Brian and Makenzie's Wedding

A few months ago my family and I had the great privilege to travel down south to attend my cousin Brian's wedding down at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple down in South Jordan. And we almost didn't make it!

Originally I was going to travel to the early morning wedding that Saturday morning and Kristy and Logan were going to leave the night before with Lynn so they could attend a Girl's Night Out Party. But the weather was once again not cooperating with us. The snow came down fast and was piling up quickly and I thought it would be better to have a bad night's sleep than to have to travel through the snow in the canyon so early in the morning. So Lynn and her daughter Jessica came over and I drove them all down to Kristy's parents home. 

The drive was harrowing to say the least. The snow was coming in hard and fast and the roads were not clear at all. And it was worse driving through Logan Canyon. I could barely see the road from all the snow and to make matters worse our heater was not working. The stupid thing only blows out the front and you cannot turn it on to other places, like the windows, to help clear them up. So I could not see out my window either! I had a small space to see through and unfortunately for everyone else, I was forced to roll down the window to help clear the window up.

Logan: "It's cold in here!"
Me: "Well, you can either freeze or die."

It was horrible. We got up this huge hill and we saw this semi in the middle of the road and it didn't look like it was moving very fast. We realized that the semi was actually backing up down the hill. We decided to follow the car in front of us and pass it on the left but as we headed that way, the semi was backing right into us! And we could not get any traction and I couldn't move further away since I was so close to the median-blocks that I could touch them. Thankfully, we managed to swing around. We made it through the canyon and stopped at a gas station to clean the windows up and the thankfully the rest of the drive went normally. 

The next morning we awoke early and went to the beautiful Oquirrh Mountain Temple and it was a joy to see my aunts and uncles and cousins. The ceremony was awesome, both the groom and bride were stunning and the officiator had a fantastic sense of humor. After the wedding we hung around and chatted and went back to Kristy's home and got Logan and took him over to Renae's. Then we cruised down to Orem to meet the family again for lunch. We had a fun time killing ourselves with food and also with laughter. We then went back to Kristy's home to grab Logan and then head back down to the reception.

The reception was very nice. The food was good (I cannot believe I ate more food) and the company was great. My mom and sister came down for the reception and we all hung around the Anhder table. That is until it was time to decorate the car. And Logan was way excited to see and to participate. My cousin Kari asked Logan to come along and of course, I had to see what was going on. I only wish I had some lunch meat to stuff under the door handles. Logan was quite proud of himself that he showed everyone that he could.

Brian's sisters getting revenge.

We are so thankful that we were invited to the wedding and to hang out with my family. I appreciate my Uncle Mark and his neat family for allowing my family to attend. And a special thanks to Brian and his cool new wife Makenzie for inviting my wife and I to the wedding ceremony, that meant a lot to us. 

The drive home was a lot better than the drive down thankfully. It was worth it almost being squished by a semi in a blizzard!

Kelli and Hunter's Wedding

I have had so much stuff going on lately, forgive me for not blogging the past few days. Yesterday I had the great privilege of attending my cousin Kelli's wedding down at the Mount Timpanogos Temple.

My family and I awoke very early in the morning to get down there in time for the ceremony. We were on the road at about 7:30 in the morning. The roads were very wet and it snowed/rained/snowed the whole trip down but the roads were relatively bare and traffic was at a minimum. We made it to Renae's house with plenty of time to get to the Temple. Renae and Gregg were kind enough to have Logan come over and play with their kids while Kristy and I were at the wedding.

We then hopped on the road and made our way to the Temple. The night before I used MapQuest to get directions but instead of printing out pages of useless directions, I copied down just the main turnoffs and points thinking that once we saw the large Temple we could find our way there. Well, it was real cloudy and we couldn't pinpoint where the Temple was and time was running out (we had to be there about a half an hour before). Just when we were about to hit the "panic" button, the Mount Timpanogos Temple popped into view.

What a gorgeous Temple! It was much larger than I thought it would be (I am used to the Logan Temple) and the closer you got the more impressive it became. We entered the Temple and we were greeted by my cousins Kyle and Brian (Kelli's brothers). Soon after my Uncle Kurt and his family arrived. Then we all went to one of the many Sealing Rooms and waited for Kelli and her soon-to-be husband Hunter. The Sealing Room was just so peaceful and beautiful. The reverence and silence was so thought-provoking and it made you reflect and think about life and what comes next. It reminded me of my own wedding, even though I hardly remember it. We waited for a few minutes and other guests came in. And then in walked my Aunt Julie and Uncle Jerry. I have not seen them in years and it was wonderful to see them smiling and in the Temple. As I looked around the room and looked at everyone, I felt this deep appreciation for my family and the support they give me. Soon my Uncle Mark and Aunt Barbara came in (Kelli's parents) and then shortly after that Kelli and Hunter came in. She looked unbelievable, so pretty and she was glowing. I may be biased here but I think I have the best looking cousins in any family.

The Sealing Ceremony was something you just have to see. Words cannot describe the feeling you feel there as you watch a couple be sealed for time and all eternity. For those that don't know, in the Latter Day Saint religion we believe that when you get married and if you are worthy to be married in the Temple, you can be married (sealed) together forever.

After the wedding it was great to catch up with family and chat. We waited outside (close to the Temple doors since it was cold outside) and finally the new couple came out and they looked so happy. They had a photographer to take some pictures. I felt bad for them since it was a little drizzly and cold but I remember the feeling of just being married. Kristy and I were married in the cold, cold winter and it was foggy. But it didn't matter to us since we were still on Cloud Nine.

I got all of my cousins in one shot. But minus the new guy.

Kelli had these bright green (it matched his tie) flipflops that you couldn't see because of the dress.

The Anhder Family. Brian and his wife Kari, Barbara, Mark, Kelli and Hunter, Kyle and Brian who was paying attention to someone else.

After taking pictures we were invited to attend a luncheon at Golden Corral down in Orem. There we ate a ton of food (mmm... liver*) and a ton of dessert and chatted it up with my family. I am so thankful for my aunts and uncles. It was great to sit with them and talk about family, life and pretty much everything in between (sorry Aunt Julie... I am just not a Stones guy). After killing ourselves with food, Kristy and I left to go back to Salt Lake and pick up Logan.

We visited with Renae and Gregg and the kids for a little bit and then we dropped in on Kristy's parents. Unfortunately we couldn't stay long because we had to leave already to make it to the reception. We were making good time that is until we tried to find the Bella Vista Reception Center. Funny thing is that both of Kristy's parents were there the night before at a reception. Good thing too since they told us what to look for because MapQuest sent us somewhere else. I am surprised that we actually found the place and if we weren't looking for an office building (like Kristy's mom said) we may not have found it at all. But we did! We went in and were greeted by Julie and Jerry so we sat with them and ate a ton of donuts and food. And get this, they had a lime drink. Right up my alley!

I didn't know a soul there outside of Mark and his family, Julie and Jerry.

But that changed when I met Jerry's older brother and his wife along with some other friends. I am horrible with names, I cannot remember Jerry's brother and wife's name but I remember Dave and Sue. (I think I got that right) It was fun meeting new "family". It was also nice to see my other cousin Wes too. Unfortunately I didn't get much of a chance to chat with him.

Aunt Julie was teaching Logan tricks here.

And there is the happy new couple!

Finally, it was time for us to go. We packed up our stuff and Mark made sure we got some extra donuts and we headed back to Logan. The drive was long but fortunately the weather was great. The roads were barely wet and the canyon was absolutely clear. I am so glad that I took the time to go down to the wedding and reception. I am seriously blessed with a great family. I appreciate Mark and his family for letting my family take part of the festivities and I appreciate Julie and Jerry for letting us hang out with them. Some day we will visit them in Colorado. And a special thanks to Kelli for inviting Kristy and I to the Sealing Ceremony at the Temple. We had a fantastic time and it means a lot.

Happy 12th Anniversary!

Day 61

Yesterday was our 12th wedding anniversary!

12 years! That is so insane to me. The last 12 years have been absolutely wonderful. I couldn't have asked for a better wife and companion and best friend.

Usually we go out for dinner, just the two of us for our anniversary. Unfortunately our babysitter at the last moment crapped out on us and we couldn't find one on such short notice. And we didn't want to call around to arrange babysitting with just an hour to spare so we celebrated our anniversary as a family.

Logan was not feeling so good either. So Kristy went out to grab some burgers (Logan REALLY wanted a cheeseburger and we were not in the mood to fight him) and we ate and relaxed. We put Logan to bed and Kristy and I watched a movie together. Sounds romantic right? To be honest, this is the type of evening I love. Eating burgers and spending time together at home. And I love that Kristy is happy to have a nice quiet evening at home too.


Our wedding day was cold and foggy. Why in the heck did we decide to get married in December? We got up early and headed to the Logan Temple to get married. We sat beside our dear friends and family and was married for time and eternity. It was so beautiful, Kristy looked stunning. My sister helped her with her hair early that morning. Afterwards we went outside and took pictures outside the Temple. It was so cold, poor Kristy, at least I had a suit jacket. After a ton of pictures we went downtown to the Bluebird Restaurant and had our wedding breakfast. After that we headed down to West Jordan (about 2 hours away) for our wedding reception. It was real foggy, I was surprised about who attended because the fog was pretty thick.


I tried to hide my car but Kristy's family found it and decorated it. When I found my car there was a dog eating some ham off of my tire. I chased the dog away and opened the door and Steven (Kristy's littlest brother) had stuck some ham underneath it. Nothing like frozen food stuck to my white car! They also doused it with dishwasher soap so when I took the car to the car wash, it frothed during the rinse.


That night we stayed at a hotel in Salt Lake City. It was such a draining and tiring day but it was all worth it.

Thanks Kristy for a fantastic 12 years!