Home Improvement

As part of my birthday Ken and I decided to rip down our old blinds. For any of you who have been to our house know that our blinds were not only old but also fairly heavy and tacky. The smile on Ken's face when we ripped those off the wall and hauled them out was immaculate. We purchased some clean white horizontal blinds at the Ho De and put them up right away. It really made that room more modern. Ken and I keep saying it's like being in a new house. And Ken has caught the bug. In two weeks we are painting and then there will be new drapes and then he wants to replace all the sockets and then in the bathroom new tile and get rid of that pink stuff and drywall the down stairs and reface the fireplace and tile the laundry room etc etc etc

Table Mountain

On Saturday Dad and Sheri and me all hiked Table Mountain. I'm going to go ahead and call this the hike of my life. It was 5 hours up the mountain. The first three were pretty bearable (if you don't mind seeing me sweat until my clothes are soaking wet) but as the elevation got higher and the air got thinner- the Patty got slower and slower. I was supposed to breathe with my stomach but I don't know what that means! Sheri stuck right by me strong and true. She'd set mini goals for me. And by mini- I mean mini. She'd say "Let's get to those blue flowers and then stop for 2-minutes." The blue flowers would only be about 50 feet away. My muscles were sore but could have survived. It was my lungs. My chest was really burning and I thought I was going to explode. But the view from the top was SPECTACULAR! You feel like you can touch the Tetons. They are that close. When we summitted all the sudden we started getting little zaps in our feet. We were dancing around trying not to get shocked too badly and Dad yelled up for us to get down as fast as we could. I kept getting shockers in my hands and feet for the immediate descent down the summit. We pretty much scrambled down quickly because we could have been struck by lightning. It was an amazing hike. The feeling of accomplishment and pride was inescapable. I had an awesome time. We even saw some moose! Unfortunately, I was too afraid of them (at the time) to get a picture. My favorite parts you ask? Hmmm.... the tippy top of the mountain, crossing the water, seeing or car in the parking lot, and scarfing down a Teton Bacon Cheese Burger at O'Rourkes.

On the Road Again...

Last weekend me and Kenner went to BIG SKY MONTANA! The drive. Wow. We left and headed toward Salmon because Ken wanted to take the scenic route. (Isn't he romantic?) We stopped in Salmon for dinner and ate outdoors at a place called the Catch Pen. Take this as my personal recommendation- it rocked. I had the steak and a overly loaded baked potato. Yeah- I'm not afraid of a little cholesterol. Ken had clams in a lime tequila sauce that was heavenly. Our plates were licked clean and we were back on the road again. We had old outlaw country playing on Ken's XM radio and we saw tons of animals. Eat your heart out Yellowstone- this was WAY better. We saw weasels, deer, antelope, and (my favorite) big horn sheep! Right by the side of the road! Literally close enough to ram us. At first the sheep were a little shy, but they cuddled up to us after a few minutes.... see the pics if you don't believe me.

We settled in Friday night and spent all day Saturday exploring Montana. We went to a farmers market and the candy shop for some homemade fudge. We stopped at all the little shops along the way before heading home.

On our way home we decided to turn off for a history lesson about the Battle at Big Hole. Don't be fooled. There is no big hole. Before we got there I figured there would be a huge hole/crate and that's where all the warriors went to fight. Like down in the hole. Not so. Not so. The Nez Perce Indians had made camp along a river to rest and reunite as a village. While they were sleeping the white men came and killed nearly the whole village because they wanted the Indian's land. There was a small museum and gift shop there and.... a real tepee! That you could go in! I became an honorary Indian Squaw for the day. It was an awesome AWESOME trip.

Thanks, Ken!

BIRT dayparties

I know it's a little late coming but we had such a slamming party I can't miss the chance to "sound-off" about it. (Do I sound like a blogger or what!) On July 16th the 3 little girls planned a killer surprise party for mom. Dad was out of town and she didn't think anything special was going to happen for her special day. THINK AGAIN MAMA! We had stuffed crust Pizza Hut pizza! We had breadsticks! We had special birthday plates! We had presents! And we had a GD good time! I love planning things with Julie and Andi-Girl. They spare no expense and aren't afraid to let their hair down and par-tay!! I think we get that from our dear mum.