Waiting

Enjoying the last bits of warm weather. How many more days do we get? It seems that every morning that I see the sun peeking out, I get nervous and a bit sad, but also a bit excited, knowing that snow is just around the corner. It's the weather guessing game.

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And soon, we will trade the light jackets for those snow pants and layers. And instead of warmth, breath misting out when we step into the winter.

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Ok Season of Cold.... bring it on. I'm ready.

A little family time on the river...

A Holiday weekend. Perfect crisp morning weather. Heavy rains in the evening, leaving sleeping in a tent, snuggled in a sleeping bag, all that much more thrilling. Spending a camping trip dirty and happy for one little boy. Finding beautiful rocks (Montana Moss Agates) and enjoying the fresh Yellowstone River air.

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What could be more perfect than that?

Let's Get the Music On!

We had a wonderful evening last Thursday when the Hubs came home a day early from work to check out the free concert. For any Idol fans (I'm not really one-sorry) Danny Jones who was on last season, graced us with his awesome voice. He is a local kid who will definitely make it very big!
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The sun was warm, the music wonderful, and having family near to share the evening is everything that can make a night full of happiness.
Finding a beautiful flower garden that was not discovered the last time we went to the concert, also can make some happiness come alive.

And of course... a stop at the ducks pond. That makes Fritz smile with happiness.Can't wait for the next time...

Wednesday NOT My Craft-Update!

We had a fun and fabulous past weekend, with Saturday traveling to a small town a few miles away for their annual Homestead Days. Enjoying a parade, candy, craft fair, good food and music, I'm left with wishes that we could have such fun days like that all the time!
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I stopped by a vendor that had beautiful blankets and crochet items up for sale. There were so many that caught my eye, but being one with a hook addiction myself, I tend to not buy from others that sell what I can make myself. However, this woman had such unique and unusual things and I couldn't resist this 4th of July themed star she crocheted. The holiday has passed us by, but really I like to keep a bit of the red, white, and blue all through out July. Why not?

A Night Under the Warm Sun

We knew of a free concert that is held at a nursing home/assisted living complex, and also knew that a cousin would be signing and playing (the one on the right with the tie-dyed shirt). How fun to spend a warm evening with good food, good music, and good family!

Fritz had a lot of fun dancing on Grandma's lap. He was back and forth between Grandma and Grandpa as he couldn't quite decide who was more fun. Definitely not me!

Fritz also got to enjoy his very first, very own ice cream cone. Of course he made a mess, but isn't it worth the clean up to see the happy smiles of a wee one and his ice cream?

And of course we had to stop and talk to all the ducks at the complex. And what a beautiful complex it is! Evenings like this are so precious and wonderful. I have plans to keep this fun up, and I'm sure Fritz won't disagree.

Sundays with Fritz-The Case of the Rushing River (One Year Ago)

Mommy told me that I needed to post a picture from me a year ago. This picture of my Daddy and me would be one year ago tomorrow. Close enough I say!

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We took a drive to see how fast the Gallatin river was flowing from Spring run-off and to just have a good 'ol fun day driving around. The sun was nice and warm and the mountain air was crisp and fresh, but man was it loud there! That river was so fast and furious!

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Mommy said she liked to look at the old pictures of me as she thinks I was just the cutest little thing. Although I think I'm much cuter now...

Fritz.... signing off.

A Lovely Saturday

There was a free day at the local Zoo this past Saturday, and with the weather being so beautifully perfect, we couldn't resist! Fritz had lots of fun seeing different animals, and the Hubs and I had just as much fun walking around and looking at the blooming world around us.
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The Zoo is well kept and has many wonderful paths leading to the different sections of the park. With it being a free day, of course, there were many people waking about, so it was amazing that I found one path that was absent in other voices and footsteps.

To me, peacocks are one of the most amazing, beautiful creatures out there!
Red pandas.... so cute!

Ahhh. Smell the sweetness.

Fritz giggled at the Billy Goat.

Mowing For Goldfish?

Before the nasty wind that we have been having for the last couple of days came about, Fritz and I spent a good couple of hours outside one evening. Enjoying the still warm sun and warm air, it was a perfect chance for me to mow the lawn.
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After many passes I kept noticing little orange dots floating in the green grass. After seeing this strange sight, I finally decided to bend down to find out what was going on with the grass.
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Apparently Fritz was leaving cracker crumbs as a mowing trail for me! Nah, but that would have been funny though. I guess a few crackers jumped out of his bowl whenever he would run away from the mower!

Take a Bite

But if you do, prepare yourself for a trip to the dentist! These fish are carved out of rock. Not very tasty I would guess.




We were at the National Gem & Mineral show in Billings, MT this past weekend. The local club has a show every year, but this time it was the National gathering. For us weirdos who love rocks, this was awesome!
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The display below is one that my parents put together from some of their collection of fabulous rocks. The one in the middle only comes out for public view for these special events. My late uncle found it along the Yellowstone river a very long time ago. It is a Montana Moss Agate and weighs in at 63 1/2 pounds. I'm sure that many of you may not know what an agate is, but they are incredible rocks that when cut open, can have many wonderful "pictures". If you find a good one it may weigh in at 5 to 10 pounds and depending on what's inside can be sold for hundreds of dollars. This big monster? It will never be cut, and we cannot even fathom what the cost would be on the market. Although my parents have never contacted the Guinness Book of World Records, they know for a fact that this rock would be number 1, as the current one (if memory is working here) is only around 30 pounds.
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We told Fritz when he looked at it, that it would be his when he is old enough to lug it around!

The show also had the Moon rock that is usually at the NASA museum. It was loaned to the club and was a big hit! How amazing to see something that you normally wouldn't!

And of course, there was some shopping to be done. The Hubs came away with a fossilized fish from a million or so years ago, from Wyoming (which we have wanted to plan a trip to dig these up for ourselves sometime). And I fell in love with the below pictured lapis lazuli ring. I haven't taken it off since Saturday! Every show I go to, I try to come away with a different kind of stone, and years past I have kicked myself for passing up the lapis. Lapis means stone in Latin and Lazuli is the passed down name for the ancient mine (mostly mined in Afghanistan) that these stones were found in. It's funny that the stones name is "Stone from Lazuli"!

Cherries and a Hat

Continuing our Farmers Market week, during the summer (besides the one on Tuesdays at the park) the local fairgrounds have a market open on Saturdays all summer long. Usually at each market it is the same fairs, but we decided to give it a go to see if there would be anything different.

We came away with some delicious cherries (Maria... sadly, no, they are not Flatheads) and a new winter hat for Fritz. The hat is so darling and will fit him perfectly come the colder months later this year. We tried it on him, but unfortunately he still does not love things on his head and immediately tried to take it off. We still bought it as the one he used this past winter is already too small for his noggin. And how perfect that it has a cat on it, being "kitty" the first word out of the tiny mouth of Fritz?

P.S. The hat is made by a local woman in our town!

Just Us-Part Two

Last weekend, when Fritz was away to play with Grandmee and Grandpee, the Hubs and I took advantage of the baby-free hours and had a few dates. On that Friday night, we went to a movie that we had both been very eager to see, and of course had to get the yummy movie popcorn. It was so nice to go to an actual movie place to see it happen on the big screen, but the bad part was finding out the movie place had raised their rates since the last time we had been there when Fritz was a newborn. FYI... taking a newborn to a movie was actually quite easy as ours fell right to sleep and stayed that way! However, we would not dare to do that now.
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The next morning we tried to sleep in and did accomplish not getting out of bed until around 10 am, but we had been awake on and off for quite awhile as the house was eerily quiet without having Fritz there. We had plans to go to an awesome breakfast place but decided that Mexican food sounded much better. I had told the Hubs that this should be a weekend where we try new food places other than our usual. So off we headed to our downtown for an awesome little eatery that has a fabulous out door patio, perfect for people watching.



We had a lovely quiet lunch, as when we arrived there were only two other tables filled. For a few moments we were the only ones there, but as it got closer to noon, the place filled up really quickly.


After lunch we headed over to some stores to get supplies for a couple of updates that we have on our 'to sell' list. We are still planning on moving in a few months to a different town, and I knew it would behove us to freshen up our place as much as possible to hopefully get it to sell quicker. I had planned on a lot of out door work, but unfortunately the weather decided against that. I have plans to start that stuff tomorrow, as long as those pesky rain clouds stay away for one weekend!
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After the store trips, we headed home to start a few of those projects. I had gotten some paint to redo our bathroom and kitchen cabinets. We have lived here for 6 years and this was the fourth time I had done painting in the bathroom! Never again in this house!!!



After we got cleaned up nice and pretty, we took ourselves to a very nice/expensive restaurant downtown. Some close friends of ours had moved away a year ago and had given us a gift certificate of theirs to this place. This was the first fancy schmancy place that the Hubs and I had eaten at together. The food was absolutely delicious, the service was exceptional (and um, the waiter was, um, quite hot too-wink, wink) and we had a lovely, lovely dinner.
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The next morning we did more house things, and I was still painting the bathroom and didn't want Fritz to have to smell it when he got home, so my parents were happy enough to keep him one more night. That Monday I drove over to pick him up and was so glad to give him a big hug as I missed him terribly.
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I know it will be awhile before the Hubs and I can have another adult weekend like this. And although we cherish and love our little boy dearly, it was very refreshing to have a weekend free to pop in the car and go somewhere without having to make plans with a baby. I do wish that we can have a few days together again to just be with each other and not have to have other projects going, and I am sure it will happen some time down the road. Hopefully, though, we will not have to wait a year again!

Haunted?

Nope. On a drive last Sunday, we decided to head to a small town to see about the scheduled rodeo parade. We got there in time, however it was too rainy and cold that we didn't want to have Fritz outside for a long time, so we decided to head to a different small town a half hour away. We knew of a house there that was turned into a museum, and we wanted to take a tour. Luckily they were open on a Sunday too!
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The house was built in the late 1890s with beautiful woodwork through out the entire house. I was not allowed to take pictures on the inside, but it was quite strange to be walking in a house built so long ago. Twelve rooms and three floors and only one bathroom, but the weirdest thing to me was the kitchen in the basement!
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Although the house is very old, it didn't feel spooky in any way. It's incredible to me to think what secrets that house could share. It is known by the historical society who inhabited it for most of the earlier part of the last century, but all we really know are names and dates. What about their actual lives? Happiness of life, or heartbreak of those hard times we will probably never know. Sometimes I think it would give people a greater understanding of where our ancestors have come from if we could only go back to be truly in that moment of time. We have history of course, but how much do we actually know for sure?

Instead of...

...taking our usual hike/walks around town this past weekend, with it being so very hot outside we decided to go for a drive down the Gallatin Canyon. It is the closest road that will take us to Yellowstone Park (about an hour drive from our home) which we plan to do this summer, but we only went less than half way to Big Sky. We wanted to check out the river flow and see how high the water was above the famous "House Rock". This river is a rafter or a kayakers dream as the spring run off can leave the river extremely swift and dangerous. I have floated it many times in my earlier years and passing by House Rock and its awesome rapids can either be fun or boring! All of course, depending on the water.
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This picture is of some rock cliffs high above House Rock. Every time I see them they look different to me and depending on the weather they can be scary or beautiful. In the warming sun with shadows of the trees I can just imagine secret caves and creatures roaming around. At times I have seen them at dusk where the darkness looms above and makes the cliffs jump out and appear to be ready to fall at any given moment.



This is House Rock. I am not sure where or when the name came from but I think it is called this just because the rock is enormous! Of course a picture will never do justice for something seen without a camera lens, but take my word for it. When you are coming fast towards this rock trying to make sure your boat is going to clear it and be on the correct side to get you out safely, you may think "Aw, that itty-bitty thing?" but once you are closer, and then closer, I think most say a few cuss words.
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What is most amazing to me about this rock is the fact that it has been there in that same spot for so long. Did the fur-trappers and discovery people of long ago happen across it? And with the continuous beating of water has it gotten smaller in size over the many, many years?

Ahh, ice cream. 'Nuff said.

In the small resort town where we ate our yummy goodness, we took a small look around the town to see some of the houses that were newly built. One of the reasons I love living in the town that I do is partly because of the architecture. We do have the subdivisions where house after house appear to be the same shape and size, but for the most part we take on a strange future western theme. A lot of the newer houses around town look like the ones below. I love them as they all have their own uniqueness and character but blend so well together. The bad part about these ones? They are just smaller condos but start above 500K! Yep, the price of living near famous people, I guess.

Cats & Dogs-And Other Rain Stories

Last night we were pelted with rain. Slow, soft rain at first, then the hard, fast rain began. It was coming down so fast and furious we didn't know if we would be washed away! It was a pleasing sound however and especially with the knowing that in the morning with the twinkling waking sun, the grass would glow from its new potent mix of life.

Alfie the cat hiding under a drying umbrella.

With the pelting rain I was remembering a camping trip a couple of years ago that we took with some friends to my favorite mountains the Absarokas. With the couple living in a separate town from us, we decided to meet up in the small town before the road to the campsites. Of course things never work on a perfect clock and we didn't get to meet up with them until almost ten at night. By the time we made it to an open meadow campsite, it was a complete downpour. We knew that it would be way too late to travel any further to the campsite that we wanted to stay in, so we picked the quickest spot to set up fast, fall asleep, and break camp in the morning to continue our adventure. When we left the town for our travels it was a steady rain, but by the time that we started to get out the tents and camping gear it was a full on waterfall of rain pelting on our heads. Within three or so minutes we were completely soaked through. We got the tent set up and some tarps for added protection around, but by bedtime the coldness from the late evening and cold rain wouldn't let us catch much zzzzz's.

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The next morning we got ready to go further in to the mountain to the place where we wanted to stay (Maria... do you remember Hicks park right before the meadow to take us to camp?). When we got there the rain clouds started to appear again. "Oh no!" we were all thinking at the same time. "Not a repeat of last night!" So out came the tarps again and we built rain and wind shields in case of flash flood of down poring rain. But luckily for us, the rest of our two days we had beautiful weather!

Catching Up Over Pitchers Of Beer

When I was home for the past weekend I saw an old dear friend of mine. We hadn't seen each other in a couple of years and had lost contact. It was exciting to be reacquainted with somebody whom was a good friend over my high school years. She was down for the day to go to the garage sales that we were putting on. She came to ours and luckily I was at it and not taking care of Fritz at the house! If I had been with Fritz instead of the Hubs I wouldn't have seen her!
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We chatted for a few minutes before she left to go to a few more sales. A few hours later she sent me a message that said her husband was coming into town from the city that they live in and would we (the Hubs and me) like to go out for a drink and catch up some more? Since Fritz was born my husband and I have only been alone together for a total of maybe 4 hours. So an evening out would be awesome! Fritz went to bed, my parents stayed home with him, and off we went! I had never met the husband of my friend so it was nice to meet him (luckily the Hubs and her husband hit it off tremendously! The Hubs was nervous that he might be a "dud" and would be bored out of his mind.).
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Over pitchers of an awesome beer (I had four glasses plus another kind of beer, and two liquor drinks-surprisingly I never got drunk!) we reconnected with tales of the past and plenty of laughter having a wonderful time. Promises for more get-togethers in the future, it was a fun filled night that we won't forget!

P.S. This is a sad little picture that I took last night. I had a very artsy pic from our empty pitchers and glasses from our outing, but once again, I am a gimp and accidentally deleted all of my wonderful pictures over the past weekend.

Warm Sun and Open Windows

Could it be? Could it really be over 60 degrees today?? The mountains won't tell as they hold onto the last bits of snow. But ahhh.... so nice to be above freezing.

Fritz told me he thought it would be a great idea to go out and enjoy the day. We took an hour walk, stopping at stores across the street from us for supplies and just let the Sun warm our skin. Coming home, Fritz off for a nap, and me? Letting the sweet smell of hidden Spring come slowly through the kitchen window and knowing the snow will be replaced soon with flowers.

A Morning with Friends and Fun

We started off our morning with coldness and snow falling, but decided that we should get out and do something anyway. My good friend Monica new of a "garage sale" at our fairgrounds so we went to that early this morning to see if there were any good finds. They had mostly children's clothes and toys but a few rows of odds-n-ends as well.
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We then went to Old Navy to see if they had any baby clothes on clearance.
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Next Monica (who is due at the beginning of May with her second child) was in the mood for Taco Bell, so all of us (Monica's husband and son, the Hubs and Fritz and I) headed over there for some fast food. I love their hot sauce!
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After our quick lunch, Monica told us that it was free day at the Museum of the Rockies. After a quick stop at our house to feed Fritz his lunch, we set off to see the new exhibit. They had a free Astronomy day with lots of high tech telescopes-so cool! They also had a wonderful exhibit of the photographer Edward S. Curtis who took beautiful photos of early nineteen hundreds Native Americans. And lastly for the kids they had a room full of how toys work and a big tree house showing what kind of animals and creatures could live there.
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It was a fun filled day. I only wish it had been warmer! Fritz and his Daddy at the entrance to the Museum of the Rockies.

Fritz and his Daddy in the tree house.

Monica and her beautiful baby belly.

Rosemary Bread and French Fries

A couple of weeks ago in the mail, I received a card from a local restaurant saying to come on in for a meal on them for my birthday. How awesome is that!? It was from a place that the Hubs and I rarely go to so a good change for us. We have been there once or twice as it was only half a block away from my old work place and they have an awesome outdoor section for the warmer days. The card was only good for your birthday month and with two days left to go we didn't want to let it go to waste!
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Also on the card was for a free loaf of bread, sweet treat or slice of pizza from a local bakery that is sooooo yummy-filled with all of their baked goodies. Yippee for us! What a good day out and half of it was free!

I had to have the Rosemary bread. I have been craving spaghetti so this is perfect for a good dinner. And the smell is so earthy and herb-y, I am salivating just thinking about it sitting on the counter. Hmmm... I might have to sneak a piece.

Warning... Cell phone picture. NOT GOOD! (I forgot the camera once again on our outings)

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Fritz was being so good during our lunch date, never screaming or crying, just playing with his toys that I brought him and his binky. He watched us eat with much patience so as a reward I scraped off all the salt on a fry from my plate and gave him his very first one ever to see what he would do. He gobbled up three of them!