In Need of a Little Fresh Air!

The house has been closed up for days with the AC on! Thankful I have it, but it would be nice to spend a little time outside! The air is hazardous and smells like campfire. Don't get me wrong! I love the smell of a campfire, but not day in day out!
We need rain desperately! And colder temps. And less wind! God bless those fire fighters attempting to get the fires under control!

Makes for some pretty cool photos!










Here are a couple from my photographer hubby stolen off his blog!
This was the sunrise yesterday morning


Even the moon has a pink glow!


The grandkids on their first morning of school.




And a little layout to end on a positive note!




The journaling tells if how everyone had a camera, but Cooper! He used his imagination and pretended his cracker was one.

Papers from:
Echo Park - Summer Bliss, Getaway
Scraps from Echo Park Getaway, October Afternoon Travel Girl, Elle's Studio Cameron
Webster's pages sequins
Colorshine-teal
Wood veneer - Elle's Studio
The title was cut on my Silhouette with a cut file from The Cut Shopp




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Summer Vacation is Over

for these two.  Back to the grind today!!!

It will take a day or two for this little guy to figure out what is going on.  I am sure he will be missing the bigs.  I bet he wants to get on the bus with his brother.

It has been open houses the past couple of days.  Monday evening Harlee had hers and I watched the boys.

Yesterday afternoon, it was Nic's turn.  So Harlee and Cooper were here. 

I can't believe the summer flew by.  Thank goodness we were able to fit a few things in.  They went to Yellowstone.  They had a weekend of camping.  They had a round of swimming lessons.  And a few other things too. 

Pictures are from our family photo shoot and thanks to Becca for spending some time with us. 
It is still super hazy and smokey out.  Ran Curtis to the airport early, as he has a run to Calgary with Avis today.  I did go walking yesterday, but am passing today with the bad air.  Another fire started yesterday close to where Cait and Harlee went for their hike earlier this month. 

One little layout.  Working on a couple of things, I hopefully will show shortly. 

Smokey, Smokey, Smokey!

The last couple of days have been unbearable.  They issued an unhealthy air warning and not to be out unless it was absolutely necessary!  The skies were grey from all the smoke from wildfires in WA, ID and MT.    But last evening a cold front from Canada brought in much cooler air and needed rain, and snow to the mountains.  It is 43F here this morning!
This is the map with the air quality.  The red, where we are is unhealthy.  

 This is what it looked like.  Almost like being in the fog.

Headed into work later today and again tomorrow.  Curtis did an Avis run yesterday to East Glacier while I slaved away at home.  Got caught up on this once again.  

This layout of Nic roasting marshmallows seemed appropriate.

A Family Feast

in my backyard.  The other evening when we came back from Helena I could hear the screech of the cedar waxwings out the back.  While I was in the bathroom I checked out the window and, oh, my there were so many cedar waxwings in our mountain ash berry tree.  And the were feasting on the berries.  There are hardly any left on the tree today.  They were having a grand old time. 
One bird really cooperated and I got some great shots of him. 

Have been out mowing this morning.  Swept up all the pine cones.  And then washed down the kids slide out back.  Not sure which was worse- the fallen berries or the bird poop!!!

Yesterday, I was back on the road.  This time with Kirsten and the kids.  We headed in a different direction to look for some back to school clothes.  We went west to Missoula.  The kids were good.  The drive was good.  We went by a couple of areas near the forest fires.  Saw a forest fire camp.  Much cooler day which helped the fire fighting situation. 

A Trip to Costco

Curtis and I made a run to Costco! Our nearest one is 90miles down the interstate! And wasn't l just there last week? Oh, yes- that was in another state, in another time!




It was a smokey hazy start to the day! Still lots of fires burning.

I napped on the drive down. I had worked a very busy day in the NICU yesterday! I was pooped! I walked almost 3 miles in our nor so big unit.

I took my camera along. But where was the memory card? Not in the camera, but back home in the computer! So, I used my phone on the way home to capture a few photos! One of the prettiest drives in the state, along the Missouri River.







Can you see the sleeping giant below?








Storm brewing as we drove through the canyon.


The dinosaur rock















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Only in Montana!!!

For the past couple of days there have been sitings of a mountain lion in town!  Right in our neighborhood.  I was out walking yesterday morning and didn't even know he was around the area.  The FWP brought in dogs to hunt him down yesterday afternoon, but he managed to be an elusive cat!  But this morning they found him down by the river and shot him.  Kind of scary!

And we have wild fires burning all over the state with it being so dry and last night we had thunder and lightening.  Not helping the issue it was up to 100F yesterday and the winds are blowing like crazy!  But it is much cooler, only in the lower 70's. 

It was so smokey and hazy when I headed out to the farmer's market to get some more tomatoes. The lady selling them even gave me some seconds for free, as she knew I was canning them.   My vines have been stripped by the neighborhood raccoons!  First time that has ever happened since we have lived here.  Also got some garlic, and scones and bread.

I came home and started peeling tomatoes.  And everything was all done and in the jars by noon.  So, we will have yummy tomatoes during the winter.

 A layout I completed today.

Most of the paper are from different collections from Authentique
Project life cards
Prima Button
Letter stickers from Fancy Pants and Authentique
Washi tape and Flair, Bakers twine
Color Shine and Mr Huey mists

Family Photos

Last week was a whirlwind for me.  Cait and I canned down raspberry jam, peach jam and stewed tomatoes. 
But I wanted to get some family photos and we were able to make this happen.  A granddaughter of a family friend is a great photographer for being 15 and I let her capture our family.  We haven't had family photos for about 5 years.  And since then we have added one more to our family.  We needed some photos with Cooper. 
Even after an overcast and rainy day the weather cleared for us to let this happen. 
In all the business of our crazy lives it is important to document our families!!!

 Worked a shift in the NICU yesterday.  It was busy! And I am tired today.  Curtis just left on a drive for Avis to Bozeman.  And it is supposed to get to around 100F today.  I am staying in my AC where it is somewhat comfortable. 

A Trip to the Mountains!

Yesterday, Caitlin and Harlee took a trip to the mountains.  Caitlin wanted to check out an old Girl Scout camp.  It is located on a ranch up on the Rocky Mountain front!!!  Such an awesome location!!!  The Girl Scouts used to lease it from the Cobb Ranch for $1.  But the camp required some updating and for some reason, unknown to us, they let it go rather than search out funds to help do the repairs.  This would be an awesome destination site for girls that would love to experience primitive camping.  My girls spent many a week at this camp site and loved every minute of it.  It is truly in God's country!!  Since Caitlin was home for the week, she wanted to take Harlee up here to check it out.  She called the owners and made plans for their adventure.  Here are a few photos that came back on my camera.

 The one lonely camper cabin.

 The adirondack cabins, where the leaders would stay.  There is one side open.  Up in the hills.

Toots at the old site of many a campfire.

You can see the base camp down below, where the chow hall was.

Welcome to Scoutana!

Where they stopped for a little lunch at Nilan resevoir.

 

And I kept busy at home baking a chocolate zucchini  cake that was requested from both Toots and her auntie.  I took half the cake to Toots' family.
Also got the grass mowed.  And did some scrapping later in the day.
It's been a busy week.  Today Cait and I canned stewed tomatoes.  And the house smells so good.  Good thing it cooled off a little the last couple of days.