Where Has She Been?!? {Part 3}

The final post catching me up to present time! Prepare for another long one.  If you want to read about where I have been since I last posted read part 2 and part 1 of this trilogy regarding my mishaps in steady blogging.  Anyways I still feel like I have so much to blog about in just a few months!  At least I know my life thus far hasn't been boring.

December (first half):

I was very sad to leave Andrew but I knew I still had things to accomplish by coming home December 9th.  I had only a few short days to pack up all of the things I had to keep behind with me while I finished school.  Yep.  All of those heavy, heavy books!  Ok, I actually just ended up mailing most of them:)  But the moment I had been waiting for the past 5 semesters, and really of my time during school, had come.  I was finally done with my bachelors!!!! Whoop, whoop!  December 15th, 2014 marked the day I had my official pinning ceremony for nursing.  My nursing class, which had become like a family, invited friends, family, and instructors to join us in celebrating our accomplishments and marking our entry into the nursing world by getting pinned by someone who has influenced us.  

I had just one person able to come to my pinning ceremony.  I couldn't think of a better person who I would want to pin me.  My Aunt Karen made the trip all the way from Iowa just to come "pin me".  I have always been close to my aunt but was able to grow even closer during my time in North Dakota so it meant so much she sacrificed to come up.  She and my Aunt Cris have definitely been at the forefront of supporting me in becoming a nurse! But honestly, we had a blast during those days she came up! I feel so blessed.  Here is a little of the fun we had and of her pinning me!

As you can see it was amazing!  My Aunt Karen has always been such as strong influence in my life and someone who I really respect.  So happy I had someone to share in such an amazing day, especially since the hubby couldn't be there!

December (second half):

December was so busy I had to split up the month!  After my pinning ceremony I literally had just one day before I flew out the morning of the 17th to stay with family.  It really was bittersweet to say goodbye to Minot.  The place I initially was very, very resistant to go to was a place I didn't want to say goodbye to.  We both really grew to love it.  But, it was so much fun to be with my family for the time that I did!  I really feel grateful it worked out the way it did.  

What came next?  Well...on December 29th I got to be a part of one of my best friend's wedding.  Allison Mills, now Allison Muir was a beautiful bride and I am so happy I got to be there.  Now you see why I put up with being away from my husband for so long? I would miss out on so much!

What did I say? Beautiful!  Another one of my best friends, Jenepher, was also there (as a bridesmaid of course).  Seriously so happy I got to see both of them and my family!  I know the military is a lifestyle I fit well in, but that doesn't mean I don't miss the important people in my life constantly!

January-February:

Just a couple pictures of what my life was like during January.  Yes, I realize the this one is one from Christmas, but I needed one to represent family time! haha. In reality most of January was spent studying.  It was miserable and of course as the "hot mess" I am, I stressed about taking the NCLEX the whole time.  Turned out it was just as hard as I thought it would be and the two days I had to wait for my results were sheer torture.  But everything, all of the anxiety, studying, years of school, being away from home, spending less time with my husband, etc. was all worth it.

I passed! (In 75 questions I might add;) ) I am officially a registered nurse!  I literally cried with happiness because it also meant I could now schedule a flight home.  About a week after I took my test I came "home" to Germany.  It had been about 12 weeks apart and I was so excited to see him.

February-March: 

The end of my tale has come.  I am in Germany.  There has been ups and downs and adjustment has been hard.  They saw it takes about six months here to finally feel adjusted to living here!  The first month I was here was rough.  I was missing my family and was frightened of the future.  All of my classmates were out already with jobs and here I was sitting at home without a drivers license. By the way,getting a drivers license here is quite the process, but luckily I now have one!  Yep. Had I made the right decision?  I suppose I could have been more selfish and live by myself for a year and work.  But, I put my trust in the Lord and knew we were sent to Spangdahlem for a reason. I had to put my faith in Him and believe things we happen in His time and in His way.    Things really are finally falling into place:)

I was able to get through the first month since we were able to go home for my brother's wedding the begining of March!  It was beautiful and so glad we got to be a part of it. We got to see my whole family.  By whole family I mean a bunch of them! Grandparents (both sets), aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, siblings, in-laws.  The whole clan almost!  It was a blast...which almost didn't happen due to some space-a mishaps (aka they canceled several flights as we were about to board, ugh!).  

 The Beautiful Couple (courtesy of Lynn Anderson).  Welcome to the family Lacey!

 

Anderson Family

The week of the wedding was crazy, crazy, crazy busy.  Up until the end was just busy non-stop!  But so happy we were with so much of my family and at least able to talk to them:D

 The Hubby and I (love it!)

We are back in Germany now and have been for almost two weeks.  It has started to grow on me in many ways.  Patience has never been my strong suit and I want things to just happen right now!  However I know it is not always easy, but so true that we grow the most during our time of "waiting".  

All I know right now is I love my husband, I miss my family, I am so excited for the new friends I have been meeting, I now know the potential in opportunities to come, and am ecstatic for the adventures that await for my little family!!!! Today, as I am writing, I coming out of the hoping and waiting for things to fall into place because they finally are (but more on that later!) Traveling, church, experiencing living in a new country, nursing, military life, and growing together are just some of things to come.  "Where have I been" has concluded, so all of the next posts will be about what we have been doing in Germany!

Love Always,

The Andersons

Where Has She Been?!? {Part 1}

Oh, dear.  It has happened again.  I have let this blog fall to shambles only to have the pieces picked up when I feel like writing (which let me tell you takes some serious motivation!).  Well in case you didn't notice I have been giving my blog a whole new face lift!  Thanks to the discovery of picmonkey through Pinterest I have found my motivation.  New design, new blogging purpose. 

My last post I talked about how we got our newest PCS assignment to Spangdahlem, Germany!  Now begins the story of what happened since. Be prepared for a long one!

During the Summer:

Summer was soooo amazing!  I was once again separated from Andrew to complete another nursing internship in the Emergency Room.  Yep.  I loved it! It really made me realize critical care nursing was where it is at for me.  But more on school later...

Together over the summer (2014) we did this...

First...

(Andrew won a $175 spa certificate-which he put to good use!)

 Some of that...

We also did a little of this...

And concluded with that...

As you can see we had a blast!  We started it the end of May when I had my "fake" graduation. It was a real graduation as Minot State University only has students walk in May and I was officially done until December.  But it was great to have Andrew there for it!  Literally as soon as graduation finished we drove down to Iowa as I would be starting my internship right after our cruise!  The next morning we flew out of Omaha and I gave Andrew his first "taste" of cruising...

We did a 4 day cruise from Orlando to the Bahamas.  Our ports included Freeport and Nassau.  We had an AMAZING time!  Andrew already wants to do another one and I can't say I blame him;)  We fulfilled several of our bucket list items on this alone.  The firsts being going on a cruise together and going to Atlantis.  Atlantis was by far our favorite part of the cruise.  I could write a whole post just on that place!  It was beautiful and we had a blast at the water park, especially tubing down the slide with sharks swimming all around!

After the cruise we had three days in Orlando until we had to fly out again.  We definitely made use of those days! It was crazy busy! We stayed at a hotel with a free shuttle to both Universal and the Sea World Parks.  It was perfect.  Our first full day we spent fulfilling an item on my bucket list by going to Universal Studios, specially Harry Potter World!  I would seriously go back just to spend my time there.  Sadly we went 2 weeks before they opened the second park connecting the two.  It was still a blast.  Butterbeer was seriously amazing, we have yet to find a recipe to recreate it. The following day we got to head to Sea World for free! We are so grateful they are one of the places with salutes to active duty military.  Someday we will have to go back to hit Disney world ( that will have to be a whole other trip!).  Overall it ended up being one of these epic vacations we talk about all the time.  Can't wait for another one!

Finally, we ended with a family trip in late June/early July after my internship.  My brother came home from his mission after serving 2 years in Guatemala.  This also happened to be the time my little sister (who had turned 8) was baptized.  So grateful we were able to be there for both events! We also got to visit some great friends of ours, Leticia and Vasu, and their new baby (our new nephew;)) Keanu! So cute!!! Right after we headed with my family to Yellowstone National Park.  I wish I had more pictures, but we stayed in a huge cabin and met up with a set of my grandparents, aunt and uncle and their two boys.  We thought it would be more of a "low-key" vacation but it definitely wasn't! There was two much to see:D What an amazing summer!

NEXT UP: My final semester of school, a visit to Germany, and what I have been up to since!

Love Always, 

the Andersons

Memorial, Disney, & Knott's...Oh My! {Parts 3&4}

Finally getting around to finishing blogging about my trip in California. from almost 2 years ago! This post includes the final stages 3 &4.  Go here to read about stage 1 and here to read about stage 2.   After San Fran we stayed with my Aunt and Grandparents in Atwater, CA for two days.  On Monday we(my family, grandparents, aunt, uncle, and two little cousins) traveled the 4 hrs down to where we were staying near Disneyland.  We were definitely getting excited since we had a very busy week ahead.

Monday- Travel down and meet with rest of family at The Spaghetti Factory
Tuesday- Disney
Wed- Disney
Thursday-Vietnam Memorial, then Disney
Friday-Knott's Berry Farm
Saturday-Beach Day@ Huntington Beach/travel to Los Angeles
Sunday(early)-Fly home

Needless to say it was a very busy vacation.  Andrew, especially, wanted to stay from open to close every single day!  Glad I married someone as enthusiastic as me about Disney<3

{Stage 3}- Memorial & Disneyland

So on Thursday of that week we spent part of our day at a memorial at La Habra High School where my dad graduated from.  As members from a family who has lost a loved one in the Vietnam War we were honored during a ceremony by members  who have sacrificed to bring a replica of the "wall that heals" to their community. My dad went in served dress to honor his Uncle Micheal who died in the Vietnam War.  It ended up being a really amazing and humbling morning.

My uncle was Michael J Molina

A picture of Uncle Michael

Now...continuing on to a more positive note!

Again, we went three days to Disney!  It was pure craziness.  Of course this was the time all of us ended up with feet problems.  My Plantar Fascitis hit again so bad that they put me in a wheelchair one of the days just so I wouldn't slow everyone down.  I have quite a few pictures of Disney so I am only going to post a small sample.

We had such an amazing family vacation!  We all had a BLAST! I already want to go back :(


{Stage 4}-Knott's Berry Farm & Beach

At Knott's Berry Farm we had another great day.  After three days at Disney it was more of a ride and see what you can sort of thing.  The only attractions I really wanted to see were the shows.  My most favorite attraction being The Mystery Lodge!  Snoopy on Ice was also very good.  Oh!  This time Ghost Rider was actually open so I finally got to take Andrew on it.  Remember this picture from four years ago?

This was my sad, Ghost Rider is closed face.

Overall, it was one of those epic family vacations you always think about.  So happy we got to do it!  Hopefully we will have another trip in a couple years;)

Always,

The Andersons

I left my heart in San Fransisco...

This part is a more exciting part of the vacation.  The post continues from the last post now including stage 2 of our July vacation in California.  Let's see...I think after getting picked up from the airport up we drove to San Fransisco for a day before heading to stay with family in Atwater, CA.  Oh, and this one has a few more pictures:)

{Stage 2}- San Fran and Family!

When we were planning this trip I insisted on going to San Fransisco for at least a day since we were flying into Oakland and it was only 1.5hrs from where our family lived we were staying with before we went to Disney.  I was the only one who had really been there and it had been 3 years since I had been with my XC team.  So what did we do?  Let me show you.

Day 1

 We did a little shopping after picking us and my sister up from San Fransisco Airport.

Then we waited to eat at the Cheesecake Factory on top of a HUGE Macy's ( I had eaten there before so I insisted:) ). Loved it!

Day 2

Woke up at 8:00am...

 drove to the bridge where we parked...

...where my dad and I ran the bridge:)

... and where I forced the hubby and my brother to come and not miss out:) :)

They of course took the pictures! Then, we drove around for an hour trying to find a parking space near the pier and fisherman's wharf...yeah that was not the highlight of our trip haha Still, I love, love, love this crazy city!

My mom bought me a sourdough turtle. So cute xD

Day 2/3/4

 After getting our fill of sight seeing we headed to where my grandparents and my dad's sister live (My grandparents, aunt, uncle, and two cousins spent the rest of the trip with us!!!).  It was so much fun getting to see everyone!  July 8th we headed towards Anaheim with everyone and ate at the Spaghetti factory with both the Amparan & Molina sides of the family!  There were about 35 people there: some of whom I hadn't met, some since I was little, and some for about 4yrs.  I love my loud family!

Next post is all about Disney:) Stay Tuned!

Love, 

The Andersons