Christmas 2009

You know, my blog is one of those places I go to when I want to share the happenings of our family. Ironically, the biggest adventure our family has ever had is completely off limits for me to blog about. I guess if you want to know anything about what's going on with our foster kids, you will have to revert to the old fashioned ways of either giving us a call or shooting us an email.

What I can share is a snapshot of our great Christmas holiday. We were foster childless for 3 days, so we were able to really enjoy each other - and some true peace on earth.

One of our favorite Christmas traditions has become leaving surprises for others on their doorstep. ( I won't say specifically what it is in case you become "victim" to our particular gift.) This year the boys came up with their own incognito, ring-the-doorbell-and-run outfits.

Yes, we have another tradition of opening and wearing new Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve. Thanks grandma and grandpa!


Christmas morning traditions: Wake mom and dad up at 7 am; make a mess of the family room as quickly as possible; around 8 am grandma and grandpa Harmon arrive, bringing more gifts of course; for breakfast we enjoy eggs, bacon (the only day of the year we have real bacon instead of turkey bacon, much to Tyson's relief), oranges and a 4th ward famous Shirley Millar cinnamon tea ring; after breakfast, crash in front of the TV with a new movie playing - this year it was Star Trek.

We broke with tradition a little this year by going to Adam's sister's house (Julie) for lunch and games. It was so fun it may have to become part of a new tradition. But in the middle of the afternoon, I got a frantic call from my mom saying she just really needed us to bring by her camera that she had left at our house that morning. I agreed, feeling that I should honor my father and my mother. As we drove into their condo complex, Adam pointed out a car that looked suspiciously like my baby sister's van with its Idaho plates. There was further suspicion when we walked up to the door and it was quite noisy inside of what is generally a very quiet house. Yay - my sister and her family surprised us by showing up in the middle of Christmas day for a 5 day visit!!!

Timmi, Tyson and Tanner - best friends


Bella and Jacob - both wonder why cousins can't get married

It was the best Christmas present EVER. Tyson swore nothing could beat the year Santa brought us our kitty. It showed our boys that what Santa brought them this year was just "stuff." What really matters is our relationships with others - one of the only things we get to take with us into the next life. That is what we really treasured this year at Christmas. And that is also what our foster children have given to us - a truer understanding of why we need to really take care of and be grateful for the rare gift of a loving family and friends as we now understand more clearly that not everyone gets that in this world.

So to all of our family and friends out there - we love you! We are grateful for all of the ways you have blessed our lives this past year and wish you a happy 2010!

Our Two Turkeys

Tyson has been wanting to give the Family Night lesson for weeks, but keeps forgetting to plan it. This week he was determined to have his turn. After school he sat down at the computer and wrote out the play that has been in his mind. (That sure says something about what goes on in that little head of his!) It turned out to be one of our most memorable Monday nights ever!

Tyson's Play:

"Two Turkeys, A Farmer and A Narrator"

Narrator: there were two turkeys one was selfish and the other loved to give!

Turkey one: I’m selfish!

Turkey two : I love to give!

Narrator: so the turkeys lived happily in the barn yard together,

Then on thanksgiving a man came (the farmer no doubt ) so the farmer came and said…

Farmer: look we already have a turkey to eat but there are more turkeys coming so one of you has got to go , so we’ll have a little contest so here we go who wants to give up on of there fine old feathers?

Narrator: well turkey one held firm but the second said…

Turkey two: I will!

Farmer: okay please give me the feather, okay thank you very much, now who will give up and leave?

Turkey one : I won’t

Narrator: but turkey two said…

Turkey two: I will

Narrator: well the farmer was touched by this and he said…

Farmer: you can stay as for you turkey one you will have to go !

Narrator: well turkey two lived happily ever after but turkey one well let’s just say that he was dinner the next thanksgiving!

THE END

Together, Tyson and Jacob designed their costumes. Tyson came up with wearing red and putting on headbands, but was perplexed as to what to do for feathers. Jacob brilliantly suggested using Q-tips.
Gobble! Gobble!

A Happy Halloween

Halloween is one of the busiest holidays at our house. Thankfully, Jacob was thrilled with the purchase of an "Obi Wan" Target special, but for Tyson I actually had to dust off my sewing machine and pattern reading skills. In the end, I managed to make a Gandalf wizard hat and I was quite proud of my accomplishment! But before we could jump into Halloween, we threw Jacob a Monster Mash birthday party. What Halloween would be complete without a house full of 6 year old boys!

Jacob's Monster birthday cake. Happy birthday 6 year old!

Trick or Treating with the Corbridges has become a favorite Halloween tradition. It began the year I broke my foot and I needed someone to take the boys around for me because Adam was out of town. The Corbridges came to my rescue and the boys had so much fun, we have done it the 2 years since then.

Hot chocolate at the Andrioli's was hands down the highlight of the evening. The boys begged to go back again about an hour later to "warm up" with another hot treat.

After 3 streets, Jacob and Jenna were happy to rest, enjoy their hot chocolate and head home.

The big boys, however, went on for a total of 3 1/2 hours of knocking on doors. Elaine and I decided it was ok to let them keep going because they were getting practice for their missions. Tyson made quite the haul - sugar headache here we come! (And of course, he had the flu by the next day, so that sugar just sat there not being eaten and tempting me for a whole week - help!)

High-Tech Help

When I asked Adam what he was going to be doing at work this week, he told me all about the brand new high-tech equipment he was going to be working on to edit the film they just shot on brand new high-tech digital cameras.

I spent the morning trying to melt crystallized honey.

Why can't they come up with some brand new high-tech gadget to solve that problem! Oh, yeah. I forgot. That's not glamorous or exciting. Why would someone be concerned about what a housewife spends her life doing? Then they'd have to invent gadgets that would stop whining, door slamming, juice spilling, arguing, urine in toilet lid hinges... Oh, so not glamorous!

Home Can be a Heaven on Earth... When School's in Session

A week ago I was feeling so sad that summer had ended so quickly and my boys would be back to school. There were still things I wanted to do with them - places to explore and experience.

Then this week hit. There has been so much fighting and tears and just plain laziness that my boys have been driving me nuts! Yesterday they ended up being grounded from everything with a punishment of "forced playing together for 2 hours." It worked. They were much more kind to each other and cooperative and cheerful when it was over.

Today I just dropped Tyson off with a quick "I love you! Have a fun day!" And that was that. My camera's broken, so not even a picture. When he gets home, he will grab a quick snack and then be off to scouts. At the moment I'm enjoying the peace of home. Jacob is playing with a friend in his room with the door shut so I can hardly hear them. Next week Kindergarten will start - and with 5 moms in our carpool, I'm just going to be in my own piece of heaven!

Will the Real Adam Please Stand Up?

Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall and watch what your husband is like at work?

Well, that happened for me on Thursday.

I had one of those rare opportunities of really getting to see Adam in his element. He directs things frequently, but they are generally in distant locations or on a smaller scale. However, for the past 2 weeks, he was directing a project that he wrote about the Mormon Battallion for the Church's visitor center in San Diego (located just outside the walls of Historic San Diego). It was shot close to home and so the boys and I spent Thursday afternoon hanging out at the LDS Motion Picture Studio in Provo. Tyson elected to be an "extra" for the day and ran around for 9 hours in a pioneer outfit. Jacob, on the other hand, refused to wear a costume and instead wanted to either play Gameboy or follow his dad around. Since the second option didn't really work so well, he had unlimited hours with the first. Thankfully, there was another mom there with her son and she was tired of being on set, so she let Jacob hang out with her while she read.

That left me time to just watch. I know, but actually got to see, that Adam is really good at what he does. Because he was so busy, he had little time to think about my being there, so like that fly on the wall, I had the chance to just watch and listen without him really knowing I was doing it. It really feels good to know that he is the same person at work that he is at home when it comes to who he is at heart. But there was also a part of him that was not just the guy he is at home. I saw his creativity hard at work. I heard how others respected him as their leader. I watched as he confidently made quick decisions. He was Adam and dad, but on such a huge scale that I never get to witness personally. It was really incredible. And sexy! (Can I say that on PG-rated blog?) :)

And I know he loves what he does. Thursday was a very long day for me, and I was there 4 hours less than everyone else and I was able to sit a lot. But every night, no matter how tired, Adam came home happy and content. And I am a happy wife because I know I am married to someone who is truly creative and talented and real.

Desert Blues

After 2 weeks in the Pacific Northwest, I very much wonder how it is that we still live in a desert. I love and miss the green, the lakes, the pine trees and the temperature that drops every night to cool things down. Adam and I always planned to go back to the Northwest when he was done with school, but, alas, there are few film opportunities there. I count it a blessing that I still have a sister who lives there and lets us visit, and that we were able to have our Anderegg reunion there this year.

See what I mean about green and lush!!! I know what you're all thinking - it looks like a location in "Twilight." We actually thought about taking a ferry across the Puget Sound to Forks, but it would have been 4 1/2 hours of driving each way!

Birch Bay, WA - about 10 miles south of the Canandian border, is where we called home for the week of our reunion. We were a 1 minute walk from the beach, and had an ocean view where we could watch the tide come in and out every day. There were lots of clams and crabs and we collected tons of shells.

This spot was behind a dock where we rode the Plover ferry and caught our only glimpse of Canada. We would have gone into Canada because we had passports with us, but the boys were done with being in the car. We'll just have to go there another time!

We found this great old boat and the boys oscillated between playing pirates and "Gilligan's Island."

My sweet nephew, Tucker, was my buddy. He would see me and come right to me, even out of his mother's arms, to give me hugs.

We took a ferry with Dan and Corinne to see the San Juan Islands, spending the afternoon at Friday Harbor where we walked around, did a little shopping and ate fish and chips - YUM!

My sweet boys! Tyson didn't enjoy the cooler temperatures as much as the rest of us and wore his jacket almost constantly. We can pretty much guarantee he'll always live somewhere where it's warm.

After a day around the islands, Dan and Corinne were ready to move there - they were thinking a bed and breakfast would do the trick and we would certainly visit them often! :)

Adam had to leave our reunion early for pre-production work on a big project, so we spent a day in Seattle before taking him to the airport. It brought back a lot of memories being there together. When we were in high school, we took a jazz choir trip to Seattle each spring and we always had time to spend at Pike Street Market. You could say we fell in love there. It was so fun to wander around there with our boys. It really hasn't changed much in all these years.

Because it was one of those rare, sunny days in Seattle, and because we had never done it before, we decided to go to the top of the Space Needle. The view was spectacular! You can even see Mt. Rainier in the background.

With Adam back home working long hours, I decided to stay longer in my beloved Northwest. The boys and I drove through the amazing Cascade mountains, the golden fields of central Washington and just over the Washington border to Post Falls, Idaho, the home of my favorite little sister, Barbara. It was the most relaxing week I've had in a very long time and it was heavenly. I can't tell you one spectacular thing we did - just shopping, reading, playing games, chatting... But the kids played without fighting almost the entire time, some were old enough to babysit for a few hours at a time so we could leave the house kid-less, and there were four hands to make meal prep and clean-up quick and easy. Like I said - HEAVEN!

Since Adam had Pioneer Day off of work, he flew back to help me drive home. We spent one more marvelous day enjoying my most favorite lake in the world, Lake Coeur d'Alene, and then swam in the Spokane River.


We were having a very peaceful drive home - Adam and I took turns napping and driving - and had just passed Idaho Falls, when Jacob started crying and yelled, "It was scary!" We thought he was talking about the movie they were watching, the new Willie Wonka we had borrowed from my sister, so we turned it off and assumed all was well. Being sick of driving, we stopped around Ogden to have dinner. Jacob opened his mouth to take a bite of food when Adam and I both noticed he had a black spot in his mouth. He had lost a tooth and didn't tell us! And that's what had scared him in the car! We both started talking loud and excitedly and he thought we were mad at him. We explained that we weren't, but that we were excited for him and wanted to celebrate with him and that he needs to tell us about cool things, like his tooth falling out! The funny thing is, no one knew he even had a loose tooth. He hasn't even started Kindergarten yet, so we weren't looking for any yet. Jacob calmed down and felt much happier about it after Tyson explained about the Tooth Fairy. Luckily, Jacob had put his tooth in his cup holder, so we all got to see it when we got back to the car. I put it in a ziploc bag and it made it safely under his pillow. Thankfully, Adam mentioned Jacob when we were praying that night and so at the last second before falling into a deep slumber, we remembered to "help" the Tooth Fairy get that dollar under his pillow.

I was resigned to coming home, knowing that I would face unpacking, mounds of laundry and cooking and cleaning by myself again. And much to my surprise, I was met by my garden, which had gone crazy on me while we were gone (three cheers for sprinkler systems!!!).

And I was greeted by...

Desert Blues...

and Oranges...


and Pinks, and Yellows, and Whites, and even Green.

Yes, it's good to be home.