10k Race in Frozeman...I mean Bozeman

 March 15th was the annual "Run to the Pub" race in Bozeman. It was a half marathon and 10K, and was actually named the #2 "Best in the US" half marathons by Runners World. It's a fun atmosphere, mostly downhill, and there's free beer at the finish line... not that I partook, of course :)

 March is always a gamble in Montana, and unfortunately it was freeeezing. Literally, the temps were right around freezing at start time. All the runners had layers and layers of clothes that we kept on until the last second, then piled them onto the bus. That was one of the fun parts about this race - we had to take buses to the starting line, so we met downtown and loaded about 20 buses to take us out into the country. I felt like I was on a school field trip, with all these excited racers in costume. Made me feel young.

 We were hoping for better weather for our weekend getaway to Bozeman, but the kids had fun anyways. They always look forward to staying in hotels, especially when there's a swimming pool. So while mommy ran, daddy and the kids swam and relaxed in the hot tub!

Afterwards, we had lunch downtown, did some shopping, then visited the Museum of the Rockies.

The museum has one of the largest dinosaur collections in the world, including full skulls of the triceratops and the T-Rex, which we couldn't get good pictures of because they were encased in glass and the lighting was so so dark. The girls loved it though, to our surprise. It was like they had never realized how real dinosaurs were until they were here and saw their bones. It was almost too real for Scarlett, who stayed mostly at my side.

 

 

We also watched a show at the planetarium, explored the geckos' exhibit, and let loose at the children's center, where we unwound just before heading back to Billings.  

The Winter that was...

We've had 89 inches of snow this season. So far. That's just a few inches shy of the record for Billings. But in this part of the country, life goes on as usual, and honestly I'm starting to appreciate that.

 

The kids think it's awesome that the snow is so deep. They love trudging through it, they love playing in it. I went to lunch with Claire at school and saw how much fun they had at recess, sliding down hills, building snowmen, and having snowball fights. I appreciate that the schools don't close, and they don't force the kids to stay indoors. They have fun with it.

Some days it was too cold to play in the snow. There were a few days in a row of -10 to -20 temps, and that's just bitter. But we  stayed busy with playdates, crafts, mani-pedis, dance parties, and lots of movie nights.

Getting ready for Valentines Day. Note to self: don't let your daughters see Pinterest.

 

This was also the winter of the Sochi Olympics...which we barely paid attention to... but Scarlett's preschool had an "Olympics Day" at the ice rink. They did skating and bobsledding, and other silly games with her friends on the ice. Even the kids at preschool play in the snow every day, when they aren't going on field trips like this.

 

Some more pics from our neighborhood. We were very very tempted to buy a snowblower, but they were so dang expensive, so every weekend when Josh was home he was shoveling. He even recruited the girls to help push the snow aside with brooms!

 

But with Josh gone most of the week, we just couldn't keep up with the snow. Most days our front walkway looked like this, and I would rather deal with some snow in my house than go out and shovel it myself. But to our surprise, we had neighbors step in on multiple occasions and come clear our driveway. Sometimes it was our next door neighbor with his snowblower, sometimes it was one of the teenage boys on his 4wheeler with a snowplow attachment. Sometimes it was a friend from church who knew that Josh was gone. We are so grateful. We are humbled by the service. We are so blessed to live where we are and see so many people serving eachother.

So, as tempting as it is to complain about this winter, it's also been a fun adventure. And it really is beautiful. I'll be able to put up with the snow if it means looking outside and seeing my kids sledding in the backyard, or seeing Josh throw the girls into piles of snow. It's all worth it. And I know it won't last forever....right?

CABO Part 2 - Fiesta Americana with Friends

Later in the week we met up with our good friends from Midland - the Hellers and the Langfords - and stayed in the villas of Fiesta Americana. The complex was so huge that we were chauffeured by golf carts from our villas to the beach and restaurants below, and it was pretty fun cramming all 6 of us onto one golf cart.

 

It was so nice waking up to this view. We bought in to the all-inclusive deal, and some mornings we just ordered room service and ate out on our balcony. Other mornings we gorged on the breakfast buffet. And every evening we ate well. And a LOT.

The best part of our stay, however, was the company.

Lots of laughs with this crew. I could share some stories, but they probably aren't appropriate for the blog!

 One day us and the Hellers went on a snorkeling trip. It was a lot of fun on the catamaran...great music, food, scenery and entertainment - but the snorkeling itself was lacking. There were big schools of fish, but we later discovered even better snorkeling among the rocks at Fiesta Americana's beach.

 Another morning we got up early for a whale watching tour. We chose the catamaran again, because it was comfortable, and not too busy. We set sea and headed straight for a group of 4 or 5 other boats...that's how you know where the whales have been sighted. It was comical how many boats there were surrounding this pod of whales, but the whales didn't mind. They swam right under us and surfaced right next to the boats.

 

It was such a fun week, we are already talking about doing it again. Cabo 2016! 

 

Cabo Part 1 - Just the two of us

 

Someone told me that the way to survive a Montana winter is to plan a getaway. That, and our 10 year anniversary, and a chance to meet up with some good friends from Texas, brought us to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

 

For the first half of the week, it was just me and Josh. We stayed at the Hilton Los Cabos, which I highly recommend.

 

 

The Hilton is one of the few resorts with its own swimmable beach, which is the main reason we chose it.  Most of our time was spent right here:

We relaxed with our books and then when it got warm, we went for a swim. The beach area wasn't busy at all, as most people spent their time up at one of the hotel's many pools, with easy access to the bar. There were many times that Josh and I were the only ones in the ocean, and it was perfect.

 

We sat looking at humpback whales surfacing out in the distance, watching the occasional horseback rider, and giggling at a few couples who underestimated the power of the ocean and got knocked down by a wave.

I can't even begin to describe how therapeutic it was for us to have no schedule, to have no kids around, to only care about ourselves for once. I thought we would get bored doing just this.. but this was exactly what we needed.

 

After 2 days at the resort we decided to catch the bus to downtown and visit the main public beach -  Medano Beach. It was a pretty busy beach, and even busier because there was a cruise ship landing.

There were vendors everywhere...selling goods, food, watersports, excursions... it was so overwhelming it was funny. We got accustomed to being rude and saying no.

Though...we did purchase a few things. I bought a hat, some dresses for my girls and Josh got a mango from the fruit stand - with chili pepper and lime juice - it was delicious.

That evening we ate at The Office, one of the more popular restaurants in Cabo. The setting was perfect, the food was awesome, and we were entertained by local musicians.

Since we've had kids, Josh and I have never spent more than a long weekend away from them, so to spend 7 days away was daunting at first, but after checking in with my mom and knowing the kids were doing great, we were able to relax and really enjoy each other. We remembered what it was like when it was just the two of us, and after 10 years we are more alike than I realized. It's pretty easy to vacation with your best friend, who always wants to do what you want to do, even when it's getting up early for a run on the beach.

Mimi

Deborah Sue Viets

September 25^th 1952 – December 16^th 2013

I have really struggled with how I wanted to address the great loss in our family. I’ve felt that maybe this is something too heavy to blog about, since my blog postings are usually about such trivial events and activities in our lives. But I know that the reason I blog is so that I have this record for my family.  And I want my children and grandchildren to know and remember Debbie, our Mimi.

 

The first time I met Debbie was in Dallas. Josh had purchased Cowboys tickets and we met up with his parents at a game. I was intimidated because she had just been named Woman of the Year in Sedan Kansas for her successful quilt shop there. She was beautiful and classy and had gorgeous dark hair and eyes, and I knew all of Josh’s best features came from her. We sweated through a very hot football game in the old Cowboys Stadium, and I later learned that Debbie doesn’t even like football. At all. But that was Debbie – she’d do anything for her boys. Luckily I married one of her boys, and we were at the receiving end of so much generosity from her.

In the following years she became a second mother to me. She taught me how to be married to a Viets man. A Viets man puts in long hours at work. A Viets man isn’t terribly romantic, but loves you infinitely. A Viets man will let you do anything you want, and will do anything for you… but you have to remember  to ask. Debbie understood all that, and we had many great conversations about our great men.

She taught me how to enjoy the chaos of being a stay-at-home mom. She would often remind me that of my 80 or so years on this earth, I will have littles at home for such a short time before they’re all gone to school. Then I will have “my time” again.

She was never bothered by the mess her house was in when family was there, and would say “A messy home is a full home”. She knew how important it was to slow down and enjoy family. She was always baking with my girls, or watching a movie together in her bed, or shopping with them or going to the park with them…it was great visiting Mimi.

She showed me how rewarding it is to give yourself to your family. She showered them with love, selflessness, and good food, and those boys returned it tenfold. I hope to do the same with mine.

I miss her.

 

Whenever we had a new baby, she was there. Whenever we moved houses, she was there. Whenever we needed a vacation, she was there.  

But the one thing Debbie has done for me, that has strengthened me the most, was tell me time and time again that I am a good mom. She would tell me I have the best girls. As I got to know Debbie more I figured her out though. I knew that when she showered me with compliments it wasn’t because they were true. It was because it’s what I needed to hear. Every mom needs to hear that she is doing a good job. She knew that.  I love her for that.

 

But let me start at the beginning and also share some of what I learned from Jon’s beautiful eulogy. Debbie was a farm girl, and she and Jon met when he got a job working on the farm, because he heard “the farmer has a cute daughter.” When he met Debbie, he didn’t think she was cute, he thought she was exotic and gorgeous. They were sweethearts at 16. He was in love with everything about her and especially the intonation of her voice. It was so rich and soothing; I will always remember it and wish I had it recorded for my daughters. Jon remarked that he’s noticed that each of his 5 sons married women with a particular intonation, not unlike Debbie’s, and perhaps they were drawn to that.

Debbie dedicated her life to raising her 5 boys. In fact they were her life, so much so that when they were grown and left home, she was lost. She needed to find a purpose, and in Jon’s words, she was quite the “hurricane”. She went back to school, enjoyed her education at Pittsburgh State, and later had a great business opportunity. She was going to open her own quilt shop. Now let me interject here by saying that everything Debbie did, everything she owned, had class. That quilt shop was no exception. No cheap fabrics, none of last-years fabric lines, only the best and the newest. And her shop was gorgeous. “Lillie’s Classic Quilts” was named one of the 10 best quilt shops in the country by Better Homes and Gardens. Her little shop was known by every quilter from Tulsa to Kansas City. She was extraordinary. My shelves are full of quilts from Debbie, and only after being in her shop and seeing her piece and stitch and quilt did I fully appreciate the treasures that I have.

 

The quilt shop was a great chapter in her life, but that chapter came to a close as Debbie realized she needed to take care of her parents more, and be more available to her growing family. Debbie’s mom, our Grandma Billie, was diagnosed with breast cancer. The shop was closed and Debbie cared for her mom as she moved on from this life.

 

I miss Grandma Billie too. She was a character, full of energy and a great big smile, always making us feel right at home. She loved being a mom, and she would always have an old adage to share with us (“A good mom has lots of plants, she knows how to nurture”…that one always bothered me). She was quite superstitious too, and that was always fun. Oh she had some stories.  But mostly what defined Grandma Billie was how hard she worked. She maintained that little farm on her own for nearly 10 years after Grandpa lost his mobility. In her 80’s she was still pushing her mower around. And with that cancer-stricken body she was still trying to take care of Grandpa. That’s when Debbie stepped in.

Cancer is an evil beast. It often comes to those who have done absolutely nothing to invite it. I really believe that there was a divine power suppressing this beast within Debbie until her work was done. Her great work on this earth was her family. She needed to be there for her mother and she needed to see the last of her 5 sons get married.

At one point during the service the pastor asked the 5 boys to stand, and at that moment there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. There stood Debbie’s greatest accomplishments: 5 handsome men, all grown and married, and all fathers. Great fathers.  Her legacy lives on through them.

 

We all miss her. We want her here to help us. But Jon so courageously told his boys that “If you think there’s something you need from your mother…you don’t. And I don’t”. We’re all still trying to learn that.