The start of our world blowing up, Part Two

****This post contains medical terminology and grossness******

I left off on the last post with where I was waiting for my transfer. My dad has helped me with the time frame of everything. I went into surgery around 5 pm Friday night. My dad got the phone call that I was in labor at about 5 minutes to 7 pm. The ambulance came to get me from the hospital at round 9:30 pm. I had thought it was later at night. Like I said before time did not exist to me. Everything is still very fuzzy.
I remember the paramedics coming in to get me and move me to the ambulance. I was still having contractions and they were very kind to me and explained where we were going. This was my first time in an ambulance and we did lights and sirens and the whole deal. The one paramedic was in the back with me making sure my vitals stayed stable and nothing happened. He had told me he would have to at one point sit behind me in a seat to be buckled. He ended up holding my hand most of the way. He let me squeeze his hand through contractions and talked to me in between contractions to keep my mind off of things. I have odd little memories of the transfer. I remember hitting bumps in the road, I remember the kindness of the paramedics, I remember hearing the sirens. I don't know how long it took us to get here. When we pulled up to the hospital we hit some bumps and the paramedic said to me " I promise those are the last bumps" I remember laughing and telling him we were gonna hit more just to spite. They unloaded me out of the ambulance and going into the hospital we hit a few more bumps. I made a comment about the bumps and I remember the paramedics laughing a little.
I don't remember anything after that until I was in Labor & Delivery hooked up to monitors. I was having huge gushed of water and incredible horrible contractions. My catheter was bothering that they had put in surgery and I was assured it was just pain from the surgery. A nurse finally checked the catheter and found that it was a latex catheter. I am allergic to latex, it makes me have blisters and it sucks. Once they realized that the catheter was latex they took it out. It had been in me for at least 3 hours by that point. It was an amazing difference to have it out. After a little while they had to put in a new catheter and I think every nurse in the room double checked it to make sure it was latex free. The latex had done more damage to my bladder. It had made my bladder raw on the inside and incredibly painful. I lost majority of my function and control of my bladder. There was no option of not having a catheter.
My dad drove to the hospital to be with me. It took him a little while to get down to me. Once he arrived the doctors had started figuring out a game plan. Since my water had broken they couldn't do anything to stop the contractions. It ended up being a bit of a waiting game. They were able to give me something for the pain and I fell asleep. I woke up several times through the night with contractions but was able to get some sleep.
Saturday morning I woke up and my dad wasn't in the room and I panicked. The nurse was there and explained my dad had just got down to get some breakfast. I was still very scared and nervous and not sure what was going on. My dad was very positive when he came back up to my room. He wasn't gone very long. If anyone knows my dad they know he always looks on the bright side of things and has a very positive attitude. Once he returned we started the long day of meetings with doctors. We met with the NICU doctor and discussed what was going to happen if I delivered now. We discussed everything from worse case scenario to best case. Every day that baby stays inside me the better we are. If I get an infection then they will induce me and I will have the baby same day. With having my water broken baby is vulnerable, he can get infection easy. Once he is born we will bring in donated breast milk from Denver to make sure he is getting all the nutrition he can until my milk comes in. I have always believed in donating breast milk for those who aren't able to breast feed. I am very very thankful for the women who donate their milk.
We also met with the new ob/gyn who is looking after me and talked about how long I am going to stay pregnant. Our goal is 32-34 weeks. They gave me steroid shots to help develop babies lungs in case he decided to come earlier then that. They started me on antibiotics to make sure I had no infections. After all of our meetings with doctors they transferred me out of Labor & Delivery and over to the Mom/Baby unit.

The start of our world blowing up, Part One

****This contains some medical terminology and grossness!
(When I talk about Turkey I am talking about my daughter)
****
I have not had the easiest pregnancy. My first trimester I was so sick and food and smells made my stomach turn inside out. Once I hit about 13 weeks life got a little easier and I got hungry! I was on bed rest on and off from 7 weeks on. It seemed that once I finally felt better I would get sick again. At 20 weeks we found out we were having a baby boy! We could not be more thrilled to be having a boy. I started having kidney problems the end of July. I ended up going to a urologist to get an ultrasound of my kidneys. They found that my right kidney was full of stones. I spent the next week or so in horrible pain passing this loving bunch of coconuts, well that is at least what it felt like I was passing. After I got them all passed I still had some horrible pain. They ended up doing a dye test to test my kidney function. It came back saying that my baby was blocking off my kidneys. I learned how to do stretches and some yoga type positions to move baby off my kidneys. This all is happening the week before I am suppose to go to Utah for a vacation. Once I got the okay to travel Turkey and I jumped on a plane and flew to Utah. By the time we had gotten there I was having more issues. My throat had swelled and so did my mouth. I ended up having about 200-300 canker sores in my mouth. My lips swelled huge, my glands in my throat looked like golf balls, my whole mouth was a wreck. I ended up going to the dentist to see if he could offer some relief. I was able to get a numbing mouth rinse that made it so I could at least drink a Boost to get some nutrition. I was very thankful of my parents for helping take care of Turkey while I was so sick. After almost a week my mouth was getting better and I was able to eat. I was able to feel better in time to go on a trip to Portland for some adventures and to spread my cousin Floyd's ashes. We got back from Portland and spent a few in Utah before we flew back to North Dakota. We arrived in North Dakota on a Friday night. It was so nice to be home and around James! We hadn't seen him in 3 weeks. That is a long time to be away from home. I was exhausted all weekend from traveling and Monday came around and I wasn't feeling the best. I figured I could tough it out because I had an appointment the next day. Well I am a wuss. My dinner time I was hurting really bad in my back and kidneys. I ended up going to Labor and Delivery and they admitted me Monday night. Tuesday morning they did a renal ultrasound to check my kidneys for stones. The ultrasound showed no stones but that my kidneys were blocked again and swelling. My doctor suggested that it would be a good idea for me to get stints in my kidneys so the fluid would drain and hopefully fix the problem. Since the urologist we had in town had fallen ill and had a major back surgery he would be no help to me. My doctor told me to find a good hospital and get admitted so they would do the surgery. James and me talked it over and decided that coming back to Utah would be the best choice since I have an ob/gyn here and we have family here to help with Turkey while I recovered from surgery.
Turkey and I jumped on a plane Wednesday at 5 am and made it to Utah by 9 am. My mom picked us up from the airport and we drove straight to the hospital in Logan and I got admitted. We met with the urologist who wanted to give me a few days before we did anything. By the time I got admitted into the hospital my bladder had stopped working. So not only was my kidneys swollen my bladder wouldn't drain. They ended up having to put a catheter in. My bladder was holding twice its capacity. I got transferred from the ER to Labor & Delivery to Mother/Baby.
Thursday I was still hurting really bad and was showing no signs of improvement. I took a nap that afternoon and woke up cramping and I was sure my water had broke. We ran some tests and I was assured that everything was fine. Thursday evening was long and I didn't feel the best.
Friday they decided to do the surgery and put the stints in both kidneys since nothing had improved. Before surgery Turkey and my mom took me for a walk and I felt something go down my leg. I had forgotten about it because I was taken to surgery shortly after. I went in and they put the stints in. I woke in recovery the most awake I have ever been coming out of surgery. I was very aware of what was going on. I was in labor. I was having contractions and was having gushes of fluid. I freaked out! I was 27 weeks 6 days, I couldn't have my baby yet. The nurse thought I was just being out of control from the surgery. She realized after a little bit that guess what I was really having contractions. I got rushed to Labor & Delivery. They ran tests to make sure that my water had actually broken. They determined that my water had broke Thursday sometime. They got a doctor in there to check me and I had not dilated. I was having contractions about 5 minutes about. I don't remember a lot of what happened. I remember there was one nurse who really helped me focus and get through a lot of the pain. And who stayed with me through everything. My sense of time is non existent. I have no idea how long I was in Labor & Delivery. They called the ambulance to transfer me to hospital that has one of the best NICUs in the US. I will write about my transfer and what has happened since in another post. I am tired and going to bed.

I want Rhubarb!!!

This is the time of year for making strawberry rhubarb crisp or pie or really anything with strawberries and rhubarb. A friend of mine had posted this weekend she was making a strawberry rhubarb pie. It sounded so good to me. I decided that today I was gonna make a strawberry rhubarb crisp. I called my mom and got her yummy and super easy recipe. I went to the grocery store and they didn't have any rhubarb. They had gorgeous strawberries so I bought 2 pounds of them. Turkey barely made it out of the store before attacking me for strawberries. I called all of the grocery stores in town and none of them had rhubarb. It gets frustrating when you wanna cook something or you are craving something and you can't find it. I ended up just making a strawberry crisp and it was super yummy! I am gonna have to save some for breakfast tomorrow. It was good incentive to eat dinner.

The last few days James has been off in the afternoons. It has been so nice to have him home. I have been super exhausted lately so I have been able to take a nap in the afternoons that James is home. Turkey has been loving having daddy home. The other day they washed the work truck together, cleaned the garage out and all sorts of fun things. Yesterday I took a really long nap, when I woke up they were in the backyard building a sandbox. It was the cutest thing to see. Turkey was wearing a leotard and a sparkly purple skirt and was helping James measure the wood to cut. The sandbox is about 5 feet square. They did a great job building it. James got out paint to paint the sandbox white. Turkey really wanted to help so he figured sure why not. I got her some clothes that didn't matter if paint got on them. I should have worried about other things then her clothes. She came in the house and her hands were covered in white paint. Her whole hands down to her wrists were covered in it! I got her on a chair and started to scrub her hands with soap and water. Oye ve! The paint did not come off. I now have little white finger prints all over my kitchen. My kitchen chairs have black backs, well had black backs. One of them is spotted with white. I kicked her back out side in hopes the paint would dry or it would magically come off. James had something to get the sticky part of the paint off her hands. She still has cute little white hands.

Not only did they build a sandbox they also mowed the lawn and installed a new screen door on our front door. They were super busy!

I don't think I ever posted what I got for Mother's Day. James got me an automatic garage door opener. If James takes the Jeep to work then my car is held hostage in the garage because I can't open the garage door because it is too heavy. James would open the garage before he would go to work but then I couldn't get it closed and we worried about people stealing our stuff. I am very excited about my new garage door opener. I just wanna go push the button to get it to open. I am easily pleased with the simple things in life.

I am now 12 weeks pregnant. They tell me I will start feeling better in the next week or so. I don't really believe them that it will all be better but I have been feeling a little bit better. I can eat and food sounds good lately. I am kinda forced to eat food all day now. My blood sugar has been low so if I don't eat then I get dizzy. I still have some morning sickness but not as bad. I am getting excited for my next appointment we are hopefully going to find out what we are having. Hopefully we will find out if its a boy or girl before we go to the lake in July. It would be exciting to be able to tell my family when we are there. Turkey is getting more and more excited about being a big sister. She is constantly talking to my belly and giving my belly kisses. She is gonna be the best big sister and a great helper. I don't have a belly picture from this week maybe next.

The Blizzard of 2011

When we moved up here to the North Pole we were told it doesn't snow once May hits. As the end of April was approaching we were getting excited to not have any more snow. Haha we were so disappointed.

It all started on April 29th with a down pour of rain. We all went to bed with the sound of rain outside. At around 4:30 in the morning I woke up to the wind whipping outside and realized the power was out. Turkey woke up around 5 am because of the wind making the tree in our backyard hit her window and her night lights being out. She climbed into bed with us. After asking a million questions about why I couldn't make the power turn back on, why I couldn't make the wind stop, and every other why question she could come up with James decided she needed to go back to her own bed. He carried her in and I went to look out her window. James got Turkey into bed after tons of tears then joined me at the window. The tree is technically in the neighbors yard and a little ways from the house. The wind was blowing so hard it was hitting her window. James picked Turkey back out of bed and decided she was sleeping with us. It was kind of scary how hard the wind was blowing. I am pretty sure James went back to sleep I however did not. I was convinced we were going to have a tornado hit the house and we were gonna die. We have an AC unit in our bedroom and it was shaking with the wind, I was waiting for it to get ripped out. I am kind of a sissy lala when it comes to bad storms.

The alarms went off on our phones at 6 am and James called his boss man who said not to come in it was to dangerous to get there and there was no power and that he would be in touch. We all went back to bed. After awhile we went to look out the window and everything was white, we couldn't even see out the windows. We went downstairs and opened the door and there was a snow drift halfway up the door. Every time anyone open the door the wind would blow tons of snow into the house. Our windows were packed with snow so we would bang on them to get the snow to fall off so we could see. Not being able to look out the windows adds some panic to the situation. Everyone in our house slept and was lazy for most of the day. We kept taking turns with our neighbor to shovel out our doors in case we needed to get out of our house. James brought the grill through the house and put it in the garage so we could cook food. James grilled hot dogs, boiled water for Ramen noodles, grilled cheese sandwiches, heated up left over Chinese food and all sorts of things for lunch and dinner. I am very glad I brought our grill up here with me. James went for an adventure in the afternoon to see what was going on and if anyone had power. He made it all the way around town and got stuck down the street from our house. Turkey and me were in need of a bath so we figured we might as well take advantage of the hot water left in the water heater. I have constantly bitched that our water is way to hot, I officially take that back. We still had boiling hot water! We took baths by flashlight! I told James that was probably the most relaxing bath I have ever taken.

Sunday morning when we woke up the storm had stopped and it was beautiful outside. We checked on our neighbors and found one of our neighbors a few house town was completely snowed in. She had snow drifts covering her front door and we found out once the boys got her dug out that both her doors were snow packed and she had been trapped inside. Once every ones doors were dug out, we started on breakfast. I had some pancake mix and found some bacon in the fridge that needed to be cooked. My grandfather had given me the coolest crepe pan when I went home in April. It is one of those great pans that is solid metal and really old but great quality. We used it on the grill to cook the pancakes and the bacon. We shared some with the neighbors who didn't have any food to eat. No one was prepared for this storm. The weather had said rain and a possibility of 1-3 inches of snow. No one expected this blizzard. James built Turkey a penguin slide from the huge snow drift in our front yard. We made stairs up to it so she could go on it all by herself. It was great fun. We had a converter that hooks up to the car battery and you can plug in stuff. We were able to charge our phones and the computer. After everything was charged we checked our messages. I had messages about places that were open and updates on the electricity. The power lines that brought in power for the whole city were snapped in half by the storm and there was no estimated time that the power would be back on. A lot of our neighbors took off to Montana, we decided that it was a waste of money. We decided after awhile playing outside that we were gonna go see the damage in town and try and get gas. We were shocked with how much snow there was and how many trees were turned over and fences that had been blown away. We ended up going down to the river to go fishing with my cousin. There was no snow by the river. It was seriously only us who was hit by this freak blizzard. After a while by the river we decided be better go get gas before they run out. We waited in line for about an hour to get gas. Turkey and me went inside to go potty and get some food while we waited. The gas station was serving hot food! We got some chicken strips and pizza. I think it was the best pizza I have ever eaten! The shelves were bare in the store. People were buying whatever they could get. After getting gas we took off into town to see what supplies we could get. We had noticed that one of the grocery stores was open but had heard there was 6 hour wait to get in the door. We pulled in and the line was maybe 5 people long. They were only letting one person per household in, you could only get 10 items and they had to be non-perishables. Since I can not carry that much James went in and Turkey and me sat in the car. James came out with bread, tuna, mayo, chips, and a few other things. He said it reminded him of those zombie movies where the world is ending and people are running around the store in the dark grabbing whatever they can. He said there was a sense of panic in the store. After we left there we went on a search for more propane. A gas station on the north end of town was open so we were gonna head there. As we were pulling in we noticed Walmart was open. We were able to get a propane tank there. It was an interesting day. As we were driving home we noticed that someone had broken out the window at the gas station down the street from our house. I am very surprised not more places were broken into. Some people were very freaked out by the storm and not having power. We just acted like we were camping.

When I was home I got some shelf stable milk from the cheese factory! It was fantastic for Turkey to be able to have milk since we couldn't buy any! I ended up talking to a neighbor who didn't have any milk for her kids so we traded a bag of milk boxes for some meat. We ended up making steak and fettuccine alfredo for dinner that night. Our neighbor right next store had only been eating little bits of food all day so we made him up a plate and shared. We believe in helping out our neighbors and sharing!

We ran an extension cord from the car to the house so we could have a lamp after the sun set. Once we put Turkey to bed we all sat down and played some cards and had a great time. Sunday night was a lot colder then Saturday. There was a lot of moisture in the air. Monday morning James had to go to work. The oil field doesn't ever stop. It was nice to have him home for those two days. He left for work early then called me from Walmart because the guys had stopped there and he wanted us to come so he could help us get some supplies. We spent the rest of the day outside and Turkey played in the snow. For dinner we made tin foil dinners! It was perfect because I have been craving them! When James got home he had to take a shower. My poor husband. He took an ice cold shower. I am surprised he didn't come out of there blue! After dinner we all curled up on the couch and watched a movie on the computer. James and me went into the kitchen and was just looking out the window chatting when we realized the neighbors a block up had power. We had original heard we wouldn't have power until Wednesday at the soonest some people said we wouldn't have it for another week. We were very excited once our power popped on. The neighbors a block up went out once ours came on. We had power surges for the next few hours but we had power! Turkey looked up from where she was laying on the couch and all she could say was "Whoa" it was pretty funny. James kicked himself later for not waiting to shower. It was quite the adventure and a weekend we will probably always remember. By Thursday we had no more snow and were playing at the park in 60 degree weather. Go figure! There is lakes of water everywhere and things are finally turning green.

Here are the photos from the weekend:

The boys getting ready to grill!

The essentials for making sandwiches

The snow drift forming outside our window

The snow that was building up at our front door

Our snow drift :)

Turkey checking out the snow piled at the front door

Snow covered streets. This was taken Sunday afternoon when the snow was melting

Some of the neighbors snow drifts. They ended up digging a tunnel to get to their front door

The snow drift that was blocking one of the roads to our house. It was a lot higher before the sun melted it. It was crazy!

Turkey playing in the snow drifts

Turkey playing with the worms for fishing

James playing in the dirt (notice no snow)

Turkey was very proud of her worms

Bruce and Turkey best buddies!

Playing with the worms!

The tunnel of snow we had to drive through to get home. A tractor had to come dig out the road because the drifts were so high and the snow was so heavy.

Turkey and Bruce with the fish he caught

Turkey freaking out cause the fish moved

Bruce showing Turkey how to clean a fish

She was very interested in learning all about it!

"Is that blood?"

Moms a dang good cook on the grill! I made ravioli and pancakes for lunch.

I am ready to go camping this summer!

My pancakes and a pot filled with snow so I could clean it out

Dinner! Tin foil dinners and corn!

Those look like bushes in front of that house but no those are trees that once stood tall. They were ripped out of the ground from the storm. There are tons all over town.

My own personal roller coaster

I am currently 9 weeks pregnant. It has been a slightly bumping road so far. We are very excited about the new addition. Along time ago I was told I would have a very very hard time getting pregnant. Since we got married we kept getting the question if we were gonna have another baby. It started to wear on me. I started telling people we were practicing. Usually that got them flustered enough to not ask again. When I found out I was pregnant James was out of town. I took a few tests just to make sure I wasn't losing my mind. I was going nuts not being able to just call him and tell him. I sent him a billion text messages to call me and I might of even told him it was an emergency. He finally called me and I was able to tell him. After talking to him I was able to get on the phone and make some phone calls to family to let them know our fun news.

I have had the morning sickness, well all day sickness. I have been told that its a good sign. Good sign or not it sucks! I am the biggest sissy when it comes to throwing up. I now have a collection of suckers and teas to help with it.

When we moved up here last fall I had planned a trip back to Utah for my moms spring break. It finally came around and so Turkey and me loaded up the car and took off to Utah. We planned on staying a week. I had gotten the okay to travel so we were excited to go. Turkey is such a great traveller. She is perfectly content in her car seat hanging out. We sang Princess music for most of the way. I have an Uncle and Aunt who live in Montana so we stop and see them when we go through town. Turkey loves to see them and loves to see their dog Sam.

When we finally got to Utah we were both excited and exhausted. We had a great week home visiting everyone. I ended up getting sick while I was there. I made a midnight visit to the ER and was put on bed rest. I went and visited my doctor in Utah for a follow up and she gave me the okay to travel home as long as I agreed to being on bed rest once I got home. We took our time driving home. Once we finally got home I took it super easy.

Luckily I have some amazing friends up here. I joined a group of oilfield wives a little while back. I have gone to some of the activities and have made some friends and have had some play dates. It is an amazing group of women. They called me the second day of being back and asked what they could do. The fact they thought of me and were willing to help me caused me to tear up a bit. (ok I won't lie, I cried) They have been very helpful. They have helped clean house, do laundry, made me some dinners, gone grocery shopping for me, and even took Turkey for a little while so I could nap. I went to the doctor up here and he gave me a slight lift on the bed rest. I still couldn't lift anything or do much but I could get up and walk more.

Over Easter I did a little to much and was put back on bed rest and told not to do anything but stick my feet up. It is very hard to do nothing all day. I have always wanted to have a day or so where I could just lounge all day and not do a thing. Not that I have doctors orders to do such thing I can't do it! I have a couple of reasons of why, first I have a very active 4 year old who requires things like food and entertainment, second I get very bored easy, and third my husband works 12 hour days and I need to at least keep the house in working order. It blows up if it is not picked up daily and things aren't done. I have been very blessed with a very helpful 4 year old. Turkey helps me with picking up stuff and making sure things are clean for when James comes home.

I never imagined that pregnancy was going to be this challenging. I knew that if I ever got pregnant that I would have my struggles with my body. I have been lucky to feel every time the baby grows. Which is pretty cool and also hurts sometimes. I like being able to feel my baby growing inside. The doctors have informed me I will feel everything through my whole pregnancy.

I have heard horror stories of the emotions that come along with being pregnant. I have lucked out. I don't get angry or mad, I don't have random emotional explosions, or anything crazy. I do however cry really really easy. I do cry at random things such as I dropped my pretzel in the mall while I was home and I burst into tears. My mother quietly walked off and Turkey stood there and stared at me and told me "Life Happens." The women behind the counter felt bad and gave me a new pretzel. I am not a person who cries. I am usually tough. I now can't watch certain shows on TV because they make me cry if anything sad or sappy happens. Example if someone gets voted off of American Idol and there is a hint of a tear in any ones eye I start crying. Turkey has started to just tell me to be calm and that everything will be okay.

I will try and keep up better with my posts and to keep everyone informed on whats going on.

Play date! Coffee! Fun times!

Today has been a good day so far. I got up this morning before Turkey so I had a few minutes to sit and read the book I am trying to finish. I think I have less then 50 pages and I just wanna get it done. I have been to tired at night to read a lot before bed so it has taken me a little longer to finish then normal. Once Turkey got up we went downstairs and was pleasantly surprised with a spot less living room and kitchen. James woke up early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep so he cleaned up the living room and kitchen for me. What a sweet guy!! Turkey and me ate cake for breakfast since I had made a cake last night. I feel its okay to eat goodies for breakfast every once in a while. Turkey ate a piece of cake and had a huge glass of milk so it evened itself out. After breakfast I let Turkey watch some cartoons and I started on the pot roast I was going to make yesterday. I had broken my slow cooker a while back and while I was in Utah my mom gave me hers. I have been wanting to make a pot roast since I broke mine. I found these slow cooker liners at the store and figured it was the perfect time to try them out. I will let you know how they worked once I clean up from dinner.

After we finally got ready for the day we ran some errands and had some lunch. On Mondays there is an Oilfield wives group that gets together for coffee at the Christian bookstore. We decided today was a great day to go and meet some other ladies and kids. We got there and there was a room full of women and a few kids. Turkey was thrilled that there were kids to play with. I got myself a cup of coffee and sat down with the ladies and started to chat. It was a lot of fun. We ended up being there for about 2 hours! I was shocked on how fast the time flew by, I guess the saying is true that time flies when you are having fun. When it was time to go Turkey was not wanting to leave. We have been battling with tantrums lately. I think since we have been out of routine the last few weeks Turkey is struggling. I have been trying to keep routine but it has been hard with going out of town and James having days off and just everything being crazy. Hopefully getting back in the grove of things and changing a few things will make Turkey start behaving again. I am having some fears of her turning 4 at the end of the month. We have decided once she turns 4 sippy cups are gone. No more in bed. She knows that and I still think its gonna be a battle. I am hoping with having her know about it that it won't be so bad. Who knows!

While hanging out and talking with other moms I set up a play date. A little girl that Turkey does gymnastics with is going to come play on Wednesday. We are super excited about it. I am glad to have finally met some other moms and kids for Turkey to play with.

I think I have finally got out of my funk and things are looking up. Now I just need spring to come and life will be fantastic. I was in the store the other day and they have seeds out and little starter pots. I am thinking about starting some veggies for my garden but am trying to figure out where I could put them in my house.

Such a good day! Glad things are looking up around here.

My Birthday!!

Monday was my birthday! I love birthdays! James worked Monday so Turkey and me did our own little things all day. I was hoping to get my nails done but there is no where up here that has room for a new client. Oh well, another time maybe. I went to lunch with some of our buddies that didn't have to work. And then Turkey and me went and visited John the baker. He made me a Brandy Caramel Chocolate cake for my birthday. When I first came to North Dakota I had stopped in the grocery store and we found the bakery. It was our first meeting with John the baker. He gave us little tastes of this cake. I decided from that day on that I was going to have it for my birthday. It was totally worth the wait! It was amazing and yummy and the best thing I have eaten in a really long time. I picked up a small chocolate cake with butter creme frosting for Turkey to eat. I didn't think it was a good idea to give her cake with alcohol in it. She was thrilled to have her own cake. All day long Turkey would just randomly look at me and tell me "Happy Birthday mom, I love you" She made my day with that. When James got home from work we opened presents while we decided where to go to dinner. I got a hot pink ice cream maker, some new clothes, a new case for my phone, the complete Junie B Jones book collection, a Bath and Body Works goodie bag from my parents. My Poppa sent me a pendent that my Grandmum always wore. I still tear up when I receive things from him. It means the world to me to receive things that meant so much to my Grandmum. My girlfriend sent me the cutest bag and some yummy Bath and Body Works stuff. It was a great night.

We decided to go to dinner at the country club where we spent Valentines Day. I called to make the reservations and bummer for us they are only Tuesday through Saturday. We have a new restaurant in town so I figured that would be a great place to go. After calling this new "family" restaurant I found out that it is for 21 and older. So much for a family restaurant. We ended up going to the Mexican restaurant. I could eat Mexican everyday and be happy. After dinner we came back and had cake and hung out. It ended up being a great day. We had some hiccups in plans but all in all it was fun.

Turkey woke up this morning and asked if it was still my birthday, I was so tempted to say yes. I told her today was a normal day and no longer my birthday. She got all sorts of excited because that means her birthday is next.

Tomorrow I am going to make some fruit sorbet with my new ice cream maker. One of my favorite teachers sent me some recipes to try. I am super excited about it! I can also make frozen Cokes. Yay!! I love new kitchen toys.

Spontaneous Adventure

James surprised me Thursday with a spontaneous trip to Utah. I got up and packed for the trip in less then 10 minutes. Once the Jeep was packed and ready to go we woke up Turkey. She was excited to go on an adventure and to be able to leave the house in her pajamas. We drove the long way to try and avoid storms and slick roads. We travelled through South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah. We ended up hitting several storms and icky roads. We drove straight through and only stopped for gas and food. It took us over 17 hours to get to Utah. We drove through some pretty scary roads. There were two lanes and snow covered. Turkey slept through the last part of the trip, which was good because the roads were pretty scary. James was sweet and drove most of the way. I drove on the not so slick spots. We didn't see any cops the whole way until we crossed over the Utah border. We saw a zillion and a half cops once we were in Utah. They were pulling people over right and left.

We stayed at my folks house and everyone was excited about being there. Turkey is a great traveller. She was perfectly happy the whole trip. She played on the iPad, read books, and played with her animals. Once we got to my folks house the 17 hours of energy was released. Turkey was bouncing off the walls. My mom and me sat down stairs with her while she released the energy. Once most of the energy was released we went to bed. It was close to one am by the time we went to bed. Turkey was awake at about 6:30 the next morning. I sent her upstairs to wake up my mom. I know I am the best daughter ever! After a few minutes I smelled coffee so I pulled my self outta bed so I could get a cup. When I got upstairs Turkey was hanging out with my dad. Once I was settled Turkey went and woke up my mom. We spent the morning playing with toys and talking. James got up shortly after we did. We made our game plan for the day. We were only going to stay until about noon and then head home because James had to work this weekend. Once we got out and about we started to smell something funny with the Jeep. We took it into the shop to have it looked. James called his bossman and he gave James the rest of the weekend off. We lucked out with that, we ended up having a major storm hit while we were in Utah. It started snowing Friday afternoon and didn't stop til Saturday morning. We went to breakfast with some family and friends and lunch with my family. It was a great time! I was able to stop by the school I use to teach at and see all my favorite teachers! It was great to see everyone. Turkey was excited to see her friends. We hung out there for a little while. We got the Jeep back late Friday afternoon and found out there was a problem with a seal. The mechanic guy said that it would get it back to North Dakota with no problems but to get it fixed when we had time. Since we ended up staying Friday night one of James friends through a party so he could see everyone. We had a great visit in Utah. I wish we were able to see more people. I didn't really see any of my friends, but I will be back there in a month or so and will see everyone then.

We left on Saturday and decided to take two days to get back so we weren't so tired when we got home. We drove to Bozeman last night. I got to take a nap in the car after we left Utah. It was a much needed nap. The roads we clear until we got to Montana. We hit storms through the Gallatin Mountains. Once again I am very thankful for James and his driving skills! He drove the whole way to Bozeman. We left Sunday and made our adventure home. We took turns driving since the weather was great. It was fun to see family but it was great to come home. We decided on our vacation back to Utah that we love where we are living and we love taking vacations back to Utah to visit.

Minot Adventures

It has been way to long since I have posted. I have been in a slight funk. The freezy cold weather makes me not want to do anything. We have had several days where it was reached -20 and below that. I am kinda a sissy lala and refuse to go outside when it gets that cold. Turkey and me hang out in our pajamas or comfy clothes and play all day and watch movies. I go shopping for groceries once a week when it gets that cold because its too hard on my body and my car.

I have been having some issues with my hands more so now then before. When we moved up here I think I had about 20 glass cups. I am now down to 4. I dropped several in the sink the other day while washing dishes. I am looking into some plastic cups. I also break other things like plates and bowls, but mostly I just break cups. Turkey likes to remind on a daily basis that I break cups and things. She now won't go into the kitchen without shoes or slippers on because "Mom there might be broken glass in there." We went to Minot over Valentines Day weekend and looked for the perfect plastic cups. I had no luck! Turkey and I loaded up in the car on Friday and headed for Minot. I packed our suitcase for the weekend and there were some storm warnings so I packed our winter wear just in case. My dad always told me to be prepared for everything. When driving around town and a little outside of the town you see cars in ditches. I would rather be safe then sorry. Turkey and me got to Minot with out any major problems. When we were almost to Minot the wind blew a big plastic bucket into my lane. I am very glad we have such a good SUV. I slammed on my brakes and was able to avoid the bucket. It made my heart beat a little faster but other then that we were golden. Once we finally got into town and checked into our hotel we headed to the mall. While wandering the mall for a while we ran into some of the guys that James works with. It was a very random run in. We chatted with them for a while and wandered the shops. Turkey was thrilled as always to see them, for me it was nice to see some familiar faces. After we left the boys Turkey and I went and had some dinner. After dinner we went back to the hotel, the adventure of the evening began. We had arms full of shopping bags and Turkey's stuffed animals and blanket. We made it up to our room and found out our room keys didn't work. After going up and down the elevator to get new keys about a dozen times I got keys to the other room that was for my parents. I told the lady at the front desk that we were going to hang out in the pool until they figured out what was the problem with our room. They ended up having to remove the door handle and lock to fix a computer problem with the lock. We finally got our stuff out of that room late that evening. I was just glad we had a second room to hang out in. Turkey did not sleep well that night. She had so much excitement that my parents were coming to town. The room they ended up staying in was right across the hall from ours. They flew in around midnight. At 8:30 Saturday morning Turkey was ready to bang down my parents door to see them. We went across the hall and woke them up. Everyone was excited! My poor parents didn't get as much sleep as they had hoped. After spending a weekend with my folks and shopping in Minot we headed back to Williston Sunday. We had a great weekend with my folks. On Monday Turkey showed my parents around town. We took them to the coffee shop, the fabric store, and to see John the baker. It ended up being a great day. James had the day off so we all got spend the day together. Since it was Valentines Day we decided to go somewhere nice for dinner. We went to the golf course for dinner. We got the last reservation they had. It was a great dinner and a great place to spend my parents last night in town.

Hot water and memories

When I was younger my family spent Thanksgiving one year in Mexico. We traveled down in an RV with my family of four and my parents good friends. There was 7 of us total in the RV. It was a trip to remember. We travelled down through Utah and Arizona. I remember stopping at Beaver Campground. None of us wanted to shower because it was kinda creepy and gross. We then travelled down through Arizona and stopped and saw my Grandmother. We all showered at her house. We travelled through the most beautiful areas. It was a great time with family and friends. When we got to the Mexican border we got stopped by border patrol. We looked a little suspicious. We had an RV with 7 people and random tools and supplies trying to cross the border. We all had to get out of the RV, my dad was trying to explain what we were doing there. They finally got in an interpreter. We explained we were heading down to build a house for a disabled man. They let us through after searching the RV. We travelled through the streets of Mexico and found were we found our finally parking spot. We had to back up the RV down an alley way next to the women's shelter where everyone else in our group were staying. My brother stayed in the shelter in the men's area.

Every morning we got up and drove with the rest of the group to the middle of nowhere to build a house. The man we were building the house for didn't have legs and was in a wheelchair. He still drove, he used broomsticks for pushing the pedals. We met him the last day we were there. It was an awesome trip! We mixed everything my hand and guys would come in trucks and drop off loads of bricks. We built a house in just days. Everyday after we would come back to the shelter we would take turns showering. Who ever got the first shower had warmish water, the rest of us had freezy cold water. It made you incredibly thankful for having hot water. We would stick one body part in soap up and rinse off. If I remember correctly I gave up on washing my hair. My mom braided it for me so I didn't have to worry about it. We all cooked something for Thanksgiving dinner and had a great time.

On our way out of Mexico we ran into more problems. The traffic to get out was horrible. We were trying to maneuver a huge RV through small streets and lanes to cross the border. We got stopped again on the way out. We knew we would. We all had to get out of the RV and border patrol asks us a billion questions and searches the RV. They take our raw chicken that we had brought down to make dinner that night. You can't take raw meat, fruits or certain veggies across the border. They let us go through after a complete search. On the way home we stopped at the same Beaver Campground. We all took showers and they were the best showers of our lives. I think we all sat in the hot water forever! I will always remember that trip. It made us all thankful for what we have and what we can do for others.

A load of bricks

Mixing everything by hand. We would make a circle and

slowly walk around while mixing with shovels.

Making some progress!

Just a beautiful day!

One of the trucks that would bring us bricks. When the

truck would arrive the back end would be dragging on the ground.

I think about that adventure often. This week I thought about it more. Wednesday night our hot water heater broke. We had no hot water only freezing water. We tried to fix it but had no luck. No one in the house had showered, I had dishes to do and needed hot water. I figured oh well we will have hot water in the morning and everything will be ok. I called the landlord the next morning when I woke up and still no hot water. He called the plumbers and they said they would be here by dinner time. I have yet to figure out when dinner time is here. I am thinking that is what people call lunch up here. Anywho! Turkey and I stayed home all day waiting for the plumber. My phone went off and said I had a voicemail. It was the plumber. I called him back but he had went on a job right after he called me. The secretary told me he would call me back and be by later on. I finally called them back around 5:30 maybe 6:00ish. They lady informed me that they went on a job in the country so they would try and get to me the next day. Well this morning I get woke up by a call from the plumber and he was here within an hour. I was so excited to finally have my hot water back! They showed up and told me bummer for me it wasn't my hot water heater, it was electrical. I called my landlord and he called the electrician and of course the electrician couldn't come out for at least a week. My landlord ended driving out here to fix it. After hanging out all day and cleaning the house from top to bottom and finding things to do all day he showed up. It took him about an hour to fix the breaker box. He is a miracle worker! He fixed it and we now have hot water! After he left I jumped into the shower! It was the most fantastic thing in the world! After my shower I started to run Turkey's bath. She was so excited to take a bath. She climbed in the tub and told me half the water was cold. I felt the water and it wasn't very warm. We hadn't waited long enough for the water heater to fill up. Turkey was just excited to play in the water. We talked about how it was like the lake or the pool. She had a ball playing in the luke warm water and refused to get out. It ended up being a fun afternoon.

It was a super warm day! We played outside for a while in the sunshine for a while. I wore my sandals and Turkey went out without a coat. It was just beautiful day. James came home and was thrilled to take a warm shower.

My house is spotless, laundry is done, everyone is showered and smelling good, and we have hot water! What a great day!

Work Trip

We have officially survived our first work trip. James was suppose to have last weekend off. I dreamt of fabulous things like going to Minot for the weekend or going on a date together just the two of us. I was hoping for a weekend of adventures! Last Tuesday my cousin moved in with us to work out here. He got a job with the same company as James. He got the job on Thursday his first day was Friday. We went out to celebrate Thursday night, right before we went to dinner James phone rang, it was his boss telling him to pack his bags he was going to Wyoming for the weekend. I will admit I was bummed. He was leaving bright and early Friday morning and would be back Sunday. Turkey didn't understand that daddy was leaving for the weekend. She got to stay up a little but later then normal to snuggle with daddy and play.

James left around 6 am and our day was pretty normal. Turkey just thought James was on a rig and would be home that evening. I explained that daddy won't be back until after we go to church on Sunday. Friday night James called to let me know that the trip was gonna take longer then expected, they wouldn't be home until Monday or Tuesday. We had quite the drama in our house over daddy being gone. Turkey didn't sleep well, wait correction she slept fine once she stayed in her bed. She wouldn't go to bed until after 10 o'clock at night. She has been very moody and dramatic. She would throw a grand mal tantrum and would throw something across the room and try and use the excuse that she missed her daddy that's why she threw things. I guess I am a big meanie. I told her bummer for her she still got in trouble for throwing things. I am 100% convinced that Turkey is going to win an Emmy one day for drama. My cousin had perfect timing to come out here. It was nice to have a boy in the house while James was gone. It made us feel safe. James left Wyoming on Tuesday around 4 am. I had been checking the weather since it had been stormy. I had heard on the radio that roads were closed on the Montana side of us. I got on line and checked and sure enough all the roads the boys needed to get home were closed. I called James to let them know. They had to take a different route and finally made it home last night around 8:30. Turkey got to stay up until James got home. She was so excited to have him home. Last night was the first night in 5 days that she stayed in bed! I am so glad James is home. I know we will have to deal with work trips again. I am glad we have gotten the first one out of the way and have survived!

P.S.

Official countdown for my folks to come is: 23 days!!

Its been to long!

So I haven't blogged in a while. I have been trying to write a blog about the events of last year. It has been harder then I thought. So much has happened in the last year. I am gonna keep working on it and so hopefully it will be done in the next few days.

Lately we have been laying low up here in the freezy cold. The cold weather keeps us inside most days. Turkey got board games and memory games for Christmas so we have been playing alot of games lately. She gets very excited about our family time. We play at least one game a night. We also got a Wii for Christmas, it has been a blast. Turkey does pretty good at the tennis game and is hilarious to watch when she plays bowling. I however am not so good at the Wii. I struggle with video games in general. James and me have been playing at night after Turkey goes to bed. He kicks my butt most nights. One of these days I will win! haha!

Turkey is getting so big lately! I swear she grew a foot since we have moved here. Her hair is down her back, she is now over 3 feet tall, her pants have all become floods! We have started shopping in the big kid section for clothes! I have had a hard time getting use to that. She gets dressed by herself, combs her own hair, brushes her own teeth, bathes herself. She is becoming a very big girl, very independent. She is a great helper when it comes to cleaning the house and carrying groceries. She helps me carry the groceries to the car and into the house. I need to get some pictures so I can post them.

I haven't done much baking since Christmas. I just can't seem to get into the baking mood. I have been cooking just not baking any yummies. I have been trying to get back into the swing of things from the holidays. We haven't had very many dinner parties since Christmas. We had a few people over for dinner the other night. I made breakfast for dinner. When I was younger my mom would make puff pancakes on the weekends. They are my favorite! You bake them in the oven. I am trying to think of words to describe it. It has a ton of eggs in it and you put it in a 13 x 9 pan with butter and the sides grow and puff up. It is very yummy. Turkey loves it! I made puff pancake for dinner the night our friend and his girlfriend came over. Every one enjoyed it and we had a great time. Our friends had never had it before or heard of it. It was a fun evening and Turkey was thrilled to have one of the boys over to hang out with. Everyday she asks if the boys are coming to dinner. They are her favorite people!

Turkey has been on a kick lately that we need to go to the beach. I tell her just about every day that it is too cold to go to the beach. The other day it was about 20 degrees out and Turkey got all sorts of excited because it had finally warmed up a ton so she could go to the beach. I had to explain we can't go to the beach until the snow has all melted and it is super warm out. She has come to grips with it, for the most part. She has decided that once it is super warm we are going to the beach to have a picnic and all of the boys are coming. She names off everyone who is invited and that they have to come. I guess we might have to plan a trip to a beach this summer for a picnic! I have several long months to find a beach for us to go to.

I am very excited for how fast January is going by. My parents are coming to visit us the second week of February! I am very excited to see them.