The things kids say...

When Madilyn found out it was my birthday..."gasp...I forgot to get you a present!!"

After tasting her milk and not liking it..."I think this is horse milk."

At walmart looking for a beanie for her..."Maybe not this one, its too expensive."

She wanted to stay home while I went to go get milk at the market.  Before I left I turned on TinkerBell for her..."Don't worry, you can watch the news when you get back.  Oh, and I have to tell you one more thing, the roads are slick so be careful!"-except it hasn't snowed for over a week!!

MY BIRTHDAY!

Despite all the phone calls and Happy Birthday wishes, my birthday this year was kind of a down-er.  Birthday's just aren't as fun when your "old" and have no one to celebrate with!  

But I have to admit, I have some wonderful people in my life.  

My amazing friend Pam invited us to their house for dinner, then surprised me by having all our friends come over for birthday cake! 

(I honestly don't remember the last time I actually had a birthday cake!!) 

Then on Tuesday, I was REALLY surprised with a bouquet of flowers from Ron! 

It was totally unexpected! 

He has gotten me flowers a grand total of THREE times in the SEVEN years we have been together now!

It made my day!

THEN...we had a "planning meeting" before mutual. 

My cute little beehives planned a going away party for me instead!  So we partied with pizza and games! 

Pam gave me the Willow Tree figurine..."Sisters' by Heart" and the Beehives gave me the angel one..."Thank You"

My mom also got me a new set of scriptures so I can actually put my married name on them! 

WOO HOO!!

Thanks for the birthday everyone!!

Updates on our New Adventure

I went to North Dakota for a few days last week to visit Ron and go house hunting.  The house hunting part was very unsuccessful and discouraging.  We are going to have to sit back and really decide what we want out of this experience and what we need to do to make it work.  There is NOTHING for rent in Stanley.  I thought, since a lot of the guys travel from Minot (1 hour each way) we would be able to make the commute work.  We came to a consensus that Minot won't work for either one of us.  There are a few houses for sale in Stanley, but we didn't want to be there long enough to buy. However, a mortgage payment is actually cheaper per month than renting! (whats up with THAT??)  If I could just see into the future and KNOW we would be able to sell the house AS SOON as we are ready to come back, I would buy it in a heart beat. We looked at one and I loved it!  Its definitely more than we need, but I'd have plenty of room for company and all of our storage! 

Ron's job is INSANE...but he says he's really enjoying it.  I drove around with him for the first little bit I was there.  He had just got pulled of production water, and switched to doing fresh water. 

Here's how the fresh water works (correct me in the comments if I'm wrong Ronald!)

You find a little hut like this one:

Hook up your hoses...

Go inside the shed and turn on the water....then sit and wait until your full 

 then drive to the fracking location...

Back up the truck to fill up some tanks...

Then start all over again...

This is the frackng site where they shoot the water down into the ground. I haven't got a clue what all the equipment does or how it works...but I think the tanks on the far right (in the sun) are the one that hold the water until its ready to be used.  I wasn't aloud to get out here because I didn't have any safety equipment...

 He liked doing production water better, but he didn't do any of that while I was there.  Production water comes up with the oil when it is pumped, then separated into a tank. He fills up right there at the oil well, then dumps it at a disposal site where its pumped back into the ground.

There are trucks EVERYWHERE, especially at the Cen-ex (the truck stop)!  Its ALWAYS a zoo in there!  I thought spud harvest was crazy, this is just a MAD HOUSE!!  And drivers are DUMB and inconsiderate!  Like..driving with their brights on ALL the time...but the people are really nice.  Most of them are willing to do anything to help you out!

Pictures for Dad!

"ready to work" (you can't see them, but he's holding pliers)

 Madilyn loves her fairies...and her tower we built for them!

Reading stories in bed!

 Loves Dad's cowboy hat!

 and coloring!

 They BOTH fight over the middle!

 4 years old...and I'm in trouble!

 Never a dull moment around here!



Slacker...

I decided that since I was talking to Ron about FOUR times a day...the daily posts were just getting  redundant. Well...he called me on it, so I'll TRY to do better.  But I'm done taking pictures of all the little things we do. Sorry babe! So here's a little catch up from the last...11 days.

I started packing...

Planned 2 birthday parties...

Picked up a surprise b-day present for Madilyn, unfortunately, she fell asleep on the way to town. Ron couldn't bear to miss his little princess' birthday! So he flew home just for a few days!

I had my camera all ready to take a picture of her reaction when Ron woke her up, but I didn't get one snapped.  I needed it set on VIDEO! 

She woke up,

saw him,

put her forehead in her hands,

then shook her head as she layed back down. 

Then did about 3 double takes after that! 

She could not believe her dad was home!!

We celebrated Madilyn'sc b-day w/family...but apparently I don't have a picture of the house full of family!! 

 Then we had a tinkerbell party with friends.

 They went on a treasure hunt to find the lost treasure...

 All her friends and their treasures..

Ryker, Trixie, Braydan, Madilyn, and Mack.

We enjoyed a weekend with Camille and Phil...

This was my Christmas present from Camille.  We put the vinal on it together...

then we attempted to make beaded watch bands...those didn't turn out very good. Apparently we didn't listen to the lady at porters very well. Camille ended up with two, and I'm going to have to go back to get more to make mine! We ended up combining our beads to have enough to make her TWO...and we thought we were going to get THREE EACH!!

Yesterday, I made aprons for the kids...(but my memory card wasn't in the camera when I took the pictures, so I'm going to have to take more when they get washed)

and now you are up to date!

As for Ron...

Ron is doing great!  He is LOVING the job!  He admits that it is boring, but he loves getting out and socializing with all the other guys while he is unloading. He's only been over there a month and he's already the talk of the "town". Go figure!  At least with this job its GOOD talk and he's getting along with everyone...Especially the boss!  Its been a complete 180 for him!

He'll be able to start looking for a place for the family to live on the 15th.  Everyone says if you find a place you like, don't think twice about it, it will be gone in HOURS!  The oil boom there has caused the housing market to skyrocket (in price, not construction)!   So we are waiting until we have enough for a deposit, usually first and last months rent before we started looking. We don't want to get our hopes up and then get disapointed when what we want isn't available on payday.  So for now I am doing as much packing now as I can, because when I get that phone call saying we've got a place, I won't have much notice to pack before Ron comes back to get us.

Day 6-HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Madilyn worked on her homework this morning!

 While Landon helped my unload the dishwasher.

 Then we got food ready for the "Happy New Year!"

 The kids thought all the food was great!

 We watched the new (to us) Tinker Bell movie.. 

and Landon played with Mr. Potato Head!

His favorite pieces are the hat that his "bum" (the back flap). 

It took a while for them to calm down after we rang in the new year, but eventually they fell asleep!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Day 4 Day 5

I guess its time I get this post up...I've been working on it for 2 days now.  (SORRY!!!) This is mostly from Wednesday after we went to town, filled a 2 in that box for you (although it was worth it to go in and talk to the lady), and went birthday shopping, don't worry I really didn't spend that much!

 Landon refused to eat his chicken nuggets and tator tots without a fork!

Madilyn slept right through dinner.  She's been VERY tired lately so I just let her sleep, hoping she could catch up and not be so onery!

While Landon rode his semi! 

and played in this spot by the couches forever.

Then Madilyn finally woke up and didn't crash again until 3:30AM!!

I told her she HAD to lay on the couch and close her eyes! 

I tried laying with her but all she did was SQIRM! 

Finally she gave in!

 

DAY 5 (Thursday)

My days are all screw-ball-y!  I kept thinking yesterday was Friday and today was Saturday.  Going to town in the middle of the week must have done it!  I don't have any pictures from Thursday.

We slept in, cleaned the house, and went to the post office!

 

Today...Friday...we are just getting ready for NEW YEARS EVE!!  Madilyn (and Landon) helped get treats ready for tonight and I haven't pressured either one of them to get dressed!  I'm the only one in jeans today! Usually I'm the one in PJ's...well, sweats all day!