and a happy new year

This has been quite the year for our family.
Difficult in some ways,
but wonderful in many ways.

Here's a little recap:
jan: setting new goals-learning to give more, and expect less

feb: announcing the coming of baby Andersen!

mar: cake decorating, ultrasounds, homework, and the eventual coming of Spring to Rexburg

apr: Kent and Becca both graduate with their bachelors from BYU-Idaho, a trip to California to see Mason off, baby showers and making almost too much baby stuff with Mom.

may: move to Texas (a bit of a rough start), Becca turns 22, we make an offer on our house

jun: we are homeowners! All thanks to ninety-seven cents.

jul: Kent turns 24, we work on the house. A lot.

aug: Nicholas joins our family. We are living the life.

sep: our moms come to help, Nicholas is blessed. I discuss motherhood.

oct: our first Halloween as a family.

nov: trip to Utah for Thanksgiving.

dec: first Christmas, trip to California.

We are happier now than we were a year ago. I think that is the definition of success.
Ninety-nine percent of that happiness is because of this little (or not-so-little) guy.

He has changed us,
and we wouldn't have it any other way.
Happy New Year!

dinnertime at 4 1/2 months

We are having a grand time here in California.
Christmas was wonderful. So good. Nicholas enjoyed all of his presents-he would yell at them, grab them, and bring them straight to his mouth.
I'll put up some pictures later, but for now, you can see some on Grammer's post here.

We've been trying out two new things: our camera and baby food for Nicholas. Both things are a work in progress, of course. We've got a lot to learn about our DSLR, and Nicholas has a lot to learn about eating. The baby tongue thrust thingy makes feeding him pretty exciting.

Here's tonight's dinner time.

Nicholas is so excited for some food!
First up, carrots.
I'm thinking that's a no for carrots.
Back to sweet potatoes-he liked them last time.
By the end of the meal, I think only about a tablespoon actually made it into his stomach, but he sure enjoyed it!

hallelujah

Nicholas slept through the night last night.


That is all I need to say.

two years

And each day better than the last one.

"Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and...the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

"The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally."

-“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Liahona, Oct 1998, 24

my kitchen in a Christmas ball

Candles on the windowsill
Kent's shirt on the table
Two burned-out lightbulbs
Christmas tree in the living room
Caulking gun for some touch-ups
Croatian Book of Mormon for our neighbor
Rug from Pottery Barn clearance
Bumbo chair
Sink half-full

This is my kitchen, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Christmas party

We went to Kent's USAA Christmas party last night.



When I saw the long line of Charter buses waiting to pick everyone up and shuttle us downtown, I knew that this wasn't going to be a quiet, little Christmas party. There were at least 20,000 people there. I'm not exaggerating. It was huge!

The food was delicious. Our favorite part was probably the dessert buffet. They had these little orange squares that Kent described as "squares of love." Airy passion fruit-mango something.
I don't know what they were exactly, but they were good!
I would have taken a picture of them, but in the midst of me telling our babysitter every single thing I know about Nicholas before we left, I forgot to grab my camera. Boo.

As for the entertainment, they had a gymnastics team, ballroom dancers, a stomp-style group called Jingo, "Candini the Mentalist," a fudge demonstration from Rocky Mountain Chocolate company, and a concert by REO Speedwagon.
Oh, and a casino and karaoke, but I don't participate in either of those activities.
Now, I'm only going to say three things about REO Speedwagon.

1. I have only ever heard one of their songs.
2. I don't think they have cut their hair or changed their outfits since 1983.
3. They were loud. Unbelievably loud.

We only stayed to hear two or three of their songs. Not really our generation.
I think that next year they should get Josh Groban to come.

We came home to find Nicholas all cozy in bed. Beautiful.
It was a fabulous night, and I'm so glad we went!

paper garland

When I was in Utah, my sister helped me make this fun paper garland.
We found some cute Christmas paper, traced some of Mom's cookie cutters, cut them out (that's where Sarah came in handy-she's a master with the scissors, and has been since she was just three!), punched the holes, then strung them on a red ribbon.

I love the "homemade Christmas" feel to it, and Nicholas loves to look at it everytime we go up or down the stairs.

comfort and joy

my december

We had a frost last week,
and the next day
all the trees lost their leaves, in just a few hours.
I sat in the rocking chair in Nicholas's room and nursed him while I watched the yellow and orange leaves fly past the window, a flock of fall heading out for the winter.

It is our December here in Texas, and I love it.
Yes, I just said Texas and love in the same sentence.
I'm just as shocked as you are, but there's something special about December here.
Clover the green of Christmas spreading across the dormant grass, crisp air, drizzling rain, empty branches stretching into the gray skies.

Maybe I won't miss the snow as much as I thought I would.

does your husband jump on the bed?

Someone (who shall remain nameless) broke our box springs.
By jumping on our bed.

We got a new(er) one from a friend about a month ago.
But our old, squeaky, broken box springs has been sitting in our bedroom for the past month.

While I was gone last week, Kent painted our bedroom. It looks beautiful. It desperately needed the paint. (No one should ever paint one wall of their bedroom gold. Yuck.)
And because he wanted it to look good when I came home, Kent also cleared out the bedroom, hung up pictures, moved the pile of unfolded laundry, etc.

Leaving us with this:
Some people put couches on their front porch. We put box springs mattresses in our kitchen.

And now we can't figure out how to remove it from our house. It won't fit in the back of our car. It certainly won't fit in our garbage can. And I refuse to let it get shoved in our out-of-sight-out-of-mind pile in the garage. It would be there forever. Not to mention our car would no longer fit in our miniscule garage if a box springs was in the way.

So, until further notice, it is in the kitchen.
Kent suggested drawing pictures on it and propping it against the sliding doors. They are, after all, in need of curtains. It would solve both of our problems, he said.
You'd be surprised at how quickly you can get used to something like this being in your way. Just slide it across the floor when you need to access that corner of the kitchen. No big deal. I almost don't even notice it.
Almost.

my little helper

Two nights ago,

Nicholas helped me make dinner.

lovin'