February

Here is a synopsis of what happened in February...

We announced we are pregnant with baby #5...

There is a visible bump (this is 13 weeks)

Haken discovered perler beads and is determined to do the whole United States.

Haken also became a cake decorator for the Blue and Gold Banquet. He won the award for the "most boyish cake"

The kids ate a lot of grapefruit...

We had joyschool at our house twice. We learned about transportation and Easter....

We tried to curl Gracie's hair with sponge curlers....

This is how it looked in the morning with curlers all over the floor next to her bed...

 We attended the Stake Valentines family dance and had WAY too much cotton candy...

Benny had his first birthday and we celebrated by having the Noonans, Morefields, and Bednars over. It took Benny a while to be convinced he could eat the cake with his hands...

He also opened lots of gifts...

In honor of his birthday, Shad did a little photoshoot with Benny...








The kids discovered that a blanket over the heating vent is their favorite thing in the morning...

We learned that the kitchen sink makes an excellent water table and baby bathtub...

We found out that Benny really likes stomp rockets...

Gracie continues to be our innocent, materialistic, princess diva...

 

January

In an effort to catch up. Here is what we did in January.

Gracie started Sunbeams at church....

Shad built stuff...

 We fit a record number of people at our table....

We love having the YSA's at our house.

Jack got an insulin pump...

It's been challenging and life changing at the same time.

 We went to a museum up in the Chicago suburbs with our friends the Hopes while Shad and their parents attended a seminary inservice....

We had joyschool at our house and learned about monsters...

Gracie played dress up daily. It was a special treat when she had a friend to dress up with...

And lets not forget this little bugger. He is fully on the move now and really figuring out crawling. By the end of the month he was starting to ditch the army crawl...

Merry Christmas from the Anderson's!

                                                                                                                   

Dear Loved Ones,

2015 has been one of those years that you never forget, and as we also just had one of those years in 2014, we’re looking forward to a super boring 2016. Here’s the low down:

February-

We were delighted and surprised to welcome our third boy into the family (the gender was a surprise, not the fact that we had a baby. Being surprised by the gender, by the way, is not as fun as everyone said it would be. I just experienced a whole lot of anxiety over it.) We named our fourth child Bennion Steve Anderson. Bennion comes from one of Bonnie’s pioneer ancestors, John Bennion, who was a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, and Steve is after my father (also a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, so there’s a pattern there). Benny has been our easiest baby so far, he just smiles a lot and laughs at his siblings. In the rare instance he does cry, it’s because he’s hungry, tired, or poopy, and will literally go back to smiling and laughing as soon as he is fed, napped or de-pooped. He’s recently figured out how to army crawl and frequently ends up underneath the Christmas tree.

March-

I received a phone call one day before classes began, informing me that I may or may not be on a short list for a coordinating position. (Note: I am a religious educator for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have been teaching teenagers in a released time seminary setting for the last 10 years. A coordinator is an assignment within Church Education where you train early morning seminary teachers and/or direct an Institute of Religion for young single adults, and usually means you’ll be moving far, far away…)

A few anxious days later I got the call inviting me to accept an assignment in Urbana Illinois. I was given two days to report my decision. Bonnie and I decided, in addition to praying and going to the temple, that we should seek the counsel of our parents. Since I come from a clan of wanderers my dad and I had a jolly ole time discussing the upcoming adventure. Since Bonnie has never lived outside of Utah, our discussion with her mom was a bit more serious. There were even tears… Which was understandable since Bonnie’s father had only passed away a few months before and Lori really loves us. But everyone knew this was what we were supposed to do so we accepted.

May-

We had 5 days to find a house. We only needed three. We actually sold our house in Utah on the same day we signed the paper work for our new house in Illinois. We totally appreciate the miracle of this occurrence as moving is not supposed to be this seamless. We have found ourselves in a wonderful little neighborhood of super nice people (seriously, we have a neighborhood directory and we’ve already had a block party) in a great community with good schools, and a close-knit ward family that welcomed us in the second we got here.

Bonnie also turned 30 this month, so that’s something…

June-

Haken turned 8 years old and on the 4^th of July I got to baptize and confirm my firstborn, which was pretty cool. He’s really just growing into a responsible and caring young man. He’s also a bit bossy, but what can you expect from the firstborn (am I right Ryan?)

Gracie turned 3 years old and is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. She even makes temper tantrums and power struggles adorable. She is a bit of a diva, but I’m told all sisters are (I wouldn’t know). She’s also pretty tiny for her age so we get lots of comments as people are impressed by our super smart and coordinated 18 month old.

July-

We packed up all our earthly belongings (well actually a moving company did which is so much better than the Elder’s Quorum) and we trekked east, following the Mormon trail in the opposite direction. We posted our exploits online with the #reversepioneers, since that is how we felt. We arrived in Illinois on July 24^th.

August-

I turned 34, (note: at this writing it’s been three days since I played football on Thanksgiving Day and I continue to be so sore, it’s debilitating. So, you know, awesome.)

Haken also started school, and has now seen three different elementary schools in as many years. I’m glad he’s resilient.

Jack (who turns 5 this month) also started preschool. He goes to the local Catholic Church preschool, and has two wonderful and patient teachers. They’ve been super accommodating with his diabetes and we’re grateful. Jack, who doesn’t even realize he started over with new friends, because he considers everyone he meets to be his friend, also started gymnastics this year. We figured he should try it since he likes to do running summersaults down the hall and can perform backflips off the diving board. (I didn’t teach him that, I’m too afraid.)

December-

Which brings us to now. I think we are adjusting well, and I couldn’t be more proud of Bonnie. I always knew she could thrive outside of Utah, and now she knows it as well. We look forward to seeing what the Lord plans on doing through us in our new home and opportunity, and can’t wait to hear about what He’s doing through you. We love you, pray for you, and feel very blessed to be your associates during this special time in Earth’s history.

Love,

Shad, Bonnie, Haken, Jack, Gracie and Benny

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Dear family and friends,

We’re calling this our “Happy St. Patrick’s Day Letter” since that is the nearest holiday, and, like any good drinking Irish Catholics, this holiday is very meaningful to us. This has been a very eventful year for us, and I’ve been given the assignment from my superior to tell you about it.

The biggest event of 2014 was the death of Bonnie’s father Guy. He was diagnosed late 2013 with terminal brain cancer and we felt very fortunate to have so many good days with him before we had to say goodbye. Some of those good days were at a family reunion in St. George. A beautiful home was rented with a luxurious pool and hot tub. We laughed a lot. I went golfing with grandpa Guy and Haken (I didn’t know that would be my last round with him) and it was an overall pleasant week. As Guy declined, we took more opportunities to be in Centerville with him and Lori. We have found the promise in the Doctrine and Covenants to be fulfilled where the Lord said “Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die...And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them;” We miss Guy terribly, but we know he is engaged in the great work of the Lord on the other side of the veil, and we know he is one of those angels who “speak [to us] by the power of the Holy Ghost” and he is still an intimate part of our life.

The second biggest event of the year was the birth of our fourth child, and third son, Benny. His birth was a special day and we're glad he made it here safely. He's a good eater, and quiet cryer (I have no idea where he gets it because we're a loud bunch).

Aside from both these landmark events, here's a quick update from our daily lives. Haken turns 8 in June and is trying to finish the Book of Mormon before he gets baptized. As he's only in 2 Nephi, he may need to finish up with the children's reader version. He's become quite the little writer and is obsessed with geography. When I showed him Google earth, I think he literally died for a second.

Jack (and us) has had one year to get used to life with type 1 Diabetes. We just started to feel confident when he got the flu. It got scary really quick. But no worries, apparently we're just to expect one ER visit a year, that's the diabetic way. Anybody who knows Jack loves him, he walks around like a miniature Zack Morris (that's a "Saved by the Bell" reference) saying "what's up" to the adults and shortening all his friends name, "Hey Liv."

Grace hasn't grown in two years. I'm not kidding, she still wears some 9-12 month clothes. But she walks and talks like the almost three year old that she is. It's funny to watch people stare at her like she's this super genius one year old. I'm OK if she's behind physically, maybe she can make through high school looking like a ten year old. Her girliness is off the charts from her love of getting her hair done to her insistence on wearing only things that are pink or sparkling. She is adorable and I think we'll keep her.

Bonnie ran a half marathon while she was pregnant. (Thought I'd throw that in there because it's so hard core). She has added to her domestic goddess rap sheet a specialty in couponing, and can sell anything on the classifieds. It's really amazing. She's amazing. The highlight of our summer was getting to go to Boston, then New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio on a Church History tour. We got to spend 9 days together (thank you grandma Lori for taking the kiddos for that long) and we made some wonderful new friends.

I have been enjoying my assignments at work teaching freshmen the gospel and writing seminary curriculum. I feel like I get the best of both worlds and could keep this up as long they'll let me. I've recently tried my hand at photography and it's my current artistic expression (obsession?). And I got myself committed to running a half marathon this year. Somewhere in hell a snowball is making it.

We thank you all for your love and friendship. Please keep in touch with us. We're on Facebook and Instagram. We both blog (Bonnie: shadandbonnie.blogspot.com and Shad: shadmanderson.wordpress.com and you can check out my photography at shadanderson.photography) and you can even call us on one of those telephones things.

Much Love,

Shad, Bonnie, Haken, Jack, Gracie and Benny

And baby makes 4...

What?! Did I just say four? How the heck do I have 4 children? I remember after having Haken, having two miscarriages, and struggling to get pregnant, I thought I would never have more than one child. I wondered how people got pregnant so easy and why it was so hard for us. I wondered if I would only have one child to focus on for the rest of my life. Through my experiences in the last 6 years I have come to realize that God is good. He hears us and he knows what we need. Patience has never been a strong point of mine and He found a way to test it. Now I hear Him almost laughing and saying "you wanted more children, right?" I am very much at peace and feel his love as I sing to each one of my kids at night before they go to sleep. God is good indeed.

Although my husband has documented the birth through pictures on his blog I decided I needed to give a little more detail on our experience. The birth of our children are by far the best days that we have had together as a couple. Everything about a birth is miraculous and these days become those that I will never forget. There is nothing closer to heaven than the death of someone you love and the birth of a child.

Bennion Steve Anderson came to our family on February 9th at 9:56 AM weighing 7lbs 2 oz and 20" 

At 2:45 AM I was awoken by a dream that I had peed my pants. I got out of bed realizing that although it was a dream, I was indeed wet. Sure enough I kept leaking so I knew this was for real. The baby was coming TODAY. I was actually very relieved because during the last two weeks I had lower back pain and cramping which made me feel like I was going into labor soon. I had no idea it would actually come two weeks later. All of my other children were born around 38 weeks and this baby waited until 39 weeks. I was not overdue, but I felt like I was in comparison to my other pregnancies. Again, the Lord knew what we needed and held the baby off for a week knowing that we were dealing with a very sick diabetic Jack. He had the stomach flu all week long. After an ER visit, some Zofran, and a few glucagon shots we were able to get it under control but it was not a very fun week.

At 3:00 AM we called my neighbor across the street to sit with the kids while my mom and sister drove up. When we got to the hospital I was having contractions about every 10 minutes but not anything very hard. When I was admitted I was dilated to a 5 but not really in pain. I think I had about 5-6 contractions total before I got my epidural. I thought for just a split second about going natural, but for only a second.

I was glad that I had that epidural when the contractions started to show up on the screen one after the other. I did, however, get nauseous and throw up once due to the contractions but that was the most uncomfortable I really got.

At 9:00 AM I called my mom at my house and told her to hurry over because I was starting to feel pressure. By 9:30 I was complete and ready to push. Luckily she got there with a few minutes to spare. I pushed for two sets and then he was out.

Because we didn't know the gender of the baby, it was quite a different experience from the rest of my children. The other three births were much more emotional for me. This was more a feeling of excitement. I couldn't wait to look down and see the gender on that last push. I was surprised as I thought that he was a girl the entire pregnancy. I had guessed the other kids right but he threw me for a loop. I wasn't as sick with this pregnancy so it felt a lot like my Gracie. I was more sick with the boys. Apparently that isn't so much an indicator for me after all. I wasn't at all disappointed to add another boy to the family. He is already such a little sweetheart and we can't get enough of him.

The boys fight over who gets to hold him. Gracie is indifferent to having him there. Although I can tell she is just fine with being the little princess of the family. She will be lucky to have three brothers to watch over her.

I love having a newborn in the house again. There really is a special spirit that they bring and each time I have another I realize how quickly they leave the newborn stage and grow up. I find myself just cuddling cheek to cheek with him and not ever wanting to put him down. I am tired, but I have never been happier and can't believe I am now a mother of four.

The Bleach Blues

This morning at 4:00 am I had a rude awakening. I don't know why, but the spirit likes to wake me up in the wee hours of the morning and give me revelation that I don't expect and leave me sleepless. This happened on my last blog post when I wrote about my dad's passing at 5:00 am and then this morning I couldn't fall back asleep after having a nightmare at 4:00, so here I am.

The reason I originally woke up was because I was having a nightmare about bleach. Yesterday an entire bottle of bleach tipped over on the floor of our laundry room without me knowing and pretty much ruined every piece of clothing in the dark load of laundry I had sitting there ready to go in. As I went through the ruined clothes yesterday ready to cry with each one I picked up out of the wet mess I just kept telling myself "clothes can be replaced, they are only clothes." I think I did this so I wouldn't start balling. I was so mad at myself for putting that new bottle of bleach on the floor, lid loose, just waiting to tip over when the dryer next to it turned on. I was so mad at myself as Haken saw his favorite monster shirt with spots all over it and went into another room to cry. It seriously broke my heart. I just kept thinking "laundry isn't that hard, this is your job!" Three of my maternity shirts were ruined, after I had just found cute outfits to go with them this week. Feeling confident in what I wear hasn't been my strong point this pregnancy so I was pretty let down that I now had less options to work with. I know, first world problems right?!

Anyway.... as I laid there lamenting my bleach woes and unable to sleep, I got on Facebook on my phone. As I was scrolling I thought "why the heck do I even get on here?" Every time I get on Facebook I think, "that was not worth my time at all." Then I started thinking about how I spend my time and how much time is wasted everyday. By the end of the day about half of my checklist is done. I used to feel like such a productive person but now I wonder everyday where my day has gone. This week has been especially hard because it has been freezing outside, Gracie has had a cold, and we haven't had much scheduled so we just haven't left the house. The kids have watched way more TV than usual because I just don't know what to do with them when they can't go outside. Jack has become a little obsessed with the Wii so we have had to set rules. I can't say that I blame him, I would be bored too. You would think this would make for a productive week at home, but I don't really have much to show for it. I'm actually not really sure where all of my time went. 

This morning I am making a commitment to start over before the winter comes in full force. I am going to disconnect, evaluate my priorities, and start over fresh. My kids need more time with me. I need more time with them. My spirit and my house need a deep cleaning. Clothes can be replaced, time can not. Life is too short to cry over spilt bleach.