hike to finger lake

hiking buddies: logan, johanna and max!

logan picking his first huckleberries!

me and my hiking buddies at the lake!

johanna with her buddies gabrielle and cole

how does he get so dirty, so fast?

painting rocks to take home, great idea coco!

lake time

with the ending of 6 weeks of downpours ( our garden and wildflower display is incredible!) the temperatures have finally risen to swimming weather! logan's first dip of the year into glen lake with daddy.

uncle bob and the neices and nephews on the dock at les mason state park on whitefish lake.

johanna's first real swim of the year was in whitefish lake with aunt dina. it was only because of aunt dina's gentle urging and uncle ryan's cheers from sure... "go to your belly button, go to your shoulders johanna!" that she was brave enough to get into the "refreshingly" chilly water. she's a mountain girl, she'll get used to it.

jo loved playing with jordy in the sand.


johanna and uncle ryan enjoying their shade time.

aunts, uncles and cousins galore!

johanna and logan were thrilled to have cousin jordan and josh to watch in the dave olseth memorial skate park on their roller blades. its named after a friend of ours who died in a tragic bicycle accident on the going-to-the-sun road in glacier national park.
they were really good, better than my camera!

josh entertained with his guitar playing. johanna is newly inspired.

these beautiful, intelligent, kind and strong young adults spent so much of their time in montana playing games with johanna and logan. bob and i were humbled by how fortunate we are to have these cousins to guide and be a part of our kid's lives. we are very proud of the people our neices and nephews have become, all with unique gifts and talents. i love you all!


ring around the rosey, for the 40th time...

duck, duck, goose!

stream work

more sauerkraut creek stream restoration project completed.

tessa dog

tessa the wonder dog passed away peacefully this week with me scratching her favorite place under her chin. i could not have asked for a more loyal, loving, protective companion. she has scared away everything from bears to packrats from our campsites over the years. she was the queen. moving to our land 4 years ago was a dream retirement for the old girl. she took great pride in scaring the deer away from the house.
you will be missed old girl. you ARE a forever dog. cannon beach oregon

nothing like the bond between a boy and his dog.

13 years old

always a gentle playmate

tessa at our mountain top wedding, she was the ring-bearer.

following bob around the state

here is a stream restoration project near lincoln, montana.
saurkraut creek runs through a beautiful little valley about a mile long and a half a mile wide. it was heavy with gold at one time and was mined so that the entire valley floor 20 feet deep was excavated. when they left, the creek was just an unnatural straight line. trout unlimited paid bob to put in a meandering stream with downed trees intact with large roots to stabalize the banks. now there are waterfalls, oxbows and trout habitat.
the only bad part of the trip was our treasured old dog tessa had to be put to sleep. she was the best mountain climbing buddy that evolved into a wonderful babysitter.

big toys.

bob did a job on flathead lake, that's wild horse island behind them. it was really fun taking him lunch here! quite the drive from eureka.

throwing rocks, nothing more fun for my kiddos.