Museum of the Rockies and more Camping pics.

We took Avery and drove over with Teresa, Jeff and Lucas to check out the Museum of the Rockies and we weren't disappointing. My parents used to take us there as kids and I remember loving it. It was just as cool to see again as an adult. Avery and Lucas LOVED the dinosaurs and Avery's been roaring like one ever since.
For those of you who have never been to the Museum of the Rockies, I highly recommend it. Not only do they have fantastic dinosaur exhibits that include actual fossils found throughout the state, they have lots of other interesting exhibits such as a Native American display and lots of antiques. There is a great play areas for the kids and the Planetarium is awesome. Avery thought the planets were eggs and started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when the stars showed up. I'm sure the other patrons just loved our yappy two year old. I ended up leaving about ten minutes before the show was over when Avery decided she wanted to run around in the dark. Ave and I hung out at the gift shop while the rest of the crew finished the show. She found some pretty cool dino toys for her and Lucas. Here are some pics from our day with one more random camping picture that was too cute to leave out. I might post more, our internet was being sketchy yesterday and I got annoyed downloading pics so I stopped before I was done. Make sure to check back as I'll try for more pics soon.

The kids in a replica of a Lewis and Clark canoe.
Avery climbing on the stage that I'm assuming they perform shows on in the summer.
These are the dinosaurs we got the kids. They were roaring all day.
The crew outside the museum.




On tot of "Lewis and Clark's" boat.
Cute random camping picture of Avery.

Memorial Day Weekend!

We had a really nice Memorial Day weekend. We started the weekend off by driving over to Bozeman with Teresa, Jeff McGrath and Lucas and went to the Museum of the Rockies. The kids loved the dinosaurs, Avery's still roaring like one. Then we met my Uncle Wade and Aunt Mary for lunch. Of course I forgot my camera so as soon as I can get pics from Teresa I'll post them. On Sunday we took off camping with the same crew plus a few of the kids from Tech. We had a great time and even got to try out our new (old) canoe.


Checking out the fishing worms. Avery was a little scared of them.


Cruising with Daddy.
Brown's Lake. Jeff took the kids out with Ryan. He also went out fishing with Tyler.


The crew

Mother's Day and Avery's New Bike

On Mother's Day weekend Avery got a gift of her own, a new bike.  We went shopping at Walmart and Jeff and Avery split off to find me a Mother's Day gift.  I went to do some of my own shopping and I happened upon them in the bike isle.  

Here's what Jeff and Avery got me plus the balloon my parents helped Avery pick.  I also got a watering can that didn't make the picture.  The book is the second in the Twlight series, New Moon.  

Avery had discovered the little bikes and we decided to let her have one.  So here are a couple pics of her new bike.
Teresa came over with this for me because she rocks!  I LOVE my new bonsai tree.  How cool is this!

Mother's Day Weekend

I still don't have all my pictures from Mother's Day downloaded to my computer but here are a few from Saturday that my Mom sent me. Mom and Dad drove over to take the family out to breakfast and then take Avery for some Mother's Day shopping and give me a little break to do some of my own errands. Avery got to pick out a gift for me (picture to follow). It was a great Saturday and so nice to see the parents. Love you Mom and Dad and thanks for everything!

GGetting ready to get an egg out of the dinosaur.
Trying to figure out how this thing works!
Being silly with Grandpa
Pulling Grandpa's beard

Mom's fantastic Mother's Day gift. I have a feeling the balloon was actually picked out becuase Avery wanted it :) It was pretty cute when she got out of my parents car holding the balloon (it has a rose inside of it) and she was grinning saying, "Mommy look." Sorry for nixing you out of the picture Dad!

I'll try to post pictures tonight of the actual Mother's Day and what Jeff and Avery did for me.

Sweet Boots

These are my sweet new rain boots. They are two sizes two big but I loved them so much that my Mommy bought them for me anyways. They aren't very easy to walk in but I don't care. Touch the boots and I'll throw a little fit, it's better to just let me wear them. I think Mommy got smart to the fact that I want to wear my boots everywhere becuase suddenly I can't find them. My guess is she hid them in the closet for when they actually fit my feet. Luckily I have a short attention span and haven't asked where the boots are... .yet

Defending a Thesis

Since this is my first rodeo when it comes to living so closely to a person writing a masters thesis and getting ready to defend it I thought I’d give you all a little insight into what exactly is going on inside our house these days.

1. Writing a thesis is basically like writing a short book. You have to know a lot about what you are writing on and you have to be able to defend what you are writing to any critics out there. Jeff has gathered over 100 articles to support his writing and is hoping to turn in a thesis of around 80 pages. The research gathering alone took a couple of months.
2. Writing a thesis takes time, a lot of time. Most people have one to two years to really research and write. My lovely hubby, due to scheduling conflicts with the next chapter of our lives, Norway, only really had six months to complete his. Basically this means I never get to see my husband who is frantically trying to get all the pieces together.
3. Every thesis must come to an end. Jeff turns his paper in on May 18^th to four committee members who will then critique his work and offer suggestions and insight on what he’s doing. He will need to fix anything they deem “wrong” with his masterpiece.
4. After the committee members have taken the two allotted weeks to look over the thesis, it comes time to defend that bad boy. Defending a thesis is a little bit of a mystery to me as I have never seen one or done one. From what I’m told, the poor thesis writer is stood up in front of his committee and I believe any other faculty members that show and is grilled within an inch of his life over every aspect of the paper. The grille (hubby) has to answer all questions to the grillers satisfaction hoping that the months of research have adequately prepared him to answer all questions.
5. Once all the above is done and hubby is given the committees approval, hubby will have his masters degree – hooray!
6. Food and drinking lots of drinking follows!
7. I finally will have my hubby back, I’ve almost forgot what he looks like - Score for me.