End of School performances and programs

At the kids school they have an amazing music class. Every week they have music and art classes. I was very impressed with the songs Sage performed. They performed several songs and they sounded SO good. Sage is in the end of third grade. His teacher was Mrs Baize. She was very interactive with the parents. It was great. Sage did well in all of his subjects. He improved on his math and reading. He surprised Nate and I this year with his awesome piano skills. He is so good. Great Job Sage!

McKenna is ending her first grade year. She loved her teacher Mrs Stoll so much. She thrived this year. I don't think we could have asked for a better teacher. McKenna is ahead in math and reading. She completed Saxon math 2 and Reading mastery 2. We were so proud of her. She learned all of her times tables and is amazing at grammar. We went to her program and they showed us everything they had learned during the year. She showed my what she had learned about electricity and how it worked. Im so proud of you McKenna!

They performed a few songs for us as well.

Aspen is finishing her last year of preschool. It was so fun for her to be in Jasmines class. She loved her teacher Mrs Karen. They put on a darling performance at the Library. Nate and I could not believe how many songs they all had memorized. She loved it. They made all the mothers really cute cards. Thanks Aspen.

Derby

Sage had his first Pinewood Derby with the Scouts. He was SO excited. Nate and Sage worked for a few weeks on his car. It payed off. His car beat everyone that he raced. I was really impressed. The girls came and sat on the front lines and cheered everyone on.

The winning car!

These are all of the cars that Sages car beat.

Ready, set, GO!

Sage is so lucky that he has grandparents who love him so much. Ed and Lorna love to come to everything they can to support their grand kids. Ed took Sage early so they could weigh in the car. They were able to add a few pennies.

Aspen, McKenna, and Raegan were Sages cheerleaders.

This is a horrible picture of me. I am pregnant and so sick. It reflects perfectly how I was feeling. If you notice Sages lip is huge. He had just been through a terrible bike accident. I wish I would have taken pictures, but I am still in shock. Sage was riding his bike outside and Nate and I heard the most horrible, loud, terrifying scream. We ran outside and Sage was standing in the street bawling hysterically. Nate ran to him. I froze. Nate came running to me yelling to find a Dentist and handed me Sages two front permanent teeth. I about collapsed. Sage came in the house with Nate. He was screaming "I'm dying, I'm dying." Nate and I were in total panic mode. I told him we needed to just go straight to the hospital. He wanted me to call a Dentist. There are two in the family and my best friend Kandices husband is a pediatric Dentist. I called Brent, no answer. Called Kandice, few she answered. She was talking to Paul and they told me to run up to the hospital. As I was driving she told me to pull over and put the teeth back in. I couldn't. I get the bad mom award. I just knew there was no way I could pin him down and put teeth back in his gums. So she told me to put them in milk. Sage was screaming the whole way "I'm going to die mom". I was trying to keep it together. We ran into the emergency and everyone was staring and it was packed in there. Sage had blood all over him, and so did I. I gave the nurse the teeth and instructed her to put them in milk. We waited a minute or two to be seen and thank heavens Nate arrived ten minutes behind us. The nurse took us to a room off of the Emergency room. The Dentist was on his way but told her to put the teeth in. They had four people come in to hold him down. I couldn't keep in together anymore. I walked out of the little room am lost it. I cried and cried. Everyone was staring at me and I didn't care. I kept thinking "nothing could be worse." Then Nate peeked his head out and said "Katie come look at his teeth". Giving me that look that means be careful what you say. Sage opened his SO swollen mouth and I felt sick. His teeth were put back in backwards. I'm not aggressive but I wanted to strangle the nurse and yell really mean words. I had to go back out and I put my face to the wall and cried hysterically. I thought for sure I would go into labor. The Dentist came and put Sage in a chair with laughing gas. He finally was able to settle down. They had to put me in a chair to lay down because I was going to pass out. He took the teeth out, cleaned out the gums and broken pieces of bone, and put the teeth back in. He put a splint on them for the next few weeks. We were told the teeth will probably die. So we are looking at root canals in the future, gum grafting, and implants. Its going to be a long haul with these teeth. Too bad his braces had just come off and they were all straight. But I'm so thankful my boy is OK and I do know things could be so much worse. It was just so hard. I really struggled for a few days. I wanted to put all three kids on my bed and lock my door and not go any where. It just showed my how in the blink of an eye things can change so quickly. I had nightmares for a week and felt in shock for a few days. I think being so sick and pregnant made my hormones crazy and I just didn't handle this well. When Aspen had her fingers cut off when she was two, I did OK and held it together. This just pushed me over the edge.

Easter

I love Easter. We had a good one this year. It is always nice to have time to reflect on our Savior and all he has done for us. I love the feeling that comes this time of year. I love conference and feeling uplifted and renewed. We always try and have a wonderful Easter dinner as well as having a Bethlehem dinner. We eat simple foods for that meal to remind us how our Savior lived.

This is one of the very few pictures I had taken while being pregnant. Looking back I wish I would have taken more. But when your pregnant you feel so awful.

McKenna, Aspen, and Sage in their new Easter cloths. They loved finding their Easter baskets.

Nate and his sisters Tasha and Brooke.

Raegan and Aspen

Grandma Lorna had an Easter egg hunt at her house. This is all of the cousins on the Anderson side. Tate, Addie, McKenna, Aspen, Sage, and Raegan.

McKennas Birthday

I can't believe McKenna is seven. She is really one of the sweetest, most angelic people I have ever known. She reminds me and everyone that knows her of her Grandma Nancy Anderson. She was truly an angel. Soft spoken, kind, giving, gentle, serving, sweet and angelic are words that describe these two amazing people. McKenna is so loved by her siblings. Sage and her have a bond that can not be broken. They are two peas in a pod. He always asks me "Mom why is McKenna so cute." And Aspen will always say "I want to be nice like McKenna". She is so sweet. She keeps me going. I am always so amazed at how nice she is to me. She tells me almost everyday how much she loves and appreciates me. She always tells me how cute my shirt or hair or eyeshadow is. She notices everything people do for her. She is very in tune with the spirit. I don't know what I would do with out this little girl. Oh how I love her.

Zack, Sage, McKenna, Aspen
We had a family party for her up at Grandma Myrlenes house. It was so wonderful how many people came and all the nice gifts they gave her. She was so excited and hugged and kissed everyone as she said her thank yous.

Aunt Holly, Jen, Natalie, Sammy, McKenna, Aunt Heidi

Grandma Corinne, McKenna

Aunt Heidi, Hailey, Kenna, Emily

McKenna and her Great Grandma Myrlene.
McKenna loves grandma Myrlene so much. She has grown up visiting her every Sunday. It is one of our favorite traditions. Grandma is not a huggy type of person. But she loves McKenna to hug and kiss her. McKenna loves to hug and kiss everyone she loves.

We went and had ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson and Great Grandpa Ted. McKenna loved having two parties.

Grandpa Ted and McKenna

Nate, Ted, McKenna

Winter activities

Winter is always kind of boring being stuck inside. We tried to take the kids to do a few fun things to feel like they got out and about. We went swimming, to movies, rock climbing, the Children's museum, and the Museum of Natural History.

Sage rock climbing

This is the Dinasour exibit at the Museum of Natural History.

Valentines Day

Nate and Aspen eating fondue.

We had a really fun Valentines Day. I was super sick being pregnant. But I pushed through it and went a little crazy this year. I heart attacked the kids door with hearts everywhere. On each heart I wrote something I loved about them. They were so excited. We spent forever reading every ones hearts. It was so fun. Then they ran to the table to see what cupid had left for them. They were spoiled. I made them a huge breakfast. Pancakes died red and eggs and juice. Then we had a wonderful lunch. And last we had a fancy dinner ending in fondue. The kids loved it. We had all kinds of fruit, angel food cake, and marshmallows. It was so yummy. Then I had to spend the next two days in bed from working so hard. But it was worth it.

Grandma also came a few days before Valentines and helped them decorate cookies and make Valentine cards. They were so into it.

Christmas

Christmas was a bit different this year. Nate had to work so we celebrated it on the 26Th. We hid the toys from Santa on the 25Th, and laid them out the next morning. The kids probably loved it more this year because the anticipation was endless. It was a hard Christmas for me. It was really lonely having Nate at work. And to top it off my family party on my side was cancelled. Every year my siblings and Aunts and Cousins come together and have a party on Christmas. Well there was a terrible snow storm and nobody went anywhere. So the kids and I stayed home all day with no presents to open and waited until Nate came home. The kids couldn't sleep and were so excited for Santa to come. They had a great Christmas despite all the disappointments I felt. It took me almost a full year to post this because of how depressing I felt. Being pregnant and sick never makes any Holiday fun. There was not one picture taken of me because that's how crappy I felt. I wish I would have had just one.

Sage and McKenna got new bikes for Christmas. They were a hit.

Aspen LOVED all her toys. She got a CD player and tons of toys.

McKenna and Daddy