Beautiful, Beautiful Utah

Last week the Anderson clan made the 1,773 mile trip to Wanship, Utah. I've never been west of Missouri so I was so excited when we decided to spend vacation with our friends, the Belnaps. Evelyn and Jeremy took the plunge and moved to Utah from Hilton Head Island a year ago for a job opportunity. From sand to snow, talk about a change in altitude! But they have really made themselves a life there. I was amazed at the difference in lifestyle, not to mention the beauty of the landscape. First impressions of Utah:
1. It's simply stunning. I must have stated 1000 times that the mountains were beautiful and that if it weren't for the winters I would consider moving there.
2. Everyone owns a horse. I'd say every 3rd home had a horse in it's back yard between Wanship and Park City.
3. The people there are active. Snow shoeing, skiing, hiking, and fly fishing seem to be on the weekend to do list when they aren't chopping wood to prepare for winter.
4. Lots of mormons. Lots of kids. Lots of pregnant women. Park City, where we spent most of our days, seemed to be very family oriented. Everyone was super friendly.
5. Summer weather there is amazing. With no humidity, their 85 feels like our 75. And at night it gets cool enough for a campfire.
We did a lot of fun things while we were there. Our first day we went to the Sundance Film Festival and did a hike up to Stewart Falls. It was a beautiful hike. Evelyn secured a Kelty for Jareth to ride in so he was happy as can be on daddy's back.
Our second day we went to the zoo. Jareth loved all the animals. The zoo there wasn't very big but it was really nice. The Knoxville Zoo could really use an update. We watched the bird show and one of the birds took a donation out of Jareth's hand. He thought it was really cool. The show was a lot better than I thought it would be.
Let's see... I believe the third day was when we did the ski lifts in Park City. The views from the lift were so pretty. I really enjoyed doing that. We also did a little shopping at the outlet mall.
What else? Oh, we went to a really fun street fair called "Park Silly." That was a lot of fun. There were street vendors, food, a make it yourself bloody mary bar!, and a farmer's market. Downtown Parkcity is so cool. The buildings are painted so pretty! It's just a really lovely place.
My favorite part of the trip was of course my time spent with Evelyn. We don't see eachother often so when we do I really enjoy our talks. She is such a wonderful friend and just an amazing person. She and Jeremy are so happy together and they've really made their home together so nice and inviting. We jokingly refer to their home as the Belnap Bed and Breakfast or the BB&B. Evelyn was in the kitchen practically the whole time we were there. She is a great cook and really enjoys being a hostess. I felt right at home and very taken care of. It was sweet.
We loved our trip to Utah. Actually we would like to go back to see what the winter is like. Jon wants to ski of course but I would be happy sitting by the fire the whole time. We'll see if we can make that happen. It was definitely a trip to remember.

Still Here, I Promise!

I know it's been a month since I've last blogged. There's been a lot going on in the Anderson household. In July we celebrated my birthday with dinner at Nama followed by a Harry Potter 3D event. It was the last movie of the series and it was awesome. I can't wait to share the books/movies with Jareth. I hope he finds Harry Potter as magical as I do. : ) Jon got me a watch for my birthday along with some shoes, a book, and a dress that he picked out all by himself. I had a great birthday! Our families even came to Knoxville to go out to eat.
Let's see...what else? Oh, we had a family reunion in Cookeville. It was nice to see some family that I rarely get to touch base with. Of course it wasn't the same without grandma there. But I got to see her sister, Janice, and that was really great.
Something else that has been keeping me a little busy is photography. I've been doing a few sessions for people who, don't laugh, I found on craigslist. It's been a lot of fun. I love doing it and the extra cash helps. I put some pictures up on my other blog, http://heathersphotojourney.blogspot.com/. It's really hard to put myself out there. Confidence isn't my strong point so I have trouble telling people about what I'm doing. But I would love to start my own business. I'm just scared. We will see.
Well, Jareth wants me to open a new toy so off I go. More fun developments coming soon!

Happy 4th of July!

We are spending fourth of July weekend in Rainsville, AL at nanas and popaws. Jareth and Evan have been having a blast playing in the pool, or as Jareth likes to call it the "bath." Jareth loves having another boy to play with and he thinks he has to do whatever Evan does. I was watching them in the pool and if Evan had a ball, Jareth picked up a ball and if Evan was dumping water out of a cup or bucket, Jareth had to do it to. They are so funny. I can't believe how big they are getting. Little Eli will be one at the end of this month!!
What do this weekend's activies entail? Lots of yummy food! We had burgers and hot dogs last night with corn on the cob and chips. And for dessert we had the choice between Krispie Creme doughnuts, pound cake, or turtle pie. I had the turtle pie : ) This morning popaw picked up Hardee's for breakfast. Listen to what Jareth had: a whole banana, part of my biscuit, lucky charms, part of my sausage, and part of a doughnut. This kid can eat! Lunch was turkey sandwiches or bbq and chips. And for dinner mom and dad are smoking ribs and steak! It smells amazing outside. After dinner we have apple pie, leftover turtle pie, and cookies to choose from for dessert. Are you hungry yet? A few trips to the gym this week are going to be required!
I love coming to nana's and popaw's house. I wish we came more often. It's so nice here, nana has everything you could possibly need or want and then some. And I love talking with them. Last night I stayed up a little later than everyone else and the three of us just sat in the living room and talked. And I love sitting in their kitchen. Right now nana is starting on some broccoli salad while I sit at the bar typing this. I don't know why but I enjoy watching women at work in the kitchen, taking simple ingredients and creating something yummy for their family to eat. Dana just came in to fix Evan some food and walking up to the counter just said "I love you , nana." So, sweet and simple yet so important. I wish Lynne were here.
Tonight we are going to shoot off fireworks. I LOVE fireworks so I'm excited to see Jareth's reaction to them. I want him to love them as much as I do. Last year we didn't see any fireworks until Boom's Day and Jareth slept through most of that so this year should be fun. Jon wants to help him hold sparklers and Roman candles.... we will see.

The Birthday Boy

We celebrated Jon's 27th, yes 27th, birthday over the weekend. My highschool sweetheart is now in his late 20's! I feel very old. His birthday was last wednesday so to make the day special I got up with him before work and made him breakfast. Jareth got up right after we finished and we gave daddy his birthday cards. After Jon got home from work Jareth and I took him to Aubrey's for dinner. After we ordered I suprised him with his gift. He has been wanting a watch for a long time so I got him a really nice Invicta Reserve.

He loved it and was so suprised! I was relieved. He is actually really hard to shop for outside of ties and polos. He's kinda hard to please for a guy. Maybe it's a compliment that he chose me : ) Aubrey's was delicious as always. We both had pasta and finished our meal with some key lime pie. 

On Friday night the party began. I made reservations at Latitude 35 and tried my best to make it a suprise party but Jon was waaay to nosey and involved to pull that off. I did however have some suprise guests come in from out of town. Our friend Lacey came in from Nashville and Branden and Danyell drove over from Chattanooga. There were close to 20 of us all together. After dinner at Latitude we went to Carleo's and Southbound where Jon got his dance on! It was a lot of fun and I think he had a really good time.

Lucky

My little man is playing in the sprinkler in our back yard. He's happy and healthy and cute as he can be. His daddy is playing with him, splashing him, lifting him into the streams of water. I'm the luckiest woman in the world right now. Jareth is sticking his little tongue out and drinking from the water that squirts out of the brightly  colored beach ball. Thank you Little Tikes for making this so much fun. He's drenched in water now, gurgling unintelligable words into th water. Our dog, Jack, laps up the water from the grass. I sit in a chair happily watching..... I'm the luckiest woman in the world....

I want Sunshine

Jon and I made it back from Hawaii safe and sound and only slightly sun burnt. We had a great time despite the fact that the first few days were rainy. Sadly though, we came back to a very chilly east TN. It's 56 and cloudy today and I'm not happy about it. I miss my shorts and bathing suit already. Don't get me wrong, I love east TN and all but looking back at our sunny pictures of Oahu is making me sick. (You can see them here.) Maybe looking into next years vacation will make me feel better!?! Where oh where will we go? Any suggestions?

DIY Mother's Day Gift

If we call you "Mimi" STOP right here!!!! No Peaking! You have to wait until tomorrow!

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For Mother's Day this year I decided to go DIY. I wanted to give my mom something different that I know she will love instead of spending money on something impersonal like a gift card. So, what does mom love? Scrapbooking, photography, plants, and of course Jareth. So I made her a "picture tree." I wish I would have taken photos along the way but I only thought to do this after I had made the final product. But here is how I did it.

Materials:
Some sort of planter in a fun bright color
Foam floral ball that will fit in your planter
Fake Moss
1 Sheet of scrapbook paper (or use 2 different colors)
Ribbon
Scrapbooking embellishments
Glue
Several of your favorite photos
Clothes pins
Tree branch of equal weight on both sides (fake or real will work, I used a real one)

Instuctions:
Stuff the foam ball into your planter tight so that it won't come out
Insert your branch into the center of the ball
Cover the foam ball with moss
Using clothes pins, pin photos to the branch trying to spread them out so that the entire branch is covered
Cut one small and one large square out of the scrapbook paper
Fold the small piece of paper in half and cut out a half flower design so that when it is opened you have a whole flower
Repeat with larger square of paper
Glue the smaller flower on top of the bigger flower to create depth and texture
Decorate the center of your flower and your branches with scrapbook embellishments
Glue your flower to the front of the planter
Tie a pretty ribbon to the handle of your planter

Up, up, and away!

     Hawaii is just around the corner! In 48 hrs we will be living it up at the Moana Surfrider in beautiful Oahu. Thankfully, Jareth is over his virus so mommy can leave without any worry too much worry. It's definitely going to be hard to leave him for eight days but I know he will be in great hands. Plus there is always Skype! Maybe I should be more worried about the amount of de-spoiling I will have to do when we get back.
     I hope to blog each day we are in Oahu as kind of a journal of our activities. (One day I'm going to have to print this whole thing off) There will be plenty of pictures to come in this and on my photo blog. So if anyone out there is reading, be sure to check back. Back to packing for this gal.

Poor, Pitiful Baby

My little monkey is so sick right now. I've never seen him so puny. On Saturday he woke up a little grumpy but he was more or less fine. We went to the park, where he played happily, and afterward went for some icecream. It was there that a switch flipped inside him. He wanted nothing to do with icecream and whined and pouted until we left. I assumed he was just sleepy as his eyes glazed over in the back seat and he slid down into car seat limply. Once we got home we realized how hot his head and trunk were. His temperature was 103.5 and his breathing seemed labored. A dose of tylenol and a call to his ped nurse later, he was given a lukewarm bath and lots of fluids and put to bed. His temp got up to 104.5 even with the tylenol and around 10:00pm he vomitted. We went to emergency care hours at his ped office on Sunday. He was miserable. All he wanted to do was sleep on his daddy's chest in the exam room and he lost it several times. I didn't think he was ever going to recover from his finger prick. They also did a strep test which, thankfully, came out negative. However, the doctor said he may have Roseola . I know, it sounds primitive and I wasn't sure what it was exactly. And she said that we won't know if that is what it is until he breaks out in a rash all over his body. Great. Since Saturday, his temperature hasn't been below 101.0. He has had a few moments of play but he mostly just lays against me. The doctor seemed to think whatever it is should only last 3-4 days so I'm hoping that by Friday he will be back to 100%. We leave for Oahu Saturday morning. eeeeeek!




Here he is at the doctor. It is so out of character for him to be so clingy.



Here he is now, beside me.

The Spiderman Chronicles

    
     How is it that I haven't written about Jareth's spiderman obsession? It all started about the time he could crawl. He was eight months old and playing at his paternal grandparents house when he was able to reach the spiderman magnet on the fridge. It had been shown to him many times before and he was drawn to its primary blue and red along with its softness and texture. Then, Jon's dad found his old 12" spiderman action figure. It wasn't long before Jareth recognized spiderman everywhere. He spotted him at Wal-Mart on birthday cards from across the aisles and he pointed and said "man!" when we saw spiderman bubble bath. "Man" is his favorite thing. When he chooses he now says "bye-da man." (He cant pronounce his "s" and "r" yet)
     Of course we have totally given in to the spiderman craze. I've decorated Jareth's play area downstairs in spiderman posters, toy boxes, wal decals, and a rug. He has a few spiderman t-shirts he loves to wear. And guess what? So do Jon and I! Everytime we wear them for him he points at us and says exclaims, "MAN!!!" The look on his face is priceless. There are of course spiderman snacks and other things like his spiderman cups, plates, dvd, and even toothbrush. But the big ticket item I proudly found just last week. I was at duck duck goose, a consignment event here in knoxville, and found...wait for it...... 12" Spiderman and Dr. Octopus action figures that are also walkie talkies! They were $3! Jareth's eyes absolutely lit up when he was holding spiderman and I talked to him from Dr. Octopus. Priceless!
     I wonder if I can manage to make a spiderman costume this halloween????