Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We have been busy this holiday season. We made it a little crazier by flying to New York in the middle of the month to celebrate Mark and Merilee's birthdays. I will say that I have had better birthdays. I had stayed up late the night before to make sure we were packed, dishes done, and the house in not total disarray. Mark was so excited that he didn't sleep. I woke up at 2:30 AM, and Mark had a birthday present ready for me. What a great guy. We woke up the kids around 4AM to go to the airport. I was hoping Annadele would fall back a sleep, but she didn't. Our flight was for 6:30. Sarah is a seasoned traveler and did great. Annadele was pretty good for her first flight. But she didn't want to sleep and got restless. So I ended up standing in the back of the plane for an 1 1/2 until she finally fell asleep in my arms. Shortly after, the captain announced something and woke her up. Doesn't he know to be quite with sleeping children? We had a short lay over in Atlanta, GA which was just enough time to get something to eat, hit a restroom, and get on the next plane. We arrived in New York and Mark's brother picked us up. I think they were more excited to meet Annadele for the first time than anything else.
The next day Adele had planned a birthday party for us at a Japanese restaurant. It was nice to see family and friends. Mark with Jeff Hedbrerg and daughter Ivy.
Mark's nephew and girlfriend Marianne and Russell, Mark's niece and boyfriend Rachel and Anton, and friends Kevin and girlfriend (?). Rebecca (beck beck) and Natale, Sarah and Annadele the girls with there little sisters.

Mark's parents were friends with a few Filipino families growing up (I think they were all nurses together). They are considered family. The four boys try to take at least 1 photo together when ever possible. There is Herb, Sonny, Mark, and Jing.
It was also nice to meet Claritsa, Mike's girlfriend for the first time. I thought she was great, but Mike is against marriage So we will see how long it last. Annadele just woke up so I will write more later.

So what are you?

We have had a fun couple of weeks. We had our old neighbors over for dinner a couple of weeks ago. They lived down the street from us at our old house. We were sitting in church a couple of weeks ago. It was a missionary farewell. I think the guy must have been pretty popular because the chapel was packed. But then we see our old neighbors the Davis'. We just thought they were visiting for the farewell, but then they told us they just moved into our ward. How cool for us, especially since they have teenage daughters. We are thinking if we need a babysitter we now have somebody we trust to call. When they were over for dinner, I found out that the mom grew up in West Jordan. I graduated with her younger brother Victor Steinfeldt, and she has another brother who graduated in Monica's class Anthony Steinfeldt. I was so glad that mom had just brought down my year books. Her kids had fun looking for their aunt and unlces. What a small world. Do any of you know a Steinfeldt?

Mark's parents were in town for the week of Halloween. It was nice to have them here. They did some more building and organizing. We are greatful for all they do for us. On Friday my work had a pot luck lunch, and they told us we could dress up. Us three girls in the office decided to be house moms. It was more an excuse to wear our pj's and be comfortable at work. We do work for the US Forest Services here in Las Vegas. The guy who buys the shirts and hats for some of the Fire fighters is retiring this month. He promised us that before he retired he would have Smokey the Bear come visit us. So for our luncheon we had a special visit from Smokey.



Then after the luncheon, I took a half day off work and we drove to Glendale which is about an hour north of Vegas and we went to a corn maze. I don't think we really made it out but it was fun to be together and enjoying the nice weather.On Halloween, Mark's parents took off and went to the casinos, and then Mark and I went to our wards trunker treat. I think it was all of the wards that go to our building which is interesting since we are not all in the same stake. It was fun to see people in our ward. Mark wore his Shalin Monk out fit, and I was getting ready for a bath with my rubber ducky.

The Dryer

Annadele just relaxing in the tub.


Mark has this thing he likes to do with Annadele. We like to put a blanket on the ground so she can crawl around and play. (We are trying to save the carpet for as long as possible.) He calls it the clothes dryer. She is usually giggling, and just loves it. But of course as soon as I get the camera out, she is so serious. But still adorable.

Mark is Toxic

Okay. Funny, sad, gross story. Mark calls me from work on Monday, and asks if I want the good news or the bad news. I always say, "give me the bad news first." He then proceeds to tell me that he is shopping at Walmart to pick up a few items. He has been having really bad gas lately. He lets one rip, and then shortly after a little kid walks into the wind. After he smells the bad gas, he pukes. He is followed by another little kid who after seeing his friend puke, does the same. At that point Mark leaves the scene as fast as possible. He buys his items and calls me. The good news is he filled the water bottles.
I laughed so hard, and then had to tell my co-worker the story. And now I am sharing with you.

I love my husband, but doesn't that make you feel sorry for me. : ( (He is actually not bad at all. )

What a trip.

I just wanted to say thank you to Mom for driving down all of my stuff that has been at every one's houses. Thank you to all who have stored my stuff. It is a trip down memory lane to open them up and see what I have. There are some boxes I haven't seen since high school. I have kept a lot of junk, but some of the things are priceless to me.
One of the things I have found is my baby blanket. Mark washed my blanket today and had Annadele take a nap with it. He said she was very excited to have my blanket. I didn't see it, but I will have to take his word for it. What a find. I can't believe I have kept it so long. It is silky on one side, and has Holly Hobby on the other. I loved my blanket. I guess I still do.
What a trip.

I wanted to post this last week, but it wasn't meant to be. Annadele is growing and developing all of the time. She is starting to crawl. Last week it was the stick the butt in the air and roll. Now she will get up on all fours and push her feet. I'm sure next it will be that she has her arms and knees going. But I am not ready for that. The house isn't baby proofed yet. We have started to feed her solids. And a lot like Emma, she wants nothing to do with it. But we are trying to continue. Just today, she actually ate with out crying and took a couple of good bites. Yeah. Little victories.
The reason I was too busy to post is that Mark and I spoke in Sacrament last Sunday. So we were busy preparing our talks. I think we did a good job. I felt the spirit. Our topic was conversion. The bishopric member gave us a couple of conference talks to base it off of. For me that was different. I felt like I was giving a Relief Society lesson, with no question time or feed back. We spoke with another couple. At first I was a little taken a aback. This was the 3rd time in 2 yrs that Mark and I have spoken. We have never had a hard time taking up the time. In fact, both of us have had to cut things from our talks to allow the other person enough time. So to find out that we would be sharing the time, I didn't understand. We have always liked to speak because it allows people an opportunity to get to know us. I think I didn't want to share the spot light. But now that it is done and over with, the other couple we were speaking with were young and inexperienced. I think the Lord knew exactly what he was doing in pairing the two couples to speak. It gave them an opportunity to speak with out having to take up the whole time. And Mark and I were still able to speak, and had many people let us know how much they appreciated our talks. The bishopric member even wanted a copy of Mark's which he just handed over. Mark received his first calling in our new ward. He will be the employment specialist. He received an awesome blessing. Hopefully he can help others in his own search for work.
I tried to load a clip on Friday, but the video wasn't loading up. This one isn't as fun, but it will have to do for now.

Befor and After

I thought it would be fun to do some before and after shots. Kimi and I had our baby's just months a part, and it was so fun to see Keiomee and Annadele together. I am so lucky to have Kimi as a friend. And I am very grateful for her friendship.
Not much is going on in the Andal house. Sarah starts the Second grade on Monday. For me, work has been slower than usual. This is a nice change from years past. But I also think I like being really busy. But at least I am not having to remind my self to breathe. That is good too.

Moving in

Ok, I had problem with our internet last week so I just finished the before pics. But I wanted to show some of the after and disaster pics from when the carpet was laid.

We still have a lot to do, but we had a couple of friends over for games last night. It was nice to have people over and just have them know we are still moving in.

Our new HOME

I just wanted to let you all see our new home. It is still a work in progress. We have had to paint everything or nearly everything. We recently got new carpet. It is amazing. I just hope I like it for a long time. We haven't hung one picture yet. And still have boxes everywhere. But we love it. We want everyone to feel welcome and know that if you are in the Vegas area you have a place to stay. These are the before pics.

say chesse

Recently Annadele has started to smile. What a joy it is to see her face light up and the sparkle in her eye. I have tried a few times to get it on camera, but I have not been very successful. These are a few of my attempts.

Sarah just found out she will be in her first grade spelling bee. She is one of nine students who will compete. She is definately her daddy's daughter. We all know the Sharp's aren't known for their spelling.

Happy Mother's Day

I went back to work on Thursday. Mark is playing Mr. Mom, and doing a fabulous job. One thing that made it easier on me is that I work with great people. They were all happy to see me and very welcoming.
Since Sarah would be with her mother on Mother's day, Mark decided to celebrate with me, Sarah, and Annadele on Friday. It was a long day for me. But we had a fancy dinner of KFC, and then we all shared an ice cream sundae at Ghirardelli's. In the end, I think it was too much for Annadele, but she fell asleep in the car. And that was great for mom. Good food, good company. What more could a girl want.

We're #1, We're #1

Sarah had a dance competition yesterday. She did a great job. The three girls got a little trophy and won 1st place in something ( I can't remember what). They were great. Here is a little video of the dance. Hope you enjoy. The video isn't very good, but Sarah is on the left.

We're in the money (with the Rich's)

We were lucky to have the Rich family come visit us on their way to Arizona. We played games, we sang, we danced. I think a good time was had by all. The girls started the night with the intention of a sleepover. I was told after the fact that it didn't last. Oh well. In the morning, Mark had Sarah, Breanna, and Ashlynn help with breakfast. Mark taught them the pancake happy dance. But I think they were happy to come and see their new niece and cousin. We enjoyed having them and hope they come back soon.

Happy belated Easter

We want to wish everyone a happy belated Easter. I feel like it has taken me this long to get back in the grove of things and do the simple things of life like shower. We are lucky to have Mark's parents here for the week. they flew in Saturday and Adele actually left Wednesday morning but Tony will be with us til the 20th. We had a nice easter. Adele had bought beautiful dresses for Sarah and Annadele. We were blessed to have Sarah with us this year. As I was feeding Annadele I could here everyone else having Easter egg hunts, and saying warmer, warmer, colder, colder, hotter, hotter. We went to church and then Mark had made a Sunday gravy. It was delicious.
We ended the day with a family home evening reading scriputers about the atonement. It makes me feel so greatful for the Atonement and our Savior.