Sun(nap)days

Sundays are wonderful days. I try to get a nap in as often as possible. It just seems to be a good way to rest from the craziness of the week before, and prepare for the craziness of the week ahead.

Today Tyaan and Marley joined me...

Magic Mountain

On May 6th Tyaan, Michael and I went to Magic Mountain. We hadn't gone for a couple years and I decided it was time.


We played a game and each got a cape as a prize. I actually won, so got a stuffed monkey as a prize as well. He went on a bunch of rides with me during the day.


Towards the end of the day Tyaan played a game because she wanted to win a batman hat. She did it!


Michael and Tyaan got pulled up on stage for a fun game. They got to throw water balloons, and at the end got drenched!



We had a lot of fun!

Swimming in the rain...

This year was Tyaan's first year swimming for Mt. SAC. On February 27th Michael and I went to an invitational with lots of schools in attendance. It was held at SAC, but it was a rainy day.



They don't stop swim meets due to rain. The only thing that stops them is thunder or lightning. There were a few times that day that they stopped the meet and got everyone out of the pool. If thunder was heard, or lightning seen they evacuate the pool, wait several minutes. If there's another within the allotted time they end the meet. If not they keep going. This just meant that we sat in the rain for several hours.


At one point it even began hailing! And of course it was just as Ty started one of her events. She said she could feel it hitting the back of her legs while she was swimming.


She swam the breaststroke this day, which is her least favorite stroke. But...she's good at just about anything she tries, so the coaches had her swim it anyway!


It was fun, as always, to watch her swim...but we were happy to get home to dry off and warm up.

Ride to Baldy

On October 10, 2009 Jon took me for a ride on his new motorcycle. We went up to Mt. Baldy, which is one of our favorite places. It was a great day to be on the bike, and the mountain was beautiful.

Riding Trip

On May 23rd we went on a riding trip. Tyaan hadn't ridden since breaking her collarbone on Jan. 3rd. We didn't dare go riding again until after swim season was over. So we had been waiting a while for this trip!

This is me coming in after riding Jon's bike. I love to ride his bike out on the dry lake bed because it's SO fast!


Tyaan's friend Bryce came with us on this trip. He had never ridden before and hadn't been able to go on a young men's riding trip that Jon and other leaders had put together a few months before. So Jon had wanted to make sure he got the chance to ride. Since he is a swimmer also (he was captain of the boys swim team at Chaffey, while Ty was the girls captain) and also swam at CIF we didn't want him risking injury until season was over.


Here is Ty, back in her riding gear after all those months!


It was a fun day. We got to ride some trails. Jon doesn't get to ride very fast when he's with us because we're nowhere near as good on dirt bikes as he is. This was also the first time I had been out since I had crashed so I was pretty timid. (It hurts!!) But he is patient with us, and says he had a good time anyway!

Beach trip

On May 9th we took a trip to the beach. It was warm at home, but the beach was overcast so it was pretty cool. The girls still got some skim boarding in because it wasn't too crowded. We also got to play volleyball, which Tyaan has been playing more lately and is getting more comfortable with it. I love volleyball so I'm enjoying that!




I stayed out of the water...

AMA Supercross Finals

We got tickets to go see the AMA Supercross Finals in Vegas on May 2nd. We were really excited because we weren't able to go to the race here in Anaheim and the season was ending. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on tickets so when we found some that were a really good price we grabbed them.

We did the trip in a day so we didn't have to spend the money to stay the night out there. We left mid morning, Russell came with us. Tyaan made herself comfortable so the 4 hour drive didn't seem too bad. Russell was playing video games most of the way, so he was happy as well.


We got there and found our seats which were pretty good. It was really cool to see the track in person since we're used to watching on TV. The pits were open and we got to watch practice during the day. It was pretty hot when we got there, but it made the evening perfect once the sun was down. This is a picture of the track from our seats.


Russell, Ty & Jon


Ty and Jon in their Supercross hats!

Russ and Ty.


There was a show in the pits that Ty and I went out to watch. These guys were flipping and doing all kinds of stuff. It was pretty amazing! They did a show in the stadium in between races. At one time they had 3 motorcycles all doing back flips and in the air at the same time!


Jon and I during the races. It got pretty heated with the Reed vs. Stewart fans. We are Stewart fans, because he is by far the best rider, but in Vegas the Reed fans are overwhelming. Since this was finals and Stewart and Reed were 1st and 2nd in points it came down to this race to decide the season champion.

Here is Stewart during the race. He is amazing!!

Tyaan's sign. The "Reed...who is that guy" is totally funny. If you follow the series you'd realize how cute it was that she put it on there.

They put on a pretty good fireworks show when the race was over. Stewart won the championship (although not the race) which was AWESOME!! Reed didn't win the race OR the championship, although he tried to wreck Stewart because he's an idiot... but that was pretty awesome too.


Afterwards we drove home. It was a long, but really fun day. We got home early the next morning. Luckily Russell drove most of the way home so Jon could sleep. It was a really fun experience and we'll definitely have to make it to a race next season. Although we'll go to Anaheim. The drive is a lot shorter!! (only about 30 minutes)

Me and my Grandma

This is me with my Grandma Anderson (my mom's mom) They were just getting ready to head home to Utah. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful grandmother and I love her so much. We've lived 700 miles apart since I was 4 so I didn't get to see her a lot growing up, but she was always so good to me that I knew, without question, that she loved me. I used to spend several weeks at her house during summer vacation and my mom would drive us to Utah a few times a year to visit. I remember when we would leave for home she would always stand outside and wave until we couldn't see her anymore and I would watch out the back window and cry. I was so thankful that they made the drive down here to go to the temple with us. It's still sad to say goodbye.

Our Temple Sealing

On April 25th we went to the San Diego Temple and had Tyaan sealed to us. It was a very special occasion and was just as wonderful as I had hoped it would be. We had a lot of family travel to be able to attend the temple with us and many friends make the drive to San Diego and back that day as well. It was wonderful to be surrounded by people we love, and people who love Tyaan in a place that is so special.


The three of us made the drive down together because we had to be there earlier than everyone else. It was a nice drive without any traffic and great weather. As you can see in the pictures the day was as gorgeous as possible. (Those who were at my wedding will know how much I appreciated that)

Here is Tyaan just before going inside. She was really excited and had been anxious to be able to do this for a long time.


The experience was wonderful, one of my favorite days ever. Afterwards we took pictures in front of this gorgeous building with those who stayed to visit with us. Some people weren't able to stay for pictures because of the 2 hour drive back home.

Here is The Don Haslam family: Amanda, Niki, Tyaan, Jon, Don, Susan, Jennifer, Melissa & Scott.


Here is the Boyd Anderson family (my mom's family): Terry, Rolayne, Boyd, Alice, Darran, Niki, Tyaan, Jon, Darci, & Lisa


Jon & Tyaan


Some of those that were able to be with us during the sealing.


Tyaan


Darran, Grandpa Boyd, Tyaan and Jon


Lisa, Terry, Rolayne, Niki (back) Grandma Alice, Tyaan & Darci (front)

That evening my mom had dinner at her house and it was a fun celebration. Our family that was in town from Utah (& Pennsylvania) were all there, and some other friends and family came by. My mom did a great job and put up decorations and put together dinner. My dad got tables set up outside and got Tyaan a really cute cake. It was a great way to celebrate the occasion as well as enjoy everyone's company.

Here is Lisa and Christopher (who had just turned a year old)


My Uncle Larry, Grandma Avis, and my dad.


My dad and his brother Larry in front of a painting of my grandfather on his mission



Tyaan & Katie


Tyaan with Megan Meier (Jennifer's youngest)


Tyaan and her cake


My mom with her 4 sisters: Terry, Lisa & Marla (back) Darci & Rolayne (front)


It was such a great weekend. Getting to see so much family that we live so far away from was wonderful. I nearly cry when I think about the effort they made to be with us in the temple. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the blessings my family is able to have because we have it. I'm so blessed to have Jon & Tyaan and know that if we are obedient we will be a family for eternity.

It was a wonderful day.

Youth Conference Weekend

The weekend of March 12-15 was a busy one for us. It was youth conference for our stake. Tyaan is on SYC (Stake Youth Council) and was one of the few that were overseeing the committee that planned it. I was asked a while ago to be in charge of the food for the weekend. I was given $1500, asked to submit 3 or 4 names of people to help, and told to plan for 160 people.

The youth on the committee had already picked out the menu so I priced everything and figured out everything we'd need. It started with an opening activity Thursday evening where we served root beer floats.

Friday I went up to Camp Hinckley in Running Springs (about an hour drive from home) with my Suburban loaded with supplies. I was followed by a friend who also had her Suburban loaded with supplies. We unloaded everything, including our personal stuff since we'd be spending the night there with the youth, and familiarized ourselves with the kitchen which neither of us had worked in before. After a little while our 3rd kitchen helper arrived followed shortly by our final helper who transported all of the pizza we bought from Costco. (40 pizzas to be exact!) The kids arrived a while later and we started baking pizzas as fast as we could. We got pizza and salad served for dinner. We put out hot chocolate that evening while they had a dance and took the few hours before we served dessert to cut up the fresh fruit I brought up for breakfast the next morning, and then served brownies and ice cream for dessert at 11:30 when the dance finished. By the time we got the kitchen cleaned up and everything put away it was 12:30 and we headed to bed.



We started at 6 am the next morning. We baked sausage links, finished getting all of the cut fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries) mixed along with some pineapple chunks and grapes. And then we started making pancakes. There was a lot of clean up after that meal! While some of us were cleaning others started the meat heating up for lunch. We kept hot chocolate out all morning while the kids were in their workshops. It was cold outside, snow on the ground, so the hot chocolate was going quickly! We ended up with just about an hour before lunch needed to be worked on so all but 1 of us just stayed in the kitchen. I was exhausted but I knew if I laid down I'd just feel worse when I had to get back up so soon. We washed over a hundred apples and sliced some of them. We also quartered a bunch of oranges to put out with lunch. We served BBQ beef sandwiches and had all of the fruit out with carrots, chocolate milk, milk, and chips. When we finished serving lunch we put out cookies and milk and the leftover brownies from the night before. The kids ate and ate but we never ran out of food.

Finally we were done, but there was so much cleaning and loading to do that we didn't get out for a couple more hours. Tyaan stayed and rode home with me. When we got home I got the few things out of the suburban that needed to go in the fridge, left everything else in the car and we both went to bed.


That day, since Kathy and I were both up at youth conference our husbands went riding. Jon got a couple pictures with his Blackberry and they came out really good. This was my favorite of Jon and Mike up on a hill. They didn't get home until after dark and rode for hours.


On Sunday we had the Withers over for dinner (leftover BBQ beef sandwiches!) and we were all tired. Tyaan and Russell both fell asleep and they were so cute I had to get a picture. It's fun to see these two. We like to say we're going to marry them off some day, but we know it's not very likely because they're too much like brother and sister. I'm glad that they've become such good friends though, they are both great kids. I always threaten Kathy that I'm going to steal him but she won't give him up. He calls me his real mom when we're all together, but that's mostly to drive his mom crazy. =) He's on SYC with Tyaan and it's fun to see them each conduct stake meetings. Russell actually conducted the special youth meeting we had during stake conference recently where Elder Tenney came to speak just to the youth of our stake. After that meeting it was the general Sunday morning stake conference meeting and Tyaan spoke. She was followed by a boy youth speaker, then by the mission president, then by our stake president, then by Elder Tenney. She did a great job and Elder Tenney made her stand up (they actually came and got her from the congregation where she'd come to sit by me after her talk) and said what a beautiful girl she was and mentioned that he couldn't imagine there being an inactive priest with a laurel like Tyaan. It was really cute. I was very proud of her and got to hear so many people compliment her. Anyway, my point is that these two are great teenagers and I love them a lot.

Sunday evening youth conference ended with a testimony meeting and all I had to do was hand out ice cream sandwiches when it was over. I stayed under budget and never ran out of anything. I didn't forget anything and everything, for the most part, ran smoothly. I was amazed since this was my first time being in the kitchen at all up at Camp Hinckley, let alone in charge of all of the food. (Head cook is what they called me for) I was relieved that everything turned out okay, and exhausted when it was all done.

It was an exhausting, but very rewarding weekend. Tyaan really enjoyed the workshops, and it was good for her to get away for a little while because she had had a really rough week. I'm very grateful for the youth program in the church. It's made such a difference in my life and it's great that Tyaan is getting to participate in it as well and I can see how much strength she gets from it.