Big Trev Graduates!

Today was Logan High School's graduation ceremony. My brother Trevor asked me the night before to put a "Larry the Cable Guy 'Get R Done' " on the top of his cap, so naturally I agreed. We used gold duck tape as to fit with the school's color scheme. It made him easy to spot among the crimson robes. During his turn to walk, he tripped right in front of the podium (purposefully). He's just that kind of a kid! After, we celebrated at Texas Road House.

  Congrats on your graduation Big Trev!

  You are awesome! 

Trevor lining up to get his diploma. 

This kid got a high school degree. 

Way to go! 

Oh Trev! 

Got R Done

Trevor lifting Nate and Hayden

Hulk Style. 

Sisters.

Elder Anderson

Well, two years ago my little brother set off to serve an LDS mission in Eugene Oregon speaking Spanish. He returned home yesterday and my family had the chance to meet him at the Salt Lake City Airport. Below are some pictures of that momentous occasion. I do believe my mom was the most excited. Whenever a pilot (or anyone in dress pants) would begin to come down the escalator, she would start to scream, "There they are!" (referring to the missionaries) and everyone would get all excited and ready to film/cheer/take pictures, only to discover the formally dressed individual descending down the escalator was not a missionary. It was some anxious moments for everyone!
But all that aside, was fun to see him come home. He is good and looks the same. He is such a good example to my family and especially to my other brothers! His homecoming is this Sunday, along with Trevor's farewell, so watch for more pictures and more posts! <3

Proud Parents waiting for their son. 

This is how Trevor waits. 

Some of us are a little less patient. 

There he is, first Elder on the escalator. 

He dropped his suitcase and just hugged her. 

Melts my heart! 

He was is happy! 

Brethren. 

Sisteren.

So glad my "widdle brudder" is home! I love him! 

Trevor on the way to the car, trying to be a super hero. 

Update: 5 months at 4:00 am

I can't believe how awful I have been at updating this blog! So much has happened since JANUARY!

So, that being said, it is now 4:14 in the morning and I can not sleep (second night in a row this has gone on. Stupid bathroom breaks at 2:30 and then I'm getting all sorts of kicked and can't seem to get comfortable.) That being said, here I am with an update.

We found out in March that we are having a little girl. I was WAY too excited to tell in a "cute" way so I just started calling/texting my family and letting them know. Going into our ultra sound, both Zach and I had a strong feeling that we were having a boy, so when the ultra sound tech announced that it was a girl, the first thing out of my mouth was, "Are you sure?" Not that I questioned her job ability, I was just surprised. Like I've said in previous posts, I have never really had a strong "motherly intuition" about a lot of things. We had always called our little one Minion, like the little yellow guys on Despicable Me, however now that she was a girl, I shortened it to Mini. I refer to her that all the time and I think people actually think we are naming her that, but we aren't.

After an extensive interview process and lots of essays, letters of recommendations, and traveling to interviews, Zach got accepted into his graduate program at the end of March and we decided to accept! Zach will start classes at UNLV in August. 

After we knew where we would be, I started looking into job opportunities I could do. It turns out, Utah State held a teacher fair where school districts from tons of states came to recruit teachers to come teach for them. Since we knew we would be relocating to Nevada, it was a blessing I did not have to waste time interviewing at irrelevant places. I went straight to the Nevada table, got an interview and the next day was offered a job teaching resource at a charter school that will be opening in the fall! 

This is where it gets crazy and I need to remember to stop and 

count my blessings. 

Since then, Zach has continued to work at LRA and has been so patient with that job. I graduated on May 4 from Utah State University and had a fantastic graduation day. Most of my family was able to make it to the graduation ceremony at the Spectrum and I was so appreciative of their support! 

It was such an anticipated day and I am so glad when it was finally here! 

Walking from Old Main to the Spectrum. 

My incredible husband <3

My family that traveled to support me! 

Some of my siblings at graduation lunch. 

Grannie and Grandpa.

I am so happy to be finished and graduated with a duel degree in Special Education/Elementary Education with an emphasis in Mild/Moderate Disabilities. Zach got accepted into the graduate program at UNLV in Nevada. We will be moving there shortly after I have our baby girl to start our new lives! 

Baby Blog

If you have yet to hear, I am pregnant. Zach and I are expecting our first child on July 28th 2013. So, here's how we found out, told our families, and probably some things you didn't want to know!

Finding out.
Some of my other friends (and my sister) are pregnant. It's what happens around my young, married age. When we talk about it, they talk about feeling different, feeling like something was off, but in a good way, like they felt all magical and wonderful.
They knew.They knew they were pregnant.
Then it becomes my turn. I used to think I was going to be a terrible mother, because to be honest, I didn't know. I was pregnant for a whole 20 days and was unaware of it. I was taking ibuprofen, birth control, and probably doing a lot of other things that ladies who are pregnant should not take. It was Thanksgiving break, so of course I was eating more than normal (raise your hand if you didn't eat more than normal at Thanksgiving...yeah, thats what I thought,) I was taking naps in the middle of the day (not abnormal for a college student on a break) and I could not get into my skinny jeans (again, I ate a lot at Thanksgiving, possibly bloated in anticipation for my period)
All those symptoms lead themselves to the conclusions that
a) It was Thanksgiving break.
b) Finals week was in two weeks (STRESS!)
c) I was about to start my period (mind you, I was still taking birth control)

What lead to the discovery of our little miracle was my dear husbands intuition. He jokingly suggested that I might be pregnant, which I, of course, just shrugged off. We were in Richfield for Thanksgiving, so when we came back to Logan, I took out the toys and things I had received for my bachelorette party and among them were two pregnancy tests. I took the first one, saw the plus sign and was still unconvinced (It's very faint and is more of a vertical line that a plus, someone might have made the test wrong!) I took the second one two hours later. Again, a faint plus, but I was not sold. We went to Walgreens and bought a digital test and I took that the next morning, a Sunday at 6:00 am.

So, you see how I was not convinced by the subtle + signs on the non-digital.

Telling Families: 

Anderson's: My family found out on Christmas Eve. We asked my dad if we could play the card game "Scum" to determine who would open their presents first. Zach and I had created some special cards. We passed out all the cards, and the last card the my family members received said "Baby Card Due July 2013" 

There was shock, smiles and surprise, but ultimately it all turns out well! 

Card's:We told Zach's family on Christmas day. My sister-in-law Lacey had been teasing (?) Zach that she wanted a niece or nephew for her Christmas present. Well, we drew names for Christmas gift exchange and Zach gave Lacey her present. It was a shirt that said "The best sisters get promoted to Aunt." She cried and was so happy! It was so fun. 

Facebook:

Symptoms and Issues: 

So, everyone who is pregnant has their own rodeo to deal with. Mine has been on and off. I was so sick during weeks 8-10, I'm talking throwing up multiple times a day. I would get sick at 3:00 am, throw up, and then watch Home Improvement on TBS, while eating dry cereal. Then, I would throw that up. Then between 4-8 pm, I would throw up again, sometimes twice. My diet consisted of saltine crackers, bread, bagels and coke zero. Now, at week 13 my diet is slightly more varied, however some things still remain. I also have to use the bathroom at 4 am every morning. My dreams are so vivid and SO weird! I got to buy new bras over the Christmas break, super big sexy grannie bras....oh yeah.  I cry watching Friends, and my heating pad is my very best friend and I get knots in my back. I can't sleep in because if I don't eat something, I don't feel well. I'm grateful to be out of my first trimester, however I am aware that some things will follow me into the next. I'll keep you updated!

Upcoming Adventures

             Hooray for finals being over! I hope everyone survived. Gratefully, I will not have to take anymore finals during my undergraduate career. Next semester, I have two portfolios to do, one for my elementary education degree and one for my special education degree. I swear May 4th can not come soon enough! Graduation will be a bittersweet event.
            There hasn't been anything super new to announce, but there will be! There are some big things coming up. Tara (my very best college friend) is coming home from her mission on Tuesday! That is only 5 days away! I am absolutely ecstatic! We have my family Christmas party coming up, our very first Christmas as a married couple, Nate's last Christmas phone call (He gets home at the end of May...yay!) and my 22nd birthday and of course, welcoming in the new year! Phew! That is a lot. I love the Holiday season. I love the feeling of the season.
          I finished my Kindergarten practicum last Friday, and it light of the terrible shooting event that occurred today, I am very grateful for the safety of the people in my life that I love, and my heart goes out to those families who lost loved ones today in Connecticut. I watched the news at my parents house, and I was so grateful to be in a safe, warm home knowing those I love are safe. It's sad that things like this happen.
            Stay updated for lots of posts over the break. I am likely to become incredibly bored with Zach working a lot and may need to have regular rants, and who knows, I may post something actually worth reading ;)
Here's to the Holidays! Enjoy!

Fall Family Fun

Where did October go? 
Things have been crazy around the Card house. Boo "discovered" curtains and Zach is constantly filling out applications for grad school and working full time. I am full time in a Kindergarten classroom in a nearby town and still delivering pizzas. 

We had some time to take a break and celebrate Halloween on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, we carved our pumpkins. They turned out so cute and Boo had one too!  We had a Kindergarten party (two actually! Morning and Afternoon Kindergarten!) and Zach (aka: Mr. Card) came and helped out almost the whole day. It was neat to have him there.  We had lots of fun, then had about 15 trick-or-treaters come to our tiny house. They were so darling, but we have SO much leftover candy.
 So much for being healthy. I'll be taking some of it to work to share today. For Halloween Zach and I were another wonderful couple costume. I was a wench and he was a pirate. Boo wore a Halloween dress with a pumpkin on it. 

Boo and the pumpkins before carving. She is still so small! 

At the Chambers' Halloween party. He loves me. 

A pirate and his wench

Miss Boo in her pretty kitty costume.

Zach's, mine, and Boo's pumpkins

Halloween isn't my favorite, because I hate to be scared, hate scary movies, and I'm easily freaked out. I'm glad it's over and we can move on to happier holidays, but it was a fun year and I loved celebrating it with my darling husband! That's 3 Halloween's in a row! Looking forward to many more. 

Falling for Fall

Yesterday Zach was kind enough to accompany me on a class field trip to the American West Heritage Center for my social studies class. It is a historical farm here in the valley, out towards Wellsville. 
We got to go down a giant slide, play pioneer games, explore old stores, see an old cabin, and have a real life shoot out! It was a really cool opportunity. Zach and I went first, and I'll admit, it was a little scary, and against what I've been taught about gun safety, but we were shooting blanks, so it was ok. 

Zach and I getting ready to draw! 

Zach's a better shooter than me. He beat out my whole class and my teacher too! Just call him Quick-Hand Zach! 

Zach and I with the wild west cowboys! 

After the day at the heritage center, we saw it fitting to go somewhere that would keep the theme of history, so we had lunch at the Blue Bird Restaurant in downtown Logan. It was great!

Other than that adventure, things have been going really well. Zach is getting things together to apply for grad school in January and my graduation packet is in the mail right now! My classes end next week and I'll be full time in a kindergarten classroom and submitting assignments online until December. Boo is still funny as ever. She is getting bigger and is biting a lot more! 

Boo and I watching Grey's Anatomy. She loves the TV/computer. 

Before running errands on Today! Zach switched shifts so we spent the morning together. 

Today, before work, we got to go to most of the Aggie Football Game.