A Jaunt to Whitefish

September fifth through the eighth Tuff and I took the near eight hour drive from Billings to Whitefish to see our college friend Matt Ward get married.

The nice thing about driving all the way to Whitefish is that we get to see our friends Jan and Johanna Steenekamp along the way in Great Falls.

Below is a very serious Tuff and the Steenekamp's Italian Greyhound Rafa (Jan is a tennis pro in Great Falls).  Tuff was showing off his golf outfit for the following day's wedding golf outing.

The invite said to wear "eccentric" golf attire.  Other than a man who showed up in a kilt, everyone was dressed in regular golf attire.  I suppose that could be considered eccentric to some.

Below we posed with the groom.  I used to work with Matt at Missoula Country Club.  He was a bag boy, I was a beverage cart girl.

Wedding day!  Matt is looking dapper.

Kim was stunning.  We just got the chance to meet her during the pre-wedding festivities.  She also graduated from the University of Montana but the now wedded couple didn't start dating until after we left Missoula.

While in Whitefish we stayed with college friends Noah and Megan Couser.  They took us on a hike up Whitefish Mountain, which is where we sometimes ski in the winter.

Along the trail we picked and snacked on huckleberries!  They were perfect.

About three miles up and one to go.  Group photo opp.

Noah and Megan are full time teachers and photographers on the side.   Noah has his own photography website http://noahcouserphotography.com/.  He follows beauty and adventure with his camera.  In the picture below he is pointing out a rock on the side of the mountain that he often shoots skiers and snowboarders flying off of (by shoots I mean takes pictures of).  Check out his website galleries.  They are breathtaking, plus you'll see a bit of Montana.

Come on Tuff!  You're not that out of shape are you?

We didn't have time to walk back down the mountain because we had a wedding to get to so we rode the chairlift down!

Those are mountain bike trails along the way.

The mountain bikes take the lift up.

While we were enjoying western Montana, Tuff's saint of a sister Jeri Lyn watched Grace.  With that came her two little ones.  It was a 1, 2, 3 punch.  Grace age 1, Kylee age 2 and Kaydee age 3.

Since we've been back in town we've enjoyed the fall-like weather and are getting some hiking in at Zimmerman Park.

Tuff and Grace are moving at Sasquatch speed!

A little bit of Billings in the background.

Those are some happy hikers!

Grace is weighing in around 26 pounds these days so it makes for a nice workout.

These two are hopelessly in love.

A typical day in the life of Grace.  She daily asked for bubbles.  Its funny because her Minnesota cousin Bo coined her the nickname Bubbles as she used to blow spit bubbles as a baby.

This is the bubble dance.

More bubbles please.

And finally the latest is we've started potty training.  Grace had shown some interest.  Wish us luck!

Back in Montana

Just a few days after returning to Montana from our South Dakota/Minnesota vacation Jim and Peggy, fellow Stapletons, were on their way through Billings from a western states vacation.  We were so happy to have them stay a night with us and visit.

From Swords Park on top of the rimrocks, overlooking Billings.

Peggy made sure we stayed just in front of the giant crack in the rock.

The second weekend in August I journeyed to Missoula for a whirlwind visit with my college friends Krista and Emma.

Emma, Krista and me on The University of Montana campus reminiscing.

We found Tuff in the Native American Building.  The Office of Public Instruction created a poster series called "honor your self,' which featured 22 American Indian role models from across Montana.  At the time of the photo (2008) we were living in Nashville, TN and Tuff was with the Titans.  (If you want to see the other posters click the "honor your self" link above.)

Down the Griz hall of fame in the Adam's Center.  A picture of the 2006 Big Sky Champs is just between us.  Krista and I were both part of that championship team and those awesome memories.

Missoula, in its hippy ways, painted all the electrical boxes at the stop lights.  Pretty cool.

In our short trip we managed to do a few hiking trails.  This trail system in the photo below is the Rattlesnake.

Again the Rattlesnake.

We hiked the "M" which is a big cement M on the side of Mount Sentinel, just above The University of Montana campus.  I might look like I conquered it but truthfully I rested after almost every switchback.  Out of shape!  Lungs were burning!

Here's the M from the bottom overlooking the Clark Fork River.

Descending the "M."

While I was away Tuff took over baby duties.

We attended one day of the Montana State Fair here in Billings.

Below is a picture of Grace playing in a giant dry corn box.

We also watched the first night of the rodeo at the fairgrounds with our friends Ben and Katie and their little girl Brihanna.

Ben, Katie and Bri.

We visited Addeleigh, Donnie and Kassia's new little one a few times.  She is so adorable.

Speaking of adorable, our Pittsburgh friends Mitch and Leigh had a baby, Ainsleigh!  They sent us the picture below because she was doing Tuff's senior pic remake.  Haha.

We have been going to garage sales just about every weekend.  Through them we have fully furnished our place.  A lot of the items needed some TLC.  I picked up the dresser in the photo below for free from a storage unit sale.  It was broken and I managed to fix it up.  I tried out a cool paint idea.  Buy $3 test paints from Home Depot in different shades of one color family and paint each drawer a different shade.

Also at an estate sale I picked up two beautiful 1930's antique baby dresses.

I almost forgot...below is the picture of the dresser before its makeover.

Grace modeling the antiques; the red slip.

And the lace dress over the top of the red slip.

Another paint job in the picture below.  It used to be a blond fake wood file cabinet.  I got it for $3 at a garage sale.  Some more white paint and yellow drawers and Grace has a nightstand.

Did I mention Grace is now in a "big girl" bed?

Seamless transition so far.  Maybe because she doesn't know she can get out of the bed once we lay her down.

Just last week on the 22nd Tuff got a hole in one!  He was golfing at Pryor Creek Golf Club just outside of Billings, MT and knocked it straight in.  See the picture for proof of straight in.  This is Tuff's second hole in one.  He got his first last year at The Legacy at Craguns near Brainerd, MN.

Even though I've been golfing a good 10 years longer than Tuff I've yet to get my hole in one.

We also had our first family photo session with a professional photographer.  You can see a few of the photos in the photographer's blog linked here.

Below is a video of some Grace cuteness.  She is so cute with her words and we finally remembered to catch it on video:



And finally happy birthday to Jeri Lyn (Tuff's sister) and Beck (my nephew).  Love you guys!