We’ve been busy lately. First we went camping with my family down at a “park” (I use the term loosely) out in the country near my hometown. It was a lot of fun, even though it rained off and on all weekend.

My nephew kept making this face all weekend, any time we pointed a camera in his direction. He cracks me up.

My nephew kept making this face all weekend, any time we pointed a camera in his direction. He cracks me up.

I love my nieces and nephews. Here are a few of them. There are about 6 missing.

I love my nieces and nephews. Here are a few of them. There are about 6 missing.

My dad won the fishing tournaments rough fish category (not Northern or Walleye). Nice trophy, huh?

My dad won the fishing tournament's "rough" fish category (not Northern or Walleye). Nice trophy, huh?

We had a wedding to attend this past weekend. It was FABULOUS, as is the couple that got married. We didn’t take many pictures (too busy having fun!), but we had a great time.

The core group of friends I hung out with in High School - aka the Fab Five.

The core group of friends I hung out with in High School - aka the Fab Five.

Holy cow! We remembered to get a photo of ourselves! Together, even!

Holy cow! We remembered to get a photo of ourselves! Together, even!

And finally, after spending yesterday evening cleaning the kitchen and bathroom (they are about 99% better – we are just waiting for the ceiling to be fixed in the bathroom), we test drove and then bought a pickup today. We knew we were going to need a 2nd vehicle by the time the baby arrived, and since Ryan lost his company vehicle (since he doesn’t go out of the office much) having only one vehicle was going to get annoying pretty quickly. We’ve wanted a pickup for a while, just for the convenience of being able to haul stuff, and also because in case you didn’t know, Duluth is built on a huge hill. Have you seen pictures of San Francisco? Yeah, like that. But with Northern Minnesota winters. We live only 1 block up from the bottom of the hill, and yet there were still a few times last winter when I didn’t think my car was going to make it up the hill. And we had a couple mornings when I had to hike up to the bus station because I couldn’t get my car out of the lot. That’s ok when I’m not pregnant, but I do NOT want to be hiking up the hill to the bus stop when I’m 7, 8 or 9 months pregnant. No thanks. So we kept our eyes open and looked around on the internets and found this truck. It’s a 2001 Ford F150 extended cab with 4-wheel drive. We got a good deal on it, and it’s got lower miles and is in better shape than most of the other trucks we saw in our price range. It gets TERRIBLE gas milage (less than half of what I get with my car), but we won’t be using it to regularly commute, and we’ll take my car on trips whenever possible. So yah. We are very excited. And don’t worry, we already have a request for help hauling some stuff. But, like I told a friend on facebook – we have received help so many times from other people with pickups that we owe it to all of them to pass it along. At least for a while.

So, here it is! Our “new” truck!

The new truck!

The new truck!

We are already planning a trip down to the twin cities and Ikea to put this thing to good use. Of course, thinking about the gas costs of going even that far are kind of overwhelming, but it’ll be worth it!

Whew…I really need to get better at updating this stuff more often. It is DEFINITELY time for bed now. I’m wiped out.