Just Me!!

 Rise and shine Ethan!    Her name as on the Welcome board  Bobcat Pride  A Lecture Hall  Touring  Scene filmed in the movie "A River Runs Through It"    Valerie Walt Whitman has something to say to you!   Apparently he told Ethan that You should go here!  Museum of the Rockies           Watching a star gazing show    Wheat berry Bakery and Deli...awesome pastries  Our Lady of the Rockies    Val bought herself these new Dinosaur Diggs!  Geocaching at a rest stop! I made up reasons to stop;)  Ferdinand's Ice cream made by WSU! Cougar Stadium       Another Geocache right where we least expect it! Day 3 was so exciting! I finally understood why Val wanted to go to MSU. The town was perfect, the college accessible, the people friendly, the environment perfect for excavations, retired professors such as Jack Horner (just found t-Rex heads while on a excavation), M...

                  Helena, Montana! We spent the day with Jill, Michael and Curtis quickly taking in as much of Helena as we could. The day started off with a quick drive from Missoula to Helena, a warm, relaxing hike with Jill, Michael, and their doggies, and a great breakfast after the hike. We met back up with Curtis and Ethan and toured the town, found some geocaches at the Capital building, and then headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner/concert at a local bar.  Jill has a very sultry voice and the 3 hours listening, drinking, visiting, and eating zipped by. One of my old friends who I haven't seen in 4-5 years dropped by to say "hi" too. I was so excited to catch up with her. We ended the night with a few minutes relaxing on Jill and Michael's front porch next to a lovely fire the kids had made us!   

     I                  We started off hitting the closer colleges and the least interested ones to Val;  Central then Eastern Washington University. Beautiful campuses but not even close to what she is looking for. We had a blast finding several geocaches on campus though. Prior to crossing the bridge into Vantage we stopped and went to The Ginko Petrified Forrest where I found a geocache and earned my ice cream for the day. The Petrified Forrest had beautiful rocks, trees, and a magnificent lookout. Once past the bridge we stopped at my pick, The Wild Horse Monument.  Since there was a geocache at the top with the horses we climbed the steep, long, hot trail to the top! There we found the cache and discovered the view that these horses have enjoyed for the past two plus decades. The walk was very worth it and was on my top short list of best caches! We ate homemade sandwiches on the road, met a civil ...

It seems lately that I'm in the state of worry, a lot. I don't know if it's because Valerie is a Senior and may be heading off to College next year, or my little one is NOT little anymore (hence making me OLD), or that my son is going through some tough peer pressure issues with a friend (he's handling it like a CHAMP) or Mike's unexpected passing 3 months ago. Either way it's making me crazy. I either want to cry, fret, and hold everyone just a little closer. I love these kids and want what's best for them, but I'm not sure what that is. A mothers' mind is always working, thinking, praying, and even pleading for their safety. Sometimes, like tonight, it keeps me awake (that and the SMELL of smoke that is coming in from outside-if I could locate it I could probably sleep). Sometimes I feel crazy about all the craziness is in my head....pretty sure I'm normal though, right? Here's my latest fortune:   Oh and here's my cute doggie that Lani...