Makin Our House A Home

Today was a pretty crazy awesome day.  We were told last night that we were speaking Sunday (today).  So with barely anytime to prepare we gave pretty amazing talks if I do say so myself. But what made it even crazier were our roles today in church!  One of Andrew's calling in church is over the CTR 4 class.  He has about 8 kids and the other teacher has only shown up once to help teach.   Meaning he is in there all by himself.  But, last night I was also asked to help out in nursery for today.  No big deal only 15 kids under the age of 3.  haha Yeah it was crazy fun.  Who would have known all the things you can learn from little kiddos?  

Anyways, for this blog post I wanted to share some of the little treasures in our house.  We moved into the house the middle of July but I still feel like we are setting up.  But first things first...

We have grass!

When we first moved in everything was under construction still.  It was all dirt and looked very uneven.  So they just put down seed and ta-da!  Grass over night (ok it took a little longer than that).  They have a contract for about a year where they do everything to make our yard look nice.  They even added planters and our very own tree.

Obviously no real growth yet:)

The other pictures I am going to show you are merely little add ins that I have found overtime to make our house more of a home.  As you can see it is a bit of a tropical theme, perhaps to create our very own sanctuary when we hit the true North Dakota weather!

Our couch we bought and brought from Utah:)

The little side table 

Just an accessory for the dinning room I bought at a base garage sale!  25cents for the new Chinese lanterns not too shabby

Our little set up in our ikea furniture!  I made the picture frame display!

A new painting just given to us from someone moving out

The best new furniture of all is a TV!  We do have an old TV my parents gave us, which we were very thankful for, but we did plan on getting a new one during Black Friday.  But Andrew works with someone recently going through a divorce and is getting rid of all his stuff.  So....drum roll please....we just got a 2009 flat screen 42 in TV for $100.  That painting was thrown in as well.  Got to love living on base you get awesome deals!

Andrew very happy with his new television!

That's all for now for now folks. Although,we are officially going to Iowa for Thanksgiving and Utah for Christmas and couldn't be more excited!  Where better to spend such major holidays than with family.  We feel we have been truly blessed lately and just know things are finally falling into place.

Love, 

The Andersons

The Craziness of Life

This blog post is almost solely dedicated to how I feel myself fighting each day to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  As most of you know, Andrew and I are in Minot, North Dakota.  Even now it is hard to believe we are actually living here.  But in moving here I have changed my life around in order for Andrew to start his.  Over the summer it seemed like things were pretty chill, other than the flood of course.  I had just two summer classes and the rest of the time I felt like I did nothing.  Oh how I wish things could be like that.  Now I have am going to school and started cross-country.  It might not seem like a big deal but it is...

School, cross-country, being married, taking care of a dog, along with other stressors....is a lot for me.  Especially when I feel l will NEVER  be done with school.  Next semester I am applying for the nursing program here at Minot State University but I won't be able to start till next August.  And the program itself is 5 semesters.  Perhaps now you can see why I feel like my life has not really started yet.  On top of that tuition is so much more expensive!  It is no Stanford but it isn't the low cost of BYU either.  Meaning school books and the extra tuition cost, even with a scholarship, is a bit much.  

And then there is cross-country.  The kryptonite of my existence sometimes.  Don't get me wrong, I love running and I get paid to do it.  But when you have to practice 6 days a week for at least 2 hours a day (sometimes at 7:00am) and have to schedule the rest of your day around it, it kind of stinks.  Plus since we live on base I have an extra 20 min each day to drive.

Now on to Andrew's fun life. He starts work at 7:00am and works till 5:00pm.  A regular work day right? Until they have inspections( which feels like they happen every two weeks) and is required to always be on call in case of a substance leak somewhere. So last week he had work on Saturday and today he may be out at work till at least 10:00pm because of an inspection. I know I shouldn't complain because at least he has a job (which he actually enjoys).  But for all those who understand the military will know that the "benefits" we receive through the Air Force is actually compensation.

As I finish writing this I realize how silly it all seems.  I need to be grateful for all the things I do have!  My family is awesome and always there for me, I have a loving husband, a beautiful house, and in 3 years I will be looking back saying how fast the end of school went by.  I guess I will just have to wait till then.  But in the meantime I have learned that I need to live life in moment.  Enjoy the scenery as it passes me by.  Do the best in everything I do now. Instead of telling myself "if only I was done with school" or "I can't wait till my final running season is over and things will be easier" or the best " I will do that when this happens"...I need to be enjoying life now.  Not waiting to do life when "life gets easier" because it never will. 

The present really is a gift I need to take advantage of.  So thanks for listening to the ramblings of a stressed soul... The fact that I realize I need to just roll with the punches shows that at least I can change right?:D ha ha. 

Here is exactly what popped into my head, and will stay with me the rest of day...

I thought it was fitting:)

Love,

The Andersons

A day at the zoo

A few weeks ago, right before school started, we decided to take one last little trip to celebrate the end of the summer.  We again went to Bismarck which is only about 1 1/2 hrs. away.  Last time we were there everything was closed!  This time, since our zoo was flooded, we were able to visit the zoo in Bismarck.  A lot of the animals from our zoo had already been transported down there.  The zoo was tiny and cost only about 7 dollars to get in but it was fun!  Granted it kind of resembled a swamp due to flooding down there and some of the animals were things like deer and horses but still it was worth a few hours...

 Me and my favorite ^-^

 An example of the majority of types of animals (aka deer, bears, racoons)

 Cute, huh?  They were only like a foot tall

 An eagle's wingspan perhaps?

They had these tiny primates everywhere!

So cool! In an underground tunnel viewing point the tigers were sleeping right on top!

 Like I said, the types of animals they had. And what ND is known for-groundhogs!

Overall it was a really fun day.  We only spent a few hours there but it was fun to just walk around and enjoy our time spent together.  Simple days like this just show that you make the fun with whoever you are with. In this case, the zoo was fun because we loved spending time with eachother!

Love Always,

The Andersons

My First Recipe Post

I cannot claim in any stretch of the imagination that I am a good cook.  However, when I find something that even I can make I can't help but post it.  So a few weeks ago I bought a mini Taste of Home recipe pamphlet and found this AMAZING recipe. 

I love Cajun food and I was craving it when I found it. I made it for Andrew and I and while at my aunt's house I made it for them! So here it is...

Jiffy Jambalaya 

Ingredients

• 1 package (8 ounces) red beans and rice mix
• 1/2 pound smoked sausage, sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon Crisco® Olive Oil
• 1/2 pound cooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined( though I just got the frozen bag of medium shrimp)
  
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Louisiana-style hot sauce, optional (add to taste because we definitely like it much more spicy)
  

Directions

• Cook red beans and rice mix according to package directions.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute sausage and onion in oil until onion is tender. Add the shrimp, tomatoes, brown sugar and hot sauce if desired. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until heated through. Stir in rice mixture. Yield: 4 servings.

This is a very filling recipe!  So it goes a long way...

Enjoy,

The Andersons

Home, Sweet Home!

Sorry everybody that has been awaiting these pictures!  But we are finally moved in.  With internet and everything.  About July 12, Andrew received a phone call from housing on base.  They asked him various questions about our current living situations and whether or not we would be willing to give up BAH (basic housing allowance).  He of course said yes.  They then said they would have to call  him back to see if they could offer us something.  Right before Andrew got of work they had a commanders call (basically a meeting) so he one missed call. Turns out it was housing and he called right back.  All they said was come into the office tomorrow at 8 am and we will give you keys.  

We were so surprised!  We still didn't know what to expect in the morning.  But we went in at 8 and they gave us keys to our house.  They said because of they housing problem they could only offer us one option but said it shouldn't be a problem because it was BRAND NEW!  So new that there is not fence or grass yet since they are still under contract and working on it.  Trust me, we did not care about that at all.  We were just thrilled to have a house.  So we got the keys and his shop helped us move in that Friday.  

So let me take you on a quick tour of our house-granted by now I have a lot of it set up and it is no longer empty.  Once everything is clean I will put up pics of it all set up!

From the outside-our half of the house

 Andrew with the keys  for the first time!

 The Kitchen

Me, so happy to have such a perfectly-sized kitchen for myself:)

First bathroom- and part of the stairs

 The main bedroom

 Our walk in closet!

 The Backyard

And finally...

Everybody on base has to have their rank and family name on the outside of the house.  This is ours!!!

We feel so, so blessed to finally have a place to call home.  We are going to be here for about 3-4 years and it is officially our first house as a couple:) We were not expecting to receive a house until at least end of August or September.  Just four days before the call we were told we were still #54 on the waiting list.  Talk about major blessing!  With everything going on (i.e the major flood in Minot) we often questioned why we couldn't find a place to live.  We looked at places in the city and were told a 6-9month waiting list for on base housing.  It was very easy to discouraged.  But when the flood hit we realized why.  Those houses/apartments we looked at are not under water.  

We have definitely seen the tender-mercies of the Lord in our lives!  So thanks to all of you for the support and sharing of joy in our first real home:D

Love Always,

The Andersons

Happy 4th of July!!!

Living on an Air Force Base has definitely opened my eyes what freedom really means.  I am reminded of it at least 2x a day and in other occasions.  For instance, when a movie is showing on base, before the movie starts everybody stands up for the national anthem.  At 1700 and 2200 hours the national anthem and taps play.  If people are driving they must pull over and stop.  If you happen to be outside you must stand at attention.  Our dog is even patriotic!  She howls everyday at those hours:)  I am definitely grateful to have a husband who works so hard everyday to preserve that freedom I know I would otherwise take for granted.

This past July 4th the RV was in front of a huge park where everyone gathered.  Lots of people came for a fireworks show that shot from just about 200meters down the street from the park.  We got front row seats!

We watched them from the car since we were being attacked by lots and lots of bugs!

Being silly

They played patriotic music the whole time the fireworks went off.  The show couldn't even start till about 10:30 or so when it actually started getting dark.  We ate enchiladas and rice (yes I know not super patriotic) and Andrew even had a friend over earlier.  We might not have the best situation, the living situations, bugs, and flooding but at least we are together on a holiday really special to our family.

 Happy Independence Day from all of us!

Love,

The Andersons

Anniversary Weekend

Again, it has taken me so long to update this blog.  Not really my fault since we are still living in an RV with no Internet access other than the library.  Tonight is laundry night so we head over to lodging on base to do it and of course they have Wi-fi so win-win:) Anywho...the weekend of the 19th Andrew and I decided to go to Bismarck to celebrate our anniversary. We stayed at the Radisson and because Andrew is military we got a room way, way cheaper.  So nice pool, spa the works!

 Never, ever, before coming to North Dakota did I ever believe I would go to its capital.  I mean honestly not many people are like "man, I think some day I am going to visit the capital of North Dakota"...I certainly didn't.  Yet there I was in the capital city.  Honestly it is not that much bigger than Minot, maybe a few more shops and restaurants.  Andrew actually had something planned out of what we were going to do before hand.  We got there and literally everything big was closed, Lewis and Clark Riverboat and the zoo because of the flooding.  We picked the wrong weekend to go down there.  So, besides that we didn't know what else to do.  I went online to see what else there was to do...I found out about the cultural center near the state capital building. 

I wish I had taken a picture because it is probably the worst capital building I had ever seen...but the cultural center was actually really fun!  Surprisingly, it made for a fun day.  I even learned about the Walleye- this is a fish. 

I had to put this picture in because if you look in the background there is a buffalo statue.  Pretty much what North Dakota was known for (yes buffalo and wheat are on the state license plates).

But other than that we couldn't find anything else.  Until we just decided to see where the zoo was a found a mini park.  In the park was like an amusement park or fair or something.  I was very kiddie but we decided to have fun anyways.  Turned out to be pretty awesome!

 This slide ended up being the best part!

The kiddie roller coaster.  Very much worth it



 Us on the Ferris wheel which we rode forever since nobody else was in line...

Here are some other random pics from our trip.......

Last but not least were the present we gave to each other.  Some were silly but others very thoughtful! 

 The card I got him.  Something about of all the fish in the sea I am glad I hooked up with you haha

An appropriate gift for all old men....nose and ear hair trimmer!

He wasn't too happy about it so he showed me his nose.

 A classic Andrew face.  He was VERY excited about his new game

Overall what could have been an extremely lame vacation ended up being a very fun weekend. I guess attitude really is everything.

Love,

The Andersons