Oh My Awesome Friends!!!

I've had a lot of good times with good friends lately.  Can I just reiterate how fabulous it is to live in Utah, where perhaps 25% of my friends also live (thus allowing me to see them often), and where perhaps 80% of my friends have at least one family member (thus bringing them to the area for visits), and where 100% of my friends SHOULD visit (what with the awesome eating and sightseeing and recreation, not to mention our luxurious air mattress that is just waiting for you)...?!  SO fabulous.  LOVE IT!!!  LOVE being able to see so many friends so often!!!

So, first off (in chronological order) ... ALLISON!

Allison and her hubster Ted were here for the summer for a law clerkship.  Fortunately for me (and I suppose for them), Ted recently found out that he scored a full-time position, so I'll get to see these crazy folks again soon.  WOOHOO!!!  The thing that I love about Allison is that she loves food almost as much as I do, so naturally, I suggested that we spend our GMO (girls' morning out) eating doughnuts and visiting the SLC Farmer's Market. :-)

She loves this.

Can you see how much she loves me and my ambush-photography?

Hahaha!  Anyway, we went to the BEST doughnut shop in SLC, of course: Banbury Cross!  (Or as Weston says, "Banbury Foss.")

So much sweet, luscious, doughy goodness!  AHH!  Yum.

I got my current favorite, the yeast doughnut with chocolate icing.  I know it looks like a regular old doughnut in the picture, but don't be fooled.  It is heavenly.

Then we visited the Farmer's Market!  I've been to some pretty awesome farmer's markets in my day, but I am actually very impressed with Salt Lake City.  It is quite large (taking up the entire perimeter of Pioneer Park downtown), with all kinds of baked goods, produce, flowers, meats, cheeses, handicrafts, hot food vendors, and even musicians.  I love it!!

I only took three pictures, though, while Allison and I strolled around.  The one above, plus this flowery one:

And this one, of the pianist whose crazy awesome piano-on-wheels is attached to his bicycle:

Anyway, SO FUN!!!  I love that lovely, happy, energetic lady.  Can't wait to see you again, missy!!!

And next... KIRA AND COLE!  (Sorry, y'all...private blog!)

I hang out with Kira all the time (so fun!), and wouldn't you know it, but these two fantastic folks celebrated their birthdays recently.  So, we had them over for a little belated-birthday extravaganza (complete with one of those HUGE chocolate cakes from Costco, which we all tucked into quite happily).

HAPPY 30TH, GUYS!!! :-)  Woohoo!!!  Can't wait to do dinner again!

And next... ABBIE!

Abbie is my most beloved and favorite New Yorker, and I was lucky enough to get to see her a couple times during her Utah trip.  She arranged a picnic party at the park last week, and look who also showed... a few more famous Wymounties!  Kendra, Bridget, and Carly!  HUZZAH!

We met up at Nielsen's Grove Park in Orem, where Weston (as is his custom) tagged along with another mother and her daughter (even happily mooching bread from the other mom to feed the ducks, hahaha):

The last time that I saw Abbie, it was Christmas 2009 and I had driven up to Manhattan from PA to visit her.  It was WONDERFUL to see her again!!  She is one of those incredibly upbeat, warm, sweet people who gives you a big giant hug like you're the coolest person on the planet.  Yay!  And there was another surprise that day, too: HEATHER!  Ahhhhh!!!  I love both of these girls so much!  Heather and Abbie have been super close friends for a long time, and I am lucky to know both of them from our Wymount days.  I was in on the secret, but I think that Abbie almost peed her pants when Heather approached her!  Haha!

Heather's husband had taken her three kiddos so that she could have some social time with Abbie and everyone else, and being the incredibly  fun and natural mom that she is, she ended up playing with the other kids for a bit!  Wow.  So cool.  (Utah just hit the jackpot with the Petersons!!!  I am SO excited!!!)

And last but certainly not least... DANIELLE!

Danielle is a fabulous California friend, and I'm so glad that she was in town last week!!!  I haven't been back to CA since we left in May 2010, so I LOVE every opportunity that I get to see these girls again.

Danielle is such a sweet, friendly, generous person.  She and her little boy (I can't believe he's 5 already!) met us at Murray Park, and we shot the breeze like the old times.  It made me REALLY miss California!!  I'm so glad that we're finally going in October!  It's been WAY too long!  Anyway, thanks for hanging out with me, Danielle!  YAAAAY!

OH. FER. CUTE.

What are the chances??

Seriously... what are the CHANCES that we would get Cole's first laugh EVER on video??!!

This will melt your heart. :-)

Super-Mega-GIANT PA Recap!

WOW! What a dyn-O-mite nine days in PA, NJ, and VA we had!!! It was chock-full of excitement and adventure: a returned missionary (yeah Marcus Aurelius!), a baby blessing (yeah Mr. Chubster!), a dual birthday party (yeah Finnillian!), and a WEDDING (yeah Chradrienne!).  Let's review, shall we?

I guess you have to be three years old to get really pumped about flying in an airplane.  Weston could not WAIT to get to the airport and board his plane:

Sooooo excited...

Cole, on the other hand, had no idea what was going on but was just as happy as a clam nevertheless:

This one has a seriously easy smile!

We survived the hot, cramped, tiring flight and endured only a couple dirty looks.  (Hooray for flying with children!  Hahaha!  In those peoples' defense, it turns out that "airplane excitement" does not equal "airplane good behavior" as much as we'd hoped.)  We arrived at the Anderson home after midnight, but fortunately, everyone was still up, and I snagged a photo of Tim and his siblings together for the first time in over two years:

Chris the Groom displayed his new look for us!  Unfortunately, he restored his old look in time for the wedding.  Darn.

And Mark the "I-was-in-South-America-yesterday-I-have-no-idea-what's-happening-right-now-why-is-everyone-speaking-English" Returned Missionary allowed us all to sample his mate from Argentina (complete with the communal straw/filter thingie):

After some late-night hilarity that is the Anderson form of familial bonding (as it should be), we rested up for... Merrymead ice cream and Hearth Baker hoagies, complete with some Cramer love, the next day!  Weston gets so excited for Merrymead, and here he is with his long-awaited treat:

The Merrymead gang: my dad and brother with Tim and Weston (and Cole):

We saw all the usuals: Harley the Ridiculously, Inconceivably Ginormous Hog (behind my dad there):

...and all the wee precious calves:

We had Weston measure himself again:

FLASHBACK:  This was Weston at six months!  (Awww...)

After that, we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa some more at the ol' Cramer place.  There are few sweeter things than seeing your mom tear up as she holds her grandchild!

And of course my dad got in on the cuddling, too (go Phils):

Back at the Anderson homestead, we gobbled our hoagies and rocked like DJ Lance (even if we were a little sleepy looking):

Later, some cousin time!!  I've never seen two people have quite the love-hate relationship that Weston and Killian have.  They're seven months apart, and both the oldest in their families.  They are always SO excited to see each other, but they are completely incapable of playing with the same toys.  They were thick as thieves when examining bugs or running around with their uncles, but other than that, they were constantly butting heads!!  I'm not sure if they're like a couple of hyperactive puppies or like a grumpy old married couple.  Either way, I think (hope) they'll be great friends when they learn to share!

FLASHBACK:  This was when they first met, when Weston was six months old and Killian was just over a year.  Awww.  (Note that Weston is making it clear to Killian that he will NOT share the exersaucer.)

Even with all the bickering, they still wanted to be together all the time.  Killian desperately wanted to join Weston's bathtime fun that night (hehehe):

For his part, the next morning before church, Cole was treated to the much-anticipated bath-by-Gangy!

SO cute!!  Somethin' about that bath-by-Gangy; babies have a grand time!

FLASHBACK:  Here's Weston at six months, having that same fabulous bath with that same fabulous bubble adornment:

Happy, happy Cole:

And what could possibly be better to follow a bath-by-Gangy than a little nap on Grandalf's big, warm shoulder?  Nothin.

Here's Cole's little blessing get-up (check out the booties from a totally awesome church lady here in Utah!):

Tim offered the blessing during Sacrament meeting, and it was so wonderful to have the whole Anderson family there.  Here are the folks who participated (Chris, President Peterson, Mark, Will, Tim & Cole, Uncle Rick, and Bishop):

And here's my giant family-in-law:

(Compare this photo with the previous photo.  Can you find the two photo-bombing culprits?)

Ta-da!  I love that we are now a family of four.  We should definitely win a vacation sweepstakes.

After church, it was time for Killian and Finn's combined birthday party!  Tim's sister Dana put together an awesome pirate party, and she even supplied Weston with a pirate outfit of his own (yay)!  Here, she's putting the finishing touches on Killian's swash-buckling ensemble:

Ahoy, mateys!

The nosh was fantastic.  See that crockpot?  That's Anne Marie's famous buffalo chicken dip.  And for you non-Pennsylvanians, that's tomato pie in the forefront.  YUM.

Chips, hot dogs, cheese balls...?  Weston was in heaven.

This lady knows how to throw a shindig.  She scores an A-plus.  And she loves cuddling Cole.  Therefore, an A-plus-PLUS!!

Present time!!  It was a delightful frenzy of torn wrapping paper and new toys:

Tim's aunt even got a present for Weston - SO NICE!!  Check out Pirate Captain America!

On Monday, we relaxed a bit and hung out with the fams some more.  I LOVE this picture.  This is Tim's youngest brother, Brett.  He is 15 years older than Cole, and Tim is 15 years older than Brett.  So, he is to Cole what Tim was to him.  Hahaha!

And here's Weston being cute with Cole, too.  (The cute moments are always just moments before the Weston-he-needs-some-space moments, hahaha.)

On Tuesday we had a fun family day-trip: Long Beach Island!!  I got to visit my lovely friend Lauri at her family's beach house and hang out with this little lady (hey Miss Finley!) again!!

She's SO ADORABLE!!!  Look at those eyes!

Lauri is seriously the Hostess with the Mostest.  She not only invited us to the beach house and prepared a huge lunch spread for us (fudge included) and took us to the beach and gave Weston a box of saltwater taffy, but she also took a bunch of photos of us!!!  (Have I mentioned that she's a professional photographer?)  YAAAAAAAAY!!!  Check 'em out!

It was a wonderful time in NJ.  And after spending one more day in Lansdale with the fams, we headed down to Virginia for the wedding festivities!  Tim's parents got a bunch of rooms for all of us, and it was really fun to have a vacation-within-a-vacation:

I absolutely love this picture of Weston and Killian checking out Mark's... um... iPod?  Or something?  I don't know.  But those are some cute boys:

Here's me and Mr. Chubster:

That evening we met up with the cutie patootie couple and Adrienne's family for a fun-filled pre-wedding dinner.  And yes, there was throw-up.  As we moms well know, any special event, if it includes children, will inevitably include barf.  Haha!  I won't name names, but we all think that someone had finn-ally had enough milk.

And here's Dana, with my newest favorite book!!  Sorry, can't tell.  Heh heh.

Pasta, pasta, and more pasta!!  Breadsticks, breadsticks, and more breadsticks!  I love Olive Garden.

How is it that Chris ALWAYS manages to photo-bomb, and I never realize until later?

Back at the hotel, I thought it would be "nice" to get "a couple photos" of the Anderson kids.

I think that we can all guess what transpired...

(This was the point where Dana decided it would be best to escape):

Hahahaha!

Anywho, this is Cole's sleeping arrangement.  We received a very nice Pack 'n Play from the courteous hotel staff, but decided that this armchair would work just as well with his sleep positioner.  Voila!  Baby burrito!

And the next day, it was WEDDING TIME!  We headed to the DC Temple in our finery:

Look at the little stud in his first-ever tie!

It was like herding cats to get this picture of the three cousins:

Heh heh...

Cole got some cuddles from Aunt Peggy:

And then the newlyweds made their grand arrival!!  Isn't Adrienne stunning?

There was a lot of kissing.  Seriously.  A lot.

There were also some cute faces!

And then a whole bunch more kissing.  Holy cow, guys.  Haha!

I adore Adrienne's dress!

Sooooo sweet!!  (Okay, now get a room please.)

FLASH-FORWARD:  Chris, this will be you at a family wedding in the not-too-distant future.  Haha!  Don't forget your burp rag...!

"Wedding?  Photographs?  BORING.  Let's look for more bugs."

I have absolutely NO photos of Chris and Adrienne's reception at her home (ha... whoops).  And I have NO photos of our drive from VA back to PA the following day, during which we stopped at the new CAFE RIO in Maryland!!  YUM!  Oh well.  I do have this darling picture of Grandalf and Cole, taken the morning that we left:

This time, we had a long layover on the way back to Utah, but fortunately, it was in Ohio!  So, my cousin Tricia was able to come to the airport and lunch with us!  Woohoo!!!  What a happy end to a GREAT trip!!!