Snow, Snow Go Away

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Well, we had another blizzard this week. This first week of Spring. As you can guess I have nothing positive to say about the blizzard. We could finally see significant spaces of grass peaking through the melting snow when it was abruptly coverd in white again. I wanted to make several observations on these pics

#1: Do you see how everything is white? Even the sky? We actually live in a dome of white. Not a blue sky or a golden sun, just white with a smudge of gray every now and then. It's not the same sky you are under now. Our is more like a plastic lid. I am guessing North Dakota uses it to shield away any possible missile attacks and the only available color from its manufacturer was unfortunately, white.

#2: Can you see Baker?? He is out there somewhere. I almost lost him b/c there is about 5 yards of visibility. Boo

Okay, moving on.

Here are some pictures of Bake, since I just did some of Beau. He loves to help in the kitchen. If you can't tell these were taken on St. Patrick's day.

We had green food to eat all day. These are molasses cookies that I let him ice. They weren't good. I will probably never make them again. I have had good molasses cookies though, its not impossible.

On another positive note, and this should get a laugh, I have taken a renewed interest in fashion. Being that I have no wear to shop I have become much more creative with my ensembles, and it is noticed. In Tulsa I was just your average dressed girl, but here.... here.... they always look forward to see what concotion I have come up with

for an outfit. Brian just holds his breath as he doesn't like most outfits. So, why not blog about? These are just simple church outfits, but none the less, I made Brian take my picture. So, I have begun to see how fashion really does use your creativity that God gave us and for some it adds beauty. Brian told me people were going to laugh at my belted sweater but we counted and I got one laugh to about 5 compliments. Anyways, it is nice to add some spice and if I can blog about cooking, I can blog about fashion. I am about to go shopping and even hit up an H&M!! Woo HOO- cutest kids clothes EVER. I care about the boys' fashion too, but only sometimes, well not that often really, but I do care.

Anyways, trying to chipper myself up so hopefully you got a smile in there somewhere!

Two Weeks

Well, it has been 2 weeks since my negative outburst. I would have blogged sooner if I thought I could/would write something different. Today I will write about good things....

Spring is coming
The weather has been in the 40's
My sister will visit this summer for 2 entire weeks!!!
I do have friends here
and I am looking forward to an eventful weekend
and the best things of all is pictures like these:

If you know me at all, you know I am social. I think 1/2 the problem with winter is the non-social time. Daylight savings has kept the sun up until about 7:45 so we can have driveway get togethers with our neighbors again. We won't be stuck at home this weekend wasting away our lives watching "My Life as Liz" or "Kim and Kourtney". We will make it.

I feel very reaffirmed this week that the Lord brought us to ND and He will keep us here to accomplish His purposes. When that is over, we will know and things will smoothly transition south (hopefully). Until then I will continue to plan to be here for a while and pray for less harsh winters.

My relationships with girlfriends has drastically improved here and I feel like I have a good support system, even if they have yet to figure out all my quirks. I am thankful. And this child is blessed.... mmmmmm... he is so good looking. Even during a bad time you can't help but smile when you are surrounded by this all day.

The Power of Positive Thinking

The power of positive thinking is getting me nowhere. I don't usually blog if I don't have anything positive to say, but today is an exception. There is nothing positive or uplifting in this blog, so I would probably stop reading if I were you.

Winter is terrible. I am so cold and I am so so so tired of the snow. Today it is -4, on March 2nd. The wind chill is -20. I can't do this. No one can do this. Even the locals are complaining and I just can't take it ANY LONGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, please pray for Spring. There is no sign of a long term warm up and I can't grasp that concept.

I thought it would be nice to provide you with some happy pictures so we can portray what things don't look like.

Our friends Ryan and Hannah are moving up here and we are so thankful. They were just here for a week and they left today and I cried. It sucks. It was so nice to have company who is like family. Boo

The End.

Going Private

As seems to be the safety trend, we will be going private with our blog. Which simply means, you just have to be invited to view the new posts. It is a one time process where you log on and then you are good to go each time. So, send me your email if you want to continue to follow. If you don't, and I want you to cont to follow, I will add you anyways! Haha

We have had super beautiful weather. Oh,I can't tell you how nice it has been. So we went sledding this weekend and here are some pics. There are hills and trees in our town. You can see how deep the snow is on Brian. Also you can see how brave Beau is. He would go over and over and over, all by himself. They loved it! Also, you can see my new sunglasses. Not too much personality, but they are growing on me.

Love you guys!

My email is rebeccayoung1@gmail.com

Birthday Party

I know Baker's grandparents are thirsty for some birthday party pics so I thought I would supply them. The party was great! Baker had a blast with all his friends. Our neighbor, who is 4 said "this is the best swimming day ever!". The cake was mediocre, but other than that we just had a happy day celebrating!
I had a girlfriend come out to be my right hand man (b/c it is very hard to get things done by yourself and try to enjoy the party) so I was so grateful! The Lord has been very good to us lately and we are just pleased to have a 3yr old. I can already tell that age 3 is better than age 2! So, we are going to live up these next 4 months in peace, before we have a 2 yr old again. I added the pic of Beau b/c he is just so darn cute. Baker got those boots for his bday and Beau just loves them, even though they come up to his knees.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery... right?

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? Sometimes. Not in this case. It is not flattering to my personality that Baker takes my flaws and exaggerates them. Yesterday he started something new, a loud, deep, annoyed sigh. You know, when things don't go your way you might let out an "uuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh". I do, a lot apparently. For instance, when I realized that I had washed my new red table cloth with my new Williams Sonoma white towels and my cloth napkins- I let out a loud "uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhh". When I back out of the garage and drive over a huge clump of snow, I go "uuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggggghhhhhh". Well, it didn't take long for Baker to pick up on this. He used to say "uuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggghhhhhh WHAT???" Which would make me laugh and I would feel stupid for making such a big deal out of something petty. So now, when he says I want that toy that Beau has and I say no.... he says 'uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggggggggggghh'. I obviously laughed the first time or two, but it certainly isn't a habit you want your child picking up on.

He also flatters Brian. We were at Subway last night and I looked up and there was spit all over Baker's eye. I asked what happened and he said, " I can't see, I put my contact in." He did it again and this time I saw him. He spit in his hand and rubbed it over his eye. Of course Brian doesn't spit in his eye, but still. He is watching. Its like my sister-in-law said, we teach them so many things un-intentionally.


Beau on the hand, imitates nothing. We wonder whose genes he has. He is something of a different breed. He is ornerier and sweeter than Baker ever thought about being. He is very territorial and he wants his way! He threw a very large fit at the table tonight b/c we wouldn't let him have anymore guacamole without eating some meat first. He never gave in. Brian tried to put a spoon to his mouth and he covered it with both hands. No kidding.

He was sitting by me while I was making dinner when he grabbed the sucker dish. I looked over and he had a large gleam in his eye and a smirk on his face as he stuck his hand in AND watched to see what I said. It wouldn't have been fun if I wasn't watching.


We have a lot of days that Brian and I look at each other and wonder how did we get to this point with two seemingly smart boys trying to run our lives? They are so crazy. I wish you all could see them.

What's for Dinner?

Tonight we are having Red Quinoa and Black Bean Salad. Wow, that is a mouthful. Not to mention I had never heard of the word quinoa "keen-woa" before. Apparently it is a whole grain that you can find at your health food store, and apparently my little town has a health food store. Nothing of course compared to Whole Foods, but it will do, especially since... we don't eat anything organic.

So, Julie Beam introduced me to the Pioneer Woman blog and I have been trying her recipes ever since. She is awesome! She has a great chicken spaghetti that Brian loves, we have used her salsa recipe and the best of all was her spicy shredded pork shoulder. It is so good (as my dad would put it) "I would order it at a restaurant". Tonight we are trying something on her website from "The Church Cook", whom I have never heard of. I should have guessed that it was not her recipe since it looks super healthy and not so comforting. I thought it looked beautiful though and so I had to write about it. You can see in the pictures how the quinoa goes from small brown balls to something that almost looks like an eye. We will see what Brian says. I tasted it before the dressing and it was delicious, but then the dressing was pretty strong. Hopefully its nothing a little Ranch, sour cream, or avacado can't fix.

Hope everyone is doing well! What are you having for dinner??? Mother???

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/salads/red-quinoa-and-black-bean-salad/?review_page=2#cr