Just Hanging Around

Since we've been in Tennessee Loreli and I have been a little sick. We each have colds and are suffering from very attractive, deep voices. Even though she hasn't been feeling too great she's been really playful and fun.

Check out that shiny, slobbery neck!

Just kickin' back.

Loreli's new favorite chew toy. Yes, chew toy. She's like a dog.

Snuggling with Aunite Kristen

We did some couponing! Loreli loves it...well, mainly because she got to be pushed around in a stroller all day. So fun! I miss couponing and it'll be nice to be able to do some while we are here.

Rolling around on the deck. She loved it!

Well that's all really. We're just chillin' now because when Stacy gets here on Wednesday it'll be a non-stop party! Yaaayyy!

We're in Tennessee!!

Yayyy for being in Tennessee! Loreli and I arrived Tuesday afternoon after spending most of the morning and afternoon on a plane or in an airport. Loreli did awesome! She wasn't bothered by take offs or landings and she even made friends with our neighbors! She's so fabulous. We haven't done much yet since we've only been here a day so we don't have a whole lot of pictures. Here are a few from the last day or so.

Trying on her new sandals while mom packs.

Rolling around on the ground at the Denver airport.

Trying on a vintage Dunaway girl sun bonnet. It's a tad small.

Having so much fun with the rubber ducks! And isn't her hand placed so perfect? Modest gal.

My mom is awesome. She went out and bought a lot of things for Loreli to play with! We could have gotten by without some of the things, but Loreli loves all of the toys she bought. Thanks! I am certain that having all of these baby things around will make our trip much more comfortable and at least keep Loreli entertained!

We miss you Shea! Hurry up and get your buns here!



Roly Poly

Loreli is a rolling fiend! She has rolled before and has been tinkering with the idea for quite some time now, but when I leave the room and return she is no longer in the same place or position she was when I left. I think she finally decided that to fully droolify her toys that get away from her that she had to roll over. Go Loreli!! 

On a different note, I have come to find out that I am no lover of animals. I don't really hate them or anything, we just have an understanding which is we leave each other alone. Knowing this about myself I thought it was weird that I felt the urge to take a picture of these adorable kittens (whom we have not yet named). They just looked so sweet.

I went out earlier to feed the above picture kittens and their mother Starvey and they were no where to be found. I hope that they only went on a leisurely stroll because if they don't return Shea will be eating cat food for the next couple of nights.

The Happenings of Loreli

Not a whole lot has been happening since we've moved into our new home. We've been pretty busy organizing and playing with Loreli. Here are some random pictures of Lorelis happenings.

Loreli has discovered her love for grass.

Loreli loves sitting on Shea's lap while he's at the computer because he lets her play in the drawer with all sorts of fun stuff. Impossible to keep organized.

 

Loreli has also found a new love: the empty paper towel roll. 

As you can see lots of chewing and slobbering have been going on.

Cute.

 Smushings and neck nibblings.

When Shea's around, Loreli gets to do whatever she wants. Even eat candy. 

I love that her hand is reaching for more. Hilarious.

We bought Loreli a booster seat to eat in. She loves it! I know it's long over due, but now that we're in a house we have space to store stuff like this. I can already tell that our next move will require more than one of the trailers we have. Yikes!

 

What the? Doesn't it look like she's singing into a microphone and reaching out for someone? Crazy Loreli.

With the new seat she has become a pro at throwing things on the floor. It's tough work. Just check out all of the sweat on her shirt. Just kidding. That's drool. I have to do all of the work now picking up her toys strewn across the floor.

We hope everyone is doing swell and hope that those in Tennessee are ready for us, because we're comin' for y'all!

Inheritance

Look what else came with the house.

4 starving felines that apparently live under our garden shed.  I found them and took them the chicken remains from our previous night's dinner and a half hour later there was nothing but dried bones left, leading to Katy naming the big one "starvey".

The adage "if you feed them, they will stay" came to mind, but they have already taken up residency under our shed so not feeding them felt cruel.  And they are so cute.  So I guess we have cats now.  Once they are bigger it will be easier to take them to work and leave them out on the prairie somewhere.   

Welcome to North Dakota!

Two weekends ago, which would have made it the 29th and 30th of April we were hit with  blizzard up here in North Dakota.  And when I say blizzard I mean a snow hurricane.  That was really my thought as I lay in my bed in a trailer house listening to the wind trying to blow the whole thing off the hill it sits on.  Come to find out having a bunch of trailers on top of a hill in windy country is kind of poor planning because once you got off the hill things were significantly better, still terrible but better.  For example: off the hill you could see about 30 feet in front of you, on top of the hill you couldn't see the end of your hood while you are stupidly trying to drive to work (I wasn't stupid. I was riding with someone else who was driving).  Let me show you, and be warned all of these pictures were taken with my cell phone so don't expect Pulitzer quality.  

This is when it has finally stopped snowing on the 1st of May.  Lyle is digging a path through the drifts so we can go check the plant.  Do you know how big a backhoe is?  Those drifts are above the tires.

 The dashes of red are Lyle's car in front of the plant which he was unfortunate that he drove it out to the shift because that's when it all started.  It had to wait a few days to make it home.  But there was an extra company truck lying around so Lyle was able to go home after working 3 straight 12 hour shifts because the next shift guys couldn't make it out from town.

 This is the back of the plant, out of the wind.  That's a full size shop door and a big dumpster buried there on the side.

 This drift is about 5 feet tall and ran pretty much the entire length of the plant.  We are supposed to check some gauges in that shack over there but that may have been neglected for a day or two.

But really we were lucky it was so cold and snowy out...

 Because it froze this 6 foot wave solid was just feet from washing the plant away.

 

You may think "why did he hold the camera sideways to take this picture?"  Well i didn't. That thick sheet of scary ice death really is sticking horizontally out off of some pipes.   

Meanwhile, back on the hill...

 My car was well buried.  And this picture was taken after it had been sunny and warm for about 13 hours.

Like the picture above, this drift covering half my trailer and making it so I had to pound/kick/slam/dig out my front door so I could get out, is only about 7 feet tall instead of all the way to the top of the trailer like it was originally.

Other than 2 days of rather scary wind and snow, huge drifts left over, poor Lyle working 36 hours straight, the only other problems this storm made where a few thousand downed power lines and a couple thousand people without power for 1 to 4 days.  No biggie right?   

So needless to say, if you want to come visit us here, wait until June through September.  All the other time is when we will be out visiting you people to get away from this stuff. 

New House

Purchasing a home was never the original intention for our family at this point.  However there were no other options.  Seriously, the housing market in this part of the country is insane and impossible. The whole process of buying a house is horrid.  For all of those of you who are yet to brave this terrible experience a few tips:

*Start early- once you find the house you want it will still take 5 to 300 weeks for all the paper work to get done by the bank, title company, realtor, sellers and NASA for some reason. 

*Have enough of a down payment for 20 percent, otherwise you have to pay for some extra insurance. Stupid

* When the end is in sight and you are walking into the title company's office to sign all the closing document, you still have a long way to go.  The stack of papers you have to sign and initial is incredible.  I was curious how many times I had to sign and initial afterward so I went through and counted: 18 thousand.  No joking I used up 6 pens and had to spend that night in the hospital because my hand just fell off after we were done.

  But the fam is up here and that is what counts, and now we have a house. 

 And our first visitor.  Big thanks to Jack and G for making the trip up here and the trip to Utah to get our trailer and for the past 5 months.  You guys rock!

Since this is our first house we don't have a lot of stuff, or we didn't.  We inherited a lot of furniture from the last owners.  I don't know how much of it we will keep long term but it sure is nice to move into a furnished home. But the unpacking sure does stink.  We aren't in a huge hurry, a little here a little there with plenty of movie breaks in between and  it'll get done eventually.  But unpacking after having all of your stuff packed up for so long is just like Christmas.

Basketball shorts.  Yea!

 

And old man Loreli was sweet enough to just hang out while we were unpacking. What a gem.