Time Flies When You're Overwhelmingly Busy.

Wow.  Apparently going to school full time, working, being a mom, playing house, and moving in somewhere new all at the same time is a lot on one's plate.  Whooda thunk it!  Two months ago, this was our living room:

Shockingly, it looks pretty much the same now.  I'm thinking I might just keep the paint chips as a permanent fixture - call it modern art.    

Moving on up...

We recently relocated to a new city.  Well, as city as you get out here in the boondocks of Montana :)  I've moved a few times, and I can honestly say that this moving experience was the most hectic and stressful and chaotic moving experience I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of.  I now understand fully why nobody likes moving.  

Somewhere in the chaos, we landed here:

And that is where we lived for about 6 glorious weeks.

The camper belongs to some friends of ours, who very generously offered to haul it down to Bozeman and let us set up camp.  Which beat our original plan of setting up camp in a tent in the woods.  It rained a lot this fall!  So we lived and worked and played in our little 10x36 (or whatever) borrowed home, and tried not to step on each other's toes.  Until about 2 weeks ago, when after an insanely difficult home buying process we landed here:

  

And here we shall remain for the next 3 to 5 years.  We obviously have a little ways to go to make it feel like home - I took this picture on our first day of occupation, which was followed by a night of sleeping on the floor.  Now we have mattresses, so we've already made progress!  I'm hoping to chronicle some of the moving in process, since with school and work and, well, moving in, it might be the biggest adventure we'll be having for a while.  

Dear Blog...

I have not forgotten you, I'm just really busy.  Did I mention to you that moving is the pits?  It is.  But I'm learning a lot about attachment to material things.  We did all sorts of super fun things this summer...well, we did a few super fun things this summer.  If I have time, perhaps I will do a "flashbacks" series and I can tell you all about them!  Until then, I have to do things for college.  Like study, and write papers.  Did I mention we quit our jobs and went back to school?  Thus why the moving was necessary.  I predict that we are going to have many great adventures here in Bozeman, provided we find the time for adventuring between classes, studying, and working. And I promise to tell you all about them, sometime after they happen :)

Don't fret, blog, I have not abandoned you entirely.  We're just taking a break!

Skiing on the Fourth of July

Last year for the Fourth of July, we went to Glacier Park.  It was cold, and rained the entire time.  Mike never took his skis out of the car.  This year, we ventured to the Crazy Mountains to try and find some snow.  We found it.  It was 80 degrees and blazing hot sun, but we found it.

We also found, or rather Jasper found, a porcupine.  The dogs barked and growled all night on Sunday...and in the morning Jasper came back to the tent sporting some new accessories. 

But we headed up the trail, quills and all, for a beautiful day of hiking for me and skiing for everyone else. 

Apparently people kayak down Big Timber Creek, and even over the falls.  I can say with much certainty that I will never be one of those people.  But the falls were definitely beautiful! 

We even ran across a whole lotta Fourth of July fireworks out in the wilderness!

Jasper and Sis LOVE to play in the snow.  Jasper is super annoying when he is playing in the snow, especially when you're skiing.  He likes to dig.  And dig and dig and dig all the snow out from underneath of you.  Not the most amusing thing when you're standing on the side of a mountain that could slide out from under your feet.  But it is pretty amusing to watch the both of them run and slide down the hill.  I'm pretty sure they both smile. 

(some more shots of the porcupine quills that would later cost us over $100 to have extracted.  Nice work, Jasper!)

We finally made it to the top, or as close to the top as we were going to get.  Mike and Tyson were really hoping to get to Crazy Peak, but our guidebook was a little misleading and that was a tad farther than we would make it in one morning.  I have a sneaking suspicion they will be trying for it again soon.

It was a great way to spend the Fourth - enjoying some of the best this country has to offer.  :) 

Things Jasmine Will Eat, Part 2

mmmm Pizza.  Who doesn't like pizza?  Especially when you can top it any which way you see fit?  This recipe would be great with a tomato based sauce, but we use store bought pesto because (a) Jasmine generally doesn't like tomato based sauce (b) it's cheaper than making it yourself and (c) I'm too lazy/strapped for time to make homemade pesto. 


Homemade Pesto Pizza

For the Dough (adapted from Martha Stewart)
1 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt (preferably coarse)


Pour water into the bowl of an electric mixer, add sugar and yeast and stir until dissolved.  Let stand about 5 minutes - until the yeast is foamy.  Add oil, flour, salt and mix until combined.  Then switch over to a dough hook and mix for about 5 minutes.  Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead a few times.

Put a little olive oil in a big bowl, toss the dough in there, roll it around so it's covered in oil, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for at least 3 hours. Go outside and play :)

Later that day

Roll your dough out onto a cookie sheet.  We divide ours into 4 sections so that everyone can top their own.  Recruit expert pizza toppers to assist you topping pizza.  Spread pesto to your liking and then get creative!  Chicken is great with pesto.  I like my pizza with chicken, black olives, artichoke hearts, feta, mozzarella, and parmigiana cheeses.  It's all about whatever floats your boat.  If you're going to add meat you'll obviously want to cook it prior to putting on your pizza! 

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.  It really depends on how much topping you have on your pizza.  For example - Jasmine prefers a paper thin layer of pesto and approximately 3 shreds of cheese.  It will burn if left in the oven for as long as my fully loaded pizza so make sure to keep an eye on things. (yes, this lesson was learned from experience.)


Eat, enjoy!

Kids Kamping.

Just a few pictures from our camping adventure at Vigilante Campground last weekend!