Settling In Finally–August and September

We have had some busy times this last two months! I can’t believe it. I left off with us moving again, this time into our permanent abode.  That has taken all our spare energy.  Also, the week after we moved, I started my new job.

Sierra’s Visit

At the beginning of August we had Kelby’s best friend from Sedro-Woolley come to visit for  9 days. Her family was coming through Montana and then she got to fly home. It was easy to have an additional kid for a week and a half because she is an easy kid. The visit was her birthday present from her parents…so Kelby made her a cake!

We took the opportunity to visit Yellowstone again so we could show it off to Sierra. She had never been there.

We went to a new spot that I hadn’t seen before and it was amazing! It was the top of one of the falls in the Canyon of the Yellowstone. It was a really hard to hike down to it, but totally worth it.

The showing of Old Faithful was not too impressive for Sierra. I guess it can be bigger some times and not so mighty others. This time it was short and fast.

We also took Sierra to the Museum of the Rockies where we watched the “Violent Universe” in the planetarium. That’s a scary one…all about meteors someday hitting earth!

Then we went to “Bozeman Beach” for a dip yet again. We went a couple times while Sierra was here.

Kelby was excited when the gift she bought for Sierra came in the mail. She got her a ukulele and then they spent all their time playing on those!

One day they were being silly shoppers while we were trying to get some of our back-to-school shopping started.

Unpacking and Projects

We had lots of fun, but then she had to go home….and it was back to business. We had most of our important stuff unpacked by the time she came, but stuff still in storage and nothing yet in the office. I needed to put a floor down in there, so finally I had the time to get to it!

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It was tricky to get it started, but it didn’t take long once I figured it out. I finished in one afternoon except for a few finishing pieces. I am very happy with how it turned out!

Church and Picnic

That Sunday we got to go to a church picnic and baptism in the park. We like the church we settled on. Working there helps!  They cooked a whole pig for the event, but Anika saw it cooking with the head on and refused to eat it!

Traditional City Bus Trip

We didn’t have as much time to finish all our normal summer traditions before school started, but we did find the time to do our bus ride to the mall! The bus here is free. It was fun to figure out how it all worked.

Weird girls! They were a little distracted on our bus trip because they were all focused on trying to get pets. The neighbors have a ton of pets like a hamster, snake, and chameleon…so all the girls wanted to do was go to the pet store. It was a short bus adventure and then we had to go home to get  the car so we could drive to the pet store, but I didn’t give in to any pets.

Friend Birthdays

We still keep in touch with the neighbors from Family and Graduate Housing on campus and we were invited to one of the little guy’s birthday party celebrated at Bozeman beach. In September we did the same thing for the other brother. We were their whole party, so it was important to the boys that we were there!

Bozeman Beach Again and Again

We went back to Bozeman Beach again another day and brought the new neighbor kids with us. The girls just love them. They have a 13-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy that are very nice. For some reason the kids were digging a big hole to collect “clay”.

Back to School

The day before school started, Anika had a sneak preview so we got to go and check out her school. Her teacher was really nice.

Wednesday, August 28 was the first day of school. Anika and Tegan rode the bus and Kelby rode her bike….and Mike road his bike too!

The bus ride for Anika was not good on the way home. She was on the bus for 1 hour and 40 minutes to go only 0.8 of a mile! Needless to say, she doesn’t want to ride the bus again. Now she rides her bike to school too.

The girls all seem to like their schools and teachers. I am very happy about that. Everyone is making friends and having fun!

Bobcats!

On the next day, the Bobcats played their first football game of the year and we got tickets! It was a fun event. The whole stadium of people was wearing gold shirts for what they call the “Gold Rush” game. We had so much fun even though the girls didn’t understand the game.

The view from the stadium was amazing!

Wow…and that was just August! I can’t believe how much we got done and how much fun we had!

Yellowstone Hike and Fun

On Saturday, September 1, we went back to Yellowstone again. This time we were planning a good 5 mile hike to some waterfalls! This was our only long hike this summer!

They were beautiful delicate falls into a pool. The girls loved the ravens that were camped out there.

We went to find some fishing after our hike and ended up in the Firehole River. The girls had fun playing in it because it is so warm. A lot of hot springs run into that river.

Then up the river a little further we found an even better place for swimming, even though it was full of people. The river runs through a canyon here, but it widens and runs deep and warm.

We stopped to eat our dinner and watch Mike try to catch fish and on the way out of the park we saw a bunch of elk. The bull was chasing the ladies!

Sports

Then, there was SPORTS! I had no idea what I was getting us into when I signed Anika up for soccer and Tegan up for volleyball this fall. Everything is a bit disorganized and time consuming, but we have also learned to be laid back and enjoy it.

Anika has wanted to play soccer for forever, but we have always said no. We’ve always been so busy with Girl Scouts and church. We originally planned to make the girls wait for school sports rather than club sports…but Anika got in because I felt bad that she had to move. She likes it so far.

It has been fun to meet people because the girls are in sports. One couple just moved here from Bellingham this spring!

Mom Visits

My mom came to town for my birthday, so that made it special.

She even got to watch Tegan play volleyball on Saturday morning for her first game.

Mom took us out to lunch before she had to head out of town on Sunday afternoon.

Busy Visit Weekend

The next weekend was so full we didn’t stop for a minute it seems. We had three visits from out-of-town friends, but Scott’s family (Mike’s best man in our wedding) brought us lunch on Saturday and my Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob brought us lunch on Sunday! That makes it easy!  With volleyball and soccer thrown into the weekend…it was crazy but wonderful!

Debbie and George Visit

Last week we got to have Mike’s mom and dad come for a visit! They got to stay awhile, but just joined us for real life with all its busyness. I still had to work, but George put in a dishwasher for us while I was gone! We are all so excited to have a dishwasher again.

They enjoyed watching Tegan play volleyball and Anika play a soccer game.

On the weekend we enjoyed a couple nice hikes up in Hyalite Canyon to some waterfalls.

We stopped to let Mike fish for a bit before we went home and enjoyed hanging out in the sun.

That night we took them out to hear live music at a local coffee/ice cream shop. It was great fun, but a little loud. It was something fun to do that was different.

On Sunday afternoon we went to the Museum of the Rockies, watched Anika’s soccer game, and then later went for a walk to the park near the library that overlooks the city.

The girls especially enjoyed getting their hair braided by Gramma!

We were sad when they had to head home, but we had a great time while they were here.

And We Continue to Move Forward

We had people over for dinner on Thursday and Friday night this week. One night was our small group for church, but not many came, so I had lots of leftovers. I invited Tegan’s new friend’s family over for leftovers the next night.  That might be weird, but they didn’t seem to mind.

I also replaced our garage door opener this week, so I get to park in my garage! The one that came with the house didn’t have a remote or safety sensors. I was pretty proud of myself for getting that figured out. I am slowly pecking away at my house projects on my day off each week and soon I will get to start painting inside.

We really want to make it out camping again before it freezes here, but I’m not holding out hope. Sports has kept us busy every weekend and we had snow last week!

Well, that is our life! It is busy, but it is really good.

Hope you are all doing great!