Barn Building

The past two weeks we have been busy building a horse barn here in the Gap. It's been going up pretty quickly until yesterday when the weather changed. We are supposed to be hanging tin but will have to put that on hold for now. We got the walls and trusses up and have tin on two and half walls. Just the way it goes sometimes. But we have plenty to keep up busy until we can get back to the barn.

Griz Weekend

We finally made it over for a Griz game this year. And we actually got mom and dad to come as well. They hadn't been over for a game in 3 years, so we thought it was about time for a family adventure. Tim and I went over on Thursday and stayed with Jim and Sarah. Friday we met up with mom and dad and we all had lunch together. Then mom, Tim, Sarah, the boys and I headed to campus to purchase new Grizzly wear. While on campus, we visited the Pulitzer Prize winning photographs they had on display. Afterwards was more shopping, a very filling yet delicious meal and some relaxation.

Saturday morning, we met mom and dad at the Press Box, as is tradition, for their breakfast buffet and Bloody Mary's. We headed over to the tailgates and met up with some other Stanfordites. It was a beautiful game day, and of course an exciting game. Griz won 41 to 34! Tim still refuses to wear any Griz gear, but we did get him to use a grizzly koozie. Small steps!

It was a real fun weekend and it was great to be back in Missoula!

Working

The past few weeks, we have been working over at Tim's brother and sister-in-law's house. We resided their house and now we are working on building a deck. I can't believe the range of weather we have been working in. When we first started it was in the 90's and today it has been blowing snow. So crazy. We just hired my cousin Justin to help us for awhile. Wasn't the best day today to have him start in the cold but he did great. It's so nice to have an extra hand. We have quite a few big projects lined up. Next we will be building a horse barn and then will be doing a master bedroom and bath addition in Lewistown. The jobs are still lining up. No economic slow down here!

Here's a picture of Tim and Justin on the deck today. Still sounds like more snow this week. Should be fun!

They made it!!

Well after 3 years, the Comptons finally made it to our house! They arrived Friday night and spent a wonderful weekend with us. We took them to the Chokecherry Festival in Lewistown on Saturday morning and showed them our house there. That afternoon, Joni, Landon and Laine came over to play while Tim and Jimmy went shooting. After supper, all 9 of us loaded up in the pickup and went to look at the elk. There are about 300-400 and they're only about 20 minutes away. Tim and I had been going out all week to watch them. Jim brought along his bugle and he had some answering back! Jimmy

That night, Joni and I decided to show Sarah some more of Central Montana, so we took her up to the Oxen Yoke where the Bent Willows were playing. We had a lot of fun. Many laughs and some dances with some interesting people! While we were whooping it up, Tim and Jimmy decided to go spotlighting for more elk right behind our house.

Joni, Me and Sarah

Sunday morning, Tim cooked us breakfast, and Joni and Shawn and the boys joined us. Christopher and Landon had a lot of fun playing together. It was a real nice weekend. I so loved having all my little "nephews" here! Thanks Jim and Sarah for making the trek across the divide!

Laine Nicholls and Charlie Compton

Christopher Compton and Landon Nicholls

Tim and Charlie

The fruits of our labor-- Or is it vegetables?

Saturday Mom and I spent the day canning. We made pickled beets, beet jelly and some spicy dill beans. It was a fun way to spend the day. I'm waiting for the cucumbers to get bigger and I will make some different kinds of pickles. The garden is doing really well. The corn is just about ready to pick and the peas have been producing like crazy.

Camping

We took off for a nice 3-day long camping trip after finishing a siding job a few days early. We had no idea where we were going to camp, we just knew we wanted to try something new. We headed for White Sulphur Springs, and turned onto the highway leading to Monarch and Neihart. We passed through a few different campgrounds before settling on King's Hill. We were the only people there Thursday night. It was so peaceful and quiet. Almost a little too quiet! During the night we could hear an elk bugle from a long ways away. Friday brought a few more campers but no one camped near us so it was still pretty nice. We spent the weekend doing not much of anything, which was perfect. Alot of reading and playing games. We did enjoy some great meals (barbecued chicken, shish-ka-bobs, breakfast burritos) Dutch Oven cooking (killer cheesy potatoes, peach cobbler). We are hoping to get one more trip in this year. We will see what happens!

Placid Lake Reunion

This past weekend, Tim's family held a family reunion at Placid Lake. Tim's brother Ted from 29 Palms, California was staying with us for a week and we thought this would be a great weekend to get together since it has been a long time since Ted had seen some of his cousins. We try to get together every summer and pick a different place to camp. It was a fun packed weekend with water skiing, hiking, eating and sharing many, many laughs! Sarah, Jimmy and the boys came over from Missoula and spent the day with us as well.

Ted, Carol and Tim at Morrell Falls

Sarah and I on the intertube

Tim, Kelley, Ted and Sarah

Ted tearing it up