Cabin trip

Last month the kids and I went to Montana to spend time with my Mom, sisters and Grandma at a cabin along the Hungry Horse reservoir that my Great Grandparents built many years ago. We try to go every year because its so peaceful and relaxing.




Here are the kids swimming and playing in the water at the Spotted Bear Ranger station. It is a short car ride away from the cabin but we try to go because it is so beautiful!! The water is nice and clear but brisk!! Ok, down right cold but oh so beautiful!!
This is my younger sister, Mikael, her boyfriend, and the kids just hanging out. This is the cabin that we stayed in ( not the one that my grandparents built). Last fall my 2 uncles had the opportunity to buy this cabin in the same area, only 2 cabins away from the other one. It was nice having the use of both cabins this year. Usually there ends up to be lots of people... I think this year there was 14 people total and that's a lot for a 2 bedroom cabin with a loft. So we split up for sleeping and had lots more room.
Kyle, Cody, Belle (my sister's dog), my niece, Daniell and my Grandma
This is the suspended bridge at Spotted Bear that we have to cross to get to the beach area.
We had a great time again this year and are already looking forward to going again next year!!

This will be a combined blog of our first 2 camping trips of 2006. We got a little bit of rain but still had fun.


Cody had a little bike wreck in the mud

Sarah and Cody got new bikes.

Kyle was enoying his birthday present two.

Sarah had her party while out camping. Grandma and Grandpa came out for the event.

And of couse we played in the Zuk. The rain made for good fun in the mud.

Probably should have left the top on.........
but where the fun be in that, we all got wet!

Well my first trail damage!

Yes that's a bungy cord holding my alt on, and electrical tape holding in the dip stick.

a couple hours in the garage and she'll be good as new

Starting Kyle off right with some quality reading material

And of course it wouldn't be camping with out smore's

Sorry there's not more pics of the kids but our camera had a glitch and a lot of them didn't turn out. But there will be more camping trips.

Monster truck's

A small Monster truck show came to town, so we decided to take the kids to the show, we all had a blast. I do apologize, we didn't get any pictures of the kids with their ear plugs on but they all LOVED it.

For $5 a ride you could go around in a circle on the back of this truck but it was a little pricey for the length of the ride. Now if they would just let you drive, that would be worth 5 bucks.

Part of the show was the tuff truck contest and of course there's got to be MUD.


This guy was pretty fast, and of course the kids loved the air under the tires.

Did I mention that they don't have to be trucks.

All Kyle wanted to see was more monster trucks!

Bumper for the Zuk

Well after a good long look at the stock bumper of the Zuk it was pretty obvious that it would never hold up to the abuse I would give it. So I started work on a new stronger version.

After several day's of cutting and welding this is what I ended up with. Not to bad if I don't say so myself.

The next weekend I tested it by pulling a tree that had fallen across the road. After that Heidi pushed another tree that was across the road so we could get the camper through (She doesn't let me push tree's with her car).

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming:
WOW....what a ride!!!"

I think that I need to start remembering this more and more each day!! I like things nice and neat, planned and organized. But with 3 kids, a husband ( who's not much of a planner at all), and a dog I think that I just need to be a bit more relaxed and remember that life is a journey to be lived!

Sarah plays soccer too!

Sarah is playing soccer for the second year. She enjoyed it last year and wanted to play again this year. Those long legs of hers sure help to get her from one end of the field to the other in a hurry!

Cody's first year playing soccer

Cody is playing soccer this year for the first time. He is doing a great job and having a good time!! We enjoy soccer season but with 2 kids playing it gets a bit crazy at times for scheduling all those games and practices.

Aren't they just sooo precious!

All 3 kids were in my niece, Daniell's wedding in August. I finally got around to having there pictures taken in their wedding clothes. They were so cute, I jsut had to share. Now I have to decide which ones I want be on the wall, and its a difficult decision.

Our little guy is now 3!!!

Kyle turned 3 this week. We had a little party for him last weekend. He got a new bike and Dad rigged up a trailer for him to pull! He is loving it and plays outside as much as possible. Cody waits for Kyle to nap then he goes out and rides the bike too. Grammy & Papa got him a horn, license plate with his name on it and a Elmo bag that hooks on the handle bars. The boy is all set!!

Awanas Car Race

The kids made cars (with Dad's help) out of a wood block for the Awanas Car Race. Here they are painting them. Sarah won a trophy for the most unique kids design. We all have a good time and the kids' cars were fast... Just not quite fast enough to win.

The new tile

Here is the new tile before it was grouted. So far we are happy with the new look. Now we just have to grout, seal, and chaulk it and we'll be ready to shower again!

The tub and tile after demo

Here is what was left when we were done! There's gonna be more than one trip to the dump before we are done with this project.

Let the Demo Begin!!!

Well we decided to remodel the bathroom, starting with replacing the tub and surrounding tile. The kids helped with the tile, they all seemed to have a good time beating on the wall without getting in trouble!

The kids and I just had a good time hammering and taking our frustrations out on the tile... Joe on the other hand just wanted to make less trips to the trailer.

Good looking Snowman!

What a good looking snowman! And cute kids too! We finally got snow last week so the kids went out a made this guy. Unfortunately within a couple of days it started raining again and he quickly disappeared.