Super Hero Birthday Party

Birthday boy takes a bite out of crime (cake)

A Super Hero cake for a super kid

Nice shirt from Courtney

Clark Kent eats Kryptonite (jello jigglers)

Super Hero Sandwich's

Awesome Super Hero Cake (sure glad we kept all the Super Hero toys)

Raphael (Austin) & Batgirl (Courtney): Best Friends

The Super Hero Clan...let's hope we don't need any saving the planet anytime soon!!!

Clark Kent...aka Chase

Austin is Raphael...TMNT...he wanted to have a Super hero party for his 15th birthday...so he made the invitations and I made him a turtle shell for his costume. Some of his friends couldn't come because of the flu, and other commitments but the 6 that were at the party had fun. We ate Hero sandwich's with chips and "kryptonite" (aka lime jello jigglers), watched "Xmen orignins, Wolverine", ate fun dips, m&ms and cake...then they went outside to the fire pit and sat around a fire for a while (nobody wanted smores after all the other sugar). Then they tested their agility by playing the paper sack game....If you don't know how to play it...it's pretty funny! The party was over at 11pm and Austin had to do the clean up! HAPPY BIRTHDAY OUR SON! You are growing up into a fine young man...we just have to keep the ladies away for a few more years (wish us luck on that one).

Labor Day in Lake Powell

Mike enjoying the "glass-like" water!


Cool Lilly and beautiful Maddie!

Austin cliff jumping...it was so beautiful there!!!

Austin getting ready to "Hit It"

Chase gives a thumbs up for his great slalom skills!

Mike explores crack!

Lilly likes the speed boat...even if she has to wear that red life jacket...nothing gets her down!

Poppy, Lilly Maddie and Mike...enjoying a dip in the lake, near the house boat

There was even time for grooming in the lake!

Lilly after eating red licorice on the boat...she was so much fun!






The "Chubby Bunny" game with cheese balls...we really weren't bored...just doing weird things...like usual!!

Chase and Austin tubing behind the speed boat...Awww...such cute brothers!!!

Having so much fun together!!!

Sweethearts reunite at Lake Powell

There was no better place than Lake Powell to meet Steve for a fun weekend! He left Colorado on Aug 10th to go to Las Vegas for a 4 month deployment so we hadn't seen each other for almost a month (yeah, I know...boohoo...but we miss him at home!!!) Mike and Maddie invited us to join Mike's family at Lake Powell so we couldn't be rude and deny them the opportunity to spend time with us...lol! WE had so much fun on the house boat, jumping into the cool water anytime we wanted to cool off, eating good food, relaxing, playing games and watching Lilly (there was a lot of watching Lilly) It was a very relaxing weekend, but way too short!!! Thanks Mike and Lynnette for letting us spend some time together with our family and friends!!!

Our 25th Anniversary Cruise

Brenda and I were lucky enough to get out on a cruise for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. The really great thing was it was just us two. We flew from Colorado Springs to Miami. Unfortunately our plane was delayed getting into Miami, so our hotel shuttle didn't pick us up because we didn't land until 1:10 am. We boarded the boat bound for Half Moon Cay. It's a very small island in the Bahama's leased from the government by the cruise lines. We were able to just lay on the beach with 400 of our closest friends, and soak up the sun. At noon we took a quick trip to the other side of the island and took a tour of the lagoon in two man ocean kayaks. That part was really fun. there were only 10 people total who did this excursion including the guide so we were able to get away from the cruise ship crowd for a bit. Then lunch was a huge BBQ taken onto the island by the ship.



Our next stop was St. Thomas, USVI. It reminded us a lot of Jamaca. It's kind of a US third world with a Caribbean flavor. We did another cruise line excursion there. I'm a certified SCUBA diver and have always wanted Brenda to try it, but she has a problem with the concept of breathing under water. But she wanted me to have the opportunity to dive, so we compromised. We went on a SNUBA excursion. It was at the Coral World marine park. We took an open bus to the park and got all suited up with fins, masks and a SNUBA regulator. The air supply is a hose that is hooked to a raft that follows the group around. As soon as we were in the water, I went straight to the bottom, and stayed there the whole time exploring everything I could. Brenda was a little tentative at first, but once she got used to the equipment and stopped thinking so much about breathing under water she actually had fun. There is hope that one day I can convince her to certify. After we got out of the water, we toured the very small park for a while. At one point we turned around and found all these iguannas on the sidewalk. Pretty cool.
The next stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico. Probably our least favorite place. We walked around the city for several hours looking at the forts there, but the best thing was finding a street vendor that sold 'ilado de coco'. It's a coconut flavored frozen desert that I haven't had since my mission. I absolutely loved it!

Our last stop was at Grand Turks & Caicos, a small island owned by the Brits. It had been hit by Hurricane Ike last year, and they were still rebuilding. We decided we didn't want to share our beach with 400-500 of our closest friends this time, so we got all our snorkle gear and grabbed a cab. He gave us a great tour of the island and dropped us on a little beach away from everyone else. There ended up being only about 10-25 people on the whole beach. We spent our time just relaxing, enjoying the white, powdery sand of the caribbean, and snorkeling around for several hours before we needed to be back on the boat for dinner.
As alway, the cruise food was great, and we both ended up gaining 5-7 lbs. Luckly, we both lost that much before we went. Even better, we're both about back down to our pre-cruise weight loss weight. We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and especially being able to spend 7 full days and nights together, to do what we wanted when we wanted to. No kids, no phones, no internet, just us! -- Highly recommended.

River dancing under hypnosis

Chase and Austin participated in a hypnosis at a comedy club on Saturday night...here's just a little bit of what they did! Too Funny!!!

Mother's day weekend

We drove to Utah for Mother's day weekend, leaving Friday afternoon and getting to Provo late Friday night. The drive was beautiful through the mountains and we were surprised to see so much snow still up in the mountains. As we got closer to Glenwood Springs, everything was greener and spring like...it's about time. On Saturday Steve and I went for a walk/run in the morning and then we went to American Fork to see the mobile home my mom is buying and then Steve took the boys to Mike and Maddies to deliver the washer and dryer that came out of our house and I went with Grandma Merta to the Anderson Mother's Day Luncheon. It was great to see all of my female relatives at Brick Oven restaurant. We had a tribute to my grandma Madeline Anderson's hands because she was always busy with her hands...either serving her family, neighbors or others.
After the luncheon, Maddie and I went shopping for a while...it was fun to try on clothes together and of course I had to buy Lilly an outfit too.
We all then went to the hospital to visit Steve's mom Claudia. She wasn't doing too well so the kids made it a fairly quick visit and then Steve and I stayed to visit longer with his siblings and mom.
One of the highlights of the day was going up to Salt Lake to get a Belgium waffle and Frites...sounds funny but ooohhhh they were sooooo good. Just like we remembered in Belgium. Hot, moist and sweet with crunchy sugar bits. After filling up on waffles and frites we headed back down to Orem and went to a comedy hypnotist show. It was so funny...the hypnotist got to Chase and Austin and they were hilarious playing out whatever they were told to do...they were back up dancers to "Brittany Spears", belly dancers, river dancers, race car drivers and one of the funniest was that Austin was a fashion coordinator (complete with a lisp) and Chase was a dandruff inspector and they went out to the audience and inspected people...too funny when Austin came back to the stage and crossed his legs!
We completed the weekend with a Mother's day brunch at my mom's house and had fun talking to Amanda (our niece) in Germany on the Skype internet...her boys are so cute!
So, spending time with Maddie, Lilly and Grandma's was a great way to spend our Mother's day weekend. Now Steve and I are looking forward to our cruise in a couple of weeks to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary!!!

The Prince takes his Princess to Prom

Tonight is Prom at Liberty High School. Chase asked Jessica Porter to it and they doubled with Codi and his date. This afternoon the boys slaved in the kitchen making breadsticks, caesar salad, and lasagna. They set the table to look like an Italian restaurant and then picked up their dates around 7 pm. Apparently the dinner was fabulous and they all went away very full. The dance is at the Press Box on the Air Force Academy and the theme is "A Night in Paris"
Steve and I get to chaperone the "after prom" activities at the high school from midnight until 0400...sounds like fun, Huh!!! Don't they all look fabulous!!!

Spring break in Moab, Utah

Our spring break was back in March and if you want to enjoy some warm weather you have to leave Colorado during spring break because it almost always is cold and snowy at that time. We left on Friday morning and drove our trailer up over the Colorado mountains and arrive in the desert oasis of Moab, Utah in the early afternoon. Spencer, Chase and friend Codi drove the jeep following us. We set up the trailer and camp and then went for a bike ride on the Slippery Rock practice trail. It is always a difficult ride but gets easier each time. Lots of sandstone, hills and valleys and a few sand pits to trudge through. But it is way fun!
We camped at the Slickrock Campground and enjoyed the camp with Steve's little sisters Teri and Jody and their families. Our friends, The Packers joined us also...it was fun to see them again! We enjoyed the hot tubs at the campground, went biking and jeeping and on Sunday afternoon, after church, we went to Arches National Park and hiked to delicate arch. Maddie, Mike, Lilly and Grandma Merta came on Saturday night and spent 2 nights with us...it was Lilly's first camp trip and she loved the fire. It was also Grandma's 69th birthday so we celebrated with a dutch oven chocolate turtle cake and ice cream.
Lots of fun was had and we enjoyed 80 degree temps for the first few days and then it was in the 60's but very nice.
This was our 3rd annual trip to Moab for Spring break and we love it lots! Especially when we get to see family and friends!!!

Our house get's an upgrade...or two...or three...

We've been doing a little upgrading to our house, since we've got an extension at the Academy and will be here till the Summer of 2010. We decided that we wanted to enjoy those upgrades for a while and not just do them to make selling the house easier. We needed to replace the carpet in the family room, because of the years of pets and traffic. We went with a darker, speckled color that'll hide dirt better. Its much softer than what we had before, and the boys enjoy sitting on the floor more. In fact, Spencer and Austin sat on the floor the whole session of Sunday morning conference coloring in coloring books.

We went down together and picked out the carpet. We've been talking about it for quite a while, but finally decided it was time. Steve was a carpet installer for 7 years with Grandpa Anderson, and could have installed it himself, but after two knee surgeries he decided it was worth it to him to pay to have someone else put it in. Eventually we'll be doing the stairs, the den, and at least the master bedroom. They are all in serious need of replacement soon.

Then a few days after we bought the carpet, but before we had it put in, the dishwasher started to make some really ugly noises. We couldn't find the problem and learned it would be too expensive to fix so we decided it was time for a new dishwasher. Last summer we antiqued the kitchen cabinets, and got new counter tops, which highlighted the fact that all our appliances were mismatched. We wanted to slowly make the move to replace the white and cream colored ones with stainless steel, so we determined there was no time like the present to start the transition with the dishwasher. When we started looking, we found a pretty good deal on an entire stainless kitchen set that included the dishwasher, range, refrigerator, and over the range microwave. We talked about it, and decided to go for the whole shebang! The day came for the big purchase, and unbeknownst to Steve the purchased turned into and entire stainless kitchen...AND a new front load washer and drier! The money was flying out that day...Steve was a little more than surprised because that part of the big buy hadn't been discussed. That's okay, Maddie is happy that she'll be getting the old ones, and we'll recoup some of the money from selling the old ones and by getting rebates and tax credits for energy savings!

Steve and the boys have had a couple of very busy nights moving all the furniture out of the Family room on Wednesday and Thursday night. The appliances were delivered on Thrusday, and the delivery guys only installed the Washer and Drier, and the Stove. Steve had to hook up the water to the Fridge and the Dishwasher on Thursday night. Then on Friday the carpet was installed. So Friday and Saturday everything was put back into the Family room. (Saturday between Conference Sessions, and other running around). Then today, he and the boys finished removing the old microwave and installing the new one.

The house is looking good, and we'll be able to enjoy our improvements before we put the house up for sale in about a year. ... By the way, anyone want to buy an electric range and over the range microwave???

Lilly's blessing day

On March 2nd our Granddaughter Lilly Anastasia Robertson was blessed by her father Michael Robertson in Lehi Utah...for those who aren't members of our church, it is a priesthood blessing given to a newborn that gives her her name and a blessing for her life. We had many family and friends there at the church and it was a beautiful blessing that Mike gave to Lilly. Having Lilly in our family is a great blessing and it is still wonderful being grandparents!!