What a week

After almost 10 days without phone lines I am able to use my landline/internet--yay! This story would be a whole lot more dramatic if I said we didn't have power the whole time, but alas, we were without power for a mere 20 minutes during the whole storm/no power mess that was our corner of the state last weekend. Its nice to be on the same power line as town! So I shouldn't whine too much about no phone service; as our cell phones work just fine at home. I do feel bad for the people around here who are on day 7, etc. without power. They are all rural people who have animals to tend to and most of the generators are used to keep the wells running; while houses are second in line. Amazing people and much tougher than I would be. I would have went to my in-laws in town :)

Happy Birthday Cowboy!

My beloved Cowboy was old yesterday! The candles say 31 if you can see that through the flame! He tolerated me taking the standard birthday cake picture. We had family and friends over for supper on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Tools make him happy so that's what he got for his birthday. Plus, I made the cake from scratch. That never happens when Mrs. Crocker lives so conveniently in my cupboard. But it turned out really nice and fudgy. Mmmm. chocolate.

We spent some time outside this weekend enjoying the nice weather. Cowboy put my plates on the new vehicle. I gave in and got rid of the trusty old Buick. Now I won't have to confuse my car with the 17 other brown Buicks that old ladies in town drive!

The massive snow pile in the yard was great to play 'king of the mountain' on; Paige stood on the top and yelled and threw snow having a wonderful time. Dad checked the top out so we know she wouldn't fall in a hidden hole that was 10 feet deep!

This is Paige with her new short 'do. It got chopped off last week and she loves it, as does Mom. Dad and Gramma are coming to terms with it! I got a phone call at work with a little voice saying, "Can I get my hair cut?" Then Kim got on the line and said she could pretend to cut it or trim it since it was hair cut day at daycare (bless those of use who get a beautician's help with our child's hair--its awesome). I told her to do whatever. We got a cute little bob.

Lately

So lately this has been what our life is about. Snow. I live in ND and accept the weather, but the 30 below could go away. Thanks to who ever can make that happen. I am test driving an Explorer the last couple days and have really liked the four wheel drive for our country road, etc. However, I got stuck for the first time in my life last night. Not fun. However, our road is now completely plowed and wonderful again; so I can just zoom along in the new car! We'll see if it passes a few highway tests this weekend before committing.

Miss Paige painting away. No, she doesn't always wear a smock, but she found this one with her painting stuff. She created beautiful pictures and was entertained for a long period of time. Bonus.

This is my gorgeous new comforter I got on sale at Herbergers last weekend. A complete impulse buy. I love it. It is a 14 piece set regularly priced at $300. I paid $90. I felt so triumphant leaving the mall with it! I don't have all the pillows and shams out yet but I love it. Cowboy even said he doesn't mind it; which was a huge victory.

New Years

Happy New Years! I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve; whether it was eventful and full of parties, or simply a quiet evening in. Ours was an evening with friends and kids. Our 2010 is off to a morning of sleeping in--just a little, and running around in our pjs. Paige and I are the only ones running in our pjs as Cowboy just left to go tend cows for three days. He'll return home on Sunday. I hope he stays warm and has good luck with frozen equipment and snow which has been a problem. Paige and I will enjoy our day off as tomorrow we are headed to Dickinson to watch Dani play basketball. I could say I hope to get alot accomplished today, but that would be a lie! I think its a movie and nap day. . .

6 years

So I am going to wake up one of these mornings and be 80 years old, because that's how fast the past few years have flown by. Today celebrates 6 years ago that another blizzard covered our state, and that Cowboy and I became legally bound! I say that with a smile because we dated since high school so it wasn't a real shocker when we finally got married after college. Above is our beautiful bridal party who braved crappy conditions to come celebrate with us; most of our friends and family were able to attend and everyone made it home safely despite the horrible weather. I have heard stories years later of how horrible it was--they didn't want to tell me right after the wedding and make me feel bad!



So 6 fast years have flown by us. Wow. Cowboy doesn't really read the blog or I would tell him I loved him and I am still happy I married him. So I'll just have to tell him in person :)

Merry Christmas

As this Christmas Day nears an end, I thought I better post a few pictures. We had a nice Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We departed from our normal holiday routine and stayed at our own house for Christmas Eve, something Cowboy and I haven't done as a married couple. We figured Paige was entitled to wake up in her own bed on Christmas morning once. My parents braved the weather and came over on Christmas Eve and we went to mass, and then had a wonderful shrimp supper. Then came the presents. It was a good thing Gramma came over, because the present level quadrupled when she came!

One of Paige's presents she was so excited about; a new princess dress!

Opening up presents from Santa; all smiles. I asked her later in the morning if Santa did a good job. She said, "Santa did a good job." We all slept in this morning which was needed after the late night. Paige slept until after 8:30 and I was walking around the house waiting for her to wake up. The funny thing about her and presents is she only wants to open a few and play with those; she doesn't care if there are a few more remaining. So this morning she played with some stuff; and then opened the remaing 2 an hour later. She also just likes to tear the paper off and look at the box--if its a generic box she thinks that's the present!

Our family gift was a Wii and it has been a lot of fun today keeping us enterained while we wait out the blizzard that is still raging outside. Cowboy got a big game hunting game, complete with gun, and has spent a good chunk of today attempting to master it.

Paige and I attempted some MarioKart this morning; and she did a pretty good job. Mom has to assist with some steering, but for her first attempts she did well. I image in a few years she will be better than Mom or Dad; all kids seem to be that way with video games. Note the big pink castle; that was from Santa and has been a big hit today.



We had a wonderful Christmas despite the blizzard that has shut down the state. We won't be able to go see some family tomorrow like our plan was; but hopefully we'll be able to catch up with them in a weekend or two.

On the 8th day of Christmas

On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to meeeee. . . .a bathroom where the toilet tank is emptyyyyyy. So. I come home after getting groceries, etc. and find out there is no water at all in our house because the handyman Cowboy has it shut off so he can fix the leaking messed up shower. Our old house does not have a separate bathroom shutoff valve. Its the whole house has water, or none of it has water. So there goes dishes, laundry, etc. tonight while he is working on the shower. Oh well. Bad side of this, Paige and I have to use the bathroom every 10 minutes! Think we are road tripping to Gramma's to use her tub tonight. . .