Fall: Sort Of

Its been unseasonably cold here in Billings.  Marked October 3rd by the first snow fall of the season.

Which led to an awesome morning snow adventure with Grace.

Notice the footprints below.  I put her there, and there she stood, not sure what to do.

Also not sure what gloves are.

But she can sure eat the snow.  When it melted in her glove she got excited calling it "ice."  She's right.

This was one day prior to the snow.

And this was just a few days after the snow.  Montana can be crazy.

Tuff's dad and mom came to Billings for a visit.  I talked them into going on a hike.  It was such a clear day you could see the Beartooth Mountains in the far distance.

Grace, Tuff, Jerry (Tuff's dad) and Melody (Tuff's mom).

Grace and I went to the zoo the other day.

Notice the snack cup in each picture.  We lasted two hours thanks to the preoccupation.  As if the animals aren't enough!

She really loved the zoo (in the picture saying love in sign language).  We will go back soon.

Yep we did a photo booth at the zoo.  Grace was clueless.

Another project I've been oh so slowly working on.  I turned Grace's old crib (which was originally her cousin Finn's, Beck's then Bo's, then Soren's then Lucas' and Bjorn's) into a desk.

Here's the old crib.

I gave it a fresh coat of white paint with yellow rails and a clear satin coat over everything.  The mattress platform transformed with primer and chalk board paint into a chalkboard easel/desk.  Tuff came up with the idea to slant the platform.  Brilliant as the edge acts as a chalk ledge.

As Grace gets bigger I can raise the platform so she can fit a chair under.  Pretty fun for now.  The desk can also turn back into a crib at any time by just adding the mattress and front rail back on.

A closer look at Grace's art.

At work we got professional head shots done for personal trainer bios.  I did mine the other day and the guy was hilarious.  I was totally tempted to throw in a senior remake pose but he insisted on no hands near face.  Haha!

Its like back to school.  Anyone want a wallet size proof?

Finally today our Pittsburgh friends Matt and Jenny Wright are flying in to Billings for the week!  We are so excited.  Then just a few days after they depart my dad and mom are coming.  We are feeling blessed.

Below is Matt and Jenny helping us load our trailer in Pittsburgh, June 2012.

Jenny is the one that made me the rice krispie bar (my absolute favorite) cake for my birthday!  Those of you at Tuff's and my wedding remember we forgo cake for rice krispie bars.

And Jenny is the one that made these delightful cake pops for Kristen's and my baby shower.

It was at the Wrights house in Pittsburgh that we had Thanksgiving and the turkey juice overflowed all over the oven, smoking out the house.

We don't want that memory again but looking forward to making some this week.