Minnesota so far

Well, we got here. A few days ago. I got about 15 mosquito bites in the first 30 seconds, my ankles swell, and our apartment is the biggest dump OF ALL TIME. You'll see. And then you'll feel sorry for us. But no worries, we're strong, and the humid heat of the last few days with no A/C has been super duper. Two showers a day, lots of stickiness and sweat, and low temperatures of 74 degrees (like in the middle of the night). It's the most comfortable thing ever-- you should try it.

Unfortunately, we couldn't do a walk through before we moved all of our junk in, so we had to wait all weekend long to tell the management all of the following:

-"Hey, losers. Our fridge smells like a mouse died in it. I dry heave every time I open it to a) not put food in it or b) to make sure the baking powder still isn't doing squat to conquer one of the more foul odors I've smelled lately."

-"Hey, jerks. There is freaking mouse poop in the corner of my stinky storage room under the stairs. And, look, there's his house-- that hole, right there."

-"Hey, imbeciles. This nasty green carpet was never shampooed and I don't want to walk bare foot or touch it with a ten foot pole. So, please provide some hover-boards immediately. We don't like finding fingernails stuck to our knees after we kneel down. Hovering would be much better."

-"Hey, buttface. You left the rubber from somebody else's bath rug stuck to our gigantic bathroom floor. Barf."

-"Hey, good for nothings. It's hard enough for me to want to unload my kitchen stuff into the extensive amount of cupboards, but the handles screwed into the doors of said cupboards may be helpful."

Actually, the management has been real nice and accommodating now that they finished their lovely weekends wherever they live. We spent ours eating Taco Bell every night because there seems to be a shortage of fast food joints close by, we don't know where anything is, and... that's right: we can't buy any food because our fridge is rancid. They got us a new fridge today, they shampoo the carpets tomorrow, get the rubber off the bathroom floor tomorrow and will plug up Mr. Mouse's house soon. AND, they gave us our $135 prorated August rent back. See? This place is going to be great. I'll show you someday, but today is not that day.

And, we are actually really excited to be here. Minneapolis seems like an awesome place and we are excited to get to know the area. It was all pretty last minute, and we'll miss the West and my family and lots of other things, but we are very hopeful that Dave's transfer to the University of Minnesota will be great. Look for Dave when he's famous. Peace.

Haha

Well, guess what? Tomorrow (my tomorrow-- Thursday) we move to Minneapolis, MN. That's right, I said MINNESOTA. We've been working like dogs the last two days getting everything packed up and ready to go. As I'm sure you know, adventures are never few when moving.

At 10:20 pm tonight, I decided to do one more walk through the house. All good. I opened the fridge and looked at all the crap we were leaving for my mom to come pick up tomorrow and then I realized all at once, "Hey! Those left overs are in my tupperware! You've got to be freakin kidding me." Lucky for me, I had left out one roll of paper towels so I could rinse out the food and wipe them off. No, no soap. Fun times.

Then, after we finally had everything out and loaded, we tried to get our car up on the tow dolly. Broken. No work. We can't leave when we planned and we have to locate another tow dolly and blah blah blah. Anyway, Dave called the 24 hour Penske help line, and upon getting an automated dealy, he rolled his eyes and said, "Dude, if I was getting raped right now, I'd be so pissed.... But then again, I wouldn't be calling Penske." Haha.

Let the adventures begin!

Talk about Sexy

Miles came and got me this morning requesting "awp" (help). He took my hand and dragged me all the way upstairs to show me some shoes he needed "awp" getting on.

You can't tell me Miles doesn't look super sexy in his hand-me-down Buzz Lightyear pajamas (which he will not let me take off), chest hair, straggly, too long head hair and my boots that go up to his butt.... Seriously, too cute.

More Drums

Drums from DAM FAM on Vimeo.

Downtown

Spokane, WA is a fine city. I would definitely consider myself a city person and Spokane, albeit fine and dandy, doesn't really do it for me. But we still hit up downtown when we have a chance. Go to the park or the mall, and always Rocky Rococo's pizza. Here is not one, but four pictures of that super exciting event that someday I might look at and say, "Hey, remember when we lived there and ate pizza at Rocky Rococo's all the time?" Time will tell.

Zipadeedoodah!

Little Drummer Boy

First, I have to tell you that I have good news. By way of background, Dave's dad has always called Walmart "wal star mart" because of the star that used to be in between the "wal" and the "mart" in their logo as you see above. You may have noticed that Walmart changed their logo. To this:Yes, "Wal star mart" became "Walmart asterisk." One day, I was reading a Walmart ad in a magazine and I saw some asterisks so I veered on down to the bottom of the page and the fine print. Guess what I learned? The asterisk looking thing at the end of "Walmart" is actually called a "Spark." The "Spark" design is copyrighted by Walmart himself. So, thanks to me and my asterisk noticing, fine print reading, Walmart has now evolved into its proper title of "Walmart Spark." Feel free to join in on that one. It's real fun. Or you could just call it "Hell" like I often do.

Moving on, I think Miles might be a drummer some day. He loves music and must always have it on in the car. The other night, on our way home from Walmart Spark, one of Miles' favorite tunes finally came on after he said "no" to all the others we played trying to appease his musical wants. It was like we gave him a present. He drummed with his strong "T" sound and sang along with the ooooos and Dave and I laughed. This was the song:

Are we bad parents? Deep down inside, I know Dave is proud that his boy likes it.

Crapola Granola

Dave and I spent the day going through our gigantic load of crap in our garage, and we are definitely not done. I just had to share how happy and excited I was to see that we have moved from Rexburg to Rexburg, Rexburg to Dallas, Dallas to Coeur d'Alene, Coeur d'Alene to Liberty Lake, and Liberty Lake to Post Falls with Dave's beloved baby blankie. I'm so glad we had it all this time. Too bad I left my blankie at a Marriott in La Jolla, CA when I was little. It's been missing it's box full of other crap we don't need and/or hardly knew we have. Party.

We're all twisted

Good Morning.

Here's a little tid bit about Miles. When he wakes up, whether it be in the morning or after a nap, he never calls for anyone to come get him. He never cries. He just hangs out in his bed and waits for us to come get him. We could literally leave him in there for hours. Sometimes it sounds like he's having a good ol' time with his imaginary friends... just talking and squealing away. Other times, I open his door slowly and quietly thinking he's still asleep and he's just sitting there or laying there rubbing his blanket with his finger and sucking his tongue in silence.

When I walked in this morning and found him all twisted and uncomfortable, I just laughed. Maybe he'll be a really awful teenager....

Got some green?

My parents own this lovely house. They would like to sell it.

For sale by owner: $184,900

Click over to this blog for tons of pictures and lots more information. If you know anyone who may be interested, send them this way!

Thanks.

Miles goes camping

Well, I went too. And so did my brothers and their families. And my parents. And my grandma. And I left the day my sister came with her family. But no Dave. He had to work. It was a big bummer, but we're over it.

The camp site was beautiful!

This field with all the flowers was right outside my tent.

Miles slept like garbage the first night and woke up at the first crack of lights, well before 6am, so we went out and took pictures and picked flowers.

I am so not a morning person and I wasn't too happy to be up so early after a wretched night sleep, but once we got out it felt nice to be up in the quiet cool and just enjoy some things only morning can offer.

Miles wandering around in the woods.

We were right on the Coeur d'Alene River and Miles would have spent all day there if I'd let him.

Miles' favorite camping activity: throwing rocks in the river.

He loved it and would flip out every time we had to stop.

Floating down the river on the tube. At first Miles just wanted to get in the river so he could throw more rocks, but I showed him how to splash so he'd go from one side of the tube to the other and splash away. Party.

Overall, Miles loved the whole experience. He loved playing in the tent and getting dirty. It seemed like he was always falling down since he's so coordinated and all. He would just sit in the dirt and play with it-- it was a grand ol time. Me? It was really fun to see Miles enjoying himself so much, and camping is pretty fun when you aren't the one lugging all the food and every little odd and end that makes a campout for 19 people work! Also great when you leave before the rain comes. However, I could have done without the mosquito bite on the underside of my butt cheek... how did that little bugger get in my swimsuit? Or down my pants? Actually, the worst bite was in my knee pit-- always getting moved around and irritated and always itching LIKE CRAZY. Two thumbs up for camping 2010.

The great and amazing chef/wonder woman/grandchild magnet.

The other chef and the provider of it all.

Thanks Mom and Dad for all your hard work and a slap-me-silly good time.

And, here's some pictures of and/or for everybody else.

Viola.