Saying Goodbye for 8 Weeks!

The day had come that I had to say goodbye to the person I love most. On Tuesday, July 20th, Chet and I drove four hours to great falls. The drive went by quickly, but it was a very emotional four hours. We had to get to the base early so I could get my military I.D. (as you can see in the picture). We then had an hour or so left before I had to drop him off at the airport. During that last hour I was wishing I could stop time. I did not want him to leave. Saying goodbye to your husband who you have only been married to for two months is not easy one bit. As I was hugging him goodbye we were holding each other so tight. I was trying to take it all in and remember those last two minutes as best I could. I did not want him to let go, but he had to. Those last hugs and kisses meant so much to me.
I then drove back four hours to Marion. It wasn’t all that bad of a drive, minus the crying. I prayed and talked to the Lord, which helped me tremendously. I am blessed to have God in my life because He is the one who is going to help get me through the next eight months of Chet’s training. I made it to the lake house and when I drove up I just had this sad feeling inside of me. I had never been in Montana without Chet before and knowing he won’t be with me for a while just made me cry.
Chet called me when he landed in San Antonio Texas and he put the biggest smile on my face. Just hearing his voice makes me happy. I know this journey is going to be hard, but it will strengthen our marriage and we will become closer through all of this.
I ask for your prayers everyone. That Chet and I will both stay strong and rely on God full heartedly. I ask that you pray for Chet as he is going through the hardest part of boot camp right now. That he will have the strength mentally, physically and spiritually to get through this. Thank you!

Drill Weekend for the Air Guard

Being in the Air National Guard, Chet has to drill one weekend a month in Great Falls. Great Falls is a four hour drive, and only one hour fifteen minute flight. So we decided to make a fun trip out of it and fly the plane. Thankfully I did not get sick. We stayed at a hotel right next to the airport so it was very convenient for Chet to get to the base. Saturday night we wanted to go out to a restaurant, and they were only three miles down the road. A storm came in so we could no longer walk and we called a cab. Well, the cab ended up being $16 dollars, which is absolutely crazy. But we enjoyed our dinner and walked over to the grocery store to get some dessert. Now at this point neither of us wanted to spend another $16 to get home.
So Chet asked a random guy if he would mind taking us up the road to our hotel for ten bucks. The guy said he would not accept the money but would be glad to take us back to our hotel. He had one smelly and dirty car. In the backseat there was cat food, old dinner plates with leftover crumbs on, and he rolled down the window to take the smell away even though it was raining. But hey… it was a free ride so it was worth sitting in a smelly car for five minutes.
After Chet was done on Sunday we flew back home to Marion. It was an amazing weekend, and I was so happy I was able to go with him.

My 1st Haircut

The day had come and I gave my first haircut. Mr. Chetters trusted me enough to give him a haircut before we had to fly to the guard base for his drill weekend. Not only was it my first time, and never having taken a course on how to cut hair, but we were also limited on what scissors to use. So, I used old kitchen scissors to cut my husbands hair. I know what you’re probably thinking right now as you read this. That I gave him the worst haircut EVER! But it actually turned out good. He was so calm and not nervous one bit, or at least he didn’t show it (I was the nervous one). He completely trusted me and did not care if I messed up. Now that is one great husband.
So after we had come back home from his drill weekend we decided that it would be a good idea to invest in some haircutting scissors and buzzer. That’s exactly what we did. Costco had a great kit that had everything we needed. That evening I buzzed Chet’s hair with an eight and a few days later I buzzed it with a five. He wanted me to gradually do it shorter, because they are buzzing his hair the shortest it will go at boot camp.

Famous Lupine Hike

If anybody comes to visit us in Montana they will probably end up doing the lupine lake hike at some point. It is a famous hike for us Todd’s. We do it every year, and normally more than once. Now that I live up here I will be doing it a lot more. The hike is absolutely beautiful!!!! The pictures don’t even do it justice. Towards the beginning of the hike you come across a gorgeous waterfall, creek and at the end of the hike you come to lupine lake. Typically, we pack a lunch and enjoy a little picnic while putting our feet in the water to cool off. And that is the famous lupine lake hike!

The B&B and lake

The bed and breakfast is coming right along. There are things getting done every day.

True Montanan's

Since Chet got a gun and two fishing poles for his birthday he was feeling like a true Montanan. He went shooting and fishing several times. Chet caught a couple fish and every time he did we would cook it that night for dinner. Eating fresh cooked fish that was caught the same day is delicious!
I have come to the conclusion that fishing requires a TON of patience, and Chet sure has that. One day I went on the boat with Chet and I had to bring my scarf that I was attempting to knit so I wouldn’t get bored. ☺ But that seems to not be the case for Chet. He never gets bored fishing, which is a good thing.
Mary, Grandma Jean and I took a gun course. We learned all the basics of rifles and pistols, safety rules and then how to shoot. We were able to shoot three different types of rifles and hand guns. It was a blast! I saved my target sheets, because I hit the target every time.

Chet's Birthday

Here are a few more pictures of Chet's Birthday. Gus loves to sleep with Chet (as you can see in the adorable picture).

My first walking adventure

Our first morning in Montana I decided to go on a walk with Gus. Now you have to know that Marion is a very rural area. We are surrounded by mountains, trees, and deers!! Since I was walking by myself I tend to look back a lot to make sure no one is following me. Well, instead of a person following Gus and I it was a deer. Yes, a big deer. And for those of you that know anything about deers they are normally scared of people. Typically when a deer sees a person they run away. Well that was not the case with this deer. It continued to follow me and it was only about 25 feet away. At this point I was on the phone with my mom and didn’t know what to do. I tried to scare it away and jump at it but that did absolutely nothing. My mom told me to pick up the biggest stick possible and use it if needed. So I started running away from the deer and it finally stopped following me. At this point I thought I was good to go. Low and behold when I was walking back to the lake house I saw the deer in the same spot. He was starring at me and he would not run back in the forest. I took my moms advice and picked up another big stick and continued walking. Thankfully, he ran across the road and I thought he was gone. But Gus kept looking in the forest and I saw the deer following us in the forest, again. So I started to run until it stopped following us.
I know this story sounds crazy, but I am being 100% honest. It was the funniest walking experience ever. Of course this would happen to me!
Well it not only happened to me but Chet as well. A week after Chet went on a run with Gus, and he encountered the same deer. Now Chet thought the deer was trying to be nice to Gus so he allowed the deer to walk up to Gus. At this point Gus and the deer were nose to nose and all of sudden the deer tries to trample Gus. The deer pushes Gus’ butt down and Gus runs away. Afterwards Chet and Gus started running in the opposite direction to get away from the deer. A couple days later we drove by the same area and saw the deer with her two fawns. So the doe was probably trying to be protective over her to fawns and shoo us away.
After each of our walking experiences we learned that the deer’s, in Montana, are not scared of people.

Chet's 23rd Birthday!!!!!

We had a great time celebrating Chet's birthday. I started out making him breakfast and later on we met up with Rick and Mary for a walk and then lunch. That evening I made my hubby a delicious salmon dinner with rice, green beans and salad. For dessert I made banana's flambe and it was so good.

As you can see in the picture, Chetters got a gun. Chet's parents and grandma bought him a 44 taurus tracker magnum. And yes it is heavy duty.
I bought him a fishing pole, and a tackle box with a few things inside to start out. He loved everything and has already caught a fish.

Cabin Creek Landing Bed & Breakfast

One of the reasons Chet and I decided to move up to Montana is to help run Mary and Rick’s bed and breakfast, which is currently in the building process. Cabin Creek Landing B&B is going to be beautiful. They have put so much time and effort into it and you can already tell. Being up here and seeing the work being done daily is great. Chet and I are able to help out by staining panels and any extra work that needs to be done.
Another reason we moved up here is because Chet, my amazing husband, joined the national air guard. He is based out of great falls, which is about a 4 hour drive from where we live. He is on reserve, so he goes one weekend a month to drill. But he leaves on July 20th for basic training. He first goes to boot camp for 8 weeks in San Antonio, Texas. While he is there he gets only 1 phone call a week for fifteen minutes and I don’t get to see him for 8 whole weeks. After he graduates from boot camp on September 17th, I get to spend three days with him and then he is off to his tech training for crew chief. Over a course of 6 months he will then be training in San Antonio, Wichita Falls, Tallahassee Florida and Great Falls Montana. I am so proud of him for serving our country, but I will miss him greatly.

Experiencing Montana DMV

Our first Montana DMV experience was perfect! We walked in with people greeting us with a smile on their face. Also, there was NO waiting period. You didn’t have to make an appointment, then show up and get a ticket number and wait up to four hours in line before talking to a person who cares nothing about you and looks miserable. It was the complete opposite. We were helped right away and we were in and out of the office in ten minutes. The DMV here is nothing like the California DMV’s. It was great.
I was able to get my social security card, Montana drivers license, and voting registration completed all in one day.

Our first buy together, a car.....

Chet and I began our car shopping two days after we got to Montana. We were in desperate need of a car. We went to five dealerships and the 5th dealership was the lucky one. We were at a Chevrolet and Cadillac dealership and were about to leave, but the salesman pointed out one last car, a Cadillac srx. At first Chet and I thought he was joking. I mean come on, a cadillac. So we were trying to be nice and looked in the inside and instantly fell in love with it. Then we looked at the price and it was in our range. We were completely shocked! We took it for a test drive and loved it. It was above and beyond what we ever thought we would buy or afford. We started negotiating the price and came back a couple times to look at it. It was a Monday and we came back to the dealership, test drove it again, then took a quick run to wal-mart. When we came back we saw a couple looking at the srx. They wanted to buy it for their daughter and were very interested in it. We knew we wanted the car and had to decide right on the spot if we wanted it or else it would have been sold to the other couple. We were running out of time, but Chet and I made our decision and bought the Cadillac srx. It was cut throat. Our dealer then took the sold sign and put it on the windshield of our new car, and the girl and her family were upset. The poor girl was devastated, crying, and would not leave. I felt bad, but we did look at it first!
So we came back the very next day and picked it up. We were still amazed that we had just bought a Cadillac srx. It has every extra gadget possible. It looks brand new and we absolutely love it!!!!
We bought our first car together!

Our New Journey!

Where do I start? This is the close of one chapter, (moving out of California) and moving to Montana is the beginning of a new chapter.
Chet, Dylan, Gus, and I began our journey on June 21st. Not only was the car packed to the max, but we also strapped down 6 bags on top of the car. We tried to fit as much as we can. We drove all the way through and took shifts on driving. Of course, I had the easiest driving shift and only drove for three hours, while Chet had the worst shift and drove from 10pm till 5am. We reached the lake house in Marion, Montana at 3pm on June 22nd. It took us 20 ½ hours total. I know that sounds long, but it wasn’t too bad.
Gus was a trooper, minus one slight problem. He tends to go into a sleeping coma whenever we drive to and from Montana. So, he was very relaxed to the point that he gives off this horrible smell that is unbearable. He not only did this once, but twice! It smelt the car up for hours.
For those of you who have not been to Montana you need to come up here. It is absolutely gorgeous. We are surrounded by beautiful green mountains. I know when people mention Montana you think what the heck is up there. I used to say the same thing, until I came up here in 2006. This is now my fifth year coming up, and every time I love it even more. The Todd family have a lake house right on the water, a hanger on the runway and they are now building a spectacular bed and breakfast right next to the hanger. These three places are located in a small town called Marion. Marion is twenty-five minutes outside of Kalispell. It is a small town that consists of an elementary school, post office, gas station, motel, hardware store that has just about everything, and Marion grille (a restaurant/bar). Now this is a big change for me, especially coming from California. The population in Upland, CA is about 72,091 people, where the population in Marion, MT is a little over 900 people. So you can begin to think of the differences. But Chet and I both love it up here and are enjoying every minute with each other.