A great 4th of July

We had a great Fourth, hope all of you did too. Because Kevin's two brothers and their wives and kids are here, we stayed in Great Falls and planned some fun activities especially for the kids. I think the last holiday the cousins spent together was July 4th in 2005 when Rosie was 4 weeks old.
After having breakfast together at our house we headed to the parade on Central Ave. It was a hot morning. We brought squirt guns to keep our kids cool and even had some children nearby asking if we would squirt them too. After the parade we went to Eldon and Natalee's house to play on the Banzai slide, play Frisbee, eat and visit. Poor Landon couldn't participate in a lot of the water activities this weekend because he broke his arm, but he had a great attitude and still seemed to have fun with fireworks and being around his cousins. That evening we had planned on going to the car races, but a thunderstorm rolled in and they were canceled, so we watched Nascar on tv and Carson and Landon had a sleepover. Saturday morning we hit the firework stands to pick up a few fireworks for the kids and then joined Eldon and Nat, Brian and Michelle and their kids at Pelican Point for fishing. Each one of the kids caught a fish or two with the help of their uncles. Even Teton, Eldon and Natalee's dog had his share of fish, I was surprised to hear that he regularly eats a few trout when Eldon takes him fishing. It was a great weekend. I was glad to get to spend so much time with my sister-in-laws and their families. It was fun to see Kevin with his brothers playing on the water slide themselves, laughing hysterically as they shared a memorable story of a watermelon eating contest at home, and helping the kids catch fish. What a great place to be, with family on the fourth, in Montana.

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.