We had a family reunion this year for my Moms side of the family up at West Yellowstone and it was a blast. It was so nice to meet some of my cousins kids and to see cousins I haven't seen in such a long time. I wish the three that couldn't make it could have but I am so glad everyone else made it. I was reminded of when we were kids on Christmas Eve and we would all get together. I think one year we should just stop by and go surprise to Grandma and Grandpa on Christmas Eve. We even got to finally go up and see Old Faithful and Yellowstone Park. We went out on the boat (even if it was still really cold and the snow wasn't very far from us), made lots of smores and laughed.
Dave's sister and brother came out for the 4th of July this year. We went out to the baseball games, up to the caves, and so many other fun things. We spent the 4th of July out at Red Lodge and then headed out to Dave's sister in-laws Mom and Dad's house to watch the big firework display here in Billings. It was such a great time with Nancy, Ken and Mary. It really made me so happy to see that not only did the kids take to them so well but they seemed to take to the kids just as well. It was so sweet how much Cody liked Ken (even more so sense Cody never shows affection to anyone). It was very sad to see them go, but I am looking forward to the next time we can all get together.
This year my sister's family, my brother's family and I all ended up at the fair together. This was the first time that has happened in about 15 years and it was so much fun. I would have loved it more if my kids were home but they were able to go to Tennessee this year and visit there Dad's and his family. We rode so many ride with the kids and then later Sandy and I went back and rode all the big kid rides. I would like to take this time to say I am sorry to Mom and Connie. When we were kids we would make fun of the fact they couldn't ride 20 rides in a row, I now understand why you couldn't do that. A few days later Dave and I went to the fair and we enjoyed all the yummy food and the shows. That was something I have never done and I think from now on we will have to do that once a year. It was so nice to just walk around try this, try that and stop and listen to what was showing at that point. Then on the last night of the fair the kids came home and we went as a family and that was my favorite night of the fair. We rode more rides, ate more food and played games. The kids won three more goldfish, so now they both have fish tanks with goldfish in them.
Last weekend we went up the Read Point and saw the sheep run. If you haven't done that yet I would recommend you go at least once. They had a fun little street fair and then the sheep came running down the street. It was something different to do and the best part was the run was free to watch. We also went camping last weekend finally. Normally we have gone a few times by this point but this year has not been a normal year. I was so glad we went out to the river, Cody got three fish when he went out fishing and Emily dug a ton of holes in the sand. On Sunday night we went out to the drive-in, that is something again if you haven't done you really should. It was the perfect night to be sitting under the stars and watching the movies. The kids rode a few little rides they had there and then we settled into our chairs to watch Whinny the Poo and Spy Kids 4D (well ours wasn't 4D sense we had no 3D but they did get the smell cards).
I wish I would have keep up with the blog better over the year and I will try to again. Unfortunately my computer has died so all of my photos for most of the year are somewhere else so I can't show you the older ones, I can however show you the newest ones I have taken. Over all it has been one of the best years of my life and I am looking forward to all the fun things we already have planned for this year.
