Click to Enlarge Image

Presenting the Anderson Family Musical!

Well, today is my last day in PA. It will be very sad to say goodbye to everyone here, but it will be wonderful to see Tim and be home again. (At least after I remove all the homemade spikes topped with raccoon heads from around our front steps, chase out any remaining rogue raccoons from the apartment, purchase a new shower curtain and pillowcase, and re-humanize Tim so that he can rejoin civilized society.)

Anyway, I'm sure that one of my Jean Anderson Certified "Extreme Photo Posts" will be forthcoming once I get home, complete with 7,500 pictures and some occasionally witty captions describing this fantastic vacation that I've had here in PA with Weston. In the meantime, I want to be sure to share what has shaped up to be the most entertaining aspect of this trip...

Let me start by saying that I adore Tim's family. They are certainly just as dear to my heart as my own family (after all, I've known them since I was 16). I've blogged about some of them -- Tim's mom, Tim's dad -- and I've previously described some of Tim's and my trips out here where we get to spend lots of time with all the family members.

But now, YOU are going to get to experience first-hand why I love Tim's family so much. Chris, Tim's younger brother (#3 of 6) made a movie trailer last week for the (fake) Anderson Family musical, entitled Ham in a Tree!!! The YouTube video is below, and if you're a hardcore fan of Tim and Jean and don't really know the rest of the Andersons, then I can tell you that I'm at the very beginning, acting very ditzy; Tim is about half-way through (2:03), spinning like a crazy man on the teacups at Disney World; and I'm one of the six voices (the soprano) at the end, singing "Ham in a Tree" (3:45). Plus, Weston is featured briefly at the beginning (0:15), and again half-way through during Killian's rap remix (1:35).

Tim's brother Chris (the guy at the beginning, whose autograph I'm getting) put together this entire movie, directing the scenes, writing the music, and editing the whole thing. (Remember him? He was the winner of my movie quotes challenge a couple months ago! Heads-up, single ladies, this eligible bachelor RM is heading back to BYU in the fall!! Haha!) The movie pretty much consists of inside jokes, so if you're curious, here's the brief background. (Just so you know, there are 6 kids in Tim's family: Tim, Dana, Chris, Mark, Jeremy, & Brett. Killian is Dana's son, my nephew.)

(1) The first song, "It's Not Easy Being Everybody's Favorite," sung by Chris, refers to a running family joke that Tim's mom supposedly loves Chris the most. The joke started around when Chris joined the Marching Knights' drumline (I was in the colorguard in my day, huzzah!), and she became really involved with that. She's a sport about it. :-)

(2) The second song, "You Look Miserable," is sung by Dana, and it's based on this blog post that she wrote.

(3) The third song, "I Pooped in da Wash," is sung by Brett. Dana made Brett a t-shirt once that said "I pooped in da wash," based on this random conversation they'd had, except she didn't have enough letters to spell "the washer," so instead the t-shirt said "da wash." Haha! (Can ya see why I love these people?)

(4) The fourth song, Killian's rap remix, was put together by Chris after he got Killian (23 months old) to say a bunch of things into the microphone. He is so cute!!!!!

(5) The fifth song, "What's the Point in Waking Up?," sung by Mark, refers to the fact that he's leaving on a two-year mission to Argentina in July, and has nothing to do right now except work a few hours a week and think about Argentina.

(6) The sixth song, "That Was My Hand," sung by Jeremy, refers to his knack for saying awkward things. He's kind of like Tobias on Arrested Development.

(7) The last song, "Ham in a Tree," is sung by six of us, featuring Tim's dad. One time when the family was out driving, Tim's dad pointed out what he thought was a ham in a tree. Turns out it was a just a nest or something, but it's been a family joke ever since.

Anyway, ENJOY!!! Great job, Chris!!! I love this family. You're so funny, Mrs. Anderson.

Tim Alone Journal Entries

[DAY 4]

I’ve had a bit of a stomach ache today, and I’m not really sure why. I wonder if the milk that I’ve been pouring on my peanut M&M’s for breakfast is too far beyond its expiration date. I thought that diluting it with that melted ice cream would extend its shelf life, but maybe it wasn’t enough. I’m sure I’ll figure it out…

The last few days have gone well. I’ve pretty much just been commuting to work, working, and commuting home. It’s so quiet here, and I’ve been sleeping pretty well. The bed’s been kind of colder than usual, but I’ve got a plan to remedy that: I’m going to leave the front door open tonight. There are always cats and raccoons rooting through the garbage cans, and I’m sure one of them will be lured in by the can of tuna fish I’ve emptied onto Jean’s pillow. How could it resist a nice snack and a warm bed?

[DAY 7]

Well, I think I’ve gotten most of the raccoons out. That probably wasn't the best idea; they're very territorial. And did you know that raccoons snore? I didn't either. They’re a wily bunch, too. A couple of them holed up in the linen closet and I had to empty the whole thing to get them out. I think most of the spare toilet paper will be salvageable, but some of those towels are going to have to go.

Besides that, it’s been pretty uneventful. I’ve been playing Xbox, watching movies, playing dress-up… I can’t believe they’ve only been gone for a week! The silence is starting to get to m—what was that?! Hold on…

Turns out the scary box under the window was just the radiator. Whew! Anyway…

I’ve noticed that the food supplies are getting rather low. Usually around this time, the cupboards fill up again with food to eat and ingredients to make meals and such. I think I know what’s happening… The raccoons have laid siege to the apartment! They’re stopping the flow of supplies in an effort to starve me out. I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but if you find this journal entry, please tell Jean and Weston that I love them, and that I'm sorry for cramming 11 cookies into the VCR.

[DAY 9]

Apparently the raccoon siege is worse than I thought. What started as a blockage of food supplies seems to have expanded to include clothing as well. I noticed the other day that my supply of socks and underwear was dwindling. It didn’t alarm me at first—like the food, this happens often: they start to run out but are replenished in the nick of time. But I’ve suddenly found myself out of clean clothes to wear. It looks like they are trying to deprive me of the necessities of food, clothing and shelter. I can’t leave, or they’ll lock me out! I know that’s what they’re doing.

I’ve managed to craft a toga-like garment from the shower curtain, and it really brings out the blue in my eyes. I’ll soon be finished with my bathmat briefs, and then I think I’ll move on to a pillowcase loincloth. Who’d have thought I could be so resourceful? Now I’ve just got to figure out how I’m going to get to work without the raccoons taking over the apartment…


[DAY 11 - TODAY]

I now know that long time without make conversation with wife make my words go away. I talk to work people, but not same. Tim sound like Hulk. Ha ha. Tim make raccoons go away. Tim very smart. He tells them there are treats in laundry room and then locks them in. They not get my apartment!

I hope Jean and Weston come home soon. Tim miss family. Tim want make talk with wife and make words come back. So quiet and lonely here. Maybe I open door and let raccoons come back in again after all. Raccoons no talk much, but they listen. And scratch. Oh, heavens, the scratching…

Pray for Mojo.

Look at Me, I'm in PA!!

Yes, Tim was right. Apparently the technology for blogging DOES exist in Pennsylvania. I've been here for four days already, and thought that I probably ought to go ahead and write a blog post.

It's going great!!! Before I left, I was so worried about being here WITH Weston but WITHOUT Tim's help. But so far, it's been fine, and as a matter of fact, I think Weston's adjusting and doing better every day (with sleeping, getting to know the relatives again, and other types of acclimating). I got the worst over with first -- my day of travel on Saturday started with a two-hour delay in Orange County. Then, on both flights, Weston slept for just 20 minutes and spent the rest of the time either playing calmly with toys or munching on snacks (yay), or fussing and writhing and crying because he was so exhausted (boo). For the first three nights in PA, he still seemed to have a lot of difficulty sleeping. It would take him 2-3 hours to fall asleep, and then he'd repeatedly wake up crying (which, because we're sharing a room, inevitably woke me as well). But last night, the kid slept GREAT. Plus, for both Tuesday's and today's naps, he's gone down just fine. Phew! Hopefully the adjustment period to a new house and a new room and a new crib has passed.

But really, Weston is being wonderful. While before I was worried that my trip would be extra stressful with him, it's actually turned out to be extra fun with him. We're going to stores, going to restaurants, going to fun places, and best of all, we're spending lots of time with the family (who, happily, seem to also love spending time with us). Weston is especially having a ball with his 22-month-old cousin Killian. They like to chase each other around and giggle at each other. Yesterday they spent a few hours together, and they kept doing this really sweet thing where they would approach each other and lean their little foreheads together affectionately. IT'S SO DARLING!!!!

So, the vacation-for-no-reason appears to be shaping up nicely so far. If you've been on Facebook, then you'll know that most of the highlights of my trip thus far have been food-related:

-Wawa soft pretzels
-Hearth Baker hoagie (on a REAL hoagie roll, which is very difficult to find outside this area)
-Asher's chocolate-covered pretzels
-Chik-Fil-A sandwich (yes, we have it in CA, but it's like 40 minutes away)
-Tastykakes
-Utz tortilla chips
-Merrymead ice cream

Oh, Pennsylvania yumminess! Many more local food gems remain to be experienced, so I'm sure this trip will continue to be gastronomically delightful.

Plus, there have been other non-food highlights as well (believe it or not):

-Seeing Gangy, Grandalf, Grandma, and Grandpa
-Seeing all the uncles & aunt
-Seeing Weston's future BFF Killian
-Seeing Gigi, Weston's great-grandmother
-Watching Weston fall in love again with his extended family
-Waking up on Tuesday morning to a beautiful, gray, rumbly, crackly, East Coast thunderstorm (they just don't make 'em like that in CA)
-Going on walks around the very green and very quiet neighborhood
-Driving around the town where I grew up

So, it's been fun, although I miss Tim terribly, and I know he misses us, too. Probably the best highlight of the trip was something written especially for me in our local newspaper, The Reporter. Some people around here call it "The Distorter" because it is notoriously famous for its spelling and grammatical errors. Evidently, this past Saturday was our town's 32nd annual Lansdale Day celebration on Main Street. So of course, that was the big headline in the Sunday edition of the paper. And guess what it said in huge letters across the top of the page?

"CELEBRATING LANSALE"

The name of this town is Lansdale. With a "D." Not Lansale.

Sigh.

I love it here. :-)

Tim's All Alone! [Day 1]

So, as many of you know, Jean and Weston have gone back to PA to visit family while I stay here in SoCal and bring home the bacon. Delicious, crispy bacon. I also have a full-time job, and taking two consecutive weeks off seemed unfeasible as I've just recently begun my employment.

She'll probably be able to do blog posts from PA; I believe the technology exists out there. But she may also be kind of busy, so I thought I'd post once in a while just to make sure you all know I'm okay. You don't want to read about me being discovered by the neighbors who "smelled something funny next door..."

So far, I miss them already. But I've also taken advantage of the opportunity to run around the house in my underpants, jump on the bed, and leave the toilet seat up-- all while blasting that rock music the kids today fancy so much. I had cotton candy for dinner, and I'm going to have a bowl of Peanut M&M's with milk for breakfast tomorrow. I'm going to wear sneakers to church, too.

I'll be just fine...

Photography 101

Well... what a difference a good camera makes!!! The new camera is here, and we've been playing with it for the past several days. Which means, Jean has undergone a crash course in basic photography! Yeah, I've never taken a photography class, and I know nothing -- NOTHING -- about it. ("Durrr... point and click, right?") Tim's been trying to teach me, but I'm kind of a slow, stubborn, easily distracted student. Nevertheless, it's been eye-opening.

For instance, did you know (of course you did, you're NOT retarded) that taking a great picture means basically accounting for two things: light and motion? Supposedly, the "aperture" relates to light (wider aperture = brighter picture, narrower aperture = dimmer picture), while the "shutter" relates to motion (fast shutter speed = crisp picture, slow shutter speed = blurry picture). Then, with those two things working together in the correct ratios, you get the picture you want. Who knew?? ... Um, EVERYONE except me, hahaha.

So, I'm learning. Here are a few photos and samples of our learning:

This is the very first picture that Tim took on the new camera (naturally of the most beautiful thing in our entire world):

And here's one of my first pictures, of Weston in his stroller at the zoo. This is the raw version:
And this is the processed version (even if we're not the best photographers in the world, at least Tim is a Photoshop genius):

Here's a waterfall at the zoo, utilizing a super-fast shutter speed (but only as fast as the amount of light would allow, I learned):

And here's the same waterfall, using a slow shutter speed (and thus allowing in more light as well):

Woo! I was on a roll!! Aside from all the photo experimentation, it was a pretty typical trip to the zoo. Weston wore his leash:

And he pushed around his stroller:

And he ate some snacks:

And we gazed at some lovely zebra hindquarters (seriously, what's a trip to the zoo without it):

Later that day, we went to Shane's Inspiration, which is pretty much the greatest playground in all of L.A. We continued with our photo experimentation:

For instance, our old camera (bless its little heart) could NEVER capture a picture like this:

Or like this:

Because Shane's Inspiration is an accessible playground, most of the structures accommodate wheelchairs, which means that Weston can run and explore and play on his own, without having to stop and get help from us with going up stairs and what not. I'm lovin' the independent play!!!

And I think he was lovin' it too:

That night, Tim and I stayed up much too late playing with our camera some more. (I took this picture of him -- isn't he adorable??):

Then I took this picture, with a slow shutter speed. It's Ghost Tim!!

Then I practiced with the focus, while Tim held up random items like the sport that he is:

We went outside and took a bunch of pictures of the intersection near our house. Tim processed this one, and as much as I hate living by a big intersection, it looks almost pretty here ("pretty" in a city kind of way, mind you):
Then we came back in and played with a low shutter speed + Tim's mini lightsaber keychain. We waved around the mini-lightsaber in the dark while the other person held the camera steady. Here's Tim's secret message:

And mine:

Next we tried the "creative" settings on the camera, like the portrait setting. The cool thing about this setting is that it takes pictures over and over again in quick succession. We got a LOT of weird faces from trying this... this is probably the most normal of all of the "portraits":

And finally, I practiced the extreme close-up (in this case, with our mini-tripod). This will be a good technique to use for all the cute cupcakes I eat!!!