A year of Bliss??

I know it is a week late, but I thought I would look back at our first year of marriage. I never thought our first year would be so crazy...
It all started on our honeymoon. We went to the cities for a few days just to relax and for Dan to get locked out of our hotel room in his underwear at 2am. It was this very trip that my wonderful husband let me know that there was a position opening up in Dickinson for recruiting. We talked a lot and made the decision that Dan would accept the position and I would continue to work in Bismarck. I think we thought that it would be just a short time until he got back to Bismarck. In march, just 2 weeks after our wedding, Dan went to Salt Lake City Utah to Camp Williamsfor 2 and a half weeks. Once he was back, we spent the next couple of weeks figuring out how this Dickinson thing would work. Starting in April, Dan would leave on Monday morning and come home on Friday night. During the summer he would come home Monday night to play softball too. It was working O.K. but not what we pictured our first year of marriage.
So starting in July I looked for a job in Dickinson. It was frustrating at the beginning, with no job openings. People were so nice and were keeping their ears open and I was urged to apply for a Child Protection position at the County. I did and then was able to apply for a school social worker position. I interviewed for the full time school position on August 26th. I did not get that position because Kim, my coworker now, moved into that position. That in turn opened up my current position. I interviewed on August 25th and was offered the job on August 26th. I was officially done with PATH on September 15th and made the trip to Dickinson to start on September 16th.
I moved just a few things to the studio apartment that Dan had been renting for the last few months. It was close quarters with only having 1 room total. It made for some trying times, but we made it through. During the first month of work, we decided to buy an older home here since we had not sold the house in Lincoln. After a long drawn out process with the bank, we were approved and closed on the house on November 21st. We moved the things that we needed the next couple of weekends and tried to make it a home. We also listed our house with a Realtor in November to try and sell it. Then came the holidays and we really did not get to enjoy them. It was a rush and we were very stressed with all that was going on. Dan took a few days and went to the cities and I came back to work.
As we approached our 1 year anniversary, we decided to have all of our things moved down to Dickinson. We spent the day of our anniversary going to lunch and then I left for Dickinson while Dan stayed back and waited for the movers. They officially moved everything down to Dickinson on February 19th. We still have the house for sale in Lincoln, but we finally feel settled.
It has been a bumpy ride the first year, but I think it has really made us a closer couple. We are able to talk through things and work things out and I think that we go through things just to make us stronger. This is not how we pictured our first year of marriage, but it just goes to show that we are never in control of our fate.

Snow Day!!

I just want to start out by saying the weather man was wrong...Again!! On Monday, there was a winter storm warning for the central part of ND, not Dickinson. Starting Monday late afternoon, after a day of rain, it started to snow, A LOT!! By the time I got home from work at 5, the streets were getting icy. Dan and I watched it as it continued to snow all night, it is amazing what you do when you don't have cable!! By Tuesday morning, there was a large amount of snow. When I got out to start my car, the snow was up to my mid calf. I couldn't believe it. School was the first to be canceled, which sucks because Tuesday is one of my days in the schools. Just as I got my car cleaned off and ready to take off, my supervisor called to let me know that we were closed until 1pm!! It was a half Snow day!! If you know anything about Government agencies, they NEVER close, so I knew it was bad out. After shoveling the extremely heavy snow (rained all day and then started to snow) Mattie talked me into a morning nap!! I wasn't lazy all morning, I did get up and make lasagna for supper. At about 11, my supervisor called to let me know that we would be closed for the rest of the day!! WOOHOO!!! Although I was a little bored, I was still excited to be off. I decided that I would make good use of my time and bake, just like my momma would do on snow days!! I made cupcakes for Valentine's day! I had so much fun spending the day in the kitchen!! Oh no, I have turned into my mom!! We ended up getting close to 10 inches of snow. I will welcome another snow day anytime!!

Finally will live in one house!

We are finally seeing the end of living in 2 places!! We have not sold the house yet, but there have been several couples that have walked through in the last couple of weeks, so we are hopeful. This weekend we went home and packed and sorted. We had a load just dedicated to donation. It is amazing how much junk that I have accumulated over the last couple of years. We were able to pack Dan's pickup and my car and bring that back to Dickinson. The movers will be going to the house today to determine how long it will talk them and what day they will actually be bringing our things down to Dickinson. It will definitely be next week though. We are very excited to have our furniture and belongings in one place. We are very tired of living out of bags and suitcases!! We plan to go back again next weekend to pack more and then Dan will stay in Bismarck until they have everything packed and are ready to come back to Dickinson. I plan to take a few days off so we cane get everything situated and put together. We are also excited to have cable hooked up in Dickinson, finally!! It has been fine with only having a few channels, we seem to spend more time together watching TV than when we have cable!! I am not too excited to watch the fishing, hunting, history or Military channel!! I guess Dan is not that excited to watch Lifetime or E! either!! Oh well, it will just be nice to have a few choices!!
We did have time to enjoy a hockey game while we were back in Bismarck too. Dan is pretty worried that the Bobcats are going away due to financial troubles so we had to go and support them on Saturday. I don't know what Dan will do if there are no more Bobcats games!!!

A Great Weekend!

Dan and I had a wonderful weekend with friends. We spent Friday evening and Saturday morning at a conference called "Laugh Your Way to a better Marriage". It was wonderful. The first night I had such a stomach ache from laughing!! The presenter really said what it is like in marriage! We went with 2 other couples from Dickinson and really had fun spending time with them too. Dan and I plan to make it an annual thing to go to this. We were fortunate enough to have it paid for through the Guards so it did not cost us a thing to go to it. It is nice to go to things like that, it really makes you think about your marriage and what you could do different to be a better spouse.
Saturday night we went to the Bobcats game. Dan's brother Jim came with us and spent the night out at the house. It is always fun to have Jim around, we miss him!!
On Sunday, of course we had to get our game faces on!! We came back to Dickinson and went to Steph and Brady's house for the party. We had a blast watching the commercials and talking about the conference!! Mattie loves to go to Steph and Brady's because the have Milo who is a schnauzer also! He is Mattie's boyfriend and they play until they drop!! Mattie was so tired this morning that she didn't want to get up. I finally had to push her outside so she would go potty before Dan and I left for work!! She had a busy weekend too!!
It was a great weekend of spending time with Friends and with each other.