Lots of snow on this Montana morning!

This morning we woke up to a snowy Montana day.  About 6 inches to start  and it didn't stop coming down until there was probably more than 10".  WOW!  So, we stuck around the house with the kids and got some stuff done.  Poor Clint even got put to work on some "honey do's"!  Maybe we will make it out to do something fun tomorrow is some of this snow melts. 

Below you will find a few random pictures and then some pictures showing what our yard looked like today!  Isn't is suppossed to be spring????

Grandma and Kimber having a great time!

Kimber wearing one of the "happy birthday" hats that we got for Clint!

View out of our front door when I first woke up!  (our neighbor already took care of our walk...  we love him!)

Dane practicing snow removal from the trees

Enjoying the snow!

Happy Birthday to Clint!!!!

Well, it was a nice weekend to get some things done around the house and to celebrate Clint's birthday.  Friday he turned another year older...  and we had a nice time celebrating.  Even though Clint had to work, Mom came over and we enjoyed a nice dinner and evening.  Although I certainly ate too much yummy food!

I didn't do well at all taking pictures though...  sorry I guess I wasn't in the mood this weekend.  Then Saturday was decent weather.  Dane played outside a lot and I got a lot done around the house.  Sunday was the Icebreaker Road Race... 

Clint had to work but I went ahead and ran the 3 mile run.  Despite the snow I did pretty well and finished in 26 m. 11 sec.  Although not record breaking I was pleased.  Thanks again to Carrie, Brock, and Mark for watching the kids!

Anyway, that's about it!  Now it's back to work for the week and then maybe some fishing next weekend!

One of our favorites!

I was transferring videos and pictures to jump drives and ran into this video.  Dane was about 10 months old and pretty stinkin' cute!  (If I do say so myself!)

Enjoy!

A wonderful trip to Oregon...

Wednesday afternoon we got back from a 6 day trip to Oregon.  It has been too long since we went back to see Clint's family so we set the dates and made it happen.  It was really great.  We had a wonderful visit and got to spend some good, quality family time.  Be prepared...  there are going to be many, many pictures of family and kids on this post!

To try to make traveling with the little ones easier, we left Montana at 1 am on Thursday morning.  The kids were actually pretty good.  Dane was so excited to see Nana and Grandpa.  Although I did ride the last 30 minutes in the back seat with them.  Clint said he couldn't pull into his parent's driveway with me in the front seat.  (just kidding!)  The kids had actually reached their threshold so it was time to switch things up a bit.  It took about 14 hours and we rolled in at 2 pm their time (1 hour behind us).

The first night we just relaxed and since Clint drove the hard shift (1 am to 5:30 am) he was pretty tired.  Here he is with Dane...  catching up on some zzzz's.

On Friday, we stopped by Bill and Sheri's cabin and then headed out to do a little fishing.  Dane caught a few mud cats, a rainbow trout, and some whitefish.  He got a new fishing pole (a real kids pole) from Grandpa and it was a total hit.  We got him a fishing pole for his b-day but it was a regular one so this is a lot easier for him to cast and reel.  Although we aren't using his new pole, here we are reeling in the "big one"!

We pointed out the "pokeys" on the catfish for Dane because he really likes holding them and we don't want him to get poked.  Funny story...  Sheri, Kimber and I ended up leaving the boys to finish fishing.  When Dane got home he said that one of the fish "wasn't nice and poked him, but Grandpa poured beer on it, so it didn't hurt anymore!"  Now I know why it's so important to always have beer when we are fishing! 

That night (Friday) Sam, Shannon, Porter and Wyatt headed out to Bill and Sheri's after Sam got off work.  They came out for dinner and ended up spending the night.  As you can see Bill was cuddling with the boys and we just kept adding kids...

Bill, Dane, and Wyatt

Bill, Dane, Wyatt, and Porter

Added Kimber to the mix

Then we woke up on Saturday and all of the boys went fishing.  Here is Porter with one of the mud cats.

After they got back, we went down to Sam and Shannon's house for a night.  It was nice to catch up with them and the kids had a very fun time playing and hanging out.

Here are some pictures from our visit.

Aunt Shannon, Wyatt, and Kimber

We put Dane to work mowing the yard... 

Clint and Wyatt

We only suffered one injury over the weekend.  Dane got about 3/4 of his big toenail ripped off.  But, by the next morning he had bounced back and although it was sore he still played and had a great time.  Here he is cuddling with Daddy.

Uncle Sam, Kimber, and Wyatt all snuggled in!

Kimber enjoying the nice weather.

Wyatt and Porter do SO GOOD for pictures.  Dane, not quite as happy to oblige.  He was being kind of obstinate, but we did get one where they all sat still and looked the right direction.  Except for Kimber, and once we added her, things went downhill again.  Too many kids to organize!

Sunday afternoon we went back to Bill and Sheri's for the remainder of the trip.  They have a new house and it is truly beautiful.  It was also very comfortable and they did a great job baby proofing so the kids could just play inside and out.  Here are some other pictures from our stay.

Grandpa and Kimber

When I told Dane (2 weeks before the trip) that we were going to see Nana and Grandpa, he got really excited and asked to make "hands".  They had made jello hands the last time she visited and he thought that was super fun...  I passed on the request and they got to make cookie "hands" several times.  Here they are cutting out the dough. 

One morning after it rained, Grandpa took Dane worm hunting.  Here was the harvest!  They did quite well!

The next 3 pictures are of Porter, Wyatt, and Dane.  Can you say "trouble comes in 3s"????

Kimber hanging out in the grass

Then it was time for the trip home...  Since we stopped at Cabelas in Post Falls it took us about 14.5 hours.  A long ways no matter how it goes.  We did get up super early and were on the road at 1 am their time so that helped.  Here is Dane at one of the stops burning off some energy.  Both he and the dog would run like crazy every chance they got!!!

I know that I'm repeating myself, but it was an incredible trip.  It was so fun to catch up with family and let the kids hang out.  I really look forward to the next opportunity to see everyone. 

Besides that, not much is new.  Now it's just settling in and getting back into routines.  Spring looks like it might be coming soon and Clint is on day shift, so we are all pretty excited about that.  Here in a couple weeks we will start having days off together so then we probably will start taking some fishing trips!  Gotta love Montana!

Before our Trip

I meant to post before we left for Oregon, but we were SO BUSY trying to get everything in order that I just couldn't find the time.  So, here are a few random pictures.

Dane got his new "big boy" (twin size) bed.  We went and picked out sheets and a blankets together.  Spiderman it is!  He loves it and is doing great.  It is just on the floor at this point so that if he falls out, it isn't too far!

 Craft time!  Dane is working on his birthday thank you cards.  With Dad and Kimber helping, of course!

 Kimber and I began our battle with thrush.  We both were on antibiotics for a while so we got thrush really bad.  With Dane I found that Gentian Violet was the only thing that would really get rid of it, although it is exceptionally messy.  Kimber and I had a whole lot of purple going on for a few days! 

My Apologies!

I'm sorry it has been so long since my last post!  Clint and I just returned from a trip to Oregon to see his family.  It was so much fun, and I can't wait to share all of the pictures and stories!  However, it will have to wait until the weekend.  So, please tune back in this weekend and there should be an update!!!!

Dane's Birthday and a fun weekend!

March 9th, Dane celebrated his 3rd Birthday!  Holy cow, where has the time gone?

He had a wonderful day, treats at daycare, then I picked him up early and we went to feed the ducks, went and picked up Kimber and then headed home for pizza.  Clint's still on overnights, so he had to sleep, but about the time we got home he was ready to join in the fun!  So, we ate pizza, opened presents and then had some cake!  Here are some pictures of the festivities!

Dane really enjoyed this gift...  I'm not sure what you would call it, but he loves it and it was from my supervisor, Miss Kate, who he adores!

My pictures are a little out of order, but here is Dane blowing out his candles.  It did take a few tries, but he finally got them all out! 

Another favorite...  a forklift from Grandpa and Nana.  This is a pretty darn cool toy and he would have taken it to bed it he could have!

Another tractor... this kid is all boy and loves his tractors and dirt!

Playing with his new forklift while wearing his new backpack that was a gift from Aunt Shannon and Uncle Sam.

Dane had a great day and Clint and I really enjoyed it as well.  This was the first year that he got the concept that it was his special day...  and that was pretty fun! 

On Sunday, we headed up to the Rocky Mountain Front by Dupuyer to hike around and look for shed antlers.  It was Clint, Brock, Dane, Kimber and I.  Although a little chilly, the weather was actually pretty nice and we had a wonderful time. 

Now we are headed into another fun weekend.  Clint gets off Sunday morning for his weekend, so tomorrow I think we will spend some fun time with Grandma, get our shopping done, and then on Sunday or Monday head out to do some hiking or fishing with the kids.

Here is the "Seal Pup"!

Gotta love those kiddos!

This weekend we decided to make some sausage.  60 lbs of polish sausage to be exact.  Yum!  Brock came over to help us so about 10 am yesterday we started rolling.

We have realized there are 3 ways to get something done with the two kids.  You can send them away...  but what fun is that?  You can lock them in a room...  but the neighbors start wondering at all the yelling  (Mommy, Daddy, LET ME OUT!!!!)  Or, you can involve them (Dane) and give him a job.  Well, I was kidding about the first two so we gave Dane tasks and got him involved and we had a great day.  

Here are some pictures from our fun, productive day! 

This is Dane cutting his own little pieces of meat.  He was right next to me so I could closely monitor what he was doing.  But, he did great, was very careful, and learned a lot.

Everyone's working hard and having a good time.  Brock was so much help.  He jumped in and helped with every part and then played with Dane during the down time.  We really enjoyed having him!

I look a little crazy here.  (you would too at this point! lol)  But, Kimber was tired from all of her hard work!

Stuffing the sausage into the casings.  Everyone is posing.

Brock was working hard!  I was sneaky when I took this one so no one posed!

Then it was time for baths!  Dane is so good to Kimber.  She was splashing, stealing his toys, and crawling all over him but he just kind of ignored her and kept playing or would hand her a toy he didn't want.  He is a really great big brother.  Here are some bath time pictures of our kiddos!

As I'm writing this, Clint is finishing the last batch of sausage.  We had to smoke it in four batches.  Then we bake it to make sure it gets hot enough.  Lastly, we vacuum seal it and put it in the freezer.  Now we will have lots of yummy sausage for months to come!