Bismarck's Record Flooding

If you haven't heard, which would be almost impressive at this point, Bismarck (along with numerous other cities and states) is at an all time record flood stage. I tried my best to take pictures of the panic and devestation this small city is up against but they really do it no justice at all.

For reference, this is a small park on the Missouri river. This boat is now completely surrounded by water and if you look, you can see the TOPS of the trees in the water.
This is what much of the city looks like. Homes with moving trucks moving everything out down to the furnace, sand bags and destroyed grass from all the traffic. No children out playing or riding bikes because they also know the seriousness of the situation and are working along side the adults to save their homes.

This is what thousands of volunteers are doing at one of the MANY sand bagging locations. They say we already have over 4 million sand bags here and will be at 8 million when the town is secure. That doesn't include the massive amounts of dirt that have been trucked in to build dikes all around the town.

The rest rooms at a local park. I read that every tree or shrub under water will most likely die as well. That means that this mature shaded park will changed when the water finally decides to leave.

This playground hasn't seen a child all summer and was one of the first places to be flooded. Now, this play structure is almost completely covered. Now you can only see about the final foot of it above water.

There, of course, have been the good things. People helping one another and coming together, the united front of a city that feels under attack, a rush of gratitude for having time to save what they could, and the all too often needed reminder of what is truly important.

The river beds are forever changed along with the people but it has, once again, shown me the strength of people and the generosity of strangers. North Dakota continues to amaze us even in their darkest hours. Please keep this community and everyone in it in your prayers and thoughts as they wait out the flood.

The Motley Crue goes Home Sweet Home

Ok, I am a little slow at getting this up here and I think I may have taken it a little far on the number of pictures BUT. . . .Here goes!!!

First of all, can I just say that I actually look forward to the drive. The 16.5 hour drive, all in one day, is so pleasant for us. The children are kept on their schedule the entire time and we get to see some of the most amazing scenery in the world!! This time was no different! This trip was our most animal filled to date! We saw rabbits, multiple fox, an adult wolf pass in front of our truck, a wolf pup, a turkey, deer by the boat load, elk, antelope, three moose's, and loads of buffalo. The icing on the cake, however, was while driving through Yellowstone we came upon numerous "Buffalo in Road" signs. Obviously, we see buffalo everytime but this time I knew something was different. People had their cameras out (not me though :( )and were driving so slow past the end of a herd. Then, when I came upon it, I realized a buffalo had JUST given birth to her baby!!! I mean seconds before we came upon her. It was so neat to be there and see that miracle of an animal that was almost extinct at one time. Another moment I am so glad to say my children had the chance to see!

We were so fortunate that our renter is a dear friend and that she didn't mind us staying with her at all. She has taken such amazing care of our home and we were so glad to see her making it a home for her and her son. She is also the best gardner I have EVER known, and I know a few, so our yard is also benefitting from her handy work!! Lucky us!!!!
The kids all loved playing back at their own home. The twin's remembered so much about our house and weren't at all confused at why we aren't there and someone else is. It was great to have so many friend's and family come by to see us as well. A few of the days we were lucky enough to just let the people roll in and out of the house while we relaxed and played. Honestly, I figured since I drove 16.5 hours, a lot of people could make it to us instead of us hauling to see them and everyone seemed to be alright with that theory. Thankfully, all the people we love and miss were amazing at helping me out and making it easier on this traveling Motley Crue! Thanks to everyone!!!!!

One of our most missed toys. . . The swingset!!!!! Thankfully, we had lot's of time with Papop while at home. I must admit, I think I miss my Dad more than anything and it only felt like home the minute he showed up!

Playing at the house with Wyatt's bunny. Phineas. What a cute name for a cute bunny!

We speant a lot of time with the Dillon clan. I got to meet Lauren for the first time and must say, I am in love!!! Look at her! Who wouldn't be???

Ok, I don't know how to get rid of the double picture and am NOT starting over! Sorry!

The, always awesome, Uncle Kurt. Annelise was born with a natural admiration of Uncle Kurt. She seriously love him more than any of them and talks about him often. She was pretty jazzed to see him! So was I!

Our niece's Chelsea and Natasha with new baby Kamryn. Chelsea looked AMAZING when we saw her and Natasha's baby was so sweet and beautiful that I contemplated taking her home. However, I think Natasha would have disapproved!

Kid's playing. . . .we did a lot of this!Playing with Phineas. We did a lot of this too!

A trip to the zoo where we met numerous friend's and family. I have to say, this was a great day and a fun way to see a lot of people and have a great time being somewhere we love. Uncle Wade was a big kid and lot's of fun! What uncle do you know that will go down that slide a hundred times. We stayed for most the day and had a beautiful afternoon.

Part of the Zoo Posse!

Our favorite part!

The kid's also got to hang out with their Best Friends! Anna cried when we left, which in turn broke my heart into a million small bits! She just loves this awesome group of kid's so much! So do we. When you find well behaved, well mannered, outgoing, kind, and loving children whose parent's you also love. . . WIN, WIN!!!!!! We miss them lot's!

The main reason we came home! My niece, Natalie is pregnant (5 months, I know. . I can't even tell either!) and had an amazing shower! That cake was all edible and AMAZING!!!! Andy Kingston made it and we were all in AWE! The shower was BEAUTIFUL and there is no doubt this baby is ooober loved already. At the end of summer we will all be excited to welcome baby Tenley!The Wheeler girl's are some more of our dear buddies that we miss!!!

Annelise also has a special bond with Aunt Angela. Perhaps, it's the love of jewlery that bonds these two but Anna always manages to spend some quality time with her and the bunny Bella.

Dinner at Uncle Boyd's and Aunt Donna's proved to be another wonderful fiest! They can cook!! Brayton was holding Kamryn only I'm not sure he knew what to do with her!

Another Moose on the way home in Yellowstone. Such beautiful animals.

A lot of people ask what I do about the bathroom on the road. Well, sorry if this is TMI, however, here is what we do. We take our perfectly potty trained children and make them go in a diaper instead of draggin us all in a dirty gas station bathroom. Once Brayton is old enough to not touch everything, we will revisit this plan but in the mean time, here is what we do! How lucky to be able to do your business with the backdrop of Yellowstone!!

So, that's it in a nutshell! Thank you to all the people who came over, went out with us on Friday night (GOOD TIMES!!!!!), hosted dinner for our family, let us stay with them, loved on us, showered the children with affection, and made me grateful for everyone we miss daily! We cannot wait to come home again in July and celebrate the wedding's of Nick and Nat!!! We sure felt loved and missed ourselves! Home was certainly sweet!!!!

Mine is a Dandelion Life!

Some of my favorite things have come in the form of weeds.

I supose you could say that needing to do IVF to have our first two children was a sort of weed in our life.

Maybe having to move the plains of North Dakota was another patch of dandelions in our life.

So it all may seem.

Yesterday, it rained all morning. After the rain, we headed outside to pick "flowers". I was showered with dandelion bouquets of every shape and size. What I find truly interesting is that earlier that morning, while Bodie and I were drinking our morning coffee together, we both noted that there wasn't a single dandelion in sight at this house. See, our house back in Idaho usually has an issue in the early spring with dandelions and since we had just been there, it was still fresh in our mind. Oddly enough, by early afternoon, we had more dandelions than you can shake a stick at. It makes me laugh just to think of the irony.

So it got me thinking. Weed? Or flower? The way you view a dandelion may not change your life but I can say, it is changing mine. See, when we had everything we ever wanted (so it seemed) all we truly wanted was a child. All the success and money in the bank didn't compare to what we knew we were missing. So many people expressed their sadness for us when we had to go the IVF route. We were never sad about it. Not even for a second. The result was Annelise and Bodie! I had always, always dreamed of having twins. It was a desire that I have had since I was very little. So from that dandelion in my life, sprang my most beautiful flowers! As a result, we were lucky enough to even have a miracle baby, Brayton!

Obviously, moving to North Dakota might be thought of as a weed as well. However, the pace of life here and the way people treat their neighbor has been a humbling and amazing gift to us. We were blessed to be welcomed with open arms of strangers, kindness from every corner, and granted a kind of unity in this family that might never have come otherwise. It's just so amazing to me how God really gives you what you need when you least expect it.

So next time you see a dandelion just try to see the flower. I know I haven't even posted pics from our trip back home yet or our trip to Minnesota that we just got home from but the sun is shining and we have some flowers to pick. I hope all your weeds become bouquets of the sweetest smelling flowers!

Easter Fun!

I love coloring Easter Eggs. I love the colors and the excitement from the children when we bust out the hard boiled eggs and all our bright colors! This year seemed so different because of the winter weather but we celebrated in traditional family style and made a HUGE mess!
We are kind of known for our Easter Egg painting competition where I bust out the paint brushes and acrylic paints but this year we geared it down. Still, all three of the children loved doing it all by themselves. No help from Mommy and I think that could have gone without saying after you see the pictures.

Music was playing in the background, eggs were being washed in bright colors, and Brayton was nakie baby while working. Nothing new around here!

Annelise is a perfectionist about each and every egg. She carefully puts the color on with a Q-tip instead of full submersion to guarentee the perfect color.

The hunt was ON!!!!

This hunt had it's share of messy hair, that's for sure!

Peter Cottontail was sure sweet to bring the children a new swimming suite and towel!!! They loved their baskets and were happy to see he found us here in ND!

Now to eat the loot. Breakfast of jelly beans once a year sure won't hurt.

To make the holiday even more special, we were invited over to a friend's house for Easter Dinner.

Lisa had to hold the children back, literally, before she gave the go ahead!! Kid's will sure get antsy while waiting for their sugar!

I love this shot!

The Easter Egg hunt was a major success and they all had a great time. We felt so welcomed and embraced by the Rhone family that it made being away from our own family much easier. It really is amazing to us the way people have opened their homes and hearts to us. Not only was the dinner DELICIOUS, but the company was absolutley divine. I'd call us lucky but not even that begins to describe it. Blessed. We are simply blessed!