On location

Greetings, from the hot, hot, hot land of Billings! We (Reese, Mason, and Smith) are on location in Billings, enjoying the company of our family, attending baby showers and weddings, doing whatever we please, and escaping the heat at the pleasantly cool Casa de Myers. The newlyweds are still honeymooning but I couldn't wait to post a few photos of their wedding. (Addie has a butt load of pictures on her blog, as well.)
The bride, the day before the wedding, after her pedicure.

Addie enjoying her pedicure.

Mom threw a baby shower for Hannah and Baby Freese, the day before the wedding. Hannah is showcasing the monkey Joy knit for Baby Freese. As a joke, Joy stitched the tail to the front of the monkey. After we had all had a laught, she intended to attach it to its correct position, but last I heard, Hannah and Jarred opted for the anatomically correct version of the monkey (no pun intended!).

The Mother and Father of the Bride, looking quite dashing.
For the rehearsal dinner, the Perrine's treated us to a delicious meal at Bin 119 (where Bing and Lane work).

Barney Perrine, Father of the Groom, had a gig at Bin 119 directly following dinner. The Groom, Bing, accompanied his father for one of the numbers. We all had a great time getting to know one another, sipping wine, enjoying the music, and even dancing.

The elated couple (or should I say triple?).
Lanie directing the set-up for the ceremony, morning of the wedding. The ceremony and reception were held at the stunning Casa de Myers. As there were only about 20 or so guests, the location was perfect...convenient and picturesque.
The Bride wore her mother's pearl earrings. Look at those eyes!
The radiant bride. No, her dress is not maternity!
The reception venue.


My little buddies, preparing for the wedding.

Their little biscuits are irresistable. The officiant, Fred Nelson, and dad carving the prime rib roast we devoured for dinner.

The ring on a lovely manicured hand.

The Perrines!

Cutting the cake.

Me and my honey.

Walking the walk

M loaded up his cart with Dad's shoes. He does this quite frequently...he likes to hoard.

Meanwhile, S figured out he could get in his cart. Whatever is loud, dangerous, and/or naughty...my boys are there.

Pre-breakfast ritual - Cheerios in the snack trap (thanks Grammie Laurie! These make my mornings ever so much easier.)

Rain and hail and flooding we experienced on Tuesday. Weird summer we're having.

Smiggity snuggling while munching on Cheerios. I posted this picture because he looks so much like his father here...I'm loving it.

Friday night, Smith finally decided enough was enough...he mustered his courage, stood up, and walked - without prompting, without Mama coaxing him, without furniture to lean on. He walked and walked and didn't want to stop. Always the Observer, Mason noted the claps and squeals of delight that S's steps received, and joined in the fun. It was a joyous occasion and I'm thrilled to have it 'on tape' (what do you say in this digital age? 'Glad to have it on memory card'? 'Glad to have it on hard drive'?)


Lanie visited us last weekend. Mason was intrigued with her belly...look at that belly!

Anniversary

Matt: (during early morning cell-phone conversation): Reese, do you remember what you were doing on this day, four years ago? You were getting ready at Broken Hart Ranch for your wedding.

Reese: I remember what I was doing. Do you remember what you were doing on this day, four years ago? (Emphatic pause) You were recovering from a hangover and meeting with your accountant to finally finish filing your taxes.

Matt: (Emphatic pause) Yeah, things have changed a bit since then, huh?

Today marks our fourth anniversary. Nothing big planned for the day, but tomorrow Jenny Schuyler will be in town to watch the boys while my honey and I hit the town for dinner and drinks. You can expect another blog update by Friday morning. Happy Anniversary to us!

Joo-lye

So, I've kinda fallen into a pattern of blogging once a week, semi-regularly. I'd like to blog more but several things hinder me from doing so:

1) The most obvious reason, I have two toddlers. You probably saw that one coming.

2) The computer/internet is upstairs in our "office" /bedroom. The boys get bored and mischievous up there and are too curious about the paper shredder (we're talking the kind that can shred CD's) for me to blog while they forage.

3) Matt has the camera with him at the jobsite. I would hate to disappoint you all by posting without pictures...so I just don't.

4) Our life is sometimes dull, i.e. not blog-worthy. Hard to believe, I know, but true.

So, there you have it, a little aside addressing the blog routine.

On another note, I just found this wonderful site/shop called Mama Merit Badges. Irreverent, witty, funny, and full of tragic truths. You have to be a Mama to wholly appreciate the humor but even non-Mamas or pre-Mamas will get a chuckle at their products.

Here is another wonderful site called Rhyme Zone. It's pure genius and fun all rolled into one. It's a rhyming dictionary...you type in a word and it spits out rhyming words. So when you want to find a word that rhymes with "poop", now you know where to go. I'd love to hear some poems in the comments.

And because I would never dream of posting without pictures...

Father mimicking son (Smith).

Before Sara left for her mission trip to Africa, the Oberlys hosted a going-away dinner. The guys spent a good part of the evening playing holey (wholie? wholly? holy?) boards. M and S are sitting on the board.
We packed a lunch and our boys up Hyalite Canyon on the Fourth of July. Here they are enjoying a very nutritious lunch consisting of granola bars and marshmallows.

MayMo mountain man.

After lunch, we headed up to the Hyalite Resevoir where the boys dipped their toes in the cold water and threw rocks, a new favorite.

Several of you have commented that you'd like to see Matt atop a bicycle. Voila. He looks pretty good, huh? And he's even smiling.

A side shot.
M and S playing "Peek-a-boo" in the Burley. I have a very cute movie clip of them playing this game but it's too big for Blogger to support. I'll figure out how to edit it so it will fit...someday.

Loving right now

Five things I am loving right now:

1. Hannah's baby bump. Above, Hannah and Baby Freese at 29 weeks. She is just so darn cute and scrumptious.

2. Yet another crafty blog, How About Orange. There are tutorials, pictures, and just plain fun schtuff. Enjoy.

3. Early morning moments with my loveys. First thing in the morning, before breakfast and bathing and getting dressed, Mason and Smith (and Mama) like to snuggle with their blankies. It's a great way to start the day, I highly recommend it.

3. My new bike! Some friends gave us their Burley bike trailer...an awesome gift, but we didn't have bikes to pull it. We spent an afternoon shopping for used bikes to meet our needs and found this beauty...basket and all! Matt borrowed Big Blake's bike from Addie and we were off. For our first ride, we pedaled to the park in our subdivision, circled the lake, and threw rocks (lots of rocks) into the creek. It was a big hit.

**Aside:(This is Smigg-a-delic's actual first ride in the Burley. Clearly not loving it, but with MayMo buckled in next to him the following day, he really did enjoy it.)

5. Mason's infectious laughter. You have my permission to watch this clip again and again...and again. I did.

What are you loving right now?

Camping

As many of you know, Matt and I attempted our first camping trip with M and S this past weekend. Here are a few pictures showing how our trip started:

We packed the Venture (van) with everything we needed to enjoy the mountains. Mason and Smith are in there somewhere. By Friday at 1pm, we were on the road headed for our favorite campsite on the Boulder River. Woohoo! They boys were champions during the 3 hour scenic drive to our mountainous destination...no fussing or whining, just snoozing, babbling, and sucking on their favorite finger(s).
Lane and Bing had already secured a wonderful camp site.The boys were very obliging while Matt and I set up camp. They very much enjoyed throwing all their toys out of the pac-n-play.

Smith left, Mason right. They played and wrestled and talked...I thought to myself, "This bodes well for us..."

Friday evening, Matt and Smiggy went on a walk looking for morrels.

Papa and Mason taking in the refreshing mountain air.

Grammie and Mason snuggling before dinner.

That's how our trip began. As Friday evening came to close, we laid the boys down in the tent in their respective pac-n-plays and said "goodnight". This next picture represents how the rest of our camping trip played out:

We don't have any pictures to document the rest of the trip because I wasn't feeling like snapping any photos at 2, 3, or 4 in the morning when my sons were screaming, crying, and refusing to sleep. Ha.

Just as soon as we'd get Mason settled down, comforted, and asleep in his bed, Smith would wake up, start to cry, and rouse his exhausted brother to another fit and vice versa. At times, they were inconsolable, kicking, screaming, thrashing, refusing to be comforted. This went on all night long. Mason eventually settled down, snuggled up with his dad in a sleeping bag, and slept a few hours. (It might sound precious and snuggly, but sleeping with a toddler in a mummy bag doesn't really allow for much sleep.) Smith, we found out the following morning, was fighting a stomach bug and "slept" fitfully with me in my sleeping bag for half-hour stints. Poor little guy had the nastiest diarrhea that morning...nasty, nasty.

Me, at 3am or so: Matt? I don't know what to do!

Matt: Hell if I know!

Me: Why don't we just get up, pack up, and go home? We're not sleeping anyway and this is just miserable.

Matt: How long till morning, do ya think?

Me: Eternity.

We ended up sticking it out through the night, packing up that morning, and were on the road by 10am. The boys slept most of the way home, took long naps when we got home, and went to bed early. Smith was in bed by 5pm that night. Matt and I are still trying to recover.

Matt and I figured a number of factors influenced the boys' caustic reaction to sleeping in the tent:

1. They had never slept in a tent before.
   
2. It was cold...I was cold. They had on 3 layers of warm clothing but just weren't able to maintain any body heat.
3. They were sick. Smith with the bug and Mason cutting teeth.
4. They became so exhausted that they past the point of no return.

We decided to view the trip as a learning experience. Next time, we will camp closer to home...like Hyalite - only 20 minutes away should we need a quick getaway. We will camp at a lower elevation or later in the season so we can enjoy warmer weather. Next time, will be the boys' second camping trip, so it won't seem quite as foreign. (Notice the positive attitude, folks!)

Even though our first attempt wasn't a huge success, we plan to try again and again...and again. We're campin' folks and we know our boys will get better at it and really start to enjoy it some day soon.