my family rocks.

I love the pictures we had taken in December so.so.so.much! I think these are my favorite set of pictures ever. Too many good ones to choose from! That's a good problem to have...


-Little Wife Power House

sneak preview

Over Christmas break, we had family pictures taken. It had been about two years. We added Holden to the mix and JR & Asher changed so much over those two years - it was time to get them updated. Here is a little preview. I love love love how tina captured all of our favorite holden faces. Especially the last one - classic Holden.

The good looking Guerrero's...

My beautiful Mom and Sister, Julie...

How did Steve get this pretty girl to marry him?

The whole family!

Awwww...we're in love :)

Tina did a fabulous job. Highly recommend her!


-Little Wife Power House

quality time with not-so-jumbo-Jett

You're probably wondering what the title of this post means. Well...Jett was a chubby baby. Chubbiest baby I've seen since Allan [I can't leave out that he was also adorable!] We called him Jumbo Jett [in a loving way, of course]. Just like his Uncle Allan, the second he was mobile he slimmed right up. He is now the adorable two-year-old you'll see in the next few pictures!


I got to watch Jett for a little so Jennifer could attend her 6-year-old's Valentine Party at school without a crazy toddler to chase. Jett  & Koda became instant friends. 

I've been very pleasantly surprised by the way Koda interacts with little kids now. She is an angel...who woulda thunk! She does not growl or snap at all! She just loves them, gives them kisses, plays with them, and lets them pet her. Go Koda!!


Jett was such a good cousin to play with Holden while in his "prison" - I mean activity center!

While I was chasing Jett around [toddlers get into everything!], Holden played on the floor in his super cute outfit [thx, target]. 

[yes, it says "Mommy says I'm the BEST BABY EVER:)]

I've been getting a lot of nephew time lately and I'm loving it. Allan asked me the other day if I was stacking up favors. I said oh yeah I am! JK 

-Little Wife Power House

being an aunt is so fun!

Today I get to watch my nephews, JR & Asher for a few hours. So far there's been fun, a mini oven disaster, one Asher breakdown [he does NOT like the word "no!" Even when he's not in trouble!], and a little snuggle time with Aunt Jen. 


We had a few donuts for breakfast. I didn't have any pictures but these are from the last time I watched the boys...donuts are a hit with these two. 

[These pictures are a prime example of their different personalities! Neat, organized JR and Wild Man Ash! I love it.]

We watched an episode of the Backyardigans while I fed Holden his breakfast. Holden's breakfast was not quite so yummy...mashed up peas, carrots, and spinach - blach! 

We ATTEMPTED to make a Valentine's version of the Christmas Crayons...but it was a DISASTER! I maybe didn't think about the tray not being made of silicon...we were so excited to go check on them and see the crayons all melting together and what did I find? THE TRAY MELTING. 

Smoke filled my whole house and it smelled awful. I was trying to get Asher out of the kitchen when the meltdown started. So not only was the tray melting and the crayons melting...but Asher was joining in on the mayhem! It was pretty short lived though, thankfully. 


Since the house was so smoky, we moved to my bedroom [the door had been shut] to watch a little Mulan and snuggle. These boys are too cute!

[Don't you just want to cuddle in bed with those smiley boys?]

We've now moved onto the playroom so baby Holden can try to go down for a nap. 

[Why do boys make guns out of everything?]

The boys are happily playing while Aunt Jen blogs about their wonderfulness. I think I could handle another kid! But not quite yet...

-Little Wife Power House

Allan's Birthday

Well, today I stayed home sick from church. I started getting sick on NYE at casey&joe's [left before midnight. i'm lame, i know]. I thought it was just a cold, and maybe today was just a fluke, who knows. All I'm going to say is my breakfast came back up this morning and it was gross and I felt gross. My new calling is 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency and today was just an awful day to be sick! The Pres was the only one at church today since everyone else was out of town and I was sick. Did I mention it's the first week of classes changing AND our ward split? Ah, I'm sorry Pres [even though she doesn't read my blog, I feel that terrible about it]. 


Luckily, Holden has been sleeping for about two hours so I've had plenty of time to recover. Hallelujah. I figured I'll blog about Allan's birthday since blogging takes almost zero energy. 


I have to start by saying that Allan is the best husband ever. I was up late [until 2am] the night before working [like I was every night last week] and up multiple times during the night so I was dead tired. He woke up, went to Sonic to get me a huge coke, went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few essential groceries, and picked ME up a present [new tripod for my new, awesome camera Al got me for xmas]. Who gets their wife a present on their birthday?! Allan does. I better hang onto him...


He had some friends over to play Castle Crashers [would you believe I love this game and am actually kind of good at it?]. We played it A LOT when H was overdue. They played it for like 6 hours straight. I don't have that kind of longevity but hey, it was Allan's birthday :)


Then we went bowling with my family. Neither of us are very good, but we have tons of fun. Allan always does these awesome bowling moves. This time he did a 360 spin and got a STRIKE! Can you believe it? I was impressed. Everyone had a great time.

[isn't that the coolest sweater you've ever seen? new nickname: The Captain.]

[lori had to bowl while holding asher]

[playing on the couch]

[my brothers were in town from Utah!]

[had to get a picture with the birthday boy!]

[the whole group. Holden was my "bowling ball"]

Well, Allan, I love you. You're the best husband & father. Thank goodness I decided to date one of those crazy Mormon boys! ;) 

-Little Wife Power House

more Christmas fun!

I told you...FOUR Christmases! It's just been so much fun to stretch out Christmas. Luckily we have enough family that we might get away with this every year. muahahah :) 


We went over to my Mom's tonight. Emily, Steve, John, and Chris all came down from Utah and Julie made the trip from Dallas. What a wonderful family we have. We opened presents first since the amazingly tasty chicken pies took a while to cook. Here are a few pictures of the shenanigans that ensued.

Christmas with the Anderson[s]

What a fun day! I love having so much family. That means Christmas seems to last a bit longer. We get to have FOUR Christmases this year [didn't they make a movie about that??] Two on my side, one on Allan's, then the most important one...OUR LITTLE FAMILY! 


We did Christmas today with Dad, Elizabeth, and Robin. First we went to Kobe's for lunch. That is only our favorite restaurant ever. I could eat it every day...It started out a little rocky with the H man:

Luckily he quickly shifted gears...

Let me tell you, they spoiled us. Especially little Holden. That's part of being a grandparent right? Spoiling your grandchildren. It was santaholden's first go at unwrapping presents and he did better than I thought he would! He loved playing with the paper [it crinkles. should have expected that.] He even ripped some! 

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party 2010

We had our annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party last night and I have to say, it was a hit in my opinion! It was a mostly family party this year [I think we will alternate family party then friend party each year]. There must've been 30 people there [with only 3 friends]. Having a big family on both sides is crazy fun! Check out how awesome everyone's outfits were!

[santaholden&daddy having fun]

[jett with a mouthful of casey's amazing oreo balls]

[me&julie with her cute new haircut]

[my two favorite sisters]

I covered the table with butcher paper and they colored with Christmas Crayons. We also had cookie decorating, party favors, a Christmas movie [Rudolph], and bowling for the kids:

Here are a few pictures of the food and I'll include links to the recipes [at least for the food I made]:

Go here for the pumpkin cheesecake muffins

Go here for the chicken quesadilla pinwheels

Go here for the hot mulled apple cider

I'll type up the recipes for the snickerdoodles [yum] and Lori's sausage dip [so good] if any of you want it! 

Can't wait until next year's party! Thanks to everyone who came and to my awesome photographer [Lori}! 

Happy Sabbath!

-Little Wife Power House

The Gratitude Challenge: Day Seven

Day seven:

I'm grateful for my family.

{Allan's family on our wedding day}

{My family on our wedding day}

I have to do the rest of my family in one post or else it will take up all 30 days! Let me show you how many people I'm grateful for in my immediate family (including in-laws): Mom, Dad, Lori, Robert, JR, Asher, Steve, Emily, Julie, John, Chris, Melanie, Tim, Jennifer, Babe, Sterling, Carter, Jett, Casey, Joe, Melissa, Jaimie, Jeff, Kirsten, Carrie, and Adelle. PHEW! Both Allan & I have HUGE families. My family has 8 people (not including in-laws or my nephews) and Allan's family has 11 people (not including in-laws or my nephews). The family wedding picture when we got married was a little ridiculous. It will be a lot of ridiculous by the time Allan's youngest sister (who is six) gets married. I'm so grateful to have all of them in my life. It's nice having so many people to lean on - and boy do I lean on them! They help us SO much. They're always willing to lend a hand whenever we're in need of one. THANK YOU GUYS. It means a lot to us. I hope they all know that we're there for them whenever they need us :). Love you all.


-Little Wife Power House