Holidaze

We FINALLY got a tree.  We were headed to get a live one and then last minute we decided to get a fake tree.  It looks nice and it was fun to have the feeling of Christmas complete in our home.  

 

This would be Drew throwing a fit by the tree because I wouldn't let him hold the camera.  Life is so hard for a toddler. :)

The smile came before the shot took.

 

Drew loves his books.  I was able to capture this funny moment recently, when I was cleaning up the kitchen and he came in to 'read' his book.  He is so funny.  

Backing up...here was our Thanksgiving Dinner crew.  We had 20 people there (including the babies).  A good portion of the food came from Mom and Dad's garden!

 Smile!

Meal times are either a hit or a flop with Drew, but we can usually rely on him eating a good breakfast. 

For the Grandparents :)

He's such a ham!  We LOVE this boy!

Life

So we continue to adjust living in a remote place, but there are MANY things that are so appealing about living in a small place.  The other day driving home from church, we starting driving down the road to our house, and down the way there was a mom pulling her kids on a sled behind her four-wheeler.  That immediately put a smile on my face and made me more grateful for living here.  The town is just calm, no one is in a rush, and simple pleasures are being experienced.  Something else that you could find elsewhere, but still I thought it was nice...my mom went to buy butter on a Tues (thinking the sale was going to end...it was 2.99 rather than 4.30...disadvantage of MT are the insane food prices but no sales tax.:) and at the counter they said, knowing that she lives in the country and may not be in town the rest of the week to shop, that they would give her the additional sale price that would start the next day at 1.99!  I thought this was so cool.  They know her and her situation and make accommodations out of kindness. Anyway, the point is...I'm adjusting!  Still miss my quick runs to Roberts Crafts or to Walmart, but it's okay. 
  Meanwhile, back at the ranch...Andrew continues to love what he does.  This is a picture of our old cow barn that has been turned into "The Oil Barn." Andrew gets to come here each day...literally (kind of miss the 5 day work week) and get dirty and manage everything!  He and my dad work together, but my dad is helping with decisions and guiding, while Andrew carries it all out.  I'm really glad that he enjoys his work.  And, a plus is that the business is doing great. 

 This was just a cool shot from our kitchen window.  We live on the 'edge' of town and I think we have a great view of the mountains and well...cows. :) 

 Drew just keeps getting bigger...of course.  He is so funny and fun!  He gives sweet kisses, babbles a ton, he loves his books, his blankie, and balls.  He makes me giggle each day.  He has been going through the stage the last few  months of being very clingy to Mom and Dad.  He didn't even go to my mom until after a week of living at her house.  But now, although we are preferred, he realizes what he was missing out on.  He goes to my mom freely now and even has given her lovies (hugs and kisses) and he even went to Adam and got the giggles at just the excitement of being in Adam's arms.  (He's a big fan of his uncle.)  The last video catches his fun attitude when he needs a nap but has decided that one is all that he needs rather than two.  :)

Halloween

We were excited to have some trick-or-treaters this year (about 14).  It's the first time since we have been married.  We had my parents over for dinner and I made some sides that were in the holiday spirit.  

 Dad is modeling my "center piece."

 I'm sorry to say that this is as good as we got for a costume this year...Drew sporting his tiger hat.  I had other fun ideas in mind to make, but just didn't get around to getting the things that I needed.  Something else I kind of feel lame about is that these pictures were taken the morning after Halloween...yesterday was busy.  Anyway, so Drew was discovering snow again too.  He loved it.  Maybe next year I'll have real costumes for the two!

Not Outnumbered

Well, we had an ultrasound on Monday and are happy to announce that we are having a baby girl!!!  We were both thinking it was going to be a girl, but still felt a little shocked imagining a little girl joining our family!  We are really excited for her to come.  I'm half way thru the pregnancy and that is always a good thing! :)  Just wanted to share the news!

Crafting

So I have discovered Pinterest, which I'm sure many of you have forever ago...but I FINALLY looked at it and have loved the ideas I have seen.  So I got the bug...the crafting bug.  Just know that I don't do any sort of craft that takes tremendous amounts of artistic skill...that's why I loved the ones I found...super fast and simple.  It's probably a little late to be doing these but I figured I do them anyway, and plus Halloween hasn't past just yet. :) 

The pumpkin still needs a ribbon but since I don't have any, and I haven't gone to the town that does sell ribbon...I'm posting it ribbon-less.  But imagine a cute green (toward the sage color) ribbon tied at the base of the stick.

These mummies were SO dang easy.  

 

Big Sandy, MT

  The metropolis

Main Street (about 2 blocks)

                                                                         

In college when some would say, "I came from a small town," I usually took the cake on smallest towns.  This is Big Sandy.  I grew up here and we are living here again.  It's a town of about 700 and is 80 miles east of Great Falls (pop. 50,000) and 35 miles West of Havre (pop. about 9000).  It's a quiet place with lots of friendly people. We are still adjusting to being so far from bigger cities, but we enjoy our quiet area and we love our house.  

The Move

So moving,,,not my favorite thing I've decided.  I feel like this process has been SO long.  We lived amongst boxes in Springville for a month while packing up. Then we had to live out of our bags for almost two weeks while we waited for our place to have some maintenance and cleaning done to it.  (Thankfully my parents live here so we could stay at their place.)  Then we’ve lived amongst boxes here for almost a week while settling in.  I do like to organize but I’ve reached my limit. 

While we were staying at my parents’, Drew cut another tooth and got Roseola.  Needless to say it was a rough week for Drewboy and all involved.  But he is back to normal and sure has enjoyed having more space to explore.  

How am I adjusting you may be asking (or not)?  I think adjustment takes a lot of time.  The pattern in my life with big changes usually has been that I am fine for the first little bit and then have my breakdowns after a few weeks or so.  That was the case with going off to college, the mission, starting teaching etc.  So, I really started to miss my friends and the familiarity of live in UT these last couple of days. This could also be because Andrew went to Europe for business with my dad for a week and I've been without internet and tv. (It's amazing how much I rely on those things.)  Life is good though and it's so nice to have my family close.

On a more positive note, there are some fun things that we like about here already.  On a Sunday walk, we could hear coyotes yowling as we neared our house (they were quite a few miles away…don’t worry).  Also, we really like our house.  It’s spacious and it’s on the “edge” of town so we have a great view of the little mountains that are nearby.  It’s fun to see the morning sky…we missed out on that for 3 years living in the basement. :)    

Don't mind the mess in the pictures...haven't decorated fully yet. :)

The living room by the kitchen is Drew's toy area. 

 Love this kitchen...lots of counter space and cupboards.

 The little nook off from the kitchen.

From the front door...which no one comes to in this area.

Bundle of Fun

We were waiting in the lobby of Discovery Gateway.  Drew thought those things were a blast.  

He was gabbing quite a bit, but he slowed down once the camera was on.  

His silliness was still caught on tape.

The Latest

Throughout this summer, we have remained optimistic (for the most part) after many rejections from job inquiries and interviews.   About a month ago we reconsidered a business opportunity that we had up in MT with a new business my dad has been developing.  In May, after much prayer and consideration, we didn't feel that it was what we were to do, but this second time we felt a lot better and calmer about it.  We feel that we have the 'stamp of approval' from up above.  Therefore, we are moving Sept 23rd up to Big Sandy, MT. (about 11-12 hours north of here)

 We are excited to have a plan and know what we are going to be doing for the next year at least.  (We are going to try it for that long and see...)  There are many things that we will miss about living here in UT.  We love having things so close and convenient, but that just means that we are going to have to plan a little bit more and better than we do know as far as shopping goes.  We will miss being so close to the temple, and to other church facilities
.  

I will miss 'blending' in. I like just being a number in a sea of people.   I like being able to go to the store and not being noticed...nobody really in our business...which tends to happen in a small town.  I will miss having the 'arts' so close and living in the hub of where friends and family come or pass through.  I am really excited to live so close to my brother during his senior year of high school and be closer to my family in general!  There are some big advantages about living in a small town a far as people knowing you for business stuff is great.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to live in the 'mission field' again.  Random facts of Big Sandy Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam is from there, the world's largest tractor is there (Big Bud), and a friend of mine from hs is in a band Cody Beebe and the Crooks and they are making it big touring all over the country.  How's that for claim to fame?

In other news...Drew is going to be a big brother!!  In March we are welcoming a new, cute bundle into our family.  I'm nervous at times but now I'm more excited.  I think it will be great to have them close (19 month apart).  I'm excited to have a spring baby.  I have been sick again but I'm feeling much better faster than I did with Drew.  I'm 14 weeks and this week I had a few days that I didn't even feel pregnant...which is bliss after barfing your brains out for weeks on end.  Anyway so we have many new changes coming our way.

AUGUST

This was Drew's birthday cake! Happy Big 1, Buddy!

 Don't look too closely at the cake. :)

I think it was a success. 

Sportin' Top Teeth

Mainly for the Grandparents

So here are some pictures/movies of the fun babe at our house. 

In July, we went to the park that is by where we used to live.  I loved this picture because this was the slide and almost the same pose that we used for our wedding announcements. :)   

He FINALLY started signing back.

He's a genius! :)

He also loves playing ball with us. Of course I missed the beginning part when he was actually playing...but it's still cute. AND you get to see the new trick of sitting up from being on his tummy....finally.

I wanted to put this on here just to show you how he gets "pumping" when he's excited.  

July

Man, this summer is flying!  We have been gone half of this month and of June as well.  We have had a great time traveling though visiting family.  We went to California during the last week in June to attend Andrew's niece, Natalia's baptism.  It was nice to be there for that sweet experience.  Drew was a little overwhelmed with being in a new place and having lots of people around...he and I had plenty of bonding time.
  Two weeks later we drove up to MT to attend my grandpa's 90th birthday party.  The next day we drove down to the southern part of the state, near West Yellowstone to have a little family reunion with just my siblings and their families.  We were there for 5 days and really enjoyed our vacation.  We were able to go to see a play in West Yellowstone, visit Virginia City, see Quake Lake, and we went swimming up in Bozeman at their hot springs.  Drew loved the water.  Unfortunately, our last morning there, Drew had a reaction from eggs.  It started with swelling lips and ended in hives.  Poor boy.  I hope he grows out of this.

First time swimming...loved it!

 Cousins picture.  Drew was melting down and Charlie is wondering why (and blocking Gwen).  We were only missing two cousins from the Long side. 

  It's been a fun, busy summer, but I'm ready to just stay home for a bit.

Quake Lake near Ennis, MT.  This used to be a river until an earthquake hit in the middle of the night causing half of a mountain to crash down and destroy roads and back up the river.  

 Family Picture on my birthday!

Ol' Blue Turned Red

 So...two days after finishing his antibiotics from being sick in MD, I noticed suspicious bumps on Drew's thumb.  Not just any thumb, Ol' Blue.  You see, our little boy never did like pacifiers...believe me we tried.   Andrew called his source of comfort Ol' Blue since it's trusty. :)  ANYWAY we found out that he has a type of staph infection.  Luckily it's not that contagious and it's only on his finger.  But we were told to wrap Ol' Blue.  WHAT?!!  Well, the first nap after the wrapping was refused...but he finally got tired enough that he fell asleep later.  It was kind of sad to see him try to suck his thumb through the red.  After this week, it should all be better.  

This is just a pic of his MESS before the wrap.  Oh man.  And none of his "big" bibs were clean. 

Attitude

We've been traveling fools these last few weeks and will continue to do so throughout July.  We went up to Montana around the middle of May.  The last week in May my sisters, brother and parents all got together in SLC to see the play Les Miserable. It was really fun because Mom didn't know we girls were all going to be there.  We haven't all been together, alone since Adam was two months old. 

 Holly and I

Mom, Penny, Adam

 Allison

Earlier this month we were excited to take a trip to MD to be with Andrew's parents.  (I need to upload photos to my computer to add.  There were some cute ones.)  We spent just over a week there and unfortunately Drew got sick after a couple of days and was sick most of the time.  It was too bad because he really wasn't himself at all.  It was a blessing though to have him sleeping well at night and he traveled great on the plane.

 This was on the way out...he really fought going to sleep...finally he gave in. (So did Mom.)

 We went to a minor league baseball game.  Unfortunately, there was a rain delay...yet no rain.  (strange)  Anyway, Mom Long, Drew and I left early because this boy here was SO tired.

One night we were able to go to a nearby park.  I think I caught him doing the Funky Chicken.

Drew finally started scooting around.  We try to put him up on his knees and show him how to crawl that way, however that is usually followed by a little tantrum.  Which leads me to connect to the title of this post:ATTITUDE.  Drew is getting an attitude for sure.  He throws little tantrums over things that he didn't used to.  Oh man.  I didn't realize that we would be dealing with this so young.  Hopefully, we'll all learn how to deal with this.  Anyway, he is still a sweetheart, he's just keeping us all on our toes.  

May Excitement

We discovered that Drew enjoys the swings...especially when he's rested and fed.(Naturally)

 

We also went to an aquarium and he was a trooper and really got into it.  

 

Drew loves his bath time.