2011 Anderson Family Update

It is hard to believe that it is already the end of 2011. We’ve had a very eventful year inour family, so here are some little tidbits of information about us.

John started the year with a company called iBahn and 2 weeks before Tyce was born started a new job as the Controller at Clearlink (basically the head accounting guru). He loves his new job. He thrives on challenges and likes to look for ways to help companies move forward, so this has been a great move for him. He has enjoyed teaching his Sunday School class and will miss the kids he has been teaching, as he starts his new calling this week as the 2nd Counselor in the Sunday School Presidency. The teenagers love him and his ability to relate to (still act like) them!

Dana I am adjusting to my new role as a mother of 3. To be honest, this has been the easiest transition of any kid, for me. I have a different perspective this time around and I am just trying to enjoy each phase, knowing that shortly it will end and we will be in a new stage. I am still teaching Group Fitness classes for Life Time Fitness and The Gymbox and enjoy the friendships that I have made and continue to make as I work with wonderful people there. I am excited to be back to running and training for races and I am looking forward to the St. George Half Marathon in January and the Utah Valley Marathon on June, where I plan to qualify for the Boston Marathon and run it in 2013.

Hailee started 1st grade this year and she loves school. She has an incredible teacher named Mrs. Welcker and has made a lot of new friends. Hailee is an excellent student and loves telling us what she learned about that day. She is dancing with Empower Dance again and loves her new team, Aspire. She was dancer of the month in November because she practices every night and learned 2 dances, the team performed last year, in one week, so she could perform with them for Christmas. She also lost her two front bottom teeth, but can’t sing, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth” because they grew in before the others fell out. Hailee loves to craft and will try to make anything she can with paper, cotton balls, string, tape, scissors and tape. She completed her second triathlon this summer and did amazing. Her birthday is coming up - on Christmas Day she will be 7 years old.

Camryn started dancing with Empower Dance this year. She loves singing her dance songs to us and showing us her moves. She is the “super senior” of her nursery class. She is by far the oldest and smartest (I may be biased) because she has been in there for so long. She loves her nursery leaders and has to stop and talk to Sister Savage whenever we go for a walk, but she can’t wait to go to Primary. Cam and I have been doing our own preschool at home and she is a very smart girl and loves to do puzzles, write the ABC’s and numbers, do Play-do, and type to dad on instant messenger on the computer. She is daddy’s little helper and loves to be in the garage or out in the yard to “help” him put stuff together. In fact, she asked for “girl tools” for Christmas and she can’t wait for Santa to bring them so she can fix stuff with dad.

Tyce was born on July 31. He weighed 7 lb 15 oz and was 20 inches long. Since then, he has grown at an incredible rate. He is 4 ½ months old and now weighs over 18 pounds and is 26 inches long. It seems that by the time I wash an outfit, he has outgrown it. We made it through the first 3 months of colic and fared relatively well. Now he is just a happy, chubby boy. His newest “tricks” include, holding onto toys, smiling at anyone and everyone, giggling, and rolling over- he isn’t a fan of this one because he hates being on his tummy and hasn’t figured out how to roll back over yet (update: he just rolled from his tummy to his back). John and I have enjoyed watching the girls grow up as they lookout for each other and Tyce. Hailee loves to hold him and play with him. Cam loves to make him giggle.


We are very grateful for the many blessings that came to us this year and for the wonderful friends, family and neighbors who have helped us so much as our lives have changed.

Love, John, Dana, Hailee, Camryn and Tyce

We hope you have a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!

Finding Out: Brother or Sister?

March 15th was a day our family had been looking forward to for a while. Hailee and Cam knew "mom had a baby in her tummy" and that she was more tired than usual. We left for the doctor's office about 9:15 for the 9:30 ultrasound and as we left, I took this video with my iphone:

Well, as you all know, we found out we are having a boy. Cam and Hailee were still excited even though they wanted a sister (because "girls are cute").

Here is the post-ultrasound interview.

The real news

As everyone probably knows (facebook broke the story in December), we are having another monster come into the family in late July. Dana has been feeling relatively well for being pregnant. Little bouts of nausea and tired spells are all that she has dealt with so far. Cam made Dana pretty sick and so did Hailee, so maybe this one is a little different, like maybe a boy? (insert wishful thinking comment here)

So far, we have come up with names for both sexes . . . so you get to choose your fav as we narrow down the list:

GIRL NAMES (listed first because, well, we have a track record)
Tatum
Kalia (the street we stayed on in Hawaii)
Jordan
Brynn
Emery

BOY NAMES
Tyce
William
Brett
David
John
Landon
Parker
Blake
Brendan
Kyle
Ty
Jimmer (Gotta slip that one in)
Connor

New Addition to the Family!

Yes, we got a new addition to the family this last weekend. A toddler toilet.



The girls were pretty excited after we picked it up from someone on KSL.com for $20. After finishing up the baseboards, the bathroom is finally fully functional. All we need to do now is restain the vanity and put in solid surface countertops.

The Journey

Back in Febuary I got an itch to run a marathon. I had several friends who had recently run one and they talked me into it. They filled me head with the highs and lows of running a marathon and how amazing it felt to cross that finish line after running 26.2 miles. Back then, I was really excited about the idea.

This is my friend Debbie. I took on this challenge because of her.


When I committed to this (I actually paid money to run that far) I had never run further than 13.1 miles in a single session. My thought was, "I have already run half that distance, with a little training and motivation adding another 13.1 shouldn't be too difficult." Um, I was wrong. I realized after my first 18 mile run that mentally I was not strong enough to complete a marathon. I had some serious soul searching take place for about a week as to whether or not I could actually accomplish this goal. Two things kept me going, I already spent the money and I had told people that I was going to do it. What I am trying to say is this, my pride kept me in this for the long haul!

Let me remind you, I love to run. I love to race. I love the thrill of passing people and the challenge to catch people after they pass me. The problem I found with training for a marathon is that it isn't a race, at least for me this first time, I had to learn to pace myself.

I ran my first 20 miler the end of July and the last 5 miles were torture. Mentally, I was still not ready. I kept questioning my intent. I kept questioning my body. I was hot, I was tired, I was done around mile 17. But, I ran. I ran up a hill and back down it. I added on an extra loop because I was 1/2 a mile short, and I hated every minute of it. But, I did it. I finished. I reached another goal and I knew I only had one more long run in my way before race day.

A couple weeks later I ran my fastest half marathon. The thrill of racing those first 6 miles was incredible! I didn't know my feet could move that fast. I didn't know my lungs and heart were that effecient. The last 7 miles I paid for the extra speed at the beginning. At mile 10 I had a moment where I wanted to throw in the towel and give up. But, I finished. I did well. My body proved to my mind, yet again, that it was strong enough to do hard things.

Me and Anika at Hobble Creek in our homemade TieDye tanks!


Last weekend I ran 22 miles. I ran non-stop for 3 hours. No water breaks (I carried my water), no bathroom breaks, not even a stop light broke up this run. I didn't hate any of it. It was definitely a challenge. Physically I was spent before I was spent mentally, that hasn't happened to me before. This time it was my mind, and my iPod, that kept me going the last couple of miles. When I hit mile 22 I honestly thought that I could keep going for another 4.2 miles. That was an awesome feeling. Did I want to run for another 32 minutes, NO, but the confidence that I could, felt really good.

So, here I am, 2 weeks away from my marathon. The taper period. I will cut back my mileage from 40 miles per week to 24 miles, to 16 miles and then to 10 miles and then I'll run the longest distance of my life, 26.2 miles. And you better believe I will have a sticker proudly displayed in my car window after I finish. Wish me luck!

The Little Monsters

For those of you who don't live close by, this is what our girls look like now. Yeah, it has been a while since we posted pics of them.

John, Hailee, and Cam playing miniature golf at Boondocks.

Hailee can do the splits, this is her "good" leg. And yes, Cam now has hair!

Cam got into Hailee's "craft" cupboard.

Cam's first time at Hogle Zoo. She loved it, Hailee loved it, but their favorite part was definitely the ice cream cones.

One of the many faces of Cam.

Movin' on Down . . .!?! Losing it.

John (reality TV show interview cut-away): After I left Omniture, I worked for a small startup company that had me working long hours with barely any time for myself. They also had a snack room with tasty treats that I loved such as hot tomales, Reese's Pieces, Red Vines, and more. Consequently, I put on 5-7 extra pounds in a short 3 month period.

Meet Fat John. Fat John was tired, cranky (ask Dana), out of shape, and unhappy. He was the heaviest he had ever been . . . ever! 190.6 lbs to be exact.



In April, Fat John decided to make a change for a job with a little more stability and a better work/life balance. Along with employment at iBAHN, he was given a free membership to Dana's gym - Lifetime Fitness. It was the first day on the job at iBAHN, April 19th, that Fat John decided that his "shape" was a little out of whack and decided to set a goal to get to his pre-marriage, pre-mission weight - 172.

18+ pounds was not a ton to lose, but he wanted to make it a lifestyle change. It was convenient that Fat John's wife is a group fitness instructor and had many tips to help him in the process. She told him that if he lost it through exercise and watching his caloric intake, that he would be successful.

John (reality TV show interview cut-away): "When I was in the Philippines, I remember my mission president, President Evans, telling me that I could do anything I wanted and make something a habit if I put my mind to it and to stick with it for 21 days. After 21 days, he said, the task would become second nature and a habit. I took that advice to heart and decided to hit the gym for 5-6 times per week."

Starting out, it was difficult for Fat John to maintain any exercise for 45 straight minutes. Fat John got bored, sore, tired, lazy, etc during the first 21 days. He had shin splints, a hamstring and calves that were always tight, thoughts of quitting ran through his head daily. He wondered if he would ever make his goal. A goal! Fat John knew that if he were to have a goal, that he would need to have a reward. He always wanted a PS3 with NCAA Football to play (to also use for Blue Ray disks on his 47" Sony LCD). That, he decided would be the reward for meeting the goal.

Here was his game plan:

1. Exercise 5-6 times per week. Starting out with easier exercises - eliptical machine, lifting weights, slower treadmill jogging (9:00+ minute miles). These would later build up to more difficult exercises (running sub 8:00 minute miles, heavier lifting, and riding his road bike).

2. Healthier eating: smaller portions, 5-6 times per day. Breakfast? Oatmeal. PACK A LUNCH. Dinner - smaller portions (use smaller plates and slow down, stopping before you think you are full). Drink a lot of water.

Look for ways to cut calories:

(a) Sugar-free syrup on whole wheat pancakes (instead of sugary syrup on regular pancakes). Trust me, the syrup tastes good.

(b) Sugar free popsicles in the evening when feeling "snacky".

(c) Protein shakes right after a workout. They don't taste like a frosty, but get over it. They taste a lot better with ice.

(d) Almond butter: a good source of protein and healthier than peanut butter. Goes great with sugar free jam, regular jam (berry of course), or bananas.

(e) Oatmeal for breakfast: 1 packet of low sugar oatmeal mixed 50-50 with plain oatmeal. Healthy filler with a good taste. Don't make it too thick - it's like eating paste.

(f) Whole wheat bread, pasta, etc. It tastes better. Avoid bleached, enriched flour at all costs.

(g) NO SODA / POP / WHATEVER YOU CALL IT: not even diet . . . and for heaven sakes no sugared soda. Cheat every once in a while, but drink cold water when thirsty.

(h) During the day, snack on fruit, carrots, granola bars (healthy types).

(i) Eating out: Make a healthier choice, share, eat rabbit food (lettuce) and taste the more unhealthy choice made by your spouse (thanks Dana). Don't eat the whole meal if it is HUGE. Take the rest home.


3. Tracking towards the goal: weigh in every 5-7 days (not daily) at the same time of day. Mornings will be lighter and afternoons will be heavier. Daily fluctuations do not matter. Even small weekly gains are OK as long as the trend over 2-3 weeks is still downward. Keep track of the weigh ins and only report if the weight is down from the prior weigh in. Log weights in a spreadsheet and show progress on a chart in Microsoft Excel(Fat John . . . ok, John {fat or skinny} is a nerd).

4. Reporting: when progress is made, tell someone. Tell Dana, a co worker, mom, siblings when you hit certain milestones. Celebrate in the moment, then look forward to the next milestone by working even harder the next workout.

5. Have smaller goals along the way:
(a) Run a 5K, 10K (I wanted to run the freedom festival 5K 2+ minutes faster). I ended up running it 3.5 minutes faster.
(b) when your workouts become more difficult, and you are able to handle it, treat it as an accomplishment (i.e. running 3.2 miles at a 7:00 minute pace - great job self!).

6. Allow yourself to cheat a little: don't worry if you have to miss a day of exercise. Be flexible. Go out for ice cream, a treat, etc, but remember to eat a smaller portion.

Here is how the journey went (graphically):



Notice how there were plateaus - at those times I had to pick up the pace or change to a different exercise.

On Tuesday, August 11th, 2010, Fat John hibernated (and will hopefully never come back) and "goal reached" John finally emerged. 190.6 to 172 happened. It was very difficult. It took me nearly 4 months. It was not easy for me. There was no miracle, no pill, no secret diet, no HCG shots . . . only sweat, blisters, chaffing (TMI, I know), disappointment, perserverance, and victory!

In the mean time, I learned a lot and hope anyone reading that wants to lose a few or a lot more can use what I learned to get started. I found out a lot about myself and my limits.

The journey is not over. I think 172 is a good base, but now I want to continue to reduce my body fat percentage and get stronger, more flexible, and have some 6-pack abs for once in my life.



PS - I just went 10-2 in my first season with BYU on my PS3 . . .

Merry Christmas from the Andersons!

Dear Family, Friends, and blog followers -

This year has been one of the more eventful years of our married life. We haven’t added any children, nor did we graduate again, but we had a lot happen. Here are some updates from our family and the significant events that happened during the year.

Our Family:

John got roped into running a couple races this year, but he found his nitch in a different mode of transportation, road biking. In June, he sold his motorbike to buy his Specialized road bike and begin training for the Fort Bridger, 24th of July, triathlon. He, Dana and Anika took first place this year. He was recently called to be a Deacon’s Quorum Adviser and enjoys the time he spends with his 16 rambunctious scouts. As many of you know, John is a huge BYU fan, his football team did pretty good this year and they recently beat the Utes, so in his mind the year was a success. He continues the tradition of taking the family to most of the BYU Basketball games.

Dana took up competitive running this year. She began her season with one goal in mind, run the Provo River Trail Half Marathon. She and her sister, Anika, started serious training in June and had a lot of fun running their 6, 8, 10 and eventually 12 mile runs together. This one goal led to many races and experiences that will not soon be forgotten. In October, she joined a team of runner’s from Life Time Fitness to run the Las Vegas Ragnar Relay; 24 hours, 188 miles, and 12 runners (each running 3 legs of the race). Her team placed 2nd, losing by only 6 seconds and she came home with a baton that had, “Almost First” engraved on it. She continues to teach group fitness at Life Time Fitness and Gold’s Gym and this year started teaching for the American Fork Fitness Center.

Hailee continues to enjoy and excel in her gymnastics class. She started preschool this fall and she has loved every minute of it. She likes to learn, but mostly she can’t wait to see what the craft is for the day. Dana’s dilemma now is, what to do with all the “cute” things she brings home! Hailee loves princesses. Her favorite princess is Sleeping Beauty, because her dress is pink and she has blond hair. She is looking forward to Kindergarten this next year almost as much as her Mom and Dad are.

Camryn is in nursery now. She has to begin her 2 hours there with as much drama as she can muster. Tears, screams, tight hugs. . . but she forgets within 20 seconds that she didn’t want us to leave. She’s very social and settles right into her environment wherever she is, making life as a parent on Sunday, much more enjoyable. She has seen her fair share of doctor’s offices in her short 20 months of life, but she will be seeing more of them in the coming months. She has a tufted hemangioma (a purple and red birthmark) on the inside of her left arm. We noticed is starting to grow in July and continued to watch it, despite steroid creams, grow to the point it is at now. She was given steroid injections in the middle of December to hopefully slow the growth until we can get it removed by the plastic surgeon at Primary Children’s in January. We’ll keep you posted.

Events:

House. On February 26, 2009, we closed on our first home in American Fork. If you have followed our moving saga, we had some rough times looking for the perfect home. We wanted a big yard, a finished basement, near schools, a big master bedroom and bath, good size kitchen, and relatively new (nothing 80's or earlier). After many months of looking, we finally found our home on the AF / Highland border. It is not our "dream home", but is very much what we want. It was built in 1994, so it has some updating to do, but we are excited to personalize it to our tastes. We hope we can stay for many years as we love our neighborhood and ward.

Job Lost and Found(?). On September 15, 2009, John received an email from the CEO of Omniture announcing that Omniture was to be acquired by Adobe . . . as in Adobe Photoshop, Flash, .pdf, etc. It was definitely an anxious time for John as he did not know what the acquisition meant for his future employment. Six long weeks later, John found out that he was placed on transition until January 31st, 2009 and given a generous severance package. We were definitely stressed (and still are) as we were not sure that we could find a job at a great company like Omniture, but knew things would work out for the best.

Fast forward 2 months, John now has 4-5 opportunities on the horizon and it is looking more and more like we may even come out with a pay increase and a promotion. Nothing is signed in ink yet, but we are finding that the Lord is blessing us in our time of need. It definitely pays to get your education and professional certifications. We will keep you updated when we have solid news

Mexican Riviera Cruise. In July, John called, and in one of the most spontaneous things he has ever done, told me that he wanted to go on a cruise in December. Dana was really surprised, but very excited to finally go some place tropical and get away from the bitter cold of Utah. Dana’s parents watched the girls (thanks so much!) and we flew to San Diego. We booked it on the Holland America line (which we later found out was more of the 60+ crowd) and had a wonderful time. The food, beds, and service were top notch! Other than the little bit of motion sickness that we had on the first and last days, we loved every minute.

On board, Dana immediately looked for and found the gym so she could continue her morning workouts. John was not as excited, but ended up loving the sea-level workouts. John found that the cooks and bar tenders were Filipino and immediately set out on a quest to find someone that spoke Illongo. He did, and had a great time reliving his time there through hilarious conversation with the staff.

We stopped at ports in Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas. All the ports had great weather (80 degree plus) and we found something fun and exciting at each stop. In Mazatlan, we rented a beach spot, Dana tanned, and John swam in the ocean. Dana also braved the waves, but was more concerned that she was going to lose her swimming suit than she was about drowning in the crashing waves (they really weren’t that big). “Wow, the ocean is really salty.” – Dana. After that, we did a little shopping in the Golden Zone and at a HUGE plate of Mexican lobster and coconut shrimp – yum!

In Puerto Vallarta, we booked a shore excursion, a rain forest canopy tour, in Los Veranos. John was a little nervous because he is afraid of heights, but ended up having the time of his life zipping over the treetops on 14 lines. The instructors / entertainers were great as they helped us clip into the lines. They were local Mexicans that had a great sense of humor and kept commenting on how good looking Dana is. At the end of the tour, we enjoyed fresh coconut shrimp and Mexican Coke. By the time we got back on the bus and back to the port, all we had time for was a stop as Wal-Mart (yes, you heard right) to call home and buy some Mexican Vanilla.

Our last stop, Cabo, was definitely the most beautiful and clean. We decided to go through the markets to buy souvenirs from the locals. Dana was pretty nervous about negotiating on price, but John was seasoned from his mission to the Philippines. We ended up getting some rings for Dana, some other jewelry, dresses for the girls, and a couple of wood carvings for John’s office. Good memories. After that, we took a water taxi out to Lover’s Beach (or the other side . . . divorce beach). It was a beautiful paradise. John snorkeled and Dana tanned. What a relaxing venue. We will definitely be going back some day. More details and pictures will follow after we get our blog butts in gear.

We hope you have all had a great 2009 (and survived the economic downturn). We wish you a Merry Christmas, and hope 2010 is the best yet for you personally, as a family, and for our country. We love you and hope to see you all at least once this next year.

Love,

John, Dana, Hailee, and Camryn

2009 Freedom Run 5K/10K

John and I decided to join the the thousands of runners who came out for the Freedom Run in Provo this year. We had a lot of fun and the weather was perfect!

John and 2017 others ran the 5K. Although he is not really a runner (yet!) and hasn't trained as I have, he cut nearly 2 minutes off the first 5K we ran last summer. His goal is to get into the top 25 for his age group, which will mean that he has to shave 3 minutes off his time. Ambitious, but with training, it's possible.

I ran the 10K against 1357 others. My favorite part of the race was coming down University Avenue because there were over 20,000 people lined up to watch parade and that many people cheering me on made mile 3 fly by. Next on my list of favorites during the race was running down University Parkway from 9th east, past the Marriott Center. If you know this road, you know that it is down hill. There is nothing better than running full speed and not feeling a thing!

I ran my fastest mile yet during the race and my overall time put me 2 minutes ahead of my goal. I ended up finishing 68th out of 715 women and 15th in my age group. My goal next year is to finish in the top 50 women, which means I have to cut about 1:15 off my time from this year.

All in all, a good showing and a great time. You can't complain about the exercise and it brings out the competitive spirit in you! We invite anyone to come out with us next year. We have a basement where you can stay too . . . now accepting reservations.

For my "Lishy"

So, not realizing that today was even bigger than I previously thought . . . it is our 6 year anniversary (ok, ladies . . .back off. I remembered)! Dana and I got married on a cold rainy day 6 years ago in the Salt Lake City temple. We have enjoyed both fun and difficult times in our marriage. Dana has done a lot in her time as my wife. She got her associates and bachelors degrees from BYUI and BYU. She has become quite the successful fitness instructor for Lifetime fitness (thus, the hot bod!). She has become a great mom and wife. Our relationship is quite funny, as Netti may attest to. Living with us, she must think that we either are madly in love or at each others' throats with no in between. We both have our cranky moments, but have a great time teasing each other and just hanging out.

I love Dana's humor, her beautiful features, her motivation, her caring heart, etc. She is still the love of my life and I can't wait to spend the rest of it together. Love you lish!

P.S. For those of you that are unfamiliar, here is where "Lish" came from. We started out calling each other "honey" like everyone does. That grew into honey-licious, of which, I do not know the origins of. Now it is just "Lish" and it has stuck. :)

Mother's Day Pictures

For Mother's Day my mom and aunt patiently photographed my children. I have to say I am very surprised at the number of smiles they got out of them.


The mischevious grin!

Finally, permission to pick up Camryn.
Any hair growing tips??

Cam will love this when she is older!

Thanks mom, Sherry, Hailee and Camryn for making me smile.

Pictures...

Living Room

Master Bedroom

Camryn's Room

Hailee's Room

Family Room

Kitchen

Update about our home...

We closed on our house on February 26. I think I will always remember that date because of the excessive number of times we had to sign and date the closing documents.

We were all settled in and ready to start leading normal lives, but then we decided to put new carpet in a lot of the rooms, so we are back to mess and chaos. John has decided that tearing out carpet is not really a good career path for him. I think it is pretty safe to say that he'll stick to his office job. Hailee is terrified of the tack strips and insists we carry her across them. Cam could care less; dirt, carpet sheddings, and staples, just makes her life of living a foot off the floor more interesting. I am a little bugged by the amount of stuff that sticks to the bottom of my feet no matter how many times I sweep. The good news is my uncle Jerry is helping us out and Shane is putting in our carpet on Saturday.

So, once carpet is in and the rooms are in their proper order again I promise to post more pictures.

A Place to Call Home!

So if you have followed our moving saga, we had some rough times looking for the perfect home. We wanted a big yard, a finished basement, near schools, a big master bedroom and bath, good size kitchen, and relatively new (nothing 80's or earlier).

Well, after many months of looking, we finally found our home on the AF / Highland border. It is not our "dream home", but is very much what we want. It was built in 1994, so it has some updating to do, but we are excited to personalize it to our tastes.

The last couple of weekends have comprised of painting and updating, and getting ready for the big move. Dana has picked our cute colors for the girls rooms and they are about 95% done with painting and updating. Cam's has a green accent wall (think Tinkerbell) and will have purple curtains and accents. Hailee's is (of course) pink and will have lots and lots of pink swag.

We will update with more pics later, but here are a few to give you just a taste.

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.