I'm Back!!

Hello Again! I have missed blogging and I'm excited to get back at it. To catch up since the last time I blogged: Tyler and I had a BEAUTIFUL baby girl in August! Leah Lou has blessed our lives in so many ways and we love having her a part of our family! She has the biggest smile and loves being sung and read to! We are just starting to feed her solid foods and put her to sleep while she is still awake (I hate hearing her cry!) Tyler and I graduated in December which was a big accomplishment for both of us! After going nine straight semesters taking over 15 credits, working part time, and being pregnant, I finished my degree! It is an accomplishment that I will always be thankful for and I could not have done it without the support of my husband and my family! We have also moved to Pocatello, Idaho where we will be living for at least the next two years while Tyler works on his MA in Rhetorical studies. (If you don't know what that is here is a round about definition, he will be studying the art of communicating with a pinch of philosophy added into the mix. This means I will never be able to win an argument!) Our apartment is short and small, but it is perfect for what we need right now. Tyler has promised me the kitchen of my dreams when we are finally settled because of the kitchen we have now (pictures will soon follow). 2011 was filled with so many blessings for our family along with a good mix of trials, but we are excited for the new year! Some of my goals this year include losing my baby weight (I'd love to loose 50lbs by the end of the year to feel good about myself again), oversee the planning my families AMAZING reunion in July, and enjoying every second of Leah's life! I love being a mother and a wife! I'm starting to understand what this life is truly about and I love it!

Update!

It has been forever since I last blogged! Not much has happened in our lives, but we have lots to update! In two months our little Leah should be here! We are so excited to have our little girl here! Time has gone by so slowly for the last seven months, and yet we still are not ready for Leah to come. All we have is just lots of cute pink clothes to dress her in! My pregnancy has been amazing! Other than my awful nine weeks of morning sickness, I feel very blessed! I've been able handle school, work, and my calling as RS president without getting too worn out! Tyler has also been super busy juggling two part time jobs that are pretty demanding and 18 credits! Tyler and I have sat down a lot lately and talked about what we are going to do about school and about our future and we have some great goals! As of now, I will be graduating in 5 weeks! I wil be able to finish up my degree this semester and be able to start my new job as a mommy, which will be hard, but so rewarding! Tyler will be finishing his degree in December, and we will both walk across the stage at the same time with our sweet little girl! I can't wait to get Leah a little graduation gown!! Tyler has decided to continue to get his masters in Rhetorical studies, which is the combination of philosophy and communications, which are two things Tyler LOVES. The program will help him in either path he decides to go on, whether it be in radio or as a professor. He has applied to Idaho State University and now we are just waiting for his acceptance letter. Because Tyler is such a smarty pants and has a 3.9 GPA, ISU does not require him to take the GRE, which saves us time and money! If everything goes according to plans, we will be moving to Pocatello in January! We both feel incredibly blessed right now in our lives! Even though our little Leah was not planned, we feel like Heavenly Father has helped us out so that we could provide her with the best life possible! I'm so thankful for my life and thankful for all of the wonderful support Tyler and I get from our family and friends!

It's a GIRL!

Today we received the greatest news ever... we are having a little GIRL! Words cannot express our happiness and excitement! Since I was 15 years old I thought that I was going to have a little boy first, but now I am so excited that I get to have a sweet little mini-me first! This past semester has been filled with countless blessings, and also a lack of time to do much of anything else, like blog! So here is the Andersen update for the last four months...

This is Tyler in one of his favorite positions, studying! He is balancing 17 credits and two jobs, which will turn into 18 credits and two jobs next semester, along with taking care of a very pregnant wife who has crazy cravings all the time! He is SUCH a hard worker and is doing so good in everything he is involved with right now. He is also very much in love with his new computer!

I promised my mom that I would get a picture of me in the rocking chair my parents got me for my birthday! It is my favorite spot to be in our whole house! I love being able to come home and relax after a long day with school, work and my calling as RS president! It will also be super nice when the baby comes! Sometimes I think Tyler loves the rocking chair more than I do because I seem to find him in it more often!

Here is my VERY first belly profile picture. I have waited so long because I have not had much of a belly until recently. You can kind of tell in this picture that I have a little baby bump, but not much of one yet!Here is Tyler showing off his baby bump! He has gained just a little bit of sympathy weight during this pregnancy! It does not help that all I have been craving the last four months has been Little Caesar's pizza and Reese's' Peanut Butter Cups!

Last but not least, here is our little Leah Lou Andersen! I thought it would be better to show her better half off first! This was the first picture we got of our little girl! If you can't tell, this is a picture of Leah spreading her legs wide a part so we could see there was no little "Dink" between those legs! Just to make sure we had the nurses show us her little ovaries! I did not want to have a little "Turkey Timer" pop out a couple months down the road when we are about to invest in a LOT of pink things! And finally, here is our little Leah's profile! She has big lips like her daddy, and it looks like she has my nose, but who knows until we actually get to meet her on August 20th! It was so amazing to be able to sit and watch our little baby move around today and to see how well she is developing! I feel so blessed to be able to create such a beautiful being and to become a mother! It is such a privilege to bear children, and I am so thankful to our loving Heavenly Father who has given us such amazing abilities as women! I can't wait to have my sweet little girl here and I can't wait to become a mother!

Tender Mercies

The last couple of months have been filled with countless amount of blessings in Tyler and I's life, but we had one blessing this weekend that truly was a tender mercy of the Lord. Money has always been something Tyler and I have tried to be careful with since being married. So far, we have been able to get through most of our education without accumulating any debt! This last semester has been a little tight on Tyler and I because I was not able to get a Pell Grant, but on Saturday that all changed! We found out that I was awarded a Pell Grant for this semester! It was truly a blessing from the Lord because our bank account was too low for us to be having a baby in a couple of months. Now I feel that we can continue to save our money and be able to take care of our needs and our future little bundle of joy. As much as I HATE money, I am thankful to have something to make it through the next couple of months! We are so thankful for the tender mercies in our life!

Our Little Blessing!

The last few months have been a true blessing to Tyler and I! We have been so thankful for all of the love and support we have received from our wonderful family and friends! During finals week last semester, Tyler and I found out that we are EXPECTING! We are due on August 16th! Today was our first appointment where we were able to see our little buddy for the first time! The baby's heartbeat is super fast, and it is about an inch long! We just LOVED the doctors office we are going to! Below is a few pictures of our ultrasound today! I think the first picture looks like one of those mushroom dancing things from Fantasia, and the second picture looks... just adorable! I am SOOOO excited to be a mother, and I am so thankful Heavenly Father has blessed us with such precious cargo! More updates are soon to follow!

Boise State Game

This past weekend Tyler and I were able to get away from Rexburg and enjoy a weekend trip to Boise!! Boise is about 4 hours from where we live, so Tyler and I took off Friday afternoon and had a wonderful weekend! Every Saturday for the past 4 months, Tyler has been glued to his laptop and the T.V watching college football games! This boy is OBSESSED! So, for Tyler's BIG Christmas present we decided to buy tickets to go to the last Boise State football game! For those of you living under a rock for the last two years, Boise State has not lost a game (until they played Nevada last Friday and lost... but that is a VERY touchy subject in this household which will not be disscussed!) and should have been ranked MUCH higher in the BCS polls, but oh well!

When we got to Boise we met up with one of my old roommates, Cara, and had dinner with her and her boyfriend! It was soooo fun catching up with her!! Unfortunately, I totally spaced getting a picture with her!

That night for Tyler was like a little boy trying to sleep the night before Christmas Day. He did not sleep very well because he was so excited for the game! Saturday we got to the stadium, found our great seats, right on the North End Zone, and sat for two hours before the game started! When the game finally started, it was a spiritual event for Tyler! We had SO much fun watching BSU trample over Utah State! It got pretty cold in Boise on Saturday, and Tyler and I soon learned what it felt like to loose ALL feeling in our toes, but it did not matter! The game was amazing, the trip went super smooth, and Tyler lost his voice on Sunday because of all of his yelling! I would say it was a very fun and successful trip! We are now looking forward to my BIG Christmas present... GOING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS! Texas here I come! Tyler before the game trying the catch practice field goal kicks! He only got to throw one back to the football players, but that was good enough for him!

Thanksgiving/ISU Game

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all! We hope each of you had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving with all of your loved ones! We had such a great time with Tyler's family! We had TONS of food and watched plenty of football games and Christmas movies! His mom is such a wonderful hostes and made the holiday extra special! I ADORE my family-in-law, and I am SO thankful to be apart of their family! Here is a picture of one of the Turkey cookies we made with our cute little nieces right before Thanksgiving! Two weekends ago, Tyler and I were able to go to an ISU game! On Friday Tyler tried calling me during my last class! He NEVER tries to call me while I am in class, so I automatically assumed someone had died! Tyler had gotten free tickets from his work to go to an ISU game, and to visit a "Decoding Davinci" exhibit in Idaho Falls, so on Saturday we had a SUPER fun date! We headed to the museum, which was super fun, and then we made the trip down to Pocatello to see the football game! As you can see from our picture... the parking was AWFUL!! We had to park SO far away from the stadium!

Then we had the hardest time finding our seats because the stadium was packed! (This was a picture taken at the beginning of the second quarter!)But all of the crowds and the horrible parking was not going to stop my Honey and I from having a SUPER fun time! By the end of the game, ISU was loosing so bad, we started cheering for the other team! In the end... ISU lost! (If you did not catch my sarcasm, the parking was amazing, the stands were not packed, and ISU has a REALLY bad football team!) All in all, it was a FABULOUS date!