Summertime Fun!

Oh, the joy of summer! We have spent our days off fishing and gardening. I am so excited about our garden. We've harvested quite a bit of fresh spinach, arugula and cucumbers so far and the tomato plants are HUGE and the brussel sprouts are quite large as well. The carrots are getting close and the onions and herbs are doing very well. It's so nice to pick fresh veggies for your family. It's something I highly recommend.

Here are some pics of the projects and jewelry I've finished and the greenhouse/garden. We just transplanted some more stuff from pots yesterday so Zach had to build a little fence to keep the doggies out. (This has yet to be hung in our bedroom.)
Our greenhouse and garden area.

Why Mommy shouldn't go down the slide meant for kids...

Mommy was trying to help Gavin go down a big, fast slide today at the park when his foot got caught on the side and was twisted and crushed between mommy and the slide as we continued to move forward. His Achilles tendon is strained and he can't walk on it. :(

Other than that tragedy, things are good. The weather is really starting to get wonderful with temps in the mid 70's today. We went down to the river and laid out in the sun while Gavin napped. When he woke up we went exploring along the river's edge and saw grasshoppers (which he called Bees), actual bees and lots of butterflies. Daddy even caught a few friendly butterflies on his finger so we got to look really close and almost touch them!

The hills are turning green and the birds are doing a lot of chirping. I love that the sun doesn't go down until almost 10pm! It is so nice to hear the birds singing and be able to sit outside and read almost until my bedtime. Yesterday it was in the high 60's and we got some major thunder and rain. Zach was giddy with excitement. Weather really get's him all jazzed up!

Catching up

I can't believe it's been like 8 months since I posted last! My bad. :) Anyway, I guess a lot has changed since then: I got a job at Gold's Gym, we bought a house and most recently a puppy named Diesel. Zach was a manager at Macaroni Grill for a short time, but it just wasn't right for our family at that point - long, long shifts, working on his days off - that kind of thing. So, he's back to bartending and serving which is good. He's keeping busy. My job is pretty much the same all of the time except that I finally took my personal training certification test a couple weeks ago and passed. I haven't started training anyone yet - we're not really sure how God wants me to use the certification but I know it will be good. So, for now, I work 4:30 am - 9:30 am Monday through Fri and I've been working Saturday's but we're trying to get me off of that shift.


Gavin is great! He's getting big and strong and fast. He's spitting new words all the time. He can now climb in and out of his crib with ease. Joy. :I He loves having the puppy around. Spring time is rapidly approaching here in Montana. Now, it'll snow for a day or two and then warm up to like 48 and melt it all away within hours (that's what's happening today). The days are getting longer and I'm getting ready for gardening season. We've got a lot of landscaping to do come spring and I'm planning a great big garden! So excited! I went and bought some seeds today and some peat pellets and soil tester. My mother-in-law already has some sprouting plants so I'd better catch up.

In December we drove out to Wyoming and picked up Zach's sister, Summer and her new husband, Fred, and they've been living with us since then. It's taken Fred a long time to find a job but he just started working this week - thank God. They're really great and they've been super helpful with Gavin. Plus, they've got a 2 year old dog that has been a really awesome big sister for Diesel. She wears him out and then he sleeps. It's working for us. He behaves much better after playing all day.

Here are some pics from the last few months:

New Stuff

So, with gas prices sky rocketing, as I'm sure you are all experiencing, we decided to get a motorcycle. We bought an 06' Yamaha R6 this week and Zach is very excited. It's black, of course. He still needs to get licensed so it'll be a few weeks before he's riding it daily, but it should help quite a bit with spending in the gas department. He'll be starting work at Macaroni Grill this coming week and he'll be working doubles for two weeks while they do training and such, so it'll be a little crazy around here. The weather is getting better...I'm afraid to even mention it because it changes so quickly. This is a nice time of year though, it's warm but there's thunder storms and such, so the air has some moisture - it's VERY DRY here otherwise.

Gavin is getting about 5 teeth in right now and we've just come off of, and I'm not even sure we've got them all cleared up, 3 ear infections back to back. Poor Gavin. He's getting so big. He's walking about 90% of the time now, so he's moved into the toddler stage for sure. Not a lot of real words yet though. He calls me Da Da and that's about it for sure, otherwise, it's your best guess. Oh, AND the other day while he was napping he woke up and kind of whined and then tried to lay back down. A few seconds later he woke up again but this time he was whining like he need me, so I went up to check on him and there was a WASP climbing down the rail of his crib! He was stung twice - one on each leg. :( Poor Gavin. Thank God though he was fine a few minutes later and the bites didn't swell, they didn't itch, nothing. They're just little specks now. Phew.

When Zach and I went to pick up the bike the other day we had to drive out to Missoula and it was beautiful with a capital B! We saw 2 bald eagles - that makes 5 since we've been here and the other day we saw 2 foxes, so pretty.

I've been studying, and am a little more than half way through the text book, to get my personal trainer certificate and I will probably be returning to work after that, at least part time. I'm really excited because I think the Lord is going to use this skill to reach young women who, like I was, are so desperate to be "beautiful" as the world tells us beautiful is. Thank God I know the Truth now and I think this will be a great tool to reaching out to those who might be hurting. Thank you Lord.

I just joined a new play group that's really active, so hopefully I'll make some friends. They all seem really fun and nice, so praise God.

The Birthdays

Gavin's birthday was last Monday and mine was on Tuesday. Here are the pictures of the party. I'll post more later.

Scratch that..

Scratch that - we almost bought a house. Again.

Exciting News!

So, I've finally got something worth writing about. Hopefully, I'm not sharing this info prematurely because there are still some hurdles that have to be overcome BUT, we bought a house today - at least, we made an offer that was accepted. Now begins the inspections and, because all homes out here are ancient - like over 100 years old - there are some things that are going to have to be taken care of right off the bat. That being said, this is exciting stuff! It's a bit hard to believe after all of the moving and shaking that Zach and have done since we've been together, if you know what I mean. So, let's all pray that things go well with the inspection and appraisal and that the stress won't be overwhelming for Zach and I. I'll have to post a picture of it after we get the stucco re-done (the main thing that needs to be repaired immediately) and after we paint and all that good stuff and make it ours. It's a tiny little place, but we've got to start somewhere. Prayers are appreciated. :)