My favorite view driving home! There is nothing better than driving down the valley and being surrounded by the mountains!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
I'm a Bitterrooter
Granted, this very first picture was taken a few years ago, but I wanted to show how beautiful the Bitterroot Valley is. There is nothing like crisp, clean air to wake you up in the morning, and nothing like pure quietness to put you to sleep at night.
This fish was caught the summer after my first year at college. Katie and I decided to go fishing on her property and we found ourselves a honey hole! Right after she snapped this picture, my fish freaked out and literally slapped her across the face...
Hamilton, MT 2013
The view from my back yard! New Year's Evening, Stevensville, MT 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
My Grandpa
It has been a while since my grandpa has passed, but I often still find myself missing him and his sense of humor, especially at the holidays. I remember many great Christmas and Thanksgiving days with him and this year was especially hard since his house is now up for sale. After the new year, my mom decided that I needed to make peace with grandpa being gone and the house being for sale so we took a trip up to Charlo, MT so I could really say goodbye.
I've always thought of my grandpa as a pioneer. In 3rd grade, I wrote a report on my grandpa because I thought he was one of a kind. He was a ditch rider, a barber, a taxidermist, a gardener, a neighbor, a brother, and a friend. He could graft trees so it would grow apples on one side, plums on the other! I loved hearing all of his stories: he got kicked out of school for putting a snake (or was it a skunk?) in his teachers desk (I think the answer depends on who is telling this one), he put rubber fishing worms in his co-workers sandwiches at lunch time, and once convinced my mom to walk into a cave full of bats. He was always up for a good prank.
As a kid, going to see grandma and grandpa meant 3 things: 1) There will be dessert and it is ok (and even encouraged) to eat it before dinner, 2) There will be a fight over who gets to ride the riding lawn mower, and 3) There will be some kind of animal to play with, mostly unsupervised.
The animals: Grandpa raised birds, pigeons, pheasants, chickens, turkeys, etc. He had a chicken coop, a bird barn, a small fish pond, and a green house that was overrun with a different animal every few months (it was always exciting to visit, because you never knew what you would find.) I can remember being very little and going out to the coop with my brother and sister to collect eggs and feed the birds every morning when we would visit. As we got older, we should have gotten in more trouble...
Meggie and I loved to pet grandpa's fish until they would go to "sleep" (fish heaven). My poor grandpa probably bought hundreds of fish because each time we came by, we weren't leaving until all of the fish were sleeping. I thought I had an amazing talent until 2nd grade when my teacher revealed that fish died out of water.
Its no secret that my brother is deathly afraid of mice. One time, we were messing around in the bird barn right after grandpa specifically said "be sure not to let any of the birds out." Since Russ was the oldest, it was his duty to go first to make sure there was nothing scary up there that could hurt his little sisters. As the second oldest, it was my job to open the door and push him in! Russ climbed the ladder, I opened the door, a mouse came catapulting at Russ's face, Russ screams and throws himself off the ladder. I thought by the caliber of his scream that there was a wild tiger in the bird barn so I booked it for the house- Meggie was left to fend for herself. All of the pigeons that were in the barn flew out. The three of us tried to come up with some kind of story to explain why we had done specifically what grandpa said not to do, but we figured that honesty was the best policy: Russ almost died. Thankfully, he is alive, but the pigeons are gone. Grandpa wasn't mad-
I also remember hunting for night crawlers when I was much older with grandpa in the back yard. I was fully prepared to do most of the work since grandpa was getting up there in age. He brought us to the side of the house which was the flower garden. Prepared with a bucket and a flashlight, we got to work. Before we had been out there for two minutes, grandpa launched a glob of dirt that hit me smack in the side of my face. I was confused...I am sure it is a sin to hit your own grandpa with a glob of mud...he smiled and took advantage of my moral contemplation and hit me again! It was on!
So many good memories...
Grandpa was a twin! Bill (on the left) and Lewis, my grandpa, on the right.
I've always thought of my grandpa as a pioneer. In 3rd grade, I wrote a report on my grandpa because I thought he was one of a kind. He was a ditch rider, a barber, a taxidermist, a gardener, a neighbor, a brother, and a friend. He could graft trees so it would grow apples on one side, plums on the other! I loved hearing all of his stories: he got kicked out of school for putting a snake (or was it a skunk?) in his teachers desk (I think the answer depends on who is telling this one), he put rubber fishing worms in his co-workers sandwiches at lunch time, and once convinced my mom to walk into a cave full of bats. He was always up for a good prank.
As a kid, going to see grandma and grandpa meant 3 things: 1) There will be dessert and it is ok (and even encouraged) to eat it before dinner, 2) There will be a fight over who gets to ride the riding lawn mower, and 3) There will be some kind of animal to play with, mostly unsupervised.
The animals: Grandpa raised birds, pigeons, pheasants, chickens, turkeys, etc. He had a chicken coop, a bird barn, a small fish pond, and a green house that was overrun with a different animal every few months (it was always exciting to visit, because you never knew what you would find.) I can remember being very little and going out to the coop with my brother and sister to collect eggs and feed the birds every morning when we would visit. As we got older, we should have gotten in more trouble...
Meggie and I loved to pet grandpa's fish until they would go to "sleep" (fish heaven). My poor grandpa probably bought hundreds of fish because each time we came by, we weren't leaving until all of the fish were sleeping. I thought I had an amazing talent until 2nd grade when my teacher revealed that fish died out of water.
Its no secret that my brother is deathly afraid of mice. One time, we were messing around in the bird barn right after grandpa specifically said "be sure not to let any of the birds out." Since Russ was the oldest, it was his duty to go first to make sure there was nothing scary up there that could hurt his little sisters. As the second oldest, it was my job to open the door and push him in! Russ climbed the ladder, I opened the door, a mouse came catapulting at Russ's face, Russ screams and throws himself off the ladder. I thought by the caliber of his scream that there was a wild tiger in the bird barn so I booked it for the house- Meggie was left to fend for herself. All of the pigeons that were in the barn flew out. The three of us tried to come up with some kind of story to explain why we had done specifically what grandpa said not to do, but we figured that honesty was the best policy: Russ almost died. Thankfully, he is alive, but the pigeons are gone. Grandpa wasn't mad-
I also remember hunting for night crawlers when I was much older with grandpa in the back yard. I was fully prepared to do most of the work since grandpa was getting up there in age. He brought us to the side of the house which was the flower garden. Prepared with a bucket and a flashlight, we got to work. Before we had been out there for two minutes, grandpa launched a glob of dirt that hit me smack in the side of my face. I was confused...I am sure it is a sin to hit your own grandpa with a glob of mud...he smiled and took advantage of my moral contemplation and hit me again! It was on!
So many good memories...
Grandpa was a twin! Bill (on the left) and Lewis, my grandpa, on the right.
During our trip to Charlo, we stopped to see Uncle Del (left) who is grandpa's brother. He will be 93 on the 10th. He had a stroke a few weeks ago, but must be doing ok, because he was out feeding horses when we pulled in! It was hard for me to listed to him talk, because he sounds so much and looks just like my grandpa who I miss so much. It was good to see him- he told lots of good stories and even cracked himself up-often. He told me that he and grandpa saw each other every day for coffee, and they always had something to talk about.
The last time I talked to my grandpa, he was having a small heart attack in the hospital and still answered the phone. It scared me, so I hung up. He called later to make sure that I was ok and to tell me that he loved me.
When we went to Charlo to see grandpa's house, it didn't look at all like the place that we loved so much growing up. The chicken coop was gone, the bird barns were gone, the fish pond had been filled in, and green house was uninhabited for the first time. The place that we loved so much as kids was only special because of the people who were inside the house.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Growing up is FARTS.
If you would have asked 7 year old Kandi what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would have enthusiastically replied " A McDonald's French Fry Taster!" I was going to specialize in quality control of a product that I loved. Why didn't I do that? Besides the fact that I could (potentially) be morbidly obese right now, I think I would be incredibly happy. (My lofty career goal of French fry taster is not an exaggeration... True story here, folks).
These past few months have not been easy on me, and it is not something that I've kept to myself. There have been days/weeks where I've not been the easiest person to live with. Poor Owen had been the frustration receptacle for more than his fair share.
It is socially awkward when adults cry. When little kids cry, I feel the need to cuddle them and try to cheer them up. When adults cry, its like they have a funny eye that you try really hard not to look at but cant help it. This is especially a problem when I want to cry and throw a genuine fit but know that I will be looked at like I am the one with the funny eye. It doesn't help that my crying is completely unpredictable. Owen walked in on an ugly cry episode over a tv program about how to make extra crispy potato chips (also a true story).
These past few months, I've let an unbridled ugly cry out from time to time. I've been frustrated that it takes literally 35 minutes to find a parking spot at the grocery store, that it feels like I spend half a day commuting to and from work, that the advertized price of gas is if you pay in cash (10 cents extra to pay with a card)...etc. I am especially thankful that I get to spend some quality time at home where my biggest frustration is deciding which pair of sweatpants I should wear during the day...after I spend 20 minutes in a self-debate regarding which pair will provide me with the most comfort and allow me to eat an unhealthy amount of dad's hash browns and bacon.
Long story short- growing up is farts! I miss the days when my mom could take care of all of my problems. I would appreciate it if someone would ground me before I make a dumb decision like the good old days. Please! Take my cell phone away and banish me to my room for two weeks...that would be awesome! Now I have bills and responsibilities and 11 gray hairs on the right side of my head...but, I have to say I am very thankful that I've found someone who will put up with my ugly cry and won't let me sit on the pitty pot for too long.
Owen's Birthday
Owen wanted to see the Endeavor for his birthday, so we went to the California Science Center. To see the space shuttle it was about $20...so we decided to be very interested in all of the free stuff instead.
This is the space craft that held the first astronaut to go into space His name was Ham (strong name for an explorer) and he was a chimp. His flight lasted 16 minutes and 39 seconds.
This is a replica of the Mars space rover built to be 1/5 of the actual size.
As with any good birthday party, we had to play some games! We ended the night at Dave and Busters where I blew all of my money on Deal or No Deal and Owen killed zombies and pirates.
This is the space craft that held the first astronaut to go into space His name was Ham (strong name for an explorer) and he was a chimp. His flight lasted 16 minutes and 39 seconds.
This is a replica of the Mars space rover built to be 1/5 of the actual size.
Thanksgiving in CO
I spent 5 days in Colorado with Russ, Lyndsey, and the girls. It was SO nice to drive down a road that only had two lanes!
Kennedee is getting so big! She can write her whole name, count, and is sassy! KK, however, is going to be quite the handful and I have a feeling that Deezer is going to have to eat more than mac'n cheese to be able to handle her little sister!
Such a ham!
Such a ham!
Happy Holidays!
Brea is getting ready for the holidays! It is beautiful, but it doesn't feel like Christmas when it is still 70 degrees out at night time.
Cat/Griz
MSU football games are one of the things that all of the MT kids in CA miss out on during the year. Lucky for us, we found a bar in Culver City that was airing the game and held a Cat/Griz party.
Of course, Lindsay and I both had to wear our Bobcat hats. All that was missing for us to make it a true Cat/Griz game was a tallboy and the alley behind the 317.
Owen ate "Go Cats" toaster strudel for breakfast for good luck!
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