the anderson's

happy lovers day!

2012-02-14T10:08:00.000-08:00

flowers from my sweet husband,

i fall in love with him more every single day i'm with him.

10 ways Harley has helped prepare us for parenthood

2012-02-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

I came across this article called "Puppy Love" which talked all about how puppies can prepare you for parenthood. It was so interesting to read mostly because all of this was completely true. Harley has shaped our life in so many wonderful ways but more and more we realize he has been such a wonderful addition to our family and has truly prepared us for this crazy world called parenthood.

Here are the 10 days Harley's helped prepare us for Parenthood:

1. Crying at Night: I remember when Harley spent his first night in his new home with us. He cried and whimpered all night until Gregg put his hand on his back letting him know he was there and he wasn't alone. Already helping us deal with less sleep and crying in the middle of the night, thanks bud.

2. Potty Training: We had a responsibilty to teach Harley how to 'go potty' outside on the grass NOT inside on the carpet. I remember the first time he 'circled' on our carpet and we were just a little bit too late. So glad those days are over and he is officially potty trained!

3. Grooming: Luckily a baby will grow out of this phase but for Har we are consistently bathing him, making sure his paws are wiped, his teeth are somewhat brushed and of course always making sure his nails are clipped. Gotta keep my boy handsome!

4. Feeding: It's crazy to think how we are responsible for feeding Har for his entire life. Morning, moon and night with a few treats sprinkled in of course. He definitely has helped us learn how to teach our children not to beg for food, oh wait....hahaha.

5. Initial Medical Expenses: Like the article says, "there's no such thing as a free puppy" which is exactly what we thought we were getting when we rescued Har. Hooray a puppy for Free. But then we forgot about neutering, medicine, shots, allergic reactions etc. Puppies don't get cheaper as they grow up and neither do kids.

6. Toys and Teething: Sigh. I still miss my pair of gold shoes that Harley ate. Or what about the added expense to our bill when Harley chewed the side panel of the door or so much of the carpet that the nails were poking through. OR what about when I came home to find Gregg's entire wallet (including his license) chewed to pieces. Sigh again. Teething is a huge patience tester with puppies, but how can you be mad at a face like this. (trust me, you can!)

7. Training: Obedience is very important with a child and with a dog. Har can do all sorts of tricks but he can also stay, doesn't jump when we feed him, doesn't run outside when we open the front door, if we ask him to sleep in his bed he will (for the most part). Overall training has helped us learn not only how to discipline, but how to discipline correctly, a huge part of being a good parent.

8. Managing Mischief: Last year when I walked through the door to find my only pair of glasses completely broken and chewed on I had to dig deep not to scream at Harley. I still remember wearing them with super glue all over there. My other favorite mishchievious incident of Har was when we were looking at our coffee table in the sun and reazlied that there were paw prints all over it. Someone was definitely climbing up on the coffee table when he wasn't suppose to be! GOTCHA PUP!

9. Inability to efficiently communicate wants and needs: Deciphering what Harley wants on a daily basis has been a challenge some days. However, it's amazing how a head turn or a crazy run will tell us what he needs or wants. How when his tongue is out that means he's very hot or when he lays on his side he's exhausted. I think sometimes I forget that Harley doesn't talk....yet literally we can almost understand everything he needs or wants. He's pretty impressive.

10. Unconditional Love: The best part about Harley is the fact that no matter how upset or mad you get at him he is always there loving you IMMEDIATELY after. He greets us at the door every day and sometimes even gives toe licks if you're lucky. His love for us is infinte just like our love for him. Nothing will ever change that. He is our puppy and we are his puppy parents.

I think we'll keep him around.

all day every day....

2012-02-03T13:33:00.000-08:00

Do you know what the most crazy thing about being pregnant…..is that you talk about it every single day. There is not a single day over the past three months that the word baby, feeling sick, pregnancy, ultrasound, excitement have not come up in conversation. This has to be one of the only topics in the world that is talked about on a consistent basis….every.single.day. It’s pretty impressive actually.

As Gregg and I talk about it more and more it becomes more and more real. First the feelings of pregnancy, then the ultrasound, now our 2nd doctor’s appointment and hearing the heartbeat. These are such incredible “first-time” moments that are never forgotten and it is amazing to witness these miracles happening every day in my own body! I have truly never felt more lucky.

hooray for a heartbeat!

2012-02-01T14:08:00.000-08:00

There is truly something incredible about hearing your baby’s heartbeat for the first time. As first time parents there is so much ‘unknown’ that goes into this crazy world of parenting and it starts as early as conception! Gregg and I were excited for our 2^nd prenatal appointment mostly because we would get to hear this little baby’s heartbeat. Dr. N came in and said hi quickly, she immediately poured ‘goop’ on my belly and used this little wand which is more formally known as a fetal heart monitor to move around on my belly. Waiting….waiting and then finally she mouthed to me "that's your baby's heartbeat".....I listened closely and heard something that truly sounded like a heavy man’s breathing at a very quick pace….haha wait what? Funny enough, both Gregg and I associated our beautiful baby’s heartbeat with the sound of a man who was heavily breathing at a quick pace. Pretty funny if you ask me. Dr. N got a kick out of that reaction and said to us both "you guys are going to be fun parents, I can tell!" Regardless it was a sound we could have heard for hours. So beautiful, so strong were the words Dr. N used.....she said we were right on track and it sounded perfect. Sigh, music to a new mother's ears yet again. Our peanut or kumquat is doing SO GOOD inside my belly!

thank you so much!

2012-02-01T14:06:00.000-08:00

I have to say that i have withouth a dout some of the BEST friends in the entire world. Their reactions to our big news via phone, facetime, email, text, KIK and facebook made me love them THAT much more than I already do. It consistently reminded me of what a special time we are going through right now and I don't think that Gregg and I have truly felt more loved in our entire life.

I got everything from complete shock, to tears, to screaming, to 'yay!!!', to cursing (lol), to 'I need to visit you tomorrow', to 'i knew it!' and even a few "NO WAYs!". Sigh.
Such a blessing all of you are to us and our growing family. THANK you for loving our future baby the way you love us. We are so grateful!

thank you so much!

are you serious, something is IN there?

2012-01-31T08:31:00.000-08:00

Did you know that you can’t visit or choose an OB until you’re 8 weeks along? Crazy right?? I didn’t know that either or at least none of my pregnant friends told me. So when I called at 4 weeks, I was told I had to make my first prenatal appointment 4 weeks out so that when I arrived I would be 8 weeks along. That felt like FOREVER but we made it. We decided to do some research on where to have this peanut and chose to have our baby at Sutter Roseville Hospital, a fabulous facility just down the street from where we work and not too far from where we’ll hopefully live.

Through our screenings and searches I decided to go with Dr. N (privacy purposes people). We met her on December 27th at our first pre-natal appointment. She asked us a TON of medical history questions of both Gregg and me and thankfully answered quite a few of our own. She also prescribed a nausea medication which I was so thankful for and told me that I was ready to get my first ultrasound and blood work next week. Our appointment was set for January 4th at 8:15am. We would finally see our baby and fingers crossed see a heartbeat.

first prenatal appointment

The morning of our first ultrasound I was nervous. I had simple instructions, start drinking 32 ounces of water at 7am and come with a full bladder. I’m sorry what, a full bladder…no no no! I have to admit the days or even the minutes leading up to this day were super nerve wracking. What if there wasn’t a baby in there? Or no heartbeat? Or worse? To be honest I was really scared and so was Gregg.

I managed to get almost all of my water down with big gulps and Gregg made me 2 eggs with cheese to help me get ‘thirsty’ to drink more. We got there nice and early when the imaging center opened, checked in and then we waited. Waiting to be called back into your first ultrasound is truly one of the most nerve wracking moments of this entire pregnancy. I guess it’s because all this time you’ve been having symptoms and reading books and seeing positive stick/s and taken blood tests but you haven’t visually seen anything.

When I was finally called back to the room, I hurried in and Gregg followed. By this time my bladder was insanely full, just walking to the room was difficult. She told me lie down and I said “just to triple check, I can’t go to the bathroom right” and she laughed and said “no”. She then said she would look at the ultrasound pictures first and then she would turn the monitor around to show me when she was finished. Of course Gregg got to stand and see the whole thing (so unfair) so while I was trying to concentrate on holding my bladder I was also watching Gregg’s face to see any sort of good or bad expression. He was worrying me because he wasn’t smiling nor was he frowning he was just concentrating….so instead I just kept looking up and said a few silent prayers and after what felt like 10 years, she turned the monitor around to show us out peanut.
The feeling was indescribable. There was SERIOUSLY A BABY GROWING IN MY TUMMY!!! Even better we saw it wiggle a little bit and you could make out the forming of arms, legs and best of all a beautiful little fast flicker of a heartbeat. We were both so teary and just kept saying “wow”. With a CD of both pictures and video we were on our way to work, smiles and all. Today marks the day of how much we truly love this little being we’ve created….to visually see this peanut is the most amazing feeling and we are so thankful for where we are in this journey so far. And let’s be honest, we’ve already re-watched the video at least 10 times today.

just to confirm this is ONE baby, 4 different pictures, not quadruplets :)

The Friday following we got a call from our OB saying that she received our ultrasound results and things looked perfect. Right on schedule with a strong heartbeat and size. Music to a new mother’s ears! She said that we’re in the 90th percentile to be ‘sharing’ our news, meaning we were 90% to be in the clear that things would be ok (aka out of the woods!)

secrets and silly surprises

2012-01-30T09:16:00.000-08:00

Over the next 2 weeks we tried to come up with fun plans on how to tell our parents and decided that Christmas might be fun. That would put us at 7 weeks and pretty far along. Christmas WOULD have been great if we weren’t so bad at keeping secrets. By the next week we had dinner plans to go with Shelly & Jake and Art & Maritza on a triple date to Yardhouse. Gregg and I got their early so that we could ‘trick’ everyone into thinking we weren’t pregnant. We told the waitress our big news and she conveniently played along in our the game of “let’s pretend my soda water with lime is a vodka soda with lime”, it was so kind of her. Everything was good until I had gotten up to go to the bathroom. Gregg had told me that Maritza had taken a sip out of my drink and questioned what I was drinking while looking at the bill – uh oh. Were we that obvious, could she tell or something? While the boys went to Dave & Buster’s, the girls went to DSW to shop for shoes and Maritza confronted me about why my 2 vodka sodas never made it on the bill? I did a great job lying and told her that we had gotten their early and chummed it up with the waitress so she probably just waived them and was being nice……she bought the story and phew we were safe.

the girls

the boys playing at D&B

hooray for date night

We decided that before we told any friends (especially ones that were catching on, aka Martiza) we had to tell our parents and we didn’t want to wait any longer. It was important for the two of us to have their support this early on and it only felt right that they were the first to know. We came up with the idea of shoes – random I know. We bought a tiny pair of Nike baby shoes and put them in a bigger Nike box. I was sneaky and managed to scrapbook the inside of the box that read “we’re expecting/you’re going to be grandparents”…..now all we needed was a video camera to capture the momentous occasion so we went out and got one that day during our lunch.

step one: regular shoe box

step two: open regular box to find smaller box inside

step three: open littler box to find baby shoes and OUR NEWS!

We had dinner plans over at the Anderson’s that Friday. After we ate dinner Gregg got out the new video camera to show his parents the ‘early Christmas present’ that I had given him. Then I brought out the box and showed them the new shoes Gregg had gotten me, only they weren’t shoes, they were BABY shoes. The video below captures the moment – I’m so glad we got this on film. However I am not glad that we are having a hard time posting these videos. Coming soon!

Since it was such a fun reaction with my in-laws, Gregg and I decided to re-live the same moment with my parents. Only this time it wasn’t my parents 10th grandchild it was their very FIRST. After dinner, just like clockwork Gregg showed them the new camera and I brought out the shoes….you can hear my mom say “little shoes?” very confused….while my dad actually READ what I had put inside the box….thank you dad, sheesh! Eventually they understood and they were overcome with excitement as was I. I'm pretty sure I was crying more than they were! Again, video coming soon!

Over the next few weeks I laid pretty low with ~~morning~~, scratch that ALL DAY sickness. To be honest, I still haven’t really felt right. I guess the best way to describe it is that I just feel ‘off’, not like myself, really bloated and sea sick all the time. The car is not by best friend right now but carbs are. All I can eat are carbs to keep me from running to the bathroom. Do you know how difficult that is while working? Ugh. It’s been a rough few weeks but I think I’m at the tail end of it now….thank goodness!

pink line + pink line = baby!

2012-01-27T08:55:00.000-08:00

We found out or rather I found out that I was pregnant pretty early on in our pregnancy – 3 weeks along to be exact, which a.) didn’t know what possible and b.) has made it that much HARDER to keep quiet. The day I found out I felt the same as I had any other day. That morning I was lucky enough to hang out with all of my best high school girlfriends and all of their beautiful daughters that ranged in ages from 10 months to 4 years old ---> here's the post (I'm so glad I took pictures that day).

We had gotten together that morning to spend time and visit with each other during the Thanksgiving break and it was so wonderful to play and catch up with everyone. I remember looking around and seeing all these different girls at all these different ages and it made me feel so content that one day I would have one of those myself. I had no idea how much sooner literally ‘one day’ would be.

I went about my day as usual, got a coffee with Shelly, we picked up a few things at target and I opted for a movie and sushi dinner with my parents and brother who was visiting in town that night. Right before we were about to see the movie I had one sip of coffee and felt like I was going to up-chuck it…..thought to myself, hmm that’s kinda weird, but the feeling had passed so I didn’t think too much of it. Dinner came and just to be overly precautious I ordered teriyaki chicken and tempura, which I NEVER get because I love sashimi (and we all know that’s a no no in the pregnancy world). About halfway through dinner I felt so bloated that I couldn’t eat another bite of food…..felt odd to me since I’m never like that – especially not with Japanese food.

When I got home, it was just Harley and me since Gregg was out of town. I decided that for no apparent reason I was going to take a pregnancy test that I had been saving for a few months. My ‘friend’ was suppose to show up the following week but something just felt right about taking it that night, I can’t really explain it – plus we had been ‘trying’ for a month and a half. I figured, why not?

I did what you do in the movies, ripped open the package, took a deep breath, peed on the stick BUT instead of torturing myself waiting for 3 minutes, I jumped in the shower while the stick did it’s magic. In the shower I thought to myself that I would be happy with either outcome – truly I would. If I wasn’t pregnant then I vowed to really kick my work out’s into high gear and prep my body for when I would be pregnant and if it was positive….well then I’d be the happiest person ever! I have never been so nervous to get out of the shower, ha ha!!! As I approched the 'stick' I could not believe what I saw. I immediately picked up the 'stick' and saw two bright pink lines, I remember looking at myself in the mirror and whispered, OMG I’m pregnant. I don’t think I will ever forget the look on my face or how I felt.

I'm sure most of you are wondering...hello - where was Gregg during all of this??? Not to worry, I'm getting to him....... hold your horses!

Gregg had gone to the big Stanford vs. Notre Dame game that Saturday with a few of his best guy friends from Sacramento and had plans to stay overnight. Naturally I didn’t want to tell him over the phone, nor did I want to tell him until I had officially confirmed it with a ‘second stick’ the next morning….so ALL night I kept the news to myself and looked at the stick at least 20 times just to make sure the line didn't disappear. That night, I started a diary about my journey (day one!!!) and I thought of creative ways on how to tell the best husband in the world that he was about to be the best daddy in the world.

The next morning came and I was 2 for 2 with the stick test and super giddy all day. After much thought I decided to scrapbook him a picture of a belly with a few fun words and somehow attach the stick to the card. I saw an adorable book cover and thought....I could make that...and this is what I came up with:

He walked through the door and I was super happy to see him (he thought he’d be in trouble since he hadn’t checked in since last night). I heard about his weekend and then handed him the card. He immediately felt the stick in the card and said “Are you serious?” I replied with “I have no idea what you’re talking about” even though he could see my smile growing bigger and bigger. My heart was pounding as he opened the card and it revealed the big news that we had created a life together. We were both teary and hugging. It was one of the best feelings we have ever shared together in our eight year relationship.

And so our story of how two became three begins.....

(well technically it's four because we have Harley but you get the drift!)

love on top!

2012-01-26T13:43:00.000-08:00

So I JUST heard this song for the first time today because I never saw the VMA's. Luckily, my bestie Shaunna told me this was the song that Beyonce announced her 'big news' too - how fitting right???

This was a must post on the blog today!

is that a peanut?

2012-01-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

A long time ago I decided to write a blog because it just sounded fun. I did this fully knowing that most people who write blogs often write about their growing families and their new babies, however I didn’t have either of those. Instead I simply had a puppy and a boyfriend yet the idea of writing down all my memories still sounded appealing to me. It didn’t matter to me that people weren’t interested in stories about picking up dog poop or awesome date nights, these trivial moments were important in my life and I wanted to remember every second of it regardless if anyone was reading.

My blog has evolved so much from those early days….it has helped me channel my feelings, it has helped my far away friends and family stay updated on our current events and best of all it has helped capture my life into what feels like my own personal diary. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to click back to day one and re-live my life over the years in my very own words and pictures.

This blog and I, we have been through so much together. Through my engagement and marriage, my many relocations, my job changes and of course my wonderful growing puppy Harley. But now I can say that this blog is more than that….it will be a way for me to remember one the of the biggest life altering changes in my 28 years on this planet.

It will help me remember how I became a mother.

Yup, you read that right. After much speculation and after so much patience I am finally able to stop lying and reveal a secret that has been oh so hard to keep…..we are expecting and due in August 2012!!!!

See...here's proof:

(9.5 week ultrasound)

I have to admit, I am very grateful for the chance to have a child. Mentally I think most girls are afraid that they might not have a chance to go through this experience, I know I was terrified to try. So I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining when I say I have not had an easy time with "morning" or rather, all day sickness. I didn't anticipate how physically grueling it would be all day, every day. I have a lot of respect for moms because of this and more for the moms who are unable to birth their own children. Both are personal every day tests of yourself.

So, I don't feel sorry for myself when I'm sick. Instead I try to look for the humor in my situation. For example, pregnancy is the only time it's possible to ‘glow’ but still look like you've let yourself go. It’s also the only time during which I may or may not have thrown up in my in-laws front lawn and after every meal. Oh the joys of pregnancy.

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

We are SO excited and feel SO loved!

NYE visitors

2012-01-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

New Year’s Eve was fun this year. For the first time ever we had VISITORS in our neck of the woods – the wonderful Hadley family (minus Hayley). Sarah and P spend 4 long nights and 5 glorious days in our presence and we couldn’t have had a more relaxing time. Our days were filled with relaxing on the couch, Boa Vista Orchards, GREAT conversation, plans for the future, giggles and of course some social gatherings with friends in the area.

For NYE this year we decided that instead of being dressed up and cold…that we’d opt for a nice night in with a homemade nacho bar! Jake and Amie opened up their house and invited a few people over to ring in the new year. While the boys headed off to the Kings game, the girls stayed back, prepped, drank and got to know one another. The night was fun….Apples to Apples were played, air horns were blown and hats were definitely worn….it was a great night full of fun! We were sad to see Sarah and Patrick leave but we know they’ll be back again very soon. There’s nothing like having your best friends relax and hang out with you for five wonderful days…..it truly is the best feeling to hang out and be silly with the ones you love!

(sorry for the lack of pictures, we were just having too much fun!)

happy holidays

2012-01-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a whirlwind this year. Having so many people to visit over the holidays USED to be fun but it was a bit harder of a pill to swallow this year for some reason. Probably because we went to 6 households in a matter of 2 days. Each year Gregg and I have a few traditional rituals that we do with each of our families and we hate to miss them so instead of picking and choosing we do ALL of them – ALL OF THEM! On Christmas Eve we stopped over at Gregg’s mom’s house to have a delicious soup lunch complete with presents and lots of playing with the kids. We didn’t get any pictures because the kids were having too much fun playing with the toys and truthfully so were we. After we departed we headed back to my house to have our traditional xmas eve crab dinner. It was the yummiest it’s ever been….complete with homemade garlic bread and a fresh salad. SO YUMMY!!! Once our tummies were full we headed over to The Anderson’s for the annual Christmas Eve Party/White Elephant Exchange. It is always fun over at the Anderson household….everyone is in town, the house is loud with kids running around everywhere and I get to catch up with all of my brother and sister-in-law’s, I LOVE it. One of the BEST traditions we do at the house is the While Elephant gift exchange. There are always so many laughs and so many steals, it’s good clean fun. Once I reached my breaking point it was time to head home and get some sleep so we could start another busy day all over again.

Christmas Day started at 8:00am at my house. We woke up and opened presents. The best gifts this year were for my mom and dad. We had all pitched in for my mom and got her the big white 5 quart kitchen aid mixer that she’s always wanted, she was SO happy! Then it was my dad’s turn -my mom had us all pitch in for his gift which was the new ipad2…he was SHOCKED and I don’t think he’s put it down since he’s gotten it. Every night we learn a ‘new feature’ about it – thanks dad! Needless to say the morning was fun and full of gifts! We quickly got ready for the day, grabbed Har and headed over to Gregg’s parents house while my parents and brother hopped in their own car and headed to SF where we’d meet up with them for lunch at my Uncle and Aunt’s house. Amazingly and kind of oddly we showed up at the EXACT same time hahaha! We had a beautiful gourmet lunch that my aunt cooked. It was pretty amazing actually. We unfortunately had to skip out on dessert which made me SUPER sad but we had to be at Gregg’s grandparents house for dinner and presents (like we’ve done for the past 5 years). We left the house at 2:50 – perfect. As we got to the streets that lead up to the Golden Gate bridge we were in for our worst nightmare. WALL TO WALL GRIDLOCK TRAFFIC FOR TWO AND A HALF HOURS. I will spare you the gruesome details but let’s just say we missed dinner and arrived to the house at 6pm…instead of 3:30. OOPSIES! We still opened up presents (everyone already ate before we got there) and spent time with his grandparents talking and playing with all of our new presents and watched Harley (who was brought there by Gregg’s parents) and Keiko his cousin play. We had a LONG drive home back to Sac where I fell asleep of course, sorry Gregg! Overall it was a whirlwind of a weekend….something tells me it won’t be like that next year!

rainy days are here again

2012-01-23T12:33:00.000-08:00

It is so rainy over here in Northern CA today. Not that I mind it much because I finally get to wear my most favorite Christmas gift - my Hunter Blue Boots! My MIL was kind enough to get me these bad boys for Christmas, I was SO excited when I opened them. They are comfortable, lightweight (kind of smell like rubber) but boy do they protect from the rain. I can't wait to get more colors and the matching socks that come along with it. Who knew boots had accessories!?! :)

Happy MLK Day

2012-01-17T14:40:00.000-08:00

A day too late....I wanted to post about this movie that I saw on Sunday night. It was such perfect timing given that the following day was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. MLK was one of the most profound men to walk this earth and I am so happy that we have an entire day dedicated just to him.

This movie was exceptionally good. I LOVE Emma Stone, she did an incredible job in her role. Her character goes against the grain in her plot which always makes me happy. I am a fan of the rebels and underdogs, always. Movies of this era always inspire and intrigue me, mostly because I can't fathom that this is what every day life used to be like. I'm so happy that things are different today in 2012.

If you get a chance to see it...definitely watch it...and stay for the credits because this song by Mary J. Blige is SO moving.

The Graduate

2012-01-16T20:40:00.000-08:00

One of G's best friends David Mathis graduated from Sac State back in December. He was kind enough to invite not only his family but his 'extended' family as well. By extended I mean G's entire family, Jake's entire family and a few special friends. David is such a genuine and special person. I truly don't think I've met anyone else like him in my entire life.

What's so special about David is that not only was he part of the Airforce, but he was only units away from graduating last year before he was called back, forcing him to drop all of his units and extend his graduation, twice.

Without a doubt, David is kind, smart, SO GIVING and most of all he is such a great friend. We are so lucky to be a part of his life and feel so thankful that he is a part of ours.

One of my favorite pictures of the day! We captured the essence of David!

David with his extended family, The Anderson's

sugar & spice and everything nice

2012-01-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

My nieces are the cutest and so is my SIL Mary. She threw a little joint family birthday party for her girls Mia and Marianne this year as they turned 6 & 4. They are turning into such beautiful young girls with BIG personalities but truthfully they are so much fun to be around. I loved watching their faces light up with simple things like cupcakes and getting silly toys out of the vending machine. They have SO much energy!!! I'm so thankful that we got to experience their birthdays witht them this year.

Old and New Traditions

2012-01-16T20:29:00.000-08:00

Last year we decided to combine and old holiday tradition with a new holiday tradition. We make delicious homemade Latkas (which is a declicious potato pancake often made for Hannuka). Usually this is mom and dad's job as they are the pro's. However last year we David, G and me decided to create our very own Gingerbread House making contest. Last year was intense but I won....needless to say the boys lost interest pretty fast and I won again. Go figure. Mom decided to salvage what was left of David's and this is how they turned out!

Can't wait to see who will win/participate next year!

Swimming with the Sharks

2012-01-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

A few weekends back the family and I made a quick overnight trip to visit my brother in San Jose. We decided to take my parents to the deliciously famous restaurant called "Hi-Life" before our Sharks game. My parents had never been to EITHER so it was a real treat for them.

Aren't we so with our Sharks gear on!?!? It was such a fun weekend having family time and enjoying the Sharks game!

Black Friday

2012-01-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

So truthfully I have never experienced the infamous "black friday" shopping, ever in my 28 years of life. However, this year I heard that my favorite store was having a never before sale on their sale items. 50% off all sale items to be exact! UMMMMMM sign me up! I convinced my Grandma (yes she is 88 years old) and my mom to come with me at 5:30am to fight the crowd since the doors opened up at 6:00am and the 'sale' only lasted until 11:00am. When we first pulled up I didn't think there was any line and I got super excited....but as we walked a little closer I saw there were OTHER crazies JUST AS CRAZY as me! Luckily we were only about 18 people from the front and as the time quickly approached 6:00am....the line sure grew quickly. Let's just say we were VERY successful as you can see from the pictures below!

I can't wait for the sale next year!!! Better start saving my money now.....

GBB together again!

2011-12-16T16:12:00.000-08:00

My good friend Tomo otherwise known as Loey otherwise known as Lauren had all of us GB girls over for a small breakfast get together to catch up during the Thanksgiving break. Everyone brought such yummy treats, cinnamon rolls, scones, bagels, OJ, champagne and fruit. Yum Yum!

It was an all girl event! Casey (Lauren's boyfriend) even took Koda out so there were officially no boys! We had a great time catching up with each other and playing with all the little ones.

I found it amazing to see each of the girls at such different ages, Natalie (10 mons), Sophia (15 months), Kylah (2 years old), Bella (4 years old). Each of them are so beautiful and so much fun to be around!!!

Can you tell what's different about these two pictures below? Ha Ha!

kellie & jeremy's engagement party

2011-12-16T16:08:00.000-08:00

We had a great time celebrating the beautiful engagement of our dear friends Jeremy and Kellie in our favorite spot, San Diego. These adventures are so fun when we all get together. It's like one big family that you've missed for so long. The engagement party was on Saturday night - it was adorable because they decided to have it at the very same resturant they met at. Precious

Here are all the husbands and boyfriends acting silly

See how pretty all of us look and posed so nicely

of course the asians would be taking pictures hahah!

gobble gobble

2011-12-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was so fun this year since we didn't have to travel AT ALL! Of course the day started off with our yearly tradition of the Thanksgiving morning run....but instead of doing the Run to Feed the Hungry we opted to do the Folsom Turkey Trot this year. It was a much different course (clearly because it was in Folsom and not downtown) but it was so much less stressful. Run to Feed the Hungry is a great cause but it's always so crowded. There are about 20,000 people, you cannot bring dogs, parking is nightmare and to top it all off, it's more expensive. SO, since our FCCF family was doing the TT this year, we decided to try that out. My favorite part was that Harley got to come!

our FCCF family

my family (minus mom and bachan who were home watching the turkey)

cutest family photo ever

Mom put me in charge of the table settings and namecards while she prepared a fabulous meal (as always). The Wongs + Andrew, Evan and Bachan also joined us this year. When we're all together there is so much laughter about really 'silly' things - it always makes for a good time.

I managed to make this cute little Happy Thanksgiving sign above our fireplace too.

I saw this idea of course on Pinterest to make the cute namecards from a whole walnut shell! Paired with our cute Anthro bowls I'd say the table setting was a complete success!!

evan, lauren and andrew

brother and me

hubs and me

Niner family photo - mom took the pic!

After dinner was over we HAD to watch the Niner game.....so G decided to make everyon put on ALL of his jersey's. He has quite a few wouldn't you say!? Look how cute Bachan is in the middle!

All in all it was a wondeful time at home hanging out with family on the holidays. I love this time of year, the fall colors are EVERYWHERE in Sacramento and the trees are so so so pretty. Next up.....Christmas!!

Napa Valley

2011-12-06T16:50:00.000-08:00

G and I spent our 2nd anniversary touring the beautiful city of napa. It was a beautiful and relaxing weekend full of wine, delicious food and a few hilarious moments that of course are now hilarious memories. We had planned to go to napa straight from work on a Friday. Our car was packed, the hotel was booked and we even had some wine and champagne that we brought from previous wine trips to pop open when we arrived! WE WERE READY! We arrived at our destination, the beautiful Embassy Suites Napa Valley a little bit after 6:00pm. I love staying at Embassy Suites because they give you a complimentary happy hour AND complimentary breakfast - LOOOOVE IT!

On our first night there was eventful, I had looked up a few resturants in downtown Napa but just casually looked. When we walked up to my 'original pick' of the night, we realized it was a bit fancier than we had thought, so we quickly walked the streets of downtown Napa and settled on a cute quaint little place that turned out to be really yummy. After a nice gelato stop on the way back to the hotel we were full!

Amazingly enough this Embassy Suites had black swans floating around their property or (schwans as we like to call them). On our honeymoon in Kauai, our hotel there had black 'schwans' so it was kind of a neat moment for us to see them again. (clearly they weren't the same schwans, just the thought that there were 'multiple black schwans was fun'). Are you still with me? haha.

We spent our 2nd day in Napa enjoying their free breakfast in the hotel and headed to rent our super duper moped that Gregg had researched. Wellllllllll, let's just say that didn't work out very well. When we pulled up to the place, I had a bad feeling in my stomach....and now I know my instincts were clearly right. The moped was loud, silly looking and only went 40 miles an hour. We attempted to take the bike out, helmets and all and about 20 minutes into our s-l-o-w ride up the Silverado trail we called it quits and make a quick u-turn to return the 'bad mistake' we had rented.

About 20 minutes later we were apologizing and speeding away in our car (I have never loved being in a car so much) and decided to make our own wine tour up the Silverado trail and down Highway 29. We stopped at quite a few beautiful wineries and enjoyed our tastings just the two of us! One of my favorite places to stop is the V. Sattui Winery Deli. We got a mixture of olives, sammys, cheese, bread and some wine of course.

We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and got a little nap in before our 'big night'. Almost 5-6 years ago G and I went to napa with his entire family and ate at this beautiful resturant called Brix so we decided to carry on the tradition and eat there again. It was gorgeous inside, they have the perfect ambiance for an 'anniversary' and we enjoyed our fancy smancy dinner and didn't worry about the bill (for once in our lives)
Such a glorious weekend spent with my husband. He makes me so happy and keeps me so content. It's amazing how you can spend so much time with someone and still find things to learn about them and love them so much more every, single, day. Happy Anniversary love, I can't wait to go back there with you!

**pictures to come soon, they're missing right now...ugh**

The Hill of Apples

2011-11-16T15:58:00.000-08:00

If you live in the Sacramento area then you've definitely heard of a small little something called Apple Hill. It is a little gem just past Auburn that is tucked away among lots of big green trees, windy roads and lots of land. I ALWAYS enjoy apple hill especially becuase of all of the apple-like treats. So much yummy goodness, I mean who wouldn't want a warm apple crumb donut paired with some apple cider that's been spiked with apple wine?? Let's be realistic here! This year our first trip up was with our FCCF Family. We had so much fun testing out all of the apple beers and buying LOTS of pies and treats.

yaaay for our FCCF family

the girls

*the boys

*We had a special visitor stay with all all weekend. RY GUY! Love this kid!

Go Grizzlies!

2011-11-16T15:46:00.000-08:00

10 years ago. That's a really long time. Imagine what you were doing, the person you were, what music you liked, who your friends were, what you liked to do, eat, wear??? Now imagine re-living all that over again, a little scary don't ya think? I along with my bestie bears decided to throw our 10 year high school reunion together in about 4 months. With a late notice that no one was planning our event and in the middle of our own lives we organized, planned and excuted a fabulous reunion.

Lots of people gathered for our big event. We had about 130 guest in attendance, pretty good with 4 months of planning. In all seriousness it was really great to catch up with some old friends and meet new ones. I'd have to say the highlight was getting to meet everyone's signifcant others, it's always exciting getting to see who everyone 'ended up' with. Big thank you to all of our guests that came, it was so wonderful to see everyone again! Go Grizzlies!

The day after the reunion was also pretty exciting. We never get to see Jana and now that we're home and her mom still lives in the area we get to see her for all major holidays yipppe! I was able to meet baby Natalie who is seriously a peach. Just look at this little face!!

Overall a very successful and fun weekend with my GB besties!

Daniel Jackson Willock

2011-11-16T15:22:00.000-08:00

Jobs. Everyone has them. Even SAHMs are considered a job (stay-at-home-mom's). From what I can imagine (since I'm not a parent yet) becoming a parent is one of the most difficult, rewarding, challenging and remarkable jobs that anyone takes on in this lifetime. Before you can start your new job as a parent you go through many life changes, body changes and let's not forget emotional changes too. However, one of the BEST moments (I think) in this transitional time in your life is the gift of being 'showered' before your new baby arrives. G and I had the priviledge of being invited to attend our dear friends Brad & Elisa's baby shower over the summer. The shower was filled to the brim with an entire spread of homemade food from family and friends. There were SO many people in attendance who seriously adored Brad & Elisa - it was remarkable to be a part of. It was truly an exceptional shower and by far my favorite part was hearing both Brad & Elisa, her sister Gina and her father say some beautiful words to all of their guests.

Fast forward a few months to present day. Brad & Elisa have started their "new job" already and welcomed their beautiful baby boy, Daniel Jackson on November 4th, 2011. 8lbs and 4oz of complete goodness! G and I were lucky enough to visit and meet Daniel before he was 1 week old, he is incredible. I am truly in awe of Brad & Elisa. They have taken theis new job so seriously and it seems like they have been preparing for it all their lives - they were naturals.

We got them this beautiful boppy - it fits him perfectly (for now)!

Elisa - Daniel - Kate

G - Daniel - Brad

Daniel - Me

It's official! I'm a Tough Mudder

2011-11-10T16:11:00.000-08:00

If I were to design an obstacle course that would push me to the furthest limits I could imagine, the Tough Mudder Challenge would be it. Maritza had mentioned that both her and Art had signed up to be something called....Tough Mudders, when I asked what that was she told me to google it. And there I was eyes wide, mouth open and silently thinking, "there is no way i'm doing this".

About a month later we were signed up! We learned later that our Crossfit group had also signed up and would be competing as well, which made it a little less scary I have to admit. Race day was INTENSE, we got up to Squaw Valley and when I stepped out of the car you could feel the energy!

Here a map of the course we did:

click to enlarge

The race was a total of 11 miles RIGHT UP SQUAW VALLEY! If you're from Northern CA, you know exactly what Squaw is, now imagine there being no snow and hiking directly to the stop and doing few crazy miliary style obstacles on the way, yikes :) The race was put together by the British Armed Forces and is a combination of a mud run, marathon, triathlon combined!

The greatest part about the program is that all of the money that is raised on the event date goes to the Wounded Warrior project which is such a wonderful cause. Not only did this race prove to both Gregg and I, how strong we were mentally and physically but it was extra special that we were able to complete it with Art and Maritza who happen to be our favorite military family!

To learn more about the race click here -----> Tough Mudder Challenge

From the website: Tough Mudder NorCal raised more money for the Wounded Warrior Project than any other event to date. Thanks to all who donated and to the Marines along the course.

Goose!

2011-11-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

Jennison Anne Grigsby (aka Goose)...is one of the greatest girls I've ever met. Jenni was one of my very first roommates and best friends that I met at college in San Diego and we have remained close ever since. She is smart, outgoing, funny and so super thoughtful I love her so much. A lot of my beginning college years were spent with her dressing up, playing games, making up funny sayings and nicknames and of course flirting and following boys! We have been through boyfriends together, roommates together, fights, making up, LOTs of giggling and TONS of memories.....the list goes on and on.

In the summertime Jenni's best friends from high school threw her a gorgeous Fiesta themed Bridal Sshower....I was so happy that I was able to make the trip to Walnut Creek and celebrate with such a special girl. Jenni was so thankful that I came all the way up and I must say it was definitely worth it. Her friends and family always make me smile & laugh and I truly cherish what a special person Jenni has been and will continue to be in my life. Her wedding is just a week and a half away....I can't wait to see her and Brian tie the knot!

sophia turns 1

2011-11-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it....little Sophia turned 1 this past August. What a little muffin she is. Such a beautiful personality she is always smiling and looking at her parents. She is a walkin' machine and constantly giggles all the time. Maritza and Art threw a beautiful pink, purple butterfly themed birthday party for their little girl complete with a HUGE assortment of homemade food from both sets of grandparents. And let's not forget no party is complete without a giant pinata!
Happy 1st Birthday Sophia Leilani Brown!

bridal showers and wedding flowers

2011-11-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

Back in August I, along with 3 of Sasha's bridesmaids hosted her Northern CA bridal shower. Bridal Showers are a lot of work, but so fun to plan. I decided to go with the theme of the wedding colors and picked aqua and teal for my main decor ideas. I must have looked for months and months and bought anything and everything that had red or teal on it!

Although it was a ton of work, it was really fun to put my craft skills to the test. Big thanks to Maritza who made most of my pom pom balls for me, Shelly for keeping me sane during the wee hours of the night and mom for helping me with every single thing.

Not too long after was the big day......

husband and wife walking down the aisle!

I had the priviledge of being Sasha's Matron of Honor this year in her wedding this past October. She was and is such a beautiful person and made the most gorgeous bride that day. I felt truly honored to be her MOH because I had never been one before. She let me in on all her secret ideas and all the planning before anyone else, which made me feel so special.

When we first met Mike, we knew he was a good egg. He has this funny, silly, light hearted personality that really makes him a perfect fit for Sasha. I was beyond excited when I got the phone call that Mike had proposed!!!! Now that I've been a part of all of the planning process I feel like I know Mike's family so well. Not only do they live RIGHT in my neighborhood, but they are such warm, caring and genuine people and I love them dearly!

The day was perfect, as was Sasha. She was calm, cool, collected and ready to get the party started. The food was amazing, the dancing was hilarious and overall it was a wonderful time had by all. Enjoy the pictures below!

click to enlarge

jake & amie

2011-11-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

It's official! Jake and Amie are ENGAGED! YEP YEP! We got the call last Friday night that Jake had popped the question and we couldn't be happier for these two. Amie is such a great fit for Jake that we all knew it was coming one day.....we just didn't know when! Lucky for G and I we got to celebrate officially with Amie, Jake, Amie's parents Annie and Randy, Jake's parents Rich and Paula and Amie's sister and brother-in-law, Emily and Dean over at the Lile's household that Sunday night. Lots of champagne was sipped on and lots of hugs and pictures. What a glorious time in their lives, we're so happy to be a part of it!

G, kate, amie, jake

costume crossfit

2011-11-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

FCCF decided to have their first ever COSTUME CROSSFIT workout this past Saturday. At first I wasn't sure if everyone was going to dress up but sure enough when we walked in on Saturday it was costume overload! Our FCCF gym is so fun and cool. Everyone ROCKED it out and looked amazing!!! We even had Hilary draw on a fake muscle shirt one of our coaches (Dave) his actual tatoos, it was spot on! Gina is pictured above because Hilary had to go to work before I could get a picture of her in it!

The four of us went all out in some very different costumes!

Here's G and I right before workout, pictures taken courtesy of dad. G was Obama and literally worked out IN THAT SUIT.....while I played it smart/safe and was an 80s workout girl. Crossfit is naturally a very rigorous workout, now add some leg warmers and a suit to that mix and you've got an insane workout!!!

mr. and mrs. hadley

2011-11-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

Wara and Watrick. What can I say about these two? They are by far one of the greatest couples we've ever met in our lives. The best part about Sarah and Patrick is that G and I knew them both as invidivuals before we were 'couples'. We have had SO MANY memories together over the past 8 years of dating and it's truly incredible to be a witness in the beautiful marriage that they have created.

We were INVOLVED in Sarah and P's many wedding events, it almost felt like it was (borderline) our wedding - just kidding! They went ALL OUT (as every wedding should be!) We attended bridesmaid luncheons, nail appointments, rehearsal dinners, rehearsals, sleepovers, morning wedding walks, RV driving, after party dancing, wig wearing and even a morning brunch. They thought of everything.

Throughout the wedding weekend, Sarah was cool as a cucumber. She was smiley, energetic and blissfully happy. Really happy. I could tell she was excited to start her life together with the man of her dreams. To see her vision of a beatiful wedding come to life and for her friends and family enjoying all her hard work and effort definitely kept that smile going all night long.

I LOVE Sarah and Patrick and I know that G and I will be friends with them forever and so will our kids (our dogs are already cousins!) We love you Hadley's - welcome to the married club!

happy halloweenie!

2011-10-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

xfit

2011-10-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that's me deadlifting 145lbs!?

I cannot say enough how happy i am that I joined FCCF (Folsom City CrossFit). It is one of the most challenging, rigorious, exciting, fun and hardcore things I've ever done in my life. Not only is it an amazing workout but it's such a 'feel good' place to be a part of. When we lived in San Jose, I had joined Crossfit Cadence and enjoyed it very much but it wasn't the same as what I'm doing now. When I joined back then, I was doing it with girlfriends and more as a leisurely exercise during the week. Don't get me wrong, it was still hard but much much different than FCCF.

G had kept in contact with a few buddies from high school and they had mentioned that they had started up their own Crossfit gym, FCCF. When we moved back we decided that we should check it out, maybe it would be good for us to join an exercise group together to spend more time with each other and to meet new people. We came in to check it out one night and immediately signed waivers, paperwork and sure enough we were in the new On Ramp class starting in Aug!!

My OnRamp class '08

I loved my On Ramp group. There was such a good vibe when we started together and it has stayed that way through all of our future workouts. We learned moves together, struggled together and best of all cheered each other on to do better, work harder and push through workouts we never thought we'd be able to do in this lifetime. I highly recommend starting a Crossfit gym with an On Ramp class, it's more of a transitional 4 week period where you learn moves, terminology and it teaches you how to be comfortable with those 'scary' weights that most people tend to shy away from.

The neatest thing about Crossfit is the fact that it's for all levels. If you're a runner, sprinter, weight lifter, boxer, swimmer or none of the above, YOU can do Crossfit.

Now that we've completed our On Ramp and by completed, I mean we've done the "FIGHT.GONE.BAD" workout (ugh, still makes me feel ill) we are full fledged Crossfitters!!! We attend class Mon, Wed, Thurs and Saturday (when we don't have plans) each week - sometimes Tues when we're REALLY into it, haha. It has been INCREDIBLE being a part of this gym. The coachs, the camaraderie, the fitness and the friendships. Can you tell I LOVE working out here???

Stretchin' it out before a fun WOD!

birthday and wine = happy face

2011-10-28T15:53:00.000-07:00

G and I have never been 'out' in Downtown Roseville before but we got the chance to see what it was all about when attending a birthday party for our friend Raemy. The club/bar was pretty awesome, it was a good mix of clubbish music paired with actual seating and a giant bar! We had a great time ringing in her 26th birthday but didn't stay out THAT late because we had to get up early to go wine tasting the next day!

Here are a few fun pictures of our fun day!

Of course the fabulous 6some had to get a picture together. The Moore's, The Anderson's and the soon to be Lile's!

tuesday fun!

2011-10-28T15:33:00.000-07:00

I had never heard of "Tuesday Nights" in Roseville but apparently for the entire month of July there was a fun car show every Tuesday night in Downtown Roseville that people could (freely) attend. One of Shelly & Jake's best friends was showing his car there, so I decided to join them on a random Tuesday night to check it out. I'm not really a car person per se, but I was obsessed with this particular one. It looked exactly like the car from the show Entourage which was pretty neat I have to admit. It helped that there was a little muffin nearby named Ollie who was also one of Shelly & Jake's friends. He kept Shelly & I entertained while the boys were focused on the cars all night. Just another fun reason of why I love living in Sacramento!

Did I just hear a 9er???

2011-10-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love a free football game??? Jake and Shelly had 2 extra tickets and invited us to join them spur of the moment. We had about 20 minutes to decide and off we went. The drive there was ~~brutal~~ eventful but we made it in one piece. It was amazing to go back to Candlestick park since I had gone there A LOT as a child to watch the SF Giants baseball games with my family. It looked similar to how I remembered it. We had some great seats and great company but unfortunately we didn't play so great. Regardless it was a really fun Saturday full of garlic fries, lots of chatting and picture taking - of course!

the little ones

2011-10-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest things about being home is having the 'option' to visit with our nieces and nephews for things that we've missed out on for the last 10 years.

mia cheering in her adorable cheerleading outfit. i took so many pictures, here are just a few!!!!

We've been able to celebrate birthday's, play games, act silly, color, watch football, support them in their sports activities and most of all LOVE on them.

Uncle Gregg and Auntie Kate playing with the girls - Mia, Marianne and Leah

girls night out 2011

2011-10-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

Waaay back in the summertime after I moved home, Maritza and I had been dying to go out together and have a 'girls night' which we had long dreamed about before living near each other. We gathered up her 2 sister-in-laws and best friend and headed out to Badlands to dance it up! Funny enough the 'family outing' continued since my brother-in-law Brett is the DJ at this club!! Not only did we get our cover comp'd but we got to request any and all songs that we wanted all.night.long! It was so much fun dancing with all the girls and getting to wave at Brett in the DJ booth. Now that I'm home I hope to have maaaaany more of these nights in the near future!

red....white...and blue!

2011-09-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

So since moving home we haven’t really had the opportunity to host any big parties, which is so unlike G and me BUT this year while my parents traveled to New York and back we had the house to ourselves on the 4th of July – which I have now dubbed the best holiday and one that I would like to host every year from this point on! I think it was something about the fun décor and colors, I mean who doesn’t love red….white….and blue! We had some of our favorite couples over to the house. They were greeted with blaring music (courtesy of G) and a cup for the day full of goodies! We had so much good food…..veggies and hummus, dip, chips, popcorn. We bbq’d burgers, hot dogs, hot links, corn and I’m sure more food but it’s been so long that I can’t remember now.

There was a few liar’s dice games, lots of pool time, laying out and of course a late night Starbucks run with Raem! I now officially know how to order my favorite Iced Americano drink …..PERFECTLY!

the delish spread, this was before we started grilling!

i loved decorating

can you tell that we like to host and craft?

cup with personalized straw (including name tag!)

baby christian!

i didnt make the cake but i made the sign (that counts right!?)

our only pic of the day

look how precious har har is!? sad this one is blurry!

Sasha and Mike were also in town for the weekend and came over for an impromptu visit with their puppy Ascher. These boy dogs were so silly together. They had a TON of fun getting all of their energy out while we ate leftovers and laid by the pool! Tongues out and panting....looks like they had fun!!!

sophia's beautiful baptism

2011-09-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

So life has been absolutely crazy these past few months. As I’m looking at my blog I haven’t written in almost THREE months. THREE long eventful and memorable months. And not just THREE REGULAR months but THREE SUMMER months, which is for sure the worst time to forget about a blog because so many plans and exciting events happen in the summer time. Thankfully I’ve found a few minutes to update the bloggin’ world on the little Anderson family!

Ready for information overload? Here we go.....

I'll start way back to the beginning of summer.....with Sophia’s Leilani’s beautiful baptism!

Sophia was a perfect little princess on her baptism day. Look how gorgeous she looks? Her Grandma Maria bought her this beautiful outfit and when I had asked Maritza why she waited until this age to baptize her little beauty her response was an easy one “because that’s when Sophia fit into the outfit my mom got her!”. The best part of the ceremony was that Sophia thought it was appropriate to wave to the congregation like a little queen. She had everyone giggling in the church. Watching Maritza and Art bless their beautiful baby girl was so humbling and beautiful, I was definitely teary and so thankful that I got to witness such a beautiful moment in all three of their lives. We finished off the night sipping on drinks and eating delish cart taco’s in Maria’s backyard, the norm for all of Sophia’s big events.

she loved her dress....hah maybe not

hooray!

she looks like a little doll....literally

look at those eyes

being held by grandma maria

sophia decided to dine with us, our table felt special

mmm bottle

sophia l. brown

2011-06-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest perks about living at home has definitely been seeing my 'little's' as I like to call them. One of my most favorite little littles is SOPHIA! My beautiful best friend Maritza is the proud owner of this amazing little girl and I'm so lucky that I get to see BOTH of them so much more...now that we (finally) live in the same city. On this day, Sophia and Maritza stopped by to visit and see Uncle G and me.

It is 100% certain that Sophia, out of all my littles.....gives me the worst baby fever....and I'm sure you can see why!

Hey-yo Tahoe!

2011-06-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

It has been years, I mean YEARS since I've been to Tahoe to see the beautiful trees and scenary. I had the bright idea that while I was on my "break from vacation, vacation" that it might be fun to do a little getaway in Tahoe with G. My parents were gracious enough to let us borrow some of their timeshare points which paid for our 2 night stay in our mini condo - completely free - booyah! So we packed up our clothes both warm and cold (just in case), kissed Har goodbye and we were on our way to Tahoe! The drive up was magical, I forgot what a beautiful place Tahoe is.....there is just a 'heavenly' feeling looking at the lake surrounded by the full green trees and the sun shining down on them.

shell and i in the middle of a snow blizzard

We had planned for Jake and Shelly to meet up with us on Friday night after work so that they could enjoy Tahoe with us! I'm so glad they ended up coming, we had the BEST time with them....ever since Megan's wedding in Idaho the four of us crave being together in snowy weather, somehow there are always silly stories when we leave.

at the top of the mountain

On Saturday we had all laid down to take a little cat nap and woke up to this.....full.on.SNOW! I literally opened my eyes (like how most kids do in the movies) to SNOW FALLING FROM THE SKY! Of course I immediately jumped out of bed and startled G, but ohhhhh it was so worth it! The sight was amazing....

I even had a delicious homemade snowball for dinner! Here are some other fun pictures from the trip...

love shell's face here....she was not a fan of heights as the gondola ride kept going higher and higher

Overall the trip was much needed and super fun. We love making memories in new places, with some of our favorite people! Yay for more trips to Tahoe this summer, now that we're only an hour away.

magical powers....

2011-06-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

The week after G and I moved home we were invited to attend the beautiful wedding of Mike and Nicole Powers. You might remember my old post about my twinnerand how that nickname came about. The setting for her wedding was magical. The weather was perfect, the hotel was unbelieveable she was in a beautiful Monique Lihuillier gown, adorned with diamonds and an absolutely perfect sparkling smile.

Her Bridesmaids wore hot (and I mean HOT) pink dresses from Coren Moore and held absolutely gorgeous bouquets.

I was lucky enough to sit at Table 11 with with Maid of Honor and my favorite bridesmaid Meghan! Jason Acosta was there as well and G and him got along fabulously!!

the anderson's and the power's

all the crazy boys

While in San Diego, we had hung out with Mike and Nicole and their best friends quite a few times, so their wedding felt like a big reunion, especially for all the boys!

my favorite meghan

the beautiful bride and mother of the bride

This is my favorite picture of the night. Nicole and her mom dancing the night away and so so happy! We were so fortunate to be part of such a wonderful event! We love the Power's!

home is where the heart is

2011-06-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

Although it's been a few months since the big decision was announced in our lives, to the blogging world I've been a little bit quiet, mostly because I just haven't had time to sit down and type about what's going on in my life and I guess that's because I'm actually living it! To sum it up, Gregg and I moved back home....back to my little high school memorabilia filled room with good old mom & dad. I quit my job after four years of dedication and signed up for a new one with a new company that you may have heard of....called Oracle. Life has been nuts. We moved (yet again), uprooted our lives back to our hometown that we've been dreaming of getting to and we currently live near all of our best friends and all of our family. Pretty sure life doesn't get any better than this.

While we've been home, we've been unpacking and repacking, enjoying the company of our best friend's, spending lots of dinner with family and pinching ourselves that we're really back here. So as far as the update on life...there you have it! More to come....

Mother's Day 2011

2011-06-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

For Mother's day this year we decided to join G's family for an impromptu brunch with the family. The little resturant was tucked away in downtown Novato - I forgot the name of it but it was a quaint little resturant that actually used to be a church prior to the renovation of a restaurant.

Since I'm such a picture crazy I made the family take some nice photo's outside. Although it was windy, it was such a special day being able to hang out with my wonderful Mother and Granmother-in-law's. The Anderson women are such special people and I feel so honored that I get to call them my family.

My mommy is the greatest person in this world. The older I get, the more I realize how much I'm just like her. She is such a fun person to be around and I cherish her friendship so much in my life.

Bachan (aka my Grandma) is such a fun and beautiful person. She is so detailed in everything she does and you can really see how much of her love goes into everything she touches. I am so fortune to have her in my life and I love spending time with her. She's a silly one, just like me!

very tardy congrats

2011-05-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Clearly I am only 5 month behind on my big news for my bestie. yikes! Shelly (aka Shellfish) was proposed to back in December right around her birthday. I am so excited to share this special time with her as she was my M.O.H ----> maid of honor for my very own wedding day! Congratulations Shellfish - can't wait to help you plan everything!!! Love you!

Hoppy Easter 2011

2011-05-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

This Easter was especially fun! Gregg, Harley and I traveled home to Granite Bay and celebrated the fun holiday with my parents, Bachan and my cousin Lisa and her boyfriend Mike. Here's a quick collage of us coloring eggs. For some reason this year (of course I do this every year) I was treating this 'coloring of the eggs' as if it were the most important thing I'd ever done! I guess it's just 'my thing' -----> I L-O-V-E creativity and coloring eggs is doing just that! Any disruptions to creativity make me angry - yes I am officially a weirdo.

After my craziness we spent some time hanging out at Jake's parents house (no pictures - lo siento) and had delicious meals, conversations and just spend some good quality time with them. We eventually headed out to the local Folsom bars (our favorite - Hacienda) and my brother and his friends all met up with us as well. Aren't all my little brother's so cute?

can you pick out which one is my ACTUAL brother?

Some of our other favorite Nor Cal friends joined us for a few drinks and good conversation as well. It is always an absolute pleasure hanging out with The Moore's and Nessie and I get SO excited when we see each other (usually because it's been so long). Nicole "Nic" is an awesome wonderful girl that we met out here in San Jo (through our other friend Jillie) and she went to G's high school - how crazy is that???? Here we are below hanging out!

nessie, kate and nic

san jo crew

2011-04-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

The other weekend we decided to get together with our 'san jo crew' for a long awaited dinner that we had been trying to plan for what seemed like forever. We stopped first at Pedro's a delish mexican restaurant with really delish margs!

Then we decided to head over to Khartums - pronounced Cartoumes for some liar's dice and beer. The rounds kept coming and we had such a great time catching up and hanging out with each other.

Our next plan to hang out is for our infamous Disco Bay - 4th of July trip. We all went last year and it was an absolute blast. We're already starting to plan themes and figure out logistics and it's only April (you can tell we're excited).

i have the sillest husband

2011-04-19T06:44:00.000-07:00

ahhhh hahahha. gregg thought this was so funny inside of pier one. it's a HUGE spoon!!!! they had spatula's, knives and forks too. we SERIOUSLY considered buying them until we saw the price tag of 70 big ones. no thanks! instead we just proceeded to take silly pictures. here's the best one of the hubs!

thumb + toaster + bagel

2011-04-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

Recipe for a really burnt thumb.

Add 1 cup of a hungry sales girl with a splash of mental conflict deciding if she should eat or go to target to do some last minute shopping.

Combine with 4 slicer toaster (10.00 value) and stir together....

Finally add in 1 cinammon coated bagel covered with sugar which will then catch on fire due to the hotness of the toaster and proceed to grab it with your thumb.

Wahhhh-la....burnt thumb = sad sales rep = no more toaster

Epic Elite Eight

2011-04-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had the absolute pleasure of meeting and hanging out with 7 amazing girls in the crazy sin city...lassssss vegas for my twinner Nicole Hibbard's bachelorette party. I've known Nicole for a few years now, I think almost 4 actually. We met on our first day of work at Access Nurses and have been "twins" ever since. She is literally the same person as me, personality and looks....which is how we adopted our 'Twinner" title.

This bachelorette party was summed up into one word: Epic. Not only were were VIP status everywhere we went, but we all got along so great for just having met each other hours before the event started. I literally met Meghan and Christine in the airport. We like to think it was a 'blind date friendship' that blossomed into something beautiful!

beautiful mary and me and her big debut of the girls

meghan, christine and me = the nor cal ladies

Nicole's Uncle, often referred to as the childhood name she called him "Unkie" owns a suite in the Palms hotel called the Palms Place. His best friend and him own a 'wing' of the hotel floor, which is where we stayed....with no charge. Check 1 on our VIP list.

Next he treated us that night to a delicious dinner at n9ne where induldged in appetizers, 2 bottles of wine, steak and lobster dinners, tomatoe and goat cheese salads, and three different desserts. the only thing out of our pockets was a lovely little tip. say what???? Check 2 on our VIP list.

We made our way up to Club Moon - one of the nightclubs in the Palms and danced the night away at our 2 bottle *comp'd* table while champagne and strawberries were passed over to us - courtsey of Unkie who had made a call. They had told us this was "Usher's Table" when he came to the club. Needless to say....Usher was not there. Check 3 on our VIP list.

my twinner and me

outside of N9NE!

The next day was filled with a slight case of being hungover (oops Nicole) and some lounging and lots of silly games - since the weatherman didn't get the memo to be warm we made the best of it. After a few hours of getting to know one another and making fun of Nicole we got ready and headed to China Poblano - mmmmm a Chinese & Mexican Fusion restuarant. From there we walked over to Marquee which is a new club inside of The Cosmo hotel, where we had yet ANOTHER VIP table for the night. Check number 4 on our VIP list.

the epic elite eight at its finest

we loved the cosmo hotel....

jenn's famous camera shot - turned out pretty good if you ask me

Throughout the night we decided to name ourselves the Epic Elite Eight....all of us were so happy that we had met each other, gotten along so well for the weekend and couldn't wait to see each other again in just a few short weeks to celebrate Nicole and Mike's big day. I felt so honored to be a part of this wonderful weekend with my twinner. She is truly the best person and I couldn't be happier for her and Mike to join the married club! Yay!!!

Happy Friday

2011-04-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

I love this song, I found it on a blog (that I love reading) and I love the words....mostly this line:

"i'm going to live a crazy dream.....impossible as it may seem, doesn't matter what the future brings, i'm gonna live a crazy dream..." ----> my favorite line!

Happy Friday!

The King's Engagement Party

2011-04-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

So my posting is at least a month behind....I do apologize to all my dedicated readers as I have been outside living life and not glued to my computer (dedicated readers being all 10 of you) :)

Last month we went back to San Diego to celebrate and coordinate the beautiful engagement of Sasha and Mike King! yay!!!! We had our fun party at Firehouse (courtsey of our favorite GM JJones). The night was an absolute blast. We were able to have a little cocktail hour with drink specials and a delish appetizer buffet complete with red velvet cupcakes, mmmm.

'craig, sleeve, and webster'

my favorite five.....love these DD's

my niece hayley....she is such a peach i miss her everyday

soon to be mr. and mrs. king - such a beautiful couple - love you guys!

some of the crew just hanging out!

All in all it was a wonderful weekend spent with good friends, good food and great weather. We can't wait to make our next trip up in just a few short weeks to celebrate another bridal event but this time for my lovely little wara! Gotta love the year of the weddings!

wara and watrick!

2011-03-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

Sarah (aka wara) and Patrick (aka watrick) came for a visit a few weekends ago and we had the BEST time hanging out with them! Wara and I have planned this trip for about 5 months when she knew she was going to have a work conference in Berkely. We decided it only made sense for watrick to join in on the fun and they bought a ticket to come out and hang out with both G and me! The first day was too overwhelming to take any pictures. I drove after work (on a month end - which translates to = difficult day in sales job) and headed out to Berkely to meet Wara and her friend Christine. We hung out a bit and went to a really yummy thai resturant just a few streets down that was DELISH! Meanwhile watrick (also known as "P") flew down and G picked him up. Wara and I drove back into town and met up with the boys for dinner and then spent the rest of the night chatting...needless to say there was no time for pictures.

But on day two.....we woke up and watched the SDSU game! We were all decked out in our red and black gear and decided on bagels and beer - perfect for a 10am game! Once we were done with that we headed down to Santan Row where we showed Wara and P the sights and the fun stores! oooo!

the boys enjoing their delicious breakfast

wara and i walking around santana row

One of the best stores in SR is called the Priscilla of Boston store. It's a two level store complete with white chandeliers and sparkling wedding dresses everywhere. Clearly we had to go in there!!! I took these fun 'edited' pictures of Wara by the bridesmaid dresses.

the beautiful bride to be

P isn't a character at all...he was just twirling around dancing in the middle of the store while I captured this shot! Classic P!

Wara is going to make the most beautiful bride, I am so excited to be a part of her wedding party and watch her and P commit their lives to one another! Love you Wara!

The rest of the night was spent relaxing, watching wedding videos, looking at albums, discussing all things wedding, burning a pizza and making our house smell like smoke, eating 1 million gummy bears and sour watermelon candies, sipping on vodka, catching up with ross and jill and passing out while watching oprah!

Day 3....started out with a DELISH breakfast at our favorite place Stacks! After that we did an impromptu visit up to Monterey where we toured Pebble Beach in golf carts - this is super fun, everyone should do this because let's be honest who has $500 to spend on a round of golf! The sites were breathtaking and Wara and I had so much fun doing a photoshoot!

Overall we had the best time with these kids. There is something about Wara and P that we just makes both G and me feel so comfortble. It's most likely due to the fact that we've all lived together in college (well practically - the boys lived together and Wara and I had sleepovers there pretty often). Needless to say these two are amazing and G and I wouldn't be the same without them in our lives. Thanks so much fun visiting us, we miss you already!

I wanna learn how to make that!

2011-03-10T07:50:00.000-08:00

A few weekends ago my mom, aunt, cousin and Bachan all decided to get together and cook some traditional Japanese food. Lauren and I are always complaining that we don't know how to cook anything traditionally and it was about time we learned how! We all met at Bachan's house, got our apron's on and started slaving away! My aunt is the best cook, next to my mom....and they definitely get it from my Bachan - not sure what happened to Lauren and I!?? :)

little bachan and me

This picture is really cute of Lauren and I except for the fact that we are holding weapons in our hands.....don't be alarmed everyone we're just cleaning and prepping bok choy!

our finished product of yummy homemade chow mein - it was so good!

This next dish is by far delish! It's called an imperial roll, different than an egg roll because of the mixture inside (see picture below) but still fried the same as an egg roll. SO YUM!

imperial rolls all finished

So Lauren really wanted to learn how to make the collar bone of fish - which kind of grosses me out to be honest, but I still had to try it. Here's Bachan wacking the heck outta that fish

Our finished product of yumminess! mmmmmm doesn't our table look good? Yep we made every single thing on that table....and it really was such a special treat to be eating all together after a hard days work! I love spending this quality time with my family!

cheers to many more cooking days to come!

bestie lunch

2011-03-10T07:33:00.000-08:00

Loree is one of the top best people I've known in my life. When I moved to Campbell she and I connected immediately and I love working with her everyday. A few of us splurged and got treated to a fun birthday lunch for her! Happy Birthday Bestie!

mmmm yummy sushi for the birthday crew!

going private!

2011-03-02T06:50:00.000-08:00

hi guys! it's that time.......(for now) - please email to me @

andersonoodle@gmail.com if you'd like to keep reading! muah!

s-o-p-h-i-a

2011-03-02T06:43:00.000-08:00

It's official. I have a problem. I think I am in love with my best friend's baby......SOPHIA!! Seriously though, let's be realistic here...how precious and cute is she? I mean honesly??

She's learning to not turn but FLIP over on to her belly it is the most amazing thing ever to see her grow and change each time I see her beautiful face. Her mommy Martiza is the BEST person ever and always lets me hold her as much as I want. Love this lil punkin!

the mr. and mrs.

2011-02-21T06:32:00.000-08:00

Yay Maria and James have joined the married club!! Their wedding was such a whirlwind of fun, you really didn't know what was going to happen next!! Maria looked stunning...as she always does and James rocked that tux to the fullest!

There was so much fun cultural music, it was so neat to see Maria and all of her cousins dance....we definitely had fun 'trying'.

Welcome to the club - we love you!

Jillian and I

"my maria"

Nic, Nichole and me!

Nicole and I were partners in crime that whole evening. So much fun and such good memories! Congratulations James and Maria!

Holidays in a Whirlwind

2011-02-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

Wow. So it's literally been about 2 months since I've blog'd. Maybe more, maybe less who knows! So since its now almost MARCH I figure I will give all of you the cliffnotes version of my spectacular holiday and all the fun things I did!

First stop was Jillie's birthday! We went with a few friends to a yummy Benihana's for dinner. It was really really yummy and as a 'roomie' Christmas present for us, Ry paid for both G & my dinner. How thoughtful!?

Next up...Mr. Diesel - don't be alarmed we didn't get another puppy this is my little puppy nephew. G's brother and sister-in-law Candice got this beautiful little boxer boy! I literally couldn't put him down the entire time we were visiting at G's house. He was like my little sidekick. I heard a lot of variations of this phrase "Oh wow Katie you look good holding a little one" comments ha ha!

Along with Diesel here's a great photo of everyone else (in the world) who attended Christmas Eve at G's house! Yes this is all family members, maybe a few good family friends sprinkled in but we consider them family anyway. We finally were able to take a HUGE FAMILY PHOTO (courtesy of some great family friends that were also there for the fun). What a fun bunch we are! Can you find G and me?

Making our way over to my household it was MUCH quieter. After a really yummy prime rib dinner mom had gotten us a craft to keep us busy. G, D and I all competed in gingerbread house making contest which was super fun. I clearly won but I didn't want to post a picture so as not to hurt either of the boys feelings.

This may or may not be my most favorite picture of the holiday season. How sweet does Mr. G look? He is holding sweet baby boy Christian who was born right during Christmas season. Talk about a Christmas miracle. He was so precious...and so big (10 lbs big)! Christian already has us wrapped around his little finger and G couldn't stop buying him little birthday gifts. I think we literally had 5 boxes to bring him at the hospital. We had so much fun chatting with Rian and Sarah at the hospital hearing about all the events leading up to Christian's birth, the birth itself and everything else that comes with being a new parent. I loved seeing the joy on their faces and watching them transform into the beautiful parents they were meant to be!

Speaking of baby boy's I can't forget about my furry baby H-dog! Here he is in mid tongue, ripping action with his new toy that he got for Christmas. Isn't he the cutest!? Love this little puppy so very much!

Whenever I'm home it's a MUST SEE for Miss Sophia Brown. She is the apple of her mother's eye and seriously has me completely wrapped up in her. Isn't she the absolute cutest little girl? She was only 4 almost 5 months her and now she is almost 6! Wow how time flies! She can now turn over from her tummy to her side/back. It's absolutely amazing watching her grow and transform. I want to move closer to her so that I can see her every week....this once a month thing isn't cutting it!

Not only were the holidays filled with beautiful little babies but with beautiful brides as well! Maria is getting married (this Sunday actually) and we were able to attend and help at her super fun bridal shower. Isn't she the prettiest bride in pink!? Her cake was so awesome because it looked exactly like her invitation. I can't wait to see Maria in her amazing wedding dress this Sunday. More to come on that post....

I wasn't kidding when I wrote brideS....Here is one of my besties Sasha and Mike standing in the exact spot where they will commit their lives to one another and say their memorable vows this coming October. I was honored to attend the tastings and see the venue with the fun couple and Mike's fabulous parents Ed and Sharon. We had an absolute blast chatting, tasting, viewing and talking about the big day. I can't WAIT for this wedding and I feel so special because Sasha has picked me to be her Matron of Honor! Makes me teary just thinking about it!

Once we got back from all the holiday craziness my team had an extra special surprise from my boss. Since we had done an incredible job blowing out our yearly number we were treated to a SPA DAY at the beautiful Los Gatos Spa plus a yummy brunch as well. I had the most amazing massage....I used to be afraid of these - who was I? Now I can't get enough of them! G....please read this and NOTE this for the future! They had the most amazing mango lotion that I obviously had to buy - mmm.

Happy 2011!! We spent our New Year's Eve over at our best friends house Ross & Jill. They had a little party complete with fun hats, food and games! I had SUCH a fun time. Probably one of the best NYE!

Next up was New Year's DAY! Our family has a very special tradition that on New Year's DAY we do some yummy eating of traditional 'good luck' Japanese food. My Auntie Susan is an amazing cook and with the help of my Bachan they created the yummiest meal complete with "make your own sushi" (there was so much sashimi!) and imperial rolls and so many other yummy goodies including my absolute favorite orange sponge cake with fresh whipped cream, toasted coconut and raspberry sauce - holy yum. Whenever the boys and us girls get together it's way too much fun. We love making them take silly pictures together!

Here's our little Bachan! We are holding these special little 'good luck' flowers that came with some of the Japanese food.

In January I flew down to LAX to spend a few days with my favorite Shaunna and her boyfriend Jake. Ohh how I've missed these two! We also met up with Amanda, Nic, Kimma, Steve and a few other friends to celebrate Nic's birthday on Saturday night. On Sunday all of us drove down to a beautiful hotel in LA for our Worldwide Sales Kickoff 2011. It was actually pretty fun but only because of the fun friends I was with. Here I am with my squid and skams :)

This was the fun crew we were hanging out with most of the time. These boys and girls make working at 'the sense' so wonderful. I miss them all dearly as they are all in our corporate office in SD!

Here I am with some of my LG gals! We are quite a fun bunch. So much that we attracted some of our wonderful SE's and a few other reps.

My sidekick, bestie and twinner NICOLE! Do you think we look alike here? Ha...we get that a lot, thus the name Twinners. I love this girl so much!! She is another beautiful bride this year and I am SO EXCITED for her bachelorette party coming up in April! Vegas here we come!

And here we are a few days after Lovers Day. This is what the love of my life sent me AT WORK. I had come back from lunch and was shocked to see these beautiful roses and the biggest red velvet bundt cake I had ever seen (definitely meant to be shared). The balloons were a bit much, but they came from Harley - and we all know that Harley likes to do things over the top. Hee hee! Am I a lucky girl or what?

And now you've caught up on the last 3 months of my life! Phew, now we can start some current blogging. Much much better! Glad I got that ~~crossed~~ off my life! Up next...the biggest weekend of my life....should be a good read!

happy lovers day!

2011-02-14T14:46:00.000-08:00

It's been ~~forever~~ a long while since I've posted but I'll be back up and running tonight! I wonder if any of you have missed me?? :) Happy Lovers Day everyone!

bulldog nation

2010-12-14T22:52:00.000-08:00

Gregg's Alma Mater, the Folsom Bulldogs made it for the first time ever to the State Championships! So when we went home for our whirlwind event to Sacramento we were able to attend for the first time ever a Folsom Parade on Sutter Street.

There were so many loyal fans, families, supporters, cheerleaders, new reporters and local people supporting this high school team! It was a really special sight to see!

We are proud to be part of the Bulldog Nation and can't wait to root them on for the first time ever!

happy holidays from 'the sense'

2010-12-14T22:44:00.000-08:00

This year for our work Holiday Party my manager decided to invite everyone over to her house for dinner and drinks with their spouses. We had the three most delicious soups, paired with their own toppings (it was the greatest idea). There were tons of appetizers, a huge delicious salad with homemade dressing, baked french bread and then a complete spread of desserts including a red velvet with cream cheese frosting 'nothing bundt cake'. Mmm my mouth is watering now!

Gregg and I had such a good time hanging out with everyone and meeting everyone's spouses while we were there. We also spent a lot of our time playing with this cute little bug below....

Sequoia is a beautiful 3 month old lab/retriever mix and she is precious! She literally played 'chase the ball' for a consistent 4 hours....the ENTIRE time we were there. Talk about an energy filled pup....

The best thing about this holiday party was for sure the white elephant gift exchange. The Mr. and I decided that we were going to get the 'best present ever' a shake weight like the ones you see on TV all the time. Ours was the first present picked and when my manager's husband was the one to pick it and he started to open it......oh my lanta...it was the funniest moment of the night. I wish you could have all been there to see his face. Just priceless. Needless to say, we thought we were the only clever ones but there were THREE shake weights by the end of the night! Who knew I was working with all these "funnies"!?

Some of my favorite gals at the LG Sense

The words in the picture might look odd or weird but that's because it's 100% an inside joke that no one really gets unless you work in our office. Needless to say, I love this picture of Loree and I! Yay for Gassy Besties!

the campbell crazies

2010-12-14T22:34:00.000-08:00

It had literally been forever (no seriously about four months) since I had seen or hung out with Jeremy and Jessica. For some reason, even though they live less than 5 minutes away from us we still have the hardest time making our schedules work. Well the stars finally aligned and we found an empty weekend that worked for ALL of us. Ry decided to join in on the fun and we headed to Kyoto Palace for a delicious 'habachi' style dinner and drinks and then headed to a dive bar just around the corner. We ended up staying for almost 5 rounds of drinks....it was BEYOND fun! We are so lucky to have Jer & Jess so close to us, now only if we could see them more....

power play!

2010-12-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

One of the coolest wedding gifts we got for our wedding was tickets to a SHARKS GAME! chomp chomp chomp.....Jeremy who is one of the biggest hockey fans that I know told us he was sorry he was so late in getting us a gift but that we should check our email in the next few minutes. Well to our surprise an email popped up with a confirmation for the San Jose Sharks vs. Detroit Red Wings hockey game!

This was by far the best game I've ever been to, not only were we 8 rows from the front but we had the best time drinking hot chocolate and rooting on our sharks! Thanks so much Jer for the amazing wedding gift, we LOVED it!

Coach Ry Ry

2010-12-14T22:24:00.001-08:00

We had an absolute blast watching Ryan coach one of his first games as assistant varsity coach for the girls basketball team. It was actually a very nostalgic moment for me, bringing me back almost ten years go when I used to play. As you can see the Mr. was not in the mood for pictures, but I had to document that we were there! sheesh!

GB Dinner

2010-12-14T11:06:00.000-08:00

Every year we like to plan a little holiday get together with the girls and boys of GB. This year we were lucky to have Loey come play! I haven't see Loey (aka Tomo) in FOREVER, it was so wonderful to catch up with her and see her smiling face! The boys were actually at dinner with us but weren't so excited to take a picture like we were. haha! I love these girls and hope we can continue this tradition for many more years to come!

Run to Feed the Hungry Tradition

2010-12-14T07:20:00.000-08:00

It's an annual family Thanksgiving tradition that Gregg and I started a few years back to wake up REAAAAALLLY early the morning of Thanksgiving, put on our exercise gear and meet up with 20,000 of our closest friends to do the Run to Feed the Hungry. Usually mom is hosting a huge Thanksgiving LUNCH but this year she decided to host DINNER instead so that her, dad and David could do the walk with us. You have the option to either do a 10k run or a 5k walk, we opted for the walk - even though we're capable of doing the 10k....who wants to run when you can walk by all the pretty houses and chat the whole time? It is definitely a huge sense of accomplishment to wake up that early and see all these people around you giving back to the community that you love so much.

The weather was perfect this year, cool and crisp in the morning and it got warmer as the day went on. We got really cute white shirts this year, perfect to run in. I am so glad that we have this tradition as a family, not only is it great family bonding time but then we all don't feel so bad about eating turkey all day/night long! Hope everyone had a spectacular Thanksgiving!

apple of my eye!

2010-12-14T07:13:00.000-08:00

Even though this is a super late post it's still necessary to put on the blog. A few days before Thanksgiving the fam (minus Dad, he had to work) went to Apple Hill. This is one of my most favorite places where we used to go as kids all the time. I can't wait to take my babies there one day! But for now, I'll take Harley instead. You could smell the warm apple pies baking, they had lit a fire as well so that you could stand there and warm your buns or your hands and the best part, they had free samples of all apples, including apple cider, my fav!

All in all it was a great family outing, this was my favorite picture we took as a family, too bad Har's looking the other way!

special birthday blog

2010-11-30T13:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my favorite "bammie" in the world............

Calista (aka bammie)

Calista and I have experienced some of life's greatest adventures together. Everything from birthday parties, to family events, to working together, to crafting together, to cooking together, even crying together. She has been there for all of my wonderful wedding events and I have cherished her in my life so much. We met first through her sister-in-law Amanda, then worked together on the same team and since then have blossomed our own special friendship into something wonderful! We get along so well and have the same type of "brain" when it comes to being crafty crazies! I love her dearly and hope she gets everything she wants on her special day!

dancing at my bachelorette party

enjoying an adult beverage at our work kickoff party

a fun birthday celebration for her brother and sister in law

Happy 28th Birthday Calista! xoxo!
(only we know why we're called bammies he he he)

Jan and Nat

2010-11-29T23:23:00.000-08:00

My thanksgiving break started off so fun this year. I drove from my place straight to home to hop in a car with Shelly to attend Jan and Nat's baby shower. Jana and her husband Peter are due for their first baby girl this coming year and I am SO excited for her! I have been telling everyone all week that if I were to dream up what I'd want MY shower to be like it would have been this. Jan's mom, Joan graciously opened up her home and with the help of Jana's sister Jill and some family friends hosted this wonderful event. You can tell from the decor below that it was magical.

Incredibly cute table settings!

Bella boo was there too to join in on the fun. I was lucky enough to sit across from her and chat all about princesses and the color pink - it was magical!

The hosts made all this delish and beautiful food!!

The most incredible thing about the shower was the vintage china that Jana's grandma has collected over the years. Shelly and I were basically obsessed with everything and documented EVERY SINGLE THING. I mean, look how cute this cupcake is and this old fashioned bingo game??!

The best part about attending these fun events is getting to see some old high school friends that you haven't seen in a while. We were missing a few girls in this one but nonetheless we had to get one with the mama to be! Congrats Jana & Peter, I can't wait to meet baby "nat" (aka Natalie)

Meeting Betty White!

2010-11-29T22:52:00.000-08:00

After 13 years with my little Lima Bean it was time to say goodbye and quite honestly, good ridance. After my little fiasco a few months ago the time had come it was time to get a NEW CAR! I have been car-less for the past month with my husband acting not only as my 'husband' but as my chauffer, for reals, he drove me everywhere which also included waking up at 6:00am to drive me to work and picking me up every day at 3:00pm - now that's real love. I didn't even mention that he took me to the mall, target, to my friend's house, to dinner, to run errands and much much more. I think Gregg was equally happy to buy me a car as I was to get one. lol.

During Thankgiving break we had decided that we were ready to take the plunge. After a lot of searching and saving AND talking with what felt like millions of cheesy car salesmen we finally settled on this little beaut below....Betty is awesome.

I named her Betty White for the following reasons:

1. I think every car should be named, it gives you a good feeling and sometimes it's just fun

2. Well she's obviously white in color if you can't tell

3. my car now has AMAZING NAVIGATION so when "my command" isn't answered properly, i now have someone to blame....that being Betty

Betty's current stats:

- she's a 2008 (basically brand new) TSX Acura

-she's rockin' the tan leather interior

-she's got power everything, seat heaters, window heaters, a sunroof and memory channels for 2 drivers

-she's got an incredible naviation system which now helps me find my way home

-she had a little bit of miles on her (36k to be exact) but she was just getting warmed up for me

-betty's got a 90 day trial of XM radio which is RIDIC awesome, definitely going to extend that. I can move from the Christmas channel to 80's, to the 90's, to hip hop, to country back to the blend and there is even a 100% ON BROADWAY channel. sigh, i'm in love.

Acura was so happy with me they let me take pictures all night and gave me a pink hat! Naturally if I made the same commision that my sales guy had made I'd probably give my customer a pink hat too as a sign of gratitude. Thankfully WBSN doesn't have pink hats laying around :) Needless to say I am over the moon and absolutely LOVE driving everywhere now - definitely a first for me since I never wanted to drive my car anywhere. The ONLY negative aspect is that I was having a panic attack (almost every 3 seconds) with the tan mats that Betty came with so Gregg and I bought black mats to make me feel more at east. Still looks pretty classy in my opinion since my dashboard is black too. :)
Either way I am one happy girl!

Year One - Check!

2010-11-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

Happy One Year Anniversary to us!!!! Here's snapshot of the little gift I got for Gregg. The first year of traditional anniversary gifts is "paper", so I made Gregg this little box and decorated the inside...with pictures of us and a little saying. All of these pieces of paper were in there with different reasons why I love being married to him and ONE of those papers said that we were going to the Sacramento Kings vs. Miami Heat game on Dec 11th! He had to read through each one to find out what we were doing.

We started off our day sleeping in and re-watching our wedding video made by the lovely Side by Side productions - soooo happy we bought that, it made me cry watching and re-living those special moments again. Yes!! Marketing plug, check :)

Then we decided to go venture out to Santa Cruz since we've lived here for 6 months and STILL have not gone "over the hill" as some would call it. The weather was amazing, absolutely beautiful so we ate lunch at this lovely resturant called Crow's nest that looked out over the beautiful blue water.

Found these signs and HAD to take pictures with them....umm duh - A for Anderson!

After millions of attempts, we finally got a good one with the lighthouse in the background.

We finished day in Santa Cruz and headed home where we made Harley a birthday cupcake (see next post) and a cake (for us) for dessert! Mmm. Then we were off to this amazing resturant for one of the best dinners I've ever eaten. Finally we came home, snuggled up and went to bed. I can't believe I've been married for one whole year, where has the time gone?? Either way I coudn't be happier being the wife of Mr. Gregg Anderson.

The Trueman Family

2010-11-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to memory lane! A few weekends ago around the 16th of October we celebrated one of the most beautiful couples in this world, Lynsey and Jason Trueman. They invited ALL of us from college to celebrate them as they joined their lives forever becoming husband and wife! Needless to say our crew of TWELVE had SO MUCH FUN!! The first night was beyond fun. All of us had decided that the friends coming from So Cal would carpool at different times and Gregg and myself would meet up and we'd all congregate at Sarah's parents house in Atascadero and spend the night. Lynsey and Jason were gracious enough to invite ALL of us to their rehearsal dinner so the minute we arrived we hugged, caught up and started getting ready! This venue was amazing, Lynsey's entire family was up to their ears in wedding-ness but boy did they do an incredible job. The venue was sprinkled with beautiful white lights and lanterns that had crystals dangling off of them. Lisa, Lynsey's mom put together all of the flower arrangements and made these adorable signs everywhere!

On the night of the rehearsal we put our boys to work and had them stack chairs, they were all nicely folded until Gregg put the last one down and they all fell, everyone was laughing at the poor hubs but truthfully it was really funny!

How fun are these little homemade gems!?

Sad Faces for Shannie leaving the "sense"

Beautiful Sasha and me with her new sparkly ring....

Every single time I see this picture it makes me giggle with joy!

Gregg and the boys decided to get out on the dance floor and mimic one of the little boys dancing, it was 100% the highlight of the night!

The Truemans'!

The lovely Zanartu's.....our perfect hosts for the weekend!

Halloween Sneak Peak!

2010-11-02T13:38:00.000-07:00

Just had to share this little snippet of fun before the real posts come! Enjoy laughing at this one! ha ha ha!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

for all the shop-a-holics out there!

2010-10-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

This is the theme song of the movie "shop-a-holic". Wait, let me clarify, this is the theme song of MY LIFE and the movie "Shop-a-holic". Please enjoy

happy halloweenie

2010-10-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

I got the boys and Harley a little halloween present today. Pretty fun!

Boo Boo Bear loved his little bone. He already broke the squeaker. Crazy pup!

baby girl sophia

2010-10-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

No No No this beautiful little girl is not mine, she is my best friend Maritza's. Look at her beautiful beautiful beautiful face. Can't stop saying beautiful. And how cute is her Janie and Jack outfit - mama knows what she's doing? Sophia came to pay a visit to my parents to show off her new outfit and hot bod! I love her so much....and now it's official, I have to see her at least once every month, she is growing SO FAST!

sophia.leilani.brown

how do you make the 'famous muszel' tomato sauce?

2010-10-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

The finished product...

But how did we make all this?

well i can't tell you everything....but i'll tell you that you need tomatoes. lots of them. roma ones. not the other kind.

water is pretty essential

if you can find a mom somewhere, that helps too.

get prepared

it's probably a good idea to wear an apron

smile while you do it! duh!

Amazingly it just moves from the pot to the jars, lol. no no. i didn't picture that part....but needless to say, it takes time, effort, love and some hardwork. Now we have yummy homemade tomato sauce.....not that icky storemade kind. :)

christian - rian - henry

2010-10-09T19:52:00.000-07:00

From the title of this post you'd think I was talking about 3 little boys but instead I'm talking about ONE! Yep, Sarah and Rian Henry are due to expect their first baby this year. He's making his big debut in December (hopefully before Christmas) so that we can all see him! Christian Rian Henry. What's a handsome name right? This past weekend I was able to celebrate Sarah and her new baby boy's arrival at her baby shower up in Sacremento. Her two sisters did a fabulous job putting it on.....

Cheri was also invited - yay mama in law!

If I opened up a cupcake store in Sacremento here's my competition....Icing on the Cupcake

The boys have been HS buddies and the girls are the recruits

We made it into the Folsom Pack and all love each other! Sarah, Nessy and ME!

Here is Jake's little (cutie) sister, she feels like my little sister too since Gregg is practically her brother. I love her so much and she is SO much fun to be around. We are VERY alike so it's so nice to see her when she's home from college.

While the girls hung out at the shower, the boys hung out at the bar - go figure. Here's Mr. Anderson and me.

wow i made that!

2010-10-04T19:47:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest joys of sewing for me is probably being able to say "Wow I made that!" (kind of funny because I think I say it every single time). I saw this coooooool material (the kind of material you'd get for a Trader Joe bag, that kind of "grocery bag, shiny, material" but I had never seen anything so cute. There was a free project sheet, so I took one and got some fabric and let my imagintion fly. I made this super cute bag in just one night. Yep, one night. Even though I loved it so much, I decided to give it to my mommy. I knew how much she'd appreciate my hardwork and she'd actually USE it.

yay for sewing!

little bachan

2010-10-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know....Bachan = Grandma (in Japanese).

If you've been reading my blog then you'll know that we tried desparately to take Bachan out to dinner for her 87th birthday and unfortunately my car had other plans for me and decided to break down. Well we FINALLY were able to drive up and see her and instead of dinner, took her to lunch instead! We went to Dave Wong's, duh.....and Gregg and I managed to sneak the bill and pay without her knowing. Then she shoved a $50.00 bill at me and was yelling at us in the resturant, so we reluctantly took it.

Bachan is an amazing woman.....she traveled to the America's when she was 16 years old barely able to speak english. Met the love of her life and stayed married until death parted them. She is one of the best cooks in this world and knows all the secrets to making everything taste yummy. Knows how to make the most incredible authentic Japanese food and spoils her 5 grandchildren to the fullest. She is one tough cookie living alone and can fluently write and read Japanese - even watches Japanese television. She is the most incredible Bachan and I love living so close to her. Happy Birthday Bachan!!

just your average saturday night

2010-10-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

Since Gregg and I have moved to Campbell we literally haven't had a weekend here. Odd I know, I think we just had a really busy summer filled with weddings, baby showers, birthday's and trips home. So on this particular Saturday Gregg and I decided to get a little crafty. (yes, it wasn't just me, it was Gregg too - haha) We went to a fabric store and ended up making a nice 'welcome home' fleece blanket, half was the A's and half was Raiders - yay and a few other little gems. My favorite part of the night is that we turned off the TV all night and just put on Pandora and listened to music, talked and made things together.

We also drive past this little ice cream shack and ffffinally decided to stop. Um hello little soft serve dipped cone - I didn't know you lived here!??

I decided to make a cute little felt bird (random i know) it belongs to a whole garland thingy but I just made one to see how long it took me. And this adorable little cloth pumpkin. These are especially cute and fun to make.

I also made this cute, snap thingy that goes around my sewing machine so that I can easily stick my pins in it. Kind of like an easily accessible pin cushion. How fun is that fabric?

Here's Ryan's blanket!

What a fun little Saturday...just the husband and I.

bye bye lima bean

2010-09-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

soooo can you tell what's happening with this post from the pictures???

Yep that's right, my beloved little Honda needs a new.....a new......a new....

engine

All together now, uggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggh. So on the way to take Bachan out to dinner for her birthday my car was making some funny noises. Similar to the funny noises that it was making the day before when I drove to Plesanton to visit Jennison (see yesterday's post). Now it was partly our fault that Gregg and I decided to take MY car since it had been making noises, but after I had put some oil in it, it was driving just fine. Anyway back to the story....so as we were heading past Plesanton Gregg started to hear that same 'rattling' noise. He noticed that my RPM's weren't working and everytime he'd try to go faster he could hear that the RPM's weren't 'catching on'. Lovely. So first it started with 60 miles an hour....then 40....then 20....then ooohhh crap. We ended up pulling off the next exit and amazingly turned into a mall parking lot. This mall in fact. Thankfully it was a godsend that we got off at that particular exit since it was NO JOKE 101 degrees that day.

Long story short, this is where I feel so blessed to be part of the Anderson Family. They are all so handy with anything 'car' related. YES! We called Gregg's dad who managed to come rescued us and our car. Another reason we are so thankful to be living near family now. So for the time being, I am car-less and it's really sucky. Gregg now drives me to work every morning and picks me up when I'm done. Did I mention that I work at 6:00am in the morning - yep that's love!

We are in the process of figuring out what to do with my car, my engine, my NEW car, etc. etc. If you look closely at my pictures you'll see that I put that picture of my car and a split second shot of that pretty white lexus as a "sign" that I should be getting this car next. Gregg just laughed....but I didn't think it was all that funny.

i dreamed a dream....

2010-09-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

Meet Jennison. She is the most fun loving. caring. passionate. smart. beautiful. giggly. FUN. adventerous. loveable. girl in this world. She has been in my life since day one of college almost a whopping 9 years ago, almost a decade, wow. Literally on the first day of college I met her in the laundry room where she was on the verge of tears because the machine ate her money :) and we have been friends ever since. After living together for years, experiencing our first loves and our deepest heartbreaks we have created a such strong bond - one that definitely can't be broken with distance or time. There are so many inside jokes, so many memories that only we have together....just so much. Jenni lives in San Diego but often flys up to visit with her familly who lives in Walnut Creek (yay norcal) and while she was up celebrating the anticipated birth of her first niece at a baby shower we decied to meet up for an early dinner in Plesanton! We talked about life, love, stress, jobs, ideas, old dreams, new dreams, current dreams, our friendship and mostly our fondest memories of the way life used to be. It was such a blessing in my life to be able to have dinner with her when I did. I think it was a lot more than "just a dinner" to me - it was a chance to reconnect and talk about real things. Needless to say, I love her dearly and I hope to have her in my life forever. (I hope you're reading this, now that you know I have a blog!!)

I love you goosey girl. As I drove home, I heard this song on my Glee soundtrack and got a little teary because it fit our night....perfectly!

hello again mr. mathis

2010-09-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we made it home for the 'return' of Mr. Mathis. He went to Germany to serve in the military and ended up being called back to camp back in Sacramento - hooray. Needless to say we were happy to have him back and decided to make it quite a celebration. We headed to Folsom's Sutter Street after a crazy event called Folsom Live (which was basically a mini vegas....seriously there was people everywhere, all.over.the.place) and headed to our favorite bar - Hacienda. These pictures were just a tiny recap of what happened....let's just say 4 tequila shots later, we sure were having fun!

mr. mathis himself

the anderson's

happy lovers day!

10 ways Harley has helped prepare us for parenthood

all day every day....

hooray for a heartbeat!

thank you so much!

are you serious, something is IN there?

secrets and silly surprises

pink line + pink line = baby!

love on top!

is that a peanut?

NYE visitors

happy holidays

rainy days are here again

Happy MLK Day

The Graduate

sugar & spice and everything nice

Old and New Traditions

Swimming with the Sharks

Black Friday

GBB together again!

kellie & jeremy's engagement party

gobble gobble

Napa Valley

The Hill of Apples

Go Grizzlies!

Daniel Jackson Willock

It's official! I'm a Tough Mudder

Goose!

sophia turns 1

bridal showers and wedding flowers

jake & amie

costume crossfit

mr. and mrs. hadley

happy halloweenie!

xfit

birthday and wine = happy face

tuesday fun!

Did I just hear a 9er???

the little ones

girls night out 2011

red....white...and blue!

sophia's beautiful baptism

sophia l. brown

Hey-yo Tahoe!

magical powers....

home is where the heart is

Mother's Day 2011

very tardy congrats

Hoppy Easter 2011

san jo crew

i have the sillest husband

thumb + toaster + bagel

Epic Elite Eight

Happy Friday

The King's Engagement Party

wara and watrick!

I wanna learn how to make that!

bestie lunch

going private!

s-o-p-h-i-a

the mr. and mrs.

Holidays in a Whirlwind

happy lovers day!

bulldog nation

happy holidays from 'the sense'

the campbell crazies

power play!

Coach Ry Ry

GB Dinner

Run to Feed the Hungry Tradition

apple of my eye!

*special birthday blog*

Jan and Nat

Meeting Betty White!

Year One - Check!

The Trueman Family

Halloween Sneak Peak!

for all the shop-a-holics out there!

happy halloweenie

special birthday blog