It may have been snowing outside but it's a nice balmy 84 degrees inside the hotel's indoor pool. So we decided to enjoy the hotel's amenities. What a great way to while away the time! Caleb had fun in the water. I really enjoyed their hot jetted whirlpool. It was very relaxing. A quick dip in the cool swimming pool afterwards made me feeling rejuvenated. We truly loved our stay at the Marriott. The staff was very friendly. Caleb liked to flirt with the front desk staff, housekeeping and even with guests, haha! My oh my! We had a great time in that hotel. Given a chance, we'd love to stay there again.

Almost every Valentine’s Day, Jeff and I would take a mini-vacation to celebrate the occasion. However, this year, we were not even physically together. We had to take separate trips. I flew to Illinois while he drove our vehicles up north to Montana. Sad, I know! But I understand of course, we’re in the middle of a big move so we thought we’re just going to have a post-Vday for us. I was looking for great gift ideas for hubby when I came across this sweet site that offers not just get well gifts but sweet desserts for almost any occasion. I'm going to get him a full dozen of gourmet dipped swizzled berries. I hope it tastes as good as it looks. As for me, he got me some of my favorite chocolates and a fuzzy little pink stuffed toy, lol! And of course, I stumbled upon it while I was digging through my stuff in the trunk. Yep, I'm always good at ruining surprises, lol! I saw the gift even before he had the chance to give it to me. Oh well!

Is it really that difficult to quit smoking? I wouldn’t know. I have never smoked and have no plans to start either. Hubby, on the other hand, used to smoke for years and then decided to quit about seven years ago. He said it was hard to resist the cravings at first. I’m glad he managed to totally quit even before we met. Anyway, I’ve known people that smoke, some of them are trying to quit smoking but had been unsuccessful. I remember my grandma liked to smoke cigars when she was still alive. I wonder if those were swisher sweet cigars. Maybe not. But I guess it’d much harder to quit if you’re smoking sweet cigars, wouldn’t it? I mean the secret, unique blend of special flavorings that supposedly produces a very mild, sweet tasting, satisfying smoke would be very hard to stop I bet.

We're glad that we've finally settled in our new place but quite a bit frustrated because we were out of phone, internet and TV connection for one long week. Something went wrong with our phone and internet order so for what's supposed to be just 2 days of waiting time, it dragged to 8 days. Of course, we were not so cool about it. But there's really nothing we can do but hope and wait!

Anyway, finally, we got our phone, internet and TV back. It feels so good having to be able to update my Facebook, blogs, emails, call my family and watch my favorite shows on TV. The move-in day went pretty well. However, our new place is not as big as our previous one so getting all of our stuff situated was a little bit of a challenge. But I guess we're good. We'll survive, lol!

The first few days in our new place was alright. I mean of course we're living with boxes everywhere around the house, but I think we did a pretty good job with unpacking and getting everything settled. Just when I thought everything goes well, then Sunday morning came and my little 15-month old munchkin got sick. We took him to the ER in the middle of the night and were told he had an ear infection. Thankfully, he got better after 3 days of taking antibiotics. It is never easy to see your precious little one getting sick. That was a pretty difficult time for Jeff and me.

Anyway, things should be slowly getting back to normal. We may seem to have a long list of To-Do things but we have been taking care of them one at a time. There's no rush, we have so much time in our hands.

The past 3 weeks or so had been hectic. We finally flew to Helena, MT after staying for 2 weeks with my sister in Illinois. Our flight landed in Helena in the evening so I didn't get to see the beautiful mountains of Montana. However, the city had a certain feel even in the night time. I can tell it's a beautiful city with many restaurants and shopping places nearby. That really had me excited. For almost 5 years since I've moved here in the US, we have not lived in a city that has proximity to shopping so it's really a plus for me that we don't have to travel 2 hours to go to a mall.

The next morning, I was greeted with this gorgeous view of the mountains from our hotel room. It was sooo pretty I was really happy and positive about this move. We took a drive around town and head to the lake where Jeff's work place is. OMG! The view was amazing. We were literally surrounded with magnificent mountain ranges.

The lake stunned me, lol! It's covered with ice. And I just thought it looks so breathtaking.

We've looked up several rental places and we're glad we found one that we like right away. It's a 3-bedroom condo unit not very far from where Jeff works so I guess it's a huge bonus. We would be moving in next week. I am so excited! Yes, moving is quite stressful but I think it's worth it. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love Helena!

Technology is ever advancing, that’s a fact. Now how far are you willing to keep up with the latest technology in the market? Personally, I’d like to keep life plain and simple. But that does not mean I have not thought about how cool those elo touch screen monitors are. I know somebody that owns one and it sure looks cool, slick and user-friendly. We had just bought a new computer desktop after our old one crashed on us without any warning. I thought we had a great bargain but wish we had spent a little bit more for a touchscreen monitor.