Pajamas and Poppers

Simply because I want this picture to go in the next album, here is a photo of our drive into Billings two days ago:

There are still days when I look around and cannot believe that I do, in fact, actually live in this gorgeous place.  It is difficult for me to imagine that one year ago, I wasn't thinking about moving - OK, Ken was talking about it, but I wasn't really considering it. And yet, here we are.  I am so often overwhelmed by the beauty of this place, the absolute nice and polite people here, and the amazing change in our family's lifestyle. 

We brought in the New Year just us - the family.  Sadly, we were missing Taylor, but she spent the evening babysitting and making money.  

Ken played games with the girls while I got ready for an insane Stitching SAL (Stitch a long) called 15 Miras in '15.  I have no idea how the hell I am going to manage this, and waiting until the last minute to get ready took a bit out of me.

Now, interesting enough, the 10-year-old and the 42-two-year old are horrible when playing games.  Both of them cheat, and they both hate to lose.  To make matters worse, Ken is even more hideous when he's winning!  He gloats something horrible, and it makes losing more painful.  Seeing as we are a competitive family, some of us get even more pissed off losing to Ken than anyone else.  So you can imagine the fighting and whining that went on during this game.....

In the meantime, I got everything ready to celebrate the New Year.  Mandy actually made it to midnight and after!!  Whoo-hoo!!  We celebrated in pajamas and with poppers as well as using our "Montana-style" cups we received as a Christmas gift.  

We went through half of the box of poppers, and the girls loved the noise and the streamers. 

I had a great time seeing the photo of Back to the Future II with the reminder that this is what was portrayed as the fashion style for October 2015.  Well, we're in the year, and we don't remotely dress like this.  Funny!

When we finally settled into bed, I was only able to lay there while I waited for Taylor to come home.  The "mom thing" sucks - not resting and worrying until all the babes are back in the nest.   However, it was quite the treat to see the dancing of lights as the fireworks lit up our bedroom for over a good hour.  

Here is some fun as well - a compilation of the Montana Firsts posts that I made on Facebook:

• using a cooler to keep food from freezing rather than to keep it cold
• an actual White Christmas
• "ice dreds" on the girls after sledding on a tube behind a quad
• The traffic jam consisted of two herds of horses running across the Highway 
• A new "game" to play: "Is this a lane?" (it's almost impossible to know if  you're driving in the correct lane or even driving in an actual lane when there is snow on the ground.)
• the girls using thermals as "leggings" under sweaters
• Small town life = the entire town shuts down when the high school hosts football
• Native names = great entertainment for the CA Beach girl
• Driver's License appointments: 2 people; 10 minutes each. That was it!
• We are now Montana homeowners and have a "Homestead" (seriously, we paid the extra $7 to Homestead the house).

Here is our wish for our family, ourselves and our friends: