4th Leg of Journey: Montana

My mom came and picked Ethan and I up in Idaho and we drove up to Helena and then Kalispell. Ethan and I stayed downstairs and it was weird because my room was always upstairs. It was nice though to have our own space.

I had so much fun in Montana. I love being with my mom. I just like being with her and talking to her. She listens to my stories and laughs and sympathizes when necessary. I can be myself with her, and that is a huge blessing. I love my dad too. He is so fun and fun-loving, we always have a good time. I also spent lots of time with my brothers and their wives which was super fun. Sylvia and I got together the most to cook and play with the kids. Ethan just adored her little Isaac and wanted to do everything that he did. It was pretty cute.

Here are some pics of Ethan and Isaac.

We of course spent a lot of time at the pool. As I have mentioned before, I plan on spending most of my summers for the next 10 years or so at the pool!

 My  brother Nick, his wife Sylvia, and their kids.

 

My brother Doug, his wife, and their kids.

My mom and Ethan, apparently coming up on a waterfall.

Ethan in his cool sunglasses that he actually wears!

 

 My good friends Melea and Valissa-I have been friends with them since I was two!

3rd Leg of Journey: Idaho

After spending a day in Provo to recuperate (and believe me, we recuperated. Ethan slept 16 hours in a 24 hours period. Amazing), we drove to Idaho to visit Mom and Dad Spratling. Carlee was home for the weekend from Girl Scout camp (where she was working) and Sierra was home between sport camps and we had a good weekend. Mom made her AMAZING Burnt Almond Fudge Ice Cream for the 4th of July...and well, yeah, it was amazing. I also said good-bye to Trent on the morning of the 4th as he left for Portland, OR for his internship. It was kind of surreal to have him leave without me, but I really missed him. I had fun with his mom though, and that pretty much made up for it. We rode bikes to yoga, cooked fun to meals, had green smoothies, and watched movies. I hope we make this a yearly tradition. It was a BLAST. For some reason I seem to have lost my photos from this part of the trip! AARG! During our time in Idaho Ethan learned how to go down stairs (he learned how to go up them when we were here before the MA part of the trip) and how to stand for extended periods of time! So exciting, although I didn't want him to start walking until Trent could see him. I will keep looking for the photos...I hope they are on my mom's computer.