Bubbles and Rainbows

No, this isn't a recap of a Teletubbies episode. This is just your typical Montana day. Wednesday I found a thing of bubbles in the "kid" cabinet at my mom's house, so I did a little bubble photo shoot...


Later Wednesday, we had a nice little rain shower that produced some beautiful rainbows. In this first photo, the rainbow looks like it's coming out of Annie Hill. That's what we're calling that little bump on top of the mountain. It probably has an official name, but on the Wooden ranch it will be known as Annie Hill. I was telling my mom yesterday that I have seen these mountains most of my life, but this trip home I'm seeing some of the details for the first time and have a new appreciation for our home.
The other end of the rainbow...
And as a final note, WE FINALLY FINISHED THE HORSE PUZZLE! This is a puzzle my brother got me for my birthday. I said, "get me some hard puzzles," and he definitely did good. We worked on this puzzle for more than a week and finally finished it on Wednesday. All the little horse hairs were so similar. We drank a bottle of wine after our victory.

Mushrooms and Smores

After picking mushrooms, we took them to Jason and Jenna's and made the best meal ever! We made Morel Mushroom Sauce and had that with elk steaks, then made pasta with a creamy mushroom sauce. Yum!

The creamy pasta sauce.


After dinner, Jason, Jenna and Ethan finished splitting the wood and then we made smores.

Gretchen and Anna
The perfect marshmallow!
And the perfect smore!

Nature Day

Jenna's sister Gretchen and her daughter, Anna, are visiting from Minnesota. So Jenna, Gretchen and the kids came out today for a nature walk. We had a lot of stuff to take along, so we took the 4-wheelers down the hill and then walked around. I forgot to take pictures of our really, really muddy shoes, but believe me, we were all ankle-deep in the stuff. Here are a few pictures from our outing....

Gretchen brought her wildflower book (above) and we were trying to figure out what all the little flowers were. Below is Blue-Eyed Mary.
And we also FINALLY (after a lot of searching) found some morel mushrooms. I'll post pictures of our morel cooking experience next, but here are some mushrooms and the picking crew.

More fun with the Browns

This morning we went golfing with Jason and Ethan. We got off the course just before the rain hit. It was only in the high 50s-low 60s, but it was fun to get out on the course. Ethan's our little golf monster. When we got done with 9 holes, he asked if we could go again.

This was the funniest picture of the day. I will have to do a little Photoshop magic to get Ethan's face to show up better. Ethan had taken Dad's hat and put it on his head, then Dad told him he had lice. "You know that stuff we put on the cows for lice?" he asked Ethan. "I had to spray some of that in my hat." Ethan very quickly put the hat back on Dad's head and this was his expression....

Fun with the Browns

Ethan and Elsie rode the bus out to our house after school on Friday. We had a fun afternoon. Here are the kids with Mom and Dad.

I think I got Dad this Cowboys hat for his birthday last year.

Ethan took control of it and rarely takes it off now.
One of our favorite games to play is "Run around the house and I'll time you." So here's Elsie on her 3-lap run.

Like two peas in a pod...

One of our projects was to make dessert, since Jason, Jenna, the kids and Jenna's sister and her little girl were there for dinner. The kids helped me decorate this cake. I think Elsie ate more icing than she put on the cake. :)

Chloe Bear

I got to spend some good quality time with Chloe last weekend. She's grown quite a bit and is more interactive now. As a reminder, this is how she looked the last time I saw her, when she was two weeks old...

And here she is at almost 4 months, smiling a lot and giggling.


Amber got to hang out in Coeur d'Alene for a day and we went down to the park.
Chloe Bear got to enjoy her first campfire. We made smore's, which I hadn't had in a long time. I still have a knack for roasting marshmallows! Below, from left, is Matt, Jamie, Leslie and Nathan, and Erika and Chloe (she's bundled up under her blanket).

Life on the farm

A few photos from Amber's last day here in Montana. ...

She found an elk antler along the creek.

And Dad explained the new planting to her.
And we went to check out the river lot.
And she took a rest in the tractor bucket.
And yes, it all required beer.

Branding Cows

Today we went over to the Browns to help brand the calves. Amber had never seen a branding operation, so she got some lessons from the sidelines. I got to put the branding irons in the "stove" to get hot, then pass them off. I was very important to the operation. :)

Here are Amber and Mom after the branding.

A calf in the pen, waiting to get a vaccination and brand.


I was also helping out with the "ball bucket." If that needs explaining, e-mail me. This is a family blog, after all. :)

Amber getting tips from Patti.

As you can see, there's still snow in the mountains. Today was a beautiful day, though, in the 70s. We put our shorts on when we got home from the Browns.

Amber and I after our hard day's work.

This last picture is for Olivia, who has been to the ranch once, but couldn't remember that my parents had a hot tub. So here you go, the hot tub, the chicken coop (which hasn't housed chickens in at least 15 years) and some mountains.

Road Trip Footnotes

Technically these would be endnotes, I guess. Here are a few random notes from the trip...

"What's Holjoy mean?" This is a questioned I asked Amber and Seth after being at their house in Kansas City for a few days. See, this cute little bear on their front steps has a sign that says "The Gibsons" on one side and "Holjoy" on the other. I thought holjoy was maybe some cute little thing they say or an inside joke with friends. When I asked them what it meant, they both looked at me funny and said "you mean Howdy?" Yup, I'm a smart one!

In Missoula, Amber had to buy Kirt a steak dinner to pay up on a bet that the two made about 10 years ago. The bet was that the first one to get married had to buy the other a steak dinner. Amber's been married almost three years, and Kirt's still looking for Mrs. Right, so Amber got to buy dinner. As the witness to the initial bet and the settling of the debt, I got a free dinner either way, so I didn't care who won. It was a win-win for me. :)

Yesterday there was a big fight between the two bulls on the Wooden ranch, and this morning we had to go check on George, the one who got hurt in the battle. Amber and I were laughing at how much different it is up here, not having to worry about what you're wearing or how your hair looks, because it's all going to be caked with cow poop anyway. It was rainy, so her pants got poopy and wet.

Are we there yet?

Amber and I left early Monday (6 a.m. early) and headed north.

Here are a few pictures from our trip. We drove 16 hours and more than 1,000 miles the first day and made it from Kansas City to Billings. Then Tuesday we drove about 400 miles to Trout Creek.

Of course, had to get a Cabela's picture. This was in Mitchell, S.D.

Finally in Montana!

The original Wheat, Montana bakery/deli, where they make all the yummy bread and we bought yummy cinnamon rolls.

Us in Missoula, happy to be almost home.