brush and wiped it off with a rag)

Pictures, courtesy of JayLee Jo

2009-07-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

I finally put batteries in JayLee's camera that she got for her birthday. Once they died I was so tired of that thing, I could have thrown it in the garbage. Anyway, I loaded the pictures onto the computer and thought I would share some with you. There were over 100 on her sd card but there was a ton of the ground, a lot of blurry ones, and a good number of my butt (clothed of course.) Anyway here they are pictures of our life, through JayLee's eyes.....

I think those are onions with a lot of weeds in the background

Me (too bad it isn't a little more blurry)

Green peppers from the garden (my pjs in the background)

Afghan on the back of the couch (thanks mom)

Trent cussing at the very thought of pounding a post in the ground in Ioka. I'll explain if anyone cares to know one of these days, but it is nearly impossible.

Elmo chair she got from Uncle Bro for her 1st birthday

Olin and two binkies, he hasn't used one of those for 6 months. (tells you that I haven't loaded pictures form this camera once, woops)

Me and Rio

Zak

Cattle trailer

Olin and one of his favorite toys, the remote

This is a picture Jay wanted me to take of her with her camera. That doesn't happen very often . She is the only one that can take pictures and when she does let you take a picture with it you have to put the string around your neck.

Kind of random but I thought it was kind of funny to see her pictures. My favorite is the one of the bottom half of me and Rio's nose. Tell me your favorite.

July 4th

2009-07-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

If you ask Trent what he did on the Fourth of July every year when he was growing up he will tell you we worked. Which is absolutely true. Growing up in Huntington we always had a big celebration and we went to all of it, every year. So I told Trent we had to do at least one fourth of July thing so we rode horses early in the afternoon and then went into town to watch fireworks that night.

This is Trent and Olin watching the fireworks.....

This is JayLee.......sleeping through the fireworks.

She fell asleep before we got there and would not wake up. Sunday morning she woke up and wanted to go and I had to show her these pictures to prove that we had gone.

She did have fun earlier in the day though. She got to ride horses and more important for her she got to ride Rio. Rio is my horse and he is soooo big. It scares me to put her clear up there but she loves it and he acts like a perfect gentleman for her. He bends his poll and rounds his back without her even asking. I'm sure it is just his lazy personality coming out. He'd much rather pack her than me.

A Trip to Strawberry

2009-07-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

Monday and Tuesday we went to Strawberry Reservoir with Trent's family. It was my kind of camping since we stayed in cabins that were bigger than my house. We took our horses and Trent's parents brought four-wheelers and when we were riding those we just played games with the cousins. It was a lot of fun.

JayLee went fishing with Jenna and Kevin and she loved it. I was gone on a horse ride when they left Monday night and she fell asleep before they got back. On Tuesday morning she woke me up telling me all about her fishing trip. She also had fun with Tren't cousin Seth (who she calls Steve now because once she got home she couldn't remember his name, sorry Seth!) She had to eat dinner next to him on Tuesday night and she said the funnest thing she did was ride the bike in the house, which was another thanks to Seth. Tren'ts cousins are almost all teenagers but they were all so good to her.

I wish I would have taken more pictures but I didn't. This one is on the way home. JayLee fell asleep and this is Olin pulling her hair and thinking it is really funny. You should have heard him squealing about it.

Trent and I got to go on a couple of horse rides and that was all thanks to Trent's mom and Jenna. They always had my kids. I'm so grateful for them. Alese and Ryan went riding with us Monday night and it was so fun. They really need to move out to the Basin so we can do more stuff together.

This is Trent's horse Harley. She acted so good up there and is definitely a brush busting horse. I couldn't believe some of the stuff she would go through. JayLee didn't get to ride because her horse was so hyper once we got there I was too chicken to put her on. She asked Trent when we were loading her in the trailer to go home, "Dad, why did we even bring my horse?" What will we do with sassy JayLee? But Ryan rode her and as long as she was in the front she didn't look like a parade horse.

It was a fun couple of days and a great time to be with family.

Stillwater Reservoir

2009-06-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

My friend called me this morning and wanted to take a trip to Stillwater Reservoir. I hadn't ever heard of it but it is this reservoir that overflows over the dam in the spring. It is about an hour from my house. So we loaded up 6 kids and went for a drive. It was really cool. My friend said you used to be able to get to the top and actually see the reservoir but it is closed off now and you can only see where it spills over. Here are some pictures.

When we drove around the corner and could see the water JayLee just kept saying "This is so cool, this is so cool, this is so cool." It was really pretty up there I guess I need to explore in the Uintahs a little more so I know how lucky I am to be so close.

The best day ever!!!

2009-06-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

Before I tell you about the best day ever, it has been a while since I have posted. I have been sewing a little bit and JayLee has been having swimming lessons. It is mommy and me class so JayLee and I have been swimming every day for the last two weeks and YES we have froze our butts off and it has rained nearly every day. Wahoo they are finished today.

Olin had his 9 month well check on Monday and they told me (something I already knew) he is tiny. He is in the 3rd percentile for his height and weight. So I have to add butter to everything he eats. He is a vacuum anyway, the kid eats EVERYTHING but I don't know where it is going. So were going to try to fatten him up in the next couple of months. Wish me luck.

So now The Best Day EVER! I leave Olin with a neighbor while JayLee and I go to swimming lessons. So yesterday when we were picking him up, we went inside to chat for a while and there was a knock on my friend's door. So my friend answered the door and who was standing there but Pennie Marlene!! They were on their way back from South Dakota and came home through Flaming Gorge so they could see us. I was so surpirsed. They were driving along the lane looking for old farm houses or horses that looked or sounded familiar becasue they didn't know where we lived but then they saw my car and stopped. Thank you, Pennie. (or Slate and Max for letting her stop) I only got to see her for a little while but it was still a good day.

We have been doing some summer things here is a picture of Olin, JayLee, Mattie, and Aften at the Drive in movie. It was really hard to get them all sitting still for a picture just so you know.

Olin the Climber

2009-05-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

Olin has been pulling up to and climbing over things for some time now. He gets around really well, he is still just army crawling so he isn't super fast, luckily. Today he pulled himself up to the fireplace. He has been doing this for a couple of weeks and since we haven't been burning anything I just let him think he is super cool. He just stands there and reads the Ensign. Well today he climbed on top of the fireplace. So in the picture you can't see it but there is a mouse trap behind the bucket (Yeah, I know gross but we live in an old farm house so what do you do?) So I wasn't looking but I did hear him cry and yes he did find the mouse trap. It didn't snap his fingers, but he was sure scared.

I asked for your maiden name....

2009-05-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

Ok so when I got married I sort of knew this would happen plenty of times. But it hasn't happened in a while so I thought I would share a story.

I called the bank in Huntington because when I got married and moved away I never closed the account. My mom said it would be easy for her to put late wedding gifts into that account and then I forgot all about it. Now that I am selling aprons in the shop though, she has been putting money in there. The only problem is my debit card expired in 2007 so I can't spend the money. Big problem, right!! So I called the bank to get a new debit card and this is how the conversation goes.

Me: "Hi, this is Kortnie Anderson and I was just wondering if I could get a new debit card for my account. I haven't used the account for a really long time so I'm sure you just don't send them when the account has $3.00 in it "

Teller: "Do you have your account number?"

Me: "Ugh, I think, let me find my statement......"

Teller: "Is this Michelle's daughter?"

Me: "Yeah"

Teller: "And it is still under......................Anderson"

Me: " Oh.....Yeah, I married an Anderson.

Teller: "Oh. Huh."

This was only a minor occurrance and she laughed. However, I really want to know what people are thinking when I tell them I am an Anderson, who married and Anderson. Hence, the Anderson squared blogspot. It does get more confusing when I tell them my mother in-law and my mother are both Michelle Anderson. Someone did send a card to Trent asking if he was marrying his sister. And just in case anyone has questioned why JayLee has a Grandma Milk Cow that is why. She can't say Grandma Michele or Grandma Anderson without someone annoyingly saying "which one...hahaha"

Contest!! Anyone Can Enter

2009-05-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

Check out this contest at http://quiltatreasure.blogspot.com It is for an Amy Butler Birdie sling and possibly an apron. All you have to do is post about the blog on your blog or on Facebook or both. Then go back to quiltatreasure.blogspot.com and leave a comment. Very simple. We are just trying to get the word out about my mom's shop so please help us out.

JayLee's Adventure!!!

2009-05-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

Here is the background info to this story. Trent and I feed the cows in the morning now. We used to do it after he got home from work but now there isn't enough time. We leave the house a little after 6 and the kids don't usually wake up until a little after 7, which gives us plenty of time to feed without the kids. As you can guess JayLee isn't very fond of this new feeding schedule and she tells me every day "Ughh, you fed without me again."

So, Monday we left the house later than usual and we had a cow on the road and had to catch a calf and treat her so it took us longer than usual to feed. Well after we feed we always drive along the cows to make sure there are no sick calves. So I was driving back toward the house along the cows and happen to look to the middle of the field. And what did I see but a cute little blond girl running through the field. So I said "Oh S*** !" Jumped out of the truck and ran to her. Yes, JayLee woke up, went to the bathroom, got dressed, got her shoes on, came outside saw the truck in the field and ran to us. Was she scared? No, not at all she was so pleased with herself. and I didn't have my camera but I recreated the picture in the yard so you can see what she looked like at 6:45 in the morning. These are the exact clothes she dressed herself in for her adventure.

I don't even want to imagine all the things that could have happened that morning. I'm just glad she is safe and now she says next time she will stay by the fence. Lets hope she remembers!!!

Home Machine Quilt Show and Mothers Day

2009-05-11T06:54:00.001-07:00

On Thursday Melissa finally talked me in to going to the Home Macine Quilt Show. It wasn't that I didn't want to go but I just hate the drive. I drove to Benjamin and dropped JayLee of at Grandma Milk Cow's house and then Melissa drove there and picked me up. It was definitely worth the drive. We had so much fun. There were so many quilts we didn't get through them all and TONS of vendors. It almost makes me want to make a quilt, almost. They have the cutest things in every little store, it really gets your creative juices flowing. Anyway, I spent a lot of money. I called Trent after I'd been there for 20 minutes and told him not to get me anything for Mothers Day, "I had it under control!" Well it turns out I was out of control and I didn't get back to the Basin until after 10:00 on Friday night. Next year we are going to make it a girls weekend with no kids.

Saturday was filled with work. We moved some topsoil into the yard so we can plant grass and Jay and Trent got to ride horses (my horse was gushing blood when I got to him, he knows when it's time to go to work) We got some more cows and bulls. I think we are over 220 now but I lost count. However with Saturday being filled with work I still got time to use the new book I bought at the Quilt Show. The book is Seams To Me by Anna Maria Horner. There is a really cute skirt in the book called the Bo Peep skirt and I bought fabric at the show to make it for JayLee. By the way I have found a new fabric love and that is Art Gallery Fabrics. So I put it together Saturday night so JayLee could wear it to church on Sunday (I had to hem it and put the elastic in it on Sunday morning and yes Trent told me I was a sinner or something like that) So here is a picture of me and JayLee and Olin on Mother's Day. And some close-ups of the Bo Peep skirt. It was a good day. I didn't cook or clean a thing. Actually I didn't even do dishes on Saturday, Trent did. I love him!

They grow up so fast!!

2009-05-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

I heard Olin jabbering in his crib Thursday before we left for Spanish Fork. When I walked in, Olin was pulling himself up in his crib. I ran in and grabbed my camera and he wasn't pleased but here are a couple of pictures.

We stayed at Trent's parents house Thursday and then left JayLee with "Grandma and Grandpa Milk Cow" It was her first time away for that long she didn't come home until Sunday but she didn't want to come home either. They asked her if she was excited to come home and she said she was excited to take the horse trailer home but she didn't want to go.

Quick way to hem your pants (day 7)

2009-04-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

Here is a great way to hem your pants without having to cut off the original hem. Melissa sent me another link but I fouund this one too. http://www.daciaray.com/?p=38 it is basically the same thing.

Amy Butler Birdie Sling (day 6)

2009-04-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, I finally set the date for the Bag class. The pattern we will use is the Amy Butler Birdie sling. It will be June 5th and 6th. On the 5th we will cut it out and get everything ironed on. On the 6th we will sew it all together. to sign up e-mail quiltatreasure@gmail.com. If you can only come one day we can arrange to get everything done for you in one day. Just e-mail us and we can get it figured out. It will be in Huntington at my mom's shop. If you want to look at a finished bag before you decide on taking the class, there is one at the shop so stop in and take a look.

Day 5

2009-04-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

Patterns, Patterns, Patterns!! This really nice lady stopped me in church today and asked me if I sew. So I told her yes and she invited me to come and get some of her patterns because her little girl has outgrown all of the sizes she has. To make a long story short, my friend and I went over and got all the patterns she was giving away. I ended up with 60!!! 60 patterns! It was a good day!

Yesterday it was rainy and cold here so we didn't have as much fun as we would have hoped. When we were feeding cows JayLee couldn't even roll her window down. But we took some pictures and Jay's face in this picture is the result of her finding our Olin was going to be in the picture too.

Day 4

2009-04-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

Just a funny JayLee story for the day. We are buying a new horse trailer and so I told JayLee that we were getting one. She said "That is a hundred percent"! I guess she thinks that is pretty cool. These pictures were taken when we were still in Cedar City but she definitely loves horses!

Day 3

2009-04-24T20:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you former Emery County residents still read the Emery County Progress but I feel like it is the only way I can stay in the know. Lately I haven't read it but this week is a must read. They did a story on my mom's shop here is the link check it out. http://www.ecprogress.com/index.php?tier=1&article_id=7770

Were going to set the date for new classes at my mom's shop (which includes the Amy Butler Birdie Sling) tomorrow when my mom comes for Jay's birthday party so check the website http://www.quiltatreasure.com/ for your shopping list and the date.

This is just a random picture of JayLee and Bryar - December 2007.

Day 2

2009-04-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

I finished my cute skirt but my friend took it so she could make one just like it (it is that cute)!! Here is a picture of it almost finished. The fabric is from Heather Bailey's Freshcut line. So Cute

This blogging every day is exhausting! But I will hold true to Melissa's request and post two pictures one of each kid. This one is on Halloween. I made Jay a Dorothy costume. She loved it! She had no idea who she was but I thought she was pretty cute.

This is of Olin after we got done feeding cows. I usually just hold him while I drive and Trent just throws the hay off. But when he is asleep I put him in his car seat (not buckled in) in the back. Well this particular day Jay fell asleep so when we were finished I carried JayLee in and came back to the truck to see Olin crawling out. He thought he was pretty cool!

Day 1

2009-04-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was so warm that we spent the day outside cleaning the yard. The kids loved it. But I wish I had a lawn that I could let Olin crawl around on instead of a patch of weeds. That may be in the works but we'll see. He likes Zak (the dog) as you can see and luckily Zak likes him! Zak just laid there and let Olin crawl all over him while we raked a bottomless pit full of leaves. Unfortunately Olin bores very easily but he seems to like it when Jay pulls him in the wagon and that seems to last a while.

Every time Jay goes outside Olin bolts for the door. I say bolts but he is still army crawling so speed isn't his strongest suit. I let him get his head out the door usually so he thinks he has succeeded. It is just enough for Zak to lick his face and then I pick him up and he thinks it is the end of the world.

Happy Birthday JayLee!!!

2009-04-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

Here is the Birthday girl. She is 3! She is wearing everything she got for her birthday except I put the swimming suit away before she could try it on. Too bad, it would have been a better picture. We have some family coming out this weekend so I will post more on JayLee's birthday later this week.

Melissa told me today that she wished I posted on my blog everyday so for the next seven days I am going to post every day. That will teach her. By the end of this seven days she will be begging me to stop.

Anyway usually I would tell you a funny JayLee story but I have to save it for another day. (I have to post for 7 days straight I'm going to milk every story) Just a look into the future, you will probably hear about me and my new war with mice so if you don't check my blog for the next seven days, I don't blame you. Also I've been working on a really cute skirt, I will post some pictures.

Easter

2009-04-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the kids on Easter. JayLee hunted for eggs Sunday after church she was really excited about the whole thing. She even noticed that the Easter bunny left the egg carton right outside the door. What a messy rabbit!!

Just Pictures

2009-04-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

JayLee says this is what cows do

Trent says "Is this going to be on the blog? ugh!"

Rag Quilts

2009-04-04T19:46:00.001-07:00

My cute neighbor Nicole is having a destined to be a cowboy baby and this weekend was her shower. So I made her this blanket that looks way harder than it really is. Plus it only took me the morning to put it together. It is very basic sewing. I promise.

My mom sells these rag quilt kits in her etsy shop and I have yet to put one together, until this weekend. They cost $40 -$45 and that includes batting. To me that sounded like a lot of money but then I got thinking.... It is almost 6 yards of quality flannel. so a good flannel is around $6 a yard and then you would have to buy your batting. It adds up. Plus I can't imagine having to cut all that buy hand. Yuk! This is already cut for you.

Moral of the story: If you have a good neighbor that needs a super cute baby quilt, buy a rag quilt kit. Bonus, if you were planning on making a rag quilt and you bought the fabric but couldn't talk yourself into doing it yet (because it takes forever to cut it by hand) you could go into my mom's quilting shop and cut it for just $10.

New Addition

2009-03-31T06:48:00.000-07:00

Meet Zak or as JayLee likes to call him Koocho! I was at my mom's house with JayLee and Olin when Trent got the dog so as you can imagine JayLee really wanted to go home to see HER new dog. I asked her what she wanted to name him and she came up with KooCho. We have been getting cows for about the last week. We are up to 195 so every day when Trent gets home from work it is a mad dash to get them fed and then dinner for us. Then hopefully no one has to go anywhere after that because it is bed time for JayLee.

He Slept Through the Night!!!

2009-03-10T05:59:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! Olin is 6 months old and has never slept through the night until last night of course. It is like breathing a sigh of relief. Two nights ago I was seriously up every hour. But he finally did it. It is really unbelievable and when I woke up I went to make sure he was still breathing. You know that feeling you get when your baby has been sleeping too long and you go in and wait for them to move or breathe or something. JayLee had been sleeping through the night long before she was 6 months. So this was a long time coming! thank you Olin!

Well I took him to the Dr. yesterday for his 6 month well check and here are his stats

Weight: 14LB 15 1/2 oz. Length: 25 1/4 in Head Circ: 44 1/2 cm

I got JayLee's 6 month stats out to compare and she was a little bigger than he was but hopefully he will catch up. Here is a random picture of JayLee when she was six months old she was already sitting up. I think they look a lot a like. What do you think?

PS I had to pick a picture where JayLee didn't look so girly and so you get Halloween

Moving!!

2009-03-04T07:48:00.000-08:00

Check out this video of Olin. He is moving all over the place! JayLee never did the army crawl thing so I think it is pretty cool. However now we really have to watch what is on the ground for Olin to eat.

Yesterday was so fun. It got so warm and so we went outside to play. Finally! We took a little walk and then we played on the swing. Everyone that has been here knows that it is hanging by a fraying rope on a dead tree, Safety Second Right?? JayLee had a really good time and Olin slept in the stroller.

I've made four of these bags now and I LOVE them. They are so big so they make great diaper bags or bags that fit everything in. So I'm trying to talk my mom into doing a class to make them at her shop. It will probably be a Friday night class and we'll sew until they are finished. They are great for beginning sewers! So anyone who wants one of these great bags let me know so we can work out the details.

Just Catching up!

2009-02-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of Olin last week when he was healthy. All this week he has had an ear infection, goopy eyes and a cold. We stayed home all week and now all there is left is a cold. Thank heavens.

It did make for some funny JayLee stories though. After about the fifth time Olin would wake up in twenty minutes I would give up and go sleep with him on the couch. So about 7:00 o'clock Thursday morning I heard JayLee rattling on and on about how she was talking to her daddy and her daddy was on the phone. Since Trent usually calls me every morning I thought, oh no, I didn't hear it ring and was wondering how long she had been talking to him so I had her bring my cell phone over. When I looked at the screen to make sure it was Trent and not the last person I called on the phone. (she is really good and pressing send twice to call people back) It was on of Trent's roommates from college. I was so embaressed. But luckily Brok had been up doing homework and he thought it was kind of funny.

JayLee also said "It is important that I ride my Star (which is her horse) everday. And it is important that I chase cows everyday" Where did she come from?

JayLee usually goes with Trent to feed and water the horses and sometimes he lets her sit on his lap so she thinks she is driving. But lately they have been in a hurry so he tells her that. Well one time this week JayLee asked if she could drive and Trent told her no, but Jaylee said "Dad were not in a hurry today." Sometime her memory kills me.

Ok this is the last JayLee story but sometimes she convinces me that I have a teenager and not a two year old. She went with Trent to do Scouting for food last Saturday and when they met up with the rest of the boys at the church, Trent got out of the car and left JayLee in while he talked to some of the other leaders but JayLee wanted to get out. Well Trent was telling me when they got home that they left Jay in the car and JayLee popped in saying "Yeah he left me in the car, it was so embarrassing" Does anyone else have a two almost three year old teenager?

Retro Aprons

2009-01-30T20:18:00.000-08:00

I have seen these really cute aprons around lately and thought I could make them but never really tried. Well this summer my mom was going to do a booth at the County fair for her quilting and I decided to do some aprons to see how it would go. I want a new saddle and thought that with the extra money I wouldn't feel guilty about buying it. I sold most of the aprons that I took to the fair and people kept asking for them at my mom's quilt shop so I kept making them and Hannah started helping me. We have done a couple of other fairs and we have an etsy shop now. We started it mostly for my mom's stuff but it has turned out to be mostly aprons.

Check out our etsy shop http://www.quiltatreasure.etsy.com/ my mom's website is http://www.quiltatreasure.com/ there you can see a lot more of what we have done. Here are some pictures of some of my aprons

If you like these go to our websites and look at everything else we have done.

I found this cute retro cowgirl fabric and was really excited because I wanted to make a church bag out of it so I ordered it online. When it got here I decided the cowgirls weren't wearing enough clothes to take to Primary with me but I made the bag anyway and Melissa is going to give it to her sister in-law. Here is a picture of the bag, church approved or not?

Cute Cowgirl

2009-01-27T12:01:00.000-08:00

JayLee is in love with her stick horse. We may as well throw all the other toys in this house out because she is constantly riding that thing and most of the time its name is Palomino. Well I finally got the camera out to take a video of Jay and Palomino so here you have it (sorry I have no idea how to rotate that video)

Since I can't leave Olin out I am posting a really cute picture of him. He is starting to sit up a little bit (as long as he is propped up). So I can actually get pictures of him smiling and thought I would share. He is such a drooler

2009-01-20T15:19:00.000-08:00

Here are just some cute pictures we took of the kids. They never smile at the same time though!

Our Denver Trip

2009-01-20T14:15:00.000-08:00

I have just barely started blogging and I'm not even sure you can call one post starting. But I do have a blog now and we'll have to see how well I do about adding to it.

Anyway, we just got back from Denver and we all had a really good time. Trent has been planning the trip since Novemberish. I was very scared that we would freeze while we were there because Trent told us all the bulls (which is the reason Trent wanted to go) were outside. He also mentioned that they pull them in and out all day so they don't get too cold, so we were going to be checking back a lot to make sure we saw all of them. But it turned out I worried for nothing because it was around 60 degrees the whole time. It was so nice. Almost like taking a trip to St. George.

Jenna, (Trent's little sister) thankfully went with us. I am pretty sure we would have gone crazy or lost a kid without her. JayLee got to meet some rodeo queens, and even though all she talks about is barrel racing and rodeo queens she was so tired she wouldn't even talk to them. But they were good sports and gave her a crown like Miss Rodeo America's, signed her some pictures and that is all she looked at on the way home. When we tried to take her pciture with the queens this is what she did. We finally took them out of her hands when she fell asleep. She also got to see Chopper and aPaddy O'Malley baby (they are bulls and Yes Trent fills her head with them) Olin is 4 months old now and he did so well. He stayed in the stroller most of the time, but smiled at everyone who looked at him. He slept through the rodeo and I almost fell asleep during the rodeo but lucky for me they had some fireworks to keep me on my toes!

Of course it can't officially be a family trip without someone getting sick so JayLee made it official and woke up puking on Saturday morning. It definitely added some adventure to our trip but I won't go into details.

I didn't take any pictures while we were there. I'm not very good at taking pictures anymore, Trent did though so I have some pictures of some pretty nice club calf bulls and I got copies of Jenna's pictures so I turned out all right. She got some pictures of the rodeo and even some of Olin smiling when we got back. and getting a picture of Olin smiling is nearly impssible. That camera comes out and his face just goes blank.