montana mornings

after our adventures in sun valley we headed up to montana for our annual hebgen lake visit.

it was a great time.

we did the usual.

boating, games, west yellowstone, dirt bikes, hiking, bikes rides.

we did the new.

mainly taking captain out for pony and cart rides.

something i love about these times is that i can choose to sleep in as late as i wish.

i love that.

but i had a goal this time around.

i wanted to watch the sunrise over the lake.

every day i told myself that the next morning would be the morning.

well, it never happened.

for a week and a half i slept in.

finally, on the last day that we were in montana i forced myself to wake up and make the trek to observation point, a few miles away from the ranch.

 i was scared that bears were going to eat me as i climbed out of the truck in the dark of the woods. i was cold. i was tired. it was cloudy.

"great. i woke up and got here and now the clouds are going to stickin' block the sun." 

i was sad.

then something happened. 

i saw something.

now you can see it.

i suggest scrolling slowly while listening to something like this or this. 

please.

it makes it even better.

my friend the buffalo enjoyed the sunrise too.

the sun broke through. and the clouds made it even more beautiful than it would have been.

i will remember this morning for a long time.

it's special to me.

i hope you got a little glimpse of why.

a valley of sun

i went on vacation with my family about a month ago. it was a great time. first, we went to sun valley in idaho for the utah bankers association. it's kind of a big deal.

while there we participated in many fun activities.


like bingo...

caroline was the only one who won anything.

sheesh.

and outdoor movies...

you would not believe how many swedish fish i consumed. poor fishies.

dad is happy. he loved the movie and was touched by the sweet story of that tail-less dolphin.

and the gun club...

rebecca won in our group and got second out of all the bankers.

or something like that.

she's a good shot.

a family that shoots together.

and the annual banker 5K...

a family that runs together.

these are the footwear of the two family members who took 1st and 2nd in the race. 

can you guess who?

oh my gosh! you're right.

 it was me and my mom.

and a kenny loggins concert.

two words:

danger zone.

we also went on bike rides, took the pony out for a few rides, went to the pool, played croquet (i actually won. i never win at croquet) and learned a new card game.

from there we went straight to montana. but that's a blog for another day.

so i'll leave you with this.