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!

MPT What?

Here is a small sample of the wonderful photos Bopha took of us the day before we left. She is good... Ashley Campbell- you better watch out!

Seattle's best

Well, we are all in Seattle right now (the 4 of us). Brian came up for a conference and I thought- there is NO WAY you are leaving me in ND by myself. So, we are here Wednesday thru Sunday. We have enjoyed ourselves and this is a video of Baker chasing after pigeons down by the waterfront. Turn your volume up. We, of course, think it is hilarious. I guess Oklahoma birds don't let him get that close.

811 23rd St W

Well, we are moved into our home. Although it is a larger overall space, the rooms are smaller so it was interesting trying to place our furniture. We def. need the help from our design friends. Baker and Beau are sharing a room and doing well with that. We are going to move Baker to a twin bed as soon as we can find one to buy. I really love the house. The sunlight pours through to keep our spirits high. I trying to get some pics up ASAP. We met one of the neighbors and there is a park just down the road. Today the high is like 72, so we will def be playing outside.

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are in our new home and doing well.

Keep us in your prayers!

So Sad! National news

Well, I am sure none of you had heard of Dickinson, ND before we moved here and now it is national news. If you haven't heard there were 3 college softball players missing from Dickinson State since Saturday. They were found today at about 4:30 in a pond north of town. They were star gazing and it seems as if they drove straight into a pond and drown in their car. So sad, so so so sad. So,all the national news stations are here. Our hotel is sold out.

Lord heal their families.

Adjustments

Well, we are still doing great up here. The weather has been beautiful, in the 50's and no wind- which was mainly what made the town so unattractive. I realized with the luxuries of cable and internet readily available that I am a lazy bum, but what else is there to do in a hotel. I think it is as my dad said "hotels are fun for about one day." And that day was Saturday.

We went to our house yesterday and we were very pleased. Best of all- IT HAD A DISHWASHER! Both of the other places we looked at didn't and I had started to wonder if anyone used them up north. The upstairs was nice and clean with a beautiful balconcy with a view that is similar to my parents backyard, so that is comforting. We were told it was a 3bed 2 bath 1800sq ft house. We however will only be using it as a 2 bed 1 bath and save the rest for any potential and unlikely guests. The downstairs is sort of.. unfinished. I wish Kara could tell me what is supposed to be going on with the space. It has a bedroom and bathroom and a huge family type space. So, it will be for playing and the boys will share a room upstairs. The second best part of the house is the sunshine. If you ever visited us on 3rd St you know the light poured through the house and I loved that. We need sunshine! And this house is full of it. Very similiar with the front window and back sliding door. Thank you Lord!

Last, our major adjustment has been time. Since we moved on daylight savings weekend and moved to mountain time (b/c west ND is in mountain time) we have had a severe 2 hr change. For my children who apparently are now slaves to their time schedule it has been very rough. Beau wanted to go to bed at 5:30 on Sunday. Needless to say we were all down by 7:45, which leads us to wake up time @ 6:30. That would NEVER have happened for a single one of us in Tulsa. We are NOT early risers. But the last 2 mornings we all can't help but be awake. I don't know if we are going to adjust or just live on the old sleep cycle. It is nice to wake up together. Plus, since Bismarck is in central time and that is where the major news stations are located everything is on earlier here. So, we watch Castle on Monday nights and it came on at 8pm in stead of 9pm leaving us no real reason to stay up late. Shoot, we might actually be able to catch more than just the opening skit for once.

So, we are doing well. I don't know if anyone actually reads this, but I enjoy updating it b/c well... it's fun!

-Becky

Home... sweet home... or at least a start

Well, we have finished our drive to ND. We survived quite well. Thank you for praying for our sanity during the 17hr drive, it was so much better than we planned! We are in a hotel and we have a computer in our room! Woah! We drove by the house we rented and it is in a great neighborhood. So, all is well, the adventure has begun and we are excited. All we have now is each other!

good news

guess what? we are now in bismarck and they have a dollar tree! thank you Lord, seriously. it's classy

trick or treat

WE PICKED A RANDOM NEIGHBORHOOD IN WATERTOWN, SOUTH DAKOTA TO TRICK OR TREAT. WE HAD A BLAST! BAKER GOT THE CONCEPT AFTER ABOUT 4 HOUSES. THE FIRST HOUSE HE TRIED TO WALK RIGHT IN AND THEN HE WOULDN'T LET ANYONE PUT CANDY IN HIS BASKET, ONLY HIS HAND AND HE WOULD PLACE IT IN THE BASKET. IT WAS FUN.