It's Been Awhile

Well it has been awhile since I posted anything...not too much has been happening with us except of course the process of planning a house to build (hopefully) this year. We are currently in the phase of waiting on getting a detailed bid, which should happen by sometime next week. We will decide from there what we will do. I can tell that it will take up quite a lot of time but I'm happy with doing things this way. If we're going to spend that kind of money, at least we know things will be the way we wanted and planned them to be!! Plus, it's kind of fun picking stuff out - I've already started looking at options for flooring, cabinets, etc. My "house" folder is growing bigger by the minute!! The builder we have talked to so far has been very helpful, organized and willing to bend over backwards to find us something we really like in our price range...No complaints there!! And, most importantly, no fights have broken out between me and Jay - at least not YET!! It helps that we have very similar taste in things...

Other than that, work has been busy and we look forward to our weekends!! Jay has gone ice-fishing a few times this month but so far no luck with catching anything...he made the comment the other day that it's a good thing we don't rely on him to provide us with food from his fishing and hunting!! So true...

I spent the past weekend at my parents' house organizing stuff that I have stored there for the last 10-11 years or so plus a lot of our wedding gifts that we couldn't fit in our little trailer!! It is all boxed, labeled and ready to move out of there when we move to our house. I'm glad it's done and feel like we accomplished something!! Thanks to my parents for their help with that!

We aren't some of the many people on trips or planning trips somewhere warm this year! But, we may have a Caribbean-themed dinner at our friends' house this Saturday evening. We'll just pretend we're somewhere warm...and NOT where the HIGH temp is 10 BELOW ZERO like today!! A year ago, we were sitting on the beach in Jamaica, soaking up the sun in 80-some degree weather...a lot can change in a year, I guess!!

Hope everyone has a great week and weekend...Stay WARM if possible!! Spring is on its way soon!

Big Week in Birthdays!!

Lots of birthdays to celebrate this week!!

First off, TODAY is Missy's birthday!! This lucky girl gets to go to Jamaica in a couple weeks and then come back to Bismarck to move into a new house!
Cheers!

Next up is Julie, who turns the big 3-0 on Thursday, JAN. 17TH! Don't worry Jules, I'm not very far behind!

Finally, we cap off the week with Lyndsey's birthday on JAN. 18TH!
Jay & Lyns at our wedding dance - flashing "west side" signs...Must be a Glen Ullin thing! ;)

Other than that, our quest to find a builder for our future home continues this week! Work continues to be hectic as well....but we get through it!

We hope all the birthday celebrations go well this week!

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Belated Anniversary & Birthday Wishes!

Well it looks like we missed a couple important days YESTERDAY!!

First Happy Anniversary to Tom & Candace! I think there is just a LITTLE difference in temperature from the day you got married to the 30-some degree days we now have in January!!

Second Happy Belated Birthday to our friend Cody! Honestly, Jay has a card just waiting for you in Bismarck!

Our only relatively interesting news is that we are meeting with a builder today to possibly start planning for a house to move into someday! We'll keep our fingers crossed that we can afford something with a little more square footage than the trailer and which comes with a dishwasher and a foundation!

Have a GREAT week everyone!!

Happy New Year's!!

Jay & I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy New Year's celebration! We hope that 2008 brings wonderful things for everyone! A lot of great things happened this past year in our lives and we are very grateful!



We are looking forward optimistically as to what 2008 has in store for us! Could be a BIG year! :)

A couple birthday wishes are due...

First, we would like to wish our friend Scott a Happy 30th Birthday on New Year's Day!
Second, we wish Andrea a Happy Birthday on Jan. 2nd!

And in case I don't post again in the next week or so...

Happy 9th Birthday to Gabe (a.k.a. "Harry Potter") on January 5th!!

Until next year...stay safe and warm!! :)

Christmas at the Gerhardts

I realized I had posted pictures from the Gerving family Christmas celebration on the Gerving blog site but here are some pictures from Christmas Eve with the Gerhardts...

Grandma & Me

Riley getting into some gifts!

Gabe with his Vikings PJ's

Micaela with some new running gear

Congrats to Bridget!

We recevied a Christmas card from our friend Bridget the other day and attached was a post-it note with some good news...

Bridget is pregnant and due June 3rd!

We wish you the best on your adventure with your new little one!

Congratulations!

Christmas Memories & Traditions

Tonight at dinner my sister-in-law Candace asked us to share some of our favorite Christmas memories. She also recorded us - and I am curious to see what happens with those recordings!

Anyway, we all shared a couple stories. It got me thinking of how all the little bits and pieces of our memories turn into traditions we try to hold on to throughout our lives. Sometimes I have a hard time distinguishing from what I think I remember from what I remember by looking at old pictures. I wish I could remember more. I couldn't think of one particular Christmas that stood out. But Tom brought up what was my favorite part about Christmas - the times we would gather at Grandma Gerhardt's house in Bismarck and the times we went up the Grand Forks to Grandpa and Grandma Ebert's house. Neither had a large house, but that was part of the beauty of it - all of us gathered under one roof to eat together, share stories, open gifts, play games...

Some of the traditions I loved were helping Grandma Gerhardt decorate her tree and set up her nativity scene, picking out a real tree each year with my parents and decorating while listening to Christmas music, wrapping presents, driving around to look at Christmas lights around town, and going to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve...just to name a few.

When we drove out to our lot last week, Jay commented on how being out in the country with the snow cover and the all the stars visible made it "feel like Christmas" to him - because it brought back memories of Christmas on the farm. I hope that when and if we do move out onto a house on that lot, that it makes it feel more like Christmas for him for years to come. I hope we find a way to make all our Christmases from here on out memorable, meaningful and filled with old and new traditions which we may hopefully pass on to our children someday...

I hope this post will help stir up wonderful memories from your past...and if you want to share any, feel free! (There's a "comment" section for that).

Merry Christmas from the Gervings!