Update

I picked up Ben from the airport this morning! Oh I missed him. I am a whimp but four nights was the longest we've been apart. Troy, as I predicted, cried immediately when he saw Ben. He stopped when Ben picked him up though. He wouldn't let go of him for his life. Ben started driving home, but he ended up getting in the back with Troy because Troy kept trying to see him and would cry. It was precious.

The boys had an adventure this morning. Devin's car is quite old and that is the one they took to California. This morning, on the way to the airport, it started making gunshot noises and wouldn't go very fast. Alan said that he had heard that noise in his car a couple weeks ago. What you don't know is that Alan's car died shortly after. They had to get off of the freeway and were only able to go about 40 mph. Luckily they planned on being an hour early to the airport because they got there about 1/2 hour before Ben's plane took off. It was pretty stressful though. Luckily Ben made it, but he was worried about my brothers. They were still planning on driving to Anaheim to go to Disneyland. The car was slowly dieing but it landed in front of an auto shop. BLESSING. The car would take too much money to fix, and so it is being taken to a junkyard. BUT Devin needs the title for them to do that.. so Sarah is overnighting it to him. BLAH morning. Luckily Tyler knows a lot of people from his mission that are willing to give them rides. Annie made a good suggestion to try and rent a car and drive home. Much cheaper than flying. They won't ever forget this trip :)

Troy and I kept ourselves busy by visiting others and cooking. We visited a friend in the ward and her daughter. Troy LOVES other kids. Especially their toys. We also visited my Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth. They knew exactly what toys to get out. I always worry that Troy will just cry when we go over but Grandma pulls out some new magical toy that Troy immediately falls in love with. I am so glad that he likes toys. My mom said that Alan (my older brother) wouldn't play with toys.

I also made Orange Chicken again yesterday. It sounds ambitious, but I really just crave it a ton. I found THE best recipe for it online and I use the sauce from Costco. It tastes exactly the same! I made a lot so that we could have it again tonight.

One more update. Troy is getting so close to taking steps! He will stand in between our couch and coffee table and let go completely in between, turn towards the other and grab on. He is so close! Devin has predicted May 3rd.. so we will see.

Home Alone & Stranded

Ben and all of my brothers (except Michael of course, on the mission) are heading to California. They are stopping in Las Vegas to visit and stay the night at Ben's Dad's house. This trip is mainly to go back and see Tyler's mission. They are going to have so much fun. Tyler has scheduled times to see families that he wanted to visit. They are also going to visit the beach with someone he knew. They are planning on boogie boarding but have yet to find where to get them.

They are planning on staying till Tuesday (when they are driving back) but Ben needs to come back to work, so he is actually flying back on Monday. Oh, I just remembered a funny story about Ben's Mom. So she flies internationally for work. She was in Norway last week. Well, since that volcano emerged and there is flooding? I'm not sure of the whole story, but all flights have been grounded and so she can't come home. She was supposed to come home Monday and as of right now they don't know if she will be able to come home Saturday. That's two weeks! She and two men that she works with tried to escape by ferry, train, and bus through other countries but they are stuck in Amsterdam. What a city to be stuck in. She said it's like Vegas but worse. I'm sure she will have some exciting stories for us when she gets back... eventually.

Tucanos

Tyler had never been to Tucanos before last night. Needless to say he loved it. Annie was daring and tried everything. I don't dare try chicken hearts and cod. Ben ate so much that he thought he was going to barf. Even after that comment he hesitated giving up his plate to the waitress. I ate tons from the salad bar (noodles with Alfredo sauce is my favorite) and Teriyaki Beef is my favorite cut they have. It was a miracle we got to eat dinner without waiting for 2 hours. Earlier that day we were at a Shade sale and I saw a waitress from Tucanos. I said, "Oh we are going there tonight!" She laughed and said, "Great." I think I came off a little strong. :) Later she came back and said, "So when is your reservation?" "Oh we don't have one." She looked shocked. It's Friday night and we didn't even think about it. She told us to call right away. We did and they said the earliest reservation was for 9 pm! What the? But she was SO sweet! She told us to give the phone to her and she asked them to make an exception for friends of hers. We had just barely met her! She really convinced them to squeeze us in at the exact time we wanted to go. So much kindness from a stranger. Makes me want to Pay it Forward.

Health Appreciation

Troy and I have been sick. Is this the second time in like 3 weeks? YES! Blah. The first one was this horrible sore throat and this one was more of a cold/sinus pressure/cough till you throw up sickness. Ben had to sleep downstairs last night because I was coughing so much. But GOOD news! Coughing means that it is almost over!! And now I appreciate my health so much more and hope that I can steer clear of sickness for a while. I know I will be a lot more careful :) Troy has been taking sickness like a champ except he despises getting his nose wiped.

We spent a lot of time outside today because of how nice it was. Troy just wants to crawl around though so he kind of scraped up his arms on the cement. I am excited for him to walk but then the falls will just be harder... It just comes with learning I guess.

Last night my whole family went to Abby Hogan's reception (friend from Houston) and we had not seen quite a few Houston people for years. I forgot how much they knew and loved our family. Everyone just couldn't wait for my mom to get there and everyone thought Alan was the spitting image of my Dad. All of the families were so kind and gave me a glimpse of Houston life again. Texas is awesome, that's all I have to say!

Tyler's Home!! and Baby Bonk

Tyler got home on Wednesday and it was so fun to see him!! He was in Southern CA (San Fernando mission, spanish speaking.) He looks great and older. He is still cute Tyler but an RM and 21. The best combination. I didn't take any pictures but you can look him up on facebook for some! Annie helped him set one up yesterday. Ha, getting him back into the norm pretty quickly. It was a beautiful day and we played outside some. Tyler and Devin did some flip stuff and we played ultimate frisbee. We all went out to eat at Pier 49 at about 5 and we were the only ones there. That was a good thing because we are definitely loud. Tyler was telling us stories from the mission and we were all laughing so hard. The brothers and Ben shared some of their experiences too. I just love my family.

Tyler met Troy for the first time and Troy was a bit shy at first, like he is with most people he hasn't met. But Tyler won him over with his daffy duck voice. Hopefully Troy will be awake when they (Tyler and Annie) come see our place today. Those two probably havn't seperated since he's been home. They are sure cute.

On a more sad note, Troy got his first goose egg today. I was passing him down the stairs while he was climbing down (which he has done several times) and fell and hit his head on a corner of the molding on the wall. He fell a couple of stairs before I got him. He actually didn't really cry in pain but in shock. I think it just really scared him. But he got this huge purple goose egg. He's a tough guy though. He only cried a couple of minutes and then got distracted by the camera and the piano.

This is about 2 mintues after it happened. I watched the goose egg form. Sweet little guy still smiled for the camera.


I forgot to put our Easter egg pictures up. We made these on Saturday during conference :)

Troy crushed his pretty quickly :) There was also a glow in the dark one but the pictures didn't really turn out. It was from the kit that the Garzas brought last year I think! We missed our Cambridge friends on Easter!!

Conference and Easter

This past weekend was full of uplifting events. Conference could not have lifted me more. It gave me such encouragement and empowerment, I guess, as a woman. I loved all of the counsel on the family and other very important issues in my life. It was wonderful. But I'm sure all of you already know this... anyway :)

Saturday night we went up to Layton to be with the Merrill family (Ben's Mom's family.) We had an easter egg hunt, dinner, and games. It was a blast. It always is with the Merrill sisters and all of the cousins. Troy didn't really get the whole finding eggs thing, but he knew where to find one if I put a cup over it! Pretty good I guess. He really just wanted to stare at the metallic eggs to see himself :) Speaking of seeing himself, he loves the little round metal circle on the bath tub. He puts his face up to it and smiles and then laughs at himself. It is so funny to watch.

The Boys went to priesthood and it was so neat to see Uncle Shane (incredible man) make sure that every man went. Even if they weren't planning on it. He said, "Well you can come in a shirt and tie or what you're wearing. I can lend you a shirt and tie." Ben quickly jumped in and made sure they felt welcome and would accomadate rides home if that was the issue. Family is so wonderful.

Sunday was Easter of course. I couldn't find our baskets that I bought a couple of years ago so we just put out the candy. Troy got some cute clothes. We went over to Grandma Allsops for the first session and to have the deadly easter egg scavenger hunt that Ben, Brittany and Brayden do. Blood is literally shed as they race up and down throughout the house to get to the clues first. Is there a prize for being first? No, just bragging rights. Ha. The last clue leads you to the baskets. Troy got the cutest little shoes and toys. We all got amazing candy with lots of peanut butter. Yum.

For the afternoon session we headed up to my moms to watch conference and then have a beautiful easter dinner. The traditional ham, sweet potatoes, salad, deviled eggs, homemade rolls and then lemon bars for dessert. Oh it was glorious.

Sidenotes: We get to welcome Tyler at the airport tomorrow!! It will be so fun for Tyler to meet Troy!! I just made a sign for it. Ben had the great idea to say, "Elder Andersen ReturnED with Honor" Clever huh?

Troy update: Troy can now crawl backwards... I'm not sure why he does it but it is funny to watch him enter a room and then back out. Maybe he thinks there will be stairs? He also likes to put his head against you as a kind of love tap. He also likes to pass a ball back and forth with daddy. He doesn't really throw it, he just kind of shoves it. His new toy is to slam cupboards. He opens them and then slams them shut. It's a loud game. He also loves his toy Dopey. He laughs just looking at it.