Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Well, Just Planes.

Last month Fargo had the annual air show. This year the Navy Blue Angels were the featured guests. S and D really wanted to see them as did I. Seeing the Blue Angels in person has been a dream of mine for 20 years. Seeing them was one item on my bucket list. We spent an entire Sat. afternoon watching some of the coolest planes and stunts that I have ever seen. There was one stunt pilot that did a fly-by with the cockpit open and was standing up on his seat to wave at the crowd. Another plane did loops and several engine stalls and allowed the plane to free fall until the last moment and started the engines back up. They were crazy.



Before the show started, we were able to tour through a cC-27J Spartan support airlift plane. S and D even had an opportunity to sit in the pilots seat. Way cool!





One of the coolest flights was the USAF Heritage Flight which serves as a living memorial to the men and women of the USAF past and present. During this flight two planes (Modern F-18 Jet and P-51 Mustang from WWII) flew together in formation. This was very emotional to watch.


Finally at the end of the show the Blue Angels took flight. They put on quite a show. Awesome formations, amazing control, simply amazing pilots and planes. At the end of the show, the Blue Angel pilots walked over and gave autographs. I was amazed at how personable they were to all of the kids and gave each child personal attention. They had class. When D was getting the Commanding Officer's ( Capt Greg McWherter) autograph, he told him that he wanted to be a Blue Angel Pilot some day. Capt McWherter smiled and told D that he would see him in 30 years. I was happy because I was able to shake their hands.







What a great day!

Labor Day Camping with Bears and Hidden Zombies

This past weekend we traveled to good ol' Wisconsin to go camping with extended family. On the way, we found a 'sit down' A&W restaurant which was awesome. Love the Papa burger!


Kinda cool to see how three boys can turn a average size family into quite a large one. From 5 to 16. Still happy to see that I am the tallest and most handsome. (I wish I had an old picture with Scott in it but I don't, need to track one down)






We had an awesome double site that we shared with Jen's parents. Thank you Nana for the yummy cheese!


Everyone had a blast, once it stopped raining midway through the weekend. The kids loved fishing and we even had Grandma West helping the kids out. Unfortunately little D didn't catch a fish but he sure had fun trying. He was quite good at casting and reeling the line in.




On the last day we took the kids horseback riding which made B's year. She now wants to convert her entire room to a horse theme, horse comforters, curtains, posters, etc.



What a memory! Did you find the hidden zombie?

First Day of School with the Village People

We are finally settling in to Fargo, my new job and our new home so I am back to blogging, at least once a week. I will try to keep up so everyone can have a Fargo experience. This is a family picture of us for an application that I did for trying to win a Disney yard make-over by HGTV.


This was the first day of school for everyone. Jen no longer has any kids at home now that everyone is in school. It was D's first day of kindergarten. He loves his new teacher, school and going to school. Everyone loves their schools and they are already making new friends. The schools here in Fargo are amazing. On our side of town they are all new, within the past 5 years, and well funded (now I understand where my high property taxes are going and I am ok with it).




The kids and I are very happy because we now have a Lego room. We use our large upper living room as our Lego room and we are able to spread them out to build. The other day I was excited to see that I was able to build a stage and the Village People. Way cool!

Moving Day

Moving day is finally here. The truck is in the drive and we will begin loading. I am going to miss my front yard. The Japanese Maples are leaving out, everything is in bloom - lilacs, tulips, daffodils, azaleas, and the dogwoods (pink and white).

Can't wait till it is all done and we are in Fargo.

Merry Christmas!

Laminate and Gingerbread houses.

Jen and I are finished laying the the laminate. All 680 sq ft of it. It has turned out to be quite nice. I still need to finish putting down quarter-round but at least we have the house with less chaos for Christmas (even though it took until Christmas Eve). Here is a look at the backroom.


During home improvement, I have tried to keep in mind that it is the Christmas holiday which is extremely important to the kids. This past Monday night we made gingerbread houses. Honeymaid now makes gingerbread flavored graham crackers.







The finished products:

Stuck in the Bathroom

I was stuck in the bathroom most of the day...laying laminate and quarter round trim. I am glad that I wasn't stuck in the bathroom for any other reason.

I bought some Pergo Cherry laminate several years ago and we decided to lay down today. It is quite a change from the linoleum that I put down 6 years ago.




Lots more to do to the house to get it ready for showing. Once we are done, it is going to look great!

Funny thing happened yesterday. I received an email and BYU want me to interview for a position in Provo. Crazy things are happening!