Doggy Walk

The other day, my friend Jessica and I decided to go and walk our dogs on the Greenbelt along the Boise River. It was snowing just a little and the air was a tad brisk. Ally and Jack, their golden retriever, get along really nice. I am hoping that Jack will teach Ally some more manners by proximity. Along the way, we spotted 3 bald eagles. It was really cool and once I learned what to look for it was easy to spot the giant birds in the leafless trees.

The only bad thing that happened on our walk was that Ally tried to kill me! She saw about 4 cats on the river bank and decided to chase them. I was trying to hold her on the leash but at some point there is really no use arguing with almost 100 pounds of dog because she was pulling me towards the river. I decided to just let the leash go because I didn't want to slip. She came back to us after running around in circles looking for the cats, but I was still mad at her. She just looks at me with her stupid tongue hanging out of her mouth like she just had the most fun ever! BAD DOG! Jack was such a good boy during the entire time. I hope that training kids are easier than training dogs! Just kidding concerned relatives! :)

Sleigh Ride at the Elk Refuge

While visiting Jackson Hole, Wyoming, one of the days we all went on a sleigh ride at the Elk Refuge. This is a place where thousands of elk migrate during the winter. You can drive on the roads around the perimeter of the place or you can go on a guided horse drawn sleigh ride. Tough decision!


It was so awesome because the the guide brought us right in the middle of the herd. There was a bachelors group where all of the bulls congregate away from the pesky females. Willy really liked this idea. They had such huge antlers that they drop every season. We also saw them sparring with each other. There were a lot more cows than bulls and since they do not have antlers, the stand on their hind legs and box with each other to assert dominance. Interestingly, elks are lead by the matriarchs and their knowledge of migration paths are passed down from generations. Even down to the best place to cross a river.


The driver brought us to a stop right under a tree and low and behold, there where not one, but two bald eagles just sitting in the branches looking at us. It was a really nice day and Keri took some awesome pictures that I hope she will let me post here.

After lunch, Keri and John went to go shopping while Willy and I went on a buffalo hunt. We didn't see any buffalo, but we found some warm springs and some old settlers cabins. The cabins didn't have any roofs but you could still see some of the mud that was used to fill in the gaps. It was very interesting and we played in the snow together. Of course I kept sinking in the snow up to my thighs while Willy laughed.

Snowshoeing with Friends

While Willy and John were tearing up the ski slopes at Bogus Basin, Keri and I joined our friends for some snowshoeing. Jessica and Mark met us by the Nordic Lodge and we went at it. They took these beautiful pictures and were nice enough to let us post them here.

View from the Nordic Lodge

It was the first time that Mark, Jessica and Keri ever did this. Mark was the first to fall when he went off of the packed trail onto a downward slope that had about four feet of snow. It was funny until I followed him and fell repeatedly. It was so hard to get up because when you put you arm behind you to heave yourself up, you arm sank in the snow too. Keri and Jessica decided to follow the trail...

Keri and Marisa: Eating Snow

Marisa, Keri and Jessica on the Groomed Path

Would you Believe How Hot We Got? Keri, Marisa and Mark

The Mountain Girls

The Pregnant Lady and the Florida Girl are Winded
(Those Montana People are Good at This!)

Being so newly pregnant, I am learning what my limits are. I would not have believed how fast I would loose any natural grace I could boast of before. At one point I was going to snowshoe down a steep slope, whereas, naturally, I fell again and couldn't get up. Mark, being a gentleman, grabbed my jacket so I wouldn't roll down the mountain and also so I could get my flailing limbs in order. How embarrassing! Thanks Mark.

Mom's Visit

I had such a wonderful time with my mom this week. She flew all the way from Tampa to hang out with us for four days. We went hiking in the foothills with Ally (who just adored her) and some shopping at the mall and the Hyde Park area. One of mom's favorite adventures was snowshoeing at Bogus Basin. It was beautiful up there and we witnessed an inversion effect, which is a layer of thick clouds that are low and cover Boise. We thought that it would be a dreary day until we started to make our way up the mountain. But when we got past the clouds, the big blue sky opened right up for us! From above, the clouds appear as a sea and the mountain tops look like rocky islands. I just pulled this picture off of the internet, so keep an eye out on Mom's blog. If we are lucky and nice to her, maybe she will post some of the beautiful pictures that she captured on the digital camera that I did not break.

As almost everyone knows, Willy and I are going to have a baby. I am very sorry if I failed to tell everyone who may read this in person. I thought I would post this for a little while for Willy's grandparents. It is just an audio of the heartbeat that I recorded while in the doctors office. It is very exciting for me to be reassured that everything is progressing as it should. When mom heard this she teared up a bit... more grand babies!

Heartbeat at 12 weeks 6 days

Ultrasound at 9 weeks...

Snowshoes

Last weekend was very nice. On Saturday, we went to a Thai restaurant with a pal from Willy's work. Afterwards, they dropped me off at home so I could have some quite-no-boys-time (or recover from my headache) while they decided to do some night snowboarding. It has been snowing in our neck of the woods everyday for hours. It is really pretty out and Ally comes back inside as a wet white dog, but what are you going to do?

Then on Sunday, we finally rented some snowshoes. It was something that I have been really wanting to try. I want to be more active outside with Willy and snowshoeing is more in my line instead of skiing. I can also go off on my own while he is doing his thing. Not to mention that when Willy gets good at snowboarding, we can go into the back-country. It seems a lot of people snowshoe up the mountain and then snowboard down.

We went to test them out at Bogus Basin. It was so awesome looking through the snow covered pine trees to see more mountains. It was a fun walk. We were just going to walk the 1km Billy Goat trail because it was around 3:30 and it gets dark pretty quickly. However, we got lost and ended up walking at least 3 miles! It started to get cold but we finally made it back to the car 2 hours later. I still enjoyed myself and would like to do it again, now that I know what to expect!

Last night we ate some Mexican food with our new Boise friends. So we are enjoying ourselves and looking forward to some more company!

I Almost Forgot...

The other day, Willy took me on a date. We had so much fun because he took me to this nice pizza place and then out for a movie. We went to see Sweeney Todd. I really liked the movie because the plot was excellent and I was manipulated and fooled until the last minute of the movie. I also enjoyed all of the gothic elements. Willy didn't care for the music, but I liked it. He said that the tunes were not memorable. There where quite a few funny parts in it and of course it is a Johnny Depp film!

We also had a nice dinner at Jessica's and Mark's house. We got our butts whipped in Pictionary and then watched Transformers which was long, but very good.

Overall, Willy and I are doing very well. We are just looking forward to our family visits this month.