Our Very First Snow!

Sunday, October 25, 2008

So it's a really good thing that we winterized on Saturday because this morning it began to snow! I was beyond excited! However, I was also really nervous because we had to talk at church this morning and make it on time, etc. It was still snowing when we left for church and there was news that it would continue to snow tomorrow. However, after we got out of church the snow was all melted. In some ways it was really disappointing but in others it felt just like home.

If you look closely you can see the snow on the cars and leaves. The pictures aren't very good, mainly because they are taken through our plastic/glass/screen window.


**As an update, Mr. Winter is very late this year. We have not seen any snow or rain since that day. Which for now is fine by me.

Winterizing the Windows

For those of you who have never been in a super, super cold wintry place like North Dakota you will be pleasantry surprised to find that they have thought of everything to help get your home ready for the winter. We knew that they existed because we visited in April and noticed them but we had no idea how brillantly fun and amazing this invention was. So without further ado....I bring you shrink wrap for WINDOWS!!

First you put double sided tape around all of the windows. Then you carefully unfold the plastic and stick it to the tape and then you....

...Yes ladies and gentlemen! You take a blow dryer to it and it smooths out ALL of the wrinkles making it almost virtually impossible to even notice that you have plastic on your windows!

It's ingenious!

Finally, A Bed Of Her Very Own

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

So we finally found the time and used Jon's amazing skills and we put her bed together! She now sleeps in her very own bed in her very own room! Most nights she does very well and she is getting better at sleeping through the night. It is so hard being a parent! Now we have to figure out what works and what doesn't and sometimes that can be really trying but I suppose it is all worth it in the end!

Three Columns!!!

Ok so I found this blog that tells you how to add a third column to your blog as well as to size your columns so they look evenly spaced. I love knowing how to size them because I always hated how you would add a new tool to your sidebars and they would look like they were falling off of the page. So go there and learn and have fun! Now I just need to learn how to make a header and I am golden!

Pumpkin Patch Mania!

So I am so excited to say that we went to our very first pumpkin patch! I have ALWAYS wanted to go to a pumpkin patch! It wasn't at all what I expected and in some ways it was a small let down but we still had a great time! We asked our new friends Amy and Gary Hanson to come along. They have an adorable little girl named Hannah. She just learned the word Pumpkin and every time she saw one she would say "Pumpkin!" Since, this was a momentous occasion we had to dress up our little baby girl! She has a very cute pumpkin outfit my mom bought her, so I couldn't think of a better occasion for her to wear it. You can't see a whole lot of what she is wearing because she was wrapped up tight in Jon's jacket but you can she how cute she was!
If you look closely, you can see her orange and black striped socks!
I love going to places that have been there for generations! There is just something so amazing about that to me.

The pumpkin patch did have a lot to do. They had a corn maze, straw maze (for the little ones), little games for the kids to play, as well as a haunted "road", and a hay ride.
Here we are in the corn maze. It wasn't your typical corn maze, mainly because the entrance was also the exit and the paths weren't clearly marked but we had a good time stomping around.
Time out from the maze for a cute picture!

It really got interesting when the corn got really tall! It's huge!
After the corn maze we took a ride on the wild side and took a spin around the field of pumpkins!
It was actually really nice because by the time we got there it was really slow and we were the only ones on the hay ride.
What a cute family! Thanks Gary for taking pictures!
I was going for one of those professional, amazing shots but a blurry one will have to do until I get a better camera. If you look closely, you can see the albino pumpkin!

After the hayride, Hannah got to ride on the tractor and Gary played a few games.


Then as worried first time parents go, we pulled out the UND hat. I wanted to keep her bow on but Jon wouldn't have any of it!
I failed to take pictures of the haunted road but it was mainly a stroll through some trees where they had skeleton's lying around. I'm sure it's really scary when it's dark. We finally made it over to the Pumpkin "Patch." This is the only part where I was really disappointed. I thought we would run out to a field with our wagons in town and pick out our pumpkins and bring them back to be purchased. However, they have barn that you walk into where the pumpkins are all lying on the floor and you pick out the ones you want. Well, we got there a little late and there wasn't much of a selection left. Amy, being the smart thinker, went to ask if there were any others to choose from. They directed us to three shack buildings and said that we could take a look. It was getting dark so it was hard to see but I think we all picked out some great looking pumpkins.
It was really kind of creepy. All I could think of were spiders. Although, we don't have the creepy, nasty kind of spiders like they do in Texas.
These were all of the pumpkins they had left. The last shack of pumpkins.

Her Very Own Walker

I have been looking on-line for the "best" walker. Actually the best walker for our price range. There isn't much of a selection here in Grand Forks but with a little bit of luck, I found one! Some would call me picky, but I just hate getting toys (or clothes) with characters all over them. For example, Winnie the Pooh, Sesame Street, etc. especially for toys that I will keep for many years to come. That being said, it was really hard to find a walker that was inexpensive but that didn't contain any characters on it. Wal-Mart and Target only carry Pooh or Sesame Street walkers, however, we in a last ditch effort I stopped by Kmart to see if I could find one to my liking and I did! The box had been opened but nothing was missing so it was discounted. Plus, I had a coupon where if you spent $50 or more you got $5 off, add a pack of diapers to the mix and I was golden! I got the walker, a huge pack of diapers and 2 packs of gum for less than $50! Just in case you aren't up to date on the latest walker trends, most of them are between $40 and $50. I was so excited! We had to wait a few hours before we got home to put it together. We stopped by the mall and saved even more money and JCPenney's! Gotta love their sales!

Anywho, here is Melissa in her very own walker! I just love this little girl!
In this walker, she sits more forward so she pushes it forward even on the rug. She really loves the spinny thing on the left. It has a mirror on it, which I found she really loves those. I came around the corner and she was actually spinning it! She is just getting too big!

I really love this picture! She just looks so excited that she can spin it herself!

Back & Tummy Time

Since Melissa was 2 months old she LOVES being able to see EVERYTHING! She is one of the most alert babies I have ever been around. She loves to sit up and see the world. That being said, I have been horrible about giving her back and tummy time. I am just so worried that she will miss that vital step of learning to roll over and then go straight to walking, instead of crawling first. Who knew that those steps were so important. Anywho, since we got home she has found a new love of being on her back. It also helps to turn on Noggin (thanks Mom for those dvds!) while she lays there, but she has also become more interactive with her toys. She loves to grab on to them and make them make nows. She also scootches around so that she is almost completely turned around.
She was straight on with the butterfly but she just can't stop wriggling around.
I just can't believe how much she is really smiling, with a real smile! She is so dang cute! I just love her so much!
I LOVE this picture. Melissa and Maggie are having a staring contest. She loves to watch Maggie. Maggie is really good with her too. She sniffs her but keeps her distance.
Tummy time is here! She is doing so well with keeping her head up and she even kicks her legs while doing it. She doesn't last too long, mainly because she starts to spit up but little by little she will get better.

Mmmm...Toys

Well we finally made it home. I never thought I would say that but HOME is where my heart is and that would be in North Dakota. It was wonderful being back in Texas and seeing our friends and family, not to mention eating yummy food! Oh how I miss Braums! But it was even better to walk off the plane and see my amazing husband standing there in the terminal. Oh, I missed him so much. It was even better when we got home, our home. North Dakota's not so bad, it's growing on me.

So, we started getting back in the groove of things and Melissa absolutely loves her new toys. As you can clearly see in these pictures I took on Tuesday.
And can you believe the cheese I was able to get from this little girl? She is just getting too big!

Moments Between a Baby Girl and Her Grandpa

While I was in Texas, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend some time out with my in-laws. They were able to get a few pics of Melissa and I was able to capture a few moments between her and her Grandpa. She had nothing but smiles for her Grandpa Eldredge. It was so fun to see them together!

Blog Lift

Ok so I found this really cute background that was super easy to install, however, I am not sure how to put in a third column or make a really cool blog title.  Maybe someday I will figure all of that out, but until then this is what you all get to look at.  I have been really jealous lately since everyone has been giving their blogs a cute lift so I finally followed in your foot steps.  

I will post more pics of our trip to Texas as soon as I get them loaded onto the computer.  As weird as it sounds I am super excited to get back to North Dakota!  I miss being a family with my hubby and I miss him terribly!  Monday I go home and I just can't wait!

Happy Anniversary My Love

I can not believe it has been three years!  How time flies!  I remember when we were first married and how I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to be married a year and now it's been three.  I have loved every minute being married to you.  I have loved getting to know you.  You are an amazing person and I had no idea how lucky I was when I said yes.  I can now say that I am truly the most blessed woman on the earth to be married to you.  I love knowing that I get to spend eternity with you!  I look forward to growing old with you and raising our babies together.  Words can't describe how much I love you and how my love grows for you everyday.  Thank you for the last three years and here's to an eternity of pure happiness with you.  I love you babe!

Sunday Sleeper

Ok, so last post and I think I will finally be up to date.  The fair went well.  I think that had the world not been in such an upheaval about the economy and other such nonsense that it would have been better but all in all it has gone well so far.  We still have 20 days left but I only had to supervise 3.  I honestly don't know how people do that for a living!  I am just so exhausted!  But we sold product and got our info out to the people, so hopefully in the long run my exhaustion will pay off!  Since it's General Conference weekend I had the ability to sleep in that is at least until Melissa woke up.  My mom gave her a bath and got her dressed.  She was in desperate need of tummy time, which she hates, but we made her do it anyways and she fell asleep.  She is just the cutest baby ever, not that I am biased in anyway.

Talk, Talk, Talkin'

I was gone all day Thursday and I was truly exhausted when I came home, especially knowing that the next two days would be even longer and more exhausting, but my reward when I came home that night was so great!  So great in fact that I couldn't even stay awake to enjoy it!  Melissa did very well for my mom while I was gone but she was fairly quiet, that is until I got home.  We were on the couch and I and she just started chattering away, telling me how her day went.  It was so hard to stay awake but she went on for over 10 minutes.   My mom said that she hadn't talked all day until then.  It was such a great feeling knowing that she still wanted to talk to me.  

Time with Grandpa

My dad usually isn't the baby type but recently he has had a great interest in his grandbaby.  I think that it as to do with the fact that she doesn't really cry so it's easy to make her happy.  Wednesday night I was busy trying to get ready for the fair on Thursday and my mom was trying to get my brothers and sisters in bed which put Grandpa on baby duty.  She was all ready for bed and they just hung out together until she fell asleep.  

It was so precious!  She would just stare at him while he talked to her.  They did this for about 30 minutes until he came out and they sat in the rocker.

Then she just dozed off.  At one point, both her and Grandpa were asleep.  
I just love the the position she fell asleep in.  My hand tucked under her chin and we arm swingin' out.  How cute is she?!  

My Big Girl!

On Monday, my mom was going to get out her old bouncy chair but instead she found the walker first.  Since Melissa love's to sit up and look around we figured she would love this, however, we didn't realize how much she would love it!  She stands up in it and if we put her in the kitchen she will push herself around!  She is getting too big too fast!  What happened to my little baby?  But she is just too dang cute!

It's a Dance Party!

Sunday, I went to church with my family.  It was so wonderful to see everyone again!  It's amazing how the ward has changed since I left for college.  So many new faces to meet but it's so wonderful to see everyone that I have known since we have moved here.  There was a girl who bore her testimony during Sacrament meeting and she sat by my and my mom during Relief Society.  She was a recent convert who had just moved out to Commerce to go to A&M.  We invited her over for lunch and we ended up getting the Wii DDR out!  WOW is that fun or what!?  It took some getting used to but I LOVE IT!!  Hey Santa...a Wii for Christmas...pretty, pretty, please?

Back In the Saddle Again...

Well I haven't posted since we got to Texas because I have been so super busy with the state fair but my time is over and I have a little extra time this morning...so get ready for update blog mania!!

So we landed in Texas at about 1:30pm on Saturday.  After a few mishaps and embarrassing moments between Fargo to Denver and Denver to DFW we made it safe and sound.  It was so great to walk out that scary rotating door and see my mom's smiling face!  We didn't make it home to Greenville until 10pm.  I had a few Scentsy errands to run and we did a little bit of shopping while we were out and about in Dallas.  However, when we finally made it home we drove up to see this wonderful sign my sister Jenny made.

Two Very Special Ladies

Sprint had changed how to send picture mail but I finally conquered it and figured out how to get a very special picture off of my phone.
These two beautiful ladies are very dear to my heart. Melissa is being held by the mother of my dear friend Melissa Brown who passed away 5 years ago. And her daughter Natalie is standing next to her grandmother Kathy. Melissa was such a wonderful example to me of the person I wanted to become. I didn't realize what a wonderful influence she had been in my life until she passed away and I am so grateful that she left behind a beautiful daughter, who is the spitting image of her. Kathy herself is a wonderful lady too! She was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year and at the time was going through a round of kemo. She is such a beautiful lady! I love them so much and I am so grateful that I was able to have a daughter of my own.

I'm Coming Home!!!

I am so excited! I will try and limit the use of the word excited but I am!! Melissa and I leave the Fargo airport and 6:30 am! So early I know but they only have 2 flights in and out of Fargo and we either got in at 1:30pm or 10pm and I have stuff to do while out in town that day. Anyways, SOOO EXCITED! I will be in town for the Texas State fair but I will be in Texas for 2 weeks! So I will have lots of time to see friends and family. I am staying out in Greenville so that my mom can watch Melissa for the few days I have to work the fair and other such related things. And as I have stated, I am very excited, but I will miss my hubby. I always get so..excited(couldn't think of a better word) to leave and see family but then I always realize at the last minute that I will miss him! Plus, this time it's even harder because he leaves Friday morning for an ROTC camp thingy and I won't be able to talk to him until Sunday afternoon. In this regard, I am happy I only have to spend one night alone by myself but sad I can't talk to him for 3 days! Well Texas get ready cuz here we come!

Dinner Party

Ok, so it didn't start out as a dinner party but it kind of ended up that way. We invited over a couple from church Amy and Gary Hansen and their cute little girl Hannah. We are trying to expand our group of friends and Jon and Gary happen to have a class together. Anywho, we then invited the Butler's over because well I owe'm one. Jon and I were all excited because we were going to cook our first roast. Jon got up early that morning and put it in added seasoning, etc. and it cooked all day. We left church early because Melissa decided to spit up on me, not once or twice but three times and I was wearing dark brown. 'nough said. So, we came home cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned (we were such slackers on Saturday). The apartment looked so amazing! So, I had a little extra time and I set the table so beautifully! I wish I had taken a picture! I had the dinner plates along with the salad plates AND dinner and salad forks on the table all neatly arranged in order as if you would be eating with royalty! Although, it would have been better had we had nice glass cups but the plastic ones will do for now. It was beautiful! And can I just say what an amazing cook my husband is! He made the roast, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, remembered dessert, and the salad (although I did help with the salad). He is sooo wonderful! After dinner we played a few games before everyone left, but we had such a wonderful time! So, we will definitely have more dinners to come! We had such a great time having them over and it was so nice to have the space because we didn't have that before! I have already been thinking of a Halloween themed dinner! Oh I am sooo excited!

It's about time...

...I actually wrote on here again. For whatever reason I go through spurts of blogging excitement and then life happens (or doesn't happen) and I don't blog. SO to catch up here is what happened last week.
Bees - So we finally took care of those rotten things. We bought at trap at Lowe's that actually worked. We did put Scentsy in it to help attract them and we caught about 20. We probably need to put more wax in it because we still have them buzzing around outside but there are fewer. Although, we did have one come in the house while I was sitting on the couch and I did NOT freak out. You would be so proud! I calmly pointed it out and Jon went and killed it. I am giving myself a pat on the back for that one, however, I still won't take Maggie out because there are bees outside and Jon got stung by one, on the neck, while he was out there. But progress is progress.

Melissa is still so dang cute! She "talks" even more these days. My favorite is when she is a bit tired and she wants her pacifier in her mouth but wants to talk at the same time. I need to catch it on video! I love her so much! I will posting video of her later when I get a chance to put it on the computer. Now that we are pretty much caught, I will put a slew of posts up to add to the mania! Woohoo!

The Amazing Bee Killer Returns

We have noticed that since we have moved here no matter what time we go to bed we seem to have a really hard time waking up on time for church. This was the case yesterday, however, instead of waking up late we didn't wake up at all. Church starts at 10 and we rolled out of bed at 9:30. So, instead we spent a lazy, wonderful day as a family. Well all of it was wonderful until we had visitors. We killed 12 yellow jacket bees in our home yesterday! This does not count the previous ones we have killed days before. And it does not count the 5 Jon killed between the door and the screen door, or the ones he sprayed that were buzzing around the windows or the ones that continued to buzz our windows throughout the day. I am usually a calm person, however, when a bee comes in my house I lose all sense of the ward and run around like a crazy person. Luckily my super husband uses his bare hands to swat the little nasty pests to the ground and then steps on them. Although, he was starting to become on edge after awhile when every time you turned around there was another one. It felt like a scene from the killer bees movie where you can hear them buzzing and you have plugged up every hole but somehow they make it inside and begin to eat you! We figured out that they were coming from the windows so we duct taped up all the seams and holes, we thought this solved the problem. We were wrong. Once they figured this out they started flying in through the large crack above the screen door and then they would squeeze their way through the small crack above the main door. It's just so unnerving! In realizing that I would be alone today, without my super bee killer around to protect me, we made the decision to break the sabbath and go purchase a bee trap. I sure hope it works because if I have to fight off 12 bees by myself today, I might just go insane and you will have to come visit me in the mental hospital. So the moral of this story is go to church or face the wrath of lots of bees.
For your viewing pleasure, here is two that Jon killed. Sorry for the shot of our toilet, but at least it's clean!

A Night with The Women

So last night my wonderful husband agreed to watch Melissa so I could go out with some of the ladies I have become friends with in our ward. I had such a great time! We went to this nice little restaurant call Rhombus. It mainly serves specialty pizzas but you can also get a sandwich or pita. We got the T Rex and the Chicken Bacon Ranch pizza. Both were very good and we had plenty of leftovers. It was fun to eat and chat without worrying about keeping your baby happy. We then went to see The Women. I absolutely loved this movie! I do like most movies I see but I actually want to buy this movie! I wanted to see it but I wasn't overly excited to like some movies, but I am so glad we went to see it. There are several hilarious parts throughout the movie which really made for a great show. But when all was said and done I left the theater feeling empowered. I felt good about myself and I wanted to go out and conquer the world. This moving is a great movie to watch, especially when you're feeling low and need a pick me up.

We Finally Got Our Bumbo!

So, almost 2 weeks ago I ordered Melissa a dresser, baby monitor and a bumbo. I had it shipped using Site to Store not realizing how long it would take. It did save me like $50 but it took FOREVER to get here. Anyways, it finally came in and we picked it up on Saturday. We are still waiting on dresser but we did get the monitor and boppy. Can I just say how wonderful it is to finally have a baby monitor!?! It's nice to get up in the morning and not worry about listening for her because I can here her through the monitor! Wonderful! Anywho, Melissa absolutely loves sitting up. She will spend some time on the floor kicking around but only for short periods of time. As soon as I pick her up and stick her in her chair she is happy again. She just loves being able to see what's going on, this is why I was so excited to get the bumbo. She doesn't sit in it quite perfectly yet but she is just shy of 3 months which is the youngest age it says it's for. But for being her age she does very well in it. Here is a few pictures of her being a big girl. I can't believe how big she is already!

Then this afternoon, I laid her on the boppy while I got myself something to eat and she was at an angle trying to hold her head up when I just sat her up she held her head and body up without falling over. I am so proud of her. She is getting so big and so dang cute!