Conference Time

We just finished watching General Conference, so we're all feeling a spiritual uplift. The whole family watched together. Stephanie spent the time being held, crawling around on the floor or standing up holding onto the furniture. We think she will walk soon. Jackie had found a conference packet for kids on the Internet. The packet included some coloring pages with the different General Authorities and a picture of a necktie next to each one. Whenever another speaker got up, Nathan would find the matching picture and color the necktie to match the one that the speaker was wearing. Between the conference sessions we went for a walk on a paved trail near our home. The weather is warm and everything is beautiful and green here. We are really enjoying living in California, and Dave loves working for Google in Irvine, on their TV Ads software team. Google is a fun place to work. They have great benefits, including free breakfast and lunch. We are getting settled in our new home in Mission Viejo. When we first moved here, Google put us in temporary housing in an apartment complex in Irvine for two months. Unfortunately, we needed an extra month to close on our house, but we couldn't extend the lease for the temporary housing. However, one of Dave's co-workers told him that you can get good deals renting off season beach houses in Newport Beach by the month. So that is what we did. We found a house on the Balboa Peninsula. It was wonderful living steps from the beach, and it actually cost us less than the temporary housing would have.

We also bought annual passes to Disneyland, which is only about a half hour drive from our home when there is no traffic. We love being able to go there, and Nathan's favorite rides are the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and Splash Mountain.

More Pictures

Hey everyone!

Here are some more pictures of us and the kids. First, from a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house:

Next, we went to a birthday party for the daughter of one of Jackie's friends. They had a backyard with a big climbing tree. There were some older kids who found a ladder and put it up against the tree. We were looking for Nathan but couldn't find him, until one of the kids said, "Oh, he's up in the tree." Nathan had climbed up the ladder and was in the tree with the other kids.

Later, we went to a Peruvian restaurant that had a buffet. We had thought of bringing Nathan's portable DVD player to keep him calm, but forgot it at the last minute. So when we got to the restaurant, Nathan was climbing on everything and being restless. Dave offered to take Nathan for a walk around the strip mall where the restaurant was located and discovered a Hallmark store, where he bought Nathan his own piggy bank (like the one at Grandma and Grandpa's house, but a lot smaller). The piggy bank even has Nathan's name on the side. That kept Nathan occupied putting money in the "blue pig", and now whenever Mom or Dad get change at a store, Nathan wants it to put in his pig when he gets home.

Stephanie Marie Anderson

Our little girl, Stephanie Marie Anderson, was born on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 5:36 p.m. at Alta View Hospital in Sandy, Utah. She was 6 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long.

Nuestra pequena hijita, Stephanie Marie Anderson, nacio el Martes, 20 de Abril, de 2010 a las 5:36 de la noche en el Hospital de Alta View en Sandy, Utah. Ella peso 6 libras y una onza y midio 19 1/2 pulgadas de largo.

She wasn't due until May 14th, and Jackie was expecting to have her by cesarean on May 7th. But on Tuesday morning, when Jackie went to her doctor for an ultrasound, the doctor told her that they needed to take the baby that same day. The reason was that her amniotic fluid was low, and the baby was not moving so much. They told her to go straight to the hospital - she couldn't even stop at home to pick up her things.

Estaba planeado como fecha de alumbramiento el 14 de Mayo, y Jackie esperaba tener su cesarea el 7 de Mayo. Pero el Martes en la manana, cuando Jackie fue a su cita con el doctor para un ultrasonido, el doctor le menciono que ella tenia que dar a luz ese dia. La razon fue que el liquido amniotico estaba bajo y que la bebita no se estaba moviendo mucho. Ellos le dijeron a Jackie que vaya de frente al hospital - ni podia parar en la casa para recoger su maleta.

When Dave got the call at work saying Jackie was having the baby that day, he couldn't believe it. He rushed home and relieved Nathan's babysitter. Then Dave's parents came over to watch Nathan so Dave could go to the hospital. Dave met Jackie at the hospital, and that afternoon, Jackie gave birth to our cutie pie little girl, Stephanie.

Cuando Dave recibio la llamada en su trabajo que Jackie iba a tener a la bebita ese dia, el no podia creerlo. El se apresuro ir a la casa y reemplazar a la persona que estaba cuidando Nathan. Despues, los padres de Dave vinieron para cuidar Nathan asi Dave podia ir al hospital. Dave se reunio con Jackie en el hospital y esa tarde, Jackie dio a luz a nuestra pequena hijita, Stephanie.

Stephanie has dark hair, and we think her eyes are blue. She is a little snuggler - when you hold her she likes to rub her head up against your neck. She looks a lot like Dave - her chin, lips, facial shape, legs and feet. So while Nathan looks like mommy, Stephanie is a daddy's girl.

Stephanie tiene el cabello oscuro, y pensamos que tiene ojos azules. A ella le gusta las caricias, y cuando tu la abrazas, a ella le gusta sobarse su cabecita contra tu cuello. Ella se parece mucho a Dave - su quijada, labios, forma de la cara, piernas y pies. Mientras Nathan parece mucho a la mamita, Stephanie es la nina de papito.

We brought Stephanie home on Saturday, and she has been doing well and drinking plenty of milk, and she is gaining back most of the weight she lost since being born. Jackie is still recovering from her C section.

Nosotros trajimos a Stephanie a la casa el Sabado, y ella esta bien y tomando mucha leche. Ella ha recuperado el peso perdido desde que nacio. Jackie se esta recuperando de su cesarea, tambien.

Nathan is doing his part and being such a good big brother. He has blue and green binkies (we are trying to get him to give them up). When Stephanie came home she had a green binky from the hospital and Nathan decided that the green binkies were for the baby. Whenever he sees a green binky he brings it to her. Also, he rubs her cheek very gently and says "baby". Whenever we are getting ready to go somewhere in the car, he says, "baby in car" to make sure we don't forget her.

Nathan esta haciendo de su parte siendo un buen hermano mayor. El tiene chupones azules y verdes (estamos tratando de que ya no los use mas). Cuando Stephanie vino a la casa del hospital, ella estaba usando un chupon verde, y Nathan decidio que el chupon verde era de la bebita. Cuando el ve un chupon verde, el entrega este a Stephanie. Tambien, el acaricia su mejilla muy tiernamente y dice "bebe". Cuando estamos listos para ir en el carro, el dice, "el bebe en el carro" asegurandose que no vamos a olvidar al bebe en la casa.

Christmas 2009

We had lots of fun getting ready for Christmas. We decorated the house, put up the tree and put lights on our little pine trees outside. We also made caramel popcorn and took it to our friends and neighbors.

On Christmas Eve, we had a family Christmas program. Jackie played songs on the piano. After that, we used the figurines from our nativity to show Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem, and the shepherds and wise men coming. Next year we need to get a more kid-proof nativity scene, since Nathan liked to play with the figurines.

Christmas Day was fun. Nathan woke us up at about 8:00 a.m., singing "Jingle Bells". This was too early since we had been up late the night before wrapping presents, and following Jackie's Peruvian tradition of drinking hot chocolate and eating panettone (like a fruitcake) at midnight.

Jackie loved her presents, including the picture she is holding of a partridge to go with the pear tree Dave bought for her previously and planted in the back yard. She also got a karaoke machine, and she and Nathan can sing duets.


Dave got lots or presents, including a Dilbert calendar, several pairs of new shoes, and a Christmas tie that plays "Jingle Bells" when squeezed.

Nathan really got into the spirit of opening presents. His method of present opening is to tear off small pieces of wrapping paper at a time, creating "confetti". He got some new trains and train tracks, and once he had opened those, he started playing right there under the tree.

Also, Dave and Nathan got emails from Santa at the North Pole. You can see the messages here: Dave Nathan.

Then, later on Christmas Day we all went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a delicious Christmas dinner and a BIG game of Phase 10. Jackie won that game, but Grandpa is anxious for a rematch!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

More from Nathan

Hi all! We have been terrible about keeping the blog updated, so we are going to upload some photos and videos from the past few months.

First, Nathan has known the alphabet since he was a little over two years old. Here he is saying it. Nathan has an interesting way of pronouncing the letter "W".

More to come...

The Great Flood

Today we had torrential rains and hail. And our brand new planter box, as Mom suggested in her comment, did indeed turn into a swimming pool. It has rained for 9 of the 11 days in June, and the ground is soaked. There is at least a foot of water under our in-ground trampoline. Also, there was what looked like a river running in our street.

Jackie took Nathan to the gym today, and when they were done, the rain, hail, thunder and lightning were so bad that they were trapped inside the gym and couldn't get to their car. So, Jackie bought Nathan lunch at the gym restaurant.

Hail in June? Must be that global warming!

Our Planter Box

We just finished putting in a planter box in our back yard, and we will soon be planting our vegetable garden. It was a lot of work, but we're happy with the results.

First, we rented a sod cutter from Home Depot and took out a section of our lawn 16 feet by 6 feet. Then we ordered our planter box from a vinyl fence company. We got the idea for this from our neighbor across the street who just put in a planter box of their own that they got from this company. As you can see, when it came there was some assembly required.

Luckily, assembling it wasn't that hard. The fence company had pre-cut the holes, and we put everything together with screws.

Next, Dave dug six holes with a post hole digger and put the legs of the planter box into the holes. This will keep it in place so it doesn't move or bulge with the weight of the dirt. Then we laid down a wire mesh fence material on the bottom of the planter box to keep the gophers out. (Unfortunately, we have those critters in our yard!) After that we laid down landscaping cloth to keep weeds out.

We ordered a big pile of topsoil from Wasatch Shadows nursery that had all the nutrients already mixed in. They dumped it on our driveway, and then we hauled it from there to the planter box in a garden cart.

Finally, our planter box is finished and ready for us to plant our vegetable garden.