The magic of stickers

I'm not above bribery.


Call it positive reinforcement. Jonathan got to put a sticker on his "good eater" chart every time he ate a meal without us having to ask him to keep eating. Thirty-six stickers represents a whole lot of successes. When he filled the whole chart he got to go to the store with dad and pick out some ice cream. He chose chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches, and we certainly didn't have to remind him to eat.


And Seth of course got to share in the victory. You just don't give ONE boy an ice cream sandwich.

Sneak Peek at Heaven

We had Thanksgiving with the Olsons across the street and decided there was no reason not to go ALL OUT on pies. We made 15 incredible pies (and cheesecakes) and have been eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the past few days. If anyone wants some, you know where to come!!

Props to the husband

I just have to give a little plug for John's new blog for his thoughts on religion, politics and philosophy. He calls it Small Plates. John is the man. And note the part on the very bottom of the page that changes every time you refresh.

Broccoli, spaghetti and Lehi's Dream

"See mom? It's the rod of iron leading to the tree of life. . ."

Halloween art

"One-eyed monster with glasses."
Ink on paper
Jonathan Thomas Anderson

In other news. . .

I busted out my old sewing machine (emphasis on OLD - it's olive green for crying out loud,) blew off the dust and made my niece Kathryn an indian costume. You can see another picture of her behind superman on our halloween post. That's my nephew Taylor next to her.


It turned out pretty nifty I thought, so this is my chance to toot my own horn to the wide world.

New Depth for the term "Big"

John and I took the boys to go see Kennecott Copper Mine this afternoon.


Talk about big. Like, blow your mind, big. The truck tires are 12 and a half feet tall, and the open pit mine is 2.5 miles across. It was awesome.


I'll admit it. We were as wowed as the boys were by the whole thing. Okay maybe more.

Halloween at the Anderson's

The many faces of Superman. . .




Thanks to Grandma Anderson for the super cool costume! I think John wore this back in the day too when he was little. Super-ness runs in the Anderson genes.

Cuteness must too. The Anderson grandkids are dripping with it.


When Seth first started his trick or treating experience he was so excited to get his first candy that he just wanted to hold on to it tightly. When he came to the next stop and someone wanted him to get another piece, he thought they wanted to trade and that he had to give up his prize. He fiercely held on to his one piece and wouldn't hear of a trade, or even of us putting his candy into his honey pot. Everyone was out for his treat! The nerve!


He got the hang of it though, and by the end of the night he bravely said "Trick a treat!" to every odd looking stranger at our ward party and followed it up with a bold "Thank you!" This is our Seth who takes 20 minutes to warm up to even family members. He was super cute.

And then here's the crazy part of the evening. Of course the boys come home and dive into their loot.


And as an even partly health conscious parent, what do you do? Do you let them engulf more than their body weight in straight sugar? Or do you rain on their parade and restrict them to one small taste?

I found the answer. Suckers. Halloween's gift to mothers. The boys could've and would've downed 20 chocolate bars in the time it took them to enjoy one wonderful tootsie roll pop. And they still went to bed delighted and satisfied that they had eaten candy all evening.

We're proud of our boys. They are both so individual and completely cool.

It turns out there IS an instruction manual for parenting.

I just finished this guide published by the Church and I think I will read it 75 times over the next 20 years. It's called "A Parent's Guide." You can get it at LDS Church Distribution and it's only 52 pages. It has already really changed the way I have interacted with my kids over the past few days that I have been reading it. And more than just teaching solid parenting principles and doctrine, it is written to help you teach your children about intimacy, gender roles, and any other hard topic you can think of. If ever I highly recommended a book to parents (other than the Book of Mormon) this would be it. It is just really good.