Holidays and Cash's Birthday '09

CASH'S FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY! Believe it or not, the Casher turned a year old on December 18th! We had his first birthday party up at Todd and Tracy's house in town. As you can see, he and his friend Maddox really enjoyed one of his presents. A toy that throws balls up in the air. YIPPEE!!!

Mommy and ol' Rudolph! Cash's day care hosted a Christmas party at the Missoula Carousel. There were about 25 kids and 50 parents who showed up for the event and everyone had a great time!

...That is a great time until Santa showed up. Cash did alright with Ol' Saint Nick for about a minute and then he decided he had about enough of the HO HO HO's and the strange man with the big white beard. Well, at least we got a picture of him with Santa!

We hope everyone's holidays were full of happiness and good cheer and we wish everyone a wonderful and blessed 2010!!!

Book Worm

Reading?? Not quite, but pulling them off of the shelf....all of them....got it!

How's my hair?

I wouldn't be surprised to see this picture next to the word "bedhead" in the dictionary!

Fun filled days

I don't even know where to start. We have had so much excitement through the month of November and into December. First of all, we had the big auction/fundraiser for our good friend Schaufi (http://www.teamschaufi.org/). We were able to raise around $25,000 plus! That was in less than a month and a half. Amazing.

The weekend after that, we headed out to Bozeman for an elk hunting/Thanksgiving trip. We met up with Brent's folks and bro for the turkey weekend at the old C'Mon Inn. We both shot a cow on Thanksgiving day....a wonderful addition to our already full freezer. We did lots of swimming and played lots of cards and just hung out for the rest of the weekend. Back to Missoula on Sunday and time to butcher, butcher, butcher. Maybe next year I'll be a vegetarian?? All of our meat is cut up and in the freezer...just a night of grinding burger and we're good to go.

Mine and Cash's Christmas present came early in the form of a cute little horse! :) His name is Fritz and he's a tiny little guy. We'll have to get a bigger one next spring for Brent. I don't know much about him, but I do know that he took me on a 30 mile elk hunting trip earlier this year and that he's a real sweetheart. I don't have any pics of him yet....soon.

Today was the Griz game. Holy blowout! I think that the final score was either 52 or 53 to 0! We're thinking that this was Cash's last Griz game, it was pretty cold. Once again, he slept right through the first half and was a great little boy for the rest of the game. Tomorrow is a big day of nothing....I hope. And if the weather is decent Fritz and I may check out a trail or 2. Yipee!

I know that I'm a little short on photos, but.....it's 9 at night!!! I can't sit up and add pictures all night. :) We have SO many pictures that they're impossible to pick from and it seems that I have been putting too many photos on my slideshows and slowing down the system (or showing the same photos over and over). So, this is it! Enjoy and keep watching -- I'll get more pics up eventually! Happy Thanksgiving late and enjoy your Christmas tunes....we are!

Brent's buck

Brent's buck looks just the tiniest bit bigger than mine....

Filling the freezer

I got a buck the other weekend -- one shot....standing up! I can't believe it! And no, I didn't even ruin any meat. Waiting on Brent to get home from his hunt with JW and hoping we have another deer to put in the freezer.

Elk Camp

Elk camp was a little short this year due to 'family dynamics', but was still fun filled in a day and a half! Brent, Joe and I loaded up horses and gear on Saturday afternoon and had the horses in their corral, the tent up and the cribbage board out by 6 or so. After a great steak dinner and a few games of cribbage it was off to bed -- a little different from years past....I think we were in bed by 9pm. Brent made me set 3 watches to make sure that we would wake up on time...5am.

Sunday morning we were up before the sun and had the horses saddled and were making our way into the mountains. We had a nice ride....a 27 mile nice ride....the kind of ride that makes you think you must be some sort of amazing cowgirl/cowboy to even be able to get back into the saddle, let alone ride another mile! It was actually great fun, minus the riding in the dark on the wrong road. We weren't technically lost, but we weren't exactly sure what road we needed to be on to get back to camp. Lost? Nah....

We made it back to camp late Sunday night after seeing a bunch of wolf and mountain lion tracks and a few mule deer. I must have shot the tail off of a muley buck, but nothing to bring home for the freezer. **sigh** Brent will be headed out to hunt this weekend and I'll wait till cows open up around Veteran's day. We'd better get something soon because our freezer is getting EMPTY and I don't do chicken!

Big Boy

I just thought that this was a cute picture to share. Cash is holding onto the furniture and walking and is doing a ton of crawling! Time to get our running shoes out.

Free dirt

Who needs dinner when there's so much free dirt to eat?!? Cash had his first taste of dirt (you can just see the bits of dirt on the corners of his mouth in the pic) and didn't seem too worried. I, of course, ran inside and got a glass of water so he could 'swish'. Yeah...babies don't 'swish'....they just swallow the dirty water. Oh well. He lived through it, we lived through it and the trees got taken care of that night.

Vaca pics

I hate to do this....but, I really had no choice. Cash got his haircut about 2 weeks or so before he was baptized in Fargo on Oct 3rd, then Grandma and Grandpa Hobbs swung through for a visit and finally we were off to Fargo. Lots of memories and lots of good times, not to mention 490 pictures taken. Holy crap! It's taken me forever to download them all and then weed through them and create a slideshow, but that long wait is over! Hope all the pics don't jam up your computer and make sure you have LOTS of time to watch. :)

I bought Vikings/Packers tickets for Brent and I for our 1 year anniversary, then once we got there, we stumbled upon Twins tickets and Wild tickets (hockey). Wow! What a weekend! We got to spend lots of time with family in Fargo, then in Minnesota (thanks Lyle!) and not to mention all the fun we had with friends. I got the pleasure of meeting a few of Brent's fraternity brothers and their wives....what a GREAT group of people. I've heard lots of stories and now I have a face to go with each story. Maybe we'll all get together again sometime -- we'll need a huge place and I swear next time I'll bring an entire purse full of pictures of Cash! :) Or maybe next time Cash will just get to come along.

We're back on track from vacation time now and getting back into the swing of things. I got to enjoy a dinner night with Tawni last night and Brent will go to the new scary movie tonight with friends. Yes, he did invite me along and no, there's no way I will go see some movie about a guy that kills people from jail -- Law Abiding Citizen? Then tomorrow is a day of football and fun with Aunt Steph, Uncle Wes, Molly and Casey. Should be a great time! We're crossing our fingers for good weather....I want to get the lawn mowed one last time before the snow comes. Double crossing.

Garage Wars

My big project this year while Brent was at elk camp was to tear down the existing shelving in the garage, build a new set of shelving, power wash and scrub the garage floor and use a concrete stain to 'spiff it up' and hopefully help keep some of the dust and dirt down. Sunday through Tuesday night I stayed up late after work and Cash's bedtime to tear everything apart and do some moving. Wednesday night Doug came up to the house and helped me get the frame of the new shelving unit up and Thursday night we finished the building. I used Friday to powerwash the garage and put the good cleaning on it, then primed and painted the shelving. The plan was to wait for Cash to go to bed and then it was out to the garage to put the stain on. Then....the plan went down the drain -- Brent came home early! :)

Turns out there was nothing but people, people and more people up where they were hunting. Not just people....but from the sounds of it, dumb people. You know the ones (I hope I'm not offending anyone who does this, but my guess is none of you would pull this)....the ones that walk right through everything, making as much noise as possible as they go and cow calling or bugling every 5 minutes. Yep, that's real natural, that's what elk do all day. Amazing.

Back to the garage. Now Brent has come home, I had just put Cash down....we got him up to give some loves to Dad and he just sat in his arms patting his face and smiling (Cash did that to Brent, not the other way around). I told Brent that since this was my project that I would finish it so he could just relax after a long week of hiking and hunting. I finished....at midnight I finished. Whew! Yesterday was a day of putting the garage back together and we are now back on track. Our house no longer resembles the Beverly Hillbillies with all of our garage contents thrown outside and now I can't help but to walk out and just take a peek every few hours. It's beautiful! Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I didn't even imagine it being this nice when I came up with this project!

Now what?!?

9 months and counting

Cash is now officially as many months old as we had to 'endure' to get him here! Yipee! He had his 9 month doc appointment last Wednesday and the old doc said he's as healthy as a horse. He is officially 22 lbs 15 oz and 28 1/4 inches long. I think he said that puts him in the 80th percentile for weight and 50 for height. Oh, and he has a big melon. I can't remember the size off hand, but I think it was something like 48 cm....90th percentile? That's not the important stuff.....he got his flu shot....and I gotta say it was pretty funny. The nurse stabbed him with the needle (ok, she gently stuck it in his big ol' thigh), he kind of acknowledged that something happened, made a little noise, then giggled when she put the bandaid on and continued to laugh and chat while I got him dressed and we high tailed it outta there. Happy 9th month, Casher!

First bull

JW and Brent went hunting yesterday morning and came home with this:

JW's first bull ever....his first bow hunt ever....luck or skill?? :) Way to go JW!

Go Griz!

Cash went to his very first Griz football game this afternoon. We rode the bus in from Frenchtown and did a little tailgating with friends, then made our way in for the kickoff. Cash had a nice welcome from everyone in our section -- after seeing me pregnant all last season I think that maybe they were just going along with the whole pregnant thing and thinking that I was just getting really fat!

Cash slept through most of the 2nd quarter, but was back up and running for 1/2 time and the last 2 quarters. It was a pretty hot day, so I think we were all glad to leave the confines of the stadium and get back home. A nice steak on the grill and now we've got our feet up and are getting ready to pick out a movie. And tomorrow....NOTHING! :)

Bums

We've been enjoying being bums for the past few weeks -- no softball! Thank goodness. I am thinking that I am going to have to retire next year, it just takes up too much time and it really does put quite the dent in the pocketbook. We've spent our downtime enjoying a big BBQ with friends, a lot of relaxing, riding horses, some baking and an O'mok see.

Lisa and I made Great Grandma Pietsch's caramel rolls this past weekend. I think I need to double the caramel part....but other than that, they were pretty darn delicious. Of course, there's no way I could recreate what G. Grams made, but I like to think that I'm doing okay if it's at least edible! So far, we've eaten an entire pan and nobody has been down for the count. Look at me, a regular old housewife....we even wore aprons while we baked! :)

Cash is getting big, big, big. He is so smiley and happy and we've just been enjoying every minute that we get with him. We have found that it works out a lot better if we get his food ready before he's at the table because if it's not already on the spoon and on the way to his mouth by the time we put the bib on there will be hell to pay. The little guy has some lungs on him....you've never seen parents shovel food so fast. He's trying hard to crawl, but nothing yet, just lots of rolling and scooting. He gets everything he thinks he needs, but we've been spared the crawling and walking for a little longer.

I have started my training for a marathon (dual purpose -- running for fun and running after Cash). I'm training with a friend (Heather) and we'll be running for a charity based out of our local hospital. All of the details haven't been worked out quite yet, but when it's all said and done we'll be running to raise money for 'Healing the hearts of the children of Ethiopia'. There is a local cardiac surgeon who flies to Ethiopia and does heart surgery for children for free. We feel like this is a good cause and are proud to be a part of a community that would be willing to put these children first. Our marathon will be in December in Vegas -- hopefully we make it out of the casinos to do the run! We have also started a blog detailing our training if anyone wants to read the gory details of running 100's of miles in a few months -- http://www.2runnersatheart.blogspot.com/

Brent is getting ready for hunting season. He spent last weekend scouting for elk and it seems the wolves have taken their toll on the animals this year. It sounds like a lot more scouting is in order and maybe a lot more traveling. We'll see what they find. We're looking forward to our first Griz game of the year next weekend. I think we're both ready for Fall....we've had a lot of mid to high 90's days this summer and are ready for a nice crisp Fall morning of football and hot chocolate! Go Griz!

A weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Olson

Once again, Brent and I had softball all weekend. Brent had men's state in Billings (they took 9th out of 42 teams) and we had women's state in Kalispell (we took 6th out of 12 teams). What a perfect opportunity for Grandma and Grandpa Olson to come halfway -- give or take a few hundred miles -- and meet up with Brent and Cash. From the sounds of it everyone had a great time and the boys that rode over with Brent were impressed with how good Cash was on the trip. This is the story I'm told....I'm just relaying info, not bragging! :) Slide show to come....

Is that what I think it is?!?

Yep....it's exactly what you think it is.....that's Dad on his new Harley and even Cash got a chance to sit on it and feel the rumble of the classic!

We had a wonderful 'vacation' (a 2 day runner) at Mom and Dad's and even got to spend a little time hanging out with Gramps! Mom and Dad took over as babysitter's of the year and watched Cash for Brent and I so we could go enjoy a movie (The Hangover) -- it takes a bit to get warmed up to the idea of so many bad words and images, but by the end you're nice and calloused and can laugh with the rest of the crowd!

I have lots more pictures from the weekend, so.....you guessed it.....another slideshow will be popping up shortly! I figured I'd better get these Harley pics up asap! :)

Congrats on your new bike Dad!!! Hang on tight Mom!!! We love you -- thanks again for the fun weekend, can't wait to get together again.....Cash will be ready to terrorize your house by then!

The Half

July 12th, 6 a.m. -- the start of my first half marathon -- a little recap:

Let's start off with July 11th, packet pickup day. I parked on the outskirts of downtown (I'm still not driving downtown Missoula), pulled Cash's stroller out and got him all situated. Off we went. Clear downtown, searching and searching for this big 'pavilion' where I was to pick up my packet and Heather's. Hmmm....not seeing anything. I hate downtown Missoula. We stop in at Runner's Edge where I am informed that the pavilion is less than a block from where I parked. Perfect. Back we go. I get to the packet pickup area and am instantly in awe. This is HUGE! Here I thought I was just going to run with a few people around Missoula. Turns out there was over 2000 applicants between the full, half and relay. Wow! Now I'm nervous! I grabbed mine and Heather's packet (she wasn't able to run due to an injury....bum deal -- we're planning a Whitefish 1/2 marathon in Sept) -- that was the most expensive t-shirt I've ever bought. $65 entry fee, a few papers with other races, an 'around Missoula' magazine, a postcard and a t-shirt. Okay, maybe there were a few more things in there, but that's all I remember. Ouch. Is this really going to be worth it???

Cash and I hung out at home to make sure that I wasn't too tired to run 13.1 miles. I don't know that staying home made it that much easier, but I'm sure glad I did....minus the s'mores that I ate for my prerace meal. Oops. We really can't have that stuff in our house, I have no self control at all!

Race day:

3:50 am -- get up, start the coffee (praying it'll help get things moving before the race). Think about showering....throw that idea out, I'm running 13.1 miles....all I'm going to do is sweat more, what's the point of getting cleaned up just to do it again in a few hours? Throw a little water on my face and start drinking coffee. Make a protein shake and drink more coffee. Get a text from Heather saying she's not going to make it. Darn....I don't want to ride the bus by myself. I'm a baby. Grab my music player....thought I was charging it last night, turns out I just ran the battery down to next to nothing. Hell, how am I going to run with no tunes? Make a deal with myself: tunes for the last 2 miles to get excited about finishing and maybe help pick up the pace. Deal.

4:30 am -- get in the car and back out the driveway, maybe a little reluctantly. Am I really doing this? Nobody's even up, not even Rudy (the rooster). Ugh. Okay, I can do this. Turn on the radio and drink more coffee.....sing (loudly) to Blues Brothers "Minnie the Moocher". Getting pumped up now.

5:00 am -- pull into downtown, park the old car. Run into a god awful amount of people. Wow, this is REALLY huge! Walk past a guy that's passed out, head between his knees, hat sitting askew on his head, puddle of puke. Wow, could be worse....all I'm doing is running 13.1 miles. Get on the 1/2 marathon bus, now it's serious. I'm really going to the start line. Yikes!

5:30 am -- get off the bus, still praying for the coffee to kick in. Looks like I'm going to be running on a belly of coffee and some protein shake....and no pooping. Okay, maybe this is a bit much, but I was really stressed about this. Do you know how hard it is to run when you have to poop, especially if you have 2 miles before the next aid station?!? Chatted with some friends at the start....waited and waited for the race to start.

5:55 am -- made my way to the back of the line, where the slow people start....no joke. They never made that announcement, but they did ask the faster runners to go to the front and that only leaves one spot for the slow pokes!

6:00 am -- BOOM!!! The starting cannon goes off. I stand there.....a little longer.....a little longer....okay, let's walk a little. Hmmm....I always thought the start was going to be so much more exciting, but try getting 1400 people to move at 6 am and see what happens. I finally cross the starting line and I'm stuck. I can't do anything but run behind people. All I want is my own little section to run in. I finally pass a few people and take the edge of the road. Not too bad.

What a beautiful morning! The weather was just perfect, we ran along the river, over the 1 car bridge, through the city of Missoula. I loved it! I was running 13.1 miles when most people were still sleeping. I would be done before most people rolled out of bed.....before that guy with the puke puddle even came to from his night of boozing. Hard core.

Mile 1 -- This is easy. I wish this old lady would stop passing me, then walking, then I pass her, then she passes me and walks. Okay, if this keeps up the entire time I'm going to have to kick it in high gear and get around her. Do I have a 'high gear'?

Mile 2 -- Can't shake the old lady....focus on the beauty of the run. Waiting to see a moose, some deer....nothing. Oh well, saw an eagle and some mosquitos. Still amazingly beautiful.

Mile 3 -- Old lady is gone, run with a girl from Fargo, ND. Her and her husband ran the 1/2 in Fargo a few months ago. She said she was trying to run it in under 2 hours and 38 minutes. I'm keeping up....I can do this. She's gone within a minute. Okay, it'll take me a little longer!

Mile 4 -- Aid station somewhere in there. Really doing just fine, not feeling bad at all and my breathing is great. I love running!

Mile 5 -- Same old, same old. Still feeling good. Did I really just run 5 miles?!? Wow. I'm a professional! Ran next to a guy that looked like he was straight out of the military. Got sick of him too.....run slow, then speed past, then run slow. Am I just a rag when I'm running? Everything is frustrating me! Just let it go and run.

Mile 6/7 -- 'Running' next to a guy that's walking. Me: "You're a really fast walker or I'm a really slow runner!" Him: "It's New York, the average American walks 4 mph and the average New Yorker walks 4.5 mph". To myself: "I'm really slow!"...as he passes me.....walking. Have I hit my 'stride', if so, I'm going to have to work on that one.

Mile 8/9 -- Starting to get tired, trying not to pick up the guy's pace behind me. He's a 'shuffler' and all I can hear is his feet hitting the pavement. It takes all I have to concentrate on my own pace! Wish I hadn't run the battery out on my tunes....it was surprisingly nice to run without tunes and enjoy the sounds of the city and of 1400 people on the run. No tunes for me today, not even the last 2 miles. Get passed by the first marathon finisher....like I'm standing still. Amazing. Someday.....

Mile 9/10 -- Pass a guy that's looking rough, tell him he's doing great, we're almost there. He scoffs and says, "we still have 3 + miles". Okay, no more encouragement for him. Maybe he'll stop at the next aid station and hitch a ride back. I wouldn't feel bad. Way to bring a person down! 3 + miles. That's a long way. Not as long as 10 miles though. I RAN 10 miles! My goal was to run the entire thing and I'm not stopping now.

Mile 11 -- Are we there yet? This is a long way! Am I crazy to run like this? My knees and my foot hurt. Should've bought those new shoes when I said I was going to (bought them 2 weeks after the race, they feel good now!). Run through sprinklers, there's people sitting on the corners cheering us on, cops out stopping traffic. I'm a runner!

Mile 12 -- I hope the boys are at the finish line, this show is almost over. A guy passes me and tells the people on the sidewalk that he's ready for a beer. It's around 8:30. No....beer's not going to do it. I want corned beef hash with pancakes and a giant orange juice. I've gotta run faster, I'm starving!

Mile 13 -- I can hear the crowd cheering, the guy on the microphone, I can see balloons. Round the corner, coming up Higgins. Pass a guy with a giant cinnamon roll. Holy God! These people just got out of bed, I've been running for over 2 and 1/2 hours. I'm a runner! Coming over the bridge....where are my boys?!? There they are!!!! Yipee!! I think there were a few tears. I hear the guy call out my name, the crowd's cheering....for me? Run over and give Cash a high five, Brent yells some words of encouragement and I cross the finish line at 2 hours and 49 minutes. That took a LONG time! Doug's there too! Some lady hands me a bag and a water and directs me to the back of the finish area. The place is packed, everyone's full of smiles and congrats. I run into 2 girls I trained with, we hug and give big pats on the back. Watch a guy get wheelchaired out, sad....glad I could do this and still function afterwards. Get my time and it's time to go eat. I'm a runner.

When's the next one?

Post race:

We went to IHOP and ate an ungodly amount of food, then went to watch Tawni ride for another hour or so and headed home. Once we were home, Brent took over as dad of the year and watched Cash so that I could sit in the hot tub and get some much needed rest. Iced my knees.....a lot. I couldn't believe how sore I was! I figured I'd be sore, but my knees were really killing me! Now here I am, 2 weeks later. I went for a few mile run this morning (5 am) and felt okay, but questioned if I ever really finished that 1/2 marathon. I'm going straight home to hold my medal, just to prove it to myself. My knees are feeling better, my foot is still sore, but getting better every day. Next 1/2 marathon (only if my foot and knees are better) will be September 13th. I sure hope I can make it -- this is a lot more fun than I could've ever imagined! Happy trails!

**Click on the highlighted words for links to pictures of the race!

4th of July camping trip

I think I may say this in every post but -- this one's a little late, it's been busy around here -- :)

The 4th of July has come and gone this year with not one firework. We went up to Noxon reservoir with our friends Todd, Tracy, Amy and Randy. It was a great weekend with a little fishing, a little boating, some tanning and a few nights with great fires. The 4th we actually spent at camp sitting around the campfire and eating one too many s'mores. Is it just me or do those things get better as you get older? I know one thing: if there are leftover s'more makings it is best to send them home with someone else. I took on the task of eating 2 bags of marshmallows, 2 packages of graham crackers and 3 chocolate bars. Brent didn't even offer to help....strange! Oh, and Amy taught us that you can use chocolate covered graham cracker cookies and you eliminate some of the work. After taste testing the 'old way' vs. the 'new way' Brent and I both determined that the 'new way' actually produced a tastier s'more -- Cash can try it out next year!

Cash is such a great little camper! We put up the tent and set up his pack 'n play in it and the little guy slept like a rock. Not a peep! He caught his first fish (no pics, sorry)....I was reeling in a tiny one from the dock and Cash felt that it was the right moment to grab the pole, so that was his first fish -- or so the story goes. I see a lot more camping in our future!

As a matter of fact, we did a little camping this last weekend as well. We spent Friday through Sunday camping in Superior and watching softball. Brent was in a tournament all weekend so Cash and I hung out and did a lot of cheering, but mostly hung out in the kiddie pool. Cash had an absolute blast....even in the cold water! It was pretty warm out so I think it was a nice way to cool off for the little guy. Oh, and a Cash update: when he gets upset he'll start saying "dadadadda" -- working on his first word. I think it'll be Mommy! :) hahaha

I am putting up a slideshow of the past few weeks just to cut down on the whole uploading of one picture at a time. There's a few pics of Cash's first 4-wheeler ride, a nice tall buck in our front yard, some Superior softball and a few from the 4th.

Keep watching....one of these days I'll put up some pics from the 1/2 marathon (July 12) and review each step with ya! It'll be fun....probably about as fun as running 13.1 miles all at once. I know this may sound a tiny bit sick, but it was actually FUN!

We're Chicken Farmers!

Last year, or maybe it's been longer now....either way....I convinced Brent that we should take 7 chickens from a coworker that was getting rid of them and their little coop. So, we spent about 3 hours chasing chickens around a HUGE chicken coop. I am actually surprised that some of them lived after being pounced on! They made our place a home....a few died....a few were added and we are now the proud owners of 6 hens and 1 rooster (Rudy). Just a few weeks ago we added 5 little chicks to our little family. They are the cutest! I can't believe how fast they've grown! They're not half as cute now, but we still love 'em.