2011 Trails Part #1

Layne had only 90 miles this year in trail contracts. Most all of it was right here in the mountain ranges that we can see from our house. We spent last week with him at Reservoir Lake camping while he worked. His folks came up for the week also and one of his brothers and their family. Layne's dad Boyd went for two days with him and I went with Layne on his last day. We were on the Continental Divided trail. It was so awesome!! We could see Salmon, Tendoy,and Wisdom. We could see for miles and miles in all directions.

There was a large metal marker in the ground showing the Idaho and Montana sides, so we put our camera on it for a picture. The Idaho side is behind us. It was beautiful!! So fun to be out exploring together.

This was the highest point of the trail that we were on. It was 9,730 ft. The rock slides were a little scary to climb up and down because they were so steep. Layne and his mule Wilson decided that they needed a picture. As you can see we did get into a little snow. There were 2 small patches that we had snowball fights in. I love to be in the mountains!!!

Triathlon Team

My friends Susie and Carolynn and I took part in the YMCA sprint triathlon today.  Carolynn was our swimmer.  We were very excited to have her because she was a distance swimmer at BYU.  She was the first one out of the pool.  It was awesome!!  Then Susie was our biker.  She did 13 miles on her bike and did a fantastic job also.  She tagged with me and I ran 3 miles.  It was a ton of fun to be a part of a team.  We are now looking to see what other kinds of runs we could train for.  I think that we might try the sprint next year individually, but Susie and I would both have to learn how to swim, and train very differently than we have in the past.  But to have a race to train for has been very motivating in our daily workout, because we sure didn't want to look bad.  Carolynn's and Susie's husbands also did the full race individually and they did a great job.  I think that Layne will defiantly do it next year.  It was a great morning.  Pictures to come when I get them from Susie

Slacker

I know that it has been almost 4 months since i last blogged.  No excuses, pretty much just a slacker. The summer is going by way to fast, but on the other hand I am always glad to get back into a routine.
 Wes and Layne are doing trails in the mountains right here in our valley which is great to have them closer.  They were in about 300 head of elk yesterday and said that it was wild. The elk were running everywhere. 
Randy had been working on the Hansen ranch which is about 10 miles up the road that you cross the Clark Canyon Reservoir on basically since he got out of school.  He helped with 450 bum lambs and then they asked if he would like to come back and hay for the rest of the summer.  I wasn't quite ready to have him living away from home for the summer, but it has been good for him.
Erin is loving having time to read read read.  She is loving the American girl series.  She is taking voice lessons and fiddle so she is keeping busy with that and playing with friends when ever possible.
Coop is enjoying riding his bike when ever he is awake.  He loves being outside and playing with his cars.  He is excited to take his lamb to the fair the end of August.
 I had my hair in a ponytail the other day and he looked at me and said, "Holy Cow that is a lot of gray hair!!  You must be getting old mom."  Then Erin saved the day by reminding me I have the stuff in the box that fixes that and I can be good as new tomorrow.  I love my kids!!

Going to State

Randy had District Music Festival this weekend and did awesome.  He was very nervous because he somehow broke his instrument and didn't think that he was going to get to play his solo.  A music company was there showcasing a bunch of new instruments and they offered to let him borrow a brand new baritone to  play his solo.  It was a totally different one than what his is like, but he practiced for a few minutes and then it was his turn. He was so scared because the band teacher told him to plan on about $1200 to fix it.  He was sweating bullets, but it was a minor repare and the school payes for it.  I think it was a good lesson learned that you can never be to careful with your instrument!!   He did a great job, got an 1 and is going to state the first weekend in May. 

What!?!

So when I blogged yesterday about the snow, i should have realized that I would wake up to 6 inches of snow this morning and a nice blizzard for most of the day.  The one good thing is if it is going to be cold and snowy, it might as well snow hard.  Happy Spring!!

NO!!!

Will it ever be spring in Montana???

Discovery Pictures Take 2

Don't know why the pictures didn't show, but here they are again!!