Happy Birthday Greg!!

Yesterday was Greg's 27th birthday! I love birthdays and birthday surprises. I think I got that from my mom because birthdays were always a big deal in our house growing up. Last year I tried to think of the perfect gift to give Greg without giving him any ideas. I thought a bike would be a great gift. Well, I am pretty sure the bike has only been taken out for a spin about 5 times in the past year. (No, Greg, that is not a fat joke.)

Anyway, I couldn't think of anything exciting to give him this year. Ever since we have been married he has had the same white church shirt that does not fit him. Probably because he stole it from his little brother and it was his church shirt when he was in HIGH SCHOOL. As you can imagine, he has never been able to button the top button. (No, Greg, this isn't a fat joke either. It's just because you have such a strong neck.) Any time I tried to ask him if I could get him a new shirt he would tell me that it was a waste of time and money because he already had one. Well, I was sick of this response so I took the plunge and got him a new one and a new tie! For those of you who know him, he still wears the same red and white striped tie with the big knot that he has worn forever. I've decided that it is my job as his wife to take care of him. Oh, I also got him some new church socks. Our church is at 11:00 if anyone wants to come this Sunday to see how hot he looks. :) Don't worry, I also got him Season 2 of The Office because Greg is totally obsessed with it. We have a ton of episodes on our DVR, but not many of Season 2. I didn't want to just give him Sunday clothes, so I went with The Office to spice his gift up a bit. We might still take it back, but we will see.

Well, last night we went to Texas Roadhouse with some friends to celebrate his big day. I LOVE this place. It has the best food, and great prices for how much food you get. Greg told our server he was turning 31, so that is what the whole restaurant thought when we gave him the big Texas Ye Haw! Here are some pictures of the eventful night, including him riding the saddle.

I hope you had a great birthday Greg! I love you!!

Halloween

I know it is only half way through September, but I am already thinking of Halloween.  I love Halloween because 1) it is so fun to dress up as all sorts of crazy things no matter how old you are, 2) I love seeing all the little kids dressed up and ultra excited for their candy, 3) it's my brother, Wes's, b-day so we always had VERY fun Halloween parties growing up and I am going to keep that tradition alive, 4) and I LOVE all of the candy to munch on for a couple of weeks (okay, sometimes it only lasts a couple of days).

Anyway, I figured out what Ellie is going to be for her first Halloween.  I was shopping at Old Navy today and found the cutest monkey costume.  It is a full body costume so all you can see is the kid's head.  Well, I thought it was perfect for my adorable niece Kalie because she loves monkeys.  You may be wondering what this has to do with Ellie.  Well, I then saw a BANANA costume for babies!  It is pretty much the cutest thing you will ever see.  So, Kalie is going to be a monkey and Ellie is going to be her banana! I cannot wait to see them together.  I'm thinking maybe Greg and I will be zoo keepers, but we'll see.  Any ideas??  I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!

 

The Monkey (a.k.a Kalie)  The Banana (a.k.a. Ellie)

So Sweet

I was upstairs cleaning with Greg (yes, Greg is a champ!) and Ellie was downstairs in her swing.  I came down to check on her to see her like this.

 

She used to suck on her fingers, but has recently found her thumb.  I probably should stop her from doing it, but it is so cute.  Hey, if her thumb can put her to sleep then I am all for it!  (Sorry the picture is a little blurry.  Our camera of course was out of batteries so Greg took it on his phone.)

AZ Trip / Ellie's Blessing

We just got back last night from a week vacation in Arizona. We had an awesome time and loved spending time with our families and friends. We even got to experience a MONSTER Arizona monsoon storm! I miss those so much. This one was huge and was responsible for blowing down big tree branches in the Andersen Hotel's front lawn! Here is a little recap of what we did...

On Friday my step-sister got married. After the wedding we took some family pictures outside of the temple. My second dad, Randy Walker, took them for us. Thanks so much Randy!

         
On Sunday we were able to bless Ellie at Greg's parents house. It was so nice because all of Greg's family was there (there are 9 kids in his family, 8 boys and 1 girl), and my family was also there, but we were missing Wes and Amber's family. It was so nice to finally get Elllie blessed. We were waiting until we went down there, so we could be with our families. Greg gave Ellie a beautiful blessing. I am so grateful for him and all that he does for our little family.

We also took Andersen family pictures that day.  I never realized how huge the Andersen family is until I saw this picture.

I was sad to leave yesterday and can't wait to see everyone again!

Family Fun

I know it's a miracle because I have updated my blog a lot recently.  Anyway, last week I went up to Utah with my family for a big Dyer reunion.  I had an absolute blast!  I love my whole family and love the "Dyer Pride" we all have.  Greg couldn't come because he had work which was very sad, but every one there was so helpful with Ellie.  I hardly even held Ellie the whole week long because my cousins, sisters, and aunts were always with her.  It was very nice.  Thanks to everyone for being so awesome!

After the reunion was over my family went up to Yellowstone.  I must say that I am pretty sure Yellowstone is one of the most beautiful places on earth.  Not only that, but we saw a lot of wildlife there too.  Throughout the two days we spent there we saw deer, elk, a moose, herds of bison, a bald eagle, lots of birds, and even a bear!  We really lucked out.

One place we went to was a beautiful waterfall.  I knew we had to hike to see the waterfall, so I put Ellie in a sling and set off on what I thought would be a very leisure walk.  (I was even wearing flip-flops).  Well the "leisure" walk turned into be about a 2 hour ordeal!  Keep in mind that I had a c-section 6 weeks earlier and had not done a bit of exercising to this point.  We had to climb about 300 or so stairs to get to the view point.  Luckily Lindsay carried Ellie the whole way back because I know I never would have made it.  Thanks Annie for helping me get up those dreadful stairs.  After it was all over it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip.  Overall, it was a fabulous week (minus the fact that Greg wasn't there).

Here is the fam. Gotta love my sisters!

Ellie's first hike!

Twin Cousins

Ellie has a twin cousin named Halle who is just as adorable as her.   They are 18 hours apart (Ellie was born on the 11th and Halle was born on the 12th of June).  There were 6 Andersen babies born within a year of each other.  Ellie and Halle were the last two born and the only girls so they are instant best buds.  My brother and sister-in-law, Lee and Lara, came up to Utah this week, so we of course had to dress them as twins (the outfits were $2!) and take tons of pictures of them.

8 Weeks!

Tomorrow Ellie will be 8 weeks old!  She is getting so big.  She is now smiling more frequently and is holding her head up (it still is pretty floppy though).  And most importantly, she has been sleeping through the night!  (Last night doesn't count because she kept unwrapping herself which wakes her up.)  I finally caught a smile on camera.  By the way, I need to give a shout-out to APX, Greg's work, because he won a new digital camera at his work party.  I love it!!!  Thanks APX!