So Happy Together!

I'm about a month late with this, but I've been wanting to do it for fun- for me.
You won't enjoy it as much or even want to look at the whole thing, but that's okay.
I didn't want to bother downloading pictures in order or try rearranging them after.

Here are some of our adventures from the past four years and a little bit:

Bergen, Norway - June 2009
Birthplace of my grandparents.

Norway again :)

Stonehenge, London - June 2009

Paris, France - June 2009

Portland, Oregon - May 2010
At the Rose Gardens

A baby shower for Anika - December 2009

At the Baker's house on our trip to Logan - July 2010

Park City - August 2008
Celebrating our 2nd Anniversary, just about to ride the zipline

Vina del Mar, Chile - December 2007
What a beautiful place to make out. JK, it isn't us.

The Narrows - October 2007
Thanks, Merkets!

Our first apartment - August 2006-September 2009

Tandem biking - September 2008

Just after hiking The Narrows (the same time as before) - October 2007

Pleasant Grove Triathlon - June 2008

Lake Powell - July 2007

Santiago, Chile - December 2007

San Felipe, Chile - December 2007
We just made German Pancakes for our friends.

Snorkling at Bonneville Sea Base - August 2008 (2nd Anniversary)

Our first Christmas - December 2006

Before a Mystery Dinner party with friends - 2007

Horseback riding on our Honeymoon - August 2006

Engaged - Summer 2006

Dating - Summer 2006
We did each other's hair.

My Graduation - May 2007

Capitol Reef - June 2007

Wedding pictures - August 2006

More - August 2006

Than & I - 2007

Snake River - one of the summers we went rafting - 2006?

Rafting - some summer

Aggie Basketball

The Indian Oven

On a hike to Ensign Peak with the Sanders

Nathaniel's Graduation - May 2009

Hardman Reunion - July 2010

Cabin in Starvalley - August 2010

Syttende Mai Celebration (17th of May, Norwegian Constitution Day) - 2009

After floating the Logan canal - Summer 2009

8 Months

As of Tuesday, September 14th, Anika is 8 months old!
My goodness, she is getting so big!

Her first tooth is now officially in, and the second is close behind.
She started clapping. It is especially fun when I sing, "If you're happy and you know it..."
and she'll smile and clap her hands.

Although she's not crawling yet, she sure wants to and she thinks it is pretty great when we crawl around to show her how it's done. She is really close and can still move
around a fair bit without crawling. She loves to stand up (with help). I wasn't able to get
a good picture of her at a 30* angle to the floor. I'll go to put her down in a sitting position,
but she wants to stand so she'll stay straight as a board as long as she can.
Sometimes I'll be holding her there for several seconds before she finally sits.

Here is Anika spinning in a bowl with Grandma. Grandmas think of everything :)
She has so much personality and does a lot of funny things. In general she is much
happier now, and we love it. It such a nice change to have her smile, laugh, coo,
or whatever just because we look at her.

Anika is really good at playing the maracas; she should be a professional.
Watch out, Davy Jones!

I love to watch her examine things. She will sit for quite awhile just looking
at an object while she moves it around or shakes it. She'll also rotate around it
with her hands and look at all the different aspects or sides.

I'm not sure what she's doing. Maybe giving a kiss to her friend that she sees there every day?

Sweet Retreat

This is one of my very most favorite places. A beautiful cabin in Star Valley, Wyoming.
I have so many fun memories here. We went with my family a few weeks ago, and it was soooo nice.
It was the perfect vacation. We weren't running around everywhere, Anika was able to
stay on her "schedule" pretty well, and there were enough new things to see and do and
people to play with that she was quite happy. The pictures are more exciting
than explanations, so I'll keep the captions short.

Just coming home from our morning walk.

Out playing frisbee on the golf course that connects to the backyard.


Dad and Farfar lounging around. What a great thing to do on vacation!


Doing fun things with babies.


We even went river rafting (which might be a little on the running around side).
Last year was the first year in 12-13 years or so that we DIDN'T go rafting.
We didn't really take pictures except this bad one... whoops.


Foos ball


Settlers almost every day with Emily and Ben.


A 750 piece puzzle.


Pool. So some of these were staged, but just because we forgot to take pictures other times :)


Ping Pong


Anika's first taste of Tootsie's Pizza. She's just gumming the crust.


Anika was mesmerized by the player piano.


Another beautiful walk. We went every morning.


It was a bit on the nippy side, so she's dressed warm. Look at those lobster hands.


A boy and his dog. A.K.A. My Dad and Meg.


Another walk with my niece, Emma, and nephew, Landon.


Emma, Than and Landon eating Norwegian Pancakes.


Dad, Reagan and Emily.


Payson


The Air Show. My dad had a bunch of wooden planes and plastic rockets.
My brother, Dave, and his wife, Emily, are in this picture. It's the best one I've got.


We played with them for awhile.


Anika getting into Dave's goodies. Nope, she can't eat Twizzler's or drink Mountain Dew.


Anika and Farfar.


It is hard to see them, but Farfar is on the deck (by the pole) waving good-bye.
My dad is sitting on the steps. So long, wonderful vacation.


We stopped by the Star Valley Cheese Factory again on the way home to get yummy shakes.

We were enjoying the cabin so much that we didn't go to Jackson Hole, the Tetons, Granite Falls, or anywhere besides the Cheese Factory and Church. We almost went to Bar J Wranglers on our anniversary because we had done that for our honeymoon, but we didn't even want to do that.

Bountiful Baskets - I wish I had known about this sooner...

...So I'm telling you now.

There is this really cool co-op thing called Bountiful Baskets. You pay $15ish dollars
online on Monday or Tuesday and then go pick up your basket (or 2) of produce on Saturday.

It was really pretty exciting to see all of this produce. Nathaniel was curious to find out
how good of a deal it really is, so we weighed the produce and estimated prices
based on current grocery store offerings (a conservative estimate).

We had over 30 lbs of produce and figured it would have cost at least almost $32. Sweet!

Maybe I'll put a picture of our garden up one day, but it might make you laugh or cry.
In the meantime, here are two of our tomato plants. It is hard to see with our grass and
grapevines in the background, but there is a little one on the left and a BIG one on the right.

We got the little one late in the season as a start because our other seeds either didn't grow or
or didn't grow well. The start was already starting to flower and the growth was stunted.
It has produced some tomatoes though. The plant on the right is seriously about six feet tall!!
It is growing up through our grape vines. We started it from seed inside, and it has done
really well... sort of. We don't have control of our sprinklers so it has gotten waaaay too much water.
Nathaniel even capped off the sprinkler by it, but it keeps growing. It is finally starting to flower.
Hopefully we'll got some tomatoes before it's too late!

With green thumbs like ours this year, Bountiful Baskets is extra exciting :)

Silly Girl

The other day I could tell that Anika woke up from her nap. After a few minutes I heard some rustling
and I realized she had gotten my Ensign. (She tries to grab EVERYTHING!) I ran upstairs to get it
before she tore it to pieces or ate it. I promise I didn't set it up. I laughed and ran to get the camera,
hoping she wouldn't move. This is what I saw when I opened the door.

"Yes, mom. Did you need something?"

Here she is playing with her toys. It is so cute how she LOVES to have the whole
basket of toys and pull things out one by one at her leisure.

So sweet.

My Mother-in-law gave me this cute bear suit. I tried several times to put Anika in it
before summertime, but she was just too lost inside. I took it along on a few occasions
this summer where it might get cold enough for her to wear it. Finally we had an opportunity,
but it is just a bit too small now. Hopefully our other kids can enjoy it.

She has been really good at putting her own binkie in for some time now, but sometimes
she puts it in the wrong way (and seems to know it) and acts like that's how it is supposed to be.

"Is there a problem?"

She absolutely LOVES my hairbrush! I'm not sure why (maybe because I'd rather her not
play with it because it isn't exactly safe or sanitary). I've wondered if it would help her sleep better
if I let her cuddle with it :) She likes it more than any stuffed animal, blanket or toy.

This picture is for Nathaniel. He likes the face she pulls when he wrings the washcloth out above
her stomach. Look at those cheeks. He and his dad like to say she is hiding nuts in them.

My Sister's Wedding

My sister, Emily, married Ben Powell on June 19th, 2010.

Now the three Emily's in my family all have different last names.
On my side of the family, our kids will still only have aunts named Emily.

The happy couple. They met at BYU and were ballroom dance partners

for a time. I guess they still are.

Here is a picture of my family from the wrong angle. I need to get the one

from the camera we were actually looking at. You mostly can't see Than.

My nephew, Owen, is the cute kiddo looking at this camera :)

Here is Anika hanging out with my dad and my Farfar.