updates

well, sorry if you found our life super interesting and then i quit updating this blog. sorry. but for most of you, i'm sure your last couple months have flown by just as quickly as ours have.  we have no big news or changes, which is nice.  we've finally been enjoying beautiful fall weather, catching the home football games... Roll Bison!  it's nice to feel like part of the community. and they aren't half bad to watch either.

roll bison!

 

 

happy anniversary honey!

in september we celebrated our first anniversary. crazy how fast time flies! we spent the weekend with great friends 4-wheeling, the weather was great, we all got a little sunburned, and the 4-wheeler only broke down once. thank goodness for mechanic friends! that night we went out in deadwood and had a great time. we have such great friends!

 

 

 

later in september my mom and dad came to visit. in between all of these things and now i've been working full time (i like my job quite a bit now) and driving back and forth to sioux falls a couple times a month for class. luckily i have karen to stay with in tea the night before my classes, so i get to see at least one "eastern" friend frequently.  it makes the 12 hours of driving and 800+ miles i cover seem worth it.

a couple of weeks ago ryan, kyanna and the kids stopped out to see us, too. jesse put on his "gilly suit" and tyson was terrified! i just can't believe how fast the kids grow!


trying to reassure tyson it's just jesse

 

nell and jen chillin



Lily playing doctor

and nella and gertie are good. nella's 50 pounds now. and she sleeps in our bed with us, mostly because jesse lets her sleep in the bed when i'm working nights, and i just can't tell her no when i'm home... so it's about time to invest in a king sized bed!  jesse took her duck hunting last weekend, and was SO impressed when she retrieved out of the water. she's smart, like her mama :)

 

our big girl

 

everytime jesse leaves for work nella watches him go out the window.

gertie

so, if you're out west, stop in for a visit. and hopefully as the holidays get closer we can plan to visit all of you, too!

 

-amanda

beautiful sunrise from our driveway. pretty flat to the east of us.

nothing's new

Well, hello friends. I realize it’s been over a month since I’ve shared any updates in our lives.  Thinking about it, it seems that “not much is new.”  But, that’s not true.  We moved.  A mile down the road.  To a different trailer.  Our land lord offered us this one as a definite upgrade. But it also meant changing our address on everything AGAIN.  Big, huge pain in the butt.  Thanks to our new friends, the Smiths, for helping haul all of our crap one mile down the road.  That’s a true friend right there.  Especially when Gail did not judge the exorbitant  amount of scented lotions I have.  Which by the way, is enough to last me a few years, so please do not gift lotion or body wash to this girl anytime soon J So now we have 3 bedrooms instead of 2 and 2 bathrooms instead of 1 and our own WALK IN CLOSETS! I’ve never had a walk in closet, so that right there was worth the move.

so much space!

 

Also, we had the pleasure of both Darcie and the Bamsey’s visit in one weekend.  We love our families so much, and it was nice to have a piece of our East River life come this way to see us!

Jason looking for the right worm for Jesse.

Mike and Lilly fishing,

relaxing

Other than the move, life keeps rolling.  Finished my summer semester, started my fall one, which also requires me to drive to Sioux Falls 10 times this semester, so thanks in advance for everyone who answers their phones and helps me pass the time on the road each week.  I’m over half done with grad school, 8 semesters down, 6 to go.  Thank the Lord.

Hmm, let’s see, other than that… Nella and Gertie are good. Nell is over 40 pounds now, which makes her an over-grown toddler dog that is slightly (totally) out of control.  I had to “dog shame” her the other day.  And I’m sure many more shaming opportunities will arise in the future. 

yep, she ate cat litter. so disgusting.

And Jesse continues to love his job.  They’ve made him and Danny separate and start working independently, so I’m sure that was a little “sad” for him.  He bought another gun (YAY!), and is starting to talk daily about deer hunting. 

And that’s all for now.  Hopefully I’ll have anything more exciting to tell you about in the next month!

 

blessings

Today I woke up after 4 hours-post night shift… in a happy, calm mood. It doesn’t always work out like that, so I considered it a good omen.  I shuffled out to the kitchen, glanced at the thermometer, 102, and hooked Nella to her leash so we could get the mail.  It was hot and calm out, and when I looked down at my sweet little terrorist, I’m fairly certain she said, “Mom, let’s go swimming at the lake.”  So, I agreed.  We jumped into the old ’87, me in just a swim suit, and in the span of time it took to listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “free bird” and part of “sweet home alabama” we arrived.  And on this hot, glorious Tuesday, there was no one on the beach for probably a mile each way from us.  Perfection.

The first time I took Nel to the lake, she was still pretty little and got freaked out when her feet didn’t touch sand beneath her.  I had to support her under her fat puppy tummy to teach her the concept.  Well, she’s got it now.  So after running through the hot sand, which she whined the whole way cause her little paws were sizzling, we splashed into the water.  And we spend the next hour or so playing fetch with a beached stick.  Now, she goes out as far as I can throw,  no problem.  And for a change of pace, I sat in the shallow water, soaking up some vitamin D, while Nella chased horse flies around on the beach.   Looking out into the ombrѐ lake, changing from deep turquois in the center and fading to the brown sandy beach, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with gratitude. 

I’ve had some challenges lately.  Some seem nearly insurmountable, others, merely a blip in life’s road. But, sitting out at the lake, if I only had tomorrow what I thanked God for today, I’d still have it all.  I threw out words of thanks for my husband, our families, our friends, our jobs, even grad school, and living in Hot Springs.  There aren’t a lot of days I get to chat it up with God like that, and it felt so nice. 

It’s good to say ‘thank you’ and it’s okay to count your blessings.  It’s acceptable to ignore stats homework for an hour to relax on the beach.  And it’s okay to be overwhelmed with challenges some times, cause those are the times it tends to become clear, the most simple solution is to trust the Lord, and know He has a plan.

Hope you all have a great day, and that you take the chance to count your blessings today and say thanks.

And Happy, Happy Anniversary to my great brother, Rob, and his sweet wife, Darcie.  3 years has flown by, so much has changed since that day at the farm, but I know your commitment to each other is just as strong. Love You Guys!!

for a recap of that beautiful, but chilly July day, visit here

the best naps happen after a frolick in the lake...

mama, i'm comin' home

It’s another scorcher out there. 102.7 - lovely.  I think snow is sounding better and better all the time.  Feel free to remind me of that in February.

We just got back from a mini-vaca to the east side of the state, visiting family and friends.  We don’t have kids. We have a dog and a cat. And the cat can fend for herself, plus she hates traveling, so she stayed home.  So just us and Nella. You’da swore we were hauling around triplet 3 year olds, the amount of crap I had packed. The food, the dish, the toys, the bed, the play pen (don’t laugh, she needs it, she’s a terrorist, remember??)…  and don’t forget the big huge kangaroo she loves. Anything to keep a 4 month old puppy happy.  I’ll chalk this all up to good practice for the time there ARE kids AND the dang dog in the car and we’re heading back to the ‘east side’ to visit.

Nella didn't care for being stuck in the back for 350 miles.

CHEESE! pool time with Lilly.

post-swim snacks are serious stuff: a lolly pop and cheetos, with her shoes on the wrong feet. I LOVE 3 year olds :)

So we spent the hot weekend catching up with everyone.  Swimming, eating, rodeo-ing (ok, we just watched that).  On Friday, Nella managed to biff it down the steps following the big dogs, “luckily” right before her vet appointment that we already had scheduled to get her micro-chipped (please do that for your dog, BTW, so they are returned home safely if they get lost)… so Nella got her first x-rays.  Let me tell you, listening to her cry while they held her leg straight to x-ray was kinda traumatic for me. New mama syndrome, I guess.  ANYWAY, she just sprained her knee and was sent home on couch rest and pain meds.  Do you want to guess how easy it was to keep her “resting”? If you’ve met her, you know, she rested for about 6 hours, cause it hurt, and then she was back to hobbling around as fast as she could.  The moral of the story is, she’s doing much better now. 

Rob and his scary beard grilling for us.

The yummy shrimp my mom made.

She loved going out and "hunting" at the farm. And she did pretty dang good, too.

Nella meeting the foster calvies, Mabel and Marvin/Norman.

Not sure who's walking who, Tyson or Nella??

SO TIRED from a big weekend. She slept the entire way home.

It was great to see everyone.  I even ventured up to the MCU, my old nurse stomping grounds, and really just wanted to put some scrubs on and jump back on in.  Really. Our family and friends are so wonderful.  They are the kind of people we are lucky to be able to miss when we’re gone, because they welcome us home with open arms. Home, by the way, is a very ambiguous term at this point – we’re not sure where home is – but we’re working on it.  When we were pulling into Mitchell Thursday night, it sure felt like coming home.  But, on the flip side of that coin, walking through the trailer house door on Sunday night to our sweet Gertie's meows welcoming us was a relief and a comfortable place to rest our travel-weary heads.  Maybe for a while, we’ll have two homes. Two hearts.  Although, I’ll forever be a flat plains girl. The Hills are pretty, but they don’t have anything on my prairie. 

Sun set at the farm. Sure miss these. Home sweet home.

Summer Lovin'

Alan Jackson sang about summertime blues. Grease belted about summer loving. I choose loving. Which is hilarious, ‘cause really, it’s HOT here, and not very fun to be outside for the mid-day hours… BUT, still lovin’ it.

they don't call it "Warm Springs" for a reason...



Jesse teaching Nella to fish.



Gertie hides from the heat



Nella discovered that hanging her head out the window is a great air conditioner

Jesse turned 31 on June 28. He’d probably rather I not publically share that, but whatev, he doesn’t read this anyway.  His birthday is super special, because it also marks the time we met, June 26^th. We had this sweet (like sacrine) conversation on his birthday as he was sitting in an airport headed back to Georgia.  And we morphed into us after that, so to me, his birthday reminds me of how we became us.  And so, I like to spoil the man a little bit every year. So I made him a candy bouquet and gave it to him at work. I bought bakery rolls for him to share too (he asked if I was trying to give everyone diabetes. Hell yeah, job security!).  We went out for supper that night with our foster-child, Danny. And Jesse got a new GPS so he wouldn’t get lost in his work truck. All and all, a pretty good birthday spoilin’



too old to smile :)

who doesn't love a little coloring at the table??

And then White Draw fire started.  As newcomers to this area, grass/forest/wild fires are foreign to us.  We quickly learned that those fires put a damper on everything. They destroy stuff, and aggravate everyone’s allergies, and take away the fireworks on the 4^th of July L. I’ve never had a 4^th without fireworks… Luckily, Hot Springs tries to keep everyone busy and not remind them of what we don’t get to have. So, since I didn’t have to work (thank God for small miracles), we partook. Is that a word? Like past-tense of partake, I think so… moving on… We mingled at the street dance, I ran in the 5k (there are no pictures of that because Jesse didn’t get his butt out of bed that morning!), Jesse drove the Golden West car while Danny threw candy at us.  We went to my first demolition derby, hit up the best golf course on this side of the state, and ended the evening with a meal out with friends.  Not too shabby for a mid-week holiday. 

Gail and I doing our best to put up with the boys



Hurry Danny, before the spinklers get you!



It's probably in the other fairway, Carson

Now, it’s back to the daily grind. Normalcy is setting in out here. And I’m (summer) lovin’ it!

just chillin'

tan lines

So, you know when spring hits and you spend a little time outside and get a little color and get a funky farmers tan going on? And then summer officially hits and you expose those white spots… you do a tan line change up… and at the end of the day when you take off the swim suit and check out those new tan lines, rub a little aloe on your shoulders, and sweep the sand up off the floor (where did all of that sand come from, anyway???), then you know it’s officially summer.

Guess what?? It’s officially summer!

Yesterday I finally had a Saturday off from work, and we took full advantage.  Like 100^o outside, nobody cares what your farmer tan looks like, put on a little sunscreen, and get your butt in the water! FULL advantage.

We live about 3 miles from a big, beautiful lake, Lake Angostura, and some of Jesse’s coworkers, and our new wonderful friends, took us to a quiet little beach, brought a jet ski, and we parked our butts in the sand with drinks in hand. Perfect summer Saturday.

ah, summer....

the girls, and margaritas!

Between the 8 of us, we drank down 2 jet-ski delivered pitchers of margaritas in about 4 minutes. and they were delicious!

5 guy coworkers. 3 on the jet ski together. classic.

Especially when they tipped it over.

OH, and a super special happy birthday to our sweet niece, Lillian, who turned 3 this weekend. She was the reason we met, and we love her SO much!

happy tanlines everyone!

cutting the cord

So, part of me thinks I’ve put off writing this post for so long because then it becomes true. We moved. 350 miles from our family and friends.  And so it is.

I am taking this small opportunity of internet space to thank my wonderful co-workers for throwing me the best going away anyone could have asked for. To say I miss you is the understatement of the century and thank you does not seem adequate.  You will always have a special place in my quirky little heart.

kathy

jacki, cindy, christy, audry, and polly

audrey, always there to make me laugh and cry

miss you!!!

I gave each of my OB gals a book that I have come to love, Bloom. (check out the author’s blog, here) It not only symbolizes the special job we have helping babies into the world and new mothers become mommies, but it also has a strong theme for me (and everyone) to accept and celebrate the cards you have been dealt.  And so, I’m getting around to celebrating our move. Sometime.

These few days between the actual move and now have left my wounds a little more healed and my head a little higher.  The process of moving itself caused anxiety unknown to me, and when the Budget truck was 8 feet shorter than expected, I possibly had a small stroke. But, we made it to Hot Springs, with our possessions and dignity intact.

my view of the budget truck

whoofta, a long trip...

thank you ryan, for driving out the old truck and not just leaving in mitchell. really.

i don't think we could have strategically squeezed another thing in there

And, on a spur of the moment we adopted my wonderful friend, Nathel’s, cat, Gertrude. Gertie hated the ride out here, at least I’m assuming that’s what the first 20 minutes of constant meowing meant, but has settled in and taken quite a liking to Jesse. As in, she follows him EVERYWHERE. And for not being a cat guy, he likes her quite a bit, too.

gertie liked all the boxes stacked up so she could escape from nella

nella learned to hide under the bed from gertie

Nella was a great traveler. She packed in about 4.5 hours of sleep on the 5 hour trip. And Nella, now better known as Nella-the-Terrorist, has discovered she LOVES cardboard boxes and packing Styrofoam. She was in heaven for the first couple weeks. And we were too, until she got big enough and smart enough to crawl out of her indoor kennel.  Of course she figured it out one night while Jesse and I were out to eat, and we came home to a disaster and Gertie on the top of the highest cabinets in the house. Hence, Nella-the-terrorist.  Now she had the run of the whole kitchen, with baby gates keeping her reigned in.  We’ll see how long that works.

sleeping in the sun

my gps

moving is hard work

helping empty boxes

looked like it snowed... thanks nella

So, to everyone who send us out here with wishes of good luck, we’re doing just fine. Jesse is in love with his job. And mine is growing on me…. Slowly. Mostly because I miss labor and delivery and my cool peeps from back home at the Queen.  We’re making friends, getting settled, and starting to like it here. I even have “27” license plates on the Tahoe, so I guess it’s official. We live here.

our first sunset :)