I refuse to turn the heat on in August. That's right, you heard me correctly. It was 48 degrees on Sunday and mid-fifties yesterday. Since Justin is in Wyoming for evaluator training (eating at real restaurants, going on brewery tours and seeing our friends) I've been hanging out in sweatpants and sweatshirts and put 4 extra blankets on my bed.
Goodbye Summer. You arrived late this year and seem to be making an early departure. It was nice knowing you.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
The last few days there has been progress on my parent's house.
When they first arrived at the beginning of the week, the foundation was poured.
Two days later, the frames for the walls were up.
Now it's starting to look like a house.
The woods behind their future house is part of a nature preserve so it will remain undeveloped. Bald eagles nest there in the late fall so construction has to be done by October. Hopefully, by the new year the house will be complete.
When they first arrived at the beginning of the week, the foundation was poured.
Two days later, the frames for the walls were up.
Now it's starting to look like a house.
The woods behind their future house is part of a nature preserve so it will remain undeveloped. Bald eagles nest there in the late fall so construction has to be done by October. Hopefully, by the new year the house will be complete.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
For the first time in years someone moved and it wasn't me!
My parents officially sold their house in Sylvania, Ohio last week. A new family moved in and was really excited to be there, which makes me happy. My childhood home, the house I lived in from the time I was 3.5 until I got married and started moving around the country with Justin, belongs to a new family and new children who will hopefully have as many wonderful memories there as I do. I didn't realize when I left two years ago that it would be the last time I saw the house. Surprisingly, I'm not sad and I don't miss it. I'm so happy that my parents were able to retire and move somewhere warm.
After stopping by to see my Grandma on their move, my parents finally made it to South Carolina. Currently, they are renting a condo while their house in Murrell's Inlet gets built. Once my mom sends me pictures I'll post some so Justin's family can see the progress of the construction.
Everything happened rather quickly, but I'm so happy and excited for my parents to enjoy their retirement at the beach. I love you both so much!
My parents officially sold their house in Sylvania, Ohio last week. A new family moved in and was really excited to be there, which makes me happy. My childhood home, the house I lived in from the time I was 3.5 until I got married and started moving around the country with Justin, belongs to a new family and new children who will hopefully have as many wonderful memories there as I do. I didn't realize when I left two years ago that it would be the last time I saw the house. Surprisingly, I'm not sad and I don't miss it. I'm so happy that my parents were able to retire and move somewhere warm.
After stopping by to see my Grandma on their move, my parents finally made it to South Carolina. Currently, they are renting a condo while their house in Murrell's Inlet gets built. Once my mom sends me pictures I'll post some so Justin's family can see the progress of the construction.
Everything happened rather quickly, but I'm so happy and excited for my parents to enjoy their retirement at the beach. I love you both so much!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Glacier National Park
For the past two weeks, Justin has been working in the shop. He got hired to OGV (standardization and evaluation) and now he works Monday-Friday, 7:30 to 4:30 and only goes on alert two or three times a month. It's wonderful. He really likes his new job and I love having a normal schedule, finally. Since I can now plan things, yes I like to plan in advance, we were able to make a trip up to Glacier National Park, without it being spur of the moment and giving me anxiety. The park is about 2.5 hours away from Great Falls. The drive up there wasn't very exciting. The land is brown and boring until you get pretty close to the park.
Finally, approaching the Rocky Mountains.
East Glacier.
The road winds through trees and it's really a nice relaxing drive.
Lower Two Medicine Lake.
Narrow roads along the mountains.
There was a large part along the road that looked like a wildfire had spread through the area.
At the entrance to Glacier.
This weekend was a free weekend at the national parks so we were pleasantly surprised when we didn't have to pay to get into the park. We stopped at the visitor center and had lunch. It was the first time we actually used the table that's in the back of my car.
View from the visitor center parking lot.
We did part of the Going-To-The-Sun Road, which cuts across the park east-west. It's a good place to go for a short period of time because there are lots of things to see along the way and you don't have to venture out into the wilderness if you don't want to.
Justin in front of Saint Mary Lake.
The water was so blue, this picture doesn't do it justice.
Baring Falls.
Snow covered mountains along the road.
Jackson Glacier. Slowly melting, thank you climate change.
Here are some pictures from the drive up to Logan Pass.
This waterfall was literally right outside my window. As we were driving you could feel the sudden change in temperature whenever we passed rock that had water seeping out of it.
At the Logan Pass visitor center we got out and hiked a little ways up the mountains towards the Continental Divide.
It's hard to tell but there were Big Horn Sheep on a mountainside. I had to zoom in and they blend with the dirt so it's hard to see them.
Here's the up close wildlife, all about 20-30 yards away. Deer grazing.
Some sort of mountain goat.
Big Horn sheep up close and personal.
Hoary Marmot. Not that exciting considering we see these all along the river in Great Falls. In fact this is what "attacked" my dad when he was climbing up to investigate a cave while they were visiting.
Me at the top of where we hiked.
Glacier National Park is truly breathtaking. It's probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen.
Finally, approaching the Rocky Mountains.
East Glacier.
The road winds through trees and it's really a nice relaxing drive.
Lower Two Medicine Lake.
Narrow roads along the mountains.
There was a large part along the road that looked like a wildfire had spread through the area.
At the entrance to Glacier.
This weekend was a free weekend at the national parks so we were pleasantly surprised when we didn't have to pay to get into the park. We stopped at the visitor center and had lunch. It was the first time we actually used the table that's in the back of my car.
View from the visitor center parking lot.
We did part of the Going-To-The-Sun Road, which cuts across the park east-west. It's a good place to go for a short period of time because there are lots of things to see along the way and you don't have to venture out into the wilderness if you don't want to.
Justin in front of Saint Mary Lake.
The water was so blue, this picture doesn't do it justice.
Baring Falls.
Snow covered mountains along the road.
Jackson Glacier. Slowly melting, thank you climate change.
Here are some pictures from the drive up to Logan Pass.
This waterfall was literally right outside my window. As we were driving you could feel the sudden change in temperature whenever we passed rock that had water seeping out of it.
At the Logan Pass visitor center we got out and hiked a little ways up the mountains towards the Continental Divide.
It's hard to tell but there were Big Horn Sheep on a mountainside. I had to zoom in and they blend with the dirt so it's hard to see them.
Here's the up close wildlife, all about 20-30 yards away. Deer grazing.
Some sort of mountain goat.
Big Horn sheep up close and personal.
Hoary Marmot. Not that exciting considering we see these all along the river in Great Falls. In fact this is what "attacked" my dad when he was climbing up to investigate a cave while they were visiting.
Me at the top of where we hiked.
Glacier National Park is truly breathtaking. It's probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
A Whole Lotta Random
It's been a while since I've blogged. Lots has happened the last few weeks. Justin finally came home from code change. It wasn't nearly as long of a week as I expected it to be. The kitties were certainly glad he was home.
Justin had a few days off after code change, which was nice. We just stayed home and relaxed for a few days.
Fatty has these mice that he loves to play with. The only problem is that he bats them around and they go under things that he can't reach. I fished out some mice from under the refrigerator and this is what I came up with:
Last week my parents came to visit! When they came last summer, it was the first time they had been to Montana so we did all the tourist-y things and went lots of places. This time we relaxed more and stayed in town most of the time. For the last few months, my parents have been running around non-stop, selling their house, going to South Carolina to finalize construction on their new house, getting ready to move, etc. So they enjoyed being able to just sit and relax for a week.
A few days ago was their 30th wedding anniversary. We got an ice cream cake to celebrate.
While my parents were in town, Justin had a few days off but still had some stuff to do. One day while he was gone, my parents and I went down to the river to walk on the trails and ended up walking to Giants Springs State Park. Here's me and my daddy along the trail.
Some interesting plant, probably a weed.
A kingfisher of some variety.
Cliff swallow nests in the rock.
Me and my mommy at the world's shortest river.
The one place we had to go while they were in town was Helena, to go to the used bookstores. Lucky for us, my parents are both readers as well. This trip was quite successful, I got a total of seven books :)
After the bookstores we walked along the Helena Walking Mall and looked in the stores. Here are the parentals:
We've been to Helena numerous times but this was the first time I noticed the old water tower/lookout on top of the hill by the walking mall. As you can see, it's about to storm.
At some point Justin was taking a nap on the couch and Swirly decided to lay right next to his head. I thought it was cute so I took a picture.
The main reason my parents came to visit when they did was so we could go to the Montana State Fair. We saw most of the same stuff as last year. However, there was one new thing that Justin was super excited about. LEGOS. That's right. Sometimes I feel like I have a child. But, honestly, the kid's area was really cool.
Here's Justin with his LEGO lanyard.
RAWR.
The LEGO experience. This would have been a great place to take a kid (or husband).
We don't buy bottled water anymore. We use a Brita pitcher to save money and help the environment. However, when we have company we get bottled water for them. Swirly loves the bottled water case. Here she is hanging out in it on the counter.
She was enjoying herself until Fatty decided to come pester her.
The kitties like my parents, thank goodness. I feel better knowing if something happened to us, the kitties would have a home to go to. Fatty hung out with my mom on the sofa quite a bit at night.
We had a great time with the parentals. I'm so glad they were able to come visit before they move.
Also, Happy Birthday to my Daddy today :)
Justin had a few days off after code change, which was nice. We just stayed home and relaxed for a few days.
Fatty has these mice that he loves to play with. The only problem is that he bats them around and they go under things that he can't reach. I fished out some mice from under the refrigerator and this is what I came up with:
Last week my parents came to visit! When they came last summer, it was the first time they had been to Montana so we did all the tourist-y things and went lots of places. This time we relaxed more and stayed in town most of the time. For the last few months, my parents have been running around non-stop, selling their house, going to South Carolina to finalize construction on their new house, getting ready to move, etc. So they enjoyed being able to just sit and relax for a week.
A few days ago was their 30th wedding anniversary. We got an ice cream cake to celebrate.
While my parents were in town, Justin had a few days off but still had some stuff to do. One day while he was gone, my parents and I went down to the river to walk on the trails and ended up walking to Giants Springs State Park. Here's me and my daddy along the trail.
Some interesting plant, probably a weed.
A kingfisher of some variety.
Cliff swallow nests in the rock.
Me and my mommy at the world's shortest river.
The one place we had to go while they were in town was Helena, to go to the used bookstores. Lucky for us, my parents are both readers as well. This trip was quite successful, I got a total of seven books :)
After the bookstores we walked along the Helena Walking Mall and looked in the stores. Here are the parentals:
We've been to Helena numerous times but this was the first time I noticed the old water tower/lookout on top of the hill by the walking mall. As you can see, it's about to storm.
At some point Justin was taking a nap on the couch and Swirly decided to lay right next to his head. I thought it was cute so I took a picture.
The main reason my parents came to visit when they did was so we could go to the Montana State Fair. We saw most of the same stuff as last year. However, there was one new thing that Justin was super excited about. LEGOS. That's right. Sometimes I feel like I have a child. But, honestly, the kid's area was really cool.
Here's Justin with his LEGO lanyard.
RAWR.
The LEGO experience. This would have been a great place to take a kid (or husband).
We don't buy bottled water anymore. We use a Brita pitcher to save money and help the environment. However, when we have company we get bottled water for them. Swirly loves the bottled water case. Here she is hanging out in it on the counter.
She was enjoying herself until Fatty decided to come pester her.
The kitties like my parents, thank goodness. I feel better knowing if something happened to us, the kitties would have a home to go to. Fatty hung out with my mom on the sofa quite a bit at night.
We had a great time with the parentals. I'm so glad they were able to come visit before they move.
Also, Happy Birthday to my Daddy today :)
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