Steamboat Wedding!

This past weekend, our friends TC and Kristen were married in Steamboat, CO! We made the road trip with Pete and Jenny, and it turned out to be a great weekend with friends. Rob was the best man and looked handsome, of course, in his khaki suit. We stayed in a "modern" cabin, according to the brochure, with Pete and Jenny, (the only thing modern was the silver toaster) and it was nice to relax and hang out with those two. Sawyer has a crush on Jenny, and Pete is his new best friend. Hopefully, they are still excited about having a little Jones baby after a long road trip and hanging out with Sawyer for the weekend. Actually, he was a trooper; he has become quite the traveler. He is not yet 5 months old, and this was his second trip to Colorado. Add that to his trip to Texas and a trip to Moab when he was only 4 weeks old, and he has come to enjoy road trips. We look forward to many more adventures with the little guy.
The weekend was a lot of fun, and we had some great laughs. TC and Kristen are dear friends and we are so excited to see what God does in their lives as husband and wife. We were also able to spend some time with Rob's boss and his wife, TJ and Tammara. Whenever those two are around, the fun factor is at a completely different level. At the wedding and reception, several people thought TJ was Rick Warren (TC worked for Rick Warren for several years, and folks assumed he would be at the wedding.) So, guests were on the hunt for a celebrity sighting. TJ thought it would be fun to play along, so we did. It was fun to call him "Rick", and Tammara thought for sure Rick Warren's wife would never drink as much wine as she did.
To add to the fun, Rob wrote and performed a rap song for the bride and groom, and he and Pete thought it would be fun to give TC a goat as a wedding gift (TC was to milk the goat in order to properly "accept" this gift. Unfortunately, TC had trouble locating the teets). As you can imagine, this was both a unique and humorous part of the reception.The entire weekend was great, and we look forward to more road trips with the Jones family, maybe even a trip or two to visit TC and Kristen in sunny California.
Pete, Jenny, & the Andersons at the wedding.
Rob and TC, the groom! Handsome fellas!
Me and my sweet boy!
He really looks like he's about to fall asleep, doesn't he.
TC and his favorite wedding gift, a goat.

Home Sweet Home

It is SO good to be home. We had an amazing month, but we are thankful that we have such a wonderful home and wonderful friends back here in Park City. We could not believe our eyes when we pulled onto the street! We discovered our house had been painted. It definitely needed it, and Joel Marsh and his crew blessed us by surprising us with a fresh, new look. Wow! Not only that, but when we opened the garage door, we were absolutely shocked. Several of our friends decided to give our garage a complete makeover. It felt like Extreme Makeover because it looked like a completely different garage. See the picture to notice new sheet rock, textured walls, a workroom for Rob, new shelves, new lighting, new electrical outlets, and new plastic bins to organize both our personal and Rob's Young Life supplies. This was no small task for these guys! Unbelievable! Rob is like a giddy little school boy with a new toy. He loves his "new" garage and cannot wait to start a project. No worries, there are plenty in the works. MANY thanks to Carl, Joel and Pete - the amazing team who made it all happen. We are SO blessed by our friends, and we are so thankful that God uses them in our lives. By the way, it was good to be reunited with Truman. He has been "living it up" while we were gone. He is in amazing shape because he's been going on daily jogs, daily swims, and he's been following behind horses on trail rides - and snagged a few bites of manure along the way. Nice.
Our amazing garage!
Our new coat of paint!
I love the color!
Sawyer, glad to be home!
Truman missed Sawyer!

For the Grandmas!!

For the Grandmas in Houston and Austin - here are some recent 3-4 month photos of Sawyer. These were taken during our time at Crooked Creek.

More From Crooked Creek!

Although our time here at camp has been amazing, I am definitely ready to be home. We are all ready to be back into somewhat of a routine, especially Sawyer. It has been such a blessing to be back here at camp and reminisce about our month here in 2003 when Rob and I met. It was a sweet time then, and it is even better now. I love this place!
Here are a few more photos from our time here at Crooked Creek Ranch.
One of the Capernaum kids "barrel racing" at the Rodeo.
Nap time for the boys.
Nicole, overwhelmed, as she gets her feet washed by her leader.
One of the campers taking in the view.
One of the Capernaum kids on the hike. She, like most of the kids, had a permanent smile all week.

An Amazing Month!

We have approached the end of our month long assignment at Crooked Creek Ranch, one of Young Life's properties near Winter Park, Colorado. As Rob puts it, Sawyer has now spent a fourth of his life at Young Life camp. I think he might be bored once we get home because, literally, hundreds of people won't be giving him attention on a daily basis. Our month here has been amazing, and God has blessed us with so many great stories to share and new friendships that will last a lifetime. Each week brought new campers along with new challenges and new adventures. Hundreds, that's right, hundreds of kids have met Christ this month. How incredible is that! This last week has proven to be the most powerful and life changing for all of us. This week, there are over 100 kids here with a variety of disabilities ranging from Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and Autism, to other mental and physical challenges. It is called Capernaum week, named for the town in the Bible where Jesus healed a lame man. I can't even begin to describe the joy, laughter, passion and enthusiasm that has been present in the lives of these kids here this week. They absolutely love life! Not to mention, they love Jesus and they are not afraid to make that known. These are kids who have every reason to be sad, angry or bitter, and yet they display more satisfaction for life than those of us who are perfectly healthy, both physically and mentally. What a humbling experience to be in the presence of such pure and unconditional contentment and love!
My new friend, Corin, is severely autistic and cannot communicate verbally. She simply grunts, and if she likes you, she stands in front of you and claps your hands together over and over again - for as long as you will let her. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time clapping this week. She is, however, able to type on a special keyboard, and today she typed that she loves camp and she loves Jesus. Wow!
Lauren, another girl who is autistic, loved on Sawyer several times this week. Although, she showed no emotion-ever, her leader said that was the happiest she had been in a long time. Who knew God would use Sawyer while we were here.
I could go on and on with stories, but I will end with what happened today. After club this morning, Scott, the speaker, had just spoken about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, and he gave the leaders the opportunity to wash the feet of their kids. I get teary eyed once again just reflecting on a room full of "able bodied" people washing the feet of their disabled friends. One cute little girl near us heard that and said, "I already took a shower today. I don't need my feet washed." However, one girl, Nicole, who suffers from Cerebral Palsy, touched my heart and I will remember the moment forever. Her feet are extremely deformed and she does not have control over her legs because of what is happening to her muscles. As her leader removed her socks and began to wash her feet, Nicole wept. She new the meaning of what was happening and was overcome with emotion. As Nicole's legs and feet flailed about, her leader gently washed and wiped her precious, twisted feet. During the event, the whole room was moved and overwhelmed with emotion as every kid experienced having their feet washed by a loving friend. It was amazing!
I am changed because of these kids!
Here are a few photos from our time at Crooked Creek.


As you can see, Sawyer has grown so much since we have been here. He had his 4 month birthday while at Crooked Creek.

This is my friend, Corin, resting after the entire camp went on a hike. Even the kids in wheel chairs made the hike! It was incredible to watch.

This is a picture taken during the foot washing. Amazing!

A little family time at the pool. Sawyer went for his first swim while at camp. You can tell by the picture that mommy didn't want his sweet skin to get sun burned.

Just me and the boy hanging out in the cabin. We spent some good quality time together while Rob was serving kids!

Summer Fun!

Rob and Pete finally got to get away for a little camping and fly fishing. They went to a great spot on the Green River where the fish were biting!




One of Rob's many fly fishing photos. He LOVES this sport!





Rob and my brother were able to get in some fishing time on the Middle Provo. The fish weren't the only things active that day. They had a stare down with two moose on the other side of the river. The moose won - they always do.

Here's a photo from my ONE golf day out of the entire summer. Let's just say I don't have a score to report because I decided not to keep score after I shot a 10 on the second hole. However, I did have a great time with the ladies, Deb, Casey, and Deb's mom, who schooled all of us!

4th of July

My brother's family came to town for the week. We had a great time playing, eating and celebrating. Here is Sawyer bundled up for one of our TWO nights of fireworks.




Cousins, Sawyer and Perry Anne, hang out before bed time.





Here's the whole gang in our central spot for the parade on Main Street.

Greetings from Park City!

Welcome to the Anderson family blog! I have just discovered the world of blogging, and this is my first posting. Please bear with me as I, hopefully, learn the many tricks of the trade. Since so many of our friends and family live apart from us, we thought this would be a good idea to keep everyone updated on what's happening with the Andersons.

This is a picture of us on the 4th of July in a ski lift chair at a new development in town. The temperature was in the 90's that day, but it is only a matter of time before the snow falls and the lift is up and running.