My week:

SUCKED!

Fishing!!!

George came up for the weekend and we were able to get some good fishing in. We first went to Frenchtown Pond and did a little ice fishing. Nothing was biting so we decided to try again the next day. We went to the Bitterroot River, just down the road, at the Florence bridge today. George was able to catch 4 fish, letting each of the kids (and me) reel one in. They were so excited. It was cold and snowy, so we didn't stay long, but we had a great time.

Growing up.....

Ryker is growing up so fast! He is now 19 months old. He is going to nursery on Sundays, although still not to happy about it. This last week, he didn't cry for a whole hour, so he is making progress. He is starting to talk more, his favorite words being milk, snack, brownie, pumpkin, princess and NO. He has that one down well. He loves Elmo and cars and books. Here he is playing an Elmo game on the computer while the other kids are working on their school work:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Grant's pumpkin carving a baby -- he won in his work carving contest!

Grant's cheeseball monster!

The kids!

Avery as Batman!

Kyler the ninja!

Zadyn the M&M.

Ryker the Scarecrow!

Pumpkins!!!!!

We took the kids to the store to pick out their pumpkins for Halloween. They don't like to carve them, so we got out the pumpkin "potato head" pieces and they had a great time decorating them. Ryker especially loved his and he kept kissing it!!! It was cute!

Fire Season in Montana

Well, it's here! Fire season in Montana. This year, we are privileges enough to have a fire just 15 miles from our house! Yes, that's right, just down the road is a nice raging wildfire! It is burning close to our favorite camping/hiking/playing in the mountain area, Bass Creek. Our biggest fear however, is it's burning close to the house of some friends of ours in our ward. They are packing and preparing for the worst since given warning that evacuations may be coming!!! Here are a few pictures I took of the fire. The flames were really big on Saturday afternoon/evening, but things have died down. Lots of firefighters from Idaho and Washington and all around Montana have come to help and it seems to be working!! Let's hope the winds stay down and the temps don't go too high and maybe this fire will be out by the time the snow flies.....

Camping with the Fam

This past weekend we were able to go camping with all of Grant's immediate family (minus Troy). We had a good time! We camped at the Cottonwood campground, just north of Challis, Idaho, right on the river. We had a great camp spot with access to the river and lots of trees to keep us cool in the 95+ degree weather! The kids had a blast playing with their cousins. They had a fort in the trees, played in the water, painted shirts, and played kickball in the open field. Avery and Kyler loved sleeping in the kids tent. We took a day trip to Challis and panned for gold at the visitor's center and then drove to the ghost town of Bayhorse to check it out. Zadyn was a little nervous when we first got there that she might see a ghost!!! It had some pretty cool old buildings, but not much else. We celebrated Grandpa Orr's birthday while we were there with peach cobbler! YUM!! I think the highlight of the trip was when Lydia got out the glow stick balls for the kids Friday night. Those were a lot of fun! Made for some cool pictures also! We are looking forward to doing it all again next year and hopefully Troy can make it.