Birthday continued....

Okay so my real birthday was January 8th.... but I love my birthday so I try and drag it out as long as possible. (My friends will concur with that) Jeff informed me the other night that he would be perfectly happy if his birthday went on just like every other day... minus maybe a happy birthday wish from a few family members. I guess he won't be hard to please on his birthday! I on the other hand am the opposite... which can sometimes lead to disappointment if I am expecting a lot. Birthdays have always been a big deal in my family and mabye that's why I have high expectations.... sorry Jeff. I think it might stress him out a little bit. But I must say he has done an excellent job so far.
The first year (when we were dating), he had just started his new job (in Idaho Falls) the day of my birthday.... so I was certain he wouldn't be around. I came home from work to roses and a card on my dresser... (which I thought was surprise enough) until he jumped out of my closet! I was so happy! He asked on his first day of work to leave early so he could surprise me on my birthday. He came to dinner with me and my family and drove back to Idaho Falls a couple hours later. What a man!
My second birthday he surprised me with a weekend getaway to SLC. He had originally asked me to get work off because he had something in Logan he needed to be to (can't remember what anymore)... with the intent of surprising me and taking me to SLC for a couple days. Unfortunately I couldn't get work off.... so Jeff had to call my work and beg my boss to let me have it off. (He had already made reservations at the Marriot and wasn't about to cancel) I'm still not sure how he did it. Anyway, he surprised me with a day off work, a night at the Marriot, dinner, and a shopping spree. Pretty impressive huh? I told him he better step it down a notch or he's never going to be able to top it the next year!
This year he baked me a cake and invited a bunch of our friends over for ice cream and cake..... and surprised me with this....

My friends took me out to lunch for my birthday. Thanks guys! You're the best!

I can't believe I'm already 23. It seems like just yesterday that I graduated from high school!

Jeff thinks I may have set the record for the number of times I was sung to this year. I don't know about that...

We followed up with a little Mario Kart on the Wii. I lost every time.



And so did Jeff.....

And of course we ended the night with a little game of spades... yeah we lost at that too. :(

The next night he took me to dinner at Johnny Carino's... we decided to go out on Friday instead of Thursday so we didn't have to be home by 9 for Jeff to go to bed. :) Thanks Jeff for being so good to me! You deserve the "best husband" award!

Home Sweet Home... and a Merry Christmas!

Wow... I'm going on over a month since I've posted last. That's way too long... which means I have a lot to catch up on.

As most everyone knows, Jeff and I went home to Utah for the holidays. We had a nice 3 and a half week vacation spent with family and friends. We both had a great time in Utah and were sad to leave. Neither of us were quite ready to come back to reality....

Our flight to Utah wasn't too bad... minus the 8 inches that it snowed in Utah that day, leaving us stranded in Salt Lake for the night. Okay, not really stranded... we spent the night at my cousin’s in Centerville and they drove us up to Logan in the morning. Needless to say... I was very anxious to see my family! Here are a few pics of our time spent in Utah.

Beware.... There are a lot of pictures!

Annual Anderson Family Christmas Party
(This is just my fam)

My grandma is always so sweet to put this together every year... we've had to relocate from my grandma's cabin to the library since our family has gotten so big! As always, we had tons of good food and a program put on by many of the grandkids. (mainly the talented grandkids)... so not me.

The rest of the week we spent going back and forth between families... playing games... eating lots of food... checking off our list of our favorite restaurants we had to eat at while we were home.... christmas shopping... playing MORE games... and eating MORE food.

A few of my friends got together for dinner to celebrate the last night before our good friend Chelsea was to be Wed.


And here we are waiting for the new bride to come out… if you can't tell... it is snowing hard and we are freezing our butts off! .....Only for you Chelsea!! :) The pictures are small because I copied them off facebook, not sure how to change that.

And here she is.... the new bride! She was so pretty!

Me and Chelsea at the wedding dinner… it was absolutely gorgeous, one of the prettiest I've been to.

Two of our friends weren't able to make it... due to crappy weather and unexpected flight cancelelations. (That's what you get for going to New York without us!) They waited in the airport for 24 hours hoping to catch a flight. No such luck. We missed you Abby and Tosha!

We had Jeff’s friend annual Christmas party the following day. It was good to see everyone since only a few of his friends still live in Utah and the rest all live in various parts of the country!

The girls…


Christmas Eve at Angie’s house… We had a yummy ham dinner, played the chimes, and acted out the nativity... I got to be one of the shepherds.

Christmas morning with my fam… of course I only got a pic of my neice.


Christmas afternoon with Jeff’s fam…. he has a big family! That's not even half of them! Okay... maybe half.

I guess you could say we had a "White Christmas."

We got lucky... my brother in law who works at a car dealership hooked us up with a car with 4-wheel drive the whole time we were there. It was so nice not having to borrow someones car everywhere we went. Let's just say we very much appreciated it. Especially in all that snow!

Jeff and I went to the Jazz game with Ryan and Taryn. Jeff got tickets through Bubba’s Dental (they sell dental equipment). They fed us dinner up in the skybox and the rest of my time was spent watching Kyle Korver. :)

Not the best seats... but I'll take it!

We also attended a few USU basketball games… I think that’s what Jeff most looked forward to on our trip. (seriously) ... and I failed to get a picture. That's how we rang in the New Year! Go Aggies!! ..... followed by watching the ball drop at Time Square with Jeff's friends.

One last lunch with friends at Fredricos.


I planned and organized my cousin Jani’s wedding shower while I was home. It turned out super cute but I will have to post pictures of that later, I am waiting on my sister for the pics.

And finally.... Happy Birthday to me! My family celbrated my birthday before we left.

Birthday Dinner #1… with Western clan. We ordered out Firehouse… what more could I ask for? (Jeff even gave up going to a USU basketball game to be there) That’s true love people!

Tell me this just doesn't make your mouth water?? :)

While we were sitting down eating dinner my mom was telling everyone that instead of opening presents like usual, she was just going to give me money for my birthday because that's what I had asked for... my nephew who is 4 must have overheard... he went into the bedroom and came back with this.....

He found this box in my sisters room. He drew me a picture and put his name on it (you can kind of see it). He even found some ribbon that he had my dad tie around it.

He came up to me and said.... "Here Timi" (still struggles a little with his K's) "I got you a present too."

And inside was this....

Followed with, "remember, you just want money?"
It was the cutest thing ever! Kids are so dang cute!

I think I have the best neice and nephew ever!

Birthday Dinner #2… Lunch at Benihanas with Tony and Kathie before they took us to the airport.

Well that about raps up our time spent in Utah. It was so good to spend the holidays with family and friends. We were so spoiled while we were there… we couldn’t ask for better families! Thanks to all who made our Christmas and New Years one to remember!

Tagged

I've been tagged again...


8 Shows I Watch:

1. The Office

2. Prison Break

3. The Unit

4. Friends

5. One Tree Hill

6. Everybody Loves Raymond

7. Grey's Anatomy

8. The Hills



8 Restaurants I Love:

1. FIREHOUSE... LOVE it!

2. Fredricos

3. Formosa

4. El Sol

5. Olive Garden

6. Texas Roadhouse

7. Johnny Carino's

8. Red Lobster

(I pretty much love anything Italian... and anything that serves bread as an appetizer!)



8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Did the laundry and unloaded the dishwasher

2. Read the book, "My Name is Asher Lev"

3. Went to the grocery store

4. Ate at Subway

5. Watched Phantom of the Opera with Carlee

6. Picked up Jeff from school

7. Talked to Laci on the phone

8. Made dinner... stuffed pasta with mozarella sauce on top



8 Things I Look Forward to:

1. Going home to Utah

2. Christmas

3. New Years

4. Jeff finishing dental school

5. Having kids

6. Having money

7. Living in Utah... or somewhere really close.

8. SLEEP



8 Wishes:

1. That I have lots of kids someday

2. That we end up living close to family

3. That we didn't have to be in debt with school loans

4. That I could buy all the clothes I wanted

5. That it wasn't cold outside

6. That Jeff didn't have to study so much

7. That my family will always be healthy and happy

8. That I could get a freakin job!!!!... hopefully when I come back from our 3 week vacation!



8 People I tag:

1. Laci Buttars

2. Heather Ashcroft

3. Taryn Palmer

4. Danika Humphrey's

5. Carlee Richins

6. Nicole Gneiting

7. Missy Wegener

8. Angie Falslev

Thanksgiving Break...

I know... it's been forever!! You'd think with all the time I have in one day that I'd have plenty of time for blogging... which I do... it just takes a whole lot of effort for me to finally sit down at the computer and BLOG. I don't know what it is, sometimes it's like homework for me... I put it off and put it off until people bug me enough about how I'm at the bottom of their blogging list because it's been weeks since I've blogged! So here you go everyone... let me catch you all up...

Twilight!

Since every other mormon girl has posted on their blog about seeing Twilight, I figured I might as well try and fit in with the rest of the LDS world... and post about it as well. Carlee, Nicole, Jessica, and I went and saw Twilight last Saturday while our husbands all went to the Bond movie. (It was the second day it had come out and the theater wasn't even half full!) From what I hear, the theaters in Utah were quite the opposite. My mom and sisters waited in line for an hour and a half! Crazy! I'm not sure what I was expecting... from the previews I guess I wasn't expecting a whole lot, plus nothing ever lives up to the book. I agree with most people, I think they did the best they could at following the story line. I just felt like there was SOO much detail that they weren't able to relay in the movie... basically half the book is what Bella is thinking and you can't exactly put that part into a movie. So the parts where I felt like were very climatic in the book... weren't so climatic in the movie. Not to mention it was a little cheesy at times, but I guess that's to be expected. I'm guessing/hoping the next three movies will continue to get better... assuming they'll continue to have more money to put towards making the movie. That's kind of how it was with Harry Potter if I remember correctly. Anywho, I still enjoyed it and would certainly watch it again... maybe with Jeff next time. :) Ha, yeah right!

Scone Party at the Richins!

Last Tuesday was the last day of school for our husbands before the Thanksgiving break.... so we decided to all get together and have a scone party. I think we went through about 60 scones! (and I would know because Carlee and I were the ones making them!) That's a lot of bread for 16 people! We also had some delicious homeade apple cider and hot chocolate! Mmm!

Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we decided to get all the first years together and have a big Thanksgiving dinner. It made being homesick not quite so bad... Jeff and I and two other couples went Wednesday night to the church to get things set up. We did it on the stage and put up a whole bunch of lights... I was quite impressed with our efforts. :) And then we showed up the next day and every one of them had fallen down! Darn tape! We had about 20 adults and 7 kids... it was quite the feast! This is the first year I have ever had to cook for Thanksgiving. I realized it's not quite as fun when you actually have to cook. I like just showing up with it all ready for me to eat! It actually wasn't that bad, I learned how to make Jeff's mom's amazing stuffing and my aunt Sheryl's to-die-for sweet potatoes. I also made the green bean casserole.... which I love. All the food was delicious and we were lucky enough to come home with two days worth of leftovers... we got a little bit of everything! That doesn't usually happen! I'm so glad we are able to have "family" away from family. I can't be grateful enough for all the friends we've made since we've been out here. It has honestly been such a blessing.

Jeff and I had to both speak in church last Sunday on Being Grateful for Our Blessings. And like everyone says... the one preparing the talk gets way more out of it than the people listening to the talk. I truly have so much to be grateful for. I can't even begin to express my gratitude to the Lord for all He has given me. To name just a few.... I have such a wonderful husband who tries so hard to always make me happy. He is such an example to me of a someone who works his butt off to get what he wants. And although I feel like he is always studying, he somehow always makes time for me. He puts up with me and all of my shortcomings as a wife. I consider myself lucky to be married to him..... I have an amazing family who has always been supportive of me my whole life. Living out here in Pittsburgh I have come to realize how important family really is. I've noticed more and more out here how family tends to get put on the back burner and people become too involved in their busy lives that they forget to make time for family. It amazes me how peoples jobs and busy lifestyles take priority over their own families. I really don't know what I'd do without my family. I know they are always there when I need them! I am so grateful for all the people we've met and the experiences we've had living out here in Pittsburgh. I am grateful that the adjustment wasn't near as hard as I was expecting. And I am even more grateful that we get to come home and spend Christmas with family!

I couldn't back up enough to get everyone in... I would have fallen off the stage!




After dinner we played a bunch of games... catch phrase, ticket to ride, pounce, and a few games of lightning to work off all that food!

Downtown Pittsburgh!

Jeff and I met up with Devin and Nicole downtown at the Strip District on Saturday. It's kind of like going to a farmer's market. It's about 5 or 6 blocks full of tons of little shops and street vendors selling all different kinds of ethnic foods... from Italian meats and cheeses, to seafood, Mexican, Greek, Chinese, Asian, American... you name it, it's there. We basically tried a little bit of everything... spinich egg roll thing, dried apples, pizza on french bread, all different kinds of breads and cheeses... they have a store with a million different kinds of cheese from all over the world, and they let you try any of them, who knew there was so many different kinds of cheese! We tried a bunch of different kinds of salsa, barbecued chicken and pineapple on a stick, fried rice, donuts... yep, we pretty much tried it all! :) With a little help from our friends! They also have a bunch of shops full of jewelry, fresh flowers, t-shirts, photos, sunglasses, hats, toys, etc... We went to a really cool kitchen shop, they had the coolest little kitchen tools!

Then we went downtown and saw the Ginormous Pittsburgh Christmas Tree all lit up.... it was so awesome! I was expecting a dinky litte tree in the middle of town with some lights and that was it. But I was suprisingly impressed! The tree was in the middle of a whole bunch of tall glass buildings.... definitely adding to the effect. And then they had ice skating, horse buggy rides, a band playing christmas music, and tons of gingerbread houses lined up inside one of the buildings. I told Jeff we are definitely going back to ice skate sometime, I have always seen this type of thing in movies... never in real life!







On our way home we stopped at the lookout spot on Washington point and took some really pretty pictures.... I love how the sun is just right, making the buildings reflect off of the water.... so pretty!







Afterwards we went over to Brett and Carlee's and taught them how to play spades! Jeff and I are so happy we now have someone to play spades with... we love that game!

Now it's back to school for Jeff.... booo.... he is going to have an intense couple of weeks full of finals and then it's off to Utah! Wahoo! I can't wait.... I am counting down the hours... I mean days.... haha.

Happy late Thanksgiving everyone!

Tagged!

My friend Laci tagged me and since it requires hardly any work... I will do it. :)

Rules:

1. Go to your pictures

2. Go to your 4th folder and upoload your 4th picture

3. Post

Ohh how cute. Jeff and I with my neice and nephew... maybe this is a sign that we need to start having kids... haha, yeah right!

I tag... Carlee, Nicole, Jessica, and Angie

Nothing too exciting is going on with Jeff and I. Jeff has had another one of those weeks where he has been studying non-stop. He did really well on a few of his tests this last week... he even got a 100% on one of them. I was so proud of him! He deserves it... especially with all the studying he's been doing. He has another test tomorrow and has basically only taken a break to eat all weekend! And even then he sometimes takes it and eats at the computer. I am amazed at his ongoing determination and motivation to do good, I would have burned out weeks ago and it's only the first semester! I don't know how he does it but he does... and he rarely complains. I keep telling him, you can stop trying to impress me, I'm already impressed!! :) I'm so happy I have a husband who I know will do whatever it takes to support me... even if it requires a little more work than he'd like. Thanks babe!

Also... the weather this past week has been sooo nice! I would love it if it was like this all winter! I think it was the type of weather people in Utah experienced a couple weeks ago. Apparently we swapped temperatures because I heard it's been pretty dang cold in Utah this past week. Jeff and I walked to the gas station at 10:00 Friday night to get some orange juice to make smoothies and we didn't even need a jacket... man I would die for a few more weeks like that... Too bad the next day we woke up to an overcast, rainy, cold day. Welcome to Winter... I guess I will just appreciate the week of warm weather that we did get. That's pretty good for the second week in November... I'll take it!

Carlee, Brett, and I went to the park the other day... Jeff was taking a much needed nap, and I wanted any excuse to be outside!

These trees were so pretty I couldn't resist not taking a picture... I am sad I didn't take pictures earlier when all the trees were different colors and not already dying.

And this is a nice shot of Pittsburgh.