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.

A Jaunt to Whitefish

September fifth through the eighth Tuff and I took the near eight hour drive from Billings to Whitefish to see our college friend Matt Ward get married.

The nice thing about driving all the way to Whitefish is that we get to see our friends Jan and Johanna Steenekamp along the way in Great Falls.

Below is a very serious Tuff and the Steenekamp's Italian Greyhound Rafa (Jan is a tennis pro in Great Falls).  Tuff was showing off his golf outfit for the following day's wedding golf outing.

The invite said to wear "eccentric" golf attire.  Other than a man who showed up in a kilt, everyone was dressed in regular golf attire.  I suppose that could be considered eccentric to some.

Below we posed with the groom.  I used to work with Matt at Missoula Country Club.  He was a bag boy, I was a beverage cart girl.

Wedding day!  Matt is looking dapper.

Kim was stunning.  We just got the chance to meet her during the pre-wedding festivities.  She also graduated from the University of Montana but the now wedded couple didn't start dating until after we left Missoula.

While in Whitefish we stayed with college friends Noah and Megan Couser.  They took us on a hike up Whitefish Mountain, which is where we sometimes ski in the winter.

Along the trail we picked and snacked on huckleberries!  They were perfect.

About three miles up and one to go.  Group photo opp.

Noah and Megan are full time teachers and photographers on the side.   Noah has his own photography website http://noahcouserphotography.com/.  He follows beauty and adventure with his camera.  In the picture below he is pointing out a rock on the side of the mountain that he often shoots skiers and snowboarders flying off of (by shoots I mean takes pictures of).  Check out his website galleries.  They are breathtaking, plus you'll see a bit of Montana.

Come on Tuff!  You're not that out of shape are you?

We didn't have time to walk back down the mountain because we had a wedding to get to so we rode the chairlift down!

Those are mountain bike trails along the way.

The mountain bikes take the lift up.

While we were enjoying western Montana, Tuff's saint of a sister Jeri Lyn watched Grace.  With that came her two little ones.  It was a 1, 2, 3 punch.  Grace age 1, Kylee age 2 and Kaydee age 3.

Since we've been back in town we've enjoyed the fall-like weather and are getting some hiking in at Zimmerman Park.

Tuff and Grace are moving at Sasquatch speed!

A little bit of Billings in the background.

Those are some happy hikers!

Grace is weighing in around 26 pounds these days so it makes for a nice workout.

These two are hopelessly in love.

A typical day in the life of Grace.  She daily asked for bubbles.  Its funny because her Minnesota cousin Bo coined her the nickname Bubbles as she used to blow spit bubbles as a baby.

This is the bubble dance.

More bubbles please.

And finally the latest is we've started potty training.  Grace had shown some interest.  Wish us luck!