One blog is easier than two!

We'll be moving Gunnar's blog over to the new address: www.gunnar-n-greta.blogspot.com in an attempt to share a blog with Baby Greta. We figure one blog is easier than two to maintain, especially considering my recent track record for updating posts. For a while I'll try to duplicate posts to both blog addresses, and after Greta is born, will probably just update the shared blog. Check out the new address! I only have one post, and just a few photos, but I'll update again tomorrow, since we got some really great video of Gunnar dancing in his car seat to some rap Daddy turned on in the car today. :o)

Just can't keep up with blogging these days...

It's been over a month since the last blog entry, and we've done a lot and taken a lot of photos since then. Gunnar is getting bigger by the day, and is starting to be such a big helper! He's going to be a great big brother, and already points to my belly when we ask him where the baby is. We're anxious to see how he will respond to having to share us with his little sister, but I'm sure he'll adjust well, and he'll love having a playmate when she's old enough. Guess we'll have to either change our blog name to include both kids, or we'll have to create a separate one for the new baby. We'll see how my time goes... the way it's looking these days, I won't have much time for one blog, let alone two.

Well, the last blog ended with photos taken around the last week in June. Since then, Grandma & Grandpa Smith and Aunt Barbara & Uncle Michael visited from Oregon, we've gone hiking, and we've spent a lot of time playing outside with Nana & Papa. I'm just going to line the photos up with captions, unless further explanation is necessary. That way we can get a lot of photos caught up in one blog entry. :o)

Gunnar loves his frog pool...

And flowers...

He fits right in in Montana, eh?!

Gunnar is working on being able to push himself in the stroller.

Here's Gunnar, Daddy and Grandpa hiking.

In Red Lodge for the 4th of July parade.

Gunnar wasn't too sure about the teepee. :o)

Gunnar is a little water baby, and loves helping Nana and Papa water the grass/flowers/kitties/shoes, whatever.
Here's Gunnar in a GIANT sweatshirt after drenching himself with the hose. Looks angelic, doesn't he?!

When we drove up on this scene, Daddy said it looked like a hit-and-run DUI accident...

This huge, beautiful butterfly was playing on Gunnar's play structure one morning. Gunnar didn't want to get too close, but kept pointing and saying "bug".

Here comes Gunnar down the slide! Wheeee!

We went for a short hike last week.

Here I am... getting bigger by the day. :o)

Gunnar had so much fun playing in this little waterfall along the trail. We stopped for a Snickers and water break, and Gunnar got to play in the water - his favorite!!

Mama got to play in the waterfall too!

Here's a parting shot of Gunnar and Daddy on their way up the trail. Until next time... :o)

Summer Fun!

Gunnar is enjoying the summer to its fullest so far. The weather is great now, after several weeks of rainy/cloudy weather, and he loves playing outside with the dogs.
Here are a couple photos of our new yard, which absolutely dwarfs our yard in Oregon. There's so much room to run, and the dogs have never seen a dog park so big!

Gunnar is getting especially good at kicking a ball around the yard. He can actually almost do a soccer dribble without falling. He's such a big boy - it's sometimes hard to believe he's only a year and a half old.

Here's Gunnar making a funny face while he plays with his water table. He loves everything about water, and we haven't gotten a pool over here yet, but he gets plenty wet just playing in a table of water. Nana has a pool set up for him at their house, and he has only played a couple times, but he absolutely loves it. The only thing with all this outdoor time for Gunnar, is slathering the SPF 50 sunscreen on every 2 hours. He's so fair-skinned, and hasn't seen this much sun before, so we're being extra cautious with him. :o)

Gunnar is the big helper-man these days, and wants to do everything himself. He got ahold of this cooler and wanted to carry it out to the truck for us. He did a pretty good job too!

One night, we had a bonfire down by the river and had some friends and family over for some hot dogs and s'mores. Daddy got to chop some wood and learn about campfiring, Mama got to hunt for shade, and Gunnar ran around like a madman! Nana taught Gunnar about campfires and that they are hot, or as Gunnar says, "dat hot". While Gunnar and Nana were trying to roast a hot dog, the fire seemed a little too hot for Gunnar, and he stayed as far away as possible for the rest of the evening. But he and the dogs had a lot of fun running around the field.


I have a few more photos to add this week, and hopefully I can get around to it. Some things to look forward to: Justin at his first cattle branding, Gunnar naked in the pool with a cowboy hat on, and more of Gunnar just goofing around. :o)

Some photos from Montana

I apparently haven't taken any new photos since we've been here, but I do have some of the new house that we took when we were here over the winter. The trees are about to get leaves now, and the grass is getting greener. They say we're having a late spring here, so we get to experience spring bloom twice this year, since all of our trees started blooming in Oregon about a month ago. Anyway, here are some photos of the new house. We have some remodeling planned, and would like to add a wrap-around deck with a covered porch in the front, so we'll see how much we get done this summer. :o)

Here are some photos of Gunnar having fun amidst our packing boxes and chaos. He's adjusted pretty well so far, and I think he's really happy to have so much time in the fresh air playing in the yard. The first couple days were rough after Gunnar saw his room packed up and empty, and then didn't have a permanent spot until a couple days ago. But his room is set up almost how it was in Oregon, and I think he's getting used to the new house.

We love it here, and I think we're all healthier already with the clean, dry air and more time outside being more active. I know the dogs love the yard (and they're outdoor dogs now - sleeping outside and everything)!

The big move...

I haven't had a chance to upload photos from my camera recently, and I left the camera at Mom & Dad's, so it will be a couple days before I can post any new photos, but I thought I'd post a' little update. For those of you who didn't know, we moved to Montana the first weekend in May, and are finally getting settled in. We just got internet today, hence the post. So far we love it, and our little house is so cute, and our yard is so big. The house is on 4.5 acres with a creek and a river running through it, so there is plenty to do here. The dogs love it, and we can hardly drag Gunnar inside for meals or naptime. I imagine we'll be spending a lot of time in the shade by the creek during the hot summer. Something else I don't think I've posted yet, we're expecting baby #2 in November. The kids will be almost exactly 2 years apart, which I'm hoping will be a good age range.

The weather has been a little wet out here, and everyone jokes that we brought a little piece of Oregon sky back with us, but they're all really glad for the moisture. The nice thing is that when it rains, the next day the ground is just as dry as before it rained, so we don't have to muck around in mud for a week after a rainstorm. Today was beautiful though, so Gunnar and I took some time to play with the dogs in the yard, then ventured down to the creek for a quick check to find some fun spots to spend time this summer. We wake up in the mornings to an amazing view of the snowy Beartooth mountains outside our big picture windows, which is a nice change from looking out to see the house 15 feet away (which was the case in our last house). We'd 'love to have visitors once we get settled - just in time for summer fishing & camping!

I'll get the camera to upload photos and try to post again sometime this week. :o)

Yikes! 2.5 months since last post...

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted a blog. Time has been absolutely flying by. Our house is on the market now, so I've spent a lot of my days off cleaning and organizing - and following Gunnar's trail around the house to pick up his toys for the 8th time each day. Here are some photos from all the incredible weather we had in February. It offered us a chance to get Gunnar out and about more and wear him out a little every day. We've started making daily trips either to the park or the Children's Museum, and Gunnar loves it!

We hadn't been to McMenamin's Kennedy School for quite some time, so we headed there for dinner one night. We've found McMenamin's a great place to take Gunnar, since the atmosphere is laid back enough that nobody minds sitting next to a toddler, and there are usually places to take him for a little run-around if he gets antsy. Most of the time he does very well though, and flirts with the female servers and plays peek-a-boo with customers at nearby booths. Here are some photos from the courtyard at Kennedy School after we finished dinner. Daddy had a cigar, and Gunnar found a little friend who was playing trucks, and was nice enough to share his favorite truck with Gunnar. Justin also had to stop and make a funny pose next to a picture on the way out. :o)



Gunnar lately finds this hilarious. He puts a dishtowel or blanket over his head, and walks around blindly bumping into things. He does it all the time! So far he hasn't had any major bumps or bruises from it, and when he runs into something, he laughs until he's rolling on the ground. Silly Gunnar!

We had a few days of snow here and there during January (I think), and Justin took Gunnar out to play in the snow we had in the back yard. It was pretty slushy and wet, and they didn't stay out too long. I thought this first photo was funny - Daddy couldn't find any of Gunnar's winter hats t hat fit, so he found one I knit last winter when Gunnar was only a couple months old. As you can see, it doesn't fit anymore, and definitely didn't cover Gunnar's ears. I often come home on days I work to find Gunnar wearing some funny outfits that Daddy picked out. They're getting better, but I still get to laugh about it sometimes...

Here are the photos from SuperBowl Sunday - yep - all the way back then! We started the day by heading over to Adam and Denise's for the first half. There were a couple other kids there, and Cooper was decked out in his Giants gear, waiting for kickoff. We had fun, and the kids played a lot, and Gunnar knocked down some of Cooper's construction projects (yikes!), but Cooper was very good with Gunnar, and told him nicely if he was doing something he thought Gunnar might get in trouble for.

At half-time, we headed over to Grandma & Grandpa's house in LO. It was a full house, and Gunnar got plenty of attention as he ran around and played. Here he was trying to get the kitty to come to him by pointing and talking to her.

When that didn't work, he went in after her, but she was way faster than him!

On one of the nicest days we had here recently, we went to the park early in the morning, and when Daddy got up we went back outside to play with the dogs. We also took the tricycle that Gunnar got for Christmas out so he could try riding it. The dogs were very curious, and surprisingly, Arnold checked it out instead of running for his life.

Daddy helped Gunnar get on the trike and ride, and I managed to catch on camera a photo of Gunnar's very first wreck. He didn't even cry! What a tough guy. He just got up, dusted off his hands, and tried to pick the trike off its side.

These are just some photos of Gunnar and I messing around the house during the day. He loves carrying my purse around, so I made it easier by putting it across him. He thought that was fun.

Gunnar and the stuffed dog driving the truck. When he's old enough to drive, maybe we'll get a similar photo with a real truck and a real dog. :o)

On another nice day in our neck of the woods, we decided to check out another McMenamin's we hadn't spent much time at - Imbrie Hall. They have some nice grounds for Gunnar to run and explore, and it was such a nice day we spent quite a while after lunch just wandering around.

One night when Ali, Jeromy, and Maddie were here, Gunnar had to change his pants for some reason, and I just couldn't quite get him to put a new pair of pants on, so he ran around in his bare legs, lounging. He thought that was loads of fun. :o) This poor kid will have so many embarrassing photos to try and hide when he gets older. But I'll get them out every chance I get!

I'll end this post, but I have tons more photos to put up, so I'll try and get them up in the next couple days.