Annie

This is our little Annie at the beginning of 2008.

We'll just call this "the accident" as we still aren't officially sure what happened. The damage was a severed tongue (she bit through it) with stitches on top and bottom, stitches on the chin, a lost tooth, and a fractured jaw. Kids are tough though. The day she left the hospital she got in the car, heard the music, and started to dance!

Sometimes we worry about what the future might hold for them, how they will react to the pressures of the world. Annie has really gotten into the 80s hair-styles. This picture was taken in Oklahoma while back for the 4th of July.

Decemberish 2007

This was last year but we owe some pictures. Some good friends of ours got us this neat little digital camera and it only took 1.5 yrs to figure it out. This was in our backyard in our old house.

The Martinez family and kiddos.

Dallin fishing at some friends of ours.

This was one of the worst rain storms we have ever seen...but the kids loved it!!!

Howdy Officer!

This is Joseph Anderson, Jared's big brother. We are all so proud of him. He's a real, live policeman now! He looks pretty tough, so watch out when your out on the streets of Tulsa!

These pictures were taken at his graduation. His wife, Sandy, and daughter, Savannah, (5 years old) are with him in the picture. Also, they recently had another little girl, Taylor.

Going Batty

So about a week ago I (Jared) was in the computer room. Emma and Ginger had just moved their beds up there that particular night. Emma on a bed and Ginger on a mattress on the floor were fast asleep as Annie and Dallin slept in an adjacent room. Christian was in the tv room (no, we don't live seperate lives, it was supposed to be like this and you'll understand why soon). Annie woke up for some reason and was crying for mommy. This is not unusual so I waited for her to go back to sleep. She didn't and after a few seconds I saw something flying in the hall in the light of the hall light. At first I thought, "my gosh, that is a big moth," and then processed it as a bird. But it was not flying smoothly like a bird would. It kind of hopped around in the air. Well, as it splattered right by the only exit in the computer room I realized what it was - a freaking bat was in the house and I was trapped. It lay on the floor with its wings spread. I called for Christian (who as noted above was out of the computer room) who quickly came. I sat frozen as my wife (who without her glasses was about as blind as the bat) came to the rescue. I yelled, "there's a freaking bat on the floor." Christian: "Where, I can't see it." Jared: "Don't move. Just go get something to cover it. Of my gosh, its ear is moving. His head is lifting up. Get something!" Just then the creature flew over right by Ginger. I put her in Emma's bed and the thing tried to hide by crawling between her two pillows. Then the nasty creature began to hop around the air again (if you have ever seen a bat fly you know what I mean, it almost looked fake) and landed right on Ginger's tummy (on top of the blanket) on Emma's bed! Christian and I ran out scared, shut the door, and yelled for the girls to wake up, yelling "bat! bat," and ordered them to get it out of the house (just kidding). We got the windows open, approached the venemous Chiroptera and it "flew" out. We shut the window and I proceeded to wash and disinfect the entire house. Still not sure how the thing got in the house but suspect that the large amount of rain for several days had him/her looking for shelter.

Great-Grandma

This is Great-grandma Clara Axsom. She is the mother of Nana Randy Standeford, who is the mother of Christian Anderson. We got to visit with her several times this summer. During this visit, cousin Katie Navarro was there with her 4 boys also. So here is a group picture of just part of all the great-grandkids.

4th of July 2008--Tulsa, OK

We got to spend a big portion of our winter (your summer) break in Oklahoma with family. These 2 pictures are from the 4th of July. The Anderson Family has a fun tradition of going to the river in Tulsa and watching the fireworks display. So here is Nana Rebecca walking with Ginger as we are on our way. And the other picture is all the cousins (except Savannah, because fireworks are too loud for her, and Taylor wasn't born yet) with painted faces. They are a fun group!

Halloween 2008

This is Emma at her school Halloween parade. The kids got to dress-up after lunch and have a parade in the gym, then trick-or-treat from classroom to classroom. The classes had parties after that. Halloween night we went trick-or-treating a little, using a map of families that wanted to participate. But it was tough--the houses were so far apart, it was a lot of walking. Plus, the weather was quite warm (which was strange to be out trick-or-treating in the daylight) and most costumes are not made to accomodate summer weather. But am I complaining? Yes, I am. I just want my kids to have fun memories of Halloween like I do. One good thing...well, good for my waistline...the candy isn't very good and NO chocolate, so I didn't raid the kids bags like I used to do in the U.S.