The Stuff Memories Are Made Of

Alexander and I were lucky to be able to go out to Utah to say goodbye to Tyler as he leaves for his mission to South Dakota. I'm so proud of you Tyler!! We had an awesome time and it was really hard to go back to Kansas City.

Here are some of my favorite memories from the trip:

Melanie and I singing "You and I" and "Keep Your Head Up" at the top of our lungs as we drive back to Mom and Dad's.

Denise and I getting in the shortest line at Walmart and waiting longer than anyone else around us as the rednecks in front of us argue about who is paying for the iTunes card.

Bryce and Alexander swapping mission stories and discussing the grossest food they've ever eaten.

The narcissistic photo shoot at 10:00 at night with Melanie and Natalie.



Making 38 enchiladas for Sunday dinner.

Tyler to Annalee: You are addicted to caffeine!!
Alexander: It's her headache medicine.
Tyler: She's addicted! Not a day has gone by that I haven't seen her with it!
Alexander: That's 'cause you give her headaches.
(PS, I don't drink it every day, he was just making one of his silly exaggerated comments.)

Staying out till one o'clock in the morning giggling with some of my best friends from high school.

Listening to Tyler hum on the other side of the wall practically the entire night as he wrote and refined his farewell talk.

Visiting Jen and Zac's lovely home and losing track of time as we try to make Hallie giggle.

Singing "I Believe in Christ" with my sisters at Tyler's farewell and trying desperately not to cry.

Mom and I spying on Denise as she cuddled with her new boyfriend.

McKay and Alexander going on a pizza run during "the lady party" (aka Jewelry Party).

Mom asks me, "Are you going to the store? Tomorrow is hundreds day. I need 100 kisses." Dad walks in just in time to hear the last sentence, raises his eyebrows and says, "That will take me all night!"

Tyler and Alexander going out to lunch. Tyler ordered a Zesty BBQ burger with no zest or BBQ, just bacon.

Annalee: I haven't taken a picture with Tyler yet.
Tyler: Sorry you guys. Mom said no sexy pictures tonight.

Melanie tried to teach Hallie to push a certain noise button on her toy but Hallie preferred to push the button that played the music. Melanie tried over and over but Hallie ignored her. Finally, after much bugging, Hallie turned to look Melanie straight in the eyes, picked up the toy, and pushed the noise button repeatedly before then calmly looking away and pushing the music button.



Some photos from the "photo shoot":

Me, Melanie and Natalie


Natalie and Tyler, the twins


Tyler, Alexander, Melanie and Natalie


Tyler, Me, Alexander and Melanie


Tyler, Melanie and Natalie

Sebastian & Bethany's Wedding

On Sept 24, 2011, Alexander's brother, Sebastian, married sweet Bethany. We were privlidged to be able to fly down to Phoenix, AZ to attend. As an added bonus, I also got to assist in the decoration of the cultural hall for the reception.

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, just in time for me to attend Bethy's bachelorette party and Alexander spent the evening with his father. We got up bright and early the next morning to decorate the church and we were there until 5pm when we finally left. During that time we set up a dropped ceiling and put up wall panels of pictures along with decorating the tables and entryway. There was no official backdrop, but a faux wall was put up to break up the monotony.




The centerpieces were damask-style candelabras with battery lights along with 2 bud vases holding 3 pink roses each. The tables had white tablecloths, black satin overlays, and a white damask runner to complete the look.



The wall panels were made up of a white horizontal strip, with a black vertical stripe, gathered in at the middle. I hung pictures of the bride and groom with light pink ribbon at alternating heights and then spot-lit the pictures to add ambiance.



Thursday night we were able to go out to dinner with Alexander's best friend, Robert, and his awesome wife Natalie. We had a blast catching up with them and we really miss hanging out with them on a regular basis.

Friday morning dawned with us rushing to help Alexander's parents host the wedding brunch in the backyard. They had everything anyone could have ever wished to eat including: fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, German meats & bread, veggies and a variety of delicious tamales. Afterwards the brothers helped each other get ready by trimming their twin goatees and making faces in the mirror.





Here Sebastian is fighting off the wedding day jitters:


The ceremony was beautiful and the day was gorgeous (albeit very bright and hot!).

Husband and Wife:




The reception that evening was lovely, although my date was stuck in the line all night. (As a side note, if you are not already married, please DO NOT put the ENTIRE wedding party in the line, it is miserable for the bridesmaids and groomsmen as well as for all of your guests, creating incredibly awkward moments for all!)



Cutting the Cake:


The First Dance:


Throwing the bouquet:


After the reception Alexander and I stayed to help clean up and then hobbled (literally) back to our hotel room where we rested our feet in our awesome Jacuzzi tub (we had an awesome free upgrade!). Needless to say, we were exhausted on Saturday and we lounged around all morning. We spent the rest of the day with Alexander's family. On Sunday we were lucky to be able to go to church with Robert and Natalie and then they graciously took us to the airport for us to make the long trip home.

We had a great time and really took advantage of the "vacation" in the midst of our packing up the house and moving. We are sad to leave the family and friends behind but hope that we will be back again very soon.

I Was Good, I Promise!

And that is basically all I have to say about our trip to visit the in-laws last week in Phoenix. I was good. It almost killed me, but I was good...mostly.

Sebastian (Alexander's brother) came home from his mission in Atlanta on Thursday so we drove down there to see him before life becomes busy for him again. It was pretty good. Despite that I had horrible allergies that turned into bronchitis, it wasn't a bad trip.

On the down we stayed in Vegas in the Stratosphere and while we were eating lunch in the restaurant at the top, the fire alarm went off. I had visions of running down 110 flights of stairs, but luckily it was a false alarm.







On Thursday we went to meet Sebastian at the airport. We thought we were 10 minutes early, but Sebastian's plane had arrived early as well. We got to the gate 30 seconds before he walked out of the gate. Phew!





I helped by keeping Sebastian's sunglasses safe while he got his luggage.



We were lucky to be able to stay at my in-law's cabin in Black Canyon, which is in the middle of the desert.

From the deck:


Trying to be cute:


In the Front Yard:



On the drive home we stopped at Montezuma Castle. This home was built by the Sinagua (which means "Without Water" in Spanish) around AD 1100 and is about 2 hours North of Phoenix. It's always nice to check out the local culture. We stopped here the last time we were in Phoenix two years ago, but we had forgotten the camera, so we had to come again.

History May Be Taught: Part V (Final Installment)

Sunday, June 22, we were a tuckered out by then and we accidentally slept in instead of going to church. We had a lazy morning and finally made our way to the British Museum. It felt like we had taken a trip around the world. We explored artifacts from ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and other places all around the globe. It was marvelous!

Alexander with an Assyrian Guardian-Diety:


The Gates of an Ancient Assyrian City:


Jen with an Egyptian Sarcophagus Lid:



Monday, June 23, was our last day in London. We trooped down to Trafalgar Square just to see it, then we got on a bus to go to St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was amazing! It has a huge dome in the center, and the interior is covered in gold and colorful mosaics. This was the building that Truman Angel studied to get ideas on how to build the Salt Lake Temple, and interestingly, I could really see the similarities on the interior on the building. Many of the patterns and coloring were the same as in the temple. Jennifer hiked up the hundreds of stairs up the dome to the tip top of the building while Alexander and I enjoyed watching the Anglican version of the sacrament preformed by the priest. I was very grateful for how we do it, with individual cups and pieces of bread.







After a meal that was way too expensive, we went to Harrods, the world’s most famous (and possibly most expensive) department store. We wandered around just long enough to get sick of the heavily perfumed air and left to attend what Jennifer had been looking forward to for years: “Wicked”.

That’s right, we went to the London musical hit, “Wicked”. It was amazing! We got our tickets from an official discount vendor for half price and had awesome seats. The show had us spell bound. I highly recommend it.





We flew back home on Tuesday, June 24, spending about 20 hours either on a plane or at an airport and arrived home in the middle of the night, completely exhausted.
We had a blast, but we are also so glad to be back home. :)

History May Be Taught: Part: IV

Saturday, June 21, we hopped onto the Underground (which was about 50 ft from our hotel) and rode into central London for our first day in the big city. We went everywhere! We walked out of the underground station and were suddenly confronted by Big Ben directly in front of us! It was the best welcome I could imagine!





We walked past the Houses of Parliament to Westminster Abbey where we saw the tombstones of Britain’s most famous individuals.





We then walked to Buckingham Palace just in time to see the changing of the mounted guard, which wasn’t as great as Jen had expected. There were a ton of people cause they were waiting for a parade.





We then went to the Tower of London and had a tour with the most amazing Beefeater I had ever heard of. He reminded me of a Shakespearean actor and was highly entertaining. We saw the Crown Jewels and the torture room and all the neat things in between.





After the Tower we got on a boat and rode down the Thames underneath Tower Bridge to the O2 (a super cool hangout with clubs, restaurants, shops, concerts, etc) in Greenwich. At the O2 Neil Diamond was giving a concert and we were just in time, except. We decided to pass that up and instead we went to the King Tut exhibit which displayed the treasures of King Tut’s tomb. It was a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

History May Be Taught: Part III

Friday, June 20, we said goodbye to Nanny. It was quite sad to see her crying as we pulled away from the curb. I think she is worried she won't see Alexander again as she is 88 years old and her health is continually getting worse. She is a quirky lady, but we will miss her.

Alexander and Nanny:


We traveled with Aunt Valerie to Arundel Castle where we toured the old ancient keep. We were able to ramble and climb where we wanted and I quickly decided that climbing up and down the tiny narrow staircases all day would have ensured my death by falling down the stairs. Arundel castle was the site of a siege during a civil war in the 1640’s so the castle was decked out as it may have been back then. It was fascinating.

Arundel Castle from Below:


Jen on the Railing Inside the Keep:


Looking Down From the Walls of the Keep:


Later that day we traveled in the greater London area into a suburb called Hounslow where our hotel was. We arrived on train to discover a deserted train station in the middle of nowhere. Hounslow is a hodge-podge of Indian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European ethnicities. We were about the only white people in sight. To our dismay we wandered around for an hour hauling all of our luggage until we finally stumbled through the door of our bed and breakfast. We were thankful to find a tidy, clean room with three little beds and friendly staff. We were so exhausted we didn't even venture out to find dinner, we just sank into our beds and slept.