Ugh and WooHoo!

Well it's official, we gave notice on our apartment today and will be moving into a house where we can have a dog and a cat. We would like to get a puppy but since the landlord wants the pets to be house trained, I think we will have to get a used dog. We had a dog all picked out in Missoula, but we called a day too late and she already has a new family. I was going to fly her home on the airplane too. Speaking of which. . . they make these things called mutt muffs which are ear muffs for your dog so she doesn't loose her hearing while flying with you. I've wanted a dog to go flying with ever since I saw a guy that was flying a check run flying with his dog. He would tell the dog to take the checks to the airplane and the dog would take the bag of checks and load them on the airplane for him. How cool is that?! You see all kinds of cool stuff flying in the middle of the night. Anyway, back to the house, it's a two bedroom so ya'll can come up and stay with us (hurry summer is almost over). The actual living area is kind of small but I think it will be fine. There is an unfinished basement where we will finally have enough room to store all of our crap. I think this winter I might accidentally throw up some studs and drywall and finish the basement for them. . . what are they going to do evict us? Leave it better than you found it right? So all in all we are excited, no more noisy doods downstairs, no more carrying groceries up three flights of stairs, the rent is cheaper and we get to have pets! The only down side is moving which is the worst thing in the world in my opinion. I think in hell, people are forced to move for eternity, at least that sounds like the worst thing possible to me. Too bad we can't get the company to pay for our moving expenses I would hire movers in a heartbeat! Oh yeah, we will be two blocks away from a really cool park and we will both be closer to work too. Does anyone know of a great dane than needs a new family? That would be a dog that could load a lot of mail on my airplane!!

Jaco and Bianca's Wedding

We have been traveling once again. We left on July 18th for Silver City, New Mexico to attend our good friend Bianca's wedding. It was so much fun to meet Jaco and to participate in their wedding. Here are a couple of the pics.









I will blog about the rest of our trip some time this week... no more big trips for a while so hopefully we will be back on our consistent blogging schedule :)

Jeff's favorite holiday

The Fourth of July is Jeff's favorite holiday :) He just loves to set things on fire and blow things up! This year it was Jeff and the kids out there, a place where we felt the loss of our friend because in the past it was Kelly, Jeff and the kids out there blowing things up. We spent it with Kelly's sister Terry and her family which is always a good time :) My favorite part of the holiday is playing with my camera so here are some of my favorite shots.

Crazy Pilot - Plane race

Thought this was kind of funny

The 10 Day Tour of Texas

It has been a while since we have posted, sorry, time just gets away from you when you are preparing to be away for 10 days. In those 10 days I stayed in 7 places beginning and ending my journey in Austin. Texas is home, although my trip began without my sweet husband and home is really wherever he is, but it still felt familiar and Montana just hasn't reached that place yet.

My first stop was Dallas where I was able to spend time with my brothers and their families (we missed you Emily) and then with one of my best and oldest (as in time not in age) friends, Jennifer and her husband Eric. I left Dallas for Longview where there was some quality time spent with my Mom, Uncle Thomas and Aunt Nancy and my cousin Leigh. Next was visiting College Station and getting to see many dear friends, have a little midnight adventure (like the old times) and watch SYTYCD :) Then it was back through Austin to pick up my sweet husband Jeff and head off to San Antonio where we had our first marathon date. I had booked a room at "the" Hyatt on the riverwalk that morning so when we arrived we parked in the parking garage, unloaded all our luggage and went in to check in... no reservation... oops we are at the other Hyatt. So we load up the car, get our parking validated and head out to the other Hyatt, park in the parking garage, unload all our luggage and went in to check in... no reservation... "are you kidding me.... are there 3 Hyatts on the riverwalk?" Yes, yes there are. We load up, once again get our parking validated and head out to find yet another hotel on the oneway unfamiliar streets of downtown San Antonio. Fortunately this was the correct hotel and we were finally able to get settled in, our vacation just had a little scavenger hunt thrown in, good times. We had blast at the riverwalk, the next day we went to a museum which had built several of DaVinci's machines. We spent the afternoon in historic Gruene, TX, ate dinner at the Gristmill and then headed out the friendunion (or reunion of friends) in Stonewall just outside of Fredericksburg (the original reason for the TX tour). Friends, Bocce ball, Scummy and food from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon... so much fun! We went to Austin that night and were able to eat dinner one more time with Gabe and Whitney, one of the couples at the friendunion and flew back home the next day.

Here are the pics, I made a few albums because there are a lot... hope you enjoy them :)

Before Jeff Arrived

Us in San Antionio/Gruene

Stonewall Freindunion 2008

We have a tendency to go a little bit photo crazy, just be glad that we only had one of our cameras with us ;)

Today summer has finally begun...

We have had some trouble living in Montana... socially it has been a bit difficult for us to find fellowship, there is not a whole lot to do in Billings, winters last a loooong time AND THEN there is redemption in summer :) During the summer we get to hike, camp, bike and enjoy God's amazing creativity!!! Today we had the opportunity to start that process by hiking 3 miles up to Sioux Charlie Lake. While typing this I am feeling every sore muscle and the skin on the back of my heels is completely worn off... but I wouldn't change today for anything. Below are the pics from our day, we would love to take any of you on our next hike ;) Click this for more pics http://picasaweb.google.com/jefferyjg/SiouxCharlie

One Year

On Tuesday May 27th we celebrated our 1st anniversary :)

This last year has really flown by... it has been such a joy to have Jeff as a husband!! God was so very generous in giving me an understanding, generous, kind, funny man to share life with. It has been a good year. The timing of our celebration came in the midst of a time of grieving but it was still a wonderful day. Jeff gave me a necklace that he had bought while we were on our honeymoon, he had seen me point at it and then snuck away to get it, hid it for a full year and then gave it to me on Tuesday... he is so thoughtful, I was blown away! The first gift that I gave Jeff was a watch that had an altimeter and some other fun features but it turned out to not be very high quality (not for the active life that Jeff leads :) so for our anniversary he got a new watch fully loaded with an altimeter, compass, barometer, weather trend... and some other fun stuff. After gifts we went to dinner at a restaurant called The Granary, they have the BEST steaks we have ever eaten. Dinner was wonderful and we had a great night just being alone together, we had been around people constantly for about 4 days.

Here are some pictures of that night:

I am wearing my new necklace



Jeff is wearing his new watch



Our favorite jewelry is still



And, the official first anniversary pic