This blog is my "online" journal of my family's life. My husband Hans and I have one son, Jacob who turned 3 in mid April, and another son due in Mid October! Hans works as a system operator for a electrical company, and I work from home. I finished my college degree in December of 09 and couldn't be happier and more proud of myself. Working, having a baby and going to school was hard and some days made me want to pull my hair out. But I stuck with it and completed it!
We moved from Alaska to South Dakota in May 2011 for Hans' new job, and have settled nicely. He finished his degree in December 2010, and is now working in his new field. In June, he decided to go back to school to get his bachelors degree in the same field, and is currently working on that and is scheduled to finish in May 2014! Now that we are here in SD, we took the leap and bought our first house and love it!
To learn more about us click on the about us tab and keep coming back to read about our adventures!
Wow, it has been awhile since I have updated (Sorry Nana!). Lots has happened in the past 2 1/2 months, so I will try to do a quick recap!
Hans and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary by going on a cruise while Jacob spent the week with Hans' parents in Colorado.
Hans surprised me with a trip to North Dakota to go and visit Megan and Mike while they were in Bismark!
November brought the start of the busy holiday season, and with that visitors! My mom and youngest sister (Sara) came to visit us for Thanksgiving.
December came and I went to Minnesota for Megan's baby shower on the 10th. We had a great girls weekend, and I can't wait for baby blueberry to come into the world sometime in late February or early March
The following weekend, Hans had a "boys" weekend in Minneapolis with some friends. They went to the NHL game on Saturday night, and the NFL game on Sunday. This was his first time seeing a NFL gave live, and it was is favorite team playing as visitors (The New Orleans Saints)
This bring us up to Christmas!
Jacob enjoyed coming downstairs this morning to find the family room full of new presents! He has enjoyed playing all day with all his new stuff!
So this morning the remodel company showed up nice and early (and on time!) at about 8:15a. They got right to work and it took until just before 5pm for them to finish up. I am in love with the changes!
Fridge area before
Stove area before (please excuse the mess on the counters!)
Tonight we had a great time going out to a local pumpkin patch! I have never been to one since they are not that popular in AK so this was a great new adventure for all of us! Jacob had a blast walking through the patch trying to pick up all the pumpkins. :) He was so cute stopping at one and trying to pick it up, and then saying help get it! He was able to find 2 small ones that he could carry and brought them home along with 2 larger ones.
The beautiful pumpkin patch!
We had a great time, and I am looking forward to making this a yearly tradition!
Now for an update!
Tomorrow our kitchen update will be completed! We order new cabinets in late August that match our current ones and they have finally come in. So tomorrow the installation company will be out all day to do the install. I am really looking forward to having an actual pantry cabinet in the kitchen!
Next week Thursday, after Hans' is off work we will start our drive down to his parents house in CO to drop Jacob off for the week that we are on our anniversary cruise trip! I am so ready to be on a vacation that we are completely unplugged! I know that I will miss Jacob while we are gone, but we are so ready to have a vacation that is just us! We will get to Mark and Diane's on Friday and then we fly to Tampa on Saturday. Then Sunday we board our cruise ship and sale away for 7 glorious days to the Western Caribbean! Then once we fly back to CO, we will start the drive back home that same day since Hans has to leave that Monday night for a class for work for the remainder of the week. So needless to we have a busy October!
I know that I haven't posted in awhile, but I would first like to pay tribute to the men and women who lost their lives 10 years ago today due to a horrible terrorist attack on our Country.
9-11 is the first large even in my life that someone can ask me "Where were you when it happened?" and I can tell them from my own memory where I was and what I was doing. Because of the time difference between NY and Alaska (4 hours) I first heard about the attack when my alarm went off for me to get up in the morning for school. I have just started my Senior year in high school. I am a avid snoozer when it comes to waking up in the morning, so I didn't even think twice when my alarm when off that morning. After laying in bed thinking to myself, I didn't just hear what I think I heard, no it couldn't be I must have been dreaming it. I waited for my alarm to go back off and sure enough the DJ was still talking about the first plane hitting the tower. At this point, I jumped out of bed, ran and turned on the TV. I then went and woke up my mom and we watched in horror as the second plane hit the second tower. I remember sitting there thinking that my life as I knew it had changed. I remember my mom wondering if she should send me to school and I told her "mom, this is Palmer, Alaska there isn't anything here that anyone would want to blow up, I will be fine." She eventually agreed and I ended up going to school where my classmates and teachers huddled around the computers to listen to the news reports as we all watched the fateful events of that day.
On one hand, it is hard to believe that it has been 10 years, on the other it isn't. Time goes by in the blink of an eye. I still think about that day often, and am most touched by the song Alan Jackson wrote "Where were you when the World Stopped Turning"
OK now that I have said my piece about 9/11/01 onto our update!
First I am sorry I didn't update about this much earlier, but I actually didn't break my ankle! After my fall and ER trip, I went to the doctors for a follow-up that following Monday. They determined that it wasn't actually broken, I just tore the ligaments. This was great news as the healing time would be a lot quicker and I could be move from the big black walking boot cast and crutches to a air cast with no crutches! It has been pretty good and healing very well since then. I have has a few days that I have over done it with the walking (went to the State Fair and walked all day and it was hurting me a lot after that)
Since I did not break my ankle, I was able to go with Hans this weekend to Minneapolis! He had to go for a work conference and Jacob and I went to have fun! On Friday while Hans was busy all day, Jacob and I started our day off by going to the Zoo! We had a great time! The bears were pretty cool and were playing right at the glass so we got some cool pictures of them! Here is one of Jacob and I with the bear behind us!
After we left the Zoo, and Jacob decided that the nap in the van was good enough for him we went to the Mall of America to look around! We had fun looking at all the stores, and Jacob enjoyed being able to pick out some stuff at the Disney store! After the mall we drove out to our friends Megan's parents house to have dinner. Hans was not able to join us as he was still busy with his meetings. We really enjoyed having dinner with Walt and Terry and can't wait to be able to go back to visit them in the future.
On Saturday, Hans had stuff in the morning so Jacob and I just hung out in the hotel room playing on the computer and watching movies. Once Hans was done, we headed back over to the mall to do a little more shopping and looking around. Saturday night, Hans had a banquet to end his conference so he went to that, and Jacob and I went out to eat and then to go and find the craft stores!
Today we got up and packed up. We hit the road to make out 6 hour drive back home. We made a stop at the outlet mall to try and find some new clothes for Jacob as he is about to move up to 3T and we have nothing in that size! We lucked out and were able to get him almost everything he will need (at least for now) for just around a hundred bucks! I thought that was a pretty good deal!
This week I am really looking forward to the mom's group (MOPS) that I have found here in Huron to start up their regular meetings!
Another thing that I am looking forward to is our Anniversary cruise that leaves in 5 weeks from today!! I can't believe that it is only 5 weeks away!
We have been taking wonderful nightly walks a a family this past week in the evenings. Last night, Hans suggested that we drive across town and go walk around the lake as there is a very nice walking path. We started out with Jacob in the stroller, but after about 10 minutes of that he wanted to walk. He was being good and holding my hand, but then wanted to walk all by himself. We were ok with this as long as he stayed to my left so that I was between him and the water. Well like most 2 year olds ge wanted near the water. I turned to grab him and when I turned back, my foot fell into a gofer hole and both Hans and I heard the pop that my ankle made. Unfortunately we were at a part of the path that there was no way Hans could drive to, so we had to call for an ambulance to come get me. They took me to the hospital and Hans took Jacob home. I stayed in contact with him via text message and was able to let him know when I was almost ready to be released. He pulled up just as they were moving me to the waiting room so they helped me load into the can. Hans and Jacob have been very helpful bringing me what I need and taking care of me. :) I am in a boot cast and on crutches. I will find out next week when I have a followup with my doctor how long I will be in the boot.
Last week I celebrated my 27th birthday! We had to go to Sioux Falls for a eye appointment for Jacob and after that we headed to the Zoo. We had a great time looking at all the animals. We really enjoyed seeing the baby monkey!
We are getting the house to feel more and more like ours! Since we have the upstairs painting done, we pulled out our art and got some of it hung in the formal living room and dining room. I am planning on getting our family picture wall done this weekend! We plan on painting the downstairs hopefully sometime in the next few weeks and then we will be able to hang up the art we have for down here.
We have decided to have some minor alterations done to our kitchen, and have found a company to do the work! They are going to remove the 18in cabinet next to our fridge, cut the counter, remove the double cabinet on the wall above the counter they are removing. Then we will slide the fridge over into that space, put up a single cabinet on the wall, and then put a pantry cabinet in between the wall and fridge. The main reason we are having this all done is because with our new fridge the french door on the left hits the wall and doesn't open all the way.
I am really excited as I was chosen to be on a design team for another craft blogger to help showcase my crafts (if you want to see them, check out my craft blog!) For this, I will be making specific crafts that will be posted on both my blog and the persons blog who's design team I am on! I have already posted 2 times just this week (my first) for her and have seen a increase in the people visiting my craft blog!
We had a busy, but fun weekend! On Friday morning, Hans flew back to Omaha from Dallas from being gone at his friends mom's funeral in Louisiana. He then drove over to Des Moines IA. Jacob and I loaded up the van on Friday morning to head down to Des Moines to meet up with Hans for my scrapbooking stuff. Jacob did very well on the 7 hour drive (thanks to our DVD player!) and I am very thankful for that!
We have a friend who lives in Des Moines, so we were able to meet up with her and her family for dinner before my festivities started. As we were leaving our hotel, Jacob was running down the hall and ran right into the door jam and hit his eye. :( He now has quite the nice shiner on his right eye.
Friday night, the first part of my scrapbooking festivities was a meet & greet with the owner and designer of Pink By Design stamps Sarah. She also had 3 of her design team present and they were some awesome women!! I actually ran into them at Michaels craft store a few hours before the event started, and then at Starbucks! Each month, Sarah hosts a live Ustream event where she shows off the new stamps that are coming out, and she always has her starbucks in hand! Since we don't have starbucks in Huron, I had to get my fill while I was down in IA! After the first hour of getting to talk with Sarah and her designers, it was time for the live Ustream. It was so much fun to be sitting across and watching it all live. She did some giveaways for the people that were there live, as well as to the people watching. She also showed off the 6 stamp sets that were being released that night.
On Saturday, Hans, Jacob and I got up and went to Sam's club. After that, Hans and Jacob headed back home and I stayed to attend day 2 of the scrapbooking activities. Sarah's 3 designers all had a "make and take" project, and they were really cute and fun to make. I also was able to do a little shopping with some birthday money that I received early and got some goodies at the craft stores! I then made the 7 hour drive home, getting me home late last night!
Today we had a family day, we went to church and then came home to do some things around the house. I have some pictures from this weekend, I however don't have them uploaded yet, so will try and do that tomorrow and get them added.
We have been busy! After closing we jumped into some home projects and are still trying to finish some up. Hans' parents came to visit on Friday the 15th and stayed until the following Thursday! They helped us complete so many projects, and we are forever grateful for that!
The projects started with a work bench for Hans' in the 3rd garage space. They were able to complete that in an afternoon and Hans enjoys having an area to keep all his tools.
The next project was to put together Jacob's new playset for the back yard that my mom bought for him when she was here. The directions said that it should take 2 people 4 to 6 hours.....but they lied. With no real issues it took Hans and his dad 16ish hours over 2 days to get it all done! And to make matters worse, they were working outside when we were having record high temps of 100+! But thankfully they got it all together and Jacob LOVES it!
The next project that we tackled was painting the upstairs of the house. When we had made out large trek to Menards to get the wood for Hans' work bench, I checked out the paint they had and we found colors that we liked better than the other stores we had already been checking out. So we decided to go ahead and pick up the paint and supplies so that I could get started with the help of Diane. So over the course of 2 days while Jacob was at daycare, we painted the formal living room, dining room and kitchen! It looks so good, and I am loving the color! I will get some pictures sometime next week once we have all the new curtain rods hung up and maybe even some art! Diane also tackled hemming some of the curtains for the bedrooms that I had bought at Kohls when I was in Colorado.
This week has been a little hectic because Hans' best friend Richard mom passed away last week Friday. He drove down to Omaha, NE on Monday night and then flew down to Dallas, TX and then drove over to West Monroe, LA for the funeral that was today. He was also one of the pallbearers as a request of Richard. He will be flying back on Friday, but this weekend is when we were going to head to Iowa so that I can go to a scrapbooking mini convention. So when he lands in Omaha, he will be driving over to Des Moines, IA and Jacob and I will drive down to meet up with him. We are going to be able to meet up with a friend that Hans' used to work with as she lives in Des Moines now! Then on Saturday, Jacob and Hans will hang out for a bit and then head back towards home while I finish up at the scrapbooking event.
We closed on the house yesterday!!!! ::insert happy dance::: :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
There were a few hiccups before closing with an issue with some of the credits that were to be applied, but we got that all straightened out and were able to close on time. I have heard people say that closing on a house is a long drawn out process, but I am not sure why. We were in and out within 30 minutes!
After closing, I went and picked Jacob up from daycare and took him to day one of swim lessons. He did great at first, but then freaked out when it was time to try and show him how to float. We had to get out of the pool for a while to get him to calm down. Once they moved onto something else, I was able to get him back in the pool and to play the game they were playing. Here is to hoping that today goes better! Tonight, Hans is going to come with us, so maybe it will help with both of us there.
We had a great weekend! On Saturday, we got up and packed up the van to head to Brookings (about 1hr 40 min drive) to go and check out the Brooking's Art Festival! It was AWESOME! I had been told about it by one of the moms in my Mops group, and then read about it online. Over the 2 days that it is set up for, they expect 75 to 80 THOUSAND people! Let me tell you, with the amount of people that were there on Saturday, I am sure they hit that estimated number and maybe even went over it! We had a good time walking around checking out all the booths and only bought a few things. We also ate some really yummy food! At one point Jacob was pretty tired as it was past his nap time, so I put him in the Ergo and he fell right to sleep on my back. That made for a very hot walk as it was in the mid 90's, but when a toddler needs to sleep, I will do what it takes!
One thing that we have started to wonder is come Christmas, where would we hang our stocking from since our new house doesn't have a mantle or fireplace. Well while we were at the arts festival I found a booth that sold Christmas related decor and stumbled upon this...
This sign usually is mounted to a really cute snowman, but it wasn't very tall and Hans was worried that Jacob would just take everything out of the stockings before it was time to do so. So I asked the booth owners if they possibly had any of the signs by themselves and they did!! They even added some hooks to the back so it can be hung on the wall! I am so excited for Christmas now!
Another one of our finds was this sign.....
I just loved it since it is just so true! Even with only one kid for now, he can sure make quite a mess of the house pretty quickly!
After the Arts festival, we made a trip to Home Depot as it is in Brookings and I bought a couple of sample cans of paint to see if I really like the colors for some of the house!
On Sunday, we went to Church and then came home to do house stuff. :) Hans installed a curtain rod in the laundry room so that clothes that need hung up can be right out of the dryer. He also took down the cabinet above our fridge to trim the edge of it so that our new fridge that comes this week will fit! I painted some sample squares on poster board to take around the house to different area to see if we liked the samples that we picked up at Lowe's on Saturday. We decided that the tan color we picked out will be good for the upstairs, but is to dark for the downstairs walls. I picked out a dark red to use as as a focus wall and we are still trying to decide if we like it or not.
Today is going to be a very busy day! We close on the house starting at 3:30! Then at 5:05pm, Jacob starts his swim lessons that are every night this week. :) Each lesson lasts until 5:55pm. It is a tot and parent class, so I get to go with him and be in the water as well. Then after swim lessons we have a newcomer orientation class at our church! So needless to say, today is going to be very busy! On Friday, Hans parents arrive and we are really excited about that!
I will leave you with a picture of Jacob.....I gave him some fruit snacks to try and get him to not walk on the kitchen floor as I was trying to mop it.
