Sparties vs Texas tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I can say is SPARTY ON! In the past, we have matched up well against Texas, even with Durant on the team, winning our last 3 games against Texas. I'm a bit worried about tonight's game, though. Texas is huge and we lack size...this was evident in our loss to UNC this year (even without the annoying Hansbro I still hate the tarheels). An acceptable, but hard-to-swallow loss (whereas Florida was unacceptable).

It will be interesting to see how we do inside against Pittman and James. It would be nice if the consistent and versatile Draymond Green can step up tonight and shut Pittman down, but size might be an issue here. Fortunately, Green seems to ignore size differences in his match-ups and just plays with passion. I like the toughness he brings to the Spartans, a characteristic that Spartan teams were known for, but I personally feel has been lacking the past 2-3 years. Green is the ONLY Spartan player I liked as a freshman and he hasn't disappointed me yet.

We also need Lucas to play with confidence, which has been inconsistent in recent games and hopefully Summers will step up and be the athlete we all know he is. I think he's sad as I heard rumors of his girlfriend dumping him. Sorry man, but suck it up. We are counting on you!

Finally, rebounds are our strong suit and it will be absolutely necessary to out-rebound them if we expect a win against a tough Texas team at home tonight. Fire up and let's keep this winning streak alive!

Christmas Post

It's been too long since I've updated this blog. We went to Chicago this summer for Sarah's wedding, which was a blast. See pics below. This is also when my love of glue guns arose...I LOVE GLUE GUNS!














What a great time. We were also able to spend time in Michigan with some family. How nice it was to see Lake Michigan again!

Our house...

We've been working in the yard like crazy this year so I thought I'd take some pictures of our house for those of you who haven't seen it (or Montana). We have a little over half an acre and a lot of gardens to work in.

This is a picture of our house from the East including this gorgeous rose bush we have. The middle pic is our walkway that I recently planted some flowers in and the right picture is the south side of our porch with one of our gardens.

This is a picture of the river running right in our yard (we have water rights to it, which is nice). It is just beatiful! You can also see the Bitterroot mountains in the background. The middle picture is a fire pit I built next to this great part of the yard with this really cool mix of ground cover. The right pic is part of our yard to the north of our house.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them if you can't see details. More pics to come!

Bouldering at Lost Horse!

Okay, our first time bouldering, but we were in great hands. Our Austrian nobleman friend, Christoph, showed us the light. This is me on the way up and at the top of the first boulder we tried.

Then I hit this problem (bouldering lingo) that I wasn't able to solve I guess. I suck, but it's a cool picture. Just have to get it next time...

I WANT THESE SHOES!

If anyone has a pair of these in 7.5 or 8 and doesn't want them, please email me because I will buy them from you. I simply cannot find them anywhere and I really want them. Thanks so much. They are Mossimo Wilda slingback wedges in green and were sold at Target stores. They are discontinued, so I can't find them new.

March to the arch hike

So, we hiked Blodgett Falls last weekend and the rock arch to the south was pointed out to us. We just knew we had to get up there, so this weekend we did it. We hiked 3 miles to the pack bridge on the trail and then had to start bush-whacking off trail to get up there. This is me as we got to the pack bridge...all excited and enthusiastic about the climb. The arch is in the box!


So, we headed up and had to bust our way through some pretty thick trees. It was difficult at best, so instead of heading directly up, we proceeded a bit laterally until we got to a big rock slide. We started climbing up rocks and followed a waterfall up. It was difficult at best. 2 hours later we were here:

Okay, we seriously considered going home at this point as it had taken us SO long to get here and the rocks above seemed so daunting and steep. We took a vote and decided to get to the arch, for that was what we came here to do.

Getting closer.....

Finally, we made it to the arch! So beautiful and quiet up there. It really is a spectacular place to live in the Bitterroot Valley. Stay tuned for more hiking pics.

Here we are under the arch!

Subway incident...the dirty knife!

Okay, many of you may know that I have a ridiculous phobia of condiments. So much so that when I'm around them my heart races, my blood pressure goes up and I freak out. I don't understand it either, it just happens.

So, I was at Subway this weekend and I got a $5 footlong. When my sandwich neared the end of the line, I asked the girl not to cut it in half. This is because that filthy knife is loaded with every condiment from every sandwich that came before mine, not to mention is likely laden with bacteria. I just don't want it slicing through my sandwich...have you noticed how clean that knife comes out of your sandwich? Anyway, I literally had just asked the girl not to cut my footlong with it and she acknowledged my request and not 5 seconds later sliced through my sandwich with a vengence. Not kidding. She explained that it is just a habit and proceeded to wrap up my footlong. My heart was racing and I started to feel dizzy (I realize these are not normal responses to this situation).

I skipped some embarrassing details here...

After a new sandwich was made for me (yes, I'm this out of control), I made my way back to work; heart racing, hands sweaty and head dizzy. I unwrapped and inspected my sandwich, ripped it in half (works just as well as the knife) and had a good lunch.

I didn't think this story was blog-worthy, but a coworker told me that my crazy is funny enough to post. Hope you enjoyed!

Pugs!!!!!!!!!!

SAMMO and TELULA!!!!!!!!!

My dogs are the best litte stinkers. So cute.

Vegas Baby!

Just got back from Vegas and with some money! Yeah! That hasn't happened in a while. I hope my friends in the Rio poker room are still there making a killing. And yes, I've sobered up by now. Allegiant Air sucks by the way. We will return in July for some food and fun.

Back to reality and work.