The joy of Christmas time

This was my first Christmas away from home. We went up to the UP for the weekend. It's a 13 hour drive from here, so we didn't have much time there, but I had a good time. A really good time.

Christmas eve company. Aren't they cute?!

My mother-in-law (still feels strange to say that :) and some of her sisters.

A boy and his dog. Comrade was so happy to see Mark, and Mark, Comrade.

At one point, Mark was lying on the floor cuddling with the dog, and I thought he should get up. He and other family members assured me it was normal. It was kind of cute...

More Christmas eve company. It was nice to see some fellow Minnesotans (at heart, anyway :).

The ladies exchanged homemade or thrifty gifts. Mari got a paper wreath from Kendra.

Jessica got this plate from Aleena.

Everyone's gifts were so nice. I got an adorable chalkboard from Jessica. I have always wanted one; I thought maybe my husband will write cute notes for me. So far, it's been the other way around, but oh well.

The married couples got Tupperware from Margaret and Gary. Margaret thought maybe it was a gift more geared toward the ladies, but the guys proved her wrong...

It was strange not having little kids running amok during the holiday. We just got to see Jory on Christmas eve, and Tessa and Piper on Christmas Day. They got lots of attention!

The men exchanged homemade/thrifty gifts too. Here Ryan is showing Aaron how to use the shop vac filter he made.

We got to see some snow, Mark got to use his 4 wheeler (a strange Christmas sight), and we got some good visiting in, both with family and friends. We also took two saunas! It was truly a joyful time.

Song services

We went to song services last night. It was fun to see all the single guys that we know are out here, but rarely see. I told my cousin "Grease" that some night I'd have him over for dinner, and he proclaimed, "that would be awesome!" I'm sure they're really missing home cooking. And we're all missing the fellowship of our church friends, which was why it's so great to get together!

Frost

For a few days, the trees and ground were covered in a beautiful white frost.


The valley near my work was a sight to behold.

Town is in the distance, near the tower/elevator thing (I'm not very well-informed).

Merry Christmas, Ann!

Ann wanted pictures of a rig for Christmas, and I'm giving the man in the red suit a helping hand by providing them for her. :)

Sorry about the lack of pretty wrapping paper and a bow, Ann.

The presence of these tanks lets you know it's an oil well site.

Here's a rig. Keep in mind it's a workover rig, not a drilling rig. A workover rig goes to a well site and fixes problems to keep oil flowing after a drilling rig has been there to drill the well and start the flow. Mark is on a workover rig, whereas my b-i-l Mike is on a drilling rig.

The tall ladder-like thing is called the derrick. The platform half-way up is where the derrick hand stands and does his work. I'm not sure exactly what he does... I've learned a lot from Mark, but there's so much more that I will probably never learn.

The tall black things running through the platform are rods. This rig is "tripping rods". That's taking the rods out and putting them back in (I checked with M to be sure I'm right).

The other workers (they're called floorhands, although they have other titles like "tool pusher" and "operator" too) stay at the bottom, near the back of the rig on the work floor, and get 'er done.

Like this man. He's working. No idea what he's doing, but something important, I'm sure. Mark thinks he about to climb the derrick. Mark's crew has to wear company coveralls (currently thicker, winter ones) and a hard hat. Most things are FR (or Fire Resistant), and I constantly hear and see those letters in clothing stores.

This is not Mark's rig. It's one that is just west of town, right next to the street. Mark works about an hour away from home, usually.

Hope this was informative, and slightly interesting.

My Bro

He's the featured athlete on the SCSU website this week.




I don't know if anyone could have possibly answered the questions in a shorter way than he did.

If this didn't put me in the Xmas mood...

I don't know what will.
Since we decided not to have a Christmas tree out here, I told my mom I would put up hers. It's kind of been a tradition since she got a white tree that we (the girls) put it up and do a color scheme. Fun colors show up so much better on a white tree.

This year, we did a red/lime green whimsical style. Bev had gotten a whole slew of stuff on clearance last year. So I guess we're a year behind current trend in our color scheme.


I also decorated a few other areas of the house.


It was hard to get a good picture of the buffet, because of the mirror behind it. It looks better in real life. Ha.

We just put up new grandkid pictures, from our wedding. I think the whole display turned out well, although Anni's picture would be better in black/white, and we still need Haas.

That was Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon was reserved for Karen and Ray's wedding, which was beautiful, all fuchsia/silver and Christmas-y (you wouldn't think those colors would look like Christmas, but they made a perfect winter wedding).

And then. Sunday was Concordia's choir concert. Cousin Kellie had had the brilliant idea that I could make it to the concert in Moorhead on my drive back to ND. Perfect! She got me a second row ticket next to her mom and dad, Grandma and Grandpa, sister Lydia, and near Aunt Patti, Uncle Don, and Aunt Liz.

Once again, I sat riveted for the whole thing. It was AMAZING. Beautiful. Kellie did a great job up there, along with the rest of the award-winning choir.

Picture-taking wasn't allowed, but I like to live on the edge, and I surreptitiously snapped this photo. Unfortunately, I didn't catch Kellie in it.

I'm so glad I got to attend, and it most definitely helped put me in a more holiday spirit.

The white stuff

There's just something so clean about the first snow. It covers up all the junk.

We got about two inches in all. I forgot how crappy manuevering icy roads is.

New camera and babies

This one's not new. He's old, almost 5 months, and B-I-G. We love him for his smiles and big puppy dog eyes.

I was trying out my new cameras close-up capabilities.

On our way home from Thanksgiving in MN, we saw lots and lots of birds.

Here's the driver. My handsome husband :)

And this is the newest member of the North Dakota congregation (and the first one born in ND). I got to meet her today- her name is Tenley Kay, daughter of Clare and Phil T.

And these are her big siblings, Esmie and Chance.

They're such cuties, it was fun to visit them!

Give Thanks

for my new husband and the life we are making together
for my family, old and new
for my vacuum, which is awesome (Kenmore cannister)
for feeling like we have control of our debt, instead of it controlling us
for nieces and nephews, who entertain us and make the world a more smiley place
for my early Christmas present of a new Canon camera
for being so blessed.

the North Dakota Badlands

They are not as well-known as the ones in South Dakota, but are just as breath-taking and neat. We live not far from the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where the Badlands are located, so we took my parents on a short day trip there.

It was a cold and windy day, but so worth it! This is at the Painted Canyon overlook.
They stretched for miles.

I didn't realize how much I had missed my parents until they came to visit (and haul some of our stuff out). I had fun playing hostess and showing them around 'our town'.

In TR National Park- there were many towns of prairie dogs. I know Mark and my dad were wishing they had guns along (not allowed, of course!) to pop a few. Here Dad is sneaking up on them...

... throwing rocks at them (to my mother's dismay). He missed, though.

We kept seeing bison poop. I really, really wanted to see a real bison. It had been years since I had last laid eyes on one.

Finally! An old, skinny one down in the ravine.

Dad's goal was to climb one of the buttes he saw all across ND. He had to settle for half of this bluff.

Wild horses were congregated near one of the pull-offs. My dad, Mark, and I got out of the car and walked nearer them to get a better look (and picture). My mom was cautious, and stayed by the vehicle, and yelled for us to come back.

We figured this was the leader of the herd. The other horses didn't move until he did.

A whole herd of bison! Again, my mother was cautioning us to stay in the car and don't get too close. We joked about running out there, but bison can weigh up to 2000 pounds, and can turn around faster than a horse.

North Dakota has a beauty all its own, one that doesn't include many trees, but is a wide open landscape of sky and golden prairie. I am thankful to be out here with my husband, enjoying our new life and home.

I'm back online!

I've already been out here for three weeks- time has truly flown by! My parents came last weekend to visit and bring some of our things, and I feel like I'm settled into our apartment now.

We spent some our hard-earned money and bought a new laptop. It's nice to feel connected from our home to yours. I hope to post some more pictures soon.

My Grandma

Read about her here. It is an article written by Jan for Veteran's Day.

I'm so proud to call her my grandma!

Doesn't she look smashing in her uniform?

(I'm babysitting, so I snuck on the computer while the baby is napping)

GRR!

For some reason, I can't post at the library here. The sweet one that is only a block away from my new home.

Stay tuned, please, or don't, until we get our own laptop.

NoDak

I'm here! Finally. I've been unpacking, and grocery shopping, hanging curtains, and spending lots of time with my husband. :)

My eyes can't stop crying, and my heart is hurting for my dear friend, who lost her brother last weekend. I wish her and her family strength to get through this very difficult time.

Last week, we switched up the house (Joce's) for fall.


Cherish every new season.

More ladies time

to come- R ladies weekend! We are going to a cabin in northern MN for a weekend of crafting. It will be a grand time.

Next week is my scheduled move to ND. Mark got a new job (yay!), and is training until next Friday, so I'll help hang out with Joce until then.

Duluth and a deer

We've been trying to do a girls weekend in Duluth for a while, and it finally worked out! Annika, Sara, Karen and I had so much fun chatting, laughing, and chatting some more. Being up there brought back good memories of Duluth Kyds Weekends past.

Friday night we had supper at Green Mill, then walked around down by the canal. Picture credits go to Karen.

Saturday was spend driving around and enjoying the AMAZING fall colors. We went over the Seven Bridges (there are actually 8), hiked around some, then drove up the North Shore.


We ate pie at Betty's Pies, and watched rock climbers at Palisades Head. I found some coffee cups at a flea market, and some fabric at a darling fabric store. I can't wait to figure out what to make with it.

However, I'm not an old married lady yet- I can still jump up and click my heels :)


I'm so glad this trip happened! Thanks to Sara for hosting it and driving us around! I got some good girl time in before the move to ND, which will hopefully happen before November.

To end the perfect weekend, my husband came to visit me. And then he went bow hunting with Brian L and got a doe! He was so excited about the whole thing, I didn't even mind him being gone for 8+ hours. We thought he wouldn't get any hunting in this year, so it was pretty neat that he went AND got something.

While he was gone, I got to visit with Annie J and Leah, old roommates of mine. I love when relationships don't change. Like Leah said, it feels like we're still roomies when we're together.

I said good-bye to Mark this morning, but I get to see him again in 3 days. Three days is nothing to us! I'm hitching a ride out to the ND services, so it'll be a chance for me to visit Mark in his place and meet the other couples out there. Should be fun!