Happy Valentine's Day

Jen (Sarah's mom) took a couple of pics to practice for a photo shoot and she sent these.

I have been meaning to blog for a while, but I have been sick and tired for the last month. I tell my self it is all for a good cause, but right now I can't wait for it to be over. We are adding to our numbers in the Andal household. I am only 7 weeks, and thinking I am crazy to have an 11 month old and one on the way. But we are excited and hopeful for this new addition to our family. I know it is a blessing from our heavenly father, and pray that I can be a good mother, and worth of the spirit I am being sent.
This has been a long week. Annadele and Mark have had the flu. I don't know if I had it too since I am always nauseous, but I think it felt like more than just being pregnant. I stayed home from work on Friday, and Mark and I took turns sleeping and watching Annadele. I felt so helpless. She would just lay on the floor so lifeless and no energy, none of us daring to eat. I thought she was better yesterday, but apparently not. She had a relapse in Elders Quorum, and just soaked Mark's shoulder and her dress. Poor thing. No bottle tonight and she wouldn't drink the pedialite. It could be a long night. Mark and I both agree, we can't be sick at the same time again. One of us needs to be well to help with the children and the sick spouse. ; )

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.