Father's Day with Family, Heading Home

Sunday morning all I wanted to do was sleep, but of course it didn't work out that way.  Aaron was off to meetings again (yes on Father's Day) and I had to get breakfast ready and pack up everything and check out.  I felt ad we didn't have any presents for hm - they were all back at home.  Timothy threw up twice that morning, threatening to throw a wrench in our plans.  Goldie was serving brunch so we tried to get out as soon as possible, but it was still 9:00 by the time we left!  I asked Timothy to stay outside in a quiet spot until his stomach was calm.  That seemed to work.  I got to spend more time with my family and eat some delicious food.

 Timothy quiet spot was with Crocket outside

 Troy helping Sara with the yogurt

 Hannah and Amy ready for brunch

 Melanie playing with a sparkly hat.  I was wondering where the glitter in her hair came from.

 Hannah wanted to hold Melanie

 Amy and Hannah with silly headbands

 Melanie was crawling everywhere

 Timothy's turn with the headband

My parents arrived and we spent some time with them.  I regret not getting more pictures of them,  But we'll get to see them again soon hopefully!

 Melanie practicing her "bear" crawl while in bear country!

Sooner than we'd like we needed to change into our church clothes and say good bye.  We packed everyone in the van and went to pick up Aaron.  We went over to the church, stayed for Sacrament meeting, then changed clothes and headed home.  Partway home we decided to make a pit stop at Daralee's.  She's about halfway home.  She asked us if we wanted to eat lasagna while we were there. So we stopped in for 30 minutes, which ended up taking about an hour, but it was fun to crash their Father's Day festivities.

cousins playing

Jason was having fun playing with Melanie

Then it was back on the road again.  Aaron's family was on their way to see Daralee, coming from Nathan and Amy's, and we figured we'd cross paths at some point.  So we called them up and tried to find a meeting place in the middle.  So we both got off at exit 254, and talked for a couple of minutes before we headed our separate ways.  We would see them again in a couple of days, but it was nice to wish Dad a Happy Father's Day in person. 

I took a few more pictures of Melanie on the way home

She liked putting her foot in her mouth

Amy was pretty happy

About an hour away from home Melanie was fussing, so we pulled off and I tried to feed her.  Then it was back on the road again, and everyone except David and Aaron fell asleep.  We didn't get home until almost 10:00!  It was a long day, but such a great trip to see both sides of the family.  We unloaded when we got home.  I carried Amy in and she slept in her clothes.  And that's about it for our Montana trip.

Dinner, a Bird Show, and Time with Family.

 The older kids stayed at Aunt Goldie's.  She hosted a birthday BBQ.  Her boys and their families joined my parents and Sara's family for some delicious salads, fruit, hotdogs, s'mores and more.  Meanwhile Aaron and I headed up to a golf course with a beautiful view of the valley.

 We ate at a wonderful restaurant called The Keep.  We socialized while Melanie slept.

Eventually Melanie woke up and I nursed her, and then fed her some sweet potatoes. We had some fancy main dishes.  Aaron chose the wasabi encrusted ahi tuna, and I had the vegetable curry.  Delicious!  Then the raptor lady came and set up.  I took way too many pictures, but it was fascinating!

 She put on a show for us.

 She started with the saw-whet owl

 Then the peregrine falcon

 apparently she (the falcon) doesn't like baseball caps

 Then the golden eagle

 Melanie enjoyed the show too

 Finally she brought out the Great Horned Owl

She had several books for sale, and we bought two copies of one that followed four baby bald eagles over a couple of months as they hatched until they flew away.  I had her sign one for my dad for Father's Day, and one for us.  It was getting really late and we needed to go back and pick up the kids.  Melanie fell asleep again, so I left her in Sara and TJ's room while we walked down to the campfire.

 beautiful Hannah!

 Amy refusing to take a picture.  She was sad because she lost one of her penguins under the picnic table.

Just as we were getting ready to head back to the hotel Melanie woke up.  Rather than feed her, we just left, and she did calm down.  The kids went right to sleep, however Melanie didn't want to go back to sleep.  She also had a rough night where she woke up often, and didn't want to go back to sleep.  Then Amy woke up and ended up in bed with Aaron and I.  After feeding Melanie I didn't have a place to sleep, so I ended up in the small chair, and eventually on the floor.  I was exhausted.  More to come!