Labor Day in Montana With the Newly-Engaged

We had a wonderful Labor Day and were able to share it in my favorite place on earth: my home in Montana. Jeff and Maren, newly-engaged and ready to wed, had told me that they wanted to go up there sometime and Amber and I had discussed going up for Labor Day so... ROAD TRIP! We all climbed into the truck and hit the road on Friday after work.

Before leaving town, we stopped by the farmer's fruit/vegetable stand per Mom and Dad's request. I picked up a box of peaches and started loading up on corn. And this wasn't just ordinary corn, I was informed by the farmer. This corn was picked by 18 year old virgins in High School! And apparently he can guarantee that... Yeah. I almost put the corn back... ANYWAY, the trip up went well and, besides the virgin-picked corn, was pretty uneventful.

We rolled into the ranch around 11:00 and headed to bed. Dad was gone to Fort Bridger for a mountain man thing, so I figured I'd be bow hunting all by my lonesome, but Jeff obliged me with his company bright and early at 5:30 a.m. the next morning! We camo-ed up, grabbed a couple of apples, and set off across the river to look for elk. We did hear some nearby and there was plenty of elk sign, but no luck. When I say no luck, I mean we didn't see an elk. But Jeff did take this incredible photo:

The rest of the day was spent just enjoying the ranch: riding 4-wheelers, canoeing on the lake, exploring the forest, chilling at BAJAT, taking naps, playing in the sandbox, heating the hot tub, taking engagement pictures... You know, normal day. ;) It was great to be home...

Young love... napping.

That night, I decided to go back out across the river to the spot Jeff and I had sat earlier that morning. Jeff elected to stay in, so I went out by myself. I wasn't getting any response to my calls, so I decided to try a new one I'd just learned: the "cow in distress" call. Still no answer. It was now almost dark so I decided to head back to the house, about 15 minutes walking distance from where I was at. I'd made it about 5 minutes from where I was calling when I heard the wolf howls begin... If anything can make your blood run cold and the hair on the back of your neck stand up, it's a wolf howl! I picked up the pace a bit, but the howls were getting closer quickly! I'd hadn't even made it around the lake when the silence of the forest was broken by the howls, barks, and whines of the pack: they'd made it to where they thought an elk in distress should be! Well, I had 3 arrows, one with a blunt tip, and my knife. It was dark, I'm still 10 minutes walk away from the house, and there's a pack of wolves after me. No big deal. I was checking over my shoulders the whole way, moving from climbable tree to climbable tree as quickly as possible, but I made it back safe. Jeff was outside in the hot tub and heard the howls and was pretty relieved when I walked up. Haha what a story...

We went to church the next day and enjoyed being back in the little branch I grew up in. It was pretty cool being able to bless the sacrament again, especially with Jeff. We enjoyed great testimonies and Spirit and all left fulfilled. On the way home, spotted this sight next to the road... Typical Montana:

Never leave your car unattended on the side of the road.

Grandpa and Grandma showed up for dinner that night. Not much to say about that, except Grandpa telling Maren a long-winded story about how it's such a "small world" because he knew all about her dad... Yeah, it wasn't her dad. Hahaha. Wow. But later that night, Dad came home. When "Papa" pulls in, we all pretty much turn invisible to Jeremy. He finally got his buddy back!

We all went into town the next day and Mom and Dad treated us to a round of teeth cleanings. The trip in did have one little hiccup... See, Dad likes to drive pretty fast. He could drive that road in his sleep, so that hour and a half trip into town has turned into an hour trip into town since Dad likes to "let the pony run." Well, I was trying to keep up with him and somehow ended up going 90 on the 70 mph highway... I'd almost caught up when he had to slow down behind a trailer going uphill and that's when the sheriff caught me... Yeah. 20 over, I figured I was screwed. I was preparing myself for at least a $200 ticket when the sheriff walked back up to my window... "Well, the bad news is that I'm going to give you a ticket and we have to be paid on the spot or we might not get our money since you're from out of state. So if you've got the $40 now we can just get you back on your way." Forty bucks? FORTY bucks?! Yes, $40. That's it. God bless Montana... Maren had cash to "bail me outta jail" and we had a good laugh all the way into town!

Jeremy's first tooth cleaning!

It was a great trip and we all really enjoyed ourselves. It was great to spend time with Jeff and Maren before they disappear for a few months... ;) Great way to spend a Labor Day!