Below is my updated Visited States map! As all my dedicated readers know, I am on a quest to hit all fifty states in my lifetime. The most recent changes include:

1. Florida. My wife and I were taken on a Caribbean cruise with Jessica's parents, her two sistesr, and their spouses. It was awesome! We took off from Miami, and visited the Cayman Islands, Isla Roatan (Honduras), Belize, and Cozumel (Mexico). I have no complaints about the experience, and would gladly relish the opportunity to visit Florida again for any vacation.

2. Minnesota. We kind of live in Minnesota now. I found a new job with Certifit Auto Body Parts, and are now living in the suburbs of St. Paul for six to nine months while I train. Who knows where our permanent destination will be!

3. Wisconsin. Last Sunday, we drove about a half hour out of St. Paul and crossed the St. Croix River into Wisconsin. We stopped at a cheese factory, sampled their overrated cheese, and returned home. The farmlands there are stunningly beautiful, and we even saw a few deer alongside the road.

I also added a couple of temples. As Jessica and I were driving the moving truck, we stopped in Winter Quarters, Nebraska. We were taken on a tour of the visitors center there, and walked around the pioneer cemetery and saw the new temple there. What sacred ground! We really felt the Spirit there, and I came away with an increased appreciation for what the pioneers went through. It was neat to see the exact area where the Saints were walking and trekking.

The other temple I went to was the St. Paul Temple. Like the Columbus Temple, it is very small and tucked away next to a stake center. Jessica and I will hopefully have the opportunity to attend this temple once a month or so.

I am excited about living here! I definitely want to visit Duluth, which lies on the shores of Lake Superior. Someone in my ward was telling us that Lake Superior has more water in it than the other four great lakes combined. It sounds like a cool place to visit. We also aren't incredibly far from Nauvoo; I would like to visit there again. If we ever drive back to Utah, I think we will go through the Black Hills and South Dakota, and I could knock that state off my checklist. At some point, I should drive up to Fargo, North Dakota; when else am I going to visit that state?

Updated states and temples list

I realized today that it has been almost a full year since I have updated my blog!! Since then, I have visited two new states!! So this is an emergency critical update:

Last summer, we visited Jessica's sister and her family in Columbus, Ohio for our nephew Christopher's baptism. The drive took us through Indiana and Ohio for the first time ever, thus completing my "visited states" path from sea to shining sea.

Notable highlights of the vacation:

1. Eating ice cream at the Little America Hotel in Wyoming...an Anderson family tradition.

2. Watching the sun finally rise in Nebraska after driving through the state all night long. It was quite the welcome sight! Last time I drive through an entire night.

3. Watching the sun set in Nebraska on our way home as we drove to our hotel in Omaha. It was actually very pretty, and made me think for a second that I would want to live in Nebraska some day.

4. Seeing NFL stadiums in person for the first time. Call me a dumb sports geek, but for some reason I thought it was cool. We drove past Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts; and then on our Guys Day Out (more details below), I saw Cleveland Browns Stadium. Does this stadium lack corporate sponsorship because the owners are refreshingly traditional, or because nobody wants to sponsor such a dreadful franchise?

5. Seeing the St. Louis arch. Driving through St. Louis and over the Mississippi River was my favorite part of the drive.

6. On our Guys Day Out, I had a fun time with my brothers-in-law Lance and Matt. We visited the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, where Lance was like a five-year-old on Christmas Eve. Don't tell him this, but I think this particular Hall of Fame reminded me of this chant.

7. The highlight of the day was definitely the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. Of course, I couldn't resist getting a picture with this guy...my fake uncle.

8. I saw Lake Erie. I have now seen two of the five Great Lakes in person (the other being Lake Michigan a few years ago when we visited Jessica's sister in Chicago). After I see all five great lakes in person...THEN I can die in peace.

9. My wife and children and I went to the Columbus Ohio Temple. It is right off the freeway there and we thought it would be easy to find, but I failed to remember that not all temples are monstrosities. It's a small temple, but every bit as perfect as the others. I have now visited 22 of the temples worldwide. If we weren't in such a hurry to get home and out of the car, we would have probably also visited other temples in St. Louis and Winter Quarters.

10. Oh yeah, and our nephew Christopher got baptized and confirmed as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We spent the 4th of July with everyone. I spent a lot of time with my wife and children, swimming, playing games, going to a baseball game, running in preparation for the marathon I ran later in the year, driving around looking for a Walgreens, eating a lot, etc etc. It was a great and memorable vacation!

The next "new state" I will visit will surely be Florida, as my wife and I embark on a 7-day Western Carribbean cruise in May. I cannot wait!! Our stops will also include the Cayman Islands, Isla Roatan, Belize City, and Cozumel.

I know I won't be able to afford it, but I also think it would be very fun to go to SEC country and watch BYU's first game as an independent at the University of Mississippi. If I were able to go, that would knock off Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas from my States List. Or I can go to their game in Dallas against TCU (assuming this game is finalized), and I would be able to cross off Oklahoma and Texas.

A Wonderful Day!!

Any day that I get off of work....that is a good day. But today was an extra wonderful day because we had the opportunity to go to juvenile court up in Ogden.

My older brother Brad and his wife JanaLynn have been foster parents for a little girl named Elsie since last summer. This morning, we all went to court to witness the official declaration that they were able to adopt little Elsie. She is a beautiful girl; I have rarely seen her cry; she sleeps a lot; she has a very cute laugh. In short, she is a perfect little baby.

We are very excited to have her officially join our family. Her full name is Eliana Marie Young.

Also today, I knocked off a few 'firsts':

1. I went to Ogden for the first time ever. At least the first time that I can remember. It only took me 30 years. It is not as ugly as I thought it would be.

2. I visited the Ogden Utah Temple for the first time, knocking it off my list. Below, I will list my new Updated Temples List.

The LDS Church just announced that they will be renovating this temple, giving it a facelift (to make it prettier, in my opinion).

3. I went to the Swedish Monstrosity (aka Ikea) for the first time ever. We were looking for ideas and options on decorating the house we are about to buy.

What an amazing day!!

My updated temples list:
1. Bountiful Utah

2. Denver Colorado

3. Draper Utah

4. Idaho Falls Idaho

5. Jordan River Utah

6. Laie Hawaii

7. Las Vegas Nevada

8. Logan Utah

9. Los Angeles California

10. Manila Philippines

11. Manti Utah

12. Monticello Utah

13. Mount Timpanogas Utah

14. Ogden Utah

15. Oquirrh Mountain Utah

16. Provo Utah

17. Rexburg Idaho

18. St. George Utah

19. Salt Lake

20. San Diego California

21. Washington D.C.

Five closest temples I have never been to:

1. Vernal Utah (181.98 miles)

2. Twin Falls Idaho (238.42 miles)

3. Boise Idaho (356.01 miles)

4. Reno Nevada (527.57 miles)
5. Billings Montana (565.9 miles)

Note: I will not count the Payson Utah or Brigham City Utah Temples until they are completed.

Yankees!

Yesterday, my favorite baseball team won the world championship! The New York Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 in the best-of-seven World Series to win their 27th world championship.

You can criticize me all you want for choosing the Yankees as my favorite team. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm a baseball fan free agent, seeing as there is no Major League Baseball team in Salt Lake City. The Yanks have the biggest payroll and offered me the best chance at happiness, so I signed a contract with them. I give them my allegiance, and they give me a bunch of championships.

I hope that this breaks open the floodgates for my other favorite teams to win championships. But I am afraid that my efforts at cheering for the Utah Jazz are ultimately fruitless.

At any rate, I post a link today honoring the popular folk song "Yankee Doodle." I particularly enjoyed seeing how many verses there actually are. It would take ten minutes to sing this song. Here it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Doodle

To make this song even more special for me, I oftentimes sing it to my 10-month-old son Parker, but I change it to sing "Parky Doodle" or "Sparky Doodle" . I am not exactly sure why I do this, but I do it all the time.

I do the same thing to my 2-year-old son Hayden, only I sing his name to the "Banana-Fana" song. Again, I don't know why this has almost become a daily habit.

First Live Session

Yesterday evening, my wife Jessica and I went to do a session at the Salt Lake Temple. I had previously done baptisms for the dead there, as well as sealings. And, of course, I was married there. But until yesterday I had never done a session downtown. Joining us were my parents-in-law Theron and Cathy, and Jessica's sister Rebecca and her husband Lance.

This was also the first time I had done a live session, where temple workers "act out" the roles instead of having the temple attendees watch a video presentation. I laughed to myself a couple of times as I watched these old temple workers do their job.

Overall it was a very pleasant and spiritual experience, and I enjoyed it very much. There is a special spirit around this temple. I love walking around Temple Square, looking at the gardens, the buildings, the sculptures, the visitors' center. Everything. It is one of my favorite places in the world.

In other downtown news, I had a couple of other recent 'firsts':

1. I stepped foot in the Church Office Building for the first time a couple of weeks ago. The company I work for--Utah Educational Savings Plan--was invited to participate in the Church's benefits fair. While up there on the 26th floor or whatever it was, I had the chance to go to the observation porch up there, and it is a great view of Salt Lake City and the entire valley.

2. As part of my new calling as the Assistant Scoutmaster, I accompanied the Boy Scouts to the Utah State Capitol for the first time in my life tonight. That is an amazing structure. I enjoyed and appreciated all of the artwork and murals that were preserved. It is amazing how much Mormon history there is in the state of Utah, and how much it is celebrated. When they decided to renovate the Capitol, it would have been easy for them to eliminate the Mormon ties there and make it much more "politically correct." But they maintained the reflection of the true history of the state, which was awesome.

Finally, a new temple has been announced for the state of Utah! In last October's General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson announced a new temple to be built in Brigham City. This city is snugly positioned between the Ogden and Logan Temple districts, and now they get one of their own. I believe this will be the 14th temple in Utah. I imagine that I'll be taking my family to the open house when it is completed, which should still leave Ogden and Vernal as the only two Utah temples that I have not been to. Maybe I'll go to Ogden's on the way up to the open house in Brigham City.

When they announced it, I couldn't help but think that my Grandma Davis's sister Aunt Bev and her husband Uncle Len were smiling up in heaven. They lived in Brigham City and we visited them a few times when I was younger. I really looked up to them and am happy for them and their children and grandchildren who all have very strong ties to that area.

Other temples were also announced last month for Concepcion Chile; Fort Lauderdale Florida; Fortaleza Brazil; and Sapporo Japan. I don't know if I'll ever visit these temples in my lifetime, but I guess nobody ever knows.

Updated Temples List

Last Friday, my wife Jessica and I had the opportunity to volunteer at the open house of the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. The public tours hadn't started yet, so we were dealing with the Very Important People who had special invitations and were given guided tours and a light buffet.

With the number of guests slowing to a trickle in the rainy afternoon, we decided to take a tour through the structure.

I don't mean to sound biased just because this is "our" temple. It really is incredibly beautiful. The chandeliers are all in the shape of some kind of star. The celestial room is, of course, wonderful. And the grounds are very nice. If this temple had been done before we got married, I think I would have tried to talk Jessica into getting married here.

One interesting thing about this temple is that it doesn't have the double-wide seat in the ordinance rooms like the Draper Temple has. I don't know what this means, but it must mean something...

With this visitation, I have now been to twenty temples! That is 2/13th of the worldwide supply. The updated list:

1. Bountiful Utah

2. Denver Colorado
3. Draper Utah

4. Idaho Falls Idaho

5. Jordan River Utah

6. Laie Hawaii

7. Las Vegas Nevada

8. Logan Utah

9. Los Angeles California

10. Manila Philippines

11. Manti Utah

12. Monticello Utah

13. Mount Timpanogas Utah

14. Oquirrh Mountain Utah

15. Provo Utah

16. Rexburg Idaho

17. St. George Utah

18. Salt Lake

19. San Diego California

20. Washington D.C.

I have been to 11 of the 13 temples in Utah--I've yet to visit the temples in Ogden or Vernal. On our vacation to Idaho last summer, we were going to stop by the Ogden Temple on our way up to Island Park, but opted not to because Hayden had finally fallen asleep in the car and we didn't want to stop and wake him up.

Who knows if I'll ever make my way up to Ogden. I've survived just fine for almost 30 years without ever stepping foot in that great city. Maybe I oughtta keep it that way.

CRITICAL UPDATE:

I thought of an easy road trip that would take a long time, but would knock off the following temples: Ogden Utah, Twin Falls Idaho, Boise Idaho, Columbia River Washington, Portland Oregon, Medford Oregon, Sacramento California, and Reno Nevada. Eight temples, just like that.

Elephant Ears

I've been looking forward to the day when my two-year-old son Hayden would get addicted to a movie and want to watch it over and over again. I had always heard of horror tales of guys at work getting Little Mermaid songs stuck in his head, or memorizing the full script of Lion King.

My son is into Dumbo right now. This did two things for me:

1. It brought back a whole lotta memories from when I was addicted to this movie in my childhood.

2. It caused me to do a Google search of "elephant ears". Well, what to my wonderful fascination did I behold...there's an actual plant called "elephant ears." Oh my!

I guess it's poisonous.