Montana Vacation Part Deux

Once we left the cabin, we headed to Kalispell. We spent several days at Marcie’s house. One of those days we headed to Big Mountain in White Fish. Jason missed out on our trip because he had another golf day planned with a friend.

You can just make out the ski trails in the mountain ahead.

As soon as we got there, we hopped on a lift to ride it to the top of the Alpine Slide ride. You can see some of the slide in the picture I snapped of Betsy, Taylor, Beau and Jim in the first lift.

And this is the picture of them from the lift I was riding on.

It’s me, Jessica and Parker. Aren’t we brave riding with the safety bar up? Actually, I didn’t know we had one!

And bringing up the rear is Jared, Olivia, Brittany and Jacob. Behind them is where the Alpine Slide ends.

Here’s a small section of the slide taken from my lift.

As you come up to the top, they tell you to get ready to run so the lift doesn’t run you over. Here’s my kids and Britt getting ready to run for it.

Time for some documentation photos….pay attention Jacob. Jared knows what to do.

Hey Jared, let me get a picture of you. Thanks for blocking my shot Jacob.

Um, Jacob… will you please cooperate so I can remember this day and scrapbook about it please.

Oh look, it’s me and my kids. The background almost looks fake in this picture. As you can tell, it was a chilly day.

This is looking down at part of the Alpine Slide track. That tiny man is there to take pictures so the tourists can spend lots of money for a copy.

Here is most of our group. Everyone gets instructions on how to operate the sled. I’ll be in line as soon as I get some photos.

Get your phones out so you can video your slide!

There goes Jared! Have fun!!     So did they enjoy it?

YES!! Here they come up the lift to go down the slide again.

After sliding, we all went on a nature trail walk. Big Mountain also has zip line tours, but it was WAY over our budget.

We could hear these people coming down these lines before we could see them.

I really loved being on that trail. Living in Arizona makes you appreciate simple streams and green everywhere you look.

Finally the day trip is over and it’s time to go.

Everyone is a little tired and ready to call it a day.
That’s it for part deux. I’ll try and wrap up the Montana Vacation in one more post to come soon…..

Our Montana Vacation (part 1)

We got to escape the heat of the the Phoenix valley for a little while this summer. Almost 2 whole weeks. We left the last week of June on a Thursday night and drove straight through like we always do. I have to say that the last 6 hours of our 21 hour drive are almost painful.
I took lots of photos of my view from the front seat of the truck.

As soon as we crossed the border, I took a picture of the first Montana snow-capped mountain. Beautiful. From here we only have about 4 more hours of driving until we make it to Plains.

Our windshield has collected some of the native insects. I’m very happy to see the sign that lets me know we are almost there.

Love the green hills up ahead.

This is the Clark Fork River. It is so swollen from all the snow melt. It’s flowing FAST and it’s muddy.

I had to throw this picture in here. This is down the street from my mom-in-law’s house. I LOVE it. I should have knocked on the door of the house and asked if they were interested in selling it. Don’t ya just love the wings?

Here’s another view of the Clark Fork as seen from the bridge in Plains.

It’s Tina (Fat Lard). These folks also had some miniature horses.

Isn’t it adorable?
We went to the cabin after the weekend. I was looking forward to seeing all the work that Jacob and his cousin Brittany had accomplished during their 2 weeks before the families arrived.

There used to be a shed right where Jacob is standing. He and Brit had muscled that thing down during many trips back and forth from Plains.

Katy Lou had to get a permit so we could burn all the scrap lumber and the kids each helped to chop some of the wood into fire pit sized chunks. The rest would be for the bonfire later.

Tell me who doesn’t enjoy a good bonfire? This picture does not do that fire justice. It was BIG and it made so much black smoke (probably creosote in those old railroad ties). I half expected the fire service to show up.

When dinner time rolled around about 3 hours later, Jacob decided to use it to cook his hotdog. Those coals were pumping off some serious heat, so he found himself some protection. LOL!

No trip to the cabin is complete without having s’mores.

Check out the wood burning stove. After our first night, Jason fired it up and cooked us all some bacon. He’s awesome.
The kids did so much work that they were done after one night and we ended up going on to Kalispell later on this day.
To be continued…..

How can it be almost June?

I’m not sure, but I’d better start paying more attention. My blog has turned into a newsletter of sorts where I update you on what’s been happening. It works for now.
Last post brought us up to the end of March, so lets see what happened after that….

(I changed the photo to a super close up. I think I was scaring folks with the other)

April Fool’s Day and Jason went in for surgery to repair his hernia (our 5th wedding anniversary, too).  It was a long day for both of us.

April also brought us General Conference for my church. I always love being able to hear the talks and to listen to President Monson.

Before the weather turned too hot, I decided to scalp one of our bushes down to the bare nothing. So long overdue.

I filled 2 1/2 lawn and leaf bags with the clippings. I have to say it was very satisfying to check this off my list.

I’m not sure you can see the cat at the top of the stairs, but he came running into the house late one night with his fur standing up and his tail looking like a bottle brush. He went straight upstairs and huddled on the floor. I took his picture and went out to the family room and took a couple photos (because I’m strange like that)

After I uploaded the pictures to my computer, I noticed what looks like red glowing eyes in the window. I think it’s creepy.

One afternoon, a bird flew in our open door and it was up in the window above the door. It kept flapping it’s wings like it was trying to fly out the window. I sent Jacob to get the ladder while I went to get the pool net so we could rescue the little guy. When Jacob got to the top, there was no bird.

We found it dead under the chair by my computer. I’m guessing he had a heart attack and died from the stress. Poor bird.

We celebrated Easter and got to have all the kids at the house, at the same time, dressed nice. Jason was so smart and got the tripod out for the camera and we got some family photos.


We also got the siblings to pose for some photos.

Jacob went to his first (and probably last) Prom. I’m so glad he had the experience before he finishes high school.

Jacob is now a high school graduate. There were times when I doubted we would see this day. He was very excited.

His class was HUGE. The school did a great job in getting all the student’s names read, and they all were able to walk and get their diplomas.

Even though Jason gets up at 3 in the morning for work, he came with me and stayed until Jacob got his diploma. We were both glad for the breeze that night, and once the sun set behind the hill, it wasn’t too bad.

My boys. Jacob keeps insisting that Jared will be at least 6’5” when he graduates in 3 more years. He very well could be if he keeps growing the way he is.