Memories in Missoula

It's been super hot here in Missoula as I'm sure it's been everywhere else too since it's summer. Last week we had a few fun adventures downtown. On Thursdays they have a band that plays in a local park along with tons of food vendors and it's all right along the river. Missoula reminds me in a way of a mix between Idaho Falls and Boise. It has a river that you can float down that goes right along a park, Cara's Park actually (how sweet of them to name it after me :) and it is the seriously the sweetest park I've ever seen! There is also a greenbelt/walking path that goes right along the river. Also located right in the park is the cutest carousel you will ever see. We just had to take Carson for a ride. It was a fun evening with yummy Johnny Carinos, music, heat, walks along the river, Carousel rides and playing in the "dragons castle." Now only if we had a babysitter so we could go float the river!

mmmm johnny's

He was made because I wouldn't let him play with my camera haha

the band

I've always wanted to try one of these

He doesn't like holding mommy's hand anymore ;(

The "Dragon's Castle"

This was the "tot land" for little kids like Carson, best idea ever!

I think I had more fun exploring it than Carson did, he loved the slide more than anything

"Dee, Doe!" This is what he says before he goes down. Cutest thing ever!

This mist things saved us! It was very hot. Every park needs these!

Clearly I need to go tanning, haha

Reminds me of the tire swing we had in our back yard as kids growing up.

Our tunes. The 90s channel is the best!

Thank goodness for AC!

my boy

The 4th in Missoula

We're up here in Missoula, Montana right now and for the fourth we spent a little time with nature, animals, Native Americans, and Red Robin. We headed out to the National Bison Range which isn't too far from Missoula. We saw buffalo, antelope, coyote, eagles, deer, and elk. We drove up and down a steep mountain a lot, this made me nervous.  We took a nice leisurely hike and we enjoyed the whole ride in an air conditioned truck, thank goodness!

Lovin' the ride

Pretty view on top of the mountain

Buffalo!

Daddy & Son

kisses

on our little hike

view from the top









Massive Montana Mtns.

Then we headed to a cute little town- Arlee where they were having a pow wow.



The Pow Wow

Fun costumes

Then it was time to eat! Red Robin's hamburgers sounded good so we headed back to get some food!

We were beat afterwards so we headed back to the hotel for a nap. When we woke up it was fireworks time! We decided to watch them from our window since it was a pretty good view and we didn't want to deal with traffic. Happy 4th!

randoms this week-

Free costco membership- best thing that ever happened to us
Costco food court is the bomb! Seriously everything is so cheap!
Keith stuck on a mtn for 10+ hrs, made me a wreck/worried wife (thank goodness for prayer)
Hurting my back = not fun.

Silver Creek!

This past week we went camping with my family to Silver Creek Plunge. It's a camping site just outside of Crouch, Idaho with cabins or you can bring your own tent, it also has a natural geothermal hot springs! One of the things I love about Idaho is all the hot springs it has. We spent three days there. Keith unfortunately had to work so he wasn't able to come but we fly out to be with him tomorrow :) My family and I grew up going to Silver Creek almost every summer. It was just my parents and siblings and now we've turned it into a tradition of going for our "Lewis Family Reunion" with our own kids. I love all the memories I have up there. I hadn't been for about 7 years because of college, living in Rexburg etc,  so it was nice to go to a familiar place that I know and love and have so many memories of summers, sunburns, swimming, good food, games, hikes and more. Man, I kinda miss being a kid sometimes, it was fun to take Carson though. Here are a few pics from our trip. About six of us kids came with our kids and my parents.

Chillin' with the kiddies in the kiddie pool

My little man loved to hop in and out of the pool by himself

We all flocked to the hot tub

Roastin' smores

All the grankids that came-- 13 out of 33

My brothers girlfriend Grace and I

On our traditional hike through the river

Takin' a break from our hike on the rock

airports

Oh HaPPy DaY!!!

 She's home! Pictures explain it best so I'll let them do the talkin'. (thanks Shae for the pics) 

She's got the "missionary glow."

Candy Gram Keith and I came up with for her, the sisters/mom and dad helped me buy all the candy.

Kalispell sure is rainy.....

Montana.....

Fell asleep 30 minutes into the trip with rice cake in hand

I was so happy to see this sign because I thought that meant we were close to our destination, I was fooled.

 

Yesterday was finally warm enough to swim! No rain! We also went to a gorgeous lake yesterday for lunch but I forgot to bring my camera! Oh well we'll just have to go again.


In other exciting non-Montana related news.... I fly home in a week for Misti's homecoming!! I can't believe it's been 18 months already! Well yes I can it hasn't gone by as fast for me as it has for everyone else! I'm so excited to see her and have her meet Carson for the first time!

My Babe's Birthday

Saturday was my babe's birthday! I had everything planned out for the whole day like a month before but.....you guessed it--Keith's work transferred us to Kalispell, Montana last Tuesday. So no biggie right, I mean Kalispell is like the Gateway to Glacier National Park which Keith and I have never been to before. Glacier is up there with Yellowstone in Keith's book, which means it's on his bucket list of places he wants to go. He loves anything to do with the outdoors, so naturally I just planned to go there all day and then out to eat. Well, I didn't consider that Kalispell just might want to rain all day Saturday...nOOOOOOOOOO!!! Please any day but Saturday (acutally it rained all week so it wasn't too surprising). So, Saturday rolls around and we take it slow, we sleep in and take our time getting ready, then we headed to Famous Daves BBQ for Keith's b-day dinner. Side note: sign up for all the free b-day dinners/breakfasts if it's your b-day, it's seriously awesome! We got his meal free! Some that I know of are; Ihop, Famous Daves, Sizzler, Denny's, Baskin Robbins, Cold Stone, Red Robin, & Krispy Kreme. I know there's more too!



Waiting for our food



Afterwards we headed over to a local sporting goods store, it was pretty sweet they had a play area for kids that Carson sure enjoyed!

They also had a sweet courtyard with tents and canoes all set up, a trout pond and waterfall!

Lookin' at the fishies

A really long canoe...I think?

Then we headed back to the hotel for cake and ice cream. Keith said he didn't care what kind of cake/ice cream so I got everything chocolate....naturally. I even found Turkey Hill ice cream, one of Keith's fav's that's hard to find out West, guess it's mostly an East Coast sorta thing.

I decorated the hotel room for him that morning.

Then we ended the evening right by hot tubbing and watching storage wars! yah!  I didn't get a pic of his present because well I don't know why, anyway....I got him a Ka-Bar knife that he's been wanting for awhile. He says he's done buying knives after this one. We'll see...haha. Happy Birthday Babes.