Teek'a 1st Birthday!

I feel horrible that it has taken me so long to post Teeka's 1st Birthday Party. Things have been so crazy and it has already been over a month since the sweet girl turned 1. I figure...better late than never!

Teeka had a great 1st birthday. As with all 1st birthdays, she didn't have a clue what was happening, but man did she love her birthday cake! She was so funny! The boys hadn't even gotten the candles blown out and she was already digging in! We had just put the cake down in front of her on the coffee table not thinking the little turkey would dive right in...without a bib...and standing on the carpet...but she did! Lance and I were so shocked because none of the boys would have even thought of doing this...I mean...getting their hands dirty and all!LOL!!! She couldn't get enough. She just sat there licking her fingers, saying yummmm, and diving in for more. We love you Teeka!

So while I was getting the little diva washed up the boys took it upon themselves to open all her presents...after all...she couldn't do it, right? So their dad told them to take the presents and hide under the table so I wouldn't know. Sure enough, they thought they were pulling a fast one on me and that I wouldn't figure it out! Good thing I am smarter than they think!

Here is the cake...POST TEEKA! I didn't even get a picture of it before the damage was done!

This picture was taken before I realized what was happening, but Chase obviously has it figured out!

This was so cute that it was hard to stop her, but something had to be done before she had it all over the carpet!

How could anyone be upset with a face like that?

Getting ready for the presents. Funny...I don't have any of her opening them. Oh yeah! She didn't open them! Thanks boys!LOL!!!

This is the first "girl" toy Lance and I have bought for her. She loves walking around behind it and thinks she is pretty cool when she sits and scoots it around.

Here is Teeka on her birthday in her brand new "big girl" car seat. She was so excited and she just starred at me the whole way to work.

These are just some cute picture of our girl. She is so adventurous and always has to be right in the middle of everything. She loves to be anywhere the boys are and I am so proud of them as to how tolerant they are of their little princess. Teeka isn't quite walking yet, but she does walk between furniture and can stand in the middle of the floor now. She loves to talk and tries to say most everything we do. We have heard her say dog, cow, bye-bye, & I love you (IU), but not consistently yet. She says mama, dada, & uh-oh all the time and screams MORE at us when she wants more food. You'd think we starve the little thing. She love to explore everything and isn't afraid of getting dirty...I mean even knee deep in ANYTHING! She is still the most active baby I have ever tried to hold onto, but yet gives the biggest and longest hugs you have ever seen. We love you little LOU!

Teeka at the lake...knee deep in it!

Teeka loves to help me do dishes. The second that dishwasher is down she is right there helping.

Teeka loves to help get things out of the refrigerator. The second it comes open she is right there too.

Happy 1st Birthday Teeka Lou!

Garrett Shooting His New Bow

This is the compound bow Garrett got for his birthday. It is so amazing how he can shoot it! I am really proud of him and Lance just beams when they are out shooting together. I think as he gets better we are going to get him in some archery shooting contests! Garrett said, "this present is cooler than I thought!"Getting ready! Learning about the sites & aiming.
Pulling back and releasing! Great Job Garrett!

Just me and my boy!

Here's a fun video of Garrett with his bow!

Garrett's 6th Birthday!

I can't believe it! My little Garrett has turned 6! I know I say it all the time, but I really can't believe how fast time is passing me by! There is so much about Garrett that I want to remember, yet so much that I thought I would never forget, and so much that I didn't think I forgot about until something reminds me of it. Thank goodness for pictures, video and memory books, although I need to do more of all of them.

I am so proud of who Garrett is, what he is becoming and for what his future holds. He is growing into such an amazing young boy and I love the sense of humor that is emerging from his little brain. It's a little scary because so much of him reminds me of his dad and sometimes I just look at him and think....."you are definitely your daddy's boy"....and he is very much proud of that.

Garrett is the best big brother his boys and Teeka could have. He is always so willing to help out when I need it and is continually teaching them little things that I forget are so important. It amazes me how the boys will follow Garrett all around the house, heeding to every word he says and never questioning why. If Garrett wants them to be lions...they're lions. If he wants them to be sharks...they're sharks. If he tells them it is nap time at 10:00am...I find them in their beds, just lying there, and when I go in they are asking..."do we really have to go to bed?"LOL.

Teeka has Garrett wrapped around her finger...although I think she has everybody wrapped around her finger. If she says jump...they all say how high! It cracks me up! How can a 1 year old be the boss, but she is. Garrett is more than happy to watch her for me while I put the boys down for naps and is more than panicked if he thinks she is doing something that might hurt her or has something in her mouth. When he goes to school I am going to have to up my game a little and we are sure going to miss him when he is away. However, I know he is ready for the challenge and I know that I will be so proud of him as he develops into a wonderful young man.

Just a cute picure of my little man. I love this face!
On Garrett's birthday we celebrated by going swimming after I got off work, having a pizza picnic in the park, and finishing with birthday cake and ice cream. This is Garrett, Teeka, and Baby Grace sharing in some good food. I love that the girls shared the same plate.

Garrett is really into Bakugan's, so this is the Bakugan cake that I made him. Nothing to professional, but he loved it!

Lance was so proud of himself when he bought this bow for Garrett. Garrett didn't realize how cool it was until he was able to shoot it with his dad about a week later. He is actually pretty good at it and he looks so dang cute when he shoots. This is such a great thing for them to do together and Garrett asks to go shooting quite frequently.

This is our good friend Jill. She watches the kids while I am at work and they all love her so much...but I don't think anybody loves her as much as Lance and I. It is wonderful to know that your kids are loved when you are away from them.

Garrett wanted to have a bowling party for his cousins and preschool friends. It was a great party and we celebrated his birthday again.

Garrett is quite the little bowler and he has so much fun!
Chase, Sawyer, Teeka and Dad holding the fort down!
We celebrated this party with a spider man cake!
We love you Garrett! Happy Birthday Little Man! Here's to you and your 6th birthday!

Anderson Family Reunion 2009

This year for our Anderson Family Reunion we were able to go camping in Flaming Gorge. I have to admit that at first I was a little nervous about taking all 4 of my little ones...Garrett age 5, Sawyer age 3, Chase age 3, and Teeka 11 months camping by myself without my husband, but it was soooo dang much fun! I was bummed that Lance wasn't able to come, but it was also no surprise to us because he is so busy in the summer and he has a lot of responsibilities on the ranch, so I have learned to buck up, and do a lot of things by myself, with all the kids and it usually works out great! We also missed Uncle Tate, but he will be home soon and we are so excited about that!

The hardest part about camping was setting up camp and breaking it down. That takes a lot of work, but thanks to my dad and all of his hard work and my mom and her great baby watching we were able to accomplish it all in relatively good time....We were only there about 2 1/2 hours longer breaking down than everybody else! :)

The whole reunion was so fun and the kids just couldn't get enough. We spent a lot of time at the camp with the kids just running rampant and getting to know each other. We were also able to take them to the lake, out on a boat (thanks to Mitch and my Dad), and out on the river on rafts. Each evening we had a fun game to play and during the days the girls organized fun entertainment for the kids...dinosaur digs, pirate treasure hunts and Olympic games...all of which my kids are so into. Thanks to all of the girls for the idea and organization of it all. We have decided to make our family reunion a camp out every year! Did I say, "we had so much fun"? WE DID!

The kids are preparing for their dinosaur dig. They were all so intense about it! Great job Edie! I don't have anymore pictures of the other kids activities, but I am hoping Luke will send them soon.

The kids are all digging to find a dinosaur bone. I wonder if they thought this was real?

After the dinosaur hunt! Carter, Chase, Sawyer, Avery, Garrett, Parker.

Kaycee, Lance, Parker & CarterTeeka & Cienna napping in the stroller. I was so glad that I took this stroller. The tent was way to hot for them to sleep there during the day and this worked out perfect. Garrett is our little fish out of water. He loves to swim and wanted to go to the water everyday. He is getting to be a good little swimmer, but maybe a little over confident sometime:) You go boy!

I love this picture because it is SO grandpa, Luke and Lance...and where is Loren? He would be out there right now too, but he is busy freaking out about watching all the kids...or lecturing us parents about how to watch our kids. We love Uncle Loren...he is like every child's dad!

What a poser. I love this picture of Sawyer. He just couldn't get enough posing time this trip!

I'm not sure what Chase is doing? I was trying to get him to smile, but this is the best he could do. How cute!

Avery is on a mission...to see if she can drift out to sea! And we as parents didn't even notice...maybe that is why Uncle Loren was lecturing. Thank goodness for life vests and a brave little girl!

Tiffany and Kaeson...Love the hair!

Grandpa and his girls...Cienna and Avery. There is just something about little girls! Maybe because we only have 3 out of 12! We are not giving up girls!

Teeka loves to get dirty and she does it as often as she can...funny...the boys aren't into getting dirty, but Teeka...Well, look for yourself!

Marcus, worn out and tired. What a sweet little mama's boy. I can't wait to see what his personality is like when he is about 4 years old. I bet super sweet!

Edie, Carter, and Luke. I love that the boys were able to have some bonding time with Carter. We don't get to see them much and by the end of the trip they all pretty much had each other figured out and did well together. Love you Carter...you crack me up!

Chase being some kind of water monster. The boys got really comfortable in the water on this trip. That is a huge accomplishment!

Relaxing in the shade. Leah is taking some well deserved "me" time!

Grandma wasn't feeling super good on this trip, so she spent a lot of time in the screen tent with the babies, which came in extremely handy, and in the shade relaxing the best she could. Hope we didn't wear her out too much. We love you Grandma!

This picture is hard to see, but Luke is in the water, Kaycee swinging from the rope, and Lance is on the cliff. The boys had a great time swinging from this rope and Kaycee has no fear...although she only did this once and this picture is taken right before she belly flopped! It was great!:)LOL

Lance and Luke "testing out this cliff" to make sure it is safe for us girls to jump off of....Is that safe?

Lance, Parker, Garrett & Avery awaiting our rafting trip. This trip was so much fun! I wish everybody could have gone.

Chase and Sawyer. Sawyer is posing again! Nice face buddy!

I was actually trying to get a picture of Mitch here. He dodges pictures all the time. Obviously I still wasn't fast enough, but it is still cute of Luke and Carter!

Loren and Garrett on the rafting trip. We had 2 rafts and at the end of the trip Avery and Garrett were in a race with the other raft to make it to shore first. They were so excited and it was so cute how hard they were working.

Love the smile Chase...and what kind of pose it this one Sawyer? I love that face!