Finally...

I have finally had a few moments to update my blog - sorry it's taken me awhile.  Our Montana trip was just over a month ago and was so much fun!  We got really lucky with the weather - it was in the low 80's and sunny the whole time we were there.  It was nice to get one last squeeze of summer out before coming back to fall. 

Ashlyn was a great little traveler and the DVD player in our car finally came to good use.  We surprisingly made it all the way to Bozeman the first day and stayed overnight in a hotel.  It was also our anniversary so we celebrated with some subway sandwiches and a movie in bed while Ashlyn snored away between us - romantic I know :)  The next day we headed to Big Sky.  It's only 40 miles from Bozeman so we were able to sleep in and take our time getting ready.  We hit up Wal-Mart on the way to get our supplies and were treated to an amazingly beautiful drive up to the mountain.  We checked into the condo before my mom and Roy so we decided to have some lunch and check out the town.  The next few days were spent relaxing, exploring, and playing.  We can't wait to go back and ski when the kids are older.  It reminded us of a mini Whistler.

After we left Big Sky, we headed to Yellowstone.  Neither Aaron or I had ever been so we figured since we were so close we definitely needed to check it out.  We had a great time and saw a lot of animals - some were a little too close up for me!  We both agreed we needed more than a day to really experience it all so it will for sure be a family vacation destination in a few years.

From Yellowstone we headed to Ennis to stay with Aaron's sister Rachel and her family for a few days.  Ennis is a little over an hour outside of Yellowstone and is such a cute town.  It is pretty small - there isn't even a traffic light.  We had a really good time and finally got to meet our newest nephew, Tegan.  One of the days we were there we all headed out to Ennis Lake for a picnic and fishing.  Then we headed to Butte to the Fairmont Hot Springs.  We had a great time and Ashlyn loved splashing around playing in the pool.  They had this really big water slide there that Aaron finally convinced me to let him take Ashlyn down.  I was really nervous, but he promised he could go slow and she would be fine.  She LOVED it!  She just wanted to keep going down it all day long.

We were sad to leave, but I guess we have to go back to work sometime so we can afford these fun little trips.  We made it to Moses Lake before settling into the Holiday Inn.  We ordered dinner in and watched the Huskies beat USC...again:)  The really funny thing was that the whole week we were gone, it was so warm and we hadn't hardly seen a cloud, but when we got up the next morning to head home it was raining and never stopped the entire time.  Kind of ironic.  Here are some pictures of our trip...

 

The zipline course we did at Big Sky

For some reason this picture came out sideways, but this is me zipping through the air.

Family portrait

 Ashlyn and Aaron coloring in the condo.

 Aaron and a herd of Elk in Yellowstone

 Yellowstone lake

 Ennis Lake

 Ashlyn getting a fishing lesson from Daddy

 Enjoying the pool :)

 The Brown Family

 The big slide

 Ashlyn and Aaron coming out of the slide

 The kids relaxing after we got home from the hot springs (after baths and a meltdown x 3)

 This just cracked me up.  As we were leaving Ennis to head home, we had to stop so this herd of cattle could pass.  Not something you see everyday.