The end of September I had so much fun making my first solo trip to Idaho to spend some time learning how to make jelly with my grandma. My grandpa was out of town so we got to have some quality girl time, and we definitely made the most of it. We made 64 jars of crabapple jelly, which if I do say so myself, is delicious. We went shopping for hours, and I got to go to a very fun CAL (Community Assistance League) meeting, a program that my grandmother is very involved in. We also got to spend some time just hanging out and talking with a wonderful glass of wine in our hands.
While I was on my trip Matthew had his first official alert. What is an alert you might say? An alert is a 24 hour shift in a missile silo about 60 feet underground where Matthew and his crew partner Ella control and monitor the missiles. All said and done Matthew is usually gone about 30 hours for one shift. During the time that he is not in the silo they are in briefings, getting updates, driving to and from the silo site (which is between 1-3 hours away), and debriefing. We get his schedule the beginning of each month, so although we can only plan a month at a time we are finally starting to get into a routine here in Montana. Matthew usually has about 8 alerts a month and the rest of the time he is taking tests and doing various other training.
At the beginning of October, we had a blast going through a corn maze just outside Great Falls with our good friends Brian and Dana Marlow. We had some rain that morning and a little bit of hail while we were in the maze but it made for a very fun trip and a great adventure.
Last but not least I just got home a couple days ago from my second trip to Idaho. This time I was up there learning how to quilt! We didn’t have as much time this trip so we worked from dawn until dusk sewing our fingers to the bone, but we still had so much fun in the process. I finished my first table runner when I was there; my grandmother and I had to complete it together due to the mistakes I made while attempting to do it myself at home. I also completed my fall table runner all by myself just this morning and I love it! I now have two other projects that I am actively working on. I am a little nervous not having my grandma here to correct my mistakes BEFORE I make them. It is so wonderful to be only six hours away from my grandparents, and I plan to take advantage of it as much as possible.
