Our 2018 Newsletter
Hiiiiii!
so Tyler and I just finished a self reliance class on personal finance put on through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was AMAZING and we loved it! click HERE to learn more. Basically it was a 12 week course and we met once a week with 12 other members from our stake. We learned a lotn. and realized just how much more prayerful we need to be about our finances.
We decided this year to try something different and save the money that we(i) usually would have put towards our annual Christmas cards.
So here we are =)
Our fist annual 2018 newsletter
or whatever you want to call it.
Enjoy ♥
Tyler
He recently became "team lead" which requires more from him but he is grateful for the opportunity. Another plus to being team lead is that he has to move around from desk to desk which has actually been helping his back. In case you don't know...
Because of Tyler’s occupation that requires a lot of focused sitting, he has been battling with back pain for the past 4 years (commuting doesn’t help). We got a Purple mattress last month and Tyler is starting to reap the benefits from that. In his words: the pain hasn't been as intense. Poor guy. He has tried many things including seeing a general doctor, taking high doses of ibuprofen daily, taking tumeric daily, physical therapy, chiropracty, a standing desk, sitting on a physio ball, and he gets deep tissue massages by a physical therapist once a month. The next step seems to be seeking medical help, like an MRI.
Tyler also enjoys being an entrepreneur on top of his current job. Something he's been working on is called Enrollsy. If you click on Enrollsy it will take you to their website. Here is what it says on there about what they do:
It has always been his dream to start a successful business and one day he hopes to be doing it full time. It’s been really busy at the Andersen home with Tyler working so much but it’s a sacrifice we are all willing to make.
In our church, Tyler recently got called to be elders quorum secretary which will be the first time he has had a calling in elders quorum. We had been teaching the youth ages 12-18 in the ward since we moved in (2.5 years.)
When he's not busy working or fulfilling his calling, Tyler loves: eating sugar in the form of cereal, playing basketball, gaming(virtual reality on the Oculus Rift, Nintendo Switch or Fort Nite), taking really hot long showers(that man is always cold!), reading and listening to programming or entrepreneurial podcasts and articles, surfing Reddit and watching movies/shows with his one and only.
Annie
I am grateful to be able to stay at home with the kids. Aka “sillies “ aka “crazies.” I enjoy volunteering in the classroom when I can at Halli’s school. I'm a "room mom" and I enjoy being involved in her school activities. fundraisers and parties. With Halli in 1st grade and Hayden in preschool, I get 3 hours alone with Will 3x a week. It is a wonderful thing. The transition to 3 young kids has been a challenging one and I often wonder how I will continue to do it day after day. Reading my scriptures daily I have found is a necessity for my well being and sanity. I also find solace in reading, posting/sharing on social media, being crafty/drawing/writing, watching movies/shows and getting away either with girlfriends or with Tyler on date nights. We are lucky enough to have both sides of parents living nearby and that has been the biggest help this last year with adding another addition to our family. As a lot of you know, my dad does Santa Claus this time of year and I am "scheduling elf." I have been doing that for the last three years now. I am the one people call/text to schedule his parties. I sometimes also dress up as an elf and accompany him to parties if requested. It is really fun to work with my dad and I think he is THE BEST Santa Claus around. Check him out at @santaclawson and Santa Clawson.
We celebrated 8 years of marriage this year by eating at a restaurant that I have always told Tyler I wanted to go to him with: The Melting Pot.
It pretty much met and exceeded each of my expectations. One of my favorite things is to be surprised and Tyler knows this. So he booked reservations and didn't tell me where we were going until we pulled up to it. Did I mention it is my favorite thing to have him surprise me? We love our life together and often talk about how crazy it is that everything worked out the way it did.
(jr. high romances don't have a very high success rate, didn't you know ;)
If you want to read more about our story I will link it here.
But make sure you have a solid chunk of time to read it ;)
It's looonnnggg
bff yaa!!!
^Halli wanted to write that^
^Halli wanted to write that^
Halli
turned 6 this year and had her first official friends only birthday party. She had so much fun and loved every second of it. There was a piñata and everything. She is such a sensitive soul and cares so much about being "a good girl." She can be shy but also the biggest social butterfly you’ve ever met. Friends mean so much to her and she loves school because of them. She tells me often that she wishes she had school on the weekends or in the summer because she misses her friends so much. She catches on quickly to things she is learning in school like math and reading. She tries so hard at school to follow all the rules and be noticed by her teacher for her good behavior. Every month, one student per grade gets chosen to be “Leader of the month” and Halli got chosen for November. It was (in Halli’s words) “the most exciting thing that has ever happened in my life.” She got to eat lunch with the principal and her picture was displayed in the hall all month.
One of her challenges in school has been focusing and clarifying the directions. Often times she doesn’t hear them correctly but is too scared to ask questions so would do the homework/project wrong. Her teacher is a little more strict than she is used to and for a while Halli called her a “bully” when asked how she likes her teacher. But the relationship is growing as she realizes the teacher does care about her even if she talks sternly.
Halli took a break from dance for a few months and tried out gymnastics this year. She didn't find it challenging enough however (because it only dabbled in gymnastics since she wasn't 6 yet.) and she started telling me that she missed dance class. So we enrolled her in a Jazz/tap class and then a tumbling class with Hayden through her dance studio as well. She thoroughly enjoys it and loved performing the other weekend on stage. She told me: "before I went on stage my stomach hurt just like it did before I got my shot." She was so brave and performed so well!
Here are their dances. I am so proud of them! Hayden is right in the center of the end three.
Halli is on the right in the front row. second to last.
Baby brother is her pride and joy. It is very important for her to see him every morning before she goes to school and is sad when he is still sleeping when she has to leave. She will say "good morning Will!" every.morning. She loves him so.
Halli recently lost her first tooth and then her second one came out days after.
she was overjoyed!
All of her friends have already lost teeth so she was getting impatient.
Halli is currently saving all her money for a precious little baby like this one. Our neighbor has one that she brought over last time she babysat and Halli fell in love with it. It is size and weight appropriate for a newborn baby.
Halli loves: friends, her siblings, cousins, her aunt Meg, grandma and grandpa, coloring, crafting, small things, small toys, small baby dolls, anything small, bugs, science experiments, making slime, dancing/tumbling/gymnastics, singing, doing tricks and flips on trampolines, eating sugar, running and being athletic, playing with friends/Hayden, collecting treasures, holding babies and playing/taking care of Will. She absolutely loves getting Will out of his crib when he wakes. She adores him and treats him like he's her own baby.
Hayden
turned 4 this year and has such a gentle heart ♥ She gives out xohugs and kissesxo to everyone especially before they leave our house. She loves making whimpering, baby animal noises while nuzzling you. Her favorite thing is getting in her dance or princess costumes and singing/dancing in front of a mirror or the stove(reflective surfaces). Hayden looks forward to her dance class every week and also takes tumbling with Halli. She also loved performing on stage and did a great job remembering all her moves. She is really good at staying on beat with the rhythm and memorizing her dance routines. Hayden is very imaginative and plays really well on her own. She also loves Will but not to the degree that her sister does. She vocalizes how much she misses Halli during the day and loves picking her up from school with me. She is in her last year of preschool but we are debating if it's a good idea to have her do one more year of preschool. She is a July birthday (like me) and I enjoyed being the oldest in my grade. It never hurts to have another year to prepare for the many years of schooling ahead!
Hayden loves: cousins, her aunt Meg, grandma and grandpa, music and dance, Shimmer and shine, anything small, snuggling, eating Nutella, babies, watching movies/shows, playing my herself, dancing all over the house in her princess dress, playing with my hair, doing make up, being girly, going to preschool, coloring. Anything Halli loves.
Will
turned 1 this last year! He is borderline the perfect baby. He is so easy going, eats great, sleeps okay and has never met a stranger! Everyone who meets him comments on how happy and cheery he is! He is starting to be mistaken for a girl more and more lately and so i'm thinking it's time to cut his hair. He is standing on his own and has taken a few baby steps here and there but still prefers crawling. He finally has front teeth! All four on the top came in at the same time and he only has two on the bottom. He is carried a lot by his sister Halli and has only been dropped a couple times. HA. jk. only once.
He cries if I break from our routine don't feed him right after his nap in his rocking chair next to his crib. So yes he is still breastfeeding and loving it.
He loves his soft muslin blankets and sleeps on top of them, snuggling his face into them.
I am excited to see him experience Christmas this year and see the girls fuss over him and his presents.
We love our Will!
2018 was a great year and we really enjoyed getting to know the newest member of our family! He turned out to be quite the charmer!
My parent's moved back into their rebuilt condo after it had been caught in a condo fire in 2016. I can't tell you how wonderful it is for them to have a home again!! I had so missed going over to "grandma and grandpa's house." It is beautiful and they feel really blessed to have this brand new place to call their own.
Here are the girls making gingerbread cookies at grandmas house.
We had a goal as a family to finish the Book of Mormon and we just recently did it!
He cries if I break from our routine don't feed him right after his nap in his rocking chair next to his crib. So yes he is still breastfeeding and loving it.
He loves his soft muslin blankets and sleeps on top of them, snuggling his face into them.
I am excited to see him experience Christmas this year and see the girls fuss over him and his presents.
We love our Will!
2018 was a great year and we really enjoyed getting to know the newest member of our family! He turned out to be quite the charmer!
My parent's moved back into their rebuilt condo after it had been caught in a condo fire in 2016. I can't tell you how wonderful it is for them to have a home again!! I had so missed going over to "grandma and grandpa's house." It is beautiful and they feel really blessed to have this brand new place to call their own.
Here are the girls making gingerbread cookies at grandmas house.
We had a goal as a family to finish the Book of Mormon and we just recently did it!
You should have seen the look on Halli's face when we told her that now we start over again! She didn't believe Tyler when he told her that he has read the book 10 times!
I'm sure there is more to say about our year but
I am getting tired of writing this so....
We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year! ♥ ♥ ♥
Comments
Post a Comment