Never seen this much snow in my life!

Well, when we returned from Oklahoma on Sunday night we found quite a lot of snow. It had snowed 4 inches the day we left but from the minute we got in the car we knew had missed the first blizzard of the season. As we drove through town we just saw these huge piles of snow in parking lots where they had compiled the cleared snow. They had made a median out of snow on the main street in town! We have never seen anything like this in our lives! Then, when we arrived on our street we found that our neighbors car had been buried in snow but the biggest surprise was when we arrived to our house. Our driveway was covered in 4 feet of snow. Now, I am NOT exaggerating here- literally 4 feet. We were like- what the heck are we supposed to do? Someone had cleared a little path thru the snow to our front door but there was no way we could get Brian's truck in the garage or get my car out. Brian shoveled for like... ten minutes without any progress and then decided there must be a better way.
Monday morning Stuart, one of Brian's co-workers, came with H&P's bulldozer or bobcat and moved our snow to a huge pile in our neighbors yard where apparently everyone is stacking their snow. I seriously don't know what we would have done without it. Today is Wednesday and that car is still covered in snow. Anyhow, the roads are much slicker now so we are having to be extremely cautious driving but the weather is nice, it should be in the 20's most of the week. So sad when I say that. It def should be an oxymoron to say nice and 20 in the same sentence.
None the less, it is still interesting to explore more of the earth that God created. This is def some different creativity!

Beau

Beau needs some blog love, so here it is!

It is now dangerously cold outside. The weatherman said the wind chill is currently -45. As in, Tulsa was prob 60 degrees today so that is a 100 degree differnce. How is that possible??????????????????????????????? He said our skin could freeze within 30 seconds if not covered up.Where am I????

9 degrees below 0, an Oklahoma blizzard

Well, as I said before, it is absolutely freezing, or actually well below freezing. The forecast for this week read something like:
-7, -9, 7, 23
It is so odd to see the 7 day forecast with single digits. You think they are cheating you with a 3 day or something. So, we love 20 degree weather now. We can walk outside or play and we don't even necessarily need our gloves. Anything below that is freezing.

Sunday morning we woke up to our first "big" snow, about 4 inches. Here in ND you wake up to the sound of snow blowers instead of lawn mowers. People wake up early and excited to shovel snow!

We went to a new church on Sunday and we liked it better. I think we will go back. And- big news, we have friends!!!
We had met a couple at church our first week here and hadn't seen them since but we ran into each other at the mall on Friday night. Anyways, they came over for dinner on Saturday night and stayed to hang out. They are a lot like Tyler and Kendall so that is good news for them. Then we went to church together and lunch afterwards on Sunday. Thank you Jesus! Even Baker missed the interaction of inviting people into our home.

This is a video of Sunday as Brian is shoveling our driveway b/c like I said- people are a little OCD about it here.

Wyoming

We spent last week in Wyoming. It was beautiful there too. Lots of snow on the ground and Casper was enclosed with mountains. We enjoyed our stay outside of the hotel at Ross, Hobby Lobby, and eating with other H&P families, which is really our only circle of friends, if they would dare to call us that.

Also while we were gone Baker reverted to peeing on himself again. He goes poop in the potty but he is just too busy to pee in it. He also likes to dump the bucket when he is finished. Sick me out. While we were in the hotel I caught him dumping his own poo and no he is not a good aim. Sorry to say but it was all over him; arms, legs, face, toilet, everywhere. Sick. Sick. My goal now is just to get him out of diapers before kindergarten. Oh how my child rearing ideals have failed me. We have finally mastered the big boy bed though. He falls asleep on his own, in bed without getting out during nap time and bed time. Thank you Jesus! I don't wish that transition upon anyone lacking in patience.
He is doing well with his words too. He has the noun/verb simple sentence down. Eg... Beau poop, Beau sneeze, or adjectives.. Big deer, big gun. Its hilarious. Beau is doing well- just fat and happy. I am trying to get him to swallow cereal, another messy endeavor. Parenthood is great, but it'll kill you if you don't learn to laugh, and we are doing plenty of that!

Anyways, love yall.

Baby, it's cold outside!

As I write, it is 5 degrees outside, Fahrenheit. A couple of weeks ago it was in the 50's and 60's and now we have dropped straight to the single digits. Yesterday Beau went for his 6 month checkup and it was -8, as in 8 below 0, not 8 below freezing. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!
I have to say it is beautiful. I am fully embracing winter in North Dakota and I am actually really liking it. The snow has blanketed everything and sets the perfect mood for the holidays. The best thing about it is the snowflakes.I guess in Oklahoma it has always just been like sleet snow or something b/c Brian nor I have ever seen snowflakes like these. Our God is the creator God and he is artistic and praise worthy. We all played outside on Sunday and Brian and I both noticed the snowflakes and we were amazed. They are as tiny and intricate as the paper cut outs that you make at school. They are perfect! I think I once heard that there are no 2 snowflakes alike and now I believe it. It reminds me of Crazy Love and how Francis Chan says if we really know our Creator we will be in awe of Him and if you freakin saw these snowflakes, you would be amazed. So, I attached some pics using my Ashley Campbell skills of Macro and you can enjoy them too.

I don't think we will be going outside too much. Baker however, loves the snow. He LOVES his snow boots Mary, and he is always asking to go outside. The only problem is he doesn't keep his gloves on and after about 15 minutes on Sunday of being outside he was just screaming b/c his hands hurt. It's brutal. Poor guy, he will learn though.

Anyways, I saw on the Today show that a major storm is coming through the US. It looks as if it will hit you all worse than us, so maybe we will all have a white Christmas.

Killdeer "Mountain"

So, I have taken the afternoon off to blog. You can see I have added several entries. This is about our first weekend in Dickinson. In the morning we went to an Auction, which was AWESOME. We got all this junk/stuff for pennies on the dollar. I loved it. They are really popular here.
Then in the afternoon we drove to Killdeer, ND. It's about 33 miles north. They have a "mountain" and national historic registered place. There was a battle there between the Calgary and Indians, Sitting Bull was even there. That was really cool to Brian. Anyhow, I think hundreds, maybe, of Sioux's escaped the massacre from the Americans through a thing called Medicine Hole. I guess it's like they slid down through the mountain. Anyhow we thought it sounded cool and decided to go see it.
It was a one mile hike but what the heck else were we going to do???????

So, Brian zipped Beau up in his jacket and Baker walked for like 5 steps and then I had to carry him. I originally thought it was a walking trail and we could use the stroller- not so. It took us a while. I thought so much of Tim and Kara while we were doing it. It is so something you all will do if Lord willing you procreate. We haven't stopped our adventures, we just have more luggage now.
Anyways, it was hard b/c they aren't light but it was worth the view. It was also really fun. We laughed a lot. We never found the medicine hole b/c it got too steep. It was great. You can Wickipedia medicine hole for more info

Talking to whoever is listening

Here we have the master bedroom, toy room/half basement, and Baker's big boy bed. He has slept in it successfully for several nights now, but nap time is not fun. You think- big boy bed, yes that is great, but not really. It is a lot of work. I hope it ends soon. He can fall asleep fine at night, but nap time is not cool at all. I don't like it. Beau is out of the pack-n-play at least though. Baker has also been going to the big boy potty for about a week now. I would call him house broke. He wears underwear at home and may have like one accident but he hasn't had any today. I don't trust him in the car though or in the bed. I just don't want to clean that up. Also something you think would benefit your life, but really... adds a lot of work. The kid pees like every 10 minutes. SERIOUSLY. It's like a teaspoon at a time, then ten minutes later another teaspoon. If I can just get him to pee like 1/4 cup then that would save me so much time. Anyways, he did it all on his own. I guess what they say is true, they will do it when they are ready. I suppose the Lord is just having mercy on us b/c we tried before we moved and failed. A big thanks though to anyone who watched him pee in the bucket in Tulsa. I think he just loves praise so much (and candy) that he'll go to the bathroom for it. Anyhow, his second bday is coming in February but it seems like he should be so much older. I had no idea he would be changing so much. He can finally put together two words (it's a big deal). He says "hi beau" "apple juice" "oh no" and .... that may be all but it's a big deal. So, he is a different little man. My favorite thing is when we go outside (b/c it is officially COLD) he says "brrrrrrrr". I don't know where he learned that. And when he wants something he says "Bake" and squeezes his hand over it like I want it, I want it. He does it in magazines to guitars and to pics of my brother. It's hilarious, but also super annoying! Sometimes he doesn't stop and I am like- Seriously!! I cannot take the horse out of the book and give it to you. Beau can sit up for like 10 seconds which is a big deal. It is hard to accept that he is 2 months behind so I am pushing him. We cheer for him when he does sit up and then Baker sits down and says Yeah for himself. It's funny. Sorry, I am prob rambling, but it's very therapuetic. Beau laughs a lot. He really loves Brian and Brian loves him too, may have taken some time, but it happened. Yes, Drew it's true. Anyhow I attached a video of Brian tickeling Beau. I think my mom was the only one who heard him laugh before we left. It doesn't do his laugh justice but it's a start, and you can see that Baker is still an attention hog. I have no idea where he gets that. In the background you can also see our entertainment center and dining room. Mary, our cross wall is just to the left of the entertainment center. It looks great! So, for Thanksgiving we are going to my friend Christina's. She is in the AirForce in Minot, about 3 hrs away. We went to daycare together and she was in our wedding so we are thankful that we have someone to celebrate with. It will be our first Thanksgiving for both of us without family so at least we can be together. Plus there is a Dollar Tree in Minot! Sunday we are leaving for Mt. Rushmore and then we will be driving to Casper Wyoming, and do you know what they have there??? A Ross!!!! Anyhow, luckily the first of the month is around the corner b/c I am still eating my fun money. So, then we will come back and that Saturday night we are going to the API Christmas party, I don't know what that stands for, and we have a babysitter. So, ya, we've never done that- had to pay someone and we don't know her. Major downside to moving but that's okay. So, Happy Thanksgiving to all- if anyone made it this far down. Thanks

The Move

Here are some pics from the move. North American was great. I never knew what the company did, but I certainly recognized their semis from the I-40 on the many trips we took to the city growing up. I included our driver Jay and his helper AJ. This is our house in Tulsa and then in Dickinson. I will try and put up some decorated pics also.
I collect pictures of state welcome signs, something my parents started for me. I have quite a few but prob not half. Anyways, I also attached the pics of the new states we went to. I didn't have any of these signs b/c, well I hadn't been there!

I will also include some more Halloween photos per Stacy's request. Halloween was great, Baker is really like a kid now. There isn't much baby left in him.

A lot of people here have asked us "How were you able to get a rent house?" There was a tornado last year and it destroyed a lot of property and plus oil is obviously picking up here so there are hardly any rent homes available. Lots of people said they tried for months to get a place to rent that was quality.
Everything has come together for us b/c of the Lord. It is nothing we did. We don't deserve anything. We rented this place 4 days before we moved to ND and we didn't know what it looked like, but we love it. God is good, even if we had been living in that terrible terrible condo, God would still be good and faithful and He would still promise to provide. I just want everyone to know that all credit is due to Him b/c we have been completely taken care of. These are photos from our balcony. They remind me of home in W'ford and again, I thought you would like them Stacy.

love yall, whoever you are

Seattle

Well, we are back from our trip and we had a blast. I guess you can say it was our first true family vacation for the four of us. I had been to Seattle in high school, but it was like I had almost never been. We stayed in the Hilton downtown and it was pure luxury. There was no need to rent a car there. Everything is really close and they have a great ground transportation system called walking. I swear, my legs are practically steel after walking all those hills- pushing a stroller. BTW-a thanks to Rick and Mary, there is no way this trip would have been possible without the stroller! We used it every second from the airport to the market to the space needle. I have attached a lot of pics b/c this is the best way for us to communicate with family. Hope you enjoy them.
Baker loved the market. They have a bronze piggy bank there named Rachel I think, and ev11erytime we started walking he would say "pig.. fish". He loved going down there. By the end of the first day Beau's little cheeks were chapped from the wind, something I didn't think about. From then on out I covered his side of the stroller with a blanket.
I bought this awesome purple headband at J Crew. It reminded me of Leslie and Kendall. The shopping there was great. It reminded me of Chicago. It was nice to see places like the Gap and Walgreens. The things you miss when you move to a town of 15,000.

Beau was always wearing this bear suit b/c it was SO COLD outside. As always, the boys drew in a lot of attention. I don't know if they don't have bear suits up there or what, but people could not get over it.
On Friday, we went to the Seattle library. It was not a thing like any library I have ever seen. More like a piece of art, but it was a break from the cold and Baker enjoyed it. Friday night we ventured down to the waterfront and had amazing seafood, and we don't even like seafood. We both had fresh Alaskan halibut. Brian's was grilled and mine was in cakes. YUM!!
On Saturday we went to the Space Needle, via the monorail or train as Baker called it. Then we went to the Experience Music Project. It was started by Bill Gate's Microsoft buddy. This was my favorite activity. They had guitars and drums that we could play. If you didn't know, Baker is obsessed with guitars and drums now. So, this was heaven for him. If you ever go to Seattle, don't skip out on this!
Then we went on a ferry ride. Mind you, Baker is really improving with his words, so when we say we are going to play drums or ride a boat he doesn't stop saying the word until it happens. We had to take a bus to our ferry and the whole time he demanded "BOAT, BOAT, BOAT!". The ferry took us all over the Puget Sound and Seattle's waterfront. I loved this also. The best part of course was seeing the house where they filmed "Sleepless in Seattle". Who doesn't love Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks together? That night we went out for crab legs on the waterfront again, that is of course after Brian stopped at the Fox sports bar to watch the OU game!
Sunday was pretty much traveling, and you don't want to see any pics of that! Except we went to the original Starbucks as you can see, WE ALL had some coffee. It was a long flight from Seattle to Denver and a long flight to Bismarck. As we waited on the runway in Denver for our plane to be de-iced Baker demanded "UP, UP!" He is funny.


So, it was great. Thanks for reading!