I am a cow.

Or at least my husband thinks I am. He packs a lunch for me to take to work everyday (because he loves me) but today I was a little shocked when I got to work and looked in my bag.

He packed me leftover casserole from yesterday's dinner, an apple, and a ziploc bag of Fritos. Sounds like a perfect lunch, right?

Well, he also packed me a package of uncooked Top Ramen, a big bag of caramel Hershey Kisses, a bag of unpopped microwave popcorn, and a movie-sized box of Crunch candy.

What does this guy think I do for eight hours? I called him and asked if he was joking, because that's something he would do, and said he was about the Ramen.....meaning the rest was all for me! That dude makes me laugh. And, I may set a pregnancy weight gain record.

ARRRRRR!

The Anderson family biennial murder mystery New Year's Eve extravaganza was a grand success. (I'll post about Christmas later). Everyone came in costume and character for a night of pillaging, looting, drinking, and swashbuckling good times.



Melissa and I were the governor's daughters, my dad's the governor, my mom is Thumbless Jacky, (I tell you that so you don't think she's making gang signs for the camera), Amy's hubby is the Commodore, Chandra was the galley wench, Nate was a "merchant sailor" and my love interest :) Everyone else was a crazy pirate name I can't remember. (Notice I am behind someone and holding my dress up to hide my bulging belly. I was a pretty inappropriate governor's daughter, I looked more like a pregnant prom queen from the 80's.)

Look at how well my sister made it look like a pirate meal! We had ribs and wings and all things meaty, nuts and grapes and ham and bean soup in tavern-y bowls, pirate plates, root and apple "beers" and cranberry "ale". She rocks.

Here she is serving everyone drinks in FULL character as a galley wench. I think she even got a little fiesty at someone and threw their bread at them.......

This is my brother who just got his doctorate in electrical engineering.......but this is his true self. And his wife Brita, also pregnant and due just a couple days after I am.

My mom's pirate pose is eerily similar to her rapper's pose that she made at the last murder mystery party two years ago.....that year was superhero year and she was decked out in baggy clothes and chains, but making this exact same pose. She's a riot.

Wendy's striped tights and pageant shoes from the 80s make her a winner in my book.....and below, her husband Cory with dreadlocks and a parrot on his shoulder made me laugh all night. How did every single one of my siblings find spouses that are willing to be as nutty as we are?

Nate's sailor outfit is so great, those are women's pants he found at a thrift store and a child's size sailor hat. He's a goofball, and I love him. Next to my dad, the governor.

And for memories' sake, Nate was the murderer, he killed Cory the pirate because Nate used to be a pirate and wanted his treasure, that and he needed to bring a pirate to justice in order to win my hand in marriage :) Too bad I dumped him after he commit the crime.

Have a Fabulous Christmas!

We are leaving today for Utah, with a quick 48-hour stop in Vegas to see the BYU game. Go cougs! We will be gone until the new year, so everyone be safe and don't drink and drive. I look forward to the cheery posts I will see when we return. I'll try and take pictures of our annual New Year's Eve family murder mystery costume party so I can share the joy with you all......we go all out, it's great fun.

It's a boy!

Why did they give this girl a license?

I eat a bowl of cereal on my way to work. I started this tradition 6 months ago when I realized that it was too early for me to eat at home before I left, but 30 minutes later by the time I got to work I was starving. I realize there are safer ways to drive, but that’s not the focus of my story. Last week on my way to work I had a bowl of rice crispies in my hand as I started the car and began to pull forward, coasting a little on my empty street. Then I remember that Nate had driven my car last and the seat was too far back, so I leaned down, lifted the handle with my empty left hand and tried to gently scoot forward. The seat, however, didn’t move at all, it was stuck somehow. SO, I was almost to the point on my little street where I have to turn onto an even littler street, so I went to put my foot on the brake so I could slide the seat forward safely before I turned.
Then, simultaneously, my foot was hovering over the brake as my seat suddenly decided it was time to move forward, which made my foot hit the brake, which sudden stop in movement made my seat throw itself all the way forward like a rocket, which made my foot slam the brake pedal all the way down and the car come to a lurching halt and I was thrown against the steering wheel and I nearly crashed my head through the windshield and my rice crispies went flying. Not the bowl, no, I was still clinging to the empty bowl when I came to and realized what had just happened. Grateful I was alive, I moved the seat back again and surveyed the damage. I couldn’t have gotten the inside of my car to be that covered with milk and rice crispies if I had made serious effort. It was as if a rice crispy bomb had gone off. Apparently, rice crispies multiply in the bowl like grape nuts. It was on the roof of the car, the windshield top to bottom, covered the instrument panel, the steering wheel, the entire floor area, the passenger seat, the passenger floor, the middle console, in my hair, on my face, from my neck to my feet I was speckled and soaking wet. After a few seconds of stunned silence (and considering the possibility of just going to work like that, that explains my state of mind) I turned the car around (and drove past the two houses I had driven by previously) to get to my house. I sloshed in my shoes as I walked into my house and standing there on the tile decided all I could do was yell Naaaaaaaaate! He ran downstairs immediately yelling “What happened, is everything okay?” until he saw me, and saw the hundreds of cereal bits stuck to every part of me. Then he got this really compassionate look on his face and said, “Oh, did you throw up?” Well, of course that made me laugh to tears, but finally I told him no, that I needed him to help me clean my car because I spilled. He went outside and immediately came back in saying, “WHAT did you do??” Honestly, folks, it was SO bad, and we didn’t even get a picture. He had to bring out the shop vac!! So, that’s my story, my wonderful husband mopped up my car while I went upstairs and took a shower because I had milk in every crevice.

And in case you’re wondering if I learned my lesson, the answer is yes....... when I eat cereal in the car I always make sure I move the seat first :)

For Amy, My Home Fry

Sorry it took me so long, dude.

8 Favorite TV shows:
1. 8? I hate most TV shows
2. The Office
3. Wheel of Fortune
4. Everybody Loves Raymond
5. Monk
6. Trivia shows
7. College football
8. That’s about it.

8 Things I did yesterday:

1. Went to work

2. Talked to my mom on the phone for 45 minutes

3. Drank hot chocolate sitting by a fire in our backyard

4. Had family home evening

5. Read some conference talks

6. Ate leftovers for dinner

7. Crochet (yes, I’m an old lady)

8. Had some great conversation with Nate

8 Things I look forward to:

1. Holidays

2. Taking showers

3. All meals

4. Seeing Nate after work

5. Making new recipes

6. Spending time with family

7. Nate shaving his face

8. Sleeping in on Saturdays

8 Restaurants:

1. Manuel’s

2. Maggiano’s!

3. Papa Johns :)

4. Outback

5. Wienerschnitzel

6. PF Changs

7. Tepanyaki

8. In n Out

8 Things on my wish list:

1. My dumb citrus tree to make some fruit already

2. The ability to play the piano

3. My degree finally

4. A sewing table

5. Health and safety for my family and friends

6. No headaches and perfect vision

7. A housekeeper (although Nate does a great job :)

8. To pay off student loans…..a wish in progress

And my 4th picture in my 4th album is this:

Sadly, my fourth album was the sample pictures, so it's not very entertaining. But pretty! It reminds me that I'm grateful we have family in Utah and Chicago, so even though we never see snow here at home, we are blessed to see it every Christmas.

Santa Fe! Are you there?

(A song from the movie "Newsies"). Before Christian donned the black mask.

ANYWAY..........I find it ironic that when my life is the busiest, I have the least amount of time to blog, and then when I do actually blog I feel like it's boring because the reason why I am blogging is that life has slowed down and I have nothing to share. Hence, the following post:

I have a couple more pictures of Santa Fe. You really wouldn't guess that we were only there for one day. And please, to my fans who commented on my apparel in the "hiking" pictures, re-read the story about how we were just supposed to take the tram that day but because of bad weather they shut it down and so we took a spontaneous hike in the rain. I obviously would have dressed differently if the initial plan had been a hike.......duh. Also the reason why Jessica was wearing heels, as pictured.

VERY VERY WET. Nate's jeans are not really that dark and my jacket is not two-toned.

Even with all my apathy towards animals, (and that doesn't make me a bad person) I truly love riding horses. I got to ride all the time while I lived in Jackson Hole, I miss that.

Not sure why Nate's picture looks smaller than the rest, but isn't he adorable?



So that's the end of that trip. Maybe in a month or two I'll post about D-land, the Grand Canyon, or other good times we've had recently. But mostly I stay busy with the Young Women, (including a sleepover/sewing party this evening), and work, and spending time with Nate. Today I will try and get around to decorating for Halloween. It's one of the two holidays I decorate for and I haven't started. Soooo behind. This weekend my parents are coming to town and my nephew is getting ordained and Nate's work is having a "cocktail party". And that is an entirely different story.

PS. Wasn't General Conference fabulous?