Party with Friends

After Wednesday night Bible Study, a big group of us went to Burger King to celebrate Myka Sletten's birthday.  It was crazy.  We had a great time!

I looked around once everyone had sat down, and couldn't find Nolan. He wasn't sitting with the rest of the kids.  Then I spotted him... he was sitting with all of the young people, getting spoiled by Taneil and Jaylinn.

Some of the boys

Most of the kids sat up in the barstools. They had a lot of fun together.

Trip to the Farm

Yesterday, we went out to the Sletten's farm to visit for the evening.  Let's just say, next time we will take clothes and shoes that we can get dirty in.  They laughed when they all came out in their mud boots and work clothes, and Anthony was wearing dress slacks, I had my flip-flops on, and the kids were wearing their nice tennis shoes.  We are starting to learn, that everyone has a class for their clothes around here... farm clothes, town clothes, and church clothes.  You ain't seen "playing in the dirt" until you've been to North Dakota!

It was neat to drive around and see just a few plots of the hundreds and hundreds of acres that they farm. The kids had a blast taking turns riding in the seed truck with Brother Jason.  When I think of planting, a spade, packet of seeds, and watering can comes to mind.  These people mean business!

The girls' turn

They insisted we have to come out during harvest season to ride in the combines, and play in the grain trucks.  They kids can hardly wait!

Buried in Jesus' Name

Davion just received the Holy Ghost, and was buried in baptism today, in the name of Jesus.  It is so awesome to witness lives being changed by the power of God!

Revival has come to Minot, North Dakota, and we are excited to be a part of it!

Little Professor

Nolan found some goofy glasses when we were at the Witmer's house.  He wore them a good share of the day.  It was pretty funny!

Creative Building

It's amazing to watch the kids grow and mature, and start to take the time to be creative when they are doing projects. I think back to a couple of years ago, when Talon was so proud of just throwing some blocks together and building a square house. Nothing spectacular, just something that wouldn't fall over on its own. Now, he's starting to get meticulous about the details, and making it unique... something that he hasn't made before.  He loves Legos and Lincoln Logs.  He only had a few logs to build a cabin, but was pretty excited to try and design something new.  He even tried taking pieces of wood from a different building set and incorporating them into his project.

Fun at the Park

We met Danyel and Owen at the park to play, then went out for lunch.  It was their first trip to the park since we moved to Minot, and the first stretch of really nice, warm weather that we've had.  They had a blast!

Natalie was pretty much glued to the swings.  She had no interest in doing anything else.

There was a big plastic swing that even the big kids could sit in.  They all took turns getting pushed in it, of course. (Well, everyone except Talon.)

The boys having races down the slide.

Nolan got bored half-way down, apparently, and decided to stand up and attempt to run the rest of the way.

Getting his turn on the big swing.

He even got Danyel to push him for a while

And here's Nattie... still on the swings!

Owen was hilarious!  He just sat and giggled.

The park is clean and really well maintained, and the kids are already begging to go back.  I think it's gonna be a favorite spot to go to on nice days when the kids need to run off some energy!

Nap Time

Nattie prefers not to take naps, but doesn't mind quite as much when she gets to "sweep in Mommy-Daddy's bed".

It's hard to believe that my baby girl is getting so big so fast!

Twinsies

Jessica got to stay with us for a week, while her parents went on a mini vacation.  We all really enjoyed her company.

For church today, Kaitlyn and Jessica dressed alike, and wanted me to do their hair the same.  They looked really cute!

Birthday Bon Fire

We went out to Robert and Danyel's house for a bon fire, and to celebrate her birthday.  We had a great time visiting. We roasted marshmallows, and the kids had fun playing outside in the dirt and getting filthy!

Miss Tinsley

Nolan and Owen playing in the dirt

Not sure what Talon was saying here, but it seems something was pretty funny!

We are so thankful for the many friends that we have made in the short time we have been in North Dakota.  God has been so good to us!

Soup Kitchen

Every month, the homeschool kids get together for some kind of activity or event.

Today, all the moms made a kettle of soup, and we went downtown to participated in the soup kitchen at the Episcopal Church.  It was a good experience for them to get to serve other people.

Jamie and Misty

Kaitlyn was a little sad, we had to leave half-way through so she could go to a doctor appointment.  We did get back in time to help with the clean-up though.

Happy Birthday, Anthony!

We went out after church last night, to celebrate Anthony's birthday with some friends.  I know, Denny's isn't super fancy, but we did have a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday, Babe!  We love you so much, and hope you had a wonderful day!

Surprise... SNOW!

We were surprised with another snow storm.  I walked out of work last nigh to find the windshield covered in snow.  It sure accumulates fast around here!

Walking outside this morning...

We let the kids take a day off school, and they played in the snow until it melted and they were soaking wet.  It left about as fast as it came.

I'm starting to learn, you can take out your flip-flops for the nice weather, but keep your snow boots close by!