On the Road Again!

Hey all! Blair and I went to Fargo, ND. Blair, as you all know, has ink (the 'new' lingo for tattooing) and has been thinking for a while about getting another one. Well, finally he settled on what he wanted, where he wanted it, and where he wanted to go to get it. So off we went to Fargo. After our trek to Bismarck we were a bit skeptical about what we were going to get. However, we were very pleasantly surprised with the city of Fargo. I reminded us a lot of home. Anyway, back to Blair's ink. He found a shop he liked and made an appointment to get the tattoo on Friday at 3 p.m. The only problem was that we both had to work on Thursday night...all night!! So Blair started the drive, I drove in the middle and then he brought us in. All in all, it was about a four to five hour drive. When we got to the shop, we didn't have to wait for long before Blair got placed in the chair. For those of you who don't know, getting a tattoo takes a while. So while Blair was busy, I decided to go check us into our hotel and check out the town. I found some really cool shops in the downtown area by our hotel. I was walking around and would have gone farther, but I saw some unsavory characters lingering on the sidewalk and hightailed it back to my car!! Blair didn't seem too happy when I told him about the drunk man walking in front of me on the sidewalk! In the time I was gone the artist made a lot of headway. The tattoo looks amazing. However, it's not done. It's rather big and part of it is right on his elbow. The artist finally said that he felt he should stop because the skin was swollen and no longer accepting the ink. It was disappointing, but we needed to stop so the healing process wouldn't be impaired.


After leaving the tattoo shop, we went on the hunt for something to eat. Blair and I were in a hurry to get to the appointment so we didn't stop for food. We were told about an Italian restaurant and decided to check it out. We were so glad that we did because it was yummy!! After we had filled our bellies to over their limits, we headed back to the hotel. By this time, Blair and I had been up for over 24 hours! We were swamped.

Saturday morning when we woke up, we were hungry so we decided to hunt up breakfast. I've seen commercials for IHOP but we don't have one in Minot (oh, the loss). And of course, when you see commercials for something you don't have, it just makes you want it worse! So we waited for about twenty minutes to get a table and boy, was it worth it! I got the Chicken Sante Fe Omelet and substituted my pancakes for a Strawberry Crepe. Y'all, it was SOOO good! Wow, I can't wait to go back to Fargo just for the food!


After eating some scrumptious vittles, we headed to the mall. It was a good day to go because they had all of these auxiliary groups set up in the middle. I got a cool crocheted hat for this winter. I also got some new shoes for work. Blair got an outfit from Buckle. After dropping more money than anticipated, we got some coffee and headed home. I took the first stretch of driving and at one point, we went through about a mile of snow dusted road. You heard me right, SNOW!! In October!! I couldn't believe it. Blair got really nervous and told me two or three times to be careful! He's so sweet!!

Speaking of snow, when we woke up this morning, it had snowed just enough to cover the grass. It made everything look beautiful! Let me share my pictures of the weekend's adventure!

Blair and I heading out for Fargo! (He hates pictures!)

We're in Fargo!


This is where we stayed!!


Blair had to lay on his stomach for three hours!


Is he asleep?!

This guy is good!

It's coming together!

Not completely done, but still looks good!

Our encounter with snow!

Our first snow of the season in Minot.

Fall is in the air!

Fall is in the air!! Oh my gosh! Some mornings it's positively freezing! I let the girls at work know I think it's cold, and...they laugh at me! Then they tell me that it's only going to get worse!! Oh I can't wait to have winter set in! Yahoo, Negative degree weather, here I come!! (Do you hear the sarcasm?!) However, at the moment, the weather up here is BEE-U-TI-FUL!! The wind is brisk, the sun is shiny, and the air cool (minus humidity!!) and it is wonderful. I actually enjoy rolling down my windows. That is something I never used to do, huh, Lay? The trees here (what few there are!) are already changing and the colors are so pretty. Even though I am a thousand miles from my family and friends, I still enjoy living up here, much to my surprise!
Here are some of the trees in their new outfits...

Ok, so off the weather...Blair and I have this real problem with left overs. We don't really eat them. When we first got up here, Blair made chili, put the left overs in a bowl, put it in the fridge, and we promptly forgot about it! The other day, I pulled it out and this is what I found! How gross right?! Blair saw me taking this picture and he was horrified! He told me I should not post this, but I find it to crazy not to post! I couldn't believe this would actually grow on food in the fridge. So let this be a lesson to all! Gross stuff can grow on food in the refrigerators! Power to the home-made penicillin!

And on to the next picture...I love my husband and all of his idiosyncrasies, and the following is one of them...He makes sandwiches on the counter top and this is what is left over...Until he eats this off the counter...Bless his heart. At least it's not the floor, right!?
Well that's all for now folks! Hope all are well and happy!! Fill me in on your lives!! I miss you!

My Braggin' Box

Hey y'all! I just wanted to enter this post as a braggin' corner on my wonderful, loving husband! He is so awesome! Here's a little background...My wedding gift from Blair was a Vera Bradley purse, wallet and checkbook cover. Now, back in the day when he gave all these wonderful items to me, I switched purses like underwear...well, not quite that often but you get my meaning! Anyway, my hubby told me that I "have to use that purse for a whole year!" At that point, a year felt like a millennium! Low and behold, the year flew by and before I knew it, the year was come and gone. And so, I got a hankerin' for a new purse. On the recent life-changing move, I mentioned this new desire to my love. He told me "Just go get a new one." Now, what wife doesn't like to hear that when they tell their hubby's they want something?! Well, I looked, albeit half-heartedly, for a new purse, but Blair had spoiled me when he bought me the accessories to match the purse. I mentioned this new bit of info to him and his reply was "Well, just get all of it." Yes, folks, you read correctly! Since most of this transpired during our move, I didn't feel that I should spend that much money on something I just wanted (not needed, ya know?). After we got settled in, Blair kept asking me when I was going to order a new purse and I kept putting him off saying I would wait till I got my first paycheck. Well, I guess Blair got impatient for me because he ordered me a purse...with a wallet, checkbook cover and eyeglasses case!! How sweet is he?! He got me my hearts desire (at the moment!) out of the blue! Ah, I love him! Take a look at my present!!


Okay, so to do a bit more braggin' on my super-duper hubby...I just want to congratulate him on the Accommodation Award that he recently received. He got a medal, new ribbon (for his blue's, I believe), and a certificate. Once I read the certificate I was doubly impressed by this award. It tells of all Blair did while at Barksdale AFB. It's amazing to see how he was so greatly appreciated by his superiors. Now, for those of you that know Blair, you know he's good at most everything he does. I am proud that his "higher-ups" realize it too! He was presented the award by his commander here, so now they know how wonderful he is! Congratulations Baby, I am so proud of you!!



P.S. Just to let you know, Blair told me that one of his co-workers mentioned to him that it's unusual for an airman of Blair's rank and age to get this award. Usually it's someone that's been in for a looonnnnggg time. Cool, huh?

Our Day Trip

**Well, guys, I am so glad to hear that everyone made it through the hurricane. At least Gustave. I really hope Ike doesn't do any damage!!**

This weekend, Blair and I decided to take a day trip. We wanted to go to Bismarck, ND, about an hour and a half away. Blair has class on Saturdays from 10am to 12pm so as soon as he got home, we loaded up and headed out, after a stop at Starbucks for a Grande Carmel Macchiato! It was really cool to see some of our new state. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was out, the clouds were huge and fluffy and I could see for miles! Blair does the same thing I do on trips, that is, sleeps! He missed most of the trip, looking at the backside of his eyelids! That's okay though, sometimes it's nice to just be quiet and appreciate God's handy work!

Although we weren't to greatly impressed with Bismarck, since Minot has virtually everything they do, we still had a good time. I think the best part for me was the trip there and back. On the way home we saw a really pretty view of the sun shining through the clouds. We did decide though that next time we'd try Grand Forks (about 3.5 hours away) and Fargo (about 5 hours away) for our next road trip.

Here are the few pictures I did take!

This site was common due to all the farms in North Dakota.

It's too small to see good, but those are horses! There was a whole herd of them!

The sign says "Bismarck 56 miles." I took this about an hour into our trip.

North Dakota is big on the windmill energy. These are so neat to see, and HUGE!

Just wanted to prove that in August, somewhere in America, it can be in the 60's!

This is the beautiful storm we could see on our way home. I have no idea how far away it was, but we didn't get any rain from it!

A little bit of everything...

Hey y'all! Long time no talk, I know and I apologize!! I just wanted to update you all on what has been going on with Blair and I for the past couple of weeks...

First, a couple of weekends ago, the couple that lives in the duplex with us asked us to go on a picnic with them on a local lake. Blair and I decided that it sounded like it would be fun and we could explore a bit of our new state, so we went. The other couple, the Dorrells, wanted to fish so we had to find a place that sold fishing licenses. We ended up driving about 20 miles out of our way, but we just took it as an adventure. We had passed one area that looked promising before we went to hunt down the fishing licenses, but on the way back we decided to look for another spot. It was our adventurous sides coming out, I suppose. Well, the spot we found turned out to be a bust. It had about 5 feet of "beach" but it was really just stinky dirt. It wasn't pleasant for a number of reasons, i.g. it stunk, the wind was blowing about 30 mph with nothing to break it, the water was gross and they couldn't fish. We stayed there for a little while then went back to the first place we found. It was so much better. It was a little alcove with trees, picnic tables, grills, a pier with fishing rod holders, a walking trail, a parking lot, and more. It was so relaxing to sit in the sun/shade, with wind blowing slightly, and just look at God's beautiful world. I would love to go back any time!! Here are some pictures from our adventure:

Above is the "bust" site and below is the "perfect" spot.

Blair decided that he wanted a project to do. For mine and Ashlie's wedding, my best friend's dad built short wooden stands. I acquired them, thankfully, when all was said and done. Blair has mentioned wanting to put something on top of them and he finally was able to do it. We went to a local home improvement store, Menard's, and bought some tile and all the stuff to put it on with. I am a bad blogger and didn't take a picture of the "during" process, just the end result! Sorry! I'll try better next time!! Here they are:



One night, Blair and I got a hankering for some stir-fry. Now, I've done stir-fry before and it didn't turn out too hot. I thought, "Maybe I can do it better this time." And boy was it! Martha gave me some insights a while back on how it's done and the end result was soooo much better this time around. Now again, I didn't do the 'during,' just the after, but here it is:

Yum!

Blair wanted a project and so did I...I hadn't sewn anything since leaving LA, and I was hard up for a fix! I have been wanting an apron, so I thought, I'll just make one! I looked through my scraps and had enough coordinating fabric to make just what I wanted. I thought long and hard about how I wanted it to be customized for me and this is what I came up with:
1. I wanted ruffles
2. I wanted a pocket for my phone, scissors, anything that I needed it for...
3. I sewed a button on it, then made button holes in wash clothes that matched so I could wipe my hands on that instead of my pants
4. I put a loop on one end and made a button hole to pull it through so I could hang it up easily and it wouldn't drag on the ground
When all was said and done, I got just what I wanted. And to my surprised pleasure, it turned out better than I imagined! Take a look:

Here it is hanging from it's little hook!

Now, everyone seems to think that North Dakota is nothing but cold weather and snow. I am here to prove the opposite, at least in the summer. The other morning I was driving to work and captured a beautiful sunrise. Let me share:

(~side note: Later this same day, it was raining, the wind was blowing about 35 mph, and it was 53 degrees...yeah, it's still August. I don't want to know how December'll be!)

Now, I've saved the best for last. Back in May, Blair took his test to become a Staff Sergeant. We didn't know how long it would take for the results to come back so we (by "we" I really mean me!) have been patiently trying to wait to know if Blair passed or not. Not long ago, he told me he would find out on the 15th of August. Well the 15th came and went and we still didn't know. Then one day last week, I came home from work and walked in the door from the garage (you can see straight to the fridge) and saw this:

Blair had passed!! For those of you that don't know, you can't immediately be promoted, you have to wait for your number. Blair said that his is a high number so he'll have to wait a while to "sew" (literally and figuratively) it on. I am so proud of him! He always does well at anything he tries! Congratulations, my love!!

Well, folks, that's all I've got for now! I hope all of you are healthy and happy! Till next time...

North Dakota Weather...

...is crazy!! It has been really nice the whole time we've been up here, except for three rain storms. This morning I jumped out of bed at 7 a.m. and woke Blair because it was HAILING!!! My brand new car was outside on the driveway and I wanted to get it in the garage! So we hurried down to the garage and shifted boxes around and Blair pulled my car in for me! (Isn't he sweet?!) At the moment, it's not raining, but about 20 minutes ago the "Commander's People" came over the loud speaker and issued a lightning warning!! Every time it storms they do that. This morning around 10 a.m. our street was covered in water! It receeded quickly though.

Let me show you the hail we had.

This is looking down the street towards the storm. It's so dark!!

Our Big Mystery

Blair and I had a bit of a mysterious happening occur on Thursday. I was at the library trying to get on the internet when Blair called and asked me to come to his work parking lot and to bring the camera. My first thought was, "Oh no, he had an accident." That, however, was not the case. Blair went into work Thursday morning about 6:45 a.m. (early, I know!!). When he came back out to the vehicle at around 11:30 a.m. the back driver's side window was busted out. Now the really weird thing is that there was glass outside and inside the car and, thank God, nothing was stolen. So, anyway, I get there and while he's looking up the number for the base cops, I took pictures. (Don't worry, I'll share!) When the cops got there they told us they didn't have their camera because it was being used for an "incident" off base, whatever that was. When I told them that we had taken pictures and we'd share, they were glad. I ended up having to follow a cop (which was totally nerve racking- trying to make sure I came to a complete stop, used my signal, drove EXACTLY the speed limit!!) to the Security Forces building to let them upload the pictures. It turned out to be a wasted trip however, seeing as how their computer wouldn't take my camera card. So I had to return to the library and spend 45 minutes there emailing the pictures to the cops. When I was at the SF building they kept apologizing to me for having to take pictures. One guy even said, "Here, let me get you the forms and you can do our job for us!" It was a little humor injected in a not so funny situation.

Let me back up a bit...when we were waiting on the cops, I called my insurance to see if they would pay for it. However, I was thinking the government would pay for it, seeing that we were on a military base when it happened. Blair didn't think so, so I called USAA. Well, later, Blair had a meeting and was talking to a few of the people there telling them about his day so far and one of the guys said that one time he'd gotten hail damage while on base and the legal department paid for it. So Blair talked to the legal dept. the next day and we've got to go online and fill out some paperwork and hopefully be reimbursed for the nearly $200 window. Say a prayer for us that they'll pay for it!!

Let me show you the pictures...



(We go Monday to get the window fixed.)