The Vacation - Part 3 (Still in Farmington)

We took a long walk on the mountain that is the town of Farmington. Seriously, I should have started cardio long before now. We walked to the Fire House to visit Fire Chief Uncle Larry and Stella got to sit in a real fire truck and see inside an ambulance. Uncle Larry took us to lunch and we got to head back to his house to see Aunt Meledie and visit for a while. They offered to let Stella ride the horse, but she was a little scared for some reason.

We got to rest a little and do some laundry while Stella, Sarah, and Garrett played video games. It's so interesting to see Stella be able to play. She can work it better than I can.

And she's so cute doing it.

Travis and Lorraine took us to The Fish Hatchery (near Odgen) so we could go fishing for some trout. Elliot's Uncle Doug and Aunt Danna joined us and got fish food for the kids. Every year when Elliot's family would visit Utah, they'd make a trip to the fish hatchery.

Elliot was always afraid of fish and never touched one until AFTER his mission (we were engaged). He's conquered his fear.

Stella was happy to hold the fishing pole for 2 seconds until the fish started tugging on it. She promptly gave it to Elliot while she harrassed Uncle Doug (she called him Grandpa) for some fish food. She did sort of touch the fish for one second (she's a good one to bribe).

Garrett didn't want to touch his fish.

Sarah didn't want to touch her fish either.

So Lorraine touched it.

Looksie what I caught! It took a while (even though Garrett was pulling fish out every 3 seconds), but Stella was helping me by throwing fish food right around my line so they'd get confused and take a bite.

Travis kept doing this "cannon ball" with Garrett.

Of course Stella had to try too.

We waited around while the boys at the hatchery gutted and fileted the trout. I can stomach watching it a lot better now than when my brother did it when we were younger. Yuck. But look how cute Stella is!

These kids had so much fun together!

After some yummy ice cream and an entertaining over-reaction to scraping a knee, we headed to Kaysville to my sisters house to start the reunion!

The Vacation - Part 2 (Farmington)

On Monday night we headed to Farmington to stay with Elliot's cousin Travis and his wife Lorraine and kids Sarah and Garrett. The drive is less than 20 minutes, but Stella was EXHAUSTED! We took them to dinner and then the kids played. Stella goes to sleep so much easier when she's played so hard during the day with friends/cousins!

Tuesday was a big day for us. Shannon and Lisa were my very first roommates at Ricks College. They are hilarious! I was so excited to see them! Of course, Stella made a best friend out of Shannon's daughter Sydney who had the coolest princess castle tent in her room. She also managed to make Aaron cry because she recognized that he was the only boy in the house and decided to make it a GIRLS ONLY castle. I knew what was happening before I even entered the room. Sorry Aaron.

Why I love this picture . . . it's the face Shannon is making in about 90% of my pictures from college from 12 years ago.

I didn't think I was that much taller than them. Hello Amazon woman!

Shawn, Shannon and Sydney

Anna, Mike, Aaron, Lisa, and Abby

Their husbands got to join us for lunch and when I admitted that I'd never seen the "Thriller" music video, they busted it out for us to watch. It was so much fun to remember the college days and laugh at the dumb things we (they) did. :) Thanks for taking the "long lunch" Shannon and thanks for driving all the way from Orem Lisa! I love you guys!

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After a little rest, we headed to Lehi to visit Elliot's old mission companion Mark Christensen and his family. All great mission stories involve Christensen in some way and I get along really well with his wife, so we love to visit them! We went out to dinner and let the kids do their best to try to behave in public. Someone else in the restaurant was belching out loud, so we weren't the worst behaved there. We were safe.

Geddy and Eli were really protective of Stella. I think there was a little crush going on and she made it clear that she was a high maintenance princess and they bought the whole thing. They had so much fun jumping on the trampoline and helping Mark with the fireworks.

At one point in the evening, Wesley (age 2) scratched Stella's nose on accident . . . well, the older brothers didn't think it was an accident so they spent the rest of the evening getting back at poor Wesley and protecting the diva Stella. He must be used to it though because he didn't cry at all, even the leg sweep.

I think if there was ever a favorite companion, it'd be Christensen. Elliot and Mark were companions in the MTC and in the mission field in the Dominican Republic.

Mark and Sarah with the kids Wesley, Eli, and Geddy . . . and another little boy due in August! Thanks for letting us visit!

The Vacation - Part 1 (The Farm)

Elliot, Stella, and I headed to Utah for my big Anderson Reunion at the beginning of July. However, Elliot had some extra time off, so we went a week early to hang out with family and friends that we haven't seen for a while.

We stayed at the newly remodeled and absolutely beautiful Farm House in Layton. Uncle Cleve and Aunt Barbara Dibble own the house now, but this is where Elliot's Dad and Grandpa both grew up. I wish I had the before pictures.

We got to stay upstairs and it felt like we were at a bed and breakfast. I love the Farm. Stella fell out of bed twice.

We got to spend a lot of time with Liz, Elliot's cousin David's wife, who was staying at the farm while she taught her dance workshop for a few weeks. Liz and David live in New York where she teaches dance and he is an artist. He didn't work on the new Ice Age movie, but he's working on the next movie from the same company.

Elliot's trying to sweet-talk Uncle Tyler into making a habit out of bringing us double blueberry donuts from Tasty's whenever we visit. Elliot's favorite. And the frosting is now Stella's favorite.

We went to church on Sunday and Stella got to go to Nicole's class (Elliot's cousin's 9-year-old daughter) because now they're best friends. Nicole was such a sport to hang out with Stella the entire time we were there. She LOVES Nicole (aka, Michelle or Micole)!

Elliot's cousins and Uncle and Aunt all got together for a BBQ, but I forgot to take my camera. We had so much fun sitting outside and Stella was in heaven with more kids to play with and help her become exhausted!

We made plans for Monday to get some Tasty's sandwiches and head to a water park near Elliot's cousin's home. Nicole came with us, but I forgot to bring their swimming suits, so they just got wet in their clothes!

Mia is so adorable. She's been talking since she exited the womb and her and Stella became quick friends.

Elliot's cousin Melissa and her husband Chad and their son Tyler.

Elliot's cousin Jen (she has my dream hair) and her son Max blowing us kisses.

Those blue eyes!

Drinking fountain difficulty.

And our new best friend NICOLE!

I love the Dibble Family. They have the ability to make you feel like the most important person in the world when you come to visit. They drop everything to get together, just for you!

Seahorse Red - PASSED!

Thanks to my good friend Stacy, I was able to take a water aerobics class while Stella waited for her swimming lessons (water aerobics is 20 minutes longer than swim lessons).

This is the 3rd time she's taken the Seahorse Red class . . . 1st time her teacher was incompetent, 2nd time she was terrified of swimming, and finally 3rd she had a great teacher (Nick and his assistant Roman)! She loved the class and loved Nick and finally passed the class!

Laundress

When my sister Marci was here taking care of me while I recovered, she did pretty much EVERYTHING for me. Before she left, she asked Stella to be my big helper including reminding me to drink water (which she still does).

Stella helps me with the laundry too. That's a heavy basket. She's being the biggest helper in the world!

Red Light/Green Light

I Forgot Father's Day

Elliot and I both read the book "The Five Love Languages" and realized that neither of our love languages was GIFTS. This is a relief because I'm not very thoughtful when it comes to giving gifts and I'm surely not a very good gift-receiver (awkward . . . refer to the wedding gift story of 1999). So Elliot proclaimed that we'd never have to give each other gifts again!

But may I just say that I will be perfectly content not ever opening another gift again because what could possibly be better than the 2 little gifts I get to hang out with every day? I love Elliot and Stella so much.

I was out running an errand the other day for a very short time and when I came home (I wish I had a picture of it), Stella and Elliot were sitting at the kitchen table playing the "Gone Fishing" game and Elliot had a pink barrett in his hair. My heart was about to burst just knowing how much he loves our little girl and what a fantastic daddy he is! The barrett threw me over the edge.

Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico

Elliot and I invited some friends over for a Caribbean Night last month! Aubrey learned from all of her maids in the Dominican Republic how to cook all of the yummy food. She spent all day making the food for all of us! She assured me it wouldn't have the same affect on Elliot that it did in the Dominican Republic.

Michelle & Lance (Lance served in Puerto Rico), Mike, Max, & Mari (Mike served in the Dominican Republic), Elliot (served in the Dominican Republic), Aubrey Bloom (served in the Dominican Republic), and Rich, Richy, Zoe and Rachel (Rich served in Puerto Rico), and Stella (wearing a tiny fairy dress).

Apparently the water in the DR was unsafe to drink, so it was either Coke or Tang, so TANG was aplenty at our little gathering. Pure sugar is what it is.

It was so fun to pull out some old mission pictures and talk about poop stories. You know you're with good company when you can talk about poop.

And Max rested comfortably.

I Have Cute Parents

They're a little nuts, but they're cute.

The Big Reveal!

Have I kept you in suspense long enough? Well, sorry to disappoint because it's not that huge. Well, I guess it could be if I was coherent enough to have refused. So here's where I left off:

Elliot took me home from the hospital with the PICC line on Friday, May 29, 2009 just in time to have missed ALL family functions, including this very, very important one for my niece Kayla:

Kayla was sealed to Patrick Martin on May 23, 2009 in the Salt Lake Temple. Isn't she gorgeous?!

The Home Health nurse came to change the bandage on my PICC line on Saturday. I told her that I was allergic to the plastic tape and she just said, "Oh" and put the plastic tape on my arm. Grrr.

We had an exciting weekend following my return home when early, early Sunday morning Stella woke up. I was putting her back to bed (at 3:00 a.m.) when there was the loudest banging on our front window and someone yelling for help.

Now that we all know how loud my vomit/screaming is, let me try to describe the window/long hallway sound. We have a crappy front window. If someone outside closes their car door, it sounds like it's right in the middle of our living room as our window rattles. Also, our hallway is like a bowling alley and amplifies everything!

So that combo at 3:00 in the morning was actually quite entertaining as Elliot jumped out of bed (he's not a good waker-upper) and starts yelling at the door (the banger had moved over to the front door . . . which is actually on the side of the house). Elliot, in his blindness, saw someone crouching outside the door through the peep-hole. There was no way I was letting him open the door, so he called 911. There was no more banging and whoever it was left. The cops came, found a baseball cap with blood in it and told us to go back to bed. So we did. Well, Stella and I did. Elliot's heart was beating out of his chest and I'm sure his mind was racing too. The banging he heard sounded like it came from our roof. It's very, very loud. New windows have been ordered (not really, but soon).

Church was entertaining and exhausting as quite a few people just thought we were on vacation and didn't know I was sick and in the hospital. Plus, I covered the PICC line with this wrap thing the nurse gave me. It made the whole thing look worse than it was. I felt so much better that it was weird to answer all of the questions. Thanks to my best friend Emily for taking Stella home for me so I could take a nappy.

Monday afternoon my sister Marci came into town to take care of us! May I just mention that someone told her that my kidneys were shutting down (not true, never even mentioned once by a doctor . . . or even checked for that matter), so she pretty much thought I was dying. I was still weak and recoving when she came, but the 2 weeks she was here was actually just fun because we got to hang out a lot instead of me being sickly.

Marci is amazing. She just gets stuff done. Stuff thats been on my "TO DO" list for 4 months. Plus, she did my laundry, ironing, dishes, sweeping, vacuuming, cleaning, more ironing, and entertained Stella while I took naps. She also got me started on a project that has been in the works for the past 7 years (my brother's wedding scrapbook). Amazing I tell ya, amazing. And she reminded me to take my medication and vitamins. Plus she just finished planning a wedding for her daughter. I have the best sisters EVER!

They kept the PICC line in my arm just for emergency purposes. I wasn't using it at home, but I had to clean it every day just in case it needed to be used. Though I realized that the PICC line was probably the reason I felt so much better (and I was very grateful for it), I was really ready to get it out of my arm. It was a close call, but the Home Health Nurse was able to take the PICC line out on Friday, June 5, 2009 instead of me having to wait until the next Tuesday for my Post-Op appointment.

Earlier in the week I went out to by paper tape to wrap my PICC lines up. I think the Home Health Nurse stole it. But that's alright because I'm sure there's someone else that's allergic to plastic tape like me.

Marci got to go to my Post-Op appointment with me. Here's the conversation and the BIG REVEAL I had with my doctor:

WHIT: "Hey doc, what do you think was wrong with me?"
DOC: "Could have been your gall bladder, but it was probably the stomach ulcers."
WHIT: "Well, what made me feel better?" (although I already think it was the PICC line nutrition)
DOC: "It could have been a lot of things, maybe we finally just got the right combination of drugs, we changed them a lot, I gave you marijuana, or it could have been . . ."
WHIT: "Wait, what?"
DOC: "I gave you medical marijuana."
WHIT: "Awesome."
DOC (to Marci): "Oh hi, I don't believe we've met."
MARCI: "I'm Marci."
DOC: "Where are you from?"
MARCI: "Utah."
DOC: "Are you LDS?"
MARCI & WHIT: "Yes."
DOC: "Oh, so you probably don't approve of me giving you marijuana?"

So there you have it. It's all over, except for a few more follow-up appointments, continued ulcer medication, vitamins, and a lot of water . . . I feel awesome. The gall bladder and appendix didn't weigh much, but I did lose a little weight (not as much as Elliot) during the process which was also very cool. Stella continues to kiss my PICC line scar so it will get better and, in her words, "I won't have to be soft with Mommy anymore."

THE END

Whitney Dibble Photography

I updated my photog blog with pictures of several families, adorable babies, and a splash of Stella that I took a LONG time ago.

Plus, look what just came in the mail a few weeks ago. No more borrowing. Call me, I'll take your picture!