Can I Still Blame The Power Outage?

I wish that I could blame the power outage for my bad habits with blogging. What power outage you say?? Somehow I always live in places where the extreme weather conditions are overlooked. Maybe because it is just the usual? I wouldn't know if that was the case around here because I have only lived here 1/2 a winter! But here are the details of the fiasco this winter -- can you call it winter if it is MAY??!!??
On Saturday morning we woke up with no power or heat. We are currently living in a townhouse provided by Guy's work and it is not the most efficient living quarters. In fact, it was so cold I think we could see our breath! Luckily, our friends live in a nice house that was better at keeping heat. And even better, Adam had a power inverter in his truck so we could watch TV, have a little light and live a pretty good life. However, it wasn't powerful enough to run a heater :( They also had a grill so we could eat warm meals! We are so thankful for them inviting us into their home for such an extended period of time! Here are some pictures of us trying to entertain ourselves:


Vaughn was quite the cook with his play-doh. Spaghetti anyone?


Me and miss Rosalie. She ran out of clothes so she borrowed some of our friend's little boy's clothes! I still think she is beautiful!


When it got really cold (or when we were getting stir crazy) we would pile in the truck and drive around. It was a good excuse to get out of the house and look at all of the craziness going on around town!


This is our street. Our house is the first one on the right. Luckily we got out early enough that we could drive out but when we went back to get some things it was too snowy to drive on. Even in Guy's big truck!!! Did I mention this was in MAY??


On Sunday we were still without power and feeling pretty dirty and sick with cabin fever so we decided to drive to Minot. We got a hotel and did some grocery shopping. Rumor on the street was that we would be out of power for the rest of the week so we also bought a couple generators to help keep our food cold and our babies warm! On the way to Minot there were power lines down almost the whole way! I heard one estimate that there were 1500 down! Even after the snow melted it took a while to get the power back.


Here is our hostess with the mostess, Aspen. Notice the smile on her face even though she had us staying with her until Tuesday1 She was a trooper and stayed positive the whole time. I am so lucky to have such a great friend here in North Dakota!
Now that you have heard my sob story of living like a pioneer, here is what else is going on with us:
Vaughn is completely pee potty trained...at home! He refuses to sit on a potty anywhere else. Also, he saves his poop for when we put a diaper on him at night. Silly kid. He is a trickster. But I still feel like we have made huge progress!
Rosalie is 6 months old! She is getting so big and cute! We love her to pieces. She can roll from her back to her front but has trouble going the other way. She starts occupational therapy next week to help strengthen her arms. Poor girl has some loose joints which prevent her from using her arms to roll or prop herself up.
We sold our house in Green River! We feel so blessed that someone made an offer and we close on June 17th!!! And with our house sold we got to start house hunting here! Just this morning our offer was accepted and this is our new house (well 1/2 of it, I couldn't get the whole thing in one shot). I also feel blessed that we were able to find someplace to live here that didn't break the bank. Housing here is nearly impossible to find!


Hopefully I will be better about blogging but with the warm weather and all the moving I can't make any promises!

Star Wars, Transformers, Toy Story...

...that is the kind of cake that Vaughn wanted for his birthday. I did my best to oblige: We had many themes this year! It is so fun to have a three year old because he loves everything! No matter what we did he appreciated it and thought it was so cool. We tried to give him a little something from everything that he likes and I think it was all a hit! He absolutely loves to dress up and play pretend. (I am sure there are some more masculine terms that his dad would prefer I use to describe this.) He also loves Star Wars so the Darth Vader costume was a big hit. He has already worn it several times and so have the rest of us!

Our great friends gave him a rifle (much to my mom's dismay) and he loves it. He still can't really believe that it is his and keeps asking if he has to give "Vance's gun" back.

Here he is with all of his loot. He made out like a bandit.

The best part of his birthday was that Grandma and Grandpa were able to come enjoy the whole week with us! We partied down and Vaughn was in heaven playing with his grandpa all day. It was hard to get a picture that showed how much Rosalie and my mom look alike but hopefully you can get an idea. They're both so beautiful and are twins!!!

I think my dad fell in love all over again. Rosalie became very attached and flirted with him every chance she got. He could soothe her better than anyone else!

It's hard to believe my baby boy is three!!! He is so fun to have around. He is pretty good with his sister and loves playing with his dad. He can drink more than anyone else I know and always eats all of his vegetables. I hope we have as much fun in year four as we did in year three!

The CIRCUS!!!!

Yesterday, our family went to the circus. It was so fun! With Guy's new job he was actually able to be home and come with us! We were feeling pretty lucky just to have him around but the circus was a huge bonus! Vaughn was absolutely mesmerized by everything! We stuffed ourselves with nachos, hot dogs, soda, snow-cones and cotton candy! Vaughn got a light up sword (which he calls a "light saver"). They had tigers, elephants, horses, camels, a bear, jugglers and trapeze artists. I can't even tell you how cool it was to have such an eventful family outing! Williston is treating us well!

We got there extra early so Vaughn could ride the pony! He loved it and rode for like 30 minutes! Unfortunately we ran out of money so he had skip riding the elephant (it was 20 bucks!).

Rosalie is getting so big! I think she looks like a toddler in this picture. I keep telling her to stop growing up but she just won't listen! At her 4 month appointment she weighed 15 and half pounds but I forgot to ask for the rest of her stats.

Vaughn is happy as a clam. Every now and then he asks for some of his favorite friends from Green River but otherwise he just loves playing around here. He likes our little townhouse and thinks playing on the deck is so cool. He has been going to gymnastics, tyke time at the rec. center and story time at the library. It's been keeping us busy but this town is booming with new people so it is hard to meet new friends! Luckily we had some built in friends (The Larsen's) so neither of us are too worried about finding new ones.

I love this picture of my kiddos! It's from a while back but I think they are so cute! I thought it was impossible to love one person as much as I loved Vaughn but now I love them BOTH that much. Funny how motherhood makes your heart grow! While I am feeling a little homesick for Wyoming (friends, family and a HOUSE!) I feel so blessed to be here! Heavenly Father has been watching over our family and I can see His hand in so many parts of our lives right now.

Conversation with a Toddler

Me: Goodnight, Vaughn.
Vaughn: Can I sleep with you?
Me: No.
Vaughn: Why not?
Me: Where would daddy sleep if you slept with me?
Vaughn: On his side of the bed.
Me: But that is where you sleep when you sleep with me.
Vaughn: Oh. I better sleep in here mom. Goodnight.

(I loved how he acted like it was his idea to sleep in his bed)

Also, yesterday I told him we were going to gymnastics. About 5 minutes later he came up to me and asked, "When are we going to gymbreadsticks?"
So stinkin' cute!

Mostly Pictures

I haven't had much time for blogging but today I have two sick kids. One baby girl is sleeping (I don't know how she can sleep and cough but she is managing) and a little boy just wants to cuddle up next to me and watch Toy Story. So, I decided this is a good time to catch up on February...

Guy has some skills when it comes to Rosalie. He can get her to burp in record time (it takes me a good 15 minutes) and she absolutely loves to sleep on him just like this!

We got to take a week and go to Williston to see our new living quarters! We also got to see our great friends, The Larsen's, who also live there! Vaughn found a new best friend in Vance which will definitely make moving easier.

Guy came home from work and fell asleep with Rosalie on the chair.

Vaughn still loves to hold his sister!

This was our Valentines dinner. I tried to stick with the "red" theme from years past but I was a little sick so it was not my best effort.

Our family at our Valentine's Day dinner.

I think this might just be the most beautiful baby in the whole world! She is soooo sweet! We love her to bits!

One night I got Vaughn ready for his bath....but before he would go in the bathroom he decided he needed to sit in his reading nook for a while! Who doesn't love reading in the nude?

Our superman-storm trooper-hooded superhero!

And last but not least...Guy had to go to Texas so my parents came for one last visit. We live at the top of a hill and Vaughn and my dad hopped on the sled and rode the whole way down.

As you can see, we have been super busy. Vaughn has been a riot lately! He is really changing (maybe getting ready for his 3rd birthday?) and he loves to make us laugh! Both kiddos bring us tremendous joy and our little family seems to be thriving! Hopefully this momentum can continue after the move!

Currently

I usually don't blog this type of thing but I saw it on a couple of my friend's blogs and thought I would give it a go. Often I think I should give an update on our life but don't have anything too interesting to post. Thanks to those of you who shared this too!

Reading - Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (still on the first chapter)

Looking forward to - Rosalie's blessing this weekend and the family coming to share it with us

Stressing about - selling our house

Craving - really good seafood

Wanting - a full night's sleep and a date with Guy

Proud of myself for - cleaning and getting rid of a lot of junk

Wearing - sweats and a black long sleeve tee (pretty standard attire these days)

Avoiding - deep cleaning before the move (where do I even start?)

Sick of - the anticipation of moving

Learning - how to care for a little girl

Suffering from - stress

Struggling with - how to entertain Vaughn and take care of Rosalie

Overcoming - patience

Hoping to - sell our house fast!

Excited for - a new beginning

Relieved by - Guy

Splurging on - a Diet Cherry Coke

Hot Diggity Blog

Who has time for blogging!

Seriously - We have been so busy! We had a family Christmas at our house with just our little family and my parents. It was wonderful and very relaxed. I really enjoyed being able to focus on my children and not feel like I had to entertain anyone else. I love the rest of our families but this was a nice change.

Our lives have had such a big shock with Rosalie. We absolutely love her but 2 kids is way harder than I ever could have imagined. I finally feel like I am getting my bearings but of course this feeling is coming right before we move again so I won't be surprised if I get knocked off my feet again. As I have mentioned before, Rosalie is the easiest baby I have ever seen. I am so thankful for this because with all of the stress we've endured the last 2 months I am not sure how well I would have handled a more difficult child. She hardly ever cries and is very content sitting by herself in the bouncer. Even more impressive is Vaughn's attitude. He is SO sweet with her. He loves playing with her hair and giving her kisses. Yesterday I set her down to run downstairs and she started crying. As I was coming back up the stairs I heard him talking to her so I stopped to listen. He was saying, "It's ok sister. Don't be sad, mama will be right back." It absolutely melted my heart. I am so lucky!

As this picture of our hands shows, our lives are feeling very intertwined. We are so blessed to have each other and it feels like we have been together forever. I can see God's hand in putting us here to be with one another because we fit together like puzzle pieces. Each of compliment one another and make living together easier. I am grateful to Guy, Vaughn and Rosalie for doing their part every day to make my life better!

I wanted to share these pictures of my babies to show how much alike they really are. (Vaughn is on the left and Rosalie the right) So far, Rosalie is so much like Vaughn. Not only do they both look so much alike physically but they also are very alike in personality. They have both been such mellow, happy babies!

Finally, I just want to remind all you ladies to feel your boobs!!! I know it sounds silly and I still feel so young that I didn't think anything like breast cancer could affect me yet. However, I had a doctor who wasn't doing his job of examining my breasts. Luckily, I felt around and found a lump. After a biopsy it turned out to be benign but it opened my eyes to the fact that we need to be taking charge of our health! So, if you haven't been doing self exams please start!!