it's been a while

thanksgiving in Eastern Montana and the snow was already deep, we spent hours sledding, especially Will and Payson who spent two entire days on the hill, we made them come in to eat lunch and use the bathroom and then they were right back at it until dark. we had two tobagons and had a blast being pulled by the four-wheelers and the pick-ups, especially entertaining watching the Chevy get stuck twice and getting pulled out twice by the Ford, funny family joke. our camera ran out of batteries so i had to use my moms and i still haven't gotten those pictures from her. Tana got engaged to Don Mark. so exciting for them.

we have so much snow in our yard now that i can't get my trash out to the street. it just keeps coming down, it's a winter wonderland.

we built the snowman family right after the first snow, we've had about two feet since then, you can barely see the snow family any more, i need to take another picture, it's kinda funny and they are all tilting.

Brookie is 10 years old today. she's been with us for a decade, just a great kid. can't really imagine life without her, i'm not sure who i was before she came along. we don't really do cakes, #1 because i can't decorate them worth a darn and i don't find it fun, #2 noone eats them even if i make one or buy one, so we just do favorite desserts for birthdays. Brookie picked Cream Puffs this year. Huge hit, we haven't had those for a while so it was fun to make them and then watch the kids devour them with chocolate goo and vanilla pudding running through their fingers. had to get creative with the candles, hard to fit 10 candles on an eclair.

love this new thing Will does. he likes to catch me off guard and WINK at me. i love it, it is so cute, he makes me laugh. that's a Christmas Eve pajama picture with a great WINK going on.

Big Sky a couple weeks ago
Me and my girls


me and my man.

me and Melissa.

Will and Luke, they cracked me up, they would just bomb down the hill, it was all about competition, boys are funny. Will went so hard he had leg cramps that night and growing pains, kept us up. such a funny kid.

Corbin and Brookie in the lodge taking a lunch break.


Paige getting brave. she's doing so good now.

our favorite thing about living in mt has been skiing alot as a family, we love it and we go every chance we get. lately it's been especially fun that Curt and Tomy moved closer. we've gone 3 times with them and it's only jan.2 so we are really excited that they are into it too, because we have loved having someone to do it with.

Do I look like me?

I hope not - this was what I wore when I helped our Young Men & Young Women with their "Where Waldo at the Mall" activity.

White Christmas - Yes! White Thanksgiving????

October

October has been a busy month. We enjoyed a trip down to Albuquerque with many stops along the way. We had to stop in Moab similar to how Grandpa Merrill always had to work Yellowstone into a trip. We enjoyed the sun, aquarium, zoo, explora, balloon fiesta and catching up with friends. Janey is already 2 years old and has been alot of fun. She now gets some alone time with Honey and I now that 3 of the kids are in school. Haloween was alot of fun filled with multiple parties, costumes and of course lots of sweets. We hope you are well.

40 DAYS OF TRAVEL

I looked at my calendar for the last three months and tallied it up! That is a lot of time on the road. But it has all been so much fun! We went rafting in Riggins with Sunni and Dan & Honey and their family. (Dan's new raft is awesome and they really know how to make camping and rafting fun.) We spent Labor Day weekend in LA with Chris & Rachel and the boys (Sea World was a blast. As you can see in the pictures, we closed the place down!) Columbus Day weekend, we flew to Lawrence, Kansas and saw Carson & Deena's stomping grounds. They were great hosts. I just got back from a week in White Rock with Mom and Jeanne and Marnie and their families. We worked on Dad's history but still found time for visits, good food and fun! In between were a couple of trips to Coeur d'Alene, and a trip to Lake Okeboji, Iowa and Omaha. Whew! That's a lot of suitcase packing and unpacking! During the days I was home I was managing our remodel and doing the related painting and packing & unpacking of boxes.

My travels were wonderful - seeing family was the best part - but now I am glad to be home. Like Dorothy said, "There's no place like home!"

My First Movie Role

Please enjoy the following propaganda. It was filmed at UCLA for a national Retina society.

summer 2010

loved having a huge garden this year. i've got carrots, lettuce, spinach and green beans coming out of my ears. just enough raspberries and strawberries and peas to eat right there and corn in a week I think. lots of pumpin, butternut squash and gourds but i don't think the watermelon and cantoloupe are going to make it, they are tiny still. the asparagus and sweet potatoes are also doing amazing, but not quite ready. fruit trees are all looking great but the Kristin Cherry. the peach trees have made a comeback.

Dan got his roll down. he did the Gorge again in the kayak and I THINK he made it down without panic-ing this time. he did flip in Tumbleweed but got right back up no problem, unlike last year. Hopefully no more nightmares about being stuck upside down in a boat.:)

We spent most of our summer on some kind of boat or another.

We're going to try to sneak in one more trip down the Gorge if there are any takers?

And probably once down the Gallatin since we just had family move to Bozeman (yeah, we are so excited to have an excuse)

The vegetable game was my favorite campfire game of the summer. (it's definately easiest to just be a pea.) YW camp was a RIOT. I did the Polar Dip, Dan couldn't believe it.

After Shalayne fell out on Tumbleweed we made the kids wear helmets the next time.

then Gavin and Brookie swam Fiddle Creek, two spills the whole summer, not too bad. Made for good memories and fun times.