All Kinds of Mayberry Fun

Aunt Marti & Brent Mayberry came to visit us on August 25-27. They arrived on Wednesday afternoon and we ate a yummy (petersen) chicken bacon salad with red onion dressing, and then we went to The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. First we saw a planetarium show about constellations, then Heidi wanted to show them the dinosaurs and the Egyptian Discovery room. While we were sitting on a big bench building a triceratops, Addie jumped up and the bench tipped over. It dumped me, then landed on my leg. Here's what the bruise looks like today, five days after the incident. EWWWWW!!! It looks way worse than it feels. Anyway, Rich met us there after work and then we all went bargain hunting at Old Navy to pass the time until our Stake Pioneer Day celebration commenced at Bogert Park in Bozeman. The lines for food were insane, but we had a good time and got to go swimming afterward (Marti, Brent and I watched while Rich wrangled the kids). We headed home with a van full of sleepyheads around 10pm.

Ewww, a huge bruise on my calf.
Heidi, JamesO, Daddy & Ad in the Bogert Park pool
Caitlyn Stoen, state champion swimmer, giving Heidi some swimming tips.
On Thursday, I took the girls to swimming lessons and Marti and Brent stayed home with James. When I came home, we hung out for a while and then decided to go to Pickle Barrel for lunch. We had planned on floating the river that day, but it barely got up to 70-dgrees and it was cloudy all day. So instead, we decided to have a bonfire after dinner and make s'mores and homemade ice cream. We went down by the beach on the ranch and watched the sun set (at nearly 10pm). The river was higher, colder and muddier than it had been the week before, darn it. I guess we were really lucky to go when we did last week! (The International Flyfishing Federation Conclave is taking place this week in Livingston--cuz a river runs through it, doncha know--and my hotel is full of fishermen from all over the world--lots from Nova Scotia and Scotland--and they are all quite grumpy about the river being so muddy).

There was a wreck as we headed home and we couldn't see what happened. Here's an update for ya: A woman driving a Durango hit a piece of farm equipment (a wide load) going nearly 70mph on Mill Creek bridge about 2 miles from the ranch. She lived but they had to jaws-of-life her out of her truck after it rolled down the river bank. There was an environmental newsflash about toxic chemicals getting into the river from the damaged equiment the next day, too. Too bad!

Addie on Brent's lap making ice cream with our Ice Cream ball

Heidi Lynners being herself.

Smiley James Ole (who waved for the first time at Brent)

Hangin' out with Auntie M
The view of the river and our little circle.
Aunt Party roasting her marshmallows for s'mores.

Thanks for coming, Mayberrys! We LOVED having you and wish you could stay FOREVER! Come back soon and bring Ralphy on a Yellowstone adventure!