Slow week...AT HOME!

So…I’m sick…and I hate it! A nice weekend, with sunshine, and a Friday off for all the extra hours I put in this week…and I smell like Vic’s and have the taste of lemon-honey cough drops and airborne seeping through my pores! Byuck! This was the first weekend, we’ve had a chance to be home for the most part. I was going to clean and organize…all I did was organize my DVR! Ugh!

This week was busy with Field Day and the Innovate ND Kickoff. Our day was a success, Julie and I were very happy with the ending results and the amount of people that came and some of the conversations that took place. There is always room for improvement but we feel that Field Day has a great starting place. We will probably build it into next year’s budget!

I realize that I haven’t brought up much about the animals lately, probably because we have hardly spent time with our constant running around the county side. This past week, I have noticed a few things about our little herd. Lola has learned how to knock. When she feels that her presence should be made, at 3:42 am, she will set to knocking on our door to alert us to the fact that A.) she knows how to knock and B.) she wants to be let in. First time was cute, after that the novelty wore off. TonyDanza has been very conscious of plastic around the house and feels that it is his duty to clean each plastic bag with his tongue. We aren’t sure if this is a mineral deficiency or what exactly, we thought this habit would break but so far, no so much! Elvis-who continues to hate the mailman, now serves as Dan’s alarm clock. When Dan’s alarm did not go off for 3 days this week, it wasn’t a worry as the barking and whiney from below our window served as an alarm for both of us. It’s great during the week, but we are not sure how to educate Elvis on the difference between work days and weekends! All in all, we continue to be amazed with our herd, but have decided no more additions will be made ANY time soon!

Dan has been busy with work, but has run into trouble with Northwest Tire in Dickinson. They changed his oil this past weekend, but forgot about the transmission fluid when they finished. That left him in Grassy Butte trying to find a tow truck at 8:00 on Sunday morning. We’ll see how his manager does with finding him a new truck, until his can be repaired.

He spent some time with the boys this weekend. Korey will be leaving for National Guard basic training and AIT in 2 weeks. It hasn’t quite hit Dan yet that he’s going, but Dan said it might be a long winter! We are proud of Korey for following his dream of joining up and wish him luck and a quick return! We received a postcard from Chris in the mail this week. He was in Germany, based at a previous concentration camp. It was exciting to hear from him. These guys make me think of my sister and hope that she is preparing well for her future.

We had a guest this week, Alexis came on Wednesday night and we entertained her at Sanford’s and spent some of the night talking. It reminded me of high school—except a lot of things has changed! We are all grown up, well physically; I am still a whiner when it comes to being sick!

Getting plans set for __(insert option here)___!

Where was last week’s post!? Life got busy but we are so glad that we had a beautiful weekend, probably the last one before the snow covers us! It actually got to be 77 in Bismarck. It took all fall to have a beautiful day! WE NEEDED iT!

Work is busy for the both of us…Dan has been working for 11 to 13 hour days all week. I’ve been putting together the details for the first ever Community Field Day, which will have 12 speakers (4 panels) of people that have championed special events or campaigns in their community. These panelist are from all over-Fargo, Bismarck, Williston, Stanton, Dickinson, Bowman, Hettinger…Allll over! We’ve never done anything like this before so I’m a bit nervous about the details of it all…fingers are crossed.

Mom and I are getting our ducks in a row for the Vegas trip! Got the motel, got the flights, maybe even got Aunt Grace to go—We’ll see. I’m excited because I’m getting a bit stir-crazy and need a vacation! We are staying at the Luxor and Mandalay Bay. I don’t have a count down for the days yet…but believe me I’m getting close.

Alaina, Mom, and I went to the Simply Elegance Bridal Show in Bismarck today. It was fun to see Kristi and Wes there. It was Wes’s idea to go. I thought that it was cute that they went as a couple. There were booths and vendors of all sorts of ideas…decorators, photographers, printers, DJ’s, bridal shops, and an ice sculptor. My favorite was the Scentzy’s, the flameless wax company, and the samples of cupcakes! I thought it was great for Mom and Alaina to go with me-it was a bit overwhelming to see all the vendors and options and some of the other brides. One of the women that signed up before me had her date set for July of 2011…WOW…I thought I was a planner.

Shout-out to Tiffany, the newest member of North Dakota Royalty. I’m glad that one of her dreams has officially come true. It’s exciting to see little Tiffy in her crown and leather with the crown and sash!

Wedding Bells...Hearing them all over!

Wedding Checklist:
X Date- October 2, 2010
X Church- Calvary United Methodist Church
X Hall- Mandan Eagles Club
X DJ- K Hook
X Photographer- Yetter Photography
X Colors- Navy and Silver
And the newest check….Centerpieces!

After shopping at the Kuntz (Hirsch) Floralpalooza (in their garage) we found some pretty nice peony center pieces! Tiffany tried to convince me that we need trees as centerpieces, but I was on to her shrewd business skills. Between Kim and Tiff, I think we made a great choice.

Kim and I also celebrated my birthday by filling up on soup, salad, and breadsticks! Weirdest thing was that 2 major huge spills happened at the restaurant while we were there within 5 minutes! We were scared we were next to be dumped on!

Ours was not the only wedding we talked about this weekend, my cousin Jaden got married to Sam on Saturday in Elgin. Nothing about Jaden is traditional so we weren’t too shocked when we saw 5 bridesmaids and 10 groomsmen! We think it may have been the theatrical reaction to the movie “27 Dresses”! It was great to see family. I think that Dan has met 90% of my extended family—and he’s still with me so that is a good sign! We have another wedding this coming week!

The weather could have been terrible for Sam and Jaden...which it has been most of the week. But we were happy it wasn't as bad as the first part of the week had been. We actually turned the heater on this week! Our house temp actually got to 54 degrees! Brrrr...We are SO not ready for winter! Heck-we are still waiting for summer!

Well, the Lions broke the streak! They had a win last Sunday! Hooray! However this week..back to Boo. Poor Dan, someday being a fan won't be so hard for him!

We also want to give a shout-out to Tiffy, who will be competing for Miss Rodeo North Dakota next weekend!