Turning 24

Michael and Jill Andersen were married April 11, 1981.  He was a part of a family of 9 children and she, the oldest of 10.  After they were married they received the hard news that Mom did not produce a needed hormone that would enable her to have children.    They fasted and prayed and saw many doctors.  I imagine but cannot understand the difficulty of this trial.  Her faith was strong and we believed that she would be able to someday have her own children.  With being the oldest of 10 it was hard for Mom to watch younger siblings having children before her.  After 6 years of constant prayers they met with a doctor that wanted to try a hormone replacement - it was new and untested.  She wore a automated pump on her hip for over a year which constantly released that hormone into her body.  A year later they found out the miraculous news that they were expecting! (I'm sure that was a happy day!)  and on May 21, 1988 Michael and Jill Andersen brought their very own, extremely handsome baby boy into the world!

Today Nathan still had to get up at 5am to be to work by 6 at UIS but was able to catch a ride with TJ Barton so that I was able to have the car at home.  That was thoughtful of him.  I was grateful to have the car so I could make those errands to the store to get last minute ingredients for our homemade ice cream.  You should have seen my cart...oreos, caramel, half and half, whipping cream, gram crackers, powdered sugar...the only healthy things were strawberries (which were going in the ice cream) and apples. 

For his birthday we decided to celebrate by having a homemade ice cream party with friends and some family.  We had such a fun group {Amber & Matt Schooff, Haley & Able Sng, Sydney, & Nick Whipple (kiddos-Sam, Calvin, & Emery), Abby & Spencer, TJ & Tara Barton, Dustin & Amy Hanson (Kiddo-Luke), Andrew & Grace Henderson, Aunt Monique, Conner Henderson, James & Bethany Davis (kiddos-Alessia, Cardston, Parker & Landon) Paul Rasmussen, LeGrand & Becca Laing (Kiddos-Brayden, Addy, Sophie, Kolby & expecting Brielle) and of course, Nathan & I and our perfect little Harlito!}  Thanks to all the lovelies who came to help us celebrate!  We really enjoyed it!

I made 3 different flavors: coconut oreo, strawberry gram cracker, and caramel cashew

all seemed to be a hit

I heard the chocolate cake was yummy as well, hard to know for yourself when you didn't try it

{I didn't pull the camera out until I was almost done with the dishes...I'm so lame!}

Nathan Harlow Andersen

~24 Reasons Why I Love This Man~

1. He is HANDSOME!! 
2. He has a tender heart 
3. He's gentle, like his sweet mother
4. He is logical and level headed
5. He is a "fix it" man.  He can fix anything
6. He makes me laugh everyday, multiple times a day!
7. He takes me to the Temple
8. He leads our family in scripture study and family prayer
9. I love the way he holds me in his arms
10. He lets me know how beautiful I am and makes me feel beautiful by the way he treats me
11. He loves me deeply, tenderly, and passionately
12. He is a wonderful Daddy to Harlow.  I love watching him with his son, kissing him, making him smile, and holding him in a tight hug.  It makes me melt.
13. He knows how to work hard.  I know that no matter what were to happen he would find a way to work, take care of, and provide for us, his family.
14. He's GOOD to the core.  He wants to be good and do good.
15. He serves others selflessly, many times putting others needs above his own.
16. He gets along with all different personalities.  People just love and are drawn to him.
17. He's positive and optimistic.  He's not a service project for me and I don't need to be his cheerleader...that said, I LOVE being his cheerleader!  But I don't need to be all peppy all the time in order for him to be happy because he's already a happy guy(...I don't know if how I'm describing this is making sense...)
18. He is busy working hard at UIS and going to school at BYU.  I am so grateful that he's working, allowing me to be home with our little Harlow.
19. If he's going to do something he is going to do it right!  He is careful and particular.  He studies all his options and finds out which method, materials, and tools will be best.  He never does things half  way.  He gives it his all.
20. He sings to me!  I love his high tenor voice. I love how he's good at harmonizing(*because I am not!).  I love how he's witty and makes up his own words to the songs.  I love how we sing together.
21. He teases me, tickles me, scares me, and laughs the whole time he's doing it.
22. He loves his family, he loves my family.  I knew, before I married him, that family was important to him and that he would make our family a top priority and that's exactly what he's done!
23. He served a mission.  From the way he talks about those 2 years I know he wasn't just a missionary but that he was a GREAT MISSIONARY!  One who worked hard and loved the people.
24. Did I mention he is super good looking, lights up my life with his hugs and kisses, sweeps me off my feel, is pretty fine, dips me back in a long, low kiss, makes me feel like a beauty queen, is incredibly good looking, gives me chills when he plays with my hair, and is MY HOT MAN!

I'm 3 months old!!

May 14th - My 3 month birthday! :)

It was bedtime by the time I realized that we hadn't taken a picture of him yet...he was quite fussy so I snatched these few pictures before taking cranky pants off to bed

 And here he is, my little angel sleeping soundly.  He loves to be swaddled, "the tighter the better" for him.  He is such a doll & a huge blessing in our lives.

Some new things about our Harlito:

• He is one droolly guy, always has bubbles or a drool line coming out of his mouth.
• He smiles so cute! (...still haven't been able to catch one with my camera) He is the most smilely right when he wakes up & when he starts winding down & getting sleepy
• He tries to laugh which is adorable...he hasn't quite gotten it yet.
• He can't figure out what's happening to him when we tickle him.  He just gets a shocked look on his face & his arms & legs flare out...maybe that means he'll be ticklish.
•  Sometimes if he's lucky he will roll over.  He doesn't know how to get his arms in the correct position but if they happen to get there He flips himself right over.  He does it all the time, but I'm pretty sure its just luck.
• He likes to hear himself make noises.  He co's, ah's & plays with his tongue.
• His hands & mouth have met!  And he loves it!  He licks, sucks & gums his tiny hands all day.
• His newest trick is to stand up! He has strong legs.  He seems to like the view & sensation of standing.  Maybe he feels like a big boy.  He holds onto my fingers & up he goes.  His eyes get big & its just like he's saying "I did it!"
• His blonde/red hair has fallen out on top, while a little still remains at the base of his neck.  He was bald for a bit but it's coming back.  This cute spiky blonde hair has made its debut!  but you've got to be close to even see it, so alas, the world still sees my child as the perfectly round headed bald baby...its okay Harlow, your hair will keep growing & soon, all the ladies will be chasing after you
• He loves the water!  He has fallen asleep in the middle of bathtime more than once.  He even enjoyed his shower experience.  I am excited to take him swimming with me this summer, hopefully he likes that too...that water might be a little cooler, hope that's not a problem.
• He enjoys when Mommy & Daddy sing to him  
• He loves to eat!  My favorite is the look he gets on his face right before I feed him.  His eyes get all big & determined, he gets all wiggly.  It cracks me up...hard to take a picture of that face though...but I wish I somehow could

Harlow is the sweetest blessing in our lives.  He has brought even more love into this home than there was before, which I thought was pretty hard to do.  It is a dream come true to be a Mom and hold my son in my arms.  He's growing so quickly.  I love watching him learn and develop new skills.  I love seeing his face light up with a toothless smile when he sees my face & hears my voice.  I love how I can calm his tears.  It is a privilege and honor to be a Mother.  God is entrusting me with the stewardship of one of his children; to love, care for & teach him, to help him become the man He needs him to be.  A Mother's responsibility is next to Divinity and I thrill at the calling!  

I am a blessed woman!  I am a Mother!  

Harlow and his Daddy

When Nathan and I were dating I remember putting him through little tests...Seeing how he reacted in certain situations and around various people.  One of these tests was to see how he was around children, you know, to see if he'd be a good Dad.  Our old family friends Mike and Lynette Ray came into town to visit our family and Nathan came over.  They have kids big and small.  Nathan got down on the floor with the kids, tickling, wrestling and teasing them.  I fell more in love with him that day as I saw what a good and loving Father he could some day be. 

Now as the Father of our own little boy I watch him love on his son.  He can hardly contain his excitement to hold Harlow and can't give him enough kisses! The songs he makes up for his Harlito always have us laughing.  I love watching my boys!  Watching Nathan be the wonderful Dad he is makes me fall deeper and deeper in love with him everyday!

As a speaker in our ward recently said: "Deep relationships are built with Time, Over Time"

Nathan sure loves his little buddy!  

My Aunts are Cool!!

Nathan's sisters gave us this little shirt at Harlow's babyshower!  Only problem is that he has multiple Aunts: Kirsten, Becca, Emily, Brandi, Sara, Jenna, Whitney, and Ellie...see what I mean?!  And all of them are so cool :)  

Just wanted to say Thank You to all my beautiful sisters!  You are amazing women and such great examples to me!  I love that I can call and ask for advice, stay up late talking with you, laugh at all the dumb things we do,  go shopping, hug on you, feel/see your testimonies and just feel your love.  Harlow is one lucky dude to have so many lovely, wonderful ladies in his life! and so are his Mommy and Daddy!  We have the best sisters in the entire world.  I know I'm a better person because of all of you.  

Harlow sure loves all his Aunties and thinks they are way cool!!

Uncivil War 2012

Nathan grew up driving and fixing up remote control cars.  After we were married and moved to Utah he decided he wanted to try something a little different - now he flies remote control planes.  He started out on a flight simulator (*if you crash on the simulator it doesn't cost you any money...so you can learn to fly without smashing your plane all to pieces!) His first plane purchase was the Parkzone T-28 Trojan.  

Being the handy man he is he then wanted to build his own plane.
This one is his wing.  

The WidowMaker  

Fast and light weight - he built it and loves it!  Two weekends ago we got to go out to the sod farms near Lindon and Orem to participate in the Uncivil War.  60 planes in the air at the same time trying to crash into one another, go through obstacles, and just have a blast.  I'm telling you, these guys sure aren't afraid to bang up and crash their planes.  I was cracking up watching them.  Up to this point Nathan has been pretty careful with his plane and while there, I think we realized just how much damage these planes can take.  Nathan got in some crashes and hard landings and afterwards told me "this is so fun!!  Even if my plane were to get totally destroyed it'd still all be worth it!'

Crib!!

***It's official***

Harlow is now sleeping in his OWN crib, in his OWN bedroom!!!

Monday night, for FHE, Nathan and I went to Walmart and picked up his first mattress.  I was wheeling it around in the cart and could barely see around the huge thing!  I think I almost ran over about 15 people as I tried to maneuver the shopping cart around the store. 

Wahoo!  We're excited about this - especially Mommy cause she can now continue sleeping without being woken up by all his little tosses and turns.

Not only that but last night he set a new record.  Harlow slept continuously from 10 pm to 7 am!!!!
It was wonderful!  What a great early 1st Mother's Day gift :)

Just cause I'm cute...