LONDON CALLING!

LONDON

So today is one of my favorite days! We have been to London 4 times now so it's kind of become a home away from home for my family. Natalie did study abroad here when she attended BYU so we were both very excited to take our husbands around London and show them all of our favorite sites. We got into London around 6 pm so we were going to go to Piccadilly Circus and get some dinner and do a walk about at night

but of course we missed our stop on the express train and ended up having to ride it all the way into London and back. So we ended up just ordering Chinese to our hotel and going to bed (which I think we were all secretly grateful for, me especially judging by my exhaustion in this picture lol)

The next morning we got up and went straight to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards!

  

This is one of my favorite things to do in London, 

thousands of people gather at the gates and they have this huge parade to bring in the new guards, they go through the front gates and do this line up/ gun salute thing and then switch the guards who are on stand. It's a big deal for such a small event really? But it's fun to see the parade.

 After the parade was over we walked through St. James park. I LOVE THIS PARK! They have all these cute chairs set up and people are scattered everywhere, reading, sleeping, practicing juggling, making out (lol), having field trips from school, and walking dogs.

When you come out of St. James park you can see your first view of Big Ben!

That clock never disappoints every time I see it 

We stopped at Big Ben just outside the Abbey and got breakfast then headed off a crossed the river to the London Eye and the London Tower. 

The London Tower is another really cool site to see in London. It was a high security prison back in it's hay day, today if you go through it you can see all the cells and the tools they used to torture prisoners with ha ha ha kind of awful but really interesting. 

.One cool fact.

I have a relative that carved his name into one of the walls in the Tower during his stay :)

We went and found it last time we were here!

I guess theres one in every family lol

THE LONDON BRIDGE!!
This was one of my top things I wanted to show Brandon, I couldn't WAIT for him to see it!

This bridge is incredible! The only way you can appreciate the detail is to see it in person.
They had just freshly painted the bridge for the Olympics so it was even more breath taking than usual!

 It's amazing how many people come to see this bridge every year and for good reason too.

One thing Evie does right now that I love and hate,

when you take her picture if you don't IMMEDIATELY show her the picture on the back of the camera she tenses her ENTIRE body and growls at you! 

Like she's going to explode!

It is hilarious but she only does it for a second so I can never get a picture of it! 

Well, today I FINALLY got my picture!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA this kid kills me!!!

After the bridge we walked down the river to St. Pauls Cathedral.

We walked passed all the statue actors and street musicians and I just took some photography along the way. 

 At St. Pauls we all sat on the steps and took a well needed break before we went into the Cathedral...

...Evie, of course, traumatized pidgins and did the stairs 10,000 times....

While we were at the Cathedral it started pouring rain so we ducked into the Tube and rode over to Notting Hill Gate where Natalies old flat was when she studied here.

We visited the BYU center and then Natalie requested that we take a walk through Hyde Park.

She used to run here every morning while she was living in London.

 The park of course was lush and green with locals scattered all throughout. 

We were all ready to pass out by the time we need to jump back on the Express Train and catch our flight to Athens

but just before we left the pond in Hyde park I snapped this shot

.great way to end our London day.

Next week is ATHENS!

See you all soon!!

ICELAND

Hey everyone! So long time no blog! I have so much to catch up on it's not even funny. This summer has been crazy! I'd like to give a shout out to all of my friends, family and ESPECIALLY my clients who have been so patient with my hectic schedule lately! Anyway, as promised, i'm going to start blogging about my trip to Europe! As I sat down at my desk the other day I tried to get started on blogging my epic 3 week long trip and I started getting REALLY overwhelmed... I had a billion pictures I wanted to post and a million things to say and it would have been a long and then forgotten post. SO! I've decided to post about 1 country at a time! I'll leave it up for a week or so and then move on to the next. Sound good to everyone? I feel like doing it this way will actually do justice to this trip and also work as a journal entry for myself as well :)

so day one!

DENVER TO 

ICELAND

So today we flew out of Denver at about 6 pm which was perfect because Evie slept almost the entire 11 hour flight and then we landed in Kelfick Iceland around 6 am (Iceland Time) so that cut out a HUGE chunk of our jet lag 

.thank goodness.

Flying into Iceland was awesome! You got to see the entire island from one end to the other and it was NOTHING like I expected!

It looked just like St. George but COVERED in moss!?!

Really the entire island looks like lava rock covered in lush green!

It was beautiful

We landed and rented a car for the day and drove all over to different sites.

My favorite site was the Gollfoss Waterfalls

I've never even HEARD of these falls and they kick Niagra Falls butt!

They were truly amazing.

.awe inspiring.

It was WAY too cold to take Evangeline all the way down to the look out point by the falls and we didn't want her to get wet so we hung out at the top while the rest of the family went down.

Of course she got wet anyway cause she had a crazy diaper blow out shortly after the family started the hike...

(please note Evies proximity to me while riding in the sling...)

so the 2 of us had to walk around for a few minutes and air dry anyway...

.Thanks E.

After the falls we went to a geyser

It was FREEZING!

When the geyser is about to go off all the water starts to get sucked down into the hole so we were standing there freezing to death and every time the water started to go down we'd whip our cameras out  and pull our gloves off.....

and it still wouldn't go....

luckily I finally got the shot before my fingers froze off

All around the geyser were these hot pot pools. They were beautiful! 

Just full of steaming water

It looked amazing with how cold we all were at that moment ha ha ha

We also went to this GIANT crater!

I don't really remember how it was formed but it kind of looked like 10,000 flushes (for those of you from Cedar City :) 

.my dad is so handsome I think.

After all that we sadly had to drive back to the Airport and catch our flight to London

not that I was too sad though, I LOVE London!

I wish I could have spent 4 more days in Iceland but it was just a long layover for us. 

I'd like to go back and photograph more than just out a car window!

.........................................

In back in Denver news!

Brandon is OFFICIALLY a

Student Doctor!

I am so overwhelmed with pride in him I could barely hold the tears back at his white coat ceremony!

He's doing well so far, the hardest thing about it is learning how to be a med school student.

How to balance study time, what to take really serious and what to just pass.

He's getting it though, and Evie and I are having a blast. 

We've already made a ton of new friends and have been going on bike rides, reading books, scrapbooking, and just enjoying life before my work starts up again.

Next weeks blog: LONDON!

Ciao!

Evie's 1st Birthday!!

The last few weeks have been crazy for us! We've been non stop working, packing boxes, enjoying our last family events, getting ready for our trip and tying up lose ends in Utah. We are officially living in Denver now. We moved last Saturday and so far we are really liking it (other than the fact that I got lost for 2 hours the other day trying to find Costco...) Anyway. I thought i'd catch up on the last few weeks.
First up my mom and Jared came down to help us pack up our housethank goodness too because I have NO IDEA how to pack a house for a move to another state.While they were here we went and saw Aladdin at Tuachan!

... honestly I loved it but I was also kind of disappointed in it too. The effects and 3d were SO COOL but they brought in a lot of jokes about Madonna and Beyonce and "Deal or No Deal" and it really killed the whole "Disney Magic" for me. That and the flying carpet got stuck during the first 10 seconds of "A Whole New World" so they just sat in the middle of the stage on a stationary rug ha ha ha ha it all worked out cause after the song they stopped the show, had Aladdin and Jasmine hope off, a few tech guys ran out, put the couple back on the rug and we got to have round 2 of the song but this time with the working rug! .much cooler the second time. 
................
OUR LITTLE STINKER TURNED ONE!!I can't believe how much she's grown this year! 365 days ago she didn't know how to walk or say mom get into drawers, (work my iPad), climb stairs, roll around, and use her hands!and now she does all of that and so much more!
I did this little birthday cake shoot and I was really excited about it!I got the cake all made up cute and got her all ready to go I put her down by that cake and guess what?.. that little girl wouldn't TOUCH that cake!I thought for sure, with how much she gets into everything else, she'd dive right into that cake!!We tried everything! We started putting her little snacks that she loves on the back of the cake and if she picked one off and it had the slightest bit of frosting on it she had a fit! I was shocked. So the way this cake looks in these pictures is pretty much exactly how it looked when the shoot was over. We now refer to her as Miss Priss...

Her birthday is the 28th and we were moving on the 29th so we decided to have a birthday/going away party for her at my In Laws house to send us off to Medical School. I got the house all decorated (thank you dollar store and Pinterest) and it looked SO CUTE! I didn't get a ton of very good pictures of the decor and i'm kicking myself about it.

So many of our friends and family came and it was the best way we possibly could have left UtahWe had 40+ people show up and when all those people starting to sing Happy Birthday to Evie she was just grinning from ear to ear! She LOVED being the center of attention and she totally knew she was too! It was too funny!

Me and my Birthday Gril
.i'm in love.
This little girl got spoiled beyond all reason! The term "showered with gifts" I think literally applies here.

I wasn't expecting other people to bring her presents! I haven't been to a birthday party is so long where you bring a gift I just didn't even think about others bringing her any! Brandon and I got her 3 little things and I figured the grandparents would but it was like CHRISTMAS for this girl! (In fact I still think i'm gonna take some of these and save them till Christmas)She did great though, I was worried she'd be so overwhelmed by presents she be thrown into an early nap time but she just unwrapped everything and as soon as it was opened she'd grab it and run it over to me to show her how it works. Then for some reason she started putting this white box on people heads and just thinking that was hilarious?
This girl was fed more sugar by more people than I think any 1 year old has ever had.She was so crazy! She was running around and saying hi to everyone and just being the biggest show off!

Which eventually led to a massive sugar crash and a good nights sleep...
We are loving Colorado but we already miss our friends and family. 
--------------------------------
I wanted to write a few things about Evie so I can remember them.-She has the wildest, craziest personality!-She says hi to EVERYONE-She likes to take apart her diaper bag and slowly distribute it out to everyone in sacrament meeting-She learned how to walk backwards so we are having a lot of accidents lol-Every time Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on she screams like a 13 year old girl at a Justin Beiber concert- She goes "ahhh" when she wants to share your drink (like, the sound you make AFTER you take a drink)-She will do the stairs 10 MILLION times if you'll let her- She gabs on and on at the grocery store- I don't know WHERE she learned this but she always try to give kisses to little boys...- She's a quick recovery kind of girl when she gets hurt- She LOOOVES mom- Is always willing to share your ice cream- Goes crazy for her Uncle Jared- Starts dancing to ANY music, people cell phones, the hymns in relief society, commercials on tv. etc. - She tries to be sneaky already- She loves her sock monkey- REFUSES to hold her own bottle! She can drink out of a normal cup all by herself but will starve to death before she'll hold her own bottle.- She loves to sit on people's faces? I have no clue why but if you lay on the floor she's gonna come sit on your face and bounce...

Well, we leave for our Europe trip tomorrow so get ready for that post in about 3 weeks!!until then CIAO!!

Powell. Mystere. Emerald Pools. FUN.

Moving day is FAST approaching and I have WAAAY too much to do before then!

...Heres the list...

Tie up all lose ends with all my photography clients

GARAGE SALE!

paint and stain new shelf that dad and I built

take a saw and a sander to the hutch and make it a TV stand
sell old TV stand at garage sale

find loads of boxes

PACK

Anderson Family Reunion

about 3 weeks worth of laundry

2 more family sessions

touch up lockers that I painted for Evies room

post a blog about Evies Lockers

Evies birthday party!

Aladdin at Tuachan (find babysitter)

finish the 5 foot 6 inch tall subway art i'm making for the entry in our new apartment

......

deep breaths

.....

So i figured before I got 2 months behind in my blogging i'd hurry and catch up!

We'll start with the most recent and go backward I think

*shake things up a bit*

The Valantine family vacation this year was to Lake Powell!!

Yahoo RIGHT?!

.no.

We wanted to leave early and hit the lake but Dani Aubrey and Brady had school so the rest of us took off to powell. We unloaded at the hotel and then hit the lake! We docked at Antelope so we headed straight up Navajo Canyon for about 15 miles then decided to get out and surf and board. We played around for about an hour and then figured the rest of the Fam would be getting to the hotel soon so we'd better head back...

Well we got about a mile back down the Canyon and the belt on the umpeller FRIED

.great.

so we put it back on the best we can and take off again

.....

700 yards later it breaks again

so we put it BACK on...

this happens about 3 times and we FINALLY see a boat!! 

WE'RE SAVED!

We asked the guy if he could just stick around and follow us for a bit and make sure we get out of the canyon okay...

LONG story short

we put the belt back on about 4 more times and then gave up and he towed us the last 10 miles of the canyon. 

4 hours later we get to the dock and decide to just go to the hotel and go to bed

it was too long of a day

The next day we go out first thing and buy a new belt!

everyone is in high spirits! 

YAHOO!

BOAT DAY!

We launch it into the water

turn on the engine

get about half way out of the no wake zone 

and it fries again...

so we have Dani swim us in

We reload it

and take it to a shop

while the boats getting fixed the rest of us head to swimmers beach and just set up a day camp till the boat is done

NOW the fun starts!
We played in the water and played with sand toys
blew bubbles
climbed all over mom...

built sand castles

then a few hours later the boat pulled up
YAHOO!!!!!

Evie stayed back with Grandma and Grandpa and all the kids took the boat out
We were out for about 30 minutes and decided to go back to the beach and let Dad know that the boat was doing just great and he didn't need to worry if we were stranded or something.
We got back to the beach and the wind had picked up BAD!
We decided to throw everything on the boat
take it back to the truck
dump it off
and just spend the entire rest of the day on the boat
....
well while we were loading the stuff from the beach to the boat the waves had gotten SO BIG from the wind that they picked the boat up and smashed it into the ground and completely

bent
the
propeller...

so needless to say...
we called it a trip

we went back to the hotel
watched a movie
and went to bed

the next morning we just took off and left

So not the most successful Powell trip but it was still fun to spend time with family :)


Next up!

Brandon took Me and E on a Zion hike!!
YES!!
I love hiking
Brandon does not
so when he said he wanted to take me on a hike I was BEYOND excited!!!

Here's Evie getting ready to go!

We had  a blast. 

I hope we'll hike more when we move!

For Mothers Day B got me tickets to Mystere in Vegas!!

I have never seen a Vegas show before and Brandons family see's them all the time so he wanted me to have a REAL vegas experience before we moved away!

We dropped off the baby at Grandma and Grandpa's and headed off for a much needed vaca

The show was SO COOL!

If you go to Vegas to see a show GO SEE Mystere!

After the show we had a Groupon for a Thai place so we ordered a TON of food! 

It was so good!!!

We ate a lot

We shopped a little

and hung out by the pool all day

It was SO NICE to not have someone climbing all over your legs all day and getting into EVERYTHING all the time.

.We loved it.

and lastly...

Me and B went to the 

F.U.N

concert about a month ago!

It was awesome!

One of the best concerts I've ever been to

well thats it for now

lots more exciting posts to come!

Thanks for keeping up with the Valantines

Red Velvet Sundays...

I cannot even begin to describe my love for cupcakes

.ESPECIALLY.

 Red Velvet cupcakes

They are the greatness to my day and the bane to my love handles!

A good friend of mine lives in Texas and she's been taking some photoshop classes from me so as a thank you she sent me a box of cupcakes...
she knows me all too well.

I saved the Red Velvet cupcake for 4 days for the PERFECT moment

sunday afternoon

E is down for a nap

Brandon is watching the game out on the sofa

so I sneak away to my bedroom with a chick flick, a glass of milk

and this fabulous piece of pastry...

.bliss.

Europe 2012!

One of the things I am most grateful for in my life is what we (The Andersons) do "as a family" 

We don't boat

 We don't jeep

We don't camp much

We TRAVEL!

I have had so many amazing experiences in my life thanks to my parents and I could probably never do anything or thank them enough to make up for what they've given me with the trips we go on.

They have made it a priority to get our family out of our comfort zones and to as many foreign countries as we can see before we get too old and our knees give out on us ;)

In my fine art classes in college, I had been to MOST of the architectural landmarks we discussed and have stood in front of the rarest art pieces in the world!

I will be forever grateful to my parents who have spent the time and money to make sure all of us see the world with them. 

I know someday my kids will get tired of me telling them about all of my adventures over and over! 

about getting lost in Venice for an entire day

seeing Rome at 2 a.m cause my mom didn't want to go to sleep yet!

Almost getting kicked out of the Endinburgh Scotland Castle with Natalie

Riding Donkeys up the side of a volcano is Mykonos Greece

Going to EVERY Pride & Prejudice site we could find!

About my mom passing kidney stones in Russia and my dad and I having to navigate a russian subway system all alone!

I have so many memories of my siblings on these trips as well.

We got along (ish) when we were little but we REALLY grew close on these trips.

Most of my favorite memories of my siblings are in foreign countries now that I think about it!

Natalie going INSANE in the car while driving from Whales to Scottland and back to London.

Ryan barking out the car window at unsuspecting Vespa riding Italians while stuck in traffic in Florence

ha ha ha ha ha

.Good times.

 My parents decided since this would probably be the last time ALL of us could go on a big family vacation ALL together we'd go out with a bang!

Now announcing the agenda for the 

ANDERSON FAMILY 2012 FAMIY VACATION!!!

We leave July 9th and I'm DYING!
Egypt is a bucket list item for me and Brandon!
Thats probably mostly what i'm excited about...
I've been to a few of these places before and I can't WAIT to take Brandon to them!
He's never been to Europe and London is like home away from home for me!

July seriously can't come fast enough!!