A Day at the River

My beloved cousin came over on Christmas Day with her two Girlies, they spent the night. We had a sleepover! These girls are as close as I'm going to get to having girls around, to dressing girls and playing with girl things, watching girl movies. My house is full to the TOP with BOYS, so I REALLY enjoy my girl time lol =)

We went down to the river so Cuz could see the Gorging for herself. It's so amazing! And I couldn't help myself. I HAD to bring my camera. I'm sure glad I did!!

Enjoy!

First, this is Little D. Apparently this is how girls dress up like Bumblebee...
(the mask is upside down LOL... I would never tell her that though! this is MUCH cuter!)

This is Big K at the pond that is beside the river... Brrr...

Big B looking out across the pond.

Little L RUNNING to her Momma. Sooo cute! Her feet aren't even touching the ground!

Big B contemplating a snow ball fight =)

Little L smiling for the camera....

Big K thinking about climbing this tire... but her Wizard of Oz shoes made her think twice ;)

Little L and Big K reading the sign by the river... bookends =)

Caught it!

Little D, a bright ray of sunshine!

Merry Christmas!

With Etsy!!

I went shopping online this year and hit the JACKPOT with Etsy. I had a VERY limited budget and there was an unlimited supply of affordable gifts on Etsy. I absolutely recommend everyone shop there!

Here are a few gifts I got =)

I got this adorable magnet set complete with tin from Bell Design. Talk about Cute! My Aunt loved them...


I got these wonderful tins to use as gift boxes from MaJentaDesigns!

I got these adorable magnets for my other Aunt and Cousin from Silly Dog Magnets =) Aren't they so cute! I also got my friend a set... she has a Hairless Chinese Crested and Brianna had a set of Hairless Chinese Crested magnets!! WOW!!
And she made me a special magnet of my own little Shorkie, Angus...
This is the actual art! Isn't it cute! It looks just like him =)

I highly recommend these wonderful ladies for your shopping needs. And if you remember... I also get my makeup on Etsy! From The All Natural Face. Wonderful, wonderful makeup. I LOVE it! I have very sensitive skin and this is the only kind of mineral makeup, eye shadow and mascara that I can use.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas full of Family and Fun!!

River Gorging

The Madison River is an interesting river. It does something that no other river in the US does. It gorges. Gorging is awesome and beautiful and a little scary. When I was walking around down there it felt absolutely prehistoric, glacier-like. The ice shifts and moves and grinds and squeals. It's really amazing.

Gorging is when the river doesn't freeze. Instead it fills up with ice. The ice backs up into Ennis lake which in turn causes the river to overflow it's banks. And I mean OVERFLOW. The water goes everywhere! The ice builds up along the banks of the river and freezes where ever the river has left it's banks as well. I hear that the river is prime for fishing at this time of year. You wouldn't catch me in a boat with all that ice around! No way.

But I'll go down and take pictures =)

This is shot northeast of Ennis. Right at the edge of town and the bank of the river. Look at all that ice!!

This is how thick it is! I wonder if there are fish in that hole... or maybe ducks?

This is a shot of the bridge that goes out the east side of Ennis, towards Yellowstone National Park. I guess sometimes the ice comes up over the bridge!

A close up of the ice. I love close ups...

Bird foot prints. The look so perfect in the fresh sprinkle of snow.

Tricks!

Angus has a few new tricks up his sleeve. Enjoy!

Angus has this cute trick of "tossing" you the ball. Here is Hubby playing "catch" with him.
If you tell him that you can't reach it, he'll run, get it and throw it to you. It sure does make playing fetch easier!

Jingle Bells!

Jingle Bells,

Jingle All The Way!


Oh how cute he is! Too bad he's not big enough to pull a sleigh =)

Happy Birthday Big B!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to Big B....
Happy Birthday to yououououou!

Today is Big B's birthday. His first here, in Ennis. The weather isn't great. We are having a winter storm watch with lots of wind and snow falling. The roads were VERY exciting =) We braved the 40 miles into Bozeman so we could go to the Museum. It was a blast!

Big B's Grandma and Grandpa Westfall met us there as did his Uncle Bob. We walked around and learned about World War II, Native Americans, and Dinosaurs!! Big B even got to go to the gift shop and pick out a book and a movie. Then both boys got to pick out two dinosaur key chains and there were these wonderful colorful dinosaur t-shirts on sale for $5!! Who could pass that up... not me??

Little L got a purple one.

Big B got a red one. Cool right!?

We are watching the dinosaur movie as I type and it's very interesting. The boys are glued to it and asking me tons of questions. (Apparently I am the go to gal about dinosaurs... who knew? Not me!!)

I think it was a wonderful birthday today. Big B got lots of presents in the mail. He loves getting mail, so that was exciting. All in all it was a very productive day.

Happy Birthday Big B!!

It's Festive in here!

We just put up our tree and boy is it festive in here!! We got a real tree this year and it smells so good!! The boys hung up all the ornaments and the tree looks great.

We hung our stockings on the banister. (We've never had a banister before...) My Grandma made both of the boys stockings and mine too. They are beautiful

I also wanted to share one of my birthday presents. I just got them today and I LOVE them! They are so comfy and soft and warm. My very own Uggs! Thanks so much to Teresa!!

Aren't they cute!?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh this is so exciting! Our first Thanksgiving in Ennis. Hubby has to work, so we are going to celebrate with just our little family. I'm cooking dinner this morning, so he will have time for a nap before he heads out to keep our county safe for the night!

Last night I woke up and realized that Hubby wasn't home yet. He is usually home around 3 in the morning =0 I know! So late... or maybe it's early? But it was 5am and he wasn't here. Of course I couldn't fall asleep again so I called to see where he was. He was just driving home. It was a busy night in the Madison Valley last night. I definitely sleep better knowing he's out there protecting us.

So, our Thanksgiving dinner is going to be, turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, and a green salad. Then I'm making hot fudge sundaes for dessert. I have a busy day ahead!

I'm wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

Snow Pictures!

Little L enjoying himself!

Big B flat out in the snow. They were eating a lot of it!

Angus! Look how deep the snow is!

He was loving it! Racing all around like a lunatic =)

Then he stopped and looked at me. LOL

A little less snowy.

Big B looking so handsome!

Wearing Daddy's sunglasses.
"The future's so bright he has to wear shades!"

TaDa!!

Holy Deer! And Snow!!

The deer here are crazy! They walk around in people's yards and are not too afraid of us as we walk around and go about our days. They aren't tame. You can't walk up and pet them or anything. (I had visions of 6 or so of them hitched to a sleigh this winter... just like Santa!) They are wild, just accustomed to people and town life!

A young buck walking through. I tried to get him to look, but he wouldn't.

A couple of does. They were more alert. This picture was taken in our side yard...

A close up. Isn't she pretty??

Then we woke up this morning to THIS!!!
This is the very same side yard that the does are standing in. I took the picture of the does LAST NIGHT!!

Our front door with the snow falling down through the tree...

The end of main street. All snowy!

The boys and I walked to school this morning. Well I walked anyway. They spent a lot of time on their knees or rolling around in the snow =) My eyelashes were plastered with snow and ice by the time I got back home. Brrrrrrrrrr!