Ok I know I am overdue for an update... sorry! I am still recovering from the holiday but at the same time I want to update so I do not forget stuff.

We found out just under a week that our guest list was doubling. That was great since my parents and sister came up for the holiday :) I was not sure what to expect out of Emma. She had seen them at a cousin's wedding at the end of July, but that was almost 4 months ago. Started hyping her up a day or so before they arrived and at the end of running through pics she was saying "Nonna" and knew Donna was flying in. So many times a day she would say "Nonna?" and I would have to remind her not yet.

Donna flew in late Tuesday so after Emma went to sleep, Dave and I drove over to Bozeman to do a little window shopping (for pets) and to pick her up. We ended up picking up some Christmas presents as well.

Emma was pretty excited the next morning. Nonna! Emma knew the plans for the day and was quick to fill Donna in. First gymnastics and then the bank. Emma was a little show off at her class. Not sure if she has slowly started adjusting or it was the fact Donna was video taping it! She allowed the teacher to help her on everything! It was great to see! We will try to get some of the video up at some point.

We ran errands for the rest of the morning and grandma and grandpa showed up in the late afternoon. Donna and I ran out to pick up her boots at one point and Emma did great with them while we were gone. She was not upset or worried. She kept mentioning that Donna and I went "drive"ing to get "Nonna boots." She even let Grandma read her a book!

We went out to dinner that night and played catch up. The big shock came that evening when Emma was going to bed. I asked her to go say good night to everyone and she went up to them and gave each of them a hug and a kiss! This was huge considering it took her a while in July to get to this point.

Thursday, Thanksgiving. Dae started the turkey up and took off fishing. He left around noon and said he would be back in an hour or so. A couple hours + later, he comes in and said that he got trapped in one spot by a moose and her calf and they would not allow him to leave so he had to take the long way out! Dinner went well. We had 9 people and plenty of food.

Friday, we had plans (Dave, Donna, Emma and I) to go hiking but once we woke up we decided against it so we went to Bozeman. We headed out about 10 am and went straight to Staples since there was a MP3 player on sale there that Donna wanted. Well that was sold out (which we figured) but I scored on a 512 mb memory card for my camera for $15 after rebates. Then it was off to the petstore to pick up supplies.
---- This all started when I picked up a tank at a business here in town that was going out of business. When we went to wash it, it was cracked so I went back and talked to them and they just handed over another set up. These were used tanks with all the equipment. We had planned on setting up a fish tank for Emma so we did that and turned the other tank into a crabitat for hermit crabs :)

We had the fish tank set up for a few days and picked some fish to test out the tank. We also picked up supplies for the crabitat. Let me just say, there is more to keeping hermit crabs than pet stores will have you believe! Dave, thankfully, did some research and found a lot of useful information.

Once home on Friday, Donna, Emma and I dropped off Dave and headed back towards Bozeman. From Livingston, Bozeman is 23 miles. About 13 miles from Livingston, there is the http://www.grizzlyencounter.com/.. So we went there to see the "boars" as Emma had been calling them all day. Neat place. They have three grizzly bears. Two sisters who were rescued from the circus (19 years old, i believe) and a male, Brutus, who is 3 years old. We did not stay too long since it was cold. They are doing a yearly pass so I might get that so Emma and I can go whenever. Might be fun to watch Brutus grow up!

Sat, the family left. Bad weather on the way and they wanted to get a start. Parents drove Donna back to Denver.

Sun, we headed to Bozeman to get some crabs. Bad idea. The weather was great here in town but changed as soon as we hit the pass. We were fine, but saw quite a few cars in the middle or in snow banks on the side. We managed to get through both ways without having to stop for a wrecker so that was good!

Fun stuff. Emma calls Grandpa "Poppa" (We think). Says bear, fish, star, puppy, and a ton more. Too many recently to keep track of! She is pretty hung up on Donna but loved seeing everyone! Is getting pretty good at talking on the phone. Well, somewhat, at least now she will respond most of the time, at least for a short period of time. She loves her fish and hermit crabs. Always wants us to pick her up to see them.


I am sure there is more but i will have to update that as I think of it!