Montana

Well I may have lost the pictures we took in Montana, but I can still write about our little trip.
We took off Friday morning with Wendy and Seth Snow, as the rest of their crew were getting home from girls camp later and were taking another car, and thankfully Aunt Wendy had a DVD player for the kids. They watched 4 movies all the way up there and didn't fight. Pretty amazing. We arrived around 3:00 and the kids just got so excited to swim and play with their cousins. I read a novel cover to cover that day, I soaked up the time to leisure read. Those pictures from the last post are from our first afternoon in Montana. (Weston is meditating because he has been watching too much of "Avatar: The last Air Bender" and wishes he was Aang.) That night Keith Snow and his 2 girls and Todd Schauers drove into a bull elk on the way there, the car was totaled but miraculously no one was injured. All the airbags deployed completely cushioning them from everything except a shower of windsheild glass. It restored some of my faith in cars, maybe they aren't really death machines after all, except well, the elk died.
We slept in Chad and Robin's camper. There was sufficient room and it was nice to have a space for our family to go with so many other guests in the house. (The kids didn't really enjoy the cold shower the first night, we learned our lesson and went in the house to wash the next night.) All of Jared's family minus one sibling was able to gather in Montana for Miles Baptism. Saturday morning we traveled to Townsend for the baptism and lunch. Savanna and Fiora sang the musical number, Weston was supposed to sing too but refused to do so. He said it was because he didn't want people telling him "Good job Weston" and that it was a "girly song." I was tempted to bribe him to sing but didn't, I just let him decide and decided not to sing. Jared made him stand up there with the girls silent. I think the music was nice anyway.
We let the kids swim in the big pool that afternoon again, a waterballoon fight played out also. Jared took me to McKenzie River Pizza for a salad and pizza while the kids ate hotdogs with all the rest of the family. I felt kind of guilty escaping from the family festivities, but it was really nice to have some one on one time with Jared, and that food was really good. We got back in time to see Lexie, Aaron and Amy's daughter, celebrating her 1st birthday with present opening. They gave her a huge cupcake to dig into, but she wasn't that interested, she only daintily licked the frosting off the top. Her parents and cousins helped her dig in.
We got to have cupcakes and a pinata after that, sugar sugar everywhere!
Sunday we went to church and had lasagna with the family and then we were off back to Utah. There was a little more squabbling and complaining this round, but not as bad as I had expected. We made it home without incident and discovered the bishopric had changed in our absence. You miss one day...
Monday we went back to work, all exhausted. Our friends the Westovers invited us over for ribs and s'mores. It was fun to have something fun after a long trip. More food, fun, and friends.
Tuesday I left the kids to go to the internship, and missed them. That evening another scary incident, Uncle Gabe Carpenter fell off his bike and separated his shoulder. Jared left late that night to give him a blessing while I was sleeping unawares. Gabe was in a lot of pain. We have been told it won't affect his military career, but it may delay his boot camp. Thankfully he wasn't more injured.
Wednesday was the same, except when I came home I was surprised to have Heidi and Gabe's kids, my mom and brother joining us for dinner! And Jared already had the hamburger patties ready for the grill. More food, friends and fun!
Thursday I didn't like leaving my kids. I also went to the temple after work with Jared and didn't get home until they had gone to bed.
Friday I decided to stay home. I had no appointments and my supervisor was out of town. So I spent the day with my children and recuperated from a long busy week. The kids jumped in my bed and we talked and laughed in the morning. We organized the basement, the toys, the clothes, cleaned the kitchen and went to the DI. We had piano lessons and went to the store. By the time Jared came home to take me to a Realtor social I was recuperated and the kids were ready to stay with a sitter again so I am so glad I stayed home. And for the first time in years I really enjoyed myself at the Realtor social! Jared even won a prize.
I have two more weeks of this internship, then a break for 2 weeks. We got see Shrek 4 today finally! WE loved IT!