Twenty sixteen. Gone. Over. Days have flown by and I’m left with a collage of foggy memories. So cliche I know, but wow has this year come and gone in a flash. I am saddened by how fast my kids are growing. With every passing day Landon becomes more independent. Popping his own popcorn, wiping is own bum! Addison reads and follows any recipe. Creating dreamy cupcakes with cocoa, flax seed and gluten free flour.
I hardly blogged this past year. I had almost no motivation to write. Editing and organizing photos was overwhelming and I have little written record of our year. Here is a quick look back:
In January Dylan and I and our close friends Britt and Kenny spent a weekend in Las Vegas. I would love to say the warm climate, silly herds of crazy people and the constant noise made for a great get-away. It really wasn’t. The kid-free alone time with a friends was nice and relaxing however, Dylan and I fought with each other. I was ready to cut loose, be silly. He was hoping for a romantic getaway. That is what happens when we don’t communicate! Stupid. Stupid! But it happens. 🙂
Dylan turned 34. Dave and Em and the boys came over for the weekend to celebrate. We had fun sledding and cooking a yummy meal.
The final days of winter eeeked by slowly, as it always does and when the days gradually began to warm we put seeds in our new garden and brought home two baby ducks – Lilo and Stitch.
Sara and the girls visited over Easter.
In the end of April, Papa and Dylan worked tirelessly over 4 days to build for me a beautiful chicken coop. For my birthday I brought home two sweet pygmy goats, Barley and Hops. Still to this day they haven’t warmed up like I would have hoped. They are not crazy about being cuddled, Barley tolerates ear scratches and back rubs. Hops really does not. But we enjoy them and they are fun to watch. We will continue to work with them on leash training. Addi still wants to learn how to show them. I think it would be a blast. We also added three chickens and a baby goose to our brood. Rodney, so named by Landon in hopes she would be a rooster. He in fact is a hen. Landon gets very upset at the fact. Dandelion is a sweet hen and loves to cuddle. Crackle is a goofy looking polish whose feathers shine with beauty. He is easy to startle and we may scare him on purpose to see how high he will jump! Addi gives him pony tails to keep the feathers out of his eyes.
In June we traveled to Brookings, Oregon where we spent five days in a beach house with Mom, Mark and the ‘kids’. Sara and her girls also met us. On the way to Brookings we met Mom and the gang in Bend. We camped one night with them and then made our way west. We stopped at Crater Lake. WOW! What an amazing sight to see. Once at the house we had a very mellow time collecting sea shells, eating seafood and bonding over margaritas. One night we had a beach camp fire and it was awesome! Dylan, the kids and I spent the next few days traveling the length of the Oregon coast only turning back east when we came to Astoria.
With the purchase of a new-to-us camper we spend many weekends camping. Over Landon and Fischer’s birthdays in mid-July we celebrated with friends in Seeley Lake with a birthday camping palooza. Hard to believe Landon turned five. His only birthday wish ‘to go camping with my best buddies’. Smores’, hotdogs, juice boxes and cold beer are our summertime staples.
We spent little time at home over the summer. However when we were home we swam at Spring Meadow Lake, mowed the lawn, and tended to the garden and the animals. With the Great Aunts and Uncles we went to Phillsburg for Aber Day – an outdoor musical festival. Addi’s favorite Montana band – Mission Mountain Wood Band played! She loved it dancing and signing along with the majority of the groups being old timer hippies in their late 60s. People were shocked she knew the lyrics!
Dylan and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary in August. We had a very special trip together to the San Juan Islands. We camped on Orcas Island and staying in a hotel in Friday Harbor, we ate (and I gagged on) freshly shucked raw oysters and saw wild orcas. It was the most amazing time.
In August, the kids and I were so very lucky to spend three weeks at Sara’s place in Lompoc, CA. We visited Disneyland, the Santa Barbara Aquarium, went whale watching, sea kayaking, took day trips to fun nearby communities, and played at the beach.
By the time fall came back around we were ready to hunker down at home and hibernate for a few weeks. We started our second year of homeschooling. Landon was introduced to a more structured learning environment, which in small time increments he tolerates. Addison continues to work very hard in gymnastics, earning herself a place on the level 3 competition team. Her first meet is January 7th!
Addi turned 9! We celebrated with a day full of her favorite things: donuts, mama-daughter manis, coffee shop date, Jeep ride, steak dinner, live country music concert – Meghan Linsey, cupcakes and Choteau.
Sara, Ellie and Teagan came home and spent Thanksgiving with us at Papa’s house. We felt so spoiled this year having got to spend so much time with them. Granny also joined us. At 93 her body is weak and she is frail. We felt lucky to have the day with her, all of us.
Dylan had a successful hunting season, shooting a buck and a bull. I am grateful for a freezer full of fresh, organic, humanely raised meat.
Very quickly our warm fall turned to a new fresh blanket of snow and Christmastime hit me like a semi-truck and then boom we were blinking to stay awake as 2017 rolled in!
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