Happy Birthday - of a different kind!

We would like to wish my dad a Happy 40th Sobriety Birthday today! As mom put it, she and Tom would have far different lives if he had not gotten the treatment he needed and I would likely not be around. Not to mention the numerous people he has helped through his career as an addiction counselor. What a difference one decision can make!!

So a very special Happy Birthday goes out to you today, Dad (and Papa Ron - from Maddux)! We love you and are so proud of you!!

Love,

Jay, Sara & Maddux

Happy Birthday Jay!!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband and father! We love you!!

Christmas 2008

The Christmas celebrations with our families have come and gone for this year and we had a great time at both! We enjoyed good food, good company and games along with the gift openings. Christmas Eve was spent with the Gervings in Glen Ullin and Mike & Sandy's house was packed to the brim with family and fun. We also stopped by to see Grandma Schaff at the nursing home on Christmas Eve and I think she enjoyed our company. Christmas morning we got up, had some breakfast and went to Christmas Day Mass in Glen Ullin as well. Here are some pictures from the Gerving celebration:

Jay & Landon working on the Rubik's cube:

Let's get started on those gifts, right kids?

The 4-year-olds:

Lexie dancing around:

There was a dancing/singing Santa at the nursing home that Payton & Sydney enjoyed. Syd even danced with him. Here's a pic of the girls with Santa and Grandma Great:

What Grandmas will do with/for their grandchildren! :)

A couple other pictures of the gift opening at the Gervings:

Mason & Jay with the gift Mason got for his Godfather - a Denver Broncos football mouse which was promptly attached to our laptop here at home once we got back!

After Mass in GU on Christmas morning it was back to Bismarck for the Gerhardt Christmas celebration. Here are some pictures from our day there:

A few years back Jay got the idea to buy what my parents call their "half beagle" - which is a plastic rear end of a beagle that if you put it in the garden looks like a beagle has dug a hole in the ground. My parents are forever asking when they will get the other half of the beagle. My parents decided this year they would "get back" at Jay with a gag gift of their own - a "deluxe" snowball maker!! Jay looks elated at the thoughtfulness of this gift, doesn't he? (I believe a new tradition of gag gifts has officially begun!)

Gift opening began!

Jay & my Dad

Candace & Grandma Vivian:

More gift opening:

After gift opening we enjoyed some great food and then played the game called "I Think" which Tom & Candace got me and Jay for a Christmas gift this year. Lots of laughs were shared during that game. I also got into an intense game of "Sorry" with Gabe, Micaela and Riley (until I got a bloody nose, so then Jay took over for me). I believe Gabe ended up winning. It's pretty cut-throat - haha!!

We got some very nice gifts which of course we are grateful for - but the best part of the holidays is that we live close enough to both of our families that we are able to spend time with both during the holidays. Jay & I talked about that after getting home - how great it is we are able to be so close to our families not only during the holidays but all the time! This will be especially important when Baby Gerving (and any other children we are blessed with) arrives.

Not surprisingly, not only did the beagles get a few gifts for Christmas but so did Baby Gerving! Jay is especially happy with the tiny Elway Broncos jersey that Mike & Carrie gave us back this year for Baby to wear. Jay had bought it for Michaela when she was a baby and Carrie said all three kids wore it when they were little! (It shows some wear and tear and that makes Jay really happy that it got worn so much!) I'm sure he'll have it on Baby every chance he gets!

Baby is approximately 4.5 to up to 6 inches long now - at 16 weeks along. He/she also weighs about 4 ounces and is about the size of an apple, according to one site. In the last week or so I have really noticed some changes in my belly - mainly that it's really started expanding! Despite one night of being sick last week I continue to feel well overall and am happy that the baby appears to keep growing each day!

Besides the gifts we are working our way through leftovers and Christmas goodies. It's a tough job but we, with the help of the beagles, will manage, I'm sure!

Yesterday was Taylor's 8th birthday and we hope she had a wonderful day!

Yesterday I got to spend time with Aimee, my friend from law school who lives in Denver, CO. We did some shopping, went out to eat at Ruby Tuesday's for supper (yum!) and watched a movie at our house last night. Always good to catch up with friends we rarely get to see!

Jay is off ice fishing with our friend Travis today so it's just me and the beagles at home right now. It's a picture perfect winter day - ABOVE zero for once, the sun is shining and no wind! We did get some fresh new snow last night, so Jay had the joy of snowblowing yet again bright & early this morning before going ice fishing! So far, the beagles and I have worked on making birthday cards, address return labels and some other odds and ends around the house. We plan on going through a bunch of boxes to put more stuff away in the house today - I started that process yesterday and got on a roll so I'm hoping the same for today.

I'm sad that tomorrow is my last day off before going back to work next week but I will try to continue to enjoy the time off from work that I get over the holidays! Jay is off of work until Jan. 5th - so I'm a bit jealous!

I plan on going cross country skiing tomorrow morning with my parents which I have not been able to do in MANY years. This is the first winter in a long time in Bismarck that has had enough snow to do so! Tomorrow night is also the big game between the Broncos and Chargers which determines which team will go on to the playoffs this year. The Broncos flag will be flying high outside and I'm sure we'll be dressed up in all our Broncos gear by tomorrow evening! Go Broncos!

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season this year! Until next week.....signing off!

We have a heartbeat!

Today we went in for an appointment where we got to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time! It was a good strong heartbeat in the 150s! We also found out we're apparently having a little wiggle-worm, as we could hear the baby moving around a lot as well. So, that must explain why I've been so exhausted - the little wiggle-worm is using up all my energy!! (On a side note, I need to make a correction from my preiovus post - my bedtime isn't really 9:00 or 9:30 it's more like 8:00!) Other than that, everything else checked out good and no complications - so far so good! (We're around 12 weeks along at this point).

Today is also our friend Raumi's birthday! So happy birthday wishes go out to her today!

The last couple weeks have been interesting to say the least. We were able to spend Thanksgiving Day in Glen Ullin which was a lot of fun! I even gave Lexie a new nickname to call her Auntie Lyndsey - oops! Guess she's at the age where she catches onto and repeats what us adults say! :) It was a cute nickname...will have to ask Lyndsey (or Lexie) what it is though...

When we got back to pick up the dogs at my parents' house on Thansgiving evening though things started to not go so well for us. My parents had noticed that Jerz was not herself - wouldn't jump up on them or any furniture as she usually does and then she had started shaking shortly before we got there. Long story short, I took Jerz to the vet the following morning and he diagnosed her with a slipped disc in her back. She had to get a shot for pain along with pain meds for us to give her for a couple weeks and orders for us to keep her from jumping onto or off of anything and to basically keep her from doing much of anything. Easier said than done. She is somewhat self-limiting in that she won't jump up onto things but she is becoming more daring. Our biggest concern is that if dogs re-injure or injure it worse, sometimes it causes paralysis, etc. So, we've been babying her (even more than usual) and she seems to be improving. She still shows some signs of pain form time to time but moves around well for the most part.

We also had a little unwanted house guest starting Thursday evening - a mouse in our house!! Yuck! Jay first heard him inside the walls on Thursday and then Friday morning (at about 5 am after he let the dogs out) the mouse scurried out of the pantry and into a hole that leads to underneath our cupboards, where it stayed until the following morning. So, bright and early Friday morning, there were Jay and I, going through everything in the pantry to wash or throw away!! Jay did get some Black Friday shopping in - he was at Tractor Supply Co. to get the sticky mouse traps at about 7:00am that morning! By Saturday morning, the mouse returned to the pantry and got caught in a trap. We hope that is all the mice we end up having in the house! We are now more prepared with mouse traps downstairs and in the pantry!

The rest of the weekend, one of us basically had to stay home with Jerz (except for the couple of hours on Friday evening when we went to my parents' house for the Thanksgiving dinner with them. I missed out on going to Ryan and Raumi's house on Saturday evening unfortunately, but had to stay home to make sure Jerz would not do anything to hurt herself!

Other than the holiday weekend and all the "exitement" that went with it, it's been mostly just work and the usual for us. The last big push at work before Christmas is upon us!

It's such a relief to know that the baby's heartbeat is strong and that he/she is doing well - we feel very blessed! No better Christmas present that we could ever ask for!! :)

Have a great rest of the week and weekend everyone!

Another busy couple of weeks...and things won't slow down for awhile!

Well yet again lots has happened since the last time I posted updates on the blog. And, as you can tell from the countdown on the right side of this page, we are rapidly approaching the date when we will close and get to move into our new house. I think it is starting to sink in that we will be moving out of the trailer. We have piles of boxes here right now. That is our project for next weekend - pack it all up and put it in the storage trailer for about a month.

Here are some pictures of the house from over the past few weeks:

Living room - as you can see the fireplace tile was installed. There will be a wood mantle around the fireplace and a matching wood ledge at the top of the bumpout so we can (ok, so I can) put decor up there). The Fesers, who are doing our cabinets, are also constructing the mantle and ledge to match.

As you can see from the pictures, they have also installed the door and window casings. I love the white - it make all the colors "pop." The baseboard trim will also be white.

Living room windows:
Laundry
Master Bedroom

Hallway niches - the bottoms of them will also be painted the darker color, but the painter hasn't completed that yet.
Looking from the living room toward the entry/hallway/2nd bedroom/den:
Dining room:
Entry way:
Master bathroom - as you can see, they installed the tub deck and whirlpool tub. Incidentally, the brand of the tub is JASON. I need to find something with "Sara" as the brand to equal that out somewhere in the house.

The exterior of the house as of Friday, 9-12-08. It's pretty much done now on the outside except the pillars will have a white casing and they have to install the coach lights. I love how the rock turned out with everything!
Close-up view of our front porch/patio area:
Little Grandma, Mom and Dad came out to see the house on Friday night with us after Dad's birthday party and decided to check out the front porch! :)
The cabinets in the bathrooms will go in this week and the painter will continue painting all the casings around the doors and windows and some other detail work. I think they might also install the flooring in laundry room and guest bathroom and the flooring and tile in the master bathroom, but don't quote me on that. I think the electricians will be in this week also.

Next week, Jay and a few of his buddies are going to install our hardwood floor in the living/kitchen dining rooms, the entryway/hallways and in the master bedroom.

That's basically the house update! Our "goal" is to close/move in on October 17, so just over a month and we'll be in our new home! :)

As you can tell by the title of this entry, we have had a busy, but good, couple of weeks. Here are some of the highlights:

Last weekend, I got a text from a friend that I went to law school with that he and his girlfriend were en route to a wedding in New Salem, of all places, and that he wanted to see if Jay & I would meet him out to have some supper and catch up. I bet I hadn't talked to him in almost a year. It was a nice surprise to hear from someone out of the blue. We did meet him out along with Jake and spent a few hours visiting and catching up.

Last week, we had Micaela's birthday party on Tuesday. As you know from my prior blog entry, she turned 13. I still can't believe that!

Here are a few pictures from the party:

The birthday girl with Gabe & Riley:
The family singing "Happy Birthday" to Micaela:

Little Grandma and Mom:
The family watching Micaela open presents:
Me with the birthday girl - my niece/goddaughter:
Thursday was our friend Trav's birthday so we met him out for awhile that evening, which was fun. I graduated high school with Trav so it's fun to reminisce about high school days. Trav is one of those friends that I kind of knew in high school but got to be good friends with later on in life. That has happened with a few people I knew in high school. It seems you get out of that high school environment and are able to get to know people better. At least that's my opinion!

Friday we had yet another birthday to celebrate - my dad's. (His actual birthday is Sept. 16). However, my parents took off to Hawaii for a couple week trip on Saturday morning so we had his party Friday evening before they left.

Here are a couple pictures of Dad ("Papa Ron") with the grandkids:

On Saturday, I got up bright and early to drop my parents off at the airport for their flight to Hawaii. Then, I came into work from 7:00am until about 11:30am - when I was rescued from working by Sandy and Lyndsey, who called about meeting them at the Street Fair, which is right out the front door to our office building. Val and the girls were already there so we all met up to have some lunch and to wander around to look at all the booths. We also stopped in a couple downtown stores and I bought a few things for the house at one of those stores. (Look out, house decor shopping has officially begun!) It was fun to do some shopping with Sandy and Lyndsey!

After that, I went over to watch Micaela's cross country meet. I have heard through my brother that she averaged about 8 minute miles which is awesome! That's better than I could do - I know that!!

Jay's softball team had a golf outing and fish fry on Saturday afternoon and well into the evening, which meant that the beagles and I ended up with a girl's night in. I ended up renting a "chick flick" ("Juno") which I had been wanting to see for quite some time. (Jay wasn't so keen on watching it). I thought it was really good - well worth it!

Sunday I got into work again for awhile and then took the beagles to the annual Shaggy Shuffle. This is the 3rd year I have participated in it. I love it - there are always tons of dogs around and it's just a fun atmosphere! Plus, it's for a good cause. I have to work on getting more donations in future years, but have been able to raise some money each year. It benefits the Central Dakota Humane Society, which is a no-kill non-profit animal shelter. My brother's family got their dog from CDHS.

Tom was able to join me for the walk. We're proud to say I think we came in with a strong 2nd & 3rd place finish with the 2-mile course. (Too bad we don't get medals - haha!) Tom took the "difficult" dog to walk - Jerz. She seemed determined to finish in the top 5, doing her usual pulling on the leash while walking. I had Bailey who is probably the easiest dog to walk, unless there is something or someone that makes her skiddish. Jerz also managed to dive into a big bowl of puppy treats which were sitting on the end of a table at one of the treat/water stations along the way. She has no shame! Oh well, we had the ladies who were at the table laughing over that!

Here are a few pictures from the event:

Jerz & Bailey pre-"race":
A picture of the crowd with all the dogs before the walk began:
Tom got a picture of me walking the dogs at the start:
Tom walking Jerz:

After the walk, our volleyball team had a scrimmage scheduled, which was good practice for our season which starts on Wednesday of this week. Thanks to Robyn and her team and the others that came to scrimmage with/against us - we needed it! Our team got moved up a division after tying for first in league last year, so we need some good competition to get ready for the season!

Jay did dishes for possibly the 2nd to last time last night. I think out of anything about the new house, he is most excited about having a dishwasher!

We ended up "having" to sell the trailer to our landlord, who denied the application from the guy who was going to buy our trailer, that I had referred to in an earlier blog entry. While we were not happy with the way the landlord handled the whole situation, at least as of next Monday, the trailer will be sold for the same price. As I mentioned earlier we are packing/moving/cleaning throughout this entire upcoming weekend, so we can get out of there!

Jay has been in there for a long time, and while he is ready to move out, there are a lot of memories in there from all the years he has been there. But, it's time for us to move into a new home, our first house. I didn't know how excited I would be to move when the time came, or what emotions I would be feeling. I know I have been sad every time I've moved out of a place (which has been several places since I graduated high school). Sometimes, those memories just get me! In the 2+ years I have lived at the trailer, we have had some pretty fun times. We have gotten through some pretty tough times as well. I studied for the bar exam twice while living there. It's the only home Jerz has ever known and it's been the home in which Bailey got her chance at a better life (since she came from an abusive home before we adopted her from the pound). I know Jay has many more memories from there. I'm sure they will all come flooding back as we pack everything up this weekend and walk out of there for probably the last time. It has served it's purpose, and then some, over the years. If those walls could talk...

So it really is "bittersweet" - this whole moving process. I can say that I am really starting to get excited to begin making a whole new set of memories in our new home. Every time I go out there, it feels more and more like home to me.

I know this was a long post and I'm not sure when the next one will happen. Work and everything related to moving will be taking up a lot of time in the next couple weeks., so we will see!

Have a great week everyone!

Happy 13th Birthday Micaela!!

Wanted to wish Micaela a happy 13th birthday today! I cannot believe how fast time flies by! I was a senior in high school when Micaela was born...and Candace was teaching at St. Mary's at the time. I remember her flagging me down while I was walking over to Hillside Park with the freshmen class for Freshman Unity Day - yelling out the window of her car that she was going to the hospital! I also remember going up to the hospital after a football game that night and waiting for Micaela to arrive! I just cannot believe that was 13 years ago already!

Micaela, we hope you have a wonderful day and we will see you tonight at your party! And, as Papa Ron used to say to me and my friends - "Oh no - another teenager! Agh!"

Painting, Packing, Parties...what a weekend!

Well it's 5:00 on Sunday evening and Jay & I have accomplished quite a bit in the last 48+ hours!!

Friday afternoon I got my summer hours off from work and got some shopping done for my parents' upcoming 40th anniversary party (this Saturday). We still have things to do but we have a good start!

Friday evening we got in some miniature golf with Lyndsey & Nick. It was fun but they beat us! (I'm going to blame it on Nick's "rules" and Lyndsey's score-keeping!!) We also spent some time listening to a band with them over at the Oar afterwards...It was a beautiful evening to sit outside & unwind after a busy week!

Saturday morning we decided we were going to get some work done around the trailer. We wanted to stop at the house first, so we drove out there after we wok up. Nothing new was done (just some more sanding, etc on the interior walls). So, we went to Chris & Val's to pick up their ladder so we could paint the exterior of the trailer & the deck. Well by the time we got started it was late morning. We got the most difficult and time-consuming part done Saturday - and during a very HOT part of the day!! I also got a bunch of boxes packed up on Saturday so we can clear out the trailer to sell it soon. (Can you tell we're getting a bit anxious to move?)

Saturday evening was Val Weigel's 30th birthday party at their house - what a fun time! Definitely what we needed after a day of hard work!

Today we got up and started painting a little earlier than we did yesterday. What started as a plan to just do the front ended up being painting pretty much the whole thing. We got it done by 1:30 and avoided much of the really ugly heat! It looks MUCH better and we are so glad to have that out of the way!

After we got done, I went to an open house up in our soon-to-be subdivision. I decided since I was up there that I would stop at the house. Much to my surprise, they had done the first coat of primer on all the interior walls. Here are some pictures:

Kitchen/dining room area from the living room

Guest bedroom bay windowGuest bathroom

Master bedroom

Hallway niches

Living/Dining room from the entryway

Dining room from the hallway/entry
View of the entry way/front door from the living room
Living room (fireplace)
Living room again

We are currently unwinding (a/k/a holding the couches down). The beagles are napping - they had a rough weekend barking at us outside as we painted!

There should be some new stuff happening with the house this week so I will post more pictures hopefully by the weekend. Mom & Dad's anniversary party will be on Saturday afternoon/evening - should be fun!

Have a great week everyone!!