Shannon, Dargan, and I drove up to Bakersfield on Thurs. the 19th. I unloaded the four tons of essentials our of little Turbo and re-loaded it all into Dad's truck. Of course, before we could leave, we had to see MIL, Jane, and bro's girlfriend, Candace. Dad, Dargan, Shannon, and I finally left Bakersfield around 5 pm. We drove almost non-stop to St George, Utah, where we stayed the night in a Motel 6. I shouldn't say "stayed the night." "Paid $60 for a few hours of sleep" is more appropriate.
Friday morning, we set out from St. George and counted all the Mormon Stakes along the way. It's amazing how close they are together in some towns. In one town, we saw two stakes separated by 1 house. I wonder which stake they attend. Unfortunately, we drove through the prettiest part of the trip in the dark. The road through West Yellowstone is gorgeous, though I didn't get to realize that until we left. From the MT border until we got to Bozeman at 11:30 pm, I counted 67 white crosses, all signifying people who died in auto accidents. The idea is eye-opening, if not distracting. I was pretty creeped out by the crosses. It was almost as if the spirits of the people who had died were tied to the crosses, watching each car that passed. In a couple of places, there were groups of 3 and 4 crosses. It made me wonder how many families were killed together or at the very least, destroyed by the losses.
Saturday morning, we had breakfast at Cynthia's, and Shannon began her maddeningly erratic sleep schedule with a 10-minute nap.
We drove to Livingston, then South on the 89 towards Gardiner and the Yellowstone entrance. We stopped at a grizzly bear sanctuary and saw two grizzly bears who have been captive their entire lives. Shannon began her maddeningly erratic poop schedule with a blowout. Yay... We then drove toward Gardiner and attempted to hike into the petrified forest. We got about 8 miles down the 11-mile road to the trailhead and found that the road was closed. they had stopped plowing the snow after the last of the ranches along the way. Yay... 
So, we ate lunch, and Shannon got to wear her pink bear snowsuit and green sunglasses. She was a very intimidating baby bear! the dogs discovered some sort of dead animal and proceeded to eat it. Yum. Later, we drove to Gardiner and saw a few elk and deer along the side of the road. On the way home, we let the dogs run at a campground along the Yellowstone River, and Dargan, of course, jumped right into the freezing cold water. Yay...Sunday, we went shopping! We took a walk into downtown Bozeman from Cynthia's and ate lunch, then walked to the Natural Baby Store, where we got Shannon and Carol Ann some little (overpriced) toys. Dad bought Shannon a Smartwool beanie and mittens at Schnee's in downtown Bozeman. I think we took naps afterwards. I don't really remember where the time went that day.
Monday, Dad, Shannon, and I went shopping again! YAY!!! We bought some cold-weather hiking boots for me that really helped keep my feet warm! We shopped all over the place, in several sporting goods stores, and specialty stores. Then we drove up to Bridger bowl to check it out. As we started home, it started snowing! Shannon loved the snow! I let her eat it and she actually liked it! She liked touching it and looking at it and tasting it. She was adorable! dargan, of course, loved playing in the snow.
The other dogs were used to it, but Dargan was really enjoying herself the entire week. We also fed Shannon peas, which we discovered she is not a fan of. She willingly ate them, but not without making some horrendous faces.
She'll get used to them. Eventually.Tuesday was St. Patty's Day. Shannon wore her "Who's Your Paddy?" onesie,
and Dad made Guinness beef stew for dinner. We went hiking through Gardiner Park on the outskirts of Bozeman. Unfortunately, Guapa fell through a hole in the snow over the stream, and hurt her shoulder. She willingly limped back to the truck, so we left her inside while we took the other two dogs for a walk. My new boots worked quite well! My feet were toasty-warm! When we got back, we had stew and beer for dinner. In keeping with tradition, I let Shannon have a pinky-covered taste of my Guinness. The curious little thing went back for more, so I guess I'm not the only beer baby in the family!Wednesday.... I forget what we did on Wednesday! Did I buy the yarn that day? I can't remember. I think that was the day we walked into downtown again and explored the two yarn shops there. I bought a couple of skeins at the secon store we went to and can't wait to start knitting! I've decided to make myself some socks.
Thursday, I finished Shannon's Little Devil Pants! The handyman came to look at the electrical problem in the basement, and took FOR-EV-ER! I eventually bitched about it, and he decided he couldn't fix it, as he's not an electrician. After he left, we took the dogs to hike on a cross-country ski trail. It was a warm day, and Shannon is heavy, so I left my jacket in the truck. We got to the 2-mile marker and turned around. I was tired from lugging an 18-lb plus weight up a mountain! Dargan saw horses for the first time and another Kelpie. We also saw two of Guapa's cousins, a couple of Brittany Spaniels, and a 6-month-old beagle. Bozeman is the biggest dog-town I have ever seen! It's great! That evening, we went to Cynthia's hospital to listen to her speak about osteoporosis. I learned a lot from the hallway, where I ended up walking with Shannon while she fussed. We were all going to go to dinner, but Shannon needed to sleep, so I stayed at home and finished the pants.
Friday, Dad, Shannon, and I drove to Billings to meet my former manager from Sally Beauty Supply, Celes.
It was great to see her again! I forgot how well we get along and how silly we get. We ate at Fuddrucker's and then walked through the mall, where Shannon fell in love with a 10-foot-tall (or more) stuffed Alaskan Grizzly bear. Billings is probably the Bakersfield of Montana. It's ugly, there are weird-looking people, and there is California-esque traffic for no apparent reason. That's one place I would never want to move to! Or visit again. Celes lives in Cody, WY, so next time we visit her, we'll just take the extra time to drive there instead! She says it's much prettier.Saturday, we packed up and left Cynthia's around 2 pm. We drove pretty much straight through, and I got to see the gorgeous scenery that I missed on the way north. We stopped a couple of times to sleep, and I think we got about 2 hours total of actual sleep. Shannon officially hates the carseat now, and I can't say that I blame her. She began by screaming the entire time she was in it until she fell asleep, then eventually realized that her screaming wasn't going to change it, so she would scream until she was buckled in and then be fine. We got to my dad's house around 3 pm on Sunday afternoon and rested for a while before going to dinner with the in-laws. I think we were all alseep by 9 pm. Today, I packed up Turbo again and we drove back to San Diego. It's so good to be home!
Shannon has her 6-month appointment and shots tomorrow. :0( I'm not looking forward to it at all!! Poor baby! However, I am looking forward to seeing how much she has grown! I can;t believe how big she is getting!
She has changed quite a bit in the past couple of weeks! She is sitting up much better, though when she gets tired, that all goes to pot. She is picking up small items with her index & thumb, and we have been giving her little rice puffs, which she loves! She has yet to figure out how to actually get them into her mouth, but she'll get it!
She is becoming much more vocal. On the way home yesterday, she chattered like a little monkey for an hour & 1/2 straight. Crazy girl! She is also starting to say "mmm" when she eats food. It's really cute!Since she turned 6 months, I've decided I can no longer use the "I'm fat because I just had a baby" excuse. It's time to get back into running & working out! So far, the Montana trip really screwed me up, but I made sure to get out & run today after getting home! I'm able to at least run the flat parts of the route, and I'm sure that if I keep it up, I'll be running the whole thing in no time!
Mike gets home the night of the 2nd, and I can't wait! I miss him so much! I think being able to talk to him every day makes it harder to deal with than when the patrol is broken into two-week chunks by his port-call phone calls.
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