Life in Montana: Blog

Barley's Birthday

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:57:47 GMT

Barley's first brithday was this last week. I put a new photo album with some pictures of the torture Angie put him through.

More Pictures...

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 03:41:05 GMT

Hope you like the pictures we will write later. Carroll Homecoming is this weekend so I am sure there will more to add.

Angie

Barley, Houses, and Weddings

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:41:49 GMT

Looking at all the recent posts we could call this Barley's blog. Well here is another entry about him. We just added a video of him chasing the hose around the front yard. It was pretty entertaining to watch. We have really been enjoying our new digital camera. That is what I took the video with. Not bad for a still camera! I have also taken some pictures of nice sunset we had the other day and of a sun rise. I think I will try and get those posted before too long.

We are getting ready for my sister's wedding this weekend (June 30th). I went out on Troy's bachelor party last weekend. All the Jones man were there. We went to Bozeman and golfed at Bridger Creek. Troy's best man Mike had things setup pretty good. He even had hole prizes setup. Longest drive, shortest drive, longest putt, and closest to the pin all got a little something at the end of the day. After golf we preceded to stop at most of the bars along the way home. There was a little incident in the van on the way home so I was glad that I choose to ride with my dad in his car.

Not only are Troy and my sister getting married this weekend but they are also involved in closing on a house. Like they didn't need anything else to deal with. Angie and I purposely put the looking for a house plans on hold as the big day got closer. The seller wanted them to close on the day after the wedding so he wouldn't have to pay another month's mortgage but they politely said no thanks to that one.

Jamie and Troy aren't the only one's involved in a closing. Our friends Mike and Nikki are in the process of buying a house not far from us here in East Helena. They practically lived across the street from us in our old apartment so it will be fun to be neighbors again. Eric and Renee are still on the process of looking for one.

This weekends wedding also kicks off the wedding season for us. After this weekend we still have Brad and Avery's here in Helena, Michelle and Josh's in Wisconsin, Cory and Renee's in Whitefish, MT @ Big Mountain. Those are just the ones that we can make it to. Angie's cousin Jeff and his soon to be wife are getting married the same weekend as Cory and Renee in San Clemente, CA. We really wish we could make to that one but what can you do.

With all of those wedding and we are still going to fit in the annual trip to Lake Koronis this year. Angie's says it was not an option this year because we missed out last year trying to save time off for the wedding. It is always a good time and we are already stocking up on beer and other necessities.

Camping and More Barley Picture

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 03:02:18 GMT

We went camping this weekend at the new campground on Hauser Lake. It is called White Sandy. It is right next to Black Sandy. They aren't charging camping fees this year because it is the first year in service. We got up Saturday morning and got packed up and headed out to the lake. We found a nice spot thanks to the nice camp host that told us someone was leaving soon and if we wait a few minutes we could have thier spot. He was a really nice older man and probably the most active camp host I have ever seen.

We had a few friends stop out and join us for the day. Cory brought his boat out so after we got everything setup we went out wakeboarding and tubing. It was really hot out so it was nice to get in the water. The Hartman's, the Leitgeb's also joined for the day out there. Bill decided to stay out was us along with Whitney and her husband Victor. Whitney works with Angie at the credit union. We all had a really good time but I think we are starting to show our age. We were all so tired from being in the sun and on the water that we all crashed before midnight.

Barley came with us and I think he had a good time. Minus the water which he still isn't sure about and the heat that he was always trying to hide from. If he would have cooled off if he would get in the water. I did walk him out into the water and made him swim back to shore. It wasn't very far but he is a good swimmer.

I woke up a little sore the next day. I hadn't been wakeboarding in a long time or it might have been getting bounced around on the tube. We were planning on staying out there longer on Sunday then we did but it was really getting hot and Barley was melting. So we packed up and head for home. Boy was he glad to be back. He slept so well that I had to wake him up when I got out of bed. It is normally the other way around.

Pictures of the weekend are in a new gallery so you can check them out.

Puppy update & house work :)

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 02:05:41 GMT

After one week he is still a keeper :) I can't believe how much a puppy sleeps though...oh well helps to get work done around.

We worked a lot outside. We put lattice around the bottom of the deck so Barley can't get under there...his favorite place to go. I still have to add pictures of the finished product.

We also cleaned up the front yard. First we raked and Chris mowed. Then while Chris pruned the bushes...I mean trees; I cleaned the flower bed which I don't think every was weeded. There was tons of grass, giant dandelions, and many other weeds I have never seen. We were able to get it cleaned out and new flowers planted. Got to stay up keeping those weeds out. We have already had neighbors come over and say how much nicer it already looks from when the previous owners had it. I heard they only watered the lawn maybe twice a year...Montana is a semi arid dessert! Crazy!

Well I am off to eat dinner! Have a GREAT week!

Angie

Night Two

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:17:10 GMT

I would have to say I prefer night one :) We got him in to bed at about 10:30 but he seemed to have to get up every half hour. Most of the time when we took him out he went to the bathroom but then it got so he just would whine to get out. So the last time we actually did the good parent thing and let him whine for a few minutes (this was at 3:00am) and eventually stopped and went to sleep. I woke up at 7am and was actually scared somthing happened to him but he was fine. He was in his crate playing with his toy. Chris got him up and now 8am he is taking his morning snooze. I tried to put him in his crate after he curled up in my lap but we walked right out back in to my lap.

He is so cute when he sleeps I can't help but have him cuddle with me :)

Have a GREAT Sunday!!

Ang

Barley Cutter

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 16:25:37 GMT

We got to bring our new puppy home earlier than we thought!! Barley Cutter Jones!! The first night actually wasn't too bad...I wouldn't mind that being the worst night that is for sure. We went to bed around 11pm and he woke up at 12:30am to go to outside...at 3:30am he woke up again but this time went outside and then was wide awake for about an hour and finally fell asleep...at 6:30am it was time to get up. Chris took him outside again and played with him and by 7am he was ready for a nap. Not bad for the first night!!!

He is sleeping on Chris' lap right now while he is reading "How to Outsmart your Puppy"...I hope it works !!

Potty traning is going ok for the one day we have had him. He seems to understand that #2 is done outside but can't quite make it outside when it is #1. Oh well...he will learn...well he better :)

Hope all is well with all of you! I am sure it will be a queit couple of weeks for us getting Barley used to his new home!

Angie

A new edition to the family :)

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 03:43:05 GMT

We have some exciting news to share! We got a puppy :) He won't be with us for a few more weeks (too little) but soon will be moving in with us :) He is a Pembroke Welsch Corgi...We are looking for names so if you have any ideas pass them on! As soon as we get him home we will post pictures!!

We also have posted a few pictures of our new living room color! Next is the kitchen...should be interesting with the little puppy running around!

I finally got around to adding a few more wedding pictures on the website. There are many many more but here are a few to take a look at :) Good times were had by all!!

Angie & Chris

Projects~

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 02:21:00 GMT

Now starts the endless projects on the house!! When I find the camera I will take some pics and post them :)

So far we painted the living room and added new base boards. Our next step will be new blinds and crown molding but I think that will be later this summer. The next room for renovation is in the kitchen...

We will be tearing down the boarder and shelving (I think the former owners were crazy about their knic knacs). Then the paint will go up on the walls and the paint will come down off the cabinet doors...fun times! New counter top and flooring will be the final move! I can't wait until it is all done that is for sure!!

Hope all is well with everyone! We will be posting more when I find the camera and get further along. See you all in July...can't wait!!!!!!

Angie

The move

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 05:15:07 GMT

I put a few more pictures on the website of the house. I haven't gotten any of the basement or the back yard just yet. We finally got our Christmas tree up so I will have to put some pictures on of our decorating the new place :)

Thank you everyone for all your help...it went so much easier than I though :)

Merry Christmas to everyone and I will try to post more pictures.

Angie

Catch Up

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 20:41:24 GMT

So we have been terrible about updating our space but seriously...we have been extremely busy :) Since our last entry we got married in MN, had a party here in MT, decided to look for a house, had many tailgates, threw a Halloween Party, and finally bought a house.

I just added a few pictures of us from the wedding and will type more later...

We closed yesterday on our house and today is Thanksgiving so I wanted to get a few pictues on the website for my family to see at my parents house. Our camera batteries died so we only got a few but will add more tomrrow when we move into our new place. We have quite a few people helping us out and will be here bright and early :) Pray for good weather!!

Hope you all have a Tasty and Filling Thanksgiving and we will writing more later :) Love you all!

Angie

Memorial Day in Minnesota

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 03:49:19 GMT

Hello everyone I figured it was about time to give an update so here goes.

Angie and I took an extended Memorial weekend and headed for Minnesota. We left the Friday morning and got back home Tuesday night; which seems like a long time there but trust me it flew by way to fast. We got a lot of loose ends for the wedding tied up. The running around started as soon as we got off of the plane as we headed straight to the county court house to get our marriage license. The following day we had a meeting with the cake guy about kinds of frosting, met with two different people about flowers, met with Dan Sherman who is doing the music for the wedding ceremony, had another quick meeting with Father Tom, and Angie had her final fitting for her wedding dress. It wasn't all business though. As usual when visiting Angie's family we found time to sneak in a beer or two. It was fun drinking beer at night with everyone sitting around Joe's new fire pit that he setup in the backyard.

On Sunday Angie's Mom and Aunt's threw her a wedding shower. I heard they had a good time, but that is all hear say because I wasn't there. Angie's Dad and her Uncles took me out golfing. It was over 100 degrees and very humid but it was hardly noticed because we had plenty of "refreshments" to keep us cool. It was pretty funny watching all of Angie's Uncles hide from their wives as we got back to the house. Maybe shots in the club house after 18 holes of drinking beer wasn't a good idea. Well I am not sure who all took their Kamikaze shot, but Rick was the only one who did a shot of straight Jack Daniels with me. All of them must have had a pretty good time because they were all asking when the next bachelor party was going to be.

Angie or should I say we got a bunch of cool gifts at the wedding shower and she got to spend some time with some her friends that she doesn't get to see very often. Sarah, Michelle, and Katie Lee made the trip to see her which was really nice. I know Angie doesn't get to spend as much time with them as she would like to.

Sorry we don't have any pictures of the weekend so if anyone has some that they would like to send to us...hint hint.

We also have a trip to Vegas to write about but that will be for another night.

Chris

P.S. Sarah sent us a couple of picture that we put below.

Fun Times in MT

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 03:14:40 GMT

Sorry I kind of fell behind on the BLOG, so here it goes...

The first group of pictures is our tons of fun at Big Sky. Mike, Lynda, and the kids came to MT to ski for their spring break. We got up to Big Sky about nine in the morning and the kids were already waiting for us. After getting layered up we hit the slopes. Pam and Becca are speed demons and were quick to show me up :) Chris and Topher headed down the mountain while Pamela and I cruised down first!

Finally we got tired and decided to find a place for lunch. We tried one direction and had to head back the lift...wrong way~ So we decided to head to another lift and in the process Pamela went missing for a bit. Chris and I saved the day by running into the cutie and everything was alright. I swear the things Pamela does to be like me :) Just kidding...but Chris did leave me alone on the wrong side of a mountain once...so I kind of know what she was feeling like. Poor thing...

After lunch we went back up...by this time it was so sunny we didn't even need a hat or jacket. Becca, Chris, and I rode the Gondola and the triple lift a few more times and then Becca talked us into one more time...needless to say we were pooped. We had a blast and the day couldn 't have been more beautiful. I have never snowboarded on such nice snow! I didn't even want it to be over besides the fact Chris and I could hardly walk. We went to dinner before saying goodbye and noticed our faces hurt a bit...found out the kids put sun screen on in the morning. Chris and I didn't even think about it...it was snowing when we got there. A week later Father was still laughing at Chris...his whole face blistered and peeled. I got a gorgeous tan after the fire red the first night. I don't think we will ever forget sunscreen again.

We celebrated Chris's 27th Birthday the week before...we took Monday off (March 27th) and Chris smoked ribs :) The day was so nice and the ribs were tastey. While he was smokin the ribs we watched the first five Stars Wars movies. Talk about a relaxing day!

This weekend we finally put together our wedding invitations...Thanks to Chris's mom and sister it took no time at all. Chris kicked butt when I was at work on Saturday by cutting out the squares and embossing them all (oh yeah and did all the laundry)...his hands were a little sore after all that work :) Marasritas helped the invitation process along :O)

Now we get to finish the invitations hopefully in the next couple weeks and start addressing :)

Ang

St. Patrick's Day

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 22:23:12 GMT

We had another fun weekend. How could we not with St. Patrick's Day being on a Friday this year.

It was really neat that the Helena Diocese, with its new bishop, declared that Catholics could eat meat and enjoy the holiday's other traditions, green beer! Well I don't know if they where really thinking about the green beer but it was nice to let everyone eat their Corned Beef and Cabbage. From what I hear there was quiet a few diocese that did the same thing all over.

The last two years I have made Corned Beef and Cabbage to celebrate and I did again this year. I started it by soaking the brisket in brine last Friday. I moved it over to the crockpot Friday morning and cooked it all day long. I came home and added the veggies and potatoes at lunch and added the cabbage when I got home. I managed to make the whole apartment building smell like it. We had Mike Leitgeb and Carrie over for dinner. So we sat down to a nice dinner with of coarse some green beer to wash it all down. Carrie was watching her 6 month old nephew Gus so she brought him over. There is a picture of him in the new album I have put up.

After dinner Eric and Renee stopped by and we all headed out to the Edge to continue the festivities. We meet Bill out there and Mike and Nikki showed up a little while later. When we first got there we found out that they weren't serving green beer. (I know we all thought that was pretty crazy as well.) Since we don't live to far from there I ran home and got some green food coloring so we could make are own green beer. We were the only ones at the bar who had green beer so that was cool. We hung out there for quite a while playing pool and shuffle puck. My brother who wasn't drinking that night came out and hung out for a little bit then became our sober driver for the evening.

From the Edge most of us went down to the Roc's Western Bar where we ran into some people that Angie works with. She and Renee ran around the bar, getting asked where they got their green beer, while Mike, Eric, and I sat down and played some poker. Aaron went down the street to a bar where some of his friends were hangning out. I also ran into some people that I work with in the poker room and some more friends of mine, Aaron and Eamon.

At the end of the night Aaron came back to get us and Angie and I took him out to breakfast as a thank you for driving our drunk butts around. Pete and Steph were going to join us but Steph had to work early in the morning. It was already 2:00am and they live about half an hour away so we couldn't argue with that. There is nothing better then a 2:00 am breakfast after a night drinking and we even got to watch some drunken people have a little fight.

We woke up Saturday morning feeling a little ruff but a lot better then we should have. It was also snowing like crazy and didn't let up until Sunday morning. I took some pictures of all the snow. Not a bad accumulation considering that on Friday there wasn't even a snow bank left in town.

Saturday day and evening was pretty low key. We went over to my parent’s house and watched the Carroll basketball game on TV. They ended up losing but made it to the elite eight. Saturday was Cory's Birthday so we went over to his place and had some ice cream cake and watched a movie with him, Renee (his girlfriend), and Bill.

I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick’s Day and weekend. Till the next time,

Chris

P.S. I don't know what happend with the background color in this entry but I can't get it fixed.

Poker, Movies, and More

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 04:24:38 GMT

Well it has been couple of weeks since we wrote in so here is an update...

Last weekend on Saturday night we had our monthly poker game out at Leitgeb's house. We had it out in his shop again like we did last time. It was nice having it out there for a couple of reasons. First of all it is an old horse stable turned into a car shop so while it is nice in there and we take care of it and all it is not that big of a deal if something spills. Second since it is out in a shop the smokers can smoke and not hold up the game. The last two games we have had there have taken half the time that the other two before it took. I'll admit that since we have started playing out there I like to have a cigar while we are playing. Third and definatly not least is that it is heated which is very nice especailly since it has been cold lately. Before the game last weekend Mike, Cory and I built a poker table to play at. We orignally we trying to make two of them, but that was a little more then we could get done. We got both of them cut out but only one finished with a padded rail. The one we got finished was 7'x4' oval and the one we have cut outready to be padded at a later date is a 4' round. There are a couple of pictures that I put in the photo albums. The playing surface that we used is a roll up one that I got on sale at Target, so I can just roll it up and bring it whereever play. Another highlight of the night was that I won the tournment, $130.00...so that was nice. Angie and everyone elses signifgant others got together and watched some scary movies that same night. Maybe she will get on here and tell you about that.

So here I am...we had all the ladies over to our place and they brought tons of snack food and I made Marasaritas :) So tasty. Jamie brought over the little baby (Kendal) and needless to say she was never put down...what a little princess :) There are more pics in the photo album of her getting bigger everyday. The movies we watched were Saw and Saw Two. Great scary movies...I only had a few nightmares. I was surprised to see Chris home at midnight. Guess he took everyones money by nine so they just played for fun until then :) I hope he keeps that one up!!!

(Chris again) More on the poker front my friend and groomsmen Pete opened up a his poker room on Thurday. So I went down and played on his table opening night. I ended up coming out ahead $20 which I turned around and lost when a group of us went down again on Satuday night. They play a $2-$5 game which is basically a limit game with a little room to play around. So if you are ever in Helena, MT head downtown to the Western/Gold Bar and sit down at Poker Pete's. Well that not techincally the name...he is still working what to call it.

Other than that we have been staying busy with wedding plans and everyday life.

Chris (&Angie)

It's freezing

Sat, 18 Feb 2006 06:15:41 GMT

It was so cold today! I was surprised that Angie's cat started. When I left for work @ 7:15 this morning it was -15 with a -30 wind chill. The news just said that the high for today was 3. I was just getting use to the 30 degree weather we have had lately. There was quite a few people calling in at work because their vehicles wouldn't start. We were thinking about going snowboarding this weekend but not unless it warms up a lot. Speaking of snowboarding we went for the first time this season last weekend. We didn't take any pictures though. Let's just say that we were just trying to get down the hill. We have decided that we are a little out of shape. But they had pretty good snow up at Great Divide which is surprising since there isn't any snow here in town.

When we took pictures of Jamie and Kendal we realized that we had a ton of pictures sitting on our camera and we have also been getting some crap about not updating this enough. So we are going to try and be more active with this site.

Chris

I'm a Uncle and Angie is an Auntie

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:22:03 GMT

My baby sister Jamie is now a mother!

On Tuesday evening she gave birth to Kendal Louise Walkenhorst. She is 7 lbs. 2.7 oz. and 20 inches long. Angie and I went to see Jamie and Troy at the hospital after work on Wednesday. I had tried to stop by earlier that day during my lunch break but Jamie and Kendal were fast asleep. So I had to wait until after work to go see them with Angie. Angie wanted to stop and get Jamie some pink clothes for Kendal. Since they didn't know the sex of the baby before, they mostly had yellow and green. The first thing Jamie said when she opened it was, "Yeah pink clothes!". I got the baby a little teddy bear so that she can start her teddy bear collection early. Maybe then someday she can rival her moms, but I doubt it.

Angie throughly enjoyed holding the new bundle of joy. That is once she got her away from my brother Aaron, who also had stopped by once he got off of work. Troy had already gone a gotten some cigars so Troy, Aaron, and I went out to have a smoke. Well that didn't last very long because there was a below zero wind chill. There was a steady flow of vistors while we there including my mom and Troy's mom (the new grandmothers). It was nice to meet Troy's mom who also brought Lawson with her. We took some pictures and I have put them into a photo album. I know my mom has a ton more so if I can my hands on them I will post them as well. You can also go to the hospitals virtual nursey and leave to new parents a comment or blessing if you wish.

www.stpetes.org

Services

Virtual Nursery

Her number is 754469

Also Jamie and Troy have asked Angie and me to be Kendal's godparents. So I not only became an uncle I am also a godfather now and that opens up a whole new world of jokes. Angie is an old hat at being a godmother. She already knows how to spoil one goddaughter she is going to be out of control with two of them. But seriously we were both very honored to be asked.

Chris

MN for New Year's 2005

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 18:49:01 GMT

On December 29 th we headed to MN to celebrate Christmas, New Year's, and get some much needed wedding ploanning done. Yeah I know we have been home for a while w/o writing but geez we are exhausted. I guess staying up until four each night will do that to ya :)

We arrived in MN for my sister's (Candi) 19th Birthday. We all went out to eat to the Olive Garden to celebrate. Yummy. That night we only were up until one. Traveling takes a lot out of y and we had a few appointments the next morning.

The next morning we started our appointments off by meeting the preist and talking about the ceremy. Father Tom Loomis...he was so great getting things organized for us. I am very exciting to have him officiating our ceremony. The next stop was Starbucks and then to meet the sales and catering manager where the reception is taking place :) We finally got to see the room for the reception...so nice and we discussed set up and menu. It is nice to get that finalized.

For New Year's Eve we headed to the Cities to see Vicki and Becky's new place and Jilly and Duane's new place. Very nice...I want a house :) We had a blast ringing in the new year...and when I say ringning in I mean ringing it in right. At midnight every noisemaker and pot and pan pouned and blew for I swear a half hour straight...this must have been why I had such a nasty headache the next morning...or was it the beer. Guess we will never know. At about four in the morning I headed to bed...chris wussed out earlier about two :)

The next morning (well eleven) we woke up and headed home for Christmas in Rochester :) We opened too many presents...thanks for them all. Chris and I were spoiled. Chris got the movie Hithickers Guide to the Galaxy, X BOX game Halo, Jimmy Buffet CD, Beerology Shirt, shot checkers, waterproof deck of cards, MSU shirt (that's Minnesota State University Mankato), 20 questions game, Goodwill Hunting, Call of Duty XBOS game, and Starwars III. I got candles, Electronic Gestures, Fun socks, Pretty sweaters, water fountain, Desperate House wives Season one, MSU Shirt, lots of Bath & body work stuff, and some spending money. We were spoiled rotten...must have been really good. Chris got a stocking this year...actaully mom made all new stockings that looked very nice. She spent a lot of time on each of them.

The next day my mom, sisters, becky, and I went dress shopping and to my suprise I found the dress of my dreams. Sorry no details...you get to see it at the wedding :) We also did find the bridesmaid dresses as well. the girls had a great time.

The final day in MN we ordered our cake. We get to taste test frostings next time we are home. Fun times. Needless to say I got quite a bit accomplised when I was home.

Even though the time was way too short I had one of the best visits. We definitely lacked on sleep and not on drinking beer but fun memories were made each day and night. Thanks mom and dad for having us...I know Chris can be a handful :)

Hope you all had as GREAT as Christmas and New Years as I did.

Ang

Christmas 2005

Mon, 26 Dec 2005 18:42:12 GMT

Merry Christmas everybody! I would have to say this was a pretty nice and relaxing Christmas. Chris and I had our shopping done early so we didn't have to mess w/ the last minuters :)

We spent Christmas Eve making a HUGE Christmas feast for just Chris and I. Well I should say Chris did the cooking...I just helped out when needed. We had turkey, roasted garlic mash potatoes, green bean casserole, gravy, stuffing, grandpas pickels (of course), cranberry sauce, and dinner rolls. Needless to say we were stuffed. We didn't eat the rest of the day. Everything was homemade and so delicious. Chris put the turkey in a brine on Thursday...it turned out so juicey. After cleaning up we headed over to his parents house to go over to a Christmas party.

We headed over to the Bower's house for the annual Christmas Eve party. I still think it is kind of strange that someone would have a Christmas party on Christmas Eve but they have been doing this since Chris can remember...and that's a long time :)

After the Christmas party we picked up his brother Aaron and went to look at Christmas lights. Treasure State Acres is a huge neighborhood that goes all out. They line their driveways and sidewalks w/ luminaries and you then drive through the neighboorhood w/ out your lights on so you can see better. I was not as impressed this year as years past but it was still nice. After lights we waited for church.

Chris's parents and Aaron joined us at 10:00pm mass at our church...St. Mary's Catholic Community. It was a nice service but they could have tonned down w/ the insence. They were smoking out all the poor old ladies. After chruch we headed home for bed...it was almost midnight and Santa still needed to stop by our place.

Christmas Day I woke up before Chris even...that rarely happens. We got up and Santa had brought us TV Table Set of five, oak coasters, and a cashmiere blanket for the living room. We also had a TV poker game for Chris and our stockings were stuffed w/ goodies. Chris got a Carroll shot glass (since he broke his the night he was proposing to me he definitely needed a new one.) and lots of different kinds of whiskey. He also got a Denver Broncos tree ornament and Jack Daniels flavored coffee...that should be intersting. My stocking had a bunch of goodies as well...perfume, Destiney Child's CD, candles and we both had lots and lots of candy. We were pretty good this year I would say.

We then proceeded to open presents from each other. Chris got a pair of jeans, spring loaded kitchen tongs, X-box headset, Tiger Woods 2006 Golf Game, and a snowboarding bag for both our snowboards. I am hoping this will prevent us loosing any more boards on the mountain. I got a robe, snowboarding mittens, jewerly cleaning machine, pop culture 2 Triva Pursuit, and the Carroll sweatshirt I wanted...yeah I know...I am spoiled rotten. After presents, Aaron Chris's 12 year old...I mean 25 year old brother called and told us we needed to get our butts over to Chris's parents to open presents because he couldn't wait anymore.

We headed over to Chris's parents for more presents...I love Christmas :) It looked like a war zone when we were all done opening gifts. Chris and I made out well there too. Chris got a potato gun, Old Navy collared shirt, remote truck, Lord of the Rings X-box game, PJ bottoms, a Bridge book from Graqndpa, socks in his stocking, and a fleece jacket. I got a cookbook (Pam got the same one when she got married), PJ's, socks, scarf, sweaters, and a fleece jacket (not matching :) We both got Carroll championship shirts too. Our big gift was a card table and chairs. We have been looking to buy a set so this was pretty perfect :)

Chris and his siblings gave his dad a new grill and his mom a new set of pans. They seemed excited for their gifts :) Lawson was pretty excited too when he opened our gift...I think he forgot to breathe for a minute. It was a spiderman game for his V-smile. It was so cute.

We then moved to the kitchen table to start drinking beer and play poker. I also taught them how to play Farkel. Chris's mom already new the game because she had played it before but they called it Foo Foo :) Troy's Family called it Chicken Dice...so many names for the same game.

For dinner we had prime rib and baked potatoes...so tastey. It basically melted in your mouth...I love it when Steve makes Prime Rib :)

We finished the day watching a pitiful Vikings game :( I was happy to be able to finally watch them on TV but I wish I could have seen a win.

In a couple days we will be flying out to MN to visit my family. I can't wait...it is a little busy though( meeting w/ father, the caterer, the flower person, the cake person, getting a dress, picking out bridesmaid dresses, and still squeezing in time to see all the family.) I am just tired after writing all that. It will be a blast though.

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas as we did and still will continue to.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Angie & Chris

Holidays have started

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 01:34:14 GMT

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone and the holidays have official begun. We celebrated Thanksgiving at the Bill Sampson house. My family has been close friends with the Sampsons for a very long time and we have been going over to their house for Thanksgiving dinner since I can remember. Bill and his wife Kathy put on a great spread as usual and we definiatly ate our fill, or well at least I did.

I also got to play on the new Xbox 360. Curtus, Bill and Kathy's son, camped out in front of Target and was lucky enough to get one. Some people might say that is a little nuts, but it was fun to play with. Even if Curt beat me three times playing football.

Friday after Thanks giving we decorated for Christmas. We put up our new tree that we got dirt cheap at the end of last year. It is pre-lit, sooooo nice. We also got our Christmas village, wreath, and other lights around the house up. I have put some pictures of everything on to the site.

Angie has been organizing what everyone wants for Christmas. So I guess shopping is on the agenda for a little while. We have gotten quite a bit done already though and when I say 'we' I mean Angie.

Well that's all I got for now. We hope to see everyone soon. If we don't I hope you all have a happy holidays.

Chris

Football and Tailgating

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 00:46:11 GMT

Saints Win!!!

The Fighting Saints are off to Tennessee for their shot at a record breaking 4th national championship in a row. The Saint cruised through the playoffs beating Dickinson-ND, Montana Tech, and Sioux Falls-SD. As always and despite of the very cold and nasty weather we were there having a good time in the tailgate area and cheering on my old team. This post season has already seen a first with a second hopefully soon to come. It is the first time in NAIA history that 2 Frontier Conference teams have met in the playoffs and on top of that it was against Montana Tech, for all of you that have been reading this you know how big of a rivalry there is with that in the first place. The pictures are from the last two games, we forgot the camera for the first one. With the end of this weeks game it also brings the end to this years tailgating season. So no more tailgate picture and stories until next year. I think I might start going through withdrawls. I guess we are going to have to find a new reason to eat and drink in a parking lot. But we are throwing a party to watch the championship game so that will be fun and help deal with the withdrawl symptoms.

Here is a link to the newspaper article from the last butt kicking:

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/12/04/sports_top/b01120405_05.txt

Chris

Veterans Weekend

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 04:58:49 GMT

Well another week has gone by and we thought we should catch up with everything. We both had an extra day off this week for Veterans Day. We took advantage of this day to catch up on some wedding stuff. Angie talked to a few DJ's, we went to the jewler guy and ordered our wedding bands, and stopped and checked out an enormous book of invitations from a party store. But don't worry we did have some fun this weekend as well. Not that planning for the wedding isn't fun or anything.

Saturday we had the last regular season Carroll football game. It was very cold and windy but the hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps and hot cider with rum helped out. The game was a blow out and the highlight was the halftime contest. I was trying to catch little mini footballs that Pete was throwing from ten yards away. The catch, I had to catch them with a gaint pair of pants that I happen to have on. After three tying round we ended up losing. The winners got a $200 to Murdoch's. Which to those of you that don't know is like a Ranch & Home, Big R, or a Fleet Farm. But we didn't get turned away empty handed we got hats that say Murdoch's on them.

The game was such a blow out and it was so cold that we decided to go home. The final score was 66-13 and besides that the score it was a big day for Tyler Emmert. He broke Jon Kitna's total yardage record. Here is a link to the story:

Helena IR

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/11/13/sports_top/b01111305_01.txt

We also went to mass Saturday evening and met with Rev. Jim Connor the pastor that will be doing our marriage classes. Which is another wedding task taken care of. Saturday night ended with me playing poker with my brother, his friend john, my soon to be brother-in-law Troy, and my friend Eric. Angie stayed home and studied for her loan officer test. Isn't she dedicated?

On Sunday we went and got a couple of Sunday papers because our engagement annoucement came out in the Helena paper. Here is the link to it on the internet:

Helena IR

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/11/13/engagements/evan1113.txt

We also went to a 25th wedding anniversary of some really close friends of the family, Mike and Kathy Sampson. We got a lot of congradtulations while we were there because people either saw the annoucement in the paper or had recieved the postcards that we had sent out. What was kind of neat celebrating a 25th anniversary while we are starting our lives together.

Well that was pretty much it. Later

Chris

P.S. Sorry only one picture this week.

Halloween 2005

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 05:58:57 GMT

Here are the pictures from our very eventful and and somewhat hazy halloween party.

We threw a Halloween Party Saturday October 29th. The day began w/ a cold game at Carroll College. The game ended w/ a close score of 42-0. Carroll was unstoppable:) After the game we headed home to get dressed for the party.

I was very impressed with everyone's costumes. Bill (naked hula girl) won for best male costume and Carrie (grandpa) won for best female costume. Some of my buddies from work thought that the old couple were actually old and couldn't figure out why they were at a halloween party at their age...great costume guys.

Here are the costumes that were there....

Morticia Addams (Angie), Gomez Addams (Chris), Creepy Clown Green Hair Guy (Cory), Devil (Renee), Angel (Renee), El Bandito (Eric), Frog (Austin), 80's Prom Dates (Cliff & Christina), Dead Prom Dates (Jaimi & Jade), Cat (Natalia), Ginger (Jen), Pirate (Bobbie), King (Tim), Queen (Amy), Grandpa (Mike), Grandma (Carrie), Pregnant man (Mike), Doctor (Nikki), Naked Hula Girl (Bill), Bat Girl (Jenn), Mariners Fan (Aaron), Sponge Bob (Dave), Witch (Sarita), 60's Chick (Sara), Biker Girl (Avery), Scary mask dude (Brad), Marilyn Monroe, More Hula people (Ilea & Phil), I am sure there are more but if I don't have pictures it is hard to recall that evening :)

A couple hours into the party the basement was so packed we could harly move but when we went in to check on the keg it was still way too heavy, so chris's brother came up with a great idea...KEG STANDS. Oh my gosh...everyone packed into the laundry room :) I did not happen to venture that way...wouldn't have worked w/ a dress on. Chris's brother grabbed first place with 27 seconds...crazy. Natalia had so much fun the first time she tried it she had to go again :) Good times.

Needless to say we didn't have a problem finishing the keg by the end of the night. I think Chris and I arrived back at home at about three in the morning. I haven't stayed up that long since...geez I don't know if I can remember. I was very excited to wake up the next morning w/ no hanger...maybe I am not getting as old I thought :)

Chris and I are already thinking for next year. Happy Halloween.

Ang

Engagement Pictures

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 03:04:14 GMT

Saturday before all the fun and games began we had my mom take some engagement pictures of the two of us. We found a couple of good spots around town. We managed to keep my mom to one roll of flim. She is a liitle bit of shutter bug. We have picked out some of our favorite for everyone to look at.

Here is the one that we are going to put into our announcements. It took a liitle editing but it is our favorite.

Chris

Poker Night & Ladies Night

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 00:11:16 GMT

Last Saturday all the guys got to together over at our apartment for big poker game and all the ladies got together and decorated Eric and Renee's basement for the halloween party next weekend.

Eric, Mike and I got just about everyone that we knew and was willing to come and play. We shoe horned 13 people at two tables into the living room and kitchen. At a $20 buy in the pot was pretty large. We got started around 7:30 pm and we didn't finish until 1:00am. It felt like forever. But it was a really fun. Eric ended up winning the whole thing and taking home $130, Leitgeb took second for $80, and I took thrid for $50. We had orignally planned to start a second cash game once there were enough people out, but no one wanted to because they were having to much fun watching. Everyone left asking when we were going to do it again. I'll let Angie talk about her fun over at Renee's house.

At Renee and Eric's house the ladies gathered and consumed some tastey wine and decorated for the big event next Saturday. HALLOWEEN PARTY! I can't wait. We put up lots of lights (orange, puprle, pink, and black) and a spider with 10 foot long legs...he is so cute though :) Lots of gossip and cackeling occured throughout the evening. Before the night ended we made plans to meet over there this coming Friday night to make the 'Jello'...about three hundred of these little jello shots are going to be made for the party. Good times.

We will definitely have pictures of our costumes and everyone elses...I have informed everyone that if you show up with no costumes it is a $10 just to get in the door :) We'll see if this works.

Chris & Angie

Football Weekend 10-15-2005

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 23:47:04 GMT

Well it has been a couple of weeks since we last wrote but we have been kind of busy. The picture in the new album are from two weekends ago when we went to the Carroll Montana Tech football game. We had a pretty big group out tailgating and their was a record crowd in the stadium. That is because Montana Tech is Carroll's biggest rivallary in the conference. There is down right hatered between these two schools. So it was fun wacthing Carroll kick the snot out of them. Carroll was beating them so bad at halftime that we didn't even go back in for the second half. We just watched the scoreboard from the parking lot, ate some more food, and had a couple more beers.

After the game we headed out to Cory's house to continue the fun and to watch MSU Bozeman play on TV. Cory graduated from Bozeman so it was kind of like having two tailgate partys in the same day. His team didn't have the same fate but it was a very close game that was decided by a field goal.

Sunday was spent recovering and watching more football on TV.

Chris

Engaged 10-7-2005

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 18:20:45 GMT

Well it finally happend...we're engaged. I was totally taken by surprise...it is scary at how well he can keep a secret :)

It all started Friday after work (well for me that is when it started...Chris has been working on this for some time). I got to my car after work and saw a rose sitting on my front seat. I was so excited to see the rose...I just thought he was being sweet cause I had been sick all week and this was here to cheer me up. On my way home I couldn't wait to give him a big hug for being such a sweet boyfriend. I got to our apartment and opened the door to find it pitch black except for on the kitchen table. There were beautiful flowers and candles lining the table and a bottle w/ a cork in it. There was a note in front of the bottle that said 'Read Me'. I opened the bottle to read the sweetest words. When I finally got to the bottem (I was already tearing up) it asked "Will You Marry Me?". Then Chris came out of the bedroom (all dressed up in a shirt and tie) got down on one knee and asked me "Will you marry me?". By this time I was crying so hard I could barely answer "Yes, I will marry you!".

After lots of hugs, kisses, and tears (maily by me) we opened the champagne. Chris popped the cork , the bubbly was poured, and we toasted to our future.

The ring is a past, present, future diamond ring. It is on a platnium band that Chris picked out. One of the side diamonds Chris got from his mom in May. That diamond was Chris's moms grandmas diamond. (Great grandma). He hid that diamond in an Altoid box in his dresser for months. Crazy. Even crazier was Jill and Jeremy drilling Chris on vacation about when he was finally going to propose. Chris didn't want to say anything but he was already talking to the jewler at the time. The ring was made in LA and shipped back last week. Chris picked up the ring on Wednesday. He acutally had to lie to me one day when he got home late from work cause he got held up at the jewlers...he used talking to his buddy Eric as his excuse. It is the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen...but I may be a little bias.

Well that is when the phone calls started. I called my parents and Dad answered...Mom wasn't home (she was out shopping w/ Candi) so I told him the great news. He was excited and after I talked to him for a bit he asked to talk to Chris...he wanted to congratulate him as well. I told Dad to have Mom call me when Candi and she got back. In the mean time I called Chrissy, Vicki, and my friend Sarah. I had to leave a message w/ Chrissy but got a hold of Vicki. She was so excited and she congratulated both Chris and I. I guess right after she hung up she told Becky and Becky's first question was how did he do it...so Vicki had to call back because she didn't think to ask the details :) It was cute.

Sarah was just as excited. When she and Luke got engaged she had to leave it as a message on my answering machine and it sounded like she was crying so I thought they had broken. Low and behold he had asked her to marry him. Sarah and I have the hardest time actually getting a hold of each other so I was very surprised to hear her voice on the other end of the line when I called. I was so excited to able to tell her my good news in person (sort of).

Chris's buddies kept calling to see what we were up to that night (Mike called just ask Chris was lighting the candles) so he had to fib to his friends about what we were doing because he wanted to tell everyone at the BBQ the next day. Needless to say they were a little suspicous.

Chris and I decided to go Montana City Grill for dinner to celebrate. While we were at dinner my mom called. I told her we were out celebrating and she asked what we were celebrating. I told her that Chris proposed and her response was, "Yeah right!". I said seriously mom he did...ask Dad. She turned her head from the phone and said Joe is this why you told me to call Angie about a receipe? Dad told a good fib so Mom wouldn't know what was going on...good one :) I could hear him giggle in the background...then Mom said Congratulations after the confirmation from dad.

Dinner was so yummy but I could hardly eat. I ordered a salad and sandwich and Chris got their tastey prime rib. The waitress caught on to our celebration at the end of the night and tried to sell us their banquet room for the reception or rehersal dinner. Sorry the wedding will be in MN and the reception in MT will need a much bigger space.

After dinner we called Chris's parents to see what they were up to and they had just gotten home. We mentioned that we were on our way home from dinner and thought we might stop by and say hi. We had a feeling they might know something was up because we never stop over at nine a night on a Friday evening. As soon as we walk in the door they looked straight at my finger and smiled. Steve (Chris's dad) grimmed and said "A ring". Pam started making phone calls and Chris called his brother, sister, and godfather. The word should now continue to spread like wild fire.

The next day I had to go to work but that was actually pretty fun cause there were lots of people I saw and I was able to tell them the good news. I could hardly concentrate the entire time. While I was at work Chris called his buddies back to confirm the BBQ at our place that night. People showed up through out the night to hear the good news. We tried to get people to notice the ring first but I guess they don't look at my hands as much as his parents do :) Even little baby Austin was in the partying mood cause he was still up and movin when everyone left. The evening ended looking at Mike and Nikki's wedding pictures.

Today is Sunday (two days later) and it still doesn't feel real. I guess Chris and I will be sitting down and figuring out some dates since that is the first question everyone asks. So far it is looking like either late summer 2006 or spring 2007. Don't worry we will be giving plenty of notice.

The planning is already starting; Pam asked when we will be ready to take our engagment pictures and this is just the beginningof all the fun.

Ang

New Layout

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 17:13:57 GMT

We have made some changes to the page.

You can now sign up to be notified automatically when ever we update this page. Which will in turn keep you updated on our latest happenings and cut down on the massive e-mailing from us.

I have also moved the pictures over to right side of the screen. With all of the blog entries the photo album was getting really far from the new posts. I thought this looked better. You can still see a larger view of the pictures by clicking on the button to the far right. It looks like this:

An additional bonus is when you do this you can see the title/captions we have entered for each picture.

Chris

Halloween

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 17:13:37 GMT

While we were in Billings we found a huge Halloween store, Spirt Halloween. Which was an old car dealership turned halloween store. 5,000 square feet of Halloween costumes and decorations. Which got us thinking about what we were going to go as this year. We have been kicking around a few ideas but haven't been able to nail it down yet. Gomez and Morticia Adams is topping the list right now. So how about leaving some comments on some creative couple costumes that Angie and I could go as. If we get enough ideas I might try and setup a poll so everyone can vote on a few of our favorties.

Little background two years ago I was a pimp and Angie was my, uhm, well, employee and last year we went as the Spartan Cheerleaders. We have kind of gotten a rep as the ones who go all out so let the ideas come.

Chris

P.S. I am not into to using Halloween as an excuse for cross dressing so don't waste your time.

Trip to Billings - Part II

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:15:25 GMT

Well we made our trip to Billings and back, and we had a great time. Saturday morning started off with Angie not wanting to get out of bed, even though she doesn't remember whinning about getting up the first time I tried. I didn't think that 7:00 was that early. After a quick stop at Hardees for some breakfast we were on the road.

The traffic was really bad and we couldn't figure why. Cars were everywhere and driving like mad men. If you are wondering traffic is never like that in Montana, especially on the highways and interstates. After awhile we realized it...everyone was going to the MSU - Bozeman football game. With no professional sports here in Montana people treat the two NCAA Div 1-AA schools like professional teams. So once we got past Bozeman the traffic was a lot better. Too bad all of those people didn't realize that the best team in the state was actually playing in Billings, but to each to there own.

The trip there went pretty quick. Angie had fun playing DJ with our new laptop. Which really came in handy since there are some long stretches from Helena to Billings with no radio stations. That's no kinding, not even NPR. We soon arrived in Billings in a short 3.5 hours and tried to check into our hotel...with no success. "Come back around 3:00", we heard her lady at the desk say. Which really sucked because we left Helena which was cold, got to Billings which was in the the 80's. We were a little over dressed for the football game but we surived. The Saints beat up on the Battlin' Bear pretty badly but it was still fun to watch.

After the game it was back to the motel to change and rest a little bit before we went to dinner, the real reason we were there. The football game was just a nice coincidence. All you can eat shrimp at Red Lobster was the reason that we were there. We both ate our fair share of those little guys I was around 75 with Angie coming in around 50. Nope I couldn't match Angie's Dad...100 shrimp. Hats off to him, that's alot of shrimp. We left with our stuffed bellies and decided to stop and get something to drink for back at the motel room. The store we stopped at had a huge display of pumpkins out in front. We just couldn't resist the photo op. I think we were getting some pretty weird looks.

The next morning started the same way as the last, with trying to get Angie out of bed. She really loves to sleep in if you couldn't tell. But we both got up just in time for the free breakfast down in the lobby and then it was off to do some shopping. Billings is one of the few places in the state that has all the big shopping chains that Angie likes to shop at. Lunch time rolled around and it was time for another one of Angie's favorites, the Olive Garden. We finished another huge meal, I told you I was going to gain 20 pounds this weekend, and we were off for a little more shopping. All the shopping was worth it because I got to look around and play at Best Buy. All I can say it is a good thing we don't have one in Helena.

The trip back home to Helena seemed a lot longer then the trip there but I think that is always the case. When we got into Bozeman we saw our first snow for the year. Crazy, I don't think I am ready for it yet but that means snowboarding is just around the corner.

Chris

New Computer

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 03:26:45 GMT

We have gotten a new computer. A new Dell laptop. I am actually posting this on entry on it right now. It is a fun new toy. Angie has been enjoying sitting in the living room and using the instant messenger. We have put all of our music on it as well so we now have a portatble jukebox. Should make that 4 hour trip to Billings go by a little faster.

Chris

Trip to Billings

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 03:19:43 GMT

We are going to Billings tomorrow(that's saturday) for a trip just for fun. Carrol is playing against Rocky Mountain College so we are going to go to that game. Not to mention that Red Lobster has their all you can eat shrimp special going on right now. Billings is the only city in Montana that has a Red Lobster or a Olive Garden, two of Angie's favorite restraunts. Word has it that Angie's dad ate 100 shrimp when they went earlier in Rochester, so I am going to try and match that. Olive Garden also has thier never ending paste bowl going on at the same time. I think I might gain 10-20 pounds this weekend.

Below is a count down to when we leave for Billings. I just saw how to do this on another web page and had to try it out. Angie has been so excited so I thought it was fitting.

(The counter has been removed since it had expired)

When we get back we will hopely post some more pictures from this trip.

Chris

Lazy Weekend

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 02:29:11 GMT

Last weekend we just sat at home and did nothing and it was everything that we dreamed it could be. Well we didn't do excatly nothing but we were pretty laid back. Angie had to work Saturday for a few hours and after that we went to the grocery store. After that we didn't leave the apartment until late Sunday afternoon. That might not sound like that a very big feat but we can't remember the last time that we sat at home for that long. On Sunday Angie decide to make a cake and if you know her it is no surprise that it was chocolate with chocolate frosting. We took it over to my parents for desert with dinner. My dad made a prime rib roast....yummy.

It was such a nice day on Sunday that we drove around town and took some pictures of our apartmetn, places of work, places that we like to hang out, and other scenic places around town. The pictures that we took will be in an album below.

Chris