~ Memorial Weekend ~ Andersen Family Style ~

We were SO blessed to have this WONDERFUL Holiday weekend to spend as a family WITH our extended family. My Parents and my youngest siblings came to visit us in Fresno after a trip they made for a seminar my dad had for work. We were SO happy to hear they would be driving by Fresno, because we know they can't resist stopping by and visiting us!! They got to the house just before church on Sunday, it was nice to have all the extra hands take care of the kids during church! I think everyone enjoyed relaxing and enjoying different aspects of church that they don't usually get to enjoy!! ( my dad was able to go to all the regular church meetings; he is in the Stake Presidency, and is BUSY all the time, and my mom finally was able to make it to Relief Society... she is usually in Primary) After church we went home and started up the BBQ for a nice Family Picnic outside. We had Hamburgers, Hot dogs, Chips, Mormon Salad, Mashed Potatoes, and all kinds of nice cold drinks. We played Bocce Ball, and just enjoyed swinging in the porch swing and laying in the grass. After our Family Bocce Ball game (the boys won... they killed us actually) we had some FRUIT PIZZA! I made this for the first time for the missionaries a while ago, and thought my family would enjoy it as well. We shared stories and just had a nice relaxing time. We headed in once it started to get dark because we had a HUGE day of fun planned for Monday!

EARLY Monday Morning THE BOYS headed out for a fun trip on the boat. The picture above is my little brother Preston wakeboarding! He is SUCH a stud, he has been working on the Water Sport Merit Badge, and was able to finish all the requirements needed to get it! My dad, Matt, and two of our friends John and Spencer were part of THE BOYS boat trip. The girls stayed home and slept in... Matt had the boat ready and gone before I even woke up..... SWEET!!
Then the Family headed to the local Water Park here in Fresno. It was a fun time had by all, but started off not too happy. We got to the park around the time that it opened and Hailey started to feel sick. She threw up and was running a fever, so I headed to go get her some pain medicine. (I would have had some in the diaper bag, but I decided to not take my Coach Diaper Bag into the water park, I transferred a few necessities over to an old bag, and did not grab medicine... blah) So the boys were able to play, and the girls took care of the kids when we first got there. After we got medicine, a nap and after we had a nice lunch Hailey was feeling better. So we all headed out to see what the park had to offer. The boys were telling us about all the slides and I was excited to try them out! We wanted to let Hailey enjoy feeling better so we went over to the Kid Area. Most of it was closed down, but we found this little area with kiddie slides, and Hailey enjoyed sliding!! Here she is with Mommy after going on a slide.

After playing in the kiddie area we headed for the Wave Pool.... here is Hailey and Matt waiting for the waves to start. Once the waves started the boys headed to the front of the pool to get better waves. The website said this was the biggest Wave Pool in CA so they thought it was going to be really fun, but it ended up not being that great, and we headed back to the slides.....

We enjoyed all the slides. I wish I would have been warned about keeping my bum up, but I learned that lesson REAL quick! We went on the "sidewinder" which is a water slide like a skateboarding ramp where you swing from side to side until you hit the bottom! We went on the one person open slide a few times and here we are stuck in the three person rapid slide. This picture is my Dad my sister Sharon and Myself STUCK at the end of the slide. It sure was fun!!
But THIS (see below) was my favorite slide!! I think it is called the Rampage... It was SO fun! You have to ride down it on a board and at the end you skim across the top of water. I have to admit I was a little scared once I was up there. I asked the guy operating the slide if it was safe for a mother of two, and he said if I could give birth you could ride this... so I went for it! It was SO much fun! I went again screaming ALL the way down!
After the water park we headed home and picked up some Pizza's to eat and let Dad get a little nap in before driving home. We always have fun when we spend time with family, but the best part to this visit was that WE were not the ones making the drive after all the fun! THANKS DAD, MOM, SHARON, and PRESTON for visiting! You are welcome ANYTIME! We love having you around!! We hope you had a nice Weekend too! ~