Beck Family

Okay. Four month recap. Starting at Whitney's Birthday.

2011-12-28T19:34:00.008-06:00

Whitney's birthday. Technically I guess that was five months ago. Let's just say the party was a little drama. We had originally planned a hair and nails makeover at the beauty school. Steve called the morning of to make sure that everything was still good to go--but it wasn't! They couldn't even squeeze us in because of a wedding. One of the students messed up the booking and we had no party. Steve started calling the usual birthday party venues in the area (Games Galore, Red River Dance, etc), while I frantically started looking up at home ideas online. We couldn't reschedule. It was a mess. We finally got into Chuck E. Cheese for an 11:00 party. The original party was supposed to be at one. We called all of the girls about the change and they could all make it. Phew!

A close up of the Hello Kitty Cake. Chuck E was impressed :)

Steve a little more relaxed getting his dance on

Whitney post

2011-10-20T19:05:00.002-06:00

Whitney is such a cute girl

First Day of School

2011-09-04T16:31:00.007-06:00

The first day of school FINALLY came. Whitney and Joshua love school. Whitney loves school so much that when I asked her how her day was when I picked her up, she said, "Ok...but I didn't get any math homework." What!? Whose child are you? You want MATH homework? I think we need to teach her the love for the liberal arts ;)

Here's some other good ones:

Hopefully this is my last year of school:) We'll see, this is the year of the thesis!!!

Summer's not over yet :)

2011-08-14T19:12:00.010-06:00

This week school starts back up for me and Steve (well, at least the prep work) and next week the kids start. Before life gets crazy again, we're trying to make the summer last as long as possible. Our neighbour, Lisa, scored some free airsho tickets and gave some to us. We're not airsho people, but we had fun. It was a beautiful day (Fargo may have some rough winters, but we definitely have the BEST summers).

Okay, so this picture is pretty huge for Whitney. She's scared to death of mascots.

We all got to go inside and tour the inside of a FedEx plane. It's really interesting inside. It's essentially a plane without seats, and tracks and tracks of rollers to roll the pods on. The FedEx people let the kids sit in the cockpit. They both thought that was pretty darn awesome.

And here's my Maverick. With this haircut, he looks like he would fit right in with the Top Gun crew. We even saw people walking around with Top Gun quotes on their shirts.

And on a completely random note, I got my hair highlighted this week. It seriously is one of my favourite times of year. A couple of hours away from the kids while someone wants to just listen to what I have to say? And no interruptions? And a head massage? Sign me up!

Fishing Trip

2011-08-04T21:26:00.008-06:00

Yesterday Steve's colleagues (husband and wife ps--there are a lot of husband and wife duos in academia) invited us to play at their lake house near Park Rapids, MN. It was the first time for the kids on a boat, and the first time they've ever gone fishing (well, let's be honest, I think I went once when I was like 5 years old so for all intents and purposes, that includes me too.) Let's just say, I caught the most fish (the first catch was eye opening; no one showed me how the pole worked so I essentially flung the fish from the lake into the boat.) As Judy said, it was lucky no one got hooked. It scared the heck out of Whitney because it landed near her feet. I thought in that moment a vegetarian might be born :) The kids ended up with their fair share of catches too.

Joshua's fish:

Whitney's "Pumpkin Seed"

Steve's catches:

And of course, Joshua and I are quite the catches too :)

End of the season

2011-08-04T19:48:00.009-06:00

Well, Tuesday was the last day of Joshua's season with the Rockies, and probably the best game he's played. After, the coach brought Dilly Bars for the team (by the way, did you know that DQ was started in Minnesota? :)

Here are some pics and video of the last game to commemorate:

Playing pitcher (sort of, the college student is the real pitcher)-

First baseman-

And for the 2 minute replay:

Swing Batter! from Sarah Beck on Vimeo.

And of course Whitney, the biggest Joshua fan :)

And a picture without sunflower seed shells on her face ;)

On a side note, I really dislike our camera. We bought it about a year ago to replace our Kodak Easyshare I dropped twice. Our Nikon Coolpix is so unpredictable, if the lighting is somewhat off, or someone flinches a millimeter, the whole picture is blurry. And it really has no zoom capability. Grr... I daydream of a really nice camera (or my old Easyshare back) though I have a running list of really nice things I'd like to get :) One thing at a time eh?

O Canada and other travels

2011-07-24T18:55:00.009-06:00

This past week I went up to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario to celebrate my grandparent's 65th wedding anniversary. I drove up with my parents (Steve stayed behind with the kids) and honestly, it was so fun to be with family without having to worry about the kids. We stayed with my grandparents the first couple of days (at this point, they didn't know about their surprise celebration) and afterwards we stayed at my Aunt Mary and Uncle John's cabin. It was so good to see everyone. I was sad that Laura and my cousin Jackie weren't there, but glad I could see my aunts and uncles and cousins. This picture is the beach off my Aunt and Uncle's cabin. Gorgeous eh? Honestly, I've never seen Lake Superior so peaceful and calm ever. Thank you everyone for the nice break! Congrats Grandma and Grandpa!

Unfortunately, I have no pics of family because I was assigned by my parents to take pictures of family with their family. Hopefully I'll be able to get copies and post them soon :)

Less than a week after I got back from Canada, Steve and the kids and I went to Minneapolis to hang out with Steve for a little bit, while he attended a conference for work. We went to IKEA (of course) and also to the sculpture gardens. Sometimes I miss living in a big city (though I love Fargo) and I think the thing I miss the most about big cities is culture! I miss museums, I miss ART museums, symphonies, and all that good stuff. Here are some pictures of us at the sculpture gardens:

My kids LOVE staying in hotels :)

Wallflowers

2011-07-24T18:03:00.002-06:00

For mother's day, Steve bought me some hanging wall vases which I've had my eye on for the past 6 months. They're from CB2, and I love them, and we finally hung them up. In this picture I put fresh cut peonies from our yard in them. Thanks Steve!

My new ride!

2011-07-24T17:52:00.004-06:00

No, we didn't get a new car (we're still a one car family), but I did get a bike! In fact, it's my first bike since the summer of 1997 when my bike was stolen out of our garage in Nebraska. I LOVE this bike. It's a Schwinn, it's retro, and I bought it for $10 at a garage sale. Not bad eh?

Baseball

2011-07-24T15:54:00.003-06:00

Joshua is playing in his first baseball league this summer. Steve is co-coaching his team, The Rockies. (Steve is a man who wears many hats). We are so please that Joshua loves it. He hates it when he strikes, out and he loves fielding. We love his team because the kids are so patient with him, and everyone is so supportive with each other. I love Fargo Parks and Recreation!

Ma soeur!

2011-07-24T15:48:00.004-06:00

My sister Laura came and stayed with us for almost two weeks while her husband went off to Vietnam on some top secret oil rig excursion. It was so fun to have her around! It was a little weird too, because we sorta look alike, we definitely sound alike, and we have the same body mannerisms. Even the man at the art gallery did a double take and said, "wow, you two must be sisters." We also got to celebrate Laura's birthday while she was here. So fun! I love you Laura!

Summer, Summer, Summertime!

2011-07-24T15:30:00.011-06:00

Last month one Sunday morning, I woke up and really wanted to wear a light knee length skirt to church. Except I didn't own one. I did however have a cordory beige skirt that hit my ankles that I had since Whitney was born, and never wear because I hate the lenght of it. So I got out of bed, cut it to knee-length, and hemmed it up before church, and VOILA! I have a skirt I want to wear again. Thanks to my sister in law Heidi for the inspiration to try new things with my clothes (http://heidiluxe.blogspot.com) The big G on the fridge is the breakdown of Gallons, Pints, Quarts, etc. Joshua is learning them. I'm learning them, and since I'm a metric girl, I have no idea what all this Imperial method is all about, so I have to learn it to help Joshua learn it.

It was also Steve's birthday at the end of May. I think we're getting to the age where we don't mention numbers anymore :)

This summer we've had some pretty powerful storms. Not typical for this weather, but typical for Kansas, so it's not like we've seen it before. But I'd be lying to say that I didn't miss it. We got some roof damage and lost our trampoline during the Memorial Day storm. The Fourth of July fireworks got cancelled because of a tornado warning. This past week, we've had tornado sirens go off twice at 4 am. Like I said, I'm not a fan.

Some pieces of our roof

The trampoline

Don't worry we got a new trampoline. (And the roof fixed of course). We invested in some trampoline stakes the second time round, and let's just say after last week, we're glad we did.

Spring Soccer

2011-05-22T20:48:00.005-06:00

Yesterday Whitney played her last soccer game this season. She's done really well this year and makes a great defender. Nothing's going to pass her. Here's some fun pictures of the spring season.

The team:

Whitney (number 30) in action:

Easter 2011

2011-05-22T20:40:00.004-06:00

We didn't make any Ukranian Easter eggs (I SO loved that in school) but we dyed some pretty cool ones all the same.

The kids in their Easter garb

Manosque

2011-05-22T19:50:00.009-06:00

J'adore Manosque. What a sweet little French town. And the people were so kind.

Our bed and breakfast. We had a "table d'hotes" where we had the full 4 course french meal. It lasted about 2 hours and we just chatted with the owners. Loved it!

Breakfast!

March-Marseilles

2011-05-22T19:35:00.007-06:00

I loved all of France, but my favourite part was visiting the south. Maybe because Steve lived there for 2 years and new all the little things that touristy places don't have, maybe it was because I was getting better at the language at that point, or maybe it was because Manosque is such a sweet little village where all of the little shops at centreville are closed for an hour and a half for lunch, but it was beautiful.

Marseille

le Chateau d'If (think count of monte cristo)

March-Versailles and Paris

2011-05-22T19:10:00.009-06:00

In March, Steve and I celebrated our early 10 year anniversary (in August it will be officially 10 years) and went to France. Best. Trip. Ever. Steve served a 2 year mission there for our church, and I'm Canadian and was a few classes shy of a minor in French at BYU. It was SO FUN to speak French again. And hear French again. I seriously could live there a couple of months a year, I love France. Oddly enough, I think it gave me a new perspective into Joshua's problems with communication. I could understand 95% of what was said to me. My speaking ability was at a 60% (though if I was there for a month or 2, I think I'd be fluent again), and if two people were speaking the same time to me, I was lost. I really think that's how Joshua's mind works with language. I read once that Temple Grandin said that English was her second language, pictures was her native language. I think I understand what she means now.

Versailles

Paris

California

2011-05-22T18:59:00.006-06:00

Of course, while we were at Disneyland, we had to check out what California's beaches had to offer--because February in Fargo makes one dream of warm beaches. And orange trees. The weather wasn't as warm as we thought it would be, but the beaches were gorgeous.

February--Disneyland

2011-05-22T18:46:00.007-06:00

In February we went on a little Beck family reunion to Disneyland. It was so fun. The kids were at the perfect age and Joshua and Whitney were talking about it for weeks afterwards. Thanks Sandy for organizing it!

6 month snippets

2011-05-22T16:58:00.007-06:00

Looks like if I'm going to keep up blogging, it might be at a six month interval. School and kids and life all fill my time in wonderful ways. So here is our six month check-up. School's out, so there might be a few posts in between. The prose is short, because I need to spend all my prose energy for class (which hopefully you will see sometime too). Let's start with Christmas.

Our Christmas Card Picture:

Whitney loves parties. She makes up different parties for different occasions. This party was a "ball." We had to dress up and dance. It was pretty fun, as you can tell from the pics.

Yes, I am wearing socks because it was January and I didn't want to put on nylons

And the dancing ended with confetti throwing

Whitney loves her easy bake oven from Santa

November--Joshua's Baptism!

2011-01-05T18:49:00.007-06:00

Joshua got baptized this November! In our church you have to be 8 years old to be baptized. We were so excited to have Grandpa Dave and Grandma Gail and Grandma Sandy here for it!

October

2011-01-05T18:26:00.012-06:00

October was really busy. Joshua turned 8 (and was baptized) and I turned 30 (and ran my first 1/2 marathon).

Joshua opening presents in the morning. He loves sharks and loved this shirt.

We went bowling at NDSU and ate pizza outside afterward. It was a pretty exahausting day, because the party happened three hours after I finished the 1/2 marathon. Needless to say, I did NOT make a cake or giant cookie but went to Cashwise and bought bakery cupcakes.

I ran the 1/2 marathon with my friend Angie. I have to say I would have stopped to walk if it wasn't for her, but we ran the WHOLE way without stopping and finished at 2 hrs 15 min.

The kids cheering me on:

Angie and I at mile 5. We were feeling really great. In fact, I thought at this point "no problem, sign me up for the 1/2 in May.

Near the finish line. At this point I was ready to be done!

I love love love the races here in Fargo. The crowds are great. Everyone comes out to cheer. There was even a bagpipe band. This man had jingle bells and shared with Joshua. We're so lucky to live in such a great community!

And of course, Halloween!

August (Well, the rest of it)

2011-01-05T16:22:00.016-06:00

Whitney's birthday and the start of school (they always happen within days of each other). This year, school happened the day before Whitney's birthday, so she was technically 5 when she started grade one this year (well, for one day!)

Whitney's birthday:

Before school we let her open presents from us

On the weekend she had her party (she made necklaces with her friends--birthday cookie chez moi)

Joshua lost a tooth

And we replaced our hideous dusty rose carpet with bamboo. We love it!

Before (all of the furniture cleared out minus the couch)

After

Time to catch up on 2010

2011-01-05T16:19:00.003-06:00

I can't believe it's 2011 already. I haven't posted since August, so I guess it's time for a little catch up!

Keeping Active

2010-08-08T14:32:00.013-06:00

The kids have been really active this summer. From swimming lessons, to the trampoline to learning to ride without training wheels! (they both learned within the same week--ah the benifits of sibling rivalry)

Our swim teacher is the best. There is a definite difference between teaching styles of men vs women. Joshua really responds well to Josh (the swim instructor) and Josh doesn't put up with any of Joshua or Whitney's drama :)(ie Joshua refusing to put his head underwater or Whitney complaining that her arms hurt too much to swim anymore)

And here's a video for the grandparent's enjoyment. Joshua is riding up to summer school. As you can see, they're both still pretty wobbly, but practice makes perfect right?

Untitled from Sarah Beck on Vimeo.

This summer has flown by. The kids start school in two weeks. That means one more week of summer school for Joshua and one more week of swimming for both kids, one week off and then the school year begins again. I can't believe it!

Mid-Summer Updates

2010-07-26T07:53:00.018-06:00

A lot has been going on with us lately and our summer has been flying by. There's only five weeks until school starts! And with the way our summer's been, that'll be right around the corner. These are some things that have been happening:

Steve's Birthday.
Steve turned 32 on May 30. It was on Sunday and very low-key. The kids loved singing happy birthday--Fargo style, complete with the "cha-cha-cha-ooh-la-la-cut-the-cake-and-say-hi-yah!"

I swear my kids have inherited zero percent of my genes. This is Whitney's birthday present to Steve. If you look closely, it's every math problem that she knows decorated and written in an assortment of colours.

The trampoline.

We got the kids a trampoline this summer. It has been the best investment ever. We've had a fantastic summer. The kids have been on it every day we've been home.

Whitney helping Steve set it up:

Funny enough, I have zero pictures of the kids on the trampoline. I'll have to take some today and post later. I do have a picture of Whitney enjoying the sprinkler.

Theraputic listening.

A new therapy we've started with Joshua to help with his sensory integration issues. We tried the Wilbarger brushing protocol this winter, and though he enjoyed it, we didn't see any difference with the sensory sensitivity. I'm seeing similar results with the theraputic listening. He loves the music, but I haven't seen any difference with the sensory sensitivity. We've been trying the best we can to keep it up over the past few months. With all our traveling it's been tough at times.

MSUM

I'm getting my Master's in Creative Writing at Minnesota State University Moorhead and took a 3 week summer school class in June. The craziest 3 weeks of my life. Both kids were out of school, I had to read about 80 pages a day and teach two lessons to a bunch of undergrads. The first night I taught I came home and cried to Steve how I didn't want to get my Master's anymore, how there's no way I could teach English 101 in the fall (I have a GTA for the fall). I had given an activity in class to re-write a scene of Cinderella and from that point on it bombed. I had an refugee student who didn't know the Cinderella story, and half my class did the assignment wrong. Steve (being the great husband he is) told me I'd get over it and do a great job the next time and love it. Sure enough, the next time wasn't as bad! I have to say this is where the trampoline was my saving grace. As I read my assignments and prepared lessons I let the kids jump for hours at a time. Didn't take all the bad mom guilt away, but it helped a little.

Steve's Dad

Steve's Dad passed away July 4, 2010. He had been struggling with cancer for about five years and finally his struggle is over. We feel so blessed we got to see him right before he passed away. The day after my class ended we drove the 10 hours down to Kansas City to spend some time with Doug. Then the kids and I drove down to Wichita to visit my parents while Steve stayed behind to be with his mom and dad. We said our good-byes Saturday July 3rd, and drove back up to Fargo. The next day Doug passed away. We spent a couple of days in Fargo, re-grouped, and then drove down again to Kansas City for the funeral. We were so blessed to have my parents come up and watch the kids during the funeral. Even with our knowledge of the gospel and of Jesus Christ, death is a huge concept for kids to grasp, especially at 7 and 5 years old, but they did a good job with it. Then my parents took the kids for a few days while Steve and I flew to Salt Lake City, Utah for the burial.

Here's a picture of Doug and Sandy with the kids last summer:

Some pictures of family gathered to honour Doug:

Sandy's Birthday
It was also Steve's mom's birthday while we were out in Utah and so we took her to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for her birthday

Sorry, I know this isn't the most flattering picture, but it's the only one I have of the group.

Well that's it for now. Despite all the craziness, we do feel very blessed. We know the Lord is always watching out for us. We'll see what the rest of the summer brings. We may still take our trip up to Winnipeg, but we need a couple of weeks to recoop from our travels. 40 hours in the car in 2 weeks time is a lot of travel, and I might have to bribe my kids to ever get in the car again :)

Tulips!

2010-05-21T20:45:00.013-06:00

This fall we planted tulip bulbs and now we are reaping the rewards. They are BEAUTIFUL. I love tulips! They are my favourite flower. And they're one of the first signs of life to sprout out of the ground once the snow melts. Here are our tulips in all sorts of ways:

Happy Hockey Mom Day!

2010-05-11T19:18:00.009-06:00

The night before Mother's Day, Steve and I got to go on a last minute date to the Fargo Force. Championship game! If they had won Saturday night, they would have won the USAHL Clark Cup. That's like the equivalent of the Stanley Cup (but not quite). So of course, I wore my Edmonton Oilers shirt and cursed the team and they lost. Now they play tomorrow night. Winner takes all.
(Clark Cup)

(Stanley Cup)

Our friends the Fowlers hooked us up with tickets and even though we lost, it was so much fun!

Me and Steve threw some punches down by the glass. Guess who won?

Sunday was nice and relaxing. I really think it was the best Mother's Day yet, because my kids really got into it. Whitney woke up at 6am to start the Mother's Day party (I really just wanted to sleep in). They behaved all day long. But by dinner Whitney said, "Mom, I wish I were you." I asked, "Why?" She said, "Because it's Mother's Day and all the kids have to listen to you. I wish there were a brother or sister day." Then after dinner, Joshua said to Whitney, "Happy Mother's Day Whitney," and Whitney answered, "Happy Mother's Day Joshua." My kids are great :) I got to finish the evening with one of my favourite books of all time, that was not required reading for my class. Life's good :)

Time for some catch up

2010-04-28T19:44:00.011-06:00

Here are some recent pics of the Beck family. Between part time school, part time work, and full time mom, I just don't have the time to do the full time blogging.

Joshua the hockey player:

The full body shot:

Yes, Joshua looks like he'd make a mean hockey player. At the school carnival they had an Olympics theme and so his class decided to be hockey players. I thought this was quite appropriate, seeing I LOVE HOCKEY!!! If only I could get him to swap uniforms ;)

Easter:

We had lots of fun dying eggs:

Spring has been great here in Fargo, we couldn't ask for nicer weather! We had a great egg hunt outside.

Here's some pics of the living room. We've been slowly adding to it. Some days when I flip through a Crate and Barrel catalogue or add to my wishlist on the IKEA site, I think "maybe I should be using my subbing money for decorating instead of for my class" :) Nah! It's more fun to add a little at at time. It gives you something to look forward to!

Flood Update 2010

2010-03-18T18:18:00.002-06:00

As you've probably heard via CNN and the Today Show, and other "news" networks, Fargo is facing another flood AGAIN. This time though, the crest is predicted 2 ft shorter than last year. However, this year is not nearly as stressful as last year. We were close to a million sandbags even before our "surprise crest" this Sunday (they were predicting the first or second week of April), and all of the clay dikes and sandbag dikes are already up. Contrary to what the media will have you believe, we are not in dire straits. In fact 2 days ago on CNN the headline was, "Fargo desperate for help"--not really folks, the mayor was just asking for some more volunteers. Actually Fargo feel pretty confident--not cocky confident, but we're feeling a lot more safe than last year. So, in case you were wondering, that's our side of the story :)

Whitney's Haircut

2010-03-18T18:12:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago, Whitney was begging me for a haircut. And I mean BEGGING. She bugged me all President's Day weekend until I couldn't take it anymore. She told me she hated her long hair and she wanted it short. I asked her if it was because all the other girls in her class have short hair. She said no. She just told me she didn't like long hair. So Voila, we did it:

And just as we walked out of the salon, she said, "Now they'll sing the haircut song to me at school."

And I said, "What!?"

And she said, "Now they'll sing the haircut song to me at school. They do it when someone gets a haircut."

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, all for a song.

Las Vegas

2010-03-18T17:49:00.008-06:00

The day after Heather's wedding, we went to tour the strip. Here are some pics--it's amazing--Steve and me in a picture together without kids!!!

Inside the Bellagio

The Conservatory

By the Regestration Desk--and the Casino

The ceiling--blown glass flowers

The reception desk--pretty nice eh?

And Paris--just kidding, it's fake just like everything else on the strip

Heather's Wedding

2010-03-18T17:14:00.009-06:00

Last weekend we flew out to Las Vegas for Steve's sister's wedding. It was so fun to leave the kids at home (my mom flew up from Wichita to watch them--thanks mom) and just be us. It was a short stay, only 2 1/2 days but it was fun. We are so excited for Heather!

Forgive My Indulgence in Patriotism for a Moment...

2010-03-03T12:21:00.006-06:00

But how can I not be proud of my home team :)

Christmas

2010-01-10T22:02:00.009-06:00

We had fun watching the kids' Christmas concerts and had a really fun Christmas morning too. Here are some video and pics:

(Whitney is on the front row, right hand side with a grey dress and red hairband)

Untitled from Sarah Beck on Vimeo.

Joshua loved his peanut (thanks Santa, Anne Marie and discountschoolsupply.com)

Christmas morning mess and music

Whitney got lots of dress-ups from Santa:

I did it!

2010-01-10T21:35:00.011-06:00

I've finally updated our blog. People have been nagging me and Steve was sick of seeing our jack-o-lantern, and I'm now finally doing it. I apologize to my blogger friends (if I have any left because our our long hiatus). I'm just not a blogging fiend like I was. Things have changed. I have two kids in school all day, so we're not sharing our every day experiences like we were. I've been busy taking a class at MSUM and subbing every once in a while. October/November I was busy trying to get my application into the MFA Creative Writing Program at MSUM and stressing about that. But with Christmas and all of our snow I feel like I finally have some blog-worthy pics!

Here are some of the last fall pictures before the snow arrived:

Then the snow arrived, it's crazy how different the world can look in just a couple of weeks :)

Even though we've had all this snow, the weather has been very warm (excluding this past week). The kids love playing in it. I love it too, so long as it doesn't make the Red River flood in the spring!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-04T20:15:00.010-06:00

This Halloween turned out great. Two days before it rained and snowed and I thought it was going to be awful. But by Saturday morning the snow had melted and it had dried right up. Whitney was Sleeping Beauty this year, (thanks to my very talented friend Angie for lending us the costume) and Joshua was Max from Where the Wild Things Are (we have yet to see the movie). And I feel like I have to state for the record that Joshua wanted to be Max long before the movie came out and became trendy :) It was pretty easy to sew and it turned out great! A squirrel got at our jack-o-lantern. Whitney was devistated when it happened. Steve and I thought the squirrel was in the Halloween spirit and made the pumpkin more "Halloween-y."

Joshua's Birthday

2009-11-04T20:05:00.005-06:00

Joshua's now 7 years old (I can't believe it) and we had a great party at NDSU's bowling alley. It's great not having to come up with creative games and crafts to keep the kids busy for an hour and a half. Joshua's still "adjusting" to the number 7. He's a man who doesn't like change. He could be 6 forever in his mind. I can't wait until he turns the big 3-0 or 4-0 or 5-0. All those hallmark years that put the average person into an anxiety attack :)

Whitney meets Soccer

2009-11-03T15:19:00.005-06:00

We decided to put Whitney into soccer this fall. To help tame her "dramatic" side. The side that always cries when things don't go her way, or if someone someone cuts in front of her. She's no super-star soccer player, but she tries really hard and she doesn't cry every time she falls down. When you watch the video, she's number 30. And she's super cute! (And by the way, Aunt Heather came to visit this month, and you can hear her on the video :)

Untitled from Sarah Beck on Vimeo.

Waterton

2009-09-02T09:24:00.011-06:00

We got a chance to hike up into Waterton with the Thibodeaus while I was up in Alberta. I forgot how GORGEOUS it was. I haven't been up there in years. Here are a few pics. Thanks Thibodeaus for such a great time!
Marky:
Red Rock:

The cousins, minus Laura :(

Jackie and Dave:

Prince of Wales Hotel:

Mountain Goat:

Brown Bear:

Mark's home!

2009-09-02T09:15:00.005-06:00

My cousin Mark just came home from serving a 2 year mission in Las Vegas. I was so excited for him I just HAD to fly up and be there when it happened. It was an awesome trip. I flew BY MYSELF and had a vacation ALL BY MYSELF. And even better I spent it with people I love and haven't seen in a while in a place I haven't been to in a while. Boy I miss Alberta!

First Day of School

2009-09-02T09:10:00.003-06:00

The kiddos started their first day of school on August 26th. Whitney's birthday! I can't believe that Joshua is in grade one and Whitney is in kindergarten!

And now the whole Beck family is going to school. Steve of course teaches at NDSU, and I'm taking a course at MSUM. I guess we just can't get enough of it!

Whitney's 5!

2009-09-01T20:46:00.005-06:00

Whitney turned 5 and we had a party with her preschool friends right before school started. Happy Birthday Whitney, we love you!

Untitled from Sarah Beck on Vimeo.

Down by St. Mary's

2009-08-06T16:50:00.006-06:00

We also had fun going down to St. Mary's river to see all the locks and boats. I LOVED how beautiful the harbour looks.

Here's the locks (behind it you can see the international bridge):

There's also tons of beautiful trees. I didn't take any pictures of those but I took some of my beautiful kids in the trees :)

The Beach

2009-08-06T16:42:00.005-06:00

Joshua LOVED the beach. The sand was so toasty warm compared to the water. Here are some pics:

Lake Superior

2009-08-06T16:31:00.005-06:00

We've just come back from our trip to Canada. It was nice to get away and just spend time with relatives and of course the Lake! It was kinda chilly this time we went up. It hovered just below 70F our whole trip, threatening rain the entire time. But that didn't stop us from jumping in though. Whitney was the best trooper of us all. It didn't matter how cold it was, (or how blue her fingers and lips were)she didn't want to get out!

7 in October, and finally lost a tooth

2009-07-20T19:06:00.005-06:00

Well, today Joshua finally lost his first tooth. I didn't even know he had a loose tooth until yesterday--when I saw him smile and thought "boy, his bottom teeth are getting REALLY crooked." I felt the crooked one and it was REALLY loose. So today, while we were bowling, Joshua was extra grumpy. I went up for my turn to bowl, turned around and said, "Steve, check Joshua's tooth, I think it's bugging him." Then Steve said, "Joshua, can I see your loose tooth?" And low and behold, Joshua took him literally and pulled it right out, and gave it to Steve. And that was that. We officially have caught up to all of his other friends! He's really excited to show his teachers when he heads back to school. I must say, he's pretty proud of himself.

Where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average

2009-07-05T21:33:00.012-06:00

This weekend we took a trip down to Minneapolis again, this time with our friends Mike and Andrea. We had a great time--IKEA, Mall of America, Twins game, we even tried to go to the Como Zoo, but with all of the 4th of July festivities, it was impossible to find a parking lot, so on the way back to Fargo, we stopped in Avon, Minnesota to listen to the the live 35th anniversary broadcast of Garrison Keillor's A Prarie Home Companion. It was awesome. It was a beautiful day, around 78F and sunny, and tons of people (much larger than the population of Avon) gathered around to hear the free national radio broadcast. We sat right next to the Lake Woebegon trail. Here are some pictures:

It was SO sunny. I actually walked right up to the stage to take this pictures of Garriosn Keillor. The woman beside him is Amy Klobuchar. Up until a few days ago, the only state Senator from Minnesota.

I was so disapointed the pictures were so washed out. My feeble attempts to adjust the lighting aren't much better :(

Mike, Andrea, and Whitney:

Steve and Joshua:

Me and the crowd:

Avon, MN

We did a ton of driving to many different places, but the kids were troopers. We pulled into Fargo/Moorhead at 10pm and watched the fireworks before we finally got back home.

Grandparents and other June happenings

2009-06-29T15:50:00.011-06:00

Last weekend Steve's parents came up for a quick visit. It was fun to see them and a little sad to see them leave. I guess we got spoiled the last 3 years being only an hour away from them. Now it's 9 hrs!

We had a fun picnic at the park

Grandpa read some books

We watched Joshua, Steve and Whitney ride the ferris wheel at Scheels (yes, it's indoor) because the rest of us thought we'd lose our dinner we consumed at Granite City

Why are kids always extra silly around grandparents?

As for the rest of the month, we've been playing in our outdoor pool from Grandma Gail and watching our garden grow (and installing a rabbit fence)

And just one more picture of the kids

Summer Here We Come!

2009-06-07T19:00:00.011-06:00

Here's a quick update of our past few weeks. Life's been busy with school finishing up, Steve teaching his summer course at NDSU, and gettting our garden ready. Here's a few weeks in pictures.

One day after church we saw this basketball net on the curb to be taken out with the garbage. The owner volunteered to drive it in his truck to our place, so we scored us a new basketball net. Have I said enough about the wonderful community/people here in Fargo?

Whitney insisted she needed a shirt with a number, so we gave her Steve's Illinois B-ball shirt. She said the number had to be on the back, so she turned it the wrong way. Silly kid!

Joshua's school had a carnival which was really fun. Whitney had her face painted and made me promise I would take a picture of it before she had to wash it off and go to bed.

Whitney's last hurrah at preschool. They had a spring concert.

Whitney's last day. Can you believe my baby is going to kindergarten next year?!

Our primary president left to move to--guess where?--Lawrence, Kansas of all places. We had a going-away dinner for her (she's the one on the very end on the right hand side)

And last but not least--spring is here! The blossoms are blooming everywhere in our garden.

26.2 miles--Uff-da!

2009-05-13T07:59:00.006-06:00

This last weekend was the Fargo Marathon. It was a lot of fun! I ran the marathon relay with three friends from church and we all did really well. (Katrina and I ran the 5.5 portions and Daiko and Jared ran the 7.5 portions). Our team actually placed 52nd out 378 teams! Not to shabby eh? I was really happy with my time. I finished with 50:30. That's a 9:11 split time.

Here's me warming up with the kids. I was SO nervous. There were literally hundreds of people there. I actually muffled our exchange. I didn't see Daiko cross the line because there were so many spectators/people waiting for their exchange. I didn't even hear them call out our number because it was so loud. Luckily our friend Mike was there and called Steve on the cell phone and asked, "Hey, where's Sarah? Daiko's done and looking for you." I found him shortly after and started my leg. I lost all nervousness and started my leg booking it.

The first 3 miles were great, I actually checked my watch and saw I was running an 8 min mile. It was so fun--I swear everyone in Fargo was on the streets cheering everyone on. Like it was a parade or something. There were even garage bands playing pump music. I was wearing my Bears toque (because it was 33F) and people were yelling "Go Bears" "We love Chicago" (I think they thought I was from Chicago because people come from everywhere for this). I just played along with it and yelled, "Woo-hoo Chicago" and "Yeah Bears".
The 4th mile on was harder. I started to slow down, but finished the last 1/2 mile pretty strong. Here's me approaching the end of my leg:

Like I said it was a ton of fun. Katrina really wants me to do the 1/2 marathon next year with her. Here's the team. Our total marathon time was 3:52:50

Easter and the Shriners Circus

2009-04-19T16:02:00.006-06:00

We had a fun week this past week. Last Sunday was Easter, and the kids had a great day eating a TON of candy. We had our neighbours over for dinner and had a great time visiting. It was fun to hear what the previous owners were like :)

On Thursday the Shriners Circus came into town. I'm NOT a big circus person, but we decided to go to the free meet and greet anyways. I just have a thing about teaching bears and elephants tricks, clowns, and 5 year old kids juggling knives.

The kids had fun on the big bouncy blow up equipment. They also had cotton candy for the first time. Joshua loved it, Whitney didn't. I think it had something to do with the texture.

Oh and by the way, the Red River had its 2nd crest--and it only crested at 33.97 ft. Nothing! Now it's time to REALLY enjoy spring!

Last Flood Update--For Now

2009-04-03T15:20:00.004-06:00

Well, this is my last post for our recent Fargo flood. Even though the city is "still cautious" I've decided I need to move on.

I did laundry yesterday--HOORAY!!! I never thought I would say that.

I've been to Target and Walmart again, after almost a 2 week hiatus, and it was wonderful. It's funny the little things you miss.

It's interesting hearing all of the "after flood" news. I didn't realize that the governor AND the federal government strongly suggested/pressured that the mayor evacuate the entire city right before the crest. He kept telling them "we know what we're doing, and we can't evacuate now because we need these people to watch their dikes." I'm glad the mayor was right. I'm glad he didn't evacuate the city.

I saw some more friends out and about. They're still not ready to call this a win. They're also the ones checking their sump pumps round the clock to make sure their dikes hold up. That's the strange thing about this whole experience. I feel like I need a "we won!" or "we lost." We're just coasting for now, and the national news has dropped us, and I just don't know what to think. There's minimal damage in my neighbourhood, and for the most part of Fargo, so it just doesn't look like it was "that big of a deal." (Even though I know it was). I feel like I need some conflict resolution, closure, a denouement in our little flood story.

One thing for sure, I can't believe it was only a week ago when we thought the river was going to crest at 43 ft. That was scary. I was talking to my friends and they were scared too. We're so lucky it only got to 40.8 ft.

School is starting Monday again, and hopefully things will get to normal soon. Some cautionary news though--today, the National Weather Service says there is a 75 percent chance the Red River could crest at 41 feet between April 15-22, surpassing the record crest of 40.82 feet set last Saturday.

If that happens, I'll continue to blog about what's happening with us. It just seems easier to get that information out through the blog than phoning everyone.

But for now, I'm getting caught up on laundry, errands, and taking it one week at a time.

We need routine!

2009-03-31T19:05:00.002-06:00

Another long day of staying at home. We've had blizzard weather today and have recieved 8 inches of snow expecting more tomorrow. The city has urged us to get some rest, fall into a routine but to stay in "alert mode." So what does that mean? Does it mean I can move my washing machine back to the basement and not have to worry about sewage back up?

The kids have been out of school for 2.5 weeks now, and they will have missed 3 weeks of school before they can go back on Monday. We had days off for the blizzard a few weeks ago, spring break, 1 week of flood, 1 week of flood recovery--it's getting insane staying in our house for all this time. Good thing we went to the cities for a few days over spring break!

NDSU is debating what they are going to do with the 3 weeks of school the students have missed. You just can't miss 3 weeks of school in college.

I've decided I'm going to make a routine for tomorrow. I'm going to do some school work with the kids, finish peeling off that wallpaper, move a few things down to the basement again, and maybe even convince Steve to move our washer downstairs again. We also have 6 bags of garbage in the garage since we haven't had garbage pickup for 2 weeks, so maybe I'll get Steve to run those to the dump.

Things I am grateful for:

Awesome city leaders
Awesome Fargo citizens
No sewage backup
No water in my house/basement
We've had power the entire time!
We've had running water the entire time!
All of your prayers

March 30 Update

2009-03-30T22:26:00.008-06:00

Monday was a good day. It was very quiet. No leaks or breaches. Hooray! We went to the grocery store by our house all together, and saw Joshua's principal there as well as one of Whitney's friends from preschool. It's fun to see people, because we really haven't seen our friends (outside of flood efforts) for the past week.

We invited our neighbours from across the street over for dinner. It was fun. I think we all appreciated getting a chance to visit--our kids had fun playing with other kids (besides each other) and we had a fun time talking to other adults. Being cooped up for a while under these types of circumstances can be challenging at times :)

We found a clip of Steve volunteering at the Fargodome! We knew there was a CNN reporter (Susan Roesgen) there on March 26 when Steve was bagging in the morning. This one is actually from USA Today, and if you don't blink, you'll see him at 0:56 and 1:05. He's wearing a blue shirt, white work gloves and a red-handled shovel.

Sunday

2009-03-29T17:49:00.019-06:00

It's been a week since our first volunteering experience. Last Sunday I sandbagged, went to church, and then sandbagged the night shift. Steve went in between those times.

Today has been much quieter. It was a quiet night, and we were excited the river was going down. Then when we woke up this morning, we heard a Fargo private school got flooded because of a leak in a permanent dike. It's like the mayor says, we can't let our guard down.

We walked around the neighbourhood last night and today to take pictures. Here are the pictures from the last week:

Steve coming back from sandbagging--did I mention sandbagging gets your REALLY dirty? This was the beginning of the week. All that snow melted by Tuesday. Then we got 8 more inches of snow.

This is me taking really bad pictures driving in our neighbourhood on the way to sandbag. The city used school buses to bus volunteers to neighbourhoods to bag.

Last night we checked out the dike where we got the code red. It's a block and a half from our house. It's really eye opening to see the water, up to your head being held back by a bunch of sand. It's erie to hear the water being pumped out from the other side of the dike and the water lapping against the bags.

These home owners have to stay out day and night watching the pumps. I think they were taking a break when we came by, but they had camping chairs out.

Joshua's school has been taken over by the National Guard. These trucks are full of mud and sandbags for emergency breaches in the area. I also asked the some National Guardsmen for a picture. They're on continual patrol of the area.

These are the rich homes in the neighbourhood. They're the closest to the river.

The city put these markers out before we built the dikes so we knew how high to build them:

So that's how things look in my neighbourhood. It's pretty quiet, except for the helicopters and drone planes that fly by every fifteen minutes. It's hard to believe that a bunch of sand is holding this all back. And it has to do it for the next 8 days.

Saturday Morning

2009-03-28T11:09:00.003-06:00

Well, last night was a good night. We all slept through the night soundly and didn't get up until 8 am. I don't know if it's because we're SO tired, or that we're finally starting to relax about the situation. It's another stay-at-home day. Only essential businesses are open, and Governor Hoeven has waved a law saying that those business can remain open Saturday night through Sunday morning. My laundry from yesterday is pretty much dry, so I think I'll start another load this afternoon. I cleaned the upstairs bathroom this morning. I just felt I needed to clean SOMETHING--my house is such a mess. At least I didn't have to clean the downstairs toilet. It's been removed and Steve plugged the drain so we don't get any sewage backup.

The best news so far--NWS THINKS THE RIVER HAS CRESTED!!!

That doesn't mean it's over. The mayor thinks we won't be out of the worst for another 8 days. They think it will stay this high (40.7 feet) until Wednesday. That means our sandbag dikes have to hold that river back for a while yet.

Thanks again for your prayers for Fargo. Please pray for Moorhead, MN. They have had more evacuations than Fargo has. Last night the mayor of Moorhead was on the local news and he looked like he was on the verge of tears.

Well, I should shower and start a new round of laundry

2009-03-27T18:44:00.003-06:00

Steve just got back. They finished diking. He said the response was phenomenal. They had 8 lines of baggers, they city delivered the bags, and they were done within half an hour. Hold baby hold.

Afternoon Update

2009-03-27T18:22:00.003-06:00

Well, just as we were about to eat dinner, we got a "Code Red." There was a breach and they needed volunteers immediately to go fill bags and bag in the dike a block and a half down from us.

Steve is diking right now. Pray that it works.

I'm debating whether to put the kids down to bed right now. Just in case we have to leave in the next couple of hours.

It was a relatively quiet afternoon. That's the weird thing about all of this. It's just ups and downs. Up yesterday after we had finished our dikes to 43 ft. Down half an hour later after we heard the crest prediction had changed to 43. Today we sat around the house. The city is asking we not travel around the city so that means if you volunteer it HAS to be in your neighborhood. I "did laundry" this afternoon. Washed the essential underwear in the bathtub, and hung it on the shower curtain rod. I also found an old ugly curtain rod the previous owners left in the basement, and hung laundry on that too. I hope that it dries by tomorrow morning.

Well, the kids and I are just waiting. I'm going to watch the updates for evacs. I guess the positive thing this afternoon is they think the river will crest between 41-42 ft in the next 24 hrs.

Friday morning update

2009-03-27T09:40:00.002-06:00

Well we made it through last night and we are still here. Our car is packed to go. Our washer, dryer, freezer are all on the main level. I guess we're lucky since we've lived in a 2 bedroom apartment for the last 7 years, all our stuff fits on the upper level. We're just keeping our eyes on the news. What they do is suggest evacuation and then after a few hours make it mandatory. As soon as we hear "evacuation" for our area, we're outta here. We'll let you know when we evacuate.

On a side note, here are some of the things you "feel" in a emergency situation.

Tired. It's amazing--like up all night with baby tired--x100, but somehow your adrenaline keeps you going. Muscles ache. I woke up at least 10 times last night thinking I heard something.

Dirty. Very dirty. We plugged our drains in the basement 4 days ago, so that means no clean clothes. Period. And sandbagging for 4 days straight makes you very dirty. I took a shower this morning, but as the city said, "the water may smell and taste earthy, but it is still okay to drink." It smells like Tucks pads. I don't feel clean at all.

The kids are doing very well. They've been keeping themselves busy. I'm just worried about them though. Especially Joshua. When we moved here and then went to Utah for a week after, it took him about 4 months to recover. I can't imagine what it would be like if he couldn't get back to his routine for months. I saw what one week did, and it was horrible.

Thank you thank you for your prayers. It's so humbling to see everyone praying for us.

Positive News

2009-03-26T15:36:00.000-06:00

Wo-hoo!!! North Fargo is now diked to 43 ft!

Thursday Update

2009-03-26T14:38:00.003-06:00

I've just come back from three hours of diking and I'm really tired. Steve pulled a 3am-8am shift at the Fargodome, and helped a friend move stuff out of their basement because of a leak in the dike behind their house. We've got our stuff ready to go in case of an evac, I made ID badges for the kids, and an evac sign for our door. We live in North Fargo which would be one of the last places to flood, but you never know.

I wouldn't be surprised if we were asked to evacuate tonight or tomorrow. The river is a little over 39 feet right now, and as far as I know is still expected to crest a little over 41 on Saturday. And then we wait until the water goes back down.

I've listed the flood update sites we're relying on here in Fargo:

www.inforum.com
www.cityoffargo.com
www.valleyfloodwatch.com

Thank you for your prayers. We need them!

Flood Update

2009-03-25T13:41:00.003-06:00

As many of you may now be hearing, Fargo and surrounding areas are preparing for the flood of the century. It is expected to be worse than the historic 1997 flooding when the river crested at 39 ft. Officials expect this time around the river to crest at (as of today) 41 feet on Friday.

The community is outstanding--volunteers have been working around the clock to fill sandbags and build sandbag dikes since Sunday. Steve and I are exhausted. We trade shifts (Steve goes, I watch the kids--I go, he watches the kids). I'm dreaming sandbags and waking up in the middle of the night to make sure we don't have flooding in our basement. So far, so good.

Yesterday the city was confident that 95% of the city has been diked and bagged. This morning though, we woke up to snow--lots of snow. The forecast predicted 1-3 inches, now they're saying 4-8 inches. The city now wants us to build our dikes up to 43 ft. We had a day off, but now we're asked to work around the clock again to fill and bag.

The city is VERY organized. National Guard is here, Red Cross, etc, and the city buses are shuttling people to the Fargodome and the city solid waste facility known as "Sandbag Central." They have machines at "Sandbag Central," volunteers have to fill by shovel at the Fargodome. Everyone here is calm, but very serious and determined. Everyone is focused to get the job done.

The universities in the area are shut down, and are asking students to volunteer. High school students are also getting out of school to volunteer. It's a massive community effort.

Yesterday we helped dike Steve's boss' house. Whitney watched us outside while Joshua was in school. Today, I've packed up all our pictures in 2 boxes, got our documents in the emergency backpack, and the med kit ready to throw in the car if we need to. So far we should be fine, but if we get ice jams in the river like Bismarck, or if one of the dikes fails (like it did in southwest Fargo) then we need to be ready.

The city has asked us not to go around, "site-seeing" and taking pictures. If you want to see pictures, check any news site. It is really amazing to see. People lined up around houses. Clay dikes in the middle of streets. Sandbag dikes that look like snow drifts.

Please keep Fargo and its surrounding communities in your thoughts and prayers. This is a really wonderful community, and everyone has worked so hard to protect it.

I'll keep you posted

Minneapolis Institute of Art

2009-03-20T19:22:00.005-06:00

We also spent a few hours at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, which was wonderful too. I have to say my favourite section was the Impressionists. Rousseau to be exact, but my expert art sis Laura says he's technically post-impressionist. Well, I did find an interesting bust. And it reminded me of the most recent Pride and Prejudice. I don't know if I was supposed to take pics or not. They didn't say we couldn't. But I made sure I didn't use a flash.

Oh, and they had an awesome AWESOME sculpture by Dale Chihuly called Sunburst. Did I say it was awesome?

IKEA, glorious IKEA!!!

2009-03-20T19:20:00.002-06:00

The highlight of the trip for me--you guessed it--IKEA. We spent hours there. It was fantastic. That's all I have to say about that.

Mall of America

2009-03-20T18:51:00.016-06:00

This week is NDSU and the kid's spring break so we decided to go down to Minneapolis for a quick visit. Our first stop was the Mall of America. Now, I grew up in Edmonton, so I was interested in seeing how the Mall of America compared to West Edmonton Mall. I think the most obvious difference is that Mall of America is really REALLY tall (like 4 or 5 floors) while West Ed is spread out across a massive area (like you walk miles in it). Otherwise, they're pretty similar, they both have indoor underwater aquariums, and they both have indoor amusement parks.

We first visited Legoland, which is really cool and free (the only free thing in the whole mall other the water coming out of the water fountains). They have a ton of huge Lego creations, and the kids can sit at stations and build with Legos. Of course, Joshua thought the coolest legos ever were the ones with letters.

We then went to Nickelodeon Universe, and went on a few rides:

Of course, this is Minnesota and that means hockey, and guess what?! They have OILERS gear. We had to take some pics:

And last but not least, the American Girl store. I can't WAIT to read the books to Whitney. And it doesn't even matter that I'm Canadian :) I had Canadian friends who read the books.

Planting our Garden

2009-03-02T19:44:00.002-06:00

We are getting ready for spring. So while we wait for the snow to melt and the ground to thaw, our little seedlings will be staying nice and warm in our house until they're grown and big enough to be outside. We had so much fun starting our impatiens, big boy tomatoes and cherry tomatoes:

North Dakota is beautiful

2009-02-18T09:37:00.003-06:00

This morning I saw another sun dog. It seems like it has to get really cold in and really sunny in order to get a sun dog. If you haven't seen one before, you're missing out. They're gorgeous.

I love the three head store!

2009-02-18T08:42:00.008-06:00

Whitney asks me every once in a while if we are going to the "Three head store" today. The "three head store" is really the Dakota Boys Ranch (a thrift store benifiting at risk teenagers). It really is the best thrift store ever. Target donates all of their brand new surplus stuff, and since I love Target, that works out for me just fine. Here are some of my finds recently:

Sporto boots for myself ($6):

A brand new Olive Kids bedskirt for Joshua for just 7 bucks (This one is regularly $35)

A clock (once again brand new) to match Whitney's Ikea Flower light for 5 bucks:

Can I just say I love this place!

My Minnesota Valentine

2009-02-10T11:44:00.002-06:00

While I was running this morning, I heard this cute little poem on Minnesota Public Radio. I embedded the audio--there's just something about hearing the author read their own work.

A Minnesota Valentine--by Peter Smith

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
In Minnesota this time of year, practicality pays.

I love thee for thy calories converted to heat,
In the night, bun to bun, under the sheets.
Never mind lingerie. Let passion take a hiatus.
Give me two parts of your flannel to one of my flatus.

For your car starting skills, so adroit and so able,
As you raise up my hood and attach your jumper cables,
Then stand on a snowbank made by some passing plow,
And tell me to "Crank it." I'm so hot for you now.

For your blower, your shovel, your roof rake, your salt,
For your scarf, hat and chopper snow removal gestalt.
Love may or may not work in mysterious ways,
But in Minnesota this time of year, practicality pays.

I love thee for thy hotdish -- mushroom soup or tomato.
Hamburger. Tuna fish. How you wrangle potatoes.
I love knowing the food on our table tonight's
bound for my waistline tomorrow. It just feels right.

For being considerate. For the love you devote.
For letting me run the TV remote.

For your intuition... Your powers of deduction.
En route to your mother's, all the driving instruction.
How you fill in my blanks and complete every thought.
I don't finish thinking as fast as I ought.

There are Romeos for Juliets and Brad Pitts for Jolies.
In Minnesota, there's pretty much just "You's" and "Me's."
And I speak for all Minnesota men when I say,
I love you. I'm sorry. Happy Valentines Day.

Warm Weather!

2009-02-05T14:19:00.005-06:00

Last week we had a heat wave and we're headed for another one this weekend (30-35F). The kids love to play outisde when the weather's nice!

Christmas in January

2009-01-23T13:44:00.014-06:00

I've realized I haven't put any Christmas pictures up. We had a great Christmas. Our kids were SO excited for Santa and it was SO fun. We also got to see our parents over the break too. I have to admit, it felt so weird driving around in Kansas City knowing Lawrence was so close! I wanted to go and visit SO bad. I wished we had more time too. But maybe it was a good thing. I don't know how the kids would have taken it. I was going to send Christmas cards, and one of these pictures would have been on them. It just didn't happen... And here's a sample of the hundreds of other "un-co-operative" pictures. Is it just me, or is it nearly impossible to get both children to look at the camera or just smile NORMALLY? Christmas Morning: Whitney LOVES her Strawberry Shortcake dolls Joshua LOVES his indoor trampoline (Santa LOVES Freecycle) Joshua's Kindergarten had a little Christmas Concert. It was so cute and I got most of it until the battery died. Whitney had a preschool Christmas Concert too. Too bad Mom forgot the memory card to the camera in the computer. For the record, Mom DID remember to charge the battery. Luckily my friend got some good shots of Whitney, so when I get them, I'll post them.

Happy Inauguration Day Mr President!

2009-01-20T15:49:00.003-06:00

(photo courtesy of whitehouse.gov)

Lock me in the deep freeze

2009-01-15T12:23:00.009-06:00

Ah yes, Fargo has made national news. As quoted on CNN today Jan 15th:

"It was 48 below in Fargo, North Dakota, where unprotected fingers could suffer frostbite in 60 seconds."

I stepped out this morning without a scarf on--big mistake. I thought my nose was going to freeze and fall off. As I wrote on my facebook status the other day, I'm pretty sure that sticking my head in a freezer would be warmer and more enjoyable than sticking my head outside.

This is me actually prepared for the weather--much better. When you go out to shovel your driveway, you can't recognize your neighbors because all you can see is a view like this. Just eyes.

Here is our house. We got a flyer in the mail from the City telling us not to go on our roofs and try to shovel off the snow. They said it's dangerous, not necessary (because they build the roofs to hold the weight of the snow), and it helps insulate your house for heating costs. BUT, when I drive around I see people who have attempted to shovel off the snow off their roofs. I don't know if it's the retired people who are bored or what, but these houses have a little border of snow removed from around the edge of their roofs. They actually sell special shovels to remove snow of your roof. I guess I don't understand it. I think I'd kill myself trying to climb up a ladder in this weather just to see if I could remove a tenth of the snow off my roof.

Here are my kids all bundled up. They look like native Fargoans don't they? Do you like Whitney's scarf? I knitted it--I taught myself watching a YouTube tutorial. I think I'm going to knit one for Joshua--that thin little flimsy piece of polar fleece isn't cutting it as a scarf anymore.

As fun as it is to joke that we're living in the tundra, up until the past few days, it really isn't that bad. You just have to bundle up if you want to go outside, and warm up your car for a couple of minutes before you go to the store.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like...

2008-12-15T08:55:00.009-06:00

The North Pole!

As you may have heard, Fargo had a blizzard over the weekend. Church was canceled--everything was canceled. Clinics were cancelled, pretty much the only thing open was the ER. I heard someone say the police would fine you if they found you "out and about" enjoying the lovely weather.

Here are some pictures of the snow around the house:

And the backyard (I had to take these indoors because the drift was so packed and so high, I couldn't open the back door).

And since we live in the North Pole, Santa wasn't very hard to find. We took these pictures about a week and a half ago.

Well...

2008-11-22T15:26:00.004-06:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted, so I decided to update. Nothing really exciting is happening here, I don't have any funny/exciting stories to share. I don't have too much to complain about. So I'll just summarize some thoughts/feelings I've had recently:

1. I'm in MOPS (mothers of preschoolers). And I don't know what to think of it. I love getting to meet people in my community. I love to eat brunch. I don't know if I like the time it sucks up. I don't have any poopy diaper stories or other cutsie toddler stories to share. But it's a great way to meet almost every mom at Joshua's elementary school.

2. Joshua and Whitney are in school and loving it. Joshua is rockin' the academic world. He now knows all his addition facts (think mad minutes) and has learned them--oh in the past week and a half. His teachers think he's at a grade 1 possibly 2 reading level already. He can count by 5s 10s, and 2s. Which makes it challenging at school because the other kindergartners are learning sight words, counting backwards from 10, counting by tens, and learning that the letter "A" makes two sounds. His social skills are getting a lot better. He talks to a few "chosen" kids in his class, and talks even more to his teachers--really it's only his teachers he likes to socialize with, so we're still working on it. Whitney loves preschool--and is doing great. She's learning her sight words and writing her name and does a good job being friends with EVERYONE in her class--even those having a tough time. Her teacher really appreciates it, but really, Whitney's been a peer model in a special ed classroom and lives with Joshua, so she's learned well :)

3. Steve's loving his job. I'm glad. After all that financial sacrifice and endless student-dom, I'd be pretty upset if he didn't like it. But really, I'm really, really happy for him. I'm so glad he loves what he does.

4. I've been really busy. Now that the election is over, I don't check the Internet nearly as much as I did before, and have kind of lost my love of blogging in the absence of Internet use. I've signed up to run a marathon relay in May in the infamous Fargo marathon. I still love to cook. I miss my Lawrence friends a ton--I miss my Lawrence book club even more. And I've been thinking a lot about a lot of things.

So here's my random post. I'll put a cute Whitney picture up because I have to show her incredibly cute, obnoxiously big pink bow hairband I got at Gymboree for 19 cents. That's one thing of Lawrence I don't miss. I love having a mall that's not 40 min away.

Trick or Treat!

2008-11-01T08:07:00.013-06:00

Hooray for Halloween! My kids were so excited this year. They've been counting down for weeks. They've also been watching me sew their costumes the past three weeks. That's right, I sewed all of our costumes (I actually did Steve's last year). I don't really sew. But it was fun. They're not perfect. I could show you all the mistakes I made on each of them, but hey it's a learning curve right? Who would of thought I would remember the stuff I learned in two years of Home Ec back in Junior High? Just for clarification--Joshua went as Peter Pan, Whitney was Tinker Bell, Steve was Mr. Darcy, and I was Elizabeth Bennet

Just a friendly reminder...

2008-10-29T20:01:00.001-06:00

Apples and Pumpkins

2008-09-28T19:05:00.010-06:00

It's fall here in Fargo, and we are enjoying every minute of it. We went to the Fall Festival Saturday and enjoyed the pumpkins and the kids LOVED the pony rides.

Whitney and I went apple picking in the orchards in South Fargo. It's totally free, and we got a ton of apples. We could have got more, but we didn't bring bug spray and were getting eaten alive. Literally. They spray here for mosquitos (the planes fly over your house, and it sounds like they're going to take your roof off). At first I was wondering what the health implications are for all that lovely pestiside. But now, after being paranoid we contracted West Nile, I think I rather have pesticides and not be eaten alive. It really was bad--my friend Lisa wore flip flops and her feet were COVERED with mosquitos. Next time I guess we'll bring the spray.

And some more Whitney love. I curled her hair one Sunday with rags--it turned out really cute, but I didn't get a chance to get a picture of the final project :( And her first day of preschool. That girl can't smile without making a goofy face!

And finally, if you made it to the end of this post, I got a letter to the editor article published in the Fargo paper. You can click on the link to read it. I'll warn you though, it's political, and if you still want to be my friend, and if you don't think you can be after knowing which candidate I support, then don't click on it, and we can still be friends. If you don't care, then go ahead and read the article. Don't forget, I have Democrat and Republican friends out there, and I'm not antagonistic to either side.

In-forum Letter

Whitney Zen

2008-09-10T18:07:00.003-06:00

Any time Whitney gets dressed or gets ready for her bath and stands naked (save her underwear) she says, "Look Mom, I'm The Little Mermaid."

Nice.

Thanks Disney.

A Place for My Girl

2008-09-04T09:24:00.004-06:00

With all the women in the media recently enjoying the spotlight--for better or worse, I've had many thoughts culminating about what I want for MY little girl. Granted, she's only 4, but already I see how the world works on her.

Whitney is a very VERY loving person. She is very concerned about others. She is very sensitive. She can't watch Beauty and the Beast (because she thinks the mob will hurt the beast) and other TV shows because she's THAT concerned about the character's well-being.

In preschool she loves being a helper and teacher to other kids.

Whitney can be quite the drama queen--she will cry at the drop of hat and then quickly be laughing a blink later. I don't know where she gets it from. I don't go around the house all day long doing those things.

She's really concerned about how she looks--if things match, if the shoes are pretty enough, etc.

She is really REALLY smart--but not really aware of it.

I've been observing all these traits for the past few months, and I've been thinking how I can help shape her strengths and shrink her weaknesses. Now I'm not naiive. I do have Joshua, I know there is only so much moulding and shaping you can do, and ultimatley she'll make her own person, but I do hope I can create an environment to foster the best in her.

I guess part of it is example. She really picks up EVERYTHING. When I get really flustered, or panicked, I sometimes utter.."shhh." (To avoid a four letter explative with the same beginning consonant blend). Well, when Whitney couldn't get up the hill this morning on her trike, she said, "shhh..." too. Great. Every morning when I go running she tells me, when she gets big she wants to go running too. That's great--I want her to be healthy, but not overly obsessed with how she looks. I don't want her to be the type of girl who eats a piece of cake while at the same time blurts out, "I shouldn't eat this, I'm getting fatter by the bite." I want her to enjoy her life, who she is, and be happy with herself enough to enjoy that piece of cake too.

I don't want her to be swayed by what other people think. I want her to stick to her morals and never let anyone tell her she doesn't have the talent or intelligence to meet her potential. I want her to be able to do anything she wants to do--which means she needs to think that she's capable herself.

I don't want her to think that she needs a man to complete her. I've seen many women and friends who have often thought their life won't be complete, that they won't be a whole person if they don't have a man in their life. Don't get me wrong--I love men (Steve that's you). But I also love myself too--and know that if anything happened to Steve--though I would be very very sad and a part of all the experiences I share with him would seem empty--I know I could make it too.

Now I hope with this post my friends don't think I'm a ranting angry feminist. But I do consider myself a feminist in some ways. I want my little girl to be a strong woman in a world which challenges the role and credibility of women every day. I'm not perfect at this--I often feel that Whitney gets the short end of the stick because Joshua requires so much attention. I guess that's why, when I see different women portrayed in the media, I want to do a better job of this.

Joshua's First Day of Kindergarten

2008-08-29T11:23:00.006-06:00

My kids are just growing up in the blink of an eye. I have a kindergartener! Me. And since it's full day kindergarten, Joshua's gone all day long. I would probably be crying tears of sorrow at the thought of him being gone for the full day (he's been going to preschool for three hours a day since he was three years old), but with this rough move and transition, I was nearing tears of joy. Joshua just needs structure, routine, and is literally addicted to academics--this is just better off for the both of us. I do admit, I was a little nervous--he is being integrated into a typical kindergarten classroom...but the staff seems wonderful and we had such a fantastic FANTASTIC special education staff in Lawrence to prepare him for school, it made me feel a little better. Here's a handsome picture of our little man. He told me he didn't want a picture, he just wanted to head straight to school. (And yes for the ultra-observent people out there--I am wearing a coat, and Joshua is wearing jeans and a hoodie on the first day of school)

Whitney turns 4

2008-08-29T11:17:00.006-06:00

Can you believe my baby is 4 years old!? She's grown up so fast. We threw a party for her, inviting some new-found friends from church (the church is great for that). She had a blast--from her Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake, Strawberry Shortcake-themed games to finally getting her own princess dress up, my girl was in heaven. Happy Birthday Whitney, we love you!

Lucky Number 7

2008-08-29T11:11:00.003-06:00

On August 17 Steve and I celebrated our seven year anniversary--I can't believe we've been married for seven years! Little did I know seven years ago what surprises, dificulties, and challenges we would encounter...but I'm sure grateful for our two wonderful kids, and such a wonderful husband to meet life's challenges with. I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else! I love you Steve!

Meeting baby Benjamin

2008-08-29T10:48:00.001-06:00

My parents and little sister came up to visit us on their way to Ontario. They wanted to see the new house--I wanted to see Laura's baby. Isn't he cute!?

Our Life in the Travelling Circus (Complete With Exotic Animals and Ornery Midgets)

2008-08-11T20:04:00.009-06:00

Hello all! We finally got our Internet switched so our connection is no longer dial-up-like, and now high speed. We got home from our trip to Utah last Tuesday, and so here is the update I promised.

Leaving Lawrence was sad and stressful. Packing up our entire apartment really made me really REALLY realize I never want to move again. I wanted to pack up all of our stuff, so I would know where everything was when I unpacked. Lesson learned. Next time let the movers do it. Steve actually got a brown recluse bite on his upper thigh. We really didn't know what it was at first, but after the red, white and blue bulls-eye mark turned into a 3.5 inch purplish/brownish bruise looking thing, we suspected a recluse bite. I didn't take a picture, so I don't have one to post. I'm sure Steve wouldn't appreciate a picture of his upper thigh on the Internet anyways. Lucky, it wasn't worse that we had to go to the ER.

I had great friends help clean my apartment so we could get the deposit back. Daina and Lisa I LOVE YOU!!! Thanks for your hard work. I'm missing all of my Lawrence friends dearly.

After ignoring my children for the two weeks before the move, the move itself, and then flying to Utah for a wedding, let's just say...my children were ticking time bombs. Especially Joshua. We left for the airport at 4am, got into Utah around noon, and ran around doing pre wedding stuff the rest of the night, getting back to Steve's grandma's at 10pm. The kids were FANTASTIC on the airplane and going through airport security. I made a picture schedule so they knew exactly what to expect. Too bad there wasn't a picture schedule for the wedding dinner and ceremony the next day. It was 100 degrees in Utah the day of the wedding, and after pictures and not getting lunch until 3pm, Joshua lost it. With some very ticked off caterers and other people who just don't understand autism, it was time for us to go. It was a beautiful wedding though. Christine looked incredible. Congrats to Dave and Christine!

We are finally home, unpacking our house, and trying to get settled. I feel a little out of my element. I don't know where to shop for the best deals for groceries, garage sales, etc. I guess I'll figure it out in time though. I did find something equivalent to freecycle, and picked up a headboard that I want to paint white for Whitney's room. I'll have to post the pics when I'm done with it.

To all you moms out there--why is it that just as you want to slack off a little, because you want a break because you're life has been a little more stressful or out of whack than usual, you can't because you're kids are feeling the exact same way? What can you do so everyone's happy?

Well, I finish this post with some pics from Utah. Enjoy!

The lovely Dave and Christine. Doesn't she look like Keri Russell to you?

Joshua and me taking a break in the heat.

Heidi and Scarlett--beautiful divas as always

Roomies re-unite--me and Sunny--she's due in just a few weeks. Doesn't she look great!?

Elizabeth and me. We share two loves--English and Cooking! It was so good to see you both!

Welcome to Fargo

2008-07-28T15:00:00.004-06:00

We made it! We're here now in Fargo, and slowly getting unpacked. It's been a whirlwind two weeks, and we're headed out of town again this weekend to go to Steve's brother's wedding. I've had a lot of people wanting to see pictures of the house, so here it is. I'll post a longer post of our adventures leading up to this point (including Steve's encounter with a brown recluse) and more about our neighbourhood and Fargo when we get back.

The Inside of the House:

All The Pretty Flowers (I have no idea what some of them are):

Fired Up, Ready to Go!

2008-07-18T18:11:00.004-06:00

Steve and I have been busy packing--except now he's in a conference in Kansas City for 3 days, and won't be back until Saturday night. We move Monday. I'm starting to get a little bit tired, a little bit frustrated, and all of us are getting cramped from living in our apartment where, for the past month, boxes have been slowly creeping into our living space. We are getting so claustophobic--to the point when I pack a box, I don't know where to put it. It's like the third trimester of pregnancy. You're so uncomfortable, so cramped, you just want to get it over with. When we bought the house in Fargo, I was really fired up. Now, I'm just burned out and ready to go. So I'm signing off from the blogging world. My next post will be from Fargo. I don't know when it will be, but I hope it will be soon. Good-bye to all my Lawrence friends. You've been great and I'll miss you so much!

Watermelon Blasters

2008-07-11T17:55:00.006-06:00

(photo courtesy of www.marthastewart.com)

I've really been wanting to find some good, cold, delicious AND HEALTHY popsicles for my kids. I've decided I can't find ANY at the grocery store. They all have high fructose corn syrup and artificial food colours. Now, for my readers out there, I am a sort of a food snob. I try not to buy things with high fructose corn syrup, artificial colour, enriched flour, etc for the most part and only buy items with these things for stuff I can't live without. I'm not a health Nazi, but I really don't want to fill up my kids with "filler nutrients" and chemical colouring if I can help it. I really don't want my kids consuming one hundred Mr. Freezes a day.

So, I wanted to make my own Popsicles--problem is I've packed all my non-essential cooking items. I found this GREAT recipe on marthastewart.com for Watermelon Blasters. The kids LOVE them--they're addicted. The best part--absolutely no sugar. Give it a try and see if you like them too:

Watermelon Blasters

Ingredients
3 cups cubed, seeded watermelon
1 1/2 cups strawberries
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (I use one whole lime)
1 cup ice cubes
Sugar, to taste (we've never had to add sugar, the watermelon is sweet enough)
Directions:
Put watermelon, strawberries, lime juice, ice, and sugar if desired into the pitcher of a blender, and blend for 15 seconds on high speed. (Always put the top on the container before processing.) Stop machine, and stir ingredients with a long wooden spoon. Blend for 15 seconds more on high speed.

Fourth of July

2008-07-05T17:52:00.012-06:00

Here are some pictures of our fourth of July. We started celebrating with our church's breakfast celebration, then we drove out to Kansas City to visit Steve's family.
The Jensens at breakfast (one super cute family):

The Legerski's were there too (another super cute family):

The party at the Becks:

Bon Anniversaire/Happy Birthday Canada!

2008-07-01T11:13:00.005-06:00

Today is the day back in 1867 when the Dominion of Canada and Great Britain signed the British North America Act in Charlottetown, New Brunswick, and voila! we had confederation and officially "Canada." Happy Birthday Canada! Usually we throw a big party for you, but with all of our packing and preperations for Fargo, I just didn't get a chance to make my maple leaf cookies, BBQ pizza, and Nanaimo Bars. We'll have to do it next year. This morning on my way to Dog Days, I was listening to NPR and they had a feature on a music group called, "Le Vent Du Nord," (English=the wind of the north) a traditional Quebec singing group. It made me flash back to elementary school at Brander Gardens when they would have the "courier du bois" music groups from Quebec come by, complete with their saws, wooden spoons, and wooden puppets dancing on boards. So, if you want to celebrate Canada with me, sing a little "O Canada," and follow this link to hear some good old French Canadian music.

Sleeping Beauty

2008-06-21T13:47:00.002-06:00

Whitney has been taking a nap every day since Sunday. Like I mentioned in the previous post, THIS GIRL NEVER TAKES NAPS. I don't know what's up with her, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

Father's Day and the Iron Man

2008-06-15T19:09:00.009-06:00

Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there. I am so thankful to have a great dad myself that put up with living in a house of two daughters. I'm thankful for all the things he taught me: how to ski, how to skate, how to build a model rocket for school, how to love the Edmonton Oilers. Dad you're the best!

I'm also thankful for Steve and what a great dad he is to Whitney and Joshua. We have some high-maintenence kids, and he always has great patience with them. Even as a busy student he always finds time to play with them. Thanks for all you do!

This week I participated in the Iron Man. Well, sort of. I volunteered for the Iron Man. I signed up to help check in the athletes Friday afternoon so I could run the Rock Chalk 5K/10K Saturday morning for free. I couldn't believe all the people who signed up. It's $250 to register and people flew from Brazil, Australia, Canada all over the U.S. to particpate. These people are hard-core. The Iron Man is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. (That run is a half marathon folks).

The 5K was so much fun. The weather was great and the course had some good shady areas. I actually ran pretty well too. I came in first place in my age division and 16th overall in women. Comparing it to the Iron Man, it doesn't seem like much, but it was fun to win and I got a cup. No, nothing like Lord Stanley's Cup, more like a table glass. Also, congrats to my friend Katina, who did her first triathalon in Topeka. You're awesome Katina!

(I know, not too attractive)

And to end this very long post, a picture of Whitney--napping. That girl hasn't taken a nap since 2006

Joshua's Art Project

2008-06-10T07:25:00.006-06:00

For those of you who know Joshua, you know that he hates drawing pictures. He would rather practice and perfect his printing skills over and over again than sit down and draw a cute little picture of a house. If you want him to draw a picture of a house, you basically have to tell him or show him a square and triangle.

So you would imagine my surprise when on the kitchen table I found this abandoned piece of paper. It was definitely crafted by Joshua. He has those signature people at the bottom with the big coloured-in ears. I asked him "What is this a picture of?" and he said "Joshua eating a cookie, Joshua eating cake, Joshua eating ice cream." (So that's what that circle and upside down triangle is) Wow, you can tell we like to eat a lot of those things around here :) Of course on the back of the paper he had written "cookie" "ice cream" "cake" and "jayhawks." I knew he just HAD to write something somewhere. Hooray for Joshua! I guess next time I want you to draw a picture, I should just ask you to draw food!!!

One of our favourite family games right now is "Guess Who." I found it at a garage sale the other day for $2 and got nostalgic. The kids love it. And they're both really good at thinking up questions like, "Does your person have brown hair?" all on their own. The best part is that it forces Joshua to actually listen and RESPOND to Whitney. He listens to me and Steve just fine, but often he just ignores Whitney and drives her crazy. Now, he listens to her question, looks at the card, and says, "No Whitney, no brown hair." It's great! So if you want a game that encourages sibling cooperation, give Guess Who a try!

P.S. I bought the old school version of Guess Who. I looked online, and they now have an ethnically-diverse version. I'm all about encouraging my kids to accept and embrace ethnic diversity (I bought Whitney an African American baby doll when she asked me why some people are chocolate) I just don't know if I want my kids asking, "Whitney does your person have brown skin?" or "Joshua, does your person have yellow skin?" Aren't we trying to get our kids to look past skin colour?

Driving on the Wild Side

2008-06-06T18:55:00.004-06:00

Storm chasers, spotters, crazy--call us any of these names. We are certified in all 3 after yesterday.

Yesterday we were driving back from Fargo, and at the border of Nebraska/Iowa, hit a huge mass of severe thunderstorm cells. We had the radio tuned into the weather reports, which started to freak us out after a while. Then the driving got really bad. There was so much lightning, and rain, and then the wind picked up. We decided to pull off the road, so we drove into a McDonalds in Rock Port, Missouri (the middle of nowhere). Just as we parked, we heard the sirens go off, and ran into McDonalds as fast as we could because of the rain. We came in soaked. There were about 50 other people there who had the same idea as us. The staff was giving out free coffee, hot chocolate, and juice for the little kids and had the weather radio on. They were asking for flashlights (we happened to have one in our car--Steve ran back out in the pouring rain for it) and had everyone crowd in the bathrooms. About five minutes we hear on the radio that a tornado touched down in Fairfax, Mo--less than 20 miles south of us. It was crazy, everyone was on their cell phones, people with laptops were trying to get the weather radar up, water was pouring into McDonalds. Fun stuff.

When we thought it was safe to drive again, we didn't get much farther. We heard the warnings again on the radio (this time it was pitch black dark so you can't see anything). We stopped at a gas station just north outside of St. Joseph, Mo, and once again it was filled with people. Then on the radio, we heard that a tornado had touched down at Country Club road--4 miles west of us. Yikes!

Well, driving on pins and needles, we finally made it back to Lawrence safe and sound. I usually love big storms, but this time I just kept praying we'd make it home alive!

For more on the story click here. That semi turned over--we saw it and two others between Fairfax and St. Joseph.

Adventures at Grandma and Grandpa's

2008-06-01T17:42:00.007-06:00

Last weekend we went down to Wichita to visit Grandma Gail and Grandpa Dave. We had such a fun visit. We were able to go to their indoor and outdoor YMCA pool (the kid's favourite place by far!), experience some crazy Kansas storms at night, and even discovered a very large, fast moving turtle in their backyard. Here are some pictures:

The kid's favourite book right now is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. Grandpa read it a million times to them:

It's Official--With all the Pomp and Circumstance

2008-05-21T18:10:00.008-06:00

Steve officially graduated over the weekend (complete with honours). It was fantastic. Steve's Grandma Williams flew from Utah, my parents drove from Wichita, and Steve's parents (plus, Thomas, Heidi, Heather, Reagan, and Scarlett) all came too. Since Steve didn't walk for his Masters in Illinois, we thought that maybe he should do it this time, since he will never be going to school EVER AGAIN! (Well, at least as a student, I guess technically he will be going to school for the rest of his life--as a professor).

These pictures are taken after the doctoral hooding ceremony

So here he is. Let me introduce to you: Dr. Stephenson Beck

I actually like this picture better. Without the dorky hat, and the look on his face--well, he just looks so relieved.

Steve and his wonderful advisor Joann Keyton. I can't say enough good things about this woman. She has been the best advisor for Steve. Always determined to push him to write better and submit more publications, and always determined to make him graduate so he wouldn't be the "eternal student." It worked. Steve finished in 3 years instead of 4--Joann I'M ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO YOU!!!

The whole gang:

Finally it's OVER!

Trip to the Zoo

2008-05-09T15:15:00.012-06:00

Joshua and Whitney's preschool went to the Topeka Zoo for a little "end of the year" field trip. The kids LOVED it. (Though Whitney got a little scared if the animals got too close). Steve even came, because now he's all done with classes and the dissertaion. It threatened to rain all day, but it didn't and the animals were pretty co-operative too. It was a great trip!

Joshua was really excited to see the elephants. Too bad mommy didn't get any good pictures of them.

Whitney roaring like a lion

Whitney and her preschool friends

Just Itchin' To Leave Kansas

2008-05-03T11:37:00.006-06:00

Every week that goes by the more excited we are to leave Kansas and move to Fargo. After what's happened over the past few days, however, we are really wishing we could move now!

Kansas is very beautiful in the springtime, the weather is perfect, you can actually spend the whole day outside without the scalding 100F temperatures that come in June and July, and it has many beautiful flowering trees:

Which is a BIG problem. I've never had allergies in my life until we moved here. Joshua has always had allergies, but they never have been the problem we've had since we moved here. Every spring and fall, his eyes swell up so bad that he looks like he's been punched in the face a couple of times. Well, this year is worse than ever. On Thursday his left eye swelled shut, and the poor kid kept running to the bathroom every 2 minutes to try to put water in his eyes. Then the wheezing started. He's never wheezed before, so we ended up at Prompt Care that night. We've switched him from Claritin to Zyrtec, and this is how he looks now. SO much better than on Thursday. I wish I could have taken the "before" pictures on Thursday, but the camera batteries were dead.

We ditched our church's camp out Friday night and my plan is to keep him inside for as much as possible. Which is really sad, because both my kids love riding their bikes and playing outside, and I really love them not tearing up my house with their energy and boredom.

The Dissertation is Done!!!

2008-04-22T13:49:00.011-06:00

Hooray for Steve! After 2 years of being a Master's student and 3 years of a PhD student--he's done! YAY! Yesterday he defended and passed! We are so proud of you Steve! This is quite the accomplishment, and since you won't toot your own horn, I'll do it for you!

(By the way, for all you English and Journalism degrees out there, I know my use of exclamation marks is excessive. But I think for occasions like this, I think it's appropriate).