Life as a Rauschendorfer!

6 mth photos thanks to SEARS!

2009-10-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

The big 6 months old!

2009-10-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

1 month

2 months
3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

6 Months old 9-30-09

On Braydens 6 mth birthday Sean informed me while I was at work that he took Braydens "bear" picture. So when I got home from work I turned on the camera and these are the pictures that I saw. Now granted they are adorable because I can just tell what type of mood he must of been in when daddy attempted to take these picts. He just would not sit still. There is definitely a lot of activity going on as you can see from the blurry photos.

These are the pictures I then promptly took after that. He has rosy cheeks and drool all down his shirt but hey, that is how we live these days. He sat so good and smiled so cute.

Just relaxin with my friend the bear. Anyone got a drink?

Hey Big Spender!!!!!

2009-08-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

So Sean and I decided that we had not spent enough money this year so we decided to buy a new car last Friday. After all Sean's car was working out fine for his daily commutes to and from work but with no heat we were a little scared to put our so in it this winter. So after several hours of research we decided to test drive 3 different SUV's. Well because of the government cash for clunkers program there were hardly ANY vehicles left to choose from around here. So we test drove this one and then a Toyota but we couldn't find any thing that we liked better than this one so we decided to get it. It is a Hyundai Santa Fe and it only had 72 miles on it when we bought it. We are both excited to have a new car and we really like all of the room that we now have to haul all of our baby stuff around. We got a really GOOD deal on it and it has an excellent warranty that we couldn't pass up!

Sean driving his new car! He is all smiles when he is behind the wheel!

4 months old already?!?!

2009-08-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

1 month
2 months

3 months

4 months He is kind of scrunched down and doesn't look as big as he really is! He has his 4mth appt on Aug 17 so we will see how big he really is.

At the Bismarck Zoo, he slept thru almost the whole thing but woke up at the end.

Daddy and Brayden with the Clydesdale's.

Enjoying the stroller at the Painted Canyon by Medora!

Jamie looking out the window on the top floor of the state capital in Bismarck

View of the flowers that spell out ND from the top floor of the capital

Can you tell it was a little windy?

Uncle Jamie got some good bonding time with Brayden on this trip!

His cowboy hat provided some nice shade as Brayden does not like the sun AT ALL.

Cute sweater and hat from Emmy Wolfgram!

Our attempt at a family pict, I don't like how I look but I love how Brayden is staring right at the camera!

Rauschendorfer 4 generation photo Great Grandma Geri and Grandpa Mike.

Connie and Kaisa at Connie's birthday party

Here is something you don't see every day. Uncle Kerry holding a baby? He did great and didn't even seem nervous.

Here we are bundled up cause it was really windy at Cousin Myles baseball game.

Watch Out Daddy! Here comes Brayden!

Look at those chubby little legs. SOOO cute!

2009-07-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

one month old
two months old

three months old

3 month pics taken at Sears

All smiles

First time in the grass, it must have felt weird on his head cause he kept turning his head side to side. Taken on July 4th.

and Uncle Jamie time with matching hats.

This is my favorite picture. Make it bigger and you feel like you are in the clouds yourself.

My big boy!!!!! And I am not talking about Sean ;)

2009-06-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Ok here we are at 1 month old.
And here we are at 2 mths old! SOOO Big!

Here we are today at 11.5 weeks old. He is enjoying his new exersaucer that we got on a clearance sale at babies R us. He needs to be propped up a little bit with a blanket but he really enjoys it. His toes are just centimeters away from touching the bottom. Can you tell what the theme of the toy is? Thats right Farm animals! Sean looked and looked for one that had the Minneapolis skyline but just wasn't able to find anything. HaHa.

I guess he would rather chew on the seat cover than play with the toys!

This may be the best picture that I have taken lately. I had him sitting on the couch and he was just so smiley so I grabbed the camera and got a good picture. Lately he has been crying every time I get the camera out. It has been hard to capture his cute smiles. He is also on the verge of laughing or giggling out loud. So fun!

Profile picture!

This one has blurry hands as they are in motion. Ok all of you photo experts, what kind of setting do I need for taking pictures in motion so that they are not blurry?

Playing with his friends the monkey and the giraffe.

Ahh so peaceful.

Ok this definitely a daddy picture and moment. Dang it I gotta get me some Sioux clothing and quick!

This was taken at Lindenwood park in
Fargo where we enjoy going for an evening stroll. This spot was way under water this spring in the great flood of 09.

Here are my boys taken in Niagara behind my parents house on a beautiful sunset and evening. We went for a walk and were fortunate to have seen this sunset. Gotta love Sean's shirt.

2009-05-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures and a video for you to enjoy. 2 months old tomorrow more then...................

Happy 1 month old Brayden!!!!

2009-04-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

Back of head shot taken shortly after birth, look at his long hair on the bottom!

Today as I sit here and write this while Brayden sleeps he is turning 1 month old! Thats right, it has now been 30 days since he entered our world and turned our lives upside down. Let me tell you that I really like our new upside down life. I wouldn't want it any other way. He is such a blessing to our families and we can't remember life without him. (Ok maybe mom remembers the sleep that she no longer gets.) Some of the things that he is now doing are smiling-sort of- and making eye contact, he continues to fold his hands, he is starting to make noises that mimic those of a coo, getting really good at holding his head up and planting his feet when we hold him up and sleeping 4 hrs the first time that we put him down at night. Another thing that he has noticed is the TV. Now I am not one to believe that the TV is going to corrrupt his life at this early stage I mean he only watches Days of our Lives :) Actually I am not to sure what he can see but when I lay him on the floor on his activity mat he turns his head to see the colors moving on the TV.

Not only is this his 1 month celebration it is also our original due date!!! Thats right I could have possibly been pregnant for the last 3o days.......WOW when I think about how fast the last month has gone by I can't even believe it, however, if I had been waddling around STILL pregnant for the last 30 days I would have been miserable. So needless to say we are very happy to have met Brayden 1 month ago and welcome him into our lives.

Here are some more random pictures that were recently taken. ENJOY!

Flying high in the air with daddy!

Smelling our toes?!?

Four generations on my Mothers side taken on Easter.

Uncle Jamie with Brayden yesterday when he came to visit with Auntie Angel and Uncle Dave.

Uh-oh crooked picture again. I hate it when that happens.

Smile!!!!!!!!!!!!

One Month old picture taken with Teddy Bear given to him in the hospital! Yes, Teddy is wearing a onesie and a diaper.

We didn't have any naked baby pics yet so here you go. It looks like he is cheering!

I am not to sure about this face but I LOVE it and his double chin (he gets that from mommy)! PS We think that his hair is looking more RED every day!

Grandma and Grandpa Hanssen were here to visit last Sunday afternoon. They really love Brayden and they stayed so long that they had to drive home at 30 MPH in snow and slush on the roads cuz it was so hard for GPA to say goodbye!

This is an adorable outfit given to him by my Manager at work. Isn't he just so adorable or am I biased???

Here is mommy and daddy. They got the chance to go out with a few friends on a Birthday Bus! Gma and Gpa Hanssen got to babysit and Uncle Jamie helped too. It was hard for us to leave him but we managed to have a great time. Oh and the theme on the bus was Hawaii so that is why we have those things on!

Tummy time!

Ready to go for a ride in the car! This was before mommy took him to Grand Forks all by herself for his 2 week appt as daddy had to work!

L-O-V-E

2009-04-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

These are just a few of my favorite random pics!

Ha look at the size of my puffy face here at 2 days post delivery and then the pic above at 2 weeks post delivery. Do you think that they pumped me full of fluid at the hospital. Wow!

These are all pictures that were taken at the hospital or within a few days of birth!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post something but I just don't know where all of my time goes. Oh yeah perhaps its because someone once told me that I should sleep when he sleeps. What they didn't tell me is that he sleeps like 18 hrs out of the day! I have never been this rested. HAHA

Well, its official, we just can't get enough of Brayden and are completely in L-O-V-E. Even with all the poopy diapers! (And yes, I know its just getting started!) We are getting into a routine and starting some things that we hope to continue. We both love reading, singing and telling stories to Brayden each night, even knowing that we will be awake in just a few hours with him again. But there is something almost peaceful and joyful about those midnight feedings. Its just Brayden, me, pure silence, and pure love. Sean of course continues to be an amazing husband and even more an amazing Dad. I have even seen him dance around the room with Brayden and talk to him about life, especially sports and it just melts my heart. Sean stayed home for the first week and is now back at work. I know that Dad misses us each day and can't wait to get home!

34 weeks!!! SNOW.SNOW.SNOW, cows and Empathy Bellies???

2009-03-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome spring!!! Here is a pot of flowers that was given to us by Sean's family at our baby shower. It has all kinds of spring blooms and we are having fun watching them open on a daily basis.

Happy 34 weeks as of today Wed the 18th! These pics were taken at 32 weeks tho. Sean swears that I am growing bigger every day and I can tell that the "waddle" has really begun.

We had an ultrasound on Mon and the babies estimated wt is 6lbs 4 oz already?? Measuring 36 weeks and 4 days!! Wow that's big. The head measures at 38 weeks and she told us that he has a full head of hair that we could see on the screen and his face is buried in my pelvis so we couldn't really see it that well. No good pics came out of that u/s as there is not much room in there anymore!

Let it snow! This is what were singing as Blizzard Coyote set its site on Fargo. We had a terrible day of weather on Tues. and Sean made it to work at 7A but was told to go home at 11A. So he decided to drive home and got stuck right outside our driveway to the building. He didn't have a hat with and he got some pretty bad frost bite on his ears. LET THIS BE A LESSEN TO ALL OF YOU! Keep a hat in your car. Anyway his ears were swollen and purple for a few days and now they are peeling, he is lucky that is as bad as it got! Here is the morning after the storm as the blower came to open up our walkway to the apt door.

You can see that the wind from the storm did quite a number on the sidewalk which wasn't even visible anymore.

Here is our open garage door as Sean couldn't get it shut after he left for work so he called me and asked that I go and figure it out. It was really hard clearing the snow off that sensor on the bottom of the door. Good thing he did all of the shoveling before he left for work.

Here is a look at the second floor balconies that are really close to some huge drifts. The poor people on the first floor can't even see out there windows or patio doors.

Here is an entrance to our building. You can see that the drifts are just as tall as I am and it would have been really fun to make tunnels in them. But I didn't see anyone else around that wanted to play with me so I went inside :(

Here we are a week later at the farm. Sean and I spent a few hours outside just enjoying the beautiful weather and sunshine. It was in the 40's and it felt SO great to be outside without the stinging wind on your nose and face. I could have stayed out all day. Here he is waving at me as we were making rivers with all of the melted snow. I made him wear a hat as it was nice out, but I didn't want his ears exposed the breeze that day! He smiled, obliged and then thanked me for the good idea.

After we finished playing in the water we watched my dad do his evening chores with the cattle. Here he is shoveling poo and piss out of the water trough. Dad was quietly talking to the cows and reminding them that this is not a foot soak, it is your water trough and to kindly remember to keep your feet OUT of the water. Funny they love to step in it, but then refuse to drink the dirty water afterwords. SO picky!

Here is one of the only calves that I saw that wasn't all black. We have black bulls but sometimes the mamas marks come thru on baby as you can see on this one he looks a lot like mama with his white face!

This cow was having a complex and decided to fight the bale ring. Not to sure who won either.

Here they are licking the "salt" block. We call it the salt lick but it is full of all sorts of other minerals that are good for them and their babies! Sean then decided that he needs to find one for Amber.

Here we have Jamie watering the cows in the barn. This takes a while as they like to drink "40 gallons" a piece as he so politely put it. He doesn't mind really it gives him time to mingle and discuss the days events with them.

Creepy eyes!

This guy is obviously upset that he wasn't number 1 as you can see that his tag said 2.

Sean then went into the pasture with the Dad and Jamie and me with my impeccable sense of balance and inability to walk well on ice, went in the house and waited for them. He took the camera and I told him to take a pic if he saw something interesting. Here he has this poor little guy cornered just to take a picture.

This guys looks wet to me and a little cold. He must be brand new!

And finally here we have Sean. He is such a good sport. We went to a childbirth class at the hospital and at the end of the class the instructor asked the dads if they wanted to try out the empathy belly. It weighs 35 lbs has breasts and a big tummy. Sean's immediate reaction was "why is there so much pressure?" " It can't really feel like this can it?" It was so funny to see.

I then asked him if he could reach to tie his shoes.......... Nope! He said that he now knows why I complain about so much pressure everywhere and trouble breathing. One of the other dads in the class said. "wow this would get a little annoying after a while!" We all laughed. It was a good class and we learned a lot about pain control and breathing methods to try and use to relax. We will just have to see how much we retained when reality comes around!

Surprise baby shower!!

2009-02-23T17:16:00.000-08:00

Sean and I traveled to the cities this weekend to see his family. When we arrived on Sat eve his mother and sisters had planned a surprise baby shower for us. Sean new all about it but I did not and it was a true surprise. I had NO idea going into it.
This is a picture that has absolutely nothing to do with the shower but I just thought that it was so cute. Here is Sean with his nephew Zack when we were over at his sisters house. Zack was in a cuddle-me kind of mood and uncle Sean's lap was just the right fit. Can't you just picture Sean as a father soon? I know that I can :)

Ok so here we are at his other sister Courtney's house. The shower has begun and instead of a corsage we got this cute bib. Our necks were too big so we took a picture of it. The cow goes moooooo when you push on his tummy.

Sean was forced to stay at the shower along with Courtney's husband Kent but I think that they had a good time. We played some games that were fun and then we opened gifts and ate some good food.

Here is a picture of Sean's mom Judy. She was a major part in putting on this shower.

Here is Sean with his favorite gift of the night........or NOT!!!!!!! This was a funny little joke played by Judy. But Sean is going to keep it and perhaps get some puff paint and make it into a Vikings shirt somehow!

Here he is with something a little better. Now that is more like it Judy!!! A vikings blanket and twins blanket. We also got a little winter cap with the TC logo on it. SOOO cute.

Here is the youngest girls at the party. Aren't they so cute? They were so well behaved and had a good time looking at all the baby boy stuff. Kaisa is wearing the pink outfit, Connie is in the brown shirt and Haley is sitting on the floor with the pink t-shirt. They actually all have 3 great smiles all at the same time. Sean and I can't believe how big they are getting. Connie was just a few months old when we met and now she is almost 8!!!!!

Here is a picture of all of the stuff that we got from the Shower. I was overwhelmed by the amount of the gifts. We are getting a little more prepared to meet our little guy, but it seems as though there is still so much that we don't have. Sean spread it all out on our spare bed and I had to take 3 separate pictures so that you can see it all. Make the picts bigger and you can see all of the cute little designs on everything.

Ok so we hadn't had enough so we decided to go to Babies R Us in Maple Grove and we bought the stroller/carseat. This happens to be a model that someone returned simply because they didn't like the fabric and it was never used. That is the one that we wanted and the price was decreased by 50.00 so we jumped on it. We didn't have to put it together and it was cheaper. Sweet!

It has the same fabric as the pack n play!

And last but not least. Here we have Sean with the stroller pretending to be on the street with his new baby. You can see that he is so happy and waving at all the people passing by. Ohhh he is so darn funny!!!!!!

Our Pack n' Play & Crib

2009-02-15T18:05:00.000-08:00

This is Sean's first attempt at blogging. We have had a lot of fun buying some baby things lately. We've also loved putting them together. The first big item we bought recently is a Graco Pack n' Play.

The first picture gives you a good idea of what we got. The Pack n' Play has changing area, it has a night light that play songs and makes noises to soothe baby. It also can vibrate to help calm the baby. I really like it. Amber has caught me sitting in the bedroom just looking at the Pack n' Play. Can you tell we are excited to become parents?

This next picture shows the cute little bears that baby can play with while laying down. They are attached to the canopy. Why does a pack n' play need a canopy? I really don't know.

The final picture is a side view.

Again I'm just a little excited. So the pictures might be a little excessive. HAHA

Today we had a lot of help putting up our crib. We bought the crib at Target about two weeks ago but we were not able to get it to Fargo since it was in such a large box. No pick up or SUV in our family yet. Dale and Kathy came to Fargo and we had a great time putting together the crib. There were no injuries or swear words. Pretty impressive I think. HAHA. We unfortunately didn't get any pictures (we did get video) of us actually putting the crib together but we have pictures of the masterpiece all set up.

The picture above is of the crib done with all the bedding on it. Dale thought the black & white dog was actually a cow. But the cow is actually the blue fella on the mobile. Our kid might be pretty confused.

This is another picture of our beautiful crib made by Delta. I put this picture in because you can see the whole crib.

This picture is in the blog so you can see the quilt we bought. Plus I'm really excited about the crib being up. We definitely couldn't have done it without my in-laws help today. Amber and I were both amazed at how real the crib has made everything feel. It's taken our anticipation of the babies arrival to the next level. We also had Dave & Angel visit. They brought a Cricket Expression for me to play with today. It is so cool. We also got to look at their wedding pictures. Very Nice. It was a real treat to have company. Probably one of the funnest days Amber and I have had in Fargo in a long time. Thank you to the Hanssen's and Steffan's.

The bump X 3

2009-02-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

Here we have the bump at 20 weeks

24 weeks

28 5/7 weeks! Don't ask me why I felt the need to pull up my shirt but I did and now you have to look at it. Or not. I will let you decide. Hey you can even make it bigger and make fun of me if you would like, cause I really don't care! You know why, cause Sean and I have been blessed thus far with this gift of pregnancy and soon we will have a REAL, LIVE human being to take care of. So I really don't care what happens to my body at this point. Enjoy and look forward to more pictures in the future!

superbowl party!

2009-02-11T09:02:00.001-08:00

Ok so superbowl came and went and it brought my family to my sisters house for an afternoon of food and fun! The animals at her house are always the star of the show as you can see the only pics I took were of animals. Here is a picture of Angels cat. He is sooo cute and cuddly, however I have never smelt anything as potent as what comes out of this cats mouth. He has the WORST breath ever. I tried to get him to eat a candy cane to make his breath sweeter but he wasn't interested. Jamie is a huge animal lover and almost always had an animal on his lap.

This is my cousin Ian. He graced us with his presence during the game and we had a great time. I can't believe how big he is getting. Such a cute teenager. I am not sure what he is doing with his hand in this picture.

I don't really know what dad is doing here but he looks really wasted. I can assure you that he wasn't. I think that he was singing to the dog or something.

Angel and Dave being silly!

Again Jamie with a dog. Look at his big blue eyes. Aren't they pretty? and of course there is mom in the background enthusiastically looking at a magazine.

The Wedding!!!!

2009-01-22T09:07:00.001-08:00

Ok so it is finally complete. The union of these two people whom I love. It was a great day full of laughter, tears, smiles, a few uh-ohs and most of all great weather.
Again all of my pictures are backwards so we will start at the end of the eve.
Here they are at the bar in Petersburg. We had a few moments to waste so we stopped off at the bar. This is a cute picture!

Here we have my handsome hubby! His pants were about 5 sizes too large so he had to borrow a pair of Gpa's suspenders to hold them up. Here he is with his pants pulled up and his tie tucked in trying to make everyone laugh. Gosh I love him.

Here we have the bride wearing a pair of 3D glasses. Why?? I do not know!

Before the wedding I was bored so I decided to take a picture with everyone who was available. So get ready to get sick of seeing my face. Me and my Dad!

Me and my brother I must say for holding the camera ourselves. All of these pics turned out very well. Although it helps if you have long ape arms like Jamie! And NO I am not naked.

Here you can tell that Melissa's arms are not that long. A little closer up.

Ok even closer yet. Grandma is now holding the camera. How fun!

Here is Sean and I before the wedding. Notice how I am holding the flowers in front of my belly. I was a little uncomfortable in the dress but left it on until 7:00.

Here is Miranda not smiling. But looking very nice.

And here is McKayla sitting down and taking a break!

Here is Patti with such a pretty smile.

Here we have Grandpa sitting down and taking it all in before the wedding started.

Here we have my cousin Melissa. She had many tasks. She was the brides personal assistant and she also had her trusty camera with her at all times. She did so much to help out from coming over to Angels at 9 in the morning and helping set up the house to helping with everything else she was wonderful. Thanks Melissa!

And here we have the bride brushing her teeth before walking down the aisle!

The Bump makes an appearance.....YIKES!

2009-01-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

Here I am in all of pregnant glory. Don't I look so happy. This was taken at 20 weeks. Just a cute little bump. One other joy I now have is semi-curly hair. It is fun to play around with.

NOW LOOK.... what the heck happened. 24 weeks! Oh MY. I am blaming it on my new shirt and pants. They really make the bump noticeable. But I guess, they tell me that the baby is 13 inches long (what? really? Thats longer than a ruler) and just over a pound! It all seems to be happening so fast. The little tike sure likes to kick and Daddy got to feel him move for the first time on New Years Day morning. So now every time I feel the baby move I quick grab Sean but for some reason he seems to know that daddy is there and doesn't always cooperate. The kicks seem to stop as soon as his hand is laid down and start again as soon as he removes it. So funny all I can do is laugh about it.

Well I will try to keep you posted on the baby bumps increase!

The "Bumps" Christmas

2009-01-08T16:21:00.000-08:00

This is a bouncer that Baby got from Auntie Angel. It has music and lights, it also vibrates at the push of the button to help soothe crying. Lets hope that it works.

This is the nursery set that we saw at Babies R Us when we registered and we just fell in love so we had to buy it..... All of it. This is the lamp it is sooo cute and yes we decided to go with a farm theme.

These are some of the cutest little animals that are on the quilt. This set comes with a valance, diaper holder, dust ruffle, quilt, bumper and fitted sheet.

Look at this cute tractor being driven by the adorable little puppy. AHHH I am in love! The pic on the right is an extra blanket that we bought that has the cute little farm scene on it and it is ever so soft. We also bought a mobile and a wall paper border that matches. So you could say that we are set.... But wait! Do we have a crib to put all of this in????? Umm... No! We are waiting for just the right one to catch our eyes again, because Target has the one that we really want but they are being dumb so we decided to look around.

This is us on Christmas Eve at the Hanssen house after church and before gift opening.

Here another gift that baby got from Auntie. It has a wiener dog on it so of course she gave in and just had to get it for us.

This is Grandma Kathy with one of her Christmas presents. She is very excited to wear it soon and is also thinking of changing her license plate to GMAKAT instead of MAMAKAT!

This is a very precious gift that we got from Seans sister and family the Youngbergs. Auntie Courtney asked me for some of my old scrubs a few months ago and she used them to make a quilt for the baby along with an old sheet that Sean had used on his bed when he was little. It is so sweet and cute and I actually got teary eyed when we opened it. I know that it took her a lot of time and effort as she has never done anything like this before.
(Oh the whole teary eyed thing seems to be happening al ot lately. On the way down to the cities the roads were REALLY bad for a small stretch and we saw lots of cars in the ditch and even some sitting on their roofs. Well this seemed to make Amber cry. Yes everytime we saw a car in the ditch I would cry. I am sure that all of you women know what this is all about. However Sean was uneasy with the whole crying thing and wasn't sure how he should react. He quickly learned and we are looking forward to more hormonal fun!!!!)

She decided that she better throw in some animals of some sort so she found some old fabric that had cows on it and a few geese as well. If you make it bigger you can see the geese. So that is just a few of the gifts that the "bump" (as Daddy Sean likes to call it) received for Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

2008-12-24T08:34:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Fall frenzy and hunting traditions!

2008-11-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

Well, its that time of year again, where all sorts of people merge around Grandma and Grandpas table for a cup of coffee and a taste of Grandmas special "goodies". Oh wait, all of these men are here for another reason as well. DEER HUNTING! Sean and I were able to come home and witness all of the hunting fun and goodness on Sunday last weekend. The season opened on Friday and several deer have been shot in good, clean, fun. Here are a few of the hunters sitting around the table after their first big "push" of the afternoon. My cousin Ian managed to shoot a really nice doe just before this pic was taken.

I was going to take a pic of Sean and Gma and Sean always does his typical "thumbs up" in almost every pic and so I told Gma that she needed to do the same. How cute did that turn out. These are the best seats in the house, right in front of the big picture window which has an excellent view of the coulee and the deer running around while the hunters are walking in the coulee. This spot of the house is equipped with binoculars and a walkie talkie so that we can hear all of the action going on in the woods. We tend to get really excited as soon as we hear gun shots and Gma often wants to push her button on the walkie-talkie and ask them "what's goin on guys?"

This is my cousin Ian after he shot his deer. Notice the grocery bags on the feet? This is an ingenious way of keeping the floor clean and saving time as the men do not have to take their boots off just to have a cup of coffee.

Here he is with his second deer shot. He did a good job but when I skinned the deer I noticed that the entire front leg had been shot off completely and was just hanging together with a small amt of fur. We all decided that was a great way to slow-em down if nothing else.

These next pictures were taken at White Bear Lake MN. When we were in the cities the last time we went here to an apple orchard and they had a corn maze and wagon rides around the orchard. We went with Sean's sister Courtney and her girls Connie and Kaisa and their Grandma Karen, Sean's Mom and Step dad Dan also came along. We had a good time and the weather was beautiful as long as you were out of the wind.

Here is a look at the orchard and all of the apple trees that they have. A beautiful lake is at the bottom of the hill.

Here we are on the wagon getting ready to go for a ride! Sean took the picture.

Here we are being silly!

These next pictures are from even farther back when we had family here for Grandpas 90th Bday party. Here is a pic of Jamie on his trusty 4-wheeler. He uses that for everything from chasing cows to just going for a joy ride.

Here we are exiting the coulee. Aunt Diane, Dad and uncle Jeff. We all went for a walk one afternoon in search of the best picture. My aunt Diane and I were taking all sorts of pictures in hopes that one of us would "out do" the other.

Here is Jamie after he climbed up a big hill. It is hard to tell in the picture that he is on a hill but you can see the sky behind him through the trees.

Here my aunt and uncle decided to sit down on an old log for a while to rest. I thought it was a cute picture.

OK so this picture is really silly and we laughed pretty hard at it. Diane wanted a pic of the rest of us (we were on one side of the crick and they were on the other) to look as though we were walking or a picture in motion. So we did it and then I did the same to her. So she is doing her best to make it look as though she is walking. She is so crazy and funny and I never did see what her picture of us looked like.

Here is a picture of my cousin Ansir jumping off of the bales. He wanted a pic of him in mid air and Diane, Melissa and I took several tries at this but I think that this pic is pretty cool.

And finally a pic of Sean up on top of the bales. He is severely scared of heights and never goes up too high as he gets scared. However he did a great job and didn't get too scared up there. Of course he wanted a pic for proof:)

I took this pic one morning of my mothers cat by the flower garden. I think that she looks so cute and quiet and I like to look at this picture often. Cats are one of my favorite animals.

Surprise!!!!

2008-11-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Surprise!!!!

Thats right is it a boy or a girl??? Nobody knows for now. We found out in mid August that we were about to parents. It was a scary time as we were taking it day by day until we knew that everything was OK. That meant not telling any friends or family until the moment was right. Have you ever kept a secret this big for 3 months??? It was hard but also fun for Sean and I as we knew something that no one else knew and we would glance at each other and smile and we knew just what the other was thinking about. This meant several trips and visits where we couldn't tell anyone. Like camping with the Youngbergs, and having most of my family home for Grandpas 90th bday.

I guess that I can't say that I kept it a secret completely. My best friend got it out of me right away as he knows me very well and when he asked I just couldn't quit smiling. So he knew, but I must say he did a VERY good job of not telling ANYONE until we told him that it was ok. Now if any of you know Duane that is not an easy task......

This is the picture that Sean and I showed our parents and grandparents. We had it hidden in a pile of other pictures. We also had it on our video camera and we showed my family the video of our Anniversary trip to Duluth and we had this picture at the end and my Mother didn't get it. Everyone else had to explain it to her. It was funny. We had a lot of fun making the sign. If you look close Sean drew the footballs, hockey sticks, baseballs and bats and I drew the flowers and butterflies.

I have been feeling great except for the occasional waves of nausea that creep up on me. Sean has learned when it is not a good time to hack up phlegm and eat sunflower seeds in the car:) Other things that have bothered me are things at work that never before affected my gag reflex. Such as dressing changes on a bed sore, Not a good thing! The sound of someone sucking there spit up with suction, Not a good thing! Vomit.....really not a good thing!!! But I have prevailed and am lucky enough to work some of the greatest people in the world, who are not afraid to help me out.

Below is a picture of our second Ultrasound. At the first u/s we got to see the heartbeat for the first time. It was the most amazing thing EVER. Sean said that it was the coolest moment of his life thus far. We never did see a heartbeat with our first pregnancy and so this really made it official for us. It was beating so fast and tiny, it really brought tears to our eyes.

These are "unofficial" Ultrasounds and we do not even get charged for them. Our doc just likes to give us a few min to see the heartbeat at every appointment. I know that it is hard to see but if you look closely at the second pic, Our baby really looks like an alien!!! Now everyone assures me that this is normal. But I saw a movie once.......... Well never mind!!! I asked the doc why it wasn't moving and so she poked my belly with the u/s wand and then the baby started to do somersaults and rolling around. It was the coolest thing even tho I can't feel it yet. They say that will happen in a few more weeks.

We are almost 15 weeks along, almost halfway baked. It seems like Apr 30, is forever away. But we can wait that long if that is what it takes to have a happy, healthy baby.

They say the first year is the hardest???? Than I say bring on the easiest!

2008-09-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

Ok I give up on posting pictures on this stupid thing. If I think that I am doing it right than a picture of a sailboat gets thrown in the middle of the anniversary pics!?!? Anyway...

So it has been completed. Our first year of wedded bliss. A whole year of Sean and Amber "together forever". Like I said, several people told us that the first year together was going to be the worst. WOW, is all that we have to say, If this is as hard as it gets then I think that we can handle it. Of course me only being home a few days out of the week makes it hard for us to ever have a fight. Of course we have had our ups and downs this year but nothing we coudldn't handle. Ok so here is to One Year together!!!!!! CHEERS!

Below is a pic of us at the Minn State Fair in St Paul. We were sharing a choc milk shake at the dairy barn. AHHHHHHHH it was only like 95 deg that day, so I think that ice cream was fitting.
Next is a lovely pic of some sailboats in Duluth??? These were supposed to be at the middle of this entry but like I said before, I GIVE UP!

Oh look another pic of boats!!!! And of course my gift from my honey! Another collage of the year of happenings. I will never get used to his "homemade" gifts, they will always be special in my heart. You should click on the pic to make it bigger and then you can read everything he wrote.

And we can't forget these origami flowers that he spent all eve making one day while I was at work. Isn't that the cutest thing ever? He found a website dedicated to origami and made them just for me, each one has a differant word on it and it spelled out a saying!

Ok again these pics are not in order. Here we are at a trail at Gooseberry Falls by the beautiful Lake Superior. This was Sean's idea to take this trail from the falls down to the Lake. OK I said but remember the 2 hr parking limit honey!!! Yeah, yeah he said.

The trail went up and then down and then up and then down again. It was really pretty and the temp that day was like 65 deg so it was gorgeous weather. The only bad thing was that we weren't prepared to hike and didn't have any water or anything with us, this will be quick he said. Here we finally made it to the water of Lake Superior. It was nature at her finest. Nice breezes, smells of fish, rocks in our shoes, and oh yeah did I mention the whole nothing to drink thing!

I don't know for sure but I think that this was old Lava that we were walking on. Ok so the hike continues on and we start to see all of these old people with canes walking around and I start to think, how the heck can these old people be walking around up here, we just walked for over an hour to get here. Oh yeah then we see a building and a parking lot. Oh yeah it is a little known secret that you can DRIVE right up to the edge of the lake. Oh well we had fun anyway. So we tried to find a way to keep going on the path and we walk right into a bright orange snow fence that sais trail closed. What the &$#*% now where do we go? So we kept on walking till we found a road and then back to the car. We were both very thirsty and warm and had sore feet but we really enjoyed our little nature hike together. Next time the country girl is goin to read the map back at the visitors center!!!!!!!

Ok so now here we are at the beginning of the Falls. AHHHH how cute.

Me standing at the edge of the water fall and Sean freaking out about it the whole time. He is SOOOO scared of heights.

Ok here we are back at Duluth. This was our first night that we stayed there. The INN on Lake Superior. What a nice hotel. It was very fun and we payed for a room with 2 queens and city view and we got a king size suite with a lake view and kitchen!!!! We were excited. One thing that they do every night from 8-10 is have smores out on the patio, you can't see it but the lake is right behind me, and no I wasn't crabby he took the pic while I was talking to the neighor!

Ok this is the funniest pic that we took, well at least I think so. Sean was standing on the next level down on the boardwalk out to a little light house at Two Harbors, MN. He took my pic and if I don't look like the Jolly green giant here then I don't know who does. The angle was all wrong. We laughed so hard when we saw this pic that I just had to share it with you. That is the iron ore docks behind me where they load coal and iron ore onto HUGE ships.

Here we have a one legged sea gull. Sean thought that it was the cutest thing and just could not figure out why he only had one leg. He really believed it and was even taking a video of it until it put its other leg down. HEHE Sean is so gullable.

Graffiti we saw on one of the lighthouses. Poopie on you shooey is what it says.....HAHA classical funny!

This is where we ate supper one night. MMMGOOD and I didn't even care that it was called hells kitchen!

Below is one of Sean's long lost senior pictures that we found. haha

You can not see it here but he was SO scared to go to that side of the sidewalk on the bridge and hold on to the railing that he almost peed his pants.
So once we got on the lift bridge we got to the middle and the voice came on and said, "can I have your attention please, the bridge is about to lift, please vacate the bridge immediately." So we ran like we stole it to the other end and laughed so hard.

Here we are waiting for a big ship that was supposed to depart full of grain between 6:30 and 8:30 so we sat on a bench for 2 hours and waited. It never came but we had a great time hanging out together and watching the sail boat races and just being together. It is so funny how we can take for granted all of the time that we get to have together with the people we love the most. Sometimes it is nice to just slow down and watch the world go by together, hand in hand.

PS Sean thinks that this is the best pic he has ever taken! He calls it his supermodel pose!

Harvest time......it never felt more like home!

2008-08-26T13:36:00.000-07:00

Sean and I went home a few weekends ago and it was harvest time. No one particularly likes harvest time because of all the breakdowns, heat, hard work to be done, no air conditioning all which lead to crabby boys on the farm. However I always looked forward to this special time of year. It is always so fun to watch the crops grow all year long and then see their hard work pay off when the wheat is ready for harvest. Below are some pictures that I captured of my Dad, Brother and Grandpa hard at work. They don't have the newest and greatest equipment but I like to think that it makes them stronger. Sure they want all of that fancy stuff but then would it really be as fun. The older equipment, eventually after a few set backs, gets the job done.

Sean and I walked around the field as they were busy at work and he found a whole pile of wheat that was swathed but didn't get combined. So he picked it all up and moved it to a row that still needed to be picked up. This made him feel usefull.

This is grandpas dog Spot and she was with us in the field and she found, killed and ate a mouse. All in a days work for a dog!

This is Grandpa in the combine. He is gonna be 90 in a few weeks and he loves to help out when he can.

This is Jamie's combine, the one without air. I admire him for sticking it out all day long as I am to big of a woosy and could never do that.

While the men were busy at work Sean, Gma and I went to her brothers house and picked some sweet corn to freeze. Sean always has to make a silly picture hence this one with him and his "ears" of corn.

Then Gma taught him how to cut it off the cob so that we can cook and freeze it. I just love being able to help out Gma with her work. Soon Mom and I will have a huge batch of corn to freeze and I can't wait. After all of our fun it was time to head back to Fargo, the bustling town that I call home. At least I can see a field in the distance behind all of the apt buildings.

You say Tomato; I say GROW, prosper and produce fruit already!!!!!!!!

2008-08-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

Well for some of you this post may down-right put you to sleep! For others it might just enlighten your whole day, week, heck maybe even your YEAR! You see there has been a project going on this Apartment since there was still snow on the ground. Sean and I have been pouring all of our love, affection and Miracle Grow into something that should be giving us some love in return. Folks, I am talking of course about the dreaded Tomato plant! Last years attempt at growing a tomato on the balcony was a big flop! Yep that's right. So, Why you say do you give so much attention to a plant? Well the answer is quite simple. When you live in a town where the only people you know is your husband and your tomato plant and your husband is gone from 1000-730, you gotta put your love somewhere! Ok maybe that sounded a little weird, I must admit. Anyway.... We bought a package of seeds and planted them in the window sill. They took off right away and began to grow like crazy! Then they got so big that we planted them into bigger pots. Then it got nicer outside so we decided to put one in a pot on our balcony. The rest were taken home to my parents and grandparents gardens. Which one will prosper???? Well everyday I would talk to my plant, give it some water and attention. Everything a good plant needs! Well it is mid Aug and how many tomatoes does it have on? Well we are proud to say 2!!!! YAY 2 whole tomatoes and if they grow up before it freezes I will be soooo happy. The plants that went into the garden, which didn't even get any love or water for that matter, yeah they probably have close to 20 tomatoes on. I don't get it.
Here is a pic of my prize plant. Isn't it beautiful??? It has grown so much in the last few weeks.

Here is a pic of Sean standing next to it so that you can tell just how tall it is. I am so proud!

Here is one of the tomatoes. Keep on growing little tommy! (I really am not crazy)

Sean tells me that he could care less about the tomato plant cause he has never ever liked tomatoes. He makes fun of me for eating a fresh tomato sliced for a snack!

However, when I am gone for 3-4 days at a time he calls me just to tell me that he watered the plants and that the tomato looks great. I think that he really has enjoyed watching this grow from seed to "tree". He is constantly looking for new tomatoes. He tells me the only reason that he pays any attention to it is because he wants ME to be happy once it finally grows. But last night when I was on the computer, Sean went outside on the balcony and he was out there for a while. I snuck to the door and saw this. What....could it be true, Sean went outside to check on the plants all by himself? The Olympics are on honey! You might miss one of the gymnasts fall on their butt??

Sean was grooming the dead flowers and leaves off of my plants! HE does care really he does. I didn't even have to ask him to do it. The funny part is that every time I took his picture through the door he thought that it was lightening, and he would stand up and look around but never even noticed me. Too Funny! Gosh I am glad that he is home from work now so that I can enjoy his company, cause the tomato, yeah he isn't that big into conversation!!!!

2008-07-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

Since the name of our blog is life as a Rauschendorfer I figured that I should showcase some REAL Rauschendorfer's. This last weekend we headed up to Scandia MN for Sean's dad Mike's 60Th birthday party. This is a sign that was hanging up above the host couples garage. I liked it and thought that some day when Sean and I have our own house this would make a nice addition.

Here is a picture of Sean's dad with his brothers and his Mother. His sister Rose could not be there. L-R Mike, Terry, Chuck and Tom and then Grandma Geri in the front. She is a wonderful, strong woman who manages to keep up with all of her kids and grand kids using email and sending letters. She has a big heart that is full of love and always has a smile on her face. She is also very strong in her faith and reminds us to thank God for every day that we are given.

I managed to pull everyone together for a group photo and it turned out very nice I think. There are a few people that unfortunately can not be seen (maybe they wanted it that way :)?)

Here is Mike enjoying his birthday meal, grilled burgers, hot dogs and brats!

Grandma Geri was laughing and I thought that deserved a picture!

Here is a pic of Zack with the bug vacuum, he is such a cutie and is very easy to entertain.

I can just hear Kaisa saying to Haley, "did you really get all of those things tangled up AGAIN?"

The kids had fun with all of the games that were set up.

Here is a pic of Myles and Kerry with his GF Lisa. It was her first time meeting that side of the family. She is a sweetheart and fit in well.

Here we are hot and sticky and full of bug spray. It was a very muggy day and a bad storm passed thru just before we arrived. Yes there are mosquitos in MN just as there are in ND. They have a big beautiful yard in the country so keeping mosquitos away isn't so easy.

Kent and Kaisa smiling big for the camera.

The next day Sean and I took Myles to the Twins game for his birthday present. We were only a few rows from the ceiling as we got stuck in traffic for a while and did not get there early enough to get better seats. We still had fun even tho they lost 0-1. The day before was 14-2 so I was excited to see some action..... NOT! I am not the best baseball fan as there are still some things that I do not understand and my constant bombardment of questions for Sean makes him laugh at me... a lot! I do tend to get a little bored with the game at times, however there are always interesting people to watch and things to keep me busy. I did cheer for the home run even tho it was for the other team. I was just happy to see someone score!

Even tho it was a busy weekend in the cities (as usual) we always have a great time visiting with family and friends and look forward to our next visit.

Worlds largest............ You name it and its found in ND!

2008-07-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Medora with my parents started out in Valley City where we met them and we left our car there. Then we proceeded on to Jamestown where we found the Worlds largest buffalo. This trip is kind of a tradition in our family. Since I can remember we always had to stop and see the buffalo and cow on the way to Medora. In the above photo Sean was jumping up to touch the Worlds largest buffalo balls :) We did get a chance to see all 3 white buffalo which included the baby, as they were all out in the open in front of the viewing area. But did I get a picture of all 3 NO. Why you ask?? I don't have any idea!

Then on to see the worlds largest Sand Hill Crane in Steele ND. This was a Hanssen first as we have never stopped to see this before. Which just blows my mind and I can't believe that we have never seen this magnificent thing before ;0) It is quite large and there are a bunch of native wild flowers and wild grasses to learn about here as well.

Sean of course had to have a special moment with the birds leg, I don't know about him.

Next stop on the list was Salem Sue the world's largest Holstein cow in New Salem! We couldn't get over how pink they have painted her veins on her bag and tummy. You can see a little bit on this pic.

Then on to the badlands. We stopped at the painted canyon which is just a few miles from Medora. We did see a buffalo but it was a long ways away. It was starting to get very cloudy and there was storm rolling in and we were getting very nervous as we still had to set up our tent.

Here we are after we had eaten our famous Steak at the Pitchfork fondue. With full tummies we enjoyed the scenery until the musical started. It was very windy and the storm was out to the west but heading North. Jamie was continually checking the weather at home and texting us with updates!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU SEAN!!!!!! Yes it was June 22, Seans birthday and here he is wearing his gift. A new Twins coat from Mom, Dad, Gma and Gpa, Angel and Dave. He really likes the color and I think that he looks sexy in red! I got him a twins hat but I didn't realize that hats come in sizes and I just grabbed one off of the shelf. When I was going to wrap it I was looking for the Velcro strap in the back and it didn't have one. Then there was a tag that had a number on it 7 5/8 or something like that!!!!!!! Yikes it was way to big, so we must exchange that one. Hey how can you blame a girl who grew up on a farm and all my dad's hats came from the elevator or seed company with the strap on the back!

A very rare picture of my adorable mother smiling!!!! No actually that's all we did on this trip was smile cause together all 4 of us are very silly. Here we are waiting for the Musical to start. It was very windy and we had our blankets with us, we were prepared!

Here are my parents Dale and Kathy! How cute are they. For many years they treated me to this trip as a kid and created lots of great memories. So it was my turn now. This trip was their fathers and mothers day gift from Sean and I. They both deserved it a lot. Dad works so hard to keep the farm going and Mom works hard to keep the house up and the men fed. It just happened to be the perfect time to leave right between spraying and haying!

Here is Sean at the Chateau we didn't go in but we went to the interpretive center thinking that it was free like the last time we were there. Yeah right $7.00!!!! So we just went to the gift shop and then left.

On the way home we stopped on this road I think that they call it the enchanted highway. Some dude has made several of these metal sculpters spread out along the hiway. This one is a deer jumping over the fence. It really is big and Sean is standing in front of it holding up his own deer horns. This is as far as we went because it was hot and we were bored with it and we had to find a place to eat.

Ok so maybe I am mixed up I don't remember which one was first the meal in New Salem or the metal sculptor.....anyway. We stopped in New Salem to eat dinner cause I wanted to eat at a small town cafe. They are always so cute and have good food. So we stopped here and it was just a really small cafe with really good food. Dad ordered a strawberry malt and they even had one of those old green mixers. Dad was very impressed. When she gave it too him he lit up just like a little boy and he told the waitress, "you just made me feel like a little kid again!" The malt reminded him of how Mildred used to make his malts when he was little in the Niagara Cafe. Then we headed home with our tummies full. It was a great trip and hope to do it again next year.

For the love of fish.....and Grandpas!

2008-06-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

This is my Grandpa! I have heard stories several times in my life about how much this man scared me when I was a baby. I was the happiest, smiling kid until he came into the room or I saw him. I would cry and scream until he was gone. No one knows why he scared me so much, but I think that it was his big bushy eyebrows, he has always had big eyebrows. But over the years the man that scared me so much became one of my best friends. We have done so much together. The most memorable being hunting and fishing. He would take us fishing all over the place and he was always patient with us and helped us learn the sport and took the time to teach us how to do things. He would let us reel in a fish every now and then if we weren't catching anything. I was happy just to be outside and I earned my official title as net girl as I was very good with the net. Nothing made him more frustrated than one trip to Devils Lake that we took to catch white bass. I must have caught 15-20 and he didn't have such good luck, despite using the same lure and dropping the hook in the exact same spot. Oh I can tell stories for hours about my grandpa but I wouldn't want to bore any of you.
This last monday Grandpa, Uncle Jeff (from Rapid City, SD) Jamie, Sean and I went fishing for a few hours in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and there was a little breeze just enough to keep the bugs away. I had the opportunity to get some great pictures of him fishing. He is 89 years old and his legs are not the best as they give him lots of pain, but he was able to walk down through the rocks to get to this spot. He didn't actually catch anything by himself but Jeff let him reel in 3 northerns.

This is my Aunt Diane. They are visiting from SD this week. I haven't seen her since the wedding and when I wanted to take her pict she was a little reluctant as she didn't think that she looked nice enough. I told her that I looked like crap so don't worry about it. So we went and stood by Grandmas pretty flowers and she hopes that you look at them instead of at her!

Here is uncle Jeff casting with the rod that Sean kind of messed up. But thats ok cause in one cast he was able to fix the tangled up line.

Here he is with the fish that grandpa just reeled in. Looks like he has everything under control!

Or does he~~ the fish got the best of him with one hook still in the fish and one in his pant leg. That was easy to fix tho, at least there wasn't any blood.

If any of my nursing friends happen to read this.....Yes he is sitting on a shower chair and it worked very well for your information!!!!

One last shot of Grandpa casting. I kind of got in trouble by one of my cousins who lives far away for not putting a picture of him on the last blog so here you go Melissa:) Enjoy!
And finally here is a video that I took with my digital camera. It is grandpa being so calm getting his fish to the shore. Not even a smile until the fish was on land flopping around.

Hopefully I can get in a few more fishing and hunting trips in with my Grandpa before he is too weak to enjoy these activities. There is nothing better than spending a day with my Grandpa!

Here we go again!

2008-06-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Here we go again with the fishing experience. This time we had a lot more people. Dad, Jamie, Grandpa (yes my 89 yo Gpa came along and sat through the rain) Sean, Amber, Dave, Angel, Ian, Mandy, Kayla, and Buddy, Elvis and Duke. We had a great time even tho it rained almost the whole time. Only once did we have to run to the vehicles to stay dry from a down pour. Despite the nasty weather we managed to catch 8 fish. It was a great time until I got a hook stuck in my thumb. It bled and bled and It hurt and hurt. For a while my thumb had its own heartbeat!

Here are the 8 fish we caught. This picture was taken right before Dad and Sean cleaned and fillet them. I used the timer on the camera to take this one. Again we had smelly hands all day and night. We are saving all of this fish for a fish fry some day when we can get a bunch of people together. Should be fun!

Saturday date night!

2008-06-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

Sean and I decided that we needed to go out on a date last Saturday. We went out to a restaurant called the "Spitfire". It smelled wonderful in there as they slow cook there ribs and bbq over an open fire in the middle of the restaurant. I had a half slab of the ribs and they were mmmm good. Sean had a brisket sandwich that was also tasty. We then rolled our full tummies out of the building and decided to go play mini gold at Thunder Road in Fargo. We played both courses (36 holes) and it took 3 hours as we had some slow people in front of us. It was a beautiful night and we had a great time. Sean brought the camera and snapped a few pics of us on the course. The holes were not all that difficult and I did pretty well on most of them, but Sean prevailed and kicked my butt. The funniest thing was half way through the course I wondered why Seans putter was blue and mine was black. He had taken a kids putter and didn't even know it. It was significantly smaller than mine and we had a good laugh about that one. After golf we went out for dessert at Old Chicago. It was a great time and hope to do it again soon.

Fishing, Family, Fun and FIRE!

2008-06-11T09:33:00.001-07:00

OK so this is the end of the day. We had a bon fire at Mom and Dads house after we went fishing. The pics that I put on here ended up back words so we will start at the end of the day instead of the beginning. The above pic is really not that flattering of me. It was taken after my beloved Sean threw my favorite fire-poking stick into the fire. I was not happy with him and he thought it was funny. Sean however looks really cute I think.

Notice said stick in fire. We also put this huge/gigantic old piece of wood on the fire that happended to be covered with ants. Which brought on a bunch of really lame jokes about ants screaming for help and little tiny ant ambulances coming to rescue them and a bunch of other jokes that just don't need to be repeated.......ever again. Notice the look on Jamies face. Not to sure what he was contemplating, maybe he was trying to think of a song to sing as we went around the campfire and sang old silly songs from days gone by. It was alot of fun. We also had fun listening to the coyotes as they were all howling and it sounded like they were really close. Angel and Dave had their 3 dogs with so we had a time trying to keep them in the yard.

I thought that this was a cute pic. We have a calf at the farm who doesn't have a mommy so they give him a bottle twice a day and he is always waiting for them to come. It doesn't take him long to suck down that bottle.

Ok so here is Sean's very first time actually holding a fish. He didn't really like it since it was very slimy and smelly. Yes, we had to hear all about the smell of his hands the rest of the day. At one point it almost made him puke! to which I laughed :) I actually like to hold fish and mess around with things like that. I did grow up in the country and I used to walk around bare foot in the cow pasture so this really didn't bother me. He didn't actually catch any fish that day, but he will try, try again.

Ok so this is the fish that I caught, (the really big one that is hanging down). Dad caught the next one and the stringer was getting so heavy with all of those fish on it. The weather was beautiful and sunny and just enough breeze to keep the may flies away. The water was very cold. Jamie got his lure stuck about 6 feet off of the shore and couldn't bear to cut the line so I volunteered to walk out in the water and get it. The water was up to my knees and it was very chilly!

Here is Jamie with his fish, the first catch of the day! He was very excited and so were we that there were actually fish in the lake! Dad was teaching Sean how to do something with his pole. Sean loves to learn from him as he doesn't really know a lot about fishing and it is probably best if he learns from dad instead of me as I think that dad has more patience! It also makes Dad feel good when he can feel smart....... right Dad:) I love to see the two of them bonding, making a lasting relationship and to actually have some interests in common. Sean doesn't really know a lot about farming so anything that the two of them can do together is great. I hear that the next thing on the agenda is GOPHER hunting.... Sean is exciting to hold a gun!

This is a pic that was taken after we grilled our lunch at Dave and Angels house. Isn't Sean cute in that shirt. He doesn't wear it very often. It makes him fit in well around the farm. The other pic is of Dad taking a nap under the shade of a big tree. He was just lying there listening to the birds and loving nature. I thought it was cute so I quick snapped a picture.

The day went fast and it was fun. We really enjoyed each others company and had a great time catching fish and can't wait to do it again.

Baby "Cletus" Rauschendorfer

2008-05-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

Some of you may already know, however some of you may not. Sean and I were blessed to be parents-to-be for 8 weeks and yesterday we had a miscarriage. I had a D & C and I at home now doing ok. This is a picture of what the infant bereavement program gave to us as we left the hospital. The blanket and booties were a gift from a local church and the teddy bear was so that we didn't have to leave the hospital with empty arms. It has been an emotional time for us and we are now looking forward to the next opportunity to start the family that we have always wanted.

They also gave Sean and I a tiny little gold baby ring so that we would never forget. I tied them on the ribbon on the booties. We did not know the sex of the baby but a good friend of mine always asked me how "Cletus the fetus" was doing. We kind of like that name and it grew on us, so that is what we are calling it. We have had a lot of support from friends and family in this difficult time and we thank everyone!

Sean's first fish!

2008-05-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Today my adorable husband went fishing with me and my Dad at Lake Loretta which is right behind my sister Angel's house. It was a VERY windy day but that didn't stop us from trying to catch something. We were in a very small channel that comes off of the lake and it was very narrow. Well on Sean's 5Th cast or so he started to scream " I think that I have something!" I ran to the pick up for the net and dad came from around the other side to help him out. Sure enough there was a northern on the other end of his hook! We were all very excited for Sean to actually catch something. We have been "fishing" lots of times together, but have never had any luck. Below is a pic of Sean and his prize fish. We thought it was about 20 inches long and maybe 3-4 lbs. Grandma and Grandpa got to eat it for lunch the next day and they even sent home a piece for Sean to taste. He thought it was pretty good despite the bones!

Here we are back at Angel's house and her dog Buddy is checking it out! He really wanted to sniff it a lot and probably would have started to chew if we had given him the chance!

After we got back to the farm, Dad taught Sean how to clean the fish and get 2 really nice fillets. He did a very good job for his first time ever and I was very impressed at his knife skills. Grandpa said that the reason he did such a great job was because of his perfectly sharpened fillet knife ;)

This is a beautiful sunset taken at my sister's farm again on the day that they moved in. It was so pretty and I can't pass by a gorgeous sunset and not take its picture. I have quite a collection of sunset pictures.

There was a small pond out in the field from all of the melted snow. There were 2 Canadian geese swimming in the water but you can't really see them on these pics.

Twin Cities here we come!

2008-05-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend we traveled to the Twin Cities area for Kaisa's 5th birthday party and to see all of our family.

Here we have Sean jumping on the trampoline. You can go higher can't you?

Ok that's getting better, just a little more and try to do the splits while you are at it!

Hey you got it.

Here is Sean and both of his neices. They try so hard to get him up onto the trampoline with them, and of course he can't say no to those cuties! Here is Connie on the trampoline. This always seems to be the best toy at the party and sometimes causes troubles with taking turns.

Here is Kaisa the Birthday girl. She got a lot of new sand toys to go along with their new sandbox. She was all smiles today!

Here is Sean and I at the party outside taking our infamous self portrait. It was such a beautiful day with sun shining and a light breeze. We hated to come home but we always know that we must return to work and our own lives here in Fargo.

Hello

2008-05-16T15:07:00.000-07:00

Hello this is my first attempt at blogging. I am anxious to tell all of you about our lives and give a pictoral view of things that we are doing. This will be a neat way to keep up with some of the family that is not from around here.