Happy Holidays

Don't let this picture fool you, right before we snapped it, Lilly was crying & Brewer peed on the carpet.  Somehow, we got our s**t together & snapped the picture before more hell broke loose.

Happy Holidays!

You are our angel

You filled our souls with joy.  You made us laugh & you made us cry (in frustration).  Your expression of joy went to new heights (pun intended).  Your tail could take down mountains.  Your love and loyalty were unparalleled to another.  You loved to snuggle and loved to swim and loved to run and loved to hunt and loved to love.  But above all, you loved to eat.  You approached life with a zest unmatched.

We count ourselves among the luckiest to have shared our lives with you.  You faced the end with grace and dignity.  Your time was too short but we know you were placed on this Earth, and in our lives, for a purpose.  Our world is a little rosier, and a little goofier, since you came barreling into it.  You are our angel.  

We will see you in Heaven.  And we'll go for a run together again.

We love you, Brewer.

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." Anatole France

One month

I had plans to post this on November 2, which would be Butterbean's one month birthday.  But babies have a way of taking your plans & throwing them out the window (or spitting up on them or pooping on them or sleeping through them or crying through them).  With as busy as she's kept me, I'm perfect happy posting this two days late.  Close enough.

Our girl is growing quickly & keeping us on our toes.  We love her so very much - what an amazing addition to the family.  Despite the fact sleep deprivation is possibly causing us to act like we're drunk.  It explains a lot.  Seriously.

The dogs (mostly) love her.  Brewer takes a special interest in her.  I know they feel neglected because we're not spending nearly enough time loving on them but it's amazing to watch them check on her.  When she starts crying, however, Guinness disappears.

Her chicken neck.  Gets me, every time.  So cute!

 We get this look, a lot.  The quizzical look.

Butterbean, you enrich our lives every day.  We miss sleeping in & the spontaneity of our pre-children days but we wouldn't change anything.  We love watching you grow & learn.  As you begin to find your voice, giggling & babbling & squeaking, we grin like fools & snuggle you closer.  We love all your hilarious faces

Except this face.  Ouch.

Happy Birthday beautiful baby girl.

Recent happenings

Apparently we do have things going on in our life, besides preparing for baby.

Steve completed another ultra, the Devil's Backbone 50-miler.  I'm losing count how many 50-milers we're at...four? five? six?  He also ran 100K last year.  Let's blame it on pregnancy brain.
We met our good friends in Bozeman for the race - they're from Sheridan & we miss them since moving to Helena, so it was great to catch up.  The two crazies pre-race:

 (It's ok hubby, you can smile.  Or maybe you're thinking about another pre-race porta potty trip).

Ah-ha, there's the smile!  Post-race excitement.

 Nothing like an ultra through the mountains, followed by a refreshing IPA.

This race is known for being extremely tough & to make matters more exciting, it's essentially unsupported.  The runners are expected to have general navigation skills, in addition to packing their own water (or filter system) & food.  Steve finished in a very admirable 11:35 - good job honey!

Now that we live in Helena and within twenty minutes of several lakes (yay!), we've tried to take full advantage of the warm weather.  Here's what it looks like when we take four big dogs to the lake:

The last weekend of July, we zipped over to Missoula for their annual Celtic Festival.  With Enter the Haggis and Young Dubliners playing, we couldn't pass up the quick trip.

Guinness (appropriately named) enjoying the park after a dip in the river.

Enter the Haggis.

Just like a little kid, he quickly passed out after a busy afternoon.

Young Dubliners with special guest Eric Rigler (far left)

They put on a great show & the fact everything was free was awesome!  We got their early enough to score great seats (it's in a park, so BYO chair) & had a very fun time.

It's never to early to introduce baby to our love for all things Irish.  She certainly spent a good portion of the night dancing.  We don't know who's playing at the festival next year but we might have to bring her along.

A new town, a new job...& a baby?

"You'll spend half your life trying to get out of Montana & the other half trying to get back in." -A very wise high school science teacher.  I have never forgotten those words.  He's now principal of said high school, so I should send him an email & let him know it only took me about 12 years to figure that out.

We've neglected the blog & now we're back with a vengeance.  I think the title sums everything up - we've moved (or we're in the process of moving), we both have new jobs, & we have a baby on the way.

The end.

Just kidding.  So yes...let's start with the move/new jobs.  For some time, we've held a small flame of desire to move to Helena.  Despite my haughty 18-year-old complaints, Helena is a pretty cool place.  It has so many things we've desired of late: amazing outdoor community, strong economy (now THAT makes me sound old), four-year university (Fighting Saints!), larger population (~30,000 immediate vicinity, ~70,000 with outlying areas), centrally located (yay for an airport with more than one airlines!) & surrounded by many mountains & lakes to explore.  Not to mention, we're closer to family, which you reach a certain age & realize it is nice to be near family.

Spurring the move was my job offer of HR Director for a wonderful non-profit (read: not amazing pay).  *Sigh of relief*  What a change of pace from my previous prison position in which I was stuck with a dictator supervisor with strong Cruella resemblances.  I am very much enjoying my job & it's refreshing working for an organization with a passionate commitment to their community.  Not to mention, this is an amazing opportunity for someone my age & it builds my resume handsomely (something I was NOT getting in Sheridan).

If we didn't already believe in God, we most certainly would in this situation.  I won't drown you in details but we took a big leap of faith when I accepted the position (would Hubby be able to find work?) & before too long, we had our answer.  He was offered a part-time Assistant Brewer position with a local brewery & his engineering firm in Sheridan (which has an office in Helena), has several projects lined up with his name in the proposal.  The firm does not have an engineer onsite with his specialty & in the past, outsourced the work to another of their offices in Montana; with his move to Helena, he fills a much-needed gap.

The end.

Wait, you want me to tell you about baby Lipetzky?  In a humorous turn of events, exactly two weeks before I was to move to H-town & start my new job, we found out we're pregnant!  Ta-da!  God also has a sense of humour.  We're calling it the Lipetzky Trifecta.  We just knew it - as soon as we planted asparagus in our garden, we'd move.  As soon as we took new jobs, we'd get pregnant.  (The asparagus bit is true...we've held off planting asparagus because we were just sure we'd end up leaving, since asparagus takes about three years before it can be harvested, & sure as sh*t, we planted asparagus last summer)  Little Bean Lipetzky is due September 27, 2014.  Sorry honey, we can schedule our wedding around hunting season but Baby is already dictating our time.

With that being said, I have every intention of being more diligent with our blog updates.  Although we've moved closer to some family, we've moved farther from other family.  I'll keep up the blog so they can watch the changes to our lives.  And let's be honest - this wouldn't be a good blog if I didn't give you the honest, non-glamorous version of pregnancy, no?  Let the games begin...

A random collage

We're rapidly approaching winter.  *Sigh*  I love living near the mountains but oh dear, I go into winter kicking & screaming.

Since we're so behind on blog posts, here's a random collage of pictures:

 "Hi Mom.  Just waiting from someone to drop something on the kitchen floor for me to eat."

Sometimes you have to snuggle with your yogurt cup.  Or wear it as a top hat.

Someone stole a stick from the wood pile...

 This is a very typical picture...

Busy bees soaking up the last of the nectar from our Russian Sage.

Our potted clover showing off its floral beauty.

And the post wouldn't be complete without a few of our favorite little guy...

We will be the coolest aunt & uncle.  So we start them young learning to order craft beer.

 "This guy must not be a Ramirez because he's really tall."

 "This is my Blue Steel look"

Snowshoeing in Story

We took the pups to a trail in Story (a small community about 15 min from Sheridan) to let them run around.

We didn't really need snowshoes...

This is an Awkward Family Photo moment.

Working on his future modeling career.

 "Brewer, come back!"

 "Brewer, come here, come here!"

 Let's try this again...