Big brother

Jace gets only a few rare opportunities to hold Avery...and he cherishes every minute!

The exterminator

Aliece was supposed to be upstairs getting dressed for a primary activity. After a long while she yelled down the stairs that there was a spider in her room. She begged me to come up and take care of it.

I was cooking pancakes and so I just yelled up at her to ignore it.

Pretty soon Alayna came downstairs and told us that she killed the spider for Aliece with a shoe.

Way to go Alayna!

Not Again...

I just got back my MRI results from this week.  They say I have a very small right posterior disc herniation at L5-S1 with a mild right impingement at S1.

Essentially, another herniated disc just below where I had my last herniation.  The nerve is pinched slightly at S1 (right in the rear end) causing the pain in my foot, calf, and left on the right side.

I guess it is time for more steroid shots, chiropractic visits, and hopefully no surgery.

I should have went for a Japanese body instead of these crappy American-made ones :-).

Aylee is off to summer camp

Today Aylee left on her first ever week away from family as she attends a special camp for soon-to-be sixth graders.

She was a little nervous, but left with her friends with excitement.

I hope we can make it through the week ok without her.

The winner of a brand new grill

On Thursday, Aylee got a phone call from the our local Macey's grocery store informing her that she just one the drawing for a new barbecue grill.

Aylee thought it was a hoax and gave the phone to her grandma r
Reed. Ann took the phone and talked to them and decided it was legit.

I called Amber to see if she knew anything about it. She had put all of our family names into this drawing several weeks ago.

I went and picked up the grill during lunch and delivered it to our house. It is a pretty nice looking Daddy tool!

Aylee has been negotiating with amber about the terms of ownership since she won it, but Amber was the one to put her name in the drawing. I think we are all agreeing that it belongs to the entire family now :).

Finally....A name!

Amber and I stayed up last night racking our brains on a name for Number 6.  We have finally decided on "Avery Frann Andersen".  Amber really wanted to have Frann as a middle name to represent Franklin (as in Verne Franklin).  It is a cute middle name.  Who names, maybe she will be a "Frannie" :-).

Anyway, the birth certificate got filled out last night, so welcome to the family Avery!

It's a little Girl

The kids just got done with their pilgrimage to see their little sister. They were all surprised to find a little girl.

Once the kids left, the nurse came in and told us that they have never had such a large number of well behaved kids visit before. They said that the nurses were all saying in the hall that they couldn't believe there were five young kids in the hospital room. Way to go Andersen kids!

Aliece picked some roses from our rose bush at home and gave them to Amber. It was a sweet thought.
Sent via my blackberry

Number 6 just arrived

Number 6 (yet to be named) joined us at 7:53 am on June 16. Baby weighed in at 7 pounds 0.5 ounces and had a length of 19.25 inches.

Both Amber and the baby are doing well.

Amber forbids me sharing the sex of the baby until the kids come to the hospital to meet the baby. However our parents know, so you can get the results that way until I post :).

A garage sale oversight

Hitting the weekly garage sale events as a family has been a huge success and fun activity -- over all. On Saturday, however, I noticed an embarrassing oversight in our garage sale activities.

A couple of weeks ago, Aliece purchased a little pink purse that she has been carrying with her everywhere. She had also purchased a plastic cell phone which she put inside of it. This little purse goes with her everywhere.

Yesterday, while we were at the church for the Cub Scout Olympics event, Aliece was walking around the gym with her purse. If you know Aliece, you know that if she is proud of something she is not discrete at all. She was flashing her little purse in front of all of our friends to show it off. When she brought her purse up close to my face, I just happened to catch a glimpse of four was written on the purse. I realized that this was no child's purse. In fact, it was a creative little shopping bag from the Victoria's Secret lingerie boutique. I nearly died!

Amber laughed and said to one of our neighbors, well I guess at Victoria's secret they don't need bags much bigger than that!

So far, Amber and I have not decided to take Aliece's new purse away from her. We just don't have the heart. I am going to have to keep a much better I on her purchases at garage sales in the future.

Wiiiiii!!!!!

As most of you know the kids have been working hard earning Wii points since last November in order to be able to buy a Wii console with four remotes. They have been very helpful around the house, be reverent at church, quiet at the dinner table, and staying in their rooms at bedtime in order to score small number of Wii points each day.

On Friday night, the kids earned their goal of 5000 Wii points. In anticipation of this event, Amber and I purchased a Wii console a couple of weeks ago. On Saturday, after Johnathan's Cub Scout Olympics and my Father's Day activities, we broke out the Wii and got all set up and even played a couple of games. The kids are really excited to be up to the latest and greatest with respect to video games.

We have talked to the kids and shows some of the first games that they want to buy. The Wii points system has worked so well that we are going to continue earning Wii points for games and controllers. Hopefully we can continue to do this without breaking the bank. The kids have responded so well to the system that Amber and I don't dare give up!

An Early Father's Day

Amber had decided that since she will just be coming back from the hospital just before Father's Day that we would hold our own Father's Day yesterday (Saturday). Amber made some yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast. The kids then took turns giving me a variety of gifts. I loved reading their very creative cards.

For dinner Amber made me some ribs and mashed potatoes -- my favorite! We topped it off with some delicious brown sugar frosting cake with homemade ice cream.

My biggest Father's Day gift was a small refrigerator for me to put in my office at work.  Lately, I have been having a problem keeping my food in the refrigerator is at the break room. It must be the economic uncertainties of our times, because I will buy a $10 bag of string chees and find it totally gone within a few days. I have had other food disappear similarly. Amber was on the ball and realized that I needed a refrigerator that I could keep in my office so as to preserve my food. I am really excited to try it out!

It was a fun day for me. It was nice of Amber to think ahead and prepare everything for this unofficial Father's Day.

Cub Scout Olympics

On Saturday, Johnathan had a Cub Scout Olympics event. We took the whole family to the church to watch Johnathan participate in a variety of sporting events kind of like the track and field events.

Johnathan did a good job doing the standing long jump, situps, push-ups,  the 50 yard dash, etc.

The good with the bad

As you all know the kids consistently ask to have a dog at our home as a pet. However, Amber and I have refused because we just cannot see ourselves owning a dog in the city. I have always told them that if we were ever to move out to Arbon or a similar place with lots of land that we could have a dog.

The other day we had some interesting dinner table discussions. With five kids all wanting to talk it once the topic is often a creative one. Anyway, this particular night, the kids were asking what would happen if one of either Amber or I were to die. Amber explained that if I were to die she would probably move to Spokane to be closer to family they can help her support the kids. I then explained that Amber were to die I would probably move closer to Arbon to have the help of my family with the kids.

The kids thought of this for just a minute and then someone pointed out, "well, at least if mom died we could have a dog!"

Perfect Push-ups Club

The other day we received a package on our doorstep from Amazon.com. I wasn't expecting anything and neither was Amber. So, once we decided that neither one of us had ordered anything, I got out a knife and started to open the box.

I was quite surprised to find that the contents of the box contained "perfect push-up" devices. I knew  that Jake and Joe both used the perfect push-ups. I then looked on the packing slip and saw that it was from Joe.

I gave Joe a call and he confirmed that he had ordered them for me. I am really excited to get good at doing some push-ups. My back has really been hurting me lately and so I have eased up on the exercise routine. My muscles have been atrophying because of this. Now I will be able to at least do some push-ups without straining anything.

Next time you all see me I will be totally ripped and studley!

Cub scout olympics

Our family had a fun morning with John at the cub scout olympics at our church.

John did a great job on the standing long jump, sit ups, push ups, 50 meter dash, and softball throw.

Birthday Celebrations

Jake and Shantell met up with us for dinner last night at the Red Lobster restaurant.  We had a great time visiting over dinner.

After dinner they had invited Amber and I to their house for some traditional coconut frosting cake.  Shantell did a great job on the cake and we each had a nice thick slice! 

It was fun visiting with Jake and Shantell.  It has been a while since the four of us have gotten together.  It was nice of them to let us be part of their birthday celebrations.

Happy 29th birthday Jake!

Mosquito Bait

We went to the park for lunch a couple of days ago.  The mosquitoes were so bad that the kids were nearly eaten alive.

Jace was playing with the kids and then wanted to come get a drink, so he wandered over to Amber and I.  The sight was pretty freaky.  Jace had about 10 mosquitoes all over his body -- four of which were all over his little head.  We smacked them for Jace, but it left lots of blood everywhere.

Jace didn't understand what was going on and started crying thinking that we were smacking him -- not the mosquitoes.  Poor kid was heart broken.

After the mosquito attack, we packed up and left the park.

Finding Nemo

As you all probably know we got a pet goldfish witch we named Nemo. His adoption day was 6-7-8. Well on Sunday it was Nemo's adoption day Birthday. Three days after his adoption day Birthday (today) the "everlasting" fish is no more. Dad found Nemo floating belly-up in his tank. No one was exactly happy or sad. One more goldfish dead.

Meeting up with my old RA

Recently, I hooked up with my old Residence Assistant (RA) from my freshman year at BYU.  We found each other through Facebook and have corresponded here and there. He currently lives in Texas and has been running several marathons.

A few weeks ago, he notified me through Facebook that he would be coming to Salt Lake City for the week. We arranged for a date to get together for lunch and to catch up on each other over the past 16 years. Wow! As I write this I didn't realize that it had been so long since I started college!

He shared with me his memories of mom and dad dropping me off at the dorm rooms. He said that he saw their tears and he promised them that he would take care of me that first year. During that year, we became good friends and he always called me his "little brother".

He had some health problems that year, in fact he died on a treadmill during a routine doctor's visit. They revived him and decided to put a pacemaker in his heart. I was there and help him out through that trying time.

He also came out to Arbon when I gave my missionary talk there at the branch just before my mission. He loves our family and asked lots of questions about mom and dad. I was surprised that he remembered so much of our family from those few interactions that we had together.

It was a fun visit, and interesting to see where life has taken him over these years.

Curbside Drop-off

A young man that I used to home teach several years ago went into the MTC this week. He and his family moved to Ohio several years ago. His mom flew him out here this week to take him to the MTC. On the Sunday before they left for Utah, they received a phone call from the MTC notifying them that their are three cases of the swine flu at the MTC and therefore they would not be inviting family and friends to come into the MTC to drop off their missionaries. Instead, the MTC was creating a curbside drop-off arrangement for all newly arriving missionaries.

Since our friends had already purchased the ticket the mom still came out to drop her son off on his mission. She stayed at our house that night before flying back to Ohio the next morning. It was fun to catch up with her to find out all the news of her family.

As I went home teaching today, I was discussing the situation with a brother that works at the MTC. He was telling me that this new curbside drop-off arrangement would likely be the official way for accepting new missionaries at the MTC from now on. He said that the MTC has been preparing for this type of drop-off scenario for some time now. The introduction of the swine flu only brought this arrangement sooner than was expected.

Chances are, any future missionary drop-offs will be without the 45 minute orientation for the entire family. Goodbyes will be said either at a nearby parking lot or a home before the missionary leaves for the MTC.