Bannack and Dogs

So, Dallin and I have been thinking about getting another dog for a companion for Cody. He always looks at me with sad eyes...maybe he's not sad at all though...maybe he just looks at me with hound dog eyes. Anyways, he always looks sad. Someone Dallin knows recommended the animal shelter in Dillon MT. She said they train all of their dogs. We decided to go for a long drive to Dillon last weekend to go get a companion for Cody. We got to the animal shelter around 2:45 thinking they closed at 4:00. Nope...they close at 3:00. So we had a quick 15 minutes to find a friend for Cody.

We took this lab/hound dog for a walk. He didn't seem too bad. He pulled a little when we walked him, but we thought "nothing we can't fix." They have a 10 day trial period, so that if you get the dog home and he eats your garden, digs up your flowers, chews your sprinkler system, barks constantly, and bowls your child over you can always bring him back for a full refund. We thought what do we have to lose. We'll try him out and if we can't stand him we'll take him back. We adopt him after filling out a ridiculous form that asks ridiculous questions and pay A HUNDRED DOLLARS for him! No sooner do we get on the interstate to head back home Duggan...the dog...starts freaking out. He is barking so loud. And mind you in an enclosed tight quarter such as the car his bark is magnified by 10 fold. Poor little Claire is in the back seat right in front of him and starts shrilling for fear of being eaten. I'm hitting the brakes, swerving around on the interstate, yelling at this dog to shut the h*ll up. We find an emergency exit and turn around to take Duggan back to the pound. I bet that was the shortest adoption trial period ever recorded. Needless to say I do not want another dog. We drove the rest of the way home in peace and quiet.

So, that we didn't make this trip in vain we stopped at a ghost town called Bannack that I've always wanted to see. I can't help but be drawn to ghost towns. I love envisioning the streets full of men and women and horses of the 1800's. I love to walk through the homes and envision what the people were like that lived there. Bannack is neat because they don't totally renovate the homes and restore them, they keep them in the current condition that they were discovered in. The only downer was the buildings that had anything in them were locked up. It turned out to be a pretty good day.

Finally!

So, it has only taken me 9 years of my adult life to finally decide on a decorating style that is my absolute favorite. Are you all ready for me to reveal how I am going to decorate my home for the rest of my life? Wait for it...wait for it...drum roll please.............................................................................
COTTAGE STYLE! I have decided that I like the warmth that grows in my heart when I look at pictures of cottage style homes. The only bad news is the furniture and my window treatments that I have recently purchased are all wrong for a cottage style home. Too bad I didn't know what I liked before I bought all my new furniture and window treatments. Oh well, you live and you learn...right?

Oh Canada!

So, for Dallin's 30th birthday I surprised him with a trip to Canada. I went to a lot of effort to make it a surprise; from opening my own checking account to lying about how much I spent at stores. It was great fun. The first night we spent in Kalispell MT at the Kalispell Grand Hotel. Avalanche Lake. Hike we went on. Very beautiful. Notice the awesome waterfalls.

Hiking back from Avalanche Lake.

We then headed to Glacier National Park. We were planning on camping two nights there but it was so cold we headed on to Calgary Alberta Canada a night early. There was still a lot of things closed in Glacier including the main road that goes right through the middle. Claire spent her first night in a tent there. I think she slept better than me both nights camping simply because she is oblivious to the exponentially large number of bears that roam in the north country and the danger of a crazy ax murderer killing us in our sleep. When I camp I think about those two things most of the night along with how cold I am, how uncomfortable I am, and wondering how many hours until the sun comes up.
This is a picture of a waterfall we hiked to. It was such a beautiful hike through the canyon. The waterfall was really majestic. There was a place you could hike through at the end by the waterfall. You had to bend over and walk through this tunnel/cave thing right next to the waterfall. You could get sooo close to it. It made my heart pitter-patter just being so close to it. The spray from the fall drenched you. It was pretty cool.

Picture of Claire and I at Hotel swimming pool. She went down her first waterslide with Dad.

I was surprised how huge Calgary is. Our first night there we ate at a restaraunt called Sky 360. It is a restaraunt at the top of a building kind of like the Space needle in Seattle. The restaurant slowly spins so you can look out over the city. I was thinking that Lisa and Chuck would probably love to eat here. Then I thought again...I remembered Chuck's fear of heights. I have never been on a longer elevator ride. I think I also have a slight fear of heights because I was relieved when my feet were on the ground again. We were probably underdressed and I think the only one with a child there. I'm sure all of the rich, vogue, city people were turning their noses up at us, but what-ev-er. That was the first and LAST time that I will take a child to a fancy restaurant. She was making all kinds of fussy noises and every time we gave her a bite of anything she would stick out her tongue and let it fall out onto the table or the floor. She would throw her bread. So we pretty much paid a $100 to be embarassed. Never again.

Then we went to the Calgary Zoo. It is the second largest zoo in Canada. It was pretty fun. Claire liked it for about 20 minutes then she fell asleep. She liked the big fat hairy pigs the best.
Then we headed off to Banff National Forest. Banff is absolutely beautiful! I encourage everyone to head up there someday. The mountains are probably some of the most majestic mountains I have ever seen.

This is us standing in front of a hotel that you can stay in if you make 6 digits a year. Claire had attachment issues to mom that week as you can see.

It was very cold there also. The mountains there have glaciers on top. That was really beautiful to see also. We saw 4 bears while we were on our trip. 3 in Glacier and one in Banff. We had so much fun but were relieved to come home. Thanks Tiffany and Jesse for holding down the fort at home!

Claire is One!

So, I know I am a very horrible mother. One month later I finally post a blog about Claire's birthday. She turned one on May 24th at 11:46 a.m. We had a party here in Salmon. Dallin's family and Diana were able to come to celebrate with us. Thanks so much everyone for making the long trip up here. We really appreciate it. We made dutch oven. It turned out so yummy. Claire slept through the majority of her party. We opened presents and let Claire play in her birthday cake. Another reason I am a horrible mother is because I did not take very many pictures and the ones we did take did not turn out so hot. I am so upset they didn't turn out. I ordered a cake pan of a cute bear that stands upright but the cake pan never came so I had to wing it. I have never decorated a cake before. I think it turned out rather lame...but whatever! So happy late birthday Claire. We love you!

A Little Bit of Sun

A doctor and his wife watched Claire for me one evening. After that they fell in love with her. She charmed her way into their hearts now they buy her beautiful clothes...yeah Claire totally knew what she was doing. Smart girl, huh? This is on a beautiful, sunny Sunday. I think I remember what sun feels like. Doesn't she look beautiful?

Dog Park

So, these days Dallin or I or both of us usually take Claire and our hound dog, Cody for a walk everyday. Aren't we the responsible dog owners? We usually go to this dog park here in Salmon called Island Park, because it is surrounded by the dangerously high, swift river on both sides. So if Cody decides to take off running out of the park to either side he will fall in the river and get swept away...never to be seen again. Another reason we go there because it gives him the opportunity to interact with other dogs. It is fun to see him run around the park. He runs at full speed! It is pretty funny. Sometimes it can be a little scary because sometimes he will run towards you at full speed, showing no signs of stopping and then at the last second he will slightly shift over so that he barely misses you. Claire loves that.
This is Cody being a hound dog.

Claire loves the dog park also because she can actually play in some grass and not a mud hole like at home...don't get me wrong, Claire would probably love playing in the mud hole at home it's just that mom doesn't let her.