Happy Birthday, Papa Stan!

Happy Birthday Papa!

Talking to my favorite Aunt Mandi!

Thanks for the Shades

Our deck project.

Bath time for River made easier with Ava's help.

New shades, Montana State shirt, Tutu, and new underwears

Thanks, Aunt Jan and Uncle John for my new shades.

Ava turns 2

Well I can officially say celebrating two was much more fun than her 'birth' day. No major pains, no hospital lockdowns, no staying up all night because we were too excited to sleep. Instead we had a request for cake to start the day. We transformed that into mouse-shaped pancakes which were a hit. Dan and I got her a slide to play on inside so we slid, and slid and climbed and slid. Her cousin Katie sent her a card with Katie singing her rendition of 'Happy Birthday.' We listened to it a lot. A dinner of enchiladas, salad, and cake rounded out an amazing day. We are blessed to be Ava's parents. The last two years have been crazy; however, she is fantastic and on days like today we just sit and smile at our daughter.

Ava's Kitchen

Dan and I made Ava a little kitchen for Christmas inspired by my cousin, Erin. I started last summer, and well it was done Christmas morning with some late night help from Santa.

Weekend Away

The end of January Dan took Ava and I on a surprise weekend. We went to Elkhorn Hotsprings. He rented a little cabin, we skiied, hiked, swam and had a fantastic weekend. Thank you, Dan for the surprise.

Yellowstone in the Winter

For my Dad's 60th birthday, my family rented two snowcoaches to travel through Yellowstone. It was a beautiful day with snow, sun, family, love and seeing Yellowstone in a new season. A snowcoach is a van on tracks similar to a snowcoach. We travelled from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful had lunch and watched old faithful go off and travelled back to West Yellowstone.

Need Some Perspective

Rain in January has made me feel a bit of the grumps. Some days I feel like all I do is clean and my house is still in complete chaos. All I really want to do besides feel overwhelmed by my crazy house is...

Drink hot cocoa after sledding.

Go fishing with Dan and shoot photos all day.

Listen to live music.

Pretty much anything with Ava when she isn't whiny and break molars.

Color with my niece.

Hike.

Wine tasting in CA.

Watch my nephew's infectious smile.

Complete an unfinished project with my mom.

Help a child have an 'i get it' moment.

Watch a thunderstorm with my dad.

Laugh with my sis.

Dance in the kitchen with my hubby.

Listen to music while reading to start a great day.

A nap in the sun shining in the window.

Sit by the woodstove and sing with Ava.

Have Ava ask to hold my hand for a while.

See wildlife.

Visit Michigan.

Cook out.

Play games with my family.

Learn a new skill.

Find a new recipe that actually can be made.

Well, I guess there are a few great things I could do instead of cleaning tomorrow.

January Winds do Blow

Well with a month to go before Ava turns 2, I sit and reflect on our crazy lives. I listen to the wind blow and try not to notice the keys that Ava popped off my laptop.

We have a very close friend we met in Willow Creek who has been battling cancer and has just found out that cancer is most likely going to win this battle. Today Dan called once to talk to him and he was at the homeopathic doctor then he was going to the dentist. Tonight Dan called back, and he was at the Ridge working out as he just hadn' t done much today. May I find his vigor and enthusiasm in my life. My heart breaks that we are going to loose him, and yet I once again rejoice that I have known him. We are blest to be able to hear him play the piano tomorrow night and then attend a concert with him and his wife afterwards. Thank you, Lord, for bringing our lives together with Glen and Shirley. We are rich.

Ava loves her kitchen that Dan and I made her for Christmas. My aunt made her a little mini apron to add to it. Grandma and Grandpa gave her some wooden food and Aunt Beth and Uncle Jason gave her some accessories. So cooking is going well at our house. She loves to read, sing and dance. She has just learned "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" I sang both for an hour on the way home tonight. It's funny how repetition to them just doesn't seem like too much. She is still busy from sun up to sun down. She has learned the art of stalling bed time. We've started having a play date with Claire and Ella and Amber once a week which has been great to help burn off energy. She talks about it all week. She has a bit of drama and is sweet as the day is long (well sometimes.) She also has a bit of a firey streak in her and knows what she wants and when she wants it.

Dan has started his new job. He is working with same counseling program but in Bozeman, 45 min. from Ennis. He works at Bozeman High School and Alternative School which has 1800 students. It brings with it a pleasant environment as well as new challenges. His first day on the job he was called in to help convert the alternative school to a standards based program as we taught in one in Alaska. He is also taking a graduate course about teaching with a standards based curriculum. Needless to say he's happy and having fun with the new challenges.

The Madison River is gorged to the extreme this year which means no fishing for Dan for quite a while. This also means I better be creative or he may be begging for another trip to Florida to fill the void. If you see me along the river with my blow dryer, I'm simply trying to melt the entire river so that my husband can move beyond withdrawls.

I am starting a part-time job at a Montessori school tomorrow. I will be in with 19-20 2-year-olds. I checked my list of things to do in my lifetime; teach 20 2 year-olds was somehow left off of that. Thank you, Lord, for knowing my life dreams before I do. I have enjoyed getting some sewing done - projects completed include a hat for Ava, a couple of table runners and some hot pads for Ava's kitchen. Not teaching has added a little financial stress to our lives but has given me the time to get my feet under me again. I smile more, laugh often and have been so blessed to watch Ava grow and develop. Dan gets an unburnt meal now and again, and we all just seem more settled. I started a challenge about a month and a half ago to fold 1,000 paper cranes for peace. I have folded 12 so far. 9 went into a mobile that I made my aunt for Christmas, one went to my cousin and 2 to my uncle and Diane. I am choosing people who I think may need healing/peace of some sort or who have helped in my healing and peace. Folding cranes is one of the only activities I find that makes everything else truly disappear.

We are a fortunate family and so happy that you all are checking in on us. We look forward to what 2011 will share with us. Hopefully this weekend I can get some updated photos posted to share.

Love,

All the Schrocks in this Household

My Baby's Owee...

It's cute cause it's so little but we wish she didn't have it. Yesterday I told someone she was a tough cookie. She looked at her hand, looked and me and said Tuff Coookie momma. Cookie Pease.

A Day in the Sunshine

Yesterday was beautiful and still. Yes I repeat still, so we all headed out for a beautiful trip Christmas tree hunting.

Fun with Grandma and Papa

A visit with Santa.

We are so rich!

Cole's happy all the time.

Things got a little crazy at times.

Painted Grandma's window.

We started with story time.



Hay ride, Christmas Stroll in Ennis ~Dan, Dusty, Ava, Katie, Cole and Papa Stan~ December '10.

We played, painted windows and snow, made angels, got cold, got warm, cooked, laughed and laughed and loved a whole bunch.

1,000 Paper Cranes for Peace

As many of you know Dan and I have had a fair bit of turmoil in our lives over the last two years. On October 23rd my uncle passed away, and this seemed to be my last straw. I haven't had many tears to cry which is my usual way of dealing with stress and pain. I cry it out and somehow am able to release the pain through my tears, well I just don't seem to have many left. I've found myself angry about many of the situation we've been in and especially that my uncle is gone and that my aunt has to face the pain of this new life.

I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about what I could give her for Christmas. I wanted something that wasn't practical and would bring a smile to her face and heart. I thought and thought and thought and then was struck with an idea. Our friends who live in Marquette, Michigan have some mobiles hanging in their house with driftwood and paper cranes. I always admired these and thought of the Japanese story of healing when I saw them. When we were last in Michigan I gathered some driftwood and rocks to make a mobile to hang in our house. They always brought me a sense of peace. Well I haven't ever gotten this accomplished. So I decided to make one for my aunt for her healing.

As the plan started to come together I slowly started feeling a fog lifting from my heart. I will make one thousand paper cranes; however, I have learned that this may be as much for my healing as it is for her healing.

3 cranes down 997 to go with a smile on my face and a lightness that hasn't been in my heart for quite a while.

The Joy of Being THANKFUL!

Today my baby said, "Hapy gibing, lub you." And so we send that to everyone as it was heart warming and well said. We haven't decorated or been in much Christmas spirit for the last three years so this year is our revitalization. We can't wait to decorate, celebrate and give thanks for Jesus' birth. I hope that I can pass on to my husband and little girl the merriment that was always in my heart around the holidays. I was fortunate enough to be given the joy of everlasting love. Here's to the future. Thank you all for being a part of our lives. We appreciate what each of you has provided us.

She has been our joy!

She has been our joy!

Ava makes us smile when we least expect it.

She follows her daddy around at length.

And lays on River endlessly.

The outdoors are her haven.

Baking with her mama is her passion.

When tears fall, she loves.

When she loves, tears fall.

She has started to say Thank you all the time.

She does something I've asked her to do and

she replies, "Thank you."

She is the medicine that heals all our wounds.

She is the joy the fills our fountain.

She is the peace that finds our heart at just the right moments.

She is the medicine that heals all our wounds.

What I Remember

I remember...
the yellow roses at their wedding
a hearty laugh
and chipper smile.

I remember
watching him shoe horses
and learning to drive.
he blared "Danger Zone"
from Top Gun as he
drove me to the fair in his semi.

I remember
him teaching me to drive Katie
going to Blackfoot Fair with him.
learning the comradery that exists
in the draft horse world.
he helped his competition.

I remember
a hug shared
a chin up given
which sometimes turn into him
kicking me in the butt and telling me to
get it together.

I remember
him touching so many lives
always razzing always joking.
staying with him and my aunt
after they got married.

I remember
helping with the horses at
Lone Mountain Ranch.

I remember loving my Uncle Rusty.
The Lord gained an awfully good Horseman
with an amazing laugh.

Goodbye to a Great Man

Rusty Hebel

Craig R. “Rusty” Hebel, a rancher at Glen, died Oct. 23, 2010.
He was born Sept. 26, 1960, to Beverly Martin and Rollie Hebel in Bozeman.
Rusty graduated from Ennis High School in 1978. He always said his only advanced degree was the one awarded by spending his lifetime on or behind a horse. He was a lifetime student of horses and learned from each one he encountered. In 1990, Rusty married Margaret Armitage in Big Sky.

Over the years, Rusty led a multi-faceted life. He rodeoed — both rough stock and timed events, cowboyed on ranches across the state of Montana, was a dude wrangler, over-the-road trucker and managed Rocky Mountain Supply stores in Townsend and Dillon. However, driving big horses was his true calling and passion.

Rusty and his father bred, raised, trained, and showed strawberry roan Belgians for 40 years. Together, they developed a training wheel to hook a beginning driving horse to the first three or four times to allow it to move or stop without injuring itself or others.
Rusty successfully started hundreds of horses under harness, not only young colts, but also older horses with bad “people” experiences. He farmed with horses in Montana and Iowa, two very different farming environments.

He had wagon train experience, both as a teen-age swamper on the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial Wagon Train (the Montana to Valley Forge leg) and as an adult driver in the 1985-1986 Texas Sesquicentennial Wagon Train where he drove eight head of Belgian mares 3,600 miles around the perimeter of Texas in six months. His two preschool sons accompanied him on this trip. Rusty took great pride in the fact that he was in charge of the health, shoeing, and training of 30 head of Belgian mares over the six months of the Texas wagon train with never a sore shoulder or lame foot. Through these two experiences, he gained invaluable knowledge about working horses daily on pavement, in the heat and in the company of crowds of other animals.
Rusty worked for McCrossan Boys’ Ranch in South Dakota training and showing Belgians across the Midwest, always with “troubled boys” as students and helpers.
After leaving McCrossan, Rusty worked for Dick Sparrow driving the Coors Belgian hitch parading, exhibiting and promoting not only Coors beer, but also the Belgian breed. He drove horses in every major parade in the U.S., including the Macy’s Day and Rose Parade. One of Rusty’s favorite accomplishments was driving Sparrow’s 40-horse hitch.
For the past 20 years, Rusty and his wife, Margaret, have promoted Belgians by breeding, training, and showing their own strawberry roans. During those years, they held clinics for individuals and driving clubs, taught ‘ladies only’ classes and co-wrote the Montana 4-H Driving Program.

His favorite work experience has been using his own finely tuned Belgian mares to teach college students at the University of Montana Western in Dillon to drive. In less than 10 years, he grew the program from a three-day workshop to four full-semester classes.
Rusty loved his family, laughter and good horses.
He is survived by his wife, Margaret; sons, Lee (Katie) of Circle and Lyle (BreAnn) of Bozeman; only grandson, Archie; parents; brothers, Zane and Wade (Susan) Miller, both of Ennis; sister, Shannon (Tim) Chicoine of St. Charles, Iowa; and numerous nieces and nephews.

A celebration of Rusty’s life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, in
La Cense Arena, Dillon, with lunch and sharing afterward.

Memorials may be sent to Montana 4-H Foundation Horse Committee, Montana State University, 111 Taylor Hall, Bozeman, 59717 or the charity of your choice.

Where will the little road lead?

I started this blog to try to keep everyone update on our life in Montana and to share pictures of Ava. I guess I haven't done a very good job of that. And the last two weeks have felt like a whirlwind I don't know if I want to share.

Dan and I keep thinking that things will settle into place, we will once again be able to put one foot in front of the other without having to tell our feet to move. However we don't seem to be reaching that point.

We had an amazing week away the end of September. Spent time with fantastic friends and realized we are still so in love. We returned renewed and ready to find a fresh start. We started seriously consider the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I don't to badly want to be 1300 miles from my family; however, being closer Dan's would be great. We could show Ava the many facets of Dan's up bringing. Small things seem to be working towards this restart but somehow we still aren't able to put all the pieces together.

Dan found out last Thursday that the company he worked for would be shutting down his program as of Friday. So with one days notice he let the kids know that he would be able to work with them anymore.

I spent the weekend in Salt Lake at the Univeristy of Utah Hospital with my uncle who is very sick and in need of a liver transplant; however because of a blood clot can't receive one. My dad and I were able to take Ava and my neice to the zoo which was a fun distraction. We laughed and squealed. We then returned to the hospital and learned how fun it is to ride the escalator.

We have been blessed with an amazing family and a giggly, curious 20 month old. However we sit searching for jobs, knowing our life's plan is being fulfilled but wishing for just a glimpse ahead a couple of chapters.

Thanks to all of you for your support and love.

Potty Training

Ever since we visited my neice in Salt Lake Ava has been asking to go to the potty. It usually occurs right after she's already gone but she sits up proud and laughs. This morning, however, she actually went in the toilet. I couldn't believe it. So I guess this means we are potty training. For some reason this is a stage I've feared as much as the terrible twos which we seem to be visiting already.

Well the tough stages aside there isn't a day that goes but that Ava doesn't bring pure joy to Dan and me. We laugh, we snuggle, she snuggles and we smile knowing that we are so blessed.

"Thank you, Lord, for the little piece of joy you gave to us to help overshadow the many burdens that way us down. For the laughter and screams of delight, the independence and the constant activity we are so thankful. We've been given an extremely special package. Amen"

Back to School

It's back to school for Dan today. Though I love being home with Ava, it is a bit bitter sweet as I miss the kids already. I can hear their excited voices telling me how their summers went and what they did. And then their groans as we start to work, learn and unfold the mysteries we always seemed to solve. I'll miss the hugs kids shared and the lunches with Dan. The friendships formed and the smiles exchanged.

Thank you Dan for the sacrifices your making so that I can be with Ava right now. I know it isn't easy, but you are loved for it. Ava sends you a 'du, daddy.' (thank you, daddy)