Catching up

A couple random pictures. Mom, Dad, Grandma and Julian came to visit us over Spring Break. It was cold and rainy but we still managed to have a good time. It's always fun to have family come up here and hopefully they will all come back again!

Julian told me he'd never been to Hooters before (not that any of us had) so we decided that he should at least go in and ask to have his picture taking with one of the girls! There was another girl that wanted to be in the picture too but Julian said he only wanted his picture taken with one girl!

I went to Vegas to visit a friend last month. It was so great seeing her but Vegas is not my favorite place.

We took Chomper on a walk to the creek and had to carry him most of the way back home.

Vegas airport. Our friends Erin and Brian were flying in and we thought it'd be fun to put on wigs and embarrass them. We really only embarrassed ourselves!

Dad, Julian and Chomper walking across the creek.

Preparing Julian's birthday dinner

This cake was a disaster! It pretty much fell apart when we cut into it. Julian wanted a red velvet cake.....really? What 7 yr. old wants a red velvet cake?

This is why we can't take Dad anywhere. I believe there was a sign asking people not to touch the items at the museum.

Grandad's 90th surprise party

New Blog

We have never really liked our long blog URL. So, we changed it and started our blog over at www.lifeinmissoula.blogspot.com

Still missing the beach

Here are a couple more pictures that didn't get posted last time. We loved seeing everyone's Halloween costumes! You all looked great and we wish we could have been there!

Ahhhhh........Family!

Sometimes I think we forget how much we miss our family until we spend time with them.... It was so much fun spending time with the Carberry family. We had an amazing time playing in the sunshine and ocean and are now members of the exclusive "Baja Fish Taco Club!" The boys are incredible (Joe included) and spending time with Jenelle is like a breath of fresh air! Russ loved playing in the ocean and I surprised myself by how much I liked paddle-boarding. We miss living in the same town as these guys but it was great to see where their lives have taken them!

I put a bunch of pictures on this post....in absolutely no order what so ever.

Jenelle said that Russ was living with them in Steamboat when Sam took his first steps. Russ really enjoyed being with Evan when he was so close to walking on his own!

The boys getting ready for a surf session! I'm pretty sure that Russ' wetsuit was a little tight!

Future kayaker #1

I think this was a slow motion "crash" that Sam was preforming for the camera!

Mama and baby soaking up the sun in Laguna Beach

Sam was very capable of walking down this ramp on his own but Aunt Julie decided he needed a little extra help

Does this kid look excited or what!?

I'm pretty sure that most of you have been to this beach.....it was a really beautiful beach!

We had so much fun at the beach. Jenelle made an amazing dinner and we had a bonfire. It was super cute watching Sam and Evan chase bunnies around the park.

Future kayaker #2

I was so excited to see Sammy when he woke up the morning after we got there!

Save Now

I thought Sam was excited when we buried him by himself....but getting buried in sand with Uncle Russ was way more fun!

Oh Canada!

Russ and I went to British Columbia so Russ could kayak "Skookumchuck." It's an ocean wave that Russ has wanted to surf for a long time! We had amazing weather the entire time and loved hanging out in B.C.

Russ and Sukha posing at the Columbia River.

It's hard to see but the starfish were bright purple.

The view from the ferry

Sunrise over the ocean

Sukha watching Russ kayak

Russ getting ready to boat "Skook" or as the canadian boys called it "the Chuck."

The hike back from kayaking

Mountain lakes.....we went swimming in the middle of Semptember!

Our Newest Family Members!

I just can't seem to keep Russ from bringing home pets! We have four new additions to our little family and one big one that likes to hang around our house.

INTRODUCING........

Skip and Darrel

Jeffery

Wanda

Lenny

Lenny is so sweet. He eats out of our hands and comes when we call him.

Russ calling Lenny over for his snack of apples!

Next up will be a miniature donkey ....we'll keep you posted on his arrivial!

The House and a Hike

We have the trim completely finished in the basement and just have to finish the bathroom. We have even made progress on the outside of the house (the house itself is still purple but the yard is looking better!) I have 200 iris bulbs to plant and we are transplanting a bunch of local grasses from the hillside above the house. We've had amazing weather and saw two huge bears this past week. The last one had to be close to 400 lbs.......easily the biggest bear we've ever seen in the wild!

June and Riley came up and spent a weekend with us. Riley ripped it up on a mountain bike ride and June made us the best dinner! It was so nice to come home to a hot meal, it made us feel like we were kids again.

We want to send a special shout out to Mary and Andy for the arrival of their beautiful little girl! She looks like an angel and we are so happy for you! We miss all of you and hope you are all doing well.

Our "gym." We thought if we had some red on the walls it would energize us this winter!

The view into the basement

We still have to finish the stair railing but it looks so much better than before!

We had to cover up the main water pipe and thought that adding shelves would make it look a little better.

This is the view into the W. Fork of Gold Creek. It is part of the Wilderness by our house.

A family of BigHorn Sheep.

Russ relaxing during our hike. We had to drive an hour to get to the start of the hike and then realized that this trail was only 16 miles from our doorstep! I got pretty carsick driving to the start of the trail so I decided to run the trail the rest of the way home. It would have been great except it was 90 degrees outside and I didn't bring any water. Russ and I used to make fun of Brett Gleason for sipping water out of a creek on his bike ride in Sun Valley. Never again... I now realize that person can only handle so much thirst! I still beat Russ home (but just barely) and my legs cramped so bad that I'm not walking too well today!! I just hope that my creek drinking experience doesn't come back to haunt me in a couple of days!