Yellowstone

We planned and had an amazing trip to Island Park and Yellowstone with Grandma Vicki, Grandpa Jeff, Aunt Lori, Uncle Russ, Adi, and Blake.  We found a little cabin (unfortunately with too many dead animals in it that Jeremy was allergic to) in Island Park and split our days between beautiful parts of Idaho and Yellowstone.  We found a ranch that let us canoe, ride horses, do some archery, and have a great dinner. 

 This was a magical moment for me.  Fifteen years earlier I was playing this same guitar close by at Badger Creek for many camp fires.  This amazing old Idaho family took great care of us that day and the patriarch of the family played his accordion while I played and sang.  Then the thunderstorm came in.  It was beautiful.  

We spent our next couple of days enjoying all Yellowstone had to offer.  

Lots of buffalo, and we were careful to not get ourselves gored.  

 We made it to Old Faithful with perfect timing.  I think it went off 3 minutes after we arrived.  We barely made it out of the bathrooms in time to see this.  

 This was a beautiful hike, we just had to park a ways away and walk down the road.  

We were very excited that we were able to see a bear.  

Perhaps our favorite was floating down the river.  Pregnant me didn't dare stand up on the paddle boards with the kids, when I finally did, we went in.  But the water was so clear and beautiful that it was wonderful.  

Those girls did so well on the river.  We had a raft also that we took turns rotating out of.  This is the best therapy for anything that ails you!

Mountain View Talent Show

Katie completely surprised us.  She decided she wanted to audition for the talent show and did without telling us, then we were told she was in the talent show.  She played and sang "We Three Kings," the song she had learned for her Christmas piano recital.  We were so proud of her for so fearlessly getting up there and doing it.  

Preschool "Graduation"

I've never been that sentimental, and tend to feel like a "graduation" ceremony for preschoolers is just a little over the top.  But they were excited to wear their pretty dresses and it has been a great experience for them.  They really loved their teachers - Miss Kassy, Miss Carolle, and Miss Wendy in particular.  Those ladies did a great job and we're excited to move on to Kindergarten.  

 Sydney thinking hard.  The best part was when they performed their songs for us, especially the zoo phonics song.  

Putting in the Garden

We put in the sweat this year, dug out another spot, and Jeremy built a couple of boxes to try to appease my drive to grow food.  Kate loved to help us, and so did Sydney when she realized we were working on it after we put her and Cora to bed.  Cora slept through it, but we got our work done. 

 We planted a big strawberry patch, 25 roots and 4 plants to be exact.  We just had to keep it covered so Pele didn't lay on them. 

Tomatoes (zebra green, hillbilly, sun gold, chocolate cherry, solar flair, and brandywine), peppers, onions, peas, cucumbers, squash, and zucchini.  

The empty box in the back is for the raspberries.  We even planted to honey berry bushes, which are supposed to be the Montana version of blueberries since they just do not grow here.   

Second Honeymoon

Jeremy and I took some vacation time in May to check out our neighbors to the north.  We stayed in Banff, a small mountain town West of Calgary, and loved the beautiful mountains.  The lake we hiked up to was frozen still, and I was going in and out of pregnancy sickness, but we had such a relaxing time just wandering through the area.  

These were the strange reject mountain goats(?) that for some reason ate the rocks on the side of the road instead of the grass.  

We made it to the Cardston temple on our way home.  It was a beautiful trip.  Hopefully next time we take off together I will not feel so puky.  

Instrument Petting Zoo

The Symphony and some of the smaller ensemble groups did an instrument petting zoo at the MSU campus and these girls loved trying out so many different ones. 

Sydney in particular has loved playing the violin when I pull it out, but really wants to learn the harp.  That was not available, but maybe some day.   

Winter Snow

It was quite a snowy winter for a while.  Too bad I learned there are just not enough snow plows.  And that it gets so cold the snow dries out too much to make a lot out of it the day after it falls.  

Jeremy did such a great job getting in there and making a fort for them.