Tiff and the girls were able to come home in September...we had a fun, busy time...
We went out in the country to Austin's boss' house...the guys were looking at tree work out there.

Jenna was able to come home and show us baby Jude...Congrats Jenna and Evan! Gavin and Hannah...

Taylor and I took Gramma Almond to have cataract surgery...
Fun in the yard...
I couldn't believe Taylor was actually holding a worm she found!

Alex was putting bricks together to build a post to put our house number on...

Taylor was lots of help ;)

Ash made a nice cake for Taylor's birthday...

Taylor enjoyed being princess for the day!

Hannah enjoyed it too :)

We took the girls to the park behind our house...

Taylor and Hannah picked rocks on the way home...

After this little car sat around for awhile, Austin and his buddies decided they wanted to take it out in the country and do some "ramping..." They had fun for awhile, but when it didn't make it over some barrels, it broke the transmission, so they hauled it home and Austin decided he wanted to take it apart.

It was a conversation piece for a couple months...

The bucket truck was used as a "cherry picker" to get the motor out...

When the time came to haul it to the recycling yard,

Taylor watched from a safe distance...

A summer project we had fun with, was building a fire pit in the back yard. We have had a lot of nice, relaxing evenings just sitting out under the millions of stars....amazed at God's creation. Our God is an awesome God!

Clearing a spot

Sand on top of the dirt

Leveling out the sand
Plastic put in place

Getting the steps level

Placing the steps

Taylor got to stay up late to enjoy it one evening...

She even got a smore ;)

Proxy Marriage in Montana

Proxy Marriage in Montana :Definitions...

A few months ago, my brother-in-law, Ed, who is a Justice of the Peace, with his office in the Courthouse, came to my office and asked me if I'd like to stand in as a witness to a Proxy Marriage that was going to happen in a few minutes. I wasn't quite sure what a Proxy marriage was, but I was willing to witness one! He had also asked another courthouse employee from the Clerk of Court's office, and we both stood in the Judge's chambers as witnesses, along with a friend of the couple that the groom had brought with him to stand in for the bride. The groom was stationed with the military in North Dakota, and his bride to be was overseas in the military. He was on the cell phone with the bride, and put her on speaker phone when the ceremony was about to begin. Ed read the vows and the bride and groom repeated them...he in the court room and she overseas. Ed made a light hearted comment about kissing over the cell phone after he pronounced them husband and wife, but then he prayed for the couple and asked God's blessing over their marriage. It was a neat experience, but I am glad Alex and I were both at our own!

After talking with the Clerk of Court employee, I learned a little more about the procedure of being able to be married by proxy. They each have to have 2 or 3 forms of identification and divorce papers if previously married, and there are 4 other states that will perform proxy weddings: California, Colorado, Kansas and Texas. Montana is the only State to perform double proxy weddings, though, crazy as it is!