Honesty

There are times in life, when I'm extremly thankful for someone elses virtues, this was one of them.

About a week ago, Xica and I, along with her mom, and my Uncle, took a trip to Montana to go out to our relatives ranch for branding (pictures to follow). On our way over we stopped in Bozeman for the night. When packing the vehicle the next morning, through a combination of the vehicle being moved to another parking spot, and poor choice of placement, my backpack was left sitting in the parking lot of Bozeman Best Western. My mistake wasn't realized until we were an hour and a half down the road.

You know that deep, dreadful, sinking feeling... Yeah, I had it. It's amazing how much one can fit into a backpack! And how hard it would be to replace some things! Here's just some of the items in the backpack: My bible, three books I recently received as gifts, North Face jacket, Leatherman, hunting knife, pocket knife, $700 dollar digital camera, a extra lens for it, and My Grandpa's 38 revolver, that he used in World War Two! You can't get much more "irreplaceable".

After getting the hotel number, and calling, the desk clerk went back to look, and found an empty parking lot.

Here's where that dreaded feeling got a lot worse! Thankfully it lasted only about 20 mins. That's when I received a call from the hotel. An HONEST patron of the Best Western had found my bag, and turned it in, just after I'd called them looking for it! Thank you Lord! He hadn't dug through the bag,(I'd had it packed so tight, I could tell) he just turned it in, leaving no name, no desire for reward.

May we all strive to be so honest, looking after other's needs, before our gain.

Canoeing on Baker Lake

We stopped for lunch at a little spit. I'm glad the grass hadn't grown back yet, or it may have been a little wet!
I was amazed that I still fit into a life vest even being seven months pregant!

Yeah for cameras that have timers! (even though Josh has his eyes closed...)

I insisted on going canoeing at a beach where we could have a little fire so I could have smores. It's summer, right?

Josh was a good daddy-to-be and roasted my marshmellows so I (and baby) didn't have to smell too much of the smoke.

We actually got to see Baker! It was beautiful.

Much easier heading back with no more wind and little lake white caps!

We went Clamming.

I've gotta tell you, I really enjoy the fact that my in-laws live on the water, and have a beach and tide flats. During the summer I make the most of it by doing as much crabbing as I can. So when the sun broke a few weeks ago... OK, maybe it just stopped raining for a moment, either way... I got the urge to get outdoors and doing something fun, and different.

I found out that if you go clamming on tide flats that belong to your family, there is no limit to the amount you can take home. So off Xica and I went... It ended up being colder out there then we thought it would be, so Xica was glad her coat still fit over her pregnant belly. I ended up finding lots of horse clams in no time.

That night we had some really good home made clam chowder, and some really good deep fried clam strips!

If you aren't careful, they'll squirt you. I got it in the eye... it wasn't pleasant.

I love the views down there and the peace and quiet found on the beach.

7 months

Okay, so it's been a while! This is the beginning of seven months... Baby is definately more active and I can finally identify it's little head, especially when it trys to push out (you can actually SEE the head!). I also have obtained the linea nigra, although it isn't too dark yet! As you can see, my "timer" has also started to push out. I've been told that I had an outie when I was little too. As long as it goes back in, I'll be okay! Baby continues to be just in the front. My family tells me that I don't even look pregnant from the back (what a great family I have!). All goes well and I'm in the third trimester with bi-monthly doctor appointments now. It amazes me how time flies!

How we ended up with another dog...

I realized that I hadn't yet blogged about are latest edition to our household and since I'm sure she will at some point come up, I should probably tell the story of how we found her.

It all begun when Chad and I went over to eastern Washington, near Ellensburg, to hunt coyotes, or cougars, or just camp, and shot some guns a little. It ended up being just the latter of the three, though we did give it our best shot with game calls, and hours and miles toward making it a successful hunt.

The weather was cold at night, and during the day when the sun came out, everything turned to mud.

It's too bad we weren't hunting for elk, because there were plenty of them spending their winter months in the sage brush.

So we didn't come home with any dead animal, but we did bring home to live ones!! We found these to 8 month old dogs wondering near where we were camping. As you can see from the picture, they were very happy that Chad got out of the truck and game them some food. After that they followed us to our camp, and never left. We tried to find their owner, went to a local vet to scan for an I.D. chip, and called the Animal Shelter, but no one was looking for them. It seemed the had been abandoned. They were both a little thin, and it seemed they hadn't had any food for awhile.

How could we just leave these puppies? Chad had been wanting a dog anyway, and Xica and I had been toying with the idea of getting another dog, mostly for companionship for Abby.

It was pretty cold camping... the dogs helped warm up the tent that night though!

So Chad liked the red dog, and we took that black and tan. We named her Ellie, since we found them just out side of Ellensburg.

Abby and Ellie are getting along just fine, and have fun playing together.

And maybe a little biting!

Theft

This morning Xica was going to take her car to school, and found it missing the back wheel!!! Sometime in the night, someone jacked up the car, took the wheel, and threw a cement block under it. I think the only time I had seen this before is in the movies when they're trying to portray a ghetto, I didn't know people do this in neighborhoods, and right in our driveway, while we were sleeping! Its very frustrating, especially when it is just under the insurance deductible, so it just comes out of our pocket. I found a replacement wheel today on eBay, so hopefully it gets here quickly, so we are back to two cars. Its interesting how we get use to having two cars(which is a luxury in most of the world) to get to the jobs we have, and don't know how to function with just one.

I think I'm going to buy some locking lug nuts.

Ultrasound

Baby Peterson (sex still unknown... lol)

I absolutely loved this picture. Baby suddenly opened his/her mouth and it looked just like baby was laughing. The ultrasound Dr. seemed to find it amusing too as he replayed this image mulitple times! (Baby is lying down with the head on the left and the big belly on the right.)

The Dr. wanted to make sure we had a serious pose of baby at his/her 1/2 point (20 weeks). It is truly amazing just how real baby looks and acts (sucking his/her thumb, curling up in a ball, all the little bones and stomach, and of course kicking momma- aka me!)