Summer = M.I.A.

This summer has flown by, I blame it on the lack of time at home.

We've been to Metigoshe, Minot, GF, Detroit Lakes, Omaha, Reeder (repeating those a few times), and have had friends/family staying with us for a weekend here and there.

I suppose with all the time on the road I've completely neglected spending time alone (with/without Dan), which includes writing thoughts down.

Just a quick note: we are off to the lake this weekend, again :) but I managed to finish up one of my long-time projects that's been staring at me.  Thanks to someone on Pinterest for this awesome idea!  Those of you who know Dan....this is THE explanation of 'Dan Time'!  He has yet to see the final product, enjoy.

When I get back, I will have to show pictures from some of our trips with friends and family, happy weekend

R & R

Some pics (few of many) from our trip that show off the beautiful views.  It was a week-long vacation and much needed!  We would recommend to anyone who likes sun, water, cold drinks, and good food!!!

Ocean view from our room

Sunset view from room

Dan partaking in water activities

Catamaran cruise

Overlooking the pool

Sunset pic with my hunny

As much as we loved our time away we did miss our little girl:

Spring is in the Air

Since the sun is out and no longer wintery-cold Ali feels as though she needs to be outside, at all times. But, someone has to be out with her otherwise she just stares in through the screen and begs. She needs a companion...one that has 4 legs.

Ang and Heather were in NoDak for a week, Pres had spring break--as an 8th grader, spoiled! Here he is reading to our cousins' kiddos.

We celebrated P & G's 37th Anniversary in early April. Somehow I caught a photo of P and Ali but I think G is somewhere entertaining my cousins.

A 'New' Kitchen!

Finally, Done! The 1 and only project this winter (for the house) is complete. Minus curtains but that's another day. My aunt N helped me pick out colors from a rug I had bought, my cousins L and L helped me tear down wall paper and prime, my aunt P helped me with the idea of horizontal stripes (time consuming but worth it in the end), and even D and my mom helped me tape off the sections and paint a little. Could NOT have done this alone!

This is the view coming from the hallway (from the bedrooms).

This view is from the kitchen, looking towards the hallway (on right).

We ended the day with celebratory drinks. Or at least 1 of us did.

Project Wall-puke-Paper Takedown

Just realized I never posted this.  This is a view of the HORRID mess our kitchen was during the project

No. 1 Valentine

Yes, that's right, my little girl! She's an 'adult' (so says the vet) who still loves her blanky!

I made the man Better-than-sex cake, neither of us like cake but why not make something tasty for dessert, sure beats a Popsicle! We each had one piece and I made him take it to work the next day so we didn't get chubby eating a whole pan alone!

We also munched on Strawberry Poppyseed Spinach Salad, Roasted Red & Sweet Potatoes, Baked Chicken alla Milanese, and a glass, or two, of wine. Mmmm. I think I put too much lemon zest in the chicken breading but I didn't hear too much complaining.

Boys, BoYs, BOYS!

Next week I get to spend lots of QT with these 5 handsome guys and 1 lucky little lady! I'll also try to throw in some grown-up time :)

These 2 turds pretend like they're going to smile cute and I get this: something even cuter ... notice the character in the background and his cheesy smile :)

Playing drums on auntie's butt is more amusing when she can't fight back. Such an adorable smile!

PJ diggin' his dinner meal. I think this was the week Evan, Payton, and Riley are started coming down with a nasty cold, which made it's way around to a few of us and back :( Poor boys.

Look at those pink cheekers!! E-man on the go.

Riley can smell something cooking and is ready to chow! He's probably more spot on with smells, every time I smell something remotely close to farts or poops I immediately go straight for those diapered butts! One thing I don't mind about cleaning their butts is that they're smaller and cuter than the ones I clean for a living ;)

Here's a pic Dan's dad took of us with Dreyden and Sloane on the day they got fully moved into their remodeled :) home!

And, now that I looked back at my previous blog I see I promised pics of our vacay spot, enjoy, I know I will!

Slack.er.

It's been a while since I last exploded with pictures, and sadly, I don't have many new ones. The best I can do right now is provide links to show what I've been doing the past ...MONTH!? :)

When I had a few days off I was able to hit the road and travel to Minot to help my b&s-in-laws with their homes and spend time with their a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e. kiddos! Over the past couple of weeks we have painted in one house and moved furniture and belongings into both homes, AND the man and I have a special niece to be so proud of! The poor thing is going to be fighting a 1 vs. 5 ratio of girls against boys; I can only imagine the battles that will be fought and the victories she will win :)

Here's a link to my SIL's blog who just had Sloane Harlow, the first girl in the fam. You can also check out how much big bro Dreyden has grown!!

Here's a link to my SIL's blog who has Brody, Evan, Payton, and Riley. These 4 boys are also growing so fast and surprise me with new 'skills' every time I see them!!

The man and I have been so lucky to be able to spend so much time with all of our favorite 'littles' we can't wait until they're all in their 'new' houses so it lifts a little weight off of every one's shoulders--->we're really looking forward to spending time every body in their own space.

Something to look forward to: vacation! Dan booked our late honeymoon for this spring so we are excited to get some outdoor activities in the sun (that doesn't include 30 degree weather, not that I'm complaining with the mild winter we've had). I'll post pics of our destination next time, along with a few others I've collected that I'm too lazy to put up right now. The charge on our credit card isn't pretty but we're really looking forward to some R&R that we didn't take advantage of right after the wedding.

The Flu...da-dun-duuuun

This week started out pretty miserable. And poor Dan had to put up with a whinny, greasy, pukey, wife....and sleeping on the couch for 2 days, oops! SO, since I have done nothing with myself over the past 4 days all I have to tell you about is what I haven't dealt with since I think I was in Elementary school. For the record, it was just as awful and I remember it.

This consists of items that got me through the day: phone (of course), popsicles (when they'd stay down), carmex, lotion, water bottle(s, of course having more than one is essential?), a glass of Sprite, a glass of Pedialite, my Nook (which I thought I'd be able to read, but couldn't keep my eyes open to concentrate long enough), organic saltine crackers (I'm enjoying Dan's new shopping habits), and my eye mask (which I wore for 2.5 days, don't judge).

This is wear I spent those days, surrounded by giant pillows, blankets, and 3 rice bags that helped me survive the body aches and chills that I thought I would die from, funny how big of a baby being ill can make you.

My laptop got me through the periods of time when I was running back and forth to the bathroom and not being able to sleep;Desperate Housewives is entertaining enough but if I can fall asleep just listening to it then I don't feel bad missing out on episodes by not 'watching' them.

This girl got me through those 3 days by cuddling up to me even after I'd get sick. Dan thinks he's getting sick by being around the dog now, that's not possible...? Anyway, now that I'm starting to feel better I think she's giving me the guilt trip because all I get is the 'Mom, I stayed in bed with you night and day when you were sick, and you won't even take me on a walk' look; it's working, maybe tomorrow, Ali.

As promised, one of the projects I was working on last week which I saw online HERE. I painted one of Dan's old dressers with black chalkboard paint (used 2 coats) and wrote on it with chalk. He told I should have done dry erase (which I think they have) but I said no. Plus, when our nephews and niece come visit they have something to draw on! Yeah for saving paper! ?? :)

time to give Ali her medicine...maybe that will be a rant for next week.

Productivity

Intro:

Today I started my day off at 515 am after waking up to something "banging" against our house. As I crawled out of bed this morning after 'celebrating' my 1 year as an RN at my first job last night (that's what excuse for having a large glass of wine was)...and, as Dan brought it to my attention, our 4 month anniversary..needless to say my body wasn't ready to get up...I walked outside to inspect what was going on and due to the extremely high winds (I really thought our garbage can had blown over and everything I had filled it up with the night before would be all over our neighbors lawn) it turned out to be just the window cover for our basement window.

....therefore I didn't back into bed since my mind was all over the place.

I began with grinding my hazelnut coffee beans from Coffee Co. & having breakfast

...and hopping on our like-new elliptical from Dan's parents, thanks, Chari & David! After I got a few miles on while I watched Netflix I knew Dan had to be getting up soon so I thought I'd feed the dog. I came upstairs to hear the alarm going off---which had been for 15 minutes,

completely normal for him, really.

Ali's knew food tray, it's elevated so she doesn't have to strain too much to eat & drink, ha!...and hopefully that damn under bite will stop exactly where it's at. It also stores her food inside, winners.

Ali's new treat container, keep in mind: those are not HER treats next to it.

I cleaned the bathroom---woof (it gets completely stripped and scrubbed, whew)

I vacuumed

Took down Christmas decor :( ....

Filled picture frames we got as wedding gifts

Finished a couple of my projects, I'm still waiting for a couple of things in the mail and 'finishing touches' so that will most likely be the next blog shared. On that note: Pinterest is a dirty trick, it's so easy to access different/fun ideas and the more and more you see what others do with their free time it drives you crazy to the point where you quit being oh-so-lazy and finally do something....more on that at another time.

I also sent snail mail--yeay!

caught up on my frequently visited blogs: Waind Party of Six & The Waind Family

I love those nephews and 'Sally'!

....it's lunch time and I find myself exhausted, ready for a nap, (with my puppy of course) ready for a bubble bath even?, and yet I still have a little touch of the shakes from coffee & sugar.

To do list for this weekend:

get all of our paperwork filed into a file cabinet so it's not laying in multiple rooms any more.

....what fun The Mr. and I will have on our 1 weekend out of the month that we are home together :)

In The Beginning

Yes, you've got it. I've caved and finally joined the blogging community.

While listening to my husband go on and on about all of his interests/obsessions (tea, glass, fragrance-free products) I have decided I need to start speaking up about things I'm interested in or this could be a long life-time of happily-wedded bliss :) Love you, Dan!

And since he actually DOES listen to me when I express interest, this Christmas for my birthday and Christmas gift he was so kind to get me (okay, it's kind of a gift for the 2 of us) something I've always wanted: my very own Cannon EOS Rebel.

Here is a look into what our lives as newly weds is consumed by

Piles of Laundry! ... minus the loads that are in the washer and dryer already.

...and this:

Bills, Decisions, Paperwork, Insurance .... and more bills.

We were able to go to a Sioux hockey game with Dan's family a few weekends ago and we were lucky enough to make it to Parrot's Cay (our FAVORITE place to get wings in GF when we lived there)! .... also, one of us was smart enough to put the white portion of her sleeve in wing sauce, so that also became a project of cleaning. Could not have done it without stain remover and our new favorite laundry detergent from Shaklee!

On a weekend day when we were both home (this NEVER happens) we made deep-fried cheesy pickles mmm (get the recipe here) and our new bowls we got from Dan's parents for Christmas--we like them for popcorn!

note: this is really our only counter space in the kitchen, it tends to fill up quickly with drying dishes, mail, coupons, dying plants, and groceries!

Our needs-to-decorated-oh-so-badly living room with our Christmas goodies. We spend the majority of our time in here...I'm sure you can see it contains most of our cable-free entertainment. I'm desperate to have it moved downstairs so we utilize more of our home.

As I said earlier, the counter sees it's fair share of groceries. And that handsome fool is my hubby. He's also Santa Clause on good days.

Trying to catch them both posing but Ali, our dog-child, has an attention span of a dinosaur. Notice our Christmas tree comes in handy for not only holding our antenna but we get our best quality channels from that spot right there. Fire hazard? Maybe.

And most days we can even find time to relax and chew on a new bone we've gotten for Christmas, just long enough to keep us out of the bathroom garbage and eating things that shall not be identified until we poop it out. No, Ali, we have NO idea you do that, please, continue to do so at your pleasure.

Happy New Years from our Home to Yours.