Happy Mother's Day Grandma Marsha, Nana, and Grandma Jodi

Josh and Anderson filmed this while at the zoo one day. Enjoy and have a happy mother's day!

Happy Mother's Day from Anderson

It all started with a tree...

It started with a tree and then...The day after Thanksgiving, we went out to get our tree. We found a nice family owned tree farm and cut down a beautiful tree. That day we put the tree up, with Anderson's help, and decorated the house inside and out. Anderson didn't help put the tree up, but he loved moving the box that held the lights and decorations all over the house.

Before the WHOLE (Josh's mom, step-dad, dad and step-mom, and my mom and step-dad) family came over for Christmas day, we opened presents. One of Anderson's favorites was his new indoor tent. After opening it up and putting it together, he brought all of his toys in and played. He thought it was funny to go in and out of the tent door.
Once the whole family was here, we opened more presents. Anderson is a very loved child! He got a lot of great toys and clothes. He was a very slow present opener. He would tear a piece of paper off the package, roll it up into a ball, find the perfect place to toss it, and then repeat the whole process until the package was unwrapped. He also insisted that we completely open the toy before he would open a new package. It was a long process, but a cute one!
Another favorite toy that Anderson got for Christmas, was a new car. Luckily for Anderson's parents, papa Greg was there to put the car together. What would have taken us years to put together only took Greg a few moments. Thank you Greg! Anderson spent the rest of the night driving his car around the house. I wish I had had a camera the moment Anderson first saw the car built, it was priceless! Pure child joy.

Although Anderson was up way too late (he didn't want the fun to end), we had a wonderful family filled day. It is always fun to have most of the family together, spending it just talking and goofing off.

Beach Time!

Since fall is hiding and our sunny days are staying around we decided to go to the beach. A few weeks ago Anderson, uncle Bubba, Rufus and I took our best digging tools and headed to the waterfront. I think I probably took about 100 pictures while Anderson played in the sand. He threw rocks, chased Rufus, and dug holes. We went on a walk as Anderson waved hello to strangers. He loves to say hello and good bye to people.

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Josh had the weekend off, so what better way to celebrate then go to a pumpkin patch! We found one nearby that had animals, mazes, lots and lots of pumpkins, and many great picture moments. We tried to time our visit perfectly, so we went right when they opened. It was great! Since we got there so early, there was almost nobody there. Anderson got to run around and climb things without having to worry about getting in people's ways. This car was Anderson's favorite part. We passed by it many times and every time Anderson insisted on playing on the car. One of the great picture moments....how can you pass up the opportunity to have a picture taken in a pumpkin house?

Anderson wasn't so sure about this picture moment. He didn't understand that he was supposed to put his head in the hole. He kept wanting to play with the legs in the back. After a long hour of fun, we came home with a tired boy and a great pumpkin.

1st Camping Trip

A few days ago our family went camping with some friends. It was Anderson's first time camping so I was a little nervous about how he would do both sleeping and entertaining himself. He did pretty well at both. He had fun playing with the flash light. He couldn't figure out how to turn it on and eventually gave up. He also enjoyed throwing rocks into the river that was behind our camping site. He would throw a rock in and then put his hands up and smile. We brought his new bike with us which he enjoyed riding down the hill and around the site.

Anderson had fun helping dad find wood to start a fire with. I don't know how much "help" he was, but he followed Josh to look for wood.

This is a good picture to give everyone an idea of how clean Anderson was the whole time we were camping. Every time we washed his face and hands, he quickly got dirty all over again. When we got home a bath was a must!

Fun Time in Tahoe!

In July we were lucky enough to go visit our good friends Shauna and Paul in Tahoe. It was a blast hanging out, watching the kids play, and swimming our days away. We were very busy in our short time there.

Since Anderson loves bikes, we rented bikes to ride around on while looking at beautiful views. It was late that day and Anderson had only a short nap that day, so of course the second we got on the bikes, he feel asleep. After an hour, we turned the bikes in. While I was paying, Josh waited with Anderson outside. The entire time I was paying, Anderson kept pointing at the bikes and pointing with a large smile on his face. The poor boy didn't even realize that we had spent the last hour on a bike.

Family photo time. With such a great background we couldn't resist the opportunity to sit and smile.

Anderson spent a lot of time putting sand into his buckets. He also enjoyed throwing rocks with his dad and mom.