Watching the flood from afar

We are glued to the KXNews live stream, and although we've heard and watched all of the latest details, it still does not seem real. It's hard to believe this tragedy has happened in Minot and we are so sorry for everyone who has been affected by this flood. We want to contribute to the recovery and rebuilding efforts as much as we can, to a city and to people who we love. We'll start here in Fargo at a charity event planned for next week.

While the cities of Minot, Burlington, Velva, Sawyer, and so many others, and their residents were scrambling to protect their homes and businesses, we were standing by in Fargo.

Ross and Gus had their first campfire at home. It included roasted marshmallows, of course.


Gus has been driving by Thunder Road for 2 years, and asking about it nearly everyday. We finally made the trip and it did not disappoint.

Gus had no clue what he was getting into when he jumped into the go-cart with his dad. Here they are, just barely pulling out of the garage. They were not pedal-to-the-metal at this point. I wish I would have taken video of the acceleration, because when Ross gunned it, the look on Gus' face was hysterical!


Holding on! I couldn't tell if he liked it or not.


Still going, and at about lap 4, I figured it had to be good since he hadn't asked his dad to stop yet.

Turns out he LOVED it, and went again with his Uncle Josh.


We also had a lovely visit from cousin Laura, and her new handsome little guy, Cooper. Nora was fascinated with him, and just wanted to get her hands on him. We had to protect Mini-Cooper.

Ok, that's close enough, Nora, thanks.

Minot, we're cheering for you.

Pre-flood graduation party

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Minot. My cousin Maren graduated from Minot High School. Congratulations, but what?! Wow that went fast. She is a gem and she's on her way to UND next year, where she will do great.

The official cousin's photo is below, but it's not really official because we were missing Stephanie. (boo hoo, we miss you, Steph).


Look how big Will is getting!

After Maren's party, we spent some time at Great-Gma Betty's house where Gus was introduced to gambling. I'm happy to report he kinda freaked out when the machine cashed out because it was "too loud".

Speaking of cha-ching or bling, while Nora was sitting on her Gma Betty's lap, she was doing her normal baby thing and reaching for anything within an arms length. The first thing she saw was her Great-Aunt Nancy's ring. Um, yeah, and it's not a small ring. She grabbed and thought, "well this is gorgeous. I must eat it."

Luckily Gma Betty was quick and grabbed it before it went into her mouth.

She did get to try it on for size, however. It was too big. Waay too big.

Great-Uncle Leo and Nora.

We also hit up Gma Debi and Gpa Steve's house. Gus helped Gpa plant some flowers.

He continued the yard work later that night with Gpa Dave, too. For like an hour. Or until the tractor ran out of gas.

We were also happy to spend some time with Ross' cousin, Anita, who was visiting from Billings, MT. Nora loved her! Cheese!

The day we left Minot, everything was fine. Only 24 hours later, the flood fight of the century began for thousands of people in the Minot community. Although the forecast was grim, it seems the grave danger has passed, and now all the poor families who scrambled to move everything up and out of their homes, can go back. To a dry house. Thank God! Can we have summer now please? KThanks.

Marathon Weekend

The Fargo Marathon gets bigger, and bigger each year and we love it because that means every year, more visitors come to town. Mike, Michelle, and Gabby spent the weekend at our house. Michelle sprinted the half-marathon. She would say she didn't run fast but if we were to start running at the same time, ya, she'd appear to be in a dead sprint. I am s-l-o-w. But I love it. It's fun and I can't wait to run again next year.

While we ran on Saturday, the kids played. Nora adores her girly idol, Gabby.

We like to line up Gus and Gabby, back-to-back, for a pic every now and again because although they are only 11 months apart in age, they look more like 2 years apart. Gabby is petite and Gus is tall for his age (shocking), so this is what you get.

This is our morning training regiment. Wall push-ups are hard! Have you tried one lately?

Finally, here's part of the marathon folks:
Holly, Janelle, me, Michelle, and Dan.

Not pictured, but deserving of some major recognition are: Brett, Bjorn, Meg, Randy, Tara, Jerry, and my fellow co-workers who were part of our relay team. Did I forget anyone? Congratulations all you runners!