Happy Birthday Bryson

I can't believe my little boy is 5 years old. He is growing up so fast.
Even though today is really Bryson's birthday we always seem to celebrate his birthday a day early and he doesn't seem to mind. Because Utah celebrates the 24th of July and Eric has the day off we celebrate Bryson's birthday when we can get the most people, which is usually a day early. Yesterday we had a fun day. We were able to borrow our neighbors boat and go tubing, wake boarding, and have a day on the lake.

Carley got in the tube for the first time and had a lot of fun. She also fell asleep in Grandma's arms because she didn't have a nap before we left.

We also were able to get Grandma on the tube and Eric pulled them around for a little fun.



Eric taught me how to drive the boat so that he could play on the wakeboard.
After some fun in the sun we came home and had dinner, opened presents, had dessert, and watched fireworks. Bryson has fun thinking that the fireworks are for his birthday.


We must have tired the kids out because it is 9:30 and both of my kids are still sleeping and they normally wake up around 6:30-7:00

Goodbye, Farewell

After 8 good years of reliability we have sold my car. I bought it used in 2000, right after my freshman year in college. My brother and I shared the car at BYU that year. I then was married the next summer. It has served me well and I have many fond memories in the car. It did great in the snow and up in the mountains. Eric took very good care of it. He made sure everything was always working and I always felt good driving it. It was still working good, but we have decided to get something bigger that can hold more people. Especially now when not many people are buying big SUV's hopefully we can find a good deal. Luckily Eric's mom has an extra car that I am using until Eric finds a good deal.

Camping

We had a fun time this past weekend when we went camping with Eric's Mom, Sarah, Bryan, (eric's sister and brother-in-law), and Lauren and Braden (Eric's brother's kids). We got off to a rocky start when the engine in Ann's truck overheated and Eric had to coast back down into Heber to get it fixed. But before he did this he took a load of kids and supplies up to the campsite. So I was left at the campsite with three kids for 6 hours. Good thing I know how to set up a tent and start a fire. I was so proud of myself when I started the fire with 1 match.

Everybody else showed up around 8:00 and we finally were able to set up camp.
Saturday we went canoeing and tried to fish, but we didn't catch anything.

We then went hiking up to Current Creek peak. Only Eric, Sarah, Bryan, and Carley made it to the top, (Carley hitched a ride up and down) but we all had a fun time.



Bryson and Braden loved playing in the dirt and playing with the wood. (Such boys)

Lauren and Carley loved to pick and smell the wild flowers (All girls)

We all had a fun time around the campfire with yummy food in the dutchoven.

Eric and Bryan had fun shooting Eric's guns and the boys loved picking up the shells


Carley loved camping


lauren and Braden

Would it be camping if my kids were clean and thier hair was perfect?

Or what fun would it be if you came home and you didn't have to do laundry for the next three days to get rid of the fire smell in the clothes.
WE LOVE CAMPING!!!!!

Boating

On Saturday we went boating with our neighbors boat. We had so much fun. Bryson wanted to go on the tube so Eric went slow at first, but he was having so much fun that he went faster. Bryson loved it!! The tube is a four person tube, so it is really hard to make it flip, so Bryson never got in the water, but he loved the ride.


Also I was able to try wakeboarding again and I finally got up. I tried about 10 years ago and couldn't get up and then I never got the chance again until last year, but I couldn't get up. When I tried on Saturday I finally got up. I was excited!!

4th of July

We had a great weekend. On the 4th of July we had about 25 people over to our house for a bbq. Some friends of Eric's family that live in California were driving through with their motorhome and stopped and spent the night. It was great to see them. Because they came over we then invited the whole Anderson clan. This included Eric's brother Scott and his family who just moved to Utah from Michigan a week ago. It is great to have them close and let the cousins play together.

We ate dinner, played outside, and Grandma decided she would jump on the trampoline with the kids.
Good thing she didn't break it!! We then had cake and ice cream because it was Bryan's birthday and then did fireworks in front of our house. Midway then does fireworks off of Memorial Hill so we went and watched those. Both Bryson and Carley love the fireworks and have so much fun watching them.



Also Sarah, Eric's sister, announced that she is pregnant and due march 9

No More Training Wheels

Bryson has been riding his bike all summer wishing he could ride without training wheels. This last week Eric raised the training wheels so that he didn't rely so much on them and he was doing really good. He started going over rocks and grass more, which he thought was cool and now he thinks he has a dirt bike.
Last night Bryson asked Eric to take the training wheels off and once Bryson got on the bike he was off. He is still a little wobbly and doesn't have perfect control of the bike, but he is still going over rocks and grass and up and down the sidewalk. He is so proud of himself and now all he wants to do is ride.

Lagoon

Yesterday Eric's work had a company picnic at Lagoon. Eric only had to go into work for a couple hours and then they paid for passes to lagoon and for lunch. Eric and I had never been there before. We took the kids and they had a blast.



Bryson is a major roller coaster man now and would ride whatever ride he was tall enough for.
This was his first time riding anything bigger then kiddie rides. He loved the pirate ship that swings back and forth and he loved the roller coaster called "the bat".



Carley just wanted to do whatever dad did.
This is on the roller coaster in kiddie land, what a face!

We had to distract her when dad went on the big roller coasters, but there was a ride in kiddie land called Dinosaur Drop that I thought she would be scared of, but she just held onto her dad's hand and when it was over she said she had fun but didn't want to do it ever again. She also loved the bumper cars.

She had the most fun playing in the fountain, she loves the water and it was a hot day, so it was nice to cool off.

Still dry

Completely drenched
She had so much fun that she didn't crash until about 7:30 when we were walking to another ride. Bryson keeps asking when we will go again.

Boating
One of our neighbors invited Bryson, Carley, and I to go boating and fishing today. Carley was a little nervous of the boat at first, but finally got used to it and loved it. She loved being with her little friend Izzie and they even found a place where they could lay down and talk to each other. They loved yelling at each other over the sound of the motor.


The fishing wasn't very good, but Bryson still had fun. He doesn't have the patience to sit and hold the rod so I had to help him. We did catch one fish, but it was a carp so we threw it back in the water. Carley also had to try fishing by holding the rod.
The kids loved dangling their feet of the edge of the boat

Bakersfield get together
Last Friday some of Eric's friends from high school got together and had a picnic. We met at Kiwanis Park in Provo and had a bbq and played volleyball. George and Barbie Miranda were there along with Marlice Walker (maiden name) and her family. And Chris Jackson and his family. (Sorry I can't remember everybodies names)
The kids had a fun time playing together. And the adults had a good time talking and catching up.

Chris Jackson and his family


Marlice Walker and family


Bryson and Marlice's son

playing volleyball

Water boy Bryson


The whole group

kids playing

Happy Father's Day/Bryson Day
Happy Father's Day to all the dads. Today we also celebrated Bryson day, not because it was his birthday, but because on Mother's Day he asked if he had a day when he would be treated extra special nice. We told him that is what his birthday is for. To this he replied that mom and dad also had birthdays. So Eric told him that on father's day we could also celebrate Bryson day and he could also get some treats. So in our house we celebrate bryson day the same day as father's day.