Assiduous (uh sij ooo us)

Can't believe it's August... where has this summer gone?
I feel like things are flying by and getting neglected. Like my garden. We haven't spent near the time out there that I like. Mostly we both take turns running out to water. We have had a few things to harvest. Surprisingly a couple zucchini and some cucs, but some have gotten sunburnt. Our peppers are looking beautiful and we've eaten a handful of cherry tomatoes. Our tomatoes are rough as we've had blossom rot so we are hopeful that they come along a bit better as we get further into the season.

This past weekend was busy... we hardly saw the house! Saturday was a day at the lake. Matt logged some lake dive time with the fire department. It was so good to see old friends not only to catch up and introduce Len but to also see how things have changed in their lives. Children have grown, lives have continued to change, but some things still say the same and it's days like that that we miss the best part about Dickinson - the friends that we made.

On Sunday, we went out to the farm and Matt helped Mom and Dad set forms for concrete. Will be good to see the finished product. I couldn't believe how dirty he was when we left!

Best meal: Matt says he's burned out on ground beef smileys... he can blame Eleanor for that. His taco compromise to me is street tacos.

MJR sets EER on her blanket on the table.
6 minutes later.
ALR: How did you get like that?
MJR walks over.
EER has moved and is now at a 45 degree angle with her feet in the fruit bowl and her baby mirror knocked over.
MJR: Um. How did you get like that.
EER gnaws on hand looking pleased with herself.
ALR: I think you better bring the playpen up.
MJR: Yep. I think we are done with the table.

Diving, Deere, and Dears

There are weekends that wreck of summer….this past weekend was that weekend. It was gorgeous and the sun was shining and we spent it in a camper by the lake. What more could you want!

This past week started off with some green…John Deere Green to be exact. Dad got his new drill delivered and he proceeded to hay all week. Matt and I tried to help out around the house some but I forgot how seasonal the farm is. You make hay while the sun shines. That trumps stacking bales but may tie with weed whacking, which is what he did. We also watched the finishing touches go on the garage including siding, windows, and soffits. Millie and Mama Kitty are upset that the doors are on and staying shut now but there has officially been a vehicle parked inside of it!

This weekend was one we’d looked forward to for a long time. It was the annual dive trip and training at the lake. Last year, this was one of the only camping trips that we were able to take. It was a beautiful weekend with sun and fun. It was so good to see Matt in dive gear and enjoy himself with the boys. He had two dives, which resulted in some cramping in his legs but I think the pain was worth the fun, especially when he had the highlight of the weekend, he shot a walleye. Jess had attempted a few times but after Matt grabbed it from him, he had a good shot. We didn’t get to have fish for dinner though because the fish played possum with Matt and swam off after he got off the spear.

It was nice to spend time with Kay and the kids again, someone that appreciates my s’more cooking ability.

ALR: Sissy, who is your favorite me or Matt?
Sissy:  
K: Sissy, who is your favorite, Amanda or Matt?
Sissy: Matt.
K: Who is your favorite Matt or Amanda?
Sissy: Matt.
K: Hmmm, sometimes she always picks the last option, thought I could get that going for you. Sorry.

We’ve accepted an offer on the Dickinson home! AND we have officially removed a majority of the contingencies off the Dickinson home…We are set to close on September 19^th, fingers are crossed and breaths are being held. We’ll head back at least once more to take a load back to Bis to storage and we’ll close the chapter on our first house. Bittersweet may be an understatement.

We have officially started looking at houses. I forgot how much “fun” that can be. House count: 7

We also pickled a CRAPTON of beats this weekend. If we get more, we’d like to either make beat jelly or make and can borscht soup. We’ll see. I also have jalapeno jelly on my wish list and of course salsa and pizza sauce and tomato soup and marinara…but we’ll see. My basket with tomatoes wasn’t as wonderful as I’d have hoped.

Best meal: Pizza pies on the fire with s’mores and the nutella dessert pie. I had a bad run with the starter but once I got in the groove, it was all pretty good.

Sitting down to look at houses online.
ALR: This one looks like it's in our price range. (pulls up picture)
MJR: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
ALR: What?
MJR: You don't see it?
ALR: (Looks at picture again)
MJR: It looks like it's screaming at us.
ALR: (Looks again and starts giggling)
MJR: I'd think a giant was eating us every time we park the car. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! 

Goodbye, Hello.

Last week:

So I started saying goodbyes. It was actually the worst parade of goodbyes that I could think of. First it was arranged to have my first crew of ladies that I worked with at the Strom Center meet at an old regular place, "the hat". I started at the Strom Center in 2008 and we've continued to keep tabs on each other. There's been some changes with life; marriage, divorce, babies, moving, graduation, cancer, and more but it's amazing to be part of their lives. The picture even shows Little Ethan (who can't sit still) and the outfit that I bought him before I'd even seen him! Looked so good!

 

My next good bye was the Ladies Auxiliary for the Fire Department. I've really come to enjoy the group and the socialization. None of us are really at the same point in life...just married, married with one kid, married with 2, not married, married with older kids....but we all have the firefighter in our lives. And the best part is they all know Matt a bit more than the average person because of the department and camping, etc. They came over Wednesday night for an impromptu meeting where Matt cooked burgers, I made summer tomato salad and taco layer dip, with the help of an amazing assistant. Was a good time...made me a bit more sad.  

 

I also said goodbye to two ladies over lunches that have made such a huge impact on my life....Shantelle, I was her maid of honor and she's been a great ear and Sheri, who helped me through some rough times of my life. What a bummer. I did have a few weekend visitors including my favorite cat sitter, Landry (and Aimee) and Sissy and Kay. I didn't do well with their good byes either.

 

The stars of the weekend were our mothers. I can't believe how much we got back, organized, and moved. We managed to take another full load to Bismarck with their help and left the house in really good shape in time for it to go on the market on June 2. I was so glad Michele came and really helped us knock things out and adding my mother as reinforcement was even better, especially with my meltdowns.

 

This week I said hello to a few changes. I started at Commerce on June 2. There were a lot of hellos that day. I'll work on names as we continue to go and that sucks as they all know me but I don't know them. Yikes. But it'll come, right? It was nice to hear how glad everyone was that I was there.

 

Another big change, me, Lola, and TonyDanza moved into the basement of my parents home. Back into my old bedroom. Nike went up to Lansford to summer (and hopefully not fall and winter) with Randy and Michele. Matt stayed behind to take care of the house. I hate a broken home. 

 

After our last stay at the Moser Estate, it was determined that the cats, TonyDanza and Lola, should be separated from Toot, as TD is mean. So after much debate and rigging and a couple trips to Menards, we found some square lattice to corral the kitties to one side. We put it up and thought we were brilliant. It last for an hour and Lola found her way upstairs. After going downstairs, I determined how she did it. She climbed the lattice like a ladder and popped to the other side. I don't think I would have believed it if I hadn't had seen it. Dad got a big kick out of it.

 

Best meal: this one was a stuggle...no meal stands out terrible for me. I could say spaghetti to kick off my new location meals or chili dogs which was one of the last meals that I ate/made at my house. Actually, thinking about it, it was probably the burgers and meal that I had with auxiliary when I said good bye.

 

MJR: Well, I better get on the road and get back to Dickinson.

ALR: nods

MJR: (looks at all at table) See you in two weeks, roomies. 

Sick of......

We had a bit of a scare this week. Matt started having back trouble on Tuesday night. I didn't think anything of it, maybe that he was avoiding moving boxes. I was a lot more concerned the next day as we sat in the walk-in clinic and they were admitting us to the ER. When it was all said and done, we'd spent from 6-11 at either the clinic or the hospital. The amount of pain that he'd had and the fidgeting that he was doing to ease his pain scared me as I know that it has to be significant for Matt to actually say something. They ruled our appendicitis, thought it may be kidney stones but eventually settled on maybe colitis or diverticulitis, which is a swelling, inflammation of the colon pouches. Noone seemed convinced of anything. Either way, it amazed me to see the pain he was in. He did end up feeling a lot better in the ER, which was when I managed to snap this pic. But the relief didn't last through the night. We did have a another clinic visit as it's been a slow recovery. I was glad on Saturday when he said he was feeling much better.

Matt hates being sick but it was even worse when he was sick when he was at that was when he planned the full exercise at the airport for training. He was working with rural fire, ambulance, ARF, airport, and more to simulate how to respond if there was ever an emergency situation at the airport. He'd been working on it for some time and I was disappointed that he had to miss it because the pain was so intense. It was also made official in the paper this week that he's leaving the airport and the support that he's gotten for his time at the airport and in the community is quite flattering to hear. It has begun to sink in that he's not only taking a new position but he's leaving the airport that he's watched grow and change with him. He's not sure how his baby will change but knows that no matter what, sometimes it's not easy to say good bye.

 

This weekend was a big one in terms of moving leaps in bounds in the moving process. Michele and Randy came over and were amazing life savers as they helped us load the trailer that we borrowed from my Scentsy Director, BettyJo. We took our first load over to our storage unit. Which was a bit sad and alarming. Sad because we have no clue when we'll ever see any of this stuff again and alarming because we began to debate on if we got a big enough storage unit. We did feel better on Monday when we took our second load over on Monday, on a whim. We got some bigger furniture pieces out and it felt good to see some of the progress. We figure we have a couple loads left...including some of the beast furniture (couches, my dresser, and the entertainment center).

 

The cats are NOT happy with the progress. At all. TonyDanza is stressing out because things are disappearing, boxes are out, he is not happy. Nike is irritated. They have been told what's going to happen but this made it more real for them. I hate stressing them out.  

So I questioned Nike's intelligence. Kay and I were moving boxes and I didn't want to worry about the escape artists. I put TonyDanza and Lola into the main bathroom and then I put Nike into the kiddie room. Kay says to me, "that has a kitty door on the front" My response: "Yeah but I don't know if she knows how to use it. If we come back and she's out, I guess I'll have my answer." We take a load up and when we come back Nike is sitting down there. Looking impressed at me. ALR: "I'm sorry Nike, I should never have questioned your mental abilities." She left and never did come back downstairs.

Best meal: The food could have been a toss up, but the company was the winning factor. Michele and Randy agreed that we'd have Texas Roadhouse to celebrate the start of the move. The other honorable mention meal was burgers we had a JL Beers to celebrate our second load, let's be honest, it wasn't a real celebration, more of Iwantagoodburger time.

ALR buys groceries. They are still sitting out when MJR comes home.

MJR: What is this?? Oatmeal Cream pies? Little Debbie pies? Is there something wrong? Are you dieing? Am I dieing?

ALR: (eye roll) I do do nice things for you.  
*this was 2 days before the ER visit. A little ironic.

Matt has had many friends in his life and have contributed and influenced him (good and bad).

This picture includes some of my favorites. I know I am dreading saying goodbye to some of the fire hall guys who call him on the carpet, remind him how good he has it, aspire him to smoke meat and grill more, and also provide him with some of the camaraderie that I know he needs. Those guys have been there for him and made Dickinson a home for the past years. I know I will miss them and I know he's dreading saying good-bye.

M is for Moving in May.

Well, the news has broke and reality is starting to sink in. We are moving. We are boxing everything up. We are living with my parents. We are getting a storage unit. We are saying goodbye to people who have been great parts of our lives. And I can handle everything else but that last one is tough.

This weekend was busy. And to make it more busy, we had Matt's friends, Brendan and Claudia with their little boy Jackson staying with us. I'm glad we are not packing a whole house with a little person because it was a lot with those two extra little hands who were very interested in "helping" and pushing buttons and dragging cords. He wasn't too sure about Matt and I, but I don't think I blame him. We're looking forward to when he grows out of his dramatics. The cats were interested and well behaved with everything going on. If Jackson wouldn't have been so insistent on making friends with Nike, it would have gone even smoother.

Bestie Kay and I picked up a Bountiful Basket and then hit up Menards to get going with the planting and potting season. We took Sissy along for the second half. When I got home, I put my plants in my planter and it looks so nice. Matt started working on the garage. We plan to haul these things over to the storage unit next weekend. Other areas that were packed up include the living room, the den, and the master bed. Not that these are finished, but each have a start. I also got stairs to the basement painted. I think I may be done with the paintbrushes in our house.

Matt had two fires that he participated in on Saturday. The first was on a loader tractor but the second was a local restaurant that he and I'd eaten at within the last month, Bogey's. It was known for it's old fashioned ice cream and burgers. It's unfortunate how bad the devastation was that Matt described to me. I loved their breadsticks.

This picture is not what you may think it is....TonyDanza got busted and got himself in trouble. He always knows when he is naughty and will run to avoid being in punished. Matt went after him and when he came downstairs, this is where he found him hiding. Matt couldn't even get after him because it was too funny.

Best meal: We did pizza and beer on Sunday night. It was nice and simple.

 

Talking on 2nd floor, ALR sits on rail

MJR: GET DOWN.

ALR: What? I'm just sitting.

MJR: You are going to fall and break your neck.

ALR: What if I do this? (leg over the edge with one foot still on floor)

MJR: Why you gotta?

ALR: Or this.
MJR: If you fall, I'm going to say I told you so.
ALR: OR this.

MJR: AHHHHHHHH.

ALR: Or this (slides down banister)

MJR: Just gotta push things.

My parents will celebrate 34 years of marriage on the 24th. I still get amazed at how they communicate while they work together. And I probably shouldn't smile when I can think back to all the times I've heard each other use the other's middle name and not to mention all the "Well, dear's" I've heard.

Warmer Weather Recovery

After digging out, we are still digging out. I’m ready for the sun and the bright. I’m ready for summer. We can skip spring with its snow storms, rain, and mud. I am ready to start picking out plants and flowers and thinking about how I’m going to get a garden. I really want some tomato plants as Matt and I do so much with tomatoes; tomato soup, marinara, pizza sauce, bloody mary mix, and plain canned tomatoes. I’m not sure how or where but I want to get it done!

 

Matt spent some time finding the patio for me. The hard part with our yard is that there’s nowhere

to go with the snow. He ended up just dumping it over our fence. We have also had an intruder on our patio. I’m used to the occasional cat, but it’s the squirrels that are starting to get to me. We bought a couple of the seed bells. Well I’m done with that. The squirrel broke the last one off and carried it away. So I decided I was going to fix him. I got him a corn cob spring but we haven’t found the ideal spot for it yet. They are dragging it over to the trunk and eating it, not swinging on it. And now we have a mess because of the seeds that have been dropped to the ground. So I shot the squirrel. With a bb gun. It does not seem to deter seed scrounging and mess making.

We had some culinary fun this weekend. Matt bought a ravioli maker. I cooked the squash to fill it. We’ll update later on this as we’ll have them this week. Matt also made Bierocs. They are a hamburger/sauerkraut filled bun. I was pleasantly surprised. Matt wasn’t too happy with the outcome but I think he’ll try it again someday.

On Sunday, we had a full day. We had the Ladies Auxiliary Breakfast and Bake Sale. Over 350 people were served and the line was out the door for a long time. I made a few different cookies for the sales, Peanut Butter, Pumpkin, and Bacon Chocolate Chip. Maybe I should have been wise considering this is the cheapest breakfast in town and I should have read my audience better. But it all went in the end!

After getting home, Dad called me and asked if I wanted to go on a bull delivery run to South Heart and Amidon. He had already delivered 2 and had three to go. It was a nice ride and would have been better if he hadn’t had had some truck heating issues but all in all was glad to have been asked, and picked up to go with!

The only downspot on the weekend was that I had some eye issues. I woke up on Thursday, got in the shower and suddenly had incredible eye pain. The pain and watering and swelling forced me to go to both the clinic and the eye doctor. It also forced Matt to get a patch for me, which helped with the light sensitivity but also incited his giggles and joking. After a day and a half off of work, and a week straight of glasses, a z-pack, and drops, and no make-up, I'm back to normal. Fingers crossed.

Best meal: Dakota Diner on Sunday night. Don't read too much into that, the food was fine but it was the time and conversation with my Dad and Matt that made it my favorite.

 

MJR: Three years, this Wednesday.
ALR: I know. We've come along way.
MJR: What is 3rd anniversary gifts?
ALR: According to this site, Leather. That's better than year 1, paper.
MJR: What's wrong with paper?
ALR: On our first anniversary, you gave me a lame newspaper.
MJR: It wasn't lame! It was thoughtful.
ALR: It wasn't the right day!
MJR: That's because the Dickinson Press doesn't print a paper on a Monday!
ALR: You could have gotten the Bismarck Tribune at least!
MJR: That was showing my warped sense of humor.

Happy Three Years since our first date, Honey.

May we continue to remember what started it all.

You called me at the Elton John concert,

you couldn't hear me and decided to call me back the next day.

Paint and Pizza Sauce

The countdown for prepping is on. Kevin is making his annual ND tour this weekend and we are getting ready. We had an extremely productive weekend. My biggest coup of the whole deal was I

Someone will be awful sad
when we put the room back.

finally got the “blue” room painted. It’s been on my mind for months but the task has seemed daunting as the room walls were blue, the ceiling was blue, the closet was blue, the closet shelves and bracket were blue, the closet ceiling was blue and I have wondered who in their right mind paints the closet and the ceiling, MANY TIMES! So we went from blue to flaky biscuit and it’s WAY better! Now just need to get the room put back together and go from there!

Not like priming a room and ceiling is small potatoes but we also did some serious canning. Matt has refined his own pizza sauce recipe that he modified from his father’s and I managed to get my hands on 35 pounds of tomatoes. So there we were with our basil and oregano and tomatoes and it’s all fun and games until Matt doesn’t put the lid on the blender. Once we got the pizza sauce made, we got to working on canning it. We got them all sealed, all 14ish pints of pizza sauce. From the remains of the boiled down, Matt also went a bit further and made Bloody Mary mix. I think we ended up with 3 quarts and 2 pints of that too.

We did get some socializing in too. I had a girls’ night out on Saturday to celebrate a bestie’s birthday. My girls’ night out have changed a bit since I’ve gotten older, and become married. We enjoyed conversation and pizza and it was a good time. On Sunday, Matt and I both helped with the DRFD’s Magic Show, where the proceeds were all going to the Fire Dept. Matt set up and tore down and I took tickets at the door. The place was packed! Additional seating had to be set up and kids were even allowed to sit on the floor. We did not stay for the show but I did want to see the tigers, Matt got to view them and their dinner time.

This week will be busy as we have partnered with the college and are hosting a job fair on Tuesday. We reached capacity of 50 employers and hope to have a good seeker turnout. There is a nice range of employers from oilfield to fast food to medical to professional. This will be the first job fair that I’ve been a part of, so we’ll see.

Best meal: pork chops with cheesy broccoli and salads. We tried some of the different seasonings and I think I like the greek seasoning on the pork chops the best.

On the tomato line.
MJR: AHHHHHH, you put a frozen tomato in this pot??
ALR: Yes, I did, in fact I put a lot of frozen tomatoes in that pot.
MJR: You CAN’T do THAT! I have A SYSTEM!
ALR (eye roll): Hmmm…Well, fire me then.
MJR: If you weren’t such a dang good tomato peeler, I would!

Despite Kevin's dislike of the wedding pics, I will put a Kevin pic up to celebrate his visit.

Love in the Cold of Winter

Another winter week. I think we are both going a bit stir crazy. We are a little crabby with a side of wanting some sun and some traveling on the books. We even dug out our St. Maarten contract so we could get some potential ideas for when we are going this year. Ahhhhh, beaches, such a nice idea.

 

The highlight of the week was Friday, St. Valentine's Day. I'll remind all of a couple things. 1. I've once gone to work (back in my college/blackjack dealing days) wearing all black 2. Matt and I don't get anything for each other. In the past, I've dreaded the holiday. This was our first Valentine's married and we continued with our yearly tradition of instead of gifts, we buy king crab and prepare those and sirloins for the ultimate surf and turf meal. It's one of those meals that I look forward to every year (that and Christmas fondue). We prep the meal together, we sit down and enjoy it and each other. We know that it'll cost less than a meal out would be for the two of us and we also know crab is not the easiest thing to eat in public.

Saturday night was the Dickinson Rural Christmas Party. We had a good time. I and friend, Kay, were responsible for coming up with the game, prizes, and snacks. Unfortunately, Kay was unable to attend due to family issues, but we had a good start and the "Battle of the Sexes" went better than I expected. I emceed! We ended up home at 12:30 that night. Matt was so disappointed when the keg dried up.

Sunday day was pretty laid back for us...But not for my parents. I helped catch a couple, but when he had 8 calves born in one day, that makes for a pretty exciting day. With the cameras, Mom has caught a few from work, I've not caught as many as her. I think there are quite a few that agree that we need more cameras to see more.

Sunday night was a tough one for Matt. His team, New York Life, entered the playoffs in the number 2 seat. They play best 2 out of 3 to advance and unfortunately, they lost in the semi-finals to the Noble Casing team. His only consolation was that the number 1 seat was also knocked off. He was pretty bummed. I will miss his excitement over the games and goals and the times he came home pumped off a win. I actually enjoyed watching this last game as the team had improved over the year, especially after I saw the necessity in have skates sharpened.

 

Monday was a federal holiday, President's Day. I love these days. Matt did end up going in a bit to catch up on some local issues. But we enjoyed sleeping in. He was very sweet that morning. I knew he had set his alarm for 7:30. But at 8, when he hadn't moved, I poked him awake a bit.
MJR: I know.....I'm up. I'm just happier right here.
How could I kick him out of bed like that?

After he came home, we prepped supper on the smoker. We had hickory smoked ribs and sweet
potatoes. Matt was very happy with how they turned out and he dedicated the meal to his father.

Best Meal: This is a tough one. Friday: Valentine's Surf and Turf. Saturday morning: Salmon lox and bagels. Monday evening: smoked ribs. If I had to pick one, I'd say it was the surf and turf. That king crab was amazing.

 

MJR: The Olympics! Yeah!
ALR: Serious?
MJR: I love the winter olympics and I only get to enjoy it every 4 years.
ALR(more to herself than him): Who would have known.
MJR: The luge, speed skating,ski jumps, curling, hockey, bobsled, even figure skating
ALR (staring)
MJR: I can just about hear the opening ceremonies. Ba Ba Ba-Bum, Ba Ba Ba-Bum….
ALR: The Olympics are getting married?
MJR: Opening ceremonies…..bbbbaaaum ba ba bum baum bum
ALR: Um, no, graduation.
MJR:  Crap, you are right.
Two days later.
MJR: Ba Ba
ALR: Nope.
MJR: I just can’t get it!
A day later while watching the Olympic commerical.
MJR: I got it!!!
The next day.
ALR: So what is the Olympic music?
MJR: Baum, hmmmm, Ba Ba Bum, crap, Ba, hmmmm. Um….
MJR: Why aren’t we watching the Olympics?
Later that night.
Getting ready for bed
ALR: What's the music for the Olympics again?
MJR: WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?
Two days later at the DRFD Christmas Party
ALR yells over to MJR: Come here, I want to show Roxanne something.
MJR walks over.
ALR: What's the music to the Olympics.
MJR: (Moments of silence) $#%@ you. (walks off)

Bowls and Bulls

You know those weeks where you don’t know where the time went? Yeah, that’s my week. Work has been crazy for me. I’ve been doing a ton of h2a inspections, but in true government form, it’s the paperwork that eats up a ton of my time. Couldn’t seem to get caught up until today! Good feeling.

We started last weekend off the right way on Friday night with the girls from the firehall! Last year, Rockpile Energy did a great fundraiser for the DRFD, a chili cook off. This year they wanted to up the ante and the Ladies Auxiliary played along. We wanted to get involved to support our guys and the cause. So there we were on Friday night, chopping onions, peppers, and browning meat. We put our new president, Lindsay, in charge of the culinary aspect as she does it best! The new secretary whined about the quality of knives and lack of kitchen gadgets at the firehall. Yes, that would make the new secretary me. Matt was able to come away from his elections without a captain’s chair but I wasn’t so lucky! Ha! It’s a great group of women and it’s fun for both of us to support the cause, so we’ll see what comes of the year.

Saturday was BUSY!! That morning we watched the bull parade and were proud Simmental promoters at bull days. Dad always enjoys the day and it’s obvious! He did walk away with 4 or the pen of 5 sold and the bulls looked so good, despite the mud that he found on them from 1983. He was also the FIRST one in the ring. Talk about top of the line!

Saturday night was the chili cook off. Good friend, Kay, was in charge of decorations. She came out with sparkly trees, which we had to remind her that Christmas was over. She defended her aesthetic vision up and down until Todd started wearing the trees in a fashion similar to Madonna.

Kay: Todd, YOU PUT DOWN MY CHRISTMAS TREES!
MJR: So, you admit they are Christmas trees!

That’s when the laughter began. I decided to go a bit more unique and rock the unicorn horn!

Our chili didn’t win but we had such a good time, laughing, dancing, and we got runner up for people’s choice…who can complain about that, especially when $63,000 was raised for the cause to be split between the Dickinson Rural and the South Heart Rural Fire Departments.

On Sunday, Matt had dive so the day was cleaning up and organizing. But Monday, I headed to Bismarck while Matt finished the backsplash. It looks so good. I was so happy with the look, the way it’s changed the kitchen, and the ability to finally have my kitchen back in one piece! Gives me a little confidence to try a few other similar projects in the future.

On Wednesday, Matt had another hockey game. Here’s how it went at 10:00 when he came home.

“Honey!!! Where are you?? You missed a great game!!! You should have been there! They called us overskaters! I made 2 goals and one was a penalty shot!!! Great game!! 9-1!” While I may witch on him a bit about the cost, I’m so glad he’s enjoying it and is able to play! It’s no secret that he’s loving it!

Finally, I’ve decided that 2014 is the year I start shaming the cats. It’s not like they do anything around the house, they won’t get jobs. Won’t even look, won’t even work on their resumes and if they wouldn’t there’s nothing to put on them! So may the pet shaming begin.

Best Meal: Despite my initial hesitations, the chili that we made with the corn bread was amazing. It had seasoning but didn’t have the kick I was anticipating. Add some cider and some girls and it was an experience!

ALR: All the leftover salmon is Amanda's...House rules.
MJR: House rules? Well, maybe Amanda should cook her own salmon.
ALR: No, Matt cooks the salmon. House rules.
MJR: Do I get to make any of these house rules?
ALR: I haven't decided yet.

 

Happy Holidays From the Remynses!

First Christmas Card…First Christmas Letter.

Here’s a brief rundown of things that are happening with us this year…a Top 5 of sorts.

1. WE GOT MARRIED!!! Best day ever…will live in my memories for the rest of my life. My favorite moment of the day was the first moment that we saw each. That moment where I realized that he was my future and how happy I was…it was amazing.

2. We bought a house together. I could follow this up with, we made it through our first remodel together…wallpaper (which is a curse word in our house), texture, lights, paint, sanding…it all has been coming together.

3. Traveling…we usually get a few trips in but there were 2 that stuck out in my mind. Both were in October. We took a trip to Michigan to attend Bob Remynse, Matt’s grandfather’s funeral. We drove. And drove back. With Michele and Randy. A week after we got back and found ourselves recovered, we took our honeymoon to St. Maarten, an island in the Caribbean. What a beautiful week of beaches, sun, and just us!

4. Work life. I just honored my first year at Job Service, where I have an amazing group of coworkers (which is my favorite part of my job). Matt watched a dream come true at the airport. In June, he watched the jets come in to acknowledge the start of jet service in Dickinson. Was great to see how his hard work and stress finally had a pay off.

5. We really got married…I say this because not only was the wedding day and the day after and the day before amazing but the planning and time that went into the details of the day was such a major part of our year. We wanted to make sure that our day was about us and that people got to know us and our relationship a bit better.

Other honorable mentions:
-we got old (both of us turned 30)
-after a year of living together…the cats still do not get along. Sometimes I think they think they are playing but aren’t sure but for the most part all three; TonyDanza, Nike, and Lola, do not all mix well.
-we took 2 camping trips this year, pathetic.
-we visited the farm, but not as much as we would have liked. We did buy a heifer to bulk our herd numbers up a bit, and Matt did take over for Dad a time or two, but we had higher hopes for being a bigger help.

Goals for next year:
Matt wants to do a bit of landscaping to our small yard.
Amanda wants to revise the guest bedrooms
Matt wants to hunt more.
We want to travel more, golf more, camp more…

So in closing, I’ll leave you with a conversation from Matt and I…but we are so glad to have so many people in our lives that continue to check on us and think of us. We are blessed to have the family that we were given and the friends that continue to chose us. Can’t wait to see your families and hear your stories.

ALR: We’ve been married a couple months.
MJR: yea.
ALR: Does it feel weird?
MJR: no.
ALR: Is it how you thought it was going to be?
MJR: yea.
ALR: Really?
MJR: yea, just like I was expecting.
ALR: oh. Well, I think it’s different. I think we’ve got a pretty good thing happening here.
MJR: I know, it’s what I was expecting.

Weekend At Home.

We are heading into winter. Cold days, watching the radar, checking the sky, and hoping that the plows don’t have to run. Matt had his first on-call weekend, which forced us to stay put and stay home this weekend. Despite being unable to get back to the farm, we did make the best of the situation and filled our time.

Saturday morning, we headed to the last DSU tailgating event. Matt had wanted to go to a game this year, but it never worked out. We did manage to make 2 tailgating events this year. Each one has a theme to give people inspiration for the grill. This week was wild game…we had a pheasant sandwich, elk chili, bison burger, and elk poppers. From there we went to the holiday craft show, there wasn’t much that I saw that I wanted, a few items, but nothing too badly. Matt wanted to get a rubber band gun rifle. I didn’t think it was necessary. We headed home to clean the basement. This has been on my mind for a couple months now and it’s been slow going. We actually made HUGE process. We had a constant audience to supervise our work, I suppose since they think it’s their domain. But it looked so nice when we had to quit for the day. There’s some work that still needs to be done, but it’s significantly better.

We had to quit because it was the spouse appreciation dinner at the fire hall. What a nice thing, the guys did a great job with the meat, as usual, and the wives all contributed sides. It was fun to socialize a bit but we had to cut it short because Matt had a hockey game. He looked so good out there with new equipment and sharpened skates. And after a few attempts at a goal, I was happy to see him get one in. He’ll get his jersey soon but he managed to get game MVP without it. I was pretty happy for him.

Sunday was a bit slower. Matt headed off to dive training and I played domestic goddess. I wrestled canning jars earlier this year…now it was time to take on the pumpkin. After discovering that one of the two was rotted, I opened up (with Matt’s assistance), the white pumpkin and cooked it and then later roasted the seeds. Matt was pretty happy with how they turned out.

The best part of the weekend….no snow, no plowing…and a clean basement. Oh…and the kitties got new cubes. Their old ones were demolished! But the best part of the week: Matt’s been mustache free for 7 days now.

Best meal of the week: The smoked brisket at the firehall with the great sides!

Because we left the fire hall and all noticed, they made a few comments about showing up to watch. And we shouldn't have been surprised when they were at the game!
Lindsay: “100% of the fan base is for Matt…oh shoot, that guy with those kids showed up….maybe we can convert them?”

ALR: (setting down the dish from the bedroom scentsy) “So I’m going to put this here on the counter to take up to the bedroom later, it has scentsy in it, don’t eat…”
MJR: “Shut it”