day 4...and the end

We spent day 4 on the lake enjoying the company of family, eating fabulous food, lounging in the sun and catching up on lives at the "PETERSEN MONTANA MOUNTAIN BASH!"

My Auntie DeAnn and her family went to A LOT of work putting the whole day together!  THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!  There were plenty of things to do during the day like take boat rides, jet ski, play in the water, their were games, food and more food!  We had the Yacht Club to ourselves the entire day and it was fabulous!

Emmy has a thing for chairs.  She LOVED this little pink chair and carried it around where ever she could!  I need to get me one of these.  Easy entertainment for her!

We did some catching up on all of the Petersen family while we were there.  This book is a complilation of "what's been happening" submitted by all the families.  It was a lot of fun reading what people are up to.  There are so many of us and we seem to be pretty spread out so this was a great idea.  Thanks to Stacey for putting it together.

While all the parents went on a LONG boat ride, us kids hung around and talked and told stories.  The grown ups were gone awhile though and we started to wonder if they had found some fabulous property for sale they all jumpes ship for!

We all had such a great time!  It was so fun seeing so many relatives and making so many fun memories!   We missed everyone that couldn't make it up but hope to see you all soon...maybe the Christmas party? 

It was sad packing up our stuff and saying good-bye to our sweet home-away-from home!  Our stay seemed too short!  We hope to come visit again sometime!

THE END.

day 3

Friday, day 3, was the day we met up with everyone who came for the big get together.  We met in the lobby of one of the local hotels and did a little caravaning through Glacier National Park.  It was a rainy overcast day and we didn't get too see all the beauty of the park on our way in but by late afternoon the skies cleared and IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! 

This was the longest day for Emmy.  All 7 of us piled in my Yukon and with dad at the wheel we spent about 80% of the day on the road.  We stopped quite a bit to get out and take pictures and let Emmy stretch but after about 9 hours of driving on and off she was done!  She cried for 2 hours and we couldn't do a darn thing for her.  She was so tired but just wouldn't fall asleep cause as we learned on the way up, she doesn't do well with people sitting around her.  Poor little Emmy.  I thought she'd never get back in her car seat after this!

Pretty amazing huh! 

I was recently reading a friends blog.  She posted about a beautiful double rainbow she saw and how with beauty like that, how can anyone deny there is greater power...a Creator?  As I have been going through these pictures I think the same thing.  ALL OF THIS BEAUTY WAS CREATED FOR US!  Proof of our Heavenly Father's love for us surrounds us daily.  From the birds and butterflies to the mountians and streams.  We are so blessed!  I am so thankful for all the beauty I get to witness each day.

day 2

Thursday was our day to sleep in, enjoy having the house to ourselves, have a orange rolls for breakfast and take our time getting ready for the day.  Actually, Emmy decided to take a longer nap than planned so that's really what gave us the relaxing time.  My favorite place at the house was rocking chair on the porch.  I think my mom loved it too because we took turns reading our book out there, studing maps or just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful neighborhood.

When Emmy woke up we head out to visit another little lake town in the area, Whitefish.  It was super cute!  Reminded me a lot of Jackson Hole.  We had a very YUMMY lunch at a local pizza place and walked the streets while making the occasional stop in an antique store, souvenier shop or to get some famous huckleberry ice cream!

We kept in touch with the rest of our crew who were driving up that day and really just bummed around until we thought we should head back to the house to meet them.  While we were in Whitefish, mom suggested we visit "City Beach"

Flathead Lake is beautiful!  This little city accesss was super fun and I only wish we would have had more time to spend here.  Pack a lunch, bring our suits and towels and spend an afternoon.  Emmy LOVES water and she really enjoyed playing on the beach.  She especially loves throwing rocks in the water!  Gosh, I love this little girl!

Holly and mom were such a big help to me with Emmy these first few days (as well as the rest of the trip, but everyone else was super helpful too).  Holly is leaving to go to school at Dixie in a few weeks and I KNOW Emmy is going to miss her SO MUCH.  Holly has been helping me with Emmy by babysitting a few days a week while I go to work.  I really think her and Emmy have been able to form a special bond.  Emmy even tries to say "Holly" and it adorable!  WE'LL MISS YOU HOLLY!

When we heard Dad, Heather and Derrick were getting close to Kalispell we headed back to meet them.  On our way to the house we saw there was a "party in the street" and turns out we had more time to spare than we thought, so we headed over to join in on the fun. 

There were a few vendors selling things like shoes made from rope, skirts you can wear 100 ways and other random items.  There were also a lot of food vendors and boy were we hungry!  We listed to the band play for awhile and decided we had better wait for the rest of the group to arrive before we ate.

(dogs are just as prominent as people in MT.  We saw all sorts of dogs everywhere we went!  This guy looks like he's sad he's missing out on the party!)

Finally, we were all together!  (Minus Dave and Brian and we missed them).  We gave Dad and his crew a hard time about his GPS leading them the wrong way and how our good ole map got us there just fine.  It became a little joke throughout the trip.  We showed everyone around the house, helped them bring in their things then we all went to dinner.

It was another late night for all of us, but that's what vacations are about right!

day 1

I probably took way too many pictures on our little trip up to Montana, but what can I say...I LOVE taking pictures!  I promise I will not share ALL of them with you but I am going to share a bunch.  I thought I'd do it by day so I don't overwhelm anyone with my family vacation.  Who am I kidding - this blog is really just a place for me to document things going on in my life and it motivates me to actually get my pictures off my camera.  And if anyone wants to "stop in" and say hello, I love it!  Maybe one day I'll make this blog into a book!  And IF I do, of coures I'm going to want to lots pictures.  On to the trip...

Mom, Holly, Emmy and I loaded up Wednesday morning and left on our big adventure.  We were totally prepared with maps and directions to the house in Kalispell.  We didn't make it too far before we decided to make a little stop.  I've passed this monument SO MANY times and have always wondered what it was.  A top the hill is a monument dedicated to a Colonel in the Mormon Battelion.  A top the hill there is was also a beautiful view of where Lake Bonneville used to be.  I'm glad we stopped.

 

Brian had said there was this fun cafe in Dell, MT we should for sure stop at on our way so we planned our stops along the to include that one.  It's an old school house they call the "Calf-A."  I LOVED it because it had so many fun antiques and the atmosphere was just so home town.  We had a good meal, were over charged, got some money back, took a few picture then we were off again! 

(the push pins represent all the home-towns of those who have visited the Calf-A)

Emmy did pretty darn good for having to ride backwards and stare at the seat or whoever was sitting next to her.  But, there came a time when we couldn't do anything to make her happy and I knew she was super tired.  SO, we pulled over and all three of us sat up front for awhile so Emmy could take a nap in the backseat by herself.  Mom at the wheel, Holly in the middle and I was the passenger.  It was fun all three of us up front!   It was easy to talk and share our road trip snacks!

 

At about 6:30pm we finally arrived at our home for the next 4 days.  It was even more darling in person!  We happened to find it on http://www.vacationrentals.com/.  We've used this website a few times now for traveling and I would highly recommend it!  There are rental properties all over just waiting for you to use!  We've found that it's nice to stay in a house rather than hotel because we save money on food and more people can come and split the cost!  (Emmy seems to do better in a house environment vs hotel too)

After we unloaded the car (and it's a good thing we took my Yukon because we had A LOT of stuff) we went and grabbed a bite to eat at KFC and did a little grocery shopping.  I was super nervous Emmy would have a hard time going to sleep cause our past experiences with the pack-n-play haven't been too great, but she went down so easy!  In fact, she slept great the whole trip.  We must have worn her right out each day!  P.S.  The sweet homeowner made sure there was a pack-n-play and a high chair there for us to use.  Nice huh!  We didn't even have to pack our own!

Well, that's day one!  Most of it was spent on the road but we had a good time.  I sure love my mom and sisters!