Mid Furnace Replacement

Chimney Removal

Before Furnace Replacement

Happy [Belated] 4th of July!

Dear Aunt Molly,

I had great intentions of putting this on the blog on the 4th of July. They wore the outfits on the 1st to church. But, alas, I didn't get them uploaded. Better late than never and still super cute.

Shot from the front showing off the super cuteness. 

Now from the back to show off the piggies.

Oh sister - you are hiLARious!

The Fish

At St. Regis. Gotta love the fishies.

Saying Goodbye...for now!

How we say goodbye to Big Sky Country.

A whole family shot. Little dogs included.

Mae didn't particularly want to take this picture.

We planned our exit around Erik's morning work break. They came up with the hands on heads by themselves.

It is goodbye for now, but in a week we will be headed back toward the Fort for two weeks of family fun!

Pie O Pie!

Here are our 8 pies for the Summer Celebration Pie Auction. 3 from Cynthia, 2 from Bob & I and 1 from Erik.

Carrot Cake Pie

5 Berry (Fruit?) Montana/Fort Benton pride pie.

And Bob's Grand Champion $400.00 Royal Raspberry Macadamia Nut Pie.

Bein' Silly

When we were driving home from Great Falls one day (after Etta had thrown up in 2J's...) Mae was bored and not very tired. We were playing a bit and came up with this crazy photo shoot. That pacifier and that gorilla come in handy a lot!

Fire Pole Practice!

Right next to the carousel is a pretty fun playground. We also spent some time there. (A little girl asked if Etta & Mae are twins. I had them each tell her how old they are. Her response? A shrug along with, "They look like twins to me!"

Again, Mae would have nothing to do with looking at the camera. The gorilla was well-behaved though.

Etta trying out her skills on the fire pole.

She definitely wants one with her bunk bed!

Missoula Carousel

After Wallace we made it to Missoula where I had promised that Etta could ride on the carousel.

Here she is patiently waiting.

There was much too much for Mae to look at besides boring old daddy.

Bob had quite the time getting an "action" shot as we went around. I will spare you from the 5 or 6 really bad shots.

Finally timed it right! We are in motion as you may be able to tell by Etta's hair.

The gorilla was for staging purposes only. We ended up going really fast. Mae was really unsure to start with, but then seemed to settle in. One trip around was enough for the 3 of us!

Wallace

On our way to MT for Summer Celebration we stopped through Wallace, ID. They have a big mining display at the rest stop and it's a great place for the kids to play.

Riding on a train car.

Smiling with the gorilla.

Getting a step up on sister.

Etta and Bob pushing some...big...thing...and the dogs were helping too.

I have a picture somewhere of Etta riding this when she was just over a year old I think. She's quite a bit bigger now but still remembered how to ride it.

And with age comes sharing. Sigh.

Sprinkle Fun

One day in mid-June it was warm enough that Etta wanted to get out the sprinkler and play.

Mae wasn't super sure about it to start with.

She thought it looked pretty funny though.

Eventually she did go through and have fun. What she didn't want was to pose with sister.

New swimsuits courtesy of Aunt Molly. Thanks Aunt Molly!!

"Reading" and "Teaching"

Mae is finally getting to the point where she will actually sit for more than 5 seconds to listen to a story. And she loves "reading" to herself. As does Etta.

This is one morning after breakfast when they were snuggling and reading. And actually getting along. For a few minutes at least.

Etta setting up to teach "Little Church" at home after regular church one day.

"Reading" a Bible story to all of the babies. She has most of her children's Bible memorized since it's the only thing we are allowed to listen to in the car. 

Mae didn't want Etta to read to her. She wanted to read her own Bible. Thanks Miss Debbie!