Trip to the Northern Cheyenne

Rich's Aunt Rosie passed away on October 11th after along illness, and her funeral was in Busby, MT, way over in south east Montana, so we planned a weekend and stayed in Billings before the funeral.

Fisrt Stop: HuHot!

Daddy treated us to s'mores

YUM!

(there was a bunch of delicious Mongolian Barbecue before the s'mores, too...then I had to take Niles to the car because he was naughty, so we missed the s'mores part)

Next Stop: Our Hotel, Big Horn Resort with The Reef water park.
Niles is so excited!

Addie

Daddy with the boys in the wave pool

I hardly got any pictures of Heidi because she was always on a big slide!
It's fun to see them having sister fun.

The boys had fun playing on the beach.

James loves to swim!

Braving the waves with Dad

Niles coming up for air

James had fun on the splash playground, too, but the big bucket scared Niles.

The next morning we got dressed and headed to Busby, which is on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation (Aunt Rosie was Northern Cheyenne). We met up with all of Grandpa Tom Melin's siblings there.

Rich's cousin Aunica and her family
(she is the daughter of Tom's brother Pat and Rosie)

Rich's Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Mick Melin

James & Addie hanging out

Our Family at the funeral

Heidi took a lot of pictures...

Here are the kids loading up after the funeral...Niles loves when James lays on his lap.

Sweet brothers
ready for a 4hour drive home.

Rest in Peace, Aunt Rosie

Early October

As usual, October began with a big winter storm...it is so beautiful from where we live now!

Clouds filled the valley and looked like they were spilling into Livingston...it was so cool!

Livingston Peak with a cloud hat on

This is how I watched most of General Conference...laying in the guest room!

On October 9th, Baby Zecklin and his parents came to our house for a sleepover.

He's so cute! He got lots of love.

October 12th was the last day of soccer and it was freezing cold!

We snuggled to keep warm during James' 8am game!

Rich (taking the picture), Me, Niles, Addie, Heidi missing,
Grandma and Grandpa cheering James on, trying to keep warm.

James all bundled up, skipping his way through his last game.

Remember September?

It's kind of crazy how the blog has gotten away from me now that my computer in in the basement and my room and kitchen are upstairs. But it's right by the fire, so maybe cold nights will remind me to blog! Anyway, I've got a lot of catching up to do, so here's a September recap.

A fun soccer pic of Addie

My grubby boy eating lunch

Heaven smiling on our new house, early September
 

On September 23rd, Niles spent the day at the ranch with Grandpa

It was a GLORIOUS fall day!

That night, Grandma Lyn and Aunt Marti flew in to celebrate our birthday.

Our gang at the Bozeman Airport

The next morning we had a yummy breakfast with Grandma Lyn!

Niles was so happy to see his buddy!

That night, my mom and sister Abby came over and we had a triple
 birthday dinner for Auntie (59), Me (42), and Abby (14).

Niles & Great Aunt Marti

Abby, Nana, Heidi, James, Grandma, Papa Tom, Gramma Rosalie,
 Addie, Me, Niles, Aunt Marti enjoying the dinner

Lighting the candles on the yummiest cake ever (chocolate zucchini-mmm!)

Heidi is pretty excited about the most delicious
 ice cream ever made: Wilcoxson's Graham Slam

We made my mom open the first gift to celebrate the day she became a mom.
 I gave her an old eyeglass case with a POSITIVE PREGNANCY TEST INSIDE!
 We totally surprised everyone...there was whooping and hollering and laughter and tears!
 It was freaking awesome. The kids didn't understand at first, so in the picture I am explaining
 to Heidi that these two pink lines mean we are having a baby May 20, 2014!

Opening gifts...check our those cute cakes!

Addie is so excited to be a big sister again--she's hoping for a baby sister!

On Saturday September 28th, we took Auntie and Gram
 to the airport in Bozeman, then Heidi had a date.

Auntie, Me, & Gram saying goodbye...
Thanks for coming, it was so FUN!!!!