Heidi Renae :-)

Victoria is meeting the new boss in town.

Daddy, the engineer seems confused on the bottle situation.

Heidi Renae Gross

Kelly wanted me to post a picture before all 3 of us went to sleep, so here ya go! I am still in shock as to how incredibly how fast it went. I came home from work at 6:30 and she was starting to have weak contractions. By 9:30 they were 5 minutes apart and hurting, so I decided it was time to go to the hospital. She was at 4 cm once they checked her so we were certainly staying for the night. After some intense contractions, Kelly opted for the epidural and by the time the anethesiologist was finished she was going into active labor at 12:50. So that left only one hour from when she started pushing to when Heidi was born at 1:54am. She is 6lbs 12oz and 18.5 inches with some hair, blue eyes and a Gross/Seeberg schnaz. Time for some z's.

Fun times

hey everyone.

So last Tuesday Eric and I got to get all dressed up to attend a scholarship dinner that he was invited to. It was at the oldest hotel in Grand Rapids, which was really neat. I had fun, and I got to meet with some people who might be able to hook me up with an internship! :D Yay! Diner was SO good! We had hors d'oeurves, spinach cranberry salad, stuffed chicken, and vanilla creme brulee for desert. I really wanted to lick the dessert bowl, but I didn't think that would be proper haha. After diner we went down to one of lounges in the hotel and had an overpriced drink. Eric decided that since diner was free and we were already dressed up, he would buy us a drink. How nice :)

This last weekend I decided to help my friend Erin out with her film/video senior thesis project. She asked if me and Eric wanted to star as extras, so I thought that would be fun. Plus she's a good friend, so why not. The film took place in the 1940s at a school science fair. It was fun, and we shot in a really old school in Grand Rapids that was built in the 1920. Really net. It was really time consuming, but a lot of fun. We were on the set for like 12 hours on saturday and 8 non sunday. We were so exhausted by sunday! I fell asleep so fast and didn't wake up once haha. I can't wait to see the final cut of the movie, which is only 4-5 minutes long. She also shot on 16mm film, which was really cool.

Other than those two big events, not too much else to report. Eric and I have been working hard to fix up our lawn before mom and dad come to visit. It's nice to be outside after that terrible winter. Thankful for nice weather!

I'm also nearing the end of my undergraduate degree. Excited and nervous all together. Can't wait, yet I can. I've just got settled in Grand Rapids, and really like it, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do in the near future. Plus, Eric still has to complete another semester. We'll see, I guess :)

It's going to be a busy week though finishing up my school work...

Well here some recent pictures. enjoy.

At our house :)

Creme Burlee!

I did my own hair! Eric was suprised at how much I actually like to get all dressed up and stuff :p I told him that I occasionally do like being girly :P


Eric wanted me to put this one up. We're weird...

Downtown

Update-Mark your calenders

Baptism is at 11am on Sunday May 24th at St. Mary's Church. :-)

Baptism

Here is the Baptism date Brian and I have. We will have it on Sunday May 24th during mass at St. Mary's Church.
I have a few ideas for a potluck for everyone to gather too after church. Here's some ideas I would really like to do.

1.) First choice with depending on weather- I would like to go to seratoma park and have one of the shelters close to the amusment park and zoo. Any kids who come, can run around at the zoo, play mini golf, go on the slide, and etc.

2.) Second choice is too let kids swim for the day while us parents visit by a poolside room at the comfort? Or is this too much wild fun? But this might work out for brian, me and baby to stay at the hotel overnight if we rent a room to swim because we would probably leave the next day.

3.) Bon-fire party at mom and dad's!! Thank mom and dad. Ha Ha! Just kidding. It could be a lot of people. Who knows. But I do want a bon fire when I'm home! :-)

I'm getting stumped on any other ideas because the baby has completly taken over my mind. So any ideas are welcome and just email me or call. Probably email would be best, then it's documented and saved of what everyone's ideas are, otherwise I know I will forget. (It's getting rough lately.) Ha Ha.

Love you all and I can't wait to come home! We will be home either on May 14th or 15th. Depends if we decide to fly home or drive home.

Mommy's T.V Debute

I forgot that I was going to post something finally on here. About a week ago, I was volunteered by my boss to have a free meal in our restaurant at the hotel. Why not, right? I'm in the restaurant ready to sit down and the owner of "The London Cafe' " tells me that he's happy I can take the time to help him out with his tv commercial. Huh? Ok, my boss picks the worse day for me to be in a commercial. I felt aweful all day and I looked crummy. But I guess it was a free meal. I didn't have to say anything in the commercial, just sit and enjoy my fish n chips (which were very good).
When I came home that night, I told Brian that I will be in a commercial that was to help promote the restaurant. He was excited and said that's "cool," until I told him I was having lunch with another guy. So I won't be with my husband on tv. Uh oh. Ha ha! But the person I was having lunch with was a client who helps with rental equipment to our banquet rooms. I haven't seen the commercial yet because it's mainly on during daytime tv. I'll have to get a copy from the tv station if they will let me.

Not much else going on here. I won't be working any desk shifts anymore so that means no nights as of for now. Tonight I was able to watch some favorite shows. I had to watch "Big Bang Theory" and I was laughing so hard! I love this show. The character of Sheldon was quoteing a line from Star Wars and kept repeating it as if trying to get it perfect. Soooo, guess who says the same line over and over and over. I couldn't believe it. I just about peed my pants. Then later in the show Penny asked the guys if they are watching "Battlestar Galactica" today and I just about died laughing again! I have recently become addicted to the stupid show and have asked brian on occasions if we can watch it because I want to know what happens with the character of Starbuck or if they found earth yet. Oh my god. Also Penny started to give an example of a situation, and said "it's like in star wars when.....;" uh huh, been there too. And I have said the same thing that penny said, "where the heck did that come from???" I think the producers of "The Big Bang Theory," have a satellite homed in on brian and his friends and are making money off of them. The show is just to close to how is sounds when I'm hanging out with his friends in one big group. Creepy.

I blame the groundhog

Today we battled a blizzard and flooding. Will this winter ever end? Our snow was almost completely gone. This afternoon I heard we got 6-7 inches in this storm. Mandan called off school, but Bismarck didn't. I debated keeping Rion home, but he wanted to go to school. The day got worse as it went on and by the time I had to pick Rion up, we had some pretty good drifts in our driveway. Prairie Rose and Solheim actually closed early today because of flooding issues. I'm still a little ticked that Bismarck had school today. From what I'm hearing, a lot of businesses closed for the day. It was nasty out. I didn't go to work today either. It wasn't worth the risk. On Sunday a field in Mandan had flooded and when I went to work Monday I could see all the huge ice chunks that the river had carried into the field. I actually wasn't sure if I would make it to work with all the news about the Heart River ice jams and flooding. Some of our staff worked most of the day yesterday sandbagging the buildings in the campground. By 4:00 water was starting to seep into the campground. It started to rain heavily then and I left work early. So it has been a couple of very interesting days here. I just heard the Red River may crest higher than it did in '97. That is amazing to me and I've been thinking a lot about that year lately. I'll never forget that. And Fox Island residents had to evacuate here. I hear about Fargo all over the national news, but it's bad here too. Hopefully tomorrow is a much better day and the rivers start to go back down.

Snow pictures

That's Torii peeking out of a hole in the snow. It's been melting for a few days and we still have a lot of snow everywhere.
On Saturday Torii and Cordelia made a snowman with Grandpa. I think Maggie is eyeing the snowman. Grandpa said they used Oreos for the eyes and buttons, but Maggie and Gretchen ate them.

Cordelia exploring the winter wonderland.

Rion's birthday party and his friends from school. And Torii.

Cordelia at Snoopers.

Kuchen

Here's Brian and his pal helping him out with homework. Ha ha. Hope everyone has a nice weekend for Valentine's day. Brian and I don't have plans for the weekend which is nice. I have some crafts to finish for baby's room. We might go to a movie this weekend or something.

Here's the Kuchen recipe I used while I was home. It's so easy so I hope someone gets a chance to try it sometime. I haven't used fresh fruit yet, I used pie filling I had already and then rinsed the fruit from the juice. But fresh fruit should work just as well.
Today I made some No Bake Cookies (thanks for the recipe mom) and ooooh did they taste good. I had a craving and I used to know that recipe by heart and I went crazy because I didn't have it. Yum.


Filling:


3eggs


3 C. cream


1 1/4 t0 1 1/2 c. sugar


1 1/2 tsp. vanilla


3T flour





Mix above ingredients in large microwavable dish and microwave until thick, stirring occasionally, about 10 to 12 minutes on high. Thaw one loaf of frozen bread dough until soft and easy to work with. Roll out dough and place in lightly greased large cookie sheet or 2 large pie plates. Let set about 30 minutes. Arrange sliced and drained peaches or whatever fruit you like on dough. Add filling and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Fun website

I just found a fun time waster. Here's the website: http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/ Basically you can upload your pictures and make them look like the famous Obama Hope poster. Lots of fun. I did two Cordelia pictures, but would like to do one each of the boys. Torii's will say Trouble on the bottom. I'll have to do that another day as it's getting late. You can also browse and look at other posters people have created. I did not make the Abide poster, I just thought Laurie would get a kick out of that one.

Here and There

Hey hope everyone is doing well. I've been busy since classes started again, but it has been nice. I don't mind being occupied with school work... well sometimes :P Classes are going well though. I have my anthropology capstone this semester, which is kind of stressful because it's quite challenging, but the topics are interesting and it's only once a week :D I also have another anthro class that is kicking my butt. To deter away from the difficult classes, I am taking a "history of documentaries" class. Super fun.

It's been really cold here. Really cold. I am sure you can relate. I feel like I need snowpants.

I've been working here and there, which keeps me busy too. I've been sort of thinking about what to do come May. I need an internship to graduate, so I've been looking into that. After that, not sure. Maybe I'll just go to school for the rest of my life haha. Excited about being done with my undergrad though... nervous too. :P

On saturday, I went to Gran Torino. See it. It's one of the best movies I've seen a awhile. There are a few others I want to see too. Want to see Slumdog Millionaire, Revolutionary road, Frost/Nixon, The Wrestler, and others I can't think of. I feel like there are so many to see right now. On tuesday, one of the theaters in town is showing Space Odyssey :D I have to go to it. It plays at 545pm and I get out of class at 430p. haha. I'm going to have to rush out of there to make it on time, but it will be worth it. In this situation- What I wouldn't give to be back in smaller town. Oh well.

Still enjoying my living arrangement. We all get along really well and have lots of fun.


Got some photos developed. Here's Eric and I at the Leinenkugel's brewery :) I hope everyone is well :)

Fun pics

Cordelia loves to sit in Fred Rion's Tonka truck.
I took this picture while Fred Rion was in school. I thought he would get really mad upon seeing it, but he thought it was cute. Well, he thought Pikachu was cute, but not those other people in the picture.

I have some cool snow pictures, but have to get the film developed. I do have a digital camera again so hopefuly I'll get pictures on here more often again. The boys and I spent two hours outside yesterday. I made a tunnel for them in one of the snow drifts. They played in that tunnel a long time. We made it to the backyard and there are huge drifts back there. I thought I was going to be so sore today, but I wasn't. It will probably hit me tomorrow. We also saw the neighbors out and the boys played with them some too. It was so nice out and it was good to get the kids out. We were going stir crazy. On Friday after school I also had Cordelia outside and she liked walking around and checking out the snow. One time she fell forward and got a face full of snow. She started to cry, but I was laughing at her. Poor thing, but it was cute.

West Yellowstone trip.

Brian and I went to West Yellowstone this weekend with some friends to get away. We were going to go to Jackson but we abviously found a better priced cabin and other things to do in Yellowstone than we would in Jackson.

We got a nice little condo/cabin to hangout in. Everyone was going cross-country skiing on saturday and I knew they would be gone for most of the day doing that, and I did want to go but not over do it. So, I decided not to go and I just wanted to relax this weekend and walk around town and take a drive to the Gallatine Mountain pass. Brian stayed with me while everyone else went skiing eventhough I told him many times to go with them. I know he would have fun with our friends skiing most of the day but he still wanted to stay with me. It was hard for him but he said he didn't want me by myself for most of the day. I think it was even harder to be in town with me because we saw more snowmobile's in the streets than regular vehicles driving around. I've never seen so many in a little area before. I think I saw a tear in his eye. I guess we will have to work into our budget somewhere to save up for a used one for next year. Poor guy.

So the pictures I'm posting are from our drive through the canyon pass of the Gallatine Mountain's. It was such a perfect day out and so gorgeous! The drive to West Yellowstone is about 2 hours from Idaho falls and then we drove on saturday through the mountians for about another 50 miles. It was really worth it. Perfect day. During our evening's at the cabin we played the game of "Life" and "Trival Pursuit." I think we had more fun with the game of Life because I thought it was pretty funny that we didn't have any kids at the end of the game and we still lost. Brian also brought the Red Eye liquor and gave everyone a few shots. I think they enjoyed it. I also brought sinach dip which is always a nice snack. Well I suppose that's about it from our trip.

Christmas fun & my favorite photos.

Cordelia had so much fun at Mcdonald's.

Uncle Brian in the Snow in Napoleon.

I l oved my surprise baby shower! Thank you everyone! :-) Everyone at the Tumbleweed was so much fun!

I love my new hat. It keeps me warm. :-)

I love this picture of Cordelia. Looks like she's got "attitude."
"So it's like this...." ha ha

Hope Cordelia enjoys her blanket. :-)

Fred Rion with all his toys in the dump truck.

Victoria getting into the Christmas spirit.

I know I posted a lot of pictures but these are only a few of the ones I like. I printed them all out at walgreens and I made copies. So I have some pictures being sent to everyone. Oh and Laurie, "Victor, Victoria" movie is on it's way to you. Just be sure to send it home when your done, I think mom and dad want it back too. :-) he he. Hope all is well back home. We have had some nice weather around here but it's suppose to get really cold again.

Baking with Cordelia

These pictures are from just before Christmas. I was doing some baking and I let Cordelia lick out the bowl. She really liked it....
....until I took the bowl away.

Then it was straight to the bath.

Pictures

This is the Lego castle that Santa brought for Fred Rion. It took me almost three hours to put together. Fred Rion is really good at putting together Legos, but I think this would have taken more work than he is willing to put in. And it was kind of hard too.
Santa brought Torii a Leapster. It's a cool handheld game system from Leapfrog. He also got two games with it. Fred Rion wants one too. I think he'll be getting one for his birthday. Those will be nice to have on long car trips this summer.

Torii in his ugly Vikings jersey. His team made it to the playoffs and mine didn't so I guess he gets to continue to wear his jersey. He also likes the Steelers (I'm not sure why) and they also made the playoffs. I could live with him being a Steelers fan, but not a Vikings fan.

Barely a year old and a phone in each hand.

Cordelia is such a climber. She really likes going up and down stairs. This was on Christmas day.

"I'll be home for Christmas...."

I'll see everyone soon! I work on Monday 9am-2pm and then on the road to Billings! It's about a 6 hour drive from here and we will stop in Billings at we will be staying at the Clarion Inn & Suites. I'm sure we'll be up very early on Tuesday to get home as soon as we can. Hopefully the weather is ok. I know tommorow we will be driving through snow all day. Idaho is suppose to 3- inches of snow and then I'm not sure about Montana but I think they are getting snow all day Monday also.
We will call tommorow to let everyone know how the drive is going. Talk to you soon!!!

Lots of Hugs,
Kelly

Let it snow

For once we have beat Fargo. We got 12 inches Saturday night. I can't remember what Fargo got, but I know it wasn't in double digits. We have some very impressive drifts in our driveway and backyard. We did not go to Sunday school on Sunday. I'm not sure there was even Sunday school as many churches cancelled services. We stayed indoors the entire day. Many stores didn't even open on Sunday because of the weather. With two nasty storms this winter this is by far the worst winter Fred has experienced here. I am loving it. It's been a really long time. It is reminding me a little of the 96/97 winter. I will never forget that one. I made it to work today. The parking lot was full of deep snow. I made it to my office, although I had to do some shoveling just to get into the building. The roads have been cleared, but it is really cold. I'm not liking that so much. The schools didn't have recess outside today because of the dangerous wind chills. So we are inside staying warm. Now I'm just waiting for it to warm up a little so we can go sledding!

Tex-Mex Beef and Bean Dip

I tried this dip tonight and it is soooo good. No need to say it, but it came from Cooking Light. I did use a whole pound of beef just because I was too lazy to do anything with the extra 1/2 pound. I also used plain chile powder. And since I could only find a big chunk of queso fresco, we crumbled some of the leftover on top of the chicken tortilla soup that we had tonight too. We were stuffed after dinner.
Ingredients
1/2 pound ground sirloin
2 tablespoons no-salt-added tomato paste
1 to 2 teaspoons chipotle chile powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled queso fresco
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
3 ounces bite-size baked tortilla chips (about 60, such as Tostitos Scoops)
Preparation
1. Cook beef in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain well; return beef to pan. Add tomato paste and next 4 ingredients (through diced tomatoes), and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally.
2. Spoon meat mixture into a serving bowl; top with crumbled cheese and green onions. Serve with tortilla chips.

Brian on a magazine? Wow!

Not quite on the front of a magazine that will be published anyway. He wishes it was true though. I made this for him while he's been a little stressed with the end of the semester and he can't wait to be done. He thought it was neat and had to show a few people at work. I guess it was passed around to everyone and some people had to tease him about it. Ha ha. So, he got his picture on the front of a magazine and he got me some fresh truffles from the local candy shop down the street. Good trade.