Tag Archives: house fire

Ranch Life

Looking Back – 1 Year ago

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It was a day much like today, we didn’t know how much our world could change within minutes but it did.  One year ago today marks the anniversary of the fire that destroyed our home.

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Night of the Fire. I remember William yelling back to the bedroom, get Cody and Get Out! I grabbed my phone (nightstand), boots (closest shoes to the door), and ran to get Cody and his one little blankie and met William and Nora outside. Scariest Night of my Life.

 

Well lets not focus too much on the past, I think it is important to always remember the past but not to dwell on it.  A couple months after the fire we had really begun the research process of house building (again…ugh), someone asked me, “When do you expect to be in the new house?”  Mind you, we hadn’t even decided on plans yet.  I replied, “September, the end of September.”  I was just positive that we could get it done (also I was positive that The Rancher and I both had superhuman powers to accomplish all that had to be done between my job, the ranch, the house, kids and everything else).  Well, needless to say, The Rancher caught wind of my new timeline for him and informed me there was, “No way in h*ll that we would be able to get that done.”

POP! phewwwwwwww! – – – that is my ballon (the only sense of sanity I had) being popped right then and there.

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Valentine’s Day 2014 – In Bismarck after the fire. Grandma Gerry got the kids Balloons

 

So new goals were set, and I said to The Rancher – NO MATTER WHAT, WE WILL BE LIVING IN THE NEW HOUSE WITHIN A YEAR.   AH HA!  There was an attainable goal, and we did it!

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And it is everything we could have hoped for! A lot of hard work, but it is ours – build by us, designed by us, live in by us!

 

Now I keep promising you all a video tour, and I keep trying I really do.  But let me be completely honest.  There is no way with my two toddlers, husband and the mud we are dealing with that I can even attempt to make the whole house clean at one time.  (Unless someone wants to volunteer to babysit the kids at their house :P).  So, I will be working on getting pictures (and good ones at that), for all of our supporters, family, friends to see the house.  We are expecting lots of visitors this summer so be sure to put us on our vacation plans!

Family, Living Life, Ranch Life

Moving Day!

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It was only a matter of time, we all knew there was an end to living in the bunkhouse.  I honestly thought we would be in the house by October, but here it is January and we have finally moved in.  Last night was the first night in the new house, it was amazing.  As we moved in beds and dressers and the bare necessities, it dawned on me that nearly a year ago we lost everything but the things that matter most in life, our family.

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Its really the small things that you begin to recognize after those type of situations and over the past 24 hours here are a few things that I have been thinking about.

  • How amazing it is to walk around barefoot in your house (not something you do in a bunkhouse with carpet that is over 40 years old – yes a remodel is in order but we need a construction break!)
  • Remembering to take a minute to run your bare feet through carpet.
  • That our little girl is so thrilled to have her very own space.
  • And our little boy is so unsure of the new space it makes me wary, after all for 1/2 of his life he has lived in the bunkhouse with us right there.
  • How do we handle not seeing the kids every minute of the day in a one room home and allowing them the distance to grow and become individuals?!
  • We have a lot of adjusting to do to living in space – that goes for us and the kids.
  • What?!  More than 1 toilet?  I don’t have to send someone out to use nature if someone else is using the bathroom WHOO HOO!
  • How long will it take us to get used to hearing a furnace?
  • How long will it take before I use up all my cupboard space in the kitchen?!  6 cupboards to 20 (one is an entire pantry)???   CRAZY!
  • I can’t believe how much I have missed having some hanging out time with The Rancher in the evenings – we watched a television show tonight!!  HOLY COW!
  • This was the first night in 350+ days that the kids have slept in a separate area from both The Rancher and I,  It was pretty good really, only a few hiccups!

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Despite the picture – they actually did sleep in their very own bedrooms!

There is so much more and I cannot even think about it all,  we have come so far in just a year, and the kids have grown up so much in that little time, we are so blessed.  It is truly still amazing to build a home by yourselves, on a super tight budget, and have it all come together just as you had imagined.  This home is everything we could have hoped for I will get a video tour together as soon as the kitchen countertops are in tomorrow!

Thank you to everyone for all of the support, prayers, and gifts, we surely couldn’t have made it through the last year without each of you.