Montana 2008

Ben, Brewster, and I went to Montana for the first 2 weeks of July, so we were able to spend 4th of July up there. 4th of July in Montana is soo much fun, mainly because we get to buy fireworks and set them off , which we can't do in Arizona. So every year we kinda go crazy spending money on fireworks, but most everyone will chip in, making it easier to afford. Even though we do get alot, so far we haven't gotten as many as PW "Constructive Pyromania?" has gotten :-) (clink on link for picture).
We just have so much fun being kids for a night and lighting the fireworks and hanging out with our family that we see all the time and some we don't get to see all the time. I don't get to see my cousin, Shannon (top right of picture below), much anymore so it was fun to catch up with her a little bit (I will have to do a post later of childhood pictures with her).

Another traditional event we get to do in Montana is going to Virginia City. There old buildings that we get to look through, they even have some old clothing and just products that they had way back when.

Here we got to go the Candy store, where we enjoy being kids again and picking out all the different type of candy, love it!
Here is my nephew, Foster, I thought the pictures below were soo cute of him, he gets so shy sometimes, haha! See the lollipop in his hand? Needless to say, his face was COVERED in red sticky stuff after finishing it :-).
Virginia City also has a place where they dress you up however you want in old cloths and take old-time (sepia) pictures. Its really cool and fun to dress up! Don't we look cowboy tough?!

This year, we also (or should I say the boys) worked the cabin some more, putting finishing touches. It will soon be completely done, after several years of working on it.

The women (moms and grandma) liked to start worrying about the men working on the scaffolding. So I had my dad pose for me, pretending to be ready to catch my uncle who lying on the edge in the picture below! :-)

Ben and I had so much fun having the kiddos (Ryan & Kimberly's kids) and also my little cousins there. They really loved all the hikes and the 4-wheeler drives!

Here's some random pictures. I got to play the piano and Ben read his book in our down-time. Also we liked to watch the dogs go nuts trying to find a squirrel in the rocks, pile of wood, and even in a pipe. Those squirrels sure knew how to tease our dogs, haha!


Last, but not least, we really enjoy taking hikes in Montana, so beautiful, perfect weather....

Last year in Montana, I really wanted to take our engagement pictures. I thought it would be perfect, because I love the beautiful mountains and trees, and I knew Ben would just love it! Unfortunately Ben got kidney stones and was in pain for at least half the trip, I felt so bad for him that he couldn't fully enjoy the trip. The bottom right picture would have been my top picks if we did take pictures last year.

One of the hikes we took, we drove the 4-wheelers part of the way, then hiked the rest of the way to the top of one of the mountains.

The dogs had fun playing in the snow and swimming in the water... Well... Brewster loves the snow, but HATED the water of course, haha!
The top 2 pictures were taken of each other from where the arrows are pointing, and same for the bottom two, I thought it pretty cool to show.
Here's Ben and Brewster with a fish that he caught on one of our hikes.

Montana is such a beautiful place, isn't it?

And, guess what? Ben and I going there for year anniversary! We're so excited to see the snow then and get out of the heat!