Back in Montana

Kevin and I both grew up in this wonderful state. The mountains surrounded us, Kevin spent summers catching salamanders with his brothers in nearby ponds and streams, we floated the Blackfoot River, played baseball in dusty parks fighting off mosquitoes and the urge to keep playing although it was getting too dark. I remember sitting on our front porch to watch the sun set over Squaw Peak northwest of Missoula, having ice cream at Goldsmith's Parlor near the footbridge on University of Montana Campus as my dad spend evenings remodeling the bed and breakfast for family friends...Chicago, Phil Collins and other familiar eighties poured out of my dad's paint splattered boom box. We learned at a young age that in Montana you've got to get used to frigid car rides to and from school because 10 degrees above zero in February is pretty tolerable; Glacier National Park was a semi-annual hot spot to take the family in our T-bird or dad's forest service green work truck. Mom and Dad always warned us to keep close to each other and watch out for mountain lions. Kevin's parents drove a 1979 VW Bus, it was one of the only vehicles big enough to haul around 8 kids. That Bus is now parked outside of Kevin's parents house (the house he grew up in) with the back seats removed so that it could haul the boys lawn mowing equipment providing them with summers of employment.
I personally took for granted the life I had growing up here and it wasn't until Kevin and I moved away that I really appreciated the slower paced lifestyle. So here we are again, four years, three states and 7 moves later, back in Montana where we can reminisce about our childhood experiences, high school, and then college life as newly weds among the beauty and liberalism at University of Montana Campus. We feel blessed to be back raising our children in Montana. We love it here, it has been wonderful to have lived in New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado. We have made dear friends who have strengthened our testimonies, served and welcomed us, we have had two daughters while we were away, and have experienced things that have taught our children, especially Carson to make the best of things wherever you live. I have learned that the church is true wherever you go, Heavenly Father answers prayers and that my husband has become my best friend.