Wyoming

Well, we have officially left Springville, Utah and are now homeless. Luckily we have parents who love us and want to see us, so we are visiting HOT Arizona (yeah, I love the 110 degree heat...I know, I'm crazy!)

Before we came to AZ, we took a trip with my family to Wyoming to visit my grandparents and show Devin my roots. We met my family in Utah, loaded in the van, and had a great road trip!Claire did great, but got sick of the camera...c'mon guys!It was surprisingly green and a really pretty drive.
This was the scene at a gas station in the town where mom grew up. The picture doesn't do it justice. There was a dog, fishing poles, wood, and three people in the back of the pickup. We were laughing hysterically. Wyoming put in picture form.
We stopped in a little town called Farson. They have the best ice cream! Plus it's in the middle of no where. It's a great stop and we have lots of good memories there. This is the remnants of Annie's bubble gum dish, and yes, her mouth was blue.A few hours after we left, we arrived at Grandma Marian's and Grandpa Don's house. Claire got to meet Grandma. They have the same birthday, so Grandma's name for Claire is "Birthday Present." Claire has officially met her living great-grandparents!For the 4th of July, we dressed up in our red (Dad was wearing blue to represent his Cougars) and took a trip to Sinks Canyon for a picnic. It was a beautiful day outside. Sinks Canyon is really cool. There is a river and it sinks into the ground. It comes out 1/4 mile down the road, but dye test show that it takes over 2 hours for the water to get to that point. I wonder where it goes???It was a great place to take some pictures. Great-Grandparents and Claire.
Four generations!

The Anderson's - mom and dad love Claire a lot!

Mother Nature gave us our fireworks show! There was a couple inches of hail and the most water I've ever seen. The front was flooded and the boys took turns pushing water away from the door with a push broom. It was crazy fun.
Grandpa Shane introduced Claire to the grass. She didn't know what was going on.

We took the trip 25 miles from Grandma's house to Shoshoni population 500 - where Dad grew up! It was so fun to drive through that town. We stopped at FastLane (the only gas station) and got the world's best nachos and then we were attacked by mosquitos. When I say attacked, I mean attacked - those are from one trip, I promise!On the way back to Utah, we stopped by "The Ranch." Mom's grandparents owned it, so she spent most of her summer's there. It is so pretty, even though the ranch house is really run down. It made me want a summer home in the country one day.The Ranch HouseThe Out House (yep, that's right, no indoor bathroom).
Gorgeous scenery. Isn't nature wonderful!

It was a great trip. It was fun to relive the memories and see the grandparents and introduce Devin and Claire!

Constipation, Commemoration and [insert a word that beings with "C" here]

So long! Farewell! And then Maria says something that I no longer recall. We here at the Anderson household are preparing for adventures in Wyoming, Arizona, California and then pretty much across the United States in August. We bid a fond farewell to BYU and the things we enjoyed about Utah and a good riddance to those things that we didn't.

For your viewing pleasure, here is the priceless card that Marian gifted me for my birthday. The inside read: "Oh poop, another birthday!" I give it to you in extra large format to enjoy the rolls, expressions and pure concentration...


I am the luckiest guy in the world to be blessed with two beautiful girls. Marian and Claire--I love you and aren't they just beautiful? We took these pictures after Stake Conference today. Mar's hair is sexy and Claire is drooly and her happy self:


We had a wonderful stake conference. One of the themes that was repeated throughout and echoed a subject discussed by Elder Bednar at the most recent CES fireside was that of wisely using our time. Too many adults and youth and even children spent their time mindlessly surfing the virtual worlds of Facebook, MySpace, blogs, Twitter, etc. I've seen the destructive influences of these obsessions at the MTC, and I'm not talking about the dangers of immorality that are often associated with the digital realm. I'm talking about the social ieptitude that is all too pervasive among these young men that come to the MTC. I know one elder in particular who had spent the previous year playing Halo on his Xbox for about eight hours a day. He was a mess. He had no idea how to interact in the real world; he was much more comfortable in his viritual world. This is a dangerous ploy that Satan is using to distract us from more important and eternal uses for our time. How many hours has each of us wasted on YouTube or (for me in particular) scanning sports sites for "different perspectives" on my teams. I committed myself to a healthier lifestyle and I hope you do too.

That being said, there are wonderful opportunities to have fun using some of the modern technological wonders. Marian and I love playing video games together every once in a while. Here are some of our favorites:































For my birthday I got a very fun, if flawed, game called Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. This game has interesting motion controls and you can use the environment to beat up Nazis. Where is Tyson when you need him? But the crown jewel of this game is 1992's Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. This game was a staple of my childhood and it has been a blast to go through it again. They don't make games like that anymore.



P.S. I just watched the Lord of the Rings again. It just gets better every time.

Noses, Smells, and Memories

Nose...that's a strange word, don't you think? Try saying it over and over again and maybe you will.

Noses and smells are usually good things. There are other times when those smells evoke great memories...like chocolate chip cookies and grandma's house or dust and a great rainstorm. Other times, those smells evoke bad memories. That's the case for me right now.

Our apartment has a swamp cooler in the front. This week is the first time we have had to use it since last summer.

Flashback to last summer - barely pregnant, vomiting multiple times daily, hot and miserable, constantly eating otter pops, and fighting nausea.

p.s. I'm not looking forward to those pregnancy symptoms again. It will definitely be a couple years.

Ok, this summer comes, we turn on the swamp cooler and guess what...the smell reminds me of what my house smelled like last summer, which reminds me of how I felt last summer, which makes me nauseas now.

Needless to say, our house is very, very warm.

p.p.s. The human brain is amazing.

Fast Forward

Yep, June is almost gone. At the beginning of the month Devin asked if we could push a fast forward button so it would be July. A couple days ago he asked me why I pushed the fast forward button, because June is almost gone. We can't believe it. In one week we are out of our apartment, and then we are off to AZ for some fun in the sun before we hit VA.

Claire turned 5 months old!!!! I have no idea where the past five months have gone. She went to the doctor and is 15 lbs. and 25.5 inches long (which is the 72nd percentile). She didn't get the length from her mom, that's for sure. Here favorite activities include drooling, holding her toes and screeching, and sitting up. She does a pretty good job on her own, but when she gets too excited she launches herself back, so we still make sure we can catch her before she whacks her head.
Father's Day! It was a good day (I hope anyways). We had a nap, a nice dinner, talked to the fam, and opened presents. Devin is such a good dad. I am glad he loves our baby so much! Packing, packing, and more packing. There's not much more to say about that.

Hanging out with our friends. I got together with some girls from work and we made a fabulous FHE board. I didn't quite finish mine, but I will someday.2 out of 3 babies looking isn't too bad and Stephanie is proudly displaying that baby bump.Jenn and Joe came over for FHE and we had fun eating pizza and talking about babies because Jenn is going to have hers soon! I am so excited for them and secretly hoping that little girl will make her debut early so I can see her! For our lesson we talked about this article by Elder Callister in June's Ensign about Heavenly Homes.

These are some of my favorite lines...

"I don’t know whether our heavenly home has a television set or a DVD player, but in my mind’s imagery it surely has a grand piano and a magnificent library."

"If a young person grows up on a steady diet of hamburgers and french fries, he is not likely to become a gourmet. But the fault is not with fine food. He just grew up on something less. Some have grown up on a steady diet of musical french fries."

"Some flippantly say, “How I look has nothing to do with how God feels about me.” But it is possible for both earthly parents and heavenly parents to have unspoken disappointment in their offspring without diminished love."

"President Young [said,] “Let us … show to the world that we have talent and taste, and prove to the heavens that our minds are set on beauty and true excellence, so that we can become worthy to enjoy the society of angels.”

I think that's about it for now. Don't worry, we have a lot planned the next few days and you'll get to read all about it!

Art City Days

I am excited to be moving out of Utah to a new and exciting place on the East Coast.

For the record, I would like to say there are things I will miss about living here. Mountains, Temples, BYU football games, and the parts of the small town atmosphere are a few.

Springville is proudly known as "Art City" and the city celebrates its art heritage every summer. This week was Art City Days. Last year, I was too sick and pregnant to walk outside in the heat, so Devin and I missed the festivities. Since we are leaving, I wanted to see the signts so Claire and I visited some events while Devin was working.Friday was the hot air balloons. I love them, but I would never go up in one.

This morning, Claire and I strolled out three blocks to Main Street and watched the Parade. There were some pretty impressive floats, lots of candy, and even fresh produce from the local grocery store. I enjoyed it and Claire fell asleep.
Tonight there will be a firework show (if it doesn't rain).

There was everything from a 5k to a teddy bear picnic in the park. It was definately fun to participate a little bit. I will miss these small town community events. Maybe next time I'll remember to bring the camera...