More Leaves and Fall (I love the colors)

 I caught this picture of Emily the other day. I think it's perfect and I love her little outfit! Adorable. 

 We had another little photo shoot. I think it was a success. I don't get a real smile like this very often.

Both of these girls thought it was so much fun to climb a tree!

 Eden showing me the pretty leaves.

My big girl. I can't believe how big Montanna and Eden are both getting. Time goes by too fast sometimes. 

Happy

I love it when I catch a face like this on the camera. This girl is happy and she knows how to have fun. She makes us smile everyday!

My Helpers

We did a lot of canning and freezing this year. Over the last 4 or 5 years, I have really started to enjoy canning, freezing, and preparing food storage.It makes me feel good to know how to do it and I love that I am getting a good supply down in my basement. We did some of our canning this year up in Salmon, Idaho with Adam's Grandma and his Aunt Belinda and the rest I did here at home with either Lauren, or Montanna and Eden helping out. This year we canned: green beans, dilly beans, pickles, peaches, pears, apple pie filling, apple sauce, and corn. Montanna and Eden had fun shucking the corn. "on the cob" is Montanna's favorite way to eat corn too. She could eat a few pieces each time I made it.

Montanna shucking the corn.

Eden showing me her finished product. 

Eden's little hands working hard.

Flying Kites

On Lauren's Birthday she invited us to meet her at the park to play for a few hours. It was a windy day and so we decided to bring the kites that we got Montanna for her birthday and haven't ever been able to use yet. The girls were so excited because they have seen those kites sitting in the closet for months and couldn't believe we were actually going to let them fly them. Finally! 

It took us a while to get the first one in the air, but we were able to finally get it in the air and Montanna took a turn flying it and then we lost it when Eden took a turn because when she was done, she just let go. :) Good thing we had another one. Some boys at the park were able to grab it for us when it finally landed in some trees but we already had the second one up and in the air by then. All of the kids were able to take a turn with the second one and they thought it was pretty fun to see their kite flying high up in the sky. Here are some pictures of them flying their kite. 

 

Me helping Eden since she let go the first time. 

She got pretty excited once she could feel it moving back and forth in the air. 

Montanna flying her kite like a pro. 

Watching the kite in the sky. 

Our high flying kite!

Lauren and Brynlee taking a turn. Bryn was funny. She felt the kite pulling her and she started walking with it like it was taking her somewhere. Once Lauren told her just to stay still and the kite would stay up in the air, she got the hang of it. 

Pure Joy of Fall

We have a lot of leafy trees in our backyard! They make our yard beautiful and provide wonderful shade in the summertime, but they shed lots and lots of leaves in the fall. This makes for a lot of work and lots of fun at the same time. The girls and I spent several hours outside playing and raking these leaves on Monday. I don't think it would have taken us as long as it did, but we just had too much fun jumping and playing in them. They were the perfect kind of raking leaf because it hasn't rained and they are light and fluffy and dry.

See the looks of pure joy on their faces? There is nothing I love more than seeing faces that happy. Man, I love these girls!

Another happy shot! Love it.

This was right before they decided to make "leaf angels".

Eden

Montanna

Raining leaves. 

Sprinkling leaves. 

Happy girls, happy mom. I'm sure we will be doing the same thing next week if anyone wants to join us....

Cousin Sleepover

On August 17th Lauren and Brian ran a really long relay race. It was almost 200 miles with a 12 person team. So while they were having a "fun" time running their race, we got to play with Brynlee and Emily. The kids all had fun together. Emily is getting old enough that she is starting to join in on the fun and Brynlee, Montanna and Eden always have fun and play well together. 

I think Emily enjoyed the bath more than anyone. She was splashing and playing and giggling the entire time. 

We had fun doing Emily's hair. I think it looks perfect, how about you?

Thompson Falls

The last stop on our trip to Montana was Thompson Falls to visit with some family friends, the Wendlings. Jake Wendling has been one of Adam's best friends for years and he got some time off at the same time and we met at his parents cabin to enjoy a couple days of playing in the river. It was fun to see Jake, Jaime, Carter, Whitney and Tristan again and we always enjoy visiting with Eileen and Scott. The weather was perfect and we spent a lot of time in the water and attended the annual Huckleberry Festival. Montanna went on her first fishing trip and caught her first fish, a Rainbow Trout. She was so excited!

Adam and Montanna in the canoe. 

She loved that Adam let her paddle!

Montanna and Eden relaxing in the hammock swing. 

I should have got more pictures, but we were just having too much fun.

Swan Cabin

We love our cabin on the Swan River. I should have taken a picture of our cute little cabin. We changed into our swimming suits as soon as we got there and got in the paddle boat and headed into the lake. It was so beautiful! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. 

We saw two Bald Eagles as we paddled around the lake. If you click on the picture and make it a little bigger you can see the Eagle. It landed in a tree close to us, but I couldn't get a good picture since the Eagle blended into the tree so well. I would have looked at the picture later and wonder why I took a picture of a bunch of trees! 

Adam and Montanna on the tube floating in the lake. 

Eden wanted to stay in the boat. She thought the water was too cold, but I think her life jacket just made her nervous. It made her float on her back and she didn't feel in control. She enjoyed the boat ride though. 

Britney and Eden in the water. You can tell she's ready to get right back out. :) I hope you can tell from these pictures how beautiful it is up there. I can't wait for our next trip!

Playhouse

This is another fun memory post. This playhouse was my mom and her sisters playhouse when they were growing up. There is a picture in my mom's house of her and her sisters in front of the playhouse. I remember playing in this playhouse each Thursday when we would have "cousin day" with Grammy. No one had been in it for quite a while so we took a broom and some wipes and cleaned it up a little bit and the girls had a blast playing for at least a couple hours. They took turns washing dishes with some lake water in the sink and played house, and restaurant while I watched and read a book out on the lawn. It is so much fun watching Montanna and Eden doing the same things I did when I was their age. I am so glad I have been able to share some of these special places with them. 

Inside the playhouse.

Montanna

Montanna and Eden outside the playhouse. 

Montanna loved doing the dishes. 

Montanna was coming to the door to take my order. 

Busy girls.

Swimming in Flathead Lake

We all went swimming several times in Flathead Lake. There have been times when we have been visiting and the lake has been freezing cold.That was not the case this year. The lake was the perfect temperature and I think we went swimming everyday we were there. These pictures were taken at my Aunt Bobbi and Uncle Mike's house right on Flathead Lake. What makes this place so special is that it used to be my Grammy's house and we spent so much time here when we were growing up. I have so many amazing memories here. It was fun to have the girls swim here and lay out on the dock and get their picture on the Big Rock. We came at the perfect time of year.

Montanna enjoying the crystal clear lake water. 

Montanna and Eden on the Big Rock. I know there are pictures out there of me and my brother and sisters on this same rock. I'll have to find a couple and post them. 

Adam enjoying the water. 

You can tell Eden is having a good time. We love spending time in Bigfork!

Playing at the Parks in Montana

We had the chance to go up to Bigfork for a little over a week this past summer. The girls had so much fun and we had a list of things we wanted to do while we were there and so we had a pretty busy week. We made sure the girls were able to play at the park and in the lake several times. Here are a few pictures from Sliter Park and feeding the ducks at Woodland Park. We were surprised that the ducks were not as agressive as they usually were. This was really nice for the girls and they really had fun feeding the ducks three loaves of bread! Those ducks were full when we left. 

Aunt Britney and Eden at Sliter Park

and Montanna and Aunt Britney at Sliter Park

Feeding the ducks!

Montanna and the ducks

Eden showing me her bread.

These were two happy girls.