Ah... Christmas, you were great! : ) p.s. - can our baby just get here already?!

Well, to say the very least, we had a GREAT Christmas!!!
We got to spend Christmas Eve with our second family, The Redden's.  We hadn't seen them in a long time so it was really good to go up to Wyoming and just catch up with everyone.  Christmas morning we went out to my parent's in Wellsville.  We had a really good time opening presents and having a yummy Christmas breakfast : ) Mom and Dad spoiled us and baby!  They got us a very nice stroller/car seat combo!  And some really cute pajamas for baby : )  It got us really excited, and got me wanting our baby to just get here already!!!  We had a really fun Christmas dinner with my whole extended family.  Everyone had to bring a food item from a different country.  There was a lot of good food and lots of fun.  In my family, between all the little nieces and nephews that I have, there are 9 kids under the age of 8!  I LOVE being around all of them, and this too go me REALLY EXCITED for our little babe :) !  Monday, the day after Christmas we went to breakfast with all of my buddies from high school.  It was really good to see everybody with all of their little babies, and again I left just really wanting our little one to get here faster!!!  Then we went to a movie with the fam, it was a lot of fun!  John decided to go duck hunting after the movie so I was just lazy at home for the rest of the night, it was really nice.
I most of all just loved being with John and being with Family and Friends for Christmas.  It always helps me realize how blessed we are when the holidays come around.  I am so grateful that we always have somewhere to go to celebrate and know that we will always be with people who love and care about us!  I'm also so grateful for the opportunity to celebrate an occasion that changed the world forever, the birth of our Savior!  I know that we should celebrate this occasion everyday, but it just seems a little bit easier at this time of year.  We are so blessed for all of the many things that we have been given and for all of the tender mercies that we experience everyday and we know that it is only through our Heavenly Father and our Brother Jesus Christ that we receive any of these blessings.
I am so excited for the New Year and for all of the many adventures that lie ahead of us.  It is really crazy to think of all of the changes that are happening to us, but more exciting than anything!!!  Wahoo for new beginnings and new adventures : )

The AWESOME new stroller for baby : )

The joys of not knowing what we're getting, we get two different sets of jammies : )

Week 22 Baby Belly : )

Can anyone say. . . TERRIBLE AT BLOGGING?!?!?!?

Oh gosh, I just really suck at this... in my defense, I have been busy with other things... being pregnant (that involves a lot of "resting" and "growing baby" time), crafting (and yes, this is a priority) and lately, not because I want to SCHOOL WORK : /  I am in my last two weeks of my Medical Assisting program at BATC and that means, stress time!!!  But, I've actually done very well at keeping up on my work and am not TOO stressed.... yet, ask me how I feel next week when I have to take two final tests and do one big final pass off of all of the skills that I have learned in the past 15 months..... GAH!!!!!!   But it will all be worth it in the end, I will be done and will have learned so many great skills that will help me find a job that will help support our little family : )
The most exciting news as of lately..... my amazing husband is an official college graduate.... AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I am soooo excited, happy, and PROUD of him!!!  I know, first hand how dang hard he as worked to get to this point so I know how happy and excited he is too!!!  Other good/crazy news, he has an interview with the state of Nevada in January!  It is for a Game Warden job.  The interview is in Vegas, but if he gets it, they could place us basically anywhere in Nevada.  Nevada wasn't our first choice of places that we would want to move for a job, but when John looked around at all oft he state websites in the Western United States, it was basically the only place hiring for the specific job that John wanted to apply for, so he took a stab at it and filled out the application, and a few weeks later got an email letting him know that he was going to be interviewed!!!  So..... we could be having a baby in Vegas..... wooo hoooo!!!!  LOL!!!  So, we get to go to Vegas for our Birthday's now : ) I love how things just seem to work out ; )
Okay, now for a baby update.  All is going well!!!  Baby is growing right on schedule and so is Mommy.  We had a 3D ultrasound yesterday and it was way cool to see our little babe!!!  We are so excited to be parents and to have such a blessing come into our lives.  Sometimes I don't feel like I deserve such a blessing, but I am so grateful that Heavenly Father is giving us such a great opportunity to learn and grow in such a big way   : )  I'm feeling Baby kick and move around A LOT!!!  I haven't been sick or anything, just really tired, which kinda sucks, cause I like to go, go, go and it is getting harder to do that without wanting to die every night when I get home.  I haven't had any weird or random cravings...if you know me, you know I LOVE FOOD, in any form, and I have always been a big eater, so having to eat a little more to give Baby nutrients has not been tough for me, not at all : ) oh yeah.... a staple in our house these days, CREAMIES!!!  If they aren't in the house..... WATCH OUT!!!  Good thing we live across the street from the grocery store, and good thing John doesn't like ice cream, so I don't have to share hahahaha!!!!!  Okay, I've blabbed enough!!! Here are some pics : )

Top pic, 18 weeks.  Bottom pic, 20 weeks : )

These are kind of hard to see.... the first two are profiles of Baby, kind of hiding his/her face.  The second one is of the back of the baby, and you can kind see his/her little bum, so cute!  And the last one is the back of Baby's head and his/her arms.

Baby Anderson, On his/her way :) Yay!!!

Well. . . We're going to be parents!!!!  We are so excited and can't wait for our baby to get here.  We know that he/she is going to change our lives forever, and only for the good!!!!!!

We've known since I was only 3 weeks along, so it has been very hard keeping it a secret.  We wanted to wait until our first ultra sound just to make sure everything was on the up and up.  My parents were shocked and said that I hid it well. . . phew, I thought I was doing terrible lol!  Our little bean is about 4 cm from head to bum (that was about two weeks ago, so it's probably a little bigger by now).  I am now almost 13 weeks along and so glad to be out of the morning sickness stage.  Although I have to say, I think I got lucky, I never threw up and I've heard of some women not being able to keep ANYTHING down.  

To say the least, John is SO EXCITED!!!!  He has wanted to be a daddy since the day I met him.  I am so excited to see him with our little one, I know he is going to be the sweetest, funnest, cutest daddy ever!!!

We aren't finding out what the sex is, so don't ask haha!  We feel like this is one of the hugest surprises that Heavenly Father has for us and personally, I hate when people ruin surprises, so . . . we don't wanna upset Heavenly Father, and spoil all of His fun hee hee ; )  We just like to keep everyone in suspense.

Here goes nothin I guess. . . I don't know that I'll ever feel 100% "ready" to be a mom (until the day our little bean comes that is) . . . but I know that we feel so blessed to be entrusted with a lovely spirit of our Heavenly Father.  We will raise him/her in His way and in His manner.  We know that all is done in the will of our Father and will take everything in stride!!!!!

Yay for so many blessings in our lives, this is by far the greatest : )

Uh. . . Randomness

Well. . . I'm terrible at blogging. . . but here are a few random pictures of some of the stuff that has been going on lately.

This was John's first day going out on his internship with the Utah Department of Fish and Game.  He was SOOOOO excited, and that is putting it mildly.  He had to be ready for the guy to pick him up at noon, so the night before he had told me that he was going to get up at about 9 or 10.  He woke up at 7 and was ready at 8 then was pacing around the house until noon.  It was the funniest thing, it reminded me of a little boy on his first day of school.  John got so antsy, that he cleaned the whole house.  It was great hahahaha!!!

I love a man in uniform ;)

This is what I woke up to at 5 am on the opening day of the bow hunt.  .  . quite the sight!!!  John didn't get an elk this year like he wanted, but he did get a nice two point that is going to feed us for a long time.  I am so proud of my man!!!

The loverly two point.

Is it so pathetic that I am so proud of myself for making stew for my hubby hahahahaha.  (And yes, that is deer meat in that stew)

Dumplings make everything better.  After eating a few bites and telling me it was really good. . . John told me it was "kinda peppery" baahahahahaha, I honestly don't remember putting a lot of pepper in the stew, but John decided we would call it "Pepper Stew" : )

I told John I wouldn't put this picture on facebook. . . so here it is on the blog, I couldn't resist.  I dropped him off at school one day and this is what he wore.  Oh how I love him!!!  I remember when we first were dating, I was always so curious to see what he would be wearing every time he picked me up for a date or something.  He definitely has a style of his own, and I LOVE IT!!!!

Other news in our lives, I got a job at a daycare working part time.  It is a lot of fun.  And I'm pretty sure it is the reason I have had an awful cough/cold and the flu all in the past 3 weeks.  Those little children are disease brewers!!!  But they are so much fun to work with and take care of.  I've been spending a lot of time with my family/by myself because John is always gone for his internship on the weekends.  It makes me appreciate the time that we are together so much more and I'm really loving spending time with the familia.  That is all for now. . . I will try to get better at this : )

Latest Project

Well. . . Here is my attempt at being somewhat artistic and crafty.  My dear friend Shannon put it perfectly when she called me a "Wanna-be crafter", she knows me well : )
I got these wooden letters at The Wood Connection down in Murray.  It is my new favorite store, me and my mom spent almost 2 hours there.  I am loving having my own place to decorate, and am excited to keep crafting!!!

Step 1: Sand the Blocks

Step 2: Paint the blocks

Step 3: Trace paper, glue paper to blocks, and mod podge blocks

Step 4: Find something to do with the blocks : )
I got this shelf at Ross for $12 and the frame at the book table for $12.  I think I did good on this one. . . I only ended up spending about $50 dollars for this whole thing.  That might be a lot to others. . . but considering the cost of  my husbands hobby (hunting) THIS IS A BARGAIN!!!!!!!!

Old Ephraims Grave, Hiking / Camping

If you haven't figured it out yet, John is quite the mountain man and is turning me into quite the mountain woman! We love being outdoors!  For the 24th of July we decided to do a short camping trip.  We drove up to Old Ephraim's Grave in Logan Canyon and then hiked about a mile past it until we reached a small grove of aspens that we set up camp in.  The hike was a good work out for both of us, mostly for me, I have been known to be quite the wimp in the past when it comes to hiking.  John was pretty proud of me when I made it the whole way LOL!!!  We have been camping before, but it was always in the "domesticated" campgrounds (not John's favorite)  We were out in the middle of nowhere, free to do WHATEVER we wanted!!! It was soooo nice.  The bugs were quite terrible, so we practically bathed in bug spray.  We got to do a little exploring and had some yummy tin foil dinners that we made before we started on our journey.  It was a good trip for us!  John had a lot of fun "being free" in the mountains, and he got to take the jeep up in the mountains for the first time.  We both feel so happy and peaceful up in the mountains, we are so grateful for God's beautiful creations : )

Logan Canyon is BEAUTIFUL!!!!

What a stud!!!  He packed in our chairs and an air mattress so that I would be comfortable : )

Weird beetle skin. . .

John loves fire. . . it's a guy thing for sure.

These were very yummy!

Cooking our eggs for breakfast over the fire. . .

and toast. . .

Yummy breakfast

I was LOVING the wild flowers!!!

WE LOVE THE MOUNTAINS : )

Aaaahhhh. . . . Lake Powell : )

If anyone were to ask me where my favorite place in the world was... I would have to say Lake Powell ( I haven't been to too many places in the world so....) We have vacationed there since I was 9 years old on a house boat, and it has always been the perfect definition of vacation for me.  Being lazy, swimming, laying out getting some sun, eating good food, hiking, sleeping, eating some more, boating, getting some more sun, eating some more food, more boating.... I think you get the idea....
Any who, this year our house boat sank : ( but we still got to go.  My parents rented a really nice house in Page, Arizona.  It wasn't the same, but it was so relaxing and it was a lot of fun to share that experience with John (it was the first time he had been to Lake Powell)
Here are a few pics from the trip.  My camera kind of sucks so. . . they are kinda blurry : /

I love the sunsets

Rainbow Bridge

The whole gang

I love this picture.  This thing was a lot of fun. . . unless you fall off and get knee'd in the back by your husband. . .

John caught this little guy, and his tail came off : ( Unfortunately I sat on this cool hat and ruined it forever : ( John is pretty sad about it. . .

This old boat had a pizza parlor in it.  Yummy pizza and cool environment.

Glen Canyon Dam.  I felt like a little ant looking down at this thing.

John wake boarding. . . like an old man with back problems

Just me

Couple of goooooofs!!!

This picture doesn't look as cool as it did in real life. . . dumb camera

Another good one : )