Last night we all drove hours on end, and met up in Hot Springs South Dakota.
We got up early the next day and drove out to KeyStone to see Mount Rushmore!
On our way there we took a wrong turn and accidentally ended up on the Iron Mountain Road.
It is a 17 mile scenic route that takes you through 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, 3 tunnels, & 2 splits. While it was a cool experience, it is not for the faint of heart or new drivers. It is a very narrow road with lots of sharp turns and no shoulder! I do not enjoy driving on mountain roads even with side rails, so this route was more stressful than enjoyable.
The road stopped off at a Scenic Over Look facing the monument. We all stopped and took pictures there.
It was my families first trip to see Mount Rushmore.
The boys told me they thought it would be much cooler, and less like a museum lol.
I think they still had fun though.
After visiting the monument, we drove down to the little town of KeyStone.
I LOVE this busy little tourist town. We had lunch and explored the strip of shops downtown. Then we went to Rushmore Tramway Adventures and rode the tram up the mountain, then rode down the Alpine slide
All of the footage of todays adventures is in the video below:
Today Michael and I had plans to spend the day together and do something fun, but he ended up having to work all day.
So since I took the day off to celebrate with him I stayed home and cleaned the house, and did all his laundry for him. And I made him a birthday cake.
He had wanted a pair of nice boots for church and such, so he wouldn't have to wear his dirty old work boots everywhere. So on Friday when we went to Minot I surprised him by taking him boot shopping and letting him pick out a pair of nice boots.
There were just too many styles for me to know what he would like so I let him choose them himself. And these are the ones he chose.
This is what our life looks like right now. Just the two of us out here. Working late and rushing home to sit in the kitchen and make dinner together and just unwind. I love our life together. Its hectic and crazy, but at night we just slow down and enjoy each others company, and I think that is one of the best things about marriage.
So happy birthday to my sexy, sweetheart husband. I love you and I hope today was great.
This year was a little weird with Easter, April Fools Day, and General Conference all on the same day. I expected Facebook to be full of jokes and pranks, easter pictures, or conference memes. But everyone seemed so confused as to which Holliday to celebrate that there really wasn't much posted for either.
As for Michael and I, we just had a relaxed day together. And took a Family Easter photo.
We also got our dogs a bunch of "Easter Babies" which they were very excited about and spread all over our house.
And I made Chicken Dumpling Soup for dinner. Which was my attempt at making dumplings from a revision of my Chicken soup recipe. And it turned out SO good!
So since we don't have an exciting adventures or pranks to share, I'll share the recipe to my families BEST Chicken Soup/Dumplings below:
Soup:
4 quarts water.
3 chicken breasts.
5 Chicken Bullion cubes.
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup chopped carrots.
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 tbsp black pepper
1/2 - 1 tbsp Ground Cummin
(For Chicken Soup add 1/2 chopped mushrooms also)
For Chicken Soup- Boil for about 1 hour. Shred chicken and put back into broth. Add Amish Egg Noodles. Boil another 10-15 minutes according to noodles.
For Dumplings- Boil about 1 hour, shred chicken and set aside. Keep warm. Turn pot to simmer.
Mix ingredients together. Roll out flat on floured surface. Slice into 1-1 1/2 wide strips, about 3-4 inches long. Drop onto simmering soup broth. Cover and Simmer about 15 minutes. Then add the shredded chicken back into the pot and bring to a boil. In a separate container add 1/3 cup cornstarch to 1/3 water, and then mix into broth. Boil for another 5-10 mins.
I'm not sure if I am just a sentimental person, or if moving is emotional for everyone?
But as we packed up the home we had spend over 2 years of life in, I couldn't help but dwell on all the memories each room held.
Like how after we packed up our whole life in practically a day and drove 1,000 miles from our hometown to come to this place on nothing but the little money we had and faith that things would be better for us here.
Hauling our mattress up 3 flights of stairs at 2 in the morning, exhausted from the drive, and throwing it down on the living room floor. Immediately falling asleep in the clothes we were wearing, and being woke up the next morning by maintenance walking into our house because they didn't know we had already "moved in."
Buying our first couch, or TV. Making this place a Home for us.
Cooking together. Having "family dinners" be just the two of us, because we had no one else around to join us. We had only each other to rely on.
Bringing home our puppy and watching him run back and forth with our other dog. He cried his first night with us until I went and got him from his room, and cuddled him on the hallway floor by the heater, where we both fell asleep snuggled together.
I was so happy to have a HUGE bathroom all to myself so I could spread my makeup out like a vanity. I let Michael have the master bathroom but this one was MINE only!
The spare bedroom that Michael made into a really cool office- then I made him pack it all out so my sister could move in when she came to stay with me for the summer. And then it became her room again when she returned a little over a year later and lived with us for the holidays again.
Our bedroom, where we slept every night for 2 and a half years. Where the sounds of distant trains would wake us up, or planes headed to the airport occasionally would sound like they were about to take the roof off. But soon we learned to sleep through it, and it didn't bother us anymore.
I will certainly miss the 6' walk in closet.
I loved sitting out on our porch looking over the open field and having dinner. Or watching the fireworks on the 4th of July with my sister. Seeing all the beautiful North Dakota sunsets peek through our windows before dark.
We would take the dogs out to this field and sit on the tailgate while they ran and explored. We spend many quite Sundays walking through the woodland trails nearby, or Oak Park. We would take our bikes out and ride them all over, only to have to come Uphill the whole way home. And almost every perfect summer day was spent at the Dog park, walking the shady path by the golf course.
Sure we had our share of bad days, and hard times. But I really loved our time in Minot. This place will always have special memories for me. And I am truly homesick for a place I never intended to be more than a short term adventure.
I hope our new adventure is just as great here.
Watch the video below to see our empty apartment as we say goodbye:
You can watch my Home Tour video's below to see our apartment in all of its furnished glow.
