To Build a Fire

Don't worry about the title. I never much cared for Jack London- in fact, I blame Call of the Wild for my first detention- so this post won't be analyzing his short story. This is the video I promised a few days ago- I actually figured it out- yay for me!

And now, here's Ryan, showing off some wilderness skills for your fire-building enjoyment.

Skinny Jeans

I took a few hours off from playing mom last night to go shopping, and while gathering a pile of possibilities I accidentally picked up a pair of 'skinny jeans'. I couldn't help bursting out laughing in the dressing room when I got them on because in a matter of seconds I was transported back to 1988 when I remembered feeling the exact same way about my reflection:


"Umm. . . I don't think I look like the girl in the picture. And I feel. . . uncomfortably exposed."


There's something wrong with a style when even the six-year-olds refuse to come out of the dressing room. Honestly! Did anyone like them the first time around? So, needless to say, I folded the pants back up and plopped them down on the discard pile- at least I got a great laugh out of it! Thank heavens now is the time of any style, and we can turn our noses up to those we never liked or understood.

I recently bought a book titled The Science of Sexy and I absolutely love it.




Bradley Bayou is a well-known celebrity designer who gives the ins and outs of body shape and size and the do's and don'ts of each. Measure yourself, find your shape and size on the chart and head over to your "dressing room" where he tells you just what cut, color, and style look best on you. There's even a glossary in the back where he explains just what a godet skirt is, the difference between stovepipe and straightleg pants, and tons of other terms that, if you're like me, you've heard before but don't have a clue what they are or what they do.

Love it- you should definitely check it out!

Take a left at the Bison and straight on thru to the black bear.

Last week Ryan and I jetted down to my parents to drop our little munchkin off for a few days while we celebrated our anniversary hiking through Yellowstone. We had a BLAST! We feel like National Park addicts, and have pretty much decided that before we die, we will have visited all of them.

Since I was little, my family visited Yellowstone pretty much every year, but somehow I have never really seen the eastern side. So that's where we focused for the two days we were there; we camped in Canyon (by utter chance we happened to snag the last campsite in this gorgeous, secluded area) and spent our time hiking around Artist's Point and through the Lamar River Valley. This was seriously some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen. And like so many others this summer, we saw so many animals! I had pretty much decided that bears in Yellowstone were just a myth, until we saw both a black and grizzly bear. We saw antelope, moose, and buffalo by the dozens- one even parked itself in the middle of our hike, forcing us to take a wide detour off the trail. Here are some pictures to tell the story.

Artist's Point

Here's the little Black bear- unfortunately hiding his face behind some grass

It reminded me of how I used to beg my parents for a Black Bear as a pet-

"But I'll teach him to be nice. . . "

Somehow the animals seemed to enjoy their moment with the paparazzi- this deer posed for about 15 minutes while passing hikers snapped shots from only about 10 feet away.

After a long day of hiking and picture-taking, we settled into our campsite and Ryan finally showed me his mad fire-making skills. He gives demonstrations at the Lewis and Clark center on a daily basis, and he’s gotten really good at it. It was so much fun to watch him. Smart, handsome and rugged- I totally scored!

Ryan's Fire


Hot pots.


Looks superimposed, doesn't it? Well its not!

In the Lamar River Valley

Happy Anniversary to US!

Ha, I just realized that my title is a lovely little play on words. Both the good old U S of A and my awesome hubby and I celebrated our anniversaries this weekend. And they were both fantastic.

We started the Fourth with a little Stars and Stripes breakfast- yeah, the bananas look more like flowers than stars, but maybe if you squint. . .



Since Ry had to work, and Reese decided to take a monster nap (no complaints here), I spent most of the day playing Pastry Chef. As a young child (this is pathetic, I know) I fell in love with a tv show called Cooking at the Academy. The Academy was actually a Culinary Institute of America, and I remember drooling over their professional jackets and perfectly pleated tokes. In fact, I still have the little recipe cards I wrote my favorite things down on- they were things like how to make chocolate teacups with tuile cookie spoons, and spun sugar birds' nests. What can I say, I was a quirky kid (my family will back me up on that one) who knew exactly what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

Anyway, ever since then I've been wanting to make spun sugar myself. My culinary classes barely skimmed the surface of all the fun sugar work, and so, with my husband gone, and my two-year-old terror asleep, I celebrated Independence Day by going crazy with a pot of caramel.

And I had so much fun I almost cried.

Later that night, we ran out to the backyard to enjoy a little air and within a matter of seconds, were in the middle of a torrential downpour. We toughed it out for a few minutes, but Reese has a thing with getting wet, and apparently she didn't want anyone else to suffer either because even once we were sitting up on the porch she kept sobbing, "Daddy, TOES!!!" His feet were hanging over the steps and drops of rain were pelting them all over.

We opted to stay home for the fireworks show, and I'm so glad we did. We had a PERFECT view from our front window, and the combination of these fireworks being the best we have seen yet and the fact that we didn't have to deal with crowd control on the way home made it an excellent way to ring in our own anniversary. Which was simply wonderful.

To my Ryan,

I can't believe we've been married for 3 years, the time has absolutely flown by.

I've never laughed so much,

been so crazy and spontaneous,

had so many car problems,

found so much joy in pinning or pushing someone off the bed,

or been so completely happy as I have since I met you.

You rock my world, baby. I love you.

The Lewis and Clark Festival

This last weekend was quite the tadoo (sp?) down at the Lewis and Clark Center- it was the annual L&C Festival which meant all sorts of fun and activities for kids and parents alike, live rattlesnakes (which I thought was a little strange since, normally, we avoid them at all costs) and a serious sunburn for Ryan. People with our skin weren't meant for all-day sun exposure.

To boot, we had my parents up visiting for the weekend. We had a great time, and showed off all the Great Falls hot spots. ;)

Here are some pics from the weekend!

This was the weaponry tent- they showed all the rifles, guns etc that the Expedition used, including shooting off an Air Rifle.

This was the Medicine tent- gotta say, I'm SOOOO glad we live now. The basic cure-all for the members of the expedition was something that came to be know as Rush's Thunderbolts- a mix of Mercury, Jalepeno oil, and a few other things. I think I would have kept any sickness to myself to keep from getting cleaned out like that!

Mom and Dad getting into the spirit of things.

Reesey liked the rocks.

I love a man in uniform!

Our Indian Princess

Summer Reading

Our internet's been a little shifty for the last few weeks, and so I've just spent the last hour or so catching up on everyone's lives, and loving it. I love all the funny little things that happen from day to day- I think that's one of the greatest things about blogging. It's fantastic that we suddenly feel confident and justified in publishing the otherwise overlooked and seeemingly insignificant nothings of our life for the world to see. I'm a huge fan of nothings.

Well, life in Montana is great- quite the vacation-land. True, most everything closes up around 5 or 6 (or sometimes earlier), and while we went through a little detox our first month (i.e. "So, do you want to hang out at Walmart or Barnes and Noble for our date tonight?) the gorgeous scenery and outdoor adventures are winning us over. It is absolutely beautiful here.

One of the things that makes me feel like I'm on vacation the most is that I'm reading like crazy. The best part about summer to me when I was a kid was the fact that I could stay up pretty much however late I wanted reading. I know, I'm a nerd. But still, I didn't have to get up for school, so it was ok if I blitzed my brain by staying up to finish an extra book. Ahh, those crazy summer nights!

Getting back to it, in the last week I've tucked three novels under my belt, read through countless cookbooks (you had to see that one coming), and am halfway through two others. I have loved them all so much I just had to share.

Heartbeat by Sharon Creech- She is one of my favorite authors (see other recommendation further down), and this book was wonderful. I love the strong character role-models she gives for young girls.

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown- I heard from so many people that they liked this one better than the first, and after reading it. . . I still don't know. I suppose I'm partial to the first for Parisian reasons, but I gotta say this guy definitely knows how to write a page-turner!

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo- LOVE LOVE LOVED it! It was charming and delightful and I felt myself tear up just a bit, which is always a sign of an excellent book.

Here are the books I'm currently in the middle of, and I'm LOVING them. Both highly recommendable!

His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis

Prelude to Glory Series by Ron Carter


Reading the young adult books this last week reminded me of so many others great ones, so here are some of my favorites if you are looking for something to read to your kids or happen to love the genre yourself.


Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath


Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech- this is quite possibly my favorite book of all time!


Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

So there you go, just a few of my favorites. I hope you pick one of them up- and yes I know, titles should be underlined instead of italicized, but where in the world is the underline button?!
My English professors would be ashamed.

Update

We totally caved.

Reese got to stay up an extra hour with us. I just couldn't put her back until the little hyperventilaty sniffles had completely passed.

The smart little stinkpot.