We love our Bill

Bill really knows how to relax, take a load off and beat the heat :)

Airshow extravaganza

Sorry these pictures kind of suck. We forgot our cameras so I took a few shots with my phone. I know they aren't that spectacular, but the airshow was. We hit the air show this past Saturday and saw some super cool stunt flying, some older planes and the Blue Angels . It was awesome and (I think) worth sitting in the hot sun all day :)

More planting

We decided some hanging planters would add some interest and color to the front of the house. So I went out and bought some, planted them and hung them from the railing. It's a bit late in the season, but I'm hoping they'll fill in some.

Goodbye Zissou

I am saddened to report that my beta fish, Zissou Belafonte, passed away this weekend due to the extreme heat we have been experiencing. He just couldn't take it and I was too preoccupied to even think to move him to our basement where it would have been much cooler :( He was a good fish. I had him for 2 years. RIP buddy.

Road trip

Hello, Seattle! We took a road trip to Seattle last weekend. 10 hours of driving and we finally made it. I couldn't wait to see the skyscrapers.

We spent Saturday walking around downtown, guided by our friend Travis. The Seattle Public Library is a new building with some pretty sweet architecture. It was an awesome site.

From inside it was breathtaking.

We lucked out with the weather for the day. It was sunny the entire time.

We couldn't go all day walking in the city without stopping for a refreshing cocktail. We ordered these, not realizing they were served in carafes! Holy smokes!

How could we visit the coast and not have seafood? We stopped for lunch on the pier and ordered a "clam" bake style lunch. We feasted on crab, shrimp, clams, mussels, potatoes and corn. They just dumped it on the table and let us go at it. It was delicious!

Friday night we stayed with our friends the Andersens in Snohomish. It's just outside the city. They met us downtown on Saturday. It was really great to get to see them and spend some time with them.

The Olympic Sculpture Park is a new park in Seattle. We hit it kind of late in the day and were pretty hot and worn out, but there were some very cool sculptures. Check out the Space Needle behind this one.

This is a really sweet metal tree sculpture.

Go TIgers! We hit the Mariners vs. Tigers baseball game Saturday night.

It was a lot of fun to get to a game again. We really miss that in Bozeman.

Unfortunately the Tigers lost when we were there. It was a good game until about the 7th inning. They kicked butt on Sunday though and we caught that game via XM radio on our drive home.

Of course we had a great trip, but you can't argue with the beauty Montana has to offer. It can be pretty spectacular. I took this photo out of the car window. Welcome home :)

IKEA

We spent last weekend in Seattle. Took a road trip and visited IKEA. We made some good purchases. This chair fit perfectly in the living room. It's comfy and just the right size.


We've set up the guest room so it's ready for guests. We got the bedside table lamp at IKEA.

We got two of these filing cabinets and two of the chairs. Jim built the desk in our office. We need a good picture of it to post. It's awesome.

More yard work

We've been spending most of our time on the yard lately. I finished weeding the garden against the house. We'd like to plant irises in the fall but also think we'll plant some other stuff still this summer. We just have to decide on what. With my new job I get a good discount at Murdoch's so we should be able to find some stuff there.
We've taken down this planter and want to plant a few bushes over what is left. It was quite a job to knock it all down, but think we'll be happier with it this way. We have plans to pour a new concrete patio to cover up the last layer of brick, unless we can bring ourselves to try and pry up that last layer.




Jim found some mesh covering for our patio area so that we have more shade. He figured out a way to attach it using hooks and bungees. It's been awesome to have the extra shade.

Rodee-o-dee

More fun, less work :) We have been working on a few small projects around the house, but for the holiday we hit the rodeo in Livingston with a group of friends. Excuse the quality of the photos as I was using my phone because the camera battery died. I've placed an arrow in one shot so you're sure to see the bucking bronco!! Yeehaw! It was a total blast!

New job

Most of you know that I accepted a designer position with Murdoch's Ranch & Home Supply in Bozeman. I start on Monday, July 9th. I intended to stay at James Bennett Design through this Friday, but it worked out better for today to be my last day. My bosses (James & Jean) surprised with me this really beautiful vase as a "thank you" and "goodbye" gift. It was so thoughtful of them and I couldn't have asked for better people to work for in the past two years. I've been really blessed thus far in my career to have found jobs that have allowed me to grow professionally and work with some super talented and wonderful people. So, I couldn't wait to find a spot for the vase here at the house. I put it on our "wall of shelves" in the living room, but may find a better place for it down the line. It kind of gets lost with all the books and stuff right now, but I wanted to have it out on display. The artist who created it used to be a baker and baked cakes for the rich and famous until she became allergic to the ingredients in the frosting, so she started making these vases. Her name is Jeanette McCall. Beautiful stuff!