In Memory Of..

Happy Birthday to My big Brother Brett Ericksen!

This week was Brett's birthday, and the 2 year anniversary of his passing:(
At this hard time of year, I thought i'd post some photo's of Brett to bring back a few memories.
These photos are all from the memory card I found of his, which had over a thousand pictures from the last few years of his life. There was a lot to be said of the pictures stored on there. It was fun to go through them, as it showed the many aspects of his fun, adventurous, hard working, family oriented life:)

His Entrepreneurial side... The famous Milk truck, and some real estate property, probably some type of deal he had with CHINA? (ya, not just with someone in China, but "with CHINA"... ha ha ha)

Olympic Bobsleder! Wow- talk about living the dream:

Brett in his big Acting Debut in the LDS film of "Joseph Smith, The Prophet"...

Brett's legs were 'tarred & feathered' and were used as Joseph Smith's strong- buff legs in the movie.
But Yes, as an extra, he WAS accused of "over-acting" when he "chopped the hell out that log"! And when he zoomed across the background scenery, pushing a wheelbarrow! But like Brett said, "hey, they were hard workers back then"! ha ha. And Yes, when it was pouring rain out side, Brett grabbed a crooked stick and a shawl, limped his way over to the lead actors camper, knocked on the door and said (with a weak cough & an accent) "pardon me, sir.. is there room for one more?" ha ha ha!


...Brett was best friends with more famous people & hot supermodels, knew more celebrities, and had more random hook ups than you'd ever imagine! What's this- Brett eating dinner with Rulon Gardner?

ha ha ha... This is Brett at the Fiesta Bowl! Hundreds of random strangers have a picture of him in this costume:

Me & My Bro, Fishin in Alaska:


Steve & Brett, Buddies!

Brett threw Steve a Surprise TOGA Birthday party on our cruise:

Anderson Christmas Nativity... Is this a WISEMAN on his Cell Phone?

Brett Loved to be with the Family! He didn't care what we were doing, he just wanted to be there:)

what a great uncle!

He loved his neices and nephews more than anything...

I am greatful he was able to know my Rylee Jo for 10 months, however, it makes me sad at times to think he's missing out on seeing my girls grow. I have to keep reminding myself that not only is he able to watch them grow up, but he is able to watch over them and protect them:) He has an even better view now! And he gets to play with all the other little angels that will someday join our family, right?!

Brett may be the most SUPPORTIVE guy I have ever known. He wanted to be there for everything. I remember in highschool, him & his buddy Nic drove up from Snow College to surprise me & watch me run in my State track meet. That meant the world to me, especially since I was known by the entire school as "little Brett", who was a legend there:)...

Brett flew to many of Steve's football games...
here's Brett, part of "Steve's Fam Club" in Cal Poly!


Brett at my family Baby Shower:
(how many brothers go to those cheesy things!?)


When Rylee was born, he called me, in tears, because he wasn't told I was already in the hospital having her right then, and he wanted to be there so bad.
So, he made a special trip to come down to Cedar just to see his baby sisters baby & stay the weekend with us!


Brett was one of the only ones to make the long trip to come to Rylee Jo's baby blessing. Man, what a good looking guy:

He also came and stayed with us for our graduation!
What a wonderful, supportive uncle and brother he was!

~Well Brett, you did more in your 28 years than most people do in their entire lifetime. You took every opportunity to be there for and with your family and friends. I will never stop missing you. I am grateful for the time I was blessed to have you in my life. I know I will see you again. And I know you'll be watching over us 'till then!
Happy Birthday Bretty, I love you:)

Christmas!

OUR 2008 CHRISTMAS!!!
Never too late I guess?

I have found that the older my girls get, the more excited I get for SANTA to come! This was Rylee Jo's first year of grasping the whole Christmas concept... She was so fascinated by every aspect of it all season long. From the Baby Jesus, to Santa Clause & his Reindeer, the gift giving, and even all the different "reasons for the season"! We started/followed some FUN traditions:

Celebrating Christ's birth at the annual
Anderson Nativity!
(this years' performance by all the cousin-grandchildren).

ANGEL Rylee Jo could not have been any cuter!
She loved this angel dress SO MUCH, she wore it for DAYS:)

Christmas Eve:
Rylee learned that Santa likes to eat cookies! So, she often pretended to be Santa Clause (while me & Milly were her reindeer) at meal time, and would tell me things such as- "No, YOU better eat that 'reindeer' breakfast, and I'LL eat some milk & cookies". Ha ha ha:)
Here we are hard at work, making Santa some delicious cookies:

TO SANTA:
On our special new Santa plate, and the cup Rylee picked out. (Don't worry, Rylee was concerned as to what Santa's reindeer ate, so when she sat on his lap she asked him!)

Christmas Morning:

The excitement was AWESOME, as we read the notes Santa had left behind... a letter for each of the girls with a guide to who's wrapping paper would be who's!

THANKS, SANTA!
The girls rushed straight to their stockings that were sitting on their new little chairs!
Milly mainly loved the candy, and that's about ALL she cared about the whole time:)
(i guess we shoulda' fed her first?)

Rylee Jo was THRILLED to have gotten her "Baby Doll & Dress" she had her heart set on for so long.
It was exactly what she had asked for when she marched right up to Santa in the Mall, sat on his lap and whispered in his ear! Milly loved the look-alike Cabbage Patch Doll too.


Christmas with the Ralph cousins:

Christmas with the Smith cousins:

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We rang in 2009 at the UofU basketball game, with the cutest dang cheerleaders those Utes will ever have!

Christmas activities...

Ice skating with the Jacobson's!

Rylee thought she would love ice skating, but turned out... not so much! Of course the adventurous side of me was a little frustrated that she wouldn't even put the skates ON. Well, little MILLY thought she'd try her sisters skates on... and turns out Milly LOVES ice skating!
It was hilareous- this little 1 year in these big skates holding on the me, movin right along the ice. She'd freak out any time i'd try to take a break and stop.

2008 Family Photos
If any of you are lookin to get your family pictures done, Sy Snarr did these pictures, and did an amazing job... Here are some of our favorites (other than the ones already on the blog page):

Family...


Sisters...


Ry Ry...

Milly...

Oh Ya, WATCH US DANCE!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

It's been a little while, and I'm due for a new post! I guess October was so dang action packed, we took it easy in November? But, you know us... takin it easy doesn't mean much! We still managed to do a few fun things:

Messy Mills... still:)

My friends met up at a condo for a GIRLS NIGHT!!!

Thank heaven for AWESOME FRIENDS!
Seriously, my friends are like sisters to me. People always tried to tell us- "you'll never see your highschool friends again..." Well, we've stayed pretty dang close! It's fun to have a group like ours where we all know everything about each other & we can talk about anything & help each other out. It's like a giant support group!
All our babies slept soundly in one room while we stayed up till 6am, laughing & talking about everything under the sun... Good times (except for the sleepyness the next day)!
*and thank you Jaclyn for your cute GIRLS NIGHT basket, and Kattie for your ever lasting BEAN dip... ha ha:)


Oh, & sorry BYU fans... GO UTES!
Classic Smith family TURKEY BOWL!
We love Thanksgiving, I guess cuz we LOVE to EAT:)

NEW TURKEY DAY TRADITIONS...
Well, this year was my first experience with BLACK FRIDAY shopping. Yes, I had to 'borrow' my out-of-town neighbors' paper. Yes, I found a deal of a century on kid sized chairs, and Yes, I fought the crowds & lines and LOVED IT! But next year i'm determined to make it a team effort, with matching t-shirts and everything.
Another tradition I have decided on, is THANKSGIVING CHRISTMAS JAMMIES!!! I can't wait till christmas eve to give my girls their matching holiday jammies then use them for just a few days... so, thanksgiving it is! (but that doesn't mean I won't be able to stop myself from giving them jammies on x-mas eve too)
And that friday after Thanksgiving, I have learned, is a GREAT DAY to bust out the Christmas music, the tree, the lights, the decorations.... AWH, I LOVE IT!
LET THE CHRISTMAS BEGIN!!!

Okay, milly was so stinkin cute with all the boxes of decorations. She was in her own heaven, gathering ornaments in her arms, pulling everything out of boxes (& into her mouth)... It was darling, and she LOVES the tree, well taking off & on the ornaments!