Montana

We visited beautiful Big Sky, Montana with my side of the family last week. What an amazing place. Around every corner a new beautiful Mountain view. It was close enough to Yellowstone that we did a couple day trips to see the sights there. It did not disappoint. We saw some awesome geysers, cool mud pots, a gorgeous waterfall and a bison from about 5 feet away. 😳 It was next to the wooden walkway that you are not allowed to step off of. It remained docile, but hearing the reports of the 9 year old girl who got thrown by one in the news today was definitely a gut check. We also saw lots of bison from the car including a family with one youngish member and a tiny baby. So cute!
I did some night photography with my dad. It was really fun and I learned some new things. We didn't have a tripod available, so most of the pictures are shaky with the long exposures. I'm posting my favorite one here anyway because it was a cool experience and I love the image. Next time I go to the mountains I'm bringing a tripod even with limited luggage room. The stars were amazing up there.

That's the house we stayed in in the background. This was pretty much our view from the back deck, but there wasn't room to get a picture of everyone there.

My favorite picture of the stars from the night my dad and I did night photography. See the Big Dipper?

Old Faithful

It was really cool to see Bison. I wish we had seen some elk or moose, too.

Mom and Dad in Yellowstone

My crew at Yellowstone

 Ethan enjoyed a little walk with Daddy and Grandpa.

 I think Grandpa enjoyed it as much as he did.

 So many people to walk with! Grandma and Ethan are really enjoying this moment.

 My parents and older 2 nephews.

 Waterfall in Yellowstone

 My family in front of the waterfall and nephew photobomber. 😂

 What's a hike for a gymnast without a handstand?

 I love Ryan's relationship with his cousins. 💗

More walking, this time with big sister, Lily. The hat system we used this day worked really well, but looks a little funny. The blue hat on top was too floppy and kept getting blown up or down on his face. The hat underneath would be fine even though it didn't have as wide a brim it would have at least protected his eyes, but it didn't have a strap and the wind was fierce. So we tied the blue one down over the khaki one with the stiffer brim. It reminds me a bit of Crocodile Dundee.

Sneak peek

I sent this picture to Lily this morning.

While she was away at camp my mom came over and we painted Lily's room. She picked the color last year when we were painting Ethan's room. I am pretty sure she will like the color, but I wanted to do a whole room make over. I'm thinking of it as her birthday present, a teenage room for a new teenager. All she wanted back in March was a book, a preorder book due in September at that. Lily is not a big fan of change, so I've gone back on forth on pulling the trigger. I've kind of felt her out for what she likes furniture-wise, but when we were at the store yesterday Jay and I both second guessed the color selection. He came up with a great idea though. It's all Ikea furniture, so we bought what I wanted to put in there in white (like she and I discussed), but we won't put it together. That way if she freaks out and wants it back the way it was we can just put things back the way they were. If she likes the white we have it and can put it together right away. And we have pictures of the same furniture in gray (which Jay and I both like best), so if she likes that we can exchange all the white furniture for gray. Problem solved. New problem...I forgot to get the shelf for her trophies. It was one of those ask the associate pieces and I totally forgot. Ugh. It will all come together in the end. This way she gets some say as well. I'm excited for her to see it on Saturday.

Our Little Koala

Ethan has earned the nickname of Koala or Cutie Koala for the way he holds on tight and cuddles, especially after naps. One day Ryan got him up from his nap and said, "He's like a little koala!" and it stuck. I love it because it perfectly describes his clinging cuddly nature when he wakes up and it's completely his. As we know Lily does not like shared endearments. 😐😉 Of course, when I saw this diaper I loved it.

Reviving My Little Place on the Internet

I somehow accidentally opened my blog the other day. Ethan may have had something to do with it. I read a couple posts. The feelings of nostalgia were so sweet. I missed my kids being those ages. I missed having my blog to capture moments. I missed blogging in general and the little blog community I was in. For these reasons and because of my distaste for Facebook(okay maybe it's more of a love/ hate relationship with Facebook) I'm going to start posting my memories here instead. I am also going to try to move my Facebook posts here, but I imagine that will be a long tedious journey that will take me years to complete. For now I'm starting fresh with today.