Blessed...

Heavenly Father has really blessed us lately. In so many small ways, I have seen His hand in our lives. Joe and I were worried about him quitting and not having a job lined up. I was amazed that Joe's company valued him enough to meet most of his requirements for them. Now he has better pay and we can breathe a little easier. We got our earnest money back on the house we decided not to buy because we thought Joe would not have his job. These are just some of the obvious blessings that I have seen. This does not include our health, our beautiful little boys, a place to live, food to eat. I am so grateful to know of His plan for us. Now as we proceed, I hope that we are able to find a great place to live with good schools because Joseph is almost to the point of beginning elementary school. I know that He will continue to help us and guide us.

New words

Up, apple...

Joe quit his job!!...but wait

So Joe finally sent in his resignation letter. Last night we concluded it would be best for us to do. This morning Joe received a call from the CFO. He told Joe you know you are valuable when your boss's boss's boss likes you. They made Joe an offer and gave him 3 options as to what his job could be:

1. Billing supervisor. Stay where he is and give him a small pay raise, while taking away 2 big responsibilities: attritions and commissions.

2. Financial analyst. Handle commissions and attritions and other financial reporting.

3. Revenue recognition. He would be more of an accountant.

Joe let them know a price range that he was aiming for and the CFO told him he would get back to him. They raised their offer and let him know that his raise would be effective immediately and that he would assume his new position after his boss comes back from maternity leave. Joe's biggest headache was commissions and they will take that away ASAP. Looks like our plan to leave Utah has failed yet again. Now we are looking for another house.

18 months

Samuel turned 18 months yesterday. Crazy. He is now old enough for nursery.


Here is Samuel with daddy.

Samuel right now:
-says "hot", "dada", "mama", "ba(ball)", "bed", "baf(bath)", "nigh nigh", "uh-oh"(corresponds to when he drops things intentionally or throws them), "wha(what)", "dog", "woo(woof)", "don(done)", "bite"
-signs "banana", "please", "eat", "more", "water", "drink", "all done", "play", "rock", "bath", "cheese"
-likes to play with Joseph, as well as fight with Joseph
-likes to put his cup in its place on his tray.
-likes balls.
-still likes to clasp things in his hands.
-loves pasta, cheese, peas, corn, fruit.
-has a very expressive face.
-runs to daddy when he doesn't want to go to bed or get changed.
-likes to stomp his feet.
-enjoys sucking in his tummy.
-blows air out of his mouth and can make a whistling noise.
-weighs 23 pounds (14th percentile), is 32" long (42nd percentile), and has a head that is in the 98th percentile.

Day 5 (continued), Day 6 and into Day 7: the drive home

After the going to the sun road, we went back to the cabin so Joe could nap. I took the boys to the playground and then we went for a swim. We wanted to hike the trail of the cedars, as it is one of the most popular paths to take.

Joseph found himself a little home in one of the tree bases.

Mommy with her boys. The trees were tall. Maybe not as tall as the sequoias in California, but tall nonetheless.

A cascading fall along the trail.

Just to get an idea of how large the trees were. Joseph ran ahead of us to pose for this shot.

We drove a different road for a bit to see wildlife. This stag tried to hide from us, but we caught him on camera! After our drive, we went to the Rawhide restaurant for some BBQ. Samuel was in a mood, so I had to carry him. Luckily it was late, so there were only 2 families (including us) at the restaurant. Samuel had a horrible night of sleep. I slept in the car with him and he screamed for over half an hour. I felt bad for anyone around us who could hear him. The next morning, Joe and Joseph slept in and I tried to keep Samuel entertained for a bit. We finally packed our car and went on one more drive. Joe wanted to go to one of the meadows we had seen to see if he could find any more animals. The night before, we had seen deer there.

Joe heard some rustling and a lot of chattering. He found a family of pine martens that lived near where he was standing. Joe tried to snap a picture, but the sound of the flash scared them. He waited patiently and was able to snap this shot. It is the head of one of the pine martens. A deer also scampered across close to where Joe was.

This deer posed for us. It was eating by the side of the road. I am just glad it didn't jump in front. :)

We decided that we wanted to go to Many Glacier before we headed back to Utah. It would be a long drive, but we figured we wouldn't be back to Glacier National Park for a long time. We ate at Eddie's Cafe. I snapped a photo especially for my brother Edward.

AFter a 3 hour drive to get to Many Glacier, we were able to snap some lovely shots. This meadow had a coyote lazing around. It is in the picture, but because it was far off and we don't have a super zoom lens, this is the best we could do. It was there though. We were 15 miles from the Canadian border, but without passports, we decided not to cross. They probably wouldn't have let me back in the country. We started the LOOOOOOOOOONG drive home.

A scenic overlook? I don't think it was so pretty, but I needed to change Samuel's diaper. Joe snapped some shots while I did. This is the road I told him to take to intersect with I-15. Had I looked a little closer, we could have shaved off an extra half hour or more going down a different road. As if we weren't already on the road long enough. The exits weren't marked well, so we ended up going north on I-15 and having to flip around. Add more time to the trip home.

We stopped for gas in Helena. Joseph saw the large dinosaur and had to pet it. Joe said he was ridiculously happy as he touched the dinosaur and had the largest smile on his face. What a cutie!! We drove till we were almost out of Montana and decided that we needed to sleep a little. We pulled over at a rest stop and hadn't been asleep for more than 30 minutes when Samuel started to cry. We buckled up and drove into Idaho. It was well past 2 in the morning when Joe and I decided that we needed to stop again. I was having trouble staying awake to keep Joe company. I made sure to put a hoodie over Samuel so hopefully he wouldn't get cold and wake up again. We slept for a little over 3 hours and started to drive back to Utah again.

Samuel's hair looked like Flock of Seagulls hair when he woke up. He slept till about 7 in the morning. Yay!

This is what we found when we got home at 8:30 in the morning. My dad has been working on the plumbing and was trying to finish it. It was a mess in the hall and in the bathroom. All in all, quite the surprise to come home to. I got the boys ready for church and sent them with my parents. Joe and I crashed for about 8 hours. It was a fun trip and I am glad that we went.

Conversation while on the Going to the Sun Road

Joseph: "We should be pickers." (we watched a show called American Pickers about 2 guys that travel around and buy stuff to resell for more. They focus on antiques and collectibles.)
Daddy: "What would we pick?"
Joseph: "I would pick toys. Mommy would pick girls clothes. Daddy would pick electronics and Samuel would pick baby toys."

Day 5: Going to the Sun Road

We started out bright and early for our drive along the going to the sun road. It is about 24 miles and the views are spectacular. There was construction and a ton of bikers (usually not allowed on the road because it is extremely narrow at points). The bikers were doing either training or some charity event.

The sign on the East side of Glacier. The sign on the West side was always busy with people.

One of my big worries on this trip is that we would see one of these while we hiked. I guess it worked to our benefit that we only did 2 hikes. Joe says we only did 1 hike and the other was a nature walk. I consider the second a hike as well.

Sunrise in the park. Actual sunrise was a lot earlier (I should know, I slept in the car with Samuel). The light filtering through the trees was cool. Joseph told me to take it at this angle.

Nice reflections on Lake McDonald. It was really nice to drive the road early in the morning because there was only a little traffic.

Another picture of the reflection on the lake. Very nice (as boys say according to Joseph...girls use the word pretty).

Small tunnel on the road. Joseph got excited that he could hold his breath for it.

We went around a switchback and this deer was in an overlook area. I was less than 10 feet away from it while I snapped this picture from the car.

Spectacular view from the car. Some of the roadside made me nervous, especially because I can be afraid of heights. Joe is too, but he drove like a pro. Only on a few occasions did I feel dizzy looking down the heights.

More views of the mountains with unstable snow at the base. The snow is labeled as unstable so people won't climb it.

This is a picture taken as we waited at one of the construction areas. It was a tall mountain that we were going to pass a little closer later. The ridge line coming down is where we would be driving. We already passed the weeping wall. It was crazy how much water was pouring onto the road. I couldn't take a good picture, but I did get a video of it on our way back on the road.

On the side of the road while we were driving near the aforementioned mountain. They were right outside my window. Yay for seeing a mountain goat!! We had tried the day before at a place called Goat Lick. Usually it is teeming with mountain goats, but when we were there...nothing. This made up for it. :)

Logan Pass and the Continental Divide. We drove by the divide a lot. We tried to stop here on our way back for lunch, but it was later in the day and super busy.

Yay again!! We saw a big horn sheep as we were leaving Logan's Pass visitors center.

Joseph standing at one of the stops. It is the Jackson Glacier in the background. Joe read on the sign that in the 1800's there were 150 glaciers in the park. Today there are 26. Scientists estimate that by 2030, all the glaciers in the park will be melted.

Goose island found in Lake St. Mary. I loved the water at the park. It was so blue and clear. Everything at the park felt pristine. Thanks for making it a national park.

Goose island from the other side. Now you can see the blueness of the water in contrast.

Mommy and the boys on the shores of Lake St. Mary. It was very pretty. To get here, we walked through a meadow of flowers that smelled oh so enticing. Perfect place to find a bear. I am glad that we didn't though and that we were able to enjoy the lake side.

Me and my sweetie. He is so wonderful!

Daddy and Joseph. Here is Joseph with his hippo smile.

Daddy hiking (not on a nature walk) with his 2 boys. We were hiking to St. Mary's Falls.

A nice older gentleman offered to take our families picture at the falls. Pretty fails to describe how awesome it was.

Wildflower in the meadow.

Wildflower near St. Mary's Falls.

Picture of a hanging valley.

More big horn sheep had joined the first one we saw. A ranger was here telling people not to stop. I snapped a couple of pics while the people in front of us were stopped.

Moutain goats grazing by the side of the road near Logan's Pass. It was a nice meadow with waterfalls and grass. Pretty. :)

Joe took this out of his window. It looks like the goat is glaring at him.

I am glad Joe decided that we should go to Glacier National Park. He wanted to go before the glaciers melted away and it really was beautiful. I wouldn't mind if we owned a cabin near the park. All in all, Montana is a really nice state. The going to the sun road was worth it for the views. There were lots more hikes, but we learned that we couldn't hike far with the boys.

Day 4: Driving to Glacier National Park

We traveled from Bozeman to Glacier National Park. It was a long drive. We made it to Glacier at around 5 and got some stuff out of our car to do a quick drive through the park.


Joseph sleeping on the way to Glacier National Park. I thought it was funny that he slept on the cooler.

Samuel on one of the rare occasions he was smiling while we drove.

This little critter greeted us on our way into the park. He turned from side to side.

Mommy and Joseph at Fish Creek. Samuel stayed in the car because he screamed any time we took him out and tried to put him back in the seat.

Daddy and Joseph at Fish Creek. One of Joseph's new things to do is to do a hippo smile. He opens his mouth wide.

The winding river was so beautiful. The water was so clear and blue. I wanted to jump right in and go for a swim.

The crystal clear water allowed us to see all the rocks in the water. We found out later that we could have fished for free.

We got lucky and saw a black bear on the side of the road. He was foraging in the underbrush. I couldn't snap the picture fast enough. He was less than 10 feet away from me. I am just glad I was in the car.

Sunset on the drive. It was amazingly beautiful.

The river was a sight to see. Yay for the beauty of the Earth!