What are you Thankful for?

Last night we went to a Kennewick East Stake performance called CELEBRATE AMERICA

It was truly unbelievable the talent that is hidden in one
stake. We actually were going because Mykalyn was in the children’s group.
(Sorry the pictures are so bad; I am trying to get Mike to cough up the dough to buy a cool camera like Lees! I am using the old “if you take enough bad pictures, they are going to help you do it right” routine.)
Mykie is in the back row, third one in. It was pretty cool on this song
(Nifty Fifty) because they were holding cards that actually made up the flag of the Good Ol’ USA. They did a great job and had two numbers.
This next couple, Fred and Pat Dixon, have just celebrated their 43 wedding anniversary. They had 4 daughters and now have 13 grandchildren and even some great grandchildren. They sang some cute “the art of raising parents” songs. One was called “Never Say No”. I thought this song was so cute and really so revealing of what happens when a parent says “NO” that I had to include the lyrics with it:

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! Dog's got to bark, a mule's got to bray. Soldiers must fight and preachers must pray. And children, I guess, must get their own way The minute that you say no.

Why did the kids pour jam on the cat? Raspberry jam all over the cat? Why should the kids do something like that, When all that we said was no?

My son was once afraid to swim. The water made him wince. Until I said he mustn't swim: S'been swimmin' ever since!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! Dog's got to bark, a mule's got to bray.
Soldiers must fight and preachers must pray. And children, I guess, must get their own way The minute that you say no.

Why did the kids put beans in their ears? No one can hear with beans in their ears. After a while the reason appears. They did it cause we said no.

Your daughter brings a young man in, Says "Do you like him, Pa?" Just say that he's a fool and then: You've got a son-in-law!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!Sure as the June comes right after May!Sure as the night comes right after day! You can be sure the devil's to pay The minute that you say no.

Make sure you never say...No!

Doesn't saying “NO” sometimes give you a scary kind of feeling of things to come?
There was this fun women’s trio that sang Boogie Woogy Bugle
Boy. They were energetic and full of smiles. Mykie and I loved this group. She told me about it at all her practices.
There were tons of performances by groups and great soloist that sang Summer Time and hit those high notes in a fantastic way, but the best (or most entertaining) was the Young Men’s Quartet. They didn’t sing, as much as they lip-synced and danced.

The dancing was so great. It was reminiscent of the 70’s in style, but it was choreographed so well. The boys are part of the “in-crowd”, but weren’t afraid to be silly and entertain us all! I wish I had it on video so I could share it with you all. You’d all get a good laugh!

The only downfall for the evening was Brigam. He kept saying, “I hate singing” and hang his head. I did get him to pose for one picture, but as you know pictures can say 1000 words. Brigam’s says boredom!

It was a great performance ending with the song “Proud to be an American” were the audience was invited to “stand up” and sing with the entire cast on the last chorus. That is one of my favorite songs and always fills me with pride and a host of goose bumps on the arms. I do love America and feel so blessed to be here. What a great show to kick off the Thanksgiving season to remind us that we do have so much to be thankful for!

Enjoy your day and don’t forget to say “thanks” for the blessings that are your own!

Fore!

If there is one activity that Brigam is always up for, it would be GOLF with dad! When I see them go off golfing, it reminds me of that Primary song “My Daddy is my Favorite Pal…” He thinks it is the funnest sport!
I, on the other hand, feel quite differently. For one, golf is a very expensive sport. Apparently six year olds don’t cost that much, that is why Brigam is getting to go all the time, but 28 year olds are FULL PRICE all the time – even if they are cute! My second reason for not enjoying the hitting-the-puny-little-ball-with-the-puny-little-stick game is because I don’t see the need to pay for frustration. Geez, I am the mother of 4 children, a wife, I have a teen-tiny, less than part-time job, and a craft business on the side (can you say “vinyl” anyone?) I don’t need to pay for frustration, I get it for free.
Anyway, back to Brigam and his love for the sport and all its facets. He also wants to dress that way. Here’s one of him getting ready to have his own clubs put in the car.

The next is a better view of that “golf” hat.
No, he doesn’t wear that because he wants his ears warm. He’d wear that in the dead of winter. But it is his “golfing” hat – plaid and all. Thanks to Grampa Anderson (and Aunt Hermona) – wearing that hat is the cherry on top of a great golf session!

Compute-TARDS

As much as I love computers - I really hate them just as much. The more I do, the more I have to lose. One of our computers opens up in Windows 2000 even though it also has Windows XP on it. I have avoided switching over to XP because I didn't have the XP version of Microsoft Office and didn't want to fork out $200 for it. The computer could only be patient for so long. Now when I try to boot up in 2000, it tells me it's missing a file. But it will boot up in XP, but there are none of my files on it. I don't know where the missing file went too, but I would like to file a missing file report. Unfortunately, I think I would have to direct my questions about the missing file to the XP portion of my computer and I really think that XP is responsible for it's disappearance. I don't think XP will look into the case to deeply. Stupid compute-tards! Now I will have to go outside in the cold to my money tree and harvest some leaves to go shopping.

Halloween and other Scary Things

Well, the BIG night is over and the fun has now just begun! Mykie was ever fashionable in her "birthday" heelys making for the perfect illusion of a floating witch. Make-up curtosy of Mykalyn Productions. Pretty good for her first go with make up (by the way, that is why she'll have to wait until 12 to wear the real stuff. Anyone remember the 80's and all that blue eyeshadow?) She had a great time with her girlfriends and brought home way too much candy.

Brigam was our scary vampire (not Dracula, for some odd reason I haven't figured out). He did want the make up until we got into it, then he fought me all the way. It was worse when we tried to scrub it off in the shower. I am sure that he profusely thanked Heavenly Father in his prayers last night that he wasn't a girl and had to do that every day! He loved trick-or-treating. It was just he, Mike and I trick or treating which was reminisent of those earlier Halloweens with Tyler. He was very polite to the trick-or-treatees running from the houses after he got his loot saying, "I said thank you mom!" He loved the fact that he got a stash of sugar of his very own. He did share one cherry flavored tootsie pop with me. Very thoughtful after all the walking we did last night.

So those were scary things, but the following was the scariest of them all:

Tyler goes to his first Homecoming. He's so handsome, Kelsey Carver is a knock out and my baby is off and in the dating world. I guess that before now he was in the dating world, but now he's all dressed up and looking so old. It was a double date and they had a great time. Appearantly, Tyler tore it up on the dance floor (I don't know if everybody else thought that he tore it up too, but he said that he did utilize some of the moves showcased in the movie Hitch. I think that the moves were the ones that were banned by Will Smith's character, mind you.) It's weird watching your kids grow sometimes. Brings back some memories - some fond, some not so fond. But I am so glad that he is who he is. He is an awesome guy that will be an awesome man! Stuff for you all to look forward to my friends!

Happy Halloween!

I am excited for tonight, but a little sad too. Tyler thinks he's too old for trick or treating. Being 16 I don't see that there is a problem, it's not like he's 28 like me! I even have the perfect costume for him - a create a huge magnet he wears around his neck and then put little (fake) plastic baby chickens all over him. He's a chick magnet! It would be perfect, but he's not biting. Jeremy is going to dress up like a 70's Superman/Clark Kent (which just means the Clark Kent costume and a huge black afro) or he's going to wear a size 4 Toddler Eyore costume. WHATEVER - the point here is that he is going to go trick or treating with friends. Mykie, my little witchy-poo is going to go trick or treating with a friend and her mom too. That leaves my little dracula, Brigam with Mike and I. Maybe Ranch and Home trick or treating isn't such a bad idea after all. Quick and enough candy to keep the Andelin's in business for the next year. Hum....
I did my Halloween dress up already. The girls from work and I dressed up as storage boxes. I was Christmas Decorations, we had a St. Patricks Day Decoration Box, a Thanksgiving one and a Halloween Costume box. It was pretty funny. Note to all, going up the stairs in a box is quite a little workout. You'll have to work that new one into your workout routine! I'll post pics later. Have a great Halloween!

The Princess' Birthday

Yesturday we celebrated Mykalyn's Birthday. Unbelievably the girl has turned 11! She is getting older faster than I thought she would. I am still 28 and she is catching up fast! For her birthday, she got her ears pierced and was allowed to shave her legs. She is so very excited! I never thought Daisy disposible razors could get somebody to hug you so hard. She's had "issues" about the hair on her legs as of late. It was enough to stop her from wearing skirts, but now she is ready to "skirt" once again. In fact, she is already up and asking for help in the shaving department this morning.
Mykalyn is such a great little girl. I don't know why I was so lucky to get my one girl to be so fantastic. She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She is so helpful. She helps you before you knew you needed help. She's just that type of gal. I am so glad that she's my friend. Gotta go shave!

Burp Barfs

Last week was one of those weeks that I really missed my mom and dad being here. For those of you who don't know - they are on a 23 month mission in Mongolia (yes, even Outer Mongilia). I'm driving home in my car wishing I could call my mom to rattle off to her for an hour about nothing. Thank goodness for e-mail!
I also could have used mom and dad this week because there is only one of me and I have 4 kids (Mike works in Oregon - an hour away). On Tuesday, I had just dropped Brigam off to get on the school bus and was on my way to take Mykie to the dentist (by the way, don't let your kids brush their teeth on their own. No matter how much they squirm and scream when you pin them to the floor, sit on their chests and floss and brush for them - DO IT - it is apparently important to do. Cavities like it when kids do the brushing) when I get a phone call from the school. Brigam is supposedly not feeling well as he threw up on the bus. This confused me because there was no indication that there was a "pukey" child during our morning's activities.
I dropped Mykie off to face the dentist ALONE with her two cavities and 1 sealant. She's so brave.
I rush to the school to pick up my sick child. Seeing him sitting on the bed in the nurse's room puts me immediately into mothering mode. I rub his back and hold his little hand and ask him how he's feeling. He's fine. I asked him if he felt like throwing up again. No he doesn't. I asked him if he was sick this morning and didn't tell me. No, he isn't sick. I ask, so patiently I might add, why he threw up then. He informed me that he didn't throw up, he did a "burp barf". Trying to hold back a smile, I asked him why he "burp barfed". He said, "It was all this kid's fault on the bus. This kid on my bus picked his nose (his own nose, not Brigam's), showed his booger to me and then he ate it. It made me sick so I burp barfed!" At least I know that my kid doesn't eat what comes out of his nose. Needless to say, I have asked him to keep his eyes closed on his bus ride to school. Being in first grade, I don't think that Brigam has seen the last of those who cannot dispose of their findings appropriately.