What do you see in this picture? The correct answer is snow. This was the view out of the living room window on Tues. March 10. We could see all of 75 feet! I say that because we could see just across our driveway and nothing beyond!

It was a north wind so we were pretty well protected right in our yard. This was the view when it first got started at about 11am. Not so nice.

Wednesday when we woke up, the storm had ended and left beauty in its wake! The snowcapped trees and the pillowy looking (not feeling) drifts! Gorgeous!

This is out of the living room looking south. The juniper bush/tree covered with snow is always beautiful!

We only had 2 inches of new snow but with the 45 mph winds, it certainly got nasty! Fargo received around 10 inches and a friend of mine had his car and minivan completely buried!

Glad it wasn't me!

Impromptu Baby Shower

Sunday March 8th, I hosted an impromtu baby shower for Amber and Sean. Mom and I had both been buying items for baby Rauschendorfer forever so I decided it was time we give them their gifts.

They received some awesome things! Grandma Hanssen gave them a set of towels and washclothes and also some matching burp cloths.

Johnsons Baby Wash is always needed to make baby smell human again after , well.......you know!

Umm.......Sean? I think THAT one is for AMBER!

I think Sean was doing a happy dance! Not really sure. I know he was excited to get the bottle rack!

OOOOOO Bottles! This is the beginning of the "themed" gifts from Dave and I. This particular gift of Playtex bottles with drop in liners is the "IN" gift.

Here is the "OUT" gift--diapers and wipes. Do you think the ratio is about right? 72 diapers to 385 wipes? That sounds about right.........

This one is kind of a you-had-to-be-there moment. Sean is holding another little something I got them. It is 3 little toys that clip onto the handleof the carseat. One of them squeaks. Buddy heard the squeaker and wanted the toy so bad! He would even hold up his paw like he was saying "I'll shake you for it!"

We had a good day filled with food and family! We even got to eat on our new dining set!

You can see how tight of a squeeze it is between the top of the china hutch and the ceiling. About 4 inches!

These are the placemats we received from Sean and Amber as a wedding gift. That is what we are using as our inspiration for the room.

Thes are our paint chips in order of our preference. Soukous Red (far left) is the Winner!

I have already started to paint.

If anyone is really bored, I do have an extra brush and roller!

Real Grown Up Furniture!

As you all know, David and I received China for our wedding. We started out thinking that we would have the best cardboard box china cabinet ever made! Then the reality set in of the possibility that the dogs would think the boxes were their territory to mark. The thought while funny (can you see the mini weiner dogs lifting a leg to pee on a box?) was sobering. We can't serve off china that has been peed on. Period. No matter how much it gets washed after. So Dave and I set out on an adventure in furniture shopping. It was the "Three Little Bears"! "This one is tooo small" "this one is tooo big" "this one is tooo light" "this one is tooo dark"! "This one is tooo expensive!" and on and on. Yesterday we went into Conlins in Grand Forks just thinking that I could show Dave a Broyhill set I had seen earlier last week. He hated it! It was very antique looking and made of real oak so it had worm holes and knot holes in it or foodcatchers as Dave called them. It was also VERY expensive. Then while walking through the store, we rounded a corner and I swear, we heard Angels sing! The Heavens opened up and a BEAUTIFUL light shone on a table and china cabinet on the backwall of the store! It wasn't too dark or too light, it wasn't too small--though a teensy bit big. It was perfect. Our breaths quickened as we hastily looked for the price. Not tooo expensive either! Could it be? Could this cherry finished table really be what we were looking for? We inquired about extra chairs. Still not bad. Our salesperson gave us a card along with the info that the set was being clearanced out by Broyhill and this china hutch was the VERY LAST one! Man oh man! I was getting shaky! David always calm and cool, said "We would like to check out a couple other places."

"WHAT!?" I thought in my head. "But its the LAST ONE!" I wanted to shout but refrained from doing so. I didn't want the other customers thinking I had touretz.

We left the store and checked out Zimmermans which is WAYYY overpriced. Oh and I am pretty sure that we were the first customers of the day there. The woman working seemed overly friendly and like she needed some human contact or she might just snap. I hear sofas aren't sparkling conversationalists. Anywhoo, we then went to Ashley where I had originally fallen in love with a beautiful dining set that was being discontinued. Dave thought the China Hutch to be too small. GREAT! Here we go again! We left the store en route to Menards (looking at lumber always helps ME make decisions). I was almost afraid Dave was so discouraged he was going to BUILD us a table, chairs, and china cabinet. He isn't too keen on wood working so that was a scary thought. Besides, he would first need to finish the meat tenderizer he wanted to make me 3 years ago. (Yep I married the pick of the litter! A homemade meat tenderizer!) He bought a little knob like thingy --yes I AM very technical ;)

Back in the car, Dave says, "Where to?" I just shrug my shoulders putting the ball in HIS court. "Should we go back to Conlins?" David asks. I calmly said "Sure". A quick check of the time put me in panic mode 4:28. They close at 5. Dave doesn't drive fast. UH OH!!!!! We got back there and Dave looked it over and said "We'll take it." I nearly fainted (but kept my composure) and gave David all of our Wedding money. This is the product of our afternoon.

When you visit, you won't have to eat off of the $15 rummage sale table! We have a real grown up table now with matching chairs and everything! P.S. The china will look like it belongs on THIS table!

Saturday Night Fever

This past weekend marked the 5th Annual Frozen Balls Golf Tournament hosted by the Town Pump II. I didn't personally play in the tournament, I just enjoyed the aftermath at the bar ;) ! I was a little worried when I got pulled over before even getting to the bar by one of our County Mounties, Keith. He was just letting me know that I had a headlight out which I already knew--I had had it fixed 2 weeks ago but it is out again and since the WONDERFUL engineers at GM did a great job of planning, we have to dismantle the whole front end to replace a bulb. Not even joking. The whole grill assembly comes off. I did have a lot of fun and I got to see some old friends and make some new ones!

I got some great pics, enjoyed some good beer, good company, and a steak! This is the team that won the tourney. They are from Larimore, ND and I know the girl in the pic is my cousin Kylie (Behm) Nissen and the BIG dude kinda hiding is Andy Tveit.

The real fun came when my adorable little brother started dancing!

This is the first shot of him dancing. He was helping to cook and serve the steak supper. He was also my personal "bartender"! Beer me Jamie! PS. This was fairly early so please don't assume he was drunk. He dances to this song quite frequently while sober!

Ok. Here he might be feeling pretty good, he is even singing! Oh, and his friend is Matt O'Neil. Matts' dad is Marty our "Cattle Hauler"!

In case you are wondering the song is by the Scissor Sisters and called (ironically enough) "I Don't Feel Like Dancing". I will try to get it on my playlist so you can hear it and maybe dance yourself! It's kind of catchy--I mean like the flu! Once you hear it, it stays with you for.......well.....lets just say I had to have David sing "Copa Cabana" to get it out of my head! Thats just wrong!! Having to listen to Barry Manilow to get a song out of your head! ".......her name was Lola, she was a showgirl........"

This video speaks for itself. Nuff said.

In our own defense, this is what happens when we get creative with how we spend our winter. We play golf on a frozen slough using tennis balls. Then we eat steak and fries and drink beer. We spend time catching up with old friends and spend time making new ones! Then we video tape those who have had more beer than the rest of us in all of their dancing glory! You should come visit! Maybe you won't feel like dancing either........

Some Wedding Gifts

I thought I would post some pics of our wedding gifts, I know some of my family didn't get to be there for it and would enjoy seeing what we got. First off, we got this 23rd Psalm Cross from our niece and nephew-in-law Jenn and Kirk Thorson and their kids, Will and Leah. It is a daily reminder of our faith and common goal!

This our gift from Gary and Debbie Behm from Uppercase Living. Vinyl words of inspiration. We got another set from Shannon & Tommy Gemmill that isn't put up yet but says"Always remember to kiss me goodnight".

This painting is very special because it is from Gerald and Chris Steffan. Chris painted it and it is beautiful! Gerald and Chris lived in our house before John and Brenda lived here.

The antler candle holder is from Daves' sister Carol and her husband Bill. It fits in well with the picture frames we recieved from their daughter Alisa and her family! Thats the frame with our picture in it!

Here we have 2 separate gifts from 2 separate people! The Love picture is from Daves sister Janice and her family. The beautiful Crucifix is from my cousin Charity her husband Birk and their kids--Adri, Tristan, Constence, Wyatt, and Lydia. These are hanging in our bedroom as a constant reminder of the ULTIMATE gift of love--God's gift --his son!

Dave's sister Judy and her husband Dave gave us 8 of these Mikasa wine glasses.

Barb and Tom gave us 4 of these Mikasa Orion double old fashioned glasses. We bought an extra 4 glasses to have 8. Barb and Tom also gave us a 17 piece set of Pyrex!

David and I bought 8 of each of these 2 types of glasses, so we wouldn't have to use our Budweiser glasses with our new china!

Rose Mary gave us 8 place settings of this Mikasa China and 8 place settings of Lenox flatware! That was a wonderful surprise!

Daves' sister Ann and her husband Pete gave us this 5 piece serving set. Their children gave us 8 fruit bowls, and an extra vegetable bowl.

I have a lot more pictures of things to post but better wait for another day!! I don't want to overload anyones dial up--MOM!

Be VEWWYY Quiet! We're hunting Wabbits!

All winter long my dogs have been perplexed by the wildlife outside. They are always on the lookout for squirrels tunneling through the snow to find corn that was left in the field and the cottontail rabbits that run round and round the house. Winter has been hard on these little guys-well not winter as much as Buddy. We were down to one lone bunny but on Monday he met his demise. That one lone rabbit would sit right in front of the picture window and tease and torment these poor dogs. He seemed to laugh at them through the window, knowing he was safe as long as he could see them! I got a picture of him through the window so it isn't the best quality. But you can still see how cute he was!!

"Hey, What's up doc?"

Are you ready for some football?!?!

First of all let me state that I am madder than a wet hen that the Steelers won the Super Bowl. That being said, since I was afflicted with the cough that magically appeared whenever cool air found my lungs, we stayed home and enjoyed the superbowl with my family. ( Sorry Sarah! We appreciated the invite though!) Well we enjoyed it until Dad started yelling obscenities at the tv.

Awwww, Amber and Baby Bump and Sean with his "Sympathy" Bump! Aren't they so cute? This one is of Amber trying out the taco dip, Eat it already !!!

They made the guys all sport their John Deere hats--Yes, Sean is wearing a plaid FLANNEL shirt AND a JOHN DEERE hat!!! Geez Dave, smile Y dontcha!


THere thats better! Even Buddy is smiling!!

Beautiful weather huh!! It was sunny up until Mom and Dad came.......hmmmmm.

Dad is happy! Mom is not.

Jamie was taking pictures of the tv screen and discovered that it looks like you were ACTUALLY there ! I tried to get him to take off his shirt and run past the tv so it would look like he was streaking but he wouldn't do it. Chicken. Neither would Ian. Bigger Chicken.

Here they are doing the wave.

You know how you can tell if it has been a successful Superbowl Party? When everyone has their hand down their pants. THE END!!!!!