Buckaroo Man

Around ten years ago or so, my bro-in-law, Mark, introduced us to the talents of Dave Stamey (davestamey.com).  He's a Cowboy Entertainer and we've really enjoyed his music over the years.  Early this past summer, I did a search on his tour schedule to see ifop it would be feasible to attend one of his concerts.  Turns out he was performing in Cody in August!  When I did the search, it was the end of May or so, so I thought tickets would be the perfect Father's Day gift!  

The performance was going to take place at Robin's Nest Bed & Breakfast (robinsnestcody.com).  I called to see about tickets.  She explained that it was a private party, but they invite anyone who would like to come.  They just asked for a small donation to cover Mr. Stamey's expenses and to bring a dish for a pot-luck.  It sounded perfect!  Since there weren't any actual tickets, I made up this little card for Ken to open on Father's Day:  

He was thrilled with the idea and SO excited!  Even though it was kind of a long time to wait!  On August 10th, we headed up to Cody.  This place was just amazing!  The food was fantastic and there was just such a fun atmosphere!  Dave Stamey was so great!  We enjoyed it so very much and had a great time meeting him!  It was a great experience and I'm so glad Ken and I got to share this evening together!

(Sorry the view is sideways!)

Father's and Son's Campout

This year, Ken took the boys (yes BOTH boys) on the Father's and Son's Campout!  I kept telling him he could leave Hayden, but he said, "He's my son, too!"  I was so impressed that he took him and they all had a great time!  Bailey was sad that she didn't get to go.  We were in the process of moving to our new house (around the corner) so I told her we'd have a campout there and we had a good time.  I was able to get a lot of painting done!

Soccer Stars!

Soccer season is a busy time for our family!  I'm glad that Ken has had the chance to help boost the soccer program here in Lovell!  He's a great coach and very patient with the little guys!  

Taysum was SO excited about the soccer camp!  I can't believe how grown up he looks to me in this picture!

Bailey was thrilled to be Daddy's Assistant Coach!  She expected everyone to listen to her and we finally had to take the whistle away! ;)

Hayden was the team's biggest fan!

Taysum did much better than last year!  He started out strong and was right in the game!  He even made some great blocks!  We are so proud of him!  After a few games, though, he decided he was done and that was that.

B's Birthday

August 2007

August 2011

Our sweet little B is 4 years old now!  It's unbelievable!  She is such a sweet, loving, helpful girl! At least 4 or 5 times a day she'll say, "Mom?  I love you."  She always wants to help whether it's laundry, dishes or cooking!  When we're at the store and she sees something out of place, she has to put it in the right place!  She always says the cutest things and keeps us smiling!  Some of her key words lately are: actually, observation, and that makes sense.  She knows she's a "Big" girl now and, in most respects, I think she's pretty mature for her age!  She still has her love for animals, but she is also becoming more "girly"!

She was SO excited to turn 4 and I think she had a pretty fun birthday!  She really likes the movie "Tangled" and it's the first real interest she's shown in princesses, so I was very excited to do a "Tangled" themed party!

The morning began with presents

Her nick-name is B, so we bought a Bee necklace for her.

Tangled shirt

Rapunzel doll (I love that she is starting to like dolls!)

Good morning, sleepy head!

So this was my idea for a Tangled cake:  I love that a cast iron skillet is the weapon of choice in the movie, so I had to incorporate that!  Then I used the "sun" theme and lots of purple.  I found the little doll for a topper and it came with a cut out of the tower, so I threw that in there, too.  It wasn't exactly what I had pictured, but I was pretty happy with it!

This was kind of a last minute idea I had at the store, I grabbed some head bands, yellow streamer and double sided tape and this is what we came up with for Rapunzel hair!

                                   

My mom was such an incredible help and the party seriously would have flopped if not for her!!  Thanks SO much, Grandma!

This gift was a big hit with all the kids (fruit snacks).

Some serious gift opening going on!

The boys started some cup stacking and they were making some pretty impressive structures!

Time for a pretty princess wish!

Bailey had fun with a bubble blower from her cousins and the girls really enjoyed all the bubbles!

Hayden is really hard to get a picture of anymore.  When he sees the camera, he just wants to see the picture and comes running before you can even take it!

We are so blessed to have this beautiful, sweet girl in our family!  We love you, B!!!

Forever Family

The end of July was a great week of family!

My brother Matt came to visit for a week and we had a great time with him!  Everyone else was working during the day, so we were really lucky to get to have him to ourselves quite a bit.  He was such a great help!  We love our Uncle Matt!!

Sweet brother helping Bailey get her sandals on!

Lovin' on lil' bro!

Brings new meaning to... Coneheads!

July 30th was one of the most incredible days of my life!  Just one of those "glimpse into Heaven" days.  My youngest brother went through the temple to receive his endowment.  Both parents and all five kids with their spouses (except 1... :( we missed you SO much Megan... I hope the wedding was great, though!) were in the temple together!  It was such a wonderful and precious experience!

It was also neat because our cousin Yosef also went through the same session.  He will be serving his mission in Germany!  After the temple, we went to Olive Garden for lunch... Yummy!

My brothers! :D

Who would have thought!?

**Due to a mistake with my picture account and a computer crash, we sadly lost our pictures from June and July 2011 - however, some of them ended up in the 2012 Calendar I made**

Oh me of little faith!  Honestly, when I planted my garden, I really didn't think anything would grow!  I was just thrilled when something sprouted at all let alone actually producing!!!  Huh!

Great Grandpa

**Due to a mistake with my picture account and a computer crash, we sadly lost our pictures from June and July 2011 - however, some of them ended up in the 2012 Calendar I made**

My kids have really been into Angry Birds lately!  Taysum thought it would be a good idea to make Angry Bird masks.  He's the Red Bird and Bailey is one of the Piggies!

July 24th is my Grandpa D Vincent Anderson's birthday!  We celebrated with a family dinner.  It was really fun to be together to celebrate Grandpa!  He's a tough guy, but he is very loving and really wants the best for us.  I love you, Grandpa!

Grandpa and Grandma

Yellowstone

**Due to a mistake with my picture account and a computer crash, we sadly lost our pictures from June and July 2011 - however, some of them ended up in the 2012 Calendar I made**

In July and August, the Anderson crew was trying to do some fun things before my youngest brother Tyler left for his mission.  One of those fun things was a trip to Yellowstone!  It was a bit of a crazy trip for the Cutlers, but we survived!  Right as we got into the park, we were on a very narrow, very crowded road.  Everyone was going super slow, because there was also a buffalo on the road.  There was no place for any of us to go, and I think he might have been feeling a bit cornered; he was trapped between a rock face and cars.  My parents were ahead of us, and we saw the buffalo take a swing at them with his head... well, we were next in line.... and this time he didn't miss!  He left a big dent in our van door.  At first it was a shock and almost humorous, but the more we thought about it, the more sobering it became!  If he had hit it a few inches higher, he would have likely shattered the window that Hayden was sitting right by.  A few inches to the left or right and we wouldn't have been able to use the door any more.  A few inches lower, he could have done damage to the tire, tire well, or door.  We were actually pretty blessed.  He rocked the van pretty well and it shook the kids up a little.  Hayden let out a nervous whimper and the kids still talk about it today.  Mostly they just thought it was really rude of the buffalo to put a dent in our car! :)  Makes for a good memory, though... I guess!?
We stopped for a quick bathroom break and the kids skipped some rocks on the lake.  It was amazingly full!!

Then it was on to Old Faithful!  Our "luck" continued as we got out of the car and I snapped Ken's new fishing pole on accident.  He was nice about it, of course, but I felt so bad!!  We tried to brush it off and went to see the geyser!

We got our seats to watch 'er blow, but we had to wait a while.

Some of us decided to hike around the other mineral pools while we waited.  On our walk, we saw some other smaller geysers go off.

Still waiting...

3..... 2..... 1.....

BLAST OFF!!

Next, we went to find a place to eat our picnic lunch.  We found a BEAUTIFUL spot right by the river!  It was really perfect!  ... that is until Taysum fell in the river... he got right out, but was soaked!  Luckily, I had packed some extra clothes.

Our next "fun" event was on the way to our next stop.  Hayden got car sick and threw up all over himself and his car seat.  Again, luckily I had an extra set of clothes.  We got him all cleaned up and on our way again.  We were going to meet up with the Andersons and Lindsays, but I'm a poor navigator and we missed our turn.  By the time we figured it out, we had to back track a ways.  We met everyone at the intersection to the next stop.  They were going to go on to the next point and wait for us.  We could have gone on, but we didn't want to miss the falls.

My favorite stop in Yellowstone is Artist's Point.

You can see the yellow stone for which the park is named,

You can also see the magnificent falls!

Finally we caught up with our family at the mud pots, but the Lindsays had decided to go on home.  It was a fun day despite the TONS of bathroom stops, the overhaul on our van door, breaking Ken's fishing pole, the carsickness and all the wardrobe changes!!  We were glad we went!

This isn't "our buffalo" but you can see how they just walk around like they own the place!  Can you believe the nerve of this guy?! ;)

I've been through Yellowstone dozens of times and the novelty of buffalo has kind of worn off.  The rest of the day when I'd see them, though... they made me a little nervous!

Ken had promised the kids they could go fishing.  It is really expensive to fish in the park, so on the way home, we stopped at the Buffalo Bill Reservoir west of Cody.  Ken spent most of the time just trying to get the kids' lines untangled.  They were really upset that they didn't catch anything, but at least we kept our promise to them, right?! ;)  To end the day, Bailey had an accident, and we used our last change of clothing.

Ken's a die-hard and was determined to fish, even though he only had half the pole to fish with!!

Finally...at the end of the day... we did make it home! :)