Happy New Year!

Another exciting year has passed and there is much to catch up on. Amber accepted a lecturer position for this past fall semester and Alan has been busy with work as always. Unfortunately we have not updated the blog in a while so we would like to provide a look back at the last six months...

Amber shares a drink with the girls on a lovely fall afternoon. These women have always been very supportive, but were hugely supportive for "Professor Robertson" this semester.



This fall we explored some of the county parks. One beautiful fall morning we headed out to Indian Lake Park. The scenery was beautiful and the critters were out and about!


In November Amber's mom and step-dad visited Madison. Our dear friends Chad and Lara joined us for dinner. Good food, good wine, and good friends...what more is there to life?


Winter came early and fast to our little corner of the world. We had lots of snow early in December and it just kept on coming. See more photos below.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches....Alan and I decorated our little Charlie Brown tree early in December complete with the 12 days of Christmas and a nearly complete collection of Star Trek ornaments :)


Alan brimming with holiday cheer!


In mid-December we traveled to Indianapolis to share Christmas with the Smiths. Alan's parents are shown above and his brother, sister-in-law, (and baby Smith) are shown checking out their goodies from Santa.


Just before Christmas Madison got a ton of snow! After shoveling the drive way Alan and I had a little fun in the snow.

One final, and very exciting note...we are engaged! We are planning an August 2009 wedding. Stay tuned for more information.

BZZZZZ

Alan and I have the privledge to live in close quarters with some creepy (and not so creepy) critters. Perhaps the most appealing housemate is the robin and two chicks that are nesting in our garage. Last week I was lucky enough to witness the chicks first flying lessons. One did quite well and the other sort-of ran into Alan's car...I hope it got away ok.

Our next house guest does a good job of keeping the mosquitoes at bay, but leaves a lot of little messes on my car...can you guess? BATS! The "garage" is more like a car port in that there is no door. The bats like to hang out in the rafters in the evening, but they must have another hiding place during the day.

Our third guest is definitely the one I struggle to enjoy. Many of you know that I am not fond of flying insects so the fact that we have a population of about 20 cicada killers living in our front lawn is not terrific in my book. As the old saying goes "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger", I am slowly desensitizing to these critters and although I will probably never LOVE flying insects, I at least have less anxiety about them. As the pictures below show they look like giant hornets, but they are actually pretty harmless. The males have false stingers and can't hurt you at all. Although the females do have stingers, they are not aggressive and I guess the sting doesn't feel like much. The females dig nests in the sand to lay their eggs, meanwhile the males are cruisin' around looking for a mate. As their name suggests they snack on cicadas which are rather loud insects, but not often seen because they would just rather be in the trees. So although there is nothing to be afraid of, I still scurry in and out of the house waving my arms about and probably giving the neighbors a few good laughs! I must give a big thanks to Alan for being brave and taking photos of our friends, the cicada killers.

Montana Adventure

Alan and I recently returned from two glorious weeks in Montana! We had a lovely time visiting family and seeing the beautiful scenery. Check out our adventures below.

Alan and I started our adventure at Canyon Ferry Lake just outside of Helena. The first night Alan was in town we went to the county fair to take in a rodeo...Alan's first!

View from the cabin.

Yee-Haw! The rodeo was great fun, but I think the livestock got the best of the cowboys.

Alan enjoying some sun at the beach with my cousin Trey in the background.

Alan, my mom, my step-dad, and I walked down to the creek that runs through the ranch owned by my mom's family. The creek is a great spot for fishing as the little brook trout are plentiful and the fishing pressure low. Montana received a ton of snowfall this past winter, some of which has not yet melted. All of this water contributed to the beautiful scenery and good water levels.

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.

~Norman Maclean

Success!

Our next adventure took us to the Flathead Valley which includes a beautiful chain of lakes and the west entrance to Glacier National Park. We enjoyed beautiful scenery, many water falls, great hospitality thanks to our good friend Aaron, and great hiking. This was our second trip to Glacier, a place that is quickly becoming one of our very favorite places to go.

Morrell Falls

Glacier National Park

Whitewater Rafting! Alan and I experienced the thrill of whitewater rafting on the middle fork of the Flathead river which borders Glacier. We decided on the 10am float so that we had more time to play in Glacier. The only down side was that it was about 55F and overcast so it was a bit chilly to start out! Although we don't have pictures from the river check out Alan in his cold-weather water gear.

Beautiful Glacier

I love Montana!

Saddle up Partner!

My papa, Kerry, and step-mom, Ivy, treated Alan and I to a great horseback ride. My dad has been around horses most of his life, but Alan, Ivy and I were learning as we went along. Everyone had a great time and Alan looked like a natural!

Papa and Betsy, our guide, help to get Alan saddled.

Alan is saddled up and ready to ride on his trusty mare Flaxey.

Ivy's looking good on Tangles.

Papa, Amber, and Ivy riding the range.

Papa and Ivy with Jo, a friendly border collie.

Charade

I love, love, love Audrey Hepburn! Last night I watched the 1963 film Charade and it was marvelous. The film stars Audrey Heburn and Cary Grant along with a very young and skinny Walter Matthau. The film is the most wonderful who-done-it that keeps you guessing at every turn. And did I mention Audrey is in the film? What a wonderful woman she was! I personnally enjoy her acting and think she is beautiful, but am also in awe by all of her humanitarian efforts. Audrey's childrens fund is called "All Children In School" which raises money to educate children in developing nations. She also spent much of her later years working with UNICEF. If you want to check out more her family has created a nice website at http://www.audreyhepburn.com/ . Hats off to you Audrey!

An Alternative Approach

This week I had my third acupuncture appointment and I think I am finally convinced that there really is something to Eastern medical treatments. After over two years of consulting Western medical practitioners about my neck and back pain I was left with a lot of pain, but the reassurance that I am structurally sound. I am thankful that there are not structural problems, but the pain is really starting to get to me. My whole experience with acupuncture has been very pleasant. The practitioner has a broad understanding of the human body, interactions with the environment, as well as Western medical practices and medications. She determined that my liver chi (energy) was stagnant (YIKES!) and that my yang was increased and overcoming my yin (never good). The first session was a bit of a blur as I was trying to keep straight my yin and yang while experiencing the sensation of approximately 30 needles in my body. The needles don't hurt at all going in or leaving. After all the needles are in place you get to just sit, or lay in my case, and relax for about 30 minutes. All in all it is very enjoyable. There are some sensations of tingling or tensing and releasing but nothing thus far has been uncomfortable. The session this week was amazing. After 30 minutes I felt deeply relaxed, similar to the feeling after receiving a massage. I feel like my pain over the past couple days has also decreased...thank goodness!

I wanted to share this experience to say, that in some cases other ways of looking at our bodies and ways to help are bodies are very important alternatives. Prior to this experience I was pretty neutral about alternative therapies, but in my case it has made all the difference.

Peace.

Lightning Bug Storm Trackers

Since yesterday the humidity levels have been going up and up. We work up to rain then the sun came out increasing the humidity until the storms finally came in around 7:30pm. Alan and I enjoyed watching the storm front come in complete with lots of cloud rotation. Thankfully other tornado conditions were not present so we were not in harm's way.

While Alan was tracking the cloud movement I was tracking the only bug I have ever come to enjoy...Lightning bugs! I still remember the first time I saw lightning bugs, which are not native to Montana. During high school I traveled to Chicago for a summer program and had my first encounter. My new found friend Coralee and myself were walking outside around 4th of July. All of a sudden I saw "sparks" on the ground and thought they were parts of a firework. Coralee just laughed and laughed and said "Girl, those are lightning bugs." She went on to catch one and show me up close how it lights up. Ever since them I have been enamored with them. Below is a video that is not great, but if you watch carefully you will see the sparks of light.