The hills and horses of montana

It was a test week for Mark a.k.a week when I don't have a husband so I decided to join my parents for a trip to Montana. My Aunt and Uncle have an awesome house there that is perfect for kids. They have a huge room in the basement that is all padded. There is nothing better! We would have nerf wars in there or I would just fall asleep on the floor and let Con crawl around. Conner is obsessed with horses and he loved going out and seeing them everyday.

My baby's growing up!

I can't believe Conner will be 1 on Saturday!! Fast Fast Fast. I plan on doing timeline for his year but for now I just wanted to update on a couple of things so I don't forget.

• Conner is officially walking!!!! He has definitely had the ability to walk for a while but he let us know that when he did start walking it would be on his terms, when he wanted it. He's been taking 4 or 5 steps for a couple weeks now but just last Saturday (May 26) he decided that he would make his debut. By the end of the day he was walking all the way across our long living room and then running and diving onto our love sac. He was so proud of himself he decided to use his newfound skill to help me swiffer the floors. He insisted on doing it all by himself:)
• He has started using sign language a lot now. He's really only got "more", "all done", and "drink". It was funny because the other day I was feeding him some broccoli applesauce concoction and right after trying the first bite he started signaling all done and tried to get out of his chair.
• He loves imitating everything we do. Some of his favorite toys are a toothbrush, comb, brush, remote (which he will hold up and point at the tv), and our phones. I always thought it was a little silly that the baby books said that I should brush my babies gums and teeth twice a day but Conner has more than made it easy on me to follow this bit of instruction. I think he brushes them like 10 times a day.
• Conner loves being outside. We were playing bech volleyball the other day and one of the people asked me if Conner is always this chill and fun-loving. My reply was "only when he's outside". He loves playing in the water outside, on the slides, and most especially in the dirt or sand.
• He loves to make a mess inside. He usually starts at our book case where he pulls all the books on the bottom two levels out (we have a huge IKEA bookcase). Then he goes and pulls everything off the tables and he'll finish by emptying every drawer or hamper of clothes. Basically all he wants to do right now is take this off or out of where they're supposed to be.
• Conner is starting to be a climber. He's figured out how to get on couches, coffee tables, dressers, and just about every other piece of furniture. He will push something over that he can step up on so that he can climb higher to get what he wants.
• I LOVE LOVE LOVE this age that he's at and he is constantly making us laugh and smile.

No one can get him laughing harder than his cousin Carson. It's been really cute to watch how good Carson is with Conner. He is always protecting him and trying to make him smile and laugh.

Conner loves to play in our pantry. For some reason the kitchenaide is his very favorite thing.
He totally needs a haircut and it is coming!

My little horse whisperer

There are a few things that Conner loves. Two things that are very high on the list are

1.) walks and

2.) horses.

Luckily there are quite a few horses that live within walking distance from our house so every day either Mark or I will take a walk with him to the horses. We found one pasture of horses that are particularly friendly so we have become regulars there. Conner could stay all day with the horses and be happy. They like to come up to the fence and have us pet them. I was surprised because Conner was timid with dogs at first but with horses he was not shy or nervous at all. In fact, he leaned forward and pet the horse without me coaxing him to do so! Whenever he sees horses he starts pointing and squawking. I love horses as well so if we are in the position financially later in life I would definitely get some. There is something so calming about petting horses and riding them. Conner is my little horse whisperer.

pics pics pics

Conner's new favorite thing is playing in the sand. He goes crazy throwing it everywhere.
Mark and Conner have squaking wars and I caught them in the middle of one with this picture.
Conner loves both of his grandmas. He is lucky to have two of them that spoil him.
He's gotten a lot more daring with the animals. We go on walks everyday to the horses nearby and he loves petting them!! He's a little horse whisperer in the making. My dad says he takes after him ;)
He hates the feel of tile or grass on his knees so he always crab walks on them.

My little nerd!

Look at those eye lashes!!

Homes

Mark and I have been house hunting and it has been such a LONG process. I've been looking for 4-5 months now, but when you're as picky as I am it takes a while. In truth the fault does not lie completely on me because we've put offers on quite a few homes but they're either still sitting there because it's a short sale or we didn't bid high enough. I mean come on, I have been watching HGTV religiously and nothing that I have learned on that show applies to the situation right now. There is no negotiating... just one shot at an offer and then waiting. What's interesting is that the majority of homes have been selling for more than what they're listed for! Crazy huh!

Let's just say that my patience virtue is getting a good working right now.

It has been such a blessing to live in my in-law's basement during school and everything because it has allowed us to not only stay out of debt, but put money aside as well. I'm not going to lie it's also nice because when Conner goes down for the night mark and I can run the video monitor up to his parents and go out.

I hope that I can look back on this post in a few weeks and tell myself "see Shanna it was all worth it because you now have a house". I'll cross my fingers for that one.