Various Christmas Stuff

Josh and the girls put together a gingerbread house while Mom Christmas shopped.



Here's another shot with Lydia hamming it up some more.



Here are some pictures of the "Cursed Christmas Program". The person running it quit after the first rehearsal because of knee surgery, parts were cut and new people brought in. Then the day of the program there was a blizzard and it was canceled. We rescheduled it for the next week. Again another snow storm. It wasn't canceled, but the girls and I couldn't drive in because of the snow and Lydia didn't get to be in it after all. The following pictures are from a partial-dress rehearsal.

Here's Lydia the sheep with other sheep, shepherds and angels. She's in the center wearing pink.



Closer up of Lydia in the group.



More of the group. The girl who babysits Lydia is standing just behind and above her.



Here's more people in the play. You can see Josh between a lady in pink and a guy in red. (2nd person from the left) He was a shepherd who had a speaking part.



Josh and Lydia together. So sweet!



And now Present Opening Fun.

Here are the girls tearing in.



The following three pictures are of the baby dolls that a family friend gave us and the strollers that Josh and I gave them.









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Christmas Picture Rejects

As many people do, we took a family picture for our annual Christmas card. Here's the one that got sent around the world to friends and family.



But really what fun is that kind of picture? Now check out the ones that didn't make the cut:

I think no one looks good in this picture except Lydia. Josh is too far back, I put my head up too far and Sophia looks drugged.



The kids have the funny looks in this one.



Lydia stole the show here.



Can we say cheeseball smiles?



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Here's a few photographic highlights of things that we've done since moving to South Dakota.

We got this nice welcome when we pulled into the church a few days after our big move.



Josh bought a small game license and after a few unsuccessful attempts he got this pheasant in the overgrowth in our backyard. We ate it an hour later and it was pretty good!



We were given a pumpkin and carved it into a jack-o-lantern. Here the girls are "assisting" in removing the seeds.



We added a special effect to the pumpkin and these two pictures are the result.






We took the girls trick-or-treating for the first time. Here's Lydia all dressed up as a princess for the second year in a row. We didn't get any pictures of Sophia because she woke up late from her nap and was a total grump while we got her dressed. She was also a princess.



Here's pictures of the girls playing in the snow together for the first time. They had a wonderful time and we realized we need to buy snowpants and boots!





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Relocation Observations

We have now been in South Dakota for one month. It is high time I wrote a blog about it. The differences between living in a big city in Texas and a relatively unpopulated state are very interesting. If I am not mistaken South Dakota is the fourth least populous state.

Comparing Dallas Texas to Aberdeen, South Dakota (In many cases this will be a comparison between Dallas and the entire state of South Dakota):

1. The population of the greater Dallas Metroplex is 9 million. It is the ninth largest city in the country. The population of the entire state of South Dakota is around 700,000. The largest city in South Dakota is Sioux Falls with 100,000. Our city is the third largest with 25,000. This city caters to the shopping/commerce needs of people in about a 100 mile radius. Most people think Aberdeen is quite the "big city" here.

2. There is one, just one, phone area code for the entire state of South Dakota. I believe Dallas had four all by itself. In Dallas you are required to dial all ten digits of any phone number, including the area code (even if it's your next door neighbor). In South Dakota I don't think you ever need to use the area code unless you are outside of the state. The whole phone book shows only seven digit phone numbers. We are so used to having to quote the area code when we give out our phone number that we've had a few people snicker at as for giving them the area code. Of course they know the area code! Everyone does!

3. In some ways it is so much cheaper here! Case in point: transferring car titles, licenses, and insurance. In Dallas it cost $25 dollars a piece for new drivers licenses in SD only $8 a piece. In Dallas it cost $250 to get Texas State license plates. In SD it cost $25. In Dallas insurance on one car cost us around $100 a month. As a result we had a funny experience here in SD. Josh asked our insurance agent for a quote. It was about $150. Josh said "Wow that seems pretty high per month!" The agent said "No, I was quoting you the rate for six months!"

4. In some ways it is more expensive. Living in the only "large" town for 200 miles means you sort of feel like you live on an island. It is more expensive to ship products here. Gas is routinely 30 cents higher here then in most of the midwest. Fresh produce seems to be higher as well. Also there are fewer stores and therefore less competition so the stores don't have to lower prices as much here. They know we can't go to the next town over for a better deal.

5. Dallas was such a center of consumerism. Dallas had more stores per capita then any other large city in the US. If you wanted something, and I mean anything, you could find it and have it within the time it took to get to the store. It was easier to spend money because you could always find exactly what you wanted somewhere in the area. Josh was dismayed to find that there is no shop that caters to Mac computers here. I am dismayed that there are no craft stores like Hobby Lobby or Michaels. (We lived less then two miles from Michaels in Dallas). Our condo in Dallas was within walking distance of a Super Target, a Home Depot and a Sam's Club. Now we are four miles from any store. Plus Aberdeen doesn't have a Sam's Club. The only Sam's Club in the state is in Sioux Falls.

6. Dallas was on the cutting edge of fashions and fads, here, thankfully, things go at a slower pace. Everyone has a new car and the latest fashionable clothes on in Dallas. In South Dakota people hold on to older cars. We are just now getting used to seeing much older model years around. It was much easier to find a used car in Dallas then it is here because people don't go looking for a new car so quick here. We've also noticed that the stores here stock clothes we like better. No joke! There are differences from region to region what kind of clothes they stock and I am so much happier shopping for clothes here.

7. The weather. So obvious a difference it's hardly worth mentioning. One thing though: the coldest it ever got while we were in Dallas was 18 degrees in the coldest part of January. We've already been to 8 degrees here and that was in October! The hottest we ever saw it in Dallas was 107 and that was the day we moved away. (Appropriate timing, I thought.)

8. We were driving along one day and met three Combines going in the opposite direction. The road was so narrow and the combines so wide that we could not fit on the road with them. There are no shoulders on these roads and our car can't hack driving into ditches so we had to turn around and find a side road!

I'll blog more later about other aspects of life.

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The Camper Takes Shape

If you're wondering what progress we're making on our camper, here are the latest and greatest pictures:

Standing in the back looking toward the front, you can see a bench on the right, the sink/stove area on the left and the bench/table area farthest away. You'll notice some trim is starting to go up around the windows.



Standing in the front looking toward the back you can see the bathroom area in the rear. We have set the tub in place although it is not hooked up. It's the cutest little tub I've ever seen!



Here's a closer view of the table and benches



Closer view of the sink/stove area.



Closer view of the single bench.



Closer view of the tub in the bathroom area.



And this is as far a we've gotten. We've added some more panels, we are sectioning off the bathroom area, we covered foam cushions with cushion covers, Josh built a bunk bed over the single bench so we can sleep both of our girls in that area (we will put railings around it before we are finished)and I made some curtains out of some similar (although not exact) material. This is from the front looking toward the back.



Here's the view from the back looking forward.



Here's a closer look at the sink/stove area. We also were given a fridge that perfectly fits in!



Here's the view through the doorway of the bathroom. Josh built in a small counter at the back.



Here's the left side of the bathroom. We are working on building in a closet next to the toilet.



Here's a closer look at the table/bench area. We decided to cut down the table from what you see above.



Here's a closer view of the bench and bunkbed. You can also see the curtains I made a little better.



Finally, while pulling layers of material off the cushions here's the three separate layers I found. On the left is the original cushion covers, then the first remodel to the right of that and the second remodel on the farthest right. We are keeping most of the most recent covers.






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Rebuilding the Camper

If you saw the previous blog you know we bought an old nasty camper with lots of water damage. Here is the progress we've made in the last week and a half.

Looking right from the door in "mid-gutting"(At this point I still wouldn't set foot in the thing)



Looking left from the door in "mid-gutting"



Finally I'm willing to go in. Standing at the back looking toward the front, here's what it looks like totally gutted. Anything you still see in the picture (such as insulation and cute little girls) we are planning to keep. We now have to walk on planks laid across the floor joists so we don't put a foot through the aluminum at the bottom.



Standing at the front looking toward the back.



A better shot of the floor. Compare this to the "mid-gutting" pictures above!



Standing at the back looking toward the front, you see we have put in the floors, ceiling and walls.



Standing at the front looking toward the back. Just for fun we set the toilet in it to see how it would look.



View from the door looking left.



Standing at the back looking toward the front. Floor, ceiling and walls are now painted. Off to the left you see the table "legs" and some wood on the floor as we block out where we will be putting things back in.



Looking back from the front.



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Our New House

Subtitled: Our most recent and insane purchase.

We've been looking to get one of these for awhile. And today we finally took the plunge. Here it is:



It's a 1975 25 foot camper. We got it for a good price. Yeah it does look pretty decent on the outside.

Now check out the inside.

Here's the view from the door looking right (you're looking at two couches without their padding):



Here's the view from the door looking left:



Here's the floor between the two couches:



Are you starting to see why it only cost $100?

Here's a better shot of the dilapidated cupboards and sink/stove area:



And last but not least the ceiling. There was a huge hole left when a tree fell on top of it. You can see the water damage:



Josh has spent the whole day gutting the thing and throwing out all the people's JUNK they left in it. There were dishes and empty beer cartons and even a pair of pants. Yikes! I hope we're up to the task.





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