U t a h

I love Utah trips. It's like my home away from home since the majority of my extended family lives there. I was so happy that I got to spend last week there with everybody! Here's a run down of what went on while we were there:

J.Wride concert
J.Wride is my brother-in-law's band. Austin is the drummer, and a mighty good one at that. This was the first concert I had been to of theirs, and let's just say I was beyond impressed. Here's a clip of Jesse introducing the band.

They just released their new album Monsters. I highly suggest you check these guys out. (Click here)

 BYU visit
Now you just can't go to Utah without a quick Provo visit.  My younger sister Shilo and cousin Rachel were wanting to tour a couple colleges while we were in Utah, so that's exactly what we did. It was entertaining being driven around BYU campus in those little golf carts.

Grandpa Goldsberry was oh so kind to take us.
It was good spending some quality time with him.

Utah State tour

Ok I fell in love with this campus at first sight. It is s t u n n i n g. Not only did I love the beautiful  mountain scenery, the Aggie traditions, and the good looking fellas walking aroud {I couldn't help but notice}, but I also loved the fact that if Shilo were to go there, we would only be a couple hours driving distance from each other while I'm up at Rexburg. That's like a quadruple win! Needless to say, if I were to go on this tour before I ever attended BYU-Idaho-- I would be an Aggie.

At the end of the campus tour they even gave us free
 {delicious} Aggie ice cream, as well as a free lunch buffet.
Now that sold me ;)

Thanksgiving with the fam

Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite holiday. I mean, what can beat a holiday all about food? This year we got to spend it with all of my mom's side of the family. Since there were so many of us, we had the dinner (actually it was more of a lunch) at a church building.

You can bet we had some fun with the props :)

Family pictures 
So it's been a l o n g time since we've had some good quality family pictures taken. So we figured that since we were all together, we should snap a couple for this year's Christmas card. Fun fact: No one took these pictures. My brother-in-law, Austin, has a high tech camera that also connects to his cell phone, so he was able to see what the camera was seeing just on his phone as he was standing there. He could tell us if we needed to move a little or fix our hair or something. Then he was able to use his phone as the button to set the camera off, and all the pictures automatically showed up on his screen so we could all see how they turned out without having to move. Very cool, very convenient, very high tech... Something I was thankful for that day! I am seriously in awe with modern technology.

A Wedding

Now this is the main reason why we took the trip to Utah. My uncle Rob was getting re-married, and he recruited my mom and aunt Jill (in other words, his sisters) to be his 'wedding planners'. They literally did everything-- food, decorations, wedding handouts for the guests, etc. There were many hours put into it, but the wedding turned out amazing. It was well worth all the work. It was a civil wedding, so my dad was given permission from the church to marry them. I thought that was pretty neat.

My brother Taylor played and sang the song "Can't Help Falling in Love" for their first dance. That was my favorite part. He did so good. I recorded it, but the sound quality isn't good. Later that night Taylor was nice enough to play it for us again, along with some other songs. He clearly got all the musical talent in the family.

Dad had some fun with "bullwinkle"
while hanging the lights ;)

The BIG announcement

Britta finally told the news of her pregnancy on thanksgiving day!!! I've been waiting so long to tell people! I guess I'm just a little too excited to be Aunt Lexee :) I am so happy for my big sis!
May 31st, 2014 is the big day!

Baby Anderson's first selfie ;)

So to wrap up, I guess you could say that I had a pretty {good}{great}{fantastic} time in Utah.

Not to mention I came home to some surprises in the mail-- a friend's wedding announcement as well as two letters from Jake.. one with a name tag in it :) It's been a good week.