Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas! Among many wonderful gifts, we got one that really sucks. I mean really. It even sucks up dog hair, which is my favorite thing about it!

Merry Christmas!

Elder Anderson No More

We picked Patrick up at the airport around 4:45 PM today. He's certainly different, but in good ways. It sounds like he had a good mission, but I feel like we barely scratched the surface of the last two years. I wish Christmas vacation started tomorrow! Anyway, here is a picture from just before he left two years ago...

and a picture from today...

He seems happy, and it's fun to have him back. We are all looking forward to hearing more about the past two years... and about why his clothes are so big they are practically falling off him.

Thanksgiving Week

Matthew and Sarah, Isaac's brother and sister, came to visit us this week, arriving Tuesday night and heading back for BYU after Sacrament this morning. We thoroughly enjoyed having them, and hopefully Sophie was not too crazy for them. :)

Wednesday, Isaac worked a lunch shift, so I took Matthew and Sarah to eat at the Elephant Bar. I got a Greek salad I had never had before, and it was pretty good. We went to Mom & Dad's house for dinner; Mom's meal consisted of Mahi Mahi, shrimp and fresh pineapple among other things. Sarah, Isaac and I made chocolate chip cookies for Thanksgiving.

On Thanksgiving, we had Belgian waffles with syrup, whipped cream, strawberries or peanut butter, then we made deviled eggs and went to Grandma Anderson's house for dinner. We had all the traditional turkey, corn, potatoes, yams, stuffing, jello, rolls, a variety of desserts... I forgot to take pictures ON Thanksgiving: lame. I took a few the rest of the week though.

Friday, Isaac, Sarah and Matthew started the day early by going to Kohl's and Half Price Books for a little Black Friday fun, and I decorated for Christmas. I've been waiting so long! we went to Half Moon Bay and explored a couple of beaches around there. We ate at In'N'Out and watched Twilight in Union City. Thankfully, it was even better than some people expected it to be.

Saturday, we went to San Francisco. We went to Golden Gate park and saw the bisons, the windmill, the Cliff House, the Bath House ruins, and the beach. Isaac, Mandy, Sarah, and Matthew explored the old ruins, where Isaac and Sarah were drenched by a surprise wave. We ate incredible ice cream sundaes at the Ghirardelli Factory. I ran into a former student when we were getting salt water taffy and sourdough bread at Fisherman's Wharf. That night we played Cranium, watched football, and ate a fabulous dinner prepared by Isaac, the grill master/wave magnet.

My Birthday

I woke up to these flowers from Isaac and Sophie--so pretty!

I have always loved that my birthday is on a holiday that is small enough that most people aren't busy with family activities but big enough that there is no school. This year was no exception. Isaac and Dad took the afternoon off from work, and we picked up Grandma and went to a delicious lunch at the Cheesecake Factory at Stoneridge. Mom & Mandy picked all of us up, and Uncle Sean met us there.

We all had yummy lunches and got a chocolate mousse cheesecake (my very favorite) to go. We were there for a long time, but it was worth the wait.

We Voted!

I made Isaac take this cheesy picture with me... and I guess Sophie felt left out. Can you tell she jumped in the air just as the timer went off? She was trying to see what I was pointing at, so now my sticker isn't even visible, lol. Oh well. We did our civic duty.

Happy Halloween!

We moved Grandma Chase into an assisted living home Thursday. She is having a hard time adjusting. Mom, Dad, Uncle Sean and Mom's cousin Chuck moved stuff all day, and Isaac helped once he got off work. We all had dinner together, then Mom, Mandy and I took Grandma back and talked to her for a while. She was fine giving us a tour, and then suddenly lost it. She looked around, and said, "Wow. You moved my bed here... and my table and chairs..." like she hadn't noticed before. Her short term memory is totally shot. I stopped by to see her after school on Friday to show her my Halloween costume and see how she was doing, and she seemed to reset every seven minutes or so. We had the same conversation over and over...

Grandma: "You look so nice! I like your costume. Did you make it or buy it?"
Me: "Mom made it with the materials I picked out."
"It's so good to see you! It feels like ages... I don't even remember the last time I saw you. You were probably in high school. It's been so long, right?"
"No, I saw you yesterday."
"Really? What did we do?"
"We ate pizza for dinner."
"Oh." and then she proceeded to tell me about how she is forgetting stuff now, like that hasn't been happening for several years now.

It must be so hard for her to have everyhing constantly be new; she wakes up in the morning feeling like she is in a hotel but sees her own furniture and freaks out. It has been a rough few days. We hope she adjusts and gets friends soon to help her out.



For Halloween, we decided to be Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion for Halloween. We thought that the Cowardly Lion was a good fit for Sophie's personality, lol. She's the one who knocked over a little cookie tin the other day and was terrified of it until we put it away... Isaac ended up getting the chance to work, and we couldn't pass up an extra shift, so I went to the ward Trunk-or-Treat with just Sophie, but she was pretty cute once we got her calmed down so she didn't shake off her costume anymore. She certainly fit the part. She was afraid of the little running, screaming kids at first, but she is content to have them pet her, and to sniff them when they aren't looking, and lots of them liked to see the doggie dressed up as a lion, lol.


Isaac ended up getting off work a little early, and he came by for the last ten minutes or so. He wasn't in costume, but at least he got to say hello, and we took a family picture anyway.

Same old, same old

I almost can't believe it's been a month since we blogged... Then again, it's not like our every day is a bundle of wonder, lol. In the last month, we've done a few things mixed in with the working, looking for work, and other normal stuff.

We went to an A's game and sat with the BYU Alumni. The A's won.


We went to a birthday party for Danielle. Her kids are still as adorable as she is.


Last weekend, we went to a scavenger hunt hosted by anonymous members of the ward. I didn't figure out one until we got there that night, and I didn't figure out the other one until someone basically told me at the end, lol. They were very sneaky, and incredibly creative. It was so fun.


I still love my classes for the most part. Mom says this time last year, she was worried that I wouldn't last the year because it was such a hard year already, but I am enjoying this group of kids. They are FUNNY, and they understand sarcasm, and when I ask them to discuss, they actually do it. It's cool. :) Plus, I actually really like the sixth class I picked up. It's nice to have a period to really be able to test the newcomers and get them to talk, even if it's just simple things like "Today is Wednesday. Nhi is wearing a purple shirt." At least they're speaking English, which is what I'm supposed to get them to do, lol.

Isaac has another test with OPD this Saturday... we'll see how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed for the best because he would really like to leave Elephant Bar and start Academy someday. :)

Also, we are getting ready to move Grandma into a retirement place in Fremont at the end of the month. I'm so happy. It will be a relief to know that she is not on her own doing who knows what. Her memory has gotten horrible. Plus, it will be nice to have her so close that I can stop by to see her on the way home from work if I want to.

Okay, and I just took a break to clean up my dog's puke. Could you also keep your fingers crossed for my carpet? :( She developed (yesterday) a taste for the tomatoes growing in my parents backyard... BAD for doggies. Yesterday she was okay, but today she ate more tomato, and this apparently didn't set well. I hope that cleaned her out and she isn't sick so I have to take her to the vet. Poor dumb dog. :(