Some pictures

Nadia being silly in the bathroom sink while brushing her teeth with her Tickle Me Elmo doll.



Nadia taking a walk in the woods in Missoula. Don't you love that sweater?



Our moving truck of stuff finally arrived from Phoenix after a couple of weeks.Note the excellent stacking and packing-- much thanks to our friends in Arizona. We are pretty much moved in and adjusting now. We definitely enjoy the change of pace and the change in temperature.

Belated Halloween...Thanksgiving in Washington

Nadia was a ballerina for Halloween. She especially enjoyed meeting the dogs of the houses we visited. We really enjoy living in Missoula, Montana. It is a much more laid back atmosphere and Beth enjoys her practice and schedule.

We celebrated Beth's birthday and Thanksgiving and Black Friday by running away from Missoula. Beth didn't really want to cook a dinner so we just took a car trip to Spokane. We did quite a bit of shopping and ice skating and also visited the temple. There was quite a bit of snow flurries as well. I am writing this from the hotel bed as Nadia and Beth sleep.

So I have not been super at keeping my blog up to date. But I have a new reason why to do so: last week my hand-written journal was stolen from my car along with some other books (like my Bible!). Complete bummer. Anyways, I am going electronic for a while to see if this works better... or at least makes me feel better.

Nadia is really excited to have a baby sister. For some reason, just one name is not sticking with this one; we keep jumping around among three or four different ones.
We'll see.

Happy Father's Day!

I had a nice Father's Day as Beth and Nadia surprised me with a huge sign in the kitchen that said "Happy Father's Day" along with some of Nadia's patented artwork that she claimed was "ice cream". She was simply drawing her the best thing she could think of. We had a nice day at Church and then a birthday dinner with our friends Paul and Daria. Nadia very much enjoyed the pool there and especially riding on Daddy's back through the water calling him a "whale".

And a special happy Father's Day to Tiger Woods today. Another golf championship for a good guy. Not that we even play golf.

Riding a Bike (actually, a tricycle)

Nadia has taken another step towards independence. We purchased a tricycle over the weekend and she is now happy to ride it "more more more". She is sad when it is time to stop. Most impressive, she has an understanding of changing her steering from "right" and "left". This is something we have been working on with objects on the road. With her driving, it is coming along nicely.

I have not taken the photos from the camera and put them on the computer yet, so this is a photo of Nadia "riding" at the park.

Family History & Genealogy

I have been working to find out the names of my relatives and those who have lived before me. I even purchased a special little book to handwrite everything down. Family history lines have always been a source of confusion to me --with marriages, divorces, different languages, transliterations, and the like. However, I have caught the genealogy bug right now and I am working on gaining information. I have to give a ton of credit to a family member who I have never met-- but who contacted me and started giving me death certificates, census data, and lots of family photos. I have been inspired.

Hopefully, this will lead me to straightening out some of the family mess that I have in my head concerning all sorts of relationships. I always wonder, "How am I related to that person?"

The picture is from the Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Memorial. I saw the name on the wall and got to wondering again. Not that I know that person or even his/her first name, but perhaps in the future we will meet.

Loving the Waterpark

Nadia is in love with visiting the waterpark. There are three separate waterparks that we visit nearly every day. She is doing a great job of going down the slides and just has lots of fun overall.

New Baby on the way

There is another baby on the way. I am not sure Nadia understands this yet, but she will be an excellent big sister. Nadia is very nurturing and loves to carry baby dolls around with her. Baby #2 is due for New Year's. I just realized there will be a lot of snow on the ground at the time. Yay.

Retired

I am retired from teaching. Nice. Lots of time with Nadia to look forward to.