Tuesday, July 24, 2012

july in a nutshell

After all of our traveling, we were excited to not have an agenda for July.
We have done things like put the new BBQ together and have meals at home. I can really only stand eating out on occasion. If it's all you do for 2 straight weeks, nothing tastes better than food at home.
The boys have loved having their dad home and helping him with projects. 
The Fourth of July we went to the Hellbush home like we did last year. I made this fun dessert to take with. 
We went to the lake for some fishing before the party.  
It was a gorgeous day. 
Doesn't this look so peaceful? 
The boys ended up just skipping rocks. This activity could entertain them for days. 
The party was fun, but I never once took out my camera, so no pictures. Ooops.

We have been taking full advantage of our non-agenda lives. There has been a lot of Wii playing.
And some other fun stuff. :) 
Jason and I even got a night off. 
We went for a hike up Mt. Helena.  
I made donuts. It's been requested that I make them again. 
The evenings at the lake are the best. The sky was purple.  
We've been to the Frozen Moose. This is a favorite for sure. 
Bike riding is also a favorite. Elliott rides like a big kid now. He stands up, does jumps, the works. But being that he is only 3, he has also had his fair share of crashes. 
I just love being with the kids and Jason.
Everyday is something new. 
I have even done a few crafts with Jason. This is our new menu board from an old washboard. 
And this project.......you can see the whole thing here on my craft blog. 
Jason goes back to work soon, and the kids and I will start getting ready for school to start again. Now I know what my mom meant when she said she didn't like school anymore than we did. It gets in the way of all the awesome stuff. 

Sunday, July 22, 2012

not planned

On our way out of Glacier, we got a not so great call that Jason's dad was in the hospital in Billings (no worries, he's ok now), and so after we made it home, we packed up again to leave the next morning. Sometimes unplanned trips are the best.
And I got to see my nephew, Henrik! 
The boys got to play at Erica's. 
Carson and Elliott were best buds this time. Usually there is fighting, but with them both getting older, they actually enjoyed playing together. 
Jason, Ethan, Nick and Tyler took in a baseball game. 
And Erica, Abby and I got in some craft time. How cute are these little handmade clay pots? 
Erica's cats got loved on. 
And Henrik got some Aunt Mer time (lucky kid haha).
I totally dig this kid. 
Kisses!!! He really does like me. :) 
After Joe got out of the hospital, we were all relieved to finally be heading home to stay for a while. 
It was so great to see Jason's family, but seriously, maybe the reason could be less dramatic next time. :)

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Glacier National Park

I will start by saying that Montana has some incredible scenery, and these pictures do it no justice at all.

The day we drove to Glacier, it was rainy and cloudy. Jason was not impressed.
The two lane highway seemed to last forever, but we were glad to see this. 
When we finally made it, Aunt Hollie and Uncle Bry were already there, and they had been watching some mountain goats on the side of the mountain. Would you believe that was the first time in my life I had seen real life mountain goats? They were awesome. 
This was right by our cabin. As the clouds broke and moved, the scenery changed. It seemed like you could see something different every couple minutes. 
The next morning, we started driving through the park. This was our first stop. It was a really cloudy morning, but it was gorgeous. 
Aunt Hollie bought a flower book so her and the boys could figure out what kinds of flowers we saw. The boys loved this. 
Jason and Bry found this little "love nest" of caterpillars. 
Hollie took this picture at one of our next stops along the road. 
Just another pic of us and the mountains. 
There are lakes everywhere, and they are all just as amazing as the one before it. 
We stopped for lunch at the continental divide. The fog was so thick when we stopped, I couldn't see the road. And just when we thought we were at the top of the mountain, a cloud would move and there would be even more mountain above us. 
The boys were so good, and had fun sightseeing. 

Uncle Bry showed Elliott how to use Hollie's camera.  
On the road around the park, there are waterfalls from the melting snow.
You drive right through them. 
We stopped here and actually hiked back to see a waterfall. If you look, you can see Elliott and Jason walking ahead of us. I asked Hollie and Bry to hold on a second (I wanted a pic of Jason and Elliott) and both of them turned around and posed for me to take their picture instead. I laughed so hard, and took the picture anyway. I love them. :)  
Hollie by the river. It was SO fast. 
Ethan taking it all in. 
The bridge to get to the waterfall. 
Elliott loved hiking with his dad. 
Us. 
My little camera hogs. 
If you look, really close, Jason climbed up on a rock by the waterfall. Do you see him? 
More of us. 
Elliott inside of a tree. He'd make a really cute woodland creature. 
Ethan took this of Hollie. 
Another seek and find pic. Do you see the baby owl? He's so cute. 
Jason got up close and personal with this guy. Hollie thought for sure it was a polar bear coming out of the bushes to eat Jason. Haha. Either way, it was so cool to see him so close up. He didn't seem bothered by us at all.
We got back to the cabin, and got ready for dinner. Jason cooked for us on his new camp stove (thanks Joe). There really is no better tasting meal than when you are camping. 
The night ended with s'mores. 
Jason should definitely win some kind of award for the best photo bomb ever. :)  
The next morning was another beautiful one. We hiked closer to the cabins, but saw two amazing lakes. Elliott became quite the photographer on this trip.  
Our hike started with people telling us they had just seen a baby grizzly. This mama was on high alert, but fortunately, Hollie and I are loud by nature and we didn't see any bears.
A lady told us she was fishing here the day before and someone in a canoe told her she better pack up because there was a grizzly just a little ways down who was also fishing.  
Elliott and Bryan took pictures of each other. 
Ethan and Jason went fishing. 
Didn't catch anything, but not for lack of trying. 
The water was COLD. Haha.
But she kept sticking her feet in anyway. 
On our way back to the car, we saw this. How cool!! 
Bry and the boys went and checked it out closer. They could actually spot teeth marks. 
We also saw a baby moose on our way back, but he was quick and we didn't get a picture. 

During our weekend, the boys filled out activity books to become Junior Rangers. So on the way out, they got sworn in. :) 
Elliott is so dang cute about it. He learned about taking care of the park, ie: pick up trash, don't feed the animals, don't pick the flowers, but this same morning while he and Ethan were exploring after breakfast he came to me with his hands behind his back. He said "Mom, I don't want to be a Junior Ranger." I said "Why?" and he handed me a flower and said "because I just wanted to pick this for you." He seriously melts my heart sometimes. I didn't tell on him though, and he was able to get sworn in as a Junior Ranger anyway. :) 
Our stay was definitely to short. I'm sure we didn't see 1/4 of the things there are to see. It was so fun to hang out with Hollie and Bry, and we will be going back I'm told.