Ohio!

We're here and all moved in!

We left Minot and travelled 12 hours to my dad's house in Wisconsin. We stayed the weekend and left for Ohio Monday morning. The kids were excellent in the car, even without the DVD player. Travis' car had some problems with the pulley system, but 4 hours on the side of road and a couple of trips to a nearby car parts place and we were good to go. We picked up our keys to our house on Tuesday and the movers came on Wednesday. Now we're just about done unpacking. Travis starts school at the local university next Monday. We have Trouble enrolled in pre-school starting in Fall.

The housing is about 10 mins from base and 5 mins from AFIT and 10-15 mins from Church. Our first Sunday we attended the ward that the building is just down the street only to find out that we live within the boundaries of the ward that is a little further away. In our little section of town we have everything we need (plus more) within a 10 minute drive.

Our house is great. Although we had too much stuff and Travis had to buy a portable storage unit to house a lot of it. The street we're on is swarming with kids. Trouble has already made friends with the little blond girl next door, but they're moving out this week. There are 3 other Mormon families just on our block.

It was 76F our first day here and its been above 50F everyday. That is very excited for us. The kids just play and play outside. Its so nice. Everyone is really friendly and eager to help.

Anyway, we just wanted to let everyone know that we're back up and running. I'll be blogging about our adventures more often now that we're settled. If you would like our contact info, then e-mail us at TubbsTribune@live.com.

Bye Minot!!

Our last day is Friday..snif...snif...

We've had a wonderful 5 years here. (March 21st, will be 5 years exactly) We've made wonderful friends that have supported us through Travis' crazy work schedule, home improvements, child birth/raising, and hectic church callings. We are grateful for our church, Air Force, MOPS, and Girl Scout friends. Thank you everyone for making Minot a great place to live. I wish I could name you one by one and write what made you so special to us. We believe you know who you are.

We were blessed to come to Minot with a handful of people that we knew from Travis' training class in CA, some of them even members of the church. It is amazing how the the congregation took us in and made us feel like family. We could call on them for anything. Many of them became our greatest friends. It is wonderful to know that the church is true wherever you go and that it teaches the same doctrine and principals worldwide. No matter where we go we find comfort in the fact that we can always find a LDS church. We are grateful to have the gospel in our lives. We are excited for a new ward and sad to leave our old ward. Minot 1st: You'll always have a special place in our hearts. Thank you for everything!!!

While in Minot we've experienced:

The Weather:
Crazy freezing temperatures: -40F without windchill
Windchill (which we didn't know what that was before)
A lot of snow
Insanely hot summer days

A Home:
Our first purchased home
Added a garage and deck to it, vinyl sided, finished hardwood floor, added laminate flooring,
updated one half bathroom to a full, painted lots, made and fixed lots of holes, and put in raised
flower beds.
Made a lovely, non-productive garden!

Family:
Added three kids!! And a Chinchilla and Beta fish.
The Orange Tree that didn't survive...it was like family!!
A Second Wife - Just kidding, Kelly (and Pat)! However, they really are like family.

Community:
Girl Scouts
MOPS
Starbase / introducing to Celestia to schools
Black belt in Hapkido for Travis
Worked for Minot's New Neighbors
Sold Creative Memories
Went to all the great things around here: Zoo, State Fair, Host Fest, Arts and Crafts Fair,
Christmas Train, kiddie walks downtown, parades, MSU outdoor theater, WP Opera, Mystery
Dinner Theaters, Bishop Ryan Carnival, Rodeo, saw Bill Cosby, etc...

Church:
Primary teachers
Clerk
YW Councilor
YW President
Assistant Stake Camp director
Cub Scout Den Leader
Lots of missionary dinners and discussions
Helped convert our neighbor

Travels:
To CO for Travis' eye surgery (no more glasses!!)
Winnipeg CANADA
Peace Gardens
Lots of MAF sites, even went in the capsule (well, not that exciting for Travis)
Mt. Rushmore
Medora to see the famous play
Bismarck
Williston
Many other small towns near by
Minneapolis for Star Trek convention and Mall of America!!
To CA and OR on plane and back home on train, twice
Rugby, geographical center of North America

Visitors or people that stayed with us:
Moon Family
Elsmore Family
Travis' brother's in-laws and family
Kanae - our Japanese student from California...twice!!
Yaya, Papa, Grammy, Grandpa and Emily
Kyle and Monica
Aunt Donna and Denay's cousin Aaron
That guy that Trouble thew up on at the airport

Thank you Minot!! Its been fabulous!!

House for Sale

We listed our house on Monday!! Anyone want to buy a house??

This is the link for the MLS and shows mostly interior:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Minot_ND_58701_1106892852?source=a15696

This is the link for our Century 21 site and shows the exterior and gives a descriptions of what work we've (okay, mostly Travis) done to the house:
http://www.minotsells.com/properties/details.asp?MLS=20090158

A moment to brag - Because I'm Spoiled, I mean Loved

I have had my good old computer from my freshman year at college: an Emachine with 4 gigs of memory. Its a bit slow and has been slowly picked apart and revamped by my husband. So I've been strongly hinting about how nice it would be to have my own laptop. He often leaves his at home so I can be with the kids when I'm working on it, instead of trying to hide in the office. SO this year for my Christmas/Valentine/Birthday present I got a laptop. It was a surprise. Okay, so it was exciting for me :-) My Mom and I set up our web cams to use over Skype, without Travis' help. We were very proud of ourselves (although it was actually easy). Yea!! Thanks for the brag moment.

An overview:

Your digital media, your games, your Internet: The Gateway® MD2614u Notebook is designed with you in mind. The new 64-bit edition of Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 will give you the media features you want, and the blazing-fast AMD Turion™ X2 dual-core processor will ensure that your fun rages on as long as you do! Download more efficiently with the advanced draft-n wireless functionality, and let your friends and family in on the fun too, with the integrated webcam. The black Gateway® MD2614u laptop is available at Best Buy. Not like I know what any of these means, but it sounds good.

Charlie Video

This video is hilarious. It had us in tears!
Watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

Pay It Forward!

So my friend is doing this pay it forward thing. This is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. BUT, in order for you to leave a comment on my blog, you have to post this on your blog first. (That means that sometime during this year you will send a gift to 3 people as well.) Get it? So, the first 3 people to comment on this post will be the lucky ones! Good Luck!

Orders, Orders, Orders!!

Yes, we have ORDERS!!! Travis' last duty day in Minot is 6 Mar, but his report date is 23Mar. Our packers come 20Feb and the truck will be packed up and leave 25Feb. That weekend Travis, the kids and I will drive 12 hours to my dad's house in Madison, WI stay all the next day then drive the 7.5 hours to OH. Travis will fly back to Minot to finish up our house and get it on the market.

We have a house on base waiting for us!! Whether we take that or not is in the works. So its official, we're outta here!! Yes, we loved Minot. Yes, we love our house. But it is time. We will miss all of you!!