I love this new blog. Great way to keep in touch. We always enjoy conference weekend so much. Todd's home and we get to reconnect and watch it together. I think Elder Ballard is my new favorite.
Samantha is back at BYUI for her second year. She is loving her ward this year a lot better than last years. Last year they couldn't get their FHE brothers to even come on Monday nights. This year they hang out with their FHE brothers all the time. The ward has lots of fun activities and everyone participates. They had a 70's party which is right up Samantha's ally so it was no surprise when their apartment won 1st place in the costume contest.
Here she is with her roommates Carmen and Katie all ready for the 70's party.
Here she is with her roommate Katie. Katie is from Walla Walla and was her roommate last year too. She is very sweet and is very good to Samantha.
Garrett is a senior this year and looking forward to Graduation in a couple of months. He has kept himself busy this year. He has joined every club that might even think about going on a trip. He is on the Knowledge Bowl team and they compete against other schools answering questions to see how knowledgeable you are. He is the Vice President of the Youth in Government club. He will be making his annual trip to Olympia to present their bills and mock run the state government basically. He has joined the school newspaper as a staff writer. He is enjoying taking advanced photography and AP Psychology. I'm sure he'll have our family all figured out soon. He recently returned from a spring break trip with some of his friends to the man cabin for a mancation. I am just glad they are home safe with only minor injuries and the cabin and Mt Hood are still in one piece. I can sleep again. He was accepted to BYUI for the Summer/Fall track. This puts him and Samantha on different tracks which means they will not live together again except for breaks between semesters. If all goes as planned he will start school this fall and leave for his mission next summer. This is all happening way too fast for me.
Here is one of his senior portraits.
And here he is going to Homecoming with his best girl Julia.
Bridget turned 16 in October and is loving dating and driving. She is on the track team and runs the 800 and the mile. She was excited to go to her first big dance, Sadie Hawkins, with a date and is looking forward to prom. She is going to EFY in Rexburg this year and then she will get to spend the next week with her sister living the life of a college coed. She became very interested in football in the fall, spent her winter being a timer for the swim team and is now a big fan of the high school varsity baseball team. Hmmm I wonder why?
Does it have something to do with this young man? Here she is with Landin at the Sadie Hawkins dance.
Dallin is still the paper boy and starting to enjoy the fruits of his labors (mostly video games and Nerf guns.) He is working his way to his eagle scout ranking and is still in the band at school. He is looking forward to golf weather right around the corner.
Lydia is still our sweetheart. She loves to help everyone and will sit and draw and color for hours. Another of her favorite activities is doing puzzles. She loved Easter and all the fun that came with it.
Here they are on Easter. Or at least all who would get in the picture.
All Elijah wanted for Easter was a tie. He loved it so much he wanted to wear it everyday after even just with tee shirts. He has changed super heroes recently. He found a piece of fabric hanging around. He ties it around him for a cape and jumps off of anything and everything with his arms stretched out in front of him yelling, "I am Spiderman Hero, I'm here to save the day!" . So if you need your day saved you know who to call.
Todd and I got to go to Hawaii last month
with Randy and Gayle and Cindy.We went to Kauai and had a great time. Here we are taking surfing lessons from an old guy named Sol. Yes I was the best. I'm not afraid to brag. Just because Randy can't see without his glasses and my surf board "accidentally" hit him in the head and he almost drowned means nothing. Don't believe anything he says.
We went to a Luau and went on an amazing
helicopter ride. We went to the beach and snorkeled and ate A LOT and mostly just hung out and laughed a lot. And the kids survived while we were gone. I was very worried about that.
This is the Luau.
Just more eating.
Christmas was fun. We got to have Cindy with us which everyone enjoys. Todd is still busy working on the shop in every spare minute. He will have been Bishop for 5 years at the end of this month. The Stake President says he doesn't have any plans for a release anytime soon but that could change so we just don't know.
It was so good to see everyone at the funeral. It is really too bad that you have to die to have that kind of a party and tribute. I couldn't believe how many people were there. I feel very blessed to have a family that we can count on. That we can laugh and cry with. I am so glad I had that time with him before he died and to feel the love and support of my family during such a difficult time.
Enjoy this beautiful season. We hope to be able to visit this summer.
Love ,
the Andersons
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