A month in photos

A month.  You read correctly, one month since I have last posted!  Shame on me.  I always get on others about "updating their blog" ,but look at me.  I am always wanting more people to read my blog and see what is going on with our little family.  Looks like I really need to get back on the horse in this whole blogosphere.  

I do have an excuse though.  When we were in Moab (during our stay with my parents) our camera got wet during our river rafting trip-go figure.  That was awesome by the way.  Anyways, the touch screen got broken so we sent it back to get a new camera. Which we are still waiting for. I definitely want to show you all some of the pictures I took during my month stay with family in Utah.  So for now here are a couple highlights from this past month:

First off, the end of May I went alone to go visit my parents in Utah.  That sweet little girl you are seeing is my little sister( now as a big 6 year old)!  She grows every time I see her.  Sami is the only picture I have of my family but she is just a taste of how big my siblings have gotten.  I got to see my little sister Juli graduate high school.  Sent Paul off to the MTC to start his mission in Guatemala.  John towers over me in height.  Little Mark is not so little either as he has almost caught me in height at 12 years.  

As I also mentioned Andrew and I got to visit Moab.  We have never been but it was beautiful and we got to experience the best of it by river rafting.  We also stayed in a one room cabin (how sweet is that?) I will probably save this trip for its own separate post.  

Next up was a trip to Rexburg on our way home.  What a cutie, right?!?  Yes of course I was talking about my beautiful niece, but that guy is something else too hehe.  Seriously though we had the awesome chance to visit my brother and sister in law with their new baby, Chloe.  We got a couple days with them playing games, meeting Chloe, seeing the King Tut exhibit in Idaho Falls (I loved it of course), and even went on a tour of Destinations Inn.  

We do have some sad news in the bunch.  After much prayer and contemplation we have decided to put an application in to try to move down town.  Really there is no housing in downtown minot but the university does offer some teeny apartments for married students.  Its a deal that financially makes sense.  With Andrew's BAH he gets, it is worth some sacrifice to save money towards a future down payment on a house or adoption.  These are things we have considered in what is best for our family.  Sadly the only real downside is having to rehome our precious pups.  We did find a home for Maia already on base and I know she will be taken good care of!  No news yet when will get in housing, but even if it isn't till next year it would be worth it!

The next pic you see is of me at a petting zoo at the state fair!  The North Dakota State Fair happened these past two weeks and we loved it.  I had never been before and had been dying to go.  Who would of thought the prices would be comparable to Disneyland? Luckily we went last Tuesday during military appreciation day and rode all the rides we wanted for free from 1-3.  Since a ride is usually about 5-6 tickets per person and each ticket is $1 you can see that we enjoyed it even more.  We went to a petting zoo, saw pig racing, saw a HUGE pig, went on rides, got a giant pickle for me, and even went through model homes.  It was a blast.  

Looking back I guess the hubby and I are super lucky to have all these adventures together:) Until I update again, which I promise will be soon.

Love Always,

The Andersons

Doggies

If you ever need an adorable picture to brighten your day... 

Just look at our two crazy dogs:)

Maia lazy-eye Mew Mew and Athena Wolfhound Bling Anderson

Athena Anderson

I thought I would dedicate a short post to our little girl, Athena.  Ok, so maybe " out little girl" as Andrew likes to call her, is actually our dog. Prepare for a TON of pictures with this post. Andrew bought me a puppy in March while I was visiting him in Missouri.  We went to Petland and fell in love with a fluffy, white puppy.  At the time she was hardly more than 3 pounds. This little puppy is an American Eskimo breed and should be about a medium sized dog with a big, fluffy coat.  Yes, lots of grooming for me to do. She turned out to be just the sweetest, most mellow puppy.  I named her Athena after my favorite Greek goddess and of course after my aunt's famous white jeep, also named Athena.  She was just 9 weeks old when Andrew got her for me. 

In Petland after we picked her up

Walking around on her new leash

Sometimes I think he loves that dog more than me :D



After, I took her home with me to Arkansas while I was with my grandparents.  Let me tell you a puppy is a million times worse than a baby.  I remember taking her outside every 2 hours in the middle of the night. And yes, puppies do whine at first in the middle of the night. Worse than a baby you ask?  Just imagine skipping the newborn stage straight to the toddler stage except this baby is faster, doesn't listen, chews EVERYTHING,  and wears no diaper.  Those of you that are new parents be thankful they don't have many motor skills at first, it is overrated.  But she did keep me from going crazy with loneliness because I finally had something I had to take care of 24/7.

Bringing her home!

She loves ropes

My poor little, sick, sleepy puppy



Poor thing, when I first brought her back it was a 3 hour car ride.  She threw up about 12 times in the first 2 days.  She wouldn't eat anything and my grandma and I finally had to start force feeding her some food.  I really did feel like a new parent who worried all the time.  To top it all off I had to take her, by myself, on the airplane with me when I went to my parents house in Utah.  Our flight was even delayed.  Luckily she is an excellent traveler.  Nothing is as easy as it looks.

She loves toys that are twice as big as her

While at my Aunt's house before we left she loved going "Ya-ya" outside

Our poor puppy has had quite the experience.  Moving everywhere.  But I guess being an Air Force dog she had better get used to it.  As of now we have her up in a kennel in Minot, North Dakota while we have to stay in on base housing. She is now 16 weeks old and growing quickly! We literally moved to the least dog friendly city in the United States I swear.  Off-base they allow no dogs in rentals.  But with Andrew's parents coming up with an RV we can stay on base with her.  Who knows maybe some day she will have another little puppy friend since the housing on base allows up to pets! 

 For now, we can't wait to see what the future holds with our little family.  Especially once she get fully trained!

Love this picture of my little sister and our pooped puppy



Well that is all for now.  We will continue to keep you all updated on our lives.  For now we hope to get Athena back with us by the end of this week.  Then it back to teaching her potty training again, yay....But, we are waiting for permanent, on-base housing so hopefully that comes soon too!

How can you say no to that face?

~The Andersons