That's a long way down...

Along the road to Montana we couldn't miss an opportunity to put another pin in the map! We stayed in Colorado on one of the days and took an evening drive to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It's a deep hole in the ground, and I mean deep. I threw a snowball over the edge and it seemed like it took an eternity to hit the bottom. It was one of the first spots the boys got to make snowballs, and they made the best of their opportunity. There wasn't a ton to see or do at the park unless you wanted to make the dangerous hike down, but it was still pretty impressive to see. Farrah decided the cold up north wasn't for her so she jumped off the edge... they say she's still falling to this day...

Cross Country Adventure VII

It's been quite a while since this blog has been updated, maybe the longest break ever. But there's a reason for that. Things got a little hectic there for a while, and we're no longer writing from the same house or the same state for that matter. Once again (for the seventh time) we packed up and moved across the country. It was probably the hardest move we've ever had to make, but at least we were going to a familiar place. I was notified back in August that they needed someone to work in Montana, and since they knew it was where we were from, they came looking for me. They rarely if ever posted vacancies with paid moves, so it really was a once in a career opportunity. It was far from easy to give up the place we'd built for ourselves, including the house we'd just spent the last year destroying and rebuilding (ok, we weren't that sad to see that go), but being back in the northwest, in the mountains, in the snow, and near family, seemed like something we should do. So the stuff all got loaded up, the house got sold, and we were northward bound, saying goodbye the Lone Star State, the heat and humidity, and a great group of friends. We'll forever cherish our time in Texas and the people we met along the way, as we will most of the places we've been fortunate enough to live in and experience, but the posts on this blog and the pages of the book these photos will eventually appear on are made to capture the adventures of our lives together, and there are hopefully many, many more to come.

Bid farewell to friends!

Friends since First Grade... hopefully they stay in touch!

Put your shades on and hit the road!

We didn't forget Dexter!

Stopped to play some Risk in Utah...

Made it to Montana!

Wait, there's no Whataburger here?!?!

Oh well, I guess there will have to be a Gulf Coast vacation in our future!

Our Last Days of Endless Summer

 The days are short for us in Corpus Christi, and with them, the almost endless season of summer. In South Texas, the hot summer lasts from June to October, and then mild summer sticks around the rest of the year. It snowed here once, but that was an extremely rare occurrence. A week from today we'll be driving north for another cross-country move. The word we're hearing is it's already spitting snow in parts of Montana, so winter is coming quickly for us. While we're still here, we figured we'd better take advantage of the heat. Nolan wanted to go to Seaworld for his birthday, we went with friends to the dirt track one more time, and of course we headed out to Port Aransas to catch the waves...

Texas has been good and we'll miss the beach, but I have a feeling it won't be our last ocean day!

An Eight Year Old

It's always hard to believe when kids reach the next age and you always think, "How did that happen?" But it does and it has. Nolan turned 8 years old this month. He's in Second grade, growing like crazy, harassing his brothers, still his mother's baby, not the best dinner eater, always hilarious, always up for about anything, and generally the best behaved of the three. He enjoys a good bowl of mac & cheese, an endless round of Minecraft, riding his scooter around the block with the dogs, and otherwise just being a carefree kid. We can't imagine life without him! Here he is, in all his glory!

He may be just a little crazy, but we're crazy about him!

An Unexpected Vacation

Things change quickly sometimes when you least expect it. After more than seven years in Texas, an opportunity came up at work that's going to send us back north, and back to where we started. It wasn't something we were actively looking for, even if it often came up in the back of our minds. Several years ago we put in for a transfer back to Montana and it ultimately didn't work out. Management here wasn't in favor of it and budget restraints kept any transfers from happening for a couple of years, so we moved on and figured we'd be in Texas for the long haul. But there's something that's said about best laid plans. Montana came looking for us and made an offer we didn't refuse. While there's the difficulties of leaving behind friends and the "known" of Portland, there's the benefit of family and familiarity on the other end. The offer came almost exactly 14 years after we left... and that feels like a lifetime, a lot of which was detailed on this blog and written from many different rooms across multiple states. I'll forever be thankful for the journeys we've been able to take, the experiences we've been able to have, and the people who've been there for us in every place we've stopped along the way. We may be going back home, but we're still going on to the next adventure! Anyway, to get ready for the upcoming move, we took a trip to Missoula for a week to get an idea of where we were going to live. Here are some of the highlights... 

It's fun flying during a pandemic...

Grandpa Bill lost his shoe in the creek which led to Aunt Kelly getting attacked by murder hornets...

They all had a blast hiking to the M in the cold rain... if you can't tell.

Spent some time riding and running around the Miller Farm!

If nothing else, there will be an abundance of cousins to spend time with when we get back to Montana!