This eventful week is worthy of beautiful prose and images, and I have failed to do it justice. Gone, temporarily, are the days of being able to capture it all. Now, I can only capture what's going on when there's really not much going on. Sitting around in the living room with the kids-- I'm all over that. A week trip back home to introduce Emalie to the family and attend my brother's wedding-- not so much. What every good photographer needs: 2 hands. What I don't have when I'm lugging around a diaper bag and a squirming toddler: 2 extra hands. Thank goodness Thad and Kelly didn't rely on me for wedding pictures-- the only ones we have are the ones that Nikolas took! Oh well, I now know my limitations! Let the reminiscing begin.....
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| "Um....it's really early and I don't really understand why we have suitcases with us....." |
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| "Talk to me when we get to Wyoming. Maybe then I'll be in the mood." |
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| Wow...that's a fast trip, right? We're already in Montana! Yeah, not so fast, trust me..... |
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| Letting off some steam in our Billings hotel room after 12 hours in the car. (Yes, if you're doing the math it doesn't normally take 12 hours to get from Denver to Billings. Welcome back to the world of traveling with a medium AND little one.....). |
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| She still loves us though...or herself.... =) |
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And now we've finally arrived at Grandma O's in Hamilton!
Grandma and Grandpa gave Nikolas his belated (quite-ha!) birthday present.
I think it was worth the wait-- he loves it. And I know some other Steelers fans who probably agree! |
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| Nikolas playing cards with Grandma O. Amazing, that used to be me sitting there with her, but now I'm chasing Emalie around the less-than-babyproofed house! Boy do times change! |
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| Another day and more family to meet! We spent the morning of Labor Day visiting with my aunt, uncle, cousins and 2nd cousins. Emalie took a strong liking to her new cousin Baby Bear. I'm not so sure he was as keen on her! The interaction was quite adorable! |
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| Streets of Paris, Streets of Hamilton-- style matters! |
We visited the new Veterans' Memorial in Hamilton. It's very nice and well deserved.
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| My dad-- once a Marine, always a Marine. |
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| Me, Emalie, Grandma and Nik (wearing Emalie's sunglasses!). |
After the memorial, we went to the cemetery to pay our respects to our lost loved ones.
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| I can't help but think that Grandpa was smiling down on this scene. |
Our few days in Hamilton were over and it was time to say goodbye.
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| Grandma and Emalie. |
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| Nikolas helps Emalie get her shoes on. |
But before we left the Bitterroot, we had one more stop to make. I reluctantly decided to go see Grandma and Grandpa G. This was hard. The last photo I have taken by this headstone, I was standing next to Grandma G. Yeah, hard, really, really hard.
Enroute from Hamilton to Coeur d'Alene, we stopped off to go trailer shopping.... and buying.... in Missoula. Good thing we brought our truck....with the hitch....and our sleeping bags!
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| Dad pushing Emalie around the lot while she takes a little snooze. |
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| Ha Ha Ha-- some apples don't fall far from the tree. Here we were stopped at the Silver Dollar for dinner (our trailer on the right) and Mom and Dad's motorhome on the left. |
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| And it gets even funnier, we arrived in Idaho so late that we decided to spend the night in the Walmart parking lot rather than to attempt to park 2 RV's in my brother's driveway in the dark. You just have to laugh at some memories! |
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| I'd say the kids are happy with our new trailer. |
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| And we FINALLY arrived at Uncle Thad's and Kelly's. But who cares about that, it's all about the shoes.....ha ha ha. |
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| Nikolas giving Winston some love. |
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| "Boat ride, did Uncle Thad say boat ride? Let's go!!" |
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| Emalie's first boat ride. What a great excursion during a very busy week! |
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| All ready to go to the rehearsal! |
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| Kelly and her flower girls. |
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| I think we need to watch out for this girl.....she already insists on hanging out with all the groomsmen! |
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| 24 hours until the big event! |
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| Some families! Here we are all parked in Thad's driveway. As irritated as the neighbors might have been, we quite enjoyed our time at Thad and Kelly's campground! |
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| On the way to the wedding!!! |
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| Waiting for the festivities to begin and all Emalie wanted to do was play with the rocks! |
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| Sadly, I think this may have been the only photo I took the whole evening. |
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| My cousin Kendra captured this one. Thanks, Kendra! |
Nikolas took these during the ceremony:
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| Kelly's sister, Mindy, has an incredible voice and sang a beautiful song. |
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| Mom and Emalie. |
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| Another picture from Kendra-- thanks! |
See, I told you I didn't have a free hand to take photos! That's all I have from the wedding! The ceremony was fantastic and a good time was had by all. Now we're already on to the day after the wedding!
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| Thad and Kelly live on the river and it's so wonderfully relaxing and picturesque. |
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| Nikolas enjoying time on the new deck Thad built. |
Yep, and we're already on the way home. We had a great week. It was busy, a little stressful, but filled with great memories and the addition of a fantastic person to our family. Welcome, Kelly!!
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| A large fire on the mountain near Casper, WY. |
