It's FUN being ONE!!!

Now that Garrett is one, I thought I would share what he is up to! Here are some of Garrett's favorite things:

• Scooting backwards around on the floor and getting stuck against the furniture. NO, he is not crawling or walking, but has found his own unique way of getting around!
• Taking sips out of mom and dad's cups, but not his own!
• Signing milk, dog, more, eat, book, please, bunny and fish. He also makes sounds for chicken, cow, dog, bunny and fish. He also makes the "roar" sound for any other animal we ask or he sees (i.e. lions, tigers and bears....oh my!)
• LOVES string cheese!!!! He will stuff it in until his mouth is full and then continues to ask for more!
  
• LOVES to share his food (one for mommy, one for baby etc.) He also loves to put his finger foods in his bowl of food. (he will drop his cheerios in his bowl of cereal as I am feeding it to him.)
• LOVES his chicken puppet that he got for Christmas from his dad. He especially loves when Daddy makes the chicken sounds and pecks at him with his beak.
• LOVES BOOKS! He reaches for the bookshelf when we sit down in the rocking chair and squeals and signs "book" until we read one! He gets upset when it is time to be done with books. He especially loves the silly voices that his dad makes while reading and touch and feel books.
• Making a lot of noise! He especially is good at this during church. Loves to pretend to sing (scream) and lead the music during sacrament.
• He is getting good at pushing buttons, squeezing toys, and making noises for whatever he is playing with especially his cars and trucks.
• He loves to point to things and then looks at us with a puzzled look, his lips in an "o" shape, making a high pitch sound and both of us hands up by his face like he is saying "I don't know." He also does the same cute thing when we ask him "What is that? or Where did it go?" when we hide something. So dang cute!
  

Garrett is so much fun. It amazes me everyday how much he is learning and how much he understands. I know that this next year is going to be fun, but challenging...especially as he becomes more mobile, independent and closer to the "terrible twos"! We look forward to all the
adventures that are to come in 2009!

"I LOVE STRING CHEESE!" ................................................ "I DUNNO?"

Happy Birthday Garrett !

We did it! We survived our first year of parenthood! We can hardly believe that our little man is now one! WE have had a lot of fun this past year. We never knew that having a kid could bring so much love to our home! Being parents definitely hasn't been easy, but SOOOO worth it! Here are just a few things I love about being a mom...

• When Garrett cuddles me in the morning when I wake him up. He is so cute as he puts his hands around me and lays on my chest!
• When Garrett laughs. It is so dang cute and it always brings a smile to my face.
• Watching Garrett and his daddy play! Those two have so much fun together.
  
• Seeing all of Garrett's funny facial expressions....I think he gets them from me?!!! Our recent favorite his "the scowl" (a.k.a. the Anderson crinkle!)
• Having someone to hang-out with all day!
• Getting comments from strangers on how cute he is!
• I love taking pictures of Garrett...we only have a few thousand from the past year!
• Hearing Garrett say, "MAMA" and reaching for me when he sees me!
  
• Being a family. I love knowing that we are sealed together forever. I couldn't imagine my life without my TWO precious boys!

We sure had a fun weekend! Exhausting but fun! It was great to have the holiday MLK on Monday to recover. I sure love going to parties, but I never feel like I am a great hostess! WELL, we had three parties for our little man...three days in a row! I think it went better than we thought it would, but Colin and I sure came to a conclusion on Sunday night after the last guests had left....we need a bigger house!!! NO, we are NOT MOVING anytime soon! But, it was hard not to feel cramped as we were trying to entertain everyone with eating dinner, opening presents, watching his one year DVD and having cake and ice cream! No matter the headache...it was all worth it and we are very thankful for our family and friends that supported us on this special anniversary!

Garrett had a great time...his favorite things being the balloons that I bought to decorate with. He enjoyed his monkey cake too and got into it a little more than I thought! He was lucky enough to have cake twice(for two different parties), but didn't enjoy it as much the second go around (Sorry Lewis family!!) I think he was getting tired and worn out from all the attention he had gotten all weekend and just wanted to go to bed. Hopefully you'll believe me when you see the pictures now of the first night! Thanks again for everyone that came! Everyone was very generous as he sure got a lot of nice gifts! I know he will be entertained for months with all the new fun toys and we have already worn some of the cute outfits he got too! I think we made his birthday a memorable one and Colin said when it was all over, "when Garrett looks at these pictures in the years to come, he is sure going to know how much his mommy loved him!" I do love you! You are my miracle and we thank Heavenly Father everyday for the opportunity we have to be your parents! WE hope you had a very Happy Birthday Chicken!

12 months with Mr. Monkey!!!

I can't believe that we did it! We managed to take a picture 12 times this year with Mr. Monkey! It wasn't always exactly on Garrett's month birthdays, but we tried to get in at least one each month! It was fun to do it and see the growth over the past year. It was a great idea that we got from our friends and we will probably continue to do it for our other kids. Hopefully we'll have something as cute as the monkey that we had for Garrett.

Well, I had been thinking about where I wanted to take the "last" monkey picture this month. It seemed like I had done everything that I could think of inside, but outside has just been cold and brown for a few weeks now. Well, it snowed last night and I thought it would be perfect to put Garrett in his new sled that he got for his birthday with Mr. Monkey. So, monkey borrowed a jacket and a hat and we headed outside in our backyard for a quick photo shoot. It was hard to try and pull the sled, get him to smile and take the picture. I managed to get a few cute ones and we hope that we will be able to really go sledding soon with his dad. Here is also a slideshow of the monkey pictures throughout the last year! Enjoy!

Holiday Slideshow

Christmas fun!

WE had a great holiday season! It went by way to fast, but we enjoyed it very much! It sure was fun having a kid to buy presents for. It is silly how excited you get over the anticipation of your child opening the gifts that you have gotten for them. WE did something kind of fun and maybe a little bit silly. Colin and I decided that we would each get gifts for Garrett, but not show them to each other. Since Garrett really wouldn't "care" about the toys and be excited about the surprise, Colin and I decided that we would "surprise" each other with what we got for him! I must say it was fun to see what Colin picked out and I was excited for Colin to see what I had found.

I really wanted to get a car garage for Garrett like I had growing up. It had ramps and an elevator and was so fun to play when we were little. Well, I saw a "Little People Garage" on sale in the ad for black friday, but didn't want to brave the crowds just for that "one item!" WELL, I am sorry that I didn't because I couldn't find one anywhere! I looked at about 6 stores for the blasted thing and had no luck! My sweet sister in law was kind enough to take me on our monthly trip to Costco for diapers and I saw it! It was a car garage! It wasn't like I had "envisioned," but with time running out, I decided that it was going to have to work! I am proud to say that Garrett has really enjoyed it! It has two ramps, two cars, a helicopter, and even makes sounds and has lights on it! It has also been great because he doesn't get "bored" as fast as he used to with his "old" toys! Most of all, it is fun to hear him make "vroom" noises as he races the cars up and down the tracks and all over the family room!If you look closely, Garrett's cheeks are puffed out because he is making his car noises!

Colin got Garrett a Mr. Potato Head!I wanted to put a video of Garrett, Colin and Mr. Potato Head on here, but I am tired of waiting for it to upload. So, maybe I will post it later by itself.

ALMOST ONE!

Our baby boy is going to be one here in a few weeks! WE are excited to celebrate, but are sad that he is getting so big! WE are excited for this next year and all the fun that we will have as he grows, but look back fondly to those days when he was "tiny" (if you can call 10 1/2 pounds tiny!) and he would just sleep curled up on our chest! He sure is a cute boy and we love him so much! Here are a few pictures of him with his monkey. I took them awhile ago, but still wanted to keep up the tradition of posting them each month! (better late than never!) Soon we will have some fun photos from his party. I don't know why, but I am getting a little stressed out about the whole thing! The first birthday party...and I want it to be perfect! AHHHHH I hope as he gets older I won't stress as much about it. It will probably be just as bad though because as he gets older we get to start inviting "friends" and then I have to entertain kids too!

Our Christmas Video Card

Merry Christmas everyone!

2008 has been a great year for our family.

Colin is still working for the LDS Church busy with many responsibilities doing internet web development. He is serving in the Elders' Quorum, enjoys board games, taking Maggie for walks, and loves being a dad.

Trish is having fun being a stay-at-home mom after "retiring" when she completed her fourth year of teaching. She loves blogging, dancing, and is challenging herself to try one new recipe each week. She is also serving in the Relief Society.

Garrett will turn one in January. He now has seven teeth, sleeps great at night, eats everything he gets his hands on and can make a tiny mohawk with his fuzz on his head! Though he's not crawling much, Garrett is starting to scoot around the house.He likes to play with toys, take baths, pull his socks off, and he has picked up on the sign language that we have taught him. We love it when he waves, giggles, squeals, crinkles his brow like his mom, and chews with his mouth open. Garrett has taught his Mom and Dad a much deeper meaning of the word "Love." He is our special little guy and we are extremely glad that he joined our family this year. We feel blessed to be his parents.

We are grateful for our friendships with you, for the wonderful year we have had, and we are especially thankful for many blessings especially our friends, family, and our Savior Jesus Christ. We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and an extra happy new year!