My weirdos

While I was writing the latest post on my blog this morning, I noticed that the house was very quiet.
Eerily quiet.
Dangerously quiet.
I finished what I was doing and went to investigate, expecting the worst. When I turned the corner into the living room, this is what I found.


Have I mentioned that they're goofballs?

Competitive running

I ran my first 5k today and things went pretty well. I did the Cotton Row Run which is a 30 year Memorial Day tradition in Huntsville. I've never done a race on foot before, so it was a little intimidating. I ended up finishing strong and feeling good. My official time was a 22:35, but the photo of me clearly shows that I was well across the line with a 22:34. I finished 82nd overall out of 1677 and 6th in my age group (25-29) out of 70. Not bad for a first time. I think I could have gone a little faster if I had been a little more diligent in my training. The race day kind of snuck up on me, so I didn't really do much to prepare until the last week or so. My shins and calves were getting pretty sore by the time I finished, but I wasn't really all that tired. It's probably not something I'm going to get really into, but I might do it once or twice a year.



And in this week's episode of Zoey being a nut, we have her playing with our friend's Great Dane Patton. He's 5 times her size, but she uses her agility to try to out maneuver him.




I also meant to include this video a while ago, but I keep forgetting. It's from an Avett Brothers concert that Dena and I went to in April down in Birmingham. This is the end of the song that is the source of the quote at the top of the blog. The song is called "Murder in the City" if you're wondering. The title sounds a little dark and gruesome, but it's actually very touching. You can watch their video on YouTube if you want to hear the whole thing HERE.

Our trip to "boize"!!

I write "boize" because kristen keeps getting on my case about calling "boize" and not boise. Anyhoo...we went because one of kristen's friends from childhood was graduating from boise state.  We were going to leave friday after she got out of class but we bought a gps thingy and it took ALOT longer to load then i thought so we left at 3 o'clock saturday morning in order to get to boise by 8.  bah!!  So we got to the graduation and everything, which took like 2 or more hours. Even with a nap it felt like forever.  

We then went to Sarah's after that.  I played with the kids while Kris played with the baby.  The weather was gorgeous so we took them outside 

and played catch, 

throw, 

and get hit.  

It was a ton of fun.  I can't wait to see them again.

Hi

I don't really have much to say, but it's a lazy rainy Sunday afternoon, so I thought I'd take some pictures and post them up. I'm about halfway done with my fence, now. I'm pretty happy with how it's come out so far.



Here's a picture of me and my sweet little Zozo. She's getting all grown up. I hope you all get to meet her this fall. We're planning on taking her with us to NC for the wedding. If you're wondering why my hand looks so funny, I'm in the middle of snapping my finger to try to get her to look at the camera.



We also took a few family pictures that included the cat and the dog. I think we went through an entire package of turkey trying to keep the two of them occupied instead of trying to eat each other. This one is my favorite, even though it was kind of a disaster with my trying to keep the dog from running away and Dena keeping the cat from defacing the dog.




And here is a video of Zoey doing her favorite thing in the world, wrestling with another dog. I think she would do this until her heart gave up if we would let her.

It's tee ball season!

Pyper has recently begun her second foray into "organized" sports. I say "organized", but how organized is 5-year-old tee ball, really? One of the moms from our preschool group mentioned tee ball to me a few months ago when Pyper was still doing indoor soccer. I remember playing tee ball and baseball as a kid and having tons of fun. (Don't make fun- I had no control over my style at this age!)



I asked Pyper if she'd like to play and she seemed interested so we signed her up. She's had 3 practices so far and I'm really not sure how much of it she actually gets. It's obvious that she's enjoying herself, though. She gets to be silly with her friend, burn off some energy and she even got a new hat, team shirt, baseball pants, mitt & ball out of it (we bought the pants, mitt & ball). Her team is the Giants and she wears her hat EVERY. DAY. I think she even slept in it the first night she got it.

Another thing I'm not sure of is just how serious this league takes their games. With soccer they didn't even keep score. They just wanted all the kids to get to play and have a good time running around. I guess we'll see how it goes with this. Her first game is in a couple of weeks, so hopefully that will give them some time to learn a few more things.





There are a few older boys on the team who have obviously played before, but she doesn't mind. She was so funny at the first practice. I was trying to teach her how to throw by showing her that you step with your left foot as you throw with your right hand. Of course that got her thinking about it too much which made it even harder to do it the right way. She eventually got it, though. Then when they were running the bases at the end she decided that she needed to catch up with everyone in front of her and skipped first base all together and headed straight for second. She'll figure it out. I know she will. In the meantime she can have a grand time playing and we can have a grand time laughing. :)

What's Happening?

All right you guys - surely something is going on in your lives worth communicating! Things here at the park are getting busy, and there is always something going on. Broken water lines to fix, grant requests to write, new hiking trails to develop, patrols to make, wood to chop (Todd - where are you when I need you?), drinking fountains to fix, restrooms to clean and so on and so on. It never ends. Jennifer seems to be spending more time in town than at home with the end of the school year coming up.
You can also take this as a reminder to call you Mom on Mothers Day. We're looking forward to being able to talk to Kimberly on the phone tomorrow (one of 2 days in the year she's allowed to phone home). We got our tickets the other day for our flights to North Carolina in October, and as an extra added bonus, we got tickets for Grandma to go as well. She'll fly from Oakland to Las Vegas and meet us there and we'll all fly together after that. We're all looking forward to the trip.
You guys get busy and write something, OK? We love to hear what's going on with you. Dad

Best Week Ever!! (at least so far)

Since Kris and I haven't got any pictures of our wedding yet, I'm gonna go ahead and post pictures from our honeymoon down in Florida.  It actually started in Salt Lake.  We reserved a suite at this place called Anniversary Inn.  It took us a while to find it because it wasn't in the phonebook and we couldn't find it just looking ourselves.  So we finally googled it and found it. We didn't feel much better once we found it because it looked pretty ghetto on the outside and Kris was sure we'd have to get a tetnis shot afterwards or something.  However, once we were on the inside it wasn't that bad.  It was actually quite nice.  It was themed after Angel Falls or something like that.  We had a tree "growing" around the bed, a "waterfall" by the tub, and an upstairs loft where we could watch tv.

  

After that we flew to Orlando where uncle Chris and aunt Tricia picked us up and took us to their place.  We stayed in the cottage Popper built for great-grandma.  Tricia and Chris were nice enough to stock the fridge and freezer a little

 bit and leave some snacks for us.  The first full day we were there was pretty grim.  It was rainy, windy, and there was even a tornado watch for the area; so we just stayed inside or the few times it let up I took her around Auburndale to the shake shop or pet shop.  We still had fun regardless of the weather.

It wasn't too bad because the next day was absolutely gorgeous.  Tricia and Chris also let us borrow their extra car and gps thingy to go to Disney World.  We spent the entire day at Magic Kingdom.  Kris had never been before so she was super excited and so was I but that's because I'm a 6'2" 4 year old.

  

Anyhoo...we were able to go to all the rides we wanted to even if the wait was like an hour or more at some of them. Does anyone know if it's a federal law that you have to wait in line everywhere you go in Disney World?  They had two parades during the day and fireworks at night.  Anyone who knows mine and Kristen'

s story, knows that fireworks are a big part of it so that was alot of fun watching them.  They even had a real life Tinkerbell "flying" down from the castle.  It was a total mind blow.

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom (another disney 

world park).  It was basically a glorified zoo but Kris and I both love zoos so it was still fun.  Especially since she had a migraine the night before and probably couldn't have handled alot of crazy rides.  They had alot of cool aminals, even a safari ride you could go on.  That was really fun.  The one real ride we went on was a roller coaster set at Mt. Everest.  At one point you're going up but the tracks were broken by the Abominable Snowman so we rolled backwards down the track for a while.  It was one of the funnest I've ever been on.  

We only stayed at Animal Kingdom for half the day, the other half we went to Cocoa Beach.  We found a spot that hardly anyone was at so swa

m while Kris looked for seashells.  The water was actually really warm.  I missed the beach so much (especially since it snowed in Rexburg the week before we got married)  

We're back now in Rexburg, moving into our new apartment together.  We had alot of fun opening all of our presents (thank you sooo much everyone)  We're thinking of starting our own blog once we start having stuff to blog about.  We'll see.  Thanks again to everyone who was able to come to the wedding.  It really made us happy to see y'all.  

 

"hey, brother"

I have a crush. His name is Buster. I made a t-shirt to show how much he means to me.
Isn't he handsome?

I like my new t-shirt.

Thank you for introducing us Bryce & Dena! :)

Wonderful Weekend

Dad here. Sorry I’m so slow getting this post up. After driving 1300 miles over last weekend, we got back and had to catch back up with things here at home. But we really did have a wonderful weekend in Idaho for Todd and Kristen’s wedding and Finnley’s blessing. Sarah has posted a good bit on her blog, but I’ll add a bit here.
We were able to go up Wednesday evening and meet up in Salt Lake with Grandma, Cheryl, Ryan and Jan at Gabes. Jan’s aunt and uncle in Bountiful kindly put us up (put up with us?) for the night and we were able to go up to Rexburg on Thursday in time to go through the temple with Todd and Kristen in the evening. We were able to stay with my cousin Nadine and her husband Mike. With so many family there, we were pretty well spread out over about 3 counties, but it was great to get together again.

On Friday, after a few wedding preparations, we got together for Finn’s blessing in Idaho Falls, which was a wonderful event. He’s so much fun and cuter than humanly possible.
And of course, Saturday was the wedding. Kristen was beautiful and Todd’s face hurt from smiling so much.
The temple president, who performed the wedding, mentioned how important family support was for young couples, and he was pretty impressed when I told him we had family here from Florida, Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico, Utah and California as well as Idaho (hope I didn’t miss anyone!). We do thank you all for your love and support of our family. It really means a lot to all of us. The quote at the top of this blog is not an idle statement. The reception was great (especially since we were inside out of the rain!) and all in all a memorable event.
On Sunday, we got up and headed home, with a stop in Salt Lake at Keith’s for lunch (wedding luncheon leftovers). Todd and Kristen were there as well before leaving on their honeymoon to Florida. Mom and Jennifer had to get back to Kanab so Jennifer could get to class on Monday morning, but I was able to stay in Salt Lake over Monday and spend some time with Bryce before he flew home in the afternoon. We went up to Park City, walked around the Temple Square area, went up to the DUP museum and looked at Grandpa Patterson’s loom, and drove up to Antelope Island for a quick look at the park (and buffalo).
I’ve got quite a few pictures from the weekend already, but if those of you who took more will send copies to me (via CD would probably work the best) I’ll compile them all into one DVD and get everyone a copy who wants one. Thanks again for a happy and memorable weekend. I’ve got an idea! Let’s do it again in October! Only in North Carolina this time! See ya then, if not before.

What the...?

Did we just time-warp to June? Today we have...

...a freshly washed car...

... flip-flops...

... cut grass...

... and BBQ chicken in the crock pot.
If I wasn't wearing a hoodie right now I'd swear the weather just skipped ahead a couple of months. Thank goodness we're finally getting a break from that bloody wind!

A Memory or Two From Kimberly

Mom here--Kimberly asked me to add her 'memories' to the blog that Dad started:

“For memories, there's always the wonderful Christmas memories and all that implies. I've probably said before that when I was little, that bedroom in the Florida house always looked like a football field to me. I remember that huge, vine-covered tree near the grove. Always made me think of a jungle. Theater will always be some of my best memories as a child. I miss doing that so much. Utah just doesn't have it the same, really. I remember my first ever swear word (the "H" word, too) happened while we were watching "Willow" in the den in L'ton. Keith, you freaked me out so bad when you said I wasn't supposed to say that. XD Sent me into the hallway to tell Mom and Dad, as I recall. Anyone remember "The Game" with that multi-colored ball? Playing that out in the front yard was cool. And didn't we have a dinosaur dictionary that we'd pick species out of to pretend to be?

That's all I can really think of or have time for right now. But I also want to say that everyone else's posts had my DYING of laughter! Poor Sister R didn't know if I was laughing or crying! Both, actually.

I love you all so very much! The Church is true and there's so much good that comes from it! I'll never be distracted by your posts, it only makes me love you and the Lord for giving you to me! Lovelovelovelovelove!!”

Sister Kimberly Anderson!

hey...ah-mem-bah me?

i think one of my earliest memories is starting pre-school with taylor.  i remember playing ninja turtles with my friends on the playground and depending on what color shirt you were wearing, that's the ninja turtle you were.  i remember trying my new bow and arrow outback against the "barn".  i remember the crazy dog.  i remember finding rolly pollies outside of church and putting them in my shirt pocket.  what about the snails on the posts of the platforms in the middle of lake ariana.  i loved playing with my brothers, sisters, and cousins.  like "play dead, it's a vulture" or "DRAGONFLY!!!!" or whirlpool.  i love just getting together and laughing my face off.  or at least laughing til i cry.  i can't wait to see you guys again.  much love...peeth out.

Letter and pics from Kimberly

Dad here at the request of Mom. We got a good long handwritten letter from Kimberly the other day and thought we'd share it with you. Mom edited it down to the important bits and typed it up, and I scanned the pictures and am posting it. Jennfer told me how to caption the pictures, and I'll try and see if I can get it right. If not, you'll have to figure out what I meant to do instead of what really comes out. :)

Excerpts from a letter from Kimberly:

Monday, March 2nd

Hey everyone!

In the time between last Thursday (not the 27th, but the one before that, the 20th), which was the last time I was able to write you, a LOT has happened, as you would imagine. So I’ll try to give you a brief rundown of everything.
The 20th was my last P-Day, so I won’t bother with that much. I flew out the 24th and the days leading up to that were kinduv hectic with packing and what not. Poor Sister Ehlers had a bit of a panic attack as she was packing. I felt fine and everything, so I’m glad. Came well within the weight limit.
Leaving Salt Lake on the plane, I watched the mountains for as long as I could, since I knew I’ll miss them. Took a lot of pictures from the air, too. Flying into St. Louis I had hoped to get a picture of the Arch from the air, but no go. Random thought: did you know that suburbs look like amoebas from the air? They do and it’s very strange.
The first visit we made on Wednesday was to this woman who’s been a member two years now (about), but she’s really sick with cancer, so they were trying to get her to the temple before it closed on Saturday for cleaning, so she was able to go to the 7 pm session of Friday! I was so lucky to be able to attend that with her. I didn’t think I’d be going through the temple here so soon!
Our branch building is the smallest I’ve ever seen, including the branch in Las Vegas, NM! There really aren’t many Church members here, but their goal is to “Grow the Branch into a Ward!”
Our dinner calendar for March is so full (and we occasionally get fed lunch besides) that we may not have a chance at eating our own food, besides breakfast. Really, the branch is tiny, but it seems that everyone signed up to feed us! Someone commented that they hadn’t ever seen the Elder’s calendar as fullJ But then Sister Ruefenacht told me that Sister missionaries were prayed into this area. Apparently the Elders had been taken out of this area and it was closed, but now we’ve opened it with Sisters again at the behest of members. Kinda cool to know how much we’re wanted here.
Our regular service work here in Waterloo is at a thrift store called Nice Twice. Kinda neat! I got a couple shirts and a sweater there. After we had finished working, of course. But it’s a neat little clean place and they like to see us there.
Sister R and I are going with the branch mission leader and his wife to clean the temple on Wednesday! This is going to be so cool! And one of our members (recently less-active but she’s doing great now) a middle-aged lady is going to come with us! She’s such a great woman and we love to visit with her (she’s actually offered to let us move in with her, since with certain stipulations we can live with members. I’d really like to, but her grandsons visit and stay with her and that would conflict.)
Oops! Time’s up! I think I got in everything on my notes! Anyway, lots and lots of love! Mine and the Lord’s! The Church is true!

Sister Anderson

The laundry room on P-day - everyone writing letters!
My MTC companion Sister Ehlers outside our room. #307 - funny, right?

Sisters Thacker, Cahoon, Anderson and Ehlers.

Trying to Remember

Some of you may or may not know this, but I have been thinking about old memories a lot lately. I feel like so many of my early memories have been lost and it makes me sad to think that I don't remember as many as other people do. So in order to write this post, I spent the better part of the day trying to remember as many of the good ol' memories as I could. The memories that came were not the cuddly kind. Actually, they were upsetting. That's when I realized the good ol' memories aren't that good. In fact, the only memories I can recall with any clarity are in some way associated with pain and the fear of imminent death. I'm not making this up, these are some of my earliest memories.

- Older brother pukes in back seat of station wagon. Trash can lids. More puke. Snow.
- Fracture younger brother's leg. Learn what the word "fracture" means.
- Running down Illinois Ave. in the dark. Convinced headlights drawing near are oncoming drive by.
- Discover Canadian flag flying in grove behind house. Hostile Canadian takeover only a matter of time.
- Enjoy delicious bowl of flavorful clown-shaped cereal. Green poop. Very green. Death only a matter of time.
- Tiny the pet turtle. Mother gives bad news. Mother carries cooked Tiny past doorway towards the toilet.
- Family reunion in Ohio. Middle of the night. Small blue tent. Dog barking outside. Need to pee. Dog wants blood. Not worth certain death. Writhing in agony for hours. Dog still barking. Desperation. Unzip tent two inches. Pee frantically in defensive sweeping pattern to ward off beast that might be just outside.
- Pool table in Grandfather's house. Ball flies through sliding door. Door shatters. Death only a matter of time.
- Older brother makes toothbrush for younger brother. Suds. Moment of clarity. This is poison. Older brother wants younger brother dead. Younger brother's life flashes before his eyes. Flash very short. Interrupted by screams and the sound of spanking. Younger brother decides shampoo not so bad after all.

There are plenty of really good memories as well. I think the things I remember the most are the little things. I remember getting together with the extended family for pool parties and holidays. I remember all of us cramming into the small den to watch a movie with popcorn and peanut clusters. I remember swimming lessons, camping trips, walking home from school, frozen chocolate milk, "don't sit down at all", baseball, the library, road shows, dad coming home from work, something having to do with me dressed as a rabbit and Bryce as the magician, Nert's, matching buzz cuts, and Norwegian pancakes. I love the simple things. That's what I remember. I have to say, after writing all of this, I feel better about my memories. Maybe they are all still in tact, I just have to sit down and try to list them. Love you all. I'm going to go run around in nothing but an enormous t-shirt and some shammy underwear.

Remembering

Yes, the block-hurling incident will always be a fond memory for me, as well as the shampoo-on-the-toothbrush and cannibalistic-hamsters ones. Seriously though, I sometimes wonder how much of my childhood I actually remember, and it always helps when we all get together and start the "remember when" conversations. It's so much fun. So I hope everybody contributes to this. Some events may be more significant than others, or some may just seem that way. But I'm excited to see what you guys look back on fondly.

I have really vivid memories of our Montoya family camping trips to Highland's Hammock and Long Pond in Florida. I always liked having our extended family nearby growing up and doing things like that was always a treat to me. Building campfires, going on hikes, eating at those plywood tables under the big blue tarp, having Sacrament meeting all by ourselves, canoeing and swimming in scary, weedy water, seeing my aunts without make-up-- all very memorable. :) Maybe someday when our kids are a little older Aaron and I will muster the courage to help them make memories like that, too.

1984

One trip I remember with the Anderson clan is kind of sketchy, but the part I remember most is being loaded into someone's vehicle with a bunch of garbage can lids and such, with the intention of going sledding somewhere. Somebody (I think it was Bryce) got carsick and threw up, which triggered Keith's severe gag reflex and he threw up. Did we even end up sledding after that?

Getting to visit Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's house in California was more than exciting for me. I loved exploring that room with the bi-fold doors and bunk beds. That's where they kept the old toys that belonged to Dad and our aunts and uncles. We'd play in the backyard, digging around in Grandma's flower beds looking for snails and marvelling that they could pick avocados in their very own backyard, or hang out in Grandpa's study and laugh at the "Be a lert" and "Ask me how smart I are" signs. It's fantastic that the sights and smells from my childhood are still there today, which make me recall those trips as a kid and bring the same giddiness when I walk through the door.

1986

I could probably list a dozen other memories without having to think too hard, but I don't want to make this too long.