Big Sky Country

Montana is beautiful.  There's no other way to say it.  We spent last week in that glorious place with some of our closest friends and we were blessed beyond measure!

Our Small Group from Chicago (which we were involved with during all four years of med school) has gotten together once a year ever since and this year we upped the ante on our usual weekend reunion and spent an entire week in Big Sky, Montana.  One of the guy's parents built a gorgeous log home there, literally at the top of a mountain, and they graciously invited our group to enjoy the place for our reunion this year.  Here was our view from the deck:

And here's the house.  There's also a guesthouse, and all six families (with eight kids between us now) were able to squeeze in.

The weather was fairly cooperative so in between corralling kids and catching naps here and there, we went hiking, rode ATVs through the mountains, visited Yellowstone, sat in the hot tub, roasted marshmallows, worshipped Jesus with the kids singing and dancing all around us (and roaring too, because apparently that's what Caleb thinks constitutes worship, which was awesome), and fellowshipped and prayed with each other every night.  In short, it was refreshing and rejuvenating and definitely worth the loss of sleep that happened all week.

And I took lots of pictures.  Lots and lots.  I took these nature photos on our hike, and I took about a jillion photos of all the kids.  They are too cute to not be followed around with a camera everywhere!

And we drove to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful.  We walked around the geyser and waited to see her erupt.  But that's all we did because both our boys fell asleep approximately 30 seconds after getting back in the car.  Caleb missed seeing the buffalo on the ride home, which was a bummer because he became rather acquainted with the buffalo head in the log house and said hello to it multiple times a day and said goodnight to it every night :)

And the kids played and played.  In fact, the majority of our time was spent watching them play together.  They're at various ages and stages, and it was fun to see them interact and learn from each other too.

Caleb and Kai romped around as if they were at home :)  We love seeing these boys be boys no matter where we are!

One afternoon all the moms went boating by ourselves.  Let me repeat that: by ourselves.  No kids!  Not a single baby in sight!  It was wonderful!  We had a great time on the lake and did a little shopping at the ski resort afterwards.  I adore these women!

Of course, in order to go anywhere by ourselves, the mamas had to leave all the kiddos with the daddies.  This is how we found them when we pulled into the driveway.  They weren't desperate for us to return at all :)  In all fairness, we did let the guys go whitewater rafting the next afternoon.

There were literally two times the entire week that every man, woman, and child were in the same place.  That's the way it goes with little ones running and crawling around.  This was one of those rare times, when everyone was eating dinner on the deck.  We snapped a photo because we knew the moment would last about a minute (and it did).

The adults loved hanging out at night.  Montana isn't called Big Sky Country for nothing.  We marveled at the scenery around us when we put the kids to sleep and had a chance to breathe.  One evening we watched a female moose in the next valley and another night we watched a thunderstorm pass through the mountains.  It was incredible!

On our last night together we attempted to get a picture of all the kids, knowing it was crazy to even try.  Here's the attempt.  They're all there, and two babies are crying, but that's all we could ask for :)

What's more, we got a second picture of everyone!  Not too shabby either!  Twelve adults and eight kids in one crazy shot.  This is how we'll remember our week in Montana, with these people we love and adore, and with the summer sky starting to fade over the mountains.

And then we hauled our boys home across three states and 15 hours in the car.  But we survived the road trip back and are thankful for the adventure we had from start to end.  Praise be to God for such deep and meaningful friendships as these and for such a time of refreshment and encouragement!