One More Week!

I don't know who else needs a break, but I need one! One more week of school and it's finals week so it's alot of review and then 2 days of finals. In other words, pretty easy for me.
I can't believe that Christmas is here already. It really doesn't look like it a whole lot other than the decorations that people have put out. I would love a big snow storm to dump a lot of snow since we don't have anything but a dusting of it.

This weekend was great! We did absolutely nothing but hang out together. Saturday we went to the local coffee shop, went to see Alvin and The Chipmunks ( Which by the way is a great kids movie and some laughs for the adults, the chipmunks were so cute and funny) and just vegged in front of the tube the rest of the time. It was just fun to be together and laugh at and with each other.

To all the Canadians, we're not able to make it this weekend but we'll plan on coming for Christmas now. I have a whole week off and we'll have more time to spend than if we came quickly for the weekend. See you then.

December Already?

I can't believe that the Christmas season is upon us already and we're having 50 degree weather! (10C for the Canadians) There is no snow on the ground because it's all melted, at least in town, the mountains have some. However, my wreath with frosted snow on it is happily hanging from my door. The annual Christmas tree hunt has not happened yet, even though I've been in the mood for a tree. Hopefully this Saturday we'll make a go at it with a bunch of friends and the dogs and just make a day of it. No fake trees for us (even though they're so much easier to take up and down and they're fuller) We're making memories.

Jason had a day off yesterday and to my surprise went to work mudding our laundry room and tried out a new texture. It looked really good and he was so surprised that I was happy with it. There was some beige wallpaper with small designs of burgandy, blue and green on it. It was livable and not loud at all but we wanted something different. So he put mud on the wallpaper. Much less work than removing paper. Now I have to pick a paint color.

We're are planning to go to Canada for my cousin's wedding next weekend. That will be our Christmas with my family this year. What is everyone getting their significant other? Jason wants a PS3 but we'll have to wait and see what "santa" is going to bring.

Back to the grind

Thanksgiving week is now over and it's back to work Monday morning. Somehow, even with 4 1/2 days off, they still seem to fly by. The days were almost a blur of activity, plus it didn't help that I've had a head cold all weekend either.

Thursday was spent getting ready and heading to Billings for the evening with Jason's family. It turned out to be only his family and grandparents. His other relatives can't make it due to distance. Friday morning we got up and hit the sales at 8am. Billings was quite congested with people. I hit Michaels and bought some Christmas decorations and a door wreath. Jason bought an ear piece for his phone so he can drive with both hands now and do business. He's a gadget geek. We hit a couple of other stores for some business supplies and we left to get back to Cody to take advantage of a Carhartt sale. Again, Jason needed a new work coat and pullover. We then met with some friends at their house in Meeteetse for the evening. Sorry I didn't stay Faith.
Jason went hunting with another friend Saturday in Shell Wy. He was going for birds. He fell through the ice a couple of times and got wet along with his gun. He didn't get anything but had a few laughs at the older guys trying to hunt. Sunday was the usual day of church and vegging at home.

So now it's Monday morning and I'm hoping I can stay awake. It's only 21 school days till Christmas. Wow!

Winter is here!

For how long we don't know but we got our first substantial amount of snow last night. Driving 25 miles this morning was a little nerve racking not knowing how the roads were going to be but I did survive. My many years of Manitoba driving has been an asset. I could have skated to Cody at about the half way point on. Luckily no accidents that I saw. People need that first good snow fall to remember how to drive and not to be in a hurry. I pulled up the same time as a guy I work with and we were saying how driving on a sheet of ice should be an olympic sport with our top speeds at 40 m/h.

Well, this is the US thanksgiving week, so as a result I get 4 1/2 days off. School's out tomorrow at 11:45 am and we don't come back till Monday. A break is much needed by all. We'll be going to Billings on Thursday to be with Jason's family. Friday is the dreaded Black Friday shopping day where some stores open at 4am for shoppers to get some serious sales if you don't mind the rush or potential bodily harm and parking nightmare. We don't have this in Canada. I wanted to go to Lowe's or Home Depot and get some ideas and prices for a bathroom redo. Nothing too major but it will cost some money. We sold some furniture to get some extra cash for the remodel. I'm still waiting for my laundry room to get textured and painted so we can bring our freezer over from our friend's house.

Deer, Deer, and More Deer

We got our new furniture delivered and we love it. The table is the new bar style. It's something to get used to but it's kind of fun too.


Well it is that time of year again. The deer hunters are out and my deer hunter got a buck 2 weekends ago. He went with a bunch of guy friends for the weekend. They put in a lot of miles on horse back and some on foot. He met up with another friend, Jon, who Jason helped get him his first buck. He was so excited.



This was Jason' deer this year. On the right side of the deer(your left) one of the tips of the tines kind of blew up and had about 4 or 5 points, so that made it a non-typical.


Yesterday, we both went out with our friends Bob and Kim Moulten. We were going to just drive around and see what deer were out. Well, we came on this huge deer and Kim got out and shot it in one shot. Not to be outdone, her husband also found a huge deer.

We drove around all day after they both got their deer, looking for a big one for me. We didn't see very many others so we went home. I came home skunked. So this morning after some coaxing from Jason, we got up and left at 5:30am, drove an hour away started the hunt. We passed up one buck and thought maybe there was a bigger one. We came upon another buck which was smaller, but I was so frustrated already and didn't want to spend our sunday hunting, so I shot it. A very little 2 point. I'm improving on the rack size. Last year I only got a single point spike. So there is some more meat for the freezer. We got home, cleaned it, cleaned ourselves and even made it on time for church. Not bad for a busy weekend.

Here's the view from one of the top mountain roads we went on. Lots of snow and drifts in the hill but not in town, yet.

Feeling Creative

Sometimes I look at different photographers and photos and it will motivate me to take some of those kinds of pictures. I was thinking about my horse and saw some pics like these and decided I should try them.

Finally Pictures

Our Humble Aboad































Hard wood floors in most of house. There are some updates of course that we'd eventually like to do. The bathroom is the first room. Wall paper is also going to be coming down in most if not all the rooms, or we'll texture on top of it and paint.

Nothing New

I guess it's been a while since I've blogged. A week I guess. I enjoy reading everyone else's so much that I check them everyday to see if they've got something new but mine stays the same. Oh well. We don't have internet at home right now, so I have to check them at school. I need to take my comp. home so I can put on my camera program to add some pics because it's really boring if you don't post any pics.

We've been in our cute home now for almost a month! And I've already locked myself out twice! Needless to say I've found a way in, so if I can, so can everyone else. Of course the first time was in the morning on the way out to the car to work. I forgot my keys inside and all of the 5 exterior doors we have were locked. So i had to jimmy the screen and push up the window I knew was unlocked and shimmy in and hang my big butt out the front window on the street. Thankfully it was at 7am and no one was really around. I shimmied in and gracefully did a front roll off the ledge. I would later have to do this again after i was fooling with the keys to the dead bolt and it didn't unlock. Once again I found myself doing my "gymnast" thing and getting in my house. Yes, I will put a key outside once I take the time to figure out where all the keys we got go.

Hunting season is in full swing and Jason has gone elk hunting 3 times now and saw one but it was too far away and getting late. He did shoot at a big mule deer and hit it in the front feet. His friend Rick that he was with shot it and killed it, so Jason gave the deer to him since he killed it. It wouldn't have been a rack and story he would have been proud to share anyone. "You shot that deer?" "Well, I didn't shoot it but it's a big deer." No, that doesn't work. So he's going again this weekend with someone else and hopefully they'll see more bulls or bucks.
I kind of like it when he goes because then I can have the house to myself and do what I want to do or just veg. Vegging is good. Must get the scrapbooks out and work on those. I'm soooooo far behind, I'll never get caught up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, so the title is a little late to all the Canadians but I was able to celebrate the Canadian holiday this weekend with my parents. They missed it with my grandparents but I decided since they were missing it and it was Thanksgiving, that we would have our own. It was nice to do it with family and we had a good time together. Not to mention the awesome food we made along with our 14 lb turkey which Jason and I are still eating leftovers (really we don't mind, it's way too good to pass up). Mom and Dad wanted to see our new home which I think they liked. Even the small bed they slept on together wasn't too bad or so they say.

We took them to Billings on Saturday for some shopping. The Canadian dollar is worth more than the American so they got their money's worth. They had even gone to Grand Forks the weekend before for some shopping. Jason and I were the lucky recipients of this shopping trip though. We had made the comment how we wanted to get a new dining set because our chairs are really loose and wobbly. They said they wanted to buy us a new set. Off to Billings we went. We've both kind of been liking the newest style of the counter height tables and chairs, so that's kind of what we were looking at. We found a set at Ashley's that was nice and for a good price. And right next to it was the leather couch and loveseat we've been dreaming about and wanting to buy. We pointed it out to mom and dad and we asked the price. It was on sale along with the loveseat and a new area rug. They couldn't pass up the deal and decided to also buy it for us. It was like Christmas! So we'll get it all in November. We also got some birthday and easter money from my grandparents. So to add to our new house and new furniture, (Faith you'll be happy to note you don't have to eat on my blue dishes anymore) I bought the white square corelle dishes. They're huge. I didn't think about the size or the square shape until I put it in the microwave and the table almost didn't turn, but it works.

We met up with Jason's family and all went for dinner. Sunday we slept in and leisurely got the turkey and dinner ready. Went to Cody for a drive and Walmart and played the new DVD Clue game. I think we all had a good weekend. I even had Monday off due to Columbus day, so I took off to Billings to exchange a robe and got my new dishes. It was nice to go by myself because I could where I wanted to go and dawdle if I wanted to and not have someone asking me to hurry up.

We're Home! Thanks Ron and Faith!

We've moved and we're settled! Praise God! It's been a busy weekend but a good weekend. We have some great friends in Ron and Faith Kingston, who gave up their Friday to help us pack up, move and unpack. We owe them huge. They were the only ones who showed up to help us. Needless to say, Jason and Ron are both feeling the pains of all the heavy furniture, boxes and my piano. I had to work Friday till noon and they all packed up 2 horse trailers, trucks. Faith cleaned the rest of the house I didn't get to. She then helped me organize my kitchen while the guys set up beds and furniture.
Our house feels like ours, like a home should feel. Pictures to come hopefully. It's so cute but does need a little bit of cosmetic work. New lights, trim, doors, tear down wallpaper and paint. Stuff we can do room by room. Tucker loves his new fenced backyard. There is a squirrel that plays in the trees and he sits there and waits for it to probably try and pounce on it one day. I think he may be a bit confused about the house because he follows us everywhere we go or he lays on his blanket in our room. He is a great dog though. He hardly barks unlike every other dog in town and our neighbor's little "kick me" dog who won't shut up when we're outside. We can hear the emergency alarm for the ambulance, firetrucks etc and it's quite funny to hear the neighborhood dogs start howling to the siren. It reminds me of 101 Dalmations.

September has flown by for us. It's hard to believe but this Friday we move into our first home of our own! I can't wait till everything is there and ready and I can start decorating and painting.

As far as chruch is going, it's honestly been a struggle for us both to do the worship. Last night was talked to Pastor Tim about it. He's also noticed that we've been struggling. This is the 3rd time that Jason has tried to lead others in worship for different pastors and it's always been a struggle. We know that we are both supposed to be in music because we've both been given words about music and worship but we've been thinking that maybe it's not supposed to be a corporate thing. Tim talked to Pastor Roger from Victory this week about us and they both want us to find where our ministries are at and not to go in circles. Tim has released us from the worship so we can find where we each fit, whether it be at Victory or New Life. My heart still pulls me to Victory because it's family and it's been home for the past 4 years. We're not looking for a perfect church because there is no such thing and both have their struggles right now. Moving to Powell now makes sense to go to New Life but we're not sure. Tim needs more mature Christians to help him because New Life has a lot of baby Christians. So I don't know what our future holds in this area of our lives. Prayers are always welcomed.

What A Weekend! It's a novel!

I don't even know where to start with this one. Thursday was our 4th anniversary! Where has the time gone? We went to the Rib and Chop House and stuffed ourselves with steak and a delicious dessert.

The reason this weekend was so busy was that Jason had invited, a while ago, a man by the name of Ray Hughes to come and speak to our new church New Life in Powell and Victory Fellowship in Cody where we used to go.
Ray has been on a Summer of love tour this summer with about 300 young people, traveling from Nashville to San Francisco. They stopped in other places to play and minister and take back from the spirit rhealm, what took place 40 years ago during the hippie summer of love. There's a whole lot more to it than that but anyways, he is really gifted in music, has a music school in Nashville, prophetic and brought a phenominal band with him. We hosted all 12 of them friday night for a barbecue and had one of the guys stay with us. He and Jason just hit it right off. His name was Brad Tretola. Phenomenal guitar player. He would blow us away. This is him. Super nice guy. We became quick friends.

These guys and girls were a lot of fun. But you wouldn't know unless you talked to them that alot of them have played or toured with some big Christian music artists. For example, Rebecca St.James, Salvador, and Jeff Deyo . The girl playing banjo is Ricky Skaggs' daughter Molly.

We had them in Powell and the worship they brought was awesome. Fresh songs for us and prophetic encouraging words for the region. They had kind of a blue grass feel or sound but it was really a mix. Ray is from Kentucky so he speaks with a drawl and is a so funny. He told us his testimony of becoming saved and saving almost his whole high school during the Jesus movement. It was really great. They packed up and we moved to Cody, only to have communication fall apart in the group and the arguments started. We stuck around because we had to take Brad back to our place. They finally got their differences resolved around 1am and proceeded to do their sound check for Sunday morning.


We took Brad for breakfast and went to church. The power of God was in that place. The worship was better than the night before. Things had changed for the better in the group giving them a better ability to minister and worship. It was so awesome! They were singing and giving phophetic words as they sang. Ray gave some words for this church and the region again which was so encouraging to many. Things being broken and new life coming, men rising up into new positions of authority. What was really overwhelming for us, Joel one of the guys, had a prophetic word about worship for us that just blew us away because we've been struggling with it, but he didn't know it. Jason had only told Brad and he was with us all the time. We both just were crying and can't wait to see what's going to happen. Then to top it off, Brad gave Jason his Martin guitar. Jason has always wanted one and loved playing Ray's that Brad had with him. But Brad had his own as well and gave it to Jason. He told me with tears in his eyes what had just happened. We were so blessed today! God is so awesome! Words can't even describe how we're feeling or what really happened.
God Showed Himself to Many today.

One step closer

The owner's of the cute little house we fell in love with, has accepted our offer of buying it! We're very excited and hopeful that this deal won't fall through like the last one. Sunday after church, we drove around the area and really liked it. There is an elementary school on the other side of the hospital, which the new wing i think will be right in front of the house and a park near by as well, so there is lots of room for Tucker to run and play fetch. The area is really nice and quiet and we're only 2 blocks away from our pastor and his family. Jason is wanting to get some bikes and tootle around town. What's nice is Powell is a flat town unlike hilly Cody. People from Winkler know what i'm talking about. Biking will definitely be easier. Hopefully telling this news won't "jinx" the deal.

The Newest House!

Well, we've had quite a first time experience dealing in real estate. As you've all heard, we've been patiently waiting for our first home to go to closing. Well, as of yesterday it won't. If you might recall, the owner was behind on her mortgage and her bank was about to forclose on her. We gave her an extension to get her money together. She didn't and we gave her bank time to decide what they were going to do with her and the house. Well, some how she came up with the $3700 she needed to close with and has decided that she is not going to sell, now that she's caught up I guess. Even with our broker, her broker and realtor telling her she shouldn't since she is under contract, she hasn't budged. Jason called me yesterday after work and said we needed to go to Powell right away. We were both rather paturbed and getting a little "miffed" at the woman, but remembered a story we had heard recently about a man who was up for a promotion and didn't get it on the account that he was black. Instead of getting angry and bitter, he was going to congratulate the man and bless him. In return, the Lord blessed him with 5 fold in a new promotion and salary. We decided to take the same approach, not to get mad and even but bless her.

So we travelled to Powell yesterday and frantically looked at 6 homes. The first 2 were kind of trashy. The third was small, had a huge yard but was in the industrial part of town. Went on to a nicer one but it still needed work. Looked at a more expensive, nicer home with a yard and then we came upon this little ditty.This house may be 400 sq ft smaller but it has 3 times the ammenities we would have had to put into the other house. It is only 1000sq ft. with 2 bdrms and 1 bath, but it has a dishwasher, hard wood floors, sun room, side and back patio, lawn and trees, nice quiet neighborhood across from the new hospital, central air, new windows and doors. It is sooooooo cute and the best part is we both love it (something we prayed on the way to Powell) and are extremely excited right now to move in. The other house we were losing out excitement already since we found some things that we'd have to fix. This one is ready to move into. It was put on the market 2 days prior and we put in a full offer because it is even cheaper than the one we were going to pay for. PRAISE GOD! So we're hoping closing is going to go through this time and we can close on the 21st of September!

Weekend Wedding

Here's some pics from Lisa Regier (Unrau) wedding from Sunday. The reception and alot of pics were done on their yard. Jason was a horse and donkey wrangler so they could take some pics with her beloved animals. Lisa was so beautiful. The wedding was in Winkler, Manitoba.

I need more summer!

I can't believe that school starts on Wednesday. I have to go to meetings tomorrow and meet the boy I'm going to be working with one on one. So this is my last day of summer vacation! I can't remember a whole lot of what I did but I need more time! I guess that's life. It's hard to believe that summer will be over next month and hunting season is on us once again.
Here's the latest update on our house situation. Last we were told the seller owed $2000 on the title yet. Well, that was actually $3700. She had $2000 but spent it on some bills that came in. She has been behind on payments for 3 months and the bank is going to foreclose on her. Our broker is talking to her bank today to see if they would put up the $3700 so we can close and they can deal with her. This is where we stand as of now. Our broker Eric goes to our church and said that he is going to talk to them today and hopefully will know something by the end of the day. He used to be a banker so he can talk their lingo.
This week is a busy week for us. I start work tomorrow, Jason is working, we're not sure if we're going to close this week, we're planning to leave thursday after school to drive to Canada for a friend's wedding which I said I would play at. Wedding is on Sunday and we'll drive back monday to go to work on Tuesday. What a weekend we'll have. I need more summer holidays!!!!!!

Busy Weekend

Even though we didn't move, we still managed to fill our weekend. There was a 10 yr reunion/camp meeting in Meeteetse at the YWAM base I attended in 2001. Saw some old friends and many with their little children. Our friend, Red Seibel stayed with us and his adorable daughter Bentleigh. She calls me Aunt Amanda. She will be 3 in November. I didn't get a picture of her awake but she was cute sleeping. Her and Jason caught some z's in the living room
This was friday and saturday.

Sunday we went to church and went fishing with our friend's Jon and Sheila. We found a hole that we've had some good luck with and we were all pulling fish out. Sheila caught her first edible fish which we did cook on the barbecue. Jason kept 2 big ones, I kept a medium sized one and Sheila kept her smaller trout. They were either rainbow trout or cut throat trout. Fish paired with fresh corn on the cob made for a pretty great meal. These are pictures of the smoke we saw from a fire that was a few miles away from us. The east entrance from Cody into Yellowstone has been closed and now they have evacuated Pahaska Teepee, the first guest ranch outside the gate. It's hard to see the mountains in Cody now due to all the smoke.

No Moving Yet!

Some people, I'll tell you what. Looks like we won't be moving tomorrow due to the fact the seller didn't have all of her "ducks in a row". She says now that she is $2000 short of paying for the house on the title. So she's asked for an extension on the closing, which we'll give her in good faith that everything is going to work out for us. We've pretty much packed everything except the kitchen, so it looks like we'll be living out of boxes for 2 more weeks. We're both pretty frustrated! Just pray for us that things will all work out the way they're supposed to.

Moving Day!!!!

Tomorrow is moving day around here. At least we're going to try to move. We went to Billings, MT yesterday and made some very costly buys, a washer, dryer and a new tv. My check book feels significantly lighter for some reason. Hopefully with enough help we will get it done tomorrow. Most things are boxed except the last minute things and my kitchen. That's my job today which I'm not looking forward to. Well, I should go and do some errands. We are also having some friends stay with us this weekend who are coming down for the CWAM Camp meeting and reunion. So we'll be a bit displaced and busy.

Work!

This week has been a busy week for us. Tuesday and Wednesday I helped Jason on a job. Oh my goodness, the homeowner is so ANAL over every little detail. (Don't know if i should have used anal but it so fits) Jason just wanted to get the job done, so yesterday we spent 13 hours at her house working until 9:15 PM! Getting all the minor last details done on her house. AAAAHHHHH!!!!! I was so happy to leave and "hit the hay". It was a long day and nerves were high between the carpenter and his helper of one. Now it's just the last minute paperwork that he needs to give her and hopefully we can get a check from her pronto. She'd be the type to draw it out and find where every last penny was spent and if its too much, come and complain. No, I"m not bitter about it at all, just annoyed.
Anyways... I can't believe that school starts in 19 days and then i have to go back to my job. Where has the summer gone? We haven't done some of the things we wanted to. I guess there is always fall.
We close on our house next friday! Can't believe it. Hopefully we can move on friday and the last stuff on saturday with some much needed help. Jason will have it all unboxed in one day. No living with boxes for him. I'll be pulling out my hair trying to keep up with him.

What A Guy

This is not the newest addition to this household, thank goodness. I was at the computer minding my own business when in walks Jason with a new friend climbing on his shoulders. I, of course, freeze. I'm not the type of girl that will just pick up anything or touch anything, especially an animal that could turn on me. This was someone's pet and a pretty friendly little guy. I just wasn't going to find out how friendly up close and personal.

Life Changes

Hello friends and family to the Pellegrino Blog.

We're in the middle of some big changes for us. We are excitedly waiting the arrival of......
Our New HOME! (sorry no babies yet) We're in the waiting period on a house that we're buying in Powell Wyoming, 25 miles east of Cody. It's a very cute 2 bedroom 2 bath home right in town. No we can't have horses there but will find a place to board them. It's an older home but has been remodeled and the closing date is August 10th. We can't wait!

We've also changed churches. We were asked to take over being worship leaders at a church in Powell, hence the move to powell where it is a bit cheaper than cody. So new roles and new pastors. This is a summer of change for us.