By Monday we had said,"Enough of this heat" and we loaded up our stuff and headed into Powell to stay with Dan's sister, do a load of laundry and have a REAL shower (worth a million bucks)! Tuesday morning we hit the road on the Chief Joseph highway and headed into the Beartooth Mountains ... an area that that I highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a beautiful scenic drive! Not only was the scenery beautiful, but the cooler temperatures were appreciated by all!

Kailer feeding the chipmunks almonds!

Wildflowers picked for Mom by the little man.

Yellowtail (cont'd)

Kailer and Mesa on our hike.

Cooling off on a HOT, HOT day!

The heat took it out of all of us!

Mesa & her "cousin" Cocoa

Goggles that he scored from the "treasure chest" (i.e. lost and found) and a new gun from Uncle Wade!

Happy Girl ...

First Jet Ski Ride .... Woo-hoo!!

Yellowtail - 2012

Last Thursday marked Day 1 of our 2012 Vacation/Camping Adventure - we were headed to Yellowtail Reservoir,outside of Lovell, WY. The night before I had asked Dan what the plan was for the morning and he had said, "We'll just get up and leave when we're ready." Which to me translated into, "Don't worry about setting an alarm, we'll get the kids ready, finish packing and then we'll leave." So the next morning we get up, have breakfast and as I'm feeding Aylah one last time before loading her up I feel something warm on the leg of my WHITE shorts - YEP, you guessed it ... Diaper blow-out!! Oh the joys of being a mother and getting pooped on many, many times. While this is happening Dan and Kailer are out getting the truck and camper loaded and in walks Dan, "Are you ready to leave yet?" He asks this as I'm walking around without any shorts on ... "Ummm, does it look like I'm ready?" FINALLY we're on the road by around 10 a.m. and as we hit the Interstate Dan lets me know that we're an hour later than he had planned. Really? Because I recall him saying, "We'll leave when we're ready." Needless to say the sun is already creating a scorching day and we hit the road with the AC running full-blast! After a stop in Laurel, MT for lunch we continue our trek for Wyoming. The kids traveled well and Kailer even managed to entertain himself with his bike helmet, which he found next to him on the seat. We were cruising along when he says, "My head's on backwards....."

Kailer with his "head on backwards."  Needless to say, he couldn't get his helmet off after he got it on like this .... it made for a good laugh for awhile.

We made it to the Yellowtail by mid-afternoon with the temperatures peaking at 102!  As you'll see the campground has very little shade and as we pulled in I said to Dan, "Get the AC hooked up in the camper ASAP!"

Our campsite at Horseshoe Bend

Miss Aylah chillin'

Ready for an evening ride.

The first evening we were the only ones there out of our party so we took the time to go for a walk/bike ride with the kids (all 3 of them).  We have been so used to being in a mountainous part of Montana that we had completely let our guard down for rattlesnakes, until we were trolling along and suddenly we witnessed Mesa jump about 3 feet in the air and sideways as a snake quickly moved near her!  Mesa might have used all 9 Lives (if dogs have 9 lives?) on that one snake.  That one incident definitely made us more aware of our surroundings.  Thankfully another snake was not seen the entire time.

The scenery


Happy 4th of July!

For the first time since Dan and I moved to Montana (2005) we got to spend the 4th of July together. This year we sent decided a BBQ would be in order...with ~30 people in our backyard, we fired up the grill, turned on the music, popped open the beverages, pulled out the water balloons, water toys and yard games and made it a celebration until dark when we watched the fireworks! We really did have a great holiday together with friends and family (Dan's parents are here for the last leg of their trip before heading back to Mexico)!

My little firecrackers!

Water fun!

Drenched to the bone - but going back for more!

Look Mom, No Cavities!!

There has been kind of an ongoing joke with our Mom since we were little - after going to the dentist we (Jamie and I) have always been able to smile at our Mom with our sparkly whites and say, "Look Mom, no cavities!" Kailer had a routine check-up this week and before going we had a long discussion about how when you turn 3 (he wouldn't do it at his last check-up) it's time to let the nice ladies at Dr. Todd's office clean your teeth. Both Dan and I hyped it up and I held my breath as we walked back to the chair. Thankfully these ladies are so very good with kids and they make it as fun as possible ... and as tasty as possible too! Who knew that there is COOKIE DOUGH flavored toothpaste?! Man, times have changed!! So as Kailer put on his special tiger glasses and prepared to get his teeth clean, the hygienist got him sets up with a new Lightning McQueen toothbrush, which is probably what sealed the deal and allowed him to fully trust her to use the 'teeth tickler' to get his teeth nice and clean! We had a great appointment and walked out with pearly whites and a report of, "Look Mom, No Cavities!"

All Done!!