Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It has been a busy year at the Anderson home. We are now living in a new home, wishing it were ours, but we will be leaving this one around the beginning of the year and hopefully buying a home so we don’t have to move for many years to come. We have only moved four times in the past 14 months, so what’s another one!?! We currently live in Lehi, Utah and crossing our fingers that a home in American Fork that we love with soon be our home. Hailee is getting into the spirit of moving too, the other day she asked when we were going to live in a different house because she was bored of this one.

John is now a CPA. He is doing really well at his new job as was recently promoted. He is looking forward to hitting the slopes with his snowboard within the next week or two, he has yet to convince me that the fun factor outweighs the cold factor, so he will be going with some buddies and not me. He is looking forward to owning a home so he can have a lawn to mow, trees to trim and most importantly so he can put nails in the walls to hang pictures without worrying about what the owner would think.

Dana has adjusted to life with two kids, but every day still wonders how people handle more than two. This year she worked on her certification to become ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor and passed her test in October. She is really enjoying her job teaching exercise classes at Life Time Fitness, The Lehi Legacy Center, and Gold’s Gym.

We were recently called to teach the Sunbeams, Hailee’s primary class. At first we were a little hesitant, but then we realized this is the best calling in the church. We get to do it together and spend some quality time as a family. John made a puppet out of a paper bag, he calls him Max, and the kids love him. They ask every week when Max is coming. Although Max is often times the “bad example” and the kids tell their parents . . . maybe they will release us!?!

Hailee turns four years old on Christmas Day and every day we as parents wonder what the heck we are doing and if we will ever get it right. She is a huge fan of Dora the Explorer, consider yourself lucky if you don’t know who that is. She will have her first birthday party with friends on Saturday. She has recently become a fan of Tinkerbelle, so that is the theme of her party. She loves playing in the snow, which makes me even more convinced that she is more her dad’s child than mine!

The most excited event that happened this year occurred on March 23 when Camryn joined our family. She has been a huge blessing to our family and it is hard to remember life without her. Until recently we referred to her as our “calming influence”. Over the past couple weeks she has decided that she wants to “walk” around instead of playing on the floor, so now anytime she is on the floor she will yell at us until someone holds her hands to let her walk around the room. She refuses to crawl so when she is on the floor and content there she will roll.

Some of the fun things that our family has been up to this year included the Anderson Family Reunion in June. A trip to Arizona for John to do some CPA training (okay not so fun for him) and for Dana and Cam to catch up with friends. We traveled to Couer d’ Alene for Thanksgiving to visit Grandma and Grandpa Anderson and both concluded that a trip there once a year is not nearly enough. On the way to Northern Idaho we stopped to visit our friends Ryan and Andrea in Caldwell, Idaho. Now that we are back in Utah we have been able to see Grandma and Grandpa Maxfield a lot more which has been great.

So, there is a quick update. We are still getting into the spirit of blogging, but if you want to keep up to date on our family throughout the year just go to our blog @ johnandersonfamilyblog.blogspot.com. We won’t promise that we will update it regularly, but we’ll do the best we can to post the important events in our lives.

Happy Rivalry Week!

Happy Halloween!

Dana - Sarah Palin, or hot business woman . . .

Hailee - Dora, or orphan with black hair

Cam - teddy bear, or Ms. Poopy Pants

Family Pictures

Sherry did an awesome job on pictures for us, despite what she had to work with, she made us look really good.

Funny Pictures

To trump my last post, which some have reminded me was pretty negative . . . (no offense intended, just wanted to eliminate an future misunderstanding), here are some more pics of the girls.

Things that make me MAD!

OK, so I was tagged . . . but I am not big on those things, so I will not play by the rules.I will, however, explain a few things that really bug me. I think I had a bad day yesterday with salesman, telemarketers, and MLM "friends". I need a "spill my guts" therapy session, and you are now my doctor. Anyway, here we go . . . things that really tick me off. 5 . . .4 . . .3 . . .2 . . .1

1. Used Car Salesman / Realtors: I hate being backed into a corner. I hate pushy people who try to be my friend. That said, do not try to lecture my on what a good deal is and what is best for my family. Do not treat me like I am an idiot and that my Masters of Accountancy knowledge of finance and accounting does not apply in this situation. The only reason that I HAVE TO make a deal today is because you want your commission, slime bag. The real estate "bottom" has not hit yet (yes, you also said that 6 months ago, and a year ago).

2. Forwarded Emails: Please – no one is going to give you $50 for each person you forward your email to. Nothing will really happen if you do not forward the magic fairy that will grant your wish. Also, if you do have something great to forward, take the time to delete the crap above and below the email so that I do not have to wade through 65 pages of email addresses before I get to the pot of poo at the end of the rainbow that was supposed to be gold.

On that point, ever wonder how people get your email address and send you slimy spam? Yep, you guessed it. People who forward emails in this way also give a great list to spammers of emailers who will open everything in their inbox and forward it to everyone in their address book even though it is completely ridiculous/untrue. P.S. go to snopes.com to first make sure that the claim that your forward is true. Otherwise, it is just internet gossip / lies. I didn't poop on your doorstep, so please do not do the equivalent to my inbox.

3. Multi-Level "Friends": Last night we had some "friends" (are you really a friend if use your friendship to further your business?) come by to see us and tell us about the cool business that they were in. Little did we know (I should have known, we are in Utah Cty, the MLM capital of the world), but we were about to sit in on a "life changing experience".

The wife sat down and tried to explain to me the reasons why Dana and I were not millionaires. She explained that there were 4 types of ways to make money, and that we were on the side of those who do not make lots of money because we made the poor choice of going to college and were channeled into being a slave for a corporation. The big bucks, according to her, were made by big business owners and investors (um, yeah . . . I am an investor . . . .but carry on with your pointless drivel).

They were so excited to get us into this business where we buy our products online, and that if we got people below us to do the same and have multiple "downlines", that we would be rolling in the dough. . . She saidit was about making good choices, and it was the poor choices that we made that got us into our impoverished state (this is where I started getting REALLY pissed), and that choosing to network with these uber-intelligent people that I would be driving a Ferrari and living the high life.

Here's where it gets even better! We get a knock at the door from their superior "Jake" that they had been talking about. How he was going to become a doctor and had quit school to make money the real way. Jake took trips to extravagant places, drove a nice car, and was "someone I should look up to." He came in all happy and pretended to care about what was going on in my life. He explained that Dana and I "looked like a hard-working, motivated couple" that could make a lot of money if we "made better choices." What am I . . . some deadbeat HS dropout?

After his spastic, giddy presentation on why he was rich and I was not, he asked us what we wanted in life. My answers about going on a mission, gaining education, etc was not good enough. He told me that although fancy cars were not really important to me, that I would soon find out that the high life was a much better lifestyle and that I was missing out. 15 mins later, he left to go to another appointment, saying, "Thanks NICK, I hope you make the best decision for your family." (Come on . . . if you are not sure about my name, use the usual bailouts - "buddy", "partner", "pal", or even the pathetic - "buckaroo".

We then were left two on two with our great "friends" (dripping with sarcasm BTW). "What do you think?" We then explained that we liked our life and jobs, we felt that we had made good choices, and that a MLM sales career where we preyed on our friends was not our life's dream. They seemed hurt at my blunt answer, tried to small talk, but soon gracefully left.

NOTE: Yes, I HATE MLMs and if you read this and ever want to introduce me to your great pyramid idea, please save me and you the time and pain. I WILL NOT EVER, EVER, EVER sign up for such a business. I would much rather be caught in a combine or have a red hot poker jabbed into both of my eyes. And if you decide to give it a try, don't be surprised when we do not call ever you again or even send a Christmas card.

Thanks for letting me rant and rave . . . I feel better!

It's been a while

The girls are a lot bigger and grown up. We have been busy with a move and . . . we are not diligent bloggers. Is that good enough? ;) Here are some pics of the girls:

Our Garden

John has been looking for a new hobby, and he has picked up gardening. His dad had a garden when they were growing up, and he loves fresh tomatoes, so he couldn't resist. Plus, our backyard (10 x 10 ft. dirt mound) is really ugly, so we had to do something.

John bought 2 tomato plants (1 yellow bell, 2 giant), and 2 pepper plants (yellow bell and sweet and hot red poppers). So far, they have grown well, and we have about 6-8 tomatoes coming on. John always gives me a garden update to brag about his work just about every day. I hope they do well, because he has put a lot of time into them.

Hailee also got some flowers that John wanted her to take care of. She goes out every day to water her flowers with a spray bottle (so we don't end up with a pool instead of a garden). See the pics below.

With the salmonella scare here in Utah (Wal-Mart had ZERO tomatoes), it should pay off!

Sisters?

Do these girls look alike? OK . . . Cam is a little chubbier, balder, and blue-eyes-er, but pretty close, huh?

CAM

HAILEE

Camryn's Blessing

Cam was blessed on June 1 and we were blessed to have family there to witness it. Sorry it has been so long since we have posted, but we have had some internet problems. Enjoy the pics!! Family pics to follow later in the week.

Family Picture on the blessing day.

The first smile caught on camera.
Cam with her cousin Braydon, the Michelin Man.
The grandkids with grandpa Maxfield.
Peek a boo!
Crooked smile, like dad (ok, she looks nothing like me).

Who does Hailee look like?

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Frugality!

One of my new hobbies is to look at personal finance blogs to find out how to save money. OK, so I am a nerdy accountant, but saving money for the future is a good habit to get into. It's the little things that kill . . . eating out (which is Dana and I's vice) . . . shopping . . . netflicks . . . toys . . . tanning . . . it all adds up. I've even thought of starting a personal finance blog to add my own thoughts and link to others' great posts that I read for the day. So without further ado - here are some ways that Dana and I have found to save money:

• REDBOX: How can you beat a new release for a dollar per night? You don't have to pay for a monthly membership, you can reserve them online, it beats $5 for 5 days at Blockbuster (who watches them more than once per day anyway?), there are even codes for free rentals online. Savings = 5 movies * $5 (Blockbuster price) - $5 (Redbox price) = $20 per month.
  
• WAL-MART PRICEMATCH: Do you like shopping for deals? I do . . . but hate driving more than I need to. If you get newspaper ads in the mail, plan your meals based on what is on sale, then pricematch everything at Wal-Mart. They will meet all competitors' prices. This saves Dana and I about $30-40 per month.
• RABBIT EARS: I know, we are crazy. We were once DirecTV-aholics, but found that we can get all the major channels by buying some high tech rabbit ears (about $40 bucks) and get free TV. It does get a little grainy sometimes, I miss ESPN, Hailee misses the Disney channel, and Dana whines that Gilmore Girls is not on, but I think it is worth the savings. We don't watch as much TV. Savings = $50 per month.
  
• NO HOME PHONE: We have cell phones, but no home land line. We don't really need it! Our cell phones are a necessity to keep in touch and for emergencies, but who needs to fork out an additional $25 per month for a landline? Savings = $25 per month.
  
• CRAIGSLIST.ORG: Free online classifieds for anything and everything. We bought 99% of our furniture, some tools, a baby swing, and yard equipment off the site. Great deals. Savings = ?? (lots!)
• GYM PASSES: these are beginning to be a necessity, especially when it gets cold outside. If you are like me, you don't want to get into a contract to pay $25 per month. So, if your local gym will do it, buy a contract off someone that has prepaid for 1, 2, or 3 years. I paid $300 for 3.25 years of Gold's gym membership. Savings = $25 - ($300 /39 months) = $17+ dollars per month.
• HAIRCUTS: OK guys, I know you like to go get your hair cut by a professional, but ever since Dana and I got married, she has cut my hair. I admit, the first time after we bought the $30 Wahl haircutting kit and Dana was going to buzz my melon, I was nervous. There have not been many "oops" moments either . . . but now, she does an excellent job in 20 minutes time. To add to this, Dana reminded me that I have dyed her hair a couple of times (please don't tell anyone though, or I will have to turn in my man card). Savings: $12-15 per month.
  
• SCOOTER??: I haven't put this one into practice yet, but with gas nearing $4 per gallon, why not drive a vehicle that gets 90 mpg? Used scooters (on craigslist mind you) are anywhere from $700 - $1500. Driving to work (with a helmet) saves a lot. Savings = ??

More to come later!

New Bed!

So let me tell you . . . I think I often spoil my wife. I like to buy her clothes, take her to dinner, and give her an occasional back massage. This week, we finally got a bed frame for our queen pillow-top mattress we bought while still in college. Yes, 5 years after marriage, we finally have a bed. Let me give you a little history about our beds:

April 2003: Dana and I rent our first apartment for the summer in Rexburg. Since it is single housing, we had to push two single beds together. The funny part is that we had to move in while we were single, and pushing the beds together was a little awkward for us . . . funny story to remember.

September 2003: We move to Provo, and being poor . . . we sleep on an air mattress for 3 months. It was very uncomfortable, to say the least. I'm really not sure why Dana didn't leave me at this point for the Serta Outlet manager. I mean, what kind of husband makes his new bride sleep on an air mattress?

December 2003: I finally pony up the $500 bucks for our pillow top mattress. We get the best sleep of our lives. Considering what Dana slept on growing up, I know this was a great purchase.

Dec 2003 - April 2008: We have the mattress and box spring sitting on the floor. It looks ghetto, but gets the job done!

April 2008: I find a great deal on a black sleigh bed on craigslist. $100 bucks! Dana loves it and even made the bed for a week straight!

As I write this, I realize that every piece of furniture that we have (save our leather loveseat) has been a used "good buy" from craigslist or from a yard sale. I just can't bring myself to pay full price for anything. I guess that is my frugal accounting side. Anyway, enjoy the pics!

More . . .

Hot off the presses - while she actually is holding still!

By Popular Demand . . .

New Pictures! Camryn changes daily . . . so we thought we'd share her with you. Oh . . . and Hailee had her first "bug holding" experience. She held a worm and a potato bug. She tried to pick up a centipede, but I told her that they were poisonous and that it'd bite her. She always reminds me, "Dad, remember when I had the "tinta-pete" and it was going to bite me?" Here you go . . .