Libby Adventures

We also took our company up to Libby where my parents live. We went to Kootenai Falls and Libby Dam and had a barbecue. It was a nice day except the drive was a little hard with cranky kids who didn't want to be in the car any more!!!



Joe and Eric


Monica just hanging out.





Me sitting at the top of Kootenai Falls


Jon Eric and I with our feet in the water


Jon climbing a wall


Me at the bottom of the falls.



Tickling kisses



Kellee and Will


Family pic

Canada

So, this past week Joe's brother Ted, his wife Kellie and their 10month old son, Will came to visit us from Chicago. There were so many things we wanted to do and we tried to fit them in a week!!! One of the things on the list was taking them to Canada. Since, Ted couldn't find his birth certificate and we are such sweet wives, we left the husbands at home and took the kids to Canada. So we went to Fort Steele which is an old mining town in 1898. The people that work there dress for the time period and play the characters of the people that lived in Fort Steele.


Eric smiling weirdly and Will, trying to see what Eric's doing so he knows what the cool thing is to do.






Aren't I a gorgeous horse? I think it's a little big, maybe I need to get it tailored.


Having fun in jail!!!



Kellie and Will on the wagon ride. I love that pudgy little tummy!!!


Ok, I was trying to take a picture of the gorgeous Rocky Mountains but your eye immediately goes to the man who I couldn't tell if he was checking me out or really irritated at us. I should've cropped him out....he's really taking over the picture!!!


Brilliant idea for sock drying!! I thought it was cute, thinking of the couple that lived there and them sitting by the fire with their socks side by side...LOL.




Eric and I trying on hats in the dress makers shop.



So I should preface these photos by saying that Eric loves trains....he is probably Thomas the Tank Engine's biggest fan. However, we have a train that goes right by our house...like in our front yard and one day it honked really loud when he was outside. He was so freaked out that now he is very sensitive to loud noises. So he really wanted to go on the steam train at Fort Steele but also was pretty scared. He is very knowledgeable about trains and when we climbed on he said right away "I want to go in the coach", because he didn't want to be close the engine. However, we weren't allowed to ride in there and it was like 150 degrees in there!!! Anyway, here is out little train adventure:

Letting out steam very loudly!!!




Cousin Will just having the time of his life.



Eric....trying to block out the sound of the very loud whistle.



Ok, Mom, this isn't funny....stop taking pictures of my misery!!!



Wow, this train is pretty cool.....maybe I like it a little bit.
After we get off the train he says "That was fun, fun, fun!!!" But made sure we knew that "I like the train, NOT the whistle!!"


The Coach





Judge Eric in the courtroom.



School children getting ready to play basketball. We were invited but we opted to watch.



A large herd of elk we saw on our way home.



So when Eric and I had to use a restroom on the way home, we found this lovely outhouse, doesn't it look quaint!!! Yeah right, outhouses shouldn't be used with any words other than gross!!! Anyway, Eric did his thing...it's a lot easier for a boy to not touch anything. When my turn came, I latched the door but it leaves a good 6 inch crack for viewing the outside. This was all fine until a car pulls up and man gets out to use the other outhouse. So I then have to stretch my short arms to grab the door and hold it shut while I finish up and try to adjust my clothes with one hand!!! It was an experience and needless to say, we dosed up on hand sanitizer.





We are finally back in the good old USA. It's alot harder to get back to the US than to go to Canada. I got nervous when I realized that I hadn't gotten a letter from Joe saying I could take Eric. After the man saw my Montana plates I think he didn't care because he didn't say anything about it. I did have a little fun and called Joe to pretend that we were stuck at the border because we didn't have the letter. Ah....such fun stressing other people out.
Goodbye Canada....you were very good to us but we are glad to be home.

My New Haircut

So I was really bold....at least for me and it was shorter than I've gone before. I love it!!!

Embarressing but True

All my life we've always laughed at my mom and how when she doesn't know the words to a song, she just fills them with her own made up ones. Now, you have to know, its done very well. In fact if you didn't know the song, you wouldn't know....one of her many talents. Anyway, I have started to noticed that I inherited that trait from you. I never noticed how bad I was until I was singing the National Anthem and Joe started laughing. I looked up the words, and there are three lines in the song that I've never even sung. I had made up an entire addition to the song!!!
So I am admitting this on the World Wide Web....I don't know the National Anthem....well not totally it.
Needless to say, I am working on it. I will learn it at least the three lines I don't know. Do you all know it? Come on, tell the truth!!! Does anyone know the other verses?

Crazy weather

So almost everyday lately it's been 10-minute weather. Everytime I look out the window it's different. Yesterday it rained and rained and then in the evening there was this beautiful rainbow. I tried to get some pictures and some of them turned out pretty good. Of course my camera was in my car...so I ran out in the rain to find out it was dead. So I took these by going out the porch as far as the cord would allow. The rainbow was literally shrinking every second.
There is something so majestic about a rainbow....just screaming that God exists and that he is true to his promises.






Then today....it snowed...huge, juicy, wet flakes....all day. Just another June in Montana. I'm ready for some sunshine.

Anniversary

We had alot of fun on our anniversary yesterday. Look at my beautiful bouquet Joe got me:





We hung out here at the house during the day and then Miriam watched Eric while we went to dinner and a movie. We went to a new Wood Fired Pizza place and we really liked it, besides it's right across the parking lot from the theatre. Then we went to see Indiana Jones....it was really good. Why does Harrison Ford still looks almost as young as ever?
Joe has off until Monday and he wanted to work on the fence more but it's raining. Everyday it's been doing this....rains, 10minutes of sunshine, rain and so on. Tomorrow I am going to my cousin Apirl's baby shower and then Sunday I'm singing in worship. It's really neat that I get to do it more but I'm also learning alot about having confidence and not feeling so inadequate. There is something about a microphone that is just intimidating. I have a lot of learning to do!!!


This is me being silly with a wig. What do you think....Should I make it permanent?

Tulips and happiness

I haven't posted very often...I'm sure people get tired of looking and it's the same old post. And the last two were kinda depressing:-(
So, I thought I'd move on to happier things like tulips. This is the first year that I have grown tulips. I planted a lot of bulbs last fall hoping that some of them would take and they did. I haven't planted the rest of my annual flowers yet but Monica and I got out all the weeds.
Here are some pics.









Tomorrow is our 4th anniversary and Joe got off at 2 and has off until Sunday!!! Right now Eric is out helping him build our fence that we've been working on. There something inexplicably special about watching a little boy help his daddy. Eric has this look on his face like he's accomplished some great feat and Joe is patiently letting him "help". I asked Eric what he was doing and his said "I'm tape measuring!!1"