Random

Here's a bunch of random pictures that we've taken over the last couple of weeks. We are still working on the house. We have moved down to the basement and we can finally see the house coming together! Right now we are putting in a "fake wood floor" and experimenting with paint colors! I went to Boise and Oregon last month and it was so fun to see the nieces and nephews and enjoy Boise's warm weather.

Julian.....he hit the ball farther than anyone else!!

He even got to play catcher!

Elly, Izabel, Easton. and Ford.....silly faces!

Sweet Grandma June and little Easton. He is such a good little baby!

Believe it or not.....this was Ford's "serious face!"

This is the burner that my Grandpa used to run in Halfway, OR. I love everything about this town.

Basement......we are experimenting with red paint colors!!

Built in shelves at the bottom of the stairs. We also put new
windows in.

Office floor

Visitors and Drywall

We were so lucky to have visitors this past week. My dad and brother stopped by to see us on their way back from Helena and my friend Shelly and Jesse came up to see us for a night! We had so much fun and miss everyone already. We also had our friends Brain and Brittany stop by for a night on their way home to Colorado! Noone even complained about having to stay in our purple house! Speaking of the house....we've still been working hard on the yard and basement! We planted six trees and removed 500 pounds of lava rock from the yard! It still looks like a mess but continues to get better everyday. We also have two new egress windows in the basement and thanks to my dad and brother....the basement has drywall!!! My brother also talked Russ into wiring the basement with surround sound......funny since we don't even have a t.v. or stereo!

The backhoe and truck full of drywall that we got into the basement through the giant hole we cut for the egress window!

Cutting down all the bushes in the backyard!

The hole we dug for the egress window! We did this one with a shovel (we learned not to do the other window this way.......way too much work!)


The rocks that came out of the hole we dug


My dad and david putting up drywall




Cohen.....he didnt make a peep the entire time he stayed with us! Such a good little boy!'

Kelsey..... another amazing baby!

Killian......he was so sweet! He remembered us right away and it was so fun seeing him again!


Two handsome boys!

And my handsome dad!

Drywall......I promise I helped BUT someone has to take pictures!

This is how dusty our basement was when we where hanging drywall.

Spring Break

My nephews came up to Missoula to spend their spring break with us. We celebrted Julian's 6th birthday and spent our days swimming, biking, hiking, skiing, fishing, and watching movies with popcorn! We had so much fun with the kids and they were so great to have around! I can't believe how fast kids grow up....it really makes you appreciate the time you spend with family!

What's spring break without moss moustaches!

We all hiked up to the "M." It's a long, steep hike and we were really proud that Julian made it up all by himself. Gage ran up most of the way and beat everyone up! This was the only warm, sunny day we had the whole week!

Then we had to hike up to the "L." It snowed on us but noone complained!


Gage is a natural cross-country skiier!



Julian improved every minute he was out there!

It was such a fun week and we miss you boys already! Russ and I are always ready to take on nieces and nephews......so if you need a break, send them our way!!

Back-Country Birthday and BigSky

Russ and I took some time off of working on the house last week. Sukha turned 8 years old and we took her backcountry skiing at Lolo Pass for her birthday! It had snowed 2 feet the night before and although it was heavy snow it we had a great time! We also went to BigSky to go skiing with our practice. They do a ski trip every winter for the doctors. Russ decided to ski instead of snowboard and he even spent a couple of hours nordic skiing with me! We had the chance to skate ski at Lone Mountain Ranch which was amazing! The real treat was the 20 inches of powder that we woke up to on Thursday morning. It was incredible and Russ switched back from skiing to snowboarding and was spraying everyone with a rooster-tail of snow everytime he made a turn! It was the biggest powder day I have ever had and although I didn't look pretty going down the slopes I tried hard and I now understand the happiness of "face shots!" We even spent some time at the lodge's spa and we still smell good from all the lotions we piled on ourselves! It's now back to cheap living and house-remodeling! We love you all and hope everyone is doing well!

Russ and Sukha before heading down the hill.

Backcountry skiing with dad is Sukha's favorite activity!

The day before all the snow at Big Sky!

I was a little nervous at what I was about to ski down....

It may not look like it but there are some amazing "lines" down this mountain!

Moved in!!!!

We aren't completely done with the upstairs of the house but it sure feels like we've came a long way in the last four months! We moved in two weeks ago and just got our countertops, kitchen sink and range last night! We've been cooking outside on the camp stove and it was so nice to have a regular, hot dinner! We still have all the trim work, kitchen back splash and paint touch-up's to do but it really feels like our home now. My mom and dad drove up here last weekend and "lighted up" our house! We also were able to spend a pre-birthday weekend with my dad! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

A winter walk to the creek

Guest Bath


Master bath

I can't fit it all in one picture......

fat, lazy kitty on the couch!

The cabinet next to the range has to be replaced, so we still are missing some countertop!

I'll send more pictures later.......we miss you all and hope everyone is doing well. Sending all our love............Russ and Julie

Almost Ready to move in

We hope to move into the new house sometime later this week. We finally have our carpet and wood floor in so it really feels like a home now. We are still 10 days out on out kitchen countertops and our range was cracked when it was delivered.....so we'll be eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a while! We should have a functioning shower tomorrow and hopefully we'll get to put the varnish on the wood floor by tomorrow night. We still have a lot to do to complete the house but right now we just want to be able to move in!

This is Russ' assistant Harriet......she brought over six pug puppies for us to play with. Russ wouldn't let me keep one!!

1am in the morning and handling a floor-nailer! Luckily we both made it home alive!

Russ sanding the wood floors....we were pretty nervous about this but it turned out great

The finished product minus the varnish


Starting to install the kitchen cabinets

I'm proud of this light....we got it for $5.00!

More installed cabinets

We had one cabinet that came with a broken door.......cross your fingers for us that it doesn't take 6 weeks to get the replacement! I can't to see what our kitchen will look like when it is finished....so far we really like how it is turning out.

The Remodel....3 months and Counting!

It feels like we have been working on this house forever!! Russ and I have both had moments this past weekend when we wondered why we thought it was a good idea to take such a big project on. We have finally started painting and getting the tile put down. We still need to touch-up the paint and grout the tile but it is coming along. Our kitchen cabinets and appliances will be delivered in two weeks so we want to try and have as much done as possible before they get here. We just started tiling the showers and the wood floors are next on our list! As you can see from the picture.....sukha has been helping us paint!!

We were just starting to paint....it took me forever to pick out paint colors. The colors don't really look the same in these pictures but hopefully you can get an idea of how things are starting to look.

The kitchen floor....the paint on the wall is an olive green....I think it looks pretty brown in the picture.

The master bath

Guest Bath

Dining area

I wanted to paint this white wall around the pantry a deep red but I chickened out!

The view into the living room.

We've also heard that there is a wolf and a mountain lion that have been hanging out pretty close to our house. Russ thought he saw wolf tracks on our walk the other day. We had bear scat in our yard this fall and deer sleep in our back yard.......I guess moving across town can really change your opinion on letting your cat go outside!! Probably not a good idea in this neighborhood!