People Eating Tasty Animals

Ok this blog isn't about eating animals, I just saw that on a bumper sticker and thought it was worth repeating (sorry to any animal rights activists I may offend).
Ally and I took a last-minute trip to Minneapolis this weekend, tagging along with Josh on his first TDY. The drive was uneventful but the weekend was awesome! We went to the zoo;

Ally pet a goat

and LOVED the prairie dogs (one of her favorite words is "dog" so she had fun yelling that at the little furry guys who would stand up and chitter).

*One of my major pet peeves is when parents deliberately teach their children incorrect things. If an animal is in a cage with a large sign identifying it, don't call it something else! I seriously watched a mom tell her older children to look at the 8 foot tall "duck" in the ostrich cage. Ok it's one thing to call a bison "buffalo" but everything with antlers is not a deer!

We of course also went to the Mall of America, which is HUGE!

This is the middle of the mall, I think I counted 4 roller coasters as well as lots of other cool rides. All the stores (4 floors) surround this central area. It took me about half an hour to walk around each floor, so we spent a good part of the day inside the mall.

MMM Cinnabon. My first job was actually at a Cinnabon. Funny story, I was "let go" because I had an "unacceptable rolling technique" which means I rolled them counter-clockwise instead of clockwise. I still eat them though.

It was nice to get away, I feel somewhat secluded here now that I can't drive out to visit family in one day anymore. I am slowly finding my place here in the ward and on base. The base here actually has some really great programs and facilities that I intend to take advantage of.

New life in ND

Ok... I finally feel like I live in a house, instead of walls held up by boxes. After a one week wait in TLF (not quite the 1-3 months we were told) we were given the keys to our house. It is a refurbished (old) house but with a spacious yard and basement. Not too bad considering our last house had zero storage space.

We had originally decided to rent a house off base but apparently heating bills range from $500-700 per month to combat the regular -50 temps, and the city of Grand Forks is quite a commute from the base. Also, trying to find a house to rent with 2 large dogs is a struggle all by itself. We will definitely be buying a home at our next station, but this one will do for now.

Lately my life has consisted of unpacking, playing with Ally, and building...

Here is my latest project. With a little help from Josh (and some materials from the Self-Help store, Ha, Ha!) I constructed a shelving unit to hold my growing stockpile of food! (P.S. Don't attempt this without a nail gun, it would have taken forever!)

Ally has settled in quite nicely and is very mobile. She now has a vocabulary of 10+ words, including "more" and of course "dog". She loves following the dogs around and poking at them. Thank goodness I have been training them since they were puppies to put up with abuse because they sure get a lot from her! I try to teach her to pet softly, but she just repeats "soft" and pokes them in the eye...

My ward has been very friendly, about half military, the other half are college students. At church today I counted 10 pregnant women and 8 babies younger than Ally. Definitely a family ward. My only complaint was the lack of a book club, so I started one.

For the most part, I think we can be happy here. Josh is enjoying his new job and I have met some nice people. Oh and the gym on base is awesome! Now I just need a new gym buddy to keep me motivated.