Slowly getting settled

The last two weeks have been a mess. Packing, unpacking, looking for my jacket, finding things I forgot I had.

The actual move itself wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. They got all of our stuff packed, and delivered safely. Since it was just an overnight pack (they packed one day loaded the truck the next and delivered the third) they moved our pantry contents and all of our alcohol. Which included my large hoard of wine that I collected while pregnant.

They successfully took apart and reassembled the huge entertainment center that we own. We love it but damn, what was I thinking, it's enormous, and weighs a ton.

We got the house emptied had some guys come and clean, spend one last night on the floor, the same floor that we spend our first night on only 2 years and 2 months prior.

The next morning we got up early and packed out. We loaded our cars way beyond comfortable capacity with the things we knew we would need right away and the few things the movers wouldn't move (dog kennel, cat litter box, pack and play, vacuum, plants, and cleaning supplies, live animals.)

and we said good bye to the first house Evelyn lived in.

And the view we have grown to love. 

The drive down to Butte actually really sucked. The roads were much nastier than usual. But we arrived in one piece and met the movers and got all of our billions of boxes of stuff.

We have moved from a 3br 2ba with a living room, den and a 2 car garage on about 2/3 acre to a 2br 2ba with parking in the front yard on about 1/8 acre. So we do have a little more than we have room for, but we're working through that. The back yard is only about twice as big as the deck in the old house. But that's not really a bad thing. I have less of a yard to chase my dogs through when they won't come inside.

We worked very hard for a whole week unpacking and making huge strides in getting rid of stuff we never use, don't need, have enough of.

Everyone has been pooped out. We have all been sleeping pretty good. I don't know if it's because the stress of moving has passed. Or if it's because the neighbor dogs aren't barking all night.

Then Wednesday afternoon we finally got internet, And productivity came to a screeching halt. I have not touched a single box since Wednesday. Yesterday I didn't do anything, except tend to Evelyn and take the dogs out and shower. Today I at least left the house though, we went to get lunch and then came home to internet some more. 
We got netflix again, That's been the real time killer. I have watched the entire first season of Workaholics and the first season of Parenthood. 
The whole internet thing has been super-d-dooper because we have had satellite for 2 years, at a breakneck speed of 1.5 megabytes or something. Which is fast enough do download an entire album from iTunes in about... 3 hours. I could drive to target buy the CD and drive home in less time. Now we are about 10-15 times faster than that. 
But this weekend Paul will be home and we will do more unpacking/purging. I hope to get the nursery/guest room at least partly set up by next week, then we can fill it with boxes again and finish the living/dining room.

And that is all. I am working on some much overdue Evey picture posts. And brainstorming some exploring Butte posts in the next few weeks, Because you all want to come and visit Butte, Mt.  

Winter is horrible

As we prepare to move to yet another location in the Great White North, I have been pondering weather patterns. Everyone from around here says "Butte is way colder than Helena". 

Current temp via weather app on my Mac Book

Great, because I think it's cold enough here. I don't need to move somewhere colder. I am so over the cold. I really hope when we get our next duty station in the fall that it's far, far, away from winter, and snow, and has temperatures that don't get anywhere near freezing. 

If you ever plan on moving to, or visiting Montana, you may find this info useful. If not you can at least look at it and pity me. 

Lowest recorded was -52. That's bananas. Last week it was -22 one morning. 

F that. 

from usclimatedata.com

But according to the above and the below charts after February it should start warming up significantly. Yay!

Just to give you an idea of Helena vs. Butte: 

Helena's a little warmer, but not a hell of a lot. 

And just for fun, lets compare Butte to Tucson, where I grew up: 

(all weather averages were screen shots from Weather.com unless otherwise noted)

Also I know I have shared I am moving to Walkerville, not Butte. But for all intents and purposes of this blog they are the same. 

- Alana

On the move!

Well we lost the house that we had found, the one that was perfect. But we finally got funding to move so we spent last week on the house hunt again, and we found one. It's small, smaller than we had planned, but it'll be worth it. We can save some money because it's way under our housing allowance. So it'll give us a chance to pay off some bills. Plus it's kinda cute, and has a big jet bathtub. 
Everyone to my house for a tub party! Or not, actually you stay out of my tub, it's mine. 

The house isn't in Butte, but in Walkerville. A small town, connected to Butte, about the size of the neighborhood I grew up in. It's a tiny little place that was a mining town. 2.2 square miles and in 2011 it had a population of 675. It's also about a mile from Paul's office. But it may as well be part of Butte. It's closer to Pauls work downtown than any of the other houses we looked at. 

I am so happy to just be moving. As much as I want to stay here in Helena, where we at least have a Target, I want to get to Butte so Paul can not have to leave at 330 am to get to work. And he can come home for lunch sometimes, and be home early. And not have to commute through snowy weather through a shitty mountain pass. 

Other than that not much is new. I am fighting a cold, My throat feels like I swallowed razorblades. I just hope whatever it is Evey doesn't get it. I know when you are breastfeeding the baby shouldn't get sick because she gets your antibodies, but I would feel terrible if I got her sick. 

Oh and it's cold, like holy shit, I live in the Arctic circle, No one should have to live here in the winter, Cold. I think the high today was 11. And we're about to move to Butte where it's colder? I heard it was -22 there this morning. That's insane. But I'm okay with being a hermit so no worries. 

no, no paparazzi please

Okay, just make sure you get my good side. 

I just realized that I haven't taken a picture of anything other than the baby, or dogs in the last month... 

- Alana

Where to next?

Well our time in Helena has been unexpectedly cut short. We are likely headed on a new adventure in the very near future. There have been rumors of someone being moved for the last few months. There are only a few recruiters here in Montana, so only a few guys to play musical chairs with. Paul was just promoted this month so it looks like he is the lucky guy. We won't be moving far. And we'll still be technically on Recruiting Duty. But Paul is being relocated to Butte, MT to be the MEPS guy. We'll finish out our last year on Recruiting Duty there. It's only about an hour away so we don't have to move far.

But the thing is the timeline they are running on is really bad for us. Sometime in Oct Paul will go to school for a week to learn to do this new job. Then he'll train with the current MEPS guy for about a month or two, and they want us down there in December.
Umm.... I'm going to have a baby in December....
Also it's going to be the dead of winter. And Butte is colder than Helena...
Yep, No one seems to care.
We want this, the job. It comes with better hours and most weekends off which will be great with me being a new first time mom. It'll give us a chance to experience more of Montana, Maybe we will like Butte more than Helena. But the timing really sucks. This is not how I expected our exit from Helena to be.  I didn't think that we would be moving from this house so soon. As much as I hate it here, I imagined when I left I would be saying goodbye to Montana, and Recruiting Duty, not just this house. And I have found myself being very nostalgic about Helena since we got news that we would likely be leaving. I don't like it here, but there are things that I will miss.
I know this is a good thing but there is so much in my head right now it just hurts to think about it.
My biggest concern being the birth of baby E.
We are being given some degree of say in the timing of the move, Paul is being allowed to commute until official orders come through, which, we are told will be in December. So we have time to find a house. If we find a house sooner rather than later we have been told orders will be pushed through early so we can break our lease here and move. Paul will be in school sometime in Oct, so I am thinking our best bet for move in will be Nov. So we have about a month to find a house. That is if we want to move before I give birth. Or we could stay here and try to move in January with a newborn. I think really it'll come down to when we find a house that suits our needs. Our biggest problem finding a home in Helena was Taco. No one wants cats. Its funny because the dogs are way more destructive than the cat, but whatever.
The next obstacle, if we do move before baby E is born, do I try to give birth up here in Helena? It's only an hour away. Or do I just change all my OB stuff down to Butte? and have a new doctor and hospital for the last month of pregnancy? I do like my doctor, and the hospital.
If we do come up to Helena, what do we do with the dogs?

Part of me wants to just wait, and move after the first of the year, and part of me wants to just get down there and get the move over with.
I am so torn, I woke up last night at about 5 am and just couldn't stop thinking about what would happen next.
If I weren't pregnant this wouldn't even be an issue, we'd just hit the road.
But I have this other person to think about now.


- Alana

Gates of the Mountain Boat tour

Last week Paul and I went on the boat tour at Gates of the Mountain. I first heard about it last year and was very excited to do it, but over the last year things have just not allowed us the time to do this. Paul has been super busy, I've been super busy, when we do have time, we don't feel like it, or it slips my mind. 

But we got around to it last week, and it was so cool! 

(click for larger images)

The canyon is made up of primarily limestone.  

It has been filled about 16ft above it's natural water line due to Hauser Dam.

 Bald Eagle 

Canyon Monster 

Cave Drawings from ancient Indians, dated to be over 1200 years old!

Site of the Mann Gulch Fire 

 

The boat we rode on

First day of my 3rd Trimester! 

- Alana