Happy Holidays!

Love, the Andersens

PS. WHYYYYYY does blogger mess up the layout of my pictures/text EVERY time? This is seriously why I almost never blog. Advice??

It's a... SURPRISE!

May 2010

We couldn't be happier to be expecting baby #2!! Now that we've finally announced to our families, it's time to get the word out on my neglected blog. No, we are not finding out the gender before the birth... it will be fun! So be sure to get in your guesses before the big day! I thought it would be fun to try it this way; why not, right?? I think not knowing the gender will motivate me during labor! I'm currently 17 weeks pregnant and I feel amazing! Just starting to grow out of my pants and feel the baby move more frequently. I've had two ultrasounds, and everything looks perfect.

One thing is for sure... this baby is going to have some gorgeous, pouty lips! Check them out! The sonographer couldn't stop commenting on them. :)

I'm so excited...

...I can hardly stand it!!! Here's the story. I have known for a while that Nickelback was coming to town, but I was procrastinating buying tickets. I don't know why; bad habit, I suppose. I LOVE Nickelback. We go back to high school when my junior prom date bought me their CD as a prom gift. I didn't know that prom gifts were even necessary, but his brilliant idea got me hooked on them. I faithfully buy every CD and I have worked out and rocked out more to their music than almost any other rock band. I thought they were playing August 28th, and so when a friend from work called to ask if I'd cover her shift on the night of August 26th (tomorrow) so she could go to a concert (she didn't say which one), I said, "Sure, why not." Only after my name was put on the schedule did I realize that Nickelback was playing that night. I unknowingly shot myself in the foot on that one and I was extremely bummed about it. And it's really hard to get someone to cover a night shift for you. My friend was really lucky thanks to my absent-mindedness.

This morning at 9 am I got a voicemail from my nurse manager: "Hey, would you be willing to work tomorrow day shift instead of tomorrow night shift?" I nearly jumped out of bed I was so excited! And how convenient that the babysitter who watches Josh while I work can only watch him until 3 on Wednesdays! So I called my boss back and told her I could work the shift but only until 3, and she said, "Oh great, that would be perfect!" Sweeeeeet!!!!! The best part is that even though it is only one day before the concert, I totally scored PIT tickets!!! Yes folks, Jacob and I will be burning it to the ground right in front of the stage tomorrow night!!!!! Too bad I don't have that shirt I bought in high school that said "Rock Star at Heart" anymore.

Love Song for Jacob

"I Will Follow You Into The Dark"

Deathcab for Cutie

Love of mine some day you will die

But I'll be close behind

I'll follow you into the dark

No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white

Just our hands clasped so tight

Waiting for the hint of a spark

If Heaven and Hell decide

That they both are satisfied

Illuminate the No's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you

When your soul embarks

Then I'll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule

I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black

And I held my tongue as she told me

"Son fear is the heart of love"

So I never went back

If Heaven and Hell decide

That they both are satisfied

Illuminate the No's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you

When your soul embarks

Then I'll follow you into the dark

You and me have seen everything to see

From Bangkok to Calgary

And the soles of your shoes are all worn down

The time for sleep is now

It's nothing to cry about

'cause we'll hold each other soon

In the blackest of rooms

If Heaven and Hell decide

That they both are satisfied

Illuminate the No's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you

When your soul embarks

Then I'll follow you into the dark

Then I'll follow you into the dark

Truth

This is a sermon from the movie "Doubt." The movie is excellent, and this exerpt is so good that it deserves a post all to itself:

A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew -- I know none of you have ever done this. That night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O’Rourke, and she told him the whole thing.

‘Is gossiping a sin?’ she asked the old man. ‘Was that the hand of God Almighty pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?’

‘Yes!’ Father O’Rourke answered her. ‘Yes, you ignorant, badly broughtup female! You have borne false witness against your neighbor, you have played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed!’

So the woman said she was sorry and asked for forgiveness. ‘Not so fast!’ says O’Rourke. ‘I want you to go home, take a pillow up on your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me!’

So the woman went home, took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to the roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed.

‘Did you gut the pillow with the knife?’ he says.

‘Yes, Father.’

‘And what was the result?’

‘Feathers,’ she said.

‘Feathers?’ he repeated.

‘Feathers everywhere, Father!’

‘Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind!’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘it can’t be done. I don’t know where they went. The wind took them all over.’

‘And that,’ said Father O’Rourke, ‘is GOSSIP!'

Aloha

Sunset at Wimea Bay. Just us two sexy Hawaiian lovers.
Kayaking at Kailua Bay.

Cliff jumping at Hidden Cove.
Dinner at an authentic Thai restaurant after hiking up Koko crater.

Sunset at Turtle Bay.

Turtle Bay. The resort there is fantastic. We didn't stay there, but we pretended we did for a few evenings. :)

The first thing I said to Jacob after we stepped off the plane in Hawaii was, "How about we just move here and stay forever?" At the time that statement was based solely upon the feel of the warm ocean breeze on my face and the sight of exotic tropical plants lining the walkway. That was before we toured the island and saw how beautiful it all was. It's tempting, when you both have jobs that can go anywhere, but after about a week of missing our little boy and the mountains, we said goodbye to paradise. It was probably the most romantic, refreshing, adventurous week of my life. We were asked several times if we were honeymooners, and we really felt like we were. *Sigh* When can I go back? Anyway, here is a handful of pictures. Perhaps someday I will post more, but with my recent blogging track record there is no guarantee... I'm horrible at formatting my blog so the pictures are placed weird and I couldn't figure out how to get it to let me write a caption for each one. Oh well. Better than nothing!

Hello

Hello, blog, it's nice to see you again. It's been a while. How am I, you ask? I am happy. Here are a few reasons I have to be happy.

I wake up every day to the man of my dreams. He is good and wonderful and of course, always so handsome. He treats me like a queen. I bought him a new wedding ring today, to replace the $20 piece of steel he has been wearing for 3 years. I spent too much money on it but it is a dang cool ring and he loves it. Happy Anniversary honey. I love you.

My little darling boy. He is full of mischief right now, getting into things and learning to tease and babbling all day long in toddler-speak. He is my sunshine. His little cheeks smelled like spit today because I kissed him so much. His new word today was "fly." Except he can't say the "l." I like the word fly.

White mocha latte at Joe's. Thanks Teena for introducing me. They always give me two white chocolate buzz beans on top. All the people there are so nice. All the girls wear crazy eye make-up and have really white teeth. Those must be prerequisites for working in a coffee shop. If they drink so much coffee how do their teeth stay so white? I ponder this and other simple things while sipping my tasty treat. Sanctuary in a coffee cup.

I ride our rickety scooter to work. Thanks to my skilled brother-in-law it is now in good working order so that I can enjoy invigorating scooter rides and run all three stop signs along the country road to work. I find a peculiar satisfaction in it.

When I run in the mornings the horses are always standing close to the road. They are kind, gentle, trusting animals. I feed them the tall, juicy grass they can't reach from behind the fence. I'd like to own a horse or two someday. I love watching them gallop across the meadows that are set to a backdrop of the Rockies.

Hawaii, here I come. I can't wait to meet you and to find my solace on your shores. My handsome man and I will be visiting you soon. Please begin preparing your adventures for us, and I would like to request that they not include sharks or poisonous sea creatures. Otherwise, I think I am fair game.

Thank you, APX, for our free alarm system. Can I say all the stress of last summer was worth it just for that? Nah. But I like the alarm system anyway. It's easy to use and I will feel better when I go to sleep at night. Plus it has so many other cool features and it's totally pimp. I could sell hundreds of them.

I have dear, dear friends. They always appear when I need them most. Party at my house, anyone? Can you all just come over right now and stay for a while? We can talk and laugh and be real with each other like we always have. My door is always open.

Nordstrom is my new favorite place. In the past I disliked it simply because I couldn't afford it. I have now discovered the enjoyable experience of department store shopping. People wait on me and tell me silly things like, "Oh, it's okay, we don't really have a return policy. Yeah, you can wear it and take off the tags and still bring it back and get a refund." They're totally serious. It's awesome. And it feels like everything in that store was made to fit my body. New clothes for the new me.

Coldplay, your music is the melody of my days right now. Calm, always moving forward with compelling lyrics and meloncholy tunes.

Dear God, I feel you more than ever now. I'm glad you've got my back. Thank you for everything. No really, thank you for all of it.