Our Black Hills Tree

One of the many perks of living in South Dakota (cough::sarcasm::cough) is that for a $10 permit, you can drive into the Black Hills National Forest and chop down your own Christmas tree! The majority of the trees are Ponderosa Pines with really long needles, but Adam and I were determined to find a Spruce tree (with short needles). The only Spruce trees we could find weren't very dense, but I guess it's all part of the experience. Adam made a psycho killer face while he was walking with the saw, so I had to capture the moment.

We also found Heidi a little tree just her size. She was a champ in her new, warm winter coat. You may think I'm silly for buying my dog a coat, but she was shivering - even with the coat! We finally decided on our tree when we realized we weren't going to find anything full and more traditional looking. I really like our forest tree though, and it's really tall! It was nice to throw it in the back of Adam's truck and not worry about it too, considering we passed quite a few people who had to tie their trees to their cars.

I was excited to decorate the tree and put up all of my other Christmas decorations today. The picture doesn't quite do my little tree justice though. It actually looks pretty nice. It smells so good too. Our Christmas tree in Florida ended up being a hybrid tree with strange needles that didn't fall off. It didn't smell good. It didn't smell at all, actually. But it's been fun to have different kinds of Christmas trees in the different places we've lived.

Later this evening, we went to the Festival of Lights parade downtown. It was okay, but I was disappointed in the lack of candy thrown from the floats. No candy whatsoever. What kind of parade doesn't involve candy-throwing? I know I'm almost 24, but I still enjoy a good piece of hard-earned parade candy. Florida parades were strange because no matter what the season or parade, you could always count on catching some Mardi Gras beads. Not just a few beads either - we're talking handfuls and handfuls of beads. I always thought it was weird, but I guess you appreciate things like that more when you leave a parade empty handed... Other than that, the parade was okay. Some of the floats were pretty nice, and we were sure to bundle up! All in all, a very Christmas-y, fun day!

My Christmas Present

So my wonderful husband bought me a digital piano on Saturday as my Christmas present this year (which will probably count as my birthday present and next year's Christmas present also). I've played the piano since I was 7, but it's been hard for me to not have easy access to a piano for 5+ years. I love to play the piano (not that I always wanted to practice as a child). I'm so glad my mom told me that I could quit my lessons when I "didn't want to quit any more." Thanks for being a stickler, mom!

I must say that I've had some very spiritual experiences playing the piano, mostly when I've been playing alone. I'm so thankful for the gift of music in my life. I'm also thankful that Adam decided that it was time for me to finally have a piano when he saw me sitting in Sacrament Meeting with my sheet music, going through the notes in my head - for fun.

Adam insisted on video-taping my first notes played on my new piano, so though the song is generic and not so impressive, here it is - sideways and all:

Down the Drain

So...remember when our toilet flooded? Well, they tried to fix the toilet that same night with no avail. Then when they came back to pick up the carpet fans, they tried to fix it again, with no luck. So they finally came to replace our toilet yesterday, and said they were going to break apart the old one to find out what was wrong with it. So Adam got a call today saying that we are going to have to pay $190 for our new toilet. Apparently, housing maintenance found something in the toilet that was causing all of the problems: a dog toy. Don't ask me how it got there, but Adam was able to verify that the purple, rubber horseshoe was indeed our dog's toy. I was wondering where that thing went...

Heidi's punishment was to model by the new toilet with her "I'm sorry, mommy" face. I think she's forgiven now.

Snow Day!

We received word that a big snow storm was coming through starting around 5p.m. last night. Well, it snowed and snowed all night, and the wind is so bad in South Dakota, that it was quite noisy. We awoke to a couple of phone calls stating that Adam and I both had snow days today!!! Hooray! Unfortunately, we can't go anywhere because we're pretty much trapped by the snow drifts. It looks like we might be getting out soon though, thanks to our little dog and a little thing she likes to call "determination."


Heidi finally dug us free, with the help of Adam and some kind ward members (thanks Bro. Shirley and Bro. Rocknak!) The snow in front of our house is a combination of a giant bush, snow drifts, and shoveled snow. Heidi had a grand old time hopping around in it like a bunny. Oh, and Adam, I don't think we're in Florida anymore!

A Weekend of Excess

So I thought I'd blog about my weekend last week, because it was just that horrible. It's overwith now, so I can semi-laugh about it. First of all, our toilet flooded the house for 4 hours on Friday while Adam and I were at work. Adam said he came home and it sounded like a thunderstorm downstairs in the unfinished part of the basement (our overflowing toilet was upstairs). The water flooded the hallway and surrounding parts of the bathroom, and leaked through the ceiling/vents into the basement below. The picture with the washer/dryer shows the part of the basement that got soaked about an hour after it happened. A lot of the water had already dried up by then. There was about an inch of water there before, and it splashed 2 feet high up onto the walls. Adam soaked up tons of water with towels, and our neighbor lent us their shopvac to suck up the rest.

Heidi was scared of the vacuum though, and we thought it was hilarious. I know...we're so mean.

Finally, housing maintenance showed up and started to dry out the floor. They had to rip up the carpet and put fans underneath in 4 different places.

They're actually putting the carpet back in place as I'm typing this, and hopefully he'll fix the toilet this time.

So...the very next day (Saturday), I went to work at the bank. After we closed the bank around noon (I love banker's hours), I got into my car to leave. However, my battery was dead. I had left my headlights on. I couldn't get a hold of Adam for 30 minutes. Thankfully, my neighbor came and gave me a ride home. Other small things happened too that made this weekend a bad one, but I guess I should focus on the good things... right?

Lover's Leap

Yesterday, Adam and I decided to take a hike (literally). We have a 2008 pass to Custer State Park, so we grabbed Heidi and chose a trail once we reached the park. The lady at the entrance suggested a hike to a cliff called Lover's Leap. Legend states that two Native American lovers jumped off the cliff, lending its name. Creepy...

Heidi does this thing where she puts one paw up in the air. I assume she's in deep thought when she does it, so I thought I post a picture of it.

Not long after starting the 3 mile loop, we came across a buffalo! For those of you who are unaware, buffalo are very dangerous and unpredictable. They can run up to 30 mph too. They tend to charge at people when they feel threatened. I'm pretty sure my heart jumped out of my chest when Adam spotted it up ahead, because we were too close for comfort. It was heading in our direction down the trail we were on. I suggested that we slowly make our way up the hill off the trail so that the buffalo could come down the way it wanted to, and we could continue once the buffalo passed. Heidi decided to growl at it, which made us even more nervous. She thinks she's so tough. These pictures are of us up on the hill waiting for the buffalo to make its way down the trail. Apparently it prefers marked pathways too...

I was so nervous after our buffalo encounter that I couldn't help but jump at every sound in the woods. Plus, I read the brochure before we started, which said that mountain lions are native to the area. Trust me...I knew exactly what to do if one of THOSE things crossed my path. Adam carried some small rocks in his pocket just in case. It made ME feel better anyway...

After another buffalo encounter, we finally made it to Lover's Leap. It did not disappoint! It was REALLY high. My legs were actually shaking.

We felt like two crazy lovers up there all by ourselves. haha. Heidi felt like the queen of the mountain. Well...that was MY interpretation of her facial expressions. lol. We had to kind of rush through the rest of the loop because it was getting dark. Custer State Park is mostly made up of pine trees, but there were a few really pretty trees that had changed colors. It ended up being a very fun hike...considering we weren't trampled or mauled.

The Not-So-Badlands

Last weekend, the national parks had free admission, so Adam and I decided to take advantage (because we're cheap...or as Adam would say, "frugal")! We drove an hour east to Badlands National Park. I don't think Heidi enjoyed the views quite as much as we did.

We mostly drove through the park and stopped at the pretty outlook viewpoints. There were a few short trails that were nice also.

We stayed until the sun was setting and were sure to share a romantic kiss before leaving : ).

It was very pretty, free or not!