Merry Christmas!!

please pray... updated

amy is home and is healing, praise God... thanks for your prayers!!

i realize that i never updated you about amy.  she ended up making a turn for the better and not needing the surgery afterall... until last saturday.  it is just one thing after another right now and today, after three days in the icu, she needs yet another procedure.
take a minute to read the updates on their blog and pray for them.
thank you.
a 

fun fact friday

i came up with that title.  bloggers everywhere will be quoting me within a matter of minutes... never.

ok, so everybody has seen the wizard of oz, right?  well, this is the castle from the movie... the wicked witch's castle... flying monkeys ring a bell?  i took this picture from my seat (thank you crazy great zoom lens) in michie stadium at west point, during half time of the football game.  neat, right?  the man that owned the property when they made the movie said that they could use it to film as long as the monkeys were dressed like cadets... hence the uniforms.

there you have it... the first ever "fun fact friday"!

happy friday!
a

who doesn't love the mall at Christmas...

me.  i never go to the mall, let alone at Christmas time.  we have an outdoor mall by us and i will go there, but i don't really think that counts as a "mall" to be honest with you.

i might visit the mall, however, if i thought i would get to see this... so fun!



i was a part of a flash mob at our women's conference at church and it was so much fun... no singing was involved though, that would not have happened :)

happy thursday!
a

wordless wednesday/ happy december

nobody plays the umbrella quite like he can

happy wednesday/ december!

a

semi-wordless wednesday

he was a proud daddy, showing them around west point

seriously, is this not beautiful? 

i love this... i know he's telling them about the cadets wearing their pt uniforms and about what they're doing. 

10 years later...

hello, beautiful architecture, i've missed you

happy wednesday readers, i've missed you too...

a

please pray

my precious friend Amy is in need of prayer.  their family has endured so many trials over the past couple of years and i ask that you please join me in praying for her and her family.  they are people of incredible faith and Amy has had a very strong impact on my life.  i can't even begin to tell you how special she is to me... she is one of those people... she's part of your life and you're changed forever.  really.
Amy had back surgery last week due to some complications that she has had since delivering sweet maddie last april.  it's a very long story, but since last week's surgery amy has had incredibly painful headaches and has been hospitalized since sunday.  she will have surgery tomorrow and we are praying that the neurosurgeon will find a spinal fluid leak and repair it, resulting in Amy's relief of pain.
please, please, please be on your knees for my dear friend.
God IS good.  all the time.

a

nyc day 2

these are just a teaser, i'll post more when i have the time to sit at the computer for more than five minutes!

trust me, these are my least favorite of the bunch!

happy friday!

a

it's great to be 5!

our little guy turns five today and he is so excited!  he has been looking forward to this day for so long and is so happy that it's finally here!

happy birthday, little buddy!  you are the best little guy in the world and we love you so much!

we can't wait for all of the exciting things being five has in store for you!

love,

daddy, mommy & em

nyc day 1

as you may have guessed, our little fam ventured to new york city!about a year ago we started getting information about nick's 10 year west point reunion and we decided that the perfect opportunity to take our kids to nyc and west point has arrived! nick and i haven't been back since he graduated and we were really looking forward to it!we started planning our trip several months ago and when the day to leave finally arrived we were all beyond excited!!  the trip there took most of the day because of the three hour time change, but we still had a blast getting there! i don't have many pictures from the day because we were on a plane for most of it, but of course i took a few!

 

my "tough guy" watching the planes land & take off
he had never been on an airplane before because we're always driving to the places we go and he was extra excited about it!

my three favorite people before take-off!

making the best of an unexpected 2.5 hour layover in baltimore! 

the view out of our apartment window! in case you didn't know, that is the empire state building and i ♥ it!

in times square at midnight-it was so weird, they were the only kids out, but they were eating it up!

right after we checked in to our apartment (that we rented through vrbo and would highly recommend.  if you are planning on going to nyc and want the info, leave me a comment.), we headed out to times square to give the kids a taste of what nyc was like... they loved the city life and all of the action!  we were close enough to walk and we just enjoyed all of the sights, sounds and smells that we hadn't experienced in so long!
i will be posting more pictures each day, be sure to check back for more!

happy sunday!
a

can you guess...

what we were counting down to?

nothing short of amazing and i can't wait to tell you all about it.  after i recover.

happy wednesday!
a

our little soccer star...

ethan had his first soccer game yesterday and he did so awesome!  he is really into the game and he even scored the first goal of the season!!  he gets it and he's so excited, it's so much fun to watch him.  we l♥ve, l♥ve, l♥ve it!

i love this picture, totally my handsome boy

ethan and his best buddy max practicing

such an athlete, especially with his tongue out!

again, the tongue

ready for the ball

happy sunday!

a

ww

hard at work creating a very important countdown chain!  notice that everything is so much easier (and cuter) when you stick your tongue out.

we're looking forward to something around here... you'll find out what it is when the time is right!

happy wednesday!

a

neglect...

my poor blog.  my poor blog readers reader.
i have been the slacker of all slackers when it comes to blogging, but when something is going to suffer from neglect, i'm happy to say it's the blog and not my husband and kids!
nick has been traveling so much that it makes my head spin to look at our calendar with all of the lines connecting monday through friday and the name of a random city penciled in.  for the last 5-6 weeks in a row.  luckily he postponed this week's trip in the interest of our sanity.  we chose each and every one of our commitments and i am not complaining.  as crazy as it sounds, and as much as you might not believe it, i operate pretty well in "crazy busy" mode.  there are days that it gets the best of me, but most of the time i attack it head on.
even when nick's out of town, obviously, the rest of life carries on... groceries, laundry, chores, mom's group, church, school, soccer, tennis, girl scouts, gym, leadership meetings, mom's night out, etc, etc.  that's when you may catch me with a little bit of steam coming out of my ears, but i'll also have a smile on my face.
our "normal" changes every now and then and we have to adjust our schedules and shift our priorities, but that's what life is all about.  even though i may only have the strength to fall into bed at the end of the day, i will miss these days, i'm sure of it.  the cereal for dinner because that's all we have time for, the running out the door with one kid tucked under my arm because he doesn't have time to get his shoes on (because he will surely burn his feet on the concrete), the way my eyes cross when i look at our calendar for the week, the noise, the hustle and bustle, it's all part of life and it's something that i've come to cherish.  there will be a day when i will wish back the busyness because of what it represents.  like the quote at the top of my blog says, i'm going to miss the normal day.  even the busy ones.
i'm enjoying every one of them now.

happy tuesday!
a

ww

this is my lifeline today as i gear up for our mom's group launch at church tomorrow.  i am the leader this year and my to do list today is pretty long. 

coke and prayer getting me through today.

happy wednesday!

a

if you need me...

you can find me here...

i've been taking pictures for our upcoming women's retreat at church.  come check it out, you will be happy you did and sorry if you missed it!

you also don't want to miss DAVE RAMSEY this weekend... our church is the one church he's visiting in 2010.

happy friday!

a

wordless wednesday

fun while camping 7/10

happy wednesday!
a

the miracle in today...

i'm a loser. 
really. 
i lose the mail key all the time.  which makes me wish we lived in a neighborhood that had actual mailboxes.  my life would be so much easier.  ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but getting the mail would be so much easier.

so it's been a couple of days more than a week since i've been to the little apartment building of mail "slots" that they now call a mailbox.  it's been more than a week that i've been searching high and low for that mail key.  we don't really have a lot of clutter so we don't really have a lot of places to lose things.  most of the time, i find things under where i hang my jeans in the closet because when i hang them what i've put in my pockets falls out.  yes, this means that i hang my jeans; and yes, this means that there are times i wear my jeans more than once without washing them.  i've already admitted i'm a loser, now you know i'm a loser that also wears dirty jeans. 

anyway, back to the key... the key is nowhere.  not under where i hang my jeans.  not on top of the washing machine (in case i decided to wash my jeans).  not in the little spot that gmc so kindly designed in my truck to hold said mail key.  not in the junk drawer. not on the counter (but some of the junk from the junk drawer is because i emptied it looking for the mail key).  not in my purse.  not in my other purse.  not in the bag that i throw crap in when i try to carry too much in from the car. 
you get the point?  the mail key is lost.

today i had resigned myself to going to the post office and paying fifty dollars.  yes, fifty dollars for a new mail key. 

i was walking around, making one last attempt at finding the key and i started to pray about it.  i asked God to give me a little direction in finding the key.  nope... nothing.

fast forward to later in the day and i'm home from the grocery store and taking ethan to the dr. (double ear infections, again) and i get my Bible to read, (which i've done several times since the mail key search started) and sit down.  open my Bible... and there's the mail key.

seriously.

thank you, Jesus!

happy friday!
a

i won't even mention that at the same exact moment that i had a thought about a baby (not that we're pregnant.  not that we're thinking about it because we're not.  just that something led me to one thought about it... nobody go getting excited... grandmothers), ethan says "i want a baby boy or a baby girl.  i don't care which one because they are both cute.  let's have one of each." 
hmm...

wordless wednesday

another blast from the past...

oh, those eyes

he must have had sweet potatoes for lunch :)

(and that vase... what was i thinking? ick)

almost makes me want another baby... almost!

happy wednesday!

a

fourth grade

that bag brings back memories. 

oh, the 80's splatter paint memories.

can't believe it.

happy monday!
a

wordless wednesday

one of my all time favorite pictures of em,

camping at 11 mile reservoir in colorado, 3yrs old

happy wednesday,

a

unredeemed...

there isn't one of us that doesn't know somebody that is hurting.  there are so many people in my life that are struggling with something that they never saw coming that my days lately have been filled with prayer more than they ever have before.  i find myself pleading with God on behalf of these people.  that the hurting will be redeemed, that the pain will be filled with His peace and that every gaping hole will be filled with Him; the cruelest word losing it's power and being forgotten.

the promises that we have in Him can never be changed or taken away... not by anybody.

"to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness"

Isaiah 61:3

(pause music at bottom of page)

the man that is singing (todd smith), his wife writes an amazing blog.  "bring the rain" on my sidebar.

happy wednesday!
a

wordless wednesday

recent camping pictures.

i had to post something, i'm such a blog slacker... loving summer is all!

happy wednesday!

a

ten

emily going to swim team every morning reminds me so much of being younger.

my hair is long overdue for color and i am so happy i have an appointment today!

i love that nick isn't much taller than me... my neck is messed up from a car accident.  reaching up to kiss him would only cause me pain :)

i had strep throat.  i started meds on sunday and feel a ton better, but not awesome.  stinks.

my brother makes the best salsa and we are addicted.

we went camping last weekend and it was a bit like a griswold camping trip.  i will post about it later.

ethan is obsessed with writing his name and "mom", along with copying anything that he can.  i love it.  except when he writes his name all over his bedroom door with dark pink permanent marker.  i now have "re-paint ethan's bedroom door" on my to-do list.

summer movies with lots of our friends make us happy.

i watch the bachelorette.  my money's on frank. or ty. or roberto. although i haven't watched the show from this week and don't know if they're still on.

i am in the process of redecorating the kids bathroom.  i have never liked it.  blech.

happy wednesday!
a

thank you third grade...

i am a wreck.  my baby (even though she is my eldest she will always be my baby) is finished with third grade today.  it feels like just yesterday that i was panicking about her going to kindergarten.  i spent the weeks before trying to do everything that i wanted to do with her before she started school.  i had always heard that once your kids go to school time flies even faster.  it's the beginning of "growing up".  i tend to get really sad and nostalgic on days like this... the days before school starts, the days before school ends.  it's not that i have a reason to be so sad.  i'm a very involved mom.  i am always present.  i spend a ton of time with my kids and i don't live a life of regret.  i think that a milestone like this only makes the passing of time more evident.  it's easy to get caught in the hustle and bustle of homework and reading goals and school projects and functions and sometimes the days seem to drag on.  sometimes all i want is a weekend or a break... fall break, christmas break, spring break, a random monday off here and there.  it's hard to believe that another year of dragging days and breaks has gone by.  i will probably never stop saying that time flies.  when i'm watching my children and their children graduate high school, get married, become parents... time will still be flying.

em has grown so much this year.  her teacher didn't only teach math facts and spelling, he taught them how to be better, more responsible people.  we are so thankful for the wonderful experience that third grade has been for our entire family.

the days are long but the years are short

happy thursday!
a

wordless wednesday

just love her

could it get any cuter!?

her teacher is in the light blue shirt, front of the line

on the eve of em's last day of third grade i thought it fitting to post pics of her on the first day of third grade :)

where did the year go?

happy wednesday!

a

wordless wednesday

nick and i dressed as woody and jessie from toy story for our friend's famous couples party.

yeehaw!

happy wednesday!

a (aka jessie)

i...

i am...
happy
sore from running stairs in bootcamp (don't ever run stairs on your tippy toes)
forgiving
creative
simple... i like the little things and i'm easy to please

i love...
rainy days
sweet tea
chips and guacamole
crafting
driving through the mountains with the windows down and the music turned up

i don't like...
classic rock
complaining
sushi
jealous people
changing the sheets

i am looking forward to...
taking the kids to west point and nyc in the fall
emily's swim meets
sitting on the porch with nick when we are older
calling dave ramsey in a few months and yelling "we're debt free"
camping

i wish...
people were kinder
i could hug my uncle lee one more time
my kids didn't argue
i had a little fairy to come change the sheets
dr pepper was good for you

i hope...
my kids know their value
the tomatoes i'm growing are good this summer
i give more than i take
my kids know that things do not matter or make you happy
em isn't too devastated on the last day of school, she wants her teacher to move to 4th grade with her

happy monday!
a

the post in which i boast a bit...

i'm not usually one to boast, but i am one proud mama right now. here's why...
at the beginning of the semester a new girl (let's call her "c") came to em's school and was put in em's class.  em, being the friendly, outgoing ball of spunk that she is, offered to show c around.  a couple of weeks after c's arrival, em started coming home and telling me that c wasn't being very kind to her and was calling her names and causing problems on the playground.  em and i would talk about how she should respond to c and when it would be necessary to talk to the teacher.  the situation ended up turning worse and c's aunt was called in to talk to the teacher and em was asked to be in on the meeting and to tell the aunt first hand how c had been acting.  the teacher stood behing em the whole time and told her that he was very proud of her, and c's aunt was thankful for em's honesty.  em was the kid of character for her class that month for the way that she treated c.
fast forward to today when i was in the room talking with the teacher.  he said that he was very proud of how em handled herself with the "c situation".  he said that em acted in a very christian-like manner.  it's not typical for him to be able to share that with a parent, but he goes to the same church that we go to and he knows how important it is to us.
we are so thankful for the teachers that em has had.  out of four teachers, two of them are members of our church and are strong christians... God is so good!

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
just as God through Christ has forgiven you."

Ephesians 4:32

happy monday!
a

the story...

when i was trying to come up with the new blog name, i threw around many different ideas, but nothing seemed quite right.  i thought about something crafty, since i love everything crafty.  i thought about something photography related.  i thought about doing something crafty with our names, but that beats the point of taking our name off of the blog.  i was stumped.

nick and i were talking a while back about living in colorado and that's when it hit me... yosemite drive.  the name of the street that our first family home was on.  perfect.

when we were planning to get married, we decided that we would buy a house instead of renting or living on post (ft carson).  he was there in colorado, i was not and that posed a bit of a problem when it came to house hunting together.  with an almost one year old, a full time job and wedding planning, it was impossible for me to make a trip to colorado after january.  he looked at a houses for a couple of weeks but didn't find anything that matched what we wanted.  when he called to tell me that he had found "the" house, he talked me through the layout and explained the house with the most detail that he could and right there, on a phone call with 800 miles between us, we decided to buy the house.  everyone thought it was crazy that he bought our first house without me even seeing a picture of what the outside looked like.  he spent weeks getting the house ready before em and i moved up there. doing things like pulling out the carpet and refinishing the original 30+ year old hardwood and taking useless features out of the back yard (whick was huge, by the way).

the first time i saw the house, our first house, was a week after we were married.  nick flew down to drive em and i and our belongings up to colorado.  he, of course, being the perfect gentleman that he is, carried me and em over the threshold and into the house.  it was even better than i had pictured, it was perfect.

we got right to work, turning our house into a home.  we ate our first family dinner of lentil soup sitting on the floor around a trunk (we didn't have a table yet).  we fell into routines in that house and we fell more in love with each other, with being a family.  we learned to work through anything that came our way.  we learned how to be a team and to always have each others back.  we learned how to live within our means.  we hosted countless get togethers with his fellow army officers and their families.  we celebrated birthdays and positive pregnancy tests.  we became the trivial pursuit champions (that's right, andersons), carved pumpkins, dyed eggs, planned camping trips, planned our move back home, and devoured tri tip and fajitas around our dining room table.  none of our family lived nearby (we did have a cousin in the area, which was nice), so we hosted visitors as often as we could.  there wasn't a month that went by that we didn't have out of town guests and we loved it.  we didn't have cable (gasp) and we would spend our hours talking or playing cards. we could look out our front window and see pikes peak.  we had a sweet neighbor, chester, and i would take him dinner at least twice a week so that he didn't have raisin bran every day.  it's where i spent my 23rd birthday laying the tile floor in our kitchen (he cut, i placed), and wouldn't change a minute of it.  we put our family to work when they would visit... nick's dad helped us re-plumb our master bath after we gutted it.  it was gross, let me tell you.  the only thing we did in there was brush our teeth, we never even turned the water on in the shower.  we tore it out after nick returned from iraq and remodeled the entire thing on our own.  it's where we learned that it's easier to paint base boards before you put them in... thankfully we didn't have carpet!  it's the same home that the three of us walking back into together, exactly nine months to the day after we walked out when nick deployed to iraq.  it's where we jumped in the fallen autumn leaves.  it's where we made snow angels and built snowmen and snow bunnies.  the house that we sold after two days on the market, much to our surprise.  the house that we drove away from on a beautiful april morning with a four year old em in the back seat and ethan on the way, moving on to the next chapter of our lives.  the house that i will always miss.  there are days that i long to be back there, life was so simple back then.  i'm so thankful for that home.  it is where we became a family.

happy friday!
a

i have pictures, but i have to stamp them before i post.

wordless wednesday

my delicious breakfast... strawberries, blackberries, clementines, bananas, vanilla yogurt & granola.

happy wednesday
a

my new favorite

me & my little twin at a wedding last month.

♥ her

happy saturday!

a

the perfect match

i've been looking for new throw pillows for our couches in the living room for a really, really long time.  i have looked online, in every store i could think of, and i've even looked at countless fabric stores... nothing. 
e and i were shopping at tjmaxx last week and i was looking at beach towels for the summer.  i was just about to give up when i saw these towels that i loved and had a "lightbulb moment".  they are one of my favorite colors, and in fact, match our living room colors perfectly.  what if i bought them and made pillow covers out of them?  worth a shot, right?  $12.99 per towel and i figured i could get 2 pillows from each.  that's a steal at roughly $6/ pillow (i round down... helps me out with my cfo).

i called my mom for guidance, because i've never sewn anything other than rag quilts for baby gifts.  we figured out the sizes and placement and i got to work.  i have one pillow finished and will post pictures of the others when i'm finished with them.

before:

after:

i think it turned out rather nice.  i'm off to get working on the others!

happy tuesday!

a