Slacker!

Well yes I am a huge slacker lately! My last blog was over 2 months ago...I have good reasoning though! ;)

Shortly after Huntor's birthday, we headed back to Utah for 2 weeks. It was my grandparent's 50 wedding anniversary party (my mom's mom and dad, Carol and Dewey) and my 10 year class reunion.

The anniversary party went well. They had a very good turnout! They had family from all over come and friends that drove from Montana and Casper to celebrate with them! I thought that was pretty amazing! I think that grandpa and grandma had a great time!

In-between the party and the reunion, we helped my other grandparent's do some deep cleaning! D'Ann and ArLlyn have a huge storage shed, and we went through every box! Man that lady keeps a lot of stuff! ha ha It made me reevaluate some of the things that I had been holding onto! ;)

My class reunion was fun! It was a lot of work! I helped plan bits and pieces of it, but did a lot of hands on work when I got there. The girls that planned it did an awesome job! Especially considering that they had no money, yes, our class is broke!! Thank you class president! Marissa was the only one that was on the reunion committee that did any work, so it was a good thing that her friends rallied around her to help out! ;)It was good to see so many people that I hadn't seen in years! Some people had changed a ton and some hadn't changed at all!

We finally got home from Utah again and it was time to pack; we had a new house to move into!! I promise to post pictures soon. When we moved in, there was still no hardware on the cabinets, no mirrors in the bathrooms, etc. I am still waiting on a few things to be done. We told them that we are not signing the papers to buy the house until they have the punch list completed, and done right... They haven't been here to work in over a week, so I guess getting their money isn't that big of a deal to them...I am not very happy with them today! As you can tell! I spent 13 hours of the last two days resealing all of the tile in our master bathroom. They didn't mop before they put the sealer on and there were chunks of mud all over the floor, and the shower wasn't completely sealed. So I got down on my hands and knees and scraped all the mud up and resealed it...resealed the shower too. Grrrr! But don't worry, Alan called and told them that we will bill them for all of my time! ;) They may not love us after we meet on Monday! he he We have our appraisal on the 13th so I'll have to have my house put together by then. I'll plan on posting pictures by then as well ;)

Tailor has been playing volleyball. She loves it again this year and has improved greatly! They weren't going to be able to have a team if they couldn't find a coach...so guess who volunteered! I didn't know a ton about the sport, so I recruited Leish to help me out. She has taught them so much and I am so blessed to have her drive up here on the weekends to help coach!! The girls are having a blast this year, and winning some games I might add! I'll post picts of volleyball later too.

We decided that we are going to hit a Broncos game again this year! Yay! Since Alan loves the Giants, we are going to Denver over Thanksgiving for the Thanksgiving Day game! Us four will fly down around the 24th of November and fly home that Friday or Saturday. We are all so excited! It will be a different Turkey Day, but well worth it!

Huntor did start Kindergarten this year! Hoooooray! He loves it so much! Both of the kids have excellent teachers this year! It's amazing what a good teacher can do for a child. Tailor got an A+ on her math test yesterday! Math is not her strong suit and she is excelling in all areas this year. It is also great, because I have not had to fight one day to get either of them out of bed for school! I am loving the time around the hosue by myslef, it's amazing what you can get accomplished!

Well I better get cleaning again! Prince Charming is going to grace us with his presence this weekend! He will also wrap up his jobs in MN today!!!! Yahooooo! The job that he starts on Tuesday will be only 2 1/2 hours away! So much closer! I hate him being away, but you have to go where the work is! Part of owning your own biz ;)

Please keep my grandpa in your prayers as the cancer has started to spread. Pray that he will not be in too much pain! I will know more about the route that they are taking early next week so I promise to post and ask for specific prayers. Thanks so much! God Bless you all!

Until next time...

Huntor turns 6!

Well I am on top of things enough that yesterday was my little man's birthday and I am already posting his pictures! Well I just needed to be lazy this afternoon so that works too. ☺

Last year was rough for me because he turned 5! It may have also been because we were in the middle of packing to move and his B-Day party was also his going away party. This year I am ok with him being a big boy! He has changed so much this year and is really a little man now. He is so polite and kind. Except sometimes when he is beating on his sister!

He was lucky enough that his aunt Mandi, and my mom came up. They brought along Jayden and Avery. They all had a blast! After all, what is a birthday without your two BFFs!! The weather has been absolutely crazy this summer and it has only hit 90 one time in Williston so far. I'm not complaining except that it's July and I froze at Huntor's last T-Ball game this morning! Brrrr!! We were supposed to have H-Man's party at the mini golf course, as golfing is one of his favorite things to do. Well you guessed it, rain, rain, rain! So we had to regroup and have a bowling party. I invited all of the kids from his preschool class...all 16 of them...all except 2 showed up! Wow! What a turn out! They all were so great and had so much fun! As you can tell from the pictures, the girls are already pretty crazy over him! He just likes them "as friends" though. He actually has a crush on one of the checkers at the grocery store! But she is an older woman so we'll have to see how that turns out.

He said that he had a great birthday, possibly the best ever. Yay! So I am going to try and keep up on doing this next thing, we'll see if I remember next year ☺

6 Things about H-Man
1. You LOVE Star Wars! The theme of your party this year
2. Your favorite color is red. You told me the other day that red is your life!
3. You also love legos and transformers
4. You love to golf! Especially with your daddy!
5. This was your first year of T-Ball and you are awesome! You slide into home and your favorite position is pitch. (not surprising)
6. You love your family soooo much and you are so polite and kind. I'm so proud of you little buddy! I love you so much! Happy Birthday!!

Well until next time...

Just an update

Well since I haven't updated in a day or two... I am waiting for some picts. to upload to Shutterfly so I thought that I should do a quick update.

The house is going up oh so fast! Yay to that! The part that sucks is that there is so much chaos to go along with that! Our contractors are not the most organized men and when I had time and wanted to pick things out, they told me to not worry and they'd let me know when it was time...So they called me the other day while I was in Vernal and asked if I had chosen my front door. They needed to know the dimensions TODAY! Ugh! I said make a hole and I'll fill it in with a door when I get back! Bug me!!

School is out and the kids are board to death and at each other's throats.

Both of them are playing ball. They do it differently up here. They don't get assigned to teams until after they have practiced a few times. (All of the kids in the league practice together) Tailor is not at all liking softball this year. :( Different people, rules and coaches! Her aunties and I have coached her for the last few years and she loved it. I thought that I'd give her a break from us....Huntor is loving T-Ball! He wants to have it everyday!

My grandpa is doing okay. Mandi and I went down to see him again right when school got out. It was a good visit but very chaotic! But, I guess that is the way that we do everything in our family! He had a ct on the 11th to see if the chemo is doing it's job. If it is, he will continue everything that they have been doing. If not, they will stop all treatment. We will find out more on the 19th.

The Shipman sisters went on a long weekend getaway to Vegas!! Oh it was just what the DR ordered! I don't have any pictures, my camera is too big to tote around so Mandi and Leisha have all of the evidence. It was a blast! We ate too much yummy food (Capital Grille & In-N-Out), had a few too many drinks (Malibu-Coke please), danced until the bar closed (Kahunaville Fun!), rode the roller coaster at NYNY...???? Why we did that I'm not sure! That was a totally sober decision! LOL It was fun, poor Leisha! Mandi and I rode together and held hands the whole time while screaming. Amber was laughing at Leisha too hard to scream and Leisha just screamed! She was finally able to cry when we finished the ride. Oh it was hilarious! It was nice and as relaxing as Vegas can be. We got massages and laid by the pool a bit. For the first time ever, I was not ready to leave Vegas! I want to go back soon. But we are going to try and make it an annual event. First weekend in June every year. I'll just try and book our timeshare a year in advance to make sure it happens.

Alan is working in MN again. Lots and lots of work in MN! That is a good thing when you are the business owners! ☺

I will add some pictures of Vegas when Mandi shares them and I'll add house picts when I can. Until next time...

It is about time!

They have officially started working on our house! Yikes! It makes me a little bit queasy! I am so excited, but at the same time, I'm not looking forward to all of the chaos that goes into building your own house! There are way too many decisions to make!!! Not even just the carpeting, cabinets, etc... I'm getting overwhelmed with fixtures and door handles!! I also do not like making decisions like this on my own. Alan is currently working in MN. He will be working in ND next week so that will be nice to have him around for a little bit of the process. I have tried to make up my mind on as much as possible while I have him around to approve. One good thing is, we really have the same taste in decorating. Surprising enough! He does like a few more dead things hanging around than I do, but I will let him have a whole room for that. (downstairs!)

They are actually pouring the foundation this weekend because it is supposed to be nice until Tuesday. Oh my! Makes me nervous just thinking about it! However, please pray for us/me from time to time with this situation. We have just recently heard a few questionable things about our contractor. We did talk to people before we said yes to them, but these complaints are from the most recent houses that they have built. We are a bit hesitant, but our lawyer is on top of it and helping us out.... just in case. I'll keep you posted as we go! Yay!

Praise You in This Storm...

The song playing is my inspiration for tonight.

I know that you have heard the saying, "When it rains, it pours!" Well that is how I am feeling right now....so where do I begin???

I guess that the thing that is hitting me most right now is that my grandpa Arllyn (dad's dad) was just diagnosed with Lymphoma. It is currently only in the Lymph nodes of his lungs. I am having a hard time understanding this because to me Lymphoma is a very scary disease with no cure. I have just enough medical knowledge to be dangerous and I sometimes think that I know what I'm talking about. So, I call upon my good nurse friends for explanation. (☺ thanks girls!) He starts chemo in the morning and I honestly don't want him to do the chemo at all. Is that selfish? I just know that the quality of life that he will have after the chemo will be...not worth it. I would rather he just live the rest of his days as the crazy, fun, vibrant, joking, grandpa that we all know and love. The kids and I (maybe Alan) will be heading to Vernal sometime in the next couple of days to see him and help with whatever I can. Please keep him and our family in your prayers!!

One of the other things, we have a family friend, Matt, that is also battling cancer right now. He has been battling since he was 17 and is now 23. He is a good friend of Matt and Leisha's and was in Matt's line at their wedding. He is Houston and just had some more scans ran. He has a tumor the size of an Acorn on one of his ribs. (Right by scar tissue from where another tumor was previously removed) They are not sure if it is an operable tumor. However, they may be able to do radiation therapy on it. This poor kid is not going to go down without fighting to the very end!! His caring bridge website is what really got me crying tonight! Ugh! His sister writes and it just gets you! Please keep Matt in your prayers as well.

Alan and I used to bowl on a couples league once a week in Glendive. Nerdy, I know! But Alan grew up bowling and is very good at it. So, we joined so that we could do the "together" thing. While we bowled league, we met a lot of great people. Alan became pretty good friends with a guy named Steve. They have hunted Steve's land together and done some illegal hunting with my son in the truck....that didn't go over well!! (You have to know my husband and hunting!! LOL) Anyway, Steve and Amy's daughter, Janelle was in a terrible car accident about 2 weeks ago. She was not wearing her seat belt. She is in a coma in Bismark, ND. She had many broken bones, head trauma and a collapsed lung. She is not doing very well. They are continuing to work on her as her body ables. We all just keep praying that she will wake up and that there is minimal neurological damage! Please keep them in your prayers!

Okay last thing, I promise! There was a fatal car accident just outside of Williston and one of the kids, Luke, went to Trinity where my kiddos go. The whole school is only about 300 students, so yes, we knew him. It was him and his girlfriend. Alcohol was not involved. They were in the country taking her friend home from work. They were on a gravel road and going a bit too fast. They wanted to make it back to town in time to make it to the show. She died on impact, but he didn't pass until a while later. Neither of them were wearing their seat belts. Please pray for their families!

I'm sorry that this post was so doom and gloom! I just had to get this off of my chest. Maybe no one will read it, and then you won't want to smack me for making you cry! ha ha Please keep us all in your prayers! And please wear your seat belts! I know I sound like your mother, but I'm a mom! I can't help it! Until next time...

Eleven Candles

Last Friday my little girl turned 11! Time really does fly. Tailor and I definitely grew up together for a few years! Poor kid, she's lucky to be alive! ha ha I really did try to do my best with her; but some days I look back at some of the things that I have done and think 'WOW, only by God's grace!'

Tailor is so much like me in some ways, and in other ways, we are total opposites. Mostly when it comes to school work and organizational stuff. She wants to die when I break out my beloved label maker!! I always tease her that someday she is going to come home to her entire room labeled. Even her under ware!! ha ha ha I should do my evil chuckle, but I won't.

For her birthday we had a few girls over for pizza and then I took them all to the Monsters vs. Aliens 3D movie. It was fun. After the movie they of coarse weren't ready to go home so I drove them around for a bit. They were jammin' to music and screaming out the windows. LOL I remember the days! Then I took them to Wal-Mart and they played in the arcade and made a mess in the toy section. They were such troopers, they let Huntor tag along. He called two friends to come and neither of them could make it. So, once again, Huntor was chillin' with the girls. I finally took them all home a little after 10.

The next morning we ran to Glendive. It is so nice to be close enough that we can just run down there for a day or two! Especially when I am missing my rotten little niece and nephew! We went and had Beer Jug nachos for lunch. (Best Nachos EVER!) and then did some shopping. For dinner we BBQ'd kabobs at Ammie and Papa's house. (Thanks again!!) Her friend since they were both 2, Savannah, and her mom came. It was nice and low-key. Besides the DQ cake drama...I'll summarize it for you. We went to get the cake and their freezer had broken earlier in the day. So the frosting was melting off and they had set it on a shelf and it got dirt and hair all over it! Yuck! So mamma Ship chewed some tushie and we got half of the money back and another cake!! Don't mess with her grand kids! ha ha

Alan was very homesick and really needed to get away from work. So he drove until 1:30am to get to see his family for a few hours. So sweet!! We headed back Sunday morning early so that the kids could spend more time with him.

So that was birthday weekend at the Mapes' house. My camera broke and was at the dealer getting fixed so I had to use a disposable camera for the whole weekend. Ew! I hate the dark ages! ha ha When I get the picts back if there are any worth posting I will. Until next time...

Finally!

Yes, I finally got the rest of our Florida picts on here. These barely skim the surface because I took over 500 pictures.

Alan headed to work in a town on the ND/MN border yesterday. He said that it looks like he could be gone a week or so. Then he will head to Penn, ND to do another job. Yay! It is finally picking up again! The weather is cooperating! The snow is rapidly melting and there is a flood warning all across ND. So keep that in your prayers! We shouldn't be affected because we live far enough away from the river.

We met with our contractors yesterday and it looks like they may be able to start digging our foundation within the next couple of weeks! Yay again! I am really nervous! That is just a huge undertaking, a lot of money, lots of stressful details, and Alan will probably be gone for most of it... Good thing my mom and dad raised me to be strong! ha ha I am just worried about things like making all of the fixtures in the house match and making the house flow right, making sure that the colors look perfect... Oh Yikes! I'm going to give myself an anxiety attack just before bed! ha ha If any of you have tips or pointers as far as the house building thing goes, I'm all ears!! I'd love any and all input. (unless it's not going to make my life any easier!☺)

I'll keep you posted along the way!! Until next time...

Florida 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Discovery Cove

Yay! Thanks for making me try to get this fixed again Meg! Ha Ha

But now that I am back in business I will add an entry about one of the best days of our lives! If you ever get to Orlando, you HAVE to take the time to hit Discovery Cove! You get to swim with dolphins, tropical fish, rays, and feed birds by hand. But not only all of this, it is like your own little private island. They limit the number of guests that they have every day, so you really do feel like you are sharing the place with few people. We had an amazing day!!

We were the first group to be able to swim with the dolphins. The dolphin that we had the pleasure to swim with was named Cindy. She is a little bit famous, she starred in Jaws 3. She was also very sassy and loved the attention! The kids loved it so much! But as you can see, Huntor wasn't fond of the taste of the salt water. We really just swam and played all day long! We will definitely make it back there to do it again!

P.S. here are some Disney songs for your listening pleasure. ha ha Because we never get sick of It's a Small World Right!? I'll post Disney World picts tomorrow. Until next time...

Under Constuction

So I am totally bugged!! I tried to update my page today and when I put the other BLOGGER template on, it erased everything! I have no gadgets, no layout tab, nothing! So then I went and found another background and it was still missing everything. Grrrrrr!! So as I try to figure this out, please excuse the construction mess. ☺ until next time.....

Getting on the ball

So I gave all of you our blog address and then haven't updated anything! Ha Ha joke is on you! Just Kidding! But now, I am trying to get on the ball....

We have been very busy here in Williston! We've also been close to freezing to death and are almost buried in snow! This is the worst winter that I have ever had to go through in my life!! So much snow and it has been so cold for so long! The first two weeks in December it got down to -52 with windchill! Yuck! I have informed Alan that the next big family move, I get to choose where we go!!!!

We got back from Utah and had to quickly get Alan ready to head to MN for a job. The night before he was supposed to leave, we got an email. The company that he is doing the work for, did not have the work permits in hand! So now it is Friday and there is still no word about a start date for work. His two employees that we had to struggle to find are coming from Havre, MT. This has become a bit of a headache, but he is in good spirits and has had fun with the kids and I this week.

For Christmas, Alan and I got the kids a family vacation to Florida!! We are so excited to go! We are leaving to Billings on the 27th of January and fly out on the morning of the 28th. We will be doing the Disney World/ Sea World/ Discovery Cove thing until we fly out on the 4th. I can't decide what they are most excited about. I think just the whole experience for them both! Alan is really excited to swim with the dolphins at Discovery Cove. I am just ready to be somewhere that gets double digits ABOVE zero!!!

While we were in Utah, I did finally get to see my new niece!! She is such a doll! Some days she looks just like her daddy and others she is a tiny Amber. I wish that I could be there to help Amber! Or maybe just to spoil Cailin??? Whatever I would be best at! ha ha I want to cry every time I get a picture. Which has actually been everyday! Mike is helping us get through missing her by sending us a picture over the cell phone daily. I have only had to remind him once. ☺ Amber is doing well, but dreading the day that she has to go back to work. I told her to just send Cailin up to auntie B!! I could totally take her while they work!

Well, here are a couple of pictures for you. Until next time...