Olympic Fun

I love watching the Olympics. I think it's so fascinating! Some of the events are a bit perplexing I'll admit (curling, biathlon etc.) but that kind of adds to their charm. Anyway, it's been fun to watch and it was fun to teach Joy School last week about the Olympics as well. I think sometimes I have as much fun as the kids doing this stuff. We talked about what the Olympics are and what kind of events there are. We had torches that we ran to our "Olympic cauldron," then I put big socks on all of them and told them they were their skates or skis. Since I have hard wood floors we slid around on the floor pretending to do all of the events. We played hockey, did ice skating, speed skating, and the ski jump. Our Olympics concluded with medals for all of our Olympic athletes.

Speed Skating....Look out Apolo Ohno: Daniel trying to touch his finger to the ground as he goes around the corner like the speed skaters do.

The Olympians Jack, Daniel, and Dane: Aren't they cute! I gave them each a flag from the country where their dad served a mission and we talked about how people come from all over the world to the Olympics. They are also wearing their medals. I used canning lids that were already silver and spray painted the other ones gold.

The picture is a little fuzzy but I still thought it was cute.

Daniel and his Olympic torch.

Valentine's Day

I look forward to Valentine's Day every year because Shannon always makes me dinner. I continue to be impressed! This year he did a surf and turf dinner: New York strip steak, lobster tails, roasted red potatoes with garlic and herbs and asparagus. It was such a treat! I'm pretty sure that's the first time I had ever had lobster tails and he did a fantastic job. A nice dinner at home with Shannon is a perfect Valentine's Day for me. Thanks Shannon!

Shannon says he was inspired to do the lobster because of two things: 1- His Aunt Jo who cooked crab for us at Christmas and 2- The sale at the store.... :) I think it was mostly #2

I made a dessert for us: My sister gave me this great recipe for Chocolate Mousse Cake...the real deal people...no pudding...no imitations...and so good!

I also taught Joy School about Valentine's Day that week. I sent the kids home with a rice crispy treat in the shape of a Hershey's kiss. Thanks to my friend Ashley Rudd for the great idea. You use a kitchen funnel to form them into the kiss shape. So easy and really cute.

Snow and Crazy Kids

These are a few pictures from one of our last snow storms:

This is just the kids being crazy. Nora pulls this funny face a lot!

Shannon and Daniel made a little slide with the snow that was piled up in front of our garage.

Ready to slide.

Helping Nora go down.

Family Time

I was able to take the kids and go to Idaho for my Grandpa's funeral. I was so glad that I was able to go. All of my sisters were able to be there for a brief time. It was nice to be with Mom and our Aunt Candace. After the funeral I stayed with the kids for a few days in Utah.

Julius and Nora

Sleepy Nora

Nana Susan and Daniel


Nora trying to give Julius a haircut.

Grandma Kathy and Julius

Grandma and Daniel

Happy Julius

No that's not milk... Julius is drinking the ranch dressing!

Grandma Kathy, Nora, Daniel, and Nana Susan: It was fun having my mom and Shannon's mom around at the same time. My kids always love having attention from their Grandma's.

Fun at the playground.

Nora and Nana

Kathryn can make a mean sandwich. It was so good I had to take a picture of it! Yumm.

Making a tent with the kids.

Where are Julius and Nora?....

Peekabo!

Grandpa Anderson

Chad Kay Anderson, 89, died January 30, 2010, in Lewiston, Idaho. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, February 2, at 11:00 a.m. at the Park Center Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2300 E. Bergeson, Boise, Idaho. Chad was born November 17, 1920, in Hiawatha, Utah, to Erwin and Naomi Asay. He attended elementary and high school in Castle Dale, Utah, and graduated from Utah State University. The following year, Chad taught high school at Albion Normal School and Rockland High where he met his future wife, Betty Lou Barnard. Chad and Betty Lou were married July 3, 1943 in Soda Springs, Idaho. Chad enlisted in the Navy in July 1943 and was immediately transferred to the U.S. Naval Training Station at Farragut, Idaho. He received orders to report to Notre Dame for midshipman's school followed by additional training after which he spent his wartime duty in the Pacific. Chad spent the remainder of his naval career in the Naval Reserve as a Lieutenant Commander. In 1958, Chad joined Farrel Metcalf and managed a successful insurance agency, Metcalf-Anderson Agency, in Idaho Falls, Idaho until his retirement in 1987. During his lifetime, Chad held many callings in the church, some of which included; gospel doctrine teacher, elders quorum president, bishopric counselor, bishop, high counselor, high priests group leader and sealer in the Idaho Falls Temple. He is preceded in death by his wife, Betty Lou Anderson; his parents; and his sister, Doreen Bardsley of Ogden, Utah. Chad is survived by his sisters, Valoy Cox of Castle Dale, Utah, Shanna Bates of St. George, Utah, and Janone Richards of Phelan, California; daughters, Kathleen Kay Jensen, of Greensboro, North Carolina, Candace Marie Congreve of Clarkston, Washington; granddaughters, Jenny Rebecca Mizukawa of Cincinnati, Ohio, Emily Anne Koller of Crestwood, Kentucky, Kathryne Elizabeth Ojuka of Provo, Utah, Amanda Marie Detling of Stamford, Connecticut; and eleven great-grandchildren.

Sister Jenny Rebecca, me, and Daniel

The bugle player: My grandpa was a great trumpet player - so hearing the bugle play Taps was especially moving.

The three rifle volley.

Kathryn, Emily, Grandpa's sister Valoy, Jenny, Me, Daniel

Valoy and Jenny

Mom and her sister Candace

Kathryn, Emily, Aunt Candace, Mom, Jenny, Me, and Daniel

Ken and Kat

Catching Up

In January my mom came out for a quick weekend trip.

Grandma Kathy found the way to Nora's heart....shoes! She brought Nora like 5 pairs of shoes she picked up on clearance for Nora to wear/play with. She was in heaven!

Discovering sleeping bags: I got one for Daniel not even thinking to pick one up for Nora. I still think of her as a baby! But when she saw Daniel's -she loved it and it was clear that she was feeling a little left out. I went back to the store and they still had some on clearance thankfully - and Nora was a happy camper!

Carrying her sleeping bad around in the backpack. It's almost as big as she is!

Grandma Kathy makes pillow cases for the kids. They love them. She made them each one while she was here.

Daniel got a transformer pillowcase and hasn't wanted to part with it since.

Nora has started putting herself in time out. She sees Daniel getting put in time out and so now if she is sad about something she goes over to the corner and will cry until you tell her she's not in time out! It's so sad and so cute at the same time!

A lot of times Daniel will go over to tell her she's not in time out. It's so sweet seeing him comfort her.

Playing outside with a Christmas toy.

One day we had a lot of wind and rain. Daniel and I heard a loud crash and we looked out our front door to see this! The tree knocked down one of the railings. Thankfully that was the extent of the damage.

Nora likes to feed herself now...to my dismay. It's just so much more messy!

Daniel had a cool experience in Primary at church. The kids had a Primary Pajama Breakfast activity coming up when the earthquake hit Haiti. They asked the kids to do some things around the house during the week to earn some Quarters for Quake Relief. Daniel came home from church so excited to help. He made my bed, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, folded clothes, helped Nora etc. all to earn quarters for the kids in Haiti. I even found him emptying his jar of pennies to send to them as well.