A trip on the boat!

Sunday we got up at 3 am and headed up to Lake Francis to go fishing. It was nice and warm when we got up and were loading all the gear... we never thought to check the weather. Well we got about 50 miles out and it started sprinkling. We thought, "hey this will pass" and it will be a beautiful day to go fishing. Unfortunately, the rain got harder and then there was wind and lightning. So we got up there and tried to nap at the boat ramp, but Dane had woken up and was tired of his seat. We went to breakfast... and the weather got worse. So, we decided to head back to Great Falls. It was too cold, windy, and rainy to take the little man out.

Here is how Dane spent most of the morning!!!

So, Monday morning we got up early again. (We were supposed to get up at 3 again, but I accidentally pushed dismiss on my phone, so I woke up about 3:50 and said "crap!!!") Anyway, we were still on the road pretty early and it looked a lot nicer! Here is the sunrise!

It was still a little cold and windy, but with no rain we decided to see if we couldn't catch some fish. Here we are headed out! Dane has on so many layers, he can't really even move!!!

Our little future fisherman!
Well we had a great time, the weather cleared off and turned out to be a really nice day. Dane was good... He really enjoyed throwing things overboard, and watching us fish them out of the water. Unfortunately, that was about all we were catching... The fish weren't biting, no one was catching anything. But, it was a good day to get out and we had a wonderful time!

Here's my handsome hubby!!! Poor guy, I wasn't much help with the poles cause Dane was taking a lot of attention. I had a full time job just making sure he wasn't getting into trouble!

There is an island out there and the birds were nesting like crazy! It was incredible to see the numbers of birds. There were a ton of seagulls (yes, in Montana), geese, and here you can see the cormorants.
Dane loves pointing and babbling at the birds!

Here is a picture I had on my camera of Dane and Grandma! They were having a good time!

Well, that's about it for now. As I said before we are having company this weekend, so we are all very excited about that!

Happy Saturday!!!

TGIS!!! We are ready for another good one! This week was super busy and Clint was working the overnight shift. He got off this morning at 4 am and now he is taking a little nap. The weather is supposed to be phenomenal so we are going to spend today catching up around the house and working in the yard a little. Our boat got fixed this week so we will head out early tomorrow morning to see if we can catch some fish up on Lake Francis. If it is windy then we are going to head to Holter Reservoir.

This morning I got my run out of the way early and once Dane wakes up we are going to go take care of our shopping! I'm super excited because next weekend Dad and Marsha are coming to Montana! We get to spend some time with them and Dad is going to do a 10K run with Clint and I. Marsha has offered to do "Dane duty" and that is super nice of her so we don't have to push him in the jogger. This is a run on a gravel road so it's a little bumpy!!! Hopefully the weather will be nice for the weekend.

Besides that, I had a few pictures from last Monday that I wanted to share. More fishing pictures! Hopefully after this weekend we will have some pictures of us with some big walleye or pike or something fun like that!!! Anyway, our fishing trip on Monday was really fun. My call had ended so we had all day that we could spend on the river and we took full advantage. We hiked downriver quite a ways and put our set-lines as we went. The fishing was superb, but the catching left something to be desired!!! I did catch the only "eater" it was a decent bass. Clint caught and landed a HUGE carp so that was kind of neat, although we don't eat them so the carp got to swim free! Dane rode along in the pack and got to get out and play at numerous places. He had a good time and yes... I am back to using the "hippy pack". I was glad I made that choice cause it was way more comfortable for a full day down on the river.

Our day finished out with Mom and Perry coming over for dinner. It was so great to spend the evening with them, however I don't think Clint and I were the best company cause we were fairly tired! But, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves!!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and here are the pictures!

Clint and his big carp!

Bobcat track

Racoon track


Clint and a goldeneye (not an eater...)


Me and my bass

Dane's crib and a walk with Stylz!

The weather is super nice this weekend and we totally are taking advantage! Clint got off work at 4 am yesterday, so Dane and I wanted to stay out of the house so he could sleep. We had a great time and ended up spending hours at the park! Definitely one of the perks of having a toddler is that you can spend hours sitting in the grass at the park pointing at birds and picking dandelions and it's totally okay!! Anyway, after Clint went to work we went back down to Giant Springs park and went for a walk with Stylz and his family. It was a beautiful evening and Dane LOVED Stylz's wagon. He thought it was the coolest thing ever!!! The only downfall was that we did find one tick and that totally creeped me out. I turn into a girly-girl when we start finding ticks so that kind of sucks. Well, I guess it's time to get out the Off.
Anyway, here are a couple pictures of the boys enjoying their time out and about!

I finally got a couple pictures of Dane in his "new" crib! This is him taking a nap... He loves his crib and sleeps really well in it! Thanks again Nana and Grandpa. When I put him in it, everything is all straight and cute. But, he moves around a lot in his sleep, and whenever I go in to get him, it's all a mess! Oh well, if he's happy, I'm happy!

Fishing on the Mighty Mo!

Yesterday, Clint and I were both tired and Dane seems to be fighting a bit of a cold, so we kind of laid low and hung out around the house. We did go for a run, which both Dane and Bones enjoyed, but besides that we just worked on a few projects, took a nap, etc.

Today we (Dane and I) got up EARLY... Not on purpose mind you. He has decided that 6 am is his new wake up time! It used to be 830, sometimes 9. Hmmmm, sleeping through the night but waking up sassy as can be at 6 am. Am I really coming out ahead??? LOL . Anyway, we did fun stuff like laundry, took a bath, ate breakfast and then Clint got up and we went fishing down on the Missouri. When we were on our way out, it was raining... But it was pretty much just sprinkling and the weather was supposed to be nice, so we decided to go anyway and see how it was when we got there. Well, we lucked out and the rain stopped at the very end of our drive, and after a short time the clouds burned off and it was beautiful. I think it's only about 60, but with no wind and the sun it felt great!

The water was really high (which we expected with all the run-off) but Clint hooked one pretty quickly and decided to long-line release it. He said it was too small!!! ha ha

Then I got lucky and hooked a walleye. It was actually a decent one so I was thrilled.

We really had a nice time together and Dane enjoyed his time exploring out of the Kelty. We have to be careful not to let him down where there is any cactus, wild roses, or Russian olives. All of those things have nasty thorns... and surprisingly there are a bunch down there along the river. But, we found a little spot and hung out for a while just playing in the grass and having a great time!

Here are some pictures to share!

I thought this was funny... Shows how serious Clint takes this stuff. He was really concentrating... his home-made rod holder had to be just perfect!!! But, then I guess that is why he catches more fish than I do!!!

As a side thought.... there are definitely parts of the Kelty that I like (Kelty is the frame back-pack) The sunshade is awesome, and it stands up with Dane by itself when we take it off. There also is a small bag attached that you can put stuff in. But, I don't think it is as comfortable as the soft hippy pack for Dane or me. I love the hippy pack and can wear it for hours. But, the Kelty hurts my back and doesn't sit just right. I think that I will work on trying to adjust it, but that won't solve all my problems. The only bad part about the soft pack is that Dane sits right against me so we sweat... and when it is hot then it's really bad... anyway, if anyone wants one of those awesome hippy packs, they are at actionbabycarriers.com. Sorry about the tangent!!!

Mother's day fun!

Mother's day we had a great time! Perry and mom had us over for a delicious ham dinner, and we also got some of my mom's yummy carrot cake... I ate too much but enjoyed every moment! Dane had a good time as well and even got to celebrate with a little piece of cake!

Here is Dane enjoying some time with his Grandma!

Before dinner Clint, Dane, Bones, and I all went up to Conrad to see about shooting some ground squirrels. You should have seen us all in the car! We were riding in style... nice and cozy! lol! We were going to go fishing on the boat, but when Clint was getting it ready he found that something was wrong with the engine. So, we decided not to go, cause we didn't feel like paddling all day! It was an incredible day to go out and shoot. Dane rode along in the Kelty and we took turns carrying him.

We were shooting the .17 which is a fun little gun. Light and easy to shoot!

While we were out we saw SO MANY critters. The birds are all finding mates and we have had such a wet spring that there is water all over. We got some incredible pictures, so hopefully you guys will enjoy them.

Here are some Canada geese and their newly hatched chicks.

This is a cinnamon teal, they are such a beautiful reddish color (hence the name!!!)

There were two muskrats right next to each other... Maybe they were hooking up too... hmmm muskrat love...

Anyway, you can only see one in this picture

This is a pin-tail. You can see this one's long tail that comes to a point.

This was an owl that was sitting alongside the road and flew right when we got there.

Shoveler

Some mallards and one Shoveler

A beautiful pheasant rooster. Their colors are so vibrant right now!

We were also going to try to head up to the Front that day as well, but some nasty weather moved in. It looked really ominous!

Obviously we had a really great time and enjoyed our day. Dane loved the Kelty cause he sits up a little higher and could see what was going on. Bones had a great time running around and as soon as he realized what we were out there chasing, he got really excited about spotting the ground squirrels.

Clint and I totally lucked out and we have tomorrow off together. I think we are just going to go for a run, maybe hike down by the river, and try to get some stuff done around the house. Clint has been working outside on the yard almost every day before work and is doing an incredible job. He is getting it thinned out and we can finally see out of our downstairs windows cause it isn't such a jungle. Dane is doing really well also. He is sleeping through the night now... Oh what a beautiful thing!!! WOO HOO!!! I didn't want to jinx it in the beginning, but I think we have a pretty good schedule going.

Anyway, take care everyone!!!!

Muffins with Mom!

Yesterday the daycare that Dane attends had a "muffins for mom" get together. Moms were encouraged to come and have muffins with their little ones. It was really nice and most of the moms were able to come.

Here is Dane when I first walked in. He was trying to pick the sprinkles off the top of his muffin!

He was really enjoying his muffin! In fact, they gave me one and I turned around for a moment. When I looked again, Dane had taken my muffin too!

The daycare also gave us some nice gifts. There is a little flower picture frame and a rose.

I had a really good time and I think it's pretty cool that they do this for all the moms. Dane is doing really well. He finally is walking all over. He can go for a while before he falls on his bumper! He is really enjoying his new "trick" and laughs when he is standing there by himself. He thinks he is so clever!!!

We were going to go up to the cabin, but I made a request to take the boat out to Holter and go fishing instead. After twisting Clint's arm (ha ha) we decided to go fishing and then head up to the cabin later in the week. Clint's schedule is really screwy right now, but it actually is working well for us!!! Woo hoo!!! Then we get to go over to Grandma and Grandpas for Sunday dinner! Should be a good time! Hope everyone else has a great weekend!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE GREAT MOTHERS OUT THERE!!!!

We love Wasabi!

We were munching on wasabi peas the other night and Dane wanted some. Well, we gave him a little bite and his reaction was just like it is for us!

Saturday

Yesterday was a pretty busy day. Dane and I got to hang out with Clint in the morning. We had a great time playing, reading books, and just having a little family time. Clint had to go to work in the afternoon, so Dane and I went to "the bounce house" for a little fun with his friend Stylz. The kids had a really great time...

Then we we went downtown for the annual car show. I'm not really that interested in cars, but it was a beautiful day and an excuse to get out and enjoy the sunshine!

After that we went over to Grandma's and Grandpa's for the evening. Dane had a great time playing with his Grandparents! It was a nice evening, the only thing it was missing was Clint!!!

Here are the boys playing...

Dane having some fun with his Grandpa!

Today we are going to stick close to home and get some stuff done around here. Then Clint has tomorrow off, so we plan on doing something fun. We hope everyone else has had a great weekend!

Fishing

Monday we went out to the Missouri and did a little bass fishing. We had a really good time, and Clint was able to land 2 decent bass. We hiked down to a hole that we never had fished before and it looks really promising. It was nice when we started, but it was getting pretty chilly by the time we decided to go, so we will have to revisit that hole. When we were out there I told Clint that they were calling for 13-20 inches of snow. He didn't believe me for a second... But, it felt like something was coming.

Anyway, while we were out we saw this beautiful bald eagle and Clint got some great pictures.

Dane enjoyed the hiking part but didn't like the fishing too much. We were standing too still, and he couldn't see around me to see what was going on.

My hubby is such a handy guy. He doesn't need a stringer... He makes his own!

Clint with one of his nice bass

So, I wasn't full of it when I told Clint we were suppossed to get so much snow. This morning the paper said that we broke the 3 day record. We got 25 inches of snow! It just kept coming down! and it was super heavy wet snow so it was hard to shovel and broke one of our trees. (I actually didn't have to shovel... My awesome hubby did it all when I was at work)
Here it is after the first day of snow.
Here's our walkway during the storm

Nothing slows Bones down!!!

Dane also got a really cool crib from Nana and Grandpa. With the storm raging outside, Clint was forced to stay inside and put his skills to good use. Now Dane has an awesome new crib. I will put a picture on the blog this weekend! He is sleeping good and seems to like it! Thanks Nana and Grandpa!