Fall Photos

We have had the most beautiful fall here.  With temps in the 70's and 80's of late, it seems like summer has taken pity on us and stuck around a bit longer than it was scheduled to.  We have spent a ton of time outside the past few weeks because of the nice weather, and have had a few opportunities to get some quick shots of our little neighborhood in its fall colors.  I never really think about our town being particularly "scenic" (especially after moving from a place like Deadwood!) but there are actually some really beautiful parts of town!  With the towering Cottonwoods and American Elms that criss-cross to form tunnels down some of the residential streets, and the lush green grass (that still needs mowing!) there are some really photogenic neighborhoods around here that previously went unappreciated by yours truly.

I don't claim to be much of a landscape photographer at all, but here are just some of the little gems taken in our neighborhood... most in our own backyard!



Canopy of tree branches with the evening light shining through.




I'm no botanist, so I'd have no idea what types of leaves these are. 
But their striking deep red color really caught my eye!




Every fall, the trees the south side of the street lose their leaves long before those on the north side!  Strange...




I loved the way the light was peeking through these huge tree trunks in between our neighbors' houses.



Ok, I can't claim this gorgeous backyard -- it belongs to our neighbor. 
But I do get the pleasure of looking at it every day!  Lucky me!!

Enjoying the beautiful weather by roughhousing in the leaf pile Daddy made!

No Mo' Ugly Flo'

It's done! It's done! It's done!  (can you tell I'm excited!?)  No more awful white carpet!! 

The installation started on Monday, finished on Friday.  It was a somewhat hellish week in-between, as we lived amidst sawdust and displaced furniture.  My cheapskate self decided it was worth saving the $250 they were going to charge to move our furniture, so we (we = mostly Jordan) just moved it ourselves.  Great idea.  Not exhausting at all, and not in the least bit inconvenient to have the entire contents of one's home piled into the living room...

The kitchen, dining room, and upper landing were done in a scraped hardwood laminate.  We had a little "surprise" under the ugly white linoleum that was in the kitchen:  ugly harvest gold lineoleum.  Hilarious.  I had to take a pic, just for posterity.

Eww. (before)

 

And after (that's better!)

The sunken living room, upper stairs, hallway, & 3 bedrooms were done in a flecked, soft, neutral, dark "brown-ish" carpet.

Living room... before (I can't believe how little that baby is!!)

Living room (from the opposite angle) after.



standing in the dining room



facing the dining room/living room




And the end result is gorgeous, if I do say so myself!  Very happy with the installers, and the outcome is beautifully low-maintenance!  I love:
1) not having to vaccuum under the dining room table after each meal (yup, the dining room was previously CARPETED).
2) not having to *attempt* to sweep the super high-gloss, show-everything stark-white kitchen linoleum.
3) not having to follow the children and/or the dog around with the spot cleaner
4) not having to get the carpets shampoo'ed every 6 weeks
5) not having to look at that stained, ugly, old-lady, again-with-the-white carpet!

Noah's room (for "before" pic, see my post from a couple weeks ago)

Asha's room - after.

Our room - after (cleanest this place has been since we moved in!)
And now, I'm headed right there... off to bed!  Goodnight!

I just have to take a quick moment to brag a little bit... cuz I feel so close to fame. ;)

My cousin Jessie won Best In Show for the ND Governor’s Photo Contest for her (one of many) beautiful photos of the Maah Daah Hey trail in the ND Badlands.  The studly Marlboro Man-esque subject of her photo is her hubby, Chad. See the full story here:  http://www.ndtourism.com/news/news-releases/detail.asp?newsID=387&ref=nf  and if you want to read some (ok ALL) amazing posts and see more of her stunning photography, check out Jessie's blog: http://veederranch.com/


The winning shot!  Awesome, right?


And my cousin Jaci (from the other side of the family!) stars in this month’s edition of everyone’s favorite in-flight reading material on Delta Airlines, the Delta Sky Magazine -- she is the one who appears to be very excited about what her friend is pointing at. http://msp.imirus.com/Mpowered/imirus.jsp?volume=ds10&issue=10&page=132  


Channeling a little Lewis & Clark, but in downtown Fargo.

Way to go ladies, you both make me so proud!

In addition, my little brother Seth (ok, not so little, he just turned 29!) is now a doctoral candidate in the counseling psychology program at the University of Miami.  So we'll soon have someone in the family who can "attempt" to fix all our mental problems.  He caused many of them, so it's fitting he should fix 'em.  HAR HAR HAR.  I kid, I kid.  I am so proud of his accomplishments, and I hope he is too.  He has worked so hard and come a long way in 29 short years!  Way to go, Sether!


I couldn't find anything nerdier if I tried.  And I tried pretty hard. 
This is the most "studious" looking picture I could find of Seth, though...


And a little tooting of the ol' horn: both my husband and I landed sweet new jobs at Microsoft recently!  Jordan is still in support, but he for a completely different product:  he's now supporting SQL Server (Core).  It's a big new challenge he's tackling, but there are exponentially more opportunities for him in this role.  I'm proud of Jordan, it has been a crazy adjustment for him the past couple years, coming off his teaching / administration career and jumping into the private sector.  But he has worked really hard in his former role and accomplished a lot in a short time, which certainly helped him earn this great gig because of it! 

As for myself, I am completely switching jobs, so I'll no longer be doing commercial technical support for Office applications (stop the tears, Chuck, I'll still be on-call to fix all your compy woes when you break stuff).  On Monday I will officially become a Technical Account Manager for the Premier National Team in Fargo.  [Um, yeah, I'll let you know just exactly what all that means in a couple months!  At Microsoft we LOVE obscure titles and acronyms.]  I'm BEYOND excited about the opportunity, and I guess pretty proud of myself for landing the job too!  I will definitely miss my current team, I honestly couldn't have asked for a better crew to work with over the past while.  And I'm not just saying that!  They really are the most professional group of individuals I've ever worked with, in addition to being a blast to hang around with every day.  Never a dull moment with you jerks! Haha!  I know I'll only be a building away, but I'll truly miss you all.



Corny.  Trashy.  Awesome.  (Pretty much describes our team right there...)  Couldn't find a pic of the whole team, but this one'll have to do.  This here's Adrian (he's from Texas, which is why he looks slightly less enthused about the cornfield), myself, and Nate (sans busted up leg)

And of course I have plenty of other ridiculously awesome relatives who accomplish amazing things every day with courage and grace.  Like Joan, who helped get a Buddy Walk organized in Great Falls, MT for Down Syndrome awareness month in October.  Or like my mother-in-law, whose strength is a rock in the midst of the shitstorm that is sometimes life.  Or like my dad, who has been dealt kindof a crappy hand lately but is rising above it and will persevere like the tough old cowboy I know him to be.  Or like Jodi, who is fighting a battle with cancer, and has had great health reports recently due to her persistance and diligence in diet and pure will and faith.  I admire all of you more than you will ever know.  You give me the strength and the motivation to try to do great things. Here's hoping I can live up to your examples!

TIME MACHINE TUESDAY: Fall

"The Fall of My Youth"
or, "Seasons of Change"

As a kid, fall was this incredible time of year when my brother and I would get home on the bus, toss our backpacks onto the sidewalk, and grab a big ol’ sour apple from the tree. We’d hop on our bikes (mine was fully-loaded with a banana seat, daisy basket, and Smurfette license plate) and cruise down to the hay yard to play leapfrog on the haybales that Dad had recently hauled into the yard. When he’d unload them from the flatbed, they landed in sortof a wonky maze that was pure joy to climb on, under & around. It was almost a disappointment when he would stack them into neat pyramids for the winter. But when he did, we’d just change our strategy to racing across the tops of the stacks, carefully avoiding falling into the hot lava which undoubtedly existed in the crevasses between the bales.

I can so clearly remember the sweet smell of the hay, with the crisp in the air and the orange tones the sun cast as our shadows grew longer and longer as dusk approached. This blissful period of time seemed a fleeting moment as winter all too soon began to steal away daylight and procured its takeover with chilly winds and frosty mornings.

In hindsight, it seemed like such a liberating time in my childhood, where I was free to run like a wild child with the wind at my back, as fast as my lanky legs would carry me down the sloped hillside as my little brother and big dog trotted along behind. I know I had worries at that point in my life (didn’t we all?) but none that weighed me down and prevented me from running so fast my hair flew behind me and ended up a snarled mess. No mortgage or car payments, no work/life balance, no worrying about 3 other people before yourself, absolutely no burdens to hold me back. No fears to prevent me from playing out there with reckless abandon until my mom honked the horn (that meant business, like “supper’s ready” or “you’re in deep shit, young lady”) to bring me back inside. We’d return to the house with rosy cheeks (mine, always freckled with their sun-kissed summer glow) and consume massive amounts of Mom’s incredible home cooked meal before we were off to more serious things, like homework and piano practice.

Warm nights like tonight take me back to that time, to a point where I can actually smell the hay and damp leaves. Evenings like tonight make me want to run so fast my hair gets all crazy and my cheeks (still freckly, but now with some laugh lines!) get rosy. They make me hungry for my mom’s cooking, they make me wish for the sound of my dad’s voice, and they make me miss my brothers whom I share all these memories with, but now live hundreds, or thousands of miles away. On nights like these I am instinctively drawn outdoors, as the longing to re-enact these pieces of my youth is formidable. The stark distinction between tonight and evenings all those years ago is the unadulterated freedom I felt.

Sadly, I think we all lose sight of that when we “grow up”. We get too serious and proper and we forget to have fun. I dearly love the saying, “I may grow old, but I’ll never grow up.” I’m always thankful for parenthood, but especially so in times where I want to just… revel in my youth again! When you’ve got children no one snickers at you for dancing in circles to a made-up jig to keep your toddler entertained. No one laughs (to your face anyway) when you rhyme every sentence to get your preschooler to erupt into giggles. No one gives you grief when you run and jump and play with the same uninhibited exuberance that you felt when you were their age. Or maybe they do. But maybe now, you just don’t care.

So here’s hoping you’ll take a moment to go jump in a pile of leaves or pick an apple fresh off the tree (no, the produce section at the supermarket doesn’t count!) and surrender yourself to a little childlike behavior! Happy fall, everyone!



The munchkins, fully enjoying this perfect evening at the park.



Redecorating the Castle

My reported recent “creativity streak” put me in the mood for some redecorating around the house. We’ve lived in this house for over a year and a half, and there are still WAY too many walls without anything hanging on them. Which sorta bugs me from time to time. I remember living in apartments and rental houses and hating the bland white walls, wanting nothing more than to paint them! Then we moved into this house, which has plenty of white walls (with a few variations of darker white/cream/beige throughout). Pretty bland, but I don't mind.  I chose not to paint when we moved in, well, because quite frankly, I fricken HATE painting. Our house in SD came with these horrifying mauve bathroom, salmon bedroom, and barfy orange sponge-painted living/dining room walls which required a complete paint-job makeover. I despised every moment of it, and swore I’d never pick up a paintbrush again if I wasn’t forced to!

So when we moved into this lovely and freshly-painted home, I was SUPER happy to never give a second thought to it. My decorating style is "the simpler the better", function over form for me! But when the Little Man arrived I had a very clear idea of what I’d decorate his room like – trying to be in keeping with the family tradition, he would have a little cowboy room. More of a "retro cowboy", to be exact, which actually fit well with the buff wall color, one of the few rooms in the house that's not pure white.  I can see evidence of some nasty mint-green that must've existed in that room at one time, so I'm thankful for what surely was a realtor who knew that ugly doesn't sell!  It was SO fun rounding up (har har) all the things to decorate with, kindof a mix of new stuff that looks old, and old stuff with some history to it. About a month ago I did a slight change-up and got rid of the changing table (he kept trying to climb it and/or jump off) and replaced it with a toy organizer, as he’s actually getting to the age where he can put away a toy or 2 when asked!  Hallelujah!



The Lil' Buckaroo's Room

Testing out the door mechanisms, just to make sure it works and can sufficiently pinch little fingers in it...



 

Some fun 'artifacts' in this little display: That's Daddy on his horse as a little boy in the picture frame and his pony shirt from when he was a baby, and Grandpa's old spurs hanging from the shelf.  The lamp is an old 'repurposed' one, re-covered in the same fabric I used to make the curtains, diaper stacker & matching blanket.



His favorite little reading nook.  He takes after his Dad with his love for books! The pic on the right is Mommy as a little cowgirl at about 2 years, on the left is Uncle Seth & Mommy 'sunbathing' in our winter jackets!



Papa Chuck's rope, chaps & vest from his childhood. Papa made the cool horseshoe hanger too!

 

These retro photos are of Papa Chuck, Great-Aunt Donna, and Great-Uncle Bob back when they were little cowpokes! The wall decals are from Target (something old, something new?)

  

One of my favorite sayings by a great old cowboy hero (John Wayne) that I dressed up with a little Photoshop magic.

 


Hand-painted by Mommy (bought the letters from Hobby Lobby). The brands on the "A" are all family brands: from the 246 Ranch, Christman Herefords, and the Veeder ranch.

 But poor miss Asha’s room was another story. She’d had hand-me-down furniture, and the same bedding set that matched her crib set when she was born. It was a darling purple daisy set, but it was looking a little droopy and faded after a few years of ‘tough love’. So we sat down at the computer together one day and did a little online shopping for a new bedding set. She picked the cutest little ladybug quilt, so we ordered it and decorated the rest of the room around that theme! We also picked out some new (matching!) furniture from IKEA… oh, IKEA!! I totally fell in love with that store (read: obsession). I spent 4 hours there when we went to the cities in June, which is beyond ridiculous, but that’s how much I love that place. Anyway, we got her all set up with her new digs and here’s how it turned out!

The new (super-girly!) ladybug room

Aaah, the pink vanity, party to many makeup incidents, including one where she & her buddy Georgia washed their hair with orange soda during our New Year's Eve party.  Santa searched from hell to breakfast for that thing!  He said it was totally worth the look on her face when she opened it, though! ;)

  

Her Build-A-Bear is so "special", it gets its own shelf!

 

I'm really into the cube organizers! Cute and functional.  There are more Barbies and Polly Pockets tucked away in that sucker than I care to think about! 

One of my favorite pics of her is the one in the middle - Shar (daycare provider) took it for their parent's program when Ash was about 2 1/2.  It is just too cute!  The pic of Grama Deb & the kids is so sweet too, she looks at it every night and says, "aww, I miss my Gramma." *sniffle*. 

The easel is her favorite toy, well worth the $14 (thanks IKEA!) 
The shelf holds her new favorite ladybug dressup costume, and her art smock.

I painted these as well, Asha picked out the ladybug cutouts and ribbon.

I would also like to point out the that the childrens' rooms are both CLEAN.  This is the first, and likely last time this will ever be the case.  Which is why I took lots of pictures, lest I forget.  So next up is the BIG project:  we are getting new flooring in the entire upstairs level next week!  With the white carpet (UGH! not anymore - it's brownish-speckled now!) which was put in by the previous owners, it is very much time for a change.  I'll try to remember to post pics when it's all done.  Y'know, cuz it'll be clean and all.  CAN'T WAIT!!

Road Warriors

This weekend we headed back to my hometown of Lemmon, SD, for my Grandma’s 95th birthday party (see last week’s TMT post!) Our family’s adventures in traveling are never dull and this trip was no exception. In spite of a sinus infection that kept me feeling good & crappy the whole week prior, and against my better judgment, we loaded the Fusion, packed up the kids, the dog, the luggage, and the McNuggets to go, and headed down that lonesome stretch of I-94 West.

While the trip out there was fairly uneventful, it does seem that Bam Bam would prefer that Grandma & Grandpa lived about one hour closer to us. He was a perfect angel for 4 ½ hours, then screamed bloody murder for the remaining 60 minutes of our trip. Despite watching “Elmo’s Potty Time” (funniest Sesame Street DVD EVER, btw – there is a segment about what little kids call their poop, and a catchy little ditty about toilet paper – AWESOME!!!) on an alternating loop with his sisters’ choice, Alvin & the Chipmunks The Squeakuel, he was exhausted beyond the point of consolation by the time we hit German Country. After throwing the worlds’ best car-seat-induced tantrum for a solid hour we arrived at G & G’s a full 3 hours after his usual bedtime, where he proceeded to bawl until the instant he saw my Dad… then we got a huge smile, and “Paaappaaaa!” and all was well. Until we actually tried to put him to bed. Our crew usually sleeps in Seth’s old room in my parent’s basement – a large room with a double bed, a single bed, and a crib – and all of us were ready to crash when we hit the pillow. But Bam Bam had other ideas as his refusal to sleep in the car carried over into the wee hours. Every time we laid him in the crib: “Mama. Mama? Mama!” or his father’s favorite, “ELMO!”, or the one that made his sister giggle sleepily, “Hi puppy!”. Mommy tried rocking him. Daddy subbed in. Mommy tried again, no go. 4th time was the charm, Daddy wins.

The next day arrived very early with a 6am wakeup call from two children who were super-anxious to go out with Papa and help with chores. They “helped” drive the 4-wheeler, pick apples, pet horses, and feed the butcher steers. It was a whopping 40 degrees out, so the two little rosy-cheeked moppets were good & ready for a big long nap.



Cruising the farm with Papa on the 4-wheeler, great fun!



Playing with Rudie, Queen of the Barnyard (she used to live with us until we moved to Fargo.  No one is sure how she is still alive, let alone ruling the roost.  Their dog who is easily 12x her size is terrified of her.)



The cutest little apple picker!  My favorite time of year is when we finally get to eat those yummy sour apples!

The big party was that afternoon. My Grandma looked fantastic and seemed to really enjoy visiting with all the well-wishers that came to her party. We chatted with friends and relatives. We had cake & ice cream. We had MORE cake & ice cream. I got to hang out with some of my cousins whom I hadn’t seen in 5 years. We took tons of pictures. We were ridiculously well-behaved, for us anyway (well, except for that end of the table, you know who you are…) We took over the local hotel lounge to do some serious catching up. And let’s be honest, some serious beer drinking too. We teased Peg for turning 50, we teased Shad for turning 21, we teased everyone in-between because, well, that’s how we roll. In short, we had a blast!

The kids with their Great-Grandma Blenda at her 95th birthday party

3 Generations

The Christman cousins - Jeff, Reed, Shanna, Shad, Carlie, Peg & Grandma.
"Not pictured": Mike, James, Jaci, Lindsey, & Seth

And all too soon, it was time to turn around and get back in the blasted car that seems to shrink by the minute, and head back east. By the time we left, I had a migraine to beat all hell, and the children were in no mood to travel. The Princess passed out about 5 miles outside of town (shortly after Mommy had to ask Daddy to stop the car so she could toss her cookies….ugh…all the while Bam Bam is laughing at her as he’s watching through the window. Mean baby.) but Bam Bam, true to form, wasn’t about to snooze. The rest of the 5 ½ hour trip was a blur of screaming, cranky children, me drifting in and out of consciousness, and frequent sound bites from The Hubs reminding me that “we are NEVER doing this again!” While I want to agree with him, I know the next time I’m feeling homesick, I’ll be loading up the Fusion again, guzzling some 5-hour energy with a Dr. Pepper chaser, and bracing myself for the inevitable sleepless night(s) ahead while away from home… because that’s also how we roll.

TIME MACHINE TUESDAY - Happy 95th

This Time Machine Tuesday is dedicated to a very special lady, who celebrated her 95th birthday today. 

How darling was she as a baby?!  No wonder we're all so good-looking (humble, too) with such great genetics!

Her story weaves in and out of time, over nearly a century. 95 years is difficult for most people to even begin to fathom. Born in 1915, she’s lived through times of war and peace, boom and bust economies.

Summer 1938 - with her brother Orel and some friends, stuck in the Grand River. She can still easily recount the events of this memorable day!

Stop and consider for a moment at all of the things she has seen, all the people who have come in and out of her life. She was married to my Grandfather for 50 years. She had the same best friend for over 80 years. 5 children, 11 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, and one brand-new great-great grandson!

My Grandpa John & Grandma Blenda in their wedding portrait (they eloped -- such rebels!)

Think of all the hairdos she’s gone through, all the fashion trends she has most certainly participated in (she’s always been a bit of a fashionista!) and all the incredible music her ears have heard in 95 years.

Modeling a fashionable getup, circa the 1940's

Marvel at all the amazing advances in technology she has seen --modern cars, planes, radio, television, telephones, the internet -- the woman who began her career as a telephone switchboard operator now has her very own blog post! 

Blenda at the switchboard

Imagine the countless tears shed, hugs given, meals cooked, card games won and lost, chocolate and coffee consumed and friendship shared. She has loved and she has lost, but she has lived her life with the kindness, strength, and dignity that we can all only hope to live by. We are all better people for knowing her!

Probably one of the first 'concerts' I ever performed for Grandma

Today, and every other day, we celebrate your amazing life. Happy Birthday, Grandma Blenda. You are an extraordinary woman.  I love you!

TIME MACHINE TUESDAY: First Day of Preschool

TIME MACHINE... WEDNESDAY?

Okay, I know I skipped TMT yesterday, but I just had to and really do have a good reason! I wanted to save my post for a much bigger and better event: today was Miss Asha’s first day of preschool! Well, okay, let me clarify: it was not her first day ever, as she attended this same school 2 days a week last year. But this year is “seriously preschool”, as she recently informed me. She’ll attend 3 days per week this year, and has been looking forward to going for months!

Mommy and Daddy have been ready for her to go back as well. She is not the type of kid who enjoys just “hanging out” so we are looking forward to getting her engaged and learning all kinds of new things and having to sit still and listen up for more than 30 seconds at a time! But at the same time, watching her run into that classroom gave me that little twinge in my stomach… and the realization that in ONE year, she will be skipping off to a Kindergarten classroom!

The old cliché “where did the time go” just echoes over and over in my mind. It honestly seems like I was holding this beautiful little bald baby girl one moment, then I blinked and now she’s four! While I very much enjoy watching this precocious little pumpkin blossom into a bright, funny, articulate, fiesty, but sweet little girl, my heart just hurts thinking about how soon it will really be that she will be off to a bigger and even more “serious” school in about 14 years. My baby girl is growing up way too quickly! I so badly want to tell her to enjoy being little for as long as she possibly can. To make sure she will relish the moments where her only cares are which Barbie to play with, or what crayon to select. To appreciate that most of her stress stems from getting put into timeout for sassing her parents, or from her little brother messing up her room. But like all of us, she has to learn these things on her own. These are the things that will make her the Asha she is destined to be. I love the person she is becoming, and can’t wait to be with her every step of the way, whether behind her or beside her.

So here’s to you, my lovely Miss Asha, and to the many milestones you will undoubtedly achieve in your life. I am so proud of you and love you more than you could ever imagine possible!

Love this one -- BTW, her shirt says "Nerdy Chicks Rule". 

She picked it just for Mommy (*melt*).

Miss Thang and her diva pose

Showing off her iCarly book bag. 
Apparently, backpacks are not cool anymore?  Guess
I need to brush up on what's "cool" these days.  Jeesh.

Daddy gets a smooch before we head out the door.  SUCH a Daddy's girl!

"Mooom! Enough pictures!"  (I can't help it,
it's genetically programmed - I blame Kerry!)

Brynn & Asha before school started. 
Best buddies!

Posing in front of the school, such big girls!

One more pose to appease her camera-happy Mom.

After preschool ended for the afternoon, we decided that we should start a "first-day-of-school" tradition:  we had us a little girls day out! We try to do this from time to time anyway, so this just seemed like the perfect excuse for it.  We headed to our favorite bakery near our house and picked out the biggest, prettiest cookies (shaped like a princess tiara of course!).  After our snack, we hit the nail salon for a mini mani-pedi for Ash (just a manicure for Mommy, I am not so much a fan of pedicures! They weird me out) and then had dinner together (Asha's choice, she picked the food court at the mall!  Ha!  How fancy!)  It was such a fun way to kindof celebrate a milestone, and spend some really great time together.

Ladies Night!

Showing off our pretty nails

Silly goober -- but aww, those gorgeous baby blues!

My best friend.  I love you Asha!