Moving to Minot

Trying to move is never easy, especially when you have to move 15 hours away from home. It amazes me how different one state can be from another in the same country.

 We found an apartment at the edge of town, on the third floor a very nice buildin. It had a great view, but it has 30 stairs to our front door.  Maybe I'm just lazy but walking up and down three flights of stairs four times a day is not worth the view. LOL Unfortunately I did not figure that out until we were already settled in.

 They call it the magic city and I've been trying to figure out why that is. Nothing special ever happens here. Unless you count 90 mile an hour winds that will blow the siding off your house.

 When I asked the locals what they did for fun in the outdoors they said… "Well there's the dog park and the walking trails" and "there's a farm downtown that you can go and pick pumpkins". Its very different from home where everyone spends their time in the mountains and the mud.  It's sad because the whole point of life here for everyone, is to go to work to make money, to buy things to make them happy, then to go back to work to make more money. It's very boring and very sad, and  we can't wait to come back home.  

Another bit of good news I got was that winter here lasts for 7 1/2 months.  Usually the first snowfall is the beginning of October and it doesn't melt until the end of May. 

Work is better here and pay is better, but taxes are also higher, sitting at 7%. You don't realize how big a difference it makes to tell you checkout at the grocery store I wonder what you spend all that money on?  Besides milk that runs four dollars a gallon.  Fuel is cheaper though so I guess it all balances out. 

 Let's all just pray the oil goes back up and we can all come back home.

Sterling & Becky's Pictures

Today Sterling and Becky let me take their family pictures. 

They were too cute not to share.

These are just a few of my favorites.

I hope Mike and my kids come out this cute ;)

Our First Place

As our wedding approached we started looking at places so we could have a Home set up and settled before we got married. Especially since we were getting married in the crazy middle of the Hollidays.

We found a duplex for rent across town with a cute little backyard.

It seriously needed repainted (even though they told us we we not allowed to) I painted some of it anyways. 

We moved in November 11th of 2014. And moved out when we headed to North Dakota in September of 2015. These pictures were taken right before we moved.

 We rented the right half. 928. The left half was not as nice inside as ours. And the people who lived there had 3 large pit bulls they kept in a half ass pen off the back door.

 This is the hall from the front door that goes upstairs or into the living room. I painted the hall, and while I thought the Black/White theme was cool at the time, looking back I don't like it.

This is the living room. With all our 'donated' furniture. Because we were just starting out when we moved in everyone gave us old furniture to use.

We got the brown couch and TV from my parents. The TV stand from a neighbor who was getting a new one and wanted help hauling it out. 

 The white hutch was built in. The table set from Sterling and Becky. The black couch was Davids he brought when he moved in with us. And the wooden chest/bench was a wedding gift from my Dad.

 The cute rustic kitchen, which did not have a dishwasher or microwave. And a small stack washer/dryer in the kitchen of all places?

The Downstairs Bathroom.

 The master Bedroom with the Bed / Dresser Set Michael bought from a friend back when he had his own place.

The Master Closet.

The Upstairs shared master Bathroom. It had a horrible shower with giant half seashells sticking out of the wall to use as shelfs. But they were angled down so everything just slid off anyways.

 The Second bedroom, which was Davids when he moved in. 

And then became our workout room/office when he left.

 The drive way to the right of the apartment.

 The large open backyard with lots of shade. It had an apple tree Wesley would chew on the dropped apples from. And we even grew garden boxes here.

And the Shed/shop Michael fixed up so he could use it to work on his buggy and building projects.

After we moved in we invited family over and we were shocked to find out that Michael's older brother Sterling had rented the SAME exact place (same side and everything) several years earlier. And grossly enough- he said it had the same exact carpeting when he lived there!

Harrisons Homecoming

This Weekend Michael's brother returned home from a 2 year mission in Arkansas.

 I have now met ALL of my Siblings in law. lol Poor Harrison came home and was involuntarily related to me. :P

It was a happy reunion. I have the picture of the day Harrison left and Michael went on his own way. He is definably better now than when they split 2 years ago. It was great to see all the positive changes in both of their lives.

We went camping up at Power House and Michael got to take all the kids on the buggy. They had a blast. I was sure Idaho couldn't compete with the beautiful mountains of Utah but I was surprised. I would love to camp there again if we get the chance. The only sucky part was Michael and I trying to sleep in the "Barbie Tent" which was NOT big enough for even 1 of us comfortably. haha

On Sunday Harrison gave an excellent homecoming talk, he is great speaker. Sterling and Becky's kids both got blessed today in Sacrament as well.

Grandma enjoyed all the company and was happy to hold cute baby Cian.

And Michael even got all dressed up and let me take his picture. He must have been in a good mood because that doesn't happen often. lol 

Actually the whole Family dressed up and we took this cute picture by an old rustic barn.

Altogether it was a very great trip, and we already miss everybody.

Family Pictures (Amber's Side)

This Sunday for FHE we went to Remember the Main. Had a picnic dinner. And took family pictures.

 Here is my Grandparents. Parents. Aunt's family. And Siblings.

 My Home Family.

 Wesley insisted on being in a picture with Grandpa

 Me and my sisters. None of us can have the same hair color lol

And my Cute boys. They are so excited to have Michael as a brother!

Mikes Work Trip

Last week Michael had to go to North Dakota for 4 days. They told us it would be a week, but luckily he got to come back 2 days early. 

It was even harder than I thought it was going to be. We couldn't talk all day, and we only had an hour or so to Skpe once we were off before he had to go to bed. 4 days is an incredibly long time to be apart if you haven't left each others side for more than a day since you met.

Wesley thought Mike had died or something. After day 2 her started to get incredibly depressed. He didn't understand the Skpe thing, but it confused him to hear Michael, but not be able to find him. As soon as he got home Wesley insisted on being as close to him as possible for the rest of the night. He climbed onto of us on the couch so he could snuggle too. 

That whole weekend after he got home we spent having a little stay-cation, and some quality us time. We went to Red Fleet and went fishing all day. 

Having him away sure made us appreciate each other that much more.

Concert

Tonight Michael and I went to a concert in the Park.

JaggerTown and the New Black 7

It didn't really sound like a Country concert, but it was still good. I liked Black 7 more. And it was a nice date night. Hopefully they do this again next year.