Back in Action

Oh yeah...I forgot to mention last night that Jay is back playing softball as of last night's league games...I think his knee held up pretty well..but you'd have to ask him how it went..

Memorial Day Weekend

Well...what a weekend we had! My weekend got off to an early start because I was able to comp hours and leave work by noon on Friday! :) Friday evening we celebrated our 2nd anniversary a few days late. We went out to eat at Ruby Tuesday (thanks Tom & Candace for the gift card that paid for most of our meal)...the food and service was great. We took a quick trip out to the house (I guess we don't just call it a "lot" anymore). They had done plumbing and some more rough dirt work.

Saturday was one of our most productive days in a long time! Jay went to work for a few hours and I got started cleaning and organizing at the trailer while he was gone...when he got home we both got into full spring cleaning mode. It was quite impressive! ;) Although it helped that the weather was rainy, windy and cold that day...

Saturday evening we went to Rockin 50s for the 2-for-1 burger baskets that we (I) love so much. (Yes, Val W. - we are pretty much single-handedly keeping that place open). Then we went up to the Country Inn Suites where Mike & Carrie were with the kids...once the storm appeared to be headed our way, we rushed home to get my mom's flowers out of harm's way (I swear, it hails every time my parents leave town and leave me in charge of their house). Well...we didn't get any hail...but didn't want to take any chances with my luck!

Sunday Jay, Chris and Mike went fishing and came home with.....ZERO fish. While they were gone fishing, I had some visitors at the trailer...

Bailey (!) actually letting Michaela and Mason pet her!

Jerz lovin' all the attention from Kenzie, Mason & Michaela..

Syd (not a real big fan of our puppies yet) playing it safe up on the counter...Payton & Kenzie joined her for this pic:

We all went to the mall for lunch and to shop a bit afterward...and later that evening we all met up at Chris & Val's (the guys too) for brats, hot dogs, burgers, etc. Good times! :)

Monday I tackled mowing both my parents' lawn and our own lawn...besides that we were pretty lazy on Monday - but hey that's what holidays are for, right? (Wait - I better mention that Jay went into work and also did the dishes on Monday - so I don't get in trouble - haha!) We did make my last Sociale dinner (pork tenderloin) so I'm thinking either I have to host a Sociale event or someone else should SOON...(hint, hint)...

It was a wonderful long weekend - just what I needed! I'm SO looking forward to taking a WEEK off in late June/early July.

Today it was back to work...but I felt rested and ready to pick up where I had left off Friday at noon. However, my desk went from organized to messy in about 5 minutes of being at work!

For another house update...as of today, they have poured the concrete slab in the garage... And in the basement...

Jay mentioned possibly playing some bean bag toss in our basement this weekend - anyone up for that? Haha!!

I will get really excited once the framing and sheeting start happening...Until then, we're happy just to see progress!

Have a great rest of the week everyone! And - bring on summer!

Two Years Later...

Two years ago today Jay & I got married...wow has the time flown by! It was a beautiful day two years ago...with just a little rain shower while we were in the church taking pictures...with the clouds breaking up and the sun shining the rest of the day and evening...Today, the temperature got to around 70 degrees and the horrible wind we have had so frequently lately gave us all a break today, with barely a breeze blowing...

Some things have changed quite a bit from then and some things are still the same (meaning, we still live in our "camper" as my Grandma Gerhardt calls our trailer)...

What's happened over the last two years...

We went from having one beagle - the one and only Jerz (a.k.a. "Big Mama")....

To having TWO beagles - with the addition of our little Bailey (a.k.a. "Little Bails"/"Little Squirt"/"Little Tank") to our family in October 2006...

We began paying our lot in December 2006....

We went on our honeymoon in Jamaica in January 2007...and LOVED it...

I passed the ND Bar Exam in February 2007..and was sworn in at the ND Supreme Court in May 2007...

Jay turned 30 and we had a great time celebrating it out at Lake Tschida with Jay's family and some friends...

We paid off our lot by January 1 of this year...

And began the process of getting our future home built in January as well...

I turned 30 in February and celebrated with family and friends at the bowling alley...

And in between all of that we have spent many other good times with family and friends and each other over the last couple of years...holidays, birthday parties, road races, softball games and tournaments, some mini vacations, some evenings just hanging out, grilling and playing lawn games, or watching games or movies, going to weddings, going to sporting events...and doing many other things...Through all of that, some of our favorite times are the evenings we spend "laying low" and just watching shows we have DVR'd or watching movies together, ordering pizza and just vegging out. (Which we are doing tonight, coincidentally).

It's been a good two years...not to say there haven't been ups and downs...some challenges along the way. But I wouldn't trade a second of it for anything!

We know that the years we have ahead of us together will bring many more great things...and some more challenges...but while we do look forward we also can look at each other in the present and know that our life together is good...and that we are very blessed!

Two years down...and, God willing - many, many more to go!

Have a great week everyone!

PS - Thanks to Payton & Sydney for taking us out on their boat on Sunday!

Happy Birthday Stacy!!

I also have to wish my friend Stacy Neumiller a happy birthday today! Next year is the big 3-0 for her!

Dirt Work

So...they have been pushing some dirt around on our lot in the last few days...

They had started to fill in the dirt under the garage and around the outside of it. As of Monday, this is what it looked like on the east side by the garage:

A view from the back (south) side looking north. As you can see, they started to flatten out the area for the walkout which is great! We wanted a nice flat area back there:

Tonight I went out there as well (at Jay's request - you know those engineers are interested in dirt work!) This is a view to the SW where you can see they really flattened that area out. They still have some work to do yet on that side...(Where the bump-out is will be sliding patio doors off the family room with windows on either side).

They also poured the concrete for the front portion of what will be our front porch (on the right side of the picture).

This is a view from the back (south) side as of this evening where they have worked on flattening out an area on the east (right) side of the garage for a parking pad/future beagle area and have tapered it down to the walkout area:

I never knew I could care so much about dirt! We are happy so far at what they are doing - we are looking to have some nice open flat areas on our lot (we're thinking future sand volleyball court or soccer field - OK I'm the one thinking soccer field!) Either way we have a nice big lot with lots of room for beagles (and someday kids) to run around and have fun with!

In other news we had a great Mother's Day weekend. We spent Saturday in GU with the Gerving clan (I have pictures - I may post them on the Gerving blog - ahem, since no one else updates it ever!!) We started off at the GU nursing home where they were hosting a "family day." Grandma Schaff was in good spirits and lunch and visiting were really nice. We spent the afternoon and most of the evening at Mike & Sandy's house. It was nice that everyone could make it back!

On Sunday we went to brunch with my parents, my grandma and my brother's family in honor of Mother's Day. Jay went fishing with Nick that day and I believe they caught 8 walleye! (His fishing skills are vastly improving)! Later on in the evening, I went to DQ with my parents (our tradition on Mother's Day and Father's Day) for the 2-for-1 sundaes. I pretty much ate myself silly all weekend! I ended up staying up and visiting with my parents until about 10:30pm Sunday evening. Yes, MY mother stayed up until 10:30pm!

Monday we bought our first big purchase for the new house - living room furniture! I LOVE bisman online! We got a couch, loveseat, ottoman, throw pillows, 2 end tables and a coffee table - all for less than half of what we would have paid for something new! We're pretty excited about it - even if we don't get to use it until we move into the house...Now onto dining room furniture, bedroom furniture, etc...Good thing is we're bargain-hunters and we have some time to search for good deals!

Taylor made it into the Bismarck Tribune on Monday with her artwork! Cathedral had an art show displaying the students' artwork. Another celebrity in the family! :)

Today I got to see my niece Micaela Gerhardt run in a junior high track meet. She competed in the 800 meter run and did great! She had a great kick at the end of the run!

Geez...that's about all for now...again, if you're bored with the pictures of concrete walls and dirt being moved around...my apologies!! Soon it will get more interesting...I promise! (As you notice I did add the "tropical" background to the blog so that it appears that our house is being built in Jamaica if you line up the pictures along side the palm tree on the side - haha!!)

Happy Mother's Day!!

Just wanted to wish our mothers a very happy Mother's Day! We appreciate all you do for us and love you very much! We know we can never reciprocate all you have done for us! We are happy we got to spend time with both of you this weekend!

Sara & Jay

Whirlwind Week

Well what a week it has been since I last posted...I guess we'll start with the latest with the house...which isn't much new - just that they took the forms off the concrete walls and being the obsessive picture-taker that I am, I had to get new pictures of basically the same thing...

View of where the garage will be - NE corner of the house. (As my brother pointed out, we hope they fill in the dirt or we may need monster trucks to get in our garage) :)

View of the front

View from the SW corner (as you can see, it will be a walkout basement).
Those pictures were taken on Saturday...

As I mentioned in my last post, my friend Aimee came to Bismarck last Thursday. On Friday night I was able to join her and her family for supper at The Pier and then some of us hung out at BWW for awhile that evening. I also met her and her family at Space Aliens on Saturday evening. Here is a picture of me and here at Space Aliens:

It was great to have her home for the weekend! We had a lot of fun hanging out and catching up! It had been about 6 months since she had been home last..and with us having our house built this year we have not made plans to really travel much of anywhere...although it would be fun to go visit her in Denver sometime!!

Jay went home with Nick to the farm to help Mike out on Saturday and I putzed around and got some errands done and a few other things that day before meeting Aimee out.

Sunday we had a baby shower for my friend Stacy who just had twin daughters on March 14. The shower went really well but unfortunately I have no pictures of it because I forgot my camera! She and Mitch, Peyton and the twins are all doing well...I know it's a lot of work for them and I believe people are trying to help them out as much as possible...but they are hanging in there! They have gone through tons of diapers and formula - I know that for sure!! After the shower my softball team had another practice late Sunday afternoon and then when I got home we made some supper and just crashed on the couches and watched "Flags of our Fathers." I was exhausted - even before the start of the work week!

All in all it was a great weekend - got to spend some quality time with my friends and Jay not only did work at the farm but also did some yardwork here on Sunday while I was off at the baby shower...he was paying for it though afterward with his allergies (seriously, can we get even a LITTLE rain around here??) He also was able to get out with some friends on Friday evening for awhile...

I'll leave you with this picture I got of the beagles on Sunday morning...

Jersey & Bailey (on neighborhood watch).

That's about all for now...I think we're heading to GU for the day on Saturday this coming weekend. Softball league starts for me this Thursday. Jay's at his team's practice right now - so the beagles and I are going to catch up on some Days episodes we DVR'd! :)

Have a great rest of the week and weekend!!