Survival: Day One

I did it.  I survived my first official day in the nursing program!  I seriously have so much admiration for all those who are or have gone through the nursing program.  It definitely is going to be a lot of work.

But still...I did it!  One day down, only five semesters left to go.  Yay me. Ugh...

These are all the books for just my two nursing classes.  I am also taking online statistics but those two nursing classes (along with cross country practice) are going to take the majority of my time.  The first three days of the week consist of class from 8-4 and that doesn't include future clinicals or my practices I have after class everyday! Well, here goes nothing!  Wish me luck ;)

Just a little update: We are moving to downtown Minot!  Call me crazy... but more on that later:)

Love Always, 

The Andersons

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

Love Always, Your Best Friend

June 19th marked our 3rd year anniversary!  Can you believe it? I can't. Life seems to have just flown past and it sure hasn't seemed that long.  We didn't get a "real" anniversary this year since we were on vacation. 

 But during that time we got to see family, Moab, my brother off to the Missionary Training Center, friends (friends and more friends), Blake, Lynn, and Chloe, and of course got a new car! Not a bad anniversary after all:)

More on all that later....In the meantime...

Happy 3yrs to my best friend, soulmate, goof-buddy, husband, my man, and any other gag-inducing lovey dovey names.  

 Here is to an eternity of struggles, love, and adventures!

Love Always,

Dani Anderson

Meet Xena!

Finally, I actually have something to blog about:)  Currently Andrew and I are on vacation visiting my family.  For the last little while we have wanting to get a new car and thought finding one in Utah would be our best bet since we have limited options close to us in ND.  A car is something we needed before I started school back up in August.  I have 20 minute commute to school each way, every day, so relying on just one car just wasn't cutting it.

So happy news is we finally got a new car!  Our first time with a BIG, new purchase.  We are super excited.  We have been looking at something that we can travel with (since we are big on road trips), something with lots of space in the back, something with decent gas mileage, and something that will maintain its value. 

It came down to a Subaru Outback or Chevy Equinox.  I was partial towards the Subaru.  So today we went out car shopping.  Due to my mom's suggestion we went to a Toyota dealership to check out a RAV4.  We LOVED it.  We still went to test drive a Subaru and it was a really nice car but not as great as the Toyota.  We went immediately back to the dealership and picked out the one we liked.

As most of you know I am super indecisive so it took me about an hour just to decide on a color I liked! haha.  We want to show you our newest addition, Xena:

Isn't Xena a beauty?

Yep.  Super excited for our compact SUV

So there you have it.  Finally something exciting has happened.  We couldn't beat a deal like this.  With 0.0% financing and a $500 rebate for military personal we love the car all the more.

Now we get to take it on our road trip back home!  Next stop, Rexburg, to visit Baby Chloe, Lynn, and Blake!  We can't wait to see what new adventures this car will take us in.

Love,

The Andersons

Budgeting Rocks!

Get ready for that awkward little topic called money. Things have gotten a little crazy the past couple of weeks.  It is one of those things where things are going great and everything suddenly seems to pile up!  You know what I am talking about?  

Anyways... this post is dedicated to my little testimony about amazing having a budget can be.  haha

So, at the beginning of the year I told Andrew we really needed to start a budget system for us.  I had taken a finance class in college and wanted to put that knowledge to good use.  Before January we had just been taking out our debit card whenever we needed or wanted something.

Ummm...yeah not a great idea.  We were having problems and barely making it to each pay check.  What was the deal? We really didn't have an excuse when I realized we could cover all our necessary bills and still had money left over for food, gas, and savings.  I realized that we really needed a budget.  Of course it worked!  Instead of having problems or having no money at the end of the month things were finally turning around...

We knew exactly where all our money was going because we allotted a certain amount to each category (i.e bills, emergency fund, our personal spending fund, savings, food, vacation etc).  I know money can be something embarrassing to talk about, but for us it is saving our little behinds right now!

We found out we had to get a lawn mower( immediately since the base has strict regulations), customized foot inserts, our big vacation in Utah coming up, and we were thinking of getting family pictures.  These $$$ all came up within a weeks time, no joke.  

Luckily, we had started our budget early and we already had a separate vacation fund.  We had been saving, and the emergency fund and savings covered our lawn mower and foot inserts.  We won't be able to do pictures for another month or so but at least we have the important things taken care of.

A lot of things came up, and it stinks seeing money go out the door, but at least we were prepared.  Thus, this is why I have a testimony of budgeting:)  We can save, pay our bills, and still do things that we want to without worrying pay check to pay check. 

Love,

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

Easter 2012

What a unique Easter it was for us.  This Easter was the first time away from family!  Some how we have always been able to have Easter with my family who really made it special.  This year were weren't so lucky.

But you know what?  It was still fun!  The "Easter Bunny" came to our house this year too.  Here is what he brought us:

Here are all the Easter gifts :)

 

 He was very excited about the miracle whip (which I hate!)

my special basket

the Easter Bunny Also visited the dogs!

I realize this blog is a little late but it at least I finally had time to put it up.  Not too much has happened as far as updates.  I am finishing this semester, Andrew is still working, and we are planning a trip over the summer!  But more on that later ;)  Andrew is TDY in Grand Forks till Thursday so it is kind of sad for me without him. This Easter really put it into perspective that WE are actually a family.  While it is nice, we don't need to have every holiday with other family.  It will always be me and him so why not cherish every moment?

Speaking of perspective.  Easter is really more than the Easter Bunny I have come to understand.  Without kids the whole Easter Bunny part isn't as exciting.  We didn't have egg decorating or an egg hunt.  We just like having any excuse to get gifts for each other... 

I hope someday when we have little ones they learn about the real meaning of Easter.  It isn't about the commercial part but the remembrance of some who suffered for us.  

Here is a little link to the real meaning of Easter: He is Risen

Love,

The Andersons