Brrrrr!!!! Oh yah, it's COLD in North Dakota!

Our little snow bunny! Or is she a bear? a dog? Anyway, she looks cute all bundled up in the snow!

Hmmmm. What is this white stuff I'm stepping on?

How do you make a snowball?

The pretty yellow snow the dog left behind is WHAT!?!?!?!

Walking on this stuff is not easy, but I finally got the hang of it!

My first stime sledding! Daddy's cousins Daniel and Emily kept me company and took turns pulling me around the yard :) They are lots of FUN!

Emily

Daniel

Riding in the sled was so much fun, I couldn't stop giggling!

Now I can RUN in the snow! I am running away because Mommy said it was time to go back inside because my poor little face was getting red. . .

Mommy's camera fogged up when we came inside! I don't think it is used to being cold. . .

Here I am at the bar with Daddy's aunt Becky. Too bad nobody would buy me a drink! All I got was some soup. Sheesh! Who brings a baby to bar and doesn't buy her a drink?

Oops, some of these are out of order. Here I am at the hotel in Jamestown where we all gathered after the fundraiser at the bar. This is Daddy' Aunt Connie.

And here is Daddy's cousin Steve. The family did the fundraiser for him :)

Back at the Bar. Here's grandpa's cousin Paul. He is a ladies' man! I think it has something to do with his beard. . .it attracts the women. :)

Daddy's uncle Bob and aunt Dorothy.

Daddy's uncle Dean and aunt Barb.

Daddy, Paul, and Daddy's cousin Zach.

Zach's daughter Lily. She was lots of fun :)

Daddy's uncle Kelly and aunt Cher. (They look young to be a GREAT uncle/aunt, don't they? That's because Kelly is my dad's age! Bop Bop's family is REALLY BIG!!! In order to be GREAT, I thought they needed some gray hairs or something. . . though they'd probably disagree!)

These are Daddy's grandparents, Bob and Norma.

Mommy, me, and Daddy's cousins Emily and Ella. They were fun to play with, too!

Mmmmm. Great Grandma's house has yummy chocolate frosted cookies!

Here I am with Ella again, and Lily's sister Loghan.

Shhhh! Don't tell mommy about our cookie-napping plan! I'll stall her with some silly stair acrobatics while you make a run for it and grab the cookie bag in the kitchen. We'll meet out back in 5 minutes!

Look mom! I can slide down the stairs all by myself now! It's fun!

Hannah's new horse, Loghan. Giddy-up!

Look at Daddy's cool sweatshirt. . .bet you wish you had one! The color alone makes it oh, so desirable, ya know!

Hey mom, I really like Lily's hat. Can you get me one like this for next year?

Pleeeeease!?!?!?!

Entertaining the crowd by singing her rendition of a song she wrote herself. The lyrics are quite comlicated, but go something like this. . .see if you can follow along.

"la la la la la la la"

She's a musical genius, I tell ya! American Idol, here she comes!

I had a great time trying to stuff myself into this basket for no apparent reason other than to make mommy laugh. . .

And of course, no trip is complete without wrestling a ya-ya (kitty)!

My Daddy needs help. That's all I am going to say about this. . .

We went to North Dakota in November???

So, we did the opposite of what other sane people and birds do, and we flew up north! We escaped the perfect weather in Tucson, and traded it for fun times in North Dakota! WOO HOO! Yes, we are completely nuts. But Hannah didn't seem to notice we were heading the opposite direction of the birds. . .she heard there might be something called snow and hotdish up there, and she was READY TO GO!

In case you are wondering what "hotdish" is, I still don't know exactly! But it is served at Matt's grandma's house every time we visit, and I even saw on room service menu at the Ramada in Fargo this time! As far as I can tell, it consists of pasta, other "stuff", along with some secret ingredients. . . Shhhh. Don't tell anyone, but I saw a mustard bottle in the vicinity when it was made in my presence one time. . .but before I could survey the scene and take note of any other possible clues as to what Matt's aunts were adding to it, I was wisked away by men in black suits, and the next thing I remembered I was waking up in a grainbelt with a bandana over my mouth and there was a blinding interrogation light over my head! I eventually broke free and vowed never to speak of the incident again. . .

So, I just enjoy eating the hotdish, now and don't ask any questions. I pretend I no longer care what is in the recipe. . .but I will tell you this much. . . I'm convinced that no two hotdishes are alike. Maybe someday I will be invited to join the secret Messmer Hotdish society, and the secret will be shared with me so that I may pass it on to Hannah. . .we'll see! I made sure to leave my application along with my cell phone number and email address so they can get a hold of me when they decide to induct me into the club. When they do, I'll be sure to have everyone over for dinner here the first time I make it! I'm taking reservations well in advance, as it'll probably be a popular fete, since I don't think Arizona has many hotdishes made here. (Despite it's name, there is nothing spicy or HOT about it except for the temperature. . .so I assume I will not be needing any jalapenos. But perhaps that could be added to the Arizona hotdish recipe! Hmmmmm. Not a bad idea!)

OK, back the trip.

Packing was fun. . .and necessitated a few trips to the store to stock up on WARM clothes, since Hannah really didn't have any. . . Checklist: hats? Check! (I packed four, you think that was enough? I had three, but Bop bop and granny bought her another one just in case) Mittens? Check! (I packed two pairs) Jackets? Check! (two fleece jackets, a stay-puff marshmallow coat (don't worry, it was pink and not white, so nobody would mistake her for a marshmallow and make her into a smore), and a puffy vest for layering over said fleeces) A plethora of sweaters and fleece pants, etc.? Check! Did she actually wear ALL of that? Of course. . .not!!! Yeah, I packed too much. But I was worried my lil' Arizona girl would freeze her fanny off up there! I need to give her more credit. She adapts well and she LOVED the snow! She even cried when I made her go inside because she was having such a good time. But I had icicles hanging from my face, and my fingers were numb. . .Hannah was in much better shape than I was! Her face was a bit red from the cold wind, but her little fingers were quite toasty, and the rest of her was nice and warm as well. I guess I need to find me some mittens and a hat like hers for ME!!!

So, the biggest excitement of the trip was the SNOW!!! I was actually REALLY hoping it would snow while we were there so Hannah could see snow. Fat chance of her seeing it here, so that was my only chance this fall/winter! I am sure everyone who lives there and all the hunters were cursing it, but I was silently cheering! The unfortunate thing was that it delayed our trip up to Jamestown and Kensal to see Matt's grandparents, since the department of transportation advised no travel to the area due to icy roads, and that was confirmed by Matt's uncles who were already there. But fear not, we did eventually make it to Kensal, and we got to see many of Matt's uncles, aunts, and cousins, and of course his grandparents. Hannah got along well with all of Matt's aunts, and girl cousins, but she was scared of all of Matt's uncles! Or perhaps she was scared of the hidious hunter ORANGE hats and jackets/sweatshirts they were all wearing. I'm not sure. The BRIGHT ORANGE is quite ummmm. . .attractive! And this time of year you see it everywhere, in all the swanky hang outs like the Wolf Den Bar in Kensal, the Perkins in Jamestown, in just about every pickup and suburban being driven on the roads and the Interstate. Poor Bambi and all his friends. . . :( You'd think that evolution would eventually make the deer afraid of ORANGE!!! Oh well. I've actually grown to like that color since becoming a part of the family :) You just don't see it here much, so we have to buy when we go to ND.

The weekend was also about Matt's cousin Steve, who has cancer. The family did a fundraiser at the infamous and very swanky Wolf Den Bar, in Kensal over the weekend. They raised money to help his family during this difficult time by having chili, soup and other food at the bar. The soup was delicious and Dean's chili was awesome! I need to get that recipe too, as long as that's not a secret. (there were mushrooms in it, and Matt ate it! Can you believe it!?!? That says A LOT!) Steve and his family were able to travel to ND and made it there for all of the festivities with the family, so that made it extra special. We all gathered at grandma and grandpa's house during the day; then we stopped by the bar to eat some of the soup and chili that was made for the fundraiser; then everyone except for grandma and grandpa and a few others went to Jamestown where most of us were staying overnight, and we gathered at the Holiday Inn and had pizza, birthday cake, etc. and had a nice time visiting with everyone! Boy, the Messmer family is HUGE! And they all know how to party! :)

Here's a couple cute short videos. One is Hannah being pulled in a sled and the other is one of Hannah giggling as Lily chases her down the halway in the hotel.