The Woman Who Waited

First, I was dying to finish high school and start college.
And then I was dying to finish college and start working.
And then I was dying to marry and have children.
And then I was dying for my children to grow up and get out the house.
And then I was dying to retire.
And now, I am dying…and suddenly I realize I forgot to live.”

I came across this poem a little while ago and suddenly felt how incredibly true these words are for me.  I have always been a Type A, overachieving, fast-paced, always-need-to-be-doing something person.  "Taking time to smell the flowers" has never really applied to time. I was in school for years and then I finally graduate, after that I went right into studying for the NCLEX.  After that I was getting ready to move to Germany. 

And right now? I am sitting typing at my computer thinking about how all I want to do is to be doing something "productive".  I have been in Germany for two weeks now and am waiting and wondering what do I do?  For once in my life I don't have a "set in stone" plan.  I always knew before what I had coming next.  I have some leads as far as work but it is still a process to get started. It is easy to say well "why don't you do this?" or "why don't you do that?".  But it isn't always that easy.  

However, in saying those negative words, I realize I should "find joy in the journey". There are other things I can do!  It may not be in said "plan", but, right now, I have decided to live.  To travel, volunteer, try new things, be a better wife, daughter, sister, niece, granddaughter.  I have the rest of my life to work and worry so instead of focusing so much on the future and "dying" to accomplish things, I am going "to live"!  

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

Home is Where the Air Force Sends You...a new adventure

Forgive my lack of updating for my blog.  I haven't forgotten!  Honestly, I just haven't had the patience or the time! Plus, nothing too much has changed (until now).  I am still in nursing school (finally an S4) and Andrew has been doing amazing the Air Force.

With as busy as I feel I have been it would take something like this to finally post...right?

Anyways....ANDREW GOT AN ASSIGNMENT!

<------if you would rather not read my rambling, skip down below to find out where--->

 

Honestly, prior to about a week ago I was not as excited as I am now.  For me it took a lot of prayer and going to the temple in order to receive my answer and comfort.  Since about January we had kind of, well...not lost hope, but accepted that we would be in Minot, ND for a while longer.  I had actually been looking into trying to apply for the nurse transition program through the Air Force, but that is a whole other story:)

We had originally thought I might still be able to apply (I had already started the process with a recruiter), but found out it would mean separation for 3-4 years if Andrew got an assignment.  

So of course he ended up getting one:)  Just my luck isn't it?  

Nursing is something I want to do more than anything, but it turns out it may be harder to do right away as soon as I graduate.  I won't give up but I know that right now the Lord has other plans for us.  Because....We are being sent somewhere a little harder to find nursing jobs...

<-----About here should do it ;)----> 

Ok, ok.  Enough about me.  Most of my family and friends are really just wanting to know where we are going:)

 

Andrew and I are headed to....Spangdahlem, Germany!

 We are seriously so excited to fulfill our dreams of traveling the world!  The assignment will be 3-4 years and Andrew's report no later than date is this October.  He has already gotten his RIP so he has already started the process of leaving Minot, ND!

I will be updating as more happens:)

Love 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

Oh Flying...

This year we waited to celebrate our anniversary(June 19th) until July.  Boy, was it a fun one! We went to California and met my family there.  We had four stages of fun which spanned just over a week! This post is only Stage 1 of our amazing vacation and definitely one of the more "interesting" crazy moments.

{Stage 1}- Flying

This was by far the craziest part.  For some reason it was cheaper for us to fly in steps rather than directly to and from if that make sense.  We flew with three different airlines during our trip! 

•  We started our trip flying from Minot to Las Vegas.  We were already going to be getting in late to our AMAZING hotel (South Point Hotel) but our flight was delayed for over 2hrs (for some unknown reason)...Yikes.  Flying-and landing- in Vegas was a slight nightmare.  We finally made it at 10:30pm.  Because we missed our shuttle from being late we had to pay 30 dollars for a one way taxi.  Oh Vegas!  By 11:30pm we finally got our food at Steak & Shake before going to bed.  

 Our hotel we stayed at!

• The next morning (when were able to take our shuttle) we arrived early to catch our next flight flying from Vegas to Oakland, Ca.  Did I mention we flew Spirit Airlines this route?  Don't!  If Andrew wasn't military it would have cost us the FULL amount of $150 to have 2 checked bags and 1 carry-on. Luckily it only cost us half... Geez.  Don't worry, we finally made it where we were picked up by my family before heading to San Fran to stay the night.  

 

(Mark)

 Yes, these are two of my silly brothers right after they picked us up!  We were very excited to see/spend time with my family:)

 (John)

•  Our final flight was from the LAX/Los Angeles Airport to Minot.  We only had one layover this flight in Denver which ended up being pretty fun!  This was by far the best flight...other than the fact we had to be at the airport by 4:00am to catch our flight by 6:00am.  We were pretty tired.  Although the hotel we stayed at here was not one of the better ones.  There is price to pay by staying so close to the airport---no sleep due to the planes flying overhead.  Oh, and there was a spider that crawled on Andrew's face...

Sorry this post was slightly short and lame...but this is what memories are made of!  Next post will cover more of our California trip---Stay Tuned!!!

Love, 

The Andersons

Life in Limbo

I am pretty sure the title says it all.  Right now, I have been feeling like I am in some middle ground in my life where I am just waiting for something to happen.  As I even start to write this I know I sound crazy since the previous sentence would imply we have been doing nothing.  Which in fact is not true.  Let me back up and try to get my thoughts out like a normal person...

What have we been up to?  Well, things have just been crazy, as evidenced by (oh geez, the nursing lingo is already sticking) my lack of blog updates and really any "social media" connection updates.  But for starters I am still in school.  Less than a month until I finish my 2nd semester of nursing school.  I have just 3 more left including practicum!  But this is what I mean when I say it is life in Limbo.  Will I ever be able to say I am no longer in school?  It feels like forever!  I feel like our lives have revolved around schooling for me.  Not ever moving forward, just stuck in a state of just (if that even makes sense).

Andrew on the other hand is moving forward!  He just put on Senior Airman, meaning he upgraded in rank and has a little more respect and responsibility.  Though, still just an airman:)  He also won an award for airman of the quarter out of his whole squadron!  On top of all this he is taking a college English course to start his own schooling.  I feel so proud!  

To be honest I think most of my complaining, because honestly that is what this post is about haha, is I am getting antsy.  I never thought growing up in the military and now being a military wife would affect me so much.  But honestly, I think I am ready for a new adventure.  We have only been here in Minot, ND for 2 years and it seems like forever.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't the worst place in the world to live and like anywhere else you kind of have to "bloom where you are planted". 

 I still am just ready for something to happen.  Something to change.  Something to make me feel like we are moving forward! We have just kind of talked about Minot being a place of middle ground.  We are no longer newlyweds, but neither do we have kids.  I am not just starting school, but I am not finishing for another year.  

I have so much to do here and I have basically no time between church ( I am the YW Laurel Advisor now!), school (nursing school is just pure craziness), running (still obligated in Track), and of course being married to really complain about Life in Limbo.  Yet, here I am, anxiously waiting for something.  

The best I can describe my feelings. haha.  Enjoy:)

Love, 

The Andersons

Valentine's Day Death Trap

First off, please excuse the dramatics.  I was trying to think of a post title which captured all that happened Valentine's Day weekend.  Celebrating Valentine's Day and of course the potential death trap (aka our accident).

To start off on a positive note, we finally got a mini vacation!  School has been definitely taken its toll on me.  The weekend of the 15th we drove up to Grand Forks, ND and stayed the night before driving the last hour to Fargo where we stayed through till Monday.  I was very lucky and didn't have clinical prep like I did the last holiday so this is why we decided it would be a good time to make trip out of it.  Interesting turn of events....but I will get to that later.

Andrew and I have this weird habit of celebrating holidays the day after they occur.  Not necessarily weird, just practical.  I mean everything is 50% off the day after so why not celebrate it the day after?  So this love holiday fell on a wonderful weekend.  In a way I guess our Valentine's Day turned into a Valentine's Weekend.  We spent most of our time in Fargo, ND the largest city in North Dakota and only 4hrs from where we live.  We love feeling like we are in a "big" city again.  It actually is pretty decent size.  Of course most of my gifts including shopping at Forever 21 which of course I loved.  We both love any excuse to get each other gifts.  We celebrate pretty much every holiday:)

My hubby almost peed his pants with excitement when he finally got his gift... The Lord of the Ring trilogy on blu-ray.  Over Christmas my parents got us a blu-ray player since my dad believes it to be superior to a DVD player and really make you feel "like you are there" in the movie.  Well, if he is right, Andrew will really feel like he is also with the fellowship to destroy the ring of power....in all its extended version glory.  That's right, the extended version.  Yikes!

Doesn't he look happy?:)  Hopefully this picture breaks up the story a bit!

We had a great weekend and decided to start our journey back on Monday since I was doing IV starts and didn't have preclinical.  Well, we woke up early so we would make it back in plenty of time.  Big Mistake!  What we didn't realize was a horrible blizzard had hit this area extending from Fargo all the way to Minot.  Wind conditions were 30-40 mph!  With the windchill, it literally felt like it was -35F. Not to mention the roads said " No Travel Advised".  We should have listened, but we didn't have a choice!  Andrew had to get back to work and I had to be back for school.  You do not miss school during the nursing program...you really just cannot miss.

  We slowly made the first 60miles behind a semi, since his lights were the only thing visible on the road. When we got to Valley City they had already closed down highway I-94.  For the next 3hrs we semi-patiently waited for them to open back up the highway while they cleaned up all the accidents.  Around 1pm we tried again to get home.  We made it about 3miles out of Valley City when it happened.

On top of the crazy wind, snow, and zero visibility, the roads were also covered completely in ice.  Andrew was driving in the left hand lane going around a huge semi.  In attempts to get into the right hand side we got the tail wind of the semi.  You fight against the wind the whole trip but suddenly when you are on the other side of a truck there is none.  Next thing we know, Andrew has lost control of the car which is sliding across the right hand lane down into the ditch.  There is nothing as scary as realizing the driver doesn't have control of the car and still being able to see the on coming traffic potentially able to T-bone your car as you fish tale into their lane.  It all happened so fast, yet the result could have been much, much worse.  Luckily, Andrew had passed the semi in the right lane with enough space that it was able to slow down enough and not hit us as we slid into their lane. 

Andrew handled it like a boss.  He didn't try to fight the car when it was trying to correct itself (if he had, we easily could have flipped).  I know if it had been me I would have panicked doing who knows what.  We ended up going down a ditch into several feet of snow.  Our car was going no where. But, again, how lucky we were that we didn't hit the mile marker only a couple feet away, the oncoming traffic, or the fence down about 10 feet away from us.  Instead, we got stuck in the snow.  Unable to get out even with 4 wheel drive.  Andrew couldn't even open his door since we were so deep in the snow and at an angle.  We felt even more blessed that someone stopped (even in the horrible conditions) to make sure we were all right.  They couldn't pull us out but at least they were able to check to make sure the exhaust wasn't covered in the snow.  They even waited with us while we called to get a tow truck. 

In the end, the tow people weren't allowed to tow the car yet.  The conditions were too hazardous that they were only told to get the people and bring them back safely.  They dropped us off back in Valley City at a Super 8.  We were so worried about leaving our car in that kind of weather but we didn't have a choice.  We stayed the night and got our car.  In the midst of all this I was freaking out about school but I was so lucky my teacher understood so I made up clinical on wed instead. 

I feel so grateful it wasn't our time to go yet.  I guess we still have a purpose to fulfill in this life. Everything could have been worse in these conditions.  The weather was better Tuesday (only about 10-15mph winds) so it was bearable to get home.  Our car was completely fine.  No damage because we landed in a snow drift.  I have such a testimony knowing someone was keeping their eye on us that day.   The tow people came within 20 minutes to get us and we had those amazing people who stopped to help us.  Sometimes I can't get over the crazy weather in North Dakota but I can honestly say we have had so many opportunities and blessings just by being here.  It was a crazy, unforgettable experience but we are safe with not even a scratch as proof it happened:)

Love,

The Andersons

P.S:  Next post should be a more positive update! 
P.S.S: Sorry for the long, drawn out story;)