Beginning of August

More catching up.  This one below is Cora next to Sydney on a swing outside the little place we stayed near Glacier.  

 Nothing like a little pow-wow in the teepee for the little people.  

 This was my experiment with sticks on the driveway.  

 There really are waterfalls in Great Falls.  

 Katie showing off her helmet for a family bike ride.  

 This is Katie's b-day cake.  I was very proud of myself, for the last few years it's been just cupcakes because I'm not a cake fan.  But she wanted a strawberry cake and I found a recipe for one with cheesecake in the middle and thought that sounded REALLY good.  Happy 5th Katie.  Someday your mom will learn how to be creative and crafty and do a fancy party, maybe....

 Shortly after Katie's birthday we went back to Utah for visiting and a family reunion.  Here we have Sydney (above) and Cora helping their Uncle Jeremy paint a bench.  

 Cora in Coal Creek.  

 Sydney, after bending over to stick her head and face in the water.  

Katie, Cora, Aunt Kate, Uncle Jeremy, and Grandpa enjoying the evening.  

Our House and the Montana State Fair

We made it to Great Falls!  It took us a while to get moved in and we're still looking for the pieces to put the twins' bunk beds together, but we were so happy to be in our own home!  This is a picture of Katie dressing herself and her horse up.  

 This was what our lovely living room looked like.  We've since painted it and will be painting the rest of the house over time.  You forget how tedious painting can be, especially when you need two coats to cover up the mustard yellow.  

 Sydney and Cora dancing in our family room.  

 They couldn't take the heat on a hike, so we rested in the shade while Daddy and Kate went on.  

 By the Rainbow Falls Dam.  

 I love that my girls (at least two of them) just can't go anywhere not in a dress.  

 We decided to go to the state fair and those girls had the time of their lives on the rides.  They couldn't get enough of it.  

 Katie wasn't exactly a fan of the slide though.  If you look at her face, she was a little terrified.  

 There's Sydney with Cora behind her.  

 It was a sharp and fast corner.  

 But Sydney didn't mind that.  

This was one of their favorites and the guy running it let them ride it for a long time.  

Glacier National Park

Just a couple weeks after we moved here my parents came up to visit and we took a fun trip to Glacier National Park.  We didn't do much more than play in the water with the kids, but that crystal water took my breath away up against these wild, enormous mountains.  

 Love my mom and dad.  

 My niece, Kaylee, came up with them and was a lot of fun to have around.  

 There's Syd in Two Medicine Lake.  

 All the girls playing in the lake.  

 This is how clear that amazing water is.  

 This is across from Running Eagle Falls.  

 Syd playing on the rocks.  

Running Eagle Falls, coming out of a rock.  I love that this is actually named after a woman warrior from one of the Native American tribes.  

We stayed in a tiny cabin in East Glacier, then just spent a day seeing what we could.  I love that so much of the land is still wild and free, and I think the only reason the East side of Glacier isn't a major resort area is because it's a reservation.  There are enough Jackson Hole resort type places at the outskirts of national parks, so even though it means there aren't fancy places to stay, I sort of like it that way.  

Yuba with the Family

Continuing the updates.  This is Katie in her favorite attire at her Aunt Lisa and Uncle Rod's house:  

 We took a hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon with Grandma and Grandpa and some of the cousins.  

 That's Sydney.  

 We were lucky enough to see two different moose.  It's nice to get a good picture without having to be too close.  

 We took a family trip to Yuba.  My first time on a big boating trip.  Can't say I really love boating, but we did have a lot of fun with everyone.  

 There's Katie and her daddy.  She did eventually stand up on this board, but part of the time was sitting on Jeremy's head.  

 This is my attempt.  I only went down a few times, but I think I still prefer canoes and kayaks.  

 Jeremy got Cora out there also.  

 I don't think Jeremy had done this since we've been married and he was in heaven!  

 There's Cora with her cousin on the banana boat.  She loved that thing and loved telling her grandpa driving the boat to go faster.  However, she would not jump in the water.  Syd was terrified of riding that thing, but she had no problem jumping off the boat into the water.  

 After much coaxing, we got everyone on that thing.  Syd still wasn't sure about it and neither was Katie after she fell off of it once, but we did it.  

This was the Fourth of July weekend.  We had a storm blow throw in the middle of the night.  Jeremy and I were sleeping on an air mattress in the boat and got it all pick up into his parents' motor home just in time for the storm to leave.  The girls loved having so much time with their cousins and we played hard.