Christmas in Livingston.

The holidays were wonderful here in Montana. I'm hoping next year someone visits us for the holidays, but either way, the boys & I make a great team & we always have fun. ;)

On Christmas Eve Eve we: Made garland out of popcorn & cranberries. Watched movies. Were surprised when a fire truck was parked in front of our house. Were even more surprised when we realized fire trucks & ambulances were parked all along the street & Santa was giving gifts to all of the children in town. We baked cookies & delivered them to friends & neighbors. Jumped around like monkeys. Spent some time on the couch, relaxing.

On Christmas Eve we: Started tracking Santa. Made magic reindeer food. Played board games. Opened up Christmas Jammies from Grandma Becky. Tyson stole a few bites from Santa's cookie plate.

On Christmas Day we: Opened gifts (Santa brought Presley a paintball gun & Mason got a tricycle). Had Rudolph pancakes. Stayed in our pajamas & played with toys. The boys has Christmas ham for dinner. I had a terrible amount of stuffing & mashed potatoes.

Yesterday was a big day for us. My ultrasound appointment was scheduled for the afternoon & we planned on going as a family, but decided Tyson should skip the appointment & spend his lunch hour making arrangements for a mortgage pre-approval.

Mason & I picked Presley up from school and went to our appointment. I asked the technician to keep the gender private so Presley wouldn't overhear. He's not great at keeping secrets. ;) After she confirmed what I already suspected, we headed home.

While the boys were hanging out I baked a gender reveal cake. I made sure no traces of the batter were visible & luckily they didn't seem to notice what I was up to. I quickly covered the cake in white frosting & put it away so I could make dinner.

When Tyson got off work we planned on meeting him & our realtor at a home we wanted to take a second look at. We spent some time at that house, then rushed home. The boys gathered on the couch & I brought out the cake. Apparently they thought the frosting color was going to reveal the gender so when I brought out a white cake they were all confused. Tyson thought I was pulling a prank & didn't actually find out, Presley almost started crying...it was weird.

After I explained the obvious, Tyson cut the cake. & they were all relieved. We will continue to be a zombie-obsessed, barbie-free family...at least for a few more years. ;) I do of course still plan on using the girl name I've had in my head for a couple of years.

Cheers, to THREE boys!

Homemade gingerbread house.

I'd love to say that our first time making a gingerbread house from scratch was perfect & delightful, but that'd be a damn lie. It worked out in the end, but getting there was an adventure.

It took a bit of nagging on my end to get the boys to cooperate. We got the dough mixed, set it in the fridge for thirty minutes, & hung out on the couch while it chilled. We rolled the dough out, cut out the pieces of the house, & put it in the oven for a few minutes. Pres made some royal icing. By the time we were ready to put it together & decorate it, it was our normal bedtime, so the kids were getting cranky. The icing wasn't holding the walls together, so that made me cranky! I was finally fed up so Tyson got the kids in bed while I tried getting the house glued together. Other than part of the roof, everything started to hold together so I had Tyson & the boys come back out. We quickly decorated it & I'm happy to report that it is still standing. Good grief!

PFL holiday party & stuff.

On Friday we all dressed up & went to Chico Hot Springs for Tyson's company party. They reserved a suite & hired babysitters so the kids had a place to hang. It was our first time leaving our kids with someone other than a family member so I was nervous, but they ended up having lots of fun. =)

We headed to the dinner party after we dropped them off. It was nice to meet everyone Tyson works with & he's a part of an amazing company! Truthfully, I was bummed to be 1 of 3 people not drinking (I just wanted my wine or a beer), but there's always next year. ;)


Saturday was pretty lazy for us. We did crafts at the library & spent the rest of the day at home. We watched A LOT of Regular Show.

& Sunday was pretty much the same! Presley wanted to learn how to crochet. He's a lefty, but I tried teaching him right-handed. Poor kiddo was so frustrated. So I watched a YouTube video & taught myself how to crochet left-handed, then taught Pres.

We tidied up & switched out our white dining table for the vintage one Tyson picked up. Everything in our dining & living area is officially retro.

Busy holiday weekend.

Last weekend we stayed busy with activities around Livingston & Bozeman.

Friday night was the Livingston Holiday Stroll. It was just another reason to adore this town. The kids & I got a head start & decorated ornaments at one of the art galleries on Main. We grabbed a snack at The Pickle Barrel & saw Santa. After Santa we visited the residents at the senior center & purchased some of their handmade items. We then headed back to the Subaru to wait for Tyson to get off work. The 4 of us took a picture with creepy frosty & then hopped on the big Yellowstone tour bus for a drive around town. We grabbed hot cocoa & had dinner at the mexican restaurant in town before we went home for the evening.

Saturday we spent the day in the Bozeman area. The boys went thrifting & I had a crochet class. They picked me up & we grabbed lunch then drove to Belgrade. We are in the early stages of house-hunting & Belgrade is our second choice for cities to settle down in so we looked at a few homes that caught our eye.

Sunday we finally got our tree! Our permit was purchased earlier in the week & Tyson had picked up a new bow saw. The six of us hopped in the cruiser & headed to Pine Creek. It was our first time up since the wildfire & it was a relief to see very little burn along the trail. We hiked up to the waterfall before looking for our tree. On the way down we were all getting cranky & hungry so Tyson headed off the trail to find a tree while the dogs, boys, & I took a break. Once he found one we all made our way to it, Tyson & Presley cut it down, & we took it to the truck. =) We spent the rest of the day decorating it. Our lovely 8 ft tall Charlie Brown tree.