Annie Oakley at her finest!

My rifle is ready to roll....look out lopers, here I come! :) I also included a picture of my belly - you will notice that my head is cut off. That was done on purpose. After a long day at work and feeling like a fat, ugly pregnant lady I decided that I don't need my face posted all over the web! Don't worry, there'll be some pics added from this weekend. Mom and Dad are here for the weekend and Mom gets to go to my last baby shower on Sunday, there should be some good pictures taken sometime in there. Thank goodness for pregnancy hormones!

It's officially hunting season!

Brent, Joe and Jamie had a great week of hunting, cribbage and funny stories. The boys were hunting for a total of 8 days and did get into the elk - just turns out that you need an act of God to get a bull elk to turn broadside at 20-40 yards! Nothing to worry about though, we still have at least 2 more months of hunting season to go.

Bear Season

Wednesday night was a night of firsts. It was the first time that Brent had a night to sit and relax after 8 days straight of elk hunting, it was my first night bear hunting, but it was definitely not the first time that JW had Mom and Dad worried about him.

Overview:

JW decides he's going to go bear hunting, by himself....he calls Dad to tell him that he had shot a bear, twice....it wasn't dead. Dad gave him the rundown about how you don't go bombing into the brush with a wounded bear sitting in there. JW gets done talking to Dad - is ready to go find this bear - puts his phone into his UNZIPPED coat pocket that was not ON his body.

I talk to Mom around 4:00 that afternoon, nobody had heard from JW at all at this point. So of course I call Brent and now we're bear/JW hunting....until MIDNIGHT! As you might have guessed, JW lost his cell phone right after calling Dad, so all of our calls and all of our messages meant nothing to the kid. We put about 200 miles on Brent's pickup and added a few character scratches to it (JW will be buffing those all next week). At midnight we show up at our house and who is sitting in our kitchen, eating everything in sight? You guessed it, the kid that went bear hunting by himself, lost his cell phone and didn't have any food in his pack. For those of you who know JW, you know that this is a typical hunt for him. It is not one bit surprising that he decided he could pack the bear out on his own, nor is it surprising that he was out all day with no food and lost his cell phone. All in all....a productive day. Congrats JW!!!

A 6 ft, 10 yr old boar

Week in Review

Well here I am, sitting at home, eating everything in sight and watching "Failure to Launch"....what a funny movie! Brent is off putting the big sneak on elk and with any luck today is much more productive than the past 5. Yesterday I took my friend Doug to the Griz football game....we watched the worst 1st quarter of football ever, only to be followed by a 46 point run by the Griz. Whew, they pulled off another win. I sure hope they get their ducks in a row BEFORE the 2nd quarter next weekend. Brent called to let me know that the hunt is still on....probably at least 2 more days if not more. That's okay by me, I haven't had a chance to go to my girlie movie and eat loads of popcorn yet! :) The baby is doing great, kicking away throughout the day.

The other weekend Brent, JW and I went grouse hunting up behind the house with what we like to refer to as our "hunting dogs". We saw no birds, but we did enjoy a nice rain shower and we did manage to pick up more cockleburrs than I thought existed....who's brilliant idea was it to create bird dogs that have long hair? Hmmm...

Nursery Time!!

It's finally arrived! We got our crib just the other day and spent 2 nights putting it together. It sure is beautiful....thanks Mom and Dad! What a great gift for all of us to enjoy. Now we're patiently waiting our separate purchase....the dresser and changer. I'm thinking that Three is already spoiled. Oh well, guess it's bound to happen. I was so proud of myself for hauling stuffed animals around all these years because they are FINALLY being put to use. Ha, everyone thought I was nuts! This proves that theory wrong....doesn't it?!?

Flatlanders in Montana

Brent's folks made it out to visit at the end of August and boy did we have a fun weekend! We spent Saturday riding 4 wheelers up in the mountains and picking huckleberries. Mmmm....huckleberry pancakes - we thought of that the next morning when we were sitting down at Eugene's eating breakfast! Oh well, they kept just fine until the next morning. Sunday was Dad's birthday and we declared it a B.O.S. day (bag of s&!$ day)...a nice relaxing day after a night of farewell at Joe and Lisa's house...our good pal Hanna has taken a job working for the state near Red Lodge. Best of luck Hanna and watch out for snow bunnies!

The dogs fared pretty well that weekend too....I don't know if they could have possibly put one more treat in their bellies or have taken one more brushing or extra round of loving! Spoiled a little? No.....lucky little things! Three had a great weekend too....we were surprised with many gifts for our little one. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

There's music on this little video - you'll have to pause or mute the music at the bottom of the screen to hear it.

Baby Update

I went to my 6 month doctor's appointment this morning and thought I'd better post a Three update. I chose to have a midwife instead of an OB - seems like she's more interested in me and the baby than just another number or another face. I sure like her, she's great and just so laid back. She doesn't even give me time to freak out about anything....just even keeled, which is exactly what I need right now. She went to listen to Three's heartrate with her monitor and just as soon as she set the monitor on my belly Three let out two huge kicks....the kind of kicks that say, "hey, watch where you're putting that thing!". We got a good laugh out of that (just earlier I had told her that Three was a very quiet baby, not much for kicking for hours or very hard). Three's heart rate was up to 160 today, normally it's in the 150's. I did the glucose test (drink a super deluxe orange soda, then get blood drawn an hour later) before the appointment, so I would guess that the huge amount of sugar that was coursing through my body was also making it's way through Three's little body too! From what I have read Three is weighing in at a little over a pound and is the size of an ear of corn, working it's way up to a rutabega. I think it's funny that they always use food to compare the baby too. I can't believe how fast this whole thing has gone, seems like just yesterday I was staring at the bottom of a toilet and making a mental note that we had to clean the toilets! :)

Vacation Recap

I've been slacking on pictures with this blog, so I thought I'd add a few that we finally got downloaded. Reading about people's lives is fun, but seeing pictures is what you're really looking for....I know how this works! Here it goes....

A medley of August fun: Lewis and Clark Caverns, doggie play days (always a fiasco) and my sweet Gramps!!! I love you Gramps!!! :)

The Newest Addition

Here they are.....the belly pics. That belly doesn't look half as big from the side as it does from my point of view, so during this photo op I included the "bird's eye view". Yikes! There's feet down there, but not for long! I'm officially polishing off the last week of my 5th month....month number 6 here I come - slowly but surely making my way to the end. I feel like I've been pregnant for a year. It's all these seasonal jobs I've had, normally my season would be coming to an end now that summer is starting to wrap up. Not this year - my season ends Dec. 10! :)

Years, Days, Minutes Tag

Well, who knew that there were such exciting things to do on a blog site?! I have been 'tagged' by my sister in law (Crissy) so I guess I'd better get some answers out on the table!

20 years ago I was.....

7 years old. I wonder if this was the summer that Mike and I walked to the city swimming pool from our house in the country (which is now part of the city....go figure). On that long, hot walk (hey, we were little with short little legs) my sandal broke. Nothing to worry about really because just days before the same thing had happened to Mike and being the lucky duck that he is, we found a roll of duct tape on the side of the road. So much for Mike having to limp all the way to the pool with one bare foot on the hot concrete, we taped it right up! Now back to my broken sandal....we searched and searched and searched and next thing you know we were clear to the city pool and I was still limping along, holding my broken sandal in my hand and nursing what I thought was a completely burned to the bone nubbin. And, to top off my ever increasing streak of good luck, I had left my swim pass at home (seems I still can't shake the constant forgetting) and without a swim pass you pay money. Who has money at 7? Needless to say I cried long and hard.....long and hard enough for my old preschool teacher to notice me and give me the $2 to get in the pool (and shut up, I'm sure)!! I wonder if she recognized me or the cry?! :)

10 years ago I was.....

17 and had just finished High School and was living by myself in a 5th wheel trailer (a REAL beauty) behind the Grizzly Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, MT. I had a great summer after the first few weeks. This was the first time that I had left home and needless to say I spent the first weeks crying and calling Mom and Dad from the payphone down the road. I think that I went to bed every night by 6pm because I was too scared to do anything else. Oh, how times have changed! A little bit about the wonderful trailer: it was extra stinky (it was hot, hot, hot) and late in the summer I broke down and asked the maintenance guy to check the septic. He did and said it just needed a little cleaning. Check. Well, whatever was happening in that toilet was resistant to any sort of cleaning, so I called one more time. This time, the maintenance guy did a little bit more investigating and with this thorough investigation was able to find two brick sized packages tied together that had been pushed way to the end of the septic hose. GROSS!!! One job I swear I'd never take! Anyhow, those brick sized packages contained marijuana and they had to pull me aside to ask me if I was doing drugs?! A simple "no" would have sufficed, but not from this girl. I cleverly pointed out that if I was going to smoke pot and needed a quick hiding place did they really think that I would hide it in the toilet I knew I was going to use?! My pot smoking record was quickly cleared.

5 years ago I was.....

22 and had just finished my long run of college starting at WSU and ending here in Missoula at UM. That summer I got a job as a Range Technician in West Yellowstone. I was in heaven, I thought I had really hit the big time (one time of many). Turns out a Range Technician is just a fancy name for weed sprayer. I spent that entire summer carrying 3 gallons of Tordon (or some other chemical) and water on my back, with just enough blue dye to soak into your skin when it sloshed out of the tank. But don't worry, it was just the dye that was soaking into our skin, not the chemical! :) It was that summer that I met one of my best friends - my bunkhouse roommate for the summer - Janina Bradley. We had quite the summer and made lots and lots of memories. Most of them stemmed from our "short runs" that put us somewhere in Idaho (we started in Montana) in a snow storm in June. Thankfully we made it back to West that night, where we warmed up in a local souvenir shop. Lucky they didn't make us buy all of the fleece that we stuck our hands into, funny, at 7 I didn't have any money and things hadn't really changed much by 22!

3 years ago.....

I was 24 and living in Nevada. Ah, the BLM. I took what seemed to be the job of a lifetime as a Rangeland Specialist with the Bureau of Land Management. My dream job - the reason I had gone to school. This time all I had to do was move to Elko, NV....where in God's name is Elko, NV? I am still asking myself that one! I ended up living with a little old lady named Katy (with 2 little dogs and there might have been a cat or two as well), she was quite the woman and a great support during my NV adventures. The original plan was I was going to rent a trailer from her (this all sounds too familiar). However, that trailer wasn't ready so she allowed us to live with her (me and Mika). This is where Mika learned the fine art of barking - thank you little dogs. Well, the Range job with the BLM had a hire date of April 1, I never started the job because the hire date continued to be moved back until I finally told them to feel free to find someone else to screw over for the rest of the summer! The things I learned about Nevada? No, there are no mountains there, no matter what people tell you, there is only ONE (singular) mountain....that equals ONE peak. 110 degrees is much hotter when you're being used as a pack mule for a survey crew and no matter how much water you drink, you will NEVER have to pee. Rock climbing is great fun. Mormon crickets are not great fun. Black dogs need lots of shade. Helicopter surveying is great fun, especially when you're the one hanging out of the side of the helicopter while it is "toed in" on the side of the mountain and someone holds onto your backpack for safety (OSHA regulated, I'm sure). A trailer in NV is always warm. And, one that I should've known by then with all the moving that I had done, UHauls must be returned by a certain date. You cannot keep them for an undisclosed amount of time for "storage" purposes. This costs more money than renting one to drive from MT to NV.

So far this past yearI have learned that.....

No matter what job I land, it's going to be the chance of a lifetime! How many jobs have I had? I have experience in EVERYTHING. I am so glad that I've had so many opportunities to meet great people and see great things, I wouldn't trade it for the world. This past year I learned that you can love someone permanently and yes, it's possible to marry your best friend. Brent and I have had some awesome times together and are expecting many more for the future. We are now expecting our first child....we have both learned that I am a TERRIBLE pregnant woman! Oh the agony! :) And most of all through this pregnancy (5 1/2 months) we have learned that 9 months is a long, long time. Have I even had a job that has lasted 9 months?!? I have also learned to stay....this is most likely the longest amount of time that I have spent in one spot and I'm actually starting to get used to it and enjoy it. I never realized what a drifter I was until I met Brent, Mr. 13 years at one job. That's a LONG TIME!!!! That's not the goal I'm shooting for quite yet, I think I'll start small!

Yesterday I.....

Microwaved dirt. No joke, that's my job. First I microwave it and then I burn it. I will do the same thing today and tomorrow and most likely until this "job of a lifetime" ends in March. With lots of luck it will end sooner and I'll be working for the Frenchtown Fire District, the real job of a lifetime, I swear this is it! My newest endeavor has been our local YMCA. I have joined a few low impact classes such as PALS, an aerobic class for pregnant and old ladies. I have also started a water aerobics class, a class for pregnant and old ladies. I get the funny looks from the likes of Marge and Mae, wondering what this little kid is doing in their elite group of training senior citizens. After convincing them that, yes, I am 5 1/2 months pregnant they have taken me under their wing. By the end of this pregnancy I hope to be in decent shape still and maybe have snagged a few unwritten recipes and a little wise old lady advice from my newest pals!!! :)

Tomorrow.....

I will microwave dirt.....then I will burn it. I will go to water aerobics in the morning and catch up on all of the local gossip. Brent is off to Men's State for beer league softball tomorrow evening, so I will be in charge of the house. Guess what that means?!? I'm going camping! I will be headed up 9 mile to enjoy a nice night under the stars with a few good girlfriends.

Next Year I will be.....

A new mother. I don't know what motherhood will bring, but I know that it will be yet another adventure for sure. I just hope one thing....please lord, don't let me fall into complete soccer mom mode....no minivan and no giant purse! Other hopes and dreams: we hope to have successfully killed off our knapweed garden, plant a real garden, start building a barn (Brent, are you reading this?), finish the basement!, have a kitten (Brent, are you reading this?) and I hope that no matter what we are able to enjoy every minute of life together as the new and improved Olson family!

At this point I'm supposed to "tag" someone....I don't really know anyone else who has a blog that hasn't already been "tagged". I suppose I will leave this one open ended to anyone who would like to throw some answers out there! I am adding Jennifer (Heather's sister) to the "tag" list. Maybe we will get this going on the East Coast too!!!

A Little Family Time

This last weekend Brent and I were lucky enough to have one weekend off from softball and all the hoopla of Missoula and made the trek to the big city: Pullman. Brent swears there's not a single restaurant there....only a few open for breakfast....hey, we're not in Fargo anymore, Toto!! :) We had a great time visiting (and shopping) with Mom and Dad and even got to spend a little bit of time with Grandpa Hobbs and Aunt Jody. All in all a nice, relaxing weekend.

Last week Cat and Dana came across some extra tickets to the Martina McBride concert. Holy lord, that woman can really belt it out. I couldn't believe so much came out of so little. We had a great time and even came out of the evening $40 richer - thanks to ebay, Cat and Brent's retired softball bats. Softball is going to pay off sooner or later!!!

While shopping this weekend my Mom and I had the pleasure of shopping in the maternity section. Wow...I didn't know elastic bands could be so becoming!!! All these years, wasted. I bought a few little items to cover my ever growing belly, but now that I made it home I have decided to return a few. The pants come in a "one size fits all" and unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm not "one size" yet. I won't break down until I absolutely have to! :) I will have Brent take a photo of Three and I tonight and will try to get it posted tomorrow. Brent and I have been extra busy getting the yard/knapweed farm cleaned up at night and have simply forgotten about the pics (and the blog). Oops.

One last thing, I interviewed yesterday afternoon with Frenchtown Fire.....keep your fingers crossed - this could be the job that keeps me for longer than 6 months!!!

Hunting News

Brent went online this morning and checked the status of our special permit tags for this hunting season.....we'll be doing some antelope hunting for sure!!! I got drawn for a buck and Brent for a doe. Lucky for me, JW (my little bro) has picked out the perfect spot on the ranch that he works on for a 7 month pregnant girl to hunt! And extra lucky for Brent to be married to this pregnant girl!!! :) We also put in for what seems like a hundred other tags, but our luck only went so far this year. Heck, I couldn't even draw a doe tag for behind the house (they're like rats back there).....guess they don't know who I am?!? Ha!!

Another hunting note: Brent got drawn for the one and only buck tag that is given out on his Dad's land in North Dakota. This means that we get to spend a little extra hunting time in the great state of ND! Last year we were able to pull off a few days of bird hunting with Brent's folks and his good friends Dennis and Gail. As a bird hunter I certainly did more watching, ducking and shotgun walking than I did actually 'hunting'. We had such a wonderful time and were hoping to go back again this fall. With Brent's luck and a little saved cash we will definitely be headed back out to ND for bird/deer season. Another season of Amy yelling "incoming"! I swear I thought I was in the middle of a war!!! This year I'll be better - I'm actually going to hit one, I swear. Should be fun times!

Last Ultrasound

Brent and I went in for our 20 week ultrasound yesterday. I have gained 3.5 pounds of the 15 that I lost back....slowly, but surely! We got to see the baby, up close and personal. I asked the ultrasound tech if it was necessary for us to close our eyes so we didn't see anything that we didn't want to. She assured us we would see nothing.....boy was she right - I could barely figure out what I was looking at the whole time. Of course, then there was Brent - "Oh yeah, right there, I see it!". It's like a Where's Waldo book....I was never any good at those! Either way we came out of there with a little more knowledge about our baby: it has two arms and two legs, all the bones and internal organs that it needs to survive and it's already eating! Must be my kid for sure! :) Three was waving goodbye at the end of the ultrasound and was, at one point, running in place. The cutest of all was when we got our first look and there was Three, kicked back and lounging with a little arm propped behind the head. Must be pretty good living in there! We're still looking for a scanner so that everyone can get a look at the ultrasound pics....maybe you'll have a better eye for it than I did! Oh, and Three is a very healthy 11 oz and the due date has been bumped up a whole day (could've gone for a week, but take what you can get, right?!), so new due date is December 10th.

FINALLY!

Okay, I've got it now! Finally was able to set up a slide show of our fishing trip the other weekend (with a few previous trips as well). Now that I've got this down I should be able to get those wedding pics up too....either way, you'll have to look more than once!!!

The sequel

Alright, I lied - the wedding pics will be here soon....somehow I can't get them to download, but I promise to have them up by the end of the week! Hey, it's my first time 'blogging'! Until then....a weekend update....

Brent and I (and Three) were lucky enough to score a guided fly fishing trip this past weekend courtesy of the Shuester Fishing Co. What a great trip, we must have landed 15 or 20 a piece. Okay, truth be told, we caught NOTHING! Brent and I practiced our casting technique (Brent's getting really good!) while Jeff and Terri both caught one fish apiece - it was just too hot to fish, but we all mimicked Tiger at The Hole in the Wall ranch with a little pond golf! The biggest catch of the day was a little blue raft that had been caught in a pile of logs. We had a brilliant idea to ride it back down the creek to our cars (the bushwhacking in was a little more intense than first expected and nobody wanted to hoof it back out), but that idea was short lived once the straps ripped off and the raft went bobbing down the creek where it eventually slammed into more logs - good thing we 'opted' not to ride it out!

In closing....I'm going to get this picture stuff down sooner or later. I think it's because I'm doing my 'blogging' from work....maybe I should do a little more work and play later!!! :) Don't give up on us yet, this will get more exciting! Pics to follow......

The Very Beginning II

Okay, I promised....and here they are.....wedding pics!!! We were so lucky.... I think it rained for a week before and a week after, but somehow we lucked out and got a burst of sunshine for the ceremony. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone!! We think that Brent's grandpa Olson even made the trip by train - maybe he brought the sunshine?! We missed seeing so many family members, but know that everyone was there in spirit and couldn't have been happier.....enjoy the pics!

The Very Beginning

Well, here it goes. Crissy gave me this idea, so yes, it has been stolen. I wonder who will pick it up next?! Brent and I (I'm thinking mostly "I") thought that this would be fun and a great way to keep in touch with all of our friends and family. I know there's not much for photos here, so may not be the most exciting 'blog' you've seen, but hey, ya gotta start somewhere, right?!

As most of you know, Brent and I were married on May 23rd in Paradise, MT at our very favorite vacation spot, Quinn's Hotsprings. We were so pleased to be able to spend such an important day with family, we only wished that everyone could have made it out. I will be posting pictures as I get them of the wedding, I promise!

Brent and I are also expecting our very first child. We are more than happy and become more and more excited every day. I had a Dr.'s appointment yesterday....Brent and I got to hear the heartbeat (150 + bpm) and even a few kicks! Very exciting! Not to worry, we'll be putting up some ultrasound pictures as well. We have a few from 12/13 weeks, we just have to figure out how to get them on the computer! Our next ultrasound will be next month....I know that everyone will be sitting at the computers, waiting for the pictures!

I hope that you all enjoy this little blog of ours.....and I really hope we can keep up with it.....