Where did the summer go?

I am actually quite embarrassed as I look at how long it has been since we (a.k.a. I ) last updated this blog.  To tell you the truth I have no real reason why... We did a lot of things this summer and I had a bit more time - although I worked on campus teaching English and teaching English for the Missoula Osprey.  I guess I was just to busy having fun and getting things done.  Well, now that school is back in session I am a little bit better at managing my time, and it is also fun for me to go back and remember all the fun things this summer and try not to think too hard of the cold days to come. 


It would take much longer than I am willing to type or, most likely, than you are willing to read for me to share all of the fun times we had this summer so I will give the highlights.

• Kennetta's birthday - Brian took me up to Flathead lake to a Bed & Breakfast that had a pool and a sauna.  We spent a good time up there golfing, taking in the American museum in Polson, eating lots of great food, and catching a movie one rainy afternoon.  Later we had a game night with some friends.  All in all, it was a marvelous way to turn thirty WHAT????
• Fourth of July - It was a cold fourth of July this year but we made the most of it.  Brian, Hannah, and I went to the Pow Wow in Arlee for their Snake Dance (Not a fan of the name) and then we went over to the rodeo.  I didn't realize that it was Hannah's first rodeo until she asked Brian when they were going to ride the buffalo again!  Later that afternoon we joined some friends back in Missoula for a BBQ and a great view of the fireworks.
• Summer Fun - Of course a summer in Montana (the best time of year here and, I believe, much more appreciated by us Montanans than those with sunshine year round:) must include BBQs, softball, volleyball, floating, hiking, camping, swimming, golfing, folfing, and any manner of activity that gets us out into the sunshine. 
• California Trip - One of the highlights of the summer for us was a trip to California to visit Brian's family.  It was a short but sweet vacation.  It was wonderful to see everyone again, and for them to see just how much Hannah has grown in the last year...

Pictures of some of the highlights are below:

The other side of
Ch-Paa-Qn with the Mission
mountains and Flathead Lake
behind me.



Brian at the top of Ch-Paa-Qn (the highest peak around)
 with the Missoula valley behind him. You could actually see the "M" in Missoula.



Brian and I on our way up Ch-Paa-Qn  Peak (a.k.a. Squaw Peak) 
Only 3 miles but over 2400 feet of elevation gain.







My English students from the Dominican Republic, Columbia, and Korea - All part of the Missoula Osprey





A favorite summer pastime -BBQing in front of our house. 






Brian up to bat at one of our Friday night softball games. We had an amazing team with 10 wins and 2 losses!



Brian coming home after another great hit.



Kennetta trying to hit...It did happen.  It was just getting the ball out of the infield that was the hard part:)



There was no shortage of golfing this summer. 
Brian's dad came down for golfing vacation and I believe
they played 81 holes in four days!



We also had the opportunity to go to California for a vacation
to spend time with  Brian's family. 
Here we are at his grandma's house at a delicious BBQ.



Brian and I stole away for a couple of days to soak up the sun in Santa Cruz. Here we are at the lightouse/surfing museum



Natural Bridges State Beach just outside of Santa Cruz.



The Santa Cruz boardwalk at night from the sky tram.



The beach side of the boardwalk with a full moon.



Brian and I about ready to spend the day surfing.
Although the Montanan taught the Californian how to surf (ironically) the Californian genes won out in the end and
Brian completely outsurfed his wife! 



Some of the waves at Cowells Beach where we surfed.



We ended our Californian stay with an undergroud tour of Old Sacramento. And aside from having fun wearing our hard hats, we really enjoyed learning about the history of Sacramento and how the city is built on top of itself.

Watching the sunset from Higgins St. bridge is supposed to be one of the most romantic things to do in Missoula, and it looks like Brian's dad caught us in the moment:)

Brian's 30th Birthday

Just two weeks after we returned from Belize and Guatemala Brian and I had another reason to celebrate: Brian's 30th birthday!! Because I promised Brian that we would do our best to not overlook his birthday just because it is so close to our anniversary I knew that I had to plan something special. Now Brian has been able to surprise me time and time again and so I really wanted to surprise him. The problem was that Brian was kind of expecting me to have a party the weekend of his birthday so I had to improvise... I actually planned a surprise party for the night before his birthday. I put together a dinner and wine tasting competition party. I am pleased to say that I do believe Brian was a little bit surprised to have everyone at the house when he came home from work that night:)!!!! Yeah! Mission#1 accomplished. The party was tons of fun. I made Brian's mom's stroganoff for dinner and we had a wine tasting competition. There were score cards for each of the guests to fill out according to the clarity, aroma, taste, and finish of the 7 wines that were disguised. The wine with the most points at the end of the night won a wine tasting medal. We had a great time and more than a few laughs - particularly when we found out that one of the higher scoring wines was actually a boxed wine poured into a bottle:). The night was a success, but my plans for Brian's birthday were far from over...

That weekend I took Brian straight from work with a car already packed up with our suitcases - and enough gear to try and throw him off from any plans that I had - and we headed north. I had made reservations at a Bed and Breakfast in Whitefish. MT for a stay and ski package. I knew Brian had been wanting to get out and do some more snowboarding before the season completely ended and so I figured that heading to Big Mountain Resort would be a fun birthday surprise. It was. The Bed and Breakfast we stayed at was wonderful! We were placed in the "golf" room (they must have already known Brian:) and were given amazing hospitality the entire weekend. The snowbus picked us up right outside the door and took us up to the mountain - about ten minutes away. We spent a day enjoying some amazing spring snowboarding and skiing. The sun was shining and the views of Glacier National Park and Canada were spectacular! We then had another wonderful dinner in Whitefish, played some shuffleboard downtown:) and then spent another night at the Bed & Breakfast. The next day we drove partway back to Missoula, stopped for lunch in Polson, and saw that they had a golf course open for Spring golfing! Fortunately we had our clubs with us and we spent the afternoon on a beautiful golf course on the edge of Flathead lake. Golfing and Snowboarding in one weekend....wow....the Lord was surely blessing Brian!! And both of them in sunny beautiful weather......the Lord was blessing me at the same time:)!

In any case, the birthday weekend was one to remember, and I am so thankful that it all worked out so that I could show my amazingly wonderful husband just how much he means to me...

Brian eating his birthday stroganoff at his surprise dinner and wine tasting party :)

Two Medicine Bed & Breakfast in Whitefish




We just had to get our picture with Jesus at the top of the mountain! Now we have seen surfing Jesus and skiing Jesus... hopefully more to come:)!

Brian getting ready for another run down the mountain


An amazing panorama of Glacier National Park behind us

Relaxing after a full day of skiing

Yes, this is a Mountain Springs Spa:)

Complimentary Crème Brulé for Brian's birthday (His favorite dessert:)

Table top Shuffleboard - A lot harder than it looks:)

I couldn't help but notice the final score... should I have let him win on his birthday weekend when he beats me at practically everything else?

Beautiful Spring golfing in Polson with Flathead Lake behind us

My attempts at golfing:)

One Year Anniversary

It is hard to imagine that Brian and I have been married for a year already!!! It feels like a lifetime and a day all at the same time. We were incredibly blessed to be able to escape for a little over a week down to Belize and Guatemala to celebrate. During our honeymoon we had both really wanted to go scuba diving, but the weather and currents wouldn't allow it. So, we decided to make this trip primarily about diving. Brian had done some research and found out that there is an amazing reef off the coast of Belize that is second in the diving world only to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. In fact, Belize had been one of his top choices for our honeymoon before he decided on Jamaica. So, we took five scuba classes here in Missoula to take some tests and do all of the pool practice before heading down to Belize to finish our certification.
We spent almost five days in a town called San Pedro on an island off the coast of Belize. We made the most of our time and went on eight different dives. We were able to see turtles, rays, sharks, moray eels, and such a wide variety of tropical fish and coral that we were in a state of constant wonder the entire time we spent under water. One of our scuba trips took us out to The Blue Hole. This is considered one of the seven wonders of the diving world. It is an island that sank in on itself creating a deep hole of about 400 feet. What makes it so amazing is that the barrier reef still forms an almost perfect circle around the hole making it a paradise for a variety of marine life - including many different types of sharks. What was exciting for us was that we were able to dive down over 130 feet under water and then swim through the stalactites and stalagmites that hold up the reef. Words fail to describe how crazy it is to be that far under water seeing a completely new world. The waters of Belize are spectacular and we were more than able to enjoy the people and the beaches as well...

The next three days we spent going to some ruins in Guatemala. The Mayan ruins of Tikal are some of the most unique and amazing ruins I have seen mostly because of their placement. These ruins are still completely surrounded by the jungle. There has been virtually no disruption to the plant or animal life since it became a tourist site. The ruins themselves are gigantic spanning more than 5 square miles and including 6 towering pyramids or 'templos'. We spent hours wandering through the ancient temples and palaces and were even able to spot quite a bit of wildlife. Maybe it would be more accurate if I said that Brian found the animals and helped me see them (really need to get those eyes fixed:). Anyway we saw an anteater, tons of howler and spider monkeys, some tucans, a Central American turkey, a crocodile, and tons of other birds that we need to find names for:) The last night in Guatemala was spent in a little town called Flores which is on an island in Lake Peten. I personally LOVED Guatemala. It is a place that I would like to visit again and a place that I could definitely live if the opportunity ever presented itself.

Anyway, I could go on and on about the details of the trip, but I figured that a few pictures would go a long way to share some of our highlights...

We spent part of our layover in Seattle at a Wine Bar playing Pinnochle

Brian and I on the scuba boat

Spending the late afternoon on the beach in front of our hotel

The streets of San Pedro

Brian trying out the local brew at a Mexican Restaurant

Eating a breakfast out on the pier in front of our hotel before a day of scuba diving

Another view of our hotel - there is a pool and a bar behind the front gates

The scuba shop just in front of the hotel

Patojo's run by Patojo himself and his amazing crew - Saiid, David, Omar, Michael

Heading out for another day of scuba diving

The street from our hotel to the 'center' of town

Can you spot the turtle? - The camera doesn't do these scenes justice:)

So many beautiful tropical fish!

...and stingrays...

...and sharks...

...and coral....(and a lobster if you can find it:)

Almost an underwater smile:)

Getting suited up again!!

Showing off my backwards roll out of the boat

That first backwards dive into the ocean took a lot of courage for me:)

Enjoying a chocolate rum cake dessert on the beach

A restaurant over the waters where you can feed the fish from your table

Half Moon Caye on our final day of scuba diving

This island has a bird sanctuary for the Blue Footed Boobie

A piece of paradise

Glad Brian noticed this guy before I did:)

Brian going up to the bird observatory

Preparing our tanks - it took 3 tanks per person for this trip!

Some of the awesome formations we got to swim through

A Kennetta close-up!:)

Brian and I all suited up and ready for the Blue Hole Dive

This one isn't my picture -mine didn't look this good - but it is the Blue Hole from above

It was providential because we stayed in the Blue Hole Room at the Tides Resort:)

We spent our last night in San Pedro watching the World Famous Chicken Drop Bingo

Just look at how close we were to winning - we had number 25

In the ruins of Tikal, Guatemala about to climb the tallest of the six pyramids - The Great Jaguar temple

A view of the Great Jaguar from below

Brian on top of the Great Jaguar

The view of the rest of Tikal from the top of the Great Jaguar

Brian and I in front of the central plaza of Tikal

Brian on top of yet another pyramid at sunset

Our room at the Jaguar Inn - Top Floor

Kennetta standing by some ruins in 'The Lost World'

A Mayan palace

A crocodile with some babies outside Tikal -

Don't worry, this picture was taken with a major zoom :)

A Guatemalan wild turkey

Brian spotted some tucans for me!

The island city of Flores

The view from our hotel in Flores

Back in Belize City

Out to dinner in Missoula for our anniversary

Brian surprised me with a pearl necklace!! I am sooooooooo spoiled:)