MONTANA Road Trip

On July 10th Megan, Sam, and I ducked out of Youth Conference early and headed with the family to Montana. We love going to my parents home in Bozeman. We always have such a great time. Everytime we leave we talk about the next time we can go back. Please forgive all of the pictures. We had so much fun, I wish I could post a 100. Someday I plan on having this blog put into a book so I wanted to make sure I had plenty of great photos from our trip. Besides the photos below we managed to spend a little time in my mom's craft room (store), hike the mountain to the "M", play cards with Uncle Mike, and spend a lot of time with family. Sam, I promise we will get you on the river fishing soon. Thanks everyone for the great memories and thanks Mom and Dad for hosting all of us.

Grandpa with the grandkids at Grotto Falls

Megan, Mollie, and Sam, enjoying the hike

Tons of laughter with cousin Ryan

I love the scenery and the beautiful pictures

You have to love a hike where you carry "bear repellant spray"
It was great to have Mike with us on this trip.

Hanging out at Great Grandpa and Grandma Coil's house

Sunset and Smores, HEAVEN!
Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Coil!

I loved spending time with my family

Dress up with Grandma's Nightgowns

My brother's Tim and Jeff, messing around like usual

All nine cousins (grandkids) together for the first time ever.

Me with brothers, Jeff and Tim, and my sister Kath
Thanks for all the laughter

Spending time with cousins
(poor Megan, it is rough being the oldest)

12 People

11 life jackets (not sure in an emergency who had to go without)

5 tubes

2 rafts

1 picnic lunch

unlimited sunscreen

and tons of laughter

equels one great day on the Madison River

With a little prodding the girls talked Sam into taking the "long" way home and taking time to tour the Oquirrh Mountain temple. It was wonderful to see and tour the temple, visit friends and family in the few short hours we were in Utah, and catch lunch at HIRES before hitting the road again. The ride home was uneventful but very long. Next time I'll make sure Mike doesn't fly home ahead of the rest of us, my backside was very sore after spending

20 hours (in a 36 hour period) in the drivers seat.

A Fourth To Remember

We spent a very fun and event filled weekend at the lake on the 4th. It was great to spend time with the Hickman family and with friends. The weather was great and the kids spent a lot of time in the water. On Saturday a fire started on the hill at the end of the lake. It was very captivating to watch. On Sunday morning when we woke up to clean up and pack up the power was out around the lake. That made for a very interesting adventure that morning. We had a great discussion about "olden times" as we washed dished by hand with boiled water and hauled buckets of water up from the lake to use in the bathrooms. Already looking forward to next year. Sorry these pictures are so out of order but here are a few highlights.

The fire made for some amazing photos taken from our front lawn.

Lounging in the hot tub after a midnight swim.

Fireworks! Fireworks! Fireworks!

The smoke from fire made for an awesome sunset picture.

A plane dropping fire retardent.

Synchronized Swimming!

Tons of laughter and fun.

Mollie's one request, making homemade ice cream with Grandma

Adventures in tubing!

Finally, Mike's highlight. His friend took him out crabbing on Friday and he really enjoyed eating his catch. Yes, there was plenty for everyone in the family.

Mollie having a little more fun.

Kathy Comes For A Visit

My sister Kathy, and her family came for a visit the first couple of days in July. We had so much fun spending time with them. We loved spending a day at the Lake and so did Taylor, Makayla, and Emily. We all got a good laugh about this picture of Sam on the rope swing. There were a lot of comments about his ability to walk on water. My kids had a great time innertubing with Uncle Joe, hopefully his fun was outweighed by his soreness. Come again soon, we love you, Deb.

The "ARM"

Sam is still working on getting his elbow working right. Things have healed but they have healed "short" so, we are in the process of trying to fix the problem. Sam and I spend a little time every day doing physical therapy and then we strap on the "arm" before he goes to bed. The arm is slowly extending to try and get his elbow to straighten. It is working but progress is slow. Every night I yell to Sam "it is time to get your ARM." He has several months to go but will be very glad when he doesn't have to wear it any more.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOLLIE!

Today Mollie celebrated her 10th birthday. She has been busy with soccer camp and Mike had school tonight so we had our family party yesterday. We had family dinner, watched her new soccer moves in the backyard, had dessert, opened presents, watched her new movie all together and finished the night off with a good old fashioned spanking machine before bed. She had fun and is looking forward to her friend party which will be later this month. She keeps reminding me how old I must feel now that my youngest is in double digits. Happy Birthday Mollie, I love you, Mom.