Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

I have always loved Halloween. Mostly just because I always loved playing dress up. Plus, you cant go wrong with chocolate. Heres a list of my previous halloween costumes: pumpkin [4 or 5?], Miss Thompson Falls (complete with a pipe cleaner & bead tiara, and a fabric sash with Miss Thompson Falls written on it with a blue magic marker) [several years in like 1st grade through 3rd grade, plus last year], a 50s girl with a broken leg [4th grade], a skiier (it was really cold that year)[5th grade?], a cavewoman dragging a deadbeat caveman husband [5th grade?], a mime [6th grade?], a woman in a bathrobe with face cream on and a towel on her head[?], a siamese twin with Joanne [high school?], pippi longstockings [high school?], a bee [18 & 19], tinkerbell [22], jem [25], a cowgirl [25? 24?],and this year I've been debating. I've thought of: a pirate, a pumpkin, a candy corn, sarah palin, and this morning in the shower I decided I could make a ballerina costume pretty easily. I'll only need to get some white tights and a few feathers for my hair.

When I was little, my dad and his friend Larry always used to pile all of us kids: me, scott, mark, jessica, emily, greg, and mike into the back of the truck or the van and drive us around town to trick or treat at people's houses we knew. One year they dressed up like gorillas and would trick their friends. It was pretty fun. And we used to always have halloween parties for 4-H. They were so much fun. Costume contests, pinatas, games, marshmallow-caramel-rice krispie yummies... And I remember my brothers making elaborate lego contraptions for organizing and housing all their candy.

Happy Halloween! Be safe!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

studying...

There is a lot of studying going on at our house. Luke started a new class not too long ago, and I am studying to take my NCBTM exam. For all those who dont' know the acronym, its my national massage exam, that I have been avoiding taking for like a year. But the time is now. I started studying this summer and then life happened and it got pushed to the side. And now I really need to do it since I graduated almost a year ago. So the plan is to take it on 11/26 (wednesday). We'll drive to helena, I'll take my test and luke will find a coffee shop, and then we'll continue on to kalispell for thanksgiving. So Ive been diligently going through my anatomy coloring book, and the past two days I've taken my "trail guide to the body" (an anatomy book) to the gym with me and got some studying done while I do cardio. Its good to review all that stuff. I seem to be learning, and remembering lots. Besides, I told myself no sewing/quilting until I take my test. And I have several projects in my head that I want to make. Some for christmas, some for all my friends who are having babies!

Wish me luck!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

It was two years ago today...



that Luke and I met. We were introduced by Dee & Shelly Batey, friends of my parents and relatives of luke's roommate Okey. I think we were the only two people they knew that were our age, so they fixed us up. And well, obviously it worked! We didn't meet until after the Bobcat football game and then we stood in the tailgate area and talked and talked until we were the last two people left. So we hopped the fence and started our first date. We stopped at my house, his house, then went to dinner at MacKenzie River Pizza downtown, then went back to Luke's house and talked until like 10:30 or 11 pm. Our first date was like 8 hours long. I blew off my halloween plans with my friends to spend time with Luke. However, three days later I went to Theresa's house and told her I had met the man I was going to marry. I think she was extremely surprised, but was happy for me. Six months after our first date we were engaged, and eight months after that we were married. Tomorrow marks 10 months that we've been happily married. These two years have flown by and been my best ever!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Having Issues

So I was trying to blog last night and for some reason it replaced a post from a month ago. So here it is again.

This was from a week ago when my family was here. Here is my brother Scott, Colby, and Luke.

Here is my mom & dad:

And finally, Mark and Tegan (Scott's gf).

We had a blast with the fam. Hopefully we can have more family time this weekend when my parents are here for the game.

And: Congratulations to Sam & Julie for your brand new baby Hunter Sam Bechtold.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Ode to Luke

I wanted to take a post and proclaim to the world how amazing my husband is. Seriously, I dont even know where to start. He's the most wonderful, caring man ever. He has the biggest heart of anyone I know and would give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it. He is always acutely aware of people's needs and finding ways to meet those needs. He is extremely thoughtful in this way too. One time he bought my friend Sara and I all these gift certificates for coffee and shopping because we enjoy our weekly coffee dates so much. He wanted to make sure that we could still have coffee and we could find more excuses to hang out. He is always helping people and looking out for them, and always selflessly. He is a giver. Luke is also extremely dedicated to everything he does. Take his job, for example, he is always thinking about work and trying to make his company better. And he is so dedicated to church and our classes. And extremely dedicated to his friends. Besides all these wonderful qualities, hes absolutely brilliant. He is so full of ideas and knowledge and patiently answers all my silly questions like: do bugs sleep?. He is constantly learning and teaching me things. And have you seen him? Hes the most attractive man I know. Sometimes I feel like I am going to burst with all the love I have for him. And he is so patient with me and always coming up with wonderful things to do for me or give to me. He loves to take me on secret getaways (i.e. my birthday or our trip to Billings in July), and he spoils me with gifts. To top it off, hes an amazing cook. Seriously, he can take leftovers and make something totally different and delicious. He knows flavors and how to combine ingredients. I love it when he cooks. And someday, he will make an amazing dad. He loves kids so much and he is so good with them. It doesn't matter if they are 2 moths, two, 8, 12, 16 or 20. He is great with them. And he has a cute tush. :) <3 U honey!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Puzzling...

So, last weekend we bought a $4 puzzle at target. And its pretty much consuming my free time at home. I dont know why, Im just really addicted to it. And its taking awhile, because its kind of complex, and it has 1000 pieces. You can see how far I've gotten since Sunday night. And I still have sky and water and trees. Its going to take me some more time. The funny part is that it was luke's idea and he hasnt' done any of it yet. oh well, to each his own.

Tonight we have an awards ceremony to attend. Luke's company is getting a Bozeman Beautification award for the Snowload building they built. It should be an adventure. Luke's boss' wife said if she had to go then I had to go. Great, thanks Michelle! It's at the library, so I guess if it gets too boring we can go look at books.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Busy Bees~

We have been crazy busy! If its not one thing, its two! Last friday I got up at 4 oclock to go to Townsend with my boss (we had to be there for a meeting at 7) then we were back in Bozeman by 9:15. Luckily, Friday's are a half day. Then we had dinner with some friends Friday night, and babysat our friend Colby (4) all day saturday and Sunday morning. Taking care of a kid is fun, but its a lot of work. We had to be constantly thinking of things for him to do and how to entertain him while we cleaned and ran errands. As you might guess, we don't have a lot of toys at our house. We have two kids movies, a few stuffed animals, and some play-dough. Thats about it. And we didn't have much food either, so lunch at mcdonalds was a must. Luckily, he got a little car in his happy meal, and we went to the one on 7th so he could play. The car kept him busy. As did looking at toys at Target. But we took him to the $ store so he could pick out a toy. And since he's a boy, he picked out a gun, which shot little ping pong balls. He had fun shooting them at my dad, and then wrestling with my dad. He'll be a good grandpa. Someday. Not anytime soon. Unless Scott & Mark surprise us. ;)

I have some pictures from the weekend, but I need to download them. I'll try to do that soon.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Whew! Its been busy!

Faithful readers, Im so sorry I've been MIA all week. Its been just plain crazy around here. Last weekend was MSU homecoming. It was pretty exciting. We hit up the parade in the morning, then the game (and froze our hiney's off!!). Heres some pictures of us at the game.


The first is me and luke, obviously, and the second is me and Christel. Although, with all the layers its probably hard to tell who it is.
Little brother mark was up for homecoming, which was SO exciting. He looked so handsome in his tux with the yellow tie and blue vest. We are so proud of him for being selected for such a great honor.
That night we had dinner with my parents at what I thought was the Gran Tree, but now its "The Club", which is a sports bar. I'm not really into sports bars, so I was a little bit disappointed. Then we decided to go over to the Holiday Inn to see Mark at the Pike banquet. We got there just in time for the DANCEOFF! It was so fun. I had no idea mark could dance like that. He was moonwalking and break dancing and all kinds of stuff. Then there was a dance off between the top two - Mark, and a guy in a 3-piece courderoy suit. They were dancing so well! It almost looked choreographed! Then Mark slid through the guys legs, which was awesome. They decided the danceoff was a tie for 1st place. It was so funny.

It was a great weekend!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Best Birthday EVER!!!!

My birthday started on Friday afternoon when luke and I headed off on an adventure. I didn't know where we were going and he had the GPS unit set up so that I couldn't see it. But first, when we got in the car there was a little zales box waiting for me. What? Yes. My husband bought me BEAUTIFUL chocolate pearl earrings. They are soo gorgous. Very brownish-auburnish-fallish colored. I of course put them on immediately. We ended up in Red Lodge. We drove through Columbus and Absarokee, which is the most beautiful drive ever. I wish I would have had the camera. It was gorgeous. So many beautiful changing trees everywhere. Once we got to Red Lodge we checked into the Chateau Rouge and got a condo. The check-in lady mentioned that there woudl be 5 of us, so I knew something was up. Then Luke and I drove back downtown and walked along main street and checked out the stores. They had a really cute book store adn a fun toy store. And we got some bad coffee at a coffee shop. When we had just about finished checking things out the first guest arrived. It was.........LIZZIE! It was sooo good to see her. I miss lizzie so much. So we showed her the condo and then our second guests arrived....Christel & Kevin!!! yay! They had quite the adventure getting to Red Lodge. First, they took a little "shortcut" from Reed Point that brought them to...Columbus! and then along the shortcut they ran over a multi-tool and got a flat tire. But I was so excited to see them too! I hung out with Christel on Thursday and she gave no indication that they were coming. So sneaky! We had dinner at the Carbon County Steakhouse, which was delish! I had salmon with dill and lemon. We walked down to the Red Lodge grocery store to get ice cream, but alas, they close at 8 o'clock. what? Even the grocery store in T Falls stays open until 10. Then it was back to the condo for swimming, birthday cake, and hanging out. And presents. I have such amazing friends. Then the next morning we went to breakfast at the Red Lodge Cafe, tried to hit up the quilting shop (closed) and meandered back home. Luke did homework and watched a movie and made me dinner and I made two pies for the church pie auction. Yesterday was my actual birthday. It was wonderful too. Luke gave me a diamond tennis bracelet to match my diamond necklace that he got me for our first christmas together. Also, lots of cards, lunch with Chuck and Kathy, dinner with Okey and Bob, time with Luke....Such a wonderful day! Bob got me 4 chairs to match our "heritage" dining room table that his dad and Vicki's dad made for them when they got married. The chairs are beautiful. I love them. I want to get the table stained the same color as the chairs. Now we can put away the old table and just use the new one. Things are good! My husband is amazing. And I have wonderful friends and family. What more could a girl ask for?

Thursday, October 2, 2008

hic-cups

Last night I was sleeping really well. Until I woke up at 3 and had to pee. And somehow I managed to breathe wrong and got the hiccups. So I was laying in bed hiccuping and trying to make them stop. I thought luke was asleep but finally he told me to go upstairs and drink some water. He was probably tired of the bed seizuring every few seconds when I hiccuped. Well I tried all the tricks I could think of and nothing worked so I just decided to read for awhile. I read for a half an hour and finally was like okay, I'm just going to curl up on the couch and fall asleep and hope the hiccups go away. As soon as I snuggled in they were gone. YAY! and I could go back to bed. Needless to say, my little escapade made it hard to get up this morning.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Oy with the weather already!

Today is October 1st. And it is supposed to be 70+ degrees today. Whats up with that? October = Fall, my favorite season. The leaves are turning yellow but people are still dressing for summer. Thats not right. Last year at this time it was already snowing and raining. I dont want to be a whiner, but I'd love some fall weather. Break out the sweaters, go for a walk in the crisp air, enjoy the leaves turning red and gold, apple cider, pumpkins, harvest... Bozeman is beautiful in the fall because of all the deciduous trees. Thompson Falls is full of pine trees, so its not as pretty. We used to make my parents take us to the Power Park to enjoy leaves (and jumping in them. My parents must have thought we were crazy - lets go rake leaves for someone else!)Its been so warm that my tomatoes are (finally) growing like weeds! We still have the A/C on at work. This year has been so strange. Winter though June, the summer through september and into october. Hopefully the seasons will straighten out in the next few days and I can break out the fall wardrobe.