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 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"

June camping trip

Escaping to the mountains is a supreme way to get the hell out of the heat (of which we've had an abundance this summer).  "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen."  Ay-ay, el capitan.  We're outta here!

Steve working hard to cut firewood.  Me "working hard" to take pictures.  It's a rough life.

Pretty wildflowers!

We decided to make it a cushy camping trip & bring our air mattress.  What we forgot is a key piece for said air mattress...the inverter to plug into the vehicle cigarette lighter to turn on the electric pump to blow up the mattress.  Steve convinced me it would be ok to manually inflate the mattress.  I'm either passed out from emptying my lungs into the mattress or taking a nap.

 (An hour-and-a-half later, after switching back & forth, we successfully inflated the mattress.  Yay runners lungs.)

We're enrolling Brewer in modeling classes.  He's a natural.

Shell Falls

Porcupine Falls (200')

Arizona race pt 2

On our second day in Arizona, we meandered to the Phoenix Zoo.  We thoroughly enjoyed it, although it did get a bit warm (high-80's is hot for pale Wyomingites in March).

Of course I spent part of the time worrying that all the animals had enough space & love.  One elephant looked particularly lonely.  Steve reassured me he was probably just hot.  (He doesn't realize he married someone that tried to plant a branch that had recently broken off a live tree because I was worried it would suffer.  Doesn't a tree have feelings??  I was approximately 7 years old at the time.  I've matured since then.  Slightly).

 I asked Steve if we could take home a kitty because I thought Brewer needed a friend.  He said no.

 The zoo doesn't quite know how old the tortoises are...except that they're really, really old.  And they eat really, really slow.

 The monkeys were so cute & curious!

A terribly zoomed-in & blurry picture of my absolute favorite animal of the zoo.  Aren't they so elegant?  Another kitty I wanted to take home.  Steve wasn't too keen on the idea.

 Even rhino had enough of the heat.

Play ball!  We spent the afternoon in the shade at a Cubs spring training game.  The game was fun (albeit short) & we enjoyed a beer & hot dog, old school style.

We finished up the day with one of these:

Visiting a fast-paced & crowded city is not our idea of a relaxing vacay, but we enjoyed the many activity & restaurant choices Phoenix had to offer.  (It helped we zipped around in a new Mustang.)  It was fabulous to step away from Wyoming & into warm, sunny Arizona.  Who knows, maybe we'll try to hit a race in every state!  :)

Arizona race

We took a trip to Arizona in March for a trail race & had a blast.  It was a short trip but the weather was beautiful.

This, my friends, is the vehicle we got to play with all weekend:

 Budget was having a deal & the Mustang was the most reasonably priced selection.  I'll never own a Mustang but who can pass up driving a sports car for a weekend?  This baby was super fun - the interior night lights made me feel like I was Knight Rider, only cooler.

 Where we raced (flags on the far right of the pic are start/finish) - I ran a half-marathon, Steve ran a 50K.  Amazingly, these trails are right outside Phoenix - fantastic single-track trails that took us through the hills in the picture.

Hey!  I know that guy!

 Sweaty, stinky, tired, & oh-so-happy.

After cleaning up, we squeezed in an afternoon visit to the Desert Botanical Gardens (long story, but our previous trip to Phoenix included purchasing a year-long membership to the gardens b/c of the price savings, so we were happy to use the membership again before it expires).

Butterfly garden!  My absolute favorite place.

Bob White

Not to be confused with this Bob White:

 (Picture taken during honeymoon road trip)

Hello, beautiful.

Cool sculpture at the entrance of the gardens.

Us & finger of random nice person that offered to take our picture

To be continued...