woops, sorry

sorry if you got lots of the same email from me. They were mess ups that I published on acident.

love ya all! A's

Eric's mistake

Here's a movie John, Mom, and myself. It's kind of a blooper of the little mermaid.
love ya all! A's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmLeI1XqjSc

Dollhouse Transport

Yesterday, we were going to have a pretty busy day -- especially in the morning. We still had a number of items that we are looking for the a garage sales. However, we knew that we wouldn't have time to take the whole family around Provo to search all of the garage sales in the neighborhoods.

Our schedule only allow for one hour of garage sale hunting done by one person. So, I got up early and loaded the garage sale addresses to our GPS devices.  I wanted to save some gas and make quick hunting so I decided to ride the motorcycle. The idea was that if I found anything that was too big to carry in my backpack I would call Amber and she would come pick it up after I had purchased it.

I put the car's GPS system in a little bag and hung it around my neck. I plugged some headphones into it so that I could listen to that turn by turn directions on my motorcycle. I then just follow the directions spoken to me through the GPS and rode my motorcycle by each and every garage sale. I had several people at the garage sales asked me about my setup. They all laughed and thought it was pretty ingenious -- if I do say so myself.

By 9AM, Amber was running late, and we were supposed to meet somebody at the library. I had been our garage sale-ing for one hour. I told Amber that I was going to make one more stop and then I would head over to the library to meet up with the other family. It just so happened that that last garage sale there was a Barbie doll house for sale. One of the four items that we have been looking for at garage sales was a Barbie doll house for Alayna. Alayna has been saving her money for several months to be able to buy a doll house for all of her Barbies. The one I found was perfect -- other than the fact that it was very large. The dollhouse was 18 inches deep by 2 feet wide by 18 inches tall. Since we were running late, we had no time for Amber to drive across town to pick up the dollhouse. I talked to the family and explained my situation. They were great people. The father came out with some string and they tied the dollhouse to my back. I then hopped on the motorcycle and met up with an excited Alayna in the library parking lot.

Amber laughed when she saw me carrying this dollhouse on my motorcycle and she snapped this picture from her phone. When we got home from the library, all of the kids were playing with the dollhouse. It was a hit!

Porch Work

On Memorial Day, Amber and I started a project on the porch for our house. For the past year, Amber has wanted to replace the posts in the front area of our porch. They were wooden and the paint had peeled badly. Amber had stripped them last year and trying to them so that she could paint them. However, she got an idea from a neighbor to buy some vinyl wraps that go around the posts and appear as pillars.

We saved our money all fall and winter and finally had enough for the project this week. I was given the assignment of putting the pillars together and installing them. This was no trivial task as it was difficult to keep the wrap altogether until it was in place. On Monday, I completed four of the six pillars. Yesterday, I finished the last two. It is pretty fun to have large pillars in the front of our house.

While I was assembling and installing the pillar wraps, Amber was busy assembling two rocking chairs that we purchased for the porch area. We also finished that project yesterday.  

And finally, as a third touch to our porch/front yard area, Amber installed some steppingstones in our landscaping going away from the porch into the yard. We have wanted to complete this project in the spring so that we could take advantage of the cooler weather and sit in our rocking chairs on our porch to read or talk while the kids play in the front yard. We haven't fully tested them out yet, since they take 24 hours to dry. Hopefully the weather stays cool for a little while so that we may be able to enjoy the work that we just completed.

The pictures posted with this blog are the Before and After shots.

Track & Field Day

The other day, the Provo parks and recreation department held a track and field day for all elementary school children in Provo. Aylee and Johnathan wanted to participate in the event. Amber and I expected that it would last about one hour.

I met the family there at the field at 5:00 PM. Johnathan had scouts are around 6:00 PM and so we were going to head home as quick as we could after the track meet. When we got there, we realized that this event was much larger than we had expected. There were a lot more events than we had planned for.

Johnathan signed up for the softball toss, the 100 m dash, and the 400 m run. Aylee signed up for that softball toss, the 200 m dash, and the 100 m dash. Our entire family sat in the sun and watched all of the events with the kids. Aylee and Johnathan had a great time competing. They did an awesome job.

The event lasted much longer than we had planned. Amber and the girls took off around 7:30 PM. I stayed behind with the older kids to pick up their ribbons. However, by 8:00 PM they still did not have the ribbons ready. Amber had to run to a meeting, so I took the rest of the kids home. The parks and recreation department will be mailing out the ribbons for those who were unable to pick them up.

Anyway, for the small event that we expected to last a half hour or 45 minutes, three hours later we were all home and ready for dinner!  Good thing this is just one event per year!

Stating the Obvious

This morning I had to make a variety of phone calls for some church stuff that I was working on.  I had just dialed the phone to one person and it was ringing on the other side - when Johnny walked in the office and started to ask me a question. 

The connection hadn't yet been made on the other end, so I didn't know if I could talk to John yet or not so I politely said to Johnathan, "Hey, buddy, I'll talk to you in just a second, I think I am on the phone". 

Johnathan looked at me and the phone that I was holding to my ear and said, with a concerned look, "Um, Yes, you are." 

I realized that he didn't understand what I was saying when I told him "I think I am on the phone".  We both had a good laugh about it when I hung up.

Alayna graduates from preschool

During lunch today, Alayna's preschool class held a graduation for the year.

Next year--kindergarten!

Dog Sitting

This is a picture of Jace and Aylee playing with "Crystal", our neighbor's dog that we took care of for a few hours on Saturday.  The kids LOVED her and will probably be asking for a dog of their own.  Two days later, our other neighbors got a brand new puppy.  Amber and I are sure the requests for a pet will be renewed by the kids!

Calling the Cops on the Bishop

Amber and I were hoping to sleep in on the weekend of Memorial Day. However, we were suddenly awoken at four o'clock in the morning by some shouts out near the front of our yard. I jumped out of bed in a daze and with blurry eyes. I asked Amber if she heard the same thing that I heard. She had also woken up and told me that she had. I stood by our bedroom window, which was open, and peered through the blinds looking and listening for any activity. We had both of our cars out on the street that night because of some home improvement projects that were taking up the garage. I was concerned that someone may be tempted to break into one of our cars.

We both listened by the window and heard only a few more random, but short and quick conversations between two people. As we watched, I saw a flash light come on at the neighbors house. Whoever was holding the flashlight was peering into and around our neighbor's vehicles. Fearing that some wayward youth were attempting to steal something out of the car, I dialed 911 and got the cops. I did the usual address and phone number routine and then quickly, yet quietly, explained the situation. They said that they would send a patrolman to our neighborhood, but they wanted a play-by-play action until the cop got there.

While I was talking to them on the phone I quickly dressed into some exercise shorts and a T-shirt. I still didn't have my glasses on and so I couldn't give them very much detail of the people holding flashlights. The rest of my dialogue with 911 is somewhat reproduced as follows:

Me: "oh no, they have opened the door to one of the vehicles. They might be taking something out of the vehicle or trying to start it."
911: "okay sir, can you tell me what they look like?"
Me: "no I can't make it out. It is too dark." (Amber and I then quietly run downstairs to get a better view from the office window and for me to get my glasses on and to grab a kitchen knife.)
Me: "oh no, it sounds like they have started the engine! I'm going to give the phone to my wife so that she can talk to you while I run out there and stop them!"
911: "no Sir! You cannot go out there! Our officer is almost there. I need you to stay online and tell me which way they go.
Me: "no! I'm not going to wait while they drive away in our neighbor's car!"
911: "Sir, please listen to me. You don't want to make matters worse. Please stay on the phone and just tell us where the car goes and what it looks like."
Me: "okay, they're leaving the driveway and heading west toward the lake."
911: "great sir, we have a policeman that is almost there."
Me: "wait! They have turned around and are coming back this way. They are driving slowly and weaving along the entire width of the road. They may be checking out other houses."
Me: "oh no! I am looking at the neighbors house and their front door is wide open and no one is in the doorway. My wife is trying to call them on the other phone but they are not answering! I wonder why in the world their door is just wide open with no one there."
911: "okay sir, so you are saying that no one appears to be at home and they are not answering the phone?"
Me: "they should be home because both of their cars were in the driveway. This is really strange."
Me: "oh wait I see someone coming from around the back of their house with another flashlight. They're slowly walking around the house.  Also, the person in the car is turning around again! I don't understand it. Oh wait, hold on!"

I recognized the person on foot with the flashlight. It is our neighbor, the wife of our bishop. I went outside and asked her what was going on. She explained it to me, and then I put my phone back to my ear:

Me: "I am so sorry! This is all been a big misunderstanding. It is our neighbors who have lost their dog. They've been using the flashlights to try to find the dog and finally have gotten into their car to slowly drive around the neighborhood to see if she is in the neighbors yards."
911: "Sir, I'm glad to hear that everything appears to be okay. The policeman is nearly there and I'll have him stop and make sure that everything is okay still."
Me: "thank you so much for your help. I'm sorry for the false alarm."
911: "no problem sir. We are glad that everything seems to be okay."
<I hang up>

I then went out in our Van and drove around the neighborhood to try and find the dog. We were out for the next 15 minutes or so but didn't see the AWOL canine.

I talked to our bishop and his wife after searching. They explained that they had gotten up early that morning to pack and leave for Afton, Wyoming. While they were carrying things to the car the wife saw the dog make its escape out the front door. She yelled to her husband that the dog was getting away. He was confused and yelled back asking where she went. There were quick exchanges and shouts as they split up and hurriedly tried to catch the pet. These were the loud conversations that Amber and I woke up to. They had quickly grabbed flashlights and started going around the house and around the vehicles seeing if the dog was hiding close by. Once they couldn't find her, the wife headed off on foot and the Bishop got into their vehicle and started to drive around our street shining the headlights in various yards to see if she was there.

We laughed together as I explained to them how we called 911 thinking that their vehicle was being stolen. They said that while they were out looking after I had gotten off of the phone with the police, that a cop had stopped them in their car and chatted with them for a minute. The officer then offered to go around the neighborhood also in search of the dog.

After the extensive search, our bishop and his wife decided to leave for Wyoming without the pet.  Sure enough, an hour or two after they left, I saw the dog walking down the street near their home. I went out and caught the dog and locked it in our backyard. The kids had a great time playing with "Crystal" throughout the first part of the day.  The Bishop's wife called me later in the morning and I explained to her that we had her dog. She had somebody come by in the early afternoon and pick up the dog so that she could be cared for during their absence.

In the end, we and our neighbors all got a kick out of Amber and I calling the cops on our bishop.

Sensitive Booger Seeker

The other day, I had come home for lunch with Amber and the younger kids. While Amber and I were making our lunch, Jace was sitting in his high chair eagerly waiting for some food. When the food delay, he set out picking his nose vigorously. I decided to have some fun with him, so I looked at him and said, "are you finding any yummy boogers, Jace?"

I obviously struck a chord with him in that statement. He quickly removed his finger from his nose, placed his head on the tray of his high chair, and sobbed uncontrollably. I finally had to go over and put my arms around him to console him. I was amazed that he understood my words well enough and understood what he was doing to the state of being sensitive about the activity!

Devious, Yes -- but Sly, No

Over the past few months our innocent little daughter, Alayna, has been breaking into the realm of non-innocence. She has always been a streetsmart kind of girl. She is now learning how to deviously manipulate situations whenever she feels the need.

The other day Aliece came into the office in our house and asked me if she could take a particular indoor toy outside to play with. I explained to her that I did not want her to remove that small toy from the house the that she could play with it indoors if she wanted to. She got upset, of course, and started to cry about how unfair it was that she could not take this toy outside. As the two of them started to walk outside of the room, Alayna put her arms around Aliece to comfort her. The conversation I heard as they were walking out of the room includes, "don't worry Aliece, when dad's not here we can take it outside to play with."

I got a personal chuckled inside to hear her design some plans to thwart my obvious dictatorial notions -- she just needs to now learn about the proper place and time to share such rebellious plans: namely outside of dad's presence.

Fun orchestra concert

Last night we attended Aylee's third orchestra concert.  I love this type of concert because it lasted 15 minutes.  You get to hear your child play and then leave.  It was short enough for all of the family to sit still and listen.  It is hard when a performance is one or more hours long and you spend the last 30 minutes wrestling with little kids in their hard seats :-)

 

Aylee did a wonderful job.  She was invited to play with both the beginning and advanced orchestras.  I am amazed at how well she has picked up the violin.  She has enjoyed it so much that she has worked out a trade with a neighbor for the summer.  She will babysit their kids (her first formal babysitting stint outside of our home) once a week in exchange for violin lessons.  She is really excited about this prospect!

Aliece getting her helmet fitted

One of the cool activities at the Logan bie festival. We found out that we are bad parents - aliece's helmet was a toddler one...woops!

The Girls at drag race

The girls did a small drag race at the logan bike festival.

Ward Game Night

On Friday night, our Ward had an adult game night. Several people from our Ward met and played games and had lots of yummy snacks.  The gymnasium was arranged with several round tables. Each table had a game host that hosted several games. We all rotated to different tables with different people in each session. We would play games with those people at that table for that session.

 

Amber and I had been asked to provide a game for the entire group at the end of the evening.  We have debated what type of game we should plan for the event. About a week ago we had the idea of doing a family feud game that involved the entire crowd. Amber and I came up with a list of questions that we then sent out to all of the youth in our Ward as well as other youth on Facebook that we knew. We then took their answers and rolled them up into the family feud game. We had a friend of ours be "Richard Dawson" and Amber and I were the judges and ran the computer. Everyone seemed to love the family feud game. We ended up playing the game for over an hour.

 

Amber and I had a great time working together to plan the game and put it together.

Branding 2009

It was fun to see everyone this Saturday for branding. Our family got to Arbon Saturday morning and were surprised to find that Joe ended up flying up here to be with us this weekend. Dad had put a lot of work into cleaning out the corral so that it was not so muddy. The sun was out, and there was very little wind -- it was the perfect day.

There were many of the familiar branding faces. It is always fun to be able to visit with the Andersen clan. With only 25 calves the actual branding didn't take very long. However, with all the cameras shooting off we were able to extend that time a little longer.

After branding, and before lunch was ready, dad got out the shotgun and let lots of people do some skeet shooting. Aylee was very brave and tried her hand at dad's newest double barrel 12gauge shotgun. She had three shots and hit one of the clay pigeons. I was pretty impressed that she was brave enough to try it out.

We stayed in Arbon till about 7:30 or 8 PM. We were a little later getting out of Arbon than we had planned, but it was a great visit.

Swine Flu Rumors

Before I start off this blog, I thought I would share a joke that I heard this week:

 

"Some people said that the USA would have a black president only when pigs fly.  Well, 100 days into office for Barack Obama and Swine Flu"

 

Ha ha....anyway, as a sequel to an earlier blog about Aliece claiming that Jace's current illness is the swine flu, Amber got a phone call from a friend who was at the school.  She was asking how Jace was doing.  She reported to Amber that Aliece has been telling everyone at school that Jace has the Swine Flu. 

 

So far they haven't asked to quarantine our kids or keep them from coming to school, so maybe they aren't taking her too seriously :-).

The R-Rated Mason Jar

As you all know, our family has been working hard to cut down costs while still maintaining the same level of quality family time together. In fact, Amber and Aylee entertained themselves for about a half an hour with just a simple mason jar, a few blades of grass, and a handful of ladybugs. A couple of the ladybugs apparently were unaware that their grassy environment lacked any of their typical privacy. Amber provided a narrative and Aylee added insightful comments as they watched the 30 minute mating ritual of two ladybugs who seem to be having a great time together.

 

All of this entertainment and we didn't even have to order the nature channel!

Hiccup Cure is no Old Wive's Tale!

About an hour after bedtime tonight, Amber and I were in the playroom chatting together. Amber wasn't feeling well and so she was laying down in our loveseat relaxing.

 

Alayna came down the stairs and came up to Amber and told her that she had the hiccups. Sure enough, just as she told her that she let out a big hiccup.  While she was complaining to Amber, I had a bright idea. In the middle of one of her sentences, I screamed really loud in a high-pitched scream. Alayna freaked out and buried her head into Amber's lap and started sobbing uncontrollably. I had to pick her up and hold her for several minutes before she stopped crying. I guess I really scared her to death. Once her crying subsided, I told her to notice that she did not have the hiccups anymore.  For some reason I was not the hero of the evening. Alayna acknowledged that her hiccups were gone, but she still held a grudge for me scaring her so badly.

 

I guess the old wives tale is true -- that if you wish to get rid of the hiccups you have someone scare you. I have never seen it in action, until now!

I guess Jace has the Swine Flu

We had pack meeting for Johnathan tonight at the church. While we were there, Amber noticed that Jace felt a little warm. She discussed it with me and told me that she thought that Jace had a fever. Of course the kids started to talk about it and tried to nurse him as much as they could there in the gymnasium. When we got home, we took Jace's temperature and found out that indeed he had a fever.

 

Shortly after that, I overheard Aliece matter-of-factly tell one of the kids that Jace has the swine flu.

 

I don't know where Aliece heard about the swine flu, but I guess she is well-versed in the symptoms and the prognosis. So, according to Aliece, Jace is Provo's first official resident case of the swine flu.