a (tree) hunting we will go...

On Saturday we observed the old time tradition of chopping down a Christmas Tree.  You can't argue with the economics ($5), and the family fun. And yes, it has its environmental benefits as well. We went up to Hyalite Reservoir and had so much fun. 

It had snowed quite a bit up in the mountain.  The scenery was breathtaking.

Ice Fishing - Ashley's new passion. It combines several of her few favorite things.  Sitting. In the cold.  No but seriously here are some ice fishing enthusiasts on the reservoir as its frozen over. So beautiful.

We threw Ed in the pack and snuggled him up real cozy like.  Because the sun was out the temperature was very tolerable. We had great weather on a spectacular day.

I took George. The snow was close to knee deep in some places making it pretty tough for George to head in by himself.

I blazed a trail after scouting a few potential candidates.  Ashley lugged Ed in and stopped to model for me.  Ed snoozed the entire time. Makes me wonder what interesting places my parents took me when I was little, that I just snoozed all the way through.

We went deeper into the woods and found a few candidates.  George was an excellent helper and was having a ton of fun.

Like a responsible dad, I forgot George's gloves but because of the drawstring feature on mine, they work perfect for a toddler.  By some milagro I had packed two pair for myself so we got really lucky in that regard.

Trudging through knee deep snow, with a (close to) 40 lb toddler, and a christmas tree is a serious workout.  I highly recommend it.  Everyone had so. much. fun.

George and I pause to catch our breath and lug our beauty the rest of the way out. Are you jealous yet of our wholesome family fun? I cannot emphasize enough how beautiful it was, and how happy we all were. We didn't have to hunt for very long, and even though we had some initial buyers remorse at our tree (as we saw hordes of childless tree cutters and their Rockefeller Square quality trees), now that its up in our house we love it and I couldn't be prouder.

Poor Ed, forced into adventures he didn't sign up for. He didn't wake up until the tree was on top of the car.  Come to think of it, we should've got a picture of that.

I obviously should've dressed George better, put him in some pretty cruddy jeans that got soaked.  As the picture illustrates, we stripped him down after the tree hunting and was a lot more happy. He loves our tree and was smiling about it all day.

Just in case the pictures weren't enough, we recorded some video of the adventure.  Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season.

we. love. montana.

we are not dead, we are very much alive...

You'll have to excuse the dysfunctional layout of this post. For some reason the pictures are mounting all weird. But that's not as important is relaying the fact to you, dear reader, that despite our absence from the blog world, in fact yes we are alive and doing well. October was an insanely busy month with nary a dull moment, as you are about to see.

George very much loves wolfing his food down, especially when it is pizza, maccaroni & cheese, or depending on his mood, anything. He also has a deep appreciation for chocolate milk.  Ed is growing so quickly, and was 25% heavier than George on his 2 month check in.  His weight has led to such nicknames as "Fatso", "Porky", "Lumpkins" and "Poopsie."


At the end of September we reunited with our best friends, "Los Nelson."  We met them up in a small resort town in the northwest part of Montana called Whitefish. It is a cute town, and we rented a condo with lake-front access.  It was heavenly.

We also made a trip with our friends Andy & Lisa, out to Yellowstone National Park.  George got to see Old Faithful for the second time.

Ed also got to see Old Faithful. He was super-impressed.

Here's the whole fam damily (as my  mom used to say).  

Ed is starting to smile a lot. He loves when we talk to him, particularly in high voices. Its the kind of thing that you do because your child responds to it and it is so fun to see him respond, but asked to make the same toned-voice in public, you wouldn't do it for a million dollars.

In early October we went out to Colorado Springs for Ashley's brother's wedding. It was a great time, despite the entire family dealing with a particularly caustic brand of 24-stomach flu, including the groom.  Here's George palling around with his cousins Clayton and Henry.

The Potter girls... lucky is the man who marries these women.  Going quick, 3/4 are already spoken for.

George jumped for joy at the temple... it was just about 5 years ago that Ashley and I were married here, when George was just a twinkle in our eye.  Thankfully Aunt Blythe watched George and Ed while we attended the ceremony.

While in the Springs, we attended the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, or as Ashley calls it, "the world's largest zoo."  Just kidding, she doesn't call it that.  But it is a great zoo and all the cousins enjoyed it. George hanging out with "Paka," Charlotte and Lucy.

Ashley and her sister Serena.

See how I'm "coaxing" the giraffe to eat the lettuce, I do this with George as well and find it particularly effective.

The day before Ashley's birthday, I got in an accident.  Minor damage, but... the real sweet side of this whole transaction was that it allowed me to purchase one of these bad boys.

An xtracycle, every bike nerd's dream when they want to do nearly anything humanly possible by bike.

Ed is particularly excited about the transaction as when its fully outfitted, I'll be able to transport George and Ed simultaneously on the back. I cannot wait!

Summer is gone and replaced by a beautiful fall. Ashley and the boys have taken advantage of the season.

And with fall comes another Halloween.  We feel so much pressure to deliver.  But fortunately for me, I married a truly visionary, genius mind in Ashley who always comes up with the best ideas for costumes.  This year George was Howard Hughes-Bomber Pilot-Charles Muntz and Ed was Troy Polamalu as if he had been traded to the Denver Broncos.

The Great Aviator.

 Ed got tons of attention. Lots of fun trick-or-treating along Main Street.

Here's the whole family in its glory.  It is really starting to get chilly now and the brief three day fall has now given way to winter.  We are bracing for impact, but looking forward to the holidays, sledding, soups and warm bread, and everything else that the Montana winter has to offer.

happy 30th ashley

Today is Ashley's 30th birthday, not her 29th, not her 31st... her 30th.  As such it is completely monumental for so many reasons.

I was reading census data the other day (gripping, I know) and it was reiterated to me that Ashley is likely going to live longer than me. Maybe even much longer than me.  Women just live longer than men.  With that information, I was reminded of how hard I need to work to be worthy of this wonderful woman, so that when I die she doesn't replace me with some money-bags and burn all our pictures.

Just kidding. Ashley would never do that.  Ashley is loyal, loving, fun and adventurous.  30 is the new 20.  She is a fantastic woman and I'm so glad that she is my wife.  Every day I laugh with her.  That is one of her greatest gifts to me.  Now if I can only find one of those fireman calendars... then that will be my greatest gift to her.

Happy Birthday Ashley, may you have 50, 60 more of these (with me, not Mr. Money Bags).  Also, here's a note from George:

summer's end... fall is upon us

As much as it pains me to admit it - summer appears to be winding down.  I will be the first to admit, I was very skeptical of this so called "summer" that Bozeman/Montana was supposed to have. After a soul-decimating Spring, I had convinced myself that all of these Bozemanites had deluded themselves into thinking that the summer up here was so lovely, that it made the rest of the year worth it.  I was sure of this... but alas... summer eventually did come and it was glorious.  We got to do so much, and next summer holds even more adventure in store as Ashley won't be pregnant, so we can do all sorts of things that we were a little less apt to do with a babe in the belly.

Ed is here and is a great addition to our family.  We enjoyed a visit from Ashley's parents to help with the transition, and were the benefactors of many lovely gifts and cards.  Thank you everyone!

Here's George doing his Harry Potter impersonation up at Hyalite reservoir.  Had a great time "fishing" with cheetohs and hiking with baby brother.

Ed's getting more alert, and is on an "ounce a day" weight gain plan. We are supplementing breast milk with muscle milk and gold standard whey.  He has consistently gained an ounce a day for three weeks running. Ed's gonna be a beefcake so help me...

Here is the little man after his first bath.  Opening his eyes and looking around "shifty eyed" like he's suspicious of everyone around him. Rightfully so Ed.. rightfully so...

Coupla suckers...

Story time... note Ed's attention.  Loves snuggling with his very gentle yet enthusiastic brother. 

A couple of weekends ago we went to a cabin down Idaho-way, near Ashton.  We had a view of the Tetons, and there was ample room for lounging and the kids to get into all kinds of outdoor adventures.  I love living here - and I love that George (and Ed soon enough) get to spend so much time outside. Ed was a big hit with the kiddos.  As you can see he was certainly not starved for attention.

We rotated cooking meals, and when we started to get pekish, we'd simply send George up and inquire as to how much longer we had to wait for our meals to be served to us, so as to avoid looking like a bunch of low class clowns. Kidding of course. It was so much fun to be around good friends and especially for George to be with his best friend Abram and his crush Ruby.

I love this shot because it completely captures George's post-Orange Julius drunkeness, if he were an adult he'd be singing old military songs and would reek of scotch.

A short hike from the cabin was a lovely little lake that we had all to ourselves except for when the Lord of the Flies children came up on their convoy of 4 wheelers. I swear the supervising child was no older than 9 and there were like 30 of them.  Kind of creep.  Here George and Abram practice safety skills before boarding the canoes.

George and I on our way down to the lake.

Mom and the boys enjoy a few chuckles as we wait our turn for the canoes.

Ashley and the boys on our very sea worthy vessel.  We liked it so much I think we are definitely considering a canoe purchase for next summer.  NOW are you interested in coming up to visit?

By the end of the trip, George was exhausted. Minutes from leaving he got very philosophical, pondering the world from the perspective of a dog, Tao - or "Towel" as George calls him.

The trip was a perfect capstone to our summer... We've still got a few weeks of good weather, and we're going to make the most of it.  Hope you all had a great Labor Day and summer in general.