Wuz Up with the Holyoaks

So I bet you've been wondering what the Holyoaks have been doing thus far for Summer . Well, wait no longer - I will now fill you in! LOL! Pretend to be interested!


My babies first swimming experience! HE LOVED IT!!! LOVED!!!

Zander-man was very afraid of the pool last year. Let me assure you that fear is now completely gone ! YIKES!

Cute little pose my girl! My friend that took this picture said to her right after snapping it, "Paige , does your Mom take alot of pictures of you." I think I know what she was getting at! Pretty girl -oh how she loves to pose!

Here's my super duper good swimmer - she had just announced that all parents were to move far away - she doesn't need us to help her in the deep end. OK THEN!!

This is my boy. I know on many occasions many of you have had concerns for my boy who loves to dress up in anything girly - dresses, skirts, bathing suits, bows and headbands, girls undies. Never you fear my friends - this picture I just had to take because I was coming outside to tell my son not to throw rocks at our windows and this was what he had on and the look he gave me. He's all boy beneath the frills!

Mr. Goo has decided that this strange devise that holds him in his highchair is soooo very interesting! It's sooo funny! He yells at it and hits it.

I just had to add this. Those eyelashes kill me!

We've been growning a huge garden at our friends house and I have already harvested These fine little specimens. OH man they were yummy!

Friday Friends Breakfast! Terri started this tradition with her children and now Aim and I have decided to take it on this summer. This was our first one and we had sooo much fun. I can't wait for all the rest of the Fridays this summer and my kids are already talking about what friend to invite next.

I've been Crazy Super Crazy Couponing this summer. I bought these 20 Easy Mac and 30 pouches of Tuna Fish and I only spent $2.78! Yes, that's the whole total.

My most recent coupon excursion just this evening and OH man did I do good. I even had coupons for money off of produce.

6 pkgs goldfish crackers

2 Dole fruit cup pkgs

4 pkgs Oscar Meyer Hot dogs

1 jar Skippy PB

14 chocolate milks

1 Gallon Milk

2 Avacadoes

1 Bag carrots

5 Apples

6 Nectarines

Bunch of Bananas

2 Lb strawberry yogurt

4 individual yogurts

3 loaves of bread

My total came to $20.60. Most of that total was the fruit and by the way, I only got that much milk because it was totally free.

Well, I would say that this summer is shaping up just fine! Come see me!

Love you!

Jen

So It Begins! Finally!

Before I go into what this post is really about, I need to get something off my husbands chest. He is pretty sure that you all think he is a delinquent Dad. I'm sure you remember the quotes from my children, "I love my Dad because he makes us cookies, brownies, all the things we want, He lets us play video games and gives us a Chi-WA-WA (Zander's pronunciation)!

Now I quote my hubby after seeing the video, "cookies, brownies, what we don't even have any video games and I hate dogs. Now I feel like a push-over , delinquent Dad. "

Aw honey - they know you are the best. So what if you have cookie parties, hate dogs but love children and thanks for not letting us have video games but instead telling us funny stories about you down on the farm. You all didn't believe my kids anyway - RIGHT!!!



(Now , on with the real post - LOL!)
Summer that is! We have been not so patiently waiting for the summer heat to come. Don't get me wrong, we have loved the rain and not having to water the garden or the lawn and we have loved not having to pay for air-conditioning or heat. OH but we have so wanted to swim and frolick in the sun. Today it was finally break out the pool weather - 93 degrees - yowzers!! OH how I love summer . Today along with swimming for 3 1/2 hours , I took my kiddos to the free movie at Edwards Cinemas. We saw "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" A Veggie Tale. It was cute and free - so that makes me and the kids happy. Also, just so that we end the day with a bang it is the ward water-BBQ party = bounce house, gigantic water slide, bishops band and good eats. OHHH how those kids will sleep well tonight.

Also, I would just like to say how super excited I am for each and everyone of my sisters and Ma & Pa to come visit Mol and I this summer. Here's a run down of the typical visit from each sister:

Ter - visits to bird poop park - where I complain about all the poop that my children are stepping in, terri laughs at me, Shawn walks my kids around and they thoroughly enjoy themselves. We can also be found going to the Saturday morning auction, doing tradsies, watching movies and traveling to and fro and then to again to Shawn's parents house. Always soooo much fun!

Ma & Pa - there will definately be cookies and M&M parties thanks to Grandma. A trip or two to the mall - Mom loves our Macys. We might even go out to eat and watch my kids lick the chocolate off the plate. Jar and I and dad will watch a late movie and/or clean the dental office (thanks DAD) and Mom will lay in bed with my kiddos - with an umbrella over her head, a magazine in her hand and my kids tickling her feet. So much fun for all of us.

Amy and the gang - trips back and forth to Karen's, Movies, Movies, and several more movies for the guys and don't forget to stop at Winco for the Sour Balls, Giant Whoppers and gummies, more tradsies and icecream. The girls might even get a chance to see a dumb movie together - like Mama Mia ( tell me , who doesn't know Abba songs ) my sisters are weird! I sang the whole movie and they gave me the hairy-eyeball! Oh and don't forget plenty of cousin fun all over the place. FUN - so Fun!

Ging & kidlets - well Ging hasn't really come for more than a day but this summer she is planning a trip to have some cousin fun and so that I can teach her all I know about making dresses and quilts. I am actually thrilled about this and wish more of my sisters would come over for lessons. You know the ole saying "Teach a man to fish" yah , you get the picture. Can't wait till you come Ging.

Wend & kiddos - like Ging she doesn't come often but I invited her and I hope hope hope she comes - ya know while Mike is at Scout camp or something. Mike if you read this - bring her to me - won't you. My kids need to see their cousins and Mol and I need Winner for a bit. You can come too.

Em - J.P. I would beg for a visit but that probably would just be wasting my time. SURPRISE ME!!!!

Oh how I love summer and love having my family visit me!
Bring it on!!

Happy Happy Father's Day!

Just a random photo that I found of THEE two BEST FATHERS in the world. My Dad exemplifies everything it is to be a wonderful father. A father who has children that grow up and turn out beautifully. He is patient, kind, humble, patient, a wonderful listener. He taught me through his example to show an increase of love directly after punishing his children, how to listen even when you want to talk. He always called family prayer and took us to church. I have seen him countless times saying his prayers on his knees and studying his scriptures with study guide and notes on hand. He is one of my dearest friends . I love you Dad - thank you for what you've given me.

What a lucky guy to be the father to these four lovely children. Well, I was twice blessed because I had a wonderful father and then somehow I was blessed with this adorable guy that adores his children. He is a whole lot like my own Dad and that makes my children lucky ducks just like their Momma. I love you babe. Thanks for loving our children unconditionally, teaching them patience, telling them funny stories and tickling their backs. Thanks for making them feel like they are the most important little people in your world.
click here if you don't wanna wait for buffering!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klp1H3Usz24

or if you don't have problems with buffering speeds then just click PLAY and enjoy!

" A father’s place is to preside, provide,To love and teach the gospel to his children.A father leads in fam’ly prayer to share Their love for Father in Heaven.

God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God."

Isn't this the most lovely primary song. There are of course more verses but this one was most appropriate for today. I urged my children to sing it for their daddy today because I love it. I love how their true personalities shine through in this video. Just watch and laugh!

Isn't it such a blessing to have a wonderful Father in Heaven who loves us from above and if that wasn't enough he gave us each our own earthly Father to love us here on earth and to guide us back to our Heavenly Father. What an awesome circle of guidance and love! It's exciting!

Love you, JEN

xoxoxoxooxxoxooxxo

Good Times - Good Times!

Ok, so you all know how much I truly love having my kiddos home for the summer. I mean I downright LOVE it! I love the lazy days in your jammies all day if ya wanna. No real "bedtime"! BBQ-ing , having my kids in my view and ears range all day and just having fun crafting, swimming, vacationing (goin to Disneyland this year ya know), camping, having family visit.

Anyway, the last day of school was last Wednesday, June 3rd. Miss Paige finished 3rd grade and loved every minute of it. She loved her teacher Mrs. Lott and her teacher clearly loved her too. She sent home weekly reports and every one of them had something very kind written about my, smart, very artistic, kind, well mannered, attentive, polite, one of a kind daughter. Those were her teachers words. I agree of course! She improved tremendously at Math this year and continued being a master mind at Spelling - never getting anything but a 100% on every test. Oh and to make that even better I swear she that she would only glance at the words once and then say to me test me Mom. True!! Geesh - some peoples kids -ya know! She was also accepted to Art challenge School after a series of tests where she was required to draw a still life and then she was given a discriptive sentence that she was to draw. Only the very best artists were choosen but then we knew that about her. Following in her Auntie Em's footsteps!

Anna finished the 1st grade. She has had the same teacher for the past two years. Mrs. Roth has been such a blessing to Anna and an answer to our prayers for Anna. She is the most amazing teacher with true love for her students that she refers to as HER kids. Anna and I both cried on the last day of school. We are making her a very special quilt that we are going to give her in a week or two at a BBQ we are going to have to thank her for all the hardwork and love. We will miss her sooo much. Anna recieved the citizenship award this year and last year. This is the award given to the student who exemplifies all the values of the school , the student who is kind to others, honest, hardworking, well basically you all know what being a good citizen means. We are very proud of her and we think she is very deserving of it.

Ok so every day with very few exceptions our good friend Lisa White has come to our house and taken our girls to school. I thought at first that she was just doing it because I had a new baby and that after time she would be done. Oh no , not Lisa , she only missed on days that she was too sick to come - which were only about 3 times. OH how we Love Lisa at our house. She is a great example of a true friend. We know we can count on her and that is very comforting. As if that isn't enough , she drives a convertible Mustang. OH YAHHH! The above is a picture of my girls on their way to their last day of school. I could her Anna laughing all the way down the street. How fun! Thanks Lisa - we love you!!!

Oh and here are just a few more pictures of my baby - for Grandma! Love you MOM!! Goo misses you! We sure had fun at our family reunion. No one has a family like my Anderson Family. WE love each other and that is TRUE! We genuinely love each other despite each persons short comings. We can really irritate each other but in the end we think highly of one another, we know we are funny together and we have fun and we Love each other. I love you all - and after all we have been doin stuff since 1964 - we better just stick it out till the end - RIGHT!!

Kisses and Hugs- Hugs and Kisses

Jen

Drum Roll Please!!!

OK, the winner is

13
Random numbers generated Jun 2 2009 at 11:42:24 by www.psychicscience.org.Free educational resources for parapsychology, psychical research & mind magic.

Yup, Mintzi you won my giveaway! Yahooooo for you! Sher, I included your number in the Random number generator - just because I like ya but Mitzi still won!

Thanks to everyone who commented - that was alot of people --very impressed that so many actually read my blog.

OH and Heather my Ricks college Heather that is - Maybe you rubbed off on me because I'm the clean freak now! I hate having a messy house . I'm not saying it isn't messy at times but for the most part - pretty darn clean over here.

Thanks everyone!
Smiles and love
JEN


OH and family - see you all tomorrow - I CAN'T WAIT!!!!! FUNNNNN!!!!