Family Pictures

Our friend Felicia Bates took these pictures and I am so pleased with them. Thanks Felicia!!

Turning Two

On October 24th, Jaxon officially turned two. He had a great day full of food, fun, and presents. He had a birthday party with his little friends at McDonalds where everyone ate chicken nuggets and cupcakes. His favorite present was his Cozy Coupe which he now sits in whenever he watches Barney. I made him a frog cake for his birthday that was turning out to be really cute until the kitchen became hot, and the top tier decided to slip right off the bottom... it was a minor mishap but the cake tasted great.

Halloween

Our photographer Felicia did a great job of editing out Jax's milk drool... now it just looks like he has shiny lips..
Jax had a really hard time keeping his hood on. Chad had to hold his hands to keep him from pulling it off.

At the ward Halloween party. Jax is a dragon, I am an anime character, and Chad... well, I'm not sure what Chad is...

I love those little wings...

Team Boo: Chad, Damen, and Dallin served pumpkin soup with pumpkin tea

Team Spider Web: Kathy, Branson, and Caden made an excellent pumpkin stuffing

Team Eye of Newt: Kara, Janelle, and Quincy made pumpkin muffins using only the items they had in food storage

Team Rusty Chainsaw: Dirk, Tyler, and Logan made pumpkin in a can bread which was beautifully wrapped. We decided that their team won "Most Likely to Be Given Away in Relief Society"

Team Scream: Megan, Justin, and Jax won the contest with their pumpkin trifle.

Team Monster Mash: Lane, Alec, and Madison made a pumpkin dip and presented their dish using strobe lights and a fog machine

We had a great Halloween this year. Jax dressed as the cutest dragon I have ever seen. He enjoyed the costume, but really had a hard time keeping his hat on. On Halloween night, we celebrated by having an Iron Chef America inspired "Battle Pumpkin." We separated into six teams and then randomly assigned the nieces and nephews to each team. Everyone was tasked with bringing a pumpkin inspired dish to the Halloween party and we would eat them for our meal. I figured we would just be having a bunch of desserts for dinner, but everyone was very creative in their dishes. Brett and Jacquline were the judges of the night and after everyone had a chance to present their dish, the judges decided that Team Scream (with Justin and I) won the best pumpkin dish of the evening with our Pumpkin Trifle. Our prize was movie tickets which we used to see the movie RED. It was a super fun night.

Jax reading his favorite book "Brown Bear" with his Gigi

The last month Jax has become a language sponge. I hear at least ten new words from him every day, and he is constantly parroting everything we say. It is adorable. However, he has learned to refer to me as "Megan" instead of "Mommy"... much to Chad's delight and to my horror. I think he picked it up when my mom and dad were staying with us for a week. He heard my name much more often than usual.

Early this morning while we were still in bed we heard a Jaxon knocking on his crib with his little fist. He then started to shout, "Hi! Megan!" "Hi! Megan!" When I walked into his room he was all smiles for me and he slyly said again, "Hi Megan." If he wasn't so darn cute, I might have been a bit upset...

The Tree That Started It All...

Jaxon demonstrating the size of the tree that started it all...
Me spoting my latest accessory...

The last few weeks have been pretty eventful for the Anderson Family. It all started on Saturday the 15th... I decided to plant a tree my nephew Branson gave me that he had recieved for Arbor Day. I decided to plant it in the grass so the roots wouldnt get in the way as it grew bigger. I found a spot to plant, grabbed a shovel, and started digging. The ground was harder than I expected, so I decided to jump on the shovel it get it further in. BIG MISTAKE! The shovel wasn't sturdy and tipped over with me on top. I reached out my right hand to stop my fall and heard a loud "pop". The pain actually took my breath away. I rushed inside to tell Chad. He originally laughed until he saw how much pain I was in. We hurried over to the Immediate Care where we learned I had broken my wrist in four places...

A few days later we went to an Orthopedic Surgeon, who said I would have to have surgery to set it. The surgery included putting a metal plate in my wrist that would be permanent. Up until this point I have never broken a bone or had surgery... I had the surgery on Monday the 24th, and it went really well. I'm going back for a check-up tomorrow, and I'm hoping they can take off the splint at that point. (The doctor said that the plate will act as an internal cast).

Thankfully, my mom was able to come up for two weeks to help with Jax. I have found it very difficult to dress a wiggly boy, or change a diaper with only one hand. Her help was invaluable and we so appreciated her.

Horray for Nursery!

A few of Jax's 18 month pictures

It is official, Jaxon has reached 18 months... happiest part about that- he gets to go to nursery! Jax has gone to nursery now two times, and so far so good. He loves playing with the other kids, and he especially loves the bubble machine. Our favorite part about it is that it distracts him enough to make it through church. We are in the 11-2 block which is right during his nap time. Before nursery, he would get so cranky during the last two hours. Now he is distracted enough to make it through, and has crashed once we make it home. So far either Chad and I have been in there with him, we'll see if he continues to love it once we start going to our own classes...

Personal Progress Project...

Most of the grandkids at the wedding
Jax with his GG

The Wedding Cake! The frosting was a little rough, but it tasted great.

I've been in Young Womens now for about two years, and throughout my time I have had the goal to complete Personal Progress again as a leader. Somehow, though, this goal has continuially been pushed back. However, after a wonderful New Beginnings program this past February, I decided that it REALLY was time. I got looking at the book, and discovered that many of the value experiences were things I was already doing (i.e. giving lessons, budgeting, planning meals...). Also, I discovered that I could count several of my bigger goals- baking a wedding cake for Kara and Lane's wedding- as one of my 10 hour projects.

On March 27th, Kara and Lane got married, and I finally finished their wedding cake. It took WAY more than 10 hours by the time all the researching, practicing, and finally implementing took place, but it was actually really fun and I think it made a great wedding present.

Cake Decorating

This was my nephew Tyler's birthday cake... he likes computers...

My final cake for the Course I Decorating Class... Not perfect, but not too shabby either...

For Christmas this year, Chad gave me one of the best presents I have ever recieved... a cake decorating class. To make it even more fun, Chad invited several of our friends to also get their wives the class for Christmas. The class has spaned four weeks, and tonight was our last class. (I even recieved a certificate of completion...). We had to bring a frosted cake to each class, and we have learned some basic piping skills and how to create several frosting flowers including creating a frosting rose. I wouldn't say that I have mastered any of the skills taught, but I am definitely a more saavy cake decorator than before. I made a commitment when I originally learned about the class that I would make a cake for each of the grandkids for their birthdays. That will be a total of 14 cakes this year, and by the end of it, I should be better... My sister-in-laws, Kathy and Kara benefited because they got each of the finished cakes every week. I neglected to take pictures of my first two cakes, but I got one from my nephew Tyler's birthday and from my last class. I liked the class so much that I think I'm going to take the Course II one that starts next week.

Kara asked me to make her wedding cake for her reception that will be at the end of March... I'm going to be practicing a lot between now and then...

5 Minutes in Jaxon's Life

He started out playing on his car. That is a screeching face of joy... he really loves his car.
Next Jax grabbed his next favorite thing, his photo album. It's funny because we have a bunch of albums located in the same place, but he always grabs this one and goes through it.

Next Jax found a car and decided to sit down and spin a wheel for awhile.

When that got boring, he moved over to my shelf where he was able to knock down a few bags of flour.

Then he found some Kix that he had dropped on the floor during dinner. (This is also a new favorite thing. He will pick up a single cereal, look at me, say "Ahh Oh" and drop it on the floor)

This is when Jax discovered my camera as a new toy... we stopped taking pictures at that point.

Jaxon has been walking (and really I should say running because he rarely walks anymore) for about a month now. In addition to being more mobile, he has developed the talent to get into EVERYTHING! I thought he was a busy boy before, but I was wrong... so very very wrong. In an attempt to capture the intrigue and speed that has become Jax, I took my camera and followed him around the house for 5 minutes. I did it National Geographic style- I kept my distance and tried not to interfere with his natural curiosity and movements (except when he tried to pick something out of the garbage and eat it... no picture was taken at that point as I almost dropped the camera to try to stop him.) Within that 5 minute span, he changed activities 6 times and was in 4 different areas of the house... amazing!

Merry Christmas!

Anderson Family Reindeer Games Challenge

Damen, Tyler and Bryant with the Reindeer Game Scoreboard
Preparing for Christmas Cookie Fear Factor

Preparing for Christmas Cookie Fear Factor... they were all smiling at this point

Grandma and Frank with all the grand kids

Our Anderson Family Reindeer Games Challenge Winners: Alec and Brett

This year Chad and I (but mostly Chad) put together a series of games for the Anderson family to play the week before Christmas. We called the event "The Anderson Family Reindeer Game Challenge." We separated the family into 8 teams (with one adult and one child per team) and assigned each team to be a different reindeer. Each team was tasked with creating a team flag and we made a scoreboard that was on display throughout the week. Each night we played a different "reindeer game." The games varied from Christmas Carol Jeopardy to Wrapping Presents with no hands to North Pole Trivia (everyone was given 24 hours to find out as much as they could about the North Pole and everyone literally spent HOURS researching) :) to a special Christmas Fear Factor where each contestant had to eat a Christmas cookie with a "mystery ingredient" on it. (The mystery ingredients included ketchup, vinaigrette dressing, and garlic spread to name just a few.) The final game was a treasure hunt where each team was tasked with finding the "jingle bell rock." Complete mayhem broke out in this game as all the teams scrambled to find a painted rock buried in the snow. In the end Chad's brother Brett and his nephew Alec won the entire challenge when they were the first to find the "jingle bell rock." All and all, it was a very fun event, and I think we will try to make it a family tradition.