Moving is such a pain. Not only do you have to collect boxes and newspapers, and pack all of your worldly belongings, you have to have a place to move too and people to move into the place you're leaving. On top of that, when people are coming to see your apartment you have to basically make it look like no one actually lives there and it's spotless all the time.
However, in the end, it will all work out. We have 3 people coming to look at the apartment today, 6 scheduled for tomorrow, 2 for Thursday, and 1 so far for Friday. The good news is when one of these 25 people we have referred to the apartment complex signs a lease, we get out of lots of fines and paying double rent. (The fines are because we're moving before the lease is up).
I just want to be done with this mess. I'm tired of answering people's whiny, sometimes completely stupid emails, sending pictures, dealing with the leasing office, all if it. I wish I could just start putting stuff in boxes and move out today...but I have made it this long, I will make it 3 more weeks. And, the prospect of our new apartment keeps me going.
Ok, that is the end of my rant.
June 1, 2010
May 27, 2010
Updates from the Great Plains-But no pictures!
Well, we haven't updated much on what we are actually doing these days. First off, since this is the most frequently asked question I get- Steven, Me & Baby D are all doing pretty good. The baby is growing big and strong and I am feeling pretty good 95% of the time! Moving on-there are really 4 main parts to our lives: Church, School, Work, and Family so I will update in that order.
Church- Well Steven is still calling-less. But a lot of the ward is either gone for the summer and the military families are all being reassigned to a different base so I'm hoping he will get a calling soon! I am still doing the RS activity board and primary music leader. The last 2 weeks I have had to do both Junior & Senior primary. Wow was it a lot of work!! I had no voice at the end of the first week and the second week I only made it through Junior primary with my voice in tact. But, we are learning and having fun. I went to a Stake leadership training and got lots of good ideas that I'm excited to try out!
School- Someday we will graduate and look back at these posts and think "Wow life was so much easier when we were in school" At least that's what people keep telling me...Steven is taking one summer class right now and will be taking 2 more starting in 4 weeks. He is also finishing up his flight stage check from last semester. When that is finally over he will get his Instrument Rating- he's been working on it for the past 2 semesters+ so we're excited to see some progress. This summer he will do the commercial class and then in the fall is multi-engine! UND likes to make random hoops for us to jump through but overall we like the school.
As for my school, well I'm still going and getting good enough grades. It is hard to focus on hard classes when I have the baby brain thing going on, but so far so good. I will be done with 5 of 12 classes required to graduate at the end of my semester in 4 weeks. This time next year I will be DONE DONE and you can all call me Master!! *Granted the baby cooperates and I actually write a thesis...*
Work- Well, this area of our lives has not improved. We are managing ok, but just waiting to see what Heavenly Father wants us to do. Right now the biggest priority is the baby so we are just waiting for the inspiration to come and we will follow it. Steven has applied to a few work study jobs for the summer so we will see if we hear anything about those!
Family- Well as of Saturday, my family will be in 3 different states and 2 different continents. My dad leaves for Australia for six months on Saturday. My sister Talia and my brother Jaden are living in Utah for the summer. My mom, Kayley, and Dakota are living at home and me, Steven & Baby D are stuck here in ND for awhile. I mostly feel bad for my mom who will now have to juggle everyone's different time zones to keep in touch with everyone.
Steven's family is doing good too! Nate just graduated high school officially last week and Andrew promoted from junior high. That combined with the parent's anniversary and Nate's birthday made for quite a few parties in 2 weeks! We were sad to miss it! Greg & Caitlin are doing ok too as far as we know. Caitlin is taking classes and Greg is working for her grandma. They celebrate their anniversary next week-has it really already been a year?!
As for our little family, we are doing good. We are making new friends and reconnecting with old friends too.
We try to go on lots of walks together. Steven didn't believe me that most days my feet and legs just hurt because of the extra weight of Baby D. Then, he went to his physiology class and they talked about how hard it is for pregnant women to have circulation to their limbs. He came home that night, propped my feet up on pillows and I got the best foot rub of my life. He wanted to make sure I was circulating the blood flow or something. Now, if I could just get him to get reminded of that every day at class, I'd be even better!!
Steven has really been excellent with me being pregnant! He says the biggest thing he didn't know about what happens when you get your wife pregnant is that you have to become her live-in gourmet chef. I don't know why but the food is just better when he makes it!! At first I didn't help because the smell was too strong- but now, I'm the sous chef and he's the head cook.
I started feeling (and recognizing) the baby kick last week. I still don't feel it every day, but I feel it now and they seem to be getting more frequent. It is the neatest little thing ever! Steven is a tad jealous but I'm sure in a few months we'll both be ready for the baby to be out and kicking in his/her crib!
The only other update we have is that we're moving! I wish we were moving home, but that is a few years off still. We are finally moving into on-campus housing. We went and toured one of the apartments like the one we will have today. It is not a ton bigger, but it is more open, there are closets and lots more storage!! Also, we have reserved parking and it will be close enough for Steven to walk to classes! We are moving out at the end of June and are very excited! We found out yesterday that if we find someone to rent out our current apartment we will not have to pay out all the fees they make up. The lady didn't think we would have any luck but we posted the information on craigslist and on the UND Underground (it's like the school's craigslist) last night and we've already had about 10 people email or call. I think 5 have already talked to the leasing office and one came to look today and another will be looking at it tomorrow. It will be such a blessing if one of these people apply and get approved and get to move in!! Either way if we find a renter or if the leasing office does, we are excited to move out into a better environment for us and Baby D!
We haven't taken pictures of anything recently but we will take pictures of our adventures this summer!! The next post will probably be the pink or blue day post!! Hopefully the baby will cooperate with us enough to let us see the gender! A week from tomorrow-we are soo excited to get to see our baby again (and hopefully start shopping for appropriate-colored clothes!)
Stay tuned to share in our excitement :)
Church- Well Steven is still calling-less. But a lot of the ward is either gone for the summer and the military families are all being reassigned to a different base so I'm hoping he will get a calling soon! I am still doing the RS activity board and primary music leader. The last 2 weeks I have had to do both Junior & Senior primary. Wow was it a lot of work!! I had no voice at the end of the first week and the second week I only made it through Junior primary with my voice in tact. But, we are learning and having fun. I went to a Stake leadership training and got lots of good ideas that I'm excited to try out!
School- Someday we will graduate and look back at these posts and think "Wow life was so much easier when we were in school" At least that's what people keep telling me...Steven is taking one summer class right now and will be taking 2 more starting in 4 weeks. He is also finishing up his flight stage check from last semester. When that is finally over he will get his Instrument Rating- he's been working on it for the past 2 semesters+ so we're excited to see some progress. This summer he will do the commercial class and then in the fall is multi-engine! UND likes to make random hoops for us to jump through but overall we like the school.
As for my school, well I'm still going and getting good enough grades. It is hard to focus on hard classes when I have the baby brain thing going on, but so far so good. I will be done with 5 of 12 classes required to graduate at the end of my semester in 4 weeks. This time next year I will be DONE DONE and you can all call me Master!! *Granted the baby cooperates and I actually write a thesis...*
Work- Well, this area of our lives has not improved. We are managing ok, but just waiting to see what Heavenly Father wants us to do. Right now the biggest priority is the baby so we are just waiting for the inspiration to come and we will follow it. Steven has applied to a few work study jobs for the summer so we will see if we hear anything about those!
Family- Well as of Saturday, my family will be in 3 different states and 2 different continents. My dad leaves for Australia for six months on Saturday. My sister Talia and my brother Jaden are living in Utah for the summer. My mom, Kayley, and Dakota are living at home and me, Steven & Baby D are stuck here in ND for awhile. I mostly feel bad for my mom who will now have to juggle everyone's different time zones to keep in touch with everyone.
Steven's family is doing good too! Nate just graduated high school officially last week and Andrew promoted from junior high. That combined with the parent's anniversary and Nate's birthday made for quite a few parties in 2 weeks! We were sad to miss it! Greg & Caitlin are doing ok too as far as we know. Caitlin is taking classes and Greg is working for her grandma. They celebrate their anniversary next week-has it really already been a year?!
As for our little family, we are doing good. We are making new friends and reconnecting with old friends too.
We try to go on lots of walks together. Steven didn't believe me that most days my feet and legs just hurt because of the extra weight of Baby D. Then, he went to his physiology class and they talked about how hard it is for pregnant women to have circulation to their limbs. He came home that night, propped my feet up on pillows and I got the best foot rub of my life. He wanted to make sure I was circulating the blood flow or something. Now, if I could just get him to get reminded of that every day at class, I'd be even better!!
Steven has really been excellent with me being pregnant! He says the biggest thing he didn't know about what happens when you get your wife pregnant is that you have to become her live-in gourmet chef. I don't know why but the food is just better when he makes it!! At first I didn't help because the smell was too strong- but now, I'm the sous chef and he's the head cook.
I started feeling (and recognizing) the baby kick last week. I still don't feel it every day, but I feel it now and they seem to be getting more frequent. It is the neatest little thing ever! Steven is a tad jealous but I'm sure in a few months we'll both be ready for the baby to be out and kicking in his/her crib!
The only other update we have is that we're moving! I wish we were moving home, but that is a few years off still. We are finally moving into on-campus housing. We went and toured one of the apartments like the one we will have today. It is not a ton bigger, but it is more open, there are closets and lots more storage!! Also, we have reserved parking and it will be close enough for Steven to walk to classes! We are moving out at the end of June and are very excited! We found out yesterday that if we find someone to rent out our current apartment we will not have to pay out all the fees they make up. The lady didn't think we would have any luck but we posted the information on craigslist and on the UND Underground (it's like the school's craigslist) last night and we've already had about 10 people email or call. I think 5 have already talked to the leasing office and one came to look today and another will be looking at it tomorrow. It will be such a blessing if one of these people apply and get approved and get to move in!! Either way if we find a renter or if the leasing office does, we are excited to move out into a better environment for us and Baby D!
We haven't taken pictures of anything recently but we will take pictures of our adventures this summer!! The next post will probably be the pink or blue day post!! Hopefully the baby will cooperate with us enough to let us see the gender! A week from tomorrow-we are soo excited to get to see our baby again (and hopefully start shopping for appropriate-colored clothes!)
Stay tuned to share in our excitement :)
May 8, 2010
Progress on Baby D
Alright so I am officially in the second trimester and I can see why everyone raved about it. No more morning sickness, more energy, bella bands and pretty soon I get to feel the baby!!
We've had our first official appointment to meet the OB and get all the blood work results. All is well, all is well. We feel really good about our Dr. and as far as she could tell, everything is going well with baby. I was way more relaxed this time and so was the baby. All the blood work came back normal. The downside was they forgot one test so I had to do more lab work, but it was really nothing compared to last time!
Our next appointment is June 4th and it is the ultrasound appointment!! So, we want your vote! Boy or Girl?! To help you make an educated decision, I've provided a few other pieces of info!
- In my family, there are 3 girls and 2 boys. In Steven's there are FOUR boys! (There are no nieces or nephews to count yet)
- I have more girl cousins than boy cousins. Steven has A LOT of cousins some of whom I haven't met so that might not help you. My mom's family has more girls than boys. My dad's family has more girls than boys. Steven's dad's family has more girls than boys. Steven's mom family (is huge but I think I counted correctly) has more girls than boys (unless I counted the in-law instead of the sibling...)
- Our wedding was VERY pink and a few of the bridesmaids cursed us with having all boy children. Random, yes. Possibly relevant, also yes.
- You know that Chinese Gender Calendar that everyone says is completely accurate? Not for me. You use the conception date and mine could have happened in January or February. January makes girl. February makes boy. Sorry if that's too much info...just thought you should know that won't help you!
- According to the Old Wives Tales in my Pregnancy for Dummies book, and on several websites, I usually come out predicting it's a girl, but there have been a few that determined boy. It's usually a 60/40 split between the two.
So, I hope that helps you cast your vote! The poll thingy is on the right side of the blog. There's 25 days to cast your vote and then we will announce the official result.
We've had our first official appointment to meet the OB and get all the blood work results. All is well, all is well. We feel really good about our Dr. and as far as she could tell, everything is going well with baby. I was way more relaxed this time and so was the baby. All the blood work came back normal. The downside was they forgot one test so I had to do more lab work, but it was really nothing compared to last time!
Our next appointment is June 4th and it is the ultrasound appointment!! So, we want your vote! Boy or Girl?! To help you make an educated decision, I've provided a few other pieces of info!
- In my family, there are 3 girls and 2 boys. In Steven's there are FOUR boys! (There are no nieces or nephews to count yet)
- I have more girl cousins than boy cousins. Steven has A LOT of cousins some of whom I haven't met so that might not help you. My mom's family has more girls than boys. My dad's family has more girls than boys. Steven's dad's family has more girls than boys. Steven's mom family (is huge but I think I counted correctly) has more girls than boys (unless I counted the in-law instead of the sibling...)
- Our wedding was VERY pink and a few of the bridesmaids cursed us with having all boy children. Random, yes. Possibly relevant, also yes.
- You know that Chinese Gender Calendar that everyone says is completely accurate? Not for me. You use the conception date and mine could have happened in January or February. January makes girl. February makes boy. Sorry if that's too much info...just thought you should know that won't help you!
- According to the Old Wives Tales in my Pregnancy for Dummies book, and on several websites, I usually come out predicting it's a girl, but there have been a few that determined boy. It's usually a 60/40 split between the two.
So, I hope that helps you cast your vote! The poll thingy is on the right side of the blog. There's 25 days to cast your vote and then we will announce the official result.
May 6, 2010
Changes.
Life is so interesting. In the past few weeks we have been thrown a couple doozys that have caused us to re-evaluate certain things. Life is changing all around us. We knew having a baby would change us forever, but the baby's not here for 5 1/2 more months! Things have just gotten quite interesting lately. I'll elaborate on some of the happenings that I can talk about.
*Disclaimer: this might be a long post- it's more for me to write than for anyone else to read :)
- My dad is moving to Australia the first week of June for his job. He just found out yesterday. My mom said it's a great opportunity. They had talked about this before but it was never certain. He'll be there for at least 3 months with a possibility for an immediate extension up to six months...and it could last up to 2 years. If he stays for two years, Steven, me, and baby will have the opportunity to go visit him next year sometime. The rest of my family will probably visit at the end of the summer. My mom said they might fly my dad here to North Dakota to see the baby when he/she is born. And he should be able to come home for weddings, funerals, and hopefully Christmas. AND if this news isn't enough for me, the ultimate daddy's girl, my mom tells me that if he does get extended to a couple years, and she can find a job there or online classes to teach she might just pick up and move the whole family there for a year or so...because really my emotional well-being right now could handle that. See? life is interesting...
- My sister, Talia turned 20 yesterday. We are 22 months apart and she used to love these 2 months where it looked like we were only a year a part. She is super smart at school and has a full-tuition scholarship based solely on her grades. She is half way done with college now. Oh, and she might be getting married in the very near future. As soon as they both want to admit that's what they're ready for it will happen. But don't tell her I told you ;) She's still in denial...
- My sister, Kayley, got her braces off on Tuesday. She sent us a picture and we were amazed how grown up she looks! Oh and she's almost a senior...when did that happen?
- My brother, Jaden, was one of the leads in his junior high's musical this week. How cute is that? We were very sad to miss it. He might be coming to spend some time with us this summer and we are ecstatic.
- My brother, Dakota, is old enough now where he can kind of be excited about the baby. He would only poke my stomach when we were there for graduation. But, my mom says he will pray for us and for the baby and that he asks questions. He's not too interested until we find out the gender of the baby and has ensured us that if it's a boy, Dakota would be our best option for a name.
- I have recently been catching up with a few roommates from college. If you ever want to see how life changes, start analyzing your old roommates! We were living together 3 years ago and now we are all over the world doing different things. 4 of 5 have been married (3 still are married). 2 have kids. 1 is serving a mission in France and the crazy part is she gets home in September! 2 are married to men in med school. 1 of those is going to Europe for a few weeks this summer. 1 (who shares my same birthday) is having a baby and she is due 1 week before me (wouldn't that be neat if our babies had the same birthdays too?). Out of the six of us, 2 live in Utah, 1 lives in France, 1 in Texas, 1 in Kentucky, and us in North Dakota. Strange to think that only 3 years ago we all lived within 10 yards of each other.
There are about a thousand other things that have happened in the past few weeks that made us just think. I don't remember when I grew up, but I'm kind of feeling like I am now. I thought for sure the baby would do that. But, when you have a sister getting married, a sister that's a senior, and two brothers who aren't just little kids anymore, I guess it starts to happen. Or maybe it's that my life here in ND is so un-changing that I notice changing in other people's lives more. Whatever the reason is, life is always changing and we are enjoying watching how things play out with our families and friends!
*Disclaimer: this might be a long post- it's more for me to write than for anyone else to read :)
- My dad is moving to Australia the first week of June for his job. He just found out yesterday. My mom said it's a great opportunity. They had talked about this before but it was never certain. He'll be there for at least 3 months with a possibility for an immediate extension up to six months...and it could last up to 2 years. If he stays for two years, Steven, me, and baby will have the opportunity to go visit him next year sometime. The rest of my family will probably visit at the end of the summer. My mom said they might fly my dad here to North Dakota to see the baby when he/she is born. And he should be able to come home for weddings, funerals, and hopefully Christmas. AND if this news isn't enough for me, the ultimate daddy's girl, my mom tells me that if he does get extended to a couple years, and she can find a job there or online classes to teach she might just pick up and move the whole family there for a year or so...because really my emotional well-being right now could handle that. See? life is interesting...
- My sister, Talia turned 20 yesterday. We are 22 months apart and she used to love these 2 months where it looked like we were only a year a part. She is super smart at school and has a full-tuition scholarship based solely on her grades. She is half way done with college now. Oh, and she might be getting married in the very near future. As soon as they both want to admit that's what they're ready for it will happen. But don't tell her I told you ;) She's still in denial...
- My sister, Kayley, got her braces off on Tuesday. She sent us a picture and we were amazed how grown up she looks! Oh and she's almost a senior...when did that happen?
- My brother, Jaden, was one of the leads in his junior high's musical this week. How cute is that? We were very sad to miss it. He might be coming to spend some time with us this summer and we are ecstatic.
- My brother, Dakota, is old enough now where he can kind of be excited about the baby. He would only poke my stomach when we were there for graduation. But, my mom says he will pray for us and for the baby and that he asks questions. He's not too interested until we find out the gender of the baby and has ensured us that if it's a boy, Dakota would be our best option for a name.
- I have recently been catching up with a few roommates from college. If you ever want to see how life changes, start analyzing your old roommates! We were living together 3 years ago and now we are all over the world doing different things. 4 of 5 have been married (3 still are married). 2 have kids. 1 is serving a mission in France and the crazy part is she gets home in September! 2 are married to men in med school. 1 of those is going to Europe for a few weeks this summer. 1 (who shares my same birthday) is having a baby and she is due 1 week before me (wouldn't that be neat if our babies had the same birthdays too?). Out of the six of us, 2 live in Utah, 1 lives in France, 1 in Texas, 1 in Kentucky, and us in North Dakota. Strange to think that only 3 years ago we all lived within 10 yards of each other.
There are about a thousand other things that have happened in the past few weeks that made us just think. I don't remember when I grew up, but I'm kind of feeling like I am now. I thought for sure the baby would do that. But, when you have a sister getting married, a sister that's a senior, and two brothers who aren't just little kids anymore, I guess it starts to happen. Or maybe it's that my life here in ND is so un-changing that I notice changing in other people's lives more. Whatever the reason is, life is always changing and we are enjoying watching how things play out with our families and friends!
April 16, 2010
Soo, soo blessed!
Now as some of you know, we recently returned from a whirlwind trip home for my graduation. I did take lots of pictures and plan to update the world on the trip...later. I have had a hard time getting myself to write anything because it was HARD to come back to North Dakota. But, while I leave you in suspense for the actual happenings of the trip, I want you to know that we are
Soo, soo, blessed!
Steven and I have always felt particularly blessed to have the families that we have. It was the biggest 'con' in moving across the country to be moving away from our family/ support network. The only thing that we have been disappointed with having our baby is that for at least a year, the baby will not be close to it's grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles.
We understand that many people think we are crazy for being this attached to our families. We're married adults and we should want to live as far away from our family as possible right? WRONG! We have both already been there, done that, and prefer to stay close to our family.
Never has this been more clear than with our recent trip home. Not only were we showered with attention and love, we were given many amazing gifts but more importantly memories to last a long time. As soon as we got off the airplane, my in-laws handed me the first part of my graduation gift- tickets to see Michael Buble that night. Then at the graduation ceremony, I got the second part- a brand new watch. This meant a lot to me as it is "Dorn Family Tradition" to get a watch when you graduate- I'm officially part of the family now ;)
Also, before graduation, I went to my parents house to do my hair, etc. We pulled up and low and behold there was my aunt and her family (that I consider to be my second parents/ family) standing in the front yard. Her and my Uncle, who met up with us later, drove for 2 days with 3 little kiddos (and one big kiddo-my cousin/ best friend) just to spend a few days with us...I cried when I saw them and I don't think it was a pregnant thing.
And the following day, my mom spent her day preparing for my party. She easily had a thousand other things to do, but spent the day doing things for and with me. The food ended up being so great and we were blessed to have so many friends and family come visit! Finally today, I received my graduation present from my family. My mom told me she was sending us one of her dogs, Gretchen. Well Gretchen is the new name of our Ninetendo Wii. Now, we are excited to have the Wii, don't get me wrong...but again it is the meaning behind it. About a month ago, we got our tax return and were faced with a tough decision: buy a crib or buy a Wii. We bought the crib and I told my mom it was the 'hardest decision of our adult life's'.
Now these are just the physical gifts we received in the past week. This does not even begin to include the laughter, games, spiritual experiences, memories, good food, and being taken care of for 5 days straight that we experienced.
I wish I could truly express in words how we feel. But, I'm in tears again thinking about how blessed we are (for the third or fourth time this week). We are truly blessed to be a part of the families that we are. We can feel the eternal bonds and are more thankful than ever to have them. We are excited to bring our baby into the world with such a loving family already in place. We know how incredibly lucky we are to have such close relationships with our families (and our in-laws). We hope that all of our friends reading this who may need an extra boost in a family relationship will take this opportunity to make the effort.
Family is important, and we are sooo, sooo blessed to know that!
We love you Mom, Dad, Talia, Kayley, Jaden, Dakota, Mom, Pops, Greg, Caitlin, Nathan, & Andrew! Looking forward to eternity together :)
April 6, 2010
Happy Easter!
Our Easter weekend was fabulous! Steven didn't have school on Friday or Monday. We got to spend most of the time together and the weather has actually been really nice. Here are a few pictures. We refuse to grow up so we hid Easter baskets for each other between conference sessions.
Steven hid mine inside the ceiling panel...rude
I hid his at the bottom of the bag full of all the plastic grocery bags we need to recycle.
After, we went on a little photo shoot in our little neighborhood area. The baby was not particularly agreeable to my shirt, but we tried. Here are some of my favorites:
I'm not sure if you can read the sign but it says "Alley of Love". This is the alley behind our house...hence baby. I will maybe post more of the pictures on facebook.
We watched the second session of conference and then ate dinner. We had Chicken Cordon Bleu (because I am morally opposed to making an entire ham for just the two of us and at least this had some ham in it) with my delicious scalloped potato recipe (that we drove alllll over town looking for the right ingredients for), and strawberry lemonade. We also had rolls, but forgot they had to raise so we had those like 2 hours after the rest of dinner.
We were feeling a bit homesick being away from our families and traditions, but we are SO EXCITED to be going home on Thursday for a fun-filled weekend!!!
I think we are all caught up now...until Steven decides to update the world on his school stuff and his pneumonia! Look for upcoming posts about our fun weekend in sunny AZ :)
Steven hid mine inside the ceiling panel...rude
I hid his at the bottom of the bag full of all the plastic grocery bags we need to recycle.After, we went on a little photo shoot in our little neighborhood area. The baby was not particularly agreeable to my shirt, but we tried. Here are some of my favorites:
I'm not sure if you can read the sign but it says "Alley of Love". This is the alley behind our house...hence baby. I will maybe post more of the pictures on facebook.
We watched the second session of conference and then ate dinner. We had Chicken Cordon Bleu (because I am morally opposed to making an entire ham for just the two of us and at least this had some ham in it) with my delicious scalloped potato recipe (that we drove alllll over town looking for the right ingredients for), and strawberry lemonade. We also had rolls, but forgot they had to raise so we had those like 2 hours after the rest of dinner.
We were feeling a bit homesick being away from our families and traditions, but we are SO EXCITED to be going home on Thursday for a fun-filled weekend!!!
I think we are all caught up now...until Steven decides to update the world on his school stuff and his pneumonia! Look for upcoming posts about our fun weekend in sunny AZ :)
And the rains came down...
...And the floods came up.
We have never lived in a place where we were at risk for natural disasters until we moved here. We live across the street from the Red River. This river is kind of unique because it flows to the north. Every year when the snow melts, the river floods from Fargo all the way up to Canada. There was an extreme flood in 1997 that wiped out most of the downtown area. President Clinton came and declared a national disaster on the area. The water was above the stop signs on the streets in downtown. Wikipedia it, I'm sure it's there. Anyways...the river obviously melts every year and because of the insane amount of snow we get, the river usually floods. We were counseled to start praying that the flood waters would be tempered as early as the beginning of February. We didn't realize what a big deal this flooding stuff was. But, we were proactive and set up an evacuation plan if we had to leave our apartment.
We are above a store on the second story so we knew our things would be safe. We just needed to know how we would get out, where our car would stay, what we would take with us and where we would go. I never knew how much work all this emergency preparedness stuff was! We tried to do it in AZ but there wasn't a ton of motivation...
Anyways, they closed the bridge on our street almost as soon as the river melted. The flood gates go inside these slots in the "welcome to grand forks" gate. They also set up a police line all the way on top of the hill so people don't go down into the 'greenway'. The greenway is a park during the non-flooded, non-snowed months of the year. (so like May and June?! lol)
Anyways in all the excitement we decided to take pictures of the flood gates and such. (Be kind I am sensitive during this whole pregnancy weight gaining and shifting thing...and it was cold and windy outside)
The flood gates are behind me...normally those metal things aren't there and it's the entrance to the bridge.
The water got just a little higher than this picture shows. There was something like 47 inches of ice pack and a lot of water when it melted. That sidewalk is where the greenway is.
That stone pillar thing in the middle...well the top (right before the peak of it) is where the water level was in 1997. Other years are etched on the side as well. There are actually park benches and a cement platform about 4 feet down in the water.
It turns out that the flooding really didn't get as bad as everyone thought and was nothing compared to the 1997 flood. They were actually able to keep the larger, taller bridge that is about a mile north of this one open. We've since learned that when they close that bridge, then it's time to worry.
The bridge stayed closed for about a week. Then both ND and MN Dept. of Transportation had to go underneath and check to make sure some floating trees hadn't damaged the bridge and they opened it up again. The greenway is still pretty flooded and it is closed off in certain areas. I walked across the bridge today to the post office in East GF and the water was much lower and I could see the benches around that monument.
All in all, we ended up being just fine but we were prepared just in case. Now we are just left to wonder *again*...WHY DO PEOPLE LIVE HERE? It snows 8 months out of the year, floods for 2 and there is only 2 months left over that we hear are full of mosquitos...lovely :)
We have never lived in a place where we were at risk for natural disasters until we moved here. We live across the street from the Red River. This river is kind of unique because it flows to the north. Every year when the snow melts, the river floods from Fargo all the way up to Canada. There was an extreme flood in 1997 that wiped out most of the downtown area. President Clinton came and declared a national disaster on the area. The water was above the stop signs on the streets in downtown. Wikipedia it, I'm sure it's there. Anyways...the river obviously melts every year and because of the insane amount of snow we get, the river usually floods. We were counseled to start praying that the flood waters would be tempered as early as the beginning of February. We didn't realize what a big deal this flooding stuff was. But, we were proactive and set up an evacuation plan if we had to leave our apartment.
We are above a store on the second story so we knew our things would be safe. We just needed to know how we would get out, where our car would stay, what we would take with us and where we would go. I never knew how much work all this emergency preparedness stuff was! We tried to do it in AZ but there wasn't a ton of motivation...
Anyways, they closed the bridge on our street almost as soon as the river melted. The flood gates go inside these slots in the "welcome to grand forks" gate. They also set up a police line all the way on top of the hill so people don't go down into the 'greenway'. The greenway is a park during the non-flooded, non-snowed months of the year. (so like May and June?! lol)
Anyways in all the excitement we decided to take pictures of the flood gates and such. (Be kind I am sensitive during this whole pregnancy weight gaining and shifting thing...and it was cold and windy outside)
The flood gates are behind me...normally those metal things aren't there and it's the entrance to the bridge.
The water got just a little higher than this picture shows. There was something like 47 inches of ice pack and a lot of water when it melted. That sidewalk is where the greenway is.
That stone pillar thing in the middle...well the top (right before the peak of it) is where the water level was in 1997. Other years are etched on the side as well. There are actually park benches and a cement platform about 4 feet down in the water.
It turns out that the flooding really didn't get as bad as everyone thought and was nothing compared to the 1997 flood. They were actually able to keep the larger, taller bridge that is about a mile north of this one open. We've since learned that when they close that bridge, then it's time to worry. The bridge stayed closed for about a week. Then both ND and MN Dept. of Transportation had to go underneath and check to make sure some floating trees hadn't damaged the bridge and they opened it up again. The greenway is still pretty flooded and it is closed off in certain areas. I walked across the bridge today to the post office in East GF and the water was much lower and I could see the benches around that monument.
All in all, we ended up being just fine but we were prepared just in case. Now we are just left to wonder *again*...WHY DO PEOPLE LIVE HERE? It snows 8 months out of the year, floods for 2 and there is only 2 months left over that we hear are full of mosquitos...lovely :)
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