Brian & Angela Anderson Family

Who's Who?

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:24:00 +0000

For some reason we have taken photos of all three of our boys with a blue onesy on with them on their tummies laying on a certain kind of burp cloth when they were each 3-4 months old. Well here are the three of them. I'll tell you who's who after you scroll through them.

So the first photo is Marcus, the second Lucas, and the third is Travis. Anyway just thought you might enjoy seeing all three at similar ages. We just had a 4 month appointment for Marcus and found out that he's at the 25% for weight, height, and head size. Lucas was like 50% for height and like 5% for weight. Travis was 90% for height and 0.14% for weight. This begs the question of whether gravity is increasing over time since each of our boys are steadily getting shorter and heavier. For sure Travis was the most odd being so tall and skinny.

Happy Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:49:00 +0000

We had a good Halloween this year. Here's Brian helping the kids carve their pumpkins on Halloween morning.

Lucas enjoyed his little Jack O' Lantern. His motto is "smaller is better" on almost everything. He insisted on a small pumpkin.
Here's Travis imitating his Jack O' Lantern with his tongue sticking out.

The boys originally had decided that Travis would be a fireman and Lucas a policeman. However after Lucas saw Travis' costume he wanted to be a fireman too. On our way to a Halloween activity we stopped at a fire hydrant to get their photo.

Later on, Angela's Grandma Graff came over as a witch and said a poem to our boys. Brian had to block their escape so they would stick around to listen (Lucas was a bit scared). Apparently Grandma's witch routine has been tradition for many years. This year we caught it on video tape as well (we'll post it if we get our video camera hooked up to our new computer). Angela's sister Heather also came up to visit this weekend from Vegas. Below is Heather, Grandma Graff, and Angela (L to R).

Here's Mom and baby. We originally wanted to dress Marcus up as a dalmation dog and then Brian would dress up as a fire hydrant. But Brian was gone to San Antonio all week on business and got back the day before and therefore ran out of time. Marcus was still cute anyway. Angela's wearing an apron that Brian's sister Stacy had given her when Angela visited for Time Out a couple weeks back.

Another shot of Mom and baby out with the Jack O' Lanterns. From L to R, the pumpkins belong to Angela, Lucas, Travis and Brian.

Here's the firemen after they finished trick or treating. They had a good time. They decided that they were too cold to keep going any longer. Lucas did well for the first 1/3rd of the time. Then after getting a candy at a door, he'd say "Dad, I'm too tired." So Brian would pick him up and carry him. Halfway up the next driveway he'd say "Dad, I'm not tired for this one!" This was repeated many times the rest the way.

And finally, here's out Jack O' Lantern's out at night. Marci's pumpkin is also pictured.

It's always fun when Grandpa comes...

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:34:00 +0000

We were lucky to have Brian's parents come to Utah to stay for a week. They mainly came up to help get some work done on Marci's house that they own (where we lived when first married). Here's a fun shot of Grandma trying on some goofy glasses.

Grandpa was great to get down on the floor and play rough with the boys, exactly what they love to do! Looks like he had the upper hand on both of them.
We then decided to have Marcus try on the goofy glasses. He seemed to like it at first, but later on... not so much, after a few photos.

Angela took the boys and Grandma Anderson to a local pumpkin patch. The boys had lots of fun. Here's Lucas enjoying some larger than life pumpkins.

They also had bounce houses, a favorite for our boys. Here's Travis coming down head first and Lucas right behind him.

They also did a corn maze that took a while. Angela said they went down each and every path in the maze and then finally came across the finish. Here's a cute moment when Travis gave his Grandma a love.

Not quite sure what the boys were doing here. Perhaps with their arms stretched out they're pretending to be scarecrows?

And finally they made it through the maze. Although Lucas apparently didn't walk the whole way and Marcus had a free ride.

Marcus did seem to enjoy himself there too.

On the way home, Travis had to make sure his pumpkin made it home safely.

Then a week ago was BYU's Homecoming Saturday. We all went to the parade. BYU lost the game but that's what they get for picking the game against the best team in the conference for their homecoming game.

Time Out for Women

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:22:00 +0000

Angela and Marcus flew down to Arizona to go to the LDS Time Out for Women event down there a few weeks ago. They flew down with Marci (Brian's sister) and met up with Brian's older sisters Stacy and Lisa and Brian's mom as well. It was Marcus' first plane ride and apparently he did rather well, though in the photo you wouldn't guess that.

Marcus also got to meet his cousin Britton (Lisa's baby).

And here's a photo of Grandma Anderson with the two boys that, for the first time, gave her an equal number of grandsons and granddaughters (it was always girl slanted until Britton was born to tie the score), and then the balance shifted to more grandsons with the birth of Marcus.

Angela had a good time. Brian stayed home from work really only one day with Lucas (Travis had school), so he didn't have to miss much work.

Enjoying the cabin

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:33:00 +0000

Our family has been visiting the cabin often the past few weekends. About a month ago, the leaves were still green as seen below in this shot of Lucas and Travis.

Here's one of the kids favorite things to do, hike down to the pond and throw rocks in. Lucas is in the foreground.
Brian started to fulfill a life long dream of building a tree house for his kids up at the cabin. He found a grouping of 8-10 trees and started framing the tree house floor.

Occasionally we see cool wildlife up there, like this family of wild turkeys.

A few weeks later we went back up and all the leaves had been turning red and orange. Here's Travis enjoying the swing set at the cabin.

Here's a shot of the cabin with it's relatively new roof and Lucas running out to the swing set.

Here's the tree house from a distance. We had to clear a pathway to get to the tree house. Brian put in many more floor boards and then put in some wooden panels to make it easy to walk on. Then he covered it up with a tarp to prepare for winter (the blue is the tarp, since this photo he's put more tarps down). He also built a ladder.

Here's a shot of the floor of the tree house from below.

Here's a shot of the nice views of the trees in the area.

A large tree had fallen down on the drive way, so Brian and the boys cleared it. It was hard work for sure! Here's the majority of the branches they cleared. There were actually two trunks about 10-12 inches in diameter that came down.

Here's Lucas climbing up into the tree house. Brian took the photo from up in the tree house, so obviously it can hold an adult.

Here's Lucas at the bottom of the ladder.

Angela then took the older boys for a walk and snapped some nice photos. Here's Lucas...

and Travis...

and then both of them...

then Lucas again.

And then just so we could prove he was there with us, here's Marcus just before loading the car up to go home.

On the way down, we saw three deer who watched us drive by.

Labor Day Graff Reunion

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:20:00 +0000

Every year on Labor Day weekend (we're late posting this I know), the Pippin family gets together at the Pippin family cabin and also that weekend there's always a Graff family reunion (Angela's, mom's side of the family). They hold it at an elementary school in Orem. Here's a popular activity for the kids, it's a candy cannon. They fire off candy up in the air and the kids collect it when it falls to the ground.

Here's the scramble for the candy.
Another favorite, especially for Travis, is the rocket launcher. They launch paper rockets with foam tips at least 100 feet up in the air (perhaps 200 feet?). This year two could launch at the same time. Look at the photo to see the two lifting off (this was a very hard photo to time just right).

Here's a great photo of Grandma Graff holding baby Marcus with Angela.

Another tradition is the trailer ride behind a 4 wheeler. Travis likes this one as well. You can see Travis on the right waving.

Marcus' Baby Blessing

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:38:00 +0000

On Sunday Sep. 6th, Brian blessed baby Marcus in our home. It was convienent to have much of Angela's family there that weekend for the Cabin reunion. Brian's sister Marci also came. Here's Grandma and Grandpa Pippin and baby Marcus waving hi.

Here's Mom, Dad, and Marcus.
We had 4 generations there for the blessing, Angela grandmother Helen (Pippin), Jack Pippin, Angela, and Marcus. Below is Helen and Jack with Marcus.
The boys are excited to have a little baby brother. Here's a couple photos of the three future wrestler opponents/trouble makers.

You can tell that Lucas really likes his little brother (it remains to be seen if the feeling is mutual).

The 3rd Annual Pippin Family Labor Day Get Together at the Cabin

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:14:00 +0000

Every year on Labor Day weekend, the Pippin family gets together at the Pippin family cabin. On of the seemingly favorite yearly activities of the grandkids is the BB gun shooting. We line up pop cans on tree stumps and shoot them off. The kids take turns and, under careful supervision, try to shoot off the cans (they're getting better each year). Here's Travis taking aim. In the photo from L to R, is Eric, Abby, Christopher, Ryan, Travis, and Carson.

Angela got into the action and shot a pop can that had been shaken up, ready to explode when a BB hit it. If you click on the photo, you can see the can exploding. Even Lucas couldn't distract his sharp shooter mom.
It's also tradition that the Graff family (Angela's mother's parents and on down) gets together for a reunion at a park. A tradition there is the rocket launcher. Travis would play this all day if he could. This year the laucher fired off two at a time. The photo below shows two firing upward. The rockets are made of strong construction paper and foam tips, perfect for the kids to try and catch on their decent from about 100 feet up in the air.

Here's Angela and her Graff grandparents. Grandma Graff is holding Marcus.

Back at the cabin, here's Travis and Lucas posing while we were out hiking around on the cabin property. The boys spent a lot of time outdoors that weekend.

Brian got to start fulfilling a lifelong dream of his, to build a tree house for his kids. Brian selected a grouping of 6-8 oak trees and started framing the floor of the tree house (see photo below). Then this past weekend, Brian brought up more wood and spent another 6 hours building it. The floor is nearly completed now and spans about 5 by 8 rectangular feet. The next big step is building a roof to protect the floor. Brian was able to stand up on the new floor so hopefully it will last a few years. The kids were excited to spend the day out in the tree house with their dad. Brian bought some simple pulleys and rope for the kids to raise and lower things from the tree house floor to the groud. He plans to build a rope bridge to the tree house at some point.

The Elusive Marcus Smile

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:09:00 +0000

Marcus is starting to smile somewhat frequently these days. The only problem is that we have not been able to capture that perfect photo of him with his best smiles. Here are a few valiant attempts (they're quite cute if you click on them to see them at a bigger size).

Happy Birthday Brian

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:54:00 +0000

We celebrated Brian's birthday on August 27th. The boys remembered Mom's birthday activity and insisted that we do that again. Brian was happy to oblige, so we got out the slip and slide. Brian then got out a rope and tied a loop at one end and Travis put the loop around his body and Brian would pull him down the slide.

Later the boys were excited, and I mean excited, to have Dad open their birthday presents for him, Airheads and Skor bars (Dad's favorites). The kids quickly claimed an airhead each for their own eating.
Brian's sister Marci then joined us as we went out to Sub Zero for ice cream. Sub Zero makes the ice cream after you order it. You select the type of dairy (premium, lowfat, or nonfat, etc.), then any combo of flavors, and then one mix in (like candy, etc.). They then take the mixture over to a tank of liquid nitrogen (LN) and pour some in. The LN instantly freezes the ice cream mixture and they then mix it up. It was pretty good ice cream but the best part was watching them making it and seeing the nitrogen gas overflowing as it evaporated. It looked like a Halloween pot of stew. It also appealed to Brian as 1. he loves ice cream, and 2. LN ice cream is a Physics geek traditional favorite (this idea is not new to many physics majors)!

Sunday Afternoon Project

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:51:00 +0000

A couple Sundays ago our older two boys, and Brian, decided to make a very long line of cars. Afterwards, the boys walked along it as if it were train tracks for them. Can you say "Too many hotwheels?"

Travis goes to Kindergarten

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:35:00 +0000

Well we must be getting old because our oldest son Travis started going to kindergarten yesterday. He was pretty excited to go. He wears a uniform at his school. Here he is as he was leaving to go to school. This is one of the better smiles you'll see from Travis in a photo.

Another good smile.
Brian took him to school and made it just in time (we were delayed by road construction for 15 minutes over a 1/4 mile stretch, along with a stoppage for a train to pass). His teacher, Mrs. Andersen, is the one with the red hair pictured above Travis in the photo below.
Here was the good bye wave that put Brian in tears (it was really hard for him to keep the tears back). Dad's little buddy is growing up. In fact, he's not so little. He is like a head taller than most of the kids in his class.
And here is Travis as he was entering school. He's the one in front of the left most pilar in red. The name of the school has been blocked out intentionally.
Travis does enjoy going to school so far. The first day he came home and told us various names of kids in his class. This kid has got an amazing memory like you wouldn't believe. Sometimes he will describe things from years ago in better detail than we can remember (though remember we're the old ones now that we have a kindergartener).

Portland Vacation for Shawn's Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:47:00 +0000

Ready for a lot of photos? Well here it goes. As stated in a previous blog post, we visited Porland, OR for Angela's brother Shawn and his new wife Marci's wedding (yes Brian has a sister named Marci and a sister in law named Marci, he also has an uncle named Shawn and a brother in law named Shawn, but let's make it clear that they're not the same people, in case you were worried). So here's Travis and Lucas playing with their cousins in their Grandparents spa. You gotta love the turtle goggles on Travis! And no, the spa wasn't making all that splashing, it was the kids.

Here's baby cousin Spencer meeting baby Marcus as they had no choice but to lay next to each other while Brian took their photo, they decided to look each other over and arm wrestle. Marcus is a bit smaller don't you think?
Here was probably the room where the boys spent most of their time. Of the Pippin grandkids, there's 12 boys (11 living) and 2 girls. From L to R it's Lucas, Eric, Christopher, Preston, Carson, and Ryan. It was quite the daily chore to clean up after them as you can imagine.

Here's a cute photo of Marcus and Lucas. Marcus appears to be smiling for the camera. I believe he's being held by his aunt Heather (that looks like a Heather T-shirt).

Here's a photo from the ones taken outside the temple after the wedding. This was half the people in the photo, showing mostly just the Pippin family. The kids weren't originally indended to be in this photo, hence their casual clothes. I'm not even going to attempt to name everyone here, though it was all of Angela's family from her parents on down (29 people in all).

Here's a shot of Angela and Marcus watching the photos being taken. To the left is a family friend holding cousin Spencer. To the right is Angela's sister Heather.

Here's mom and baby again later on at the wedding dinner. Marcus appears to be trying to get his mom's attention, but to no avail.

Here was a cute shot at the reception the next day of the Pippin grandparents with their grandkids. From L to R it's Ryan, Carson (upper), Lucas (lower), Hunter, Marcus, Jack, Eric, J.V. (upper), Preston (lower), Isabel, Diane, Spencer, Abby, Travis, and Christopher.

Later on at the reception many of the cousins played ring around the rosies. Travis loves this game.

Here's why Travis loves it, he's the instigator of the dog pile that insues afterwards. Not to be left out is Lucas on top of the pile. It takes all of these boys to keep their oldest cousin J.V. down as he's a hard one to tackle.

We also got to head out to the Oregon coast one morning to tour a lighthouse. Here's Travis and Lucas thoroughly enjoying a scenic view of the Pacific Ocean.

We did a short hike to the "Octopus Tree".

Here's a shot of Brian and Lucas watching the penguins from a scenic view point.

Here's a nice family shot with the ocean in the background. You may be seeing this photo later this year as our Christmas letter photo.

Here we are at the lighthouse.

Angela stayed outside to take photos of us when we got up in the lighthouse. You can see Brian, Lucas, and Travis better if you click on the photo.

Uncle Jason then found a bannana slug on the way back to the cars. The kids were amazed at this ugly slow thing. However, Brian decided that this slug was too cute not to kiss.

No, Brian didn't actually kiss it for fear that Angela would never kiss him again.

After church on the Sunday that we left Portland, Grandpa and many of the grandkids shared a couch to watch some cartoons. They had a long event filled weekend.

When we crossed the state line back into Utah, we stopped to take a family photo. We now have a photo of Mom, Dad, and Travis with a welcome to Pennsylvania sign when we lived there, a Mom, Dad, Travis, and Lucas photo with Welcome to New Mexico when we lived there, and now this one (three kids born in three different states). We propped the camera on our van and had to use a wipes package to hold it just right.

Oregon Zoo & Bat Measurements

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:36:00 +0000

We went to Oregon in mid August for Angela's brother Shawn's wedding at the Portland Temple. We had been to the zoo there in Portland back in May and Brian was fascinated by the bat exhibit there. Well, Brian's research at BYU involves making measurements of various things, manmade and natural, that emit ultrasonic sounds (sounds with higher pitches than we can hear). So Brian contacted the zoo and went through all the stages necessary to get permission to bring in some sound recording equipment to record the ultrasonic sounds that the bats emit. So during our vacation to Portland, Brian and Angela's brother Alan went to the zoo and brought in Brian's equipment to record the bats. Here's a photo of some of the bats hanging from the ceiling. You can see the microphone stand in the upper left portion of the photo right above where 4-5 bats are hanging. In fact, the bats came to check it out and were licking it and smelling it.

Here's Brian with his recording equipment setup. He was able to get the measurements he needed and when he slows the recordings down, the bats sound like they are squawking like birds. The zoo keepers that helped Brian were very nice and helpful. They even delayed the bats normal feeding time so he could make his measurements. I guess we can call Brian "The Batman" now!
After the measurements were done, Angela and the kids, and Alan's wife and kids met up with them to visit the zoo. We decided to ride the train through the grounds of the zoo. Here's Lucas and his dad riding along.

Here's a shot of Angela, Alan (no family resembelence whatsoever), Preston, Travis, Ryan, Carson, Mary, and baby Spencer (from L to R).

Marcus mostly slept through our zoo visit. We enjoyed eating cotton candy and an Elephant Ear (it's a flat scone covered with cinnamon and sugar).

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:01:00 +0000

We took the boys to their first temple open house. It was pretty crowded, since it was almost the last day of the open house. Travis and Lucas were both excited to go inside. Now they have the idea that they can walk into any temple! We have enjoyed answering their questions about the temple and seeing them point out temples wherever we go (we do live in Utah). Here is Lucas waiting outside the temple, ready to go inside.

Travis gave a talk in primary the Sunday after we visited the temple. He showed a family picture, similar to the one below, and told the children what he saw inside the temple.

Pioneer Day Fireworks

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:25:00 +0000

We celebrated Pioneer Day, July 24th, by doing some fireworks at a local park. Brian is always looking for excuses to set off fireworks. He's even trying to have a student measure the sound levels of them for a research project. Anyway, we went to the park along with Marci and her boyfriend Butch. It was quite windy that day as you can tell in some of the photos. Here's Marci, Lucas and Travis watching one. Lucas is holding his ears (he always thinks things are too loud).

Here's a different perspective photo of a firework. It's cool to see all the sparks thrown. Marcus didn't enjoy the show as much as everyone else, it was too loud for him too.
The boys then enjoyed doing some sparklers.
The park had this cool pond and the kids were enjoying the water (as all boys seem to be programmed to enjoy).

Happy Birthday Angela

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:46:00 +0000

Happy 30th Birthday to Angela! Travis got mom a new lamp for her night stand (for her late night reading hobby and for late night feedings). Lucas got mom a nice new water bottle. Brian got Angela tickets to go see Stomp (a musical show, you can check out clips about what it is from youtube).

As part of Angela's party we setup some fun water activities for the kids, including getting out our water slip n' slide for the first time that Angela's sister Amber had given us a while back. Travis had a good time with the slide.
We also had pie and other goodies. Here's the birthday girl with her three boys. We love you Mom!

Funny Recent Comments

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:36:00 +0000

Lucas has been very interested in baby Marcus. He likes to watch Marcus whenever he can. He wants to hold him and carry him. Well the other day Lucas was watching Mom helping Marcus to get his bubbles out (berp) after a feeding by patting Marcus on his back. Lucas then says "Mom, I want to hit baby Marcus too!"

Today Mom put Marcus down to sleep up in Mom and Dad's bedroom (upstairs). Then she went out in the garage to get some food out of our fridge. When she came back in she was reading the instructions on a package and then looked up to see Lucas holding baby Marcus (downstairs). Travis had been at the kitchen table the whole time. Apparently Lucas heard Marcus crying and went and got him for Angela. Lucas said "Mom I a big helper! I hold Marcus the right way! I hold him with a hand behind his neck." Mom then said "Lucas who picks up and carries Marcus?" Lucas then responded "I do!" Angela then said "no, only Dad and Mom." Lucas responded "but Dad's at work." Travis then piped up and said "Mom, he's just trying to help you!" It was a scarry situation for Angela, but moments and conversations like this just have to make you laugh (maybe just after the fact and after Marcus is back safe in your arms). To Lucas' credit, Marcus was not crying and it did appear that Lucas did a great job, though we don't exactly want to take that chance again.

The other night Travis was saying his nighly prayers and he says "Please bless us that we not go to heaven." How do you not laugh at that one? I think he must be worried about going there by himself and losing out on enjoying all the things in his life right now. We've been trying to tell him that that's where his great grandmother Ellen went was to heaven and that it's a wonderful place. Travis also prays every night that "Please bless us so we can go to a race car show." He's referring to some remote control race car events we saw while we lived in New Mexico, he must miss them.

Enjoying Marcus

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:07:00 +0000

We have been enjoying our little guy at home this weekend. Here he is taking a peek at the camera.

Here's Lucas looking down on his little brother.

And here's Travis doing the same. They were trying to shield him from the sunlight with their shadows.
Here's a video of Marcus opening his eyes. (Family, you'll have to go to the website to access this video and the next one.)

And here's another video of him moving his head around.

Grandma (Gaga) Peterson's Passing

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:43:00 +0000

Brian's last grandparent, Margaret Ellen Peterson (she goes by Ellen), passed away on Monday July 13th. Ellen passed away in her sleep somewhat suddenly due to heart failure. Ellen lived a truely exemplary life with an enormous work ethic. She goes now to be with her husband who died in 1993. It was hard news for Brian at first but he now is at peace knowing that Grandma is happier and lived a gospel centered life. Below is a photo from the viewing with Ellen's three daughters. From L to R it's Carla (Brian's mom), Lahna, and Jeri.

Here's a photo at the cemitary as the paul bearers (her 6 grandsons, including Brian) brought her to her final resting place.
Here's a photo of many in attendance.

The grave stone.

Here's Brian's family that attended (not all spouses and grandchildren were able to attend).

All of Grandma's grandchildren attended the funeral.

And here's a stitched photo of all of Ellen's living grandchildren (one passed away shortly after birth). It's oldest to youngest from R to L (to match a photo taken when Brian was less than 1 year old): Stacy, Darrin, Lisa, Michael, Sharon, Brandon, Brian, Craig, Lacey, Marci, Stephanie, Brent, Brittany, and Emily. Click on the photo to see it better.

The funeral was in Boise, ID. Brian helped Angela and Marcus come home Friday morning and then left for Boise 1.5 hours later with 2 of Brian's sisters. They then drove back on Saturday and got home late. It's been a long week for our family with good and bad, it will truely be a memorable week.

Bringing Marcus Home

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:27:00 +0000

Marcus came home on Friday 7/17 at 9:30am. We were excited to get him home and have Mom around again. Here's a photo of him before leaving the hospital.

Here's Marcus in his carseat with his first toy, a stuffed animal Monkey (Brian gave all three of his boys a stuffed toy while they were in the hospitals as their first toys, a turtle for Travis, a Lion for Lucas, and a Monkey for Marcus).
Here's Brian, Angela, and Marcus leaving the hospital.

Here's our family as Marcus came home. (We blocked out our address numbers on purpose.)

Hike up the Y

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:18:00 +0000

The day after Marcus was born, Brian, Travis, and Lucas went for a hike up to the Y with Brian's sister Lisa's family (who were visiting from Texas). We left a little late in the morning so it was fairly hot. We did have enough water and the kids were troopers. Travis nearly did the entire hike on his own, but Dad carried him a bit. Lucas was mostly carried by Dad but did some walking. We found 3 geocaches along the way up. Those caches were motivating for Travis to keep walking (he found a first aid kit in one that he really liked and traded for it). Along the way up the trail, Sterling saw this rattlesnake on the path who rattled at us (we kept our distance and were quite spooked by it).

We finally made it up. It looked like a field of snow. Here's the boys enjoying the rest on the Y.
Here's part of the view we had.

And here's an attempt by Brian to stitch a few photos together to get a better idea of the view we had. You should click on the photo to see the larger version.

Marcus Vance Anderson is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:57:00 +0000

We are pleased to announce the birth of our third son, Marcus Vance Anderson. Marcus was born at 11:30am on Wed. July 15, 2009. He weighed 7 lbs 6 oz. and was 19 inches long. He has some hair (more than his brothers) and it appears it's the same color as his brothers' hair. Mom and baby are doing great and there were no problems. Angela was induced. We went in at 6:30am and she had an epideral after starting the induction. She progressed really fast and then only pushed 4 times and Marcus was born. In other news (the subject of a future post) Brian's grandma passed away on Monday this week and her name was Margaret Ellen Peterson. So we thought it would be nice to use the name Marcus since it starts out the same as Margaret (we couldn't very well name him Margaret now could we?). Marcus also ends in an "s" as our other boys' names do. Vance is the name of Brian's father (Marcus' grandpa) and also the name of Angela's grandpa (Marcus' great grandpa). Travis and Lucas also have middle names that they share with Brian's two grandfathers. Here's a photo of Angela before going in to the hospital this morning.

Here's Marcus on the weight scale.
Mom and baby, a cute photo.

Marcus seemed to really enjoy his first bath.

After his bath he held very tightly to Dad's finger (notice the white coloring in his finger tips from him pinching so hard).

Here's Grandma Pippin with Marcus. Grandma came to stay with us and has been a major help with our older boys and with Angela. Thank you Grandma for coming.

Here's a family photo of the five of us. Travis wasn't so excited to have his photo taken.

Brian's sisters (from L to R, Lisa and Marci) also came to visit Angela and Marcus in the hospital. Lisa's family came from Texas to visit us and other family for a week. Lisa's baby boy Britton is just two months old so it was our first time seeing him.

A Bowl of Cherries

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:57:00 +0000

We went to visit Angela's grandparents in Orem this evening. They have a fruit orchard and we had the chance to pick cherries tonight. So Brian and the boys went out and filled up a bucket full of them. Lucas would eat cherries all day if we'd let him. Here's Lucas with our big bowl of cherries.

Travis goes to Kindergarten

noreply@blogger.com (brian_angela) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:57:00 +0000

Travis started his first official preschool this past Monday. He did do some informal preschool where a group of moms rotated who had the kids at their house and did simple lessons. Anyway, Travis is going to BYU with Brian, Mondays thru Thursdays from 8:45-10:45. Travis had a really good chance of getting in to the BYU preschool since Brian works there. Here's Travis on his first day of school in front of the Joseph F. Smith Building where he goes to preschool. He was pretty excited.

After bringing Travis into his classroom, he jumped right in and wasn't worried at all that Dad was leaving him. It was a bit of a tough moment for Brian, but he made it through fine. They have a one way mirror so parents and other BYU staff can observe the students in their classroom. Here's a photo of the inside. Travis' head is slightly in view near the bottom middle of the screen.
Here's another photo of the classroom from a different angle.

Here's Travis playing blocks as the rest of his classmates were coming in. Travis was right at home and immediately started up a conversation with one of the teacher's assistants in the area.

Brian came back to pick up Travis and peeked in on the class one last time. They were getting story time from their teacher, Ms. Dorie. Ms. Dorie is actually our neighbor and is in our ward. She's great and Travis likes her. Travis seemes to make friends just fine and was talking to his neighbor to the right in this photo on a few occasions.

The J.F.S.B. is a fairly new building on campus. In case you haven't seen it yet, here's a photo of the front of it (the preschool is on the back).

The building also has a large courtyard in the middle of it with trees and fountains and study areas.