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.