Happy Birthday Addison!

Today is my niece, Addison's first birthday! I love this little girl so much! She is absolutely beautiful and already has a the best personality. Brian and I are lucky to be blessed with so many wonderful nieces and nephews. Maybe I will have to start wishing them all happy birthday on here! These photos are ones that I took of Addison at 11 months. We were hanging out at the house and she just looked so cute!

I Swear...It isn't Always Like This..

Our house, to put it lightly, is a mess...I am pretty sure it was a tornado...or maybe a hurricane. I wish I had children to blame it on...Amy (just kidding!) But I don't...yet!


The following pictures are horrendous, here is your warning to hit the little x button in the upper right hand corner if you have delicate, ummm, eyes. Some are from a couple of days ago and some are from today...after we (AKA Brian) cleaned...oh boy here they are...

On a positive note, we are obviously packing and feeling really excited about the house! Only three more days until we close. It is just so unbelievable! We are so lucky.

Getting Close

It is getting close to that day that we have been looking forward to and hoping for. One week from today we will be closing on our house. That is if things go as planned. It has been a crazy month. I haven't written to much about the house that we are buying because at first it was such a quick thing and we didn't want to get our hopes up. Just as we were starting to get our hopes up crap hit the crapper.

We didn't end up qualifying for the loan that the mortgage broker assured us that we would qualify for. The loan was a rural development loan and we didn't have to have a down payment. This was the only reason that we even started looking at houses. We would have been fine waiting a couple more months, but once you find the house that you really want, it is so hard to back out...and we already had paid for the inspection and put escrow money down... So we decided to ask my family for the money for a down payment, which was one of the last things that we wanted to do.

So now, here we are, one week away from closing and two weeks away from when we have to be out of our apartment. Brian is away on a business trip and I have started packing. We have bought blinds for the bedroom (so we have them when we move in, consequently they are back ordered until the end of September) and are absolutely floored that we are going to have such an awesome house.

However, their is such a strong feeling of hesitation. Almost like we jinxed ourselves by starting to pack, and buying things for the house. If this falls through it is going to be so awful. Here's to keeping our fingers crossed and our hopes up!

Wing Ding

Last minute on Saturday we had some friends ask us to go with them to the Chicken Wing Ding festival in Butte. We were promised good music (including Chris Young), unlimited wings, and a great time with friends. Unfortunately they ran out of wings, which kind of voids the whole wing ding festival part. However, there was great music and a great time with friends.

The Crew: Brian, me, Angela, and Jeremy



Angela giving a little love and Brian cheesing it up in the background

This is Chris Young

I had heard of some of his songs but didn't really know anything about him. His songs are great and the concert was a lot of fun! The there weren't that many people at the festival which was nice. I think a concert is always better when their are less people.

We really loved finally getting a chance to hangout with Angela and Jeremy this summer. It was a great night!

P.S. All the pictures are courtesy of Angela.

Cowboys and Indians

My sister is in India for the next couple of months. She has started a blog to chronicle her time there. She is an awesome writer and I am sure that her adventures will be amazing check it out at http://tomahawkreddot.blogspot.com/.

Camping in August

The last two weekends Brian and I have gone camping. We went to Seeley Lake the first weekend with friends and then this last weekend we went to Wade and Cliff Lakes with my parents. In most parts of the country August is still considered Summer. It is hot and muggy during the day and it doesn't start cooling down at night until the very end of the month or even into September. Not in Montana, and especially not this summer!

The weekend that we went to Seeley Lake it rained a record amount on Friday, which meant that it was cool and wet all weekend. I don't think the temperatures got above 70 until later on Sunday afternoon, as we were packing up to leave. This last weekend at Wade Lake it actually got down to 38 degrees, we could see our breath. Camping in a tent when it is that cold is not exactly my idea of fun (even though it is a good excuse to cuddle up real close to Brian, not that I need one!)

All-in-all though camping went well. We did a lot of fishing both weekends. At Wade Lake we actually each caught a fish, which is exciting since we haven't been that lucky yet this summer! Of course I forgot my camera both weekends so their are no pictures of the shanagains, or the fish. Below are some pictures of the lakes that I found online.

Wade Lake south of Ennis, Montana

This picture shows really well how clear Wade Lake is. If you fish in a boat off the shore you can see the fish swimming probably a good ten feet down. It is pretty cool!

Randomness

So things are their normal crazy here. I am finally sleeping through the day well. I think the stress of making an offer on a house and only sleeping 4-5 restless hours a night last week pushed me over the edge. We have our inspection on Thursday so I am excited for that, and hope everything goes well. It is a new house so we are not expecting any major problems.

Tomorrow, my sister is leaving for India and I am going to go and say goodbye to her at the airport around 1:30pm. I am so excited that she gets to go. I hope that she enjoys her time and that she stays safe!

After my parents drop my sister off at the airport I am going to take them by our new house so they can see it and look in the windows and stuff. They are going to go camping at Wade and Cliff lakes tomorrow night through Sunday. I think that we are going to go up and join them on Friday and stay until Monday. It will be nice to get out of town and go camping for a long weekend.

Brian is going to go on a business trip the last week of August. He is going to Dallas for a leadership in firefighting conference. I am totally jealous and wish that I could go with him! I am glad though that he gets to have the opportunity to go and learn more. The timing is sort of bad though. That is the week that things pick up here at the police station and I will be working extreme amounts of overtime, and we are supposed to be closing on our house and moving the first week in September. In those three weeks I only have three full days off. So things should be awesomely crazy!

Now That it is Final

Or almost final (we haven't closed yet!) We are buying a house! We accepted the counter offer and are going to close in 30 days. Oh my god! It is totally crazy! I absolutely am in love with this house. It is the model house so it has all the upgrades (wood floors, stone tile in the bathrooms, upgraded fixtures, etc.)

I kept on looking at the house online thinking that it was a great price and beautiful. Our realtor took us out to some condos in the same subdivision and I asked her if she could show us the house. The minute we walked in I new I was in love! And here we are a week later! It is a little faster than we thought it was going to be, which means that our finances are going to be tight this month and next, but we are pretty sure that we can pull it off.

Here are some pictures of our gorgeous house!

Being a Firefighter's Wife Means...

that when you go to sign the offer papers on a house, your husband could get a call and you don't get to make an offer :(

So very exciting, we are making an offer on a house! However this afternoon when we went to sign the papers we pulled into the subdivision and Brian pulls over. I was in my car and he was in the fire department command. I am thinking this isn't good, he rolls down his window and says he has a search and rescue call. Which, is why we drive separately...for exact moments like this. And me being a dispatcher means that I know exactly what a search and rescue call could be. It could be that the call goes all night if someone is stuck in the mountains or it could be that they show up on scene and the person is found/okay. I was like "don't worry babe I will buy us a house!" So I went over and talked with the realtor and we walked through the house again. Brian had to be there to sign the papers so we didn't make an official offer but, hopefully we can meet back up with her tonight and get it taken care of.

These are the times where I just have to sigh and and remember that this is how our life is. It really wasn't that big of a deal and I am so proud of Brian and what he does. It sometimes means that I am at home alone when we had plans to go out, or I have to go ahead and finish projects on my own, or try to keep his dinner warm and wonder if . But it also means that he is out helping someone who needs it and if I was ever in need of help I would be so grateful to those men for finding my child or saving my house. I might get frustrated at being left to do things by myself but I can do nothing but love him for who he is and what he does. I admire the passion and dedication with which he performs his job. I couldn't imagine our lives being any different! (I love you babe!)

Outta Control!

Poor, poor Brian!

Today we were looking at houses with our realtor (which went well, but that story has a better place and time with hopefully a more exciting ending than the one today!) We were discussing with the realtor whether or not we would be able to close on a house before the December 1st cutoff for the $8,000 rebate check. I was telling the realtor that I would rather wait and get into a place that we really like and want, as opposed to rushing into something just to get the money back. We were joking about how that much money was really "no big deal" and she was like, "but you are going to need to furnish a new home!"

UH OH...my mind started going 100 mph! Can you imagine ALL that money to have to spend on putting together furniture and decor for a new home! Now deep inside I know that we will use the money to pay off some debt, save, or pay for a baby (if that is happening around the same time,) you know, all practical stuff. BUT because I have nothing better to do at work I picked out a couple of things that I love and really want for a new home!

Guest Bedroom:

I Have been looking for a yellow duvet cover for the guest bedroom for ever! I love everything about this room in the pictures, even the blinds!

Master Bedroom:


We already have a beautiful white duvet with a stripe of brown embroidered flowers and gold/tan sheets. I was thinking I could get a set of blue sheets to alternate and then paint the walls a light tan with maybe an light eggshell blue wall. It would go great with the curtains! Everything that I have found that I like so much is Pottery Barn. I love the idea of the foot stools at the end of the bed. I might be able to find some old foot stools that need to be recovered and also make my own curtains so that I can get them to match...hmmm...like I said, OUTTA CONTROL. I don't even sew!