Montana Trip - Sunday

Today we made a trip to Wal-Mart and then we went to visit Crow Haven Arabians, a 106-acre paradise for horse lovers in Ronan, Montana. The whole place and all the horses are for sale, as the owner has married a gal who loves Florida. If only I had a spare million sitting in a bank account somewhere!

The barn was amazing, 19 stalls with an indoor arena on the end.

The horses were very beautiful, polish bred. A gray stallion (CAVALEAR) was my favorite as he was just as mellow as could be and spent some time licking my hand.

Can you imagine looking out your living room window at this view every day? Broodmares, one is Lennox and one is Fairy Tale.

Joyce with a young gelding, I believe he was a two-year-old. He had a pasture all to himself and was super-friendly.

Another view of the broodmare pasture.

This guy was also super-friendly and happily ate dandelions offered to him over the gate. One of the young geldings.

Two young geldings. All that pasture and they choose to hang out in the muddy corner!

Ellie was beside herself with happiness (in the backpack) and reached out, excitedly shouting "ahh ahh ahh!" but she did not get to touch them as I worried they would mistake her little fingers for a sweet treat. This special visit was arranged because the new trainer (Tammy) at the facility is a friend of my grandma's.

When we got back to grandma's place we took a walk up the road to look at the neighboring house. It is for sale, and vacant. So we went and looked in all the windows and dreamed about how nice it would be to live at the base of those hills with such a view. The house looks like a 3 bedroom. I hear it is a bank repo so while it was once for sale for about $600k, it is now on the market for about $250k. 8 acres and a big barn. Perfect.

After that Orville gave us his garden tour and Levi played on the deck. He tried on Orville's boots. What a riot.

Ellie and Matt share a special moment full of laughter.

The kids are doing well overall, taking their naps and having fun getting into things.

Montana Trip - Saturday Pt. 2 (Bison and Pronghorns and Elk, oh my!)

Thankfully the rain stopped after the kids woke up from their nap so we drove to the Bison Range and made the loop. In the parking lot at the visitor center is a big pile of antlers. Photo op!

When we pulled into the parking lot at the visitor center we decided to take out the car seats so we could all fit into the van. It didn't seem very practical or enjoyable to have grandma and Orville in a separate car. Most of the time I held Ellie in my lap and Levi sat up front with Oma. They thought that was great!

Fire danger today is very low.

The official Bison Range sign. My mom is showing Levi a fun way to pose so it looks like he is holding up the sign.

The first animal we saw was a big deer, resting.

Montana simply takes my breath away. The mountains are so majestic and so close.

The views are so spectacular, it is easy for me to see why my grandma was so happy to retire here.

The bison were a bit evasive but we did manage to spot a couple up on the ridge...

...and small herds dotted the hillsides.

Then we saw a Pronghorn very close to the road.

A look back at the road we drove in on. Winding like a snake as we made our way up to the top.

There was an area where you were allowed to get out of your car, it was even encouraged, to traipse down a path 1/4 mile long. We decided to unload from the van and check it out. It was gorgeous out there, the yellow flowers dotting the hillsides, clumps of evergreens, and ... wait... a pile of buffalo dung? Are you sure we are supposed to get out here and walk around? Orville took his binoculars and went walking off to see what he could find.

Well he found a buffalo.

My darling grandmother did not venture as far from the van as her daring husband.

I have to thank my mom for this family photo of us. Finally one worth enlarging and framing! This will be on the Christmas card if we can't get a better one between now and then :)

My grandma Joyce with me and Ellie

Levi running in-betwixt the yellow flowers.

This shot reminds me of the Little House On The Prairie intro.

What a boy.

Meanwhile, mother was off on her own adventures, trying to coax this doe into a modeling career.

I love this photo of Levi. Check out those dimples!

After another stop, this time at the bathrooms, Ellie was ready to take the wheel. She is so ready to get this show on the road that she is reaching for the gear shifter.

She was all business keeping the van on the road. She started making all the appropriate noises and tried to change the radio station.

We saw another herd a little closer to the road as we headed back towards the end of the loop. I was disappointed that there were no babies today.

Another Pronghorn, very close, was not skittish of the car at all.

Levi looking for Elk. We did see one today.

We also saw lots of mule and white-tailed deer as we made our way through the park. Orville had his binoculars so he was able to study many of the animals. We all had a nice time on this adventure out.

Montana Trip - Saturday Pt. 1 (Ellie, she's a walkin'!)

Four generations of ladies.

The most beautiful girl in the world. Of course I am just a little biased.

This morning Ellie took her first steps, in the Mother's Room, at the Ronan SDA Church. I took my first steps in the lobby of the Marietta SDA Church in Marietta, GA so I was pretty excited that Ellie was following in my footsteps, so to speak! Mostly I was excited to have been there for those steps. I am always afraid I will miss something big while I away at work.

Walking takes serious concentration. Check out her little fist.



After church grandma busied herself in the kitchen, getting ready to feed the 22 people she had invited over for lunch. It was a bit of a potluck with guest contributions (we had a whole table just for desserts!) and all of it was tasty. We had enough to feed 24.

Today Levi was playing with a bead and wire toy. He turns to me and says "This is innovative." "Innovative?" "Yes mother, innovative." What a kid.

The food here has been fantastic, and the stories even better. Grandma has kept us well entertained. Perhaps we'll visit the Bison range this evening when the kids wake up from their nap.

Montana Trip - Friday

We are ready to leave for our adventure! We borrowed Jerry's van for the trip as we could not all fit into my mom's Explorer.

We drove most of the day, up and over to Ronan, MT, to visit my grandmother Joyce and her husband Orville. We did not outrun the rain that has been plaguing us at home. The kids were champs in the car! Levi has morphed into an awesome little traveler, and even Ellie did much better than I expected. I had to be prepared with different types of snacks and a variety of toys to keep their interest, but the six hours went by without much of a hitch.

After a delicious dinner of haystacks grandma gave gifts to the kids. Levi's was a play doctor set. Complete with stethoscope, thermometer, odoscope, blood pressure cuff, bandaid and vaccination. He was SO excited. "Oh thank you, thank you" he expressed his delight over and over. I got it open for him and he started 'treating' us all right away. He has been "Doctor Bobbitt" ever since.

Ellie got some cute clothes and a musical alphabet snail.

Mom snuggling with Levi

There is a big flight of stairs here, broad carpeted steps, and Ellie has found her new favorite activity: going up and down, up and down. At least it's good exercise!

What the kids are up to now

Ellie has the routine for meal time down. Today at lunch she saw Matt heading to the table with pans of food. She high-tailed it over to her highchair and tried to climb up it. When we say "let's pray" she will fold her hands and grin. Then she loves to throw food at the dogs and squeals in delight as they dive for the morsels. I am lucky if much of it gets into her mouth.

The other night I made Tex-Mex lasagna. It consists of normal lasagna noodles layered with a salsa/tomato/cumin sauce, cheese, black beans, corn and I accidentally opened a can of kidney beans so I added those too. I paired it with asparagus and the kids and I sat out on the little Fisher Price kid's table in the back yard since the weather was so nice. Ellie ate everything but started spitting out the black beans. That is the first time I have seen her refuse anything, or spit it out. I think she may have just been getting full though, as she ate some again the next day for left-overs.

Ellie is standing up on her own solidly but not quite ready to take a step. She will walk if I hold one of her hands, so that is a new development.

Levi has been enrolled in Kindergym but missed class on Monday since we had other things going on. He doesn't seem to really enjoy it much lately either. He does not listen to his teacher and is a real handful for her. Last class I went and got him and made him sit with me against the wall. He thought he was going to get to go home for not listening. No, I don't think so! Going home for him is a reward and I had to think about how best to handle the situation. So we sat there until he decided it might be more fun to listen and obey his teacher than sit against the wall watching the other kids have fun on the rope swing.

He has been really playing well with Ellie lately. It is so fun to hear their happy giggles. They seem to try and out do each other with the laughing and who can be loudest. They can get a bit outrageous. :)

Busy weekend

We had a busy weekend.

Yesterday Matt took Levi to Sabbath school while I stayed home with Ellie so she could get her nap. She has had a cold lately. At 1 pm we were invited to a birthday party for the twins, Thomas and Taylor. Hard to believe they are four now.



After that we came home so the kids could get their naps. I worked on Ellie's Shutterfly book. I am a couple of months behind on that but now that she is one it is time to wrap up that first year!

Matt was contacted by a friend about doing a commercial for a new product so he got to work on all the details for filming that on Sunday. He went to buy some props last night and discovered the station wagon was leaking gas. Something about the fuel pump. And the weird noises it has been making lately.

Sunday morning we went to my mom's house in the Ugly truck and Matt and Brian filmed me in my mom's kitchen putting this product on a milk carton. Being in front of a camera gives me the giggles so I had to work through that challenge to get the shot. Once that was done we came back to the house and Matt, Brian and Daniel left to do more filming.

Since I was down a car and we had a birthday party to get to, I loaded the kids up in the stroller. We had a nice walk over to Lion's Park for Peter's birthday party. Laura had been very creative in planning his party with an airplane theme. There was an airplane made out of cardboard boxes for the kids to sit in, airplane and helicopter shaped scones, airplane-themed games and stories and helicopters on all the cupcakes. Levi had a lot of fun piloting the airplane and eating the food.

All that fun wore us out so we came home and the kids took naps while I got some dishes and laundry done. It just never ends.

Banduned and Tart

Today instead of getting on the road for the Mt Adams ride we took a vacation at home. I took a couple of naps and took care of the kids so Matt could get some things done. While Ellie napped in the morning I hung out with Levi outside and read the new Parents magazine while he played.

One of the quotes in the back was a mother who asked her child "do you want another little sister" to which the child replies "no because Lily isn't working out so well." I thought that was fairly amusing so I decided to ask Levi at lunch if he would like another little sister (DON'T JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS!) Levi's response "Uh no, I want two brothers, named Banduned and Tart!" How does he come up with this stuff?

Ellie's 1-year stats

Ellie's one-year check-up today with Dr Jen went well. She is 19 lbs 13 oz, so not quite to the 20 lb mark to turn her car-seat around. Height 29 1/4" (50 percentile?) and head 18 1/2" was really big, lots of brains LOL The poor gal got four shots today, one in each thigh and one in each arm. We had a new nurse working with us - Dawn, who I recognized, she was the Pizza Hut manager (Rose St) for 14 years. Ellie was sad about the first two shots but then when they kept coming (in her arm) she got pretty mad. When it was over and I had hugged her for awhile she was still crying and teary, looked around, saw Matt and wanted him! I was not her favorite person for about five minutes. She recovered before we left the office.

Once again Dr Jen pointed out that the only visits she has had have been well baby visits and that is so uncommon.

Because her weight is tapering off and plateauing Dr Jen wants us back in for a re-check in 3 months. She was not worried about it - and neither are we - but thought it would be helpful to get another point on her growth chart without waiting the full six months until her next normal appointment.

Something I forgot to mention a week or more ago is that she has figured out how to turn the light switch off and back on now!

Ellie's birthday

Ellie's birthday has arrived! I was thankful that the weather turned out to be gorgeous! I decided to put Ellie in this outfit today (from Oma Karen) because it had a cupcake on the front and that seemed to be the theme. (I am not great at themes, or party planning for that matter) I am so thankful my mom showed up early to help out. She ran some errands to get additional things that were needed and was a lifesaver!


After working a full day I came home and worked on dinner. I had made the food the night before - wrestling with the "cake" but also making two pans of lasagna. I decided to make a vegetable lasagna, which I have never done before. Well maybe I have but I can't remember, the only time I might have was for mom's 50th when I made about 5-7 (?) different varieties of lasagna. Mmmmm.

Jerey and Gail brought asparagus (which I steamed and thankfully turned out perfect), the Fleischers brought a green salad, my mom brought garlic bread and french bread, Tina brought two kinds of Hawaiian punch. Other guests were great-grandmother Venetha, the Kyle family, and Debbie and Warren Rood.


The food seemed to be scrumptious, as it quickly disappeared. After eating we had cake. We tried to show Ellie how to blow out her candles but she did not try so Levi got the job done for her - twice. She smashed the cupcake into her face and after she had icing all over (including up her nose) she decided to be more dainty, only using one finger to taste.


She received many lovely gifts (clothes, books, a butterfly finger puppet) and had just as much fun playing with the bags and wrapping paper.

She especially took to this doll from Jenee' - I never would have thought to get her a doll but she loves it.


The Fleischer's had gotten Levi a gift as well so he wouldn't feel left out. He had a great time putting together this new Lego set with grandpa Jerry.

Here's a toy from the Fleischer's that she also enjoyed for an extended period of time. The jammies are from grandpa Jeff.

Thank you so much to everyone for helping to celebrate Ellie's birthday and make it special. We all had a nice time and hope you did too!