"Corinne, you're my best friend."

Many times I have loved to watch Allana and Corinne play happily together. Of course they have their battles, but more often they are looking out for each other and taking care of each other.

When I do their hair they watch a DVD and this morning they were sitting down together waiting for the chosen show to start. As I walked out of the room to gather hair supplies, Allana put her arm around Corinne and told her, "Corinne, you're my best friend." I am sure that statement will hold true as they go through life together and become closer as sisters and friends.

Together Forever

Giulia and David stopped by Sunday before David headed south to Vegas to pick up Potatoes for Connie and Grant. We talked them in to staying for a few minutes and eating lunch with us before leaving. After saying goodbye to them, Corinne and Allana continued peeking out the window to watch Giulia and David say their goodbyes. As they watched Allana was explaining to Corinne that Giulia was feeling sad that David had to leave, "Giulia lives in Provo and David lives far away in Las Vegas."

Then after Giulia and David drove off in their separate vehicles Allana asked me, "Why do they want to be together forever?"

"How do you know they will be together forever?" I asked back.

"Because they are going to get married and then they are going to have children..." was her reply. I wish I could describe the all-knowing intonation she used as she made the statement. Use your imagination...

Bonnie's Baby Shower

4 out of nine of us are pregnant... No not Aunt Pearl!

Today we hosted a baby shower for Bonnie. The guests included Aunt Elaine, Jana, Aunt Joy, LorAnn, Kimberlee, Aunt Pearl, Holly, and Bonnie. Though not in attendance at the shower gifts were sent from Julia and Barclay, David & Kirsten, Carla, and Linda & Rex.

We started a "Time Capsule" for Zoe with letters from everyone in attendance. Bonnie and Sam will compile items (newspaper from the day Zoe is born, photos, etc.) for the time capsule and Zoe will open it when she is 8 or 10 years old (Bonnie is still deciding).

We each took a turn asking Bonnie questions about her experience being pregnant and other questions about motherhood. That was fun and we had some good laughs and good conversation. We had soup, salad, and dessert for lunch. After opening gifts we said our goodbyes and headed home.

Bonnie received some beautiful gifts and practical gifts too. We added up the approximate cost of the diapers she was given and it was over $100 worth of diapers.

Thanks so much to everyone who came!

"But I thought..."

Today as Allana was lying down to take a nap, she asked me who was coming to babysit her this afternoon. Then she asked, "Where are you going?"

"To volleyball practice." I answered.

"Why?"

"Because I'm a volleyball coach."

Tears started welling up in her eyes, "But I thought you were a Mommy!"

I gave her big hugs and reassured her that my first job is being her mom. It made me smile.

Anderton Family Reunion

Here are a few pictures from the Rex Anderton family reunion. I should have taken pictures of the backyard with all our tents, and the new fire pit and patio too. It looks great!

Friday night we roasted hot dogs and played dot dot until late in the evening. Saturday morning we cleaned off the patio and got one of the porch swings assembled. Then all of us went to the slip n' slide to enjoy the sun. When we came back we made our best attempt at tin foil dinners and braved the winds and storm of the evening. Board games were the entertainment for the evening. Sunday morning dad made a big breakfast (eggs, hashbrowns, pancakes, and watermelon) and everyone packed up and headed home. Below are some of the pictures we have from the weekend...

When do we want to plan our party for next year???

We could live in Montana...

After the Young reunion we drove north to visit Yellowstone and then to see Andrea and Dan. The drive from West Yellowstone to Bozeman was soooo beautiful. It made me curious to see what it would cost to buy a place to live in Montana.

We hiked to the "M" and Andy had to sneeze just as the camera took the picture :)

Good thing Andrea was there to help motivate Allana to run down the trail.

Mountain View HS Ballroom Company's 1st Concert

Andy is an amazing director of the MVHS Ballroom Company. This is their first concert put on by their company with a few guest performances from the Orchesis Dance Company. Garrett was in 7 of the numbers. Andy did a great job teaching and choreographing the ballroom numbers. It has been fun to see him work with the dance company throughout the year. I can tell that he loves it because he will work on things he needs to get done for ballroom at home (Usually he doesn't work on anything else at home because it is "work"). It will be fun to see the program grow. When we first moved to Orem we thought we would only be hear for 5 years. Now it has been almost 2 years and I think we may end up being here longer since Andy has put a lot into getting this Ballroom program running. 

Garrett is in the middle of the group dancing the Mambo.

Allana really was excited to see the concert, but tired too...

Grandma and Grandpa Anderton and T.J. came to see Garrett dance in the concert.

I can't keep my eyes open

These eyes are so beautiful, but Corinne can't keep them open for long in the morning. I've been trying to get Corinne to take just one afternoon nap instead of taking one in the morning as well. Today I took Allana and Corinne to Macaroni Grill for lunch. Corinne was happily sitting in her high chair and eating when her eyes started to flutter shut. I put my hand on her shoulder to support her neck and she fell asleep sitting up in her high chair! Then I made her a bed in the back of the MADSEN and I biked back up the hill with Allana cheering "You can do it. You can do it! You can do it, mom!"

Mission Impossible

Your mission, if you chose to accept is to plant a garden with seven people helping and having fun! You will plant cantaloupe, honey dew melon, watermelon, corn, beans, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, rhubarb, peppers, carrots, and peas... we accepted the challenge for one of our family home evenings to plant our garden. Here are the results:

Garrett worked diligently on making a "Tepee" for our peas to grow on.
Kristie laminated seed packets as garden signs.
Corinne and I supervised and took pictures and planted a few seeds.
Andy meticulously planted the peppers, tomatoes, carrots, and rhubarb.

Staci planted the melons and then just couldn't resist making mud pies.

Before long she was covered with mud almost anywhere skin was showing.

Staci was so muddy that we decided to turn her into a fountain for the garden...okay, we just made her spray off with the hose before she came in the house. It was pretty cold. I think she took a 2 hour shower to warm-up when she got inside.

I think we had a pretty successful night... garden planted... Mission Complete.

Four Happy kids in our MADSEN

This was the first time we had four little ones in the MADSEN. It was fun to see their smiles

as they rode. Then Shelley got a ride from Chris and then they swapped places. I think Shelley might have had more fun than the kids. Andy has actually given Allana, Corinne, and me

a ride to church in it a couple times. We'll have to post a picture one of these days.

Our new Minivan...well, a bike that can seat 4 toddlers!

We sold "Hal" our mini-van that we bought from Jolynn and drove for 4 months. We decided to buy this bike made by a company in Salt Lake City.

Corinne fell asleep on our first bike ride in the Madsen, so we made her a bed in the back.
Cute girls! They love riding in this and I am getting in shape riding around the neighborhood. We've taken 2 shopping trips in it, been to the bank, and of course the park!

Spring in Utah

Allana has been the best helper whenever it snows. She jumps for joy and runs for her shovel.
These pictures are from April 16th when we had yet another week of snow. Hopefully we will still have fruit on our fruit trees. It has snowed after the apricot, cherry, and pear tree have blossomed.

These are our cherry blossoms covered in about 5 inches of snow. There was about 13 inches on the ground.

I think Allana is shocked to see me being silly, jumping in the snow.

My Best Ice Cream Cake Ever!

Allana decorated a cookie sheet with the extra whipping cream. Staci and Kristie helped me decorate the cake with the chocolate whipped cream. 
I was going to cut the cake into a superman sign shape, but I got too lazy. Round was easy.
Happy 17th Birthday, Garrett!

Having Garrett, Staci, and Kristie live with us has some perks. For example...now there are 3 more Birthdays to celebrate this year. That means I have 7 chances to attempt making birthday cakes this year!!! Garrett's cake was a chocolate ice cream cake, with 3 layers of chocolate cake and 2 layers of cookies n' cream ice cream. We decorated it with strawberries and chocolate whipped cream. It was my best Ice Cream cake so far... but this is only my second try.