Playing in the snow

Mattie and Dawson LOVE playing in the snow. Having them run through snowdrifts is a great way to tire them out quickly. It was pretty dark when we took these photos, but you can still tell how happy the pups are. Here's a photo of one of the snow drifts in the yard. There are some as tall as Brian. This particular drift collected in the garden in front of our composting area.

As it turns out...Iowa gets cold

Here's a photo taken from our second story window of both of vehicles plugged it. It got down to about 25-below here last week with wind chills to 40-below. It made us feel like we were back home in North Pole.

Finally...good chinese food

Brian and I set out for Des Moines yesterday in search of good Chinese food. Dining options are limited in the Fort Dodge area, thus we felt the need to make the 2 hour drive south. PF Changs is one of my favorite restaurants and Brian had never been. The Mongolian Beef was excellent, as was the Lo Mein and Chicken Lettuce Wraps. Here's a photo of my by one of the big horse statues by the restaurant. After dinner we hit the Brass Armadillo- the largest antique mall in Iowa. It was lots of fun!

Looking back at 2008 and ahead to 2009

Happy New Year to all! To celebrate the ending of an old year and the starting of a new one, Brian and I thought we would recap our most memorable moments of 2008.

10. Got rid of the juicer! (Congratulations, Jen!)

9. Bought a jeep (2 actually)

8. Taught Mattie the best trick ever


7. 2008 brought us two new neices- Gabrielle Platt and Ada Bickmeier

6. Flew to Denver (from Alaska) for a Billy Joel concert 5. Built a chicken coop4. Sold a house...bought a house
3. Started 3 new jobs (between the 2 of us)

(Sorry, we don't have any photos of interest to post here. That and we don't really want to talk about that third job...)

2. Hope finished her Master's Degree

1. Moved to Iowa!! (We still have a hard time believing it!)

Onward to 2009 and lots more adventures!

Jeff, Laura, and Ada came to visit!

This weekend Brian's brother Jeff, his wife Laura and their daughter Ada came to visit (all the way from Boston)! They had to brave some bad weather to make it to Iowa, but they arrived safe and sound. We were able to do lots of visiting- helping us get to know Ada again. She's grown so much since we last saw her in June. Here's Ada playing with Brian's guitar. Ada's Dad plays a lot of guitar and Ada already knows what a guitar pick is for! (She's very advanced.)Here's Ada with her Mom......and her Dad.

While chatting we realized that none of us were able to eat chili and cinnamon rolls this holiday season (a Bickmeier holiday tradition), so we decided that we needed to. Laura made kicker chili (perhaps some of the best we've ever had) and I made cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting.
Add some red wine and sharp cheddar cheese and you have a perfect meal! Combine that with a highly entertaining couple (Jeff and Laura), and you have the making of an excellent evening.
Here's a photo of Brian and Jeff waiting for dinner to be served.


After dinner we had an intense game of Parcheesi (the best game ever invented). There were some tough times for Brian. Jeff and Laura showed no mercy and became grand champions. This is sad because they had never played the game before. Alas!


The next day we had to go out for pork tenderloin sandwiches. (Iowa is the pork capital of the world). Our favorite restaurant Rustix was closed for the holiday (so no big beers), but we managed to find a substitute restaurant. After homemade onion rings and fried cheese appetizers, Jeff still managed to finish his tenderloin sandwich. Nice work keeping up with Brian, Jeff. It takes a lot.Thanks for coming Jeff, Laura, and Ada! See you again soon!

a pitiful puppy

Don't you just want to let him inside?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to All!

Although it was a very quiet Christmas at the Bickmeier household here in Iowa (Brian's working nights this week, so the dogs and I did our best to let him sleep today), it was not uneventful. Santa was very good to me this year (thanks to helpful information supplied by my sister-in-law Jen (thanks, sis!)) and brought me a new camera! Hopefully this will improve my blogging performance in the near future. It was a day of extreme wind, so the pups and I spent the day inside having a lengthy photo session. They grew very weary of having a camera in their faces, but seemed to enjoy being paid in dog biscuits. So, for your viewing pleasure, here are a few shots from the day. I'll begin with my loyal Christmas companions, Mattie and Dawson. "Did you say dog biscuit?"

"Ouch! That flash hurts my eyes! STOP!"

"Can't you see that I'm trying to take a nap?" "This is the last one, right?"

In other news, Brian got a new automatic dimming welding helmet (to go with the welder he bought this winter). Here he is doing the "welding mask shuffle." I also got a beautiful carved ivory puffin from Mom and Dad (complete with polar bear hair). Cool, isn't he? That's all the news from Iowa. We hope you all had a fantastic holiday!