We have been in North Dakota a little over a week now, and I'm so happy to say I am actually kind of loving it.  It surprises me.  I was really skeptical of the whole ND thing and maybe because of that I have been pleasantly surprised.  Granted it has only been a week, ask me again in a month and things may have changed. However I feel like it will just get better as I meet more people and get more familiar with the area.  There are definitely hard days with the boys where I'm not sure how I'm going to keep them busy, but I have days like that at home.  

Here are some of the things I have made me really love it:

-I have completed 3 books in the week we have been here.  In CA we have house projects, church callings, etc that keep us busy in the evenings, none of that here.  It also helps that the only show I am watching on TV is The Bachelorette so each evening instead of watching TV, I read.  I love it.

-Today I used my clothesline for the first time.  It is always windy here so it works out pretty well.  I felt so country hanging our clothes out to dry.

-The pool opened this week.  The weather hasn't been warm enough for swimming, but I bought our family a summer pass and the boys and I went yesterday to get them use to the idea of going.  The heater for the water was broken so the water was ice cold.  We put our feet in and the boys wore their floatation devices around and played.  I'm looking forward to warmer weather.

-Gackle has a mens softball team.  Last night they had a home game so we headed over to the baseball field.  It was a beautiful evening and there was a really cool community vibe.  I also met a few people young people so that was cool.

-I mentioned the thunderstorms before, but we had another one last night that was awesome.  The sky just lights completely up and the thunder is so loud that it woke me up from a sound sleep.  Ollie was awake last night while it was going on (around 1am) and he didn't seemed bothered by it at all (he was more concerned that there were snakes in his bed because he had a dream about snakes), he told me he liked the lightning and thunder.  Max slept through the whole thing.

-We are looking forward to this weekend because there is a house auction.  We have never seen one.  I guess they are auctioning off the house and then a lot of the belongings.  It should be interesting.  I will report back.  

-As you may or may not have noticed Jason hasn't been so active in the triathlons this year.  He didn't sign up for any because he wasn't sure what his work schedule would be like and if it would allow time for training.  Well, it hasn't really allowed him the time, but he did find an Xterra triathlon in Jamestown ND (about an hour from Gackle).  It is a much shorter distance than his other races so he isn't so worried about not training enough.  I'm happy because I know how much he loves participating in races and I am glad he is getting to do what he loves.

-We went to church in Jamestown on Sunday.  They got a new church building since the last time we had been there.  It is really nice.  Everyone was so nice and happy to see us. The wanted to know if we were new in the branch.  I could sense the disappointment when we would tell them we were just visiting, when I added that it was for the summer the excitement would return.  I think they will definitely be putting us to work while we are joining them.

Ok last week I mentioned the Gackle newspaper.  It is actually call the Tri-County News, and covers the news for approx 9 different towns.  It costs $1 to buy and comes out every Wednesday.  I find this newspaper very interesting. I don't want it to sound like I am making fun of Gackle, I just want to show how small and laid back it is here.  Here are the two front page headlines from last weeks edition:

Central Prairie Basketball Camp

New dates for Lehr Campmeeting Wed-Sun June 13-17

Each week people from each city can call in their "news" if they want and it will be included in the paper.  Here is an excerpt from Gackle's news section:

"Myron and Jenneice Sommerfeld, Valley City stopped for a short visit Monday afternoon with Oliver and Phyllis Otto".

I got a kick out of this from the Jud News:

"Correction: Last weeks article omitted the name of Arlyn Elhard who also attended the birthday party for Austin Zubrod's 10th birthday in Valley City. (SORRY)".

I'm really glad they got that cleared up.  Anyway, it is pretty funny to read.  I would much rather read these sorts of articles than about burglaries, rapes etc.   Don't worry, I will be sure to include any good news on the blog :)  Jason and I were thinking we would call in some of our comings and goings for the newspaper one of these weeks.

So that is all of my observations this week about Gackle.  Now on to what we have been up to.

Last weekend we headed to Jamestown for a kite festival.  It was really cool.  The boys loved watching the kites.  There was even a kite team that was doing a synchronized kite routine that was pretty impressive.

On the other side of the park from the kite festival a church was having a celebration.  They had bounce houses and a tractor ride.  The boys were in heaven. Jason and I were shocked that we didn't have to sign any waivers or anything for them to ride the tractor or play on the bounce houses (that would never happen in CA).  

After the kite festival we headed to the mall, to the one nail place I could find, and I got a mani/pedi (it was the one thing I really wanted to do).  After that we headed to the Buffalo museum where they have a little frontier village. Every Saturday they have a "shoot out".  Basically they reenact a old western scene with fake guns etc.  It was actually kind of lame haha.  Now we know.  We got ice cream from the "general store" and walked around a little bit.  This museum's claim to fame is "white cloud", an albino buffalo.  She is usually wandering around the field and that day she was up close.  It is hard to see her from the picture but she was actually really close.

 Me and the boys at the "shoot out".

 Some of the characters.

The little table in our house has fold out wings and the other night Ollie was leaning on one and it broke.  He whacked his chin and got a little cut.  Poor guy.  He was pretty tough.

 Monday of this week was cold and windy.  Since a lot of our days are spent outside at the park or on walks, Monday was a LONG day for this mom trying to keep her two energetic boys occupied.  I built them a fort, because really what boy doesn't love a fort.  It wasn't pretty, but they liked it.

 Jason came home for lunch and took a little nap in the fort with Ollie.

 As I mentioned before, we go on lots of walks.  We were coming home from the park the other day and Ollie found this branch that he wanted to take home.  He was dragging it behind his bike (I ended up carrying it most of the way).

Ollie is really into singing lately, and sometimes he is LOUD.  This is how Max feels about it.

I had a horrible shopping experience with these two yesterday morning, but by the afternoon we were all feeling much better and enjoying the park.

 I found the idea for nature bracelets online and knew Ollie would love it.  He is always finding rocks, tiny pinecones etc to carry in his pockets while we are walking.  You just use duct tape and add things  you find along your walk to make your own nature bracelet.

 Ollie used the baby swing for days when he was little.  Max skipped right to the big boy swing.  Look how pleased he is with himself.

Ollie still sometimes prefers the baby swing.  He asked me to take a picture of him, which is funny because he is not always the most willing subject.

I'm not sure if this video is working, but this was during FHE.  Ollie's current favorite song is "Choose the Right" which he has been learning in primary.  It is so cute lately because he will say "Mommy do you want to sing "choose the right " with me?"  How could you ever resist a request like that?