Spring break snowshoe

With the help of YaYa to watch Vivian, the Mr. was able to take Stella and Hudson on a day excursion to Hyalite Canyon.  Usually, we make it up there a couple of times during the winter, but with all the skiing we've been doing, this was a first for the year. Since he was there, with a camera phone and the first-aid kit, Mr. gets to write the captions for this one:

Before we even left the parking lot, Stella and Hudson were seeing what the platters on their feet could do when Stella found the sharp end of a broken whiskey bottle with her right knee. I was strapping on my snowshoes when she said, "Daddy, there was something sharp in the snow. I think it cut me."

Indeed it did, slashed right through her snow pants, long underwear, and a few layers of knee skin. Fortunately, the well-stocked first aid kit in the back of the van came through huge! She only cried when I started talking stitches. But after a quick lunch, she rallied and we hit the trail.

Penny did great for her first off-leash hike as a member of our family. Stella and Hudson have been off leash for a long time, and I was amazed at how quickly they adapted to their new footwear. We climbed up a fairly steep side trail that I knew led to the base of a substantial frozen waterfall.

 At the top, the ice falls were impressive--as were the cliffs surrounding them--and we kept our distance. We dug a snow pit at the base of this snowfield, and I was able to show our budding snow scientists the layers in the snowpack. I was even able to get a column to propagate! There would be no skiing this slope today, kids. After a wee snack, we tromped, slid, and giggled back down to the main trail.

We found a killer snow cave tucked away in a meadow. Stella, then Hudson and me, slid penguin-style into the dark opening. And wouldn't you know it? The light was perfect inside for this portrait of Hudson, a happy snow romper, after spending a fun afternoon making "big ole tracks" (his words) in Hyalite canyon.

Does anyone else despise Chutes and Ladders?

I wasn't planning on writing this post about Chutes and Ladders, but we happened to play tonight after dinner.  What is up with that game?

It just goes on and on and on and on...

Just when you think someone is going to win, they slip down one of those pesky chutes.  Maybe if I wasn't thinking, "I should sweep the floor, I should make sure the backpacks are ready for the morning, I should pay bills," I wouldn't mind sitting there as the game drags on with no end in sight.

ANYWAY, back to my original topic.

Our vacuum cleaner was DISGUSTING!  Thanks to my wonderful husband's new cleaning schedule, I had some time to work on "special projects" on Saturday.  One of them was to look next to and behind the washer and dryer for spare socks and such.  Very satisfying...

The other was to go to town on our Dyson.  Since we vacuum every couple of days to try and stay on top of the dog hair, the thing gets a LOT of use.  Usually, I barely have to time vacuum much less think about cleaning it out.  The other reason I don't usually think about it is because we still get a full canister every time we vacuum, so I figured it was doing it's job.

Boy was I wrong.  Once I finally got a moment to take a good hard look at it, I was horrified to see the build-up everywhere.

The stars aligned on Saturday morning during an early Vivi nap and the Mr. and Stella being out of the house, so Hudson and I got a couple of tools, pulled over the garbage can and went at it.  All I can say is YUCK.  I had to suppress my gag reflex quite a few times as we de-haired the roller bar.   The results were just too dramatic to not share! :)

Before *gag*

This is what we took off of just the roller bar

After  *ahhhh*

And here is a cute picture of the Viv from this afternoon at Pouli and YaYa's.  She is holding her favorite lovey, "Bun-Bun," as she enjoys a little February swing time. 

This is a picture of her last year in February.  Less snow, less hair, same love of flying high!

Minimalist shopping

In the past year I've worked on keeping my wardrobe pared down. After my initial purge of 40%, I've been relatively successful at not loading up again on clothes I don't wear.

However, I have lost quite a bit of weight in the past 6 months. I recently realized I was holding onto a couple favorite items even though it has been about three months since I wore them. This past weekend I shopped at a local resale store and guess what I found?

The EXACT pair of pants and skirt that I haven't been able to give up but both in my current size! It was a little creepy actually. I kept waiting for someone to pop out and announce I was on some tv show or something.

Now I can part with the old sizes at my upcoming clothing swap party without any sadness!




My favorite light grey Express pants.


A new size for this AGB skirt from Macy's.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A new year update

I recently reviewed my personal and work goals for 2012 to see how many I'd accomplished.  Surprisingly, I was able to give quite a few of them a big green check mark. 

I wanted to lose the last 5 pounds of baby weight - check!  (I actually lost the 5 plus another 13!)

Me and the Bibs getting ready for a bike ride last fall. It is amazing how much easier physical activity can be when you feel slimmer and trimmer.

I wanted to start the study program to earn my Certified Financial Planner CFP(R) designation - check!   6 more months and one huge test to go...

*I would put a picture of me studying on here, but 1. I don't have one and 2. Not a very exciting picture for the blog.

Some of the goals I didn't accomplish included:

• getting back into golf (gee, I wonder why that didn't happen?)
• finding a female mentor in my business
• blogging 2 to 3 times per week.  WHAT? 

What was I smoking last year when I thought I would be able to sit down and blog 2-3 times a week? I am lucky if I eek out one a month for goodness sake. So, this goal will be amended for 2013 to read, "blog when the spirit moves me." I don't think it will be hard to accomplish that one. Let's hope anyway.

Some of the ideas I have in mind for future posts include:
 - our current eating style of almost completely vegan or "vegan except for hot dogs" if you are the Mr.  A lot of people ask me about what we eat, where we find recipes, etc.   I also get a lot of general looks of confusion and skepticism that I hope to address.

 - updates on Vivi's hearing and speech 

- our family's winter activities - you have to have some winter sports to stay sane during our long winters! 

 - I do still think a lot about purging and living in a more minimalist way.  The last year hasn't been quite up to par with the year before when I was on a serious purging kick.  I'll hopefully be trying out some different things that still pertain to this mission but with a little different twist.

Until then, I'll leave you with a few pictures from Pinterest inspired ideas from the past few weeks. *You may notice the quality of my photos declining a bit. That is because I now have my phone attached to my hip 24-7 and have found myself relying on it for photos rather than pulling out the big camera.

My dear friend saw an idea for a family growth chart on the internet and made one for us for Christmas. We absolutely love it! We'll be able to track all three kiddos as they make their non-stop march toward adulthood. I joked with her that it was a little presumptuous to make the chart go all the way to 6 ft. 6 inches. She said, "Who knows, maybe you'll have tall grand kids!"

This was one of my Pinterest pins that I actually carried through with.  How often does that happen?  The idea was to put baking soda in a pan or on a plate and then let the kids squirt tinted vinegar onto it and watch it bubble and fizz.  We tried it one night when the Vivinator was safely tucked into her crib and the Mr. was out.  I think these two would have sat there for hours experimenting!  *Mental note - buy more baking soda ;)

Meet Cocoa

We have finally succumbed to the Elf on the Shelf phenomena.

Meet Cocoa...he is the elf we "adopted" after driving all over Bozeman trying to FIND an elf on the shelf.  

Over the last few years, I've sat and listened to stories of my friends who have to remember to have their elf do cute little mischevious deeds every night.  In my head, I smugly rejoiced in the fact that we had not been and would not be those people.  So what happened?

Well, the oldest daughter came home last week and HAD to have one because EVERYONE else in her class has one and we HAD to get one too.

ASAP.

If you know her, you know she can be quite relentless.  This was one of those instances where I figured it was easier to give in than to hear about it every single day for the next two weeks.

I do have to say that this little imp has some positive benefits.  If you don't know, it isn't enough anymore to sing, "You better watch out, you better not shout, you better not pout, I'm telling you why...Santa Claus is coming to town!"  No, now you have to say, "Cocoa is watching you and will tell Santa what you've been doing when he flies to the North Pole tonight."  When you think about it, why would any kid WANT an elf of the shelf watching their every move?  Regardless, I have already used this fact to my benefit when the kids are starting to act ornery. 

The other reason I've welcomed Cocoa in our house with open arms is his ability to get that same oldest daughter to spryly hop out of bed every morning before school.  Gone are the days of 30 minutes of escalating threats delivered in 5 minute intervals.  Now all I have to say is, "I wonder where Cocoa is this morning?" and watch with pleasure as she bounds down the stairs with nary an eye-roll or cover-flip.  What are we going to do when Christmas is over?  May I should invent a cupid on the shelf for Valentine's Day...

So yes, I am now one of those people who is trolling the blogoshpere for cute Cocoa adventure ideas.  I don't know how creative I'll get this year.  I don't want the bar set too high, you know.  Gotta work up to snow angels in powdered sugar and switching all the kids clothes with ours - seriously, I saw that one on a blog...WHO has time to do that???

Uh oh - my iPhone just popped up my "Elf!" reminder.  I'd better go figure out what Cocoa has in store tonight. :)

Wolf & Grizzly Discover Center

The weekend before Halloween we made a last-second decision to drive to West Yellowstone for the day.  It was also the day after Mr. Yost's birthday.  We'd planned to go to Yellowstone Park for his birthday, but the weekend was COLD.  One of the other reasons we wanted to do a short road trip was so I could study.  It seems to get harder and harder to find time to read my CFP(R) material.  Fortunately, I am one of those rare people who can actually read in the car and not get sick. 

The morning started off like so many mornings when we try to get everyone out of the house.  At first it seems like everything will be just fine.  Then, about 30 minutes before our ETD everything hits the fan.  It never fails that the kids start getting needy and we still have 23 things to do before we leave.  This trip was no exception.  We managed to throw some snacks and warm clothes in the car and head-out around 9:00 am.  I'm pretty sure Vivi was screaming and the kids were asking over and over when they could turn on the iPad and then we realized that "we" forgot my study material.  It was touch-and-go all the way until about Gallatin Gateway.  At that point we figured it would be an even bigger disaster to go home, so we pushed on.  Around Big Sky the roads started getting bad and we ended up driving on snow pack for the next hour.  That wasn't exactly what we'd expected, but luckily Vivi had fallen asleep and the kids were engrossed in a show at that point.

As with all of these types of little mini-adventures, the day turned out great.  Since it was bone-chilling cold, there was virtually no-one else at the discovery center.  We got front row views of the bears, wolves and the raptors.  We watched and listened to the kids looking at all the exhibits and asking questions about everything they saw in the museum area.  After about an hour we asked one of the locals for a restaurant recommendation that wasn't MickeyD's.  We ended up at Wild West Pizza which looked like a hole-in-the-wall from the outside.  We were very pleasantly surprised at the food and the atmosphere including a sweet ski movie playing on the big screen - Happy Birthday Mr. Yost! 

After getting our fill on meatless/cheese-less pizza for us and some awesome looking mac and cheese for the kiddos, we went back to the discovery center for about another hour and a half. 

The day ended with a fairly peaceful drive home where we actually had one of those moments where we could enjoy the kids being the age they are now.  It was quite a stark contrast to how we felt as we headed out of the house in the morning.  I guess I had some time to sit and realize that in another 5 or 10 years the kids will all be sitting in the car with their headphones on and glaring at us from beneath their shaggy, in-their-eyes hair while we cheerily extoll the virtues of a family day trip to West Yellowstone.  Who knows, maybe I'll be wrong and we'll get the same kind of excited grins and cheers that we do now when we announce one of these mini-adventures.  If we don't, I'll just remember back to days like these and be glad that we didn't turn around before we even gave it a chance.

Havoc

We have lots of cute nicknames for Vivian:

Sweet Vivi
Vivi Lou Who
Vivers
Vivinator
The Viv
Bibinator
Bibi
The Bibs
Vivasnakes ? Isn't it weird what can end up being a term of endearment?

HOWEVER, we also have a couple things we call her that I know are not YaYa approved. I think it started because this summer was her learning to crawl and walk phase. It happened to correspond with us being outdoors a lot. Somehow, she always ended up with water and then dirt which of course became mud. Also, she LOVES to eat. Have you seen that girls thighs?

Impressive.

Anyway, she isn't necessarily a clean eater. She likes to dump her milk and learn about the unique properties of different foods through all of her senses ( read smushing, throwing, etc). Due to all of these factors we ended up calling her "Junkyard Baby" or "Junkyard" for short.

I know. I know.  It is a terrible thing to call our sweet little Bibinator.

So recently we decided to change it to "Havoc." It really is more fitting because her escapades aren't confined to mud and food. They extend to bathroom cabinets, the pantry and anything else she can find or reach.

Some pics of our Sweet Vivi Lou Havoc Who:

Oh yeah, this girl likes her food.

This is a close up of the spaghetti sauce that made it all the way to her hearing aid. She needs a bib for her head!

Quite proud of having found a way to grab the computer cord. - our kitchen.

Mmmmm...woodchips! - Avon, CO

Let me in the water Grandpa Pete! I'm one, that is plenty old enough to swim in a  mountain lake all by myself. - Silverthorne, CO

She's never met a sandbox that she hasn't wanted to take half of it home in her clothes. - Vail, CO

Pretty sure she is eating a rock here. - Jackson Lake, WY

 I found this little surprise trail of dog biscuits in the kitchen...it could only be one person...Havoc!

A little extra mud in your diet does a baby good. - Secret swimming hole somewhere near Yellowstone Nat'l Park.

I think I'll just hang out here on the fireplace hearth and enjoy my bag of raisins next to diapers I drug over.  

Look at this fun little place that is just my size and has fun little nuggets in it.  - Penny's crate in our living room

The Viv is also quite the little daredevil. Thank goodness for the vigilance of Pouli. - Pouli and YaYa's house.

Okay, she is not actually causing any havoc in this picture, but you can just tell she either came from havoc or is about to cause it. - Our hallway.

 Glitter Glue - Our dining room