White Christmas

 This is what we woke up to this morning... a beautiful blanket of snow covering the ground!

Snow can accumulate fast around here. It's so exciting to actually be getting a white Christmas!

Ready for Christmas

Family Christmas Picture 2015

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Thanksgiving

This year, we had Thanksgiving at our house.  The unfinished basement proved to be plenty of room to spread out. Walt and Rachel came with their family from Minnesota, and Chad and Tori and their family were here, along with Jess and Ruth's family and Mom and Dad.

It was a full house and we had a great time all being together. 

Independence Day

We had a barbecue at Anthony's parents' to celebrate the 4th.  There were lots of people, tons of food, and we had great time.  The kids played outside and ran around, while the adults stayed inside and visited and tried to keep cool.

Joci and Tinsley

Goofy kids

Time for some music

In the evening, Aaron, Cheri, Skye, and Jared came over to our house, and helped us unload the rest of our U-Haul.  It was over 90* during the day, and then it started pouring down rain just as we began unloading the truck.  We got drenched, and it was so humid.

Because Minot has an Air Force Base, and there are so many military families around, you can imagine the celebration that goes on for Independence Day.  It's so awesome to see the fireworks and patriotic displays all over the city.  The sky was lit up in every direction with fireworks that went on for hours.  It was pretty incredible to see! The kids sat outside and watched the fireworks on the porch in the warm rain.  They had a great time.... and so did the mosquitoes!
I'm so thankful for the freedom we have, and hope everyone had a safe and happy Independence Day!

Memorial Day 2015

We had a big barbecue at our house on Memorial Day.  We had somewhere around 30 people over. It was a lot of fun! It was my holiday to work, so I slept in that morning and was able to participate in the afternoon before I went to work.

We had so.much.food. The Slettens even brought their ice cream maker and we had homemade ice cream.  

Owen trying to hide from the camera.  Gotcha!

The Grill Master

The weather was really nice... really hot, actually.  Then, right before I went to work, a storm rolled in, and it down-poured.

Jared and Jessica playing ball with the kids

We are so thankful for the friends that God has blessed us with since moving to Minot.

It's fun to get together to celebrate the holiday, and have a day off to relax and be with family and friends; but let us not forget that it came at a price. We pause to say 'Thank You' to those who gave their lives that America may be free. May we never forget their sacrifice.