I know I need to update....

But I'm back at the point where I still need a camera. It's been a nightmare getting the one I received for Christmas/V-day... All the companies that Sam calls gives him the run around. I'm quite disappointed to tell you the truth. I'm so out of the loop and have not gotten enough practice in photography to really feel like I can do a very good job. So I just don't know what to do. I'm kind of discouraged. So that's that. I'd much rather post notes with pictures.

I'd take pictures of life in ND at the commencement of Spring. The insane blizzarding and at the same time, flooding - who would have thunk it? It's crazy around here. But the last few days have been so nice - 60's and yesterday, we even jumped into the 70's! Sam's excited about the pond that he is putting in our yard. I'd take all kinds of pictures of that documenting the buying of the pond liner and what a great deal we got on it, then the ground breaking, the figuring out that we have a drain pipe that goes straight through our lawn and so we can't actually use the pond liner that we got such a great deal on and had to buy another more flexible one! I'd document that two days ago, I spend the day scooping up all the piles of delight that Tonto left us over the summer, even if you didn't want to see it - I'd document it, dang it!!! Yesterday, I raked the yard... and went maternity clothes shopping. I'd document how much I HATE shopping for clothes, but how WONDERFUL my husband is to throw me in the dressing room and proceed around the store for a full hour and a half bringing me clothes to try on, making me come out with every single one telling me yes or no! Isn't he wonderful??? Then in the end, go through all the clothes and decide which ones to buy, and then haul them all off and buy them for me!

I'd show you how we sat out on our steps till 9pm last night, watching the sun go down, the birds flitting around, the grass growing, all the while, Tonto was happily perched between us waiting for the opportunity to get loved on by Sam. I don't know how many of you know just how much Sam doesn't really like dogs. T-dog, he likes ok, except when he's bad and runs away - then he decides he hates dogs and especially T! Sam, for the artist fellow that he is, doesn't really like to be dirty. Imagine that. So everytime he sticks his hands in the dirt, he runs off to wash them. He'll only pet Tonto, when he knows he's immediately going in to Shower - it's really sooo funny!!!

I'd show you the little bits of green poking their cute little heads through our moist, rich soil that is so beautiful!!! I'd show you how ND looks like northern MN with all of it's "lakes" aka flooded fields!!! The whole state has been flooding - there is even flooding over the interstate! Go figure!!! I guess that's what happens when you live in a flat state!

So just know, there are a lot of things I would show you. I think I'm going to break down and buy a point and shoot, my life is just too exciting NOT to document! :)

Also, to put a little plug in - Sam is having MAJOR problems with his external hard drive - as in, he can't access it. There are over 16,000 photos on it, and that is basically his reference for his art and if it's not completely ruined, it may cost quite a bit of $$ to get it fixed. Please pray that they can retrieve all the images and that Sam can get back to painting. He's got a show next week and has about 5 paintings to finish. (Although, that's not going to happen because of this hard drive situation...) Just pray that he can get the motivation to finish what he's started and can finish...

And the last thing - I hope you all had a very wonderful Easter. It didn't really feel too much like Easter here in the Tundra! I never will get it - how they have a sunrise service every single year in a sanctuary that has NO WINDOWS?! If you get that, maybe you can let me know the reasoning behind it??? It's always so cold and barren here for Easter - there are not many reminders of new life, so you really have to use your imagination! But I'm so thankful for all that my Lord and Savior has done for me - with the sobering realization that if I were the ONLY one here on earth, God still would have sent His only SON here just to die that I might have eternal life and be with Him forever! Sorry for the long boring, picture-less post! But hopefully someday, in the future, we will go color!!!!

Oopa!

Blizzarding... and flooding???

Ok, where do I begin? One foot of snow and counting. But wait, that was after last weeks 8 inches on Tuesday and then the river getting an ice jam and forcing half the city of Bismarck to evacuate their homes and sand bag all over town!!! PS. We are doing better, but now Fargo and Moorhead are in deep dooky! The only problem with F/M area is NOT an ice jam, they just have TONS of snow melt and water flooding the Red River. So we are praying for a breech. Last week, they shut down the East bound lanes of I94 from Jamestown to Fargo to help people evacuate Fargo! They were bringing people to Bismarck to house them at the Civic Center, the local high schools and colleges. So I don't know. I'm so jealous of everyone one in the entire country that get to see their plants popping through and getting ready for the Spring. I want to show you some pictures from yesterday's walk... But alas, I need to get them off of Sam's camera! Oh well...

Well, don't really know what else to share with you right now, All I want is to be at home having hot cocoa and working on some projects... Oh well, a girls got to do what a girls got to do!!!

Links.

My world has just been expanded by links - I figured it out!

Go check her out - Cindy Forrester

Here's Sam's website too... in case you haven't looked for a while!

The end of a chapter....

That would be the 2009 Ski Season!!! Yay - bring on the Spring!!!! Couldn't have ended with a better trip - actually, with better weather! We were skiing in Red Lodge, MT and it was 50 degrees!!! So beautiful - I actually got to feel sun rays beating down on me - I even got a little bit of a sunburn!!!! Yeah! Well, besides, the mountain, there wasn't much snow in MT, mostly gigantic mud puddles, which is what I'm expecting here in Bismarck till July! No seriously, it must have been nice here too, because I was pleasantly surprised with the melt down around here!

Well, it was a pretty crazy trip to Red Lodge. We ended up taking two 15 passenger vans and 3 other chaperones came later with their own vehicle - which is good... (see more later on that.) We left at 11ish on Friday and had lunch at Miles City and got in to Red Lodge around 7pm mountain time. We had a great lodge called Bannock Trail Lodge - it was 5 stories, with two complete kitchens, 2 hot tubs, and tons of wildlife around the outside (that's not counting the 30 wildlifes INSIDE!) We played games, ate dinner and had some devotions! It was great! Then by bedtime, everyone had a spot. That was kind of tough, trying to find spots - when Sam booked the Lodge, they said it slept 33 people, but then when he checked in Friday, they said it slept 19.... Uh oh!!! Anyway, we squeezed all 34 of us in, some on the floor, couches, futons, beds, I got a love seat!!! I was so thankful I didn't have to sleep on the flagstone floor! :) Ah the simple things....

Anyway, we had a couple great days of skiing, there were bumps, bruises, lessons and experts - nothing major, until the last run on Sunday.... And leave it to Judah - he was going off a jump and caught an edge with his ski and landed on his shoulder, therefore breaking his collar bone! I told him he just wanted to be like Sam! Well, I actually told him a whole lot of things, but I won't go into the details! :) So we got to ride back in the car and Judah was mostly laying down and sleeping the whole time and when I think about riding in the car for 6-8 hours yesterday, I can't believe we actually made it back! We did get back in around midnight and then Judah took a special ride over to the ER and hung out there for about an hour or so...

Now, here I am at work, regretting the fact that I came here at all today - and ready to go home and have a nap! I wish I had pictures to load, I did receive the most beautiful gift from my sister-in-law, I want to take pictures of it to show you because her amazing handiwork is absolutely gorgeous! Let's see if I can add a link - I don't think I've done that before, but it's time to refer you over to Cindy again! You've just got to see her work! Let's see if that worked! Have a great week! PS. I didn't ski. Although we did have a chaperone along who was 5 months along and snowboarding both days - that makes me feel kind of like - well, I don't know... But anyway, I'm still doing well!! Thanks for asking!

Lazy.....or not.....

You tell me! Ok, I had a really bad headache yesterday, so I got home around 5:30 and immediately laid down on the couch, probably took a little over an hour nap. Then I continued laying there since my headache never went away and Sam was painting. We visited till, oh, I don't know, midnight. Then finally I felt good enough to take another nap! HA! I'm already cracking myself up! So I slept on the couch till 1am when I was finally rested enough to get up and go to bed! You tell me?!?!! I told Sam that it looked like I wasn't getting much done on the outside, but inside I was busy making fingernails and toe nails and that takes a lot out of a girl! :)

On another note...the other day, one of the funniest things in the world happened to me - it might be one of those things, "where you had to be there...." but it cracks me up!!! Anyway, I walking through the YMCA to go change when I looked over and saw this guy lifting weights in the strangest way and I said to myself, out loud, I might add - "Some people are so weird!" Ha!!! Of course, then I realized what I said and I started laughing hysterically and no one else was anywhere around me - tell me, who is the weird one?? Oh well, normally I wouldn't really have shared that since it totally makes me look like an idiot, but I thought it was just too good NOT to share!

Anyway, on a more serious and somber note - I still don't have a camera. Maybe it was a tease, just to keep me going for a while... I don't know, I guess it also hasn't been three weeks later for Sam to re-order, but anyway... it's still very white here, although the last two days we did have quite the thaw! So there are brown plants and grass starting to peek through. I'm so desperate for Spring sometimes I think I going to DIE!!!! Sam thinks that's everyday for me. Maybe it is, although I'm not very dramatic, it's very serious and I don't think I appreciate him making fun of me!!! ;) (Actually, he is the best husband in the world and puts up with so much living with me and so the next time you see him, thunk on the back and tell him just how much he's appreciated! Ha, I can write this stuff, because he doesn't even subscribe to this blog! Pitiful, I know. But a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do!)

So I hope you all have a happy and warm weekend.

New Beginnings!

I just wanted to share with you that Sam and I had our first Dr. appt on Monday, right before the start of Week 10 with the new baby!!! We got to hear his/her heart beat!!!! It was the most amazing and magical thing - to think there is a new life growing in me - it's pretty overwhelming! I don't know exactly how people can say that's not a life, hearing their life giving blood whooshing through their tiny little body!! It's starting to feel a little more real. I'm beginning to feel a little more comfortable with the idea. I know that before I wrote how freaked out I was, but I have been trusting the Lord that He knows better than me! (Imagine that?! Ha!) Anyway, I just wanted to update you on that. I still have not gotten any morning sickness or nausea, I've definitely been tired and emotional. Still trying to get used to both of those things, because I haven't got time in my life for either! :) It's hard for me to realize that I can't do it all like I used to. Anyway, I just wanted to update you on that!!!

PS. I set up a way to follow this blog, so I think you can log in and maybe it will send you notices when I post something new, I'm not really sure how it all works to tell you the truth!!! Happy Day!

Heidi

While we were in wonderful, majestic Big Sky, I took these quick shots of Heidi just for fun! Everyone else was off to the top of the mountain and it was really cold and I wasn't really dressed appropriately, so it took about 10 minutes, but I think we got some fun shots!!!











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