We Made It!

First of all, thank you to everyone that helped us before we left Provo- moving and feeding us! You are so wonderful!

I had to throw this random picture in here somewhere because its just so cute! We stopped on our way up in Rexburg to say 'Hi' to my parents at my dad's office. Gayla, my dad's secretary, did a little recruiting and I'm sure they've got Reese's resume somewhere on file now. She was a natural!

Well, somehow we survived the rigors of moving, cleaning the apartment, leaving five hours later than we'd planned, blah, blah, blah, and are now in the oh-so-delightful 60-degree weather of Great Falls, Montana. Ahh, you gotta love double servings of springtime!

Where to start? Since we got in Tuesday night, the week has been a relaxing mix of unpacking (MUCH more fun than it's never-ending counterpart), getting acquainted with the town (one way streets are definitely something to get used to), and fun touristy stuff. Ry doesn't start work until Tuesday so we've made sure to mix in a fair share of pleasure with all the business of getting settled.

But before I give you an overload of pictures, let me just say that I LOVE our apartment. Love, love, love it. Would you like to know why? Would you? Well, first of all, its so pretty. :) Ry laughs at me when I say that, but its the truth.

It's the upstairs of an old Victorian home built in the early 1900's so all of the doorknobs are engraved, there's 6" molding around all of the door frames, and its just a fun, MUCH larger layout than we're used to. And the best part is that our landlord, this funny, jittery guy who reminds me so much of a cross between my mom's brothers, is a member of the town's Historic Building Society and he's restoring the whole thing. Claw-footed tub, pedestal sinks, etc. I just love it. Did I mention there's an attic complete with pull-down ladder from the ceiling- how can you not be in love with a place this charming? For a couple of history buffs such as ourselves, I'm sure you can imagine how much fun we're having.

Sorry for the long tangent, but congratulations for making it through! I couldn't help myself, and once we have everything put away I'll be sure to put up some pics to show it off. :)

Ok, now its time for the pictures. I think I'll tackle yesterday's outing today, and leave the rest for later.

Welcome to

Ulm Pishkun

Weird Name, Cool Place.

B u f f a l o J u m p a n d M u s e u m

These guys were Reese's best friends in the museum. She climbed right into the display with them and petted their noses and I think she even gave the calf a kiss. The museums here are great because for the most part they have a strict "Please Touch" policy. :)

Reese and I, plopped down on a comfy buffalo rug

How can you resist trying on a hat like this?!

Reesey digging for fossils and arrowheads

On our way up the three-mile trail. You can see why they call it Big Sky Country.

This was awesome. At the top of the buffalo jump was a Prairie Dog Town. After you huff and puff your way up the cliff, you hear an incessant yipping. Looking around it looks like just a bunch of rocks around little mounds. But they are actually prairie dogs, tons and tons of them, and they sound just like little metal detectors- the closer you get, the faster they yip.

This is the Buffalo Jump. Back before the Native Americans had horses, they still hunted buffalo- but in a different way. Basically, one brave kid- usually about 12- would wear a buffalo skin over him and lead the herd of buffalo from the plain where they were grazing to the edge of a cliff. He would leap onto one of the rocks and hide himself in the crevices while the animals fell over. The rest of the waiting tribe would then take the animals for meat, tools, clothing, etc. This particular jump was used for about 800 years!

This is the view from the top. See that gray line in the center? That's the museum, where we hiked from and back. It was a great hike- complete with snake sighting. We were warned before we left to be on our guard for rattlesnakes, apparently they were coming out of their holes in droves since it was warming up. And when we got back, one of the Museum workers told us someone last week counted 17 of them coming out as he took a rest on one of the benches!

Good freaking laws! I think I would have died.

Luckily, ours, though uncomfortably large, was only a harmless gopher snake. And lucky for me, Ryan had the foresight to jump in front of me when he saw it crossing our path, saving me from happening upon it without warning. Thanks Babe, you are definitely my hero!

Tangle with a Toasted Marshmallow

So, the packing continues- as well as the hunt for a new apartment come Fall-time. While checking out the housing board up at the Wilk we saw a card advertising a Lovesac for a killer deal. We'd never planned to get one- couldn't see spending $500 on a beanbag- but we got a little crazy and decided to embrace a funky eclectic furniture style for our new apt sans traditional couches.

When we went to pick the thing up I suppose we underestimated what "5' diameter" actually meant. We opened up the passenger door to our Chevy Malibu and started shoving. Its squishy, right? It should be able to fit, no problem, right?

Wrong. We pushed and shoved and crawled inside and pulled and heaved and grunted. All the while with Reesey screaming at the top of her lungs from the back seat. Apparently i was all too much like a scene from a horror flick- a giant brown blob was eating her parents before her eyes and she was forced to watch the gruesome deed.

Well, we regrouped, moved her carseat, and tried for the back. Long story short (too late) we finally got it in- and home. And now its our favorite piece of furniture. Reese especially, despite the shaky beginning, has come to love what we lovingly call "the marshmallow".

So, speaking of furniture, we trying to sell the set of blue couches we've got before we head out for Montana on Monday, so if you or anyone you know would be interested please let us know.

Well, there's my sales pitch for the morning. I guess I can check that one off my list.

Here' they are, by the way. The sofa has a hide-a-bed in it. :) Good condition, easy to clean, and comfy.

A Veritable Smorgasbord of Random Photos

Definitely the longest title thus far, but that, my friends is exactly what this is. I figure catch-up is much easier with visuals, so here we go. . .


A few weeks ago we travelled up to Idaho, dropped Reese off with my parents and proceeded on (ha, any Lewis and Clark fans out there will get a kick out of that one) to Great Falls. Our plan? Check out the city, make sure we loved it, take a look at the apartment (which is AWESOME), and last but not least, fall in love with a copper-colored golden retriever at the local pet store that Ryan repeatedly and emphatically told me could not possibly come home with us.

This is Ry in front of the. . .well, I assume you can read the sign. This will be his new home for the summer- an insanely cool museum that we had a blast going through not once, but twice. Dress up pictures to follow.

This is me dressed up as Sacagawea, a kick-butt girl who carried her little baby ON HER HEAD over the mountains. That thing was seriously heavy, and not only that, but you couldn't hear a dang thing with the leather straps over your ears. Here I am, pointing the way to the exit, since I, too, am a kick butt girl. . . who was ready for some lunch.

How can you possibly pass up trying on costumes when there are like fifty hanging on the wall with a giant mirror right in front of you?! This is us as Lewis, and well, . . .Lewis. Yeah, that isn't historically accurate, but I think we look cute in our twinner get-up.

This is me as an Indian.

And Ryan too. I think we look quite authentic- you know, hair, coloring, goofy grins. We'd totally fit in.

This picture doesn't do it justice since its kinda cloudy and dull, but the Missouri was so pretty with all of the falls (hence the name of the town). Kill all the gnats and it would be a pretty much perfect place to live.

So, I would put in several more photos here of Great Falls, the Center, the Apartment, etc. but my computer is being selective on which photos it will and will not upload, so you can just use your imagination (or come visit us this summer! We know of a great B&B where you can stay!;)

This is kindof in reverse order, but on the way up we actually stopped at the Tauphus Park Zoo in IF, which I hadn't seen since I was like nine. Anyway, we had a great time- and don't worry, that tiger behind Reese was actually quite friendly. :)

They had a little petting zoo with some very smelly llamas and a few toys to climb on. I tried to get Reese to sit on the chicken with me repeatedly, but she flatly refused. Apparently this chicken was just waiting for its chance to come to life and bite her little nose off.

Skip to when we came home. One of the best $1 investments I ever made was a giant bubble wand from Wal-Mart the other day. We have now spent several days at the park blowing bubbles and having them pop into sloppy, sticky messes all over us as we chase after them. Reese loves them so much it made the impulse purchase completely worth it.

This is just Reesey being adorable. Which she's actually really good at. She's recently learned to smile for the camara, which makes the pictures so much better than when she just looked at the red, blinking light with a stunned look on her face.

So, uh, the other day Reese came out of our room wearing this. Nice dress, huh? She apparently found Ry's swim shorts in one of his drawers and managed to swathe herself in the various layers of it. She came out like a beauty queen who'd just been announced as the winner.

And this one just might be my favorite of all. Just because I'm the mom and I wanted to, I decided to put Reesey in her bathing suit a few weeks ago. I love this one- the ruffle, the stripes, the colors. Heck, I'd probably wear it if I could look that cute with a belly like hers. Anyway, she disappeared for a few minutes and I found her huffing and puffing as she struggled into my high heels. Love it!

And then a miracle happened. . .

I posted.

I was flattered and slightly chagrined to discover that I actually have a following, and some of them were wondering if I was dead, and when in the world I would be writing something new. So here I am, looking at the mountain of things that need to be updated and wondering where to start.

Well, lets just start with Reese. Safe to say, she's the major reason I have a following. :)

Ry and I have been joking for months that we really need to get her into some sort of baby modeling, you know, to do her part to support the family. Well, last night we went out to dinner with my parents and Melese and Kyle for Mother's Day and as we were leaving she made friends with the table next to us. The elderly couple and their daughter just couldn't get enough of her, and she didn't disappoint- she blew them kisses, told them every word and animal sound she knew, and yelled "Bye!" at the top of her lungs and waved all the way out of the restaurant.

"You just made our night!" the little old lady told us. Then she handed us a little card they'd received from their waitress for a free appetizer on a future visit. "We're not from around here, so you take it," she said. We happily accepted and left with the little socialite in tow.

It may not be a check from the modeling agency, but we were pretty happy with her contribution; I guess we'll keep her for a little while longer. But seriously, its funny how many people we meet and strangers we strike up conversations with because of our little Bug. Who knew we'd need help making friends from an almost two-year-old?

Well, I actually had planned to top this post off with a whole slew of pictures, but for some reason they won't upload. So I'll just wait and try again tomorrow.

Wonder. . .full.

Our neighborhood is an interesting place. Sometimes a little scary, and sometimes just weird. Driving home from BYU we just saw a pickup truck whose entire bed was filled with loaves of Wonderbread speeding towards the freeway exit. Hundreds of white and wheat, piled up to almost overflowing, and we're thinking, "Where could they be going with this? That's a heck of a lot of ducks to feed."

Actually, what we were really thinking was this:
"What idiot punk held up the Hostess Bakery?"



Yes, yes. This is our world.

A Few Thoughts

I felt like writing something personal today. A change from my usual, humorous observation of the world around me.

Yesterday I was released from my calling at church, one I've had for over a year, and one that required a lot in the area of service and personal sacrifice. Once home, Ryan and I got to talking about just how much we've changed in the last year; we talked not only of the change, but the overwhelming improvement that change has brought. The more I think about it the more I am convinced that service makes us better than we ever could be by just focusing on ourselves and working the 'me-time' into our calendars. We've all heard it a million times over, especially from our religious leaders, yet the world around us spouts so much of the opposite we find ourselves hesitating to look out instead of in. After all, who wouldn't take a full-body massage over hours spent cleaning someone's house?

Luckily the Lord knows better than the self-help books. He knows that our own happiness, wisdom, and ability to love increase as we forget ourselves and get to work helping those around us. I love that aspect of the gospel!

I don't want this to turn into a talk or a sermon or anything like that, but I think I just wanted to recognize what I've learned. And somehow, for me, putting thoughts on paper engrain them that much more in my mind and keep them in the forefront for days when I forget the things that really make me happy.

Sometime Me Cry Alone At Night

Last night I started reading out loud to Ryan from the book he got me last Christmas. I should mention that our first Christmas together, Ryan introduced me to a comic writer named David Sedaris by reading aloud his piece entitled, "Santa Claus and the Six to Eight Black Men". It was hilarious. Before you decide we're racist, I'll explain that it's a sketch he gives about the world's various traditions and ideas of Santa Claus. Very funny. One of those sublime pieces of joy you want to share with those you love each holiday season.

Well, months ago I heard that the same author had come out somewhat recently with a book,
a hilarious modgepodge of sketches about growing up, but, more importantly, his time living in Paris. Obviously I was interested on a french level, and as an added bonus it was an author I loved! I finally started Me Talk Pretty One Day several weeks ago and while it was funny it didn't have me laughing out loud, which is usually something that ensures my undying devotion to any book. I was slightly disappointed but pressed on notwithstanding.

Well, I picked it up again last night for another go and within minutes I was laughing so much to myself that Ryan insisted I read it aloud. Another ten minutes and there were tears welling up in our eyes and streaming down our cheeks. Twenty minutes after that we had to take a break because we were 'this close' to wetting ourselves.

One of our favorite parts is his description of French class. A brutal, authoritarian teacher, a petrified class of foreign students in the early stages of sentence-forming, and their pathetic attempts to communicate with the outside world. Anyone who has ever tried to learn a foreign language while living in a foreign country can relate wholeheartedly with the following excerpt. However, I'm pretty sure that even if you've never left your own hometown this will still give you a good chuckle.

We'd have one of those 'complete this sentence' exercises, and I'd fool with the thing for hours, invariably settling on something like 'A quick run around the lake? I'd love to! Just give me a moment while I strap on my wooden leg.' The teacher, through word and action, conveyed the message that if this was my idea of an identity, she wanted nothing to do with it.

'I hate you,' she said to me one afternoon. Her English was flawless. 'I really, really hate you.' Call me sensitive, but I couldn't help but take it personally.

We soon learned to dodge chalk and protect our stomachs whenever she approached us with a question. She hadn't yet punched anyone, but it seemed wise to protect ourselves against the ineveitable. . . Before beginning school, there'd been no shutting me up, but now I was convinced that everything I said was wrong. When the phone rang, I ignored it. If someone asked me a question, I pretended to be deaf. I knew my fear was getting the best of me when I started wondering why they don't sell cuts of meat in vending machines.

My only comfort was the knowledge that I was not alone. Huddled in the hallways and making the most of our pathetic French, my fellow students and I engaged in the sort of conversation commonly overheard in refugee camps.

'Sometime me cry alone at night.'
'That be common for I, also, but be more strong, you. Much work and someday you talk pretty. People start love you soon. Maybe tomorrow, okay.'

Unlike the French class I had taken in New York, here there was no sense of competition.

pg 171-172

Wow. Funny. I'm giggling as I type. You should definitely check this one out, it is well worth your time and tears. Be forewarned that his language and lifestyle are a bit on the colorful side, but I still recommend him. He's hilarious.