remembering Mormor

My Grandma Gilbert was sweet, yet feisty.  She made the best food, especially desserts!  I loved that she would put aside all other distractions and truly enjoy our time together (this is becoming a lost art in our culture!).  Most of my prized possessions are quilts and Christmas tree ornaments made by my grandma's talented fingers!  Grandma... I love you and I am blessed to have such sweet (and silly) memories of YOU!

Most of us got to gather by a river in Montana to remember her sweet life.  

Afterwards, we hung out at my Aunt Diane's home.  Uncle Larry gave each of our  little ones a "lesson" on the BB gun

 and cousin Matt helped Parker for his first try at the bow!

the 4th... tons of fun and fireworks!

Savannah and her sweet cousins were very patriotic for the 4th!  I love that these sweet girls love every moment together!

Fireworks, FiReWoRkS, and more fireworks!  Parker had SOOOO much fun setting off these underwater bombs!  I couldn't believe that I just happened to catch one of the underwater explosions in this shot below!

a Hogan girl photo~op!  i love that all us girls have so much fun together... never a dull moment!  i guess only 1/2 of us got the memo that the photo~op was not gonna be taken with a trailer in the background!

there we go... mountains are a much better backdrop!

ski boat, tubes, paddle boards, squirt guns and kitten... all with cousins!

oh my... my parent's river property is loads of fun!  our kids wore their swim suits every day from the moment they woke til they went to bed!  they will never forget all the laughs and crazy times they had with their cousins, Bapak and Nana!

Savannah is a girl after my own heart... she loves to sit in the bow of my dad's boat and laughed hysterically when he started making sharp turns.  I LOVE her LOVE for boating!

Parker got tossed in by Uncle Marc because he stole his cap one too many times.  I don't think he'll ever steal his cap again! ;o)

chickens, goats and toads... my sis' li'l farm!

This Montana visit was different than other visits as we got to stay at my sister, Charis' home for a few days.  She has done such a great job fixing up an old farmhouse over the past couple years and it was sure fun to see it in person.  Our children loved spending every waking moment with her 4 great boys on their mini~farm.  Savannah loved following after her hens while Parker was....

constantly checking for eggs and was

mainly entertained by their momma goat, named "Bob"!

All the kids were very interested with how Auntie Charis would milk "Bob", I thought it was funny that Savannah even needed a lower and up close view!  I never envisioned seeing Charis milk a goat twice a day but she does a great job! 

Another favorite thing about their property is they have a pond in front which is the home to these large toads~ yuck!  ;o)  All the boys swam in this pond and I just made sure they had showers before bed!

Thanks sis for having us at your fun~filled farmhouse~ isn't it picturesque with the mountains, puffy clouds and blue skies!?!  We loved our time with you!

"Bakak" and Nan

My kids adore my parents and it makes my heart so happy that they got to spend 2 weeks with my amazing parents!  "Bakak" is Savannah's pronunciation for "Bapak" which means grandpa in Indonesian! They love doing anything and everything with him, especially riding on the mower!

It's bedtime and telescope time!  All 3 kids loved checking out the views from my dad's huge telescope.

These 2 eagles were one of their favorite views.

There's also, Nana!  She is constantly spoiling them with fun and yummy surprises!

Here they are with 11 of their 15 grandchildren.  Thanks "Bakak" and Nana for a fun and sweet visit!  We love you and miss you!