What we've been up to...

Well, I'd like to say we've been busy but life moves pretty slow here in Montana. The big news this week is that we celebrated Thomas' 35th birthday on Tuesday. Yes, it was a little strange not having family and friends around but we were able to skype his mom and sister which was a first-of-its-kind treat. All in all, it was a fun day filled with special food, shopping, coffee, relaxation, and we couldn't miss Biggest Loser's makeover episode!
It's still beautiful here. I'm including a picture of the sunrise from our balcony the other day. I love the view. I even sit out there thinking in the frigid temperatures sometimes. While we really miss Texas, its beauty doesn't compare to Montana. We had a couple of feet of snow last week so everything is just covered everywhere you go. What cracks me up is the cars that drive around with several feet of snow piled on their roofs. It looks hilarious, like an army of Russian soldiers with tall puffy hats.
I've been keeping myself busy with, well, there's no other way to say it, "crafts." I once argued with some friends when they told me the Canton craft fair sounded right up my alley. I'd prefer to think of myself as "artistic" rather than "crafty" because I'm not into scrapbooking and painting wooden figurines, but who am I kidding. So fine, I've been making crafts. It's my only outlet since Thomas plays the guitar 24/7. So far I've made stockings, several bags, Christmas cards, and a set of stuffed animals :)
I'm also in the process of starting a new habit that I'm really quite proud of. I've started fining myself $15 any time I leave a dirty dish in a clean sink. Originally Thomas was included in the rule and we were going to have to pay each other but he rebelled so I'm stuck charging myself. All I can say is it doesn't really make sense anymore but it's working. I've kept the kitchen clean all week and for me that's big!

Hiking in Montana...

... is apparently harder than we thought. Here are a few photos from our second failed hiking attempt. This time we actually made the drive all the way to the trail head. A few weeks ago we tried a different spot and had to turn the car around half way there because we couldn't get up an icy mountain hill. This time we left the house expecting a dirt trail and waterfalls but quickly became nervous as we drove through snow covered mountains. When we made it to the trail head there were other cars there but after steping out of the car into over a foot of snow it was apparent the other folks out there were all on skis. Major hiking trips may have to be postponed until next summer!
We had a nice dinner with our neighbors tonight and they've promised to give us snow driving lessons so hopefully we'll at least be able to drive around in it!

Visitors

I love Halloween. It's not looking like we're going to have any exciting plans this year but I have a costume idea in my back pocket just in case. I'll let you know if anything comes of it. We haven't had any real visitors yet, except for these guys. They came about a week ago and haven't left yet. Safety pins, a pair of scissors, and black scrap fabric go a long way when you're decorating for Halloween while trying not to accumulate a whole lot of stuff.
NOTE: I took the photo about a week ago and the coffee tables/feet rests we made are in the process of being painted now. I'm decorating mine with red suns. Thomas is painting his blue (unless he decides to copy me, which is likely :)

Going the distance*

The small group bible study tonight went better than expected (don't worry Texas friends, they don't even compare!) but the people were very nice, welcoming, and it felt pretty comfortable. I think Thomas and I did pretty well at forcing ourselves to be social and, as usual, I was one of the only people talking/responding during the formal discussion ;)

There were a few awkward moments though. I've ranked them below:

5. The moment, an hour in, that I realized everyone had taken off their shoes at the door except for us, which Thomas says is unusual because he always takes his shoes off.
4. The older gentleman who sat right next to me and kept talking about how great last week's sermon was.
3. When Thomas's cell phone went off during the bible study. *Ringtone: Cake's "The Distance"
2. When Thomas's cell phone went off for the second time.
1. This one requires some explanation. Thomas and I made up a little game to play beforehand where we were going to try to match the personalities of the new people we met to the personalities of people at our church in Texas. There was one woman who didn't remind me of any of the girls in our old group. At some point a light bulb went on and I realized she had the same personality as one of our guy friends in Texas. HINT: the talker (we love and miss him a ton.) When I wrote it on my notebook and Thomas saw it I couldn't contain myself and started laughing hysterically right in the middle a very serious discussion.

That's right, small group went well, but believe it or not, that wasn't the best part of my evening. The best part was the Korean Bulgogi, pictured above, I made for dinner (I had to mention it so that my two beautiful sisters-in-law would think I was cool.)

Church

I could barely stay seated at church this weekend, and when I say that what I don't mean is that I was so overwhelmed with joy that I wanted to spring to my feet during worship.
If I had been there by myself I probably would have hit the door running mid-storytime, but Thomas and I don't have our spouse mind-reading skills down yet so there wasn't a good way to suggest that.
Looking back at it, it wasn't THAT bad. The speaker didn't seem arrogant, the message seemed well-intentioned, and the musicians, although not on pitch, seemed sincere.
I think what got me to the point of feeling like running was that the speaker kept finishing his sentences with what "sounded right." I'm not really sure how to describe that. He kept saying things that didn't really make sense but they sounded like the made sense. After an entire sermon of it, my brain was tired from having to weed out truth from crap. The message called "Life Hurts, God Heals, overcoming your hurts, habits, and hang-ups" focused on seeing and then changing the habits of sin in our lives, and ended with a prayer asking God to help us see our sin and change because we know his requirement is purity, in Jesus name, amen.
Yes, we need to see our sin and change. Yes, God requires purity. And a big fat NO, to the implied fact that we can literally become sinless and meet that requirement. If that were so, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ would be for not. I think the guy was just saying what sounded good, or maybe he doesn't realize it but he actually believes two conflicting ideologies.
It's frustrating when when I hear things that aren't quite right and I look around to see a room full of people seemingly unbothered. That coupled with the overarching, over-simplified lesson that if we all just recognize our sin and rely on God, we'll be cured, followed by a song at the end of the service that begged God to make us "one with him" got me feeling the need to flee.
I'll be experiencing my own sort of "purification" tonight, getting over my hang-ups and heading to our first small group meeting with the same church. I'm wearing my running shoes.

Trip to Yellowstone

Jack-O-Tex

OK, well if you can't tell, I was feeling a little homesick when I carved my pumpkin last week. Thomas carved the shape of Montana but I'll let him post his own pumpkin picture. So far our time in MT has been a mix of excitement, fun, boredom, monotony, adventure, and fear. Last night Thomas and I had a discussion about whether or not I actually want to make friends here. I told him I know I need to and I will but I don't want to. This is just my personality. He didn't understand why I wouldn't want to do something that would make life enjoyable. I tried to explain that I'm going to, I'm making myself, but I don't like the idea. The whole thing feels like replacing friends that I'd rather not replace. I know it's not really, it just feels that way. I'll stop begging to move back to Texas in a week or two. He's got to at least give me that! Tomorrow I'll try to post some pictures of our exploratory trip to Yellowstone, then everyone will seriously question what exactly I miss about Texas.

Come and knock on our door

Ready for a virtual tour? Here's a little taste of our Montana home (with a few camera tricks just for your enjoyment).

Parades, pumpkins, brown rocks

We're back at the library again. This week the internet fairies should be coming by to connect our apartment to the World Wide Web, hopefully in time to skype my brother on his birthday. Thomas and I went to the Montana State University homecoming parade this morning with temperatures in the teens. It was a lot of fun to see all of the floats and everyone bundled up. At one point people came by wearing costumes that looked like huge brown rocks, I mean like 12 or 15 feet tall. Thomas and I kept trying to figure out what they were supposed to be dressed as. A few seconds later a port-a-potty on wheels drove by and Thomas said "I think those people are dressed as Doo-Doo."
The man standing next to us leaned over and simply said, "Yeah, they're turds."
It was pretty hilarious. I'm still not sure what the point was.
Last night Thomas and I carved pumpkins in our apartment and as soon as I can, I'm going to post pics. Other than that, we're really excited about trying out another church tomorrow. This one came as the recommendation of a friend of a friend (thanks Dr. K).
Signing off from the snowy northwest!

Afternoon at the library

Thomas and I are sitting side by side in the Bozeman Library computer lab, typing frantically as the minutes of our free hour of internet access tick away. On our way in here we grabbed three books to check out so sitting in between us on the desk are Day Hikes Around Bozeman, Montana, Winter Hiking & Camping, and Best, Easy Day Hikes at Yellowstone. We figure we better get as much hiking in as possible before the weather gets really cold, although, I was watching the news this morning and gasped when the weatherman said highs will be in the 20s later on this week! Fortunately we've already purchased our lift ticket season passes at Bridger Bowl so at least we wont be stuck in doors all winter.

Tomorrow we will have been in Bozeman for one full week and here's a quick list of things we've done:
Rented an apartment
Lugged millions of boxes up two flights of stairs
Scouted out local thrift stores for furniture
Bought groceries
Bought stuff for the apartment
Argued about what we need to buy for the apartment
Watched a movie
Explored the ski area
Explored the neighboring town of Belgrade (I missed an exit)
Had the car serviced
Threw snowballs (Thanks a lot Chris!)
Signed up for library cards

Okay, I have to go. My husband is purchasing things online... how is a Toyota bug guard considered a necessity? Pictures and more frequent blogging to come as soon as we get internet installed.

Road to Montana

Here is a little slideshow with photos of our road trip to Montana and a few of our new apartment. Please excuse the mess ;)

Montana all boxed up

We've begun our second full day here in Bozeman, Montana and guess what, the weather is still really cold. I have a feeling I'm going to be saying that quite a bit over the next several months. I can't say I'm super excited about the schedule for today, it basically includes lugging boxes up to our third floor apartment for a good portion of the morning and afternoon. Yesterday we got all of our big furniture unloaded and took up three or four loads of boxes. Our method is to load a few boxes on the dolly and slowly make our way up each step, with Thomas pulling and me pushing. About halfway up one trip there was a minor collision and Thomas scowled at me saying I had run him into a wall. Whoops ;)
My response: "I didn't run you into that wall, you ran yourself into that wall."
Today I'll try to be a little kinder with my comebacks.
Also on the agenda for today is to take some photos so I'll have something to post online tonight. Stay tuned.

Amazing Race Rejects

For those of you who've been anxiously waiting to see Thomas' and my Amazing Race application video, the wait is over. Don't get too excited. We sent this in last February and never heard back from them so it's pretty safe to say, we weren't selected. At least we tried, plus, who needs an adventure around the world* when we're about to move to Montana! Here's our three-minute video application.



*Amazing Race people, if you're reading this, I didn't mean that. Please change your mind and pick us. Please!!! :)