4th of july in killdeer

warning: too many photos. but the truth is that I haven't taken my nice camera out to shoot anything just for myself in quite sometime. and so i'm excited that these are my memories. i might have got a little carried away. so we had a great night over in killdeer at the block party. and the pictures of the fireworks are not showing the full extent of the damage done. they were insane up in there. and we had the ashes in our hair to show for it (and all over our food). glad we made it up in time for the 4th!

 cousins^^

dirt salad anyone?^^

way too much meat^^

       

       

karaoke all night long^^  

      

this was all the trash on the ground after only 10 mins of fireworks... they lasted almost 3 hours!^^^ 

      

      

     

 shooting down the floating lanterns with other fireworks was the best!^^

 daddy even got to walk over from the office for a bit of the show:)^^

happy fourth! i feel especially patriotic this year because of what happened in my hometown of Prescott. sending love to those back home!

winter wonderland

if anyone has ever wondered what kind of COLD we are talking about up here in North Dakota. The following pictures will show you. It's pretty cool stuff. Pun Intended.

All of these were taken with my iPhone. Which I'm really happy with. BUT i still can't wait to get out there with my real camera and see what I can capture...

frost in abundance

yesterday was a FROST covered day. I've never been somewhere that it's so cold it leaves frost an inch thick everywhere. With no snow in sight. it was actually really gorgeous. 

this is killdeer "mountain". the only "mountain" around.

AND the bangs. what the heck should we do with the bangs!>! EVER!?! 

before:

 after: 

(i got a little carried away. but no worries, it has already grown 1/4 an inch in the last 2 days!)

we are flying to ARIZONA tonight for the next ten days. we have to send our little hayley off to HONG KONG for her mission. I'm going to cry.

dakot-y

the nd experience is still in full swing. its feeling a little bit more permanent. a little bit more normal. we moved into a real house. with windows and a living room and a big kitchen/dining area. already had a birthday party in it with a towering ice cream cake and that always helps the spirits :)

i don't feel absolutely certain that this is where we are supposed to be, or where we will stay... but its not bad for this moment right now. i hate to admit it but i am having fun. mostly thanks to ashley, my sister in law who i live with. if she weren't here, i might be seriously going crazy.

gretta has a way of making me feel like everything is going to be okay as well. she is hilarious at times and not a princess at all. i try to imagine her when she is a teenager... and i think her and i are going to get along just great. as long as she keeps her sense of humor, and i don't loose mine!

spencer is always working. his schedule pretty much stinks up the house. he has 10 days of day shifts, 10 days of night shifts and 10 days off (that part doesn't stink). his shifts are 12 hours so we have limited time to do all the incredibly fun things there are to do here in killdeer.... like..... ummm..... go to the gas station which is covered in mud and filled with muddy men who stare at anything female.

tonight is spence's last night shift and then we get our 10 days. just in the nick of time for halloween. YES! maybe we will drive to canada!

(pictures taken a month ago. in really happy weather.)