Pictures! Mother!

For our ward Christmas party this year we had the theme of "Christmas in Nauvoo". It was fantastic! We had different rooms represent the different shops and things around Nauvoo. Everyone was asked to wear period clothing or Sunday dress. A few years ago, David and I attended a Nauvoo Ball for our Stake and I sewed a vest for him and a dress for me. We were excited to get to wear them again.

I didn't have anything for the boys, so I called my mom and asked her to work her magic. She went to Savers and bought a tweed suit and created these hats and vests for them. Aren't they adorable! They were the cutest kids there if I do say so myself! You are the best, Mom!


Making cookies at the Bakery!

Jake eating licorice from the Red Brick Store.


The Ansons at the Nauvoo temple.

Family Tree

This year for Christmas I wanted to start some new traditions, so I thought it would be fun to go to a Christmas tree farm and cut down our own tree. I looked online at various places and found a place called Christmas Tree Mountain only about 45 minutes away. Sounds "quaint" aye? Well, let's just say we got a real bargain. Any size tree for $22. I'm all about a good deal.

I think that this is my favorite picture of the whole trip. So classy!

Caleb found the chosen tree and was very excited when we decided to take it home.

On the way home we stopped to eat at Cracker Barrel. The boys were so tired they could barely eat and thankfully had a nap in the car on the way home.

Here is the finished version. I had to run out and buy ribbon and more ornaments. We aren't used to having such a full tree!

P.S. Mom and Dad A. Here's my nativity set up on our windowsill. I thought you might like to see how great it looks. Thanks!

Temple lights, midwest style.

I thought I would post some pictures of the St. Louis Temple and the Christmas lights. David worked for weeks on this fun and daring adventure and put about 30 strands of lights in each tree. He says he wants to put even more on next year! It is an amazing sight from the highway. Truly spectacular!

elfed

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I am thankful for Turkey!

We had a nice Thanksgiving at our wonderful friends' house, the Brimhalls. We started the morning off at the Thanksgiving day parade downtown. Here were some of my favorite attractions:

This was David's favorite. No surprise there! I've never seen so many tractors before! There must have been at least 25 or so.

For Dinner I brought the original and delightful Pond Scum. Amy, apparently my fridge works!I also brought a sour cream-lemon pie, which, as soon as I was done putting the whipping cream on, promptly fell face down onto the floor. Luckily we dined with folks who are not so much into outward appearences!What Thanksgiving would be complete without a green bean casserole. mmmmm! Come to think of it, I can't see very many green beans in there.....Thanks so much to our friends here, who are more like family, when we couldn't be with our family in Utah!

This one's for the Grandmas

No, this is not my house....

I laughed so hard when we drove past this house tonight, so I thought I'd share it! You can't see it very well in this video but the lights were all different colors and they had music playing for all the neighbors to enjoy! My favorite part is the ferris wheel on the front porch.

Reflections of Christ

I'm a Mormon!

I don't know about any of you, but I am so happy to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! With all of the recent events of Proposition 8, I thought I would post the Church's statement that is found on their website, lds.org.

* We are but one of MANY groups who share these feelings and stand in solidarity with other religious and ethnic organizations.
* While the Church does not endorse candidates or platforms, it does reserve the right to speak out on important issues.
* As you know we feel a "mutual respect and civility" toward those who hold a different positions than we do, but is important for others to understand that this "issue" for the Church has always been about the "sacred and divine institution of marriage...a union between a man and a woman".
* "The Church's opposition to same-sex marriage neither constitutes nor condones any kind of hostility toward gays and lesbians. Even more, the Church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional right of churches."
* No one on EITHER side of the question should be subject to erroneous information, vilified, or harassed.

Swab the Deck!

So I really hope that Halloween wasn't as scary as Caleb looked. I love that picture! I think they were giving instructions for the trunk'or'treat while I snapped a few shots. Caleb was a pirate captain and he lovingly deemed Jake as his first mate. They certainly made out like pirate thieves and came home from trick'or'treating with full sacks of candy. David and I ended the night with 1 offer for Jello shots, and the chance to participate in about 4 drinking parties! For those drinkers out there who read this, please note to self:

No, I do not want to be drunk while I take my children Trick'or'Treating, and no, I don't think Halloween is just another Holiday excuse to party, get drunk and have a hangover!

I should have bought better candy to pass out, because we only had about three trick'or'treaters come to our house. Now I'm stuck with a huge back of tootsie rolls and a huge bag of dum-dums. I sent them with David to pass out in seminary.

Next year I'll take your advice ,LeAnn, and pass out the candy on Halloween that they get at the trunk'or'treat.

A Billy Slog?

The other day I found Caleb sitting at the kitchen table working in his work book. He has been practicing his letters a lot and is getting pretty good at sounding out words. We have also been getting a lot of books at the library, including a bunch of Shel Silverstein. Caleb likes him because he writes "silly" things. If it's silly, Caleb likes it. Anyway, I looked down at the page he was working on and this is what I saw:

Babbit soup anyone?

Bargain shopping

I love Missouri! It's great because people don't often take things to Goodwill and there isn't a D.I. (Deseret Industries for you non-Utah folk) so they just stick things on the side of the road to be taken by the garbage truck. WELL, that's where I come in. I have officially discovered the sport of dumpster diving. The thrill I feel when I spot some promising merchandise is hard to describe in words. A few weeks ago I spotted this giant bear sitting on top of some boxes and garbage sacks. I checked him out and he was brand new. No stains, no weird smells, no animal hair, no nothing! He did have a "cute" little heart sewn onto him that said "I Love You", so I just cut that off and reaped the reward of some couples' break-up.
A few months ago I found a book shelf in great condition sitting next to a dumpster and now it's holding all of my art books and school supplies in our office. I cannot wait to see what fall brings. If any of you know of some good areas to scout out, let me know! I love being cheap!

Visit from "The Fam"

We recently had a visit from David's parents and his sister, Nicole. Caleb counted down the days and finally, after nine months of not seeing his Anson grandparents, he had their full attention! We had a lot of fun showing them around the city and pretty much just enjoyed having some family around. The boys had a good time swinging on the swings at Twin Oaks park. Hmm...One of these is not like the other...
The weather was beautiful and we were able to spend a lot of time outside.
We were able to spend the whole day at the zoo and saw a lot of new baby animals.

We also went to the museum of transportation and the boys had fun climbing on the trains while the girls relaxed and chatted. Caleb and I enjoyed putting pennies on the track and watching the trolley car flatten them.

I enjoyed watching Caleb and his grandpa spend some time together. This photo totally looks like something from x-files doesn't it? I love it! I really enjoyed using the trains as a backdrop for some cool sepia toned pictures.
All in all, I would say we had a fantastic time with the Fam! Thanks Mom and Dad for coming out and we hope to see you again soon!

"Let the Stormy Clouds Chase... Everyone From the Place"

Yesterday, Caleb asked me, "icanes are only by the ocean right?" I answered, "Yep. It's like a tornado kind of, only with water." Well, I was right about the water.

We woke up last night to the sound of 40 mph winds and rain pounding our house. I looked out and saw the trees blowing straight to the side. For someone who grew up in Utah, this was a pretty amazing sight. I know it's nothing compared to what the gulf just experienced, but for us, it was pretty impressive.

We made breakfast this morning while the kids watched the rain out the window. Recently, the boys watched "Singing in the Rain" and so Caleb decided he needed to try. Well, we were out having fun, completely unaware that our basement was once again, quickly taking on water.

I think this carpet has now been pulled up, bleached and dried out about 10 times. I have flashbacks of our basement flooding while I was growing up. I can picture my mom and dad using the Shop-vac to suck up the water and walking around in ankle deep water. Maybe we should think about replacing it. What do you think Dad? David joked to his mom that guests can sleep in the basement on our blowup mattress, and float around while they sleep. Water bed sort of takes on a whole new meaning.

We were worried that we wouldn't make it to church on time and then we received word that the power was out at our chapel so it was cancelled. Most of the major roads that would take us there were covered with water anyway. Can you imagine parking your car for the night and discovering this in the morning?! We drove around a little bit to take some pics and found this surprise on our old street. Do you recognize this one mom? It's Big Bend and Dougherty Ferry. I talked to a guy who has lived here 25 years and has never seen that road flood. Check out the dude wading around. He said he lost his license plate and was trying to find it. (I think he's lost a lot more than that......)

All in all, we will be fine and hope that everyone affected by the hurricane will be able to make it out okay. Golf anyone?

This is the street we would take everyday, from our old apartment to our new house. hmm...

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Last Saturday we had our wonderful friend take some family pictures for us. Originally it was only supposed to be the boys, but I couldn't resist the whole color scheme and went with it! I think she did a wonderful job capturing Jacob and Caleb's personalities, and I can't wait to hang them up around the house. Hopefully I'll get a picture up soon of my "family Picture wall" that I've been working on in the dining room. I owe you one, Ashley!