Lake Powell

September seemed to be a whirlwind of a month. Only two days after my birthday Brad and I flew to Las Vegas to meet up with his family for one of the best vacations we've ever had. I kept telling people we were going to a family reunion, and Brad kept correcting me and saying we were going on a family vacation. Apparently a family reunion means a 100 people (80 of which you don't even know), team building (or should I say family building) exercises, lots of hot dogs, and custom-made matching family t-shirts. Our Lake Powell family VACATION was nothing like that. At all.

Lake Powell is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. It's seriously like a little oasis in the middle of the desert. We drove 5 hours from Vegas to Powell and not once did we see a tree or a single drop of water. Then all of sudden we turned a corner and there was a huge lake right in front of us. Definitely a breath-taking sight.

We rented a house boat for the week and Uncle Mike and Lindy brought their boat and jet skis.

Although none of the plans for activities during the day came to fruition, we all had a great time just hanging out on the boat or on the beach relaxing from the stresses of everyday life. Brad and I were constantly out on the boat or racing on the jet skis. I even learned to wakeboard (ok, not really. I just got up on the wakeboard and crashed like 3 seconds later, but, in my defense, I had never tried it before in my life. So I think I did pretty good. However, I'll probably just stick with skis from now on.)
There was a slide off the back of the house boat, and Chloe and I went down it probably about 1000 times, no joke. We also made friends with the huge carp that liked to hang out underneath and right beside the boat. They probably knew there were 5 little kiddos on board, and they would get some yummy scraps that accidentally (or not so accidentally) got thrown overboard. Chloe also let me take her out on the jet ski, and we got up to a whopping 14 miles an hour before she got scared for her life. But we sure did have a blast going super slow.
One afternoon some of us were able to get out and go over to West Canyon for a little hike. This was most definitely the highlight of the trip for me. The boat ride to get there seemed almost magical. We had high canyon walls on either side of us and bright blue and green water beneath us.

The further we got back into the canyon the more constricted the waterway became. We were more than careful as we slowed down to a crawl and everyone had their hands out ready to guard the side of the boat against the rocks. We finally tied up, climbed out, and got started on our hike. For the whole trip I hadn't seen any sign of vegetation other than a tiny brown srub, but it seemed like we had stumbled upon a tiny forest in West Canyon. There were trees and bushes all around.

Since Valeri didn't come on this hike with us Brad took over as acting photographer. I think he got some pretty good shots.

 And here's one of us:

On our way out of the canyon we ran over a log (we didn't see said log and we were going super slow). Well, turns out that it bent the prop so badly that we had to idle the whole way back to the house boat. Two hours. Poor baby Katie was starving and the only thing we had was a sucker I carelessly threw in my backpack before we left. That sucker entertained her for almost an hour though. She loved it! Of course we had no cell phone service so we couldn't call anyone back on the boat to let them know what happened. We just idled and idled the whole way home. By the time we got there Neil, David, and Mike were looking for the search and rescue number because they were sure we had gotten lost. Luckily we all made it back safe and sound, which is more than I can say for the boat. For the rest of the trip we had used the jet skis to get around.
Brad and I loved the West Canyon hike so much that we decided to go back the next day and explore a little more. After a few miles we found some awesome narrows that we had to swim through to get to the other side. It was some of the coldest water I've ever been in. The narrows were surrounded by high canyon walls and the path was only a few feet wide, which meant it never got any sun. It was also stagnate, disgusting, and smelt like cow manure. We also smelt like cow manure when we were through. If you've ever swam through a water-filled canyon you'll what I mean when I say I was completely banged up by the time we were through. It's pretty much impossible to see anything underneath you, which means occasionally you swam right into a huge rock just below the surface, which means I did it every 5 seconds. When we were out my knees and ankles were a bloody mess, and I was praying they wouldn't have to be amputated due to some nasty disease that got in the cuts. But it was amazing. The other side was another forest full of trees and plants and flowers, and I even think I heard some birds chirping. Unfortunately we didn't have a waterproof bag for our stuff, so we had to leave the camera behind, but we got some great pictures of the other parts of the hike.

 neat editing, courtesy of Brad Andersen

 Keens were our best friends on this trip.

We slept outside (mainly because we don't have a baby which means we don't really need a bed, and since Brad is the youngest we get last dibs on everything) and got to see the stars. I've missed being able to see the whole night sky lite up with stars. There's nothing quite like a desert night, in that regard.

Sleeping outside also meant lots of bugs. If all the lights on the top deck were turned off they weren't too bad, but even if one little headlamp came flickering on the bugs were immediately swarming. Here's a picture of them congregated off the back end of the boat where one light was on. It's hard to distinguish individual bugs since they move so quickly and their wings were reflecting the light, but you get the point. Insane.

 I woke up with bugs entangled in my hair, and I'm sure I swallowed enough to fill my quota for the next 30 years. We went to bed when the sun went down and woke up when the sun came up. We took baths in the lake and played till our hearts' content.

 We got to experience good food, a birthday party, great company, and some serious tantrums.
Thanks to all who made it possible!

photo courtesy of Valeri Andersen

And a special thanks to Mike Powell who graciously stopped the car in St. George on the way back to Vegas so we could partake in some long overdue Cafe Rio!

 photo courtesy of Valeri Andersen

Love, Brad & Courtney

this.is.HILARIOUS! 

Brad & Courtney

Hello 23

I started this post a week before I turned 23, now almost 2 months later I'm finally getting around to finishing it.

Per request of my big sister Valeri, a birthday interview with yours truly. I'm sure no one will be interested in reading this besides Valeri, so my dear, this is dedicated to you. Feel free to stop reading and come back later when I've posted more pictures if you get bored. I will take no offense to that.

Favorite thing to eat: Pizza. Any kind. All kinds. Every day. All day. All-time favorite - Mellow Mushroom. Brad definitely never caught the pizza bug, and unfortunately probably never will. He'll put up with it and eat it when I cook it or when I beg to go get some, but if I give him more of a choice he'll always choose something else. I love to save a few pieces and stash them in the refrigerator and eat them COLD in the morning. There's just nothing quite like cold pizza for breakfast.
I also love pasta. Recently I've been on a baked ziti kick. And before that it was cajun chicken pasta.
And you can never go wrong with bread. Sometimes I'll just pull a few pieces from the loaf and chow down. I don't put anything on it or toast it. I love rolls, homemade bread, pumpkin rolls (probably not considered a bread since it doesn't have yeast, but it does have flour - so I'm counting it), French bread, bread sticks, cheese sticks, pretzels, pretty anything with tons of carbs.

Favorite TV shows: The Bacherlorette/The Bachelor. Don't judge. I never really cared for these shows until my best friend Sara introduced me to them. On the night of the season finale, one of our roommates was having a church meeting in our living room, so Sara couldn't use the TV to watch The Bachelor. She decided that she would go accomonder her now husband Steve's TV. And since I didn't want to wait by myself up in my room until the meeting was over downstairs I went with her. And I've never looked back. Yes, it's overly dramatic. Yes, it's completely ridiculous. And yes, it's lame reality TV. But I love it.

We also like to watch Glee. It used to be really good when they would write the storyline and then find songs that fit into want they wanted to show, but now that they're writing more and more episodes around particular songs or artists we don't like it so much.
Raising Hope is a show that we accidentally stumbled upon. Back when we had cable and watched Glee on our TV and not through the internet, we left it on after Glee was over. Raising Hope comes on right after. It's absolutely hilarious, and we got sucked in. We love it because there's no bad language, no innuendos, no sex. It's just a good sitcom about an unusual family.

We also loved the show Outsourced on NBC, but apparently no one else did because it got cancelled.
Again don't judge, but we definitely love us some reality TV. Teen Mom (Brad actually hates this show and leaves the room when I turn it on), and MTV's The Challenge.

Favorite movies: If you know me and are a movie critic, you've learned to not listen to me in the least bit when I talk about movies I like. Why? Because I honestly like everything I see. Granted over the years there are definitely been movies I haven't cared for and haven't even finished watching. But I totally get sucked into everything else. I've only ever met one other person like this - my dear friend Steve. Actually for his birthday, Sara said he wanted some new movies and asked me to pick them out because we liked the same kinds of things. Unless I absolutely LOVE a movie I won't watch it twice. I find no joy in watching something where I already know the ending and how the characters made it there. My all-time favorite movie is The Boondock Saints. I could watch this movie everyday for the rest of my life and never get bored.

                                                       
Actors I love: Hugh Jackman, Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Gerard Butler, Liam Neeson

Musical artists I love: Relient K has always been a favorite of mine since high school.


I also love Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift, Van Halen, Journey, Boston Metallica, Breaking Benjamin, Alkaline Trio, Bowling for Soup, Cher, Josh Turner, and Nickleback. As evident from this short list of my favorites, I will listen to almost anything and love it. But if I don't absolutely love it, I'll never listen to it again. What can I say, I know what I like, and I stick with it.

Favorite Christmas song: Without a doubt, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." Every version I'd heard is just as great as the last. A new favorite (as of last year) is "A Baby Changes Everything." I heard it while watching Faith Hill's Christmas program on PBS at my in-laws on Christmas Eve.




Favorite hymn: I've been told that when I was a baby my grandmother would rock me to sleep while singing "While of These Emblems We Partake," and I've always loved that song. I can just picture my wonderful grandmother lovingly rocking her first grandbaby to sleep and already instilling in her a love of music and the gospel. In fact, that very song was the first hymn I ever learned to play on the piano. And I get giddy when I see 174 on the second row of the hymn number holder by the organ in the chapel on Sunday mornings. As I gotten older and gone over bumps in the road that have seemed to try me to my very core I've developed a new but just as meaningful relationship with the hymn "Be Still, My Soul."

Be still, my soul: The Lord is on they side;

With patience bear they cross of grief or pain.

Leave to they God to order and provide;

In every change he faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: Thy best, they heavenly Friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: Thy God doth understake

To guide the future as he has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

...

Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

The topics listed for this hymn are assurance, comfort, encouragement, faith, guidance, hope, patience, peace, and trials. It's amazing how quickly this song seems to pop into my head and how almost instantaneously I feel assured, comforted, encouraged, faithful, guided, hopeful, patient, and my now still soul is filled with peace.

Favorite primary song: "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus"

Favorite scripture story: The brother of Jared. When I was younger my parents taught me that if I had enough faith in God I could literally move mountains. Oh, how I tried to move mountains. I honestly thought in my 5 year old mind that if I just believed hard enough that I could do it, the mountains would move at my command. It wasn't until I few years later when I was old enough to fully comprehend the story of the brother of Jared that I realized not only did I have to believe in myself, but I had to believe in God. I knew I wouldn't be able to move a mountain just for the heck of it, Heavenly Father would need that mountain to be moved and perhaps one day He would entrust me to do it. Only after I thought of that solution on my own, of course. :-) Just like the brother of Jared.

Current church calling: Second counselor in the Young Women's Presidency. This is beyond a shadow of doubt the hardest calling I have ever had. In my home ward we had a good 25-30 young women the whole time I was there, and they still do now. I've always wanted to be part of the young women's organization, because of how much I loved it growing up. We had wonderful activities that taught us valuable lessons. The ward we're currently in is unlike any other ward I've ever been a part of. Only about half of the ward members have jobs, and only 1/3 have cars. Most Sundays we barely fill the chapel and most members have at least 2 callings because of the sheer number of people who attend church but are unable to hold callings. We have 40 kids in primary - all home schooled or enrolled in private elementary schools (most likely paid for with scholarship money). We have ... drum roll, please ... 4 young women. We only had 2 for the longest time, but we just had 2 convert baptisms. There are about 3 young men. The school systems around here are pretty terrible, so as soon as kids turn school age most parents up and move to a different district. Leaving us with no youth. Many Sundays we come to church with a wonderful lesson planned and no girls to teach. When Wednesday comes around we have spent hours planning a fun activity and no way shows. I hate to say it, but I developed an apathy for my calling. Not for the girls. I would do anything to help them out whenever they needed it, but it's hard to constantly care when it seems no one else does.

A calling I would enjoy: Young Women's in a ward with a large[r] youth group.

Favorite holiday: Honestly, it's Halloween. No joke. I love dressing up as someone else and pretending to live in their shoes for a night. I love planning my costume, putting in lots of effort, and having people admire what a great job I did. Egotistical? Yes. True? Absolutely. And let's face the facts, I'm pretty much addicted to candy. So there's no better holiday for me in that aspect. I also love that Halloween is centered around children (if you don't account for the "sexy" [aka. slutty] adult drinking parties). It is a holiday where adults focus on the children in their home and those coming to their home. The children pick their costumes and get to be whatever they want to be for one magical night. Adults carefully pick out candy and treats for the little ones visiting their doorstep during the night. How wonderful! And here's a sneak peak of our fabulous Halloween (stay tuned for a whole post dedicated my favorite holiday):

Favorite candy: Sour Patch Kids and Now and Laters (only the red one though).

Favorite smells: Nutmeg, ginger, and pumpkin (reminds me of Thanksgiving). Nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and apples (reminds me of Christmas).

Places I'd love to go: Check out my Pinterest board dedicated solely to the places I WILL one day visit.
http://pinterest.com/candersen/oh-the-places-i-ll-go-someday/

What I want to be when I grow up: Oh, this has been a long road. After changing my college major no short of 5 times and finally receiving my degree in Human Development, I decided I didn't want to do anything with it. Now that I've been a college grad for over a year and a half, I've finally realized what I want to be when I grow up - an occupational therapist. If you don't know what that is, look it up. I have one semester of per-requistes left to take (because I graduated not knowing what I wanted to do with my life and therefore, not having all the classes I needed) and one huge test left to take (ahhh, the dreaded GRE), and I'll be ready to apply to grad school. And yes, you will have to call me Master Andersen when I'm finished.

Biggest pet peeves: All have to do with driving. I don't use the word "hate" loosely here. I hate when people neglect to turn their blinkers off. It seriously drives me insane. I have to speed up and get around them or I literally will go crazy. Do they not hear the blinking sound constantly going off in their car? Or the signal still flashing on their dashboard? And along those same lines, I hate when people don't use their signals at all. How in the world am I supposed to know that you're planning on cutting me off by jumping into my lane while I'm driving 70 miles an hour if you don't signal? People in Atlanta must not know how to use their signals because everyone either has them on constantly or never uses them at all. Some days I seriously yell at people in my car because I get so frustrated.

What I hope to accomplish in the coming year: I WILL run a 5K. My sister, Brittney and I are planning on signing up for one around Christmas time. I WILL apply to graduate school and get accepted. I WILL spend everyday loving my husband even more than the day before. I (hopefully) will develop a better sense of interior decorating. I WILL makes some of the crafts/clothing/home decor that I pin everyday on Pinterest.

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So what did I actually do for my birthday? Well it was wonderful as usual. Brad knows how much I love birthdays (not just mine, but eveyone's) and always tries to make 9-14 extra special for me.

Brad came home from work for lunch and surprised me with Chick-fil-A, one of my favorites. But not so much a favorite for him, so we don't get it that often. He also graciously wrapped a cell phone cover I bought for myself and totally blew me away when I opened a brand new iPod Touch! My 5 year old iPod died just days before and my wonderful husband had already bought me this new one, which turned out to be a fantastic coincidence. The opening night of Wicked also happened to be on my birthday, and knowing how incredibly obsessed I am with it, Brad told me he would be a horrible husband if he didn't take me to see it ON MY BIRTHDAY. It was wonderful.

My mother-in-law, Susie surprised me with some awesome capris, new cutting boards, and new turbie twists. For those of you who don't know what those are, they're small towels with an elastic loop on the back so you put your hair in it, twist and loop it in the back. I can't live without them. You can learn everything you every wanted to know about them and more on their website.

 Brad and I also stopped by the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield. They covered a field in American flags, each one representing someone who had died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was quite the sight to see.

Love, Courtney

Apple Orchard

A couple weeks ago (so maybe like a month ago), we went with some friends to a local (as in an hour and a half away) apple orchard. I got this great deal on Groupon, and our admission was more than half off. The orchard advertised an apple cannon, which Brad was more than a little excited about due to his previous experiences with an apple slingshot.

The apple cannon was a bit of a disappointment. Okay, a lot bit of a disappointment. We waited in line for probably about an hour only to shoot 15 mangled apples. The boys working this over advertised attraction weren't too careful when they were stuffing the apples into the cannon. Several times they mashed the apple as they were shoving them as far as humanly possible into the cannon head with their huge metal poles. So when you pushed the button to shoot said apples, a ginormous mess of crushed chunks flew out instead of a nice whole fruit. Oh well. Such is life.

Next we made our way to the petting zoo/farm, where we saw the cutest thing since baby Killer.

A four day old baby goat. Which we got to hold.

 After the boys had finally gotten tired of Kacee and me awing at the cuteness of the kid, we left to go pick us some apples.

We also visited the orchard's old country store and had about a gizzlion "take one free samples" of fresh apple cider and apple slices straight from the trees. I decided I wanted an apple tree in my future backyard.

Love, Brad & Courtney

Bugs

One of the things I hate about the south is bugs. I grew up in Tennessee, where I'm certain that there were just as many bugs. But I seem to have completely forgotten all about them after living in Utah for 4 years, where it's either too cold or too hot to support the creepy crawly lifestyle. Most bugs I really don't mind too much, but there are a few in particular that I can't stand. Roaches are definitely at the top of the list. Gross. Coming in at a close second are these lovelys, which seem to think our home is their home.

Brad is trying to hold his finger up close to it, so you can see that it's just as long as his pinky, but if you get too close to them they run away, so that's as good as it gets.

Say hello to the House Centipede. Here are some more pictures from google, just so you get a good idea for what we're dealing with.

 Please pray that we never get one this size. I'd probably pass out then it would come eat me.

These little boogers could outrun a cheetah. No doubt about it. But how could they not be fast with all those legs? Ewww...I'm shuddering and nervously looking around my house while I'm writing this. The first glimpse I got of the House Centipede was right after we moved into our new apartment in the middle of May. One morning, while Brad was still sleeping (of course this would happen when no one was around to help me) I was sitting on our living room floor unpacking some boxes. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye I see what at the time looked like a monster running toward me. That's right, it was running toward me. These aren't your normal bugs who are more scared of you then you are of them. Oh no. They're brave. I quickly jumped up and yelled for Killer to get it (one of her favorite things to do is chase bugs and bark and bark until we kill them). Well, she scared it under a box. I told myself to breathe, I built up some courage, and pushed the box over. No centipede. Where had it gotten to in such a short time? Killer and I spent a few more minutes looking, but to no avail. When Brad woke up I told him all about this other-worldly bug that had almost attacked me. He thought I was over-exaggerating, and I can't blame him. These bugs do lend themselves to dramatic stories. Well, guess who was waiting for him on the wall right outside our bedroom door? My monster. Gasping from sheer surprise and quickly realizing I was not exaggerating, Brad got a paper towel and eventually killed the thing after it gave him a good run for his money. 

That was only the first of our many encounters with said monster. One afternoon I was sitting on the couch (most likely writing a blog post...HA!...not so likely), and I see one scurry across the wall in front of me. I run to grab a shoe (I'm not as brave as Brad, who trusts only a thin paper towel in between his hand and the bug). I come back to the bug only to see it bury itself in between the carpet and the baseboard. Once again, Killer and I diligently search for it. We give up (and I keep my bare feet off the floor). Next thing I know it's running for me. When I look at it, it quickly hides under a magazine laying on the floor. When it thinks I've relinquished my gaze it comes back out. I chase it around for a while and eventually squash it. Stealthy little things they are.

We've also killed several babies, who are just as stealthy and just as fast. Killer has gotten really good at catching them and injuring them enough so they can't run so fast and keeping them trapped in one spot until we can come finish it off. They always get flushed. I don't care that they're squished inside a paper towel. I just can't help imagining them crawling one after the other out of the trash can. Drowning is always my go-to with these bugs (and almost anything else I catch).

We also get some gnarly spiders and lots and lots of mosquitoes. Moths are puppy favorite. Since they can fly and never come down to her level, Killer has a grand ole time chasing them all around the house. Yesterday we had a lizard. Brad joked that we should have kept it and let it run around and eat all our other bugs. 

Now that the weather's cooling down I'm hoping the bugs are dying, and we'll get fewer and fewer greeting us on the inside. 

Love, Brad Courtney and the Bug Catcher

Fourth of July

Oh hey there blog. It's been a while. I thought it would be so easy to keep up with posting on you everyday or at least every week when I first started, but then I quickly learned that it's much easier to fill my time doing other things. And, well, I'm not that great at scheduling extra things into my allotted 24 hours each day. But from now on I will try my darnedest to post something, anything a little more frequently for anyone out there wanting to read about our crazy awesome and exciting life, but mainly for me so that I can remember all the wonderful things that happen in that life.

Today I'm reaching WAY back into my arsenal and pulling out our trip to Wilmington for the 4th of July. My aunt, uncle, and cousin Noah live at the beach, and since we had a few days off of work and school we decided, "Hey, what the heck, we should drive the 7 hours to the beach and hang out with them." Little known fact about yours truly: I have a HUGE lead foot. Like really really bad. Whenever I drive anywhere by myself, Brad kindly reminds me before I leave to not drive too fast. I think part of the problem is that our little car doesn't have cruise control, so it's really easy for that lead foot of mine to start getting heavier and heavier and before I know it I'm going 90 in an 55. Which is exactly what happened in the last half hour of our drive to my aunt's house. (Well, let's be honest, that had been happening pretty much the whole 6 hours before that, but I hadn't gotten caught - big difference.) Well, before I could even think twice about slowing down I saw blue lights flashing behind me. Luckily, the police officer was the nicest person I've ever meet. I feigned being lost at 12:30 at night, and he took pity on me. All I got was a warning.

It was Killer's first time ever at the beach, and she didn't know what to do with herself she was so excited. She LOVED the sand. She'd never had so much sand to dig in. Heaven.

She also had a great time chasing her ball and laying on her grass mat. She liked the water, but the waves kind of scared her a little bit. They were 2 or 3 foot waves, so to little Killer I'm sure they looked like tsunamis.

Killer also had a great time playing with her cousin Mimzy and all her toys.

We went to a Wilmington Hammerheads (professional soccer team) game with Ron and Noah and watched their fireworks afterwards. A funny thing happened actually, we were sitting in the front row of the bleachers waiting for the fireworks to start and all of a sudden these huge sprinklers that shot out a TON of water turned on and started spraying us. The first time they sprayed us, and we got soaked we thought that the landscapers (who were down on the field) would quickly turn the sprinklers off, so we stayed in our seats. Well, we were wrong. We got sprayed a good three more times before we finally moved. They eventually turned the sprinklers off, but by that time we were dripping. Quite the night, but so fun!

Saturday morning their ward had a pancake breakfast in celebration of the 4th. Then we went to the beach again. Brad and Noah had a blast covering each other with sand.

 Brad turned Noah into SpongeBob, and Noah and Susan turned Brad into a beautiful mermaid.

  Killer graciously volunteered herself as a pillow.

Sunday night we shot off fireworks and enjoyed the last few hours we had with family. When Monday rolled around we sadly packed our bags and vowed to make going to Wilmington for the 4th a new tradition.

Love, Brad & Courtney