My Mountain-Uni Man

It’s not every day you see a guy riding a unicycle.  Let alone a unicycle through the woods, jumping onto logs, and off of rock-walls. 
Unless you’re at my house.  Then you see it every couple days, whenever Dad needs to clear his head and challenge himself.  
Several, several years ago, Matt saw a show on Mountain Unicycling and the guys being featured said it’s a sport for 30-something guys who’ve done the mountain biking thing and need a new challenge. 
Enter, my husband.
He’s always up for a good challenge, so I satisfied his curiosity of this sport a few years back and got him (per his careful, detailed instructions) a Mountain Unicycle.  He practiced a few feet at a time in our basement and now can hop onto it with the ease that you or I sit down into a chair.  And, he rides for miles.  Along roads, hills, and trails and through brush and across terrain I don’t want to walk across.  I don’t even remember the last time I road a bike and he’s tootin’ around here on one wheel like its nobody’s business. 
And I love that the boys think its no big deal.  Like, every body’s dad does this.
I, on the other hand, still totally get a kick out of it and it never gets old to watch him ride.  

He doesn’t know that I’m posting this, and when he sees it I’ll get the “Ahh, Mom…” response (suggesting his embarrassment over me talking about him), but oh well.  My blogging purpose is to document and share the goings-on and that’s a what I’m doin’. 
So, here’s to getting off your two-wheels and challenging yourself to something new.  

While Dad Was Away…

Matt was gone all of last week on his annual elk hunting trip and although it seems to me everything should come to a halt while he’s away, daily life unfortunately rolls on.  My mom spent the first half of the week here entertaining us but the boys and I had to fend for ourselves Wednesday thru Sunday.  So, what happened when Dad was away… 

First, we’d joked that Kaden would be walking by the time Matt got back from his trip… not QUITE, but he did start cruising along the couches and anything else stable that he can support himself on (the walls, chairs, our legs, etc).

Kaden also decided the dishwasher was a fun place to hang-out…

… and, he popped through another tooth!  He’s had a busy week, and REALLY missed his daddy. 

It would have been easy for me to mope around the house, missing my better half, but I did get out and have some fun… a ‘girls’ night! 

Well, plus kids.  Just, minus husbands.  Regardless, it was a great time and a welcomed distraction to both of us mamas who were missing our husbands. 

(We tried to watch a movie but, after dessert was consumed there was no keeping these boys in one place.) 

Every other night, I stayed up until midnight, getting myself as tired as possible so I could sleep soundly – not missing Matt.  And then getting up at 5:30, to start the day.  

On a brighter note, I only cooked 2 meals… this one from the Pioneer Woman which lasted me about 3 days worth of lunches and dinners and then fettuccine alfredo which carried me through the homestretch.  Oh, and one dinner of Top Ramen.  I don’t know if that counts.  While I love to cook, I appreciated the break from thinking about meals.  I was thinking about food though, because the boys asked me for “something yummy to eat” about 12 times a day. 

Also while Matt was gone, I received about a dozen phone calls reminding us to vote.  Mental note to vote!

The boys discovered spit balls.

And we decided it would be a long time until Dad leaves us again.  Thankfully he’s back now, and all seems right in the world again.  Well, our little bitty 5-person-world, anyway.    

Speechless…

I was trying to figure out what to post today, and because I’ve been occupying all my spare time processing photos from recent sessions, I’ve neglected even taking photos of my own kids.  So, I dug through my ‘saved for blog’ pics and came across this one.  I couldn’t believe I hadn’t shared it yet, then I remembered why… 

It just kind of leaves me speechless! 

Oh, How They Support Their Mama…

I had a pretty amazing weekend… the weather was beautiful, good moods were in abundance, and I had TWO photo-shoots! To be a Stay-at-Home-Mama is to rarely get away… to rarely miss your children and to rarely be missed.  So being gone for half of the weekend, on my own, leaving Matt and the boys to fend for themselves, was a big deal.  Walking out the door on Saturday with Cooper crying that he’d miss me was a BIG DEAL. 

But bigger than anything, was the encouragement and support I received from them … not just about being gone so much just this weekend.  That was great… but even more than that, it was like being given a huge push from them, toward my dream as a whole. Toward doing something more with photography.  In fact, Matt may very well be more supportive of my photography endeavors than I am!  Case in point… I mentioned to him that a support system for my backdrops would be really helpful for the newborn session I was doing on Saturday. 

And what does he do, but rally his boys and throw one together…        

{I’m bonking myself on the head for not getting a photo of this contraption in action on Saturday, but hopefully soon I’ll be sharing the photos that resulted from its handiness.} 

I was absolutely giddy when leaving my shoots this weekend; my head racing with possibilities about the future, from simply the post-processing to how-on-earth can I get my hands on more clients.  It was a totally new feeling for me to be so pumped up … if I didn’t know better I’d say it was an adrenalin rush! And that feeling was ONLY possible because I knew that I had my family’s support. I was OVER-joyed by it all.  

But let me tell you what… my feelings of joy were multiplied 4-times-over when I was welcomed back home by my 4 guys. What could be better than that…  

As If Its Not Enough…

As if its not enough that I have to spend all day worrying about 3 little boys, (particularly the shenanigans of the older two), but I ALSO have to nibble my fingernails over my husband’s activities, too.

Whether he’s wielding a chainsaw to fall huge trees or climbing those 100 foot trees ‘just for fun’, or at his day job messing with hot electrical stuff or later riding his unicycle through cougar territory at dusk or sleeping in a bivy sack in the middle of no-where for a week when hunting… this guy gives me as many more anxieties as our little ones. 

But its not danger that he seeks, just activity and a challenge.

And some may think that at 31, he’d start steering more toward the norm, but quite the opposite.  It was 7 months ago that he began making traditional bows (that’s kind of different, right?).  And it was a week ago that he finally put a 10-year dream to rest by making it a reality… venturing into the world of Trials Riding. 

Now we get to watch him do this…

  …and this…

There’s Kaden watching (and eating grass)…

And there’s G&C… with balloons hanging out of their mouths like tongues (more about the balloons tomorrow)… 

From what I’ve gathered this choice of riding isn’t as dangerous as others he could pursue so I won’t nag too much about being careful. 

Because as if its not enough fun to see the enjoyment Matt gets from the sport, it is all the more gratifying to see the enjoyment G&C get from watching their daddy in action.

Celebration Time…

We decided Matt’s birthday was a good enough reason to break out of our semi-hermit state and invite friends over  for dinner.  It is so easy to go day-by-day, just existing as our own little unit, that we forget what a joy it is to spend time with a big group of people.  Especially when that group is a bunch of good friends. 

So, if you tuned in yesterday, you read about my cake preparations.  I won’t go into that again… the boys helped with some of the other prep-work, namely shucking corn and furniture placement… 

I’m still struggling with taking photos at large gatherings.  I don’t know who minds having their picture taken or not.  I get distracted taking pictures and forget my role as hostess.  Or I get busy playing (or attempting to play) hostess and miss out on lots of good picture opportunities.  Or, once-in-a-while, I actually play ‘Mommy’ and need to take care of my kids and photographer and hostess have to wait. At-any-rate, here are some photos that I did manage to take of our evening with friends, celebrating Matt’s birthday…

Waiting for dinner…

My first failed hostess/mama duty … not getting my kids’ food because I was busy with my camera.  Fortunately, the birthday boy took care of it…

Gosh, it never gets old seeing dads holding their babies… while drinking Bud Light…

I was so glad Matt’s bow-making mentor and friend, Boone, and his wife Lori were able to come, too.  Considering Matt and I can’t have a conversation without Boone and Bows coming up, it wouldn’t have been a party without him. 

 

So, Ethan may be on the list of those who ‘DON’T’ want their photo taken… looks like he’s going to get me for gettin’ him!  Not really…

We loved having the chance to share our kiddo’s fun things with our friends.  Playing with other kids’ stuff is always the best … and it reminded MY kids what fun stuff they have!  No toy was left unturned or unplayed, and they even ventured off on adventures into the woods.  The swing-set was the most used, though, by babes…  

and Mamas, too!

 

And, just like it wouldn’t have been a party without Boone, it also wouldn’t have been a party without bows.  Matt encouraged all of his friends and their kids to try out our plethora of handmade bows… when Cooper caught wind that the little boys were shooting his, he huffed off, pumping his arms and stomping his feet, into the front yard saying “I just need to spend some time BY MY SELF.” He was gone all of 30 seconds.  

Gager was a gracious little host, until 2-year old Maddie and 21-month-old Gracie started playing in his sand-box and messing up his big pile of sand that has stood untouched for about a month.  He begged them not to, but the little-bitties stood their ground, clearly confused as to why a pile of sand shouldn’t be played with. So Gage was defeated and went off to deal with more important things… cake.  

The third failed hostess duty… (the second was when Jen started cleaning up for me … Jen, being one of my guests, was not supposed to do this, but because she’s also a kind friend, I let her!) …was when Matt had to bring out his own Birthday Cake, as well as cut and serve it.  Not sure if I was busy visiting or taking pictures to totally miss the boat on this one. 

The party went on until after dark – a pleasant surprise considering half our guests were under the age of 4 and the other half had to work early the next morning. 

Kaden didn’t want it to end though, so he and I stayed up until 11pm celebrating.  By ourselves. 

It was great to reconnect with friends and this gathering was maybe a baby-step toward doing a bigger shin-dig later this summer.  Maybe.  It makes me anxious just thinking about it.

Happy Birthday to My Husband…

Today is my dear hubby’s birthday and while I could go on and on about how wonderful Matt is and how thankful I am for him and what a joyous day this is to celebrate… I won’t, because he’s a pretty modest guy and would be embarrassed if I did that.  And since it is his day, I’ll let him have his way. 

So, instead, I thought I’d share a bit about a new endeavor he’s taking on – and taking on well.  Matt started making traditional longbows about 7 months ago and just finished up his 3rd one.  This one was pretty exciting though, because it was the first one he sold… this is great for him on many levels.  Not only does he enjoy making the bows, but really gets satisfaction out of knowing that others are appreciating the craftsmanship of the bow as well as the challenge of the traditional hunt. 

The following pictures show a few of the steps, start to finish, of making this most recent bow.  As this bow is a gift for my good friend, Alicia’s, husband (Happy Birthday, Reggie!) I hope he’ll get to check out how his bow came to be.

Because it really starts with a few blocks of wood, and becomes a work of art…   The finished handle…

All three of Matt’s creations…

I am so glad Matt has found this hobby – there is something amazing about creating something with your hands and I know that is a driving force behind his attraction to bow-making.  And for me, it is awesome to watch Matt’s natural talent in woodworking evolve from something he enjoys into (cross-your fingers!) a small business.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Husband.