Surprise... we went fishing last weekend!

We made it out on Holter twice and then fished lower on the Missouri one day...  I don't have a lot of time to write, but I wanted to share these pictures!

Daddy's Girl

A pelican cruising

Showing off a Sauger that Dad caught

Slippery little sucker!

Look at my worm!

Does it look good on my nose????

 We did get a new camera with an awesome zoom!  Here are a couple Golden Eagles that we were able to take some pictures of!

 One night we were actually out on the Lake pretty late.  As you can see, we had an amazing view while returning to the boat launch!

A nice visit with Dad and Marsha

This morning Dad and I got up this morning and went to York, Montana for the Angry Trout Trail run.  Here we are after we were done.

 Then we came home, loaded up and went fishing.  Clint quickly showed his fishing ability by hooking this monster walleye. 

Gramps and the awesome walleye that he caught!  He actually caught more fish than all of us!

Marsha and Kimber looking good!

 Another shot of Dane, Clint and the huge walleye

Guess what we have been up to?

The last two weekends have been a lot of fun...  First I have some pictures from 2 weeks ago when we did a little more walleye fishing below Maroney Dam.  We took the boat across the River and the fishing was pretty darn good.  The kids had a great time as you can see...  climbing, fishing, and playing!

 Dane's big bass!  (Perhaps it was Clint's, but Dane is proud to hold it up!)

 Then we left on Friday to head up to the cabin.  It was really good to get away; we haven't been up there for a while.  The weather was nice, but cool and a little windy.  We tried to do a lot of different things, like fly a kite.  

 It was too windy for the kite, so we caught some grasshoppers and other bugs.

 We also tried playing a little badminton and throwing a ball around, but with the high winds it was pretty tough.  So, we drove down to the lake and took a walk around it looking at the various things.

 Then the next morning we got up and headed up to Wood Lake, one of our favorite pre-kid fishing spots.  It's a beautiful Lake up in the mountains!  Needless to say, we all had a great time, and even caught some wonderful cutthroat trout in Wood Lake.

Here is Shep waiting to see what Clint is up to... 

 One of the cutthroats proving to be a little hard to handle!

 Dane and Clint were catching all kinds of things for bait, like these dragonfly larvae and a leach.

 Kimber is not so good at sleeping at the cabin yet, so I was pretty tired from kid wrangling all night.  Dane had pointed out this pond on our way up to Wood Lake and told Clint that he wanted to fish there.  Figuring he would be asleep when we drove back by, Clint told him we would stop.  There was no way that Dane was going to sleep, but Kimber was napping when we got to the pond.  I stayed with Kimber and dozed a little while the boys went down to the pond.  Imagine my surprise when they returned with these two monster Brook Trout.  I didn't even know that Brook Trout got that large!!!!  Good job guys!

 That evening we took the dogs down to the Lake by the cabin.  Shep had never been swimming before, but he took to it like a pro!

This weekend Dad and Marsha are coming over so we are all super excited to see them!

Fishing!

Clint had today off, the kids were both feeling well, and the weather was good so we decided to hike down to the Missouri and go fishing.  We went to a different spot than we usually do, and it was a little longer of a hike, but I think that we all enjoyed it immensely.  Clint was the meat producer of the family; with Dane's help he caught 5 nice walleye.  I caught a nice brown trout and a goldeneye...  :)  The walleye didn't like me today!

I think it probably was about a 4 mile hike by the time it was all said and done...  Dane did pretty darn well!  He hitched a ride on Clint's shoulders a couple times, but most of the time was hiking like a champ.

Here are some pictures from our fun day!

 Dane is showing Kimber the walleye!

Now it's time to get some chores done around the house and then tomorrow we are going over to my mom's to help her out for the day.  It should be a great weekend!

Carrie's Beautiful Wedding

We were honored when Carrie asked if the kids could be in her wedding, Dane was to be the ring bearer and then the plan was for Kimber to be the flower girl!  Carrie also flattered me by asking if I would make truffles for her wedding as well.  So, with BIG plans for the weekend, imagine my distress when I walked in on Thursday to pick up Kimber and she was sick...  not with a head cold but with a stomach bug that included some horrible vomiting, a low grade fever and the other icky symptoms that go with this sort of illness.  But, being the optimist that we are we were sure she would be healthy and happy by Saturday night. With the help of my wonderful hubby, Heather, and my mom, Kimber was cared for and about 350 handmade truffles were delivered for the wedding at 4 pm on Saturday.  

Although Kimber was still sick, Dane was thrilled to be included as such a big part of this event.  We all got dressed up and mom stayed with Kimber while we attended Carrie's beautiful and wonderful wedding! 

Here is Dane getting dressed with Clint's help.  Dane was so jazzed that getting him to stand still was super difficult.

 As always, Dane adores Brock and wants to be just like him. Look at how he even hold his hands like Brock!!!  Well, I couldn't have chosen a better role model for the little man.  

 Three awesome guys!

 Here is a beautiful ice sculpture that Carrie and Bob had displayed at the wedding.  They chose to display the truffles around this sculpture and I think it turned out to be very pretty.  

 Carrie looked radiant and Bob also looked super handsome

 A row of very handsome guys!

 The wedding was awesome from start to finish!

I was very proud of Dane throughout the wedding.  He was patient through the ceremony and did what he was supposed to!  As I said it was truly a wonderful wedding and we truly wish Carrie and Bob the best.  They are amazing people and only deserve the best!

6 days in Oregon!

What a wonderful trip we had to Oregon!  We met Sam, Shannon, Porter, Wyatt, and Bill along the Deschutes River in Oregon for a 6 day camping/fishing trip.  Sheri joined us for a day but was helping with family and couldn't stay the whole time. 

The fishing and catching was fantastic...  as you will see from the pictures we caught a lot of fish.  They were all too small to keep though, so we weren't able to bring home any delicious sturgeon meat...  kind of a bummer, but we still had an amazing time.

There were a few hiccups along the way.  We encountered our first challenge when we arrived after driving all night in the rain.  (We left Great Falls at about 10:30 pm Wednesday night)  When we opened up the pop up tent trailer, there was a LOT of water inside...  apparently the seal is no good!  After trying to dry out the front mattress I finally gave up and we changed around our sleeping arrangements so we didn't have to use that bed.  It worked out okay, however Clint got the brunt of Kimber's tossing and turning.  I woke up once and found her feet literally on his head.  The next night she gave him a fat lip in the middle of the night.  I just slept perched on the edge, as far away from the two of them as possible!  (okay in a double bed, it's hard to get much distance)

The day we got there ended up being a decent day and the boys headed out fishing while Kimber and I attempted to get the trailer straightened out and cleaned up. 

Then the fun began!  There were geese all over and some even had chicks already.  These chicks were actually pretty big!

 My first sturgeon of the trip...  Slippery sucker didn't want to hold still for a photo op!

 Clint caught one that was a little bigger, but still not a keeper...  They had to be 43 inches long.

 Sam holding up one of Shannon's nice fish.

 Sometimes we would catch a squaw fish (aka pike minnow)  Dane had a great time playing with them.

 One day we lucked out and caught several doubles!

 Most of the sturgeon were too big for Dane to handle, but this little guy was just perfect!  Look at him hanging on to that fish like a pro!

 There was a great road up above the campground that went for miles along the River and was closed down to motor vehicle traffic.  We enjoyed taking walks along it.  One day, about halfway through our trip I got a wild hair and went for a nice long run.  I started out along the road and then dropped down to run along a trail that was right alongside the River.  Bones and I had a great time on that run and enjoyed the scenic views and cool breeze coming off the water. 

That is, until we got back and realized that there were ticks...  lots of them.  Bones and I had carried them right back to the family.  I'm sure there were some around camp, but after we came back we found them everywhere.  Poor Bones got a frontline treatment so they weren't biting him, but they still seemed to be holding on in his fur.  So he had to sleep in the crate in the garage once we got home until I could get some tick bath and give him a good scrub!  Fortunetly I think I finally got them all taken care of.  (I'm knocking on wood right now!)

 Dane borrowing uncle Sam's binoculars to take a look at something!

 Kimber enjoying some Nana time.

 Bill, Sheri, Kimber and a nice sturgeon

 I think that this would have been a double, but Bill handed me the rod while he helped Sheri get this one on the boat...  I guess it was the one that got away.  Whoops! :)

 Dane kissed each sturgeon before we but it back.  Here was Kimber lining up for a kiss...

 But instead, she bit its nose!

 Kimber enjoying uncle Sam

 On Monday we were fortunate enough to travel into Gresham (outside of Portland) to visit Clint's Grandma Betty and his Aunt Jeannette.  We had a nice lunch and it was  great opportunity to catch up.   

Kimber sitting with Aunt Jeannette

 Sheri, Grandma Betty, and Kimber.  (I had to crop Dane out of the picture.  He is off to the right being a total monkey. 

As you can see it was a wonderful trip with lots of fun.  We fished every day and caught a ton of fish.  We had a wonderful time catching up with family and just enjoyed the heck out of every one!