The almost picture-less August - October

August, September & October seem to be months I failed to take pictures in. I have no excuse, and a horrible memory. Maybe The Anderson's just skipped these month this year. I'll give it my best shot at re-capping, so I'll have something to add to our Anderson Year III Book!

August: The month of celebrations and miracles

August meant Graduation for Blake ( HooRah!) I'm still not believing that happened. He opted to go to Orlando instead of walk at graduation. I was torn about the decision (too hard not to want to sit at a 5 hour ceremony). I let him make the decision. Because Graduating is a Big Deal, it is an accomplishment that deserves to be rewarded. And it is something to be proud of. However, I will never complain about his decision to go to the Temple!

While in Orlando we stayed at a decent hotel by Omni. Ok it was nice, but that's not the point. The point is, at 2am, after our LONG day in Orlando. The FIRE ALARM at the hotel starts going off right outside of our bedroom door. It immediately woke me up. Blake was still snoring (imagine that). It was saying something about don't grab your belongings just exit the hotel that it was a fire alarm. Ok, nice. So I wake Blake up (who is always disoriented when you wake him from sleeping) tell him to put some clothes on we have to evacuate. I grab my phone, throw my glasses on to see, and am frantically looking for clothing. In my head I was picturing Blazing Fire, we were going to have to jump from windows, so I was freaking out just a little bit. I couldn't find any clothing. I throw on the first T-shirt I can find, and I'm not really sure what type of bottoms I had on, but we exit. We go down the stairs everything seems Ok until we get to a door that won't open on the main level. I won't continue to bore you with the entire story. But let's just say; Fire Dept. Shows up, some kid had pulled the fire alarm. Not a good prank if you ask me or the other 50 people in our wing that evacuated.

August also meant Volleyball Season started again & that meant our nights were pretty much taken care of between volleyball and football games.

Our Girls

August also brought with it some mis-fortunes. After Blake graduated, he continued(s) to work for my dad until we figure out our "plans". B & my little brother Stephen were working on the farm one day putting up a new fence. Because this fence would require a lot of holes in the ground they were using the auger to make it easier and quicker. Stephen was in charge of sitting on the tractor, turning it on and off and moving the tractor to the next spot for the next hole. Blake's job was to position the drill on the auger. Blake nor Stephen really recall much of the story because "it all happened so fast". But here's the  main thing. Blake decided the auger needs a little help because the particular spot they were drilling was around roots and extra hard. He proceeds to apply weight to the machine. The machine grabs his pants, yanks him in, the pressure of the machine on his pants rips his pants (full leather belt included) and underwear completely off. Stephen quickly cuts the machine off. Blake finds himself many feet away, butt naked (thank goodness for that hat he was wearing). And exactly sure what had happened. His legs were beat up pretty badly. Stephen helps him up (I'm sure that was a sight) and helped him into my Dad's truck. My Dad brought him to me (still without pants on) so I could take him to the ER. In the meantime my mom had called to tell me of the news. All I could understand was, Blake didn't have any pants on, and I was unsure of what she was talking about. Frustrated I hung up the phone. Dad arrives, I help Blake get some basketball shorts on and rush him to the hospital. His body was still in shock so the pain didn't really hit until we got him settled in. They hooked him up to some morphine. rushed him off to X-ray and got him cleaned up.

Our Nurse who had lost her father in an accident with a tractor was almost in tears. She told us about 10 stories of people that had been killed with an auger. We already felt like he avoided disaster, but felt even more blessed after hearing those stories. There is no doubt that our Heavenly Father was watching over Blake. It really shouldn't have ended as well as it did. He ended up with torn muscles in his calves. Which is way better than loss of leg or loss of husband. We are filled with gratitude for the protection he received. We know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of each one of his children, and we especially felt that in this situation.

Like I said August Also meant the start of college football. My man's favorite time of the year. We started the season off with a Trip to Dallas for the opening game of the season. FSU vs. OSU - Being the frugal people we are. We decided to fly into San Antonio with my parents so we could just use the luxury of their rental. Which also turned into some good meals. We met up with the entire family in Dallas except one brother and his wife. The Stadium was pretty incredible - now every game at DOAK I am looking for that Jumbo Tron!

AT&T Stadium

Because of Blakes Accident that put him on crutches (and Blake has been on crutches almost every time we have traveled). There are nice benefits that come with his handicaps while traveling. We always board the plane first! He get's wheelchair priority. (not sure that's a plus). And on this particular trip at the AT&T Stadium we got carted around the whole entire stadium (we just considered it VIP).

being carted around

August couldn't go without mentioning with talking about Spear Gear. My Sister and I started a clothing line - so that was kind of a big deal in August. It has taken a lot of hard work. The best way to learn more about business, (after being your businessman father's shadow for you whole life) is to start your own. It has been stressful at times, but we have seen a lot of success and opportunity, we have met a lot of really cool people that are rooting for us, and it has just been a neat experience. Shameless plug: www.speargearcollection.com - Go Noles!

September:

I honestly have zero pictures of the month of september. I'm pretty sure September 2014 didn't exist for us. 

So here's a picture to pretend like it did. 

Actually - I just found a picture (or two) from September.

 These pretties have been growing alongside one of the roads we take to get to our home. They look very similar to my favorite flower (I may have mistaken it for my favorite flower). Blake's Grandpa who happens to be a Botanist was over and I showed him the flowers Blake had picked. Gramps said, "Those are actually a poisonous weed to cattle" - Fantastic! They made a beautiful display on our side table and yellow makes me happy, so poisonous or not, I was ok with it!


October:

October came and went. Quick. October has become one of my favorite months. Aside from the fact that it's my birthday month (let's be honest, birthday's aren't all that cool when you start passing 22)

October started with my birthday (yay for being 18 again) and my other favorite weekend of the year General Conference. I was so uplifted and edified during these general conference sessions.

October also tends to be the busiest time of the year. Not only is it Birthday Month, General Conference it's also the busiest time of the year at the store. Welcome to Rodeo Season! Rodeo weekend just happens to fall on the exact same weekend as General conference.

I also had surgery during october to repair my torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder. I'm stuck in this sling for three more weeks but have finally figured a way to type.

We also had some friends come up - Karina & Peter - we ventured out to the fair. (it was freezing and I was miserable). I wasn't able to wear a coat because it was too heavy on my shoulder. I felt like we had landed on a sea of ice, when really we had only ventured up to Alabama.

**I will come back and add pictures. I changed phones and haven't uploaded pictures yet.

Happy November!
My other favorite month of the year there are so many things to be greatful for!