A lot of life has happened since my last post.  Holidays came and went....Thanksgiving and Christmas were both pretty low key.  I ended up working more than I wanted to, but it is the busy season.  I received a huge surprise for Christmas....my mom!!  One of the boys flew her up for Christmas.  It is not often I am 100% surprised, but they pulled that off.  Another son gave me a lap top for Christmas (I got a new phone and computer within days of each other and I am technologied out) and the third made me a really cool wooden 2 drawer chest that they laser imposed a picture on top.  The most amazing thing, I don't think I had ever seen the picture (the black and white one below).  It was years ago and was cool because it did not even look familiar to me.

Benjamin continues serving at a busy downtown breakfast spot.  This week he is interviewing for work through a temporary (of sorts) agency.  He has some fun plans ahead and needs the money for it.  He has just committed to staying in his current apartment for another year - good news for us since we comes over few times a week for laundry, food etc.

Jacob is several months into the elevator job.  He does new construction and he has enjoyed learning a niche skill he has never known anything about.  He is always brainstorming ways to work/earn money and his creative ideas blow me away.

Joseph is not playing any more sports, so that has been weird for me.  But he loves his down time.  He is working Saturdays at a local car dealership - throwing tires, helping with oil changes etc.  I would love a car mechanic in the family.  He recently upgraded his motorcycle and paid cash.  The boys did not always catch everything I was trying to teach them, but so far, all three of them are dialed in financially!

The second weekend of January we set out on a short 3 night cruise.  The first family vacation for us.  We all have our own take on the cruising industry now, but all enjoyed it.  We flew into Miami the night before departure.  I have never come so close to missing a flight, as I did in Dallas.  Gate D1 - the worst.  I was so out of breath I could not even talk to the gate agent when I got there.  They had given the 'doors are closing' announcement a few minutes prior.  I sent everyone else ahead of me and somehow found favor with the gate agent because he held the plane for me (and one other gentleman who had also been on our late arriving flight out of Montana).  The morning before we headed to the port, Benjamin said he wanted to watch the sunrise at Miami Beach.  So at 6am, he, Joseph and myself took an Uber to the beach. So cool and glad we have that memory.  We had cabins on the ship with ocean views - very comfortable cabins.  I was concerned about small rooms, but amazing how the balcony and large glass doors help.  The boys stayed right next door, so that was convenient.  The two full days on the ship we were both docked.  One at CoCo Cay and the other at Nassau.  Nassau was a hoot because through strange set of circumstances we ended up with a local guy driving us around in a side by side - our own personal tour guide!  We saw a cool ice skating show and a water/diving show that was all women.  I was not quite prepared for the night light on the ship.  I have not yet figured out what kind of a cruiser I am because I don't enjoy hours of laying in the sun or staying up until 3 am.  We mostly found ourself over by the sports deck where a lot of basketball happened with boys and they had a cool surfing pool (Flow Rider) that Benjamin and Joseph did.  I would have loved another 36 hours on the ship because it seemed just as we were learning our way around, etc, it was time to leave.

With holidays, I have put in way more hours than I wanted to, so hoping for a little down time.  Fortunately, our winter has been very mild.  We have only had about 2 inches of snow since first of the year and warmer temperatures so many days I did not wear a coat.  We have seen the grass most of the winter - nice change but will mean a very very dry summer.

Lots of travel for 2026 coming up.  Benjamin has just booked a 10 plus day trip with two friends to Italy in August.  He is probably going to be making a Texas trip in March.  Jacob has his eye on a Hawaii hunting trip middle of May - which, because of some amazing contacts, thinking he can get all in for under $1,000.  JR has an 11 day trip to Peru planned.  He will be on an extended hike with several other people (unknown to him) and a guide, cooks and pack animals.  This will have some overlap with Jacob's trip in May.  Joseph and I are talking about someplace the two of us could go....he suggested NYC, but I just don't know that I want to venture there without a third.  Love seeing my boys desire for travel.

I think that is the latest....now for huge photo dump (in most random order) 

(I know some of you periodically drop in on the blog.  Because of the infrequency, if you are interested in getting email notice when a new blog is posted, let me know and I will see if I can set it up)

 Time for another update and photo dump.

Ben is back on MT soil.  He ended up flying to Madrid for a week.  It was a good solo trip and he finally dipped his foot into international travel.  While gone this summer, he got to connect with family and it makes me so happy developing family relationships as an adult.  He is back at his former job, serving at a popular downtown restaurant.  He really enjoys it and is just so personable.  I am still not convinced he won't spread his wings next spring, but at least for this winter, he is close by.

Jacob finished up the fire season and decided wildland fire is not for him.  Too much downtime.  That kid doesn't like to sit still.  He and I road tripped down to Salt Lake City and he bought a truck in cash!  So proud of him and saving his money.  He spent almost every weekend out with his friends hunting in the eastern part of the state.  They had a great time, despite not getting anything significant. He recently went back down to Mexico with a friend and enjoyed a week of sun and food - he said he gained 8 pounds!  He recently started a full time job for a local elevator company.  He is a technician and enjoys the 4 - 10 hour days.  One perk of the job is that they have a sit down lunch every day at a restaurant, as well as all the normal benefits, that he has yet to fully realize.

Joseph is plugging along.  We just signed him up to take a trip with the school the summer of 2027 and they are headed to Italy.  It is a culture and cuisine trip - so a cooking class, learning to make mozzarella, etc.  So excited for him!  He started a new job this weekend, working at a local car dealership.  Pretty sure he will be a lube/tire technician so it will be nice for him to learn all things under the hood.  Just before school started he and I took a hot air balloon ride...fun to see things from the air while moving much slower than an airplane!

JR and I continue to plug along.  My work is very slow right now, but hoping it picks up in December.  He spent a week backpacking with a friend in the Wind River Range in September.  We have had several conversations recently and are thinking it might be time to move to another home in the valley within the next 12-18 months.  I actually talked with a realtor this week and he said that best time to list would be early March.  Not sure if we can swing it that quickly but something to at least shoot for.  God can certainly open the doors we need to make that happen.  We have not had a big goal in front of us in a long time, so it is exciting.  We also just booked our first every family vacation...a short 3 night cruise in January.  We are all interested in trying a cruise but were all apprehensive about a long cruise having never done one.  So we are trying it out in 2 months!

Now for the photo dump!

Summer is fading fast!!!  Two a days for Joseph and Football start on Friday.  School starts on Wed 8/27.  So thankful I have had the summer off to decompress and enjoy some things.

Jacob ended up on the Grand Canyon fire.  They worked 14 days straight, 16 hours.  Crazy hours.  He enjoyed it though and is still hoping to get on another fire in September.  I will add some pictures at the end, but he was not in the middle of things, more on the fringe of the fire.  They slept in tents and some times didn't shower for days at a time.  He is looking forward to some hunting in September and October and will stay with fire service if there is work, or will piece together some work.  He is making a few contacts for winter work, so we will see with that.  He still lives at home and I don't see that changing anytime soon.  He is hoping to buy a new truck sometime this fall!

Joseph.  We celebrated his 16th last week (this year they all turned 21, 18, 16).  He has had a quieter summer.  Spent some days working for JR but have not replaced his normal job, that he quit back in June.  Once football is over he will get another job - he is looking to save up for a motorcycle next fall.  (Him and I both took a motorcycle safety class and have gotten our motorcycle endorsement.  Not sure how much I will ride going forward, but looked at the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and connect with Joseph in his world.  I might buy his current bike but it would just be in town, running around.  I have no desire to get out on the open road and throttle it down.  I guess that could change.....

Benjamin.  He is currently in Austin for 6-8 weeks housesitting for my cousin.  He has always been intrigued with Austin and the opportunity arose for him to go down there for a short time and check things out.   He is in the heart of Austin!  He walked down to Zilker Park one night and saw a Blues Band.  He has been going to a gym, swimming at Barton Springs and enjoying the shopping.  Not sure yet which direction he will lean, Texas or Montana.

I actually drove down with Benjamin.  We first landed in Houston to see my dad and got to do some boating with my brother, as well as caught an Astros game.  Then we headed to Austin, where we had an impromptu gather with my brother, sister and mom.    Joseph flew down for the last 5 days so it was fun to run around my old stomping ground with my boys.  We hit top golf and the lake.  Joseph and I flew back together.  I was gone a total of 10 days.  

Prior to those 10 days, I hit the road with 3 college roommates.  We met up in Rapid City then journeyed over towards the Tetons and Yellowstone.  Then ended up in our area for 3 days.  Super fun to hang out with them!  Back to back trips, so I was gone for 19 days.  Was a lot of fun!  I also spent a night in Cody seeing my sister,

JR continues to plug away at work.  He is finishing up a big summer project and then preparing for an 8 day back packing trip with a friend in the Wind River Range in Wyoming.  He tries to get out every year around his birthday and get into nature.  Always helps to reset him!

I have found a flexible part time job that I am going to jump into.  It is at a rental car company so its close by and will be a more mobile job than my last one.  I see potential management opportunities maybe and some great growth in the company on the horizon.  I have told them I really want a flexible job that would allow me to be gone periodically as trips come up and they seem okay with that.  Hopefully a great fit that will allow me to still have some down time and take care of myself and things at home.

Here is a huge photo dump