Once in a lifetime

We were so lucky to have a friend whose suite at the Indians stadium completely opened up and offered it to our family for the night. It was a night we will never forget. Our own suite. Wahoo! It was a beautiful night and we had all of the food we could want and the boys were given toys and souveniers. We have been to many games since living here but now I think sitting anywhere else will be a disappointment. We had so much fun!

The boys sat out and watched the game and ate and ate and ate until they were bored and then went inside and watched a movie while we all relaxed. This is definitely the way to go to a game with kids!

Pattersons Fruit Farm

We go here every year and love it. Tons of treats, beautiful scenery, pumpkin and apple picking, and lots of fall activities for the boys.

Camron came with us this year to the family fun fest instead of just eating all of our spoils. Usually we bring home doughnuts(I don't like them but the boys say they are heaven on earth), a way too large bag of homemade kettle corn, and gallons of the best apple cider you will ever drink. This is the stuff about ohio I will really miss.

Trent decided he would see if he still had the touch with the tractors. I don't know anymore city boy!

The boys could spend the whole day on this cool slide. They must have gone down about 50 times.

The trek!

We started the drive from Ohio to Montana and had great adventures. The boys did so great and I think I whined more than they did. We had great weather and stopped at hotels along the way and then let the boys play while we slept in and then headed for the pool for a few hours before we hit the road again. We had to stop in at Wall Drug along the way of course and get some dinosaur toys and treats and play a bit. On we go to Wyoming!

Sheridan

We made great time on the way to Montana so we decided to swing down to Sheriday and say hi to some old friends. We had to stop at the Brinkerhoff ranch and say hello. It was weird being there and having our minds flooded with so many memories of life before kids. It is a very pretty place that we will never forget.

We had to take a pic of our old stomping ground. This was the home we lived in while in Sheridan across from the Brinkerhoff ranch. We lived here free of rent(except for two days a month Trent became a ranch hand) and free phone(except for taking care of their very old dog-Patches) and loved every second of it.

Montana

We made it! The gang of little boys immediately snatched Ryan and Raef up and out they went to Papa's backyard for water fun and eating raspberries. Ryan ate a bucketfull I think.

There was a lot of little boys running around Dad's house when we joined our two more in. Raef instantly remembered Jared and they became best buds again and Ryan tagged along with everyone. Our boys had so much fun running with the Heidema gang.

The last view of the siblings before the big campout. It was short and sweet this year. Lots of fun. We were all ready to get going and get dirty!

When we arrived, we set up camp quickly before fishing and tried to get some logs that were big enough for the amount of people that were coming soon to sit on around the fire. This seemed like the perfect one until we realized how long it really was. We took turns hacking on this thing for an hour and then finally got it. We were all soaking wet and Matt was covered in slugs! Nasty! He didn't even realize he had a whole family strewn across his arm(mostly dead of course.)

This was really quite the scene. Matt and all of his sisters out trying to load the boat into the water when the shore wasn't completely settled. Oh boy! Or maybe I should say, "Oh girls?!" He really was very patient with us. The truck got stuck, I got knocked into the water and then shaken by the nice lab dog helping us, and even managed to lose my sunglasses! But we couldn't stop laughing at the scene. As soon as we got out and going it was a perfect evening. We caught lots of fish and just enjoyed the scenery and eachother.

The rest of the family joined us on Saturday morning and we got camp set up, fishing poles ready, and took off for the river. Some people were fishing, some 4-wheeling, some kissing (Dad), some floating on innertubes, and some just chilling. It was so fun! Raef loved learning how to string the pole.

Mom and Doug met us on Saturday and spent some time meeting everyone and just catching up. Mom delivered her handful of presents as always and then they headed to the river too.

Matt, Becca, and Hyrum

Looking good stud!

The kids spent the day on the river and had a blast floating along with the current until they hit Jen and Dad who steered them back around to the shore. It was a beautiful day and the water felt just perfect.

Raef made sure to get his fair share of fish too! He was catching them all over the place.

We broke the group up to go fishing the last day and we got lucky to have Dad come and fish with the boys! What a memory! The boys will probably never cherish those moments as much as there mom will. Jen and her crew fished with us and then played catch the frog and dead fish catch. A few games I tried to avoid. Yuck!

Hey! What are looking at? You just watch! I'll catch the biggest fish out here!