Just a bunch of pictures!

The fact that we haven't posted pictures forever, I blame on Zann. I finally asked him nicely, and for those of you who just rolled your eyes it truly was very nice, and he did it. So here some very belated pictures.

My grandma died this past October. It was a blessing to see her go. She died at the age of 97. Three days before she died my brother and wife brought their three girls to see Grandma. This was also the first time I was able to meet my triplet nieces, Addison, Brooklyn, and Cambria. All of the grandkids are here, but one.

This is all of my brothers and sisters, but my brother and his family.

This is Teddy pulling the Home Alone face.

Happy Thanksgiving. This is the craziness that was happening downstairs. Thank you Colton for watching all of the kids.


I went to Bath & Body Works and got some lotion. Teddy wouldn't let go of the bag. It was really funny. He started putting things in the bag.

It's a Sesame Street book with Elmo, just in case you can't see it. The bag went everywhere with us. It was pretty comical.


Merry Christmas. This was our tree. Please don't ask me why Aurora is not wearing pants.

My little sister Suzy got home from her mission on December 13. What an awesome Christmas present. We sure missed her and have fully enjoyed having her home.

We taught Teddy how to say Suzy. He said it so cute. He is such a sweet kid.

We had a party at my oldest brother's house after we went to the airport. The kids loved seeing everyone and my older brother Nathan wanted in on the action and wanted to see how strong his legs were. Peyton, Lydia, and Teddy are all getting rides on his legs.

This is Teddy's loot from Christmas. He was so spoiled.

We went to eat first with the Richins and there was a sleigh and we got Aurora just a laughing. It was so cute. This was the cutest of all the pictures I thought.

Happy New Year everyone. We went and visited some of our closest friends, The Richins, who just recently moved to Salt Lake. We were able to go and hang out on Temple Square with them and see the lights. The kids had been sick and we were worried we weren't going to be able to go, but we were able to go. The lights are awesome there. I love seeing them. The kids had a ball.

We got some awesome snow one Sunday and so we had to build a snowman. Zann did most of the work while I watched the kids. I did help decorate the face though. Our lights also look awesome. Way to go babe!

At the end of January we were able to go to Phoenix, AZ for Zann's work. It was awesome. They paid for everything. We took Aurora, but left Teddy with my sister, thank you KaDawn.
This is us on our last day there.

This is the view from our window. It was beautiful. We stayed in the Sheraton Downtown. We were on the 22nd floor.


Aunt Annelle. We almost named Aurora after her because she was born on her birthday.

Aunt Ellie. She is the best cook ever.

In this picture are front row: me, Aunt Janett, who is holding Aurora, Grandpa and Uncle Quinn
back row: Heather, Raylynn, and Aunt Elli.

This is Uncle Quinn holding onto Aurora. She loved seeing all the animals and sitting on the horse. I wish Teddy could have been there with us. He would have been in heaven.

Zann had a bunch of meetings on Saturday and so I drove up to Show Low. It's about a three hour drive, but completely worth it. This is my grandpa. He is the most amazing man in the world. He has so much love for everyone. I wish I were more like him. Before I left I was doing fine without crying, but he followed me out to the car and I lost it. The ranch will always be my second home. I am grateful he was able to meet Aurora. I got lost on the way back to the Hotel. I drove around Phoenix for 1 1/2 hours before I finally made it home. It was awful.

This is Adelaide. She is a daughter of one of Zann's coworkers, Gary. His wife's name is Theresa. We hung out Friday night while they were in meetings. It was so much fun. Aurora had a little playmate too.

We had some extra time before we left on Sunday and so we went to the Mesa Temple. It was beautiful and so peaceful walking around the grounds on Sunday afternoon. We also found a ward to go to and went to Sacrament meeting. There was actually somebody in the ward who Zann went to high school with.

This is us at the Phoenix airport. I was so ready to be home. I totally enjoyed the 70 degree weather. We came home to snow. Lovely:(

Happy Birthday babe! His birthday was February 17. He wanted to make a Jucy Lucy.

A Jucy Lucy is a delicious meat and cheese thing we learned about on Man V. Food way back around Thanksgiving and I've been wanting to make one ever since then. It was amazing.

What can I say, he likes to wear what Aurora likes. Obviously Zann doesn't like it when I dress him up. I want you to know, anytime I put Aurora in that dress, Teddy will try to take it off of him.

Teddy has recently become a fan of Turtles. He loves Raph. He can even say the name. It's really funny. This is part of his Halloween costume for next year.


Teddy is really into lining things up in a train. Apparently we need to get him one. I am not sure why he is only in his diaper. His smile makes up for it though.

Aurora has this face she does. It makes us all laugh. She doesn't do it all the time though so I am glad we were able to get it on camera.


I got this 'do from "Despicable Me". I do her like this all the time for church. I think it is adorable.

Fun in the tub

Just so cute!

This was just a few days ago. Teddy loves to be pushed around in the basket. He gets mad if Aurora isn't right next to him. He is such a great older brother.

Happy Valentine's Day

(Disclaimer:  To anybody reading this post who's name isn't Amber Smith Anderson - first off, it's not to you, so maybe just don't read it.  If you still wish to, fine - it's on our blog, after all.  If you get grossed out by its cheesy/corny Valentine nature, that's not my problem - I told you you didn't have to read it...)

Dear Amber:

I wanted to give you a Valentine, but I wasn't sure what to get for you.  I decided for starters to put it up here so you could have it all the time - like a permanent valentine, instead of the ones kids give out that get chucked after the candy is gone.  After today, there's a permanent digital record of how much I love you.  Cool, no?  So, back to what to get you...you said not to get you these:

'Cause they're all marked up a ton around this time of year, and I know I can't get you these:

 

'Cause you make better ones anyway, plus we're tracking our calories and trying to lose weight.  What does that leave me to be able to give you for Valentine's Day?  Pretty tough.  I'll try for a poem:

I used to be all alone
Without a Valentine
"Enjoying" Single Awareness Day
Since nobody was mine

But then I met this girl
With beautiful red hair
The first time that I saw her
I had to try not to stare

We spent some time together
And before very long
It became quite apparent
She was the perfect one

I said, "Be mine forever"
And she said, "Yes, I will!"
We've had such times together
With her, life's one big thrill

So now when Feb 14th
Comes rollin' round the corner
I dress and smile and have fun
Instead of being a mourner

Now I'm so glad that she is mine
I'll never let her go
She's my one and only Valentine
And I truly love her so


I don't really know if a poem can summarize how I feel (especially one that short).  You are the most wonderful and amazing woman ever.  You make everything brighter and have made my life so much richer than I could ever have on my own.  You make me smile each and every day and I'm so grateful that you're mine.  I guess the best thing that I can give you for Valentine's day is this:

 

Pretty corny, no?  Yeah I know, "I give you my heart!"  It's true though, that's what I promised to you before and that's what I try to continue to give you each day.  Thanks for not crushing it, 'cause it's the only one I have.  I love you.  Happy Valentine's Day.

Love,
Zann

And we're back

Sorry for those of you who may have tried to look at our blog, if there are any people who still look at it. I hated the design and now have changed it. I hope you like it. We went to Phoenix and had a blast and will hopefully be able to post some pictures in the next couple of days.

Vote for Teddy and his cuteness!!

We've entered this picture of Teddy in a photo contest on Shutterfly.  Please go and vote for him here:
http://contest.shutterfly.com/contests/showentry/682432
Of course, we're aware some of you may (do...) have your own entries in said contest, in which case we understand if you don't vote for us, or vote more for yours (I think you can vote as much as you want?).  Anyways, check out our kid and if you think he's as cute as we do, please vote for him!

Dang cute, no?

FREE CHRISTMAS CARDS!!!

Ok, so this is basically a shameless plug for Shutterfly and their Christmas cards - no sense in pretending it's anything else...but hey, for 50 (yes, fifty) free Christmas cards, our blog space is definitely for sale!  Not to mention, they have some pretty sweet cards.  Here's a few:

This one is prolly not the one that Amber and I would go for, since we're pretty traditional about wanting to have a card that actually says something about CHRISTMAS on it rather than stupid, generic "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings", but I really like the design:

They do, however, have a line of religious-themed Christmas cards for those of us who don't want to forget "The reason for the season" - there wouldn't be Christmas without Christ.  I really like this one (and it's just a coincidence that it has the same picture - ours will actually have pictures of our family, don't worry...)

Anyway, they have TONS of designs, and they make it easy to find what you want - you can narrow your search by how many spaces the card has for pictures, whether the card is flat or folded, paper type, card size, price, colors in the design, or even the designer, should you be savvy enough to know who some of them are (or, I guess if you find one or two you like by a certain designer and want to see more).  So - this season, expect to see a wicked-sweet Chrismas card coming your way from the Andersons, courtesy of Shutterfly.  "Thanks, Shutterfly!" *looks at camera with a cheesy grin*

As (sortof) promised...

Ok, so I said I might maybe post family pictures, so I figured I'd kindof deliver on that sortof promise.  First off, here's a picture of the whole family:
 

Teddy was first to have his individual pictures taken.  He started off in pretty good spirits:

 

What I really like about the above picture is not only his super-cute smile but also the fact that he looks like he just finished a tap-dance routine or something.  After a while, Teddy started to wear down...

The photographer said she liked that one a lot. I don't think it's Teddy at all.  The only time he sits that still is when he's tired, and even then, this just looks way too posed to me.  The next picture was Teddy's reaction to the photographer's continued attempts to get him to sit still and pose, and I love it:

 

I think it captures a lot of who Teddy is - not that he's a really ornery or bratty kid, but just that he has a very independent spirit and way way too much energy to sit and pose in some chair forever, or even for five minutes.  He's awesome.

Aurora was pretty tired by the time it was her turn to take pictures, but we got some good ones:

The first one is awesome, I love her face in it.  The flower one is just dang cute.  We got a print of that to put in her bedroom.  We love the crying one too - that was her "I'm tired and sick of pictures" reaction - as opposed to Teddy's shouting - we definitely have a boy and a girl.  Anyways, not much else to say about the pictures.  Our kids are pretty stinking cute.  If you want to see more of the pictures (or see us in real life...) come and visit us sometime.