Let the moving begin!

We found a place!!! It really came down to the wire on this move. We found our apartment yesterday and get to move in Monday! 2 days away from being homeless! Our apartment is perfect for us. It's a brand spanking new, 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment. On the first floor with a walk out patio facing the courtyard and soon to be installed playground! It seems so huge! I can't believe how excited I was about a full size stove, a huge kitchen, the ice maker! Everything! Bret and I were trying to play it cool but the smiles on our faces were totally giving it away. We were like kids in Christmas morning! The girls were running wild. Cartwheels in every room! They even climbed in the bathtub and asked if we would turn the water on for them. I'll post pictures of everything next week but for now I just wanted to let it be known that we're not going to be homeless! Ahhhhhhhhh!

Big changes are coming our way!

As many of you know, since our move to North Dakota our living situation has been somewhat of a rocky road. The first month we moved here the city came in and said we had to move. It's been a back and forth battle since. We have been blessed to have been able to stay here for so long but it looks as though our fairy tale is finally coming to an end. We have been given our notice and have 2 weeks to move. I have more emotions than I know what to do with. I wouldn't even call it bitter sweet because I don't want to go. I feel like this has truly been a once in a lifetime experience. This has by far been the best time of our lives. I'm not sure where our road will lead us. One thing I know for sure is I'm not ready. I'm not ready to move. I'm not ready to go back into the big old world. I'm not ready to leave our bubble we call home. Our time here has been so amazing. Our "trailer-hood" has brought us some amazing friends and given us the opportunity to spend much needed quality time as a family. I really feel that we have been living in a fairy tale. Everything has been smooth sailing for us. Yes, we have had our daily challenges and struggles, I'm not saying that 4 people living in a 26' trailer is easy, especially in -60° weather. But this portion of our lives has been my favorite so far. Things have just worked out for us. We've been so blessed to have our problems iron themselves out. Having had these experiences I'm not ready to move into the world. It seems like such a different, busy, scary place out there.

So, wish us luck! We need all we can get if we're going to continue calling Williston our home. We are off to find housing in the most expensive market in the nation. It's happening for real this time!

Let the move (and the tears) begin....

Well it happened...

Winter showed up again this year... Ice on our windows this morning!

It's 30° right now! 

Sneak peak...

We went to the circus! More pictures are coming! 

Crazy hair!-June

As a sort of celebration that school was out we bought the color chalk for hair. The girls LOVED their wild colored hair!

 

Baby kittens!

Its no secret that I do not like cats. I despise cats. They make my heart stop and I want to scream when they touch me. I.do.not.like.them. So...when our neighbors cat had kittens I was not thrilled at all. Haylee, being the animal lover she is, was more than excited. Maycie was nervous but after some convincing from her sister she agreed to hold one. Everyday for months Haylee would escape to the neighbors house to check on the kittens. Thankfully the kittens have all been sent away to a new home...on a farm ;)

 

 

I am excited for the german shepherd puppies that will be born this month though! Its like we live in a zoo! 

Spring Lake Park in June

This park was one of our favorites last year but sometime over the last year they replaced all the old-school-scary-steep-metal slides with lame-overly-safe-plastic slides. Its not the best park to play at anymore but there is still a lake that's perfect for picnics  and a trail going all the way around that's perfect for riding bikes. This was one of those picnic days!

 

 

 

Haylee is quite a little frog catcher!

Crazy sisters

Whenever I do the girls hair the same they always want me to take pictures. I try to put their hair in braids every night so most nights they are begging for pictures. This was one of those nights... in June.

 

 

This was a different day, but Maycie loves cuddling up with Haylee. If Haylee is in a good mood, she'll play with Maycie's hair while she watched tv. Pretty cute!

Salt Lake in June

Bret took the girls to Salt Lake during his days off in June. He ended up golfing 4 of the 6 days they were there but everybody was happy. The girls got to play with their cousins and Bret got some much needed time on the golf course.

 

I'm not sure if the girls were "helping" Grandma Mary Ann do gardening or what, but these are the only picture Bret sent me while they were away.

 

 

We went to the fair!...in June

We went to the Upper Missouri River Valley Fair again this year. Tons of fun!! (You can see pictures from last year HERE) It had been pouring rain for days before but luckily it warmed up the day we were planning on going. We had so much fun as a family the first day that while Bret was working the nest day us girls decided to go back for round two!

Our first stop was the ferris wheel!

The greatest view is always from the top.

 

Next stop, the carousel.

 

We got to the fair before everything was ready to open so we spent time checking out the petting zoo and the little side shows. You know, 25 cents to see the 1,000 pound pig. 50 cents to see the largest horse ever. Those sort of side shows. (Which makes me think of the children's book The Smallest Elephant In The World by Alvin Tresselt. Its an older book but if you haven't read it, you need to! Its like $3 on amazon.)

Back to the fair... and the 1,000 pound pig and 9 foot horse.

 

There was this scary looking fairy lady with a "pet turtle" (like a parade float only built on a wagon) carrying around the fairy house on its back. Honestly it was a little creepy but the little kids loved it.

 

 

There were all sorts of little doors and windows with puppets and old pictures of fairies. Even a sunflower that sprinkled glitter everywhere.

 

There was a whole area set up for little kids. Ring toss, giant checker boards, bowling games, noise maker things. All sorts of stuff. Oh, and a bunch of bouncy houses... we spent hours there!

 

The girls each brought a couple of dollars to the fair to buy treats with but they both ended up spending their money to ride the ponies. They were so excited!

 

 

We went to the petting zoo where the girls brushed a cow, fed sheep and goats, watched baby chicks hatch, milked cows and saw a few new animals. (I have a couple videos I'll try and post at the end of this post. I don't have the best luck when it comes to posting videos.)

 

 

This next animal is my absolute favorite! Its called Indu Brazilian Zebu. They're originally from India but in the late 1800's thousands were taken to Brazil. It looks like a strange mix between cow, horse and giant dog. The longer I stared at it and watched it move and play the more I felt like I was just watching a puppy play...but it was a HUGE puppy. Its wrinkles and flaps of skin were so smooth and soft. Is it even possible for wrinkles to be smooth??? Anyway, if I had a farm I would definitely be buying one of these for a pet!

Haylee looks terrified only because this guy stuck his tongue out and it almost touched her head!

Surprisingly, Maycie wasn't scared at all!

 

Next up... the rides!

 

First up was a ride like the spinning teacups, only we were in a spinning bear.

 

Next up were the kiddie rides. I love that Haylee seems to be having such a great time on these rides. I could walk around them at the same speed. They were not the most thrilling rides but she was making them fun for Maycie.

 

This picture cracks me up! Haylee's pose is so funny!

 

Then the ride that we went on over and over and over and over and OVER again... the ride that spins around and the centrifugal force squishes everybody together. I lost count of how many times we rode this ride. More often than not the ride operator would just let us stay on the ride because he knew we'd be racing back to get in line. I have videos of this as well! 

 

 

On a little side note, there is a dirt race track on the fair grounds. There are races there all the time. During the week of the fair, my work, CUPS Drug Testing sponsored one of the tow trucks. That's the tow truck. The girls spotted it when we were riding the ferris wheel so before we left we made sure we took a picture of it. 

 

 

After two long, fun filled days at the fair, the girls were asleep before we even pulled onto pavement!

 

The end.