One Year...

Exactly one year ago today, Tanner and I were driving across the country to start off on a wild and crazy new adventure together in North Dakota.  I repeat my sentiments of last year that if anyone had asked me where I might see myself living in the future 5 or 10 years ago...North Dakota never, EVER would have even made the list.  But here we are.  One year later.  And my how the time has flown.  And guess what...we still like it here.  In honor of this momentous holiday, we thought we'd jot down a few of the things we have really come to like and appreciate about Williston. 

• We think the people here are great.  The lady we bought our sweet mobile home from had dinner in the oven for us and some other things stocked in the fridge when we drove into town late evening.  Another person from work we hardly knew let us borrow a tv for a week or so before our moving truck got here.  It was a great beginning and  we really have not been disappointed since with the great people that we've met from here.  
• We've also met a TON of great people not from here.  We really love our ward.  We have made some excellent friends and feel so grateful to be surrounded by people who believe the same as we do.  I was kind of expecting we'd have to drive really far to get to church and the congregation would be small, but our church is a 15 minute walk from our house.  And there are two ward right here in Williston.  
• Along with those lines we are grateful for the opportunities to serve and share the gospel in a place where it is pretty new and lots of people here who have never heard of us "Mormons" :)  Granted we aren't the best at that but we're working on it!
• We LOVE our jobs.  Tanner really likes the people he works with and he has an awesome boss that really likes him too (I don't blame him).  He likes what he does and he's learning a lot and it's interesting stuff and he's already got a promotion (technically you aren't supposed to be able to move up or change jobs till a year...but he's awesome like that).  We feel so blessed that he got this job and has great hours and benefits and hardly ever has to work weekends, etc.  That's been great.  And I've almost been at mine a whole year too (May 7th is officially a year at Mercy).  And I have met lots of cool people - love the nurses I work with, love (most of) the docs, and my other mid-level peeps too!  I really enjoy meeting all the people that come through there.  Sometimes it makes me so grateful my life is the way it is because there are a lot of crazy, sad people out there.  And other times it's so fun to have conversations with folks because there's so many interesting stories and how people came to be here and what they do, etc etc.  And I have learned sooo much!  I still feel incredibly inadequate a lot of the time but I am noticing a lot more comfort in managing a lot of things.  That's a lot of a lots.  Anyway - point is it's fun to see progress.  It's fun to keep learning and it's fun to constantly be challenged.  Couldn't be happier with this career.  Working in the ER is awesome and I really can't picture myself ever doing anything else.  (watch it - I've said those words before...refer to above - so ya never know).
• I love that everything is so close.  I only drive 5 minutes to and from work and fill my car up maybe once every two months on average.  Awesome.
• Golf course.  Now it's not the nicest course ever - but it's a golf course.  And it keeps Tanner happy for a good chunk of the year.  We even got family passes this year.  I've spent the majority of my life being a golf hater - since being married to Tanner that has slowly been changing.  And I even went golfing with him for the first time.  And by with him I mean I actually golfed.  And I had fun.  And didn't do too terrible.  Who woulda thought I'd be a golfer?  Again...not me.  Isn't life funny like that?  I think so.  
• I love that we are right on the border of mountain time zone, so in the summer - the days are extra long.  It's fun being outside at 10 or even 11 o'clock for part of the summer and it still being light enough to shoot hoops, etc. 
• Love that we have a self serve frozen yogurt place here now :) 
• As much as winter sucks and is long - I must say that I kind of like feeling tough that I've survived a ND winter.  And posting when it's negative 50 and making everyone feel sorry for me.  Haha.  Just kidding.  But I do feel like we've earned some sort of street cred by living here through a winter.  
• And as much as we miss our family - Tanner and I have really grown a lot together by being up here away from everyone.  We've just got each other - and it's been fun having so much time to spend just with each other.  And experiencing this crazy together.  And having to survive this craziness together :)  
• Love love love the sunrises and sunsets.  Seems like there's always lots of good ones.
• It's fun to search out beauty and learn to see beauty in things that we wouldn't normally attribute as beautiful.  God made North Dakota too and he obviously see's beauty here so we are learning to as well.
• It's been fun having to use our creativity to think of things to do.  I love eating out but honestly, it's been kind of nice not always eating out.  We've played lots of games and are picking up new hobbies that we probably never would have.  Cross country skiing (hopefully we'll have a lot more chances this year to go), we just got fly fishing stuff, got an aquarium and are sure learning a lot about that.  I think it's been good to realize and learn to make your own happy.  It's hard to be away from things we have grown up with - family and mountains especially.  And yeah it's a little hard to have limited opportunities to do things.  But really - you can be happy anywhere you are and even though I'm not perfect at that - Williston is sure giving me lots of opportunities to learn and grow and develop those kind so skills.  And I'm grateful to be living here for that.  

So yeah.  Williston really isn't so bad.  We're looking forward to this upcoming year and whatever excitement, challenges and fun it might bring.