Summer Fun

Today, I went over to Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's to play in their pool with my cousin Lily. As you can see, we had a lot of fun! Mom and dad decided it was time they buy me my own pool so I can practice my doggie paddle. Hopefully I'll be able to qualify for the 2016 Olympics when they're held in Chicago. Mom says I have a pretty good chance!

Happy Birthday Grandma and Grandpa Anderson

Yesterday we celebrated Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's birthdays. Grandma's is on May 6th and Grandpa's is on May 8th. The whole family came to celebrate! We ordered pizza, ate 3 kinds of cakes, and topped it off with ice cream. Yum! For an encore, some of the nieces did a renactment of the highly acclaimed Broadway musical, Witches! Everyone left with their bellies full and smiles on their faces. Can't wait til next year!

Spring Break Trip

We decided to get out of the house for a day since we were going a little stir crazy. We took Tiv with us to Springfield to visit Andrea and her children. We spent the day playing with stuffed animals, blocks, and tracing each other on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable time. We wish she lived closer so we could spend more time with Paige, Troy, and Colby. God Bless you three at your baptism!

Sharing the Good News

Recently, we made a trek to familiar territory. We decided to visit our old stomping grounds, Illinois State, to eat lunch with Daddy-O and Mom Olson at Avanti's. It was at this time we decided to share with them that we were expecting our first child. We gave dad a bib that read "I Love My Grandpa." Mom looked at it and said, "Are you trying to tell us something?" She then screamed, jumped out of her chair, and gave us both a big hug. Everyone in the restaurant was staring at us and a few even came over and congratulated us on the good news!

Dad's Early Birthday Gathering

Where there's a will, there's a way! When the Andersons want to gather, even with short notice, we'll find a way to make it happen. This past weekend 20 of us gathered to wish my dad a Happy Early Birthday. Can you believe it...he's turning 80 this year! In observance of the occasion, we all gathered and sent our pictures and Andrea assembled a great photographic story of dad's life. Once upon a lifetime...

One Year Ago...

... ryan was on one knee.



















One year later..
we are happily married!

One year ago, Februrary 11, Ryan proposed to me on a balcony at Geneva Inn. To celebrate our one year anniversary we went back up to Lake Geneva and spent the night at the same Inn. From chilled champagne to chocolate and roses, the night was as breath taking as we remembered it.

Happy New Year 2007

I hope this New Year brings lots of good health and happiness! God Bless you all! We celebrated with our "BookClub" friends. We made it home safely about a quarter after one. I can't wait to see what this year brings....

The Olson Gang Rides Again

Ryan was finally able to pick up his Christmas gift today. He has been asking for it every single day. We filled it up and headed out on the town to show it off. We are looking forward to visiting family and friends "in style". However, after driving around the neighborhood we have discovered it is VERY COLD!! See you in the spring! Candace is featuring her new helmet as she sits upon "the bike", Ryan can handle it much better as seen in the other two pictures! Candace will be more of a passenger than a rider.

Anderson Christmas

Let's see.. one, two, three, four...... twenty-seven, twenty-eight, TWENTY-NINE, yes, we had 29 of our family attend Christmas at Nancy's house. We had Ham with an assortment of sides and desserts. Candace said grace and we all dug in! You can see by the picture that we had a full house! The pictures include my sister Andrea with my niece Mandy, All of us at the dinner table, Grandma and Grandpa with the grandchildren, My parents opening presents, and of course Ryan and I. We had an ornament exchange for the third Christmas in a row. Amy read this year's story and we all got a beautiful new ornament.

Merry Christmas

What a MerryChristmas this season is... Tivoli got some new bones, Candace got a new North Face winter coat, a Denali North Face jacket, lots and lots of Socks AND a zero balance on Ryan's credit card. Ryan got some new shirts, a sweatshirt, a pair of brown shoes (since Tivoli ate his), a tie, a leather jacket AND the keys to his new motorcycle!!!!!! Oh My Gosh!! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!! We love you!

Baking Baking Baking

How many chefs does it take to make Christmas cookies? Well, throughout the day, there were five sisters, four nieces, one nephew, and three cousins preparing cookies, although the guys just helped eat the cookies! There were enough cookies made to at least last the weekend. Tivoli was upset she missed the baking extravaganza, so we decided to bake some dog biscuits with her when we got home.

Snow Day

Tivoli kept praying for a snow day and she got her wish! She likes it because then we get to stay home with her. Actually, Candace wasn't feeling very well (note the thermometer) so Tivoli decided to keep her warm. Isn't she sweet? Tivoli then asked if we could take her picture by the Christmas tree...she didn't like what we were wearing so we weren't allowed in the picture. However, she changed her mind and decided to let us in on one picture.

Birthday with Book Club

Not that surprising me with a family surprise party wasn't enough. Ryan had some of our friends join us for drinks at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Thank for showing up gang. You helped make entering my thirties bearable. =)

Tivoli with her best dog McKinley

McKinley tried to teach Tivoli how to swim this summer. Tivoli had a hard time catching on, but did enjoy splashing in the water. Doggie style didn't come naturally for Tivoli?!?! Next summer, McKinley and Tivoli are going to consider joining the synchronized swimming team. We'll keep posted.

Surprise! It's my Birthday!

Surprise! Ryan figured out a way to surprise me afterall. I had assumed he wasn't going to do anything for my birthday since he had made his own plans and didn't tell me to leave my schedule open. He said he was going to dinner and a movie with a friend (Mike), so I dropped him off at Buffalo Wild Wings. After getting ready, I headed to my sister's for dinner, to see that he had invited my whole entire family. Twenty-two guests made it to this awesome event. It was so nice to see my family all together to celebrate me and Andrea's 30th birthday. Just in case you are wondering why I look so youthful in the pictures, it was because I was still 29 years old on Saturday, I turned 30 today.