Autumn under the Big Sky

So we have to send a big thank you to the State of Montana and its residents for keeping Becky and the boys for a week or so.  They had an awesome time hanging out with the Clayburn girls and the sets of grandparents up there.  I didn’t get to go this time, but hopefully next time!  I do miss Missoula in the fall.  There really is no place that feels quite like it this time of year.  Here are a few pictures from their trip.

Sophia Marie Clayburn... looking ever so excited to be the subject of Aunt Becky's photo.

And big cousin Paul pullin' the wagon 'round the field... not a driver I would necessarily trust with my safety...

"Why does she always make me do these horrible things...??"

"Oh, Adam... do you ever stop crying, screaming, and otherwise annoying me?"

The Clayburn family, with one intruder stuck in there somewhere...

Gotta love the fall leaves.

Brookie B.

Do you like my hat?  No, I do not like that hat.  Good-bye.  Good-bye.

Gotta love playing in the leaves with the cousins.

Oh Paul... these two can't get enough of bothering each other.  Hopefully they'll get to do more of it again before too long, now that we live 8 hours away instead of 45 hours away!  So thanks again to everyone up there for hanging out with the boys and making it yet another wonderful trip back home.

A stop in Idaho (Twin) Falls...

We took a little trip up to Idaho Falls (or Twin Falls as Becky referred to it 200 times and I corrected her 200 times) to make an exchange with Granny G of the boys and Becky.  Thankfully, Granny made it, since Becky told her a few times to come to Twin Falls, which is a couple hundred miles to the west.  But she got there alright and they all traveled on up to Montana on vacation and I came back to Salt Lake to work.  Sounds like I got the bad end of the deal there.  But we got to Idaho Falls a little early, so we stopped at the falls for a minute in the cold park and took a few photos.  It’d been a while since we’d been there, but we have fond memories of that wonderful city… many years ago we broke down outside of town and spent the day getting burned up by the sun waiting to get burned by the mechanic who took all day to fix the water pump on the car.  I have many great memories of a lot of Idaho’s wonderful towns… that’s why I try to get in and out of that state as quick as possible…

Adam had a good time by the falls, checking out the ducks in the water, but he was slightly afraid of the rushing water.  Maybe I shouldn't dangle him by his feet over the falls... 

The two brothers in the park.  This was after the light saber cut off Paul Skywalker's hand.  Yes, that's a Star Wars reference. 

Just a little bit cold down by the waters, but never too cold to pause for a photo opportunity.

So the exchange was made and a week later I went back up to meet Grandpa Bill on the frozen tundra that is the Montana-Idaho border.  See the next post for more on Becky’s visit to the Treasure State.

Happy Halloween again!

This year we got to spend Halloween with the Utah Sellers and their extended family and friends.  Paul had a blast running at full speed (because there can be no other way to trick or treat) through the neighborhood with Cousin Mason while the hoard of children with them followed along at equal speed.  I tried to keep up, carrying Adam, but by the time I got to the door they were already halfway to the next house.  But SuperAdam started to get the hang of things, reaching in and carefully selecting his candy of choice at each house.  It was a blast overall, and Becky and I got to eat most of Adam’s candy anyway… so it all worked out.  Here are the boys dressed and ready:

That would be SuperAdam and Ironhide the Autobot Transformer!  

Through the Gate...

So as I mentioned in the previous post, we stopped at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis on our way to Utah, and it was sort of a symbolic moment for us.  Five years ago, we packed up our little red car with everything we could fit and rolled out of Grandma’s driveway headed for the east coast and hopes for life in paradise in Florida.  At that time we’d been married for just over a year, and it was just the two of us, neither having spent much time out of Montana in our lives, and an immense amount of uncertainty went with us.  We came through Salt Lake, and crossed the flat lands of Kansas before reaching the Mississippi River in St. Louis.  That was the end of July, 2006.  In St. Louis we took the time to stop at the arch, definitely a very unique monument and a symbol of westward expansion or manifest destiny for the United States.  Historically, the Mississippi River has always been a dividing line in this country between east and west, and as we crossed over it and through the doorway of the arch, we entered the east coast and a very different life than we’d previously had.  Well, after five years, and stints in Jacksonville and Washington, DC where life lessons were learned and experiences were many, we’ve now traveled back through the gateway into the west.  So I wanted to take this time to take a look at how things have changed.

Obviously, a few differences in us in five years.  We’ve gotten old.  And, oh yeah, we’ve doubled in number.  I would have been 22 in that first photo, Becky 21.  In the second, Paul 4 and Adam 1.5 years old.  Five years doesn’t seem as long as, say ten… but it’s still a really long time.  Just imagine what five more years will bring!  We’re excited to find out.  And maybe someday we'll pass through the arch again with our grandchildren or something... we'll be sure to update the blog again with those photos!

Across the Country III

In case anybody was wondering, we made it to Utah.  But before we go too long without making a post about our journey, I’d figure I’d better do it now.  Five days it took us to cross the country, and roughly about 2500 miles passed by along the way.  Honestly, it didn’t feel as long as the previous TWO times we’ve done it (I know, you’d think this would be getting old by now).  I never imagined we would have traveled as many miles as we have in our short time, but we’re hoping sometime soon we’ll pick a spot and call it our home for the long run.  We’re in Salt Lake City now, and while we don’t know if this is the place (even if it is the land of Zion, aka the Promised Land), we’re happy to be here and we’re going to make it the best we can.  But enough about that, let’s talk about how we got here!

There it is… the Traveling Sellers caravan!  We picked up this twelve foot trailer from a friend of a friend and it pulled behind our newly purchased ’06 Chevy just fine.  Sucked the gas down faster than we could put it in, with the trailer full of all of the use(less)ful stuff we’ve acquired in the past couple of years, but the Trailblazer did just fine, even at the top of the Rockies in Colorado.  The first night, we stayed in Tennessee, after a 20 hour drive-sleep-drive-sleep night, with a lot of cold, rainy rest stops along the way.  Got to see Uncle Andy and Aunt Theresa, which was superb.  One of these days maybe all of the extended family will be within a short drive, maybe… hopefully, but for now it was great to see them, even if just for a night. 

The next day we got stuck in traffic outside of St. Louis, but took the time to stop and check out the Gateway Arch and the Big Muddy river for a minute. 

There was a defining moment along the way, in the museum under the arch, Adam Michael had his first drink of nectar from the heavens.  That is, he enjoyed his first taste of Mountain Dew.  Thanks to this blog, he’ll always remember when and where he was when he first tasted the addiction my father passed to me.

After that, we climbed into the tightly packed space pods and rode the arch to the top for a fine view of St. Louis and the road to the west.

The boys were mesmerized by the view, lying down to put their noses on the glass and glance down at the sickening height, with tiny cars moving about far below them.  The line to go up was pretty ridiculous, since it appeared short but didn’t move for about an hour, but the view at the top was pretty cool.

Then it was to Uncle Shane’s Farm in Brookfield, MO where the Miller family find’s residence these days.  There was Uncle Shane, Aunt Laura, Cousins Wyatt, Josie, Mo, Row, and Liam (aka, Miller #5 as Josh calls him).  Along with an assortment of other domesticated mammals and birds.  Always a fantastic time on the Miller farm, so we stayed a day and took some time off from the road to hang out.

Paul and Morgan enjoyed some organically grown, all natural, free range eggs, produced by happy Missouri chickens, fed off of only the most premium slop and garbage scraped off of the Miller family’s dinner plates.

Then it was off through Nebraska and into Wyoming where we stayed in Cheyenne for a night before dropping down through Colorado to Dinosaur National Monument.  We had promised Paul we’d stop along the way (hoping to get his mind off of leaving Maryland), so we checked out all the dinosaur bones for a few minutes.

 Here he is with a wall of rock and real dinosaur bones, carved out of the mountain with the visitors center built on top.  Very cool.

After that we came through the mountains and landed in the valley that the Mormons built.  For me personally, about the time we got to Wyoming it started to feel right, being back amongst the mountains and the overall feel of the west.  While we’re not technically “home” in the sense that Montana might feel, we’re as close as we may be for a while, and it feels good to be back.  So stay tuned for more from the, eh… Salt Lake Sellers?  I guess?

To DC's greatest resident...

Throughout our lives we have received an immense amount of support, both financially and emotionally, along with every other kind of support you could ever get, from all of you out there.  Whether it was a call to check up on us, an email, or a card in the mail, all of you who read this blog and have enjoyed it or leant a helping hand to us on our many adventures have given so much, and we are forever grateful for the amazing families we have been blessed with.  As we set out tonight on yet another cross-country trip to start -  yet another time – over again, we want to stop to thank you all for all you’ve done.  To our parents, our brothers and sisters, grandparents, and extended family members, thank you for everything, and thank you for stopping by to check up on the Maryland Sellers on this blog from time to time.

But we want to take a moment now to single somebody out.  There is no synonym or version of “thank you” that could possibly equal the amount of gratitude, appreciation, and recognition we need to give to this one guy for everything he has done for us and for our children.  Of course, I’m talking about this guy right here:

Uncle Ted has gone so far and above and beyond everything we could have ever imagined or hoped he could have done for us.  For two years now he has been there for us so many times and in so many ways, even though he knows there will never be a way for us to repay him or thank him enough.  There are too few people out there as selfless, caring, and generous as this guy right here:

So Uncle Ted, all we can say is thank you, and we could say it a thousand times and it would never be enough.  We’ll never forget what you did for us here.  And Paul will never forget that time you threw him head first into the overhang of the roof.  And Adam is trying to forget that terrifying guy who always comes over on Sunday and gives him nightmares the rest of the week.  And when it comes to getting stuff done around the house, we've all learned that there's the easy way, and there's the Ted way of doing things.  But seriously, we wish you and Rachel all the best in the world, and KNOW that we will see you guys again before we know it.   

The times and memories of hanging out with you in DC, and just doing work around the house, are some that we will cherish and always remember.  Thankfully, Becky took a lot of photos.  Thank you again, and again again…

The Maryland Sellers

The last of the Maryland Sellers

Our days in Maryland are now drawing to a close, as we prepare to pack it up and move back west.  For five years now we’ve been living on the east coast, and it’s hard to believe how fast time has flown by.  Obviously a lot has happened just in the two years we’ve been in Maryland.  Adam Michael, for one.  Our little family has doubled since we left the west, and we (or I at least) feel much older.  But that’s what happens.  So now it’s time to say goodbye to the Atlantic coast and return to the Rocky Mountains.  In two more weeks we’ll be heading to Salt Lake City to try to make a new start.  I can’t say how it’s going to go, what will happen when we get there, or even how long we might be there, but we’re going to go and figure it out.  So here we are, in 2011, as a family, as we spend our last days near the nation’s capitol, and our last days as the Maryland Sellers.  

 

We learned a lot, grew a lot, changed a lot, and experienced some amazing things in DC and the surrounding area.  Some crazy things we'll never forget, some great people we'll always remember.  Wish us luck as we move on to new things, and hopefully good things! Just gotta come up with a new title for this blog I guess...