A Weekend in Missoula

Jeff, Avery and I cruised to Missoula last Saturday for the Bobcat / Griz game. We left Avery at the hotel with my Mom and were able to enjoy the game, child free. What a great game, for those of you who aren’t aware the Griz kicked ass! It was also kind of funny that before the game Jeff and I went to the bookstore to buy Griz sweatshirts to wear. Stupid me, in a rush to get the family out of the house, I put on my blue winter coat which proved a conflict of interest since blue happens to be the opposing teams colors. Anyhow, we went to the bookstore where I purchased a hoodie and Jeff bought an original Grizz colored sweatshirt, brownish and yellow. He has wanted one for awhile, however, the funny part is that the Griz decided to wear the old colors to the game. Jeff got a ton of compliments and I think he felt pretty cool wearing the sweatshirt.

After the game we went with my brother Jess and his wife Dawn, my brother Brady and his girlfriend Kristi and our friends Teresa and Jeff to eat a ton of sushi. I love love love sushi, so that made my night. We got almost everyone to try raw sushi and it got mixed reviews but I think everyone enjoyed trying something new. Next we met at Johnnie Carinos for drinks, desert and dinner for Brady who was not impressed with sushi. We visited with Jeff’s stepsister and then we headed downtown. I haven’t gone out in Missoula in years so this was a real treat. I met up with my great friend Stephanie and her fiancé Joel at the Iron Horse and it was so nice to visit with them. We also ran into some other friends we haven’t seen in awhile. We ended the night dancing at Feruquis, this odd little martini bar. Jeff and I both paid for our night out the next day but having a night out sans child was totally worth it.

Finally on Sunday we got to hang out with Jeff’s cousin Chris who was in Butte working for a few days. It’s always a treat to hang out with Chris and get updates on his wife and kids. All in all it was a fantastic weekend.

I'll post pictures of everyone at the game in the next day or two. I'm waiting for Jess to email them to me!

Mmmm Tasty

Seriously do your kids ever stop amazing you? I guess this is a question to those with multiple kids or older kids. It’s so funny how every day Avery comes up with something new that just makes me laugh. Last weekend it was saying, “oh man” when something went wrong and yesterday when we sat down to dinner she goes, “mmm tasty.” Like where the heck did that come from. Here’s another one that cracked me up. In this picture you will notice the little miss standing in almost the same stance as her Daddy. Jeff was standing up talking to me and we noticed that Avery had gotten herself up and was standing in almost the same position as her Dad, hands on the hips and everything. Once we noticed she was doing this we thought we’d play a little bit so Jeff sat down. When she noticed that he was sitting down she got mad, grabbed his hand and said, “stand up.” So Jeff stood up and put his hands on his hips again and again Avery stood with her hands on her hips. This went on for like five minutes until Jeff got sick of standing and we distracted Avery with food. Wouldn’t you just love to know what’s going on inside that little mind! I can’t wait to see what she comes up with tonight!

Hooray For Small Victories!

On Monday I stayed home sick with a heck of a cold that had been with me since the Friday before. I kept the little munchkin with me, mostly because in the past couple of weeks she has acquired the ability to sit through and enjoy an entire movie. Since I was sick all weekend and Jeff had what seemed like a six thousand page lab report due, Avery and I watched movies, all weekend long. Her favorites are Flushed Away and Madagascar, which she calls – for whatever reason - Mouse and Eyes. I managed to get her to watch Bug’s Life, Monstor’s Inc, and about half of The Little Mermaid but she always ended up going back to Mouse and Eyes. After watching both about three times each, by Monday I couldn’t do it anymore. When she picked up Flushed Away and handed it to me I decided that no matter how crappy I felt, watching that movie one more time just wasn’t an option. It was at this point that I dragged myself out of my sick bed and ran to K-mart to get a copy of Kung Fu Panda. Here’s an account of the events that followed…

While in the parking lot of the store I turn around and try to reason with my 20 month old child. “If you sit in the cart,” I say very slowly, “you can get a movie, so do you think you can sit in the cart?” The small one nods with those big eyes staring at me. I am not sure if I believe the small one as she’s prone to change her attitude on a whim but I’m desperate, I cannot watch Mouse or Eyes one more time. So into the store we go. I set her into the cart and can see instantly that she is going to protest. I remind her again that if she’s good she gets a movie and the small one relaxes, at least for the moment. I run to the movie aisle. Not only do I grab Kung Fu Panda but they also have Shrek the Third with Shrek Christmas as a bonus, score. At this point, the small one is attempting to stand in the cart, damn. After a couple of minutes of talking her down, I run through the store and pick up cold medicine and a few more items we desperately need – like cat food. We make our way to the check out and it hits me, holy crap the kid sat in a cart for an entire trip to the store, it’s a flipping miracle. A light bulb goes on above my head as it occurs to me that all I need to do is bribe the little monkey!

On the way back to our house, as my energy begins to lag, I remember that we need more whole milk and a couple of items for dinner. In my delusional state, I figure she was good in K-mart maybe I can bribe her again at Safeway. In the parking lot I look back at her in her car seat and ask if she will sit in the cart again at this store and thus get a treat. She stares at me with a look that means business and yells, “NO.” Well I tried. Instead I run into the store, holding the child and a basket and throwing the few groceries I need into the basket at a record pace. If one is not quick enough at the store, the small one will decide that she doesn’t want to be held and will begin to squirm and throw a fit because she wants to walk. It’s a very delicate balancing act.

I guess hooray for small victories. Maybe the bribing to ride in a cart will work some of the time and that’s better than not at all. Maybe it means that she is finally getting to an age where we can somewhat reason with her. Maybe we’ll be able to eat dinner out at restaurants again! Maybe some day dogs will fly.

On a side note the other day while feeding the small one yogurt she decided she was full. When I tried to spoon in one more bite she held up her hand (in the talk to the hand gesture) and said, “Go Way.” I never said the kid didn’t have attitude!

Quirk tag

I was tagged by Rosanne to list 6 quirks about myself and tag 6 people.

1. I can’t stand to have my bedding messed up at night. I can’t go to sleep unless everything is perfect. If Jeff rolls the sheet up during the night (which he does a lot) I freak out.

2. When Jeff’s not home I like to belt out songs in my house. The ten foot ceilings make for great acoustics.

3. I hate mushrooms and can’t stand the smell of them cooking. It literally makes me want to throw up. We have a no mushroom household.

4. It irritates the heck out of me when I’m watching a TV show and the family on the show is eating dinner and they only eat like one bite and then everyone leaves. Hello, it’s dinner at least make the plates look like they’ve almost finished it. (this might have something to do with my obsession with food).

5. I start Christmas shopping and budgeting in July or August. No last minute shopping for this girl. Plus I love the freedom to spend money shopping and not feel guilty because they're Christmas presents. Did I mention I love online shopping!

6. I cut my own hair. I go to a beautician about once a year or so for a good base cut and then I cut it myself (with a little help from Jeff) for the rest of the year. I used to have this awesome beautician in Great Falls that I’d go to but she got so popular that it became impossible to get into her and now she doesn’t work on Sat. I think I’ve been afraid to go try a new person since I can’t stand to think about shelling out $40 for a crappy haircut. It seems easier to just cut it myself plus with curly hair you can’t really screw it up. I also cut Jeff’s hair but that’s mostly because he’s too lazy to go to a professional.

Ok so I’m a little weird but who isn’t?!

I tag Shawn and Mandy!

Hope

I’m going to be honest with you, for the first time in a long time I feel hope. Hope that our country can get back to a place where being an American is something to be proud of. It’s been a long time since I have felt proud of my country. Geez that’s sad to admit. Don’t get me wrong I love being an America and I still believe we live in the greatest country in the world, but recently things have gone astray and I’m not as proud of our country as I would like to be. I am definitely not proud of our current administration and have so much hope that it can be turned around. It’s not to say that Obama will be able to accomplish this feat. He has so much to deal with in his first year in office, I do not envy him. If nothing else, however, this man has given me hope back and for that I thank him. When I watched his acceptance speech I got shivers thinking that he could bring the change that we need. Man I hope he does, I hope he follows through on his promises for change I hope he takes this country by the horns and turns it around but mostly, I hope that he is a President that I can be proud of. If indeed Jeff and I decide to move to Norway in a year, I want to be able to stand proud when I tell people I am an American, I want to be able to have heated discussions about why our country is so great and why our President is a wonderful man who has brought change. Right now having hope for our countries future is enough to make me happy. Thank you Obama for giving this to me and please don’t let the American people down!

Halloween 2008

Avery was a dragon this year for Halloween.  We trick or treated to a couple of neighbors and went to the dorms (breifly) they give out tons of candy up there but it was a little crazy with tons of kids running around.  She loved the candy, ah a girl after my own heart.  Here are a few pics.  

At one point she decided she wanted to walk around in Mommy's shoes.


Check out her new black boots.  I got them half off at payless, I couldn't resist.  

This was towards the end of the night and she was getting a little cranky.
The back of the dragon.
Another picture of the crankster.
Lucas showed up and she was poking him with a stirring spoon for some reason.  
The only picture we got of her actually wearing the hood of her costume.  Having the hood up ticked her off the rest of the time.  Thankfully Mom was fast with the camera.  She was really liking poking people with the spoon?  

Trondheim Norway

Here are a few pictures of Jeff's trip to Trondheim.  NTNU and Elkem flew him over to interview for a fellowship to get his PHD.  He only had two days in the town but he managed to get some pretty cool pictures.  He said the town reminded him a little bit of Missoula.  

Here he is on campus before the interview.  We bought him his first suit, figured it was time.

This is the theater.

Old apartments downtown.

A park he walked by.
The University NTNU is in the background.


An old church that is now a museum.
The front of the same church.