Christmas, Christmas, Christmas

I can't believe it has come already! It was so nice to sleep in and have the day off of work although tomorrow is going to be a mad house. Gavin and I woke up about nine opened gifts, had a delicious healthy breakfast... since I am working on a clean diet... and we watched a movie I got in my stocking. We are so blessed with everything our parents gave us! I received the cutest winter hats and gloves and necklace, toms, fingernail polish, perfume, movies, the dessert gum... only 5 calories! Gavin got gloves, books on cd, movies, biking jacket, another controller for his ps3, coke, jumper cables, board game, summer sausage, chocolate and chocolate, tie. There was nothing too big we really wanted this year, but we basically got everything we wanted.

We spent Christmas Eve with our great friends Bri and Pat. They moved up here from Idaho Falls to train to run their own Buckle, cute huh? They are the nicest custest couple ever and we love hanging out with them. Bri is such a sweety and gave me the cutest clock and frame for our bathroom! The clock is needed since I have a hard time being on time... all of the time.

A couple nights ago our next door neighbors Chris and Jamie came and made ginger bread houses with us. We had so much fun since our families do it every year, we had to keep that tradition going.

Things got a little messy

I decided to do a tree instead of a house and I am so happy I did... I love it

Diesel is getting so big! he is well over 100 lbs. now, which can be overwhelming sometimes. We ordered a training kit online and should be getting it soon, we cannot wait!

Major Update

First off... MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! This is my most favorite time of year. I love christmas music and it is constantly playing at home, work and in the car, so I guess you could say Gavin has had enough. Our house has all of our christmas decor out and I have Winter Wonderland and Christmas Cottage going in my Scentsy's all day. We are sad that we arent able to go home for the holidays, but excited to start our own traditions!

Santa came early to our house. I came home from work one day and found this

At first I was confused, but I guess it is a pretty sweet gift. Of course that was our whole Christmas, except for stockings. And it wasnt something we really needed, but we like it. Gavin graduated with his bachelors from Weber State a couple of weeks ago, and he is the happiest boy ever. Not just because he is graduated, but because his mom and I went in on a Playstation 3 for him. So I mostly find this after dinner...

Our Christmas gifts to our parents were a paid trip to come and visit us. Jill and Gaynard came a few weeks ago, and my parents are waiting til it is not below freezing here. It was nice to have them in town, and to have a little change in pace. We took diesel on a walk, went swimming at their hotel, hung out, watched a movie, went to dinner and had amazing food, and mostly enjoyed the company. Here are some pics from their trip.



The Christmas gifts I made for some local friends are homemade coasters! Easiest, cheapest yet cutest gift ever! I got the idea from my amazing older sis and everyone that received them loved them. They are made with Christmas napkins, tiles, and cork, with some awesom ribbon of course.



In my spare time here, coming up with new decorating crafts has become my hobby I guess you could say. I havent loved that the only color our bedroom was is chocolate brown. I decided to change it up and make it more homey. I found this idea to take some old frames, spray paint them and hang them with ribbon on some cute knobs. I really like that I did it, since we dont have much of a head board. Its amazing what a couple of throw pillows does too!

It's Been A Long Time

Wow, it has been a while since I last updated. Where to start? Well, we are all doing so great! The snow is here and I love the holiday season. The past week or two it has been below zero so we loved that it got up to 20 degrees today. Diesel is getting so big so fast. He is six months old and weighs 97 lbs. He is good when he wants to be (which is hardly ever) and has gained all of his adult teeth. He loves to chew on everything he is not supposed to: our new kitchen table, entertainment center, bookshelf and floor boards. Although he is a huge troublemaker, we love him so much. Gavin is doing fabulous. He has been busy driving all over Montana for work and got his first sale the other day! I am so proud of him. He also graduates December 10, which he cannot wait for. I am doing just as good. I intereveiwed to be the visual merchandiser at the Buckle, and was chosen. I love working there and have made some great friends. I am working full time and taking 18 credit hours online through Weber State, so I am very busy. All in all we love living here. I have made some great changes to our cute little apartment and can't wait to post pics.We miss all of our family and friends at home and can't wait for next spring for when we can come and visit!

A New Blog!

Sooo... I have been thinking lately. Gavin and I love cooking, and cook something different almost every night. We love trying new things but would like to keep them all in one place! I decided, why not start a recipe blog to keep track of our favorites and print it off at the end of the year? I kinda got the idea from my friend Abby Bryner who does a recipe blog with her friend (http://www.adashofdelish.blogspot.com/). Mine will mostly be for me to keep track of my own recipes, but feel free to look whenever you would like. The site is http://www.linsleyfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/.

If you don't succeed...

So a long time ago I had store credit at the wood connection and purchased this frame with a stand that says "Return with Honor". I have always liked the many meaning behind this saying, but with Gavin it means a lot more. Jill and Gaynard have this group of friends that they have known since they were kids called the "party group". One of the kids passed away years ago and ever since then this has become the party groups saying. Anyway I put off doing the craft forever because I was too lazy. Since I am not employed yet I though what the heck, why not just do it. So I went and bought the paint and the crackle texture to do it just how I would like it... and it sucked. It was seriously was a failure, the crackle didn't show through the paint, the red was too bright and I hated it. I was annoyed, took the frame outside and sanded it down to start over. This time I loaded on the crackle and decided to use a mustard yellow, more suttle right? Nope. The crackle worked better this time, it just doesnt seem right to me still. Here you go you can see for yourself.

I guess it doesnt look that bad, our living room is just filled with black and brown we need to start being open to different colors. Anyway if you want it I will sell it to you. So out of this I learned, If you don't succeed try try again, and then after that get over it.

Fun Pics

Here is some fun pics from this weekend.



So the other day in the mail Gavin received his awesome new business cards. We were so confused at first why they were all blank, then we realized, they printed them microscopic! We sat and laughed together forever, oh the small things in life.

We go on a lot of walks since Diesel doesn't have a yard to run around in. Yesterday during our walk Diesel received groundation for a couple of days. We were trying to get him into the back of the truck and in his kennel and he kept running away. He went and hid behind this car and was staying there, Gav and I didnt think much of it at first until Gavin went over by him and yelled at me Catch Him! When I looked up I saw Diesel running down the street with a huge piece of pizza and Gavin chasing after him. I was laughing so hard but we had to let him know that was bad. Anyway he is grounded for the weekend (which makes no difference) and we now call him pizza man.

 

Aren't these the best part of fall? I can't wait to see all the different colors that Missoula has to offer!

Our first trip to Kalispell

As you know Gavin travels a lot for his work, which is good news for diesel and I cause we get to tag along! We headed up to Kalispell which is about a two and a half hour drive, and a long way for a little puppy. After going about ten minutes in the wrong direction, we turned around and were on our way. We drove through the prettiest mountains and tunnels, it was nice to get out of town for a little while.

That big crack isn't in the tunnel, that is our wonderful windshield. We haven't been able to budget that in yet, gotta love Dave Ramsey!

We drove around this lake almost the entire trip, it was huge. It's Flathead Lake and it was beautiful. The houses all along the shore had their own docks and boats, we loved it. Diesel was such a good boy the hole ride!

Here he looks a little tired... poor guy

whenever I put my arm around Gav, he would rest on it.

He had tons of fun when we would roll down the window. He would stick his head out and open his mouth and the wind would throw his head back. He was so confused so kept doing it, haha. He also loved just sitting and starring out the back window as we drove, that would make me car sick! We decided to take the car instead of the truck to save some gas even though we invested in a truck to carry him around and a new travel kennel, oh well. We just layed down the back seat and put down a blanket for him to sleep. We all loved Kalispell and hope we get to go back soon.



Our New Home

Earlier this week Jill and Janiel came to visit us at our new home. We had a lot of fun shopping for clothes, shoes and new home decor but the only thing we ended buying was a new kitchen table.

We shopped around forever and finally found one that we could all agree on. We ended up finding it at furniture row. Its really nice to have the marble inlay, it helps us to avoid the glass marks.

Here is how we set up our new apartment

Our kitchen, bathroom and bedroom aren't anything too great so pics arent really needed. I guess in order to see the rest of our house you will have to come and visit. Our complex is really cool, we have a work out place, swimming pool and they just got bicycles! Yes I know right bicycles? Well they got two new townies that you can borrow to ride around town, run to the store or anything you want. I was very excited to see them, but of course mr. LOTOJA over here thinks the bikes are to wussy to ride.

Jen and Preston

Jen and Preston came and visited us this weekend! It was so fun to have them here. We went swimming and shopping and watched movies and went on a walk down by the river. Missoula has a river flowing right through town with a bunch of streams coming off of it. The boys had a fun time playing in the water.

Preston built his own "Teepee", it was a working progess.

since there is so much water running through town, they have some really cool bridges

We miss Jen already but Jill and Janiel are on their way here!

Home Sweet Home

We made it. We finally are moved up to Missoula and have everything unpacked we just need to get things hung up on the wall. It was a nice drive up here all packed up, except that since we have two cars we had to each drive alone. It was hard for me to stay awake! My mom and dad helped us get most of our stuff up here on Monday and then Gaynard and his dad Owen followed up on Tuesday with a 27 ft. trailer full of our stuff. It was so nice to have the help from them, there is no way we could have done it alone. Everyone went home on Wednesday and it was a sad goodbye. I was pretty sad, but didnt start crying until I saw that Gavin's Grandpa left us some famous homemade buttermints. After that I just lost it, I was going to miss all our family so much. Gavin looked over at me and was so confused, until I showed him the cup of mints, then we had a cute family moment crying together. After a couple of days though we are doing great. We love having our own little apartment with our stuff and we are starting to like Missoula alot.



We have gone on a few hikes and walks since we have been here and its so beautiful. I have applied for two jobs, one at pier one and one at buckle. Not careers of course, but just something to help us out. Gavin has already started work and he is liking it more each day. He has had a hard time getting in to see doctors, but isnt giving up... trust me :)

LOTOJA 2010

Gavin rode 95 miles this year in the LOTOJA (Logan to Jackson Hole bike race). He rode with his cousin Blake and his buddy Jason. They took six place in their catagory, which is awesome. It was a lot of fun this year to hang out with just the adults. If you have never been to Teton Village, it is such a fun vacation spot. I love going there with the mountains and the fun shopping. We didnt get to go to Jenni lake this year since we moved up to Montana the next day, but the lake is beautiful and so clear!

GO GAVIN!

Here are some fun pics from last year



Last day of FHA

So it came, my last day at Froerer, Hunter and Ahltrom law firm. It was a sad day but I was over it pretty quick. Here are just some pics of my long lost coworkers.

Charles and Shane. Charles was one of my fav's, he was fun to laugh at, even when he was mad. And Shane, he is just a thug that is obsessed with coffee

Shane Heather and Sherri. Sherri was always fun to talk softball with and I loved her sassy attitude. Heather, she took my spot up front, I wish her luck.



Matthew Zane and Mike. Matthew was like the nicest ever. Mike is going to be a great attorney. And Zane?? Well have you ever seen the chip munk movie, the real life one, and the guy that like steals the chipmunks... that is Zane to a T. I will miss my friends there, it was a good experience but its nice to move on.

The Weekend

This weekend was a fun one. We didnt have anything planned, so we could finally do whatever we wanted. We were lucky enough to go to Preston and Tyler's soccer games! They did so good. Preston scored 2 goals, and Tyler is one of the fastest runners.

Preston and his teammates

Cute little Tyler. My boys got to take a nap while I did my homework.

They were the sleepiest boys ever. We went down and hung out with my family, I am going to miss them so much when we move. Yesterday we had a going away party for Gavin's aunt. They just bought a new house down the street, but you can never have to many parties in the Hadley family.