Sunday, July 05, 2009

Summer Family Holiday, Part 1

My mom and Mark arrived in Montana last Saturday and visited with Matt's family & Laura's family in Helena til Tuesday, and they arrived here in Livingston late Tuesday afternoon. We made a yummy Swedish dinner and hung out until sundown, then the next day we had a picnic at the ranch... Nana brought James some little metal trains from her miniatures collection in a little tin printed with trains and he instantly loved them. I thought it was cool for him to have some Southern Pacific trains...
he played with them all night, even while we were watching the sunset and the deer in the front yard!

Train Lover!
This is how the sunset looks from the adirondack chairs on the porch.

And this is a close up of Tuesday's sunset by Papa Mark.
***

On Wednesday, we had a picnic at the ranch. This is Isabelle with Papa Mark.

Nana at the picnic table (with Ally, James, and the water jug).
Me and my Lynners!

Me and My Sweet Baby James-Peanutbutter face

James being silly for Nana at the picnic table

The view from the picnic table near the new treehouse.

Ally & Abby swinging under the treehouse.

James and Belle in the treehouse.

Marshall digging on the roof of the root cellar.


Belle doing pull ups under the treehouse.

My gorgeous niece, Ally.

The view from our walk around the river bend to the beach....

[there's the beach]

Kids throwing rocks into the Yellowstone River.

Addie and Abby at the beach.

Belle, James, and Heidi at the beach
(see the main part of the ranch & the house there in the upper left)

Sandy James
Silly Boy!

Heidi rinsing her feet in the river

Sweet little Ally

Our ranch neighbors have the craziest dogs! They are mad about fetching sticks, so when I saw Marshall pitching sticks into the river I said, "You'd better watch out or a dog is gonna come running to play fetch with you!" Sure enough, about 20 seconds later, the Olsen's black dog showed up ready to play with the kids. Well, the kids LOVED it! That crazy dog went after everything, even into the river, even two sticks at a time! In this photo, Addie, Abby, Ally, Belle, and Heidi are cheering on the dog as he retrieves a stick from the river.

Belle was fond of the command, "Drop it!" when the dog came back, and that's what she's saying in this picture with Heidi, Addie, and James.

And finally, James decided he wanted to play fetch, too! He makes a sweet little puppy!
That's the end of DAY ONE with Nana and Papa (these are their photos, too). I'll post more when I get a minute...
For now, we hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day (we enjoyed Sam's fotos of the Sierra Vista celebration...wish we'd all been together!!!!). Thanks to all our loved ones who came to be with us...you made our holiday special! I'm feeling especially grateful to live in the free-est part of the land of the free, and perhaps the most beautiful. Ya gotta love July in Montana!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

A Week of Cousin Fun

It's been a long and busy week since we had our Beartooth adventure LAST Saturday! We came home so I could do Sharing Time and celebrate Father's Day with a Hawaiian dinner on Sunday, then Monday we (me & the kids) drove down to Lehi, Utah, to pick up my nieces, Ally and Belle. I was going to come home on Wednesday morning, but Tuesday night Cousin Brent's lovely lady friend, Autumn, offered to do some work on me to relieve some of the pain and inflammation I have been dealing with. So I postponed the trip home til Thursday and enjoyed some Autumntime! (she is fabulous--VIVA LA SWEETIE!) I also had fun just being with Jill and her kids at their cute new house (Drew was at Youth Conference).

The drive home with 5 kids was not bad and the kids have been pretty great. It's so nice to have built-in playdates for the girls everyday. I had a sublime moment yesterday when Heidi and Belle were playing "Cookin' Mama" on the Wii and giggling themselves silly, and Addie and Ally were having a swinging contest outside (also laughing like crazy) and James was happily playing cars upstairs by himself...happy kids, happy mama! (I know it goes both ways)

So last night we had our ward BBQ at the park, then I took the girls on the Downtown Art Walk while Rich set up our new Tent trailer (where we would have a campout in the driveway last night). Tell me these are not the cutest little cousins ever, complete with DOUBLE RAINBOW!
Heidi, Ally, Addie, and Belle on Main Street
eating frozen yogurt from Chadz Coffee Shop
Ally inside Chadz

Addie inside Chadz

Heidi inside Chadz
Belle inside Chadz
Crazy flowers (look closely) outside Pinky's Cafe

Arist at work at the Parks Reece Gallery (painting Chief Joseph).

Our new pop-up tent trailer, complete with a king bed, a queen bed, 2 twins, a potty, shower, sink, fridge, and furnace!

Today (Saturday) at the ranch where Daddy and Uncle Mike finished up the Pirate Ship treehouse!
(Belle, Ally, and Addie)

(Look how high the river is!!!! The kids were shouting "Land HO!")
Come play with us! Grandpa's vision is finally a reality and we're LOVIN' it!
(notice the garden that needs a good weeding back on the right...that's what we're doing for daily chores on Monday & Tuesday! We only did one row today)

***
That's all for now. We are having a super-fun time! We wish all our cousins on both sides could be here with us!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Driving Videos

Part 1

Top-O-The-World from MelinFamily on Vimeo.





Part 2

The actual Beartooth from MelinFamily on Vimeo.

A PLETHORA of FOTOS

So...it's been an eventful week with Richard's birthday and Father's Day and our Beartooth Campout. Here are some recent photos, beginning with stuff from Wednesday:
You know how I like to make little embroidered quote pillows, right? And you know how our family LOOOOVES the movie "Elf", right? So I made some Christmas pillows (well, actually I just embroidered the quotes on muslin, but they will soon be pillows) with our favorite Elf quotes on them! Have a gander...

I got adorable holiday fabric at the quilt store--it'll be so FUN!

Here is a gorgeous rainbow out our back door from Wednesday night.
On Thursday, Addie and Heidi decorated a birthday cake for Daddy.

Ta-Daaaah!
After the kids' dinner, Rich made a wish while they sang...

I think he wished we coudl go to Bozeman to see "Land of the Lost" and eat Taco Bell, because that's what we did while Jessica H. babysat for us like a true HERO.
***
On Friday afternoon, we headed southeast with Uncle Mike & Christina to camp at the KOA in Red Lodge, MT...
Addie & Christina
Addie, Christina, Heidi, and James around our campfire

Addie in the "porch" area of our tent

James & Heidi found the "doggie door" to our tent.

Mike taught James how to roast a marshmallow without setting it on fire.

...but he didn't learn how to EAT the marshmallows!

YUM!
Christina gave Addie a fireside crochet lesson
Daddy was silly!
Mommy was cold!
Uncle Mike was cheezy!
Rich cooked up a yummy breakfast the morning

Pancakes in a can are NOT the best...but breakfast was great!

Kids in their jammies by the creek

Girls in their jammies by the creek

Heidi, James, and Addie on the bridge behind our campsite. They were waiting for Daddy to pack up and for the KOA pool to open!

Super James!

Mike & Rich hard at work!

Daddy threw the kids around the pool from 10am-11am...
Here's James
...and Heidi...
...and Addie!
Mikey came, too!
[Mommy just watched and embroidered and got a sunburn on her right side!]
***
After swimming, we dried off, got dressed, and headed up the Beartooth Highway!
Look at that glacial lake! GORGEOUS!
Christina and James at the first lookout

Mike, James, Addie, Christina, Heidi, and Jamie
at the first Beartooth lookout.
Addie & Heidi freaking me out at the lookout.
Check out the snow on the side of the road!

Here we are writing "MELINS" in the snow wall
(and we can thank Rich for all these awesome bum-shots of me--UGH!)

Heidi on the glacier

James on the glacier

Christina, Mike, and James at the glacier
***
While we were driving from Red Lodge, the Grays (my SIL & family) and Gram & Gramp Melin were driving over from Yellowstone Park! We met them right at Crazy Creek.
Jame s and Grandpa on the Crazy Creek trail

Rosalie & Heidi

Addie & Crazy Creek (that is white WATER behind her, not snow)

Me and the Beartooth from Crazy Creek pull out.
***
And that is ALL for this week. Tomorrow morning the kids and I are driving down to Lehi, Utah to pick up my nieces, Ally and Belle for some long-promised cousin fun! I can't wait!
So it's time for me to re-pack the van I unpacked last night and head south. I better hit the hay. Best of weeks to all-y'all!

FAMILY LETTER 07.28.19

Dear Loved Ones,                                                                                                        We have just ...