Oranges

Every day Terry Paul does something new that amazes me.

Today he made poo poo and pee pee on the potty. Two days ago he started pointing to letters of the alphabet and naming them. He counts perfectly to ten and can identify about 15 animals by sound. He speaks in 3-4 word sentences and has most of his favorite books memorized. Now don't get me wrong, he is 21 months old and still very much a toddler. He eats his boogers, is fascinated by his pee pee, drags the cats around the house by their tails, and demands every moment of my attention. 

Of all the new things he has learned and started doing recently these five seconds remain my favorite.

Isn't that the most perfect expression? I am glad that I took these photos on Thursday! Thursday's are my 'clean floor days.' Look how pretty the are!

If you want to see the video click here: MMMM oranges

Watch out Lewis and Clark

Both my husband and I share a love for all things historical. There is plenty of history and heritage where we are from in South Louisiana but it is different here.

Have you even been to the Alamo; disappointing I know! How can something so historical be located across the street from Ripley's Believe it or Not? Aside from the actual building there is not historical preservation of the area around it and no way to "go back in time." These things have always bothered me. If your are in the French Quarter of New Orleans you see the preservation of the buildings and streets and how beautiful that is but if you head towards Down Town you seem to lose that to the city and sky scrapers. That is not something you will experience here.

In the state of North Dakota the tallest building in the Capital over in Bismark, at least six hours away. There are no modern amenities that overshadow and take away from the beauty that is the story told by untouched history.

One of out first weeks here we drove out the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, both the north and south parks. The south park is located in a small town called Medora. This town has been preserved to look just like it did when Teddy lived here back in the 1800's. It is the most amazing place I have ever been. It is definitely a town to fall in love with. The best part about Medora...on the almost two hour drive there it still looks like the turn of the 20th century, aside from the passing cars on the road. The land here is so open, untouched, and majestic that it doesn't take away from where you are going. Actually, the ride home makes you visit better as there is nothing to distract you from you thoughts and images of the day.

The Lewis and Clark Trial double back though here and the Missouri River also changes course here, and by here I mean around where we live! Needless to say there is a lot of history and culture.

This weekend we drove down to Fort Union Trading Post and Fort Buford, after a quick lunch stop in Montana. The parking lot for Fort Union is in Montana but the for it's self is in North Dakota. Well the state like is the place where the time changes to Mountain, takes some getting used to. This place was amazing. Driving up all you see is open land and then this HUGE white wall. 

The wall goes around all four sides and has a couple of watch towers. Here you are walking along a path into this Fort and because of these huge walls you have no idea what was inside. Then you turn the corner and finally a glimpse into the past.

According to the park ranger this is an American Indian trading post that was around and in use over 200 years ago. Since winter is fast approaching here we missed out on the teepee that slept a family of 18 but due to the cold we were the only visitors!

 You can see where that 18 foot teepee would go, the sticks are bare. The fort was torn down by the U.S Army to help build their fort a couple of miles over, Fort Buford, but everything was rebuilt to match the exact blueprints they had on Fort Union.

Terry Paul ran and played for about an hour. My poor son is inside a lot due to the cold, it's only 40 degrees, and the fact that there are bulldozers in our back yard at any given time. No tree's, no fence, no grass....just pure construction. Terry Paul ran and fell, and ran and fell, and ran and fell to his hearts content. We went inside and he dicided to keep warm with the fur of a fox.

The inside was surprisingly nice and "high tech." After a 30 min trip over to Montana and lunch at a place we had been previously we headed to Fort Buford. I don't have many pictures of Fort Buford. That day there was a Boyscout tour so there were kids everywhere and we decided to go on a hike instead of over to the "fort" part. This is the place that stole the lumber from Fort Union, remember? Anyway, It was getting late in the day, we were full and tired and probably didn't give it a chance. I did snap a few shots of our walk though.

Don't be thrown off my his jacket, Saturday was pretty warm weather we were in short sleeve; 61 degrees if I recall correctly.

Just an old bridge that was sent to the Fort to be preserved instead of being distorted.

I would say this is what 85% of North Dakota looks like. Most places you add hills and wheat but that is about it folks. Can you see those colors? They yellow's and orange's...a real fall!

Maybe I should have run this through Instagram and touched it up before loading it! I like to attempt to take pictures to document our trips but I always wait it after and everyone is tired!

Almost forgot one!!

Isn't he adorable????

We had another great week here in North Dakota. The winds are starting to puck up, the clouds are staring to roll in, and you can feel the chill of winter making its way down from Canada. Everyday looks like a day it may snow and a day that gets about 50 degrees means you can wear short sleeves. The heater runs daily and we will need to start using the fireplace soon too. I am told by the locals that we appear to be in for a MILD winter. So here's hoping two feet of snowfall and negative 20 degrees prepares us for the possibility of a harsher winter, 108 inches of snow and negative 40!

Thanks for stopping by

Freezing 101

Every go grocery shopping and end up having to throw away old groceries to make the new one fit in your pantry or throw away whole containers of leftovers? I used to do that all the time, I just threw away food like it was nothing. When we moved to North Dakota and I knew that I would be staying home I decided to be smarter about waiting food and more frugal! 

I knew the first thing that had to stop was the eating out daily for lunch. That was easy for me as I have no vehicle to drive through  the nearest fast food place and no night class to come home from at 9pm when Taco Bell tastes the best. As for my husband, he comes home almost every day for lunch and I wake up in the mornings and cook breakfast. The days he does eat out for lunch are usually a work write off, of which I am fine. I know there were days  back in Louisiana when we both would eat out breakfast and lunch in one days. After finally making a spread sheet I was disgusted by the amount of money we spent eating out. 

These days, we have two "left over" days a week and a morning when I don't wake up to cook breakfast. The good thing about moving here is that even if my husband did want to go to McDonald's for breakfast he would have to wait 30 mins in the drive through. Williston has had such a tremendous population boom that dinning in is faster than driving through. Anyway, I digress. Left overs were working great and since my 21 month old son eats anything he can consume the third day of leftovers we are now tired of, all is well. I have also decided to start freezing. Most recipes I make will produce a day or two of leftovers and when you cook 2-3 times a day that is a lot of leftovers. Now I take half of what I make and prepare it to freeze. If it's a Crockpot dish that just means dumping half the recipe into a Ziploc bag. If it involves ground meat I have to cook the meat first and if it is a casserole I do everything but bake it. 

I have been doing a lot of reading on freezing; how to freeze and what you can freeze. I have come to learn that flash freezing makes freezing easy. Whether it is slices bananas I am freezing for my smoothies, cookie dough for another day, or extra buttermilk; flash freezing is the way to go. Flash freezing is super easy! Line a baking tray with wax paper or aluminum foil and freeze the item for about two hours and then add all of them to one bag! You can even do this for frying, just dredge and bread the meat like you would fry it but instead of putting it in the pan, flash freeze it! 

BAAAAM

We went to the bread store and I bought all this for $10! Soft shell tortilla's frozen in packs of four, that is the amount my family eats. French bread frozen in fives for french toast, and dinner rolls frozen in fours for a quick bun to put leftovers on! 

Three or four times a month I will need heavy whipping cream but I never use the whole thing. So thanks to Pinterest I have frozen them in ice trays which hold 2 teaspoons each. I have already used them and they thaw beautifully!

I use buttermilk a lot for frying and baking but can never manage to use a whole container. So I poured it into regular sized cupcakes pans, which measured out to be 1/2 cup each and flash froze them before adding them to this bag.

Another Pinterest find. Flash freeze cut up lemons in vinegar and throw them in my garbage disposal! The vinegar will have you freezer smelling while you flash freeze but these are worth the smell.

My Birthday batch of cookies! White Chocolate chips and butterscotch chips! This recipe made three dozen and needed to be frozen. My good friend Marie has a blog and does a lot of blogging on food so I asked her how to freeze these. I made them on Thursday, kept them in the fridge for 4-5 days and baked a few here and there until finally flash freezing them. 

Here is what they look like in the bag ready for the deep freeze!

A week or so ago the cleaning lady for my husband's work brought him tomatoes and bell pepper from her garden! I bought a bag of onions, carrots, and celery and put that in the crock pot all day. I then added tomato paste and blended it; you have to let it cool before you blend it or the steam will cause the cover to pop off resulting in sauce covered cabinets. That preparation gave me three gallon bags of sauce. I wish I would have taken a picture of that process!

There you have it! My introduction into freezing and flash freezing foods! I am super excited to finally blog about my time spent in the kitchen.

Everyday moments

Sometimes, if your lucky, there come these moments. Moments when it all makes sense. Moments when you realize what you were meant to do. Moments that will define your life. For me, that moment was the first time I held my son. At that exact moment I knew that nothing else in life mattered. 

Those moment seem to happen a lot more these days. Every new word, new motor skill, new laugh makes my life more than it ever was. Every hug, every kiss, every bo bo melts my heart. A broken toy followed by "fix it" and kissed bo bo followed by "all better" is another piece to this puzzle called life. 

Funny thing is that my favorite moment's don't involve me at all. These moment are between a son who looks at his Daddy for help and a father whose heart is filled with love and joy just by the presence of his son. These are the moments I live for, the moments I long to see, and the moments when I know we made the right decision moving here. 

For those of you who wonder how I did it, how I left Louisiana without hesitation, my only answer can be that you were never lucky enough to witness Terry and Terry Paul's love for each other. My Mom calls them "The Mutual Admiration Society." Boy is she right. 

Home for me is more than a house, more than geographical proximity to my friends and family. Home is where my husband and son are. Where " Daddy's gonna get that belly" is followed not by Terry Paul running to hide, but by him running into the arms of the tickle monster he calls Daddy. Home for me is watching my husband be the man, the father I never had. 

In my home, moments are made everyday! 

Happiness vs. Peace

Remember when you were in 6th or 7th grade and your teacher asked you to write down what you would be doing in ten years? I did this exercise 3-4 times throughout my school years. My list usually looked something like this:

1. Have my Master's/Ph.D

2. Be successful

3. Move back north

4. Have kids

5. Get married

Coming from a single parent family I never really felt the need to get married and be a mom. I was always proud that I was the only girl in class who didn't put being married first. To be honest, I put it last to make a statement. I was the kind of kid who wanted to be recognized for standing out or thinking of something no one else did and the teacher would always applaud me for not being afraid to be different. Even into my early 20's I knew that my education would be more important than any man I could ever meet. I used to tell all my friends "Love isn't guaranteed but no one can ever take your education away from you." I never saw Terry coming or even imagined that being a wife would be one of the greatest accomplished of my life, but this is not a post on my marriage or love...I will cover that one day. Now back to my list...

Like most children I wanted to be happy. I wanted to have everything required for happiness. As a child, and even into early adulthood, I thought that a lot of my happiness depended on others. I had always prided myself in being a loyal friend and demanded it back from my friends. As I grew up and started to decide on a career or profession I choose one that involved helping people. I figured what better way to be happy then to devote my time helping those who, due to mental illness, were unable to help themselves. And lastly I thought that happiness was dependent upon my education attainment after all, I come from a family of very educated women. Before long it was time to execute my plan of happiness. I developed a very close group of friends to whom I was completely loyal and almost possessive of, I worked my way into a very decent occupation and job title, and I was on my way to getting my master's and graduating with honors. With the addition of Terry I was happier than ever. By the time I was 26 I felt like I was on the perfect path to where I needed to be. My family and friends even saw the happiness that had engulfed my life. Sure there where everyday trouble, minor hiccups, and some drama but nothing more than you "average" person. So why did I still feel incomplete inside?

It wasn't long after that when I found out I was pregnant. Well into my second trimester I decided that as a Mom it was my responsibility to live the life I wanted my child to live. I wanted to raise my child with a great understanding of God. I remember God always being a part of my life and our household. I can't actually tell you when or how, but faith had always been the cornerstone of my home growing up. I remember seeing my mom pray and how she would wake up before everyone else and spend her morning in quiet, usually doing a devotional. For those of you who know my Mom; you know that she is a woman of unwavering faith and has this unassuming sense of peace that makes you want to be around her. I decided that I wanted to be that type of mom too. With Terry Paul's birth only days away I made my 2011 resolution. I wanted to develop a closer, more intimate relationship with God. This choice was not made for me, but for my son who I knew deserved to be born into a life/household of peace. 2011 did bring me closer to God and my faith. 2012 seemed to only make things better and I was on my way to, what I thought, was pure happiness. 

So let's recap for a second: friends + occupation + education + Terry + Terry Paul + increase faith =happiness. Now for the tricky part, ask me if I was at peace. Was my soul content? Were my days easy and less stressful? The answer is an astounding NO. Drama seemed to fill every aspect of my life. I felt so much anger to so many people. I had started to second guess my masters, my career, and my friends. All of the things that I thought I needed to be happy were causing me so much turmoil. I was angry, bitter, unhappy, and full of anxiety. I soon realized that I had my priorities in the wrong place. It was then that I decieded ascribed to the age old hierarchy of God, husband, family and within weeks everything had changed. It was right around this time that the potential to move the North Dakota was mentioned. We were waiting on the offer from Terry's company to see if it was a sound financial decision. I remember talking to my Mom and telling her "Even if it doesn't work out I am so thankful to know that I finally have peace. I am finally living my life in a way that if I move the three most important people in my life move with me, God, Terry, and Terry Paul." Needless to say, my Mom understood and she too was proud of the peace I had finally found.

So here I sit, happy, peaceful, fulfilled, and every other synonym you can imagine. I have no regrets leaving my friends or my job. I am sad about leaving my family but they know that this is where I need to be. And even tonight, with Terry in Texas I am literally all alone.....can you hear the peace...the calm that overcomes my spirit? My soul is smiling and I hope that yours is too.

How I got here

It amazes me to think that I am typing this from North Dakota. Is it just me or did it all happen so fast? It really was only three months ago that I got the call from Terry, my husband, about a possible promotion that involved moving out of state. It was Friday June 1st when my phone rang and on the other side was Terry who quickly said "Matt called me and asked if I would relocate," I remember it all so perfectly. My response was "YES, I will go where you go, I will follow you!" I remember calling my Mom to tell her of the possible relocation to Wyoming on Friday, come Monday it was North Dakota and a promotion.  Two weeks later we were in North Dakota looking at homes and "just visiting," trying to get a feel for things. If you ask my Mom and my best friend, they will both tell you that they knew on Friday that Terry and I were moving!

It seemed like such a huge decision! We already owned a home in South Louisiana, I was in the middle of my internship for my master's, I had a full time job, my 18 month old was doing great in daycare, both our parents were 20 mins away, everyone and everything I knew lived by me; how could I leave it all behind? It was too much to think about, it was too over whelming! After a very LONG weekend and no sleep I decided we couldn't move, I could barely handle the idea of moving. I called a friend who recently moved to Minnesota form South Louisiana with her husband and two boys. After about ten mins on the phone with her she asked me the most profound question "What does God want for your life?" After I hung up with her I got down on my knees and gave the whole situation to God, I knew it was too much for me. The days, weeks, and month that followed are a whirlwind. Everything worked out perfectly. We got the house I wanted, the money was right, there would be no major hiccups in my graduation, the equity in our current home was more than we hoped, my job at the time was ready for a transition. Our worst case scenario was better than most people's current situation.

I still have no idea how this happened so fast or worked out so perfectly, all I know is this is the happiest I have been! And for me, a woman who walks not by sight but by faith, that is enough. I don't need to know how or why, I just need to be thankful!