Andy skating AND dancing :0) at Rockefeller Center!

I figured out how to post the videos after the actual post, so if you want to see some pics from our NY trip, just look below :)! Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Attempting an anniversary kiss on ice at Rockefeller Center!

Celebrating 9 years in the Big Apple! Happy Early Anniversary, Andy!

So, we had the chance of a lifetime last month. Andy was going to New York for a business conference and our anniversary was coming up, so we decided, thanks to some sweet family members who were willing to help with the kids, that I should join him! I can't believe it has been almost 9 years!?! Whether we're in New York City, or just hanging out at home, it has been an amazing ride and I wouldn't trade it for anything! We have learned so much together and I feel so blessed to you in my life, Andy! You are a kind, thoughtful husband, always helping me to enjoy life's ups and helping to lift me through the downs. I have so much fun watching you help raise our children. Thank you for inviting me to come along, not only on this little trip, but on this eternal trip! Thank you for making every day a "beautiful day." (Andy was just teasing me for calling today a "beautiful day" in our dinner prayer since it is rainy, snowy, and slushy outside.) But, every day I get to spend with you and the kids is a BEAUTIFUL day in my book! I love you!!! Here are a few pictures from our trip to the big city. I had planned on reading a good book and swimming in the hotel pool while Andy was in meetings the first day, but the pool we had heard about wasn't there anymore and I just couldn't resist the urge to try out the subway on my own and begin some exploring! I had to go up to our room for about an hour after talking to the consierge, to talk myself into it, but it really wasn't bad and I got to know all kinds of nice people, many from other countries. I think one lady would say I got to know her a little too well. She was helping me to know where to go when the subway suddenly started moving and somehow she managed to not drench herself with her coffee when I totally flew into her! I guess I thought the subway driver would at least wait until we were all seated?!? I learned quickly that the bars in the subway are there for a reason! As soon as the doors close, that thing is off quick! There were so many things to do and see that a few days hardly did New York justice. But, we had a blast running around together and seeing as much as we could see. I have to admit I spent way too much time in the Scholastic book store picking out the perfect Christmas books for my kids. I won't mention how long I was in there. But, here are some pictures of some of the more noteworthy places we visited: Andy works with Investments, so we had to get a couple pictures on Wall Street with the Bull and the New York Stock Exchange!I was tempted to post a picture taken right after we got off of the ferry, but I might have to rate this post PG-13 if I did that. Ha ha. We got talked into having someone draw a caricature of us and lets just say I had to ask the guy to cover "me" up a little!!! He had drawn Andy without a shirt on - somehow he could just tell how extremely buff Andy was without asking him to take his shirt off. :0) Maybe someday I'll finish the "covering up" job on myself and hang it with the kids caricatures in the basement because I probably should have asked him to cover me ALL up!?! Ice skating at Rockefeller Center. I wish I could have uploaded a couple videos of Andy dancing while skating, and this guy that was cracking us up all night. He was quite the dancer, singer, and skater combined, but you just couldn't appreciate it without seeing it! I'll try again later! He was hillarious! Andy had planned on taking me ice skating because he knows I love it - what a great sport! We skated until midnight and didn't get back to our hotel until 2:00am. We tried to pretend like we were young again on this trip! Andy with the Yankee Parade confetti. It was everywhere! Andy was in meetings during the parade, so I was on the outskirts for a little bit before I braved the subway alone for the first time! The LDS New York Temple. Andy and I took advantage of the opportunity to keep up our tradition of visiting a new temple for our anniversary. It is always wonderful to reflect upon the promises that we have made to each other and to our Father in Heaven. I am so grateful to know that if we keep those promises, we can be together forever! Outside of St. Paul's (where George Washington was inaugurated) and inside of St. Patrick's Cathedrals. I wish we could have visited all of the cathedrals. The architecture is absolutely amazing! Inside the Egyptian portion of the Metropolitan Museum. It was amazing! Just outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art when we had to leave. I'm sad to say we got kicked out way too soon, not realizing they closed early that day! But we got to see some amazing things in the Egyptian and Greek sections. It was absolutely incredible. I'd definitely recommend spending a whole day, or maybe even a week there! Despite the kiddos having SO much fun with their aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, we were grateful that they were still happy to have us back!!! This picture was taken on our ride home together - it was a little bit of a tight squeeze in the car we took to the airport, but we somehow managed to squeeze 3 carseats back there!!! I wish I had a video of Jesi holding up her little statue of liberty souvenir, saying, "BEHOLD, a giant statue!" Andy thinks she got the idea from Charlie Brown's Christmas?!? I'm still not sure! As much as we hate to leave our kids for more than a few hours, it is always good for them and for us and we are all the happier to be all together again! Thank you SO much Darren and Cari, Jason and Heather, and Mom, Kim and Nicole for making this anniversary trip possible! And, thank you Andy for putting up with me all these years and for loving me despite all my imperfections! I love you so much and look forward to spending the rest of eternity together! Happy early anniversary!
Okay, so I think I got the video uploaded! This is the one of the guy who entertained us all night - along with Andy and another guy who was twirling around out of control all night and ran into me several times - including the first part of this video! He is skating backwards towards me at the beginning. The other guy - who was absoltuley hillarious will be skating right in front of Andy on the other side of the rink!

Our (somewhat) Toy Story themed Halloween!

The same night we made caramel apples, we did a little pumpkin carving! We were able to pull together a quick lesson about how we can "let our lights shine". Kassi's only interest in this activity was trying to roll the pumpkins off the table. Somehow we made it through the night without having a pumpkin crash on the floor! Drew got a free pumpkin from the grocery store down the street and the other two slightly deformed pumpkins were from our garden. They were able to stand up with a little help :)! But, hey it was the cheapest set of pumpkins yet!

This Halloween the kiddos decided they wanted to be Woody and Jessie from Toy Story. We had an old Mr. Potato Head costume that I bought when Drew was a baby for 50 cents at a yard sale - so we brought that out last minute :). We had forgotten about the mustache!!! So, I tried to make up some sticker eyelashes out of mailing labels, and we covered the mustache with some big red felt lips! Ha ha. So, really Kassi should have been the one complaining the night of the ward Halloween party! But, unfortunately, it was Jesi doing the complaining. And although the saying goes, "If MAMA aint happy, aint nobody happy," in our family it is "If JESI aint happy, aint nobody happy!!!" You'll believe me when you see the looks on all three kids' faces that night!


For anyone who doesn't have their own little princess, and hasn't yet guessed what was the matter with our little princess that night, it started with Daddy's idea to add Bullseye (the horse on Toy Story) to Jessie's cotume. Then it escalated when we got to the party and there were lots of little princesses and fairies running around and our little princess decided that she didn't want to be Jessie anymore, she wanted to be a fairy princess! Well, to make a long story short, we made it through the party and we had lots more fun at the next Halloween party, when the fairy princess costume came out! But, we did get a smile out of Drew that night when he ran into one of his best friends in the neighborhood and two of his favorite foods: bacon and eggs!!!
Our next party at Grandma and Grandpa Sanderson's home:
Our sweet, happy little fairy princess spreading her sunshine everywhere!!! Apparently our little family home evening lesson about letting our light shine was more applicable this night :)!
Drew was amazed with Grandma's dry ice concoction!
Mom, Nicole, and Ashley (Kim's son Taylor's wife) tending the "brew".
This is a picture of Jesi playing her favorite game, "Tag - you're it" with one of her favorite new people, "Grandpa Kim"! I have to admit I was hoping to see Kim dressed up in his Hot Dog costume, but it was too fun seeing him dressed in this one my mom encouraged him to wear! It was hard to take him seriously after the party with that wig on ;)! Thanks for the great time, Mom and Kim!!!Sara (my brother, David's wife) with Taylee (my sister Stacy's little girl).Stacy, Ryan, and Taylee!Dawson was much more excited than our kiddos to "bob for apples"!!! But, our kids had fun watching!
Hanging out with G-ma the Witch!
Drew enjoying the good grub! We had chili, rolls, potatoes (my favorite!), all kinds of goodies, and for some crazy reason I decided to make homemade doughnuts! They took a little more time than I anticipated, but they tasted a lot like Krispy Kremes and we'll probably make that another not so healthy October tradition!
Grandma always has plenty of holiday decorations and Jesi somehow inherited this "cinderella pumpkin" - as she called it. Why am I worried that one of these days she is going to make a wish and that sparkley pumpkin will turn into a magic carriage and whisk her away?!? If any of you haven't heard the sweet Cinderella song that is on our blog playlist, you have to listen to it sometime! I found out about it from an old roommate and the sad part is that it was actually written about his daughter who was run over by a car and it just makes you realize how precious each moment is with your child - not to pass up the chance to dance with "Cinderella" before it is too late. Well, I just checked to see what number the song was, and it isn't there. They must have taken the song off of the list. I'll try to find out who the singer is in case any of you want to listen to it!
Here's a shot of the three happy kiddos on Halloween night ready to go trick or treating!
And, last but not least, here is a picture of Kassi after taking off her costume and getting on her jammies. I think she might want to have her turn at being "Jessie" next year?!? Maybe we'll pack a few extra costumes in the car next year?!? Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Cinnamon Caramel Apples! Yummy treat and F.H.E. idea!

Cinnamon Caramel Apple Recipe


*Important Note: These cool very fast, so it works best if you make one apple at a time - we made the mistake this year of dipping them all in caramel and then it was hard to get the candy/nuts to stick!!! Also, I think next year I'll do small apples - so that they will get eaten up better!

2 pkgs. (14 ounces each) caramels
3 Tbsp. milk chocolate chips
3Tbsp. water
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
¾ tsp. vanilla extract
10 popsicle sticks
10 tart apples
Toppings: Any kind of chocolate, nuts, toffee bits, sprinkles, coconut, or any kind of candy you like! Some of our favorites are chocolate chips, M&M's, almonds, and chopped up candy bars (like Heath or Skor, Snickers, Butterfinger, etc.)!

Heat the ingredients on the stove over low heat, stirring often. Roll apples in the heated caramel or drizzle caramel on the apple with a spoon. Roll in your favorite toppings and enjoy! Remember to spray the counter, a dish, or wax paper with cooking spray to keep caramel from sticking.

We made these for family home evening last October and the kids loved it! Okay, Andy and I loved it too - maybe me a little more than Andy because I'm a big caramel and chocolate fan! We will be doing it again tomorrow and I thought I'd share the recipe. Last time we talked about the creation and how Heavenly Father and Jesus made us all different. While we decorated each apple with different toppings, we talked about what we loved about that particular family member (each topping representing something we loved about that person). Drew and Jesi were so cute. This is always their favorite activity, whether something creative or just passing a ball around in a circle, when we talk about why we love each member of our family. I cut this recipe in half and added a few extra chocolate chips and it made 5 medium-large apples. Sorry, I had some cute pictures of when we made them last year, but they are on that "corrupted or unreadable file"?!? So sad. Maybe I'll post some new ones and hopefully I'll have some carved pumpkin pictures too?!? Those should be interesting since the pumpkins from our garden are so deformed they can't stand up :0)!!!

Random Tidbits of Wisdom?!?

This morning, after dropping and shattering a corel dish of oatmeal with berries on the tile floor, Jesi said,

"It was an accident, Mom. Actually, there are no accidents, Mom."

Me: "Oh, really?"

Jesi, "That's what the turtle tells Master Shi Fu." Pause. "I think he was wrong."

She amazes me with her little bits of wisdom, too often lately from a movie she's seen! I think I've been letting the kids watch too many movies lately. We've had a flu bug off and on the last 2 weeks or so - rotating between sypmtoms and family members. I'm kind of hoping it was the dreaded Swine Flu, but I have my doubts since we didn't get high fevers. I wish we would have tested Kassi one of the two times we took her in, but alas I suppose we'll never know unless we get the the swine flu later and it is much worse?!? Kassi did have to use a nebulizer with this sickness to help clear her lungs. Hopefully this isn't a reoccuring problems like it was with Drew.

Also, the other day while discussing Christmas, Jesi said, "Christmas isn't about presents, it's about LOVE!" When I asked her where she learned that she said, "Strawberry Land!" Her favorite movies from the library are Strawberry Shortcake, which I have to admit I encourage because they are 1/2 the length of a regular movie and I grew up with the Strawberry's influence as well :0). Andy likes to start playing Christmas music in October - and sometimes in the heat of July, so we are already discussing what we want to do for Christmas this year. Do any of you guys have some ideas on making Christmas Christ-centered for kids? I'd love to hear anything you are doing now or that you did growing up to center the holidays around the Savior!

As far as an update on the other kiddos, Drew is full of hugs combined with an "I love you!" about 10 times a day. I always look forward to this little routine as soon as he sees me in the morning, after school, random times during the evening and always before bed. His sisters usually appreciate the same greetings and I know his Dad loves it too. He enjoys reading picture books to his sisters which is very fun for me to watch. He also decided this week that he wants to learn how to ride a scooter (his friends have had a greater influence than me on this idea)!!!!!!!! Did I mention I am sooo excited?!? I know this will help him in his efforts to ride a bike and roller blade as well. Jesi is learning right along with him and it will make it sooo much nicer when we walk to and from school and anytime I want to go for a walk!

Kassi's favorite things lately are shoes, which explains why right now I have a high heel shoe on one foot and a slipper on the other - it was a gift of love and she doesn't seem to understand "no, thank you" yet, so I try to accept her shoe choices when we aren't in public. I guess it is a good opportunity to teach her about matching?!? She tries on everyone's shoes and makes nice displays throughout the house. I love to hear her say, "shoe - shoe!" in her excited little voice whenever she sees that someone is shoeless! Her other favorite things include making funny faces in the mirror like her Daddy, making messes (she just threw a folded batch of her and Jesi's laundry all around the basket while I was typing - that's what I get for not completing a task), and drinking from 2 sippy cups at the same time. As she was sick the last week and a half or so, I couldn't get her to eat or drink anything. Finally, I had the idea to give her both of her sippy cups at the same time (one of milk and one of juice). She got a huge grin on her face and grabbed them both. Ever since then she has been drinking plenty as she has to have both sippy cups with her at all times and either drinks them both at the same time or rotates between the two. The same idea worked with food. If I offered her a plate, she would throw it. But, if I offered her my plate and hers, she would eat! I guess this girl likes to have a choice! That "parenting with love and logic" might actually work with her! So, I was going to put up a post with no pictures to prove to myself that I'm not dependant on them, but I just remembered pictures I took of one of her greatest messes to this date. So, I'll just have to post them! And for those of you who have gotten through another monster post, and are amazed at the fact that I have a new post up, there are several posts and slide shows below from our week or two of sickness. Hope you are all doing well and staying healthy!!! We'd love to hear from you so don't be shy :)!

I made the mistake of leaving an ink pad on the table while I ran downstairs to get some stamps (for Jesi's little preschool at our house that day). I was gone maybe a minute or two when I came upstairs to find this:

I think we should submit this pictures for advertising. It's pretty impressive how much I got out of the wood! Luckily I called my mom b/c I had this stuff and hadn't even thought about using it on ink!

I kind of wish I'd left the cute little hand print on my sewing machine! There was ink all over Kassi, her clothes, the table, and the sewing machine! I'm so glad I wasn't gone any longer or who knows where it would have been!

But, who could be upset at a face like this?!? So far this is the worst mess she has made, so I'm not complaining. My kids have been pretty mellow compared to stories I've heard!!! I just have to remember how excited I was the first time Drew made a mess! I guess it is nice to know that she is able?!?

Oh, and I have to include one more little tidbit from today, since I'm going to try to keep most of my journaling on my blog now. We got "Booed" yesterday which means someone left us a plate of goodies and a ghost to put in our window. Now we "boo" 2 other people (we plan on doing 5 since we made a triple batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to use up the 29 oz can of pumpkin we had). Anyway, when I printed the recipe, there was a darling picture of 3 girls on the page that came out of the printer. I guess one of Jesi's last drawing sessions ended up in the printer paper drawer somehow!!! It is quite appropriate that her drawing ended up on a cookie recipe since her favorite things lately are art and baking! I won't torture you with some of our latest paintings - she begs me to paint with her every day!!! But, I'll attempt to scan her picture of me, her, and Kassi on our little recipe - too funny!

Surprise mini makeover to Drew's room!

Andy and Drew went on a trip to Colorado with all the boys in the family. They had a blast visiting grandparents and crashing a football game. I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to surprise Drew! We had a blast with my sister, Nicole, who helped supervise kids and helped me paint!!! I'm embarassed to say, and some of you may remember that we removed wallpaper in Drew's room about a year ago!!! Unfortunately, I couldn't find the picture of the pretty flowered wallpaper due to some "corrupted files" of pictures I can't seem to open - so sad. I hope you are all smarter than me and save your pictures on a cd or something as soon as you put them on your computer! Anyway, we bought the paint about 6 months ago and we finally got it done!!!
I had to include this picture to remind myself that we did sit and watch most of a session of conference - the rest was on the radio while we were hard at work :)! Yes, a toothbrush works quite nicely at entertaining my 18 month old! I hadn't planned on the guys returning a day early - which meant we had 2 days instead of 3 to complete our little project!
Cleaning walls, removing light switch covers, puttying (sp?), removing and deep cleaning blinds, cleaning vents, taping . . .

Oops!
Nicole hard at work!

Jesi "helping" me tape!
Nicole convinced me to try making our own taco pizzas - okay, so we actually got Little Caesars and added refried beans and the toppings I had available! It was actually quite tasty - don't judge until you try it yourself!
Thanks to Nicole needing a 2 liter pop bottle for school, we enjoyed root beer floats all weekend! Oh, and Nicole and Jesi did get to hop in the hot tub for a little while and Nicole and I did watch 3/4ths of the BBC version of "Wives and Daughters" (one of those crazy long 4 hour movies that you just have to see the ending of, similar to Pride and Prejudice) - poor Nicole didn't get to finish it! So, we did try to throw some fun breaks in now and then - which meant I stayed up until 2:00-3:00am 3 nights in a row. I think I'm still trying to recoop from that - I must be getting old!
Kassi's reaction to the soda pop - her face tells it all!!! She LOVED it!



Hard at work again!
Exhausted little helper!
So, I thought the Y looked better with the tape - it was more chunky. I'm still trying to get the guts up to break out the paint and make it thicker!
Our own little fairy princess removing the tape from the 'Y'!
The end product. Not exactly what I had hoped for, but a whole lot better than before! I still need to paint the furniture navy blue and eventually put up some curtains and get that rag quilt done that I've been NOT working on for a year or so! I love the poster size prints we had made at Costco. The one on the left is a picture of Drew with my Dad at a BYU basketball game. The other is a picture of Andy, Drew, and Jesi with Cosmo! Sorry, some of the pictures are pretty dark - you'll just have to come visit and we'll let you stay in the BYU suite so you can get a better look :)!




SURPRISE!!! Jesi waited up in Drew's room for about half an hour for them to arrive! They hit a snow storm and it took them several hours longer than planned, which was nice for us because Jesi was awake when they got home! She would have been heart broken if she missed the grand entrance!


It was so fun listening to Jesi about every 10 minutes say in her high, excited voice, "This is going to be the BEST surprise ever! Drew is going to love it so much!" Drew loves his new room and Jesi insists on sleeping on his floor now! I guess it's time to do a bedroom makeover to her room!!! Or, maybe I'll plan a girl's trip and let the boys surprise us. That could be scary :0)!!!