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.