Welcome Home Uncle Chase!!!

This weekend has been a very eventful and exciting weekend for the Anderson clan. Starting it all off was the return of Elder Chase Anderson. He flew into Salt Lake at 10:00 pm on Friday and unfortunately I happened to have a class this past weekend and a presentation (yuck!) so Jeremy and I dragged our girls all the way home so I could get up and be at class bright and early in the morning. Getting to see Chase was definitely worth all the lack of sleep though! Chase served in the Johannasburg (sp?), South Africa mission and we are so glad to have him back in the good ol' U.S. of A. Jeremy and I can hardly believe how mature and confident Chase is, his mission really has made him quite the young man - in fact if anyone knows an available young girl, boy have I got the guy for you! He reports on his mission next week so the family fun will be continuing on, more posts to follow on this subject! Here are a few highlights from the airport:

Sky and Hope waiting to see Uncle Chase

AnnaLee and Trey - how cute are these two???

Sign Girls Rhendi and Blakely reporting for duty Kendyll meeting Chase for the first time - it took her a minute to warm up and then she was all about givin' the loves :-)

Jeremy and Chase - not sure why I like this one so much, but I do!

Welcome Home Chase!!!!

ABDC - Thank you Randy Jackson!

So for those of you who have not jumped on the Americas Best Dance Crew band wagon - it is hightime you got on board! The last season just finished and I am so excited that my Quest Crew boys came out on top (it makes up for a little of my bitter disappointment for The Bachelor's crap ending - who does Jason think he is anyway???)!! I have spent a good deal of my morning trying to get a video from youtube to demonstrate just how crazy talented these guys are and I think I finally managed to get something working. It is on the top of this post the first video is my current fav. Helpful Hint: You may want to pause the playlist on the bottom of the page so you can get an uninterrupted viewing experience! Unfortunately the video is going to be a temporary thing, mostly because I couldn't get it to do exactly what I wanted it to, but for the time being enjoy to your hearts content! For those of you who watch So You Think You Can Dance (a personal summertime must see!) you will recognize Dominic (LOVE him) and Hok. Oh and please feel free to comment - I can't possibly be the only person who is a tad bit obsessed with ABDC, So You Think You Can Dance, and The Bachelor . . . right?!!!

Smile Pretty!

As we are preparing for the big vaca to the land of Mexico it has been necessary for all of us to get passports. So today we all paraded down to the post office with our required paperwork, ready to smile pretty for the pictures. As I had mentioned throughout the morning to Sky and Kens that they were going to get their pictures taken, I had distractedly told them to smile pretty - never looking (because I was busy getting myself ready for the pic) at the end result of my direction . . . in hindsight I should have put more effort into the the end result! So after wrangling the children as Jeremy and I sign all the applications we eventually get to the picture part. Kendyll had to stand on the stool so she would be tall enough and in an attempt to distract her while the man was getting the camera ready I thought I would ask her to show me her pretty smile . . . this picture says so much more than I ever could.

Oh Kenda-loo after suppressing my laughter I had to find a way to get her to look "normal" for her passport picture - finally I settled on "Just look at the nice man" and hoped for the best. She looks a little stoned-ish (so does her daddy for that matter!) but it was much better than the alternative. After all of this when her turn was over, she kept asking the rest of the time for "more" pictures to be taken of her - one is never enough!

Bear with me please (for the few people who actually read this!) as this venting post is going to be a bit longer than normal, but I have to get it all off my chest. As I think about our trip to Mexico I am very hopeful that we will actually be able to go - yes this has been up in the air a few times in the past few weeks. I have tried to write this post a few times in the past week, but I have not been able to get my temper in control enough to write it with maturity. Due to an unfortunate (stupid) mistake by the nice (idiotic) people working in the American Fork Family Services Office Kendyll's birth certificate amendment was not filed until December 2008. A full year and 3 months past her finalization time. And this is only the start of my frustration. After attempting to make contact with the Office of Vital Records in the great state of California (there were at least 4 times when the phone was "disconnected" after 20 minutes of waiting not so patiently for someone, anyone to talk to me) where I recieved the frustrating news that California gives themselves 12 months to process an adoption amendment - that is 12 months after the amendment is filed. After some begging and pleading I gave in to despair and realized we would not be going to Mehico after all. But wait did I say give up? Oh no that is not in my DNA (or maybe it was my mother crying and refusing to accept defeat . . .) I decided to call the passport office and see if I would be able to get a passport without a birth certificate. YAY for the passport people - I love them!!! They will accept an adoption decree as evidence of birth, so once again we are all systems go. Now the only bridge to cross is the Social Security office . . . this is where my temper starts to flare. I prepared for my third trip to the office in Twin by going on line and printing off all of the requirements for a card, getting more than enough information to support my case and gearing myself up to not take no for answer. Long story short, after going through three different people, seeing the porkly - opps I mean portly security officer put his hand on his gun (honestly I could have been out the door with his gun before he hauled his rear end out of his seat) while I challenged the workers and what they were telling me I was forced to accept no for an answer - with no real explanation why. I was furious to say the least! Mostly I was seeing red because there were 3 hispanic people in the office, with their kids because they can't speak our national language (at least until Obama changes it for them) recieving disability payments - all with legal social security cards I'm sure! I told Jeremy maybe he should talk to some of his drivers and see if they can hook us up with a card! Anyway, we still don't have a social security card for Kens, but we have now involved the governers office! Who knew - they have an actual office dedicated to stuff like this! My dad has been a big help, in fact I dare say they may have messed with the wrong Bampa on this one!

Pey-Pey's Birthday

My brother Kyle and his wife Bekah are the proud parents of my nephew Peyton, affectionately referred to as Pey-Pey by Skyler and Kendyll. On Valentine's Day Pey-Pey turned 1 year old and we made the trip to Utah to celebrate his big day. Of course no trip would be possible without some sort of excitement and adventure and thanks to the drive down (and back) we were provided with more than enough excitement! A big storm came in Friday night/Saturday morning and gave us plently of slickness (is that even a word?) to deal with. There was one moment in particular when the pickup began to fishtail and my mom began shouting at my dad in a shrill voice (as if he was not aware of what was going on, him being the driver and all) "DEAN!!" My dad and I calmly (okay not so calmly) informed her that she was not helping out. Shortly after this another car in front of us also began fishtailing and forced several cars to slam on brakes and we narrowly avoided rear ending another vehicle Kendyll pipes up from the back "BAMPA!" Ahh that Kendyll she is a fast learner! You might wonder what Skyler was doing during all of this . . . not to worry she was completely ignorant to the outside world as she immersed herself in the Space Buddies movie my dad purchased for her. I do not understand how she can throughly enjoy the Buddies (5-6 puppies that are the offspring of Air Bud - I think?) movies, but she enjoys them over and over and over again. Anyway back to the subject, we had a great day and I cannot believe how cute my nephew is! He has the most adorable little squeal, someday he will be embarrassed by how high pitched it is! He totally dug into his cake (Kyle has had him in cake "training" for the past week so he would preform at his best!) and clapped with pride at his own efforts. Happy Birthday Pey-Pey!

It's about love . . .

Usually I like to document all of the fun, crazy times we have as a family, however I have to hit on a more serious note for this post. I don't know how many of you have read the February Ensign, but I want to mention the cry fest which the the adoption section. Obviously adoption is close to our hearts and an open topic in our home (Skyler is totally ready for that boy we keep telling her is eventually coming . . . )and I love to hearing about other positive experiences. Unfortunately birthparents have to deal with the small-mindedness of the world - I just have to say I have never witnessed such a selfless act and I am in awe of the sacrifices that have been made on our children's behalf. I hope and pray for unwed parents to have open minds and hearts when considering ALL of their options - especially as we are thinking about putting in our papers for another child. Adoption is not an easy road for all involved, however I have to say the results are wonderful! Although I highly recommend reading the articles I am putting a disclaimer with it . . . Be sure to have tissues handy, especially if adoption has touched your life in some way! I am not a crier, however when it comes to my beautiful children or their birthparents I can bawl for hours! Prepare yourselves now people!!

"P" Day!

Yay for preschool! Skyler is learning about the letter P this week and her teacher is so creative (not to mention patient!). Today was Pajama day in honor of all things "P". This alone has had Skyler excited for weeks, then as the cherry on her ice cream it was also her (my) day to provide the class treats. My very brilliant child came up with Popcorn on her own, and her equally brilliant (by preschool standards anyway!) mom added Pretzels and Pink lemonade to the mix. The treats were a hit according to Sky and she proudly came out of school sporting a Princess crown. Although Kendyll wanted to wear pajamas along with her big sister, she settled for the sweats mom offered as a compromise. It is very surprising how opinionated Kendyll is on what she wears . . . already. She proudly shows off her outfit to Chummers everyday along with who put what article on her - side note mom does 99.9% of the dressing everyday! Anyway back on subject . . . Nothing like the letter P throwing up on the day!

She's Off!

Lately Skyler has picked up a cute little thing. When we ask her to go and do something she will say "Ohhkay!" and pick up her leg and shoot her arms out (think of some cartoon character) and then shoot off in the direction she is going. I don't know exactly where she came up with this idea but it is so funny! Let's just say that Jeremy and I have sent her off on a few unnecessary errands just to see her do this. I tried to get her in the "moment" however she began posing and the picture loses some of the effect of the move . . . for those of you who will get to see her in the next little bit, send her off to get something it will be worth it!