Happily Ever After

Life :: An Update

2012-01-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

I feel like all my posts lately have had a theme to them. And that theme would be the story of how our little peanut came into this world. Which is all good and all if you’re into reading birth stories, but if you come to blogs and want to know more about the person than just the fact that she birthed a baby, then hey, maybe you would like an update on life.

(Drew’s 1st deer hunt – Thanksgiving Day)

So here goes.

I’m currently sitting in my SD kitchen, which is probably 10 times bigger than my ND kitchen, which really, doesn’t take much. Baby is napping, and I’m listening to the radio while reading blogs.

And that’s a pretty typical day.

(Thanksgiving Day Deer Hunt)

The dishes are piled up in the sink and on the counter.

Also a pretty typical day.

(bonfire by the Missouri River – 11/25)

Anyways, for those of you whose heads are spinning, trying to figure out if we live in SD or ND or WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON WITH OUR LIVES, let me help you figure it out:

We live in both states. One state permanently (as in, that’s where our stuff is, where our driver’s license and bank thinks we live, etc) and the other one we live in because that’s where the work is.

(Drew showing us his mad Big Buck Hunter skills)

However, when it got to be getting on to winter and all we had for a place to live was a camper with a garden hose running over a driveway for water and nowhere to dump the grey water, we figured it probably wouldn’t be the best situation for winter. Especially with a baby.

So, we headed back south and let my brother use our camper for the winter. Of course, less than a week after we left, a full hook up spot opened up. So goes life. But my brother was able to put the camper in the spot and he’s spent the winter making it all cozy.

(Christmas Eve)

We have really enjoyed being back in SD for awhile. It’s been nice to be in a place that not only has its own bathroom/shower, but SEPARATE ROOMS! Oh the beauty. It’s also been really nice to be back by family, especially around the holidays.

(Drew and Mommy playing with his Christmas present from Mommy and Daddy. Forgive the creepy red eyes. It’s a curse.)

Luke has been staying busy helping his parents out on the farm and with some remodeling projects (we live about 5 mins from their dairy farm). Drew and I have been staying busy playing with toys, snuggling and staying warm.

(Drew taking his afternoon nap by the River on Christmas Day)

Soon enough we will go back up North and Luke will start driving truck again (for those of you who wonder what he does … he drives a semi truck that carries a trailer full of dirty water that is pulled up from oil wells that needs to be dumped down another old well. as my brother expands, he will probably start driving an oil trailer, which mean he will be carrying a trailer loaded with the actual oil from the wells). And Drew and I will play, snuggle and stay warm. It’s what we do.

(celebrating our 2nd anniversary – 1/2)

And in a nutshell, that’s what new with us!

Drew Solon :: What’s In A Name

2012-01-04T21:41:00.001-08:00

You know what’s hard? Choosing a name for a person. One that is theirs for the REST OF THEIR LIFE!

Luke and I spent the whole pregnancy trying to come up with a name for our baby. We discussed it a little bit in the beginning, and then amped up the talks once we knew we were having a boy. And could not find a name we agreed on.

I would say one, he would say no. He would say one, I would say no. We read a whole book full of thousands and thousands of names. We noticed them in movies, in books, in talking with people. We would find one that we were interested in and then remember that our friends had a baby named that (our rule was that if we were related, or they were in our wedding, the name was out). We went into the hospital and still had no name.

The one thing we agreed on was that we wanted his name to have meaning. While driving one day we talked about what traits we hoped and prayed for in our first-born and came up with some ideas. So, we started looking at names with those meanings, but struck out again as none of those struck us.

So, after he was born, Luke went to the computer and started looking up names again. We had come across the name Solon on a list, and loved the meaning: wisdom or wise one. For a while we debated having Solon as his first name, but both of us felt like it just fit better as a middle name.

That just left the most important name then, his first name. We had talked about Andrew before, but I wasn’t crazy about it. But then we started talking about shortening it to Drew. And it started to grow on me. We also loved it’s meaning: bold and courageous (at least on the site we used. it can also mean man or warrior or trusty. also great meanings!).

By this point, it was Sunday afternoon (and Drew was born Saturday at noon). In other words, people were chomping at the bit to get us to name this child. It was the number one question of the nurses and the doctors, plus family and friends. But, we wanted to make sure Drew Solon was the right choice, so we tried it out for a day, without telling anyone what it was.

And it fit him perfectly. So, finally, on Monday morning, shortly before 9:00, we signed the papers. It was official. No going back!

And as the lady walked them out of the room, we could hear all the nurses gathering around her, excitedly asking what we had finally decided on as a name.

Drew Solon :: A Birth Story {Part 3}

2012-01-02T08:59:00.001-08:00

So the last time I left you, I was 24 hours into the induction/labor process. And my body was basically saying ‘na na na, can’t make me!’.

And she was right. We couldn’t make her.

My doctor decided to try one more round of Cervadil and see what happened. But because we were going into the 2nd night of ‘fun’, they wanted me to get some sleep so they gave me an Ambien. Which meant I spent that night in a cycle of dozing off, waking up with a contraction and squeezing Luke’s hand, and then dozing off again.

Poor Luke. He didn’t have the benefit of an Ambien so he had to deal with his wife squeezing his hand REALLY hard every 2 minutes, so he didn’t get very much sleep that night.

We also had nurses coming in and out of our room all night checking on the babe. I didn’t mind that they were concerned and monitoring us, but it bothered me that no one introduced themselves, except my 2 main nurses. So here I am, having some unknown person looking up a place where no unknown person should ever look.

They finally called my doctor in at around 5:00 because they were concerned about Drew’s heart rate. He felt I was far enough along in the process to break my water, so he took his little crochet hook and did so. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, but it was still a weird feeling.

It didn’t do anything magical, but there was definitely no turning back after that!

They did decide that I should get up and walk to see if that would help, so they sent Luke and I on a round through the hallways. It was so (NOT) fun.

Luckily there was the rails for me to lean on when I hit a contraction. But it was really annoying because when my nurse put TED compression hose on me the night before she didn’t pull them all the way up, so as you can tell from the picture I had a bunch of hose hanging off the end of my feet and it felt funny when I walked.

I did not make it very long with this whole walking thing. All I wanted to do was get back in bed. So I did.

After a couple hours of letting my body try, they hooked me up to Pitocin. That sent me into terrible back labor. It was awful. I was exhausted because I hadn’t slept in 2 days (well, really 6 months because of being preggo, but officially 2 nights), I was still a little out of it because of the Ambien and IT HURT! We had decided not to go for an epidural if at all possible, but I needed something so I asked my nurse for some pain medicine. Not sure if she just put saline in my IV or what but WHAT A JOKE. It did absolutely nothing.

So we tried the Pitocin for a couple of hours. At least I think it was a couple of hours. I really don’t know. I just remember laying there thinking this was the most horrible thing I’ve ever experienced and I just wanted to get out of there. I was about to walk out of that room and never come back. Ever. I didn’t care if I never had the baby. He could just stay in there. I was really hazy, so I would basically just deal with the contraction and then lay there in a stupor.

Finally my doctor came in and checked me one last time. After 40 hours, and 4 rounds of medicine my doctor basically said he would be generous and call me a 5. Wow. Basically my body was having none of it this whole labor thing, but I wasn’t in a good place health wise and my baby was in distress.

My doctor tries to do everything he can to avoid c-sections, but he felt it was necessary in my case. Since I had just spent the last 3 hours laying there knowing that my body just wasn’t going to be able to do it and begging them (in my mind) to just cut the kid out, I agreed without hesitation. Poor Luke. I didn’t consult him or even talk to him about it.

Once the decision was made, things moved along. I was taken to the OR and the nurse anesthetist put my block in. That was fun because I was still having contractions and had to sit very still. But he did it and I started to go numb.

Soon we were ready to start. Luke was in there, so they asked him if he wanted to watch. He took one glance behind the sheet, and that was enough for him. We still weren’t so sure about the c-section process, and part of us wondered if trying an epidural wouldn’t have helped enough to have the baby born naturally.
However, the doctors quickly dispelled that question when they came to the baby and found that his cord was wrapped around his neck 3 times.

With that news, I just felt the protection of God wash over us. If we had pushed through and tried to go for a natural birth, it could have ended with catastrophic results.

As soon as we heard the baby cry, we knew that it was ok. Everything was ok. It was ok that I went through a failed induction. It was ok that I had a c-section. Because our baby was here. And he was perfect.

Let Me Tell You a Story

2011-11-16T08:23:00.001-08:00

On a cold, frosty morning in October, a mom and her baby, plus a pregnant lady, bundled up and headed to the nearest bus stop.

The beast of a machine took us up and down this street and that before crossing a bridge and taking us into a new city. We disembarked and became 3 among hundreds who were converging on one building. It took some walking up and walking down sidewalks but we found our entrance, commandeered our tickets, made a stop by the el banos and then found our seats.

And I think that is the last time we sat in our actual seats all day.

See, here's the tricky truth of the day: a 5 month old baby boy is not too keen on the conference scene.

As a result, we spent time walking up and down hallways, we spent time (lots of time!) in the nursing mothers' room, and we spent time sitting/standing in the back of the auditorium.

And you know what? It was still great. So much fun. I think if you were to ask any of the Women of Faith team members about why they put these events on year after year, they would say one of their main reasons is because of the relationships between the women that come.

This lady who so patiently walked alongside me that day is one of my dearest friends, who was 'randomly' assigned to the same room I was at NWC those many years ago. We don't get to see each other as often as we like, but we are kindred spirits.

And spending a day with her was priceless.

My Women of Faith experience didn't look like what I thought it would. I didn't get to take copious notes of great speakers (because, guys? there were some GREAT speakers there!). I didn't get to worship alongside the thousands of other women there (it was a bit too loud for the babe). I didn't even get to go back for the second day (a situation came up which necessitated me leaving for home right away).

But I don't for one second regret going. Because it gave me a beautiful day of living life alongside one of my favorite women of faith. And it doesn't get much better than that.

Tour of Homes (ND Edition)

2011-10-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my SD house tour, we are currently maintaining two households. This is our other one:

It is a 1985 Royals International fifth wheel camper that is currently parked in a guy’s driveway in a very northern (you can see Canada!), very western (only 40 miles from Montana!), small town in North Dakota. We found the driveway through my brother, who lives in the actual house.

This is our bedroom, which is located at the front of the camper. The ceiling is really low, but at least we have a separate room. There are also his/her closets and plenty more storage space over the bed.

Also, when you have to accessorize a new house, sometimes you just have to deal with what you have/what you are given. Hence a purple/red bed.

This is the view of our bathroom hallway from our bedroom, and looking towards our bedroom. Shower on one side, bathroom on the other and a sink. However, we don’t have sewer hook-ups and our toilet runs continually (except in a camper toilets don’t run like in a house. they run water out, like on the floor), so we go in the house to shower and use the bathroom.

That’s why our bathroom is our storage closet.

And yeah, Drew was not impressed with me.

And this is the view into our kitchen/living room from the top of the steps going into the bathroom. While the pictures may look identical, those who look closely will notice a difference.

And this is our living room. Including extra blankets that my brother-in-laws were using that weekend while they stayed with us and the Mt Dews they were downing (this was early on. the stack was much more impressive by the time they left).

And that’s our alternate house! Which actually is our main house, because we are up north more than we are south. It’s cozy. And brown. Very very brown. Apparently in 1985 decorators thought that the color brown went really well with the color brown.

Some of you may be wondering where Drew sleeps. Well, let’s just say we have been a fan of co-sleeping from the beginning and that is a good thing, because there is nowhere else for him to sleep. And I thought a full bed was a bit tight when it was just me and Luke!

Once again, not a forever home, but we don’t mind. It allows us to be together while Luke is working, and that’s what matters!

Tour of Homes (SD Edition)

2011-10-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Someone (cough BETHANY cough) has been begging and pleading and nagging (or, she just asked nicely) for pictures of our house. And since I aim to please, here they are!

Except, we currently have 2 homes. You see, it all started when a couple of years ago my brother heeded the call of the West and hit the oilfields. Well, soon enough he started a trucking empire and my husband heeded the call of the North. So, we travel back and forth between the Dakotas. At this point we are in the Northern one more often than the Southern one, but we still consider South Dakota home. So, I decided to start with that home.

But stay tuned for our northern home, because that tour is coming soon!

Ok, first up is the outside. Now, as you can see, I took this way too late at night. And this was actually three trips ago, so I’ve been home in the daylight since. But, every time I forget. And this is only one side. The other side looks similar, but with a falling off deck. So that’s cool. And we live in the country, so there is scenery to see. Next time I’m home so I’ll try to take some pics of the surroundings!

The door that you see up on the outside picture leads into our entryway. As you can see, it is kind of our dumping ground. These pictures were taken in July, before Luke cleaned it up. Now it looks much prettier! But it’s still the same general idea. Lots of stuff, including our dryer and our chest freezer. It also has the shelves that Luke built for me. Aren’t they pretty?

This is the “master” bedroom. AKA our room. As you can tell, I’ve spent hours and hours decorating it perfectly.

Errr.

Actually, the last time we were home, we started to decorate. And now there are some pictures hanging in our room (my kissing pictures for those who have been in my previous homes). However, there is still plenty of work to be done. Including curtains. We are currently using a sheet. Klassy.

But, please note our bed. Our beautiful, comfy, cozy, QUEEN size bed. Since we were married we’ve had a full size bed, including through the duration of my pregnancy. We ordered this bed the week before I was due, and the day that I was stuck in the hospital was the day we were supposed to go get it. But our lovely friends went and picked it up for us. So when we came home from the hospital with Drew the first thing we did as a family was take a nap. And it was quite possibly the best nap I’ve ever had. I love this bed. I miss this bed.

Right next to our bedroom is our bathroom. That was actually why I chose this bedroom, because when we moved in I was pregnant. Those of my readers who have been pregnant or known a pregnant woman know that they pee a lot. Especially in the middle of the night.

When we got married, we chose brown/autumn colors for our bathroom. It worked at that time, but this bathroom already had black accessories. Oh well. It works for us!

Right next to the bathroom is Drew’s room. It’s actually pretty small, but it works. As you can see we make our poor child sleep in a pack-n-play. But he really does truly love it. And this way, whenever we go somewhere he’ll always be sleeping in his bed. So it’s a win-win. This is actually the 2nd pack-n-play we bought. The first one made my teeth set on edge with annoyance because of the pattern. I am much happier with this one. And I am in love with the changing table.

Before this was Drew’s room, it was a catch-all for a lot of junk we never unpacked. It was also next to the washer/dryer, and so Luke decided to hang a “clothesline” in there for wintertime. As you can see, I kept it. It makes me happy to hang stuff. And it works really well as a storage space.

What you can’t see is that to the left of the bookshelf is his closet. It doesn’t have doors, which is fine, because we just stuck his dresser in there.

This is the hallway where we just toured. The door to the entryway is on the right, Drew’s room is there on the left, and our room is at the end of the hall.

And that is our washing machine. You might be wondering why our washing machine and dryer are separated … well, let me tell you The entryway was added on after the house was moved in. So, if the dryer is inside, it vents into the entryway, unless we run a REALLY long hose to the outside. And the washing machine hookups are in the house, so we can’t find hose long enough to go between them. Ergo, a split up washer and dryer. There are worse things in life.

This is the only (really junky) picture I have of our kitchen. Apparently I forgot to document its wonderfulness. So, here ya go! This picture was taken at night, when I was packing up to leave the next morning. Therefore, it’s messy. To the right, on the edge of the picture, is the hallway we were just down. As is our table.

Our living room is connected to our kitchen, as you can see on the right corner of this picture. It’s basically all one big room.

So, anyways, this is our couch. It came with the house. Which is amazing by the way, because when we lived in Alaska we didn’t have a couch and it was sad. That is also our front door that you see.

This is the other side of our living room as seen from our kitchen. Bethy should recognize the entertainment center, since we built it with our own hands. You’ll also notice some decorating (aka picture frames with the stock photos in them) and a baby who is not impressed with his swing.

This is a close-up of Luke’s duck. It’s a hybrid of breeds, and so it’s a special anomaly. His friend Kyle mounted it for him, and did a spectacular job.

View of the living room from the front door.

This is the corner by our front door. The sign was made by Luke’s friend Josh. This is our “serious” bookshelf, so we can impress those who stop by with our wisdom.

The last room on the tour is the guest room/office/workout room/craft room. Luke’s grandma made him that quilt (which is buried by my current sewing project), and his mom gave him the lamp. And that is our frivolous bookshelf, which means it holds my novels.

And this is the other side of the room. It includes my elliptical, which doesn’t see a lot of use these days, and my desk (which Bethy should also recognize as she owns her twin), which is holding my amazingly beautiful sewing machine that I got for my birthday.

Well, there you go. A tour of our home from end to end. It’s not our forever home, but it’s treated us great this past year!

Drew Solon :: A Birth Story {part 2}

2011-10-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

My induction process started Thursday May 26 at around 8:30. That gave Luke time to go home to shower, and grab some supper. I believe he brought me some supper too ... but I don't really remember :-)

Now, remember that going into this whole process, my body was basically at zero. I wasn't contracting, I wasn't dilated. Basically, I wasn't ready.

But, my health situation was precarious enough that my doctor felt it was worth going into the induction process. Since we had had a long talk just a couple days before about how I didn't want to be induced, and he was very understanding of that, I trusted that his opinion was valid.

That first night (Thursday) he used Cytotec, which is a pill (ahem. not taken orally) that is supposed to help my body start the process of labor. It took a couple of hours for it to kick in, so we spent the time getting Luke settled for the night. Since we were in the Labor and Delivery room (there is only one at our teeny tiny hospital), they only had a very not sleep friendly chair for him to sit in. After pointing this out to the nurses, they switched the chair out for the one that is in the Recovery room, which was supposedly good for sleeping in. According to my husband, it was not. So, he opted to sleep on the floor.

(waiting for the meds to kick in. and my only bare belly shot of the pregnancy b/c i forgot to take one before i got hooked up to the monitors. )

He fell asleep and I dozed in and out, before the medicine kicked in. And when it kicked in? Well, it felt like I was having my period, which is something I had not missed over the past 9 months. Basically it just gave me terrible, terrible cramps. After trying to make it better by trying different positions, and telling myself to get over it, I finally rang for the nurse and requested to use the whirlpool tub that was next door in the Recovery room. I hobbled next door, and sank into the warm water and enjoyed myself for about 1/2 hr. Then? The nurse made me get out and get hooked back up to the monitor. It was about 2:00 in the morning at this time, so I just sucked it up and tried to get some sleep, which was mostly a failure.

My doctor came around the next morning to check me and found that the medicine had done nothing. Besides keep me up of course.

So, the next medicine of choice was Cervidil. This is a string that has medicine in it, somehow. This one actually started some contractions, so I was hopeful we were getting somewhere. And while yes, I was contracting, it was not as awful as having a little urchin take a pliers and continually squeeze the heck out of my uterus, so there was that.

Guys, I'm not gonna lie. This whole day was a bit of a haze. I didn't get much sleep the night before, and I wasn't feeling the greatest. So I really can't give you a play by play. I do know that I spent most of the day in bed, because I was continually being monitored. And people would come in, look at my sheet, and then leave. Except, they weren't worried about me. They were worried about the babe.

And that? Made me a bit worried as well.

Basically every time I had a contraction, his heart rate would go way way way down. Now, it's normal for them to dip. But I don't think this was quite normal as my doctor was taking my sheets and sending them to Sioux Falls for the perinatologist to consult on (my wee little hospital is part of a bigger hospital system, so you get lots of perks without having to travel! for example, my 20(ish) week ultrasound was sat in via webcam by a perinatologist). The answer was always to wait and continue to monitor the situation, but it added some stress.

Then we hit the 24 hour mark of beginning the induction process. And my body? Wasn't really having none of it. Basically I was at a 2. Maybe a 3?

It was time to take the next step ....

Cynicism, Free Tickets and A Conference

2011-10-05T08:29:00.001-07:00

My husband and I are fluent in cynicism. It’s one of our strengths. And one of our downfalls. It overflows into almost every area of our life. A notable exception would be our son, but that’s because he is perfect.

But a big part is our faith. We don’t doubt God. We just choose to be cynical about a lot of situations regarding His people.

Now, I’m not saying this is a good thing. In fact, it is something we regularly talk about in an effort to change. As we react to something, we point out our bad attitude and try to amend it. It doesn’t always work, but we try.

Anyways, all that to say, there are times that I look upon Christian events with a little gleam of mistrust in my eye.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love me some Beth Moore. And, once I get involved, ladies retreats. But there are certain parts of it I could do without. For example, I rarely turn to my neighbor and tell them that God loves them and I’m trying. Because I just don’t see the point. Chances are I don’t love them, nor am I trying to, because I have never met this person before in my life. And it’s awkward. And I try to avoid the awkward. It creeps me out. Unless I’m the one bringing it, then I love it (yes, that’s a double standard. yes, I realize this. yes, I will continue to do this).

In general, Christian conferences are a ground ripe for cynical responses. And I provide. I sit up in my chair, acting all judgy mcjudgerson. I don’t turn to my neighbor and give them a hug, unless I know them REALLY well (not that I’m against touching. but again, people, with the awkward!). I tend not to talk back to the speaker. And, a lot of times, I chose not clap. I know, I know. I’m a terrible person.

But, deep down in my frozen soul, I love them. I love the quality of the speakers, and I love how they BRING. THE. WORD. I love worshiping in music alongside 2000 of my closest girlfriends. I love how God is present. Everywhere. In the speakers. In the music. In the audience. EVERYWHERE. I walk away touched. And rejuvenated. And EXCITED.

Which is why I was really excited when I got an offer in my inbox one day from Booksneeze (Ya’ll know who they are right? Basically, they give you free books to read. In other words, they’re awesome.). They had partnered with Women of Faith to give their bloggers free tickets in exchange for blogging about Women of Faith.

YES PLEASE!

So, I signed up, crossed my fingers and then forgot about it. Until I got the email a couple of weeks later that I was one of the chosen ones. They wanted ME to go. And I certainly wasn’t going to turn them down!

So, now I’m making plans. My mama and hopefully my mama-in-law will be joining me Oct 21-22 in the Twin Cities for Women of Faith Imagine. And I am stoked! 2 days of great music and great speakers? Check. 2 days of hanging out with 2 of my most favorite women? Check.

If you kinda sorta wanna go, but you don’t know who you would hang out, then by all means, sign up! We can totally hang out. We’re cool, fun people. If you’re already signed up, let me know cause I would love to see you!

Drew Solon :: A Birth Story {Part 1}

2011-09-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Let me remind you of what I looked like at the end of my pregnancy:

This is me at 39 weeks and 6 days pregnant (according to dating ... when baby came out, they figured he was about a week early). I actually crawled out of my hospital bed to take one last belly shot before they induced me, so this was literally taken at the very end of my pregnancy.

This is also me at 184 lbs (which is 59 lbs above what I started at) and with a blood pressure that slightly elevated. And by slightly elevated I mean that I always have excellent blood pressure (seriously. almost every nurse comments on how great my blood pressure is) and on this day my blood pressure was low when it was in the 140s. So, that was probably not good.

I actually was at the doctor for the second time that week. I went in for my regular 39 week check-up on Monday, where we talked about all my options. I really really didn't want to be induced because of all the horror stories I had heard, and my doctor respected that. However, he was leaving on Saturday for a week long vacation and he was worried about me, so he wanted to check me one last time before he left. It was his hope that I would come in on Thursday and he would check me and I would be dilated and ready to go with a little pitocin.

(a little foreshadowing ...that wasn't how it was at all)

When Thursday rolled around I dragged myself out of bed to get ready to go the doctor. I woke up with a sore throat and just felt crappy. I hemmed and hawed about packing my hospital bag (it was somewhat packed, but not really. the energy simply wasn't there!) and finally decided that even though I was most likely coming home, I should still take it with. So I halfheartedly packed (I packed facewash, but not my toothbrush) and headed into town. Unfortunately it was a super busy day in the ER and my doctor kept getting called away. My 11:30 appointment turned into 1:15, which turned into 3:30.

At that point, I had been in town since 12:00 and I was ready to go home. Actually, I was ready to go to Mitchell with my husband for one last fun date night.

So, we got in to see the doctor and he was slightly concerned. After all, my blood pressure was in the 140s, I had gained 3 pounds since Monday (so basically I was packing on a pound a day ... even though I was supposed to be off of all sugar, and I mostly was), and I looked/felt like crap. However, I wasn't having any contractions and was not dilated/effaced in the slightest.

All those things added up to a non-stress test. So I waddled my way up to the hospital and got hooked up. By this time it was about 4:30 and I was told I was supposed to stay connected for 1/2 hr, which put us at 5:00. We needed to get to Mitchell by 7:00, so we were watching the clock, commenting on how this was probably just a waste of time and how much we wanted to get out of there.

Well, the time slowly ticked by, and 1/2 hr turned into an hour, which turned into an hour and a half. Obviously by this point we weren't going to make it to Mitchell, so we settled down disappointingly and waited on the doctor. He finally came in (like I said, it was a crazy busy ER day) and looked at the data.

To say he wasn't ecstatic about my stats would be putting it mildly. In fact, he was so concerned that within just a couple of minutes he let me know we weren't going to be leaving that hospital without a baby.

And that started our fun adventure with induction .....

A Book Review: Wonders Never Cease

2011-09-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

I have a bit of a shameful confession ... this book has been on my shelf for a year, waiting to be reviewed. You see, I get free books from Booksneeze in exchange for an honest review. And last year, while we were living in Alaska, I got Wonders Never Cease and you know what? I read it. I read it right away. But I never took the time to sit down and review it.

Then I started working, and going to school full time, and then I got pregnant. And then we moved. And then I was doing more school. And then I had a baby. And then we moved again (by the way, we sort of kind of are living in North Dakota part time now ... don't worry, I'll write a blogpost about it soon! But knowing me, soon will probably be in the next 2 months or so).

So here we are. A year later. 2 reads of the book later. And I am finally ready to share with you all of my thoughts!

Wonders Never Cease, a novel by Tim Downs, is the story of an opportunistic trio out to make money off of a has-been movie star, a girl who can see angels and the hospital that ties them all together.

The movie star, Olivia Hayden, is in a medically induced coma after totaling her car. The nurse in charge of her care, Kemp McAvoy, is opportunistic and greedy, which leads him to the idea of bringing her out of her coma every night in order to give her a message from the "beyond". He approaches her agent and a book publisher with the idea, and they all plot together to produce a message they want to tell her. Then once she is awake her publisher can press her about her "dreams" and they'll make millions off the story she will write.

While those three are busy conjuring a pretend "angel", a little girl named Leah is seeing actual angels. Her mom is also a nurse, who happens to be dating Kemp. While Kemp is busy with his business plan, he keeps blowing off the needs of his live-in girlfriend Natalie and her six year old daughter Leah. Leah keeps getting in trouble in school because of the angels, which leads to stress on Natalie.

Downs is a good writer. His story is engaging and he does a great job with the dialogue. However, I cannot give it my full stamp of approval because he does too good of a job writing an annoying protagonist - Kemp McAvoy. While Leah is supposedly the narrator, her voice gets lost in the story of McAvoy's arrogance, greed and narcissism. I would have liked to hear more from Leah's perspective, instead of just an prologue and epilogue that tells us she is the one telling the story. Instead we are stuck with having to follow McAvoy around as he becomes more and more of an entitled jerk. To be honest, he just flat out annoyed me and it slightly soured me on the book. But the story is engaging, the idea is humorous (and not too hard to believe!), and Downs has talent with words.

If I were to give a star rating, I would have to say 2.5. Definitely one that I was able to re-read, but not one that I couldn't put down or raved about.

Let's Talk About Pregnancy {Third Trimester}

2011-08-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

To read about my first trimester go here or here for my second!

Ahh, the third trimester. That magical 16 weeks where you feel the baby move, gain weight at a horrendous pace, and have to pee every 5 minutes.

Technically, I started to feel the baby (whom we affectionately called Waldo) in the second trimester, but as all you mamas know, the third trimester is where it's at. This was, hands down, my favorite part of being pregnant. There I was, going along with my day, and BAM there's a little kick. Such a cool, cool feeling!

Luckily everything was placed just right in there, which meant that Luke could feel him soon after I could. Baby Waldo LOVED his daddy. He'd just be chilling in there, not doing anything and then Luke would put his hand on my stomach and BAM! He woke up. It was magical.

When anyone else would try? Nada. Nothing. He'd be in there dancing away and then someone would try to feel him and it was like he left the building.

(2/19)

The third trimester was a busy time for me. I was in my final full-time semester of college, which meant I was taking 4 classes, plus doing an 135 hr internship. Of course I was also hugely pregnant, which meant I was exhausted. I spent a lot of time on the couch, watching ALIAS and sleeping. Then I would have to hurry up and finish the work that was due for my class, so I would spend 2 days working on Stats (ugh by the way).

(2/25)

I definitely started to get the aches and pains associated with being pregnant. By the end, it was a major ordeal to turn over in bed. My one side would be in a lot of pain, but it took me a good 5 minutes of laying in bed giving myself a pep talk to actually flip over. Luke would wake up in a panic, asking me what was wrong because I was moaning and groaning so much (and no, I'm not dramatic at all!).

I also dealt with my hands falling asleep. By the end, all I had to do was grip something (a fork, a knife, a pen, etc) and my hands would be gone. It made cooking and eating all that more interesting!

And of course there was the PUPPS. Luckily someone I knew had gone through it before me and she recommended using Dandelion Root. I seriously believe that is the only thing that kept it under control. That and lots of body butter.

My Boppy body pillow (affectionately nicknamed Jack) was a necessary sleep aid, much to the chagrin of my husband. We only had a full size bed, and there wasn't a lot of room left once the 3 of us were in bed. Also, any time I traveled Jack came with. He was a real conversation piece! He is now shoved underneath our bed, much to the relief of my husband!

(3/29)

The bigger I got, the more ungainly I got, which is pretty typical. Luke would have to pull/push me off the couch and forget about bending down to pick something up! My toenails went unpainted for a looong time because of this.

I also had a harder and harder time finding clothes that would fit me. By the end, even my maternity pants were too small because of how wide my hips got. Luckily I have an amazing mom who would go to Target and buy me bigger (comfy!) clothes and then mail them to me (we're about an hour and a half from the closest Target and I wasn't about to hop in the car!).

(Easter Sunday)

In the middle of all that fun, I graduated from college! Well, kinda. I went through the ceremony and got a diploma holder, but I technically didn't finish until July 15th. But, I'm a college graduate!

We debated a long time about whether or not to go to the ceremony. It was in Billings, MT, which is a 12 hour drive and I was a month away from delivering a baby. However, I received an award from my department and so we decided it was worth the drive. So we piled into the Expedition with my in-laws and headed West. We went right through the area in Montana we lived in so we were able to stop and spend the night with our friends.

It was really nice to break up the drive, because sitting in car for a long time? Not very pregnancy friendly. However, I did get to rock some sexy TED compression hose!

Once we got to Billings, we met up with my mom and my sister-in-law who flew in from MN and Denver respectively. It was so awesome to have family with us. They have all stood beside me and cheered me on during the whole process, so it meant a lot to me to have them there.

(all photos taken 4/30)

As far as we could tell, I was the only extremely pregnant graduate, so I guess that's an honor too! Graduation itself was really hard on my body. I had to go stand in line for an hour on a hard cement floor before the ceremony itself, then I had to sit and stand and sit and stand in various forms for another 2 hours for the ceremony.

By the time I found Luke afterwards I just started to cry because I was so tired and my whole body hurt and my mom and sister-in-law had to leave to catch their flight as soon as they saw me walk and I didn't get to say goodbye, and a lot of the pictures we took were fuzzy and everything was a BIG. DEAL.

However, we went out to eat and after I got some delicious steak into my body I felt a lot better! After eating we hit the road and headed back East. We stayed with our friends again that night and then the next morning we got to go to church with our dear friends at Hope. And I got to see my Fern (for those of you who read my wedding recap, she was the one who kept me sane!), so it was an all around good day. After we had lunch with Fern and her family, we went to Rapid City, where we met up with Luke's aunt and uncle for an early supper (eating was a major theme of the whole weekend, which I loved!).

By the time we got home at 1:00 that morning, I was done. My body was done. My emotions were done. I think I just laid around and did absolutely nothing the next 2 days to recover. But, in the end, I am glad we went!

After graduation all that was really left was to wait for baby (and prepare myself for summer school ... but that's a whole 'nother thing altogether isn't it?).

This is the point in most people's pregnancies when they start nesting. Me? Well, let's just say I'm still waiting for that nesting energy to kick in and Drew is 2 months old. Instead of cleaning and organizing I was dreaming of cleaning and organizing and having panic attacks over the fact that it wasn't done. Gosh I was a bundle of fun to be around.

I also threw in some sleeping late, napping and other important tasks. It was nice because I was able to savor my last days as just the two of us.

(39 weeks and 6 days; taken in the hospital right before induction!)

The other things I was doing at this time were gaining weight and making my blood pressure skyrocket, which made my doctor increasingly nervous. Those fun little activities took me straight to induction-ville, but since that's part of his birth story you'll have to wait on those details!

Let's Talk About Pregnancy {Second Trimester}

2011-06-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

To read about my first trimester, go here!

I honestly don't really remember much of my second trimester, at least on the day to day level. To be honest, looking back on it, it kinda seems like a blur. But, I do remember some of the big things that happened:

-We packed up our apartment in Anchorage, loaded it all back in the camper and headed down the Al-Can.

I am so glad that my mom came to visit us a couple days after Thanksgiving, because the packing did not really get started until she came! I would try during the day, but, well, still being on the tail end of the first trimester meant I was still a little nauseous and a lot tired. She packed up most of our kitchen, and our books and DVDs. It was SO SO SO helpful! Moms are just the best.

After she left, I was starting to feel better, so was able to work a little bit while Luke was at work. Then once he was done with work, we hit it hard, packing everything that was left, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning and stuffing everything in the camper. After a feat of mastery by my husband, we were ready to hit the road!

The trip was long. I threw up once in a gas station bathroom, but was able to keep it together for the most part. The biggest struggle was that I was hungry all. the. time. And nothing we had along with us was appealing to me in the least. So, that helped the ol' pocket book. And sleep was hard because we were determined to get out of Canada was fast as possible, so we slept in half of the back of the Explorer the whole way home (except one night). Let's just say by the time we got to South Dakota I was 1. so ready for a shower (6 days without - blech!) 2. so ready to sleep in a real bed, where both of us could stretch our legs out (and since I'm only 5' 5", imagine what my poor 6' husband had to endure!). Also, my body was rebelling by the end and I just hurt.

-We stayed with my in-laws for 2 1/2 - 3 weeks while we tried to find a place to live.

We moved back to the area that my husband is from, and so while we were looking for housing, we stayed with his parents. It was actually really nice to be able to let someone take care of us for awhile. His mom is an amazing cook and so I definitely benefited from that!

I was starting to show, so we started to take some pictures:

(taken 12/13)

{door courtesy of my husband's childhood room}

(12/20)

I was tired, but that's nothing new. I was enjoying having my little bump and eating again. At one point I got hit bad by a terrible stomach flu, which made for a couple of not very much fun days because I couldn't keep down water and I was SO THIRSTY! But I recovered.

This was also the time that I had to do finals, and of course, my computer died. Luckily we were living my in-laws, so I was able to use their computer. I felt a little bad, because I basically hogged it all day as I worked on multiple papers, tests, and projects. However, I made it through. Even though it was dicey for awhile because of pregnancy brain.

What's pregnancy brain you ask? Basically it is that special condition where you can't remember a blessed thing. Especially important things like deadlines. Deadlines for bills. Deadlines for classes. Any sort of deadlines goes whooshing away! In my case, it whooshed away twice. For the same class. I felt like a pretty big dolt emailing my professor for the second time to explain why I had not yet turned in a project that was due. Blergh.

-We moved into our new place! I would show you all sorts of pictures now, but I don't have any. Mostly because we didn't really finish unpacking until a couple weeks before baby (and even then, we're not entirely done). We ended up renting a trailer from one of Luke's cousins. It's in the country and the rent is incredibly reasonable, so we're enjoying it! It comes with its special quirks, including skunks living underneath (not fun for a pregnant nose!), and lots of manure for Miss Millie to eat, but it's home.

-I started my last full-time semester of school, got lots bigger and found a doctor! It was also during this time that my pregnancy aches and pains starting making their way into my daily life. During the Christmas season I went to the "city" with a friend to do some shopping and invested in a pregnancy body pillow (the Boppy one is case you're wondering) and a belly band. Such wonderful inventions!

(1/20)

{this wall is in our new place! it's the only one that looks like that. and there's Miss Millie!}

(2/3)

{if you look closely you can see my Elliptical that we dragged all the way back from AK in the background.

Yeah, that poor thing hasn't gotten a lot of attention in awhile}

(2/12)

- We found out we were having a .....

boy!

Because of Luke's new job and insurance stuff, I didn't go to the doctor here in SoDak until my 22nd (or 23rd?) week. We squeeked in just in time on the cut-off on the 20th week ultrasounds. Too much longer and they wouldn't have been able to tell stuff they wanted to tell. But, we got in, and they could tell, and he was perfect! The only item to note that developed as a result of my ultrasound was another due date (I think I had about 4 or 5 due dates by the end), but that didn't bother me. I had no idea of when he was conceived (TMI? perhaps, but true!) and I figured he'd come when he came (ooo how naive I was!).

Was there other stuff that happened in my second trimester? Oh sure, but I can't remember it! So, I guess this (massively long) recap will just have to do!

Click here to read about my third trimester!

Let's Talk About Pregnancy {First Trimester}

2011-06-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

I have always been fascinated by pregnant ladies. I was the girl who would shamelessly stare at their bellies, listen to their stories and poke their bellies trying to get baby to kick me (ok, that was only one time and she IS one of my closest friends).

In fact, I've always had this strange intuition about pregnancy. It's nothing I've ever tested, but there have many instances where I have considered a person and the fleeting thought "she's pregnant" flits across my mind. I don't dwell on it, I don't set out to prove it, but when a couple of weeks later there is an announcement I think back to that brief moment. And no matter what my college Psych professor thought, it was not because she had an obvious baby bump. It's just ... I don't know. Maybe the glow? Something in the eyes? There is nothing I know of concretely. It's just ... a feeling I get.

Anyways, enough about that. Suffice it to say, I was pregnancy's numero uno fan.

Until I got pregnant.

Now the first month wasn't bad. In fact, I had no idea I was pregnant the first month. I just knew that I was really, really tired. As in going to bed at 9:00 tired. But I blamed that on the fact that I had gotten a job (I worked for 6 weeks as a temp receptionist at a road construction company), and so got up early with Luke so we could carpool (we only had one car, and it was way better than taking the bus). I went from having no wake-up time to getting up between 5 and 6 so I could work out, shower, and be ready to go when he was. Then I would drop him off and go sit at a coffee shop and do homework until I went to work. I was also starving. ALL THE TIME. I ate constantly and always brought a snack to work.

Finally, towards the end of September/beginning of October we started to wonder. My cycle has NEVER been regular, so it wasn't too weird that I hadn't had my period. However, we always knew pregnancy was a possibility. We were 25 when we got married (well, I was and Luke was only 17 days away from it), and we knew that we wanted kids when we were younger. Plus, we are open to the possibility of a bigger family (as in 6 kids) and I knew I wanted to be done before I was 40. Add in the fact that I don't react well to birth control (which I discovered in college when doctors tried to regulate my irregular cycle), and we were flying free, so to say. We wouldn't have minded waiting a couple of years, but, well, I guess that just didn't happen did it?

{sidenote: we were married for 9 months before I got pregnant. even though we weren't trying, I was starting to wonder a little bit if we were going to have trouble conceiving because it had been awhile. and because I'm a woman and I think about that}

So, anyways, we started to joke that I was pregnant. Any twinge I got was blamed on being pregnant. But we weren't ready to find out for sure, so I didn't take a test. However, soon mornings became a bit of an issue. My coffee shop experience was no longer working so well for me because they roasted their own beans right there. And roasting beans to this pregnant lady smell like burnt popcorn. And then towards the end of my job, I was barely making it. It was a real struggle to get through the day without throwing up. And even though I enjoyed my job, and extra money was nice, I was SO SO SO glad when they told me they didn't need me anymore.

Pretty soon I was throwing up. And laying in bed all day because any movement caused extreme waves of nausea to roll over me. At this point we were pretty certain I was indeed with child. If not, then there was something really wrong with me! Finally, on October 22 I took a pregnancy test (it was 2 months from my last cycle) and let me tell you, the pregnant line showed up immediately. Even before the "control" line had time to show. Apparently those hormones were raging through my body!

And so I spent the next month trying not to throw up. It didn't work. I threw up most days and celebrated the days I didn't. However, even if I wasn't throwing up, I felt like I was going to. Poor Luke. That month and a half wasn't the easiest on him. It was a major success if I took a shower during the day, let alone actually cleaned or cooked something. The only reason I did laundry was so I was guaranteed clean comfy clothes (yoga pants, t-shirts, etc). I started a Bible study with the ladies at church and only made it to a couple because of how I felt. Even when I would go I just prayed that I wouldn't throw up while I was there.

This following picture is pretty typical of that time. Pretty sure I did not shower that day, as evidenced by my greasy hair, glasses and pj's. Also, note the unfolded laundry sitting on top of the dryer. Now, the reason for this picture? It really wasn't out of the norm ... except if you look closely you will see my laptop. Now, I did not normally take my laptop into the bathroom with me while I expelled copious amounts of liquid. However, on this auspicious occasion, I was in the middle of a required chat for school when the urge came upon me in a strong way. Since I figured my professor and fellow students would not necessarily appreciate that sort of information shared with them, I decided that I might as well just take my chat with me. So I did. They never knew and this is the scene that Luke came home to. Lucky guy!

.
The only time I was really worried was one morning when I threw up some blood. In fact, I called Luke and he turned around and came home. We called a couple of clinics to see if we could get in that day, but they weren't very nice and told us to go to the ER. Well, we weren't exactly rolling in the dough and it wasn't a lot of blood at all, so we didn't. I did ask Dr. Google and put a post up on a mom discussion board, and we came to the conclusion that it wasn't life threatening (which is obviously true as I am still alive). It was just unsettling. Especially when I called the clinic and they weren't nice to me so I cried, a lot. Then Luke took care of calling after that :-)

{sidenote: I was a member of a "mom discussion board" for 2 days before signing off and vowing never to return. women are mean!!}

So, anyways, that morning we did find a clinic who was nice to us so we decided to make an appointment with them. Unfortunately, the first they could squeeze us in was 3 1/2 weeks away. Yikes. Oh well, we made it. By the time my appointment rolled around I was starting to feel just a bit better, which was nice. However, even though I had just gone through a month and a half of nausea and throwing up, I still figured they would tell me that I was crazy and not pregnant. Until that little baby bean popped up on the screen. Then I realized "holy crap, I really am pregnant!"

The doctor gave us an encouraging report and a due date of June 5th (according to baby's size during the ultrasound). Dating wise, due date is May 27th. He also gave me the all-clear to travel, which was good since we were planning on leaving the next week to move back to South Dakota.

We also had a nurse who told me that I really needed to watch my weight, because I had put on 10 pounds in the first trimester. Of course, I had just spent the last 2 months-ish laying around in bed, trying not to die, and barely eating anything, but still put on 10 pounds without trying. Thanks lady. (I'm not bitter ... really).

After our appointment, the only thing we had left to do was figure out how to tell people. See, we hadn't told anyone (with the exception of doctor's office people and my supervisor at the temp agency). So, for the past 2 months that we had known, we hid it. My mom would call and I would talk to her while laying down in bed, trying not to move too much. I would FB and email friends in between throwing up sessions, and I outright lied to one friend who asked me if we were moving back because I was pregnant. We rarely made it to church, but I was able to fake it through the one hour on Sundays, so no one there really knew for sure either (I say "for sure" b/c we went to church with a lot of guys that Luke worked with and they all figured it out when I had him come home the one morning I threw up blood).

Our appointment was on Tuesday and Thanksgiving was Thursday. So, on late Wednesday night I sent an email to both sets of parents, telling them how thankful we were that they are our parents, etc (which we are. we are so so so blessed by our families!) and then I told them I had attached a picture for them that we thought they might enjoy.

Luckily for my sleep, my mother did not call me when she first opened the email (because of the 3 hour time difference it would have been 4:00 our time), but was nice enough to wait a couple of hours. My in-laws did not open the email until much later that afternoon (and according to my sister-in-law, she was worried that something seriously bad had happened when she heard my mother-in-law's reaction!), but then called right away. Let's just say both sides are very excited to add grandchild #3 to the mix!

After our families knew, I spent quite a bit of the rest of the weekend on the phone, FB message and Skype telling our closest friends the news. It was a fun way to end the first trimester!

Click here to go to my second trimester recap!

Life: A List

2011-02-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

Current Book(s): I have been on a huge Tom Clancy kick lately, picking up one or two from the library every time I go. Currently I am reading The Bear and the Dragon. Normally I put down a book of his in a week or so, but this one has taken me almost 4. My goal is to finish it by Monday so 1. I don't have to renew it again 2. I don't have to pay more late fees on it.

Current Playlist: The other night when I was making supper for Valentine's Day I was listening to my Rich Mullins mix, but then I went to grab a different CD and found the mix that Luke put together for when he proposed to me. I love popping in that CD and remembering exactly what happened during each song.

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: Daily naps. Of the 2 hour variety.

Current Color: Pink. Always pink.

Current Drink: Water. And 1 Cherry Dr. Pepper a day. Yummmm.

Current Food: I have been on a huge quesadilla kick lately, so most of this week I have been eating one for lunch. My current mix is brown rice, corn, black beans, a mix of sharp chedder and pepper jack, with some splashes of lime juice. It really is the lime juice that pulls it all together and makes it AH-MAZING.

Current Favorite Show: ALIAS. Bethany and I started a fun little tradition where we would buy every other season and then share them with each other. We currently have all 5 seasons at our house and after I finished Gilmore Girls, I needed a new background noise series. I am currently in Season 3 and could watch it all day long.

Current Wishlist: A pregnancy work-out DVD. And the ability to be crafty so I can make cute things for our baby like this. And a printer with pretty paper so I can print some of these and write letters!

Current Needs: Maternity clothes. Lots and lots of maternity clothes.

Current Triumphs: It's not my happy time of year, so I have been trying to beat it by doing my hair and make-up in the mornings, even if I'm just going to put on my comfy pants and not step outside of my house. It helps a lot to glance in the mirror and focus on my pretty eye color instead of nit-picking my complexion (pregnancy acne!) and obsessing over whether or not my face is gaining weight (I say yes. Luke says no.).

Current Bane(s) of my Existence: The 2 rooms filled with stuff I still need to organize/unpack. I'm waiting for that whole nesting thing to kick in so I can stop having a panic attack every time I step in those rooms.

Current Celebrity Crush: Jennifer Garner. She's cute, classy and has a great smile.

Current Indulgence: Girl Scout Cookies. Or the Pioneer Woman's chocolate Valentine's Day cookies I made on Monday. Yummy.

Current #1 Blessing: My husband. He is simply the greatest.

Current Slang or Saying: Baby is hungry, so I need to feed him. Now.

Current Outfit: Purple cardigan, pink tank top and blue-camo gaucho pants. I don't care that blue-camo and gaucho are both out of style - these babies are comfortable! And super stretchy so I still fit in them. Win-win.

Current Excitement: My awesome husband is building me shelves so I can store stuff! So I can unpack stuff! And also, we're going to have a baby in a little over 3 months. Do you know how cute babies/baby stuff is??? So cute!

Current Mood: Sleepily content. Is that a mood? Not sure. But I'm going to say it is!

Changes

2011-02-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

Oh my dear friends. How I have missed you these past months. And yet, every time I thought to myself "self, you should go blog something!", I simply did not. The thoughts did not materialize, the words did not come, and so here I am, many a moon after last blogging with a simple apology, and a quick list to get you updated on all the changes that have happened to us since September.

Because? There have been lots of changes since September.

1. I applied to graduate from college! I am assuming that the information I got the other day about how to order my cap and gown means that I was accepted to graduate. Which. Is. So. Exciting!! My graduation date is April 30th and then I will be scott free ... until May 7th,when I have to start my final and last class. Ah well. At least I will be completely done with my BA in Mass Communications in July!

2. We moved! Yes, we reversed everything we had done a mere 7 months before, packed everything back into our little camper and hit the road once again. We will always treasure our time in Alaska, and the people we were blessed to get to know while being there. However, it wasn't for us. When I do not get sun in the winter OR the summer, bad things happen. Like all my energy flies away to Bermuda or somewhere sunny and lies on a beach, while I lie on my bed (because we didn't have a couch obviously).
We did discover something vitally important about ourselves while there though: we are prairie people. Now, there are mountain people and prairie people and neither kind are bad. We just happen to like our flatlands where we can see for miles and miles. It energizes us. And helps us take a deep breath, one that we had held onto for 7 months in the mountainous/treed regions of Alaska.
Oh and remember how good I did at blogging our move there? I had pictures upon pictures to share and stories upon stories. Well, let's just say that didn't happen on the move back. I do have this picture:

Because it was cold and we somehow gathered more stuff while we were up there, it was simply not possible to sleep in our camper. So, we slept in half of the back of the Explorer. Which means everything else got thrown to the way way back. Apparently even Miss Millie. Doesn't she look pathetic?

Our trip back was an adventure, to say the least. It involved not showering for 5 (6?) days, a flat tire on the camper, getting stuck in the snow, breaking down on the side of the Interstate, getting pulled over in Canada and cranky border patrol personnel. But, we made it! We are now living in South Dakota where Luke grew up and loving it!

3. We got another dog! She was a stray who showed up at a neighbor's, so we took her in. We're guessing she is a black lab mix (strong on the black lab) and around a year old. She is very smart and sweet and attention deprived. Sadly, we are looking for another home for her as our landlord calves out a bunch of heifers at our place and isn't comfortable having a big dog around. But isn't she cute?

We named her Aleda (a-lay-da), but call her Leda all the time. She sleeps most of the day and is hilarious to watch dream. As I am typing she is woofing in her sleep and her paws are just a-going. She also sleeps with her eyes open, which is slightly creepy.

4. We're going to have a baby! It's still surreal to type that, even though I have known since October. We did not tell a soul until the 12th week (Thanksgiving), even though I spent half that time laying in bed, trying not to die. It's amazing how easy keeping a secret is when you live thousands of miles away from family! They didn't know that in between writing FB posts that I was running to the bathroom or that I was talking to them while laying down in bed, trying not to move. Now there is no keeping this secret since this is what I currently look like:

And this is what Baby Waldo currently looks like:

(don't worry ... we're not actually naming him Waldo)

According to my Dr my due date is May 27th and according to the ultrasound tech, my due date is June 2nd. My thoughts on pregnancy are varied, and sadly not all flattering. However, that is another post for another time! I am definitely digging his crazy antics though. He loves it when I eat and lets me know by doing a happy dance. However, I would appreciate it if he would give me my memory back.

So, there you go! There are the highlights. Of course there was lots of other living in those months, including the holidays, living with Luke's parents for 3 weeks, getting stuck on the way to my parents, celebrating our 1 year anniversary, date nights, friend nights, and all around goodness. Can't wait to share more goodness with you in the time to come!

i am blessed.

2010-09-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

as i sit here, curled up in my chair with polarbear polar fleece wrapped around me, eating my slightly too stale fruitie cheerios and ignoring our unmade bed, the clothes tossed on the floor and general clutteriness from a weekend lived, watching the sky change colors to the west as the sun rises over the mountains from the east and tinge the house across the street, i realize how blessed i am.

The One Where I Say I Do (pt 4)

2010-08-19T01:29:00.000-07:00

Need a refresher/catch-up? Check out part one, two and three.

Our wedding day finally dawned. It was bright, clear and cold. And when I say cold I mean C O L D. It was -27 (yes, that is a negative number). I had asked my dad to go out and start my car for me while I was getting ready and he came back in to tell me that it wouldn't start. Luckily my parents' car has an engine heater and was plugged in all night so I could take that. That left them and my brothers' family without any transportation, but well, I was the bride and I had a hair appointment!!

I headed out to Fergus (20 minutes away) to meet my bridesmaids for our 8:00 appointments. I hopped into the chair and let Patience work her magic. A mere 45 minutes later and I was done! Karla was kind enough to do my make-up and so I was ready to go! A few last minute items (arranging flower pick-up) and I was ready to head back to the church (another 20 minute drive).

A few pictures:

On a side note, if I didn't already know that I had the best friends in the whole world, this time solidifies that. After they found out about the ring debacle they went to WalMart late Friday night and brought me 3 fake rings to choose from so I would have a ring on my honeymoon. Love them!

So, anyways, I got all beautified and loaded up in my car with Rondi and we headed down to Dalton. At least I think Rondi was with me. If not, she was close behind me. Or I'm just crazy. One or the other :-)

Fern was being awesome and already there waiting for me when I got there. She helped lace me into my dress and Bethany helped with a few last minute blotting issues before I headed down to see my man:

After we did the traditional first look, we went on to take hundreds of pictures. Luckily I am a huge hambone and didn't mind at all!

{sidenote: i always always always wanted to have the first time my husband would see me that day be when i walked down the aisle, but logistically it is a lot harder to that. especially when you're having the reception at the same place and it's a midday wedding. so i didn't even mention it because it made so much sense not to. but still. sigh.}

We took pictures with just the two of us:

We took pictures with our parents:

I took pictures with my girls:

He took pictures with his guys:

I took pictures with the guys:

He took pictures with the girls:

We took pictures with all of us:

We took pictures with all of my family:

And all of his:

I even made the wedding party take a couple pictures outside:

Then let them go inside while we stayed outside for a couple more shots:

Pretty soon we had taken every picture combination possible and it was time to hurry up and wait. The girls all headed upstairs to wait for our cue to come down. I snuck a couple of peeks off of the balcony to watch the church fill up and chatted with a couple of different people. Pretty soon it was time ....

and we were officially married!

The One Where I Participate In 10 On Tuesday (#10)

2010-08-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

Go visit Chelsea for more!

1. Where did you go to college? & 2. What did you study?
I am currently on my 4th college. Decisive much? Since I have studied something different at every school I decided to combine the two questions.
My freshman year I went to Northwestern College in St Paul, MN where I studied Psychology.
My sophomore year I went to Minnesota State Community & Technology College (MSCTC) in Fergus Falls, MN (aka the local community college where I SWORE I would never go) and graduated with an AA in Liberal Arts.
{insert several years where I "took a break"}
I took one class through Capella University (the one that is always popping up in your sidebar) for a Business degree. I quickly convinced myself of the error of my ways (I am SO much more an English person).
My junior and hopefully senior year is being spent doing online classes through Montana State University - Billings where I am studying Mass Communications. This lovely school has gotten the most loyalty out of me since I have been enrolled in its hallowed halls for the past year and a half. Funny that I have never stepped on campus, don't know how to find the campus, and only have a vague sense of our mascot (Yellowjackets I think?).

3. Was college really all that it was cracked up to be?
No. No, no, no. My first year I struggled a lot with some paralyzing insecurities and did not get out much or make many friends. My second year actually was great because I shared an apartment with my best friend and my other two best friends were also in town so we got together weekly for Perkins and Gilmore Girls. That was a wonderful year - except for the 50 hours a week I worked at Taco Johns/The Jazzy Fox Bistro. My other two experiences have been a little less than college like.

4. How far were you from home?
Freshman year I was 2 1/2 hours from home (without a car). Luckily there were several of us from the same church so I always knew who to talk to to get a ride home. The second year I was 20 minutes from home and the other years I am literally in my home.

5. Did you have the same roomate all four years?
Obvs not. Freshman year I had two roommates I got placed with randomly - one of them is still one of my dearest friends. Then I lived with my best friend (who is still my best friend today!). Since then I've been rooming with Miss Millie and now my wonderful husband.

6. Where did you order food from at 2am?
There was only one pizza place that would deliver to NWC (Papa Johns) and I don't think anything in Fergus is open at 2:00 besides Perkins and they don't deliver. And there REALLY wasn't anything open in Ekalaka at 2:00. Now there are most definitely places open at 2:00 here in Anchorage, but ummm ... well I'm an old married woman and I am sleeping by 10:00.

7. Did you date in college or were you tied down?
Baahahahahaha. Bahhhahahahaha. Dating schmating is what I say. Except for Luke of course. Cause technically I was doing school while dating and now married to him.

8. Funniest drunk college moment?
True Confessions with Rachel: I did not have any alcohol until my honeymoon when I had a sip of wine and found it to be disgusting. I have now tried a couple more sips of wine and a couple of sips of beer and have not found anything I care for. And I'm ok with that.

9. Did you make it to class on time?
For the most part I was one of those people who showed up way early. Mostly because I wasn't exactly life of the party and didn't have any friends to hang out with between classes so I was always early.

10. What was your favorite class in college?
My sophomore year I took a 20th Century American History class and I loved it. I had the professor for back to back classes and he was a really great lecturer and he loved what he was teaching.

The One Where I Say I Do (pt 3)

2010-07-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember a day many moons ago when I started to talk about my wedding. You know, the one that was a mere six months ago? Well, here I am with the next installment. Hooray for you! If you're just tuning in you can read part one here and part two there.

So, I had lived through 10 days of wedding franticness. I might be sugarcoating the moment, but I think I kept it together pretty well. Until this day.

But I'll get to that.

We are now up to the day before the wedding, also known as decoration/rehearsal day.

I woke up a bit late but made it to the church mostly on time. My Fern was there (everyone needs a Fern. she is amazing. she is the only reason 1. i was able to pull together a wedding in 45 days 2. i didn't lose my mind 3. i didn't have more questions on my wedding night ... if you know what i mean *wink wink*) as was my awesome sister-in-law to be, Katie, who was SO great at getting me things from the city when I was stuck in the country.

This is Fern (and me too of course!)

Fern and her husband (who happened to be the pastor who married us) had pulled into Fergus the night before, bringing with them most of the wedding stuff. We got to work unloading the suburban and setting things up.

Now, if anyone knows me you know that decisions are not my strong suit. And if you're married you know that a wedding is all about decisions about THE MOST MUNDANE DETAILS. Do you want this straight or kitty-corner? Do you want lines or squiggles? Do you want white or off-white?

I don't care! I just want to be married! But I want it to be beautiful, perfect and wonderful and you can bet your boots I'm going to cry if I don't get what I want! Even if I don't let you know what I want.

Man I was a peach to work with. That just makes Fern all that more of a saint.

Anyways, we spent the morning/afternoon setting up tables, deciding how things should look, deciding what the front altar should look like. Everyone was incredibly helpful and nice to me, which is awesome! However, it was still decisions. Finally my mother told Luke to get me out of there and take me home so we could pack.

We didn't argue too hard and headed back to my parents farm (which was only 3 miles from the church, which was nice!).

We worked on gathering up all of our stuff that had gotten spread out over the past 10 days and packing what we wanted to take with on our honeymoon (which I still didn't know the details of) into two suitcases while putting everything else in the car to take back to MT with us (more decisions! hooray!).

Soon Luke got a phone call from our friend Dave, who was one of the ushers (sidenote : I give Dave the credit for bringing us together. he and Luke were good friends from Bible school and I got to know Dave and his sweet wife Lydianne when they worked at camp my first summer. Dave is the one who brought Luke to TER for family camp two years before and is the one who convinced him to come back as a counselor.).

Anyways, I could hear that it was Dave on the phone. He, Lydianne and their ADORABLE child Eli were driving in from MT that day and we had asked them to do us a favor as they came through Fargo. So, when he called I figured it was just to let Luke know they had made it. But then I heard him ask Luke if he was alone and then when he found out I was in the room with Luke told him to go somewhere private.

Curious.

So, I kept rolling and tucking clothes into the suitcase and waited for Luke to come back. Soon enough he came back into the room with a serious look on his face and told me he had some bad news. You see, the errand we had asked them to do was to pick up my wedding ring from Zales in Fargo. I had taken it in the week before to get soldered and they assured me it would be back in time.

It wasn't.

Instead it was sitting at the FedEx building in Fargo. Apparently FedEx wasn't running that day (it was Jan 1st), but Zales didn't know (or so they said). So, when the Jurica's went to pick it up, it wasn't there. Zales and FedEx spent time pointing fingers at one another and ultimately told them there was nothing they could do. The ring was sitting on one of the trucks and there was no way of knowing which truck it was on (I'm going to tell you the truth and say that 6 months later it still gets me a little worked up to talk about ... the customer service was horrible!).

Anyways, Dave & Lydianne totally went to bat for us and did everything they could. The best Zales could offer was a loaner ring that looked identical to mine. Dave had to sign it out and insure that he would get it back to them, which he was willing to do. The only problem was the ring was a size 7 (or so) and I wear a 5 (or smaller. I'm actually not sure of my ring size because we have to keep resizing my ring because it's too big), but they put a sizer in there so it would stay on my finger.

When Luke told me I took it pretty well. I knew Juricas had done everything they could and it was Zales fault (I was a little upset with them). I didn't even cry.

That is until I walked into our rehearsal (late) and saw everyone and they started asking me how I was. Then I lost it. In a big way. And had to run into the bathroom to cry. After a little pity party I pulled myself together (with a lot of help from my girls!) and went back to the rehearsal. Everyone was really great and my pastor was really good about diffusing the situation with a little humor.

So, we rehearsed and got everything figured out (it took a little bit because we hadn't been able to have our last session with Tim & Fern where we finalized everything in the ceremony because of the snowstorm that brought us home early). After that we ate and hung out before the party broke up.

Luke was heading out for his "thunderstorm" (women have showers ... men have thunderstorms)/bachelor party, so we said our goodbyes before his groomsmen confiscated his phone and hurried him off. There were still some things to do at the church, but Fern, Katie and my mother-in-law took care of that while I went home to finish packing and just decompress.

Soon enough I was tucked into bed and slipping off into dreamland on my last night as a Nelson.

Up next: the wedding day!

I leave you with the only pictures I have from that day:

{lovely veil no? bethany (on the far left) made it for rondi's wedding (just to the left of me) 5 (5!!) years ago.

we didn't use it for bethy's wedding but it ended up in MT with me and then I brought it back for this.

we will definitely be breaking it out for karla's wedding in august!

it's a little smushed and missing some flowers, but it's ours.}

{These are my girls. We've been together since jr high/early high school (as in the first day of 9th grade early). We have fought, laughed, stayed up all night, cried, celebrated, shopped, eaten so much junk food we've gotten sick, spent countless hours watching Gilmore Girls and Coyote Ugly, talked about boys, memorized the Perkins menu, celebrated 3 weddings (the 4th is only a month away!!), and welcomed 4 kiddos into our circle. We're all spread out and we don't talk as much as we should, but they will always be my Cronies.}

The One Where I Participate In 10 On Tuesday (#9)

2010-06-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Go visit Chelsea for more TOTers!

1. What was/is your favorite live action (meaning not animated) kids movie?
Newsies. Love love love that movie. Definitely one I could sing along with.

2. What is a bad habit you have? Are you working on breaking it?
Compulsively checking my social media sites (Facebook, Google Reader, Twitter). It seriously cuts into my productivity and time with my hubby. I try to be better (and for awhile was REALLY good about only checking my Reader once a day), but normally fail. It makes me feel really awesome about my self-control :-)

3. Describe your father in 3 words.
Hard-working. Social. Reader.

4. Which character in the Breakfast Club were you most like in the ’80s?
In the 80's I was 0-6. So not really like any of them. But I would probably be most like the nerd.

5. Name 5 songs you know ALL the lyrics to.
Fishin' In The Dark by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Shout To The Lord by Hillsong
The Star Spangled Banner
The ABC's
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy Fight Song (I was a cheerleader. it was my job)

6. Do you make pancakes from scratch or a box mix?
Box. But that's because I am trying to get rid of the box mix so I can start making them from scratch.

7. What was your worst job ever? Why?
Toss-up between server at a fine dining restaurant (the owner would scream and yell and then make us all food. he was a little too up & down for my taste) and customer service rep at a catalog company (the other customer service rep really disliked me and i counted teeny tiny itty bitty pins into separate bags for fun. it was awful)

8. What was your favorite class in high school?
AP History. We started with the Renaissance and ended somewhere in the 1900's. There were only 7 or 8 of us in the class and it was a ton of reading but I loved it.

9. Favorite summer guilty pleasure?
To be honest it's been so long since I've had a normal summer (well ... 3 years) that I can't really remember. Probably sleeping in and laying out while reading a book.

10. Please share your best money saving tip!
Live far away from civilization. When you're two hours from fast food and walmart and any store larger then 2 aisles you save so much money!!

Come on in ....

2010-06-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

and check out our new digs! I apologize in advance for the blurriness of the photos. however, I am too lazy to fix them. mmkay? kay.

first up we have our living room:

the chairs were provided, which was lovely as we don't have any furniture of our own. the large window was also provided, which is also lovely. there are several trees right in front of the window that sort of blocks my sunlight, but it's still nice to have that much.

as you can tell miss millie is really excited to show off her house!

our next stop is our kitchen:

fun fact: the duplex we are living in was built by luke's great uncle in the '60s (we live next door to his widow Lavonne). all of the cupboards in the house were custom made by Vernon. so that's pretty cool. it's also really cool that it fits all of my kitchen stuff (barely, but it still fits!)

yes, that is a card table and folding chairs masquerading as a kitchen table. we're classy. or just poor newlyweds.

next up: the 'master' bedroom

anyone who was at our house in Ekalaka knows how much we've upgraded in closet space. makes my heart happy.

and we got the desk for free off of craigslist. any remodel suggestions are more than welcome. as are any suggestions as how to get gunk off of fake wood as my GooGone is letting me down.

moving down the hall we encounter the bathroom:

no, you're not seeing things. that is a lavender sink (and tub). the only reason our toilet isn't lavender is because the pipes froze a couple of years ago and they weren't able to find a replacement.

oh and those cupboards were made by Vernon too!

and I took down the curtains. the glass is frosted so no one can see in and it just makes me happier.

our final stop takes us to the guest room:

as you can see we're ready for you whenever you want to come!

Operation Alaska Move (Days 7 & 8)

2010-06-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

After paying our two loonies (Canadian dollars) for our showers on Sunday morning and gathering up our clean laundry (!), we headed back out on the highway.

Our first stop was just up the road:

According to the guidebook this was a not to be missed attraction and I think I will agree with that. Apparently a homesick GI posted a sign pointing to his hometown in 1942 and it was a tradition that quickly caught on. There are now thousands of signs. Pictures cannot really describe how many rows upon rows of signs there are behind these posts. There are a lot of families/places represented here!

{sidenote: yes, I am wearing blue camo gauchos. awesome no?

i got them on sale at Target 4 or 5 years ago and they are just so comfy. and highly stylish of course.}

Luke wouldn't let me take his picture until we found a sign that he liked. We agreed we couldn't get much better than this!

{he grew up a mere 50 miles from the world famous corn palace}

After this stop we hit the highway for real. We had picked up a free guidebook the day before so I was busy scouring the pages for places we simply couldn't miss. This was the next one we reached:

Johnson's Crossing "World Famous" Cinnamon Rolls.

{according to my husband they are not as good as the ones his classmate's mother makes}

After being on the road for 7 days, someone revolted over the seating arrangements:

In case any of you were feeling sorry for her, I am here to show proof that she didn't have it so bad:

The rest of the day was filled with a lot of this:

That night we reached Kluane Lake:

I had read a rave review in the trusty guidebook about a campground located on the lake and we decided that we would stay. I am so glad we did because this was the view from our spot:

{sidenote: this was taken at 6:30 in the morning. look at how high that sun is!}

On Sunday night we got the camper set up in our spot and decided to head out for a walk along the beach. As we were walking and talking and just enjoying being with one another, we both agreed that we were just ready to be done. Ready to be off the road, out of the car and in a real bed in a real room. So we decided to set the alarm for early and drive until we got there.

So that's what we did.

Apparently it was the wise decision as someone else was feeling the weariness of the road:

{she pretty much refused to leave the front seat the whole day}

Let's get a close up on this woebegone creature:

Heartbreaking no?

So we hit the road and hit is hard. Soon enough we saw something pretty exciting:

After an incredibly easy border crossing (God answers prayer!), we hit the road for more driving. While the wildlife was lacking (all we saw in these two days was 1 wolf, which I didn't actually see), the scenery was beautiful:

Soon enough, we reached our destination.

(and by soon enough I mean after a looooong day of driving, driving and driving. it seems that every time we calculated the mileage we had left it wasn't getting less)

We met Luke's Great Aunt LaVonne, who is letting us crash in the other side of her duplex and then started to get settled into our new home. Unfortunately I had a paper due right away the next morning that I needed something online for, so we headed out to find wifi. We eventually found it and I got to see what I needed to see (I was doing my paper on a specific episode of Parenthood) and headed back so I could finish up my paper. Then, we had to drive BACK to where we found it the first time so I could upload it. It was a very exciting end to our adventure!

Now that we've been here for awhile (and yes, I will take pictures and post them soon of our new home!), it feels like the trip just flew by.

However, we are both in agreement that we would like to be here for awhile because neither of us are ready quite yet to pack everything up and repeat that trip very soon.

Operation Alaska Move (Days 5 & 6)

2010-06-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

The light woke us up early on Friday and we pulled out of Prince George by 8:00. The road took us north to Dawson Creek, home of mile '0' of the Alaska highway.

The sun came out and we enjoyed our first day of dry weather for several days. The BC countryside is breathtaking – trees beget mountains which beget rivers.

Mile after mile after mile of trees, then a mile of a field holding a horse … or something else:

Finally the trees gave way to field and our road took us into Dawson Creek and mile '0':

To be honest, the beginning of the touted Alaska Highway was not what we expected. It starts in an agricultural area and it felt as if we were still home in the states. We decided that it was more Minnesota than South Dakota because of the rolling hills.

Well, however it looked it was still exciting to officially on our path!

The road took us to Fort Nelson for the night, where we ate at the Fort Nelson Hotel Café. If you ever meander your way up here, we highly recommend it. The service is great and the fries are AMAZING!

We parked the camper at the BlueBonnet RV park, which was a fancy name for a parking lot behind their hotel.

(It has been interesting to see the differences in all of the parks we've stayed in each night. However, as long as there are showers and electric hook-ups, we're happy!)

Saturday saw us going up and down more mountains and through more trees. Along the way we encountered stone goats:

And black bears:

And elk:

And bison:

We also passed Muncho Lake, which is supposedly one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. The minerals turn the water a most gorgeous turquoise color, which stretches on for mile after mile:

The lady who checked us into the campsite at Banff had told us about a hot springs near the Liard River, so we knew we simply had to stop. We spent a relaxing couple of hours soaking in the sulphuric warmth and ridding our bodies of toxins:

After that we hit the road again. We had supper at mile marker 533, Coal River, B.C. where we enjoyed overpriced bison burgers.

(The thing we have noticed most of all is the cost of living in Canada is a bit higher than in the states. Gas stations are few and far between so you have to pull in when you see one, which means at times you end up paying a bit more than you would like. The highest we have paid so far has been 1.89/litre which equals out to 7.18/gallon. Ouch!)

According to my guide book, the road between Fort Nelson and Watson City is the most scenic part of the highway and I have not found any evidence to refute that argument!

Out the window is a sea of trees. They climb up the mountains and fill the valleys. The greens from the deciduous and coniferous mix together and create a waving ripple of color:

Our stop for the night is Watson Lake, just across the border of the Yukon. It is after 9:00 before we park for the night, but the sun is still high in the sky.

However, we have quickly realized that if we drive from sunup to sundown we would put in a veeeery long day!

Operation Alaska Move (Day 3 &4)

2010-05-30T09:00:00.001-07:00

Thursday was a big day as that was our time to cross the border. There were a couple of details that were making me a little nervous, namely our firearms and Millie. However, things went incredibly smoothly and we crossed with no problem. The border patrol did not even look at our stuff, which was a relief because if they had chosen to go through everything it would have taken us awhile to put it all back again!

After crossing the border we headed north towards Banff. Along the way we discovered a very important stop we had to make:

After some agonizing decisions, we were happily back on our way with fancy German gummies (the fish and frogs), sour cherry coke bottles and hot lips:

(my favorites were the sour cherry coke bottle ... mmmm)

The road continued to take us north. We skirted around Calgary and then stopped in Canmore for supper. After some delicious Chinese and a quick stop at Safeway to replenish some groceries, we crossed into Banff National Park:

We spent the night at the Tunnel Mountain Campgrounds and then headed off again in the morning.
Most of our day was spent driving through Banff and Jasper National Parks, which are connected. It was a grey, cloudy, cool and rainy day, which shrouded the mountains in mystery:

Our pass expired at 4:00 pm and we pulled out of the park at 3:57. We headed west and ended our day in Prince George, BC.

A supper of Pizza Hut and a stop at a coffee shop for wi-fi found us ready for bed so we went on a search for an RV campsite. It was ten o'clock at that point, which meant most offices were closed. We pulled into the first site we found and woke up the caretaker and talked her into giving us a spot. We tucked into our little spot and settled in for the night.

Operation Alaska Move (Days 1 & 2)

2010-05-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

IT'S OFFICIAL!

Our stuff is boxed up and packed carefully in our Explorer and camper, we have snacks and audio books to last us a week or more and we said good-bye to our little house:

Anchorage here we come!

Our first day on the road took us from the far southeastern corner of Montana to the north central part of the state, where we spent the night with one of Luke's friends from Bible school. Along the way we saw lots of this:

Rain and prairie.

Occasionally, we would see something a little more diverse rising out of the landscape:

On Tuesday we ran some errands in Great Falls, picked up some last minute items, including a booster pack so I can keep my laptop charged and we can jump start the vehicle in the middle of nowhere if need be.

Then, since we don't have a schedule or any deadlines, we decided to head west to Glacier National Park. As we headed out on the road, we started to see the mountains in the far distance:

After arriving at the park, we decided to put our legs to good use and went for a walk. It felt good to stretch out our muscles and we enjoyed seeing the scenery:

After securing a spot at the local KOA:

(can you tell which one is not like the others?)

we decided to head out to find food. That is when we discovered the sad truth that nothing is open this time of the year.

At least not until Friday.

So, we went back to camp and scrounged through our food and found a rather delicious supper within our stores. Then we settled into our cozy home for the night:

Of course there are many things we have seen and not been able to get pictures of:

The sound of the woodpecker echoing through a huge valley * The sunlight highlighting the hills

The amazing scope of God's Creation that gives the viewer goosebumps * The absolute silence of nature

We're really enjoying our trip! Don't worry - I'll be back with days 3 & 4 soon!

Plan B

2010-05-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

I first stumbled across Pete Wilson's blog a year or so ago. I enjoy reading his perspective on life and hearing about his viewpoint of Scripture. Of course I knew he was writing a book and figured that I would try to get my hands on it eventually. Then, one day while I was home working on homework I looked at Twitter and saw that he had linked to a way to get a free copy of his book.

Free? I was in!

After looking at the link I was really in because it led me to BookSneeze, a brainchild of Thomas Nelson Publishers. Basically, if you're a blogger you can get free books to review. Free books = happy Rachel!

So I signed up and waited until noon so I could request Plan B. Of course, because I am not the only person following Pete's blog/Twitter, he crashed the Internet because there were so many of us trying to get the book. Well, an hour and a half later I prevailed and soon enough Plan B made its way to Montana!

This is a book that I savored. I did not sit down and read it from cover to cover in one day. Instead, I pulled out my pink highlighter and slowly went through it, chapter by chapter, day by day.

When reading the stories of Biblical Plan B's, such as Joseph, Job, Abraham and the disciples, I was reminded once again of how much I can't comprehend our God. As C.S. Lewis says, "He is not a tame lion." I can't put God in a box and open it only when I want something to pop out. He is not our puppet and we do not pull the strings. He is in control. End of story.

So, when we come to a situation where things don't seem to be working out, we have choices. We can get mad, yell, scream, cry and block God out. Or, we can yell, scream, and cry out TO God, letting Him into our pain and letting Him guide our steps down the path we might not have chosen. That is when beauty happens. That is when God does a work through us that we could not have imagined. Sure, it would be easier if our Plan A's would have worked out, but our God is not a God that we can give a lesson plan to. It doesn't work that way and Pete's book is a great reminder of that truth.

His writing convicted me of my own prosperity gospel, believing that God is only supporting me in the good times. The Biblical truths put forth in Pete's book are ones that will stand the test of the time, the test of trials and the test of life. We might not do it perfectly, but no matter where we go, or what we do, God is there with us, walking beside us, even when we're on a path we didn't choose. And that is comfort indeed.

If you are going through a situation you didn't ask for, or think you might someday (hint: you will), you need to pick up this book!

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Plan B from Thomas Nelson in exchange for my honest review. I was not paid or coerced to say anything I did say*

The One Where I Spout 7 Random Things (#8)

2010-04-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

1.
In all my clicking this morning I came across this:

Ummm ... thank you How Not To Dress Like A Mom. You made my world a happier place this morning.

(and if you're in a reader and the video did not embed ... please click over here and watch. please please please! it will make your life a better place. i promise.)

And no, I'm not a mom (or even going to be one soon.). I have just started this interest in looking at style blogs, especially ones that aren't necessarily full of "hip and trendy". I live in the middle of MT. Hip and trendy here is a pink pair of Fat Babies and some wranglers. But it's nice to see some options that look cute and doable. And I figure if I start looking at stuff to wear when I'm pregnant now, before it's happened, then I can start out my pregnancy by being cute. Plus I like looking at pictures of preggo people. They're cute.

Does that sound creepy? I really hope not.

2.
Speaking of cute and doable, this morning I put on my flip-flops, even though it was only 37. The sky was blue, the sun shining and the thermometer kept heading closer and closer to 40, so I figured it would be a nice, balmy 60 degree day (ummm yeah ... I grew up in Minnesota and now live in Montana. when I was little the rule was once it hit 50 you could wear shorts and play in the sprinkler).

Anyways, we get out to camp (just 5 1/2 miles but 1000 ft higher) and IT IS FREEZING! Luckily I work inside. That wind is just brutal!

3.
True confession time :: those first two were from last week. As in April 16th. Nice. I don't know how many times I've started this and not finished. In the words of Liz Lemon : blurgh.

4.
I'm in the middle of working on my final exam right now. I have finished 2 questions out of 5 and I am on page 5. Overachieve much?

It's also frustrating me because it takes me sooooo long to answer one question. Mostly because I don't wanna so I click on my Reader, then I click on Facebook, then I check the news headlines. Of course as soon as any new tweet pops up on my Chromed Bird I'm all over that like white on rice.

5.
Speaking of rice, I dreamt about making Pastor Ryan's Mexican Lasagna (via PW). Yes, I dreamt that I decided to make it, out of the blue, with the ingredients I had on hand. I stalled somewhere around the rice. But the rice part of the dream was loooong. It was strange.

6.
I dream a lot of strange dreams. A LOT. I've heard it gets worse when you're pregnant? Oh boy!

7.
My husband picked me these flowers yesterday:

He's the best.

Happy Friday one and all! Hope you have a relaxing weekend planned. We have a bunch of K-5th grade kiddos descending upon camp tonight so Rachel's weekend = busy! Pretty sure I'll be working horses, which means grooming, saddling, leading trail rides, unsaddling and running horses. Life of a secretary!

The One Where I Participate In 10 On Tuesday (#8)

2010-04-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

1. What two cities should be moved closer together?
Ummm .....

2. What was the first plane ride you took?
The shuttle from Fergus Falls, MN to Minneapolis, MN to go to my brother's wedding in Los Angeles. We walked out on the tarmac and there were only 5 seats. I was 10 and very motion sick (and still get that today!).

3. What continent would you most like to visit?
Europe. Something about the castles and the history and the food. It all fascinates me.

4. What’s your favorite place to window-shop?
If by window shop you mean wander the aisles, that would be Target. I love that store, for some dumb reason.

5. What’s the least fun you’ve ever had at a place specifically tailored for fun?
Ummmm ....

6. You’re stuck on an island with plenty of food, a companion, and a relatively stress-free lifestyle. What do you say when the rescue ship comes?
Depends on whether the island had indoor plumbing and a shower.

7. Which day of the week do you look forward to most?
Sundays because it's relaxing. Hubby is a big proponent of taking a Sabbath and I am quickly catching on to that!

8. What’s your favorite place to enjoy the great outdoors?
Mmm... I'll agree with Chelsea and say the beach because I love water. Watching it is mesmerizing! But really, as long as there is sun, I'm in. Whether its quiet woods with sun spots, a sunny prairie or a sun soaked beach, I'm in!

9. What’s on your “to do” list this summer?
Well, we're moving to Alaska (yup! it's official! May 8th we head out from MT and go to AK via MN and SD!), so I'm guessing lots of exploring and seeing God's creation. I'm also flying to MN in August for one of my best friend's wedding! Hooray! That's pretty much my only "scheduled" activity besides summer school.

10. Which natural disaster freaks you out the most
Earthquakes I think.

Now go visit Chelsea and read some more TOTs!

Oh and I'm officially freaking out because I have a paper and a looooong final due next Tues/Weds but instead of having all week to work on them, I have a trip to Rapid City (3 hours away) to pick up my glasses and contacts on Thursday, a retreat this weekend at camp where I'll be helping with horses, which means no time to sit in the office and do homework, and a major car shopping in Billings, MT (4 hrs away) on Sunday/Monday. I haven't started either because I was lazy last week and sick this week. And now I'm blogging about instead of doing it. Yikes!

The One Where I Participate In 10 On Tuesday (#7)

2010-03-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK.

Well, at least to Ten on Tuesday.

Well, at least for this week.

I hope.

1. What television character do you identify with?
Wow. That's a really hard question. I mean, I can think of several I want to be, but actually identify with? Hmm. I will ponder this and come back later.

Well, it's later and I still got nothing. Maybe it'll come to be tonight in a dream? If so, I'll let ya know!

2. Describe your morning routine.
That depends on whether it is a day I work right away (monday/friday) or stay home in the morning (tues/thurs) or stay home all day (weds). The first two normally involves me getting out of bed somewhere between 8:15 and 8:30, showering, wolfing down a bowl of cereal and going to work. The other days I take it a little bit easier ... get up around the same time, but then I try to work out (day #7 of The Shred today!), have my 'quiet time', read blogs, shower, etc.

3. How do you do lunch? Bring from home or dine out? Same thing every day or mix it up?
We eat lunch at home everyday. It's 5 1/2 miles to camp, so it's a bit of a time killer, but it's nice to be in our house and to just get away for a little bit. We like to eat leftovers for lunch or sandwiches or mac'n'cheese. Sometimes we go really crazy and get Wagon Wheel (best $3.00 bacon cheeseburger and fries around!)

4. What is one moment that, although seemingly trivial at the time, changed your life?
I checked the phone messages at camp one day and heard a message from this guy who wanted to come work at camp that summer. I ended up marrying that guy 7 months later.

5. Name your top three beauty products.
Mary Kay super duper moisturizer
Eyeliner
Mousse

6. What do you do when you’re alone in the car?
I sing and dance to the music. I shift in my seat while making funny noises. I move my hands all over the steering wheel. I take pictures of myself. I make faces at myself. I talk to myself. I eat copious amounts of junk food. I drink lots of water and then do the "i really really really gotta pee" shift. Listen to books on tape. Call people. Play with the temperature gauge.

I drove across NoDak by myself a lot. It got long. Really long.

7. What is the ideal city for you to live in? If you can, take this survey ( that’s a link) and tell us the results. Do you agree with them?
According to this survey I am suppose to live in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Interestingly enough hubby and I had thrown out NM as a potential place to live because it's warm there. We'll see. Its far away from family and life as we know it.

8. Are you waiting for something?
Aren't we always? I feel like as humans we are in a potential state of 'hurry up and wait'. I'm waiting for us to move, I'm waiting for us to have kids (hopefully not for a couple of years!), I'm waiting to graduate from college, etc, etc , etc.

However, I'm fighting to be in the now. God has been really impressing on me that He gives us the grace/courage/strength/etc that we need for TODAY. One day at a time baby!

It's baby steps that add up to the monstrous leaps.

'baby steps around the office ... baby steps out the door ... baby steps onto the elevator"

(name that movie)

9. What was the last shocking news you heard?
Shocking = bad. I try to hold onto the good and let go of the bad. However, there is more bad than good.

But I'm drawing a blank on all of it.

10. What are three things you wouldn’t do for a million dollars?
Sleep/stand/sit/be in a pit/den/bucket/etc of snakes
Leave my husband (or any of my family)
Renounce my faith

The One Where I Spout 7 Random Things (#7)

2010-03-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

Click on the pretty yellow picture to visit Jennifer and more Quick-Takers!

My left shift key is broken and it's driving me nuts! Do you know what letter you capitalize using that key? The I. Yeah, no big thing, just my favorite word ever!

(ok, ok, maybe "I" isn't my most favorite word ever, but it's close! Do you know how many time you use that?? A lot. And I never know if the shift key is going to work or not until I type.)

Ever since I got married I have had woman after woman tell me horror stories about problems getting their passport changed after one year, so I thought I'd be on the ball and get it now. Especially since I need it to drive through Canada to get to Alaska! So I went to our little courthouse and the lady was really nice and mailed me the forms I needed (because she didn't know off hand, so she had to check) and so I go through and fill them out and they still want to charge me $75. GRR! Mine isn't expired (or even close ... 2014 is when my old one runs out) and I am changing it within a couple months of getting married. Apparently that's not good enough. Boo!

I am in the process of figuring out my fall schedule for 2010. We decided that I need to just go for it and finish up college, so I'm pushing through and will hopefully graduate Fall of 2011. Yay! Anyways, I have been putting this off and I need to just get it done! So I have that window open while writing this. And my taxes window. Cause I definitely need those done too - hello FAFSA!

Alece twittered about Grey's Anatomy on Thursday, which led me to go to YouTube and start watching clips, which reminded me how much I like that show! SUCH a guilty pleasure and one I haven't indulged in for awhile, but 3 clips and I'm hooked again! I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to fit it in. No problem right? Considering I am a season and a half behind, plus a season and a half of Private Practice (because I LOVE Addison. I used to hate her, because, well, really who didn't at first? Now she's my favorite!)

I started this on Thursday night, could not get past number 4, walked away and just now came back to it on Sunday night. I am still going to post it, because, after all, I put a lot of work into #s 1-4 (a lot of work ... pahahahah. that makes me laugh, but that's my theory and I'm sticking to it!).

Speaking of theories, this semester I am taking a media theories class and it is kicking my butt. Probably because my textbook is long and boring. So, this half of the sem I'm going to be smart - I will take notes, so when it comes time for my final exam, I will have everything organized. Of course it adds hours of work, but oh well. All for organization!

On a nicer note, I finished my taxes and I'm excited! Hooray for education credits, you know what I'm saying??

Cheers!

The One Where I Spout 7 Random Things (#6)

2010-03-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

{ Just imagine the pretty yellow logo here and then go visit Jennifer for more Quick Takes!}

1.
I had mentioned in a brief snippet before that my husband is looking for seasonal work in Alaska, which means, yes, we are leaving camp.

It's been a great, wonderful, amazing and awesome (throw in a little bit of frustrating, hair-pulling, exasperating), place for me to be for the past 3 1/2 years. I have grown a lot in who God is, who I am and how those two mix. Hopefully I will have some time to write more about this in the coming months because I have a feeling I will have some processing to do!

2.
That means that "Montana Missionary" is no longer going to be applicable. I have been toying for awhile with updating my blog anyways and renaming it (I do have the name in mind) but right now I am thinking about where I want to host it. I am currently on Blogger, which is fine, but I am intrigued by WordPress. Any input? Please??

3.
I have been out of blogging for so long I am drawing a blank on what to write about. Sad. I have read over and over again that if you want to write you should just sit down and write everyday, no matter how profound or awful. I agree. However, I don't make that kind of time.

4.
I only have my passport left to change fully over to my new name. This past week I changed both my drivers license and social security card. Today I introduced myself to someone using my new last name and while in my head I was frantically trying to make sure I said the right thing, when it came out of my mouth it just flowed. I like that.

5.
My old name is a rather typical Lutheran, Norwegian Minnesotan name: Nelson. My new name is Dutch and 2 words and my hubby has never met anyone else with the same last name. How exciting that is!

6.
Hubby and I spent the night going over finances. Combing bank accounts is hard and time consuming!

7.
Taxes are calling our names too. However, we're just pretending we can't hear them. It's more fun this way.

The One Where I Peek

2010-03-11T22:40:00.000-08:00

Hello loves!

Well, it appears I took a bit of a blogging hiatus. Whoops! I didn't really mean to ... it just happened that way. Work is starting to pick up, school has been busy (even though last week was spring break .... what happened to sitting on the beaches of Florida??), and life has just been.

So, I will be back soon. After, you know, my mind catches up with my body and my time zone. Or something like that!

The One Where I Say I Do (pt 2)

2010-03-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

Hello Loves!

If you missed part one, you can go here to get caught up! If not, well, here's part two!

The 10 days leading up to the wedding are now a blur.

However, when I was living them, I thought they were dragging on and on and on. I would spend all day doing stuff, fall into bed at night and then wake up in the morning and still be DAYS away from getting married. No matter how much I got accomplished and how many errands I ran, I still wasn't married.

And getting things accomplished and running errands were pretty much my life leading up to the wedding. I may not remember day to day details, but I remember that. Target runs, WalMart runs, Fargo runs, Fergus runs. Always running, always spending more money.

I did take a couple of days off before Christmas, just to enjoy some down time. I enjoyed just hanging out with Luke and resting. My classes had just finished the week before and it was a bit dicey at the end, so it was nice to just not do anything. We went to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at my home church, which is always a highlight for me, and then spent a relaxed Christmas Eve/Day with my family, just chilling.

Then the day after Christmas hit and it was time. Time to start running here and there and everywhere!

I started off with a trip to the bakery to decide on designs for the cakes (we put little wedding cakes/cheesecakes on each table - GREAT idea by my mom!) and then met up with Bethy to hit up the after Christmas sales on Christmas trees. I had decided a couple of weeks before that I wanted to put trees lit with white lights all over. It ended up not being all over all over, but it looked great at the front of the church!

The next couple of days are a blur but I know they included several trips to Fargo (one with Luke, one with my mom, another one with Luke to pick up my sister-in-law and niece and nephew) to find Luke's wedding ring (we were able to walk out of the store with it - YAY!!), look for gifts for our attendants (did you know that it's impossible to find 4 gold necklaces that are the same style the week after Christmas?), to look for a dress for mom to wear, to buy me yet more stuff (earrings, necklace, brown boots for the rehearsal supper, etc etc etc), to drop my ring off to get soldered (boy is THAT another story for another time), get mints for the wedding (Sam's Club, WalMart, Target, Kmart all let me down. we had to get our mints from the candy store in the mall.), to just buy and buy and buy and buy.

Then of course there were all the trips to Fergus. I had to pay for the flowers and drop off the ribbons, I had to scour all the stores for this and that and this and that.

We had been planning on printing the programs ourselves but mom's printer was having some serious issues, so I ended up stopping by a print shop owned by the parents of one of my high school classmates and they gave me a great deal on printing, which meant I had to get the program designed and emailed to them by that night so they could print it before shutting down for New Years.

I had my church wedding shower, which was a lot of fun! I had to buy make-up (I have ridiculously sensitive skin so I normally don't wear anything, but I had to have SOMETHING for my wedding!). I got my nails done. I went to the doctor for that fun little pre-wedding check-up. I went and went and did and did.

Probably the hardest part about that week was not getting to spend time with Luke. The poor guy was dragged along to his future-in-laws and then told he had to just 'hang out' for a week and a half. Luckily he is a farm boy and I grew up on a farm, so my dad was in heaven! He used Luke to help feed and help with this and help with that, but it was still hard for him to fill his days, especially when I was off spending our money all the time! I told him that his job was to keep my sane, but I don't think it helped his sanity when I would pull him along on my shopping trips and make him help me decide between white or off-white.

We finally hit the last couple of days before the wedding. On Wednesday I ran errands all day and then met up with my girls for my personal shower/bachelorette party. It was a small group - 3 of my bridesmaids (Luke's sister wasn't in town yet - sadly!) and my sister-in-law - and it was really nice to just have a chill evening. We ate at a nice Italian restaurant and then went back to Rondi's for an evening of snacks and talking. I had asked Karla to do my make-up so she spent time practicing that - putting it on, making me wash my face and then putting it on again. In fact, the only pictures I have of that night are of my face - so we could compare/contrast different styles.

When I went to open my gifts, things got a little wild. Fergus is a decent sized town - about 12-13,000 and has a WalMart, KMart, Target, Herbergers and Pamida. All that and my 3 girls all still got me the exact same thing. Apparently the selection in town is POOR! So, while Kar and I practiced make-up, the other 3 went out to return what they got me and picked up a couple more options. A girl has to have options you know!

The next day was New Years Eve, a day I look forward too all year long. I have the best extended family and every year we have a huge shindig on NYE. There is copious amounts of food (including yummy Norwegian treats like lefse, rosettes and krumkake), lots of story telling, laughing and game playing. The game playing starts as soon as supper is over and goes until about 5 AM. In my day I was a definite partaker in the all night games - rolling home around 6 or so. When we were little, my parents would go home and trust that someone from the family would get us home (the party is at my dad's cousin's house, which is only 2 miles away from our house), and they always did!

I was really excited to introduce Luke to the craziness that is the Bothun's and they didn't disappoint! However, because it was the day before the day before our wedding, we didn't stay out too late. I had a church to decorate in the morning! So we hung out there until 10 or 11, played one game and then headed home. We did some last minute stuff (put gifts in bags, wrote thank-you cards, etc) and then went to bed shortly after midnight.

The past 10 days had dragged and flown by at the same time. Yet, the clock kept ticking and the days kept passing and soon enough we were at the day before the wedding. Of course that had it's own drama ... but I'll save that for next time!

Now for the gratuitous wedding picture:

The One Where I Spout 7 Random Things (#5)

2010-02-26T10:21:00.000-08:00

I normally do this at home, so I have the 7 Quick Takes pic in my documents and quickly upload it. But today I write to you from my work computer that has no graphic and really no time to do the rigamorale.

(my spell check says that isn't a real word. but it SO is. right? i mean, right??)

So, the moral of the story is go visit Jennifer for more Quick Takers (which, unfortunately does not include her as her household got hit by a bug - yikes!).

Anyways, without further ado:

1.
Today we are having a retreat group come up from Rapid City. Yay! After all, that's the point of what we do and we like what we do. So, yay! Bad news is that 2 of the 6 cabins we were trying to use are frozen. So, they're going to Plan B (which is just a simple way of saying we'll open up different cabins instead of those. we winterize all our cabins in the fall and just open them throughout the winter as we need them. less frozen pipes that way! at least ... supposedly). Can I just say again how glad I am that I am the secretary and not part of the maintenance team? Poor Hubby!

2.
I am currently working on a letter to send out to all my supporters (the missionary part of this whole Montana Missionary thing). It says Feb on it, so I figure I should actually get it sent out somewhat close to Feb. I have just been so busy since we got married I haven't had time. No good since my supporters didn't even hear about Hubby until I sent them my wedding invites. True story. And now they haven't heard from me since. Yikes! For those wondering, this is not a prime example of "how to live life as a missionary"

3.
Speaking of not being on top of things, I still haven't changed my driver's license. In my defense, I live 2 hours from the closest DL bureau and the other day when I went to get my soc. security card it wasn't in my state! But now the camp's bank is asking me to bring in my new DL so they can get a copy for their records. Errr .... apparently a road trip is in my future!

Sidenote: anyone know what the DL bureau is called in the blue pages??

Side sidenote: why do government offices NEVER answer their phones??

4.
I am now listening to the Pandora Glee station thanks to Nora. It's amazing and I love it! So cheerful! However, my boss doesn't like noise in the office (his office is just off of mine and he never closes his door), so when he gets back from town (yeah, we have to go to "town" to get the mail and go to the bank), I'll have to turn it down or turn it off. I have a bad habit of slowly having the volume on my music creep up further and further until he says something and then I do a good job of turning it down until I let it creep up and up and up and then we do the whole process over and over again. So fun!

5.
We got 3 heavy prayer requests last night (2 from my home church in MN and 1 from our church here) and my heart is just heavy today. There are sad things happening. I love knowing that prayer makes a difference, but I also am works oriented so I want to be able to DO something. But that's the beauty isn't it? Prayer IS doing something. It's the best thing we can DO. And so I do. And rest in the knowledge that God has this in His control.

Sidenote: Thanks to this amazingly convicting article I emailed one of them to let them know I was praying. Thanks to Alece for posting it on Twitter!

6.
I had coffee this morning for the first time in a week. I think my taste buds are still all messed up from my cold as it just doesn't taste as good. And now I have a headache from the caffeine. Awesome. Apparently being sick weaned me off but now I'm forcing myself back on. Good choice Rachel! However, I will probably need it the next two mornings because I am cooking breakfast for the retreat group, which means getting up early!

7.
Have I ever told you that during the "off-season" my work day starts at 9? So that means Hubby and I routinely roll out of bed at 8:15 or later. Yeah, it's rough :-)

Happy Friday loves!

The One Where I Talk For Awhile

2010-02-25T09:42:00.000-08:00

Do ya'll have any traditions? As we go further and further along in our married life (it'll be 2 months on Tuesday!), I have noticed some things that are becoming regular.

The first one started to develop before we were even married. Hubby always came to pick me up on Sunday mornings for church and one time we decided he would come over early and have breakfast. That became more and more normal and pretty soon it was an understood. At first we would make scrambled eggs and sit down and eat them with toast. One morning I was running behind a little, and so he made the eggs. Then, because I wouldn't have time to sit down and eat, he put it in a burrito shell so I could take it with us. Genius! They were so delicious that we have made that part of our normal Sunday morning routine.

We were even able to share that tradition with his parents when they came to see us last weekend!

On nights when I make pizza (I am currently on the search for a delicious, easy, quick pizza sauce recipe - any input??), we have a tendency to watch movies. Now, watching something is not unusual for us - we just normally choose to watch TV on DVD or Netflix (Alias,The Office, Heroes, etc). However, one night we decided to actually watch a movie and it just so happened that I had Herbie from Netflix. There are times that I love the opportunity to go back to my childhood and this was one of them! The next time we had pizza, we chose The Absent Minded Professor. We had pizza on Tuesday night and we watched White Christmas.

I think the impetus behind this is mainly me, but I am enjoying having a chance to watch some old movies with Hubby. It's almost as if pizza and old movies now go together. It only makes sense to me!

As time goes on (after all, we haven't even been married for 2 months!), I am excited to see what other traditions come up. What about you? Anything you do that has become tradition?

As you can see, ours mainly revolves around food. Mostly because we live in the middle of nowhere and you have to find joy in the little things. But do you have anything that doesn't involve eating?

The One Where I Participate In 10 On Tuesday (#6)

2010-02-23T09:07:00.000-08:00

Go visit Chelsea for more TOTs!

1. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
   Mint Chocolate Chip

2. What is your earliest memory?
   I was in the barn, sitting on a horse. It was the day that he got sold, so I guess it was me saying good-bye?

3. What is your earliest memory of a dessert?
   Probably drinking my mom's amazing chocolate shakes or watching her make chocolate cake.

4. Do you have any recurring dreams?
   When I was little I used to dream a lot about the Nestle witch - do you remember those commercials? Anyways, I used to dream she was in our basement. Now, I have a lot of dreams where I am screaming for help but I don't make any sound. Very frustrating!

5. Have you ever dreamed about dessert?
   Not to my recollection.

6. What is one thing (aside from a cell phone or computer) that you cannot go the entire day without?
   A hug from Hubby.

7. What is one dessert you could go your entire life without ever having again?
   Any pie that ends in 'cream'.

8. If you could go on vacation tomorrow, where would you go? (Assume someone else is footing the bill, but within reason…so “the moon” won’t work)
  On a round the world cruise.

9. If you could have any dessert tomorrow, what would you have (assume someone else is buying it for you. Within reason though, no “gold sprinkled ice cream cones.”)
  Mmmm ... I agree with Chelsea on these. Cheesecake or chocolate covered strawberries. Yummy!

10.  What was your first impression of your significant other? If you’re single, what was your first impression of your best friend?
  I thought he was really good looking, but quiet.

11. What is your first impression of dessert pizza? (Personally, I think it’s weird. I love dessert but I don’t want any on my pizza.)
  How did he sneak in an 11th question?? That's what I want to know!

  Oh, and I like dessert pizza. It's a little weird, but delicious none-the-less.

The One Where I Whine But Find Joy At The Same Time

2010-02-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

My head is stuffy, my throat is sore, my ears are about to burst from pressure and my nose is red and swollen.

And yet hubby still tells me how beautiful I am.

I love him.

The One Where I Spout 7 Random Things (#4)

2010-02-19T15:32:00.000-08:00

Click on the picture to take you to more 7 Quick Takes! And without further ado, here are mine::

1.
It is 4:14 and I am currently curled up in bed with Miss Millie and my heating blanket. On Wednesday night I started to get a headache and that feeling like I was going to get sick. Thursday morning I woke up with a slightly sore throat but felt pretty good. By the time I got back from "town" it had turned into a chest thing. I have a headache and my chest is really really tight. My colds don't normally go to my chest this early but apparently this time I "lucked" out!

2.
I went to "town" yesterday for a multitude of reasons - to get a new soc security card, to drop off a ton of stuff at a Goodwill type place, to go to the doctor and to see my BFF. The reason I chose that "town" was specifically because of the soc security office. As much as I love my BFF and love having her only 2 hours away from me, we don't normally go to that "town" because there are more options the other way (we are in the middle of a triangle that will get us to 3 different WalMarts in 3 different states in 2 hours). But the next closest soc. sec office is 3 hours away. I even chose what gynecologist I would go see because of the soc security office (and no, I'm not pregnant. I am just blessed by a bladder infection. that. won't. go. away.). So, I booked it up there to get to the dr on time, had a wonderful lunch with Bethy and then headed on my merry way to the soc security office. I circled the block a couple of times trying to find it (it was in a very nondescript building with a ton of other offices), found a parking spot and went inside. I reached for the door and had some issues getting it open. Apparently they are only open until noon on Thursday.

3.
Miss Millie got a haircut this week and as a result, she is also a very big fan of my heating blanket. It's kind of funny.

4.
My in-laws have been talking about coming to see us for awhile now because they haven't been here yet, (they live in SoDak, about 500 miles away. incidentally, my parents also live 500 miles away from us, but just in MN), and this weekend was one they had talked about. We hadn't heard from them for sure, so we just assumed they weren't coming, but we got a call from my MIL at lunch and they're planning on heading this way. Tonight! I picked up the house and unfortunately, that's about the best they're going to get. I'm excited to have them come, because I love my in-laws. They're amazing. But my energy level is about zero. And there is nothing to do in our small town, so hopefully they like just staring at their beautiful children because thats about all they're going to get!

5.
Hubby and I have been working our way through The Office season 5 on instant Netflix. We're fans. Except it's so awkward that we can only take it for a little bit. Except it's such a trainwreck that we can't stop watching. So, at various time of our viewing we'll take turns turning our faces away because "IT'S JUST SO AWKWARD". Then we get over it and laugh.

6.
I am in a BBC mood right now. An old BBC kinda mood. So I put a bunch of BBC shows in my instant queue and plan to watch them as soon as I'm done writing this.

7.
I'm sorry if this doesn't make a lot of sense. I really tried but my head is just making no sense to me right now. So, good luck deciphering!

The One Where I Say I Do (pt 1)

2010-02-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hello Loves!

I know there are a couple of you out there that are interested in hearing about our wedding and seeing some pictures, so this is for you! Sorry this is so late, and I can't promise this will be done in a timely manner, but here it goes:

Hubby (then Fiance) and I were planning on heading to my parents house on Christmas Eve. We would race to Bismarck to pick up my wedding dress before the shop closed, and then race on home to Minnesota so we could make it in time for my church's Christmas Eve service. Considering its a 7-8 hour drive and church was at 4, we would have had a full day!

Then mom called me at 7:00 on Tuesday morning and said that if we were planning on being home for Christmas, we had to leave. Right then.

Ummm ... what?!?

Bear in mind that at this point we were 11 days away from our wedding, I had planned the wedding in 2 shopping trips (one to get my dress and one to get everything else), and I had just finished finals. We had one more counseling session that night and then I was going to take Wednesday to pack, taking my time to figure out everything I needed and wanted for a week at home, the wedding and then our honeymoon (which at this point I had no idea where it was). I was determined that this time my packing would be different - it would be logical, economical and not fill up the whole car.

Yeah, about that.

So, I called Fiance, who was still sleeping. His roommate woke him up and handed him the phone. We discussed what mom had told me, namely that there were two huge blizzards heading towards my parents and we had only a small window of time to get there. We hemmed and hawed and figured it would be better to spend Christmas with family than by ourselves in MT. So, we hung up the phone and started throwing things in our suitcases.

As far as logical, economical and space conscious ... well, I tried.

The only that he told me about our honeymoon is that it was somewhere warm (which he called and told me while I was frantically throwing things in suitcases, packing up Miss Millie's things to go to the dog sitter, and calling people to tell them what was going on). I registered enough to put in my capris,shorts and flip-flops, but I totally forgot about bringing shirts. Also, I COULD NOT find my swimsuit. Anywhere. I looked and looked and looked.

Luckily my hometown has a Target and they came through for me. Their swimsuit selection this time of year was quite impressive, so I was able to pick one up. As for shirts ... well, lets just say every time I hit up Target (which was A LOT the week before the wedding), I made my way through the clothing section to see if I could glean anything else. I did score one t-shirt with a Christmas tree on it and 2 tank tops. Not bad. Combine that with the 2 t-shirts I had brought home and I made it through ok.

Anyways, we packed up the car (literally packed full, full, full!) and raced to Bismarck to pick up my dress. We were able to squeak into town right as they were closing and I tried on my dress while Fiance napped in the car. I paid for the alterations (just a simple hem job - can you believe I was able to find a dress on my one day of dress shopping that required me to buy it off the rack and all I had to do was hem it?? answered prayer!), and we headed off down the highway.

We finally pulled into my parent's house laate that night, after making several wedding stops in Fargo. It was cold, we were tired and slightly stressed but, we were there.

Next up: Christmas and the week before the wedding.

Can you even handle the excitement??

In the meantime, I will leave you with a pic. Notice my shoes - how cute are they??

The One Where I Talk For Awhile

2010-02-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before that winter is hard for me. The lack of sunlight, warmth and general cheeriness is hard on my body. I can still function and be a pretty normal human being (normal being a vague term here), but I lose joy.

I miss joy.

The past couple of days have been harder and I'm not sure why. Tears hang out in the corners of my eyes, just waiting for the slightest provocation to fall. They have given me no reason about why they showed up unexpectedly, but they sure are making themselves at home. My tone gets terser and my patience is stretched thin. I am walking along the wood on the edge of the sandbox, arms outstretched, trying to stay balanced, but the slightest bit of wind can take me either way.

I get asked a lot if I am "ok" and I have no answer. Yes, of course I am ok. But I'm not. Because I'm not quite me.

I miss me.

But soon enough I will come back, bringing my joy with me. And those days will be happy. And these will be but a distant memory.

The One Where I Participate In 10 On Tuesday (#5)

2010-02-16T21:03:00.000-08:00

Go visit Chelsea for more TOT!

Ore more tots. Whichever. I'm sure she has some.

1. If you could open any type of store/place of business (money is no obstacle), what would you open?
A haberdashery. I don't even know if that is the right word, but I would have a mish-mash of stuff, including books, kitchen supplies, cool looking things and what have you. It would be in a log building and have wooden shelves with creaky floors. No fluorescent lighting either. A place that had a ton of nooks and surprises.

2. If all jobs paid equally, what occupation would you want? Why?
Museum curator. Or archeologist. Or something to do with history.

3. If you could be any animal in the world, what would you pick? Why?
Giraffe. Cause you get to be dorky and cool and tall. And live on the serengheti.

4. If offered one “service” free of charge, which would you choose? (chauffeur, maid, personal shopper, chef, etc.)
Maid. Definitely maid. I pick my house up all the time but I don't always clean it. A maid would be lovely to do the dusting and vacuuming and cleaning.

5. What is one habit, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to break?
Compulsively reading blogs. Constantly. And blog hoppings. I've cut down my Google Reader checks to just once a day, but I still find blogs throughout the day. And checking my Facebook. Over and over and over. Drives hubby crazy!

6. What is one thing that no matter how many you own, you still love to buy all the time?
Comfy pants (hubby had to remind me. cause I totally forgot. maybe because it's just so ingrained in me that I keep buying them without thinking? hmmm.)

7. Out of all the game shows (past and present), which would you want to be a participant on and play?
Wheel of Fortune. From this side of the screen the puzzles are so easily answerable. Of course it's probably not the same on that side!

8. If you could play the lead role in any movie that’s already been made, which movie would you pick?
Hmmm .... does lead female count? Even if its not the true "lead"? Cause then I would pick Ana Pascal in Stranger than Fiction. I have no idea why, its just the role that came to my mind. Mostly because I love how confident she is in herself.

9. Name 5 things on your bucket list (things you want to do before you die).
Get a tattoo. Visit all the continents. Ride a giraffe. Get my heart broken by something that breaks Jesus' heart. Learn Italian.

10. Which one of your birthdays was the best? What did you do that day?
This past one was pretty awesome, cause hubby (well .. he wasn't hubby then) took me to Denver. Cause it was my 25th and I wanted to do something cooler than just sit around our small town. So we stayed with my brother and went to the aquarium.

The One Where I BlogStalk

2010-02-13T15:17:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was introduced to the idea of blogs, I have been a blog stalker. At my job before this one, I had A LOT of down time, because my job was to sit at my desk in case the phone rang. So, I spent a lot of time on Xanga, back when that was the cool thing.

Now that I've grown up a bit, I spend a lot of time with my Google Reader. On a slooooow day at camp, I blog hop. I go from one to another to another. Not all of them make it into my Reader, but I do get to visit a lot of people around the world!

Speaking of my Reader, I currently have 95 subscriptions.

I know 51 of those bloggers personally, or at least minimally. There is Lisa, who was my college roommate. Gretchen, who is one of my best friend's sister-in-laws. I was a wee little grade schooler when Melissa was a high schooler. Tina, Anna and Rachel were sisters that I went to high school with. Vanessa and I were good friends throughout high school (and beyond!). Bethany is one of my very very closest friends and was my matron of honor. Jenn worked at the same camp I do, except she was a couple of years ahead of me. Syd and Andrea also hail from TER. Julie is the daughter-in-law of camp's closest neighbor and someone I thoroughly enjoy spending time with when she is around. Elizabeth, who was my Bible study leader in Minnesota. Bethany, who was on my floor freshman year of college.

There are the big time bloggers, like Pete Wilson, and his wife Brandi, from Nashville. Or Abraham Piper, and his wife Molly, who go to Bethlehem Baptist (however, I'm pretty sure Lisa knows them, so I feel better about that!). Or Angie, who is Todd Smith's wife from Selah. Or of course, The Pioneer Woman, who I started reading before I even knew what Google Reader was (I spent a lot of time googling her before I finally bookmarked her).

Then there are the bloggers that I forget I don't know and might not know who I am. I have been following Amy Beth for a year now and always look forward to what she has to say, but even though we're Facebook friends, I'm pretty sure she doesn't know who I am. Alece and I are also Facebook friends, and I love reading her thoughts and dreaming thoughts of South Africa with her, but once again, don't think she knows who I am (even though she responded to my Facebook status once!). Annie, who I found out, once we were Facebook friends, know a person in common and I bought her EP, which is amazing. Chelsea, who I have been linking to like crazy lately and Twitterstalking as well (sorry Chelsea!). Another Annie that I read because of the other Annie. Ellyn, who I know has NO idea who I am, simply because I just read her blog and don't comment.

But they feel like friends. All of them. It feels like I am reading an email they are sending to me. I know that people who aren't bloggers don't understand why we blog or why we would want to read someone we don't know. But it makes sense to me. We do it because we can. Because they invite us in. Because it makes this big world just a little bit smaller. And that's nice.

The One Where I Spout 7 Random Things (#3)

2010-02-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

I love having Friday afternoon off. It isn't part of my normal schedule, but since I worked all day on Tuesday, I decided to take this afternoon off to compensate. Hubby took the afternoon off as well and it's been lovely. I read an article I have to write a paper on and it's just glorious! We're having people over for supper and a movie (a bi-weekly tradition that used to take place at another friend's house until he moved to AZ. we're going to miss him. and his gigantic screen/projector/surround sound set-up)

I have been DOMESTIC this week. I have baked and cooked more in two days than I have in the last week (in the last month if you count how much of it was from scratch - including marinara sauce, mexican rice, a cake, cookies, french bread, and several meals). Oddly enough my homework is feeling neglected this week. Weird.

I am very frustrated with the corporation Zales. We bought our rings from them, and while we like our rings a lot, they are just not truthful in what they tell us. First they told us they could have my ring soldered and back to us by our wedding ... umm yeah, that didn't happen. Luckily they had a set that looked just like mine that they let us use for the wedding, but still. FRUSTRATING! Now we took my ring in to be resized (I have really small hands and fingers) and they told us it would be back to us by Valentine's Day, including the time it took for them to ship it to us from Rapid City. Well, I called them today to check the status and they just got it in. Meaning it hadn't shipped to us yet. Not a huge deal, I am just frustrated that this is the second time they promised something they couldn't deliver. And its been two separate stores too. GRR.

We got our wireless router yesterday. It's not working yet. Grr. So I'm still tied to the kitchen table. Hopefully getting it figured out today!

I just started using Google Chrome this week at the recommendation of my friend Travis and I'm enjoying it! My favorite part (and the reason I got it in the first place) is Chromed Bird. I am so much more of a Tweeter now and I actually kinda like it!

Hubby and I hit up Sam's Club last weekend (ummm ...wow!! my family was never much of a bulk buying kinda, but hubby's was so we borrowed camp's card and hit them up. ummmm .... wow!!). Anyways, we picked up some hazelnut coffee, which is yummy with half & half. Not so yummy with french vanilla creamer.

Last Friday I mentioned hearing the sirens go off at 6:30 and not knowing what was happening. Well, on our way to work that morning, we discovered what happened - a house burnt down. So, while I was sitting here in my kitchen, playing with my blog, just a few blocks away a house was on fire and a 25 yr old man lost his life. You just don't know.

The One Where I Participate in Ten on Tuesday (#4)

2010-02-10T08:27:00.000-08:00

Confession time: I started this yesterday (meaning I copied and pasted the questions into my new post form) and then never got a chance to get back to it. So, it's actually Wednesday morning at 9:22 when I am publishing it. But they are such great questions that I couldn't not answer them! Hopefully Chelsea doesn't kick me out of the TOT club!

1. Fill in the blank. Sometimes I wish my life was more ______.
   Adventurous
2. How do you cure the hiccups?
   Sometimes I will hold my breath, but it never really works, which is annoying because I have REALLY loud hiccups and so when I go to answer the phone at work, it ends up being "good HICCUP morning" followed by profuse apologies. One time, my boss (who is a 68 yr old man) decided that he needed to help me cure my hiccups, so I was standing at his desk talking to him and while he was giving me his answer he threw in a really loud scream into the middle of his sentence. Scared me to death! I don't remember if it worked or not ... I just remember the fact that the executive director screamed in my face :-)
3. What are three of your favorite indulgences?
   1. A ton of creamer in my coffee
   2. Spending all day reading
   3. Buying the good toilet paper
4. Where is the most exotic place you would like to travel to? The most mundane?
   1. Egypt
   2. Checotah, OK
5. Does having your time planned out stress you or relax you?
   Having a plan relaxes me. I don't plan my time out in hour by hour increments, but I like to at least have a handle on what is going on.
6. What are your favourite fabrics to wear?
   Cotton
7. Do you sleep through the night?
   Nope! Before I was married I would on nights when I was really tired, but I wake up periodically other nights. Now that I'm married, I wake up every night. Just for brief moments, but there is definitely waking time!
8. When you were younger, what did you think you would be doing at this age? How close is that to what you are doing?
   Depends on how much younger. I'm going to go with late Jr High/High School, because that was when I was actually practical about my future (you know ... not some amazing horse trainer in Kentucky or an Orca Whale whisperer). Anyways, I would be a psychologist, with a practice and a husband and a baby. I always thought I would marry my high school sweetheart,but since he never showed up that didn't pan out so well. Then I thought I would start having kids in my early twenties. Not so much. So, the answer is, no. I never thought I would be a secretary at a Christian Camp in SE Montana. However, I did get the married part right! I was just a little ahead of schedule when I would dream about it :-)
9. What has surprised you most about growing up?
   The fact that we can't do whatever we want. We are taught over and over that all we have to do is dream and it will come real. While I am all about having dreams and goals and pursuing them, sometimes life just doesn't work out that way. I can't be a famous actress. I simply don't have the skills! Life is about accepting who you are, what your skill levels actually are and dreaming within them (with a HUGE dose of following the path God has for you!)
10. Are you good at keeping secrets?
   Depends on whether it is my secret or someone else's secret. I am TERRIBLE at keeping my secrets. I have such a good core group of friends that I tell all of them, everything (when I get a chance to talk to them at least :) ). And so I have very few "me" secrets. Other people's secrets are another story. I really do try to keep a handle on those. However, I do like to tell hubby. Just because I know he won't tell and it helps me to have at least that one release.

The One Where I Show You A Picture

2010-02-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

This picture always cracks me up. Every time I see it.

Just look at how intent I am!

This concrete job needs to get done and it needs to get done right, and by golly, I'm the girl to do it!

Oh the joys of working at a ministry. The meaning of the word secretary takes on SUCH a different meaning!

The One Where I Realize Something

2010-02-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight, as I was making our bed (don't judge! I was too busy focusing on making a new blog header this morning to make it. plus hubby wasn't up yet!), I came to a realization.

Going to a bookstore is now a luxury that isn't part of my life.

How sad is that??

I was sitting there, thinking about Chelsea's bookswap and realized that I definitely was going to have to send one of the books that I have here. Not that that's a huge problem. After all, my bookshelf overfloweths.

But, going to the bookstore simply is not an option. Even though hubby and I are heading to Rapid City tomorrow, we have such a huge list that there is no way we can make time to make an extra stop. Well, I mean, yes, we could, but it's simply not practical to take the time to go out of our way to go to another store, especially one that includes books, which makes me want to meander! In fact, we ordered our wireless router online tonight so that it would take out one of our stops.

So, while I was thinking this through, I came to the realization that it is just a part of living out here. Oh, I'm not saying that I haven't been to a bookstore in 3 years, because I have. But, it normally happens on a more frivolous trip to town. Not one that includes Sams Club, Walmart, Target and the mall (all necessary stops to make returns/buy food). Not when it takes 3 hours to get there and 3 hours to get back and many hours of shopping in between.

There ya go. Welcome to another little bit piece of my life!

The One Where I Spout 7 Random Things (#2)

2010-02-05T05:41:00.000-08:00

1.
It is now 6:09 AM and I have been up since 4:40 AM. I woke up, let the dog out (after she jumped on hubby), went to the bathroom, took a drink of water and decided to stay up. I am incredibly awake right now ... hopefully that lasts until tonight because I have a full day of work ahead of me, plus baking, getting ready for a fun and fabulous day in Rapid City tomorrow (yesterday got cancelled due to a bladder infection and a weather infection), and a fun and fabulous Sunday (hence the baking).

2.
Hubby, however, is not awake. He stumbled into the bathroom, and then stumbled into the kitchen where he asked me why in the world I was up. I told him I had no idea and he sleepily smiled at me, told me he wasn't awake and stumbled back to bed. Miss Millie stumbled in from the outside and stumbled to the couch. After about an hour she stumbled into the kitchen for a quick pet and then quickly stumbled back to bed.

3.
Because we have the smallest house ever (seriously I've lived in apts that give you more privacy and have more room than our house - though it is great for conversations because we can be in any room and still talk to each other!), I haven't turned the lights on because I don't want to disturb him. So everytime I want to do something (ie, cut, copy, paste, bold) I get really close to the keyboard and use the light from the monitor to see the keyboard.

4.
The siren in our small town just went off for 2 minutes. I hate it when that happens and I don't know why! Creeps me out everytime. Are we being attacked? Is there a huge tornado coming? Is there a fire roaring down Main St?

5.
Yes, I am a bit of a drama queen/crisismonger. Why do you ask?

6.
My hair is finally long enough that most of it stays in a ponytail! Yay!! I was gettng a little tired of the half ups and the fourth ups and the eighth ups. Now its all ups! Unless I get ambitious and do something with it so I leave it no ups. Which is what hubby prefers ... but sadly does not get to see very often. It gets in the way and/or doesn't flatter me unless I spend time on it and that doesn't happen very often. After all, its all about me right??

7.
I have been staring at the screen for quite awhile, trying to figure out what kind of a doozy #7 should be. After all, this is my crowning moment. My shining jewel. It is my last chance to wow the socks off of you. And I have no idea where to take it.

Do I talk about the yummy Starbucks breakfast blend that we got for our wedding from my dear Lisa that we finally broke into yesterday after our Folgers ran out? (ummm yeah .... no contest. Starbucks. hands down!!) Do I talk about how excited I am that we're getting a wireless router because being stuck to a cord for Internet is SOOO 2003? Do I talk about how hubby is applying for jobs in Alaska, which means life changes? Do I talk about how I have 2 papers due next week and am totally confused about both of them? Do I talk about how hungry I am right now but how I don't want to wake hubby so I'll wait for food? Do I talk about how nutso one of my profs drives me?

Meh. I can't decide.

The One Where I Slowly Change My Name

2010-02-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

Well, today I changed my last name at two banks (one is my bank and the other is camp's). I like taking that official step to make it more concrete, but it is weird to think about how I will no longer be signing the name I have used for the past 25 years.

Weird indeed.

The One Where I Whine

2010-02-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

Bladder Infection.

Enough said, right?

Ugh.

Anyways, so my day off went back to being my day off (I was going to work today because tomorrow I'm hoping to head down to Rapid City to do a bunch of stuff - switch my soc. sec card, make a bunch of returns and go shopping) and now I'm putting off what I shouldn't be putting off. But I'll get to it! I just know I will! Homework, cleaning, organizing, bill paying and letter writing are all in the works for today. Along with drinking copious amounts of water and blueberry/pomengranate juice (I finished off all of my cran/raspberry last night) and peeing 4 times an hour.

On a positive note, the sky is a beautiful blue and the sun is spreading its rays of happiness.

It's going to be a great day here in SE Montana!

The One Where I Give You A Glimpse ....

2010-02-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

The One Where I Participate In 10 On Tuesday!

2010-02-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

Hello loves! Now that I settling into a routine, I am trying to get back into practice of blogging. Oddly enough it really helps me to have random questions to answer, because a lot of times I have random thoughts running around in my mind and I like to spout those, but have a hard time making a whole blogpost out of them. So, here you go!

Oh and don't forget to head over to Chelsea's to see more 10 on Tuesday!

1. What is your favorite travel destination spot?

       Hmmm .... I like traveling places I haven't been before. So of course I have all sorts of want-to-travel to spots, like Europe. But as for my favorite place I have already been? Ummm .. Playa del Carmen was amazing and so is Seattle. The beaches of SoCal are delightful as well. As is the Gulf of Mexico. So I'm just going to say head me towards an ocean and I'll be happy as a clam!
2. Cats vs. Dogs.
      Dogs. Dogs don't jump up on my counters and dogs smile at me. I am much more of a dog person and so is hubby, so it works out well. But, I must admit that I do like cats, especially cuddly, friendly baby ones. I just don't like it when they want to be all cuddly and friendly in the middle of the night. On my face. Just saying.
3. Do you believe in fate?
      I believe God ordains certain things that appear to be coincidences but aren't. So, no to fate, but yes to God!
4. Do you believe in karma?
      No. I believe there are consequences to your actions, but not karma.

5. Everyone has a unique laugh. Do you like yours?
    No. A lot of times I do the silent laugh, then suck in air really loudly and then laugh silently again. Ugh. Or if I find something funny and want someone to know it, then I laugh really loudly - like a machine gun. Ugh again. So, I just smile a lot :-)
6. Is love really all you need?
    What is love?

    (ok, is my brain the only one that pulled out "baby don't hurt me" as the answer to that question?)

    name that band.

     Anyways.

    Love of God? Yes!

   Love of man? No. it's very important! But I think behind all love is commitment and honor and respect and choice.
7. What’s your take on the whole 2012 scare?
     I think when God will come when God comes. We can't date it and predict it. It will be when it will be. As far as ancient Mayans predicting the end of the world.... well, according to our tour guide in Tulum, they would have even thought it as ridiculous. It just means that their calendar starts over.
8. If you won a million dollars and had to give it all away, who would you give it to? (Family and friends not included.)
    I would divide it between Trail's End Ranch, Compassion, Soles 4 Souls, Thrive Africa and Camp Joy. And anything else I felt led to give to.

9. Do you believe in God/religion/the power of prayer?
    With all my heart.

10. What New Year’s Resolution do you always make but never keep?
      I normally throw out the typical "I'm going to read my Bible everyday" and "I'm going to work out everyday" as goals for myself, but I never set them down as resolutions.

The One Where I Spout 7 Random Things

2010-01-29T22:33:00.000-08:00

I first heard about 7 Quick Takes at Roots & Rings, the place where I find all cool things. But apparently it originates at Conversion Diary. Go check them both out!

I am waiting for hubby to shower and get ready so we can go over to someone's house for supper. Since I always have so many random things flying around in my head, I thought I would just post them.

First example: many times I'll be at work, realize I have to go to the bathroom but don't do anything about it. Apparently I think that it is simply waaaaaayyyyy too much work to actually just go, because I sit there and fidget (I literally squirm in my seat like a first grader). Then I finally realize that the bathroom is only 10 feet away and so I go *ahem* take care of things and the world becomes a much happier place and I can concentrate on my work again instead of giving myself a thigh work-out worthy of Jillian.

Speaking of Jillian I am working on doing her 30 Day Shred. Day 1 and 2 were killers on my quads. I looked ridiculous as I went down stairs with straight legs! Not only that, but I made hubby rub them for me while I whined and whimpered. I might be dramatic. Maybe. But now it's better. I still want to quit every circuit, but at least I'm not in excruciating pain afterwards.

Hubby is a rockstar and got ready to go under 10 minutes, so I am now writing this after a delightful evening spent with some great friends. We had awesome food, talked politics, played pool and watched Haiwaii 5-O. By some shot of luck, I ended up winning a game of cutthroat, which is funny because pretty sure the winning shot was the only ball I hit into the pocket all night.

Tonight is the "Wolf" moon, which means it is the brightest moon we'll see all year. We did drive for awhile without our headlights, but only on camp property where there were no other drivers. Hubby finally turned them back on when we almost ran into the herd of horses. They broke out of the pasture they were supposed to be in and were making a dash towards freedom. Except, there is no freedom because they are fenced in everywhere. Bummer for them. However, they seemed to be enjoying the new scenery as they frisked away over the hills!

Speaking of the moon, can I just say how beautiful moonlight is on pine trees that are dusted with snow and enshrouded with fog?

The copious amount of caffeine I consumed today (one cup of regular coffee, 2 Excedrin pills, 2 cans of Dr Pepper and one cup of decaf coffee) is really messing with my head. Especially considering I normally only have my morning coffee and stop there. I go from exhuasted to wacky in 3.8 seconds. Quite fun for hubby I'm sure!!

The One Where I Share Some Thoughts

2010-01-21T08:51:00.001-08:00

This morning as I was having my devotional time, I was struck by something and wanted to share with you.

(for my devotional times, I have decided to read through the Psalms, along with work through the devotional book Streams in the Desert. I started Streams last year and have really been blessed by its message, so I decided to keep going with it this year)

I started with Psalm 2 and read about the overwhelming power of God. One of God's "personas" is that of loving Father and I think that there definitely are times He benevolently smiles down on us as we make all these grandiose plans. However, in this particular chapter, God is not looking down with benevolence. The "kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord" and as a result, "He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury." We cannot think of God as a kind old man who sits on the Throne, stroking His beard as He kindly laughs at us. HE IS GOD. Are we working on our plans or His plans?

Then I read today's reading from Streams in the Desert. The verse for today was Acts 20:24, which says "I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me." Paul was speaking to the elders from Ephesus, with whom he lived and worked and preached for 3 years. He was telling them good-bye, because he was heading to Jerusalem and did not think that he would be back to Asia. As he talked with them, he reminded them that the news he shared with them was the Gospel of God and to be aware of those who would come in and try to destroy that truth, because they are coming.

Isn't that the truth? How many of us have seen this firsthand? How many times have we seen people who are preaching a version of the truth, but not the truth? How many of us have let naysayers steal our joy? Take our assurance from us? Let their doubts creep in and put fissures in our strong wall of faith?

So, are we going to let them? Are we going to give up and take the easy road? Or instead, will we stand up for what we believe?

To be honest, I have no idea what that really means. Oh sure, I am a missionary, but my life is not in danger. I am surrounded by people who love and support me in my work. Does the Devil still fight against me? Of course he does. I deal with insecurities, seasonal depression, envy, anger and doubt. But, really, where is my battle?

To be honest, I think my battle is in the everyday. I look for the magnificent and push aside the ordinary. I want to do extraordinary things today without faithfully working yesterday.

My battle is surrender. I have dreams and hopes and plans. Some of them are good and God will honor them. Others belong only to the world and not to Him. So, I battle it out. With myself. And I know only with the help of God will I succeed.

I walk every day, one foot in front of the other, on His path. There are days I get distracted and wander off the path. Other times I take a wrong turn, on purpose. But, no matter how I feel day by day, I KNOW that at the end I want to end up at His destination for me, not mine.

For to fight for what I believe in little things will add up to big things.

Yesterday I had to write a paper for my Media Theories class. I was to talk about my "locations", meaning I was to describe some things that define who I am and that influence my values and principles and worldview. I talked about my ethnicity (I am very proudly Norwegian-American), my gender/sexuality and, the most important one, my religion. We were to then take an issue that is impacting this world and talk about it through the lens of our worldview. The one that kept coming to me was abortion. I tried to just work it in and go a different direction, but I couldn't. So, while it is a small thing, only to be read by one professor, I stood up for what I believed. I used Bible verses in a paper for a secular college. I have no idea what my professor will say. But, it was what I had to do.

Yesterday, I did a itty bitty tiny thing. Maybe today I can something that is a little bit bigger.

But that isn't the point. The point is to take what I have and give it ALL to God. To walk on His path and keep focused on Him. There is an end goal here and we can't lose sight of that!

I will end with a quote from Streams:

Great is the easy conqueror; Yet the one who is wounded sore, Breathless, all covered o'er with blood and sweat, Sinks fainting, but fighting evermore – Is greater yet.

The One Where I Come Out Of Hiding

2010-01-20T14:04:00.001-08:00

It appears I have some things to catch ya'll up on!

Especially considering everything that has taken place in the past 18 days.

Here's a brief list:

I got married (pictures and stories to come – I'm just waiting to get the disc from my photographer!), got my first stamp in my passport (hello Playa del Carmen, Mexico!), went snorkeling for the first time, got bit by the Caribbean reef, visited a Mayan ruin, went on a gigantic zipline system and rappelled off of a 70 ft tower and went snorkeling again (this time in an underground cave), got delayed in two different airports (but, I was with my hunky hubby, so no worries!), got the news that my dad had a heart attack (he's fine – two stints and another stay in the hospital for acid reflux and he's like new!), spent the second week of my married life staying with my parents so my husband could feed the cows for my dad (not really what I would recommend … but we made it through just fine), finally got home to MT after being gone for 3 weeks, semi-cleaned up my disastrous house (pictures to come!), opened our wedding presents, went back to work (only part-time though - loving that!), went back to school, and somewhat celebrated my husband's 25^th birthday (he was sick. big bummer!).

So, now, here I sit, on my couch. Today is my first full day of being a part-time, stay-at-home wife and I am rather enjoying myself! Of course I haven't done much the requires moving off of my couch, but hey, I did finally catch up on my Google Reader (after deleting a bunch of blogs I can just no longer commit to reading) and I read a chapter in THE MOST BORING TEXTBOOK EVER and am now preparing myself to write a short paper so I can submit it and spend the evening with my hubby, celebrating his birthday (cause he's feeling better!)

Some of you might be wondering what being a part-time, stay-at-home wife means for the whole missionary thing. Well, I am not sure yet. However, I can tell you that I am definitely still a missionary! Since both Luke and I work at the camp, obviously, it is a big part of my life and time and I still consider it my ministry.

However, it is the camp policy that wives only are required to work 10 hours a week. Since I am staying on as secretary until we leave or they find another one, I will be working about double that. Starting this week, I will be working two full days (Mondays and Fridays), two afternoons (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and taking one full day off (Wednesday). My hope is to be able to clean the house (it's pretty tiny, so it shouldn't be a big worry!) and get most of my schoolwork done in my hours off so that I can spend time with Luke at night and not have to worry about other things. Obviously I know I will have to do some things during the evening, I'm just hoping to accomplish most of them during the day. Especially since right now we are on a big ALIAS kick and have lot of TV on DVD to watch J

I'll be back soon with stories, pictures and glad tidings of great joy!

The One Where I'm Done!!

2009-12-17T22:26:00.000-08:00

As of 11:26 my semester is finished.

hip hip hooray!

The One Where I Show You How Gosh Darn Cute I Used To Be

2009-12-17T21:38:00.000-08:00

The One Where I Have Copious Amounts Of Homework

2009-12-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

My list for ~~today~~ this week:

-~~1 Travel Article (I am doing it on the Dalton Threshing Bee)~~ (writing this article really makes me want to go home for this again! It's been too long!)
-~~1 Interview (I did it with Tom Lutey from The Billings Gazette and now I just have to write it up and submit it)~~ (he was really nice and was willing to talk to me for almost an hour. very interesting stuff to say!)
-~~1 Article on something major ~~(I haven't picked a topic yet)~~ (I am doing it on teaching at country school and have already asked 3 country school teachers I know to answer some questions for me)~~ (i am really happy with how this turned out! hopefully my prof likes it just as much)
-1 Powerpoint Presentation on something of my choosing (must include animation and I think music). I am doing it on Luke and I for the wedding *cue awwwssss now* ~~(oh and as of right now, wednesday at noon, the office scanner isn't working. so i guess our powerpoint will have baby pictures of luke and pictures of me from the last 3 months.)~~ (this took forever! i literally worked on it for hours. and hours. and hours. and made my mom and his mom work on it for hours too, scanning. and there are lots of slides. i have a feeling i will be continually tweaking it between now and the wedding! however, it is good enough to submit. even though there isn't a table like there is supposed to be.)
-~~1 Test in Office 2007~~ (After 13 attempts I finally got 100%! Did you know that if you want to view a PowerPoint on another computer the best resource to use is the Pack & Go Wizard? Yeah, me neither. Oh and yes, I am a perfectionist. I will not accept a 45/50 on a quiz with unlimited attempts.)
-~~1 Massively, Giant Take Home Test for my Intro to Mass Com Class (my mid-term took SEVENTEEN pages to finish ....)~~ (this puppy came in at 19 pages. oh yes, even though it was supposedly shorter than my mid-term, it still took more pages. some days i wish i wasn't so achievement oriented!)

I better get to it!

Ten on Tuesday

2009-12-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Go visit Chelsea at Root & Rings for more 10 on Tuesday!!

1. Cost aside, if you could go (back) to college for anything besides what you currently “do,” what would you study?
            History or Graphic Design. History fascinates me, but there is not a lot you can do with that degree! And I am not creative enough to create, but I would love to know how!
2. What do you do for a living? Do you love it/hate it?
   I am a missionary. I mission (yup! thats a real word! at least in rachelease) through being a secretary at a Christian camp. I know that I am where God wants me, so therefore, how could I not love it? To be totally honest, I do not jump for joy everyday at work, but it is more the overall peace.
3. What is your favorite Christmas ornament? If you don’t celebrate Christmas, what is your favorite holiday tradition?
I love going home and looking at all the ornaments from when I was a kid. Not the ones that I made, but the ones my teachers made for me. Cause they're so fun! A little snowman and a mitten and other fun, Christmasy things.

4. Name something you could literally do without for the rest of your life.
   Liver

5. If you were going to have any kind of “cosmetic procedure,” what would it be?
   Laser Hair Removal

6. Do you have any “collections”? (comic books, shoes, etc.)
   Not officially. I would like to start a moose collection but no one has chipped in on that yet.

7. At what age did you get your first cell phone?
I was 16. I didn't have a cell phone and stopped off at a 4-H League softball game and ended up staying a couple of hours later than I was supposed to. After that, my mom got me a cell phone and grounded me.

8. What is currently in your purse (or pocket or backpack if you’re a guy)?
   I think its just my checkbook and pocketbook. After this weekend I switched purses, and I think those were the only things that made the cut! Normally I have *ahem* feminine products, chapstick, gum, random receipts, my camera and other junk I shove in there (like my fiance's tie for the wedding so we could do some shirt shopping and ribbon to match the tie and shirt to).
9. Are you a neat-freak or a slob ? *this applies to house, office, car, etc.
   I can't stand clutter. When I get stressed, I throw things around. So, at random times, I'm a total slob (like this past week). But in order to function, I need neatness.

10. What kind of parent do you think you will be? If you’re already a parent, what is your style?
   Strict. I can hear my voice in my head already. Ugh. At least I have some time to really think through that and develop what I really want to be. (no, I'm not pregnant! I'm not married yet am I??)

The One Where I Ask For Another Household Tip

2009-12-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

Ok guys, I need your help with another household tip!

(by the way, the brilliant suggestion of vacuuming hair is so helpful!! definitely kudos to Lisa for that one!!)

So, the question for today is:

How do I store my brown sugar so it does not become hard and impossible to use? Not only with the bag I am currently working on, but also bags I might buy ahead of time, if its on sale. Does brown sugar freeze? Are there certain containers that keep it better? What do I do???

The One Where I Share Some Exciting News (pt 3)

2009-12-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

Let's see, where was I?

Oh yes, I remember.

There was the part where I talked about what led up to us dating and then there was the tidbit of a warrant for Luke's arrest.

A warrant.

For his arrest.

Wow. So, obviously, things had gotten a little out of control. Of course Luke knew he needed to take care of things, so on Monday he made some phone calls and figured out the best thing for him to do was to turn himself in to the closest sheriff's office in SoDak, which is Deadwood. We do live in the county closest to SoDak, but it still takes over 2 hours to get there.

That day I happened to take a late lunch because our Director needed to use my computer to take a test for her online class and so I didn't leave until 1:00. I had to stop by another staff member's house and drop off some stuff and pick up some other stuff and didn't get out of there until close to 2:00. I had noticed on my way up to their trailer that Luke was still at home, but I didn't think much of that because I figured he was taking a late lunch too. On my way down the hill I saw that he was still there, so I thought I would be a nice girlfriend and stop by and say hi.

He was on the phone when I stopped and as I got out of my car, he ran over to where I was. He got put on hold, so while he was waiting he told me that he had been trying to get a hold of me because he wanted to know if I would accompany him to SoDak while he got arrested.

Being the loving girlfriend that I am, I of course said yes.

We got the details figured out (he didn't want to leave just then, he wanted to leave after work at 5:00 and instead of meeting me in town, he decided he would rather leave from camp and we were going to eat after he was done being arrested) and parted ways. I ran home quickly, threw some trail mix (I was going to get hungry!) and my homework in a bag, gassed up the car and went back to work.

That afternoon I ended up talking to Pat (our Director) for a couple of hours for what we lovingly call "Pat chats".

They are good for the soul!

We were able to talk about a lot of things about marriage and some of the things I was scared of. It seemed to me that a lot of people make it their job to warn me of the "reality" about about marriage and no one was concentrating on the good things. While I totally understand the fact that marriage is hard and marriage is real and marriage is a life long commitment, where are the people who are remembering the romance that marriage is? Where is the joy, the commitment, the fun, the companionship? I am not so naive that I don't realize the hard exists, but I would like to know the fun exists too so I don't run screaming the other way!

Ahem. Rant over.

Anyways, after talking with Pat for awhile and working through some issues, Luke came to pick me up at camp. He had showered and shaved and was wearing a really nice shirt, nice jeans and dress shoes (I had noticed earlier when I saw him that he was wearing something different from the morning meeting, but figured he had just changed because he needed to take care of the legal stuff but this was even nicer!). We joked about how he had dressed up for his mug shot and we took off on our merry way.

On the way down to SoDak, we talked about what I had talked to Pat about and about different things about marriage. We also started to joke about him getting arrested, a theme that carried over into the whole start of the process of him getting arrested.

After driving around Deadwood for awhile and cruising the casino strip (Deadwood is a gambling town) and stopping at a gas station for directions, we finally made it to the sheriff's office. We walked up, laughing and joking around and a deputy asked us if we needed help.

I do believe the officer was taken a bit aback by Luke telling him that there was a warrant out for his arrest, but he took it pretty well. He just told Luke not to resist and to follow him. He took us inside and passed us off to another deputy, who also told Luke not to resist.

After that they separated us and stuck me in this creepy hallways. At least I had magazines to read!

Partway through my wait, I received a text message from Luke. Apparently they threw him in the communication booth for awhile and so he sent me a picture of the phone we would get to use if he was in there long term. After he was returned to me, he told me the rest of the story:

Apparently, the Deadwood Sheriff's Office takes their work seriously, because they did the whole shebang with Luke. They threw him in a cell for awhile while they got his paperwork figured out, fingerprinted and mug shot him (which he smiled cheesily for*).

*Disclaimer: we realize that what he did was illegal (he shot a turkey without owning a tag for it. however, he did not technically poach it because there was a tag to be put on it, it just was in his friend's name instead of his, which is a common practice - but that doesn't make it right!). He would gladly pay a fine, but when he talked to the game warden in Aug we were under the impression that everything was taken care of. We just feel that they are going above and beyond for the situation by taking him and his friends to court.

After they were all finished with him and released him on his own recognizance, we headed out to find something to eat. On the way down, Luke had told me that he wanted to go somewhere nice for supper. I was totally game for that! However, even though Deadwood is a casino town and the strip is all brightly lit and the machines were going, we had a really hard time finding somewhere to eat. After driving around and around and striking out a couple of places we settled on Mustang Sallys, a sports bar and grill. It was after 9:00 and we were starved! So, we didn't get the nice meal Luke was hoping for, but it was food.

We finally started back home around 10 or 10:30. I normally sleep when we drive that late, but for some reason Luke didn't want me to sleep that much. He kept telling me that we were going to have a dance party when we got back. Now, if you know my honey at all, dance and party are not two words I am used to coming out of his mouth, so I started to get even more suspicious.

(oh, I was already suspicious. he had been acting squirrelly all day.)

We pulled up to my house around 12:30 and right away Luke noticed that my outer door (the storm door) was propped open (the overhang over my front step is low enough that it will get stuck open if pushed far enough). He turned to me with big eyes and asked if I had left it like that. Of course I hadn't and so he told me that I should stay in the car so he could go and check for boogey men.

*cue the bells & whistles in my head!*

I lovingly indulged him and slooooooowly gathered up my stuff while he went in to check to make sure there were no bad men waiting inside. He came back out after a couple of minutes and got me from the car. On our way up the sidewalk, he gave me a hug and told me that he loved me.

*cue louder bells & whistles!*

Even though I had been suspicious, nothing prepared me for what I would walk in on.

Well, see* for yourself:

*these were taken with my flash on, so the ambiance isn't there, so you'll just have to imagine!

two of the bouquets (12 red roses and 6 pink roses) and some of the candles he got me

the balloons he wrote the reasons he loves me on

Not only had he gotten me flowers and balloons, he had also strung up Christmas lights across my ceiling.

When did he do this you ask? Well, as soon as our meeting was done that morning, he had gone into our Camp Director's office and asked for the day off (I saw him in there, but didn't think too much of it. I just thought he was talking about his legal problems). After that, he went to the closest biggish town (there is a town of 1000 about 36 miles away) and got the flowers and balloons and candles, which explains the reason he had run to meet me when I stopped by at lunch - all of this stuff was in his Explorer and he didn't want me to see!

Then, he came over to my house that afternoon and set up the flowers in the perfect spot (he also got me a bouquet of yellow flowers), put the candles out and strung up the Christmas lights (because he knew I loved Christmas lights), which explains why he wanted to leave from camp and not from my house!

Not only that, but he had worked together with his roommate to put together a CD of love songs. So, as soon as I walked in and my mouth dropped, he hit play and asked me to dance.

Now, as I said before, my honey is not much for dancing. But, he had always told me that he would make an exception for me!

The first song was from Enchanted (and the reason for the yellow bouquet) : How Does She Know? I really love that movie and particularly that song from the movie, and he indulges me (he doesn't mind it too much either) In fact, this fall I came home one day to find yellow flowers he had picked on my coffee table (yes, I am marrying a true romantic!).

When that song was over, he reached over to the stereo to turn it up because he wanted to sing it to me.

I pretty much swooned right there!

The song was by Monk & Neagle and called Wonderful Angel.

(if you scroll down, its the second to last song - you can listen to it for free by telling them you just want to try it out without having to sign up for anything)

Go. I'll wait.

I had never heard of the band or the song, but strangely enough its now my favorite!

As he sang these words to me, my heart just melted. By the end I was definitely crying! The look in his eyes told me that he believed every word that he said. I am blessed to be loved by a wonderful man.

The song finished and as it transitioned to the next one, he dropped down on one knee, pulled the ring out of his pocket and asked me to marry him.

I said yes :-)

See?

I rather like him!

We had a wonderful time dancing, talking and cuddling the night away. It got to be a bit late ...errr ... early but so worth the sleep deprivation we felt the next day!

*Well, that's the beginning of our little story. I hope you enjoyed it!

Its been ~~6 months~~ 25 years in the making, but I had no idea it would take me this long to tell it!

(and I summarized a bunch too)

Wow.

Well, suffice it to say, I am one happy, lucky and blessed girl! God has been so good to me by bringing me this man. Not perfect, but perfect for me. He meets my needs with such willingness that I never could have imagined. He seeks after God and I know no matter the ups and downs we're going to be a team working together for God. That is what matters!

I will leave you with some of our engagement pictures. Enjoy!

The One Where I Share Some Exciting News (pt 2)

2009-12-04T15:55:00.001-08:00

I left off yesterday with Luke and I starting to date. Needless to say, there is more to the story!

I went home with him and met his parents within 12 hours of us starting to date. It was a little nerve wracking, to say the least. However, things went really well and they gave us their blessing. What a great introduction to what would become my future family!

After family, I went to meet a lot of his closest friends at a wedding. Talk about a high pressure introduction to dating life! However, that also went well. I was able to spend some time talking with his friends and getting to know another side of Luke that I hadn't seen before. After all, these were the people who he had spent copious amounts of time with him for the past 3 years and to see how much they enjoyed him and wanted to see him. It was just another confirmation of the character I knew I saw in him.

We went back to camp and had a week of camp together (which meant I got to spent about 5 minutes a day with him, but I did really enjoy the notes that got left in my mailbox!). Then I went back to MN for my best friend's wedding. That week I got emails, but it still wasn't the same! At the end of the week, I got a phone call and soon enough he came to see me and meet my parents.

That was the real test for me, as I didn't know what my dad and brother would think. After all, I am the only girl! However, our time together went really well and my family really liked him. How couldn't they?? He's pretty much amazing. After all, not only did he pass my family test, he also willingly went along with me to see a ton of my friends. What a guy!

After all the excitement and traveling was over (not only did he come to see me in MN, he took me to Denver for the weekend for my birthday!), we settled into a routine at camp. Basically, every morning we have our staff meeting at 9, he comes in and says hi to me at lunch and then comes over as soon as work is over and eats supper and spends the rest of the evening hanging out with me. We switch things up every once in awhile and go to Bible study, hang out with friends at Ryan night, or invite Keith over for dinner and a movie.

So, time marched on. We went to SoDak for pheasant opener and stopped to go ring shopping on our way. We had talked about the future from the beginning, and had been planning on getting engaged late fall/early winter and getting married in March.

Well, we talked about that some more and I decided I didn't want to get married in March, because to me that is a muddy, yucky month. So, since we didn't want to push it back to April, we decided we'd get married in February. Since his friend's wife is having a baby in February, we wanted to work with that, so we decided on early Feb. Then, one day my brother threw out the idea that since they were already going to be home for New Years, why didn't we just get married then?

At first we blew it off, but the more we talked about it, the fonder we became of the idea. So, even though we weren't engaged yet, we were moving forward with that date in mind. Of course, people had a bit of a problem with me planning too much of the wedding before I had a ring, so there wasn't too much I could do.

Luke and I would talk about it, but I soon had to make it clear to Luke that I couldn't move forward much more without something changing. He laughed at me, told me to be patient and to trust that it was in progress. A little while later he told me that the reason it was taking so long was because the ring was getting resized.

Then came one Monday afternoon. I was just working, doing my job, answering phones and I received a phone call for a certain Mr. Luke. Since he doesn't just hang out the office all day, I asked if I could take a message. It turned out it was the lady from Zales, letting him know that his merchandise was ready.

I hung up the phone and did a happy dance, because after all it was my merchandise!!

So, for the next couple of days I paid special attention to the FedEx deliveries, but did not see anything come through. I figured that if Luke did have it, I didn't know about it and that was just the way it was. After all, there wasn't much in our relationship/future marriage that was going to be a surprise (after all, I helped pick out the ring and we already had a tentative date!) and I wanted something to be a surprise. So, I just "patiently" waited.

The next Sunday (Nov 15) he got a call from a friend of his. There had been a situation the December before involving two turkeys and two tags, but not the people who owned the tags shooting the turkeys. Apparently in SoDak turkeys are considered Big Game, as the toms have beards, therefore making them trophy worthy. Anyways, the game warden had a talk with Luke in August and we were pretty sure the matter was taken care of. Well, this phone call made it evident that was not the case!

Apparently the DA in SoDak has nothing better to do and so they are taking this situation to the furthest they can. So, his friend called to let him know that there was a warrant out for his arrest.

Ummm ... what???

A warrant.

For his arrest.

(this, once again is getting too long and I don't want to sear your eyeballs! no worries, the rest is coming!!)

The One Where I Share Some Exciting News (pt 1)

2009-12-02T19:06:00.000-08:00

Up to this point, I have no shared a big part of my life with ya'll. I have alluded, I have hinted, but I have never come out and said anything. Well, that is about to change!

Because ....

I'M ENGAGED!!

Oh yes, yes I am.

And I'm getting married Jan 2!!

That's one month from today for those of you wondering. 31 days to be exact!

So, since I am ~~excited~~ ecstatic and would love to share this part of my life with you, here is our story:

I met Luke at camp. The first time we met was when he came to TER for our Labor Day Family Camp in 07 with a friend of his, who was a friend of mine. We actually did not communicate much at this point, mostly because I knew that he was the ex-boyfriend of a good friend of mine and that made him off-limits. However, I did think he was pretty cute! He thought I was pretty, but also a little strange.

Such is the story of my life.

Fast forward to spring of 09. One day I retrieved a voice message off of the camp phone that was from a certain young man who was looking for a job for the summer and he was wondering if it was too late to apply to be a counselor. Of course I immediately flashed back to my mental picture of this rather good looking man and admittedly got a little excited. Normally I give messages like that to our Director who is in charge of hiring, but I made sure to be the one to call him back!

After calling him and sending him a couple of emails and watching the mail for his application and making sure his contract was in the mail, I decided that this could not be the man for me. After all, he was still the ex-boyfriend of one of my friends and it just seemed like a situation that would not work.

However, when the day came for him to come for staff training, I must admit to dressing up a little bit nicer than I might have otherwise and really wanting him to notice me. During meals I would manuever to sit by him and made sure to sit in testimonies until he gave his (which he took his sweet time about I might add!). I struggled with not wanting to like him and thinking him off limits, but enjoying times spent talking with him and looking at him ;-)

As time went on, I became more and more impressed with him. His mature faith, his quiet spirit, his ability to converse, his ~~beautiful~~ GORGEOUS blue eyes and his sense of humor became more and more attractive to me. Soon I could not deny that I had fallen and fallen hard. So, after fretting about it for awhile, I finally talked to my friend (she was not at camp this summer but we talked via Facebook quite a bit) and told her what I was dealing with. She was really great and told me to go for it!

I wish I could say it was that easy and happily ever after from that day forward, but life doesn't quite work that way!

I spent the summer wondering if he did or he didn't like me and whether or not I was crazy. We spent every weekend but one hanging out, sometimes one on one, most of the time in a group. He seemed to enjoy my company, but there were days where he would not give me the attention I thought I deserved. There were definitely some tears shed and some sleepless nights spent, but it all came together in the end.

He was heading home to SoDak for the weekend for a wedding and I ~~kind of~~ REALLY wanted to go with him. He had hinted at me possibly going with but I wasn't sure if he was serious or not. After loosing sleep for a couple of nights, I finally went and talked to our Director, who is amazingly wise. She told me that if it was to that point, I needed to do something about it. So, I wrote him a note, encouraging him with some things that were happening that week, and then oh so casually throwing in at the end that I would be willing to be his road trip buddy if he was interested.

At that point he needed to spend some time talking with our ever wise Director to figure some things out, namely whether or not we would work for the long term. I had sat in chapel watching him run to catch her before she left and just knew that he was talking about to her about us. After we were dismissed, I nonchalantly walked by, straining to hear the smallest morsel of good news. I knew I couldn't linger, because it would be really obvious, so I made my way up to the Snak Shak. During their ~~long~~ everlasting conversation, she gave him the encouragement he needed and so when I was finally able to track him down, he was ready to talk.

I had hoped that he would find me when he was done, but because of how long they talked, he was late for the night game. I was sitting on the porch, chit chatting with a lady from town when he came walking up to get his assignment, but he just smiled at me and walked off. My frustration and anticipation levels went a little high at that moment!

So, I did the only thing I knew to do. I went walking around and around camp and tracked him down. It's a bit hard when it's pitch black out but never underestimate the determination of a girl in like!

We sat on the hillside while the campers played Mission Impossible. The spot we were in was pretty quiet, so we only caught a couple of campers the whole time, which worked well for us! It was during this time that he told me that he had actually liked me all summer and had found himself to be quite distracted by me.

I didn't mind.

We continued to talk and talk and talk some more. There was a lot we had to figure out! Namely, if I did go home with him that weekend, what did that mean? Were we ready for that type of commitment?

So, while I sat there and stared up at the stars, he asked me what he called "a hard question"

To me, the answer to "would you marry me?" seemed to be the easiest and most natural in the world. As butterflies threw a party in my stomach and my palms moistened with sweat, a soft "yes" tumbled off of my lips.

No, we weren't engaged, but we definitely knew that was what we both wanted out of this relationship.

So, the next day we packed up his Explorer and headed down the road to his parent's house. It was during that trip that he officially asked me to be his girlfriend. It was a new term to apply to myself, but I was rather fond of how it rolled off my tongue!

That weekend I met his family, his friends and learned more about this man I had spent so much time admiring from my window. There were times of panic, of absolute freaking out because of the magnitude of what we were doing, but there was also a peace that went with it. It wasn't Luke I was freaking out about, it was the giving up of my freedom. The more we talked, the more I knew that we were pursuing the right path. Our life goals were lining up, things were meshing and it just made sense.

(I meant to write the whole engagement story tonight ... but this is way long and I have things to do! So, come back tomorrow for the rest!)

Ten on Tuesday

2009-11-24T14:44:00.000-08:00

Every week Chelsea at Roots & Rings hosts a 10 on Tuesday. I think its great cause it gives me an idea of what to blog about! So here is my first attempt at joining in:

1. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I first wanted to be a horse trainer, like my mother. Then I switched over to being a veterinarian in Kentucky for racehorses. After I gave up my fixation on horses, I switched over to wanting to be a marine biologist focusing on orca whales. Eventually I gave up on my animal fixation all together and switched to wanting to fix humans.

2. Name 3 of your irrational fears.
1. a snake ending up in my sewer pipes and coming up through my toilet
2. closing my bathroom mirror and being able to see an intruder standing behind me, ready to attack
3. i have been thinking and thinking and can't come up with another one that i can verbalize

3. If you had a $200 gift card to any store, what would you want it to be? (Nothing responsible allowed. Can’t be used for groceries or anything)
Williams/Sonoma or any other kitchen store

4. What is your most (blog-friendly) embarrassing moment?
So many to choose from, but I think I will go with one from high school: I was a junior attending a private Christian high school and we had a somewhat big name coming into town to do our Homecoming concert. They asked for volunteers to help with the concert and I went up front to volunteer. All the students were just sitting on the floor of the gym, with their backpacks and whatnot strewn about and I tripped on someone's backpack strap. I did a faceplant in front of the whole school. So, I got up, took a bow and went up front where I got mocked.

5. If you were only allowed to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
I think Chelsea answered well with pizza, because there are so many variations! Otherwise, steak.

6. What was your favorite toy growing up?
I had one of the long-haired Barbies, which was fun. But, I would have to say that my little fairy thing that flew was my favorites. I wanted one so so so bad and my best friend got it for me for my birthday. So excited!

7. Do you have a “go to” outfit? What is it?
Jeans, long-sleeved t-shirt and a scarf. Depending on where I'm going, I might add a vest.

8. Who was the best teacher you ever had?
   Elementary school: Mr Nelson (no relation!). He was my only male teacher in elementary and he was the best. He read the coolest books to us and had the funnest projects.
           Jr. High : Mrs. Dokter. She was kooky and fun
           High School : Mr. Risbrudt. He taught science and did an amazing job. He was hard and required a lot out of us, but did it in such a way that we were willing to put in the effort. Also, Mr. Undseth, because he danced along with Tevya in Fiddler on the Roof, even though he was tall and skinny and looked nothing like a Russian peasant.

9. If you could buy any car right now (something at least SORT OF within the realm of reality…so, you know, a Rolls Royce may not qualify), what would it be?
Rav4. I drove my roommates last year a couple of times and loved it!! So fun. Especially if it had 4-wheel drive.

10. How do you reckon that Chelsea comes up with 10 of these questions every week? It was hard! What’s your theory on how she’s so creative? Are you going to help her?
Excellent question. I will not conjecture how she comes up with such things and just rejoice in the fact that she (along with others help) does it, so I don't have to think about it :-)

Go check out everyone else's! Join in! It's fun. Promise :-)

2009-11-14T10:36:00.001-08:00

i am fond of a clean house. there is nothing better than sleeping in clean sheets, looking in a dust free mirror and showering in a clean shower.

however, i NEED a clutter free house. so, while my house is mostly clutter free, it is not always clean. but, i want to get better about that! ideally i would like to spend the two hours it would take each week to clean my house, maybe on a saturday morning.

anyways, i have one question for all of you wise readeres out there :

HOW IN THE WORLD DO I GET RID OF ALL THE HAIR THAT KEEPS FLOATING AROUND MY BATHROOM??

i have hair that follows my rag all around my shower, my sink, my floors, my toilet. and i have NO idea how to get rid of it, so that my bathroom is truly clean. ideas? please???

knowing

2009-11-13T10:24:00.000-08:00

there is an interesting discussion going on at hootenannie (a blog that I follow with great frequency because she's amazing!) and I am interested in your guys' thoughts because it is one of this cliches that always pops up. and as someone who was single for 24 years, it came up a lot.

did you know?

ministry

2009-11-03T18:59:00.000-08:00

This weekend I came to a realization and I need to rant about it for awhile. Are you ready to hear it?

Ministry is not all about showing everyone around you how hard you work. Ministry is not about doing the dishes, cleaning the dining hall, running activities or cleaning the bathrooms.

Ministry is pouring into people.

That's what ministry is about. That's why I am a missionary.

Of course, washing dishes and cleaning cabins and answering phones are all important parts of making sure ministry can happen. It is no excuse to slack off, but I think we need to adjust our attitudes about that. There is NOTHING wrong with taking some extra time to talk with people and letting the dishes sit there for 1/2 hour. There is NOTHING wrong with letting the floor be a little bit dirty if it means the difference between a person's needs being met or not.

The reason I was thinking about this is because this weekend was the Ladies' Retreat, which means us staff ladies are not put on the schedule for dishes, for the kitchen or to really run activities (except for horses, just because its only ladies on staff that know how to do that job :-) ).

I went into the weekend with a terrible attitude. I am a bit of an agoraphobic and I don't really like being forced into group activities. I wanted to be where I am comfortable - in the kitchen or something else behind the scene. Or at least, able to choose the level that I interacted. I was whining to my boss and just being a pill and he told me to get out there and do ministry!

I did and I'm glad. I was blessed by my interactions this weekend and really did have a good time. But, at the same I was blown away by my perspective change. I was so busy being a Martha and proving my worth to be in the ministry by my works that I was missing my chance to be Mary and sit at Jesus' feet, listening.

There are a couple of reasons for this, one being what my job is. I am the secretary. I answer phones, print things, deal with the bookkeeping, etc, etc. Yes, I know my job is essential to the ministry. Yes, I know what I do frees others up to do ministry. But, at least let me be honest. This is a job that could be done at any corporation. There are times I have a hard time remembering what I do is for eternity's sake, because it feels very much like its for temporal sake.

So, then, because I am in full time ministry and my full time ministry position is working a "regular" job, then doesn't it make sense that work has become my version of ministry?

This weekend, as I sat at Jesus' feet and met Him through His people and His Word, I was reminded of how much of ministry is people. Without people, there is NO point to ministry.