Anderson Turns Eight!

To Boise We Go for Ander's Baptism!

On January 31 we left St. George, took Lois to dinner and stayed with her overnight in Ogden, 

then headed for Boise the next morning.

This cute grandson was excited to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 

and we wanted to be there for it!

We spent a couple of days hanging out with his cute family before the baptism. 

Roger went running with Missy, we read books and  

sang with Claire, watched her dance 

and watched Anderson demonstrate his skills with X-Box and Mindcraft.

Jared was chosen to help build a robot with kids from other schools in the area. 

They will compete with their robot in SLC this week.

We went to the school where they are working on it - they have put in many hours after school 

and all day Saturdays to build this eight-foot moving robot that is programed to do many things, 

and it kind of blows our minds! 

A real highlight of going to Boise was getting to have dinner with my brother, John. 

Cindy was gone on a road trip with her sister, taking their dad to see grandkids. 

Cindy's mom, Jean, passed away January 2 and her dad needed some distraction.

John and Cindy will be leaving in March to go serve an LDS mission teaching self-reliance in the Philippines.

Anderson's big brother, Jared, got to baptize him.

I love how Christ is in the center of this pic!

The beautiful and wonderful Smith family

Grandma and Grandpa love this cute boy!

After the baptism,  family and friends gathered in the foyer for pics.

Those holding the Priesthood and Witnesses- Jared, Grandpa Roger, Grandpa Smith and Anderson's dad, Jedd with Anderson

Missy set up a table in their home to honor Anderson with his pics and treasures.

Roger and I gave him his "Iron Rod" box and had a good discussion with him about it.

Missy and Jedd had family and friends over to their home after the baptism 

for a yummy meal of orange chicken (Ander's favorite), coconut rice, Asian salad, brownies 

and homemade chocolate and vanilla ice cream. 

Ellie made the ice cream and it was delicious!

We took pics afterwards with Missy's good friend, Ann, who is the daughter of our dear friend, 

Don Gardner in the Balladiers. 

Missy and Ann didn't find out the connection until a couple of years after they became friends!

We attended church with them the next morning, came home and changed 

and had a delicious balsamic beef roast Sunday dinner. 

We then packed up and hit the road to drive to Rick and Jodie's home in SLC 

to tend Blakey, Abby and Katie while Rick and Jodie went on a week getaway to Maui and Lanai.

We hated to say good-bye to these precious people. 

We don't get to Boise often enough and it is such a treat to stay in their home 

and feel the spirit of love that lives there.