Happy Birthday Bradley!

Bradley Scott Anderson is two years old! I know I still baby him. I can't help it - he is my baby! But he's definitely all grown up. I'm so grateful to Mom who took all these pictures. I didn't take a single shot, so these are extremely valuable to me. 

We invited the family over for lunch and games to celebrate Bradley's two years in our family. Dad was able to come from Texas and there were grandparents and great grandparents who sent birthday wishes and gifts from Nevada and other parts of Utah. We had Mom & Jerry, the Coveys, Vineyards, Collin, Carlie & Alex, and Ruby & Ila because they were the only healthy Canlas cousins. Fun group. 

Bradley is such a fun person. I am always saying that I can't wait to see what he'll say and do and be when he grows up. He speaks very well, but still uses a lot of gibberish. His voice sounds like a muppet and he always has something to say. It's hilarious because he jibbers and jabbers like he really is saying something and then you'll suddenly recognize a word or two extremely clearly. 

He does have several recognizable sentences: 

Where'd Nigel go?

Is Daddy working?

Watch a show Mommy?

Don't touch it!

Sorry Nigel.

I love you.

Jesus wants me for a sun beep!

Honestly I bet he has at least a hundred of these so I won't list them all here. He's a great talker. 

Bradley is always jumping. He is high energy. Intense. He is naturally empathetic. Whenever he sees tears or hears crying he'll say something like, "Oh no! Why the baby so sad?" He's really good at getting people with tickles and kisses. His hair is thin and wispy  but on the long side so static electricity does wonders for all of our entertainment. He loves sensorial experiences. He loves to have lots of people around. He loves to pick Nigel up from school, or anywhere. He loves it when Nigel or Micah come home. He sleeps in a toddler bed, and made the transition extremely quickly and just like a champ. He loves to be read to while cuddling. He is extremely social and seems to think the more the merrier. He loves anything that goes: trains, plains, and automobiles. He loves anything that Nigel does. He is insane! He's just always on the go with so much enthusiasm. He's extremely sensitive to sugar and I sometimes want to give him a treat just to watch him go a little crazy before the crash. He loves anything that Nigel loves. He loves doing things with his eyes closed. 

Bradley is a joy to have in our family. I'm so glad he still likes to cuddle with me. 

Everybody loves Bradley!!!

Where's Waldo?

I've lived in two different wards as a married woman (my homes were half a mile away from each other and notably in two different stakes as well). In both wards I served in the Young Women program. In both wards we play Where's Waldo every year.

The leaders dress in their best disguises and try to blend in at the mall. The youth have a list of leaders' names who are hiding, but they don't know what our disguises are. They are split in to teams and try to see who can get all the leaders' signatures first. 

Super fun for everyone. I borrowed this disguise from Collin, who borrowed it from a friend. It was a great disguise! I just hung out in front of the hot dog on a stick counter on my phone for an hour. I actually got a lot of work done :)

I recommend this activity to all young men and young women everywhere. 

Some of our girls...

Some of Bradley's fans...

Nigel and Mom

Nigel Staying Up Late

It seems like this was soon after we got back from Brad and Olivia's house for our Christmas travelling. Routines often become less important when there are cousins to play with and grandparents to spend time with. It always takes us sooooo long to get back in to a routine when we leave town. Honestly, I still feel like I'm getting back in to the swing of things. It's February 1st....

Anyway, this cute little picture is Nigel stalling at bedtime by being cute and asking me to take a picture of the sore on the inside of his lip that turned into a big bump. Aren't canker sores caused by not enough sleep and too much sugar...? I think we all had a lot this past holiday season.

Definitely worth it!

Bradley and Mom

I can't remember what this was from, but it happened in January :)

Winter with Cousins

Nigel, Johnny, and Isaac.

Sledding! We've done so much sledding this winter. It's fun to be outside and play in the snow so hard that when we all come home we're exhausted and happy. Micah has definitely done his fair share of taking kids sledding. I think he has just as much fun as the boys.

Sledding is just one example of how I have really enjoyed winter this year. These pictures are from a spot we like to call The Bowl. Just down the hill from home.

A Parting Gift From Sue

Carlie and I have always loved a good yellow cake mix made into cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Micah has always loved pie. Micah and I have always loved Carlie. And Carlie has always loved us.

Her last week living with us before moving to Salt Lake for school she made the ultimate: pie cake.

You can't see the pie inside this cake, but if you cut a healthy slice of cake you would also get a cute little slice of pie that was baked into that slice of cake. Pie cake.

Blue frosting with sprinkles just make it fun.

I can't say that I love pie cake, but I'm certain that Micah did. I can say that I love Sue. I miss her every day! I still look forward to the 5:00 hour and the excitement of her coming home and hearing about her day and her plans for the evening, and all her hopes, dreams, and plans for life.

She's a busy girl with work, school, falling in love, and trying not die from her cat allergies aggravated by her roommate's cat.

Thank goodness for pie cake. Or at least its memory.

"...surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it."

That's from Elder Holland's April 2012 conference talk, and reminds me of Cheryl Wendelboe.

Cheryl Wendelboe is our Young Women president in the Grandview South Stake, 16th Ward right now. Carrie Hall is the 1st Counselor and Michelle LeBaron is the 2nd Counselor. Julie Whitely is the secretary. Angie Gordon is the Laurel Advisor. I am the Mia Maid Advisor. Our Beehive Advisor, Lisa Garner, was just released and we're waiting to see who the new one will be. Janeen Jones is the Girls' Camp Director. (Side note - I have never been released as the assistant camp director from last year and I'm starting to wonder if that was an oversight or on purpose...)

I love these women. I love having a calling with the Young Women. I love the new youth curriculum, Come, Follow Me... Teaching in the Savior's way. I'll write more about that later...

Today I wanted to write a great parenting tip that I learned from Cheryl. She told me that she looks for reasons to reward her kids (all teenagers to young adult). She'll even ask them to tell her something they've done that deserves a reward. She'll do small rewards and big rewards, and there's no rhyme or reason to it, just as she feels the need or desire.

I was having a hard time getting Nigel in the mood to get ready for school and actually go to school one day this past month and decided to ask him what he could do that day that would deserve a reward (a modified version of Cheryl's approach. I think it would be better to ask kids what they've already done, but I was just trying to get my sparkle on about getting Nigel ready for school so this is how I started ;)

Without skipping a beat he told me that he would get dressed, brush his teeth, make his bed, and go to school all with a smile and that the reward should be going to Chuck E Cheese after school.

Totally doable. He completely changed his attitude and did all of his work on his own, and I got to stop nagging him and being frustrated. So I picked him up from school and we headed for Chuck E Cheese.

Tine and her kids met up with us for an hour of fun before going home for dinner and the bedtime routine. It was a great afternoon. 

 Nigel really wanted this robot to me more real than it is, and also to bring it home with us.

 Bradley and Davis loved riding in any car.

 Nigel totally loved this masked racing game.

 Bradley and Davis on the monster truck ride.

Nigel is one of my favorite people in the world.