And Yet Another Fun, Crazy, Week

Friday morning, Nick's brother Matt and his girlfriend Emily flew in from Nebraska. Matt had a 2 week break from school before having to start his summer classes. :( We're glad his choice to spend it with us! :) I'll try to keep this short and sweet. After reading through it all, we sound CRAZY!!

FRIDAY: I had to work, so we had lunch when they got into town and that night we went to the temple. That night we enjoyed YUMMY Panda Express and fun night in the pools and hot tub.

SATURDAY: NO work for me. :) Nick got some sleep that morning from being at work while Matt and Emily went and saw the sights of Las Vegas. That evening we had planned a BBQ for about 30 ppl. We thought it would be a blast to get together with all our family and friends, eat some good food, and then play a game of softball. WELL... lets just say that we were lucky to have SOME ppl show up. :( We had PLENTY of good food for those who did come and had a good time. It was a good for Matt to see his cousin Daniel and Aubri too.

SUNDAY: We went to church. Nick and I did a VERY fun lesson with our class involving a lesson and ice cream... mostly ice cream. :) The Ice Cream was used to represent our "spirits", the bowl was our "body", and the toppings were either choices that obeyed the commandments or disoboyed them. The kids did a GREAT job at not getting too excited and were still able to learn from it.
The rest of the day we enjoyed relaxing and resting.

MONDAY: I went to work and Nick ran errands all day while Matt and Emily went out on the town and enoyed exploring. They picked me up from work and went to dinner and then to THE LION KING!! :) This show just opened in Vegas and Nick and I wanted to take Matt and Emily so bad. We were so happy to be able to get tickets. Of course we got the cheapest ones, which means the very back. BUT at Intermission, we ran into Daniel and Aubri. We didn't even know they were going that night. It was so fun to run into them there. They had seats in the front and they informed us that the row right behind them was EMPTY and needed the Anderson clan to fill em' up. :) The second half of the show was even better nice and up close. :)
After the show Matt, Emily, and Nick wanted to ride the New York New York Roller coaster. Yes... everyone but me and that's totally fine. :) I HATE the rides, but really enjoyed seeing their faces as they stepped off it and told me all about it. :)



TUESDAY: Back to work for me. Matt and Emily hung around the pool most of the day. Nick and I enjoyed lunch together that day. I always love when he comes and gets me for lunch... its a treat because it doesn't happen very often. They all went to the Strasphere while I finished work and rode more roller coasters. :) New York New York was by far their favorite. That night we went out to Red Rock and before going to bed we watched a movie.

WEDNESDAY: I got the day off and we all headed out to Hoover Dam. They hadn't seen it before and enjoyed it. It was VERY hot that day, so we didn't last long out there. We headed back to town enjoyed some pizza and all took naps. That night we headed over to Daniel&Aubri's where we met Jason&Claire for some snack foods, Smores, and a good time. :) I love being able to spend time with them, we always have so much fun. That was also a good opportunity for Matt to see Jason&Claire.

We had a great week and hope it's not too long until we see Matt again!! Thanks for spending one of your weeks off with us! :)

How We Celebrated Mothers Day

(I know it's a little late and the pictures are horrible, but I wanted to journal these for future reference)

Since Nick and I couldn't be at home with our mothers on Mothers Day, we did everything we could to make up for it. :) I'd be contemplating for a couple months on what I should do for our mom's. I knew I HAD TO do something for Dani, because the first time being a mom is a VERY special one. :) I couldn't leave Kim and Lindsay out either, because they are also such GREAT mom's and role models. So then I REALLY had to think about what I should do for them ALL.
Here is what I came up with...
For Dani and my mom, I put together this "Forever a Family" frame. This picture is EXTRA special to all of us because it is the day we were sealed together as a family. I always wanted this picture in my house and thought it would be a GREAT way to use it and an even better Mothers Day gift. Now I just have to make myself one for my house.


For Nick's Mom and his sisters, I decided to make them each a different tile with family quotes. I was really worried about these making it safely there because they break SOO EASILY! To my surprise, they all made it there without a scratch. :) I hope you all enjoy them. The quotes used on them are: "Charity never faileth", "Peace be unto this house", and "Forever a family."
The funnest part about these was wrapping them and make individual tags for them each.

Here are the tags:

My mom...

Dani...

Terri...

Kim...

& Lindsay...
This next sign was not something that I did for Mother's Day. It was a Thank You gift for my cousin Jesse and her husband Jake. They gave us an amazing set of Pampered Chef pots and pans and for that I could not simply write a thank you note. I wanted to give them something in return. Jake and Jess have been helping my Dad trial cows into the ranch all week and they have not received this gift yet.... so I haven't heard what they think. I hope they like it!
(mom-you can't tell them you saw it first when you take them lunch tomorrow)

And the tag for their gift:

When I was making these, I realized that I cannot remember the last time I gave my mother a gift that I did not make. I've given her some of my artwork, some scrapbooks, and other simple crafts. I have always loved doing this for people and I believe it makes the gift so much more special and meaningful. I hope that I can keep this goal in mind and always have the energy and motivation to do so.

Crazy, busy, and FUN

Our crazy and fun filled week started last Saturday when we got together for our "Cousin Monthly Gathering," with Jason & Claire's and Daniel & Aubri's family. Daniel and Aubri planned the month of April's activity, which was a GREAT ONE!! We had a fun night at the park of BBQing and playing wiffleball/softball/through-the-ball (at Gabriel...meaning ONLY Daniel). :) We missed Caleb though and hope he will reconsider getting together with us next month. :) It was a wonderful night with laughs, fun, great food, and WARM weather! Thanks for planning it Daniel and Aubri!! We can't wait for next month's activity. :)
Sunday was also a day full of many different activities. For starters, Nick and I had to do Sharing Time in Primary for the FIRST TIME!!! Yes... we have been in primary for ten months now and have never had to do it till NOW. We always seemed to by out of town when it was our turn before now. Let me just say... WOW, I'm glad that's over until October. It's WAY harder then I thought it would be. All the other Primary teachers assured us afterwards that we "did great and even though it seems like the kids are doing EVERYTHING BUT listening, they did get something out of it." However; we did survive that day of church and are just glad it's over with. :) It will be easier the next time... right?! ;)
After church we had another BBQ with some friends from our ward that live in our complex. The weather was also just perfect for this event. It was soo fun getting to catch up with them and play with their kids.
Later that night around 10:00 pm, our friends, Deloy, shannon, and Declan, flew in from Wyoming. Shannon was here for some work related training and we had a great couple of days with them. I love when people come to visit from Wyoming... I do have to say, that is one great thing about living in Vegas.

Our week with them was FULL of running around like crazy, little sleep, and FUN!! :) That's what it's all about though right? Since we did SO much, I'll just touch on some of the funnest things we did. Monday night was one of my favorite nights. After work, I met Deloy & Shannon and took Declan for the night as they were headed to a show. Nick had a baseball game that night so we decided it would be a fun place for Declan to run around and play. That kid is the cutest and funnest kid. Me and him sat on a blanket and played with his toys while watching nick's game. Declan was totally content just sitting there with me playing and watching the guys run from one base to the next. After walking around for awhile we sat back down on the blanket and were playing and the next thing I know....

... He was fast alseep. TOO cute!!

Wednesday night (their last night here) We did alot of sight seeing and went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. :) They had never been there and since we LOVE that place (and it's cheap) we thought they had to experince it for themselves. At Buffalo Wild Wings, they have something called the "Blazzin' Challenge." This challenge consists of eating 12 wings that are SOAKED in their HOTTEST sauce under 6 mins. No drinks or napkins are allowed. If you complete the challenge, you get your picture on the "challenge wall" and a free T-Shirt. :) Now how can you turn that down?! :) For those who love hot stuff, this wouldn't be too hard. Nick and I told Deloy about the challenge and dared him to try it. LOL! He's not a huge hot sauce fan, but he gave in and said "I'LL DO IT!" We were so excited because we've never seen anyone does this before. We've only seen the hilarious pictures on the wall. So... after dinner we told the waitress that Deloy wanted to try the Challenge. We got some awesome pics and Deloy did so good, that even surprised himself! He ate 12 HOT wings in 2 mins and 42 secs. WAY TO GO DELOY!!

I took them back to the airport Thursday afternoon and we said our goodbyes until we go back to Wyoming this summer. It was soo good to see them all and spend time with them. Thanks for taking time to hang out with us guys!! Come back soon!