Montana Family

This is the wonderful family we get to spend time with one week out of the year. Granted this one week is way to short but the time we spend with them is worth the tremendous travel time it takes to drive up there. (22 hours)

Little Miss Aspen Mavis. Each year we seem to arrive right in time for her birthday. Not entirely accidental. Her birthday is actually July 16 but she has only known it as the Sunday after the Kansas family arrives. She likes to celebrate it at Dickey Lake. A beautiful lake with the most peculiar water color from glacier runoff. More on that later, though. Aspen turned 6 this year and is ever bit as beautiful as the picture above. When we arrived at Columbia Fall Aspen was sitting beside their mail box waiting for us. We were all greeted with a big smile and a huge hug. How sweet was that?

Lil Pill. WOW! Where do we start. Melody (her Mother) had warned us that she does not warm up to people very easily and it took most of the week. But it was so worth it. This picture shows how much personality this little girl has. One minute she will let you hold her and then the next she get upset if we look at her. She wouldn't hug her Uncle Tim until the day before we left. That to the special coaxing from Dad. Thanks Kainaan! Lilly now is a "big girl". Melody decide to potty train her while we were up there so we could all help. Thank goodness it only took a couple days. Way to go Lilly. You are a Big girl!

Miss Maddy Roo. I can't being to say how cute this girl is when she grins it lights up the room. As seen here she is offering a knuckle sandwich. Be careful. She means it. Her delightful grin is compensated by her fiery redheaded attitude. She can and will turn it on and off in the blink of an eye. Her sweet moments do outweigh the 'tude times, though.

Sira Jo. As a 9 year old she is a very deep thinking intellectual girl. It was such a nice surprise that she chose to spend a whole week with Aunt Mel as to be with us during our visit. She is lives a considerable distance away and this allowed us to see her daily. Cassidy and Sira spent a lot of time together. It is so hard to talk to her and remember that she is only nine because she is so much more intelligent than an average kid her age.

Cassidy spent a lot of time with these three girls. She takes after her Mother in the love for little kids. When the big kids were off playing we always knew the little ones were in good hands. You are great Cassidy!

Dylan has sprouted quite a bit since the last time his aunts saw him. He knew he was taller than his aunts but he couldn't wait to find out if he passed up his Uncle Kainaan. Unfortunately not, Uncle Kainaan was 1 inch taller than Dylan. Don't worry Uncle Kainaan, I am sure Dylan will pass you up soon.

Uncle Kainaan (the dog whisperer). Not only is he an extraordinary cook (thank you very much) but he is always a good time to be around. Full of life and energy that never ends. He has that go with the flow attitude while taking control of things to make the most of the situation. I am so glad Melody was able to drag this kid out of his Oregon roots and make him her husband.

Cassidy was comparing her height to her Aunts too. Uncle Travis (Michaela husband) is very tall. Cassidy will need to grow drastically to catch him. Uncle Travis grew up in this area and is the only true local in our family. Travis likes to hunt and fish like Tim. Tim hopes to one day go on a hunting excursion with him. Hopefully more than just gophers.

This is their Uncle Dennis (Tim's brother). He lives a ways away therefore we don't get to see him much but when we do it is always a good time. Dylan hopes to go to Montana and do some big game hunting with him. We will see if grades permit that?!?

Tim's Mom. Married to her job but wishes to cheat on it occasionally with a man for periodic dinner dates.