Girls Day out!

I should've posted about this before tanner came home, but while Tanner was gone, my mom and I, and my friend Becca and her mom went to their cabin in Island Park!  We have been talking about doing this for like 4 years, so we finally decided that now was a good time.  We had a blast.  We just sat and vegged, watched movies, laughed, talked, and went to the playmill.  We saw the Drowsy Chaperone, and it was hilarious.  It was a much needed weekend, and I just had a ball.

                              This is becca underneath the house turning on the water haha

 Oh my heck.  Okay so we were just sitting and talking and all the sudden my mom says that something smells like sewer.  All of us just kind of looked at her like she was crazy, and so we just forgot about it.  About an hour later, I started smelling something nasty, and so we were all confused.  Mom started looking around her chair, and she sees a mouse...in the mouse trap. hahaha we laughed for a long time.  My mom screamed, and she and I jumped on the couch and just stood there.  We hate mice.  Gale picked up the mouse tramp, and it was still soft and wiggling everywhere,  Oh it was so disgusting.  That got a good laugh out of us all.

                                 We did face masks, and acted like freaks cuz we could.

                                                                         hahaha

                                                                    At the playmill!

                                                                pretty sunset.

Oh my. On our way home from the Playmill, this buffalo was just chillin on the side of the highway...cars were stopping and looking at it, it was so weird!  Finally the police came and tranquilized the poor fella.  We had such a fun weekend.

Days apart make the heart grow fonder

So...Tanner got home this last Friday, and it was just the cutest thing ever.  I was at work, and had been there for 7 hours, and I just wanted to get off and go get my hubby.  Well, someone comes through the door, with a bouquet of beautiful flowers in his hand.  I didn't realize it was Tanner at first, but when I did tears just started to fill my eyes.  He was just the cutest thing standing there smiling at me. His face was all scratched up because of his hike, diving into a rock, but I was just never so happy to see him!  I was glad he was home safe. I feel really bad about this now, but I gave him a really hard time for not getting me flowers on Valentines Day...so I think this was him making up for that.  I feel bad.  But the flowers are gorgeous, and I just love him to death.  Even though the break seemed long and drug on and on, being apart for a week made us grow closer together, and realize how we feel about each other.  I didn't get a picture of Tanners cut up face, but here's the gorgeous flowers he gave me. I just have the best husband ever.

counting my many blessings

My heart is just so full right now.  I'm not sure why, but I am just so.....grateful.  I know that all my posts lately have been all like the same, with tender mercies, to being grateful, to being blessed, and now to counting my many blessings. All week my hubby has been gone on a 50 mile hike with his dad.  I'm not gonna lie, it's been hard for me. It's been hard to be in our apartment alone, and to not have my best friend here to laugh and joke with me.  This is the first time in 15 months that Tanner and I have been apart for more then a day.  And I miss him like crazy.  Looking back on this week, I have really just seen the Lord in my life.  God amazes me...he truly does.  He knows exactly what He's doing, and He knows exactly what I need, and when I need it.  Tanner and I have grown so close together these past few months, and it has really strengthened our love for each other, and our love for our Savior. Marriage is such a blessing, and I can see why it is so important to be sealed in the temple with your eternal companion.  It truly is such a blessing, one that we can't ever take for granted.
I feel like this hike was truly needed at this time in mine and tanners lives, because I have been able to spend some quality time with some women that I love.  I was able to spend some quality time with my mom, one of my best friends, becca willmore, and her mom.  I was able to spend a day with 2 of my sister in laws and just talk and get our nails done, and get to know each other better.  I was able to talk with another one of my best friends about the beauty of life and trials.   And last but not least, I was able to spend some time with my Savior.  I have come closer to Him this week, in ways that I didn't even think were possible. I just can't express how grateful I am for a loving husband, 2  loving families, friends, and a loving Savior. Let us all be grateful for the things that we do have, and not rely on the things that we don't have.

No longer a teen!

This year, Tanner really spoiled me for my birthday.  He told me that the whole weekend was 'my' weekend, and that we were going to do everything that I wanted to do.  He's so sweet.  So, we started on Friday.  He took me to Idaho Falls, and we went to the mall and went shoppin!  He knows I love shopping...haha.  He bought me 2 pairs of shoes.  Running shoes, and water shoes. I will never forget that my birthday this year was a 3 day birthday. Thanks to my wonderful hubby. 

                    So ever since we got married, we've both developed the same feddish:
                                           SHOES!!! you should see our closets...haha

We just kinda went and messed around in all the stores, and it was so fun.  We felt like little kids.

                             hahahahahahaha this is my favorite...i laugh every single time I look at it.

                                     Isn't this weird?  I thought it was quite comical.

                                                           Look at this massive watch!

 After we fooled around, we went to Cafe Rio for dinner.  We ate their on our honeymoon, so we thought we'd relive the memory :) Then....we went and saw BATMAN!!!  It was so good, we both loved it!  I didn't think i would like it, but I LOVED it! Day 1 of my birthday? WONDERFUL.

Day 2:  So Saturday was a surprise, I had no idea what we were doing.  All I knew was he bought me water shoes for today's event.  Well, we ended up going white water rafting!!!!  Tanner knows me too well....I love getting new things, and I love water.  When my parents took me to Chile for my graduation present, that was my first time white water rafting...and it was so much fun! We went with Tanner's 2 best buds: Aj Armstrong, and Alex Orme.  And Alex's Dad, haha.  yep, I was the only girl.  But that's okay, it was still a blast!  I don't know why but there's just something about riding waves, and being in water that just gets me excited! Here's some pics:

                             oh man, it was just so much fun!  I can't wait to go again.
After we went rafting, we went and got SQUARE ICECREAM!!! hahahahahaa I always love new and funny things, and I thought this was so funny.  I didn't get a great picture, but here's one.

You can kind of see the square icecream....smart idea! It fit better in the cone. haha.
Everyone was sleeping in the car on the way home and I was trying to hold Tanner and Aj's head at the same time, so they didn't bash their heads on the windows....

                      It was hilarious.  And on top of all of this fun stuff, my new nephew Griffin Dean      anderson was born at 4:05!!!!  He is so adorable.  Here he is:

                                     I can't wait to hold this little fella.

Something that was also special to Tanner and I today was that a year ago from july 21st, Tanner proposed to me...the day that changed our lives forever.  One that we won't ever forget :)  Another wonderful day.


Day 3: Sunday, my 'real' 20th birthday!
Well, unfortunately I felt yucky all day, so I wasn't too exciting, and I wasn't too happy haha.  Sorry Tanner.  But, he was still a sweety, and still made my day special. We didn't go to church because I was just super sick and in pain.I got a pretty sweet birthday gift from Jaxon and Megan....a live skpye with griffin!!  I was the first one to see griffin live...what a great birthday present huh??  I think so.  All of my siblings called me, wishing me the sweetest birthday wishes ever.  I love it when my nieces and nephews call , it's so flippin cute.  Tan Tan put in one of my favorite movies, Mrs. Doubtfire, and we watched that together and laughed our guts out.  Then we watched the Grinch...haha we love that movie so much it's ridiculous.  We just had a relaxing day together, and it was much needed :)  We went over to my parents house and my mom made me a dinner of my choice.  This year I chose marinated chicken, green beans, rolls, fruit salad, and BTS cake. yummy in my tummy.  Every year on our birthdays my mom would put up this sign, and we always looked forward to it.

They sang our birthday song ritual, and then they all proceeded to tell me what they loved about me.  Of course, I'm emotional, so I cried haha.  Another tradition my family has is on our birthdays, we always have my mom tell us our birth story.  For some reason, it just tore my heart out hearing what my mom went through to get me here.  It was really tender hearing my birth story, because I have never really understood how real it is, until now.  Now that I have the ability to bear children, and I know a little bit more about birth, etc, it just really hit home.  My mom went through a lot to get me to this earth, and I will be forever grateful for her for basically giving all she had, for me. My parents have always told me I'm a miracle, and now I'm starting to believe it.  While she was telling the story, I was thinking about how Tanner was born, and how he was a miracle, too. We both were miracles for a reason, and I'm so grateful that our mothers went through what they did to get us here, so that we could meet each other, strengthen each other, and create our own little miracles someday. Anyway, enough rambling, but I'm so grateful for my mom, for sacrificing herself for me.

After that, we drove out to Ashton to Tanner's parents house. This was such a pretty view.
                                                        
 They gave me a new hand mixer (that's another story haha) and perfume and lotion.  She also made a delicious cake, with homemade icecream, and they sang happy birthday to me.  This year, I realized that birthdays aren't all about gifts, and they aren't all about "me."  Birthdays are about being with the ones you love, and realizing all that you have, and all that Heavenly Father and our mothers give to us.  They gave us life.  Without them, I wouldn't be here, and I will be forever grateful to them for that. And last of all, I am so grateful for Tanner.  He is the best husband I could ever ask for. He is the light of my life, and I think he's just the greatest. I am starting to realize every day why Heavenly Father sent us to each other, and I just can't imagine my life any other way.  I am grateful for everything that I have, and for the life that I have. Thanks, babe, for making my birthday so wonderful.

Cascade Falls

Today Tanner woke me up at 7:45 and said, "We are going on a little hike. comin?" hahahaha it was hilarious.  So...I went. It was Tanner and I, Aj and his friend Lucia, and Aj's mom and step dad.  We had a lot of fun. Here's some pics:

                                                                        hahahahaha

It was so pretty, and so worth going!  On the way back we got rained on and it felt perfect.  What a wonderful day to spend enjoying our creators creations.

4th of july!!!

Well, we returned the tent we got, and bought one that is twice the size for just $60 more dollars.  We LOVE IT!! We like it because when we have kids, now they'll actually be able to fit, and there's just a lot more room! Tanner was a little kid when he saw the tent came. He said it was better than christmas haha.Here's his happy self:

 And here's some pictures of us setting it up, and our wonderful 4th of JULY!!!!

4th of July Weekend:

 Here's Whitney before we went to float Warm River!!!

                                                                      love birds.

                                       Talmage looked like he was in his coffin. hahaha.

Oh my...so Tanner ordered a lantern, and this is what came! haha the lightbulb is there for comparison.  It is TINY!! and the funniest part is that taner payed like $25 bucks for it. rinkydink haha.

 We got this cute little 'basecamp kitchen,' and we love it too.  It has a sink, and it's just cool haha.

So my allergies were a big fat joke. This is what I looked like at like 3 in the morning when I couldn't sleep hahaha.

                                           This was the morning shot...I felt so swollen.

 All of us got so sunburnt floating Warm River, so everyone got in our tent, and we played games.  We were miserable, so we took pictures of all our burns...

Overall, we had a wonderful 4th of july weekend!  I love my family, and I'm grateful for the freedoms that we have. Oh i forgot...we set up the tent in Kevin and Stacey's living room...it was MAS-SIVE!!!