Jon Comes HOME

After waiting and waiting and waiting weeks went past and finally one very beautiful Sunday morning Jon arrived back in Morgan. Home safe and sound to be with the family! It was wonderful to finally be a family again. Being without each other was a large test for us this year! We enjoyed a few days at home working on house projects as there were MANY things to fix! Then we darted off to Glacier National Park the drive proved to be long. 12 hours in the car we ended up getting to know each other all over again a little too well ;) We ended up playing a few of those question games where you find out about hopes, dreams, fears, and funny stories of your companion. We arrived at Duck Lake late and spent the night in a little lodge. The room only had two twin beds in it with community bathroom and showers. The diner on the main floor was decent, but we were around a LOT of fishermen! We woke up to a cool crisp morning as we drove across the border to Canada. I couldn't believe how pretty it was! I loved seeing the Prince of Wales Hotel at Waterton National Park. What a beautiful quaint town. As we drove to the rangers station to get our back-country pass we spotted a black bear first thing. Yikes, it was super cool! We ended up deciding to go to Alderton Lake. The hike up was quite a beast. I don't know how much we climbed, but it took us 4 hours. It was good that we had some yummy wild raspberries to enjoy on the way up, we didn't see much wildlife, but the views were spectacular. When we arrived to the glacier lake we were so sweaty we decided to jump in. Well, Jon did and I just sat there thinking he was crazy! It was a beautiful night under the stars. Jon was sweet enough to bring Hot Cocoa so we enjoyed some chocolate and the wonderful mtns. The next day we hiked out and drove over to Glacier. We ended up seeing a brown bear when we entered the park. Couldn't have planned it better to see both kinds of bears. We also got up close and personal with some wild mtn goats. Pretty FUN! Driving on the sunrise highway was spectacular! After all this excitement we hiked into our second camp and spent another night on the dirt. It wasn't so bad :) I thought it would be fun to incorporate YOGA during the hike seeing how I was in nature and all. It was fun coming up with new poses! However, I think one of my favorite parts of the hike was the bridge we had to cross to get to our campsite! So fun! Namaste! After roughing it I wanted a shower! So we ended up at Lake McDonald. WOW GORGEOUS! They had vacancy at a cabin room motel thing. It was very rustic, we ended up grabbing a blanket and a Ghost Story book and read as we watched the stars come out. Good thing we grabbed a room because it rained that night! Not my favorite thing sleeping in a tent while it's raining. However, it was sad to have it be our last night. The drive home took forever yet again! But overall the trick was AMAZING! Thanks Honey for planning such a wonderful vacation. I LOVE YOU!!!

In SHORT life SPRINTED from me!

Wow, I decided it was time to play catch up but I didn't realize how much has happened since the last post. Lets just say TONS! I came back from St. Louis to Utah my dear mother flew out to make the trek home with us. It took 3 days and a lot of whinny kids and mom. I ended up living at the parents place for 2 weeks while I waited for our renters to move out of our house. My dad was sweet enough to take us down to the cabin and that was a blast. The funnest part was having the kids play with snakes a toad, friends, and dirt. After returning we found a lot of fun in the Morgan County Fair! I entered the kids in a Pet Show. Makenna showed Rocky, Autumn showed a baby chick, and Dean a baby Turkey. It was so darling. Autumns sat her bird on the judges table and it left them a little present :) Dean said that his turkey was named UNCLE TOM and was so big and brave. He won an award. The turkey got best singer because it squeaked when Dean squeezed it. Too fun. Later that night we also had the treat of watching uncle Billy ride in the Rodeo. Yep, he won! The kids thought it was awesome! Nothing beats the hometown pride. . . LOVE IT! After all of this Debbie came into town to help me move back into our house as well as wrestle the kids for next four weeks while Jon stayed in St. Louis to work. It has been very nice having the extra pair of hands to chase down all the kids. The next weekend we had a family reunion up at Bear Lake with the Wall Clan. It was very fun to see everyone and to play in the beautiful Mountain Lake and have lots of yummy raspberries. Two crazy moments happened at the beach. The first day we went and were having a grand time. My uncle took us out on the boat and Makenna and I took a ride in the tube. He was going slow and all was great until a huge wave came and pulled us under knocking both of us off the tube. Makenna was so brave I was proud of her. . . Then when we got back to shore I started chatting with my aunt and when I looked around I couldn't find Kenna anywhere! I was super scared we looked in the water and all over the beach finally my Dad darted down the shore. He finally came back with her stolling beside him. She couldn't find the family and had walked almost a mile down the shoreline looking for us! I was one scared Momma. The next day at the beach we were having fun and I was chasing around Dean and Lily when I look up to see Autumn in a kayak out in the water stroking like a pro. We did not have Kayaks' so I was wondering where she got it. I went out in the water to her and she said that the neighbor let her borrow it. She is such a friendly gal. She found a family with Kayaks asked to borrow there's and then like she was a kayak pro took off towards the middle of the lake. Watch out for this one! After Bear Lake we came back home to go school shopping and get ready for the first day of School. Makenna is in second grade this year with Mrs. Dent and Autumn is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Dicou. They love school and I am so grateful to have them sent on there way to learn and to grow! This year I asked them what they wanted to be when they grow up and took pix with them holding a sign. Autumn said she wants to be 6 then 7 and a petrinarian. Makenna wants to be a rockstar. They are so CUTE! Thinking I was going to slow down after school started was just a mirage! We still ended up taking trips up to Deep Creek for Dutch Oven and trying to catch a little bit of summer before the chill catches. We tried to get the girls home at a decent hour each night, but I am not saying we did. We had fun none-the-less!