Party Party Party!!

For Patrick's 1st Birthday Party we invited his grandparents as well as our friends Andrea & Seth Nemitz and their baby Maxsen who is 15 months old. We had a nice dinner, opened presents and then the real fun started....the cake!! Patrick really enjoyed his cake that Grandma & Grandpa Patterson made him! He and Max had a fun bath afterwards.

Happy 1st Birthday Patrick!!!

On March 18, 2008 at 5:43 AM our lives changed forever. Our beautiful baby boy Patrick was born at the Bozeman Deaconess Hospital. He has been such an amazing addition to our lives and this past year has been a blast. We love watching him grow and learning more each day. Here are a few pics from the year. We love you Patrick!! Just Born

2 Weeks Old

1 1/2 months

3 Months

6 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 1/2 Months

The Undefeated Iceholes

Every February Virginia City celebrates Winter Fest and part of that is the broomball tournament. Broomball is a lot like hockey except for the fact that a soccer ball is used instead of a puck, a broom is used in the place of a hockey stick, and you're scrambling around on tennis shoes instead skates (ok, so the only comparison to hockey is that it is on the ice!). Anyway, the Virginia City Iceholes went un-defeated this year and won the tournament as well as $150. This is the 3rd year out of 5 that the Iceholes have won the tournament. Nice job Iceholes!

What have we been doing for the past 6 weeks!

Boy, time has really gotten away from me lately. As part of a grant our health department received this year I've been taking these classes in Helena that are part of the Toyota LEAN business model. The class is all about "cutting out the fat" in business processes and making them more efficient. It is really interesting, but it makes my weeks all run together! Next week will be my last week. In the meantime, Donny has been working very hard in our basement. He has nearly finished hanging all the dry wall and then we'll be able to hire someone to do the taping and texturing to give Donny a well-deserved break! Hopefully the basement will be completed by spring so that we can move on to the landscaping....oh goody. What has Patrick been up to you ask? Well, besides learning to crawl he can also say "hot", "ouch", "Uh-oh", and today he said "ball"! He pats his belly, claps and waves on demand and for some reason when you say "So big" to him he puts his hand on his head instead of up over his head!

He wants YOU to come visit us this summer!

This is him taking his morning nap....oh ya, that's right - he wouldn't take a morning nap today!

On the Move...

At 10 1/2 months old Patrick finally started to crawl! I knew I wasn't in a hurry for it to happen....now all we do is chase him around and baby-proof everything, but it was so exciting to see that milestone! I actually missed it because I was in Helena for work, but Donny got it on video for me - what a guy!

More sledding!

We just can't get enough of Patrick's little sled. Snowing? Wind blowing? Fear Not! We have the weather shield! Most of our snow melted over the past 2 weeks with abnormally warm temperatures, but that dang groundhog said there are still 6 more weeks of winter, so we're confident more sledding is in our future.

Snow Sports

On Tuesday, December 30th, my friend Erin and I took Patrick and her baby Harper for a sled (the dogs went too of course!). It was a beautiful day & we had lots of fun pulling those two cuties around!

It was so warm - we didn't have to put up Patrick's little weather shield on the sled (the yellow part on the front)

Then, on Wednesday the 31st (also known as New Year's Eve) we took the kiddos cross country skiing. We decided that since we had never skied with the babies on our backs that we should probably practice on a flatter surface. So, we skied up a road in Virginia City. On the way back it was a steady decline, so we picked up a little bit of speed and had a little more confidence. So, I'm skiing along and I hit a piece of gravel from when the road was sanded. It stopped my skis dead in their tracks. My body went forward and because of the extra weight on my back I got completely off balance. Soooo, I flew forward face first onto the road. I was in immediate panic mode that Patrick was hurt, but surprisingly he was just hangin' out waiting for Erin to get him out of the pack. So, then my attention went to all the blood that was covering the road beneath me. I thought for sure I had broken my nose and my head hurt very badly! I'm so lucky that Erin was there because she got Patrick off my back, got my skis off and got me to my feet (none of which I am convinced I could have done if I had been by myself). I'm still not sure if my nose was broken or not. It is still a little swollen and very yellow across the bridge and under my eyes. Once again...at least Patrick didn't get hurt!! I think next time we ski we'll stick with a nice fluffy field somewhere!!