Beach Day!

We went to the lake for the first time this summer (by WE i mean charley and me, brandon had to go to work) brandon and I have been hoping that Charley would be a water dog but she's a mix breed and both breeds don't like water so we were a little worried. 

When we got to the lake charley booked it as fast as she could through the sand dunes and followed dani down to the beach and ran RIGHT into the water! I WAS SO PROUD! She LOVED IT!

The beach was fun but REALLY windy. No one could wakeboard but tubing was a blast! We had a bunch of food and tubes to sleep on so we all got sun burnt, covered in sand, and filled up with junk food.

This kinda shows how windy it was....

also charley LOVED kayaking! She kept getting in the kayaks that were sitting on the shore like she wanted to go! It was like having the windows down ALL THE TIME! (if you look at this photo charley looks like a bunny ha ha ha)

Missouri & Nauvoo

My parents are awesome and decided to fly me out to go see my sister Natalie and her husband Joe in Missouri! I've never flown alone before so I was a tad nervous but I did fine. I went to go board my flight from St. Louis to Kirksville and the lady at the desk said "well enjoy your private flight Mrs. Valantine!" and I went to go board my plane and this is what I came to! I was the ONLY person on this tiny plane! As i boarded the captin said "well i guess you can really pick your seat? you could even sit co pilot!" so kidding or not kidding I jumped on that plane and went straigh to shot gun!!

this is me riding shotty on my private jet ha ha ha

This is Pilot Bryan! he was AWESOME! he paints on the side so we talked about art the whole time! So fun!

It kinda made me nervous when he got up out of his seat in mid air, grabbed his phone, and started texting ha ha ha

Nat and I went 4-wheeling on Friday! it was SO FUN! her boss took us all over the country side! it was gorgeous!

Saturday Nat & I took off to Nauvoo!!!

Right when we got there we went and played with all the old pioneer toys! We'd done the church history tour as kids and remembered all the little toys from then!

Then we had a picnick by the river where the pioneers started their long trip across the river and then on to the rest of the country.

Nat got a Nikon from Joe for mothers day so we honestly spent most our day teaching her how to use it. We're in the car because I was demonstrating the dark inside with heavy back lighting technique :)

We went and did some fun shopping around the little town

this was my FAVORITE! We went on a covered wagon ride! It wasn't my favorite because of the ride but it kinda made us realize how slow they were and how rocky the trails where. It really made us realize how hard this trip must have been even for the ones who got to ride in the wagons!

of course in TRUE ANDERSON STYLE we had to get ice cream!

Then onto Carthidge Jail. This place is truely amazing. The tour was led by sister missionaries who bore testimony of joseph smith and his teachings and the spirit was so strong!

The rest of the trip we made crafts, I tutored natalie in photoshop, we made watches, watched movies, made strawberry jam and I now (thanks to natalie and joes diets) have a much bigger appreciaton for wheat bread, wheat pancakes, wheat tortillas, brown rice, sugar free fat free ice cream and skim milk :) thanks guys!

Good News Minute!

Turns out everyone gets married in the spring wich makes last month, this month and next very busy for me! So lately I have been too busy taking pictures of other people to document my own life but I just thought I'd update people on the Valantine family and a couple of good news things we've had lately!  ( and since no one likes a pictureless blog i'll throw in the few random pictures that I HAVE taken this month)

#1- Brandon has been studying away this month for the MCAT which he takes in under 3 weeks. We have felt a little discouraged about it lately because the more we learn about Med School applications the more we feel a bit under prepared. Most of the people applying have hours and hours of job shadowing doctors completed and where brandon has TONS in the dental field he has close to none in the medical field. Also, all the other applicants we know have taken lots of the medical classes that brandon wasn't required to take when he was a Pre Dental Major so he is behind there as well... he has been taking practice tests and not doing as well as he's hoped but I'm PROUD to announce that today brandon came home from his practice test with a big smile on his face! He got a REALLY good score on his test! We've been feeling MUCH better today about our career choice and hope that his score will keep going up!

#2- My mom surprised me one day by calling me and telling me that she's going to fly me out to see my sister natalie at the end of the month!!! She's lived in Missouri since August (way too long)  and I miss her DEARLY! She is there while her husband Joe finishes up Medical School.

I'm SO excited to get away (mostly cause I live with a man who's in a study hangover 24/7) My sister once a week has been texting me and telling me all the fun things we're gonna do while i'm out there! I just can't wait for the 19th to come! (be sure to wait for that blog post cause it's gonna be awesome!)

#3- We (as an Anderson family) went to Jareds soccer game the other day! Jared currently is sporting a mohawk with steps down the side! He looks so legit!

The game was TERRIBLE though. The Ref was this gocky tall kid who looked like he's never played a sport in his LIFE! The other team were little punks they gave one of our kids a bloody nose and the other a black eye and the ref wouldn't call it! After a while me and my super competitive, soccer playing, BIG brother Ryan gave up on "good sportsmenship" and started yelling things like "JARED JUST SHOVE HIM!!! HIT HIM DOWN!!! SLIDE TACKLE! SLIDE TACKLE!!" and the ref STILL was not calling it! We lost but we made some kids on the other team cry so it was worth it :)

Ryan always asks me to be his goalie at half time during jareds games and my automatic reflex to a ball flying at me has always been this...

It's actually saved my life a few times when I wasn't expecting a ball to come at me. Thank you volleyball practice...

#4- I am currently a blonde! My mom and I the other day got into the same old fight which usually goes like this

Megan- uck I need to color my hair

Mom- please do it your natural color

Megan- mom i'm NOT a blonde you nut ball!

Mom- yes you are you look stupid with blonde regrowth after you do it brown

Megan- mom IT IS NOT BLONDE REGROWTH!!

Mom- just don't die it dark it looks bad!

(thats when I just leave the room)

so this time it went like this

Megan- uck I need to color my hair

Mom- please do it your natural color

Megan- mom i'm NOT a blonde you nut ball!
Mom- yes you are!!!
Megan- mom, brown costs $11 and blonde costs $50  dollars so unless you wanna pay for my hair color...(cutt off)
Mom-REALLY???!! CAUSE I WILL PAY FOR IT IF YOU GO BLONDE!!!!
... so I thought it's be fun for summer... except now i've lost my identity to my sister natalie again and my eyebrows are still brown... (hint MOM)....

#5- My boss amanda owns a Boutique which is connected to a pawn shop which her husband mike owns (if you read my post Birth Control it's their kids we watched) anyways, brandon got hired by mike!  He started work this week so now we only work 10 feet away from each other and I get to see him everytime I run a credit card or need to go get a receipt!! i'm excited about it :) Brandon likes working there cause it's full of big guns and cool electronic stuff!

so yeah. there is our good news minute for the month!
xoxo

MY top 10 reasons

 for all of those who have been asking me "are there any valantine babies on the way?" Here is what I think of that question. These are my top 10 reasons to have a baby right now, from MY point of view, at this point in my life and with my mentality on babies  :) enjoy ...

top 10 reasons:

10- I can eat Ice cream for nine months straight, pass it off as cravings and no one can say anything about it!
9- I can stop blogging about my dog (which is also a plus for all of you)
8- i've heard pre natal vitamins ROCK for your hair and nails!
7- recieving authorized full use of the "expecting mothers" parking spot. (which I use anyways, they never specify WHEN your expecting??)
6- first on the plane, first off the plane! woot woot!
5- the thing gets you out of any and all painful church meetings!
4- you now have a valid excuse to carry fruitloops and fruitsnacks in your purse at all times.
3- awarded VIP access to the kiddy pools SWEET play place :)
2- you get to dress them up in the CUTEST clothes EVER!
1- I'M DYING TO HAVE BABY JUST TO TAKE PICTURES OF!

So to all those still wondering why i'm not even THINKIN about babies I will tell you the same thing I tell my mom- "as soon as I stop leaving my car keys at the grocery store I will THINK about having a baby"