grads!

Con-grad-ulations to us!!

It's official folks! The Andersons are DONE. 4 years for me, 2 years for my sweetheart. James graduated with his "Associates of Applied Science in Architectural Technology" (Construction Management) and I have my "Bachelor of Science in Business & Communication." Whoo. Those are mouthfuls!

It was so beyond awesome that I got to graduate right along side my BEST friends and have my family and other best friends, and my super hot husband, watching me. It truly made the whole day for me. Katie & I probably did not stop laughing throughout the entire ceremony and my friends helped me in what could have been a crisis...like always. [Apparently, you are required to go to Grad Night to pick up your cap and gown-which I had-and your name card. Whoops] Typical.

Graduation itself was pretty great. Actually, I sat next to my friends AJ & Tracy during the commencement and I will say....we had to keep each other awake.  And yes, I didn't fall asleep for a moment. And then afterwards, I waited & waited for everyone to come get me in the gym but they never came! So I finally figured out I had to go to the Hart auditorium for my actual walking and low & behold, there they all were, sitting pretty. My frustration quickly melted away when I saw their cute excited faces and the rest was all great from there (ok, minus that one minor freak out about my lack of a name card, but that's what my friends are for!) It was all a little...not like I dreamed. It went by nice & slow and I remember all the parts perfectly. I was so focused on my closest friends and my awesome family that I just had the time of my life. And the pictures afterward were pretty fun, I won't lie.

The absolute best part of graduation was having my family up in Idaho with me. FINALLY. Every single time my mom was here, I feel like I was so awful because I was under so much stress. But this was my chance to make it up and show my family how much they meant to me and how grateful I was that they gave me the opportunity to go to college. They helped me so much all throughout my years here. It was a dream come true for me to be able to take them around my stomping grounds and show them who I had become and how I got there. It's something I will truly treasure for the rest of my life.

The point is that another major milestone has been checked off the ole bucket list for James and I. I can't believe how much I am already missing it. With the next chapter in our lives quickly approaching, I am constantly thinking of my time at BYU-Idaho. I am so glad that my second year here, I made the decision to really soak in college. Everyone says that your college years are your best. Now, I don't know if that's true or not (I'm sure motherhood is going to come pretty darn close) but I was going to find out for myself one way or another. And I will always be so grateful for that. Because college was honestly amazing. The people who became family, the classrooms that become second homes, and the lessons I learned inside and outside of the classroom. I am so proud of James & I. He's my hero and I have to say...I'm pretty impressed with myself too.

view.

There is one thing that I will miss so so much about living here...and especially about where we live in Rexburg.

This is the ACTUAL distance from our bedroom to the temple. 

The temple. The one time we will ever be a VERY short walk away from it. It gave me peace as I fell asleep at night and was always so bright & shiny in the morning, like it was happy & ready to start the day, telling me that was how I should be. It was the one thing that I always saw driving to school that just seemed to say, "Yep! Here I am! You're almost here for a whole new semester again!" I was always SO happy and relieved to see it as I was coming down the hill to Rexburg. It's sad to think that for the rest of my life, there will NEVER again be a temple THAT close to my windows, happily perched up there watching James & I live our lives. It made me feel safe and home, as Rexburg always does, and I know for a FACT I did not take advantage of such a wonderful blessing enough. Excuses excuses. I am always going to think of it and how much it blessed James & I in our first home together when we were newlyweds and all the adventures it prepped me for. I guess it's really true...I love to see the temple.

tickets.

Yep! Those are the tickets that I will be handing my family and friends to come watch me get congratulated for all of the hard work I put in for four years. I am SO excited to be sharing this special day with my favorite person (who happens to be my husband) and I just feel like it is too good to be true!! I am so excited. And sad. But mostly excited. Can't wait to show my family a great time and around the places I slaved away for hours at. Congratulations to all my friends who are jumpin on this bandwagon too!!!

so long, farewell.

Today was the very last show we will ever get to do all together for Scroll Digital. Four of us are graduating and so all day, I was a nostalgic mess, and I pretty much looked like this. ALL DAY.

So the producers decided we NEEDED one last hurrah. And of course, that meant ice-cream. Our fave.

The producers and our protégées.

We wrapped up the show and headed down to Dairy Queen for a sad farewell good time!! After all, there is still a week left of school and we do all basically live down in the Spori basement. But I can't even tell you how much I am going to miss these people. They have become my best friends as we've working together the last two years. I don't even know what I will do without them everyday. It's kind of cool to see how everyone is going in different directions--some having babies, some staying here, some moving away...but I know we'll all keep in touch. I can't wait to see them all rocking their careers someday but I am so never forgetting the memories we made every single day, down in the basement. Love you guys.

babies.

Alright people. I get it. The next step in life is to have babies and be a cute mom, I know I know. BUT. James & I will not be having kids until we are settled somewhere (preferably in a house) and in a routine of some sort. I'm thinking at the EARLIEST, it would be a year. Ok? Ok.

So now that that is settled, I want to address the baby fever all around me. With the birth of my ADORABLE niece, Ava Bell...

...Yes, I know. Swoon right?! But with her birth, I was just a teeny tiny bit wishing I could be preggers with my sister when I realized how many people are actually having babies. I was invited to not one, not two, not five, but EIGHT BABY SHOWERS this semester. You read that right. EIGHT. Insane right?!? Those along with the like 6 different wedding announcements we got are clustering all around our fridge.

It actually makes me feel kind of awesome! Except, I wasn't very nice (or rich) and have only gone to like two.

It's actually really awesome having so many pregnant friends because I live every single different kind of scenario through them! I can hear all the good, the bad, and the very ugly. (And of course I don't mean anything but the "awesome" morning sickness)

My poor sissy was gigantic and swollen, pretty much where my friend Katie is now and so now that one is born, I'm just waiting on the ole boss woman's to get outta there! Haha Everyone will be SUCH fun moms and dads. I seriously love my friends. And my amazing mother of a sister. So excited. And excited that SOMEDAY, James will get a chance to be the cutest daddy I know. :)

independence.

Fourth of July this year was very low key for the Andersons. I usually LOVE to go all out on the Fourth (it's my third favorite holiday!) and wanted to do a themed breakfast, lunch, and dinner, dress up together, put up fun decorations....I didn't do any of that. This year, we were just so burned out that we didn't make a whole lot of plans. Plus, it was on a Thursday so it was weird to have school through the week, take ONE day off and have fun, then go back to school for one day before getting to have the weekend. Random. BUT! We did wake up nice and early for the parade in Rexburg that goes all throughout Main Street and beyond and that was really fun! We actually found decent parking AND we were up and close to the tail end! We didn't have to squish shoulder to shoulder with sweaty strangers or sticky kids! It was awesome. They also had vendors all along the park so we had a good time walking around there. Oh! And I even caught James a backpack (the cinch kind) and James caught us some Otter Pops, so we were feeling pretty awesome.

Part one of the day: both VERY festive, but I was a hot mess (literally)

 The parade was really cute. They had a few different LDS ones, made by different stakes, which was REALLY different. Only in Rexburg! Haha They had a temple one and a couple on families. It was cool! And they had every kind of float you could imagine: floats with music, floats that moved, floats that were sets, ones that sprayed you with water, ones that sprayed you with candy--everything! Along with the LITTLE dancing girls (their routine was a-freaking-dorable), my favorite part were the cute little old men that marched in different places.

I always think this girl is me. It's not.

STUD. MUFFIN.

 James thought the hot rods and the tractors were pretty cool. One guy even was pulling a trailer with his muscles! Crazy. But it made a point!

 After the parade, we went home and ate and got showered and ready. It was too early for me to shower before so I got cute after. Are the any pictures of THAT? Of course not.

We went to a family's house from James's mission and brought our little Jacob son with us, since he served there too. Plus, their companion is married to their daughter. We had BBQ chicken & hot dogs and were waiting for the extended family members to get there so that we could start the real fun...

I love Idaho. Backyards are SO much better with tons of grass and no fence!

Goes on for miles it seems!

Part two: Everyone so NOT festive, but showered!

The BEST part of the whole thing was aaaaallllll the stuff we blew up. Oh yeah. That's right. We blew stuff up. No big deal. I would LOVE to post one of the videos, but I have no idea how to upload anything from an iphone that is not a picture. Soooo if anyone wants to tell me, it would be awesome.

But we blew up buckets, bottles, fruit, pretty much anything we could find. Quite a few times, we got things to blow SKY HIGH. It was so cool. We launched things the entire day. All from homemade little bombs they bought from someone. It was so cool. My inner boy came out and was LOVING it.

Then we watched some fireworks out in the front and played with lots of different fire crackers. The kids were having so much fun with it. We all sat and watched them from the swings, which was actually my favorite moment of the ENTIRE day. James sat between Jacob and I and James had little Hyrum on his lap and he & Jacob just made that little guy laugh & laugh & laugh. It was THE cutest thing I have ever seen. James has always had a soft spot for Hyrum. He is so tiny and cute! It's no wonder! But I was snuggled up next to my hubby with his head resting on mine and as I was watching all the fireworks, I had a peek into what it will be like a few years down the road with OUR little family. The huge feeling of excitement and happiness and peace all came over me at the same time. It was the most perfect moment I could have hoped for.

The whole say was really amazing. I love the Fourth of July. The fireworks, the family & friends, the patriotism that everyone supports with their colorful displays of red, white, & blue all around...I just love it. I already am looking forward to next year when hopefully, that little daydream of mine will be a little closer to a reality. I looooove this country and everything it was built upon. America the beautiful. No better words ever written. I hope everyone had as much fun that day as we did!!! Happy Fourth of July everyone!!