Switching blog sites

Blogger came out with a new system that's a little easier for my non-html brain, so I'm moving my blog to http://suther-land.blogspot.com/ and hope you will come visit me there!
This blog will stay in cyberspace forever if you ever feel like coming back to visit, but all the upcoming updates will be on the new blog so please change your favorites!

PS. I took this picture for you, Lise!

I'm having a hard time keeping up with the blog since we are so stinking busy around the house, but I thought I'd put up a few pictures of what we've been doing. We enjoy a very large yard with a HUGE silver maple tree, but this means lots of raking. You can see a bit in this picture of the piles of leaves. We also spent a lot of time painting our fence. The previous owner had painted it white last summer, however, there is a large wisteria bush that overhangs the fence in the summer and is gorgeous, but once it was pruned for the winter, half the fence was still brown and was a big eyesore.
Ryan's been working on an endless list of "honey-do's" which I am thankful that he actually enjoys--wiring, installing ceiling fans, garbage disposals, replacing the utility sink, cleaning the chimney. But we did run into an issue that even my Renaissance handy-man couldn't tackle and we had to have a plumber come flush the pipes--I guess it needs to be done every few years, and of course would happen to us the second week of living here!
We are enjoying some great nights by the fire and generally getting more and more settled.

New Home Living

We've been in our new home for over a week now and it's beginning to really feel like we live here. Of course there are still boxes around and things piled in places, but we are able to walk around and cook meals. The upstairs is really put together, but the downstairs needs some work. My mom and my sister-in-law were life-savers when we moved in. They are both cleaning machines so they washed, scrubbed, and contact-papered everything as we put it all away. We got up Asher's crib for the first time. The boys are in the same room and looking so cute sleeping near each other. We're loving being here in Missoula and trying to meet new friends, but we miss all our old ones too. It's strange to finally be in the place/state of life that you've been "waiting" for! Praise God.

Happy 3rd Birthday Bridger!

Today was Bridger's official 3rd birthday although he just got some ice cream and opened some boxes of toys he hadn't seen in awhile. Before you pity him, he's already had two parties--one with each set of grandparents complete with cakes, presents, balloons, etc.

I can't believe he's that old and he seems even older to me most of the time. We were singing him happy birthday in the car and after we finished he sighed and said "thanks everybody" like an adult. Now it's my turn to sigh...

Halloween!

We enjoyed Halloween this year, even though it was the night before the big move and we'd been loading the Uhaul for several days. We slept horribly that night and Ryan ended up getting up at 3am to start driving the Uhaul (mom and I were with the kids in the Honda). Praise God we actually made it!

The art of Photography

I've been a bit preoccupied packing and organizing these last weeks so I haven't posted many recent pics of the boys. Here are a few cute ones. I won't include the 25-picture slideshow from yesterday where we attempted, for yet another year, to get a good Christmas card picture. Those of you who have known us for awhile remember our card from a few years back with Ryan and I smiling and Bridger bawling his eyes out.

Why this early, you ask? Well, since we're moving we need to get something out with a new address and I thought it would be easier to get everyone to pose for a picture here on a nice day outside when my folks could try to make the kids smile. Needless to say, there is one moderately usable shot in the whole bunch. When I say usable, that means everyone is looking at the camera and has their eyes at least halfway open. The fact that the kids look like their dog just died is irrelevant. Adding another child to the mix made the difficulty increase exponentially. Stay tuned to your mailboxes (btw, just because we took a picture now, doesn't mean I'll be getting the cards out before New Years).

I love these bath shots of the kids (their first official bath together). Asher looks so suspicious...

Yellowstone trip

I thought I would post a few pictures from our trip through Yellowstone at the end of September. We were in Lander, WY (where Ryan passed his licensure exams with flying colors--only two left in Jan and he'll be officially Rev.) so we drove up through the Tetons and then through Yellowstone from the south to the north entrance on our way to Missoula. It was the perfect day--clear, warm, full fall foliage, no traffic and it happened to be "public lands day" (who knew?) so we got in free!We saw a bear 10 feet off the road, and tons of buffalo, elk, antelope, and deer. The shot of the elk is in Mammoth where Ryan grew up and we stayed a night with friends.Life update: we move to Missoula in 10 days!