Sleepy Sunday Afternoon

After we got home from church today it was clear that we were all really tired.  Terence put in the first Harry Potter movie (a classic to fall asleep to) and we all laid down on the couches.  Connor and Terence both slept but Corey had different ideas.  He played with some balloons, watched the moving, messed around in the bathroom, basically everything but sleep.  It's a fair trade off though, if Corey takes a nap he has a hard time getting to sleep at night.  Terence is awake now and Connor is still sleeping.  I love Sunday afternoons.

Frustrated with Myself

I am so frustrated with myself right now!  I cannot believe the amount of weight I have gained in the last six months.  I am back to the weight I was when I first got my lap band.  How did I let this happen?  I can make all the excuses for myself that I want, Life is stressful, I have no time to work out, it was the holidays.  The fact of the matter is, no matter what the excuse I have gained the weight and now I absolutely HAVE to find a way to get it back off.  I am literally losing sleep over this at night (which does not help you lose weight btw).  I was going to do the 20/20 program through the Pro Club in Bellevue but after Terence and I evaluated everything we decided it would be better if I didn't do it.  It's just too much money.  I have a membership to the Pro Club still so I just need to find the time to get there and work out.  I probably should get my band tightened back up too.  I need some support, some motivation, some help!  I have to do this!  I have to get healthy!  Any words of motivation would be greatly appreciated.

The Guest Book

For as long as the cabin has been in Scott's family they have kept a guest book.  The books go all the way back to the 60's.  At first they started out as basic entries names and dates of the people who stayed there.  As time went on the entries got more detailed.  The current guest book is more like a journal people write their names, who was there, what the weather was like, details of their trip.  I love it because it's like a little time capsule.  I think it is such a neat idea!

The Drive Home

We drove home from Montana yesterday.  It was a fun drive and we made a couple of stops in some familiar places.  First off...

this big bull was at a gas station parking lot.  I thought it was cool

we saw these elk walking in a field as we were driving out.  I was pretty excited to see them!

 From what I remember this place used to be called 10,000 Silver Dollar but they changed the name a few years ago.  It's pretty much a little truck stop/tourist trap but I remember my Mom stopping there a couple of times before so I thought it would be fun to carry on the tradition.

The middle slot machine is the one we lost a dollar on.  Good thing I did not put the $20 in.  We also stopped at Cabellas on the way home.  Terence got a new fishing vest to go with the waders he got for Christmas.  He will be decked out when the spring fishing season hits.  While we were there I saw a pack of jerky sticks made from lots of different animal meats.  There was wild bore, alligator, ostrich, venison, buffalo, etc.  It would have been great for Terence's new years resolution to eat 10 different types of meat but we determined that it would be cheating since they were all mixed with beef.

We had such a wonderful time on this trip!  It was great to relax and spend time with Terence!  I hope we have to opportunity to do it again soon.

Horses

On the last day in Montana we walked over to see the caretakers horses.  He has four beautiful horses three females and one male.  We had some leftover lettuce in the fridge so decided to take that with us to feed them.  On the way over we stopped to take some pictures of the scenery and some of the cool features of the land.  The horses were very friendly and it reminded me how much I love being around them.  This summer Terence and I are going to try and go horseback riding somewhere since he has never been.

Being Lazy!

When we were not out playing in the snow or playing board/card games (which we played a lot of) we were pretty much laying around in our pajamas being lazy!  I finished a book and started another one while we were there, Terence worked on his German, Melissa read some books and did a bunch of crossword puzzles and Scott mostly played on his computer.  That was my favorite part as it was definitely the most relaxing part of the trip.

Snowmobiles

Are you noticing a theme?  We had lots of snow!  Scott's cousin had some old snowmobiles that they worked long and hard to get working while we were there.  Melissa and I had come out to the bard to see how things were going (after a morning of doing nothing but reading).  They were able to get things working and we went for a couple of rides on them.  I was impressed that they were able to fix them as they looked like they had not run in a couple of years.  Of course it was not all that easy.  The boys turned the snowmobile off and came inside for a bit when it started snowing pretty hard.  They went back outside and tried to restart it so they could move it back to the garage but it took them a good 45 minutes and a new tank of gas before they actually got it running again.  I think Scott is now trying to convince his Dad that he needs to buy new snowmobiles for the cabin.  Good luck with that one Scott :).

Cooking!

I love to cook but with working and the kids and everything else I don't always have time to make a nice meal every day.  I was the cook while we were at the cabin making breakfast and dinner everyday.  My favorite part of the deal was I cooked and everyone else did the dishes.  We had Lasagna the first night (which I did not cook as it was frozen), Shepherds pie the second, Steak and baked potatoes the third and Tacos the final night.  All super easy things but it was fun to put out the place mats and set the table!  It makes me want to do that every night for dinner at home.

Snow Day!

 

The second and third day we were in Montana it snowed, a lot!  It was so pretty and gave us an excuse to do nothing but sit around in the cabin all day and relax!  Of course that did not last for long.  How often do we get to see real snow fall like this?  So we decided to venture out.  Melissa had white snow pants, and a white jacket, Terence made the comment that she looked like The Stig (from Top Gear) so Scott went and got her a helmet to complete the effect. We all had a good laugh about it.  While we were outside we decided we might as well go shoot some guns.  It was the first time Melissa had shot any gun, I think she liked it.  I also shot both Scott and Terence's guns. I quizzed myself on to see if I could load and fire T's without his help and am proud to say that I did it! 

Stuck in the snow!

The first full day at the cabin was beautiful!  The sun was shinning off the snow and it was clear and cold.  Melissa had told me the day before that the care taker of the cabin had horses that were out to pasture on the grounds.  I decided I wanted to go out and look for the horses.  Scott told me if I went out to the old barn and started banging around in there that the horses may come and see whats going on.  He told me that the fastest way to get there was to walk through the field and over a little bridge, sounded easy enough.  I asked if anyone wanted to come with me but they said no so I went out alone.  As I was heading out the door Melissa told me to take a cell phone with me, kind of silly I thought considering I was going about 300 feet.  I walked out and started across the field, for the first part the snow held my weight but as I got closer to the bridge I sunk with every step.  I trudged through for about 20 more steps before I determined that this was not going to work out.  I tried to head back the other way but again got stuck with every step.  After about 20 minutes I determined that I was stuck!  I called Terence on my cell phone and told them I was stuck.  After they all laughed at me they got dressed, got their boots on and came to rescue me.  Melissa got video of the entire thing, I'm sure it's horribly embarrassing.  While I was stuck out in the field I took picture of the beautiful scenery, I now know why they call it Big Sky Country!

My view from where I was stuck

My rescuers

them walking on the part of the snow where you don't since and my footprints in the part of the snow where you do sink.

Starting the Fire!

When we got to the cabin it was 30 degrees outside and 31 degrees inside the cabin. First order of business was to get the fire started.  When the house was stocked with firewood from the last person the wood ended up being wet and was very hard to start.  Our solution was to use a blow torch!  This is the kind of torch that ranchers use to heat up brands to brand their cattle it was big and fun!  A great toy for the boys to play with.  It did take about 15 minutes with the torch before the fire actually started but it was entertaining so we did not mind.  Once we got the fire going I was hungry.  I did not want to cook anything big so I decided to cook a hot dog over the fire.  There were no roasters of any kind so I used a kitchen knife and a glove instead.  It worked out great!  We did eventually find a good roasting fork and ended up eating A LOT of hot dogs on our trip, makes me want one now!

Montana Part One: The Car

We got back from Montana yesterday and we are getting settled back into our regular routine.  Currently Corey and Connor are sitting on Terence on the couch watching Myth Busters.  All is as it should be.  I will be writing a couple of different blogs about our trip so this is part one.

We drove down with our friends Scott and Melissa.  The care ride is not very long and we stopped a few times along the way for food and gas.  We had a lot of fun in the car and laughed a lot!  Since it's a cabin we had to stock up on groceries and other supplies on the way in.  The car was absolutely full by the time we got to the cabin!  It was a fun drive though and a good start to the trip.