We saw bucking horses, barrel racing, bull-riding, and the cutest event... a children's sheep riding competition! Unfortunately, because of the lighting and the fast speed of the horses and bulls, my camera didn't want to cooperate last night, but you can hopefully get the idea. Nick and I now realize that in order to become true Montanans, we need to get ourselves some cowboy hats, belt buckles, and boots!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
A Real Montana Rodeo
Last night Nick and I went to our first rodeo with our friends Scott and Amber. It was definitely interesting and we enjoyed seeing what many of the locals do on the weekends. It's apparently a very family-oriented event as we saw dozens of babies and children there, despite the time of night! Several of both Nick's and my coworkers participate in different competitions in the rodeos, so it was neat to finally know what they have all been talking about. (The video is of one of the bull-riders.)
We saw bucking horses, barrel racing, bull-riding, and the cutest event... a children's sheep riding competition! Unfortunately, because of the lighting and the fast speed of the horses and bulls, my camera didn't want to cooperate last night, but you can hopefully get the idea. Nick and I now realize that in order to become true Montanans, we need to get ourselves some cowboy hats, belt buckles, and boots!
We saw bucking horses, barrel racing, bull-riding, and the cutest event... a children's sheep riding competition! Unfortunately, because of the lighting and the fast speed of the horses and bulls, my camera didn't want to cooperate last night, but you can hopefully get the idea. Nick and I now realize that in order to become true Montanans, we need to get ourselves some cowboy hats, belt buckles, and boots!
Friday, October 17, 2008
And Baby Makes Three!
It took a lot of trying, a lot of heartache, a lot of "help", a lot of worrying, and a lot of prayers, but the day is here and we can finally announce that Nick and I are expecting our baby in the spring! Our estimated due date is April 28th, 2009.
I am just past 12 weeks today and we couldn't be more thrilled. I had an ultrasound done yesterday that confirmed everything was right on track. I had had a glass of orange juice with my breakfast before my appointment, and wouldn't you know, that our little bean was hopping around on the ultrasound like it was on a sugar high! Because of our history and use of fertility drugs and treatment, I've had several ultrasounds already, but the 12 week appointment was the one that reassured me the most - I think just knowing that I had made it to the second trimester!
We thought when we signed the lease on the condo here in Montana that it was more space than we needed, but God knew better because we got our positive pregnancy test the day the movers arrived with all our things! We praise God and thank him for all of our blessings!
Photos of our "gummi bear" at 8 weeks
(Taken on the high-tech ultrasound machine)
Profile photo of our baby at 12 weeks
(Taken on the crappy ultrasound machine)
I am just past 12 weeks today and we couldn't be more thrilled. I had an ultrasound done yesterday that confirmed everything was right on track. I had had a glass of orange juice with my breakfast before my appointment, and wouldn't you know, that our little bean was hopping around on the ultrasound like it was on a sugar high! Because of our history and use of fertility drugs and treatment, I've had several ultrasounds already, but the 12 week appointment was the one that reassured me the most - I think just knowing that I had made it to the second trimester!
We thought when we signed the lease on the condo here in Montana that it was more space than we needed, but God knew better because we got our positive pregnancy test the day the movers arrived with all our things! We praise God and thank him for all of our blessings!
Photos of our "gummi bear" at 8 weeks
(Taken on the high-tech ultrasound machine)
Profile photo of our baby at 12 weeks
(Taken on the crappy ultrasound machine)
Monday, October 13, 2008
Yellowstone National Park
Since Columbus Day is upon us, Nick was able to snag a 3 day weekend from work which enabled us to take a weekend trip to Yellowstone National Park. We had originally planned to hit the Grand Tetons National Park as well, but alas, it was not meant to be. We left on Friday evening after Nick got home from work and drove the approximate 4 hour journey through our first snowfall of the year to Gardiner, Montana (located a 1/2 mile from the Northwest Entrance to the park). We found that while the drive wasn't all that terrible in the snow, it still took two of us to navigate the roads - one as the driver, the other as the wildlife spotter. There were deer popping out at us from all directions! We eventually made it to Gardiner where we had booked a suite at a cute lodge for the 3 nights (only 2 of which we actually spent there - story to come...).
Before I go any further, I should probably say that we DID know the weather forecast for the area before leaving on our journey (light snow Friday, highs in 20's and 4-8 inches of snow on Saturday, light snow Sunday in upper 20's, 30's and clear on Monday). Perhaps some people would call the weather conditions a bust on our weekend, but given that it was a long weekend for us, we decided to try and make the most of it. After all, even 3 days stuck in the lodge sounded like a nice getaway!
Okay. Back to the trip. So Saturday morning things looked cold, but good and we headed into the park. The scenery was amazing - especially with the light dusting of snow! We got to see many different hot springs and sulpher pools, as well as geysers, bubbling rivers and mud holes. We hadn't planned to do much hiking because of the weather, but were pleasantly surprised at how well many of the trails were marked out. We headed south into the park, with our goal to hit Old Faithful by about 1:00 so that we could make a loop on our way back up north to the hotel. It soon became apparent to us that our plans were NOT going to happen.
As we headed further south, the clouds began to darken and the wind and snow started to pick up. We probably still would have been fine if the temperatures hadn't been hovering between 25-32 degrees all morning. Unfortunately, the combination of the weather and the steep and curving roads made it super slick and very treacherous. About 15 miles or so from Old Faithful, we were stopped behind a long line of vehicles waiting to make it around the bend. Come to find out there was a truck up ahead that had slid on some ice, rolled down a short hill and landed upside down next to the river bank. We had just driven 2.5 hours south into the park and hated to turn back once we were so close to Old Faithful, so like almost all the other cars, decided to wait until the wreck and emergency vehicles were cleared so we could continue. (Note: You can see our attempt at Blair Witch Project photo below while killing time for the road to clear! It's a pity we couldn't keep a straight face!) A couple hours later we were on our way again. After making a few more hiking stops, we finally made it to Old Faithful just in time for an eruption. It was pretty neat and definitely the largest geyser that we saw in the park.
After Old Faithful, we stopped in the Visitor Center only to find out that not one, not two, but three of the roads we needed to get back to our hotel were closed due to numerous accidents and poor road conditions! They didn't know when the roads would reopen. So we made the safe decision to grab one of the last rooms available at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge cabins and spend the night there. Turns out it was a good thing we did, because the roads didn't reopen again until 11am on Sunday! It kind of stunk having to pay for two hotel rooms when we were only using one, but it's always better safe than sorry, right?
Anyway, we enjoyed a nice evening playing board games next to a fire at the OF Snow Lodge and had a nice dinner in the dining room. Sunday morning we got up and decided to see Old Faithful erupt one more time before we tried leaving. Oh! We're so glad we did because this time we got to see a whole herd of buffalo roaming next to Old Faithful while it was erupting! We think they were trying to stay warm from the steam that Old Faithful was giving off. :)
Thankfully road conditions majorly improved on Sunday and we were able to make the drive back up north. We made a pitstop back at our lodge in Gardiner to freshen up and then headed back into the park to drive the north roads from west to east. This terrain was much different than the north/south route (more rivers and valleys), but still very beautiful. We got to see some coyote, elk, antelope and buffalo. We didn't see any bears on this journey - perhaps they are preparing for hibernation already? Fortunately we were able to spend night 3 back at the lodge in Gardiner.
Monday was a relaxing drive home to Great Falls. The roads were still somewhat slick and we still needed a person to watch for wildlife, but it was much easier to navigate in the daylight! As for our Highlander's first winter weather experience, we have found that it handled itself very well (Nick says, "Baptism by fire!"). We had packed a winter weather survival kit for the SUV just in case, but found that all we needed was a major credit card! We found our Yellowstone trip to be quite an adventure, but we loved every minute of it (okay, maybe not the waiting in the car so much for the roads to clear)!
Our Final Words on Yellowstone: Simply Stunning! While it's Very Beautiful and much more peaceful and less busy in the winter, unless you don't mind being trapped for an undetermined amount of time, we recommend going before October!
Before I go any further, I should probably say that we DID know the weather forecast for the area before leaving on our journey (light snow Friday, highs in 20's and 4-8 inches of snow on Saturday, light snow Sunday in upper 20's, 30's and clear on Monday). Perhaps some people would call the weather conditions a bust on our weekend, but given that it was a long weekend for us, we decided to try and make the most of it. After all, even 3 days stuck in the lodge sounded like a nice getaway!
Okay. Back to the trip. So Saturday morning things looked cold, but good and we headed into the park. The scenery was amazing - especially with the light dusting of snow! We got to see many different hot springs and sulpher pools, as well as geysers, bubbling rivers and mud holes. We hadn't planned to do much hiking because of the weather, but were pleasantly surprised at how well many of the trails were marked out. We headed south into the park, with our goal to hit Old Faithful by about 1:00 so that we could make a loop on our way back up north to the hotel. It soon became apparent to us that our plans were NOT going to happen.
As we headed further south, the clouds began to darken and the wind and snow started to pick up. We probably still would have been fine if the temperatures hadn't been hovering between 25-32 degrees all morning. Unfortunately, the combination of the weather and the steep and curving roads made it super slick and very treacherous. About 15 miles or so from Old Faithful, we were stopped behind a long line of vehicles waiting to make it around the bend. Come to find out there was a truck up ahead that had slid on some ice, rolled down a short hill and landed upside down next to the river bank. We had just driven 2.5 hours south into the park and hated to turn back once we were so close to Old Faithful, so like almost all the other cars, decided to wait until the wreck and emergency vehicles were cleared so we could continue. (Note: You can see our attempt at Blair Witch Project photo below while killing time for the road to clear! It's a pity we couldn't keep a straight face!) A couple hours later we were on our way again. After making a few more hiking stops, we finally made it to Old Faithful just in time for an eruption. It was pretty neat and definitely the largest geyser that we saw in the park.
After Old Faithful, we stopped in the Visitor Center only to find out that not one, not two, but three of the roads we needed to get back to our hotel were closed due to numerous accidents and poor road conditions! They didn't know when the roads would reopen. So we made the safe decision to grab one of the last rooms available at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge cabins and spend the night there. Turns out it was a good thing we did, because the roads didn't reopen again until 11am on Sunday! It kind of stunk having to pay for two hotel rooms when we were only using one, but it's always better safe than sorry, right?
Anyway, we enjoyed a nice evening playing board games next to a fire at the OF Snow Lodge and had a nice dinner in the dining room. Sunday morning we got up and decided to see Old Faithful erupt one more time before we tried leaving. Oh! We're so glad we did because this time we got to see a whole herd of buffalo roaming next to Old Faithful while it was erupting! We think they were trying to stay warm from the steam that Old Faithful was giving off. :)
Thankfully road conditions majorly improved on Sunday and we were able to make the drive back up north. We made a pitstop back at our lodge in Gardiner to freshen up and then headed back into the park to drive the north roads from west to east. This terrain was much different than the north/south route (more rivers and valleys), but still very beautiful. We got to see some coyote, elk, antelope and buffalo. We didn't see any bears on this journey - perhaps they are preparing for hibernation already? Fortunately we were able to spend night 3 back at the lodge in Gardiner.
Monday was a relaxing drive home to Great Falls. The roads were still somewhat slick and we still needed a person to watch for wildlife, but it was much easier to navigate in the daylight! As for our Highlander's first winter weather experience, we have found that it handled itself very well (Nick says, "Baptism by fire!"). We had packed a winter weather survival kit for the SUV just in case, but found that all we needed was a major credit card! We found our Yellowstone trip to be quite an adventure, but we loved every minute of it (okay, maybe not the waiting in the car so much for the roads to clear)!
Our Final Words on Yellowstone: Simply Stunning! While it's Very Beautiful and much more peaceful and less busy in the winter, unless you don't mind being trapped for an undetermined amount of time, we recommend going before October!
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