What's new around here?

The week flew by... as usual! I caught a nasty cold so I have been feeling pretty crappy today. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

This weekend we are going to stick around close. Clint is going to work tomorrow and then we will probably watch the Superbowl on Sunday. Not super exciting, but hopefully a quiet weekend will help me catch up on sleep and then I will feel better!

For those of you who don't know, Congratulations to Sam and Shannon! It looks like the newest addition is going to be a boy! The baby boy is due in June... and we are really excited for them!

Dane is doing well, I love watching him and Bones chasing shadows. It makes me laugh! Here are a couple pictures!

As I said on a previous post, Dane is pulling himself up on everything and is having such a great time. Here is a little video of him going through one of our kitchen drawers!

I couldn't resist...

Putting on a few pictures of Dane and Clint I took last night.

and Clint thinks they don't look alike!!!

Well, Dane has another molar coming through and it's a real pain... (literally) Last night he was shoving things (blankets, a washcloth I gave him, etc) into his mouth and then ripping it out, again and again. Even with some ibuprofen in him it still seems to be hurting. Thank goodness for teething tablets as well. Between the two it seems to offer him some relief. He didn't want to eat anything for dinner last night except a tiny bit of yogurt. When I gave him a bite of something else, you could see him wincing trying to chew it... Tonight I think we are having mashed potatoes or something really soft for him...

I just can't wait for the darn thing to break through.

A whirl-wind week!!!

Things here are just moving right along! Clint and I are having a crazy busy work week, but it is a good one. (I'm actually done with my week, but Clint has one more day.) Dane is doing really well also. He is experimenting with pulling himself up on everything and then moving around it. It's so much fun to see him growing and trying new things. He also is getting his molars (one has already come through)... what a growing boy we have!

We think we are going to head up to the cabin tomorrow night to spend a little time up there. The weather is supposed to get cold again so we may not do too much ice fishing, but we probably will venture up to the Rocky Mountain Front and take a look at the wildlife.

We hope everyone had a great week. Here are a few pictures of Dane that I wanted to share!

Getting all bundled up for a ride in the baby jogger.

Going through the cupboards... and finding all kinds of good things!

Today was a great day with friends.

The weather today was phenomenal! It was an incredible day to be out on the ice and we took full advantage. We headed up to Lake Francis and met Cal and Sandy (our friends from Conrad) to do some ice fishing. The perch were biting like CRAZY... We caught a bunch, but some weren't very big. It was a lot of fun and we took a lot of pictures so here are a few that I wanted to share!
When we first got there, a little sliver of moon remained...

We brought Bones along and he had an incredible time!

As I said... Some of the fish weren't very big. But, they were still fun to catch!

Bones found a buddy... He spent a lot of time right there, loving up to Cal!

Sandy is quite the fishergal... Here is one of the nicer perch she caught.

Dane hanging out in the sled!
Another monster!

It was an exhausting day for Dane!!!

And last week Clint and Brock made one more trip to the River and were able to get a little more shooting before the season ended.

Clint and Brock's morning at the River

Clint, Brock and Bones went down to the River today to try and shoot some ducks... Actually it was way warmer than it has been recently... as in 40 + degrees... The water is still pretty stinking cold though. Look at that ice floating down it!

There weren't a ton of ducks flying, but here is Bones proudly retrieving the one that Clint was able to get! Brock and Bones with one Goldenye
So, what else is going on? Well, Clint and I took turns working yesterday. He did some overtime in the morning and then the Center was short staffed so I went in and helped out for the evening. I was on call so we are stuck close to home anyway. (or at least in cell coverage) The weather was warmer, but super windy so ice fishing is no fun. We can brave the cold, but the wind sucks...

Oh yeah and for those of you who may not know

Laptop + large cup of coffee + baby = bad combination

Dane and Clint were hanging out this morning and through a series of events a large cup of coffee got spilled right on the keyboard of our laptop... (the actual events are a little unclear to me at this time, I slept in and actaully missed the event. Clint passed on the story as I was waking up. All I heard was coffee and laptop, automatically I thought "that sounds expensive" and "how am I going to update the blog?")

Anyway, I would HIGHLY recommend a Dell to anyone who is looking to purchase a laptop and would like a tough one that can even withstand a complete coffee submersion! GO DELL!

Have a great week everyone!

A few smiles to share!

Dane is a smiling, crawling, attention demanding machine these days!!! Clint and I are continuously commenting that Dane is a different boy since getting the tubes... He is so busy, happy, babbling and laughing and it's only been days!!! He was always pretty good natured, but he has been sick on and off for so long. It truly is amazing, and I would have a hard time believing it if we weren't seeing it.

Here he is sharing a little of his love with the camera.

This weekend we were hoping to go do a little ice fishing. Unfortunately it is supposed to be very windy so we will have to play it by ear and see what happens. We hope everyone has a good one!

Dane has tubes in his ears!!!

Well, this is just a quick note to let everyone know that Dane got the tubes in BOTH his ears today and he did outstanding. I was a little worried about not nursing him before hand (he was supposed to not eat after midnight, but the one nurse said I could feed him up to 4 hours ahead of time, so that's what we did)... after the initial shock wore off when he woke up and couldn't eat, he did really well and charmed all the nurses. Mom rode along with me and was a lot of help... When he started getting fussy cause he wanted to eat I was able to hand him off to her for a bit. He was very upset and inconsolable after he woke up from the anesthesia. They told us to expect that, but after they left us in the recovery room for a bit he finally settled down, nursed, and all was right in the world again.

It's amazing how little it phases them. He is crawling, playing, and having a great time. Hopefully, he will be healthier now and we wont have to visit the pediatrician so much!

I will try to post some pictures and such later in the week. We got up at 3:20 am to get to Helena by 6:45 so we are tired kids around here!

Well, hope all is well with everyone! Take care and have a great week.

Guess what we did today!

Because I know that you will never guess, I'll tell you... We went ice fishing! Of course we went to our new favorite place, Holter. We caught 5 rainbow trout and kept 2 (the bigger ones). It was pretty nice but a little windy and cold. Dane rode on the front today in my jacket. It kept him nice and warm, but I was fairly cumbersome. I think I've mentioned before that it reminds me of last year when I was pregnant. Our heater was also not doing very well in the blind so that didn't make it any easier. Dane was zipped up pretty tight and got a little cranky at one point, so we went back to the truck and stayed in there for a little while so he could play. Then we bundled back up and off we went again. Several people that we talked to had to peek at him all tucked in to my coat!

I know it looks cold, but isn't it beautiful?

This was the first fish of the day, so even though we released it we had to take a picture! Isn't it huge?

Talking to the little man and readjusting his hat!The nice trout that I caught.

So, Tuesday is the day for Dane to get his tube(s). His regular Dr. said that they want him to get the tubes in both ears. They think it's silly when he is under anesthesia and such not to just do it. They are following up and if this guy wont do it, then they want to find someone else who will. In addition, Dane got another ear infection last week and I let it go to long. (We thought it was an extension of the cold he has been fighting. He had a fever, but not the other symptoms we have grown to recognize.) So we took him in on Friday and sure enough... So, they put him back on antibiotics, but it was too late and the darn thing ruptured again. Now we aren't sure if they will even do the surgery until it heals up again. So, keep your fingers crossed for him. Now that his ear is feeling better (once it ruptures it released the pressure and he usually feels great!) he is totally back to his old laughing smiling self and is so much fun. We really hope that the surgery goes through and we are hopefully able to get a reprieve from these darn ear infections! I'll update everyone later in the week and let you know what happens.

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!

Well, I told Clint that I wanted to do a fun "photo review" of the year on New Year's Day. Well, I will work on getting it done... But probably not today! We stayed out late last night and then got up this morning and went ice fishing. Needless to say we are dragging right now and it's only 6 pm, so probably as soon as Dane goes to sleep we wont be far behind.

Our New Year's Eve was spent with some of our great friends, Mike and Aimee and their 3 wonderful kids. The kids were all up for a little while and Dane enjoyed watching and interacting with them. Then they all crashed and went to sleep. So, we enjoyed some adult conversation, pool, etc. It was a very good time, however we didn't get home until about 2am which is WAY PAST our bedtime!!!

As I said before we made it out to Holter for some more ice fishing. The bite wasn't that great, but my awesome hubby was able to hook this big hen. Of course it was on the rod that I had JUST been holding. It was pretty cold, so a nice gentleman who had an ice house came over and asked if Dane and I wanted to come warm up before he took it down and headed home. It was super sweet of him so Dane and I crawled inside and enjoyed some time by the heater. Of course, I look out the window and their is Clint reeling in a fish! But, at least he landed her and now we have a nice trout to smoke! (He is such an awesome hubby, he felt bad that I wasn't there to catch her... but I made it back in time to take a picture!)

So, we are so amazed by the gas prices that we had to take a picture in order to remember this time. It's so nice that driving to go ice fishing is actually affordable! It will end at some point and the price will start going up, but for now we will enjoy it!

My two favorite guys hanging out having a good time!


Dane wanted to send his thanks to Porter for the great gift! The dog "Fred" is a total hit! (Sorry Dad, it came with that name... I think we need to change it to Smokey!!!)