Photos from a budding photographer

Here are some of Ayla's photographs from the last couple of months. Enjoy!

Winter Adventures

Well, we have been busy since the last time I updated this page. During January we had a visitor. Shasta came and stayed with us while he was doing a rotation for his physical therapy degree. We had a wonderful time having him at the house, and the kids really enjoyed him.

Ayla has also been keeping up with her skiing. Steve has rigged up her climbing harness and a rope so that she has more freedom and his legs will not get so tired. She seems to be really enjoying it.

Flint has also been enjoying the snow. He loves just being outside.

We have been snowshoeing and fishing. Both the kids have been able to help reel in a fish.

Well thats it for now.

Well, it has been a little while (or maybe months) since I have posted anything. Sorry to everyone. Well, we had a really nice Christmas and New Year. We were able to spend it up in Montana with Kim, Sandra, Jim, and Jacque. Both the kids were really excited. Flint spent most of the time practicing walking,while Ayla was more excited to hand out presents. Flint did get into things though and really enjoyed ripping up paper and trying to eat it. Both of the kids were very excited about their presents.Ayla was very excited to get some play horses and a wonderful pink guitar. Thanks Uncle Jim and Aunt Jacque.After Christmas we spent our time visiting with the family, and a little (or a lot) of time was spent by the boys doing some ice fishing.

However the boys were not the only ones that enjoyed it. Ayla got some fishing in as well and also some skiing. Well at least she got pulled around on her skiis. Fishing was good and we ended up with over 42 pounds of fish.I am just glad that I didn't have to clean them! Once we got home we spent one weekend in Idaho, but then we headed back up to Montana. This time we met up with the Shadows to do some skiing, sledding, more ice fishing, and some swimming at the hot springs. All the kids took ski lessons up at Discovery,

however things seem to go much better after lessons.
The next day the guys got up early to go ice fishing and then we went sledding. It was a lot of fun. Flint was a natural and may be on the pro sledding tour by next year. Ayla, not a big fan of speed, spent most of her time being the "Go Girl" for the sledding races.

Camping in the rain, sun, and comfy cabins (with a little bit of fishing as well)

Well, as always things have been busy, as can be seen with the lack of posting over the past couple of weeks. As always we have been trying to get out and camping as much as possible. A couple of weeks ago we went on a camping trip with Scott, Jamie, Sydney, Mandi, Ben, and Jaxson up near Stanley, ID. We stayed at Whiskey Flats Campground, which is an alright campground even though it is close to the highway, however the weather wasn't the greatest. It rained on and off throughout the weekend so we didn't do to much. Ayla made a whole bunch of soup for everyone in camp and we headed up to an old mining town to walk around. In the end it was a relaxing weekend.

The following weekend we headed up to Dillon to see our friends Greg, Sonja, Ivan, and Liza. Along with us came Jamison and his dog, who we don't get to see as often as we would like to. On Saturday we drove up to Brown's lake and took a hike up to another lake. At the lake we did some very successful fishing. Jamie caught the first fish, Steve and Sonja caught quite a few, and by the end of the day Greg had caught some too.

While everyone was fishing the kids had a blast playing in the sand, jumping in the water, and munching on some snacks.

Once we got back to town we headed back to town to listen to some music and enjoy a nice cold beer. That Saturday was the Ratpod and the town hosted some live music and free beer. We all had a great time and can't wait to do it again.

This past weekend, 4th of July, we spent the weekend at McNamara's Landing which is a group of cabins along the Blackfoot River near Bonner, Montana. We spent the weekend there with Kim, Sandra, Jim, Jacque, Steve, Susan, Jacque, Christian, Rob, Christy, Tanner, Emma, Dan, Kristy, and Savannah.



The kids got along wonderfully and had a wonderful time fishing. All the kids got to reel in some fish, and I think it was the first one that Emma ever caught!



The night of the 4th we lit some fireworks that were meant for younger children and didn't make a whole bunch of noise. However there were a couple that did make some noise, but luckily Ayla had Jacque's lap to sit on to make her feel better. Then later Ayla and Tanner were sitting together so they could comfort each other.



On our way back home from home from the cabins we took a detour and drove past the creek which Flint was named after. I had never been there before and it was beautiful, good choice on the name Steve!



Finally we stopped in Twin Bridges to see my cousin Tracy and his new wife Heather, his daughter Megan, Conner, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Nancy. While we were there Steve and I took the kids to the river to do some fishing. It was really cool because it was the first time Megan had ever gone fishing. We never did catch anything, but we found a turtle (so cool) and I think Megan and Conner had a good time.


Bye for now, I will try to post soon.