What we do...

We are still enjoying our time up in Priest Lake...it's not really much of a challenge. 

My brother Paul, his girlfriend Jenny, and his three boys came up to visit us the other weekend. We had a fun night in at a resort (with one very sick Ezra) in Couer D'Alene, the rest of the time we spent up at the lake. With so many people we were a bit cramped on space, but we managed and had a good time.

 5 monkeys in the sled.

 Sledding can apparently be painful. Luckily Kyle and I had a much smoother ride when we went down the same trail.

Riding on the "snow train" aka sled behind the snowmobile is fun, but with the fresh snow we were all getting it thrown in our faces which makes it not so much fun. So helmets and goggles, not only made the ride more enjoyable, but also safer.

 These two stayed back with me while the other boys went for a wild ride.

 At preschool they always have these fun days and one Thursday was "Monster Day." They told us on Tuesday. Tuesday night I spent super sick and Wednesday Kyle and I both were sick, so I forgot about monster day until about 6pm Wednesday evening. Kyle and I put our creative heads together and sewed him this shirt and hat (the monster eye). At first Gunnar wanted nothing to do with it, but Thursday morning he was excited to put on his monster shirt and happily wore it to school.

 We love the beauty of our surroundings.

 We also have movie/popcorn....often. Really, what else is any better.
This is our sophisticated and proper son who refuses to let me take a picture of him not doing something silly with his mouth (haha).

 This is our laid back and bum of a son. (Not really, Ryker just got his church clothes dirty and Gunnar was still wearing them.)

Kyle was just hired for summer employment with a group called Peak 7. He will be a white water rafting guide this summer...sadly that means we won't see much of him. He has training every weekend the rest of the month, so please be praying for his safety and my sanity.

Looking for Moose

 I almost forgot to share this story...Kyle would probably rather I forgot.
On a Saturday a few weeks ago, I left Gunnar and Ryker with Kyle and his brothers Shawn and Caleb. Our washing machine broke, so I was at the laundromat doing laundry. Kyle's dad showed up around the time I left and cousin Jimmy showed up shortly after. So there were 5, let's repeat that, FIVE grown (well, one is 13, but still) men around my two little boys!
I have heard many variations of the story for each individual, but from what I have gathered this is as close to the truth as we will ever know....
All were outside playing. Jimmy and Mike were working on the heater. Ryker started to cry and wanted to go inside. Kyle took Ryker inside. Kyle stepped outside to make sure Gunnar was being cared for. He called "Gunnar?" No answer. He called "Shawn, Caleb?" No answer. So he assumes that they all must be off somewhere together so he go inside to care for upset Ryker. (I'm not exactly sure where Mike and Jimmy were at this point).
Sometime later a little red pickup pulls into our driveway and informs the menfolk that there is a little boy, probably about two, in a black and red coat walking along the snowmobile path and was about to "The Little Store."
Hmm...that sounds a lot like our little Gunnar. Mike and Jimmy were the message receivers and Mike took off to the Little Store. Gunnar got a spanking and told to walk home (mean ol' Grandpa..haha). He cried the entire way home. He not only got to the Little Store but did so pulling his sled.
I pulled up into the driveway, probably about the time Mike was reaching Gunnar at the Little Store. I was informed "Gunnar is missing, some guy just pulled up and said they saw him walking on the snowmobile path." Can you imagine my panic??? There are woods directly behind us, a busy Highway in front of us, a rock crushing business to the right of us, and down the road about a fourth of a mile is the Little Store. Luckily my panic was quickly diminished as I walked out onto the snowmobile path and watched as my sad little boy walked himself home. I felt bad for him, and wasn't really sure who to blame, as everyone was pointing figures at each other.
Gunnar came up got a hug and told me he was looking for moose. He has a huge moose obsession, apparently its a bit of a problem.
We are so thankful for someone having enough sense to stop and tell us about our little run away. Really, all the men were clueless that Gunnar was gone, each assuming someone else was watching him. Lessons were learned and Gunnar is home safe and I doubt he goes out on any moose searching adventures alone anytime soon.
(Gunnar really loves moose and asks us almost daily to go out looking for them. He can point their antlers out on walls and anywhere else he might see them). My mom bought the giant moose from Costco for him to play with while we were visiting and he loved it.

Things are Good

I'm often asked, "How are things going?" My answer is simple..."Good. But, we need to find our purpose."
It's been about a month that we have been up at the lake. We are having a blast. Enjoying taking it easy, but also realizing that we need to find a purpose. We really stay plenty busy, but also anxiously await to see what the Lord has in store for us next. We have some ideas, but have to be certain before we go blabbing on about them on the world wide web. But stay tuned, hopefully exciting things will be happening soon.

In the meantime, here is what we have been doing...
We spend a lot of time outside playing in the snow. Gunnar had his first major sledding crash a few weekends ago at a Pettit sledding party. That is always a sure place for someone to get hurt, to bad it had to be the youngest Pettit who was participating in the sledding. Gunnar is fearless and climbs to the top of the hills all the big kids were using. He jumped in the sled and headed down. Unfortunately he got strapped into the sled (who puts staps on sleds anyways?), so there was no way he could bail and it kept him seated for about 4 nice and intense barrell rolls down the hill rather than dumping him in the snow. He was a champ. Kyle ran to the bottom on the hill, Gunnar said "My leg hurts. That wasn't fun. I want mom." Haha. Really the picture I got of his crash doesn't do him any justice, but I only caught the first roll as I dropped my camera in horror for the rest. The second picture is some wounds from underwear dancing and falling on the ice the day after. Him and Ryker have both had another accident on the ice and both had cut up faces. But they are still all smiles!

 My dad bought an older model snow mobile and brought it up. The four wheeler just wasn't cutting it in the snow anymore. We are having so much fun on this thing. We use it daily for joy rides, the "snow train," sledding, etc. It is perfect and we appreciate my dad letting us use it.

 If we get bored, there is almost always something to dig out. We dig out vehicles, snow caves, and we also made them a snow slide on some of the snow that has been plowed in front of the trailer.

Gunnar goes to preschool at the elementary school twice a week for 3 hours each day. He loves it and it gives him an opportunity to interact with other kids.
We had Ryker in a playpen because we didn't bring his crib, but he was sleeping just horribly so we found him a toddler bed. It has been a bit of a challenge, but once he is asleep he sleeps so much better!

I've been trying to make the trailer feel a little more home like and started with curtains. Just looking at them makes me feel better. We are learning to deal with lots of fun problems, like losing water due to a pressure switch issue, losing hot water, being cold, having to much heat,  the washing machine breaking down, and lots of other fun things. We are debating on putting carpet in as we don't really know how long we will be here, and we were going to put in new doors, but decided it wasn't worth the money. I thought living in the old, run-down trailer would really bother me, but it's been okay. Everyone is happy, and we have each other, so we couldn't ask for much more!

In baby news, it's true, we are expecting baby #3. It came as a surprise, one not so welcomed at the time of moving and chaos, but has since become much more welcomed. Other than extreme sleepiness and headaches, I have been okay. I haven't had much morning sickness at all, which is a much welcomed changed. I have to go all the way to Coeur D'Alene to the doctor which is a good hour and half drive away. But I see a midwife who will deliver me in the hospital and works in a OB/GYN clinic. So if there are any problems there is a medical doctor close by. So far I'm enjoying the experience, although it is much different from Germany and I do miss Dr. Schwind. We had an ultrasound a few weeks ago as they thought I was measuring a bit bigger than my estimated dates. Turns out, I was probably only about a week off, but they think I'm just larger because of it being my third child. I feel huge, after gaining less than 20lbs with both Gunnar and Ryker, I'm a bit nervous about gaining so soon, but I'll deal with it I suppose. The baby is due July 24th. I forgot the ultrasound pictures up at the lake (we are down visiting my parents) so those will have to wait, but at the ultrasound we also were able to find out the sex of the baby and.......