Fishing trips and a fourth of July Celebration!

Even with all the work on the yard and Clint on overnights, we still have had some opportunities for fun!  The day after Kimber's birthday we headed out to Holter to see if we could find some trout.  After some experimenting, Clint figured out what they wanted and we started hooking some nice ones!

 This was kind of a cool opportunity for a picture; there is the pelican, and then look in the background...

 Dane loves to pose...  Kimber wanted to wash her hands! :)

 Wooo hooo!  Nice double boys!  

 Our little greeter!  She is very friendly!

 Last weekend, started with Clint and Noah getting the sprinklers all set up and going on Friday night.  Then Saturday we got up early and laid sod.

 Noah took pity on us and came over to help!  We seriously owe him dinner for all the help he has given us on this project!

 We ended up doing about 2/3 of the yard that day; they are tearing up the sidewalk for a City project and then we need to pour a sidewalk from our pad to the porch, so we will wait until that's done to finish the sod.  But, what we laid looks awesome, and I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel with the front yard!

So, Sunday we packed up super early and headed up to Francis Lake for some fishing.  I have such amazing memories of Francis from when we lived in Conrad, and it certainly did not disappoint.  Kimber had a great time reeling in this monster fish!  (it was the perfect size for her!)

 Dane was quite the little stud and sat on the bow fishing.  (literally for hours) He had a rod with a jig on it and just casted/reeled, casted/reeled, over and over.  All the sudden, he sets the hook on a pike!  Although it broke off right at the boat, he was thrilled (as were we, we actually didn't expect him to catch anything!).  So, he just sat up there and fished the whole time!  It was great to see him enjoying himself so much!

 We caught some nice walleye...  Clint had to work that night, but we really started to figure them out just when we had to leave.  (isn't that always the way!) But, we still caught enough to have a great time and enjoy a couple walleye dinners!  :)

 Dane's second fish from his place on the bow!

 Of course yesterday was the Fourth of July!  Noah and Amy graciously invited us to spend the day with them, and it was such a great time.  We started it with the parade...  Kimber is in her favorite spot, sporting the super cute outfit she got from Nana.

 Kimber is a little timid when it comes to loud noises, so we came prepared and put her ear muffs on her!  She ended up wearing them pretty much the whole day (between the parade and fireworks, it was a noisy day!), and even slept in them!  But, it worked like a dream and she truly enjoyed everything since the noise wasn't bothering her.

 This helicopter kept circling and doing really fast "fly-bys" with it's sirens on...  it was kind of cool!

 The boys sat on the curb with the kids...  

 Then there was a BBQ and some pool time!

 Followed by lots of fireworks!  

It was a really nice day with friends...  Clint had to work but came for the parade/BBQ/Pool time so that was really great.  It also was his last overnight on this rotation, so now he will be on dayshift for 3 months!  AWESOME!

Kimber turned 3!!!

Kimber's birthday was last Saturday and we had a great time!  She got the cutest little "hello kitty" bracelet from Nana and Grandpa and a really fun kitty book from Aunt Jeannette!  She went to lunch with Grandma and then got to go shopping for her own present! 

 She loves to "help" clean...  (Must take after her Grammy, cause she doesn't get it from me!!!!) so we got her a little broom/etc!  Clint said this could almost be a post of it's own! 

 Then we got birthday treats!  Of course she chose squash brownie and a Popsicle...  It was delicious! :)

Happy birthday sweet girl!!!!

Oregon Trip

Just over a week ago, the kids and I made the trip to Oregon to visit Grammy and Gramps.  

The night before we left, Kimber finally got brave and got on the 4-wheeler with Daddy!

On the way there we got to see these moose yearlings.  

Then we immediately got down to the fun stuff and Gramps and Dane had to do some sword fighting.  

Kimber smelled some beautiful flowers that Grammy picked for her.  

and then they got some good snuggle time.

The hummingbirds were amazing.  I could watch them all day.

and we even made it fishing.  The first day we caught one little fish, but then we got rained out.  

So, the next morning we returned and Dane caught this lunker!

Dane got the training wheels taken off his bike.  What a big boy!  Great big thank you to Gramps for chasing him around and around holding on to the back of the bike to make sure he didn't fall!

Dane and Gramps also got to do some man work!  Look at them ready to go!

Marsha was kind enough to watch the kids so Dad and I could go for a few runs.  Here was a beautiful one that we took up Falls Creek!

An old mine is the turnaround point.

Then I was out finding bugs and such with Dane and I heard the tractor.  Low and behold, little Kimber is helping Gramps!

Then we even took turns on the CAT.

It was a really great trip that we all enjoyed thoroughly.  I wish Clint could have been along, but maybe next time!

Dane's preschool graduation

Well, our sweet little man reached the first of many milestones a little over a week ago.  He graduated from preschool!  It was  fun little ceremony; they sang songs and it was pretty stinkin' cute!  

Here he is walking out next to his friend Quincy.

 Singing along!

 Receiving his hard earned diploma!  

 It was pretty neat because Clint, Marsha, Dad, Grandma, and I all got to go.  Dane was a proud little man!

 and here he is with one of the greatest people I know!  His awesome teacher, Heather.

 Me and the kiddos!

Lots of rain = break from the yard

The last couple weeks have been unseasonably wet...  and that means our front yard is a big mud pit.  Not really conducive to continuing the project...  although Clint gets an "A" for effort on continuing to try!

Anyway, since we had a couple days that we couldn't work in the yard, we decided to do some fishing!  

We took a hike down to the River; enjoyed the hike, but didn't catch many fish.  We think that maybe the pending storm turned off the bite.  But, Clint and the kids still caught a couple goldeneyes.  

This was kind of a cool picture, the fish started to wiggle just as I snapped the photo!  

 Totally my least favorite part of the spring... :( 

 Then one day Clint talked me into risking life and limb to cross the Missouri and fish the "promised land".  Well, the fish weren't biting really great, but when we did hook up they were nice big pike!  I'm not sure it was worth the white knuckle trip across the weather though... :)

 Is it a good sign when he is putting duct tape on the "trusty boat" before the crossing?

 Here is a picture of the one man kayak that we used to get across the river.  Notice how I said it was a one man kayak. Yet, there was two of us... :)  Hmmmmmm....  that should have given me a clue!

 Actually, it went okay.  I'm not sure I will do it again anytime soon, but we lived just fine and now we have a funny story to tell!  We even made it out before the big rain showers hit!