2.06.2012

September 2011

In October of 2009 Topher's awesome little brother embarked on a 2 yr. service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He is a great little brother and he made an amazing missionary, teaching and serving those in and out of the Church and bringing the gospel to the people of Quartz Hill, California. We wrote him letters, he wrote us more, and we missed him like crazy. But the person that I'm pretty sure missed him the most, and hey, I think he missed her the most too, is my little Gracey. ;)

From the moment Grace first was held by Austin he has had a special bond with her and she just adores her Uncle Austin. He was always one of her preferred people to be with, play with and cuddle with and when he left I was so so sad that he wouldn't get to see her change throughout the next 2 yrs. But, we sent him pictures and updates and I think they both survived just fine. However, when it was time for him to come home, I made sure he knew that we expected him on our doorstep STAT! So, shortly after he returned home, he made his plans and was on his way!
We had such a great time with him too!! We took him to the beach, out to eat some good southern BBQ, took him Downtown to see some sights, but mostly we just hung out at home. We all missed just chilling, sleeping in, eating good food, watching movies way too late into the night and playing games together. So, we did a lot of hanging out. His Dad would have gone crazy!!! :) But, we loved it.
His visit was a week, but still too short for our taste! He claimed he had to hurry home to his new flame. Psh! Ridiculous. Especially since now she's his wife! Obviously he could've stayed longer, she wasn't going anywhere. ;)
I'll forgive him for leaving so soon since he and his new wife Mrs. Elise L'Don Andersen are coming back to visit next month.
In September I also got Grace into a community Gymnastics class and that was a lot of fun. It was nice for her to have an opportunity to get some wiggles out and I really enjoyed just watching her be involved in something and be so happy doing it. Later when my Mom came to visit in November she even brought some leotards she had made for Grace that were ADORABLE, and Grace's gym teacher tried to convince my Mom to sell them through the Gym! I can't find a picture of her in gymnastics...Hm. I'm a bad mom. My mom took some though, so If I get my hands on those I'll put those up here, because she really is a cutie in those leotards!
We still have our dog...September was not a good month for our dog...I think I wanted to kill her at least once a week. Hm. More on that later maybe. :)
But, that is the synopsis of September. :)

Possibly a hopeless attempt?

So, I have not blogged in a while. In a really loooong while. But, I'm going to attempt to play catch up. This is sort of how I "scrap book" or journal, and basically if I don't review the past few months, there won't be record of them anywhere. So, I'm going to try....

To put my own thoughts in order let me start by saying that September brought us a visit from Topher's little brother, Austin, who had just gotten back from serving an amazing 2 yr. mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That was the highlight of our September for sure!
October was of course Halloween, and we had some fun times with the week or so leading up to it with lots of Halloween parties and opportunities for Grace to dress up.
November brought my Mom and Sam visiting from Idaho and I was SOOO excited and relieved to have them and their help, (more on that later).
We also were lucky to go on a cruise with Topher's family over Thanksgiving.
In December we took a long 2 wk. hiatus and went to Utah for the Holidays. We were there over Christmas as well as New Years.
If that is not enough, in January we headed to the islands of Hawaii with most of my family for a mini family reunion, and as soon as we returned we did a 360 and went straight back to Utah for Austin's wedding!!
So...ALLL of THAT is what I'm going to try and detail more in the next several posts. It may take me a while. :) But, my memory is so bad, I've gotta do it or I won't remember anything a year from now!! Hopefully...it doesn't take me a year to do this. Hm. Yikes!
Anyway, don't feel compelled to follow along with my ramblings, but if you do, go you! :)