randoms from the week...

johanna said "mama, i happy."

making mud pies in her white dress. notice the jack-o-lantern bucket. johanna had such a great memory of halloween this year, she won't let me put it away.

my view most days.

johanna knows the names of half a dozen flowers. rose, our neighbor carlos gave us as a house warming gift.

the garden

notice our garden shed... it was our old outhouse. moved of course.

another view of the garden, looks like nothing is growing, but the lettuce, spinich and radishes are there. our last frost was less than a month ago!

our little hiker.

we are growing pumpkins, beans, peas, garlic, cilantro, oregano, yellow squash, green zucchini, eggplant, potatoes and onion all in 5 terraces that daddy built for us out of rock. an Inca-inpspired design that will utilize all the water so it filters downhill.

had to give gigi a good view of the pig tails.

jodi and gary gatts from pennsylvania! a great visit, now if we can just get them to move here!

jodi and gary's visit

we enjoyed a visit this week with jodi (waleski) and gary who drove out from pennsylvania to soak up a little montana livin'. went on lots of walks in our "neighborhood". johanna has a love affair with sticks. she'll carry as many as she can and then ask you to carry some too.

mama, logan and jo walking from the house to the shop. johanna is blowing her whistle that she wears around her neck. scares away bears and she will dance to her "music".

taking a break on our hike with pepper. notice johanna is in her socks. she decided to walk the last hour in her socks. did just fine. what ever works!
throwing the stick for petey and max at a local lake.

this is what johanna calls "new" lake. its on our closest walking loop from the house. she didn't remember ever being there last year, so this spring she said " oh, a new lake!" we saw a mother moose and her calf of the year, just bigger than a german sherpard, one morning this week. instead of grabbing my camera, i grabbed johanna so she could watch them retreat through the timber to the top of the ridge. no picture of the moose, but johanna will never forget seeing that protective mama moose.

Pop and Gigi's visit to montana

gigi and logan

johanna loves her brother she tells him he's the "best brother ever!"

jo keeping her brother company.

hiking our trail

riding her horse Abbey together

pop and gigi

johanna had an ear infection and swollen, infected tonsils to welcome pop and gigi to montana with. all you mothers who have lived through one or both, you feel our pain. she perked up later in the week and had fun showing pop her daisy flower. she knows it by name.

pop was busy as usual and sawed and piled all those downed trees around the house that we just hadn't gotten around to; he built me a compost pile in the garden; he put up shelves in the laundry room; he sawed firewood; he put up shelves in the closet; he helped us with the website (www.glacierexcavating.com) and here he with his eager assistant putting up shelves in logan's room.

pop and johanna strolling in the driveway after dinner.

walking on our trail. notice her black and gold fleece? johanna hasn't forgotten who are still the superbowl champions of the world! go steelers!


pop and logan in front of therrriault pass. logan is wearing a onsie bought by his great grandma hamilton for her son... pop! there is a family picture taken with pop wearing the outfit. fits logan perfectly.