Let it snow, let it snow, let it SNOW!

It snowed for two days straight. School was cancelled. There was SO MUCH SNOW! My mom of all people really wanted to go and play in it and so we donned the multiple layers and braved the outdoors. The weather wasn't cold at all, but just perfect for playing.

Any day in the snow requires 4 things:
1. Snowball fight
2. Snow Angels
3. Snowman
4. Hot chocolate

Naturally we began with a snowball fight--instigated by my mother. McKenzie and my cousin Michelle joined us and it turned into a splendid war. Kameron got on the Brute Force (mom's fourwheeler) and started plowing the snow into a big pile in preparation for a later snow fort. He joined us eventually and we made pathetic attempts at trying to hit him. I got him square in the face once, and got more than my fair share of payback. Between the three of us aiming at him we might have made 1 or 2 hits, but we were all pretty lousy shots.

Next we attempted to make our snow angels, at my mother's request. But Michelle insisted that you can't make snow angels in this snow, "because, watch." She dropped to the ground with her arms outstretched and a mound of snow fell on her head, covering her face completely. Because, apparently, you get buried. Point taken.

But of course we all had to try. And we were indeed buried.

We discovered that this snow was not particularly ideal for snowmen, even though it rocked for snowballs. The pretty and round shape typical of these winter figures was very difficult to create. First of all it didn't roll very well. Secondly, it had a bad habit of picking up cancerous growths. We heave-ho-ed the pieces together and then shaved them into the roundest shapes we could muster. Mom found a carrot, scarf, and plenty of buttons and we slowly created his face. She found an old pair of spectacles and a hat that belonged to my grandpa and we added them to the mix. Kam cut some tree branches for arms and Michelle took sticks to make adorable eyebrows. I'm fairly certain this is the cutest snowman I have ever made.



Michelle, McKenzie and I brainstormed ideas for a name, because he most assuredly needed a name. Walter, Sedgwick, Franklin, Sylvester, Harold, Fredrick, Robert,..... but he looked most like a Howard. So this is Howard our snowman.


Michelle made a little dog for Howard and he was the cutest thing ever. With buttons for his eyes and nose and a cute red ribbon, who can resist such a puppy? The Santa hat was also a nice touch.


Girls make snow angels and snowmen, and boys get in snowball fights and make snow forts. Kameron had amassed a enormous pile of snow and so we made it bigger, packed it down, and began to dig through it. It's hard work, let me tell you. I let little Megan do most of the digging and I helped clear out the extra snow. It took a long time but they made it all the way through the pile and made a little room. My kneecaps froze (I know, right?) and so I baled before it was finished, but they worked on it until the sun went down and I had hot chocolate waiting for them inside. It's so wonderful to come inside and take off your wet clothes and warm up with hot cocoa.



The next day it rained and this was all that remained of poor Howard. He may be lost, but he is not forgotten!

Best day in the snow ever? Heavens yes! Why I haven't done this in years I'll never know. Thanks mom. :)

Hot Apple Cider

Tuesday was a whir of running around town doing errands and scrambling to get my photography final ready to turn in. In the midst of this frantic mess I drove past two little kids sitting out in the cold next to a card table with some lovely treat atop it. Lemonade stand in December? It reminded me of all of my failed attempts as a child to do the very same thing. We live by a dead end and so not many people came down our little street. We never sold very much lemonade, even if it was the raspberry kind.

I decided to support these brave souls and when I drove past again I stopped to see what treats they had. The little girl was the only one there, standing in front of a crockpot full of hot apple cider. She was kind enough to inform me that the cookies were "sold out." So I donated my dollar to the cause and got a steaming cup of cider. I haven't ever loved cider, I prefer hot cocoa, but then again I haven't tasted it in a long time. But this warm cup of deliciousness was infinitely better than I remember. I felt excited for Christmas again, a feeling that has been gone for the past few weeks due to stress. But the simplicity of those kids, and the warmth of cider made my day and gave me hope that "this too shall pass."

And now I have an insatiable craving for apple cider. When I get home I'll raid the pantry, there has got to be some somewhere!

Doodles in the Snow

After Psychology Jess and I were chatting, as usual, and putting off going to class and work, as usual. The snow was light and just barely covering the side walk so each footprint left a nice wet hole in the snow. Jess and I discovered this and so we began sliding (or attempting to slide) on the slush.

This sliding soon turned into shuffling and we began to trace loopy patterns in the new snow. Jess and I connected our shuffle marks and made a haphazard heart. Sadly the only camera I had on my person was my cell phone.

It soon became addicting. We had just been discussing how sad it was that we couldn't draw with chalk anymore, and then we discovered a new type of childish artwork. Snow Doodles.

So Jess and I spent a good 30 minutes in front of the BNR drawing things in the snow.

A sun, a flower, a flutterby. Jessica commented on her butterfly that "You can't even tell what it is." A man with (no joke!) dreadlocks to his knees walks up and says, "Of course you can!" with a big smile.

I'm sure we got a lot of strange looks. I know a couple people chuckled, most people looked miserable, but I like to imagine that we got a few envious looks. People wish they could be as cool as us.

One man walked past and said, "What is that? A parking meter?" with a chuckle. He was referring to my flower.

Months ago we planned our next chalk outing to be a space mural. We would color a huge collage of stars and spaceships and moonmen. In honor of this we attempted to make a ginormous space ship in the snow.

And failed.
It looked more like a penguin.
And so we did.

Like his gumdrop buttons?

Pretty much the greatest day on campus ever. I know all of you at BYU are jealous of the dreadlock man, because you should be.

Winter isn't as incredibly boring as I previously thought. I guess... Life is what you make it.

Turkey Day Football

Thanksgiving break was fantastic. No worrying about school, lots of Rockband, lots of sleep and of course stuffing yourself with delicious food! But no one can overlook the most wonderful Anderson tradition--the Turkey Bowl. Last year dad was still very fragile and we had to be very careful with him, but he still played!

Tyson came to Thanksgiving last year and met the family. It was really weird not having him there this year. He has only come once but it just wasn't the same without him. A lot of things aren't the same without Tyson, but I missed him a lot on Thanksgiving.

In light of that I just couldn't quite convince myself to play football this year. So I dubbed myself a photographer and I took pictures of the event with my lovely sidekick, Kylee.

Here is a little blurb about Kylee: she is my cousin Hollie's daughter and just turned 8 and was baptized. I went to it a couple weeks ago and it was really sweet. I remember her being born and I remember the wonderful things that led to Hollie and Steve's temple marriage. I used to babysit Kinzi, Kylee, and Kobe all the time and we had lots of fun. I happen to be the oldest and will never have little nieces to adore before I have my own children, but I've adopted Hollie's kids as substitutes. Kylee is my buddy and I adore her.

So we spent Thanksgiving watching her little brothers (Kobe, Kortland and Kole) and taking pictures. Kortland is a cute little bugger and I gave him my pink gloves because his hands were cold. He tried to do a "too cool" face for the camera but I caught a good one.

Anderson Football is the greatest. We just play two hand touch--otherwise we might end up with lots of broken bones. We always let the little kids help out, and there are always great stories. My dad is always the QB for his team and before each play there is a huddle and a specific lineup and strategy. You feel like you're a real football player because you are all sneaky trying to trick the other team. The teams are as fair as we can make them, and even though Anderson men can't get rid of the competitiveness completely, we are always nice and fair--it's family after all.

I didn't get any super great pictures, I brought the wrong camera, but here are a few to give you the feel of our wonderful family tradition.

Here is a typical play:

1. Attempted organization

2. Line up

3. CHARGE! (Hike)

4. Melee

5. To throw or to run?

6. Points or no points: Whatever benefits the most people wins. :)

And that, my friends, is Anderson Thanksgiving Football.

Ready for Christmas!

I'm so excited for Christmas! Usually I am staunchly against listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving... but for some reason I caved this year. I am just so ready for Christmas! So here I sit, blogging, and listening to Christmas music on internet radio. And fully enjoying it.

I broke out the red/green socks too. They make me so happy inside! Cool socks in general make me happy, but Christmas socks are the bestest!

I can't wait for peppermint hot chocolate, and candy canes, and ugly holiday sweaters, and snuggling by the fireplace, and decorating Christmas trees...

I'm especially excited for the SMELLS of Christmas! I was discussing this with Jessica, and there are at least 30 smells I associate with Christmas. I catch myself smelling things all year round and thinking, "Mmmm, that smells like Christmas!"

Here is a small list of scents I associate with Christmas:

Pine ~ Cinnamon ~ Vanilla ~ Chex Mix ~ Pear ~ Apple Cider

Chocolate ~ Mint ~ Orange ~ Fireplaces ~ "New" smell ~ Wrapping paper

Tape ~ Old sweaters ~ Pinecones ~ Cookies ~ Cherry

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Fantastic Facials on a Friday Night

I don't think boys will ever understand this. Wiping goo all over your face to clean it and/or relax? 

But it truly works. It feels so strange, especially when you make an attempt at smiling. The dandruff that falls off when you make funny faces is gross, but it's about then that you clean it off anyway. 

We all looked like ghosts, and had lots of fun playing with our wrinkles. Funny pictures are always a bonus. :)

Me, Shanna, Kaitlin, and Mallory showing off our forehead wrinkles

Why so serious?

Greatest picture! Shanna's wrinkles, Kaitlin's neck, Mallory's eyes, and my drunken stupor...

I haven't done this since I was 8 years old, but it was so fun! Easy, relaxing, and time well spent with good friends! This facial thing will need to be repeated. Thanks Mal and Kait!

Encounter with the LPD

Let me introduce you to Gracie, my car.

Monday night there was a knock at my door and two people came to tell me that someone had just hit into my car in the parking lot and drove away. I was in shock for a little bit, I wasn't too worried. So we walked out to Gracie and inspected the damage.

The girl that came to get me actually saw it happen and tried to chase the car down. She explained everything and then I called the police and reported it. Later a policeman came and took pictures, talked to me, asked for license, registration, and insurance. It was raining and so he invited me to sit in the passenger seat his car while he wrote up the report. I wasn't going to turn down a chance to sit in a police car so I accepted.

Inside there was a laptop, a printer in the back seat, a real radar gun, a million special buttons (I should have looked to see if there was a "grenade launcher" button, or a "super-sonic speed" button), but the best thing: a machine gun. It was attached to the ceiling above my head, ready at a moment's notice. Question: this is sleepy little LOGAN, what's the machine gun for? That is definitely something to ponder. I think they are waiting to find a serial killer hiding out, or perhaps a suicidal student on rampage, or maybe a mob of zombies waiting to attack...

He left me with a police report, a phone number, and a promise that he will "work on it." I haven't heard much in the past week, and I've tried to call a couple times, but oh well. Gracie will probably just look junky for a while.

That comprises my adventure with the Logan City Police Department. The coolest part being when I got to sit in the front seat of the cop car, and see a machine gun above my head. Rad.

Aggie Basketball

Hear ye, hear ye! Taylor has hereby achieved the status of "Official Aggie" through the attendance and participation of the rituals connected with a Utah State University basketball game. She can thus be pronounced forevermore a dedicated Aggie as a result of accomplishing her life's ambition.

**APPLAUSE**

Let it be known, that I, Taylor Anderson, have officially attended an Aggie Basketball game. And it was AWESOME.

The Essence of Halloween

It began with jack o'lanterns, at 11 o'clock PM. A quick Walmart run to buy our orange friends and then we spread out newspaper and commenced sawing away.

Nothing feels quite as wonderful as pumpkin goo on your hands. :)

While we created our masterpieces we watched Princess and the Pauper, sang along, and pointed out the terrible graphics and plot fallacies. It's a favorite pastime.

Each of our pumpkins represented us--Well, mostly:

Shanna made a Batman logo.

Michelle cut out a Christmas Tree.

Jessica made an artistic swirly-eyed face.

Hilary had a stem-nosed Harry Potter.

And I made a silly face with an overly large nose.

I am fairly certain that this is the best pumpkin I have ever carved in my life. I named him Bruce. 

After our carvings were finished Jessica and I commenced making pumpkin seeds. I never realized what a long and laborious task it is! 

1. Sort the seeds from the guts the best that you can. 

2. Fill a sink with water and dump seed mixture in.

3. Sort the seeds from the guts the best that you can. (The pumpkin sinks and the seeds float! Mostly.)
4. Boil seeds in salt water for 10 minutes. (Adds to the salty flavor.)
5. Grease a cookie sheet and spread a thin layer of pumpkin seeds on top.
6. Bake at 350 until crunchy! (about 45 min--make sure you flip them over/mix them around a couple times)

I decided that the COOLEST feeling is trying to grab a fistful of seeds when they are underwater. They slip out of your hands without resistance because they are so slick. It's like trying to grab something without sustenance, you can't put any pressure on it because it will slip away. Such a strange sensation!

The next day--Saturday--was a pancake day. The second batch we colored orange and attempted to make pumpkin faces with chocolate chips. It failed miserably. :) The orange was overshadowed by brown and the chocolate was either covered or distorted. Only one pancake turned out semi-decent. :)

That night there was lots of different festivities, but the last classic Halloween treat was yet to be made: Caramel Apples. It was definitely an adventure. Unwrapping all the candy takes an incredibly long time, and then you have to balance getting everything ready and making sure the caramel doesn't burn. I did not succeed at everything, but I did get the caramel ON the apples! They were stuck to each other and the wax paper, the knives were insufficient, and they were hard as rocks, but they were caramel apples.

Suggestions for next time:
Don't even try. What sounds more appetizing is cutting apple slices and drizzling caramel on top! Then you don't have to bite through a thick layer of sugar and get long gooey tails. I still need to find a way to solve the wax paper problem... We ended up just eating it.

We sufficiently achieved a perfect Halloween. Complete with jack o'lanterns, pumpkin seeds, and caramel apples. Who could ask for more?

Monday Morning Snowfall

I was not pleased.
Hilary tried to console me.

Hilary: Well there are good things about snow!

Taylor: Oh really? Name 5.

Hilary: Ok,
Number one, we get to sit in the bookstore and be cozy!
Number two, sledding!
Number three, snowmen!
Number four..... it means christmas is soon!
Number five..... you said five right? Number five......um........it...looks pretty when you're INside!

Taylor: That doesn't count! That's the same as the bookstore one!

Hilary: Nuh uh! Ok... number five........THE PENGUINS ARE HAPPIER!

The Pumpkin Walk

This week I discovered another reason that I love Logan so much. The Pumpkin Walk. It is a free event (they even have a free bus that takes you there) centered around pumpkins.

I heard someone say that it was started by a lady that wanted something happy and uplifting that kids could go to for Halloween instead of Haunted Houses and such. This is one of the most wonderful ideas that does just that. People put together scenes by painting pumpkins, squash, using other props and painting backdrops. Each is made by regular citizens: families, ward groups, preschool classes, even a high school drawing class.

Every year since 1982, at the end of October, clubs and organizations have been turning pumpkins, squash and other garden vegetables into the funniest, cutest, and most creative displays this side of the Little Bear River. Twenty years is a long time to do anything, but when it's a tradition like the North Logan Pumpkin Walk, 20 years isn't nearly enough. (History of the Pumpkin Walk)

The theme this year was "The Magic of Animation" and so each scene was a dipiction of an animated movie/tv show. They were so incredibly creative! I was repeatedly amazed by the talent of some people!

There was an "UP" scene, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Veggietales, Dr. Seuss, the Muppets, Partly Cloudy, Finding Nemo, Winnie the Pooh, A Bug's Life, The Princess and the Frog!, How to Train Your Dragon, Snow White, The Magic School Bus, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Monsters Inc, Thumbalina, Toy Story, Lion King, The Polar Express, Charlie Brown... So many to see!

In each scene they had a mini-pumpkin painted like the three-eyed alien on toy story. So we had a contest to see who could find the most. Melissa won. :)

Here are some of my favorites:

Mr. Fredrickson???

Hilary and the Veggie Tales!

The greatest childhood TV show ever!

Partly Cloudy, by far my favorite Pixar short!

This one was made by two preschool classes!

Perfect scene for pumpkins don't you think?

Melissa, Hilary and Horton the Elephant

Princess and the Frog of course!

And at the end they had carboard cutouts. WINNER!

It was so amazing! I absolutlely love this town of Logan! Someday I WILL take my children here and we will most definitely visit the pumpkin walk.

Homecoming Game

October 23, 2010--Utah State vs. Hawaii

Homecoming Game, I had to go! I haven't been to one all season, so it was definitely time. Hilary and I went, and then Shanna was joining us later.

We were super excited! We cheered, sang, whooped and hollered. Aggie Football games are the BEST! We have such a happy crowd. We watched the first touchdown (and, by the end, the ONLY touchdown) and watched as our team did really well.

At the end of the first quarter it began to rain. But we held true!

Halfway through the second quarter the wind began. So we donned the quilt. And Hilary told me a story about two Kwakiutls (kwah-kee-oo-tull) in a blanket. :)

When it finally became unbearable we left, and met Shanna on our way. We took a picture to prove she was there and then we ran across the street to our apartment and warmth. (As soon as we left the team stated doing horribly, the final score 45-7.)

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and tomato soup later, life was dry and happy again. Add a cup of Hot Chocolate and happiness was complete.