women's conference

Living in Utah defintiely has its perks. For the General Relief Society meeting, our stake went down in busses to the conference center and saw the real deal. That building is amazing. It was neat to see the thousands and thousands of women all in one spot. I think my favorite part o fthe night was when they had everyone stand up and sing a hymn together. To hear that many people all singing together gave me goosebumps. There was just such a strong feeling of power in the building.

How do you like that shot of President Monson? I always get the best shots :)

I passed the camera down to Rachael and she helped me out. It is easy for me to forget how blessed we are to have a prophet to lead us today. I love being a member of this church.

the feast.

So last week, Sam was studying all night, every night, and I was trying to think of a way to make our Friday night fun, even though I knew he would be studying the whole time. So I told him I was going to cook a feast for us. Yes, a feast. I was kind of picturing the scene in Harry Potter where the students come back to Hogwarts and have that huge dinner where different dishes magically keep appearing in front of them. So I rushed home from work, and cooked and cooked and cooked for a good 2 hours. We finally ate at 9pm. The problem is, when I took a picture of our "feast" I realized it just looked like a normal dinner. The kind my mom made every single day of the week. Quite the reality check. So it's back to the quesadillas for us, normal dinners are way too much work!

what a great day.

We have the nicest couple in our ward, The Boyers. They have a bunch of land and know how much Sam and Todd love dirtbiking, so they offered to take us up to their property. Sam and Todd rode the bikes, Lacey and I rode AWESOME 4 wheelers, and we had one of the best afternoons ever. It was a blast. We rode the prettiest trail about 2 hours back to a small lake, where we BBQed and laughed about everything. Mostly about mooning people... don't ask. Then we headed back in the dark and talked and hung out looking for shooting stars for awhile.

Lacey and I brought up the rear and ended up with about a pound of dirt on our faces.

My husband is tougher than your husband.

I remind myself of Ben Stiller in Zoolander when he painted himself black.

finally family!

I have been dying for my family to visit ever since we moved here, and over two years later they finally made it! Ok, so it wasn't for me, it was to bring Britt up to BYU Idaho, but they still spent they week at my house and it was a BLAST. Everyone crammed in our little place. We hiked waterfall canyon, long boarded, rode bikes, and spent our nights watching movies and eating pizookies. I thought I loved that dessert, but my family loved it even more. We ate them 3 nights in a row. Monday I went with my family to bring Britt up to BYU Idaho. It was fun to do a family road trip again. I had no idea Idaho was so cold, Brittany is definitely in for a treat. I am so glad I could take Brittany up for her first college weekend! It was great to get to spend so much time with my family, and I am so impressed with how grown up Brittany is. Definitely not the middle school-er I remember her as. For some reason the age everyone was when I moved away for college is the age they stay in my mind. Anyways, I already miss them like crazy and need my Mom back here to take care of me again. It is just wrong to spoil me for a weekend and then leave!

We are easily entertained. We spent a few evenings racing on the long boards and trying to avoid Sam, who loves pretending like he is going to crash into us on his bike and then stopping half an inch before he gets to you. We really missed out, not having a brother (Not!).

Sam was a trooper. He put up with the chic flicks great, although he drew the line when we put in Center Stage. His line of the week was, "Why do we have to WATCH chic flicks when we are LIVING one big chic flick?" I hope we have all girls.

I love being with my mom. I miss her a lot already. She has always and still loves to always be doing something, even if it's just riding bikes around or taking a walk. She was never the type of mom to sit around and watch TV. In fact, I don't EVER remember her watching a show for herself. While she was here, every morning I would wake up and all the dishes would be done and the house would be clean. I don't know how she does it.

I LOVED getting to spend time with Brittany. It is still weird for me to see her all grown up. She is one of the kindest people you will ever meet. Her roommates don't know how good they've got it.

Brittany in her new place. I had no idea it would be so hard to leave her there! It made me remember how homesick I was my first couple months away from home.

Ally is now the only child at home! I miss her witty personality already. I remember my senior year of high school, she was only 5 but she would put all my friends in their place. She could come up with better comebacks than most of the boys. They loved trying to tease her. I'm guessing she is already using the "only child" thing to her advantage.

awesome.

Picture this: First day of school at Weber University, and lines of cars backed up at the intersection of the nearby main road. Me, running downhill, FAST. My ankle gives out, and before I know it I am sprawled out on the asphalt, right in front of that line of cars, unable to get up because I've just had the wind knocked out of me. It was awesome.

spoiled.

I am spoiled. While we were in Hawaii we went into an art gallery where I fell in love with the work of a certain artist, Heather Brown. I wanted to take one of her paintings home badly but the price tag put a quick end to that. A few weeks ago Sam bought a canvas and painted me a picture that has a similar style, just with his own spin on it. Thank you, Sam. I love the painting.

our new place.

So this is home for a while. We love it. We have a real backyard with a garden, and we live in a real neighborhood. We have a church across the street, rather than a bar. We have 2 next door neighbors, rather than a quick cash place and a Wendy's. We made quite the upgrade.

My favorite part of the house- the kitchen that is open to the family room. So nice to be able to talk to people while I slave around in the kitchen. Sandwiches take a lot of time to make, you know. Oh, and if you will notice the pink and green cups. When we first got married we bought these plastic cups, and two and a half years later Sam has yet to drink out of a pink "girl cup. He refuses. And he gets ticked if I drink out of his green "boy" cups.

I am quite the decorator, I know.

Our computer room/Sam's stuff.

It will be very nice to not have the bathroom door open up to the kitchen. Very nice. I don't think I need to share stories.

andersen family reunion

We had an official family reunion, the kind where you wear matching shirts and everything. It was in St. George and only for 2 days, and with family that I hadn't seen in years. Like since I was 5. My mom's family isn't too big on get-togethers. It was interesting and a little awkward, and Sam and I hung out most of the time with my sisters. I LOVED getting to see my mom, dad, and sisters and already miss them like crazy.

Outside the St. George temple

We got to share a room with these guys. My nephews are so much fun. Ethan and Sam had fun daring each other to do lots of gross things. Unfortunately, we had to switch rooms for the last night due to Kade keeping us up most of the first night with this loud humming noise he makes when he sleeps. Notice how tired we look?

Chuck-a-rama. Doesn't the name make you want to up chuck?

We spent most of Monday hiking the narrows. It was awesome! The rocks were beautiful and it was fun hiking through all the water. A few times you had to climb up a ladder under a waterfall. We had so much fun.

My family with my grandparents, Allen and Donna. My grandparents lived in Hawaii while I went to college and took very good care of me. It was fun to get to know them, since I had only seen them a few times before moving over there. They are very generous and just nice people. Donna pretty much takes care of my grandpa, as she is 25 years younger. Talk about an age gap. They put on a great reunion and I wonder how long it will be until the next one...

i love my sisters!

I LOVE having all sisters. It's the best. We have so much fun together just doing everyday things. I remember when we were younger, we would mop the floors by rubber banding sponges to our feet and skating around. Brooke and I tried the same tactic to clean the carpet, but it didn't turn out too well. We had gotten gum in the carpet and my mom left us to clean it, so we put on socks, dipped our feet in the water, and skated around on the carpet. Then we got smart and just dumped all the water on the carpet. That didn't go over too well when Brooke tried to plug in the radio...she got a little shock. I remember us sneaking gross and embarrassing things into each other's lunches...like rotten bananas or old pancakes. Growing up was so fun thanks to all my sisters. I finally got to see them last week in St. George. It was only for 2 days but we had fun swimming at the hotel pool and talking, which is what we do best.

i could get used to this.

The 24th of July is big stuff here in Ogden. We went to the final night of the rodeo with Dave and Melissa, and it was AWESOME. My days of going to the Flake Rodeos didn't prepare me for this. My idea of a rodeo was my uncles racing on horses to pick up watermelons and eggs from opposite sides of the arena. Not that that isn't fun, it's just a different kind of rodeo. This was the real thing, buckin' bulls and buckin' stallions all night long. And motocross kids doing backflips off 30 foot jumps to finish the night off. And fireworks when it got dark. And the announcer making fun of Obama throughout the night. And plenty of very, very patritoic people. It was refreshing. It made me realize that Utah is a pretty great place. I miss my family and I hate the cold, but I love so many things about this place. Like how it is full of so many, many good people. And summers are amazing. And the grocery stores have people playing organs at accordians for you while you shop. I don't know where we'll be after Sam graduates, but if it is here in Utah I am ok with that.