It's true - I haven't posted in a while...

To be honest - there just isn't that much stuff going on. BUT I thought I would go through some highlights of the past couple of months.... in no particular order - because well... my memory is just NOT that good....

*  Spent a couple of hours with high-school friend and kids at the Shark Reef.

      Kira LOVES the Shark Reef - she has always liked it. So when an old friend facebook'd me a message              and said - we're in town and want to hang out what do you want to do - I recommended the Shark Reef (after     a conversation about the park - but it was HOT outside - so we stayed inside) The week before, her pre-school class took a field trip there and so she learned a lot of new things and was more than happy to share with her new friends.

*I chopped off my hair - I have been wanting to do it for a while - I remember a time when long hair was ALL i wanted. Growing up I always had short hair, it wasn't until I was old enough to take care of it myself that my mom allowed us to grow our hair out. Since then it's been super SUPER short, bobbed, shoulder length and longer - I have SUPER thick hair and it just gets to be too much for me to handle so I went from this......

To this... I love it. (Jacob doesn't but thats okay) It's longer now because it's been almost 8 weeks. I'll wait to get it trimmed until we are in Cali I think. 

What I had forgotten is how curly it is when it's not weighed down.... so below is au' naturel .... or what it looks like before I take a straightener to it..... 

*The best $13.00 I ever spent on Kira was these blocks. I bought them for her 2nd Christmas and she plays with them more now than ever. EVERYDAY (and I mean everyday) she takes a part and builds a new castle... and then sometimes tests the strength by kicking her soccer ball into it.... SO fun! 

* Kira got a visit from the Easter Bunny and left her a VERY happy girl! A new purple polka-dot dress, some new jewelry, something to color, some peeps and a bit of chocolate! After some relaxation and church, we invited our friends the Merrill's over for dinner. Jacob make a yummy brisket (his first) and he and I worked on the rest. Even though most everything was from a box or can, it turned out pretty good. Especially by the addition of some Leatherneck BBQ sauce. 

* We all went to a mini car show at Tommy Rockers - This was Kira's favorite car (because it's sparkly and purple) It was fun to hang out together on a Saturday afternoon. 

* Kira and Jacob went to the Viva Las Vegas Car Show - Background - Jacob and I have been going to Viva since we started dating (started dating in November, went that first April) a couple of years they started to charge and while I still can't find the rationalization for how MUCH they charge I have missed the last 2 or 3... BUT, Kira is free until she's 14 so Jacob and Kira have gone the last couple of years! And they have a great time! 

Here she is in her outfit for the Car Show - new dress, new shoes... her hat! She was SO excited to spend the day with her daddy! 

*Oh and if you haven't noticed Jacob shaved all of his facial hair. He's working on a new project and it was a requirement. He looks like I remember him and I for one enjoy it. Kira's not sure and it's funny to hear what people have said about it. He started growing out his beard when we moved to Vegas so people at church only really knew him with it. I got a text from a friend of mine the other day and told me when she first saw him she only realized it was him because he dropped Kira off at a party. If it wasn't for Kira she wouldn't have known who he was...... haha!

*And lastly, I started Weight Watchers in January. As of last check-in I have lost 11 pounds and a total of 17.5 inches off my body. It feels good but I still have a lot to do. The point was to lose enough so that I could get pregnant naturally.... (i.e without clomid or some other fertility) and while I can't attest to whether that has worked yet or not - I can tell you that even those 11 lbs (5% of my body weight) has really made a difference in my life. I feel better, and my body likes the weight off..... without getting into too much detail - my cycles are more regular so it looks like I'm heading in the right direction!!!  I did Weight Watchers YEARS ago ( like 10 or so) with some friends and lost 15 lbs then and kept it off until I got married so now I'm hoping to lose more and KEEP it OFF!!! 

So that's been our spring. I'll try to keep things a little more updated from now on. We're looking forward to a fun summer. Hopefully including a trip to Utah, a mini trip to Cali AND Tennille get's to go to girls camp this year with her Young Women...... so stay tuned!

I WAS GONNA... 


* marry a handsome guy with an accent from a far away land ... INSTEAD I married a handsome Texas born California guy who can't understand accents, but understands me .... and that makes me happy!


I WAS GONNA....
* have 4 kids, 2 boys/2 girls, name them Abigail, Gavin, Anika and Noah and they were going to be perfect and beautiful, smart and fun.... INSTEAD I have 1 beautiful little girl who is smart and fun and challenges me everyday but also teaches me something everyday and that makes me happy!


I WAS GONNA ....
* travel all over the world, England, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, Japan, Belarus, Hawaii .... INSTEAD I have lived some pretty fun places and visited England twice since leaving and while I still have dreams of travelling the world what I have been able to see, makes me happy!


I WAS GONNA...
* Be a lawyer or a teacher, or an interior designer, or all 3 at once. INSTEAD I stay at home with my beautiful baby and have witnessed and have been a part of (*almost*) every single day of her life and that makes me happy! 


I WAS GONNA ...
*Be rich, have a beautiful house, with beautiful furniture, wood floors, 5 bedrooms, a craft room, a garage with every tool for my foreign husband to work on my 64 1/2 mustang convertible (in yellow) INSTEAD... we still rent, 8 years(well almost) after marriage, we still rent, a house I don't like, that isn't mine, that has gross carpet and while that doesn't make me happy - what DOES make me happy is we can afford a place to live, a place for my baby to grow up in, to run around in, to make messes in..... and all those things, make. me. happy. 


What I'm trying to say is that while my life isn't what I *thought* I wanted, it's a life that I LOVE! I'm thankful for it, I'm thankful to the LORD for it and while I know I'm not done. I have many years to still do these things that I was "GONNA DO" right now, I'm content. Right now, I'm Dela. And THAT makes me HAPPY!!! 

Things happening in the Anderson House

Life keeps on plugging along over here at the Anderson House. Lately, Kira has been working on her writing skills. I usually give her some examples and she repeats them on her own. It's great practice as she enjoys it.  This little easel she got from Great-Uncle Bruce and Auntie Cheryl  has been fantastic! She LOVES it and draws on it everyday. Here she is practicing her numbers. Numbers are kind of confusing so we were working on them this week.... 

And her results........ 

We  also did some sight words that she has been working on in pre-school. She focuses really hard and is doing such a fantastic job. She is really looking forward to school! We don't have her enrolled anywhere yet because we are waiting to see where we will be living. But once we know - we'll get her all set up.

Last Friday Kira and I went to the Shark Reef. I'm really glad we bought the pass. We both enjoy it alot. It's not very big and we get through it kind of quickly but it's still fun to see all the fish and enjoy them. My favorite fish is no longer there but there are still a lot of great things to see. Kira took all of these pictures so this is the Shark Reef from her angle. 

Her favorite part of the Shark Reef is the glass floor. It's funny to see adults so freaked out by it but Kira LOVES it. She runs across it, stands on top of it wishing for a fish to swim by. The fish don't really seem to like it down there but that doesn't really deter Kira from checking it out.

Here is a stuffed turtle she really liked!

Another picture from Kira .... Team Umizoomi. She loves to take pictures (I have NO idea where she get's that from at all, she said with an eye roll) and so for Kira, it doesn't matter what the subject is. So when I look at the pictures on my camera, I often see cartoons... 

And us... after dinner one night. She was adamant about getting a picture of me and Jacob together.... 

And Boppa, it's always so fun to see what she's coming down in sometimes. It's always some hair accessory or one of her princess dresses or a mix of her princess stuff. Today she is wearing a pair of jeans with a skort over them because she wanted to wear a tutu.......... LOVE IT! I don't really dress her anymore. I mean I haven't dressed her in years but I also don't pick out what she's wearing anymore either. I do have some say because I get to pick out clothes at the store but she get's to pick what she wears each day. She's looking forward to the warmer weather so that she can start wearing shorts and skirts again without tights.... Total Nevada girl... doesn't like the cold! 

And lastly a little something about what I have been up to. I went on a search to find a coat for a friend of mine that is moving to a colder climate. I was SURE I kept it when I passed some clothes on to my sister. And I was SURE I knew what box it was in. Well I was wrong. My sister does have it. I'll get her to mail it to me soon BUT as I went from box to box to box I realized I should have a better way of storing this stuff, especially because I read that cockroaches can eat through cardboard and clothes. So I rant o Target, bought 4 tubs and got all these boxes into four 18gallon tubs! It cleared A LOT of space in the garage and I'm pretty happy with it, knowing these clothes are a little safer.

Well, that's all from us for now. We hope you guys have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day. Even though I don't really celebrate it!

What's up with us

Actually not much, which is why I haven't written in a while. Things here are going on in a little holding pattern.... Preschool 2 days a week, Jacob is working in Cali at the mine, just past state line. I'm doing Young Women stuff. Life is.... ya know going....
So I thought I would just talk about some pictures we have been taking lately.....  Here is a new hair style we tried on Kira a couple of weeks ago... her hair is LONG... super LONG!!! And it has to be done every.single.day So we are trying new things..... This one didn't stay in very long but she liked it. I think I need to get better bobby pins.....

This is a picture of one of Kira's favorite shows, the Backyardigans... but it is ALSO a picture of my picture wall. I finally did it when I realized we were going to stay here and it was worth doing.... only to realize a month later that we're probably NOT going to stay in this house.... it's a long story and there are a lot of factors but we're looking into the possibility of buying. It's not 100% yet but we are starting the search and looking into all of our finance options. 

So, I'm sure you have heard of pinterest.... I know I enjoy it. A couple of weeks ago I decided to try something I pinned --- Our fridge was getting kinda gross, so I thought since I'm going to clean it, I'm going to REALLY clean it and so with my laptop playing Doc Martin on netflix I attacked it.... and I mean ATTACKED it!!! I took it ALL apart, cleaned every part of it. Took apart every part of it and then added the cling film. I LOVE it. I love how festive it is every time I have to go in the fridge.... I love that when it comes time to clean the fridge again, all I have to do is pull off the film and put on a new layer of it and go.......

Here is a picture of Jacob and Kira on February 1st. This year I had fun doing 14 days of Valentines. They each got a little something special every day.... Nothing too fancy, just a little something cute to make their days better..... AND notice Jacob's beard, or lack there of. He had to shave it for work at the mine. He did it in steps, first a goatee, the just a mustache {that looked like it was from the 1980s} and then finally the mustache.... It's kinda weird for me and Kira since she has really only ever known him with a beard/facial hair. It's still waiting to be determined if the beard is coming back... I'm guessing yes. I think the benefits outweigh the negatives on this one........ 

That's about all that's going on here. Kira is loving school! She LOVES school! Jacob is enjoying his work still... which is good. I working on focusing on my Weight Watchers (down 7.2 lbs in 7 weeks) and I have some craft type things that need to be finished so I'm working on that stuff too.
Still no news on the baby front. I have had to change doctors so hopefully I can get into see them and work on getting a baby to join our family......

Next post... hopefully soon.... about ?
till then

Thanksgiving 2011

Isn't it just like me to post about Christmas before Thanksgiving? See, what happened is my desktop died. Kira and  I went on a field trip to the Anderson Dairy, where we learned how they bottle milk, how evaporated milk was made and see where they keep the ICE CREAM!!! When we got home, I trotted myself upstairs to check facebook - because I need a life and it had died. It won't turn back on - it didn't crash, like all the stuff is still on it, it just won't turn on.... so ANYWAY. I was going to blog about Kira's soccer (the season is over and she loved it - waiting until the spring to play again). Some school stuff... some fun Christmas stuff that we did for Thanksgiving. Right now I can only find Thanksgiving stuff.
We decided to go up to Utah this Thanksgiving. It was fun to be able to be together and I'm sure I'll find the pictures for that soon too.... But what I do have pictures for is our family pictures. It's been a while since out last ones - we took some at Brett's wedding, but it's not the same thing.... so we decided to get in touch with a good friend and have some done.
Cat Palmer (look her up on Facebook) did our pictures for us....

The Whole FamDamily - My parents have been married for 35 years now. 

My sister's family. 

Youngest Brother's family

Jacob - Kira and I we love this picture! 

My brother and his wife. They are expecting a baby in July! I'm so excited for them! 

My mummy and daddy - I love how after all this time they still enjoy spending time together. They have fun together, they compliment each other. It's a great example to me of what a marriage should be like. 

My parents and their grand children. From left to right (back row) - Kaden, my papa, my mum, Austin

Front row - My Kira, Tatiana and Mikey

The 4 of us 

The (out) laws. Clint, Amy, Zak and Jacob

They all love my parents truck and wanted a picture on it.

It was really windy the day we took these pictures but I LOVE them. It's great to look up on the wall and see us all together. Thanks Cat so much for taking them. I'm hoping to find pictures of the rest of the weekend, including my not so successful Lemon Meringue Pie.

'til next time

Christmas 2011

So this post will be a little picture heavy. I apologize. It's taken me a while to get to this post so I thought I would at least make it detailed and fun. This year for Christmas we decided to go down to California. Jacob's dad was back in town and we wanted to see him and so we packed up the car and off we went. We stayed with Auntie M, Uncle Bill and Maggie in Newport Beach and we were happy to see them. (We of course stopped at Miguel's Jr. for dinner)

On Saturday we got to sleep in and hang out a bit. Our first stop was to go see Uncle Henry. Henry is Kira's Godfather and man was he full of fun gifts. I won't go through the whole list but it consisted of a Leapster 2, lots of Tinkerbell stuff, a scooter and more! Kira was sure to give him a hug after opening all her gifts. 

Then it was off to Uncle Bill and Aunt Cheryl's house. We were happy to see everyone and got there just in time for dinner! Gramjan did a great job of picking up the honey baked ham and made her diabetic coma yams. Yummy! There was also some great corn stuff that Cheryl made that was good. After dinner we got to open gifts. 

This is my mom, opening her gift from my brother. He has sent it down early with STRICT instructions on when to open it. My dad (to her left) and I knew what it was. She was a tortured soul for a couple of days wondering what it could be.... would it be a joke from Uncle Butt (as Kira calls him) or would it be what she hoped it would be?  

Turns out it's what she hoped it would be. A onesie for my soon to be born niece or nephew. Mom cried and we realized that my dad was a good secret keeper (he had known since before Thanksgiving) She, as I am, is every excited for this new addition. He/she will be grand-kid number 6! Can't wait to find out what they will be having as so far the boys out number the girls 3-2. 

Kira got some great dress up stuff from Gram-Jan and Papa Mike and had to put her sparkly stuff on right away. 

Here she is hugging my Papa to say thanks for the dress and doggie she got.  Needless to say she was the most busy on Christmas Eve but she loved every minute of it. 

This was part of the last gift of the night. Uncle Bruce had it all planned out. She had to open this in the order he set up for her.... first a BIG roll of paper. She opened this and then said, "Paper? - that's boring!"

Then a pack of fun stuff, crayons, markers, chalk, water paint and an eraser.  hhhhhhmmmm it's more interesting now...... 

And then the BIG gift... an easel. It has a chalk board on one side, a white board on the other and the paper roll comes up through the middle and she get's to put all kinds of fun things on the paper. So far, the paper has served as her canvas for her sticker dolls that she got from Santa this year. She has really enjoyed making outfits for them all and they are all displayed on her wall in her room

On Christmas morning, Santa left gifts for Kira at Auntie M's place. he didn't leave much as Uncle Henry, and our families had pretty much covered everything a gal could want. BUT Santa did leave a stocking full of fun things, princess headband, hair clips and pony-tail holders. A new necklace and bracelet..... AND... the sucker Kira had been asking for for weeks! That Santa really knows his stuff!! 

Santa gave Kira some fun dress up stickers, and a BRAND NEW RADIO. Kira listens to the radio every night as she is going to sleep and had hi-jacked Jacob's. Jacob felt it time for Kira to have her own so Santa made two people very happy that day! Kira LOVES it ! 

She also got a new bathrobe from her mommy and daddy and has used it after every bath. She says it's SUPER WARM & COZY!  After a yummy breakfast we got ready for church. The Anderson clan all went to church together in Placentia and the cousins had a fun time sitting together and were all very well behaved! I even got a great cuddle from Corinne!  After church, we all went to Grandma Jetta's for food, fun and gifts! 

Here is Kira in front of Auntie Val's trees. I love it and plan on stealing it from her soon!! 

Here are most of the Anderson cousins. We surely miss Elizabeth and Tommy and hope they can come visit us soon! 

Kira got some great gifts from everyone. Her La La Lopsy doll being one of the top gifts. Kira has named her Flower and Flower's mouse is Zoe. After gifts the kids played, the adults talked and joked, and in the process of adults talking the great mystery of "What is behind the wood paneling" was revealed. Jetta and Valerie have been painting the house and putting up curtains and Jesse installed some new laminate wood floors. In the process, the floor boards were not put back and so Jacob spied some pretty crazy patterns near the floor and decided to see what the pattern was........ it was this!

Proof that wood paneling can be better than somethings...

After that we went to hang with some good friends for a while, Mike and Krista and then back to Auntie M's. Monday we packed, had lunch with Papa, my mom and dad, and uncle and aunt. Stopped by the Anderson house again for yummy left overs and home we went. The traffic was worse than we thought it would be and we got home at midnight (left at 6 or so) But Jacob and I had a fun talk and Kira slept most of the way. 

We hope to make it down again soon. We want to be able to see everyone instead of just family. We miss you all so much but we know we are in the right place. I'll try to keep up on the blog more this year......

'til next time