Happy Anniversary

CJ and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary on January 2nd. We had a very relaxing day. We have been looking on ksl.com for a dog. We found one that we wanted so we went and got her for our anniversary. Her name is Daisy and she is a 18 month old Great Dane. She was loosing her home and is very sweet. She is bigger than Maria and about four times the size of Carly. She is very aware of Carly though and really watches out for her. She is pretty well trained which I am happy about and CJ has always wanted a Great Dane so he is happy with her. We are excited to have Daisy in our family.

CJ and Maria getting to know Miss Daisy.

Maria and Daisy, you can't really see Daisy because she is black and the picture is so dark. I love Maria's big smile though. I think she is happy with our anniversary present.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We did a lot of things that we have not been able to do the past few years. Maria enjoyed her break from school, and Carly loved all of the lights. Carly was a little confused on Christmas morning with all of Maria's excitement. We had a wonderful holiday season, but like always I'm glad to get back to my normal schedule.

At Temple Square looking at the lights.

Maria and Carly in their Christmas Eve pajamas.

Carly happy with the candy that she got in her sock.

Maria Christmas morning.

Major Anderson

CJ became a Major on December 1st. He acted like it wasn't a big deal, but it was and I'm very proud of him. He does a wonderful job and whenever I talk to people that he works with they have nothing but good to say about him as a person and as a coworker. We had a lot of family come and that made CJ a little nervous, but we appreciate those that came and supported him. It was a very nice ceremony, and I would put his speech up against the greatest speeches in history. Maria and I pinned his new rank on and then were awarded flowers along with his mom during his speech. Maria was thrilled, and told me that it was the first time she has ever gotten flowers. We had refreshments provided by the Pharmacy and then it was over. My parents and Clint did stay for lunch, and we went to Burger Bar per CJ's request. It is a drive through so we put the seats down in the Land Rover and piled in so that we could eat together. I don't think that CJ was expecting that when he requested Burger Bar, but it was a nice tight lunch that we enjoyed together. It was a great day and I am very proud to be the wife of a military man.

Maria and I pinning on the new rank.

Presenting Major Anderson

A family photo after it was all said and done. Carly was just to interested with the flowers to look at the camera.

Maria's Dance Recital

Maria had a dance recital on the 14th of December. She has been taking dance for about 4 months now and I'm quite impressed at how much she has improved. Her class did two numbers and I thought that Maria did great. She looked great also. Her teacher had sent home a note explaining what to wear and on it she said that the girls could wear a little makeup so that they wouldn't look washed out while dancing. Maria loves makeup and was so excited. I put it on her and she thinks that she should get to wear it everyday. It's going to be a long ten years for her to wait for that one. She looked very beautiful.

Maria looking pretty.

Maria doing ballet to "I'll be a Little Angel".

Maria doing tap to "I Want Candy".

Ring Pops

Maria had gotten a ring pop at school one day and brought it home to eat. She opened it up and Carly immediately saw it, smelled it, and wanted some. Maria being the good big sister that she is gave some to her. Carly was hooked. Her face showed amazement at the fact that someone had combined some of her favorite things (suckers and binkis) and then given it to her. Maria didn't get much of her ring pop, but didn't care because she and I were laughing so hard at Carly. Carly sat on the rug for about 10 minutes while we watched and she ate her ring pop. In the end she was not at all happy that it was gone and headed for Maria's backpack looking for more. She didn't find any but I'm thinking she might get one in her stocking. I will put a bib on her before giving her the next one.

Carly and her ring pop. Anytime Maria or I would get close she would move over out of our reach and put her hands up as if she was protecting it from us.

The aftermath.

Our Christmas Tree

We went to Lyman for Thanksgiving and on Saturday we went up in the Uintas and cut down a Christmas tree. We walked for a few hundred feet and I saw a nice one from the angle that I could see. I mentioned to CJ that it looked nice and that was all he needed to hear. He had it cut before I could say otherwise. We got it home and decorated it and it is a very nice tree. We could have hiked all day and not found a better one. I guess CJ knew that and saved us all the trouble. It was a nice day and I am very pleased with our tree.

CJ and Maria playing in the snow waiting for Michael to find a tree.

Our Christmas Tree.

Decorating our tree.

First Snow Fall

We had our first of many snow storms a few weeks ago. Maria thought that it was the greatest thing in the world, and couldn't wait for the next one. She didn't have to wait long because the next one came a few days later, and then another one a few days after that. The novelty of it all wore off very quickly. She has enjoyed playing in it though and CJ was nice and went out with her to build a snowman.