Father's Day Camping Trip

Crazy at it may sound, we decided to go camping for Father's Day weekend, keep in mind, Luke was only 5 weeks old.










We had decided to meet some friends of ours from Bozeman, so we randomly picked a campground that would meet us in the middle, so Lost Creek State Park, here we come! This was a primitive state park about 10 miles outside of Anaconda, and it was for the most part, very beautiful.








Apparently nearly all the trees had suffered from beetle kill, and most of them had recently been cut down, so the ground was quite sparce, just covered in tree stumps. It was nearly impossible to find a location to pitch our tent, but luckily for us the closest camp site to the water pump happened to have the perfect spot!
We got to camp and got it all set up, tent, grill, firewood, etc.











We went on a short hike to the falls,










and then threw some pine cones in to the creek,











and decided to head into cell service to find out what was keeping our friends. Well, turns out their truck had decided to break down on them, and they were still stuck at home, probably not coming. Bummer we thought. So we went back to camp, made dinner,










then smores, and after putting the boys to bed got a call from Dustin saying that they had fixed the truck (he and Tammi replaced the fuel pump, by themselves, in their driveway!) and they were on their way. Sure enough, they pulled into camp about 1:00am. Throughout the weekend we played in the woods, "hiked to the falls", fished, and just hung out. On Sunday we went to Fairmont hotsprings (post to come later) Besides the freezing cold nights, the camping trip was definately a success, and we are planning on going again and again. We are also in the market for a cheap, small, used camper, tenting it is just too much for me :)

Grandpa's helmet

Grandpa rode his motorcycle up to our house last week to cuddle the new baby,and the boys went nuts over his helmet. It was so hilarious to see it on Jack, considering it probably weighed more than he does and was at least half his size. Maybe someday soon we'll get helmets for the boys and they can actually take a ride on the bike with Grandpa, wouldn't that be fun?!

He's here!

Ten days ago we welcomed little Lucas into our family, hooray! He was born on Friday, May 9 at 12:06 pm, and weighed in at 8 pounds 13 ounces. I NEVER thought I'd have a baby bigger than Kale, but apparently I pulled it off. He is the sweetest most beautiful baby in the world! He has such a great disposition! He sleeps all the time, rarely cries, and even when he's awake he's perfectly content. The Lord knew exactly what he was doing when he sent this sweet soul to our family. There is no way I could handle a fussy baby and my two older boys all at once. The boys love him, it's obvious, but they're not too interested in him yet. He's a little boring for them, I think. They check in on him a few times a day, but other than that, they go about their own business. I am having a hard time getting good pictures of him on my camera, but here are a few. I had a great friend of mine take some pictures of him this weekend, and I'm sure she had better luck than I did. Check out her blog to see a few of them.....www.impressionsbytammi.blogspot.com or click on the Impressions By Tammi link under my friends on the right side of this page (he's the 8-day old)

I hate turkeys!!!!

Okay, so part of the appeal of living up in these beautiful mountains is the abundance of wildlife right out my door, but come on! Turkeys are ugly, and their poop is nasty, and their gobbles are obnoxious! Not to mention the horrible effect they have on the men in my family, especially my two year old! When the turkeys first appeared on the scene, I admit, it was exciting, interesting, and fun. But then my sportman of a husband decided to invest in bags and bags and bags of chicken/turkey feed. Yippee! I am constantly fighting for his attention, because the turkeys might look different today than they did yesterday, right? And heaven forbid he not watch them every spare moment he has. All day long Jack cries, "I can't see the turkeys, where are the turkeys." Until, of course, he finally spots one, then its, "I see a Turkey! I see a turkey!" ALL DAY LONG!! And now we have a resident flock of 10-15 birds, who can be seen on our property at any given time of the day, especially at 5:30 in the morning, directly below my open window......GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!!

Everything is done, but the waiting....

When we realized baby number 3 was on the way, we decided it was about time to finish another bedroom in our house to make room for yet another Heppler. It's been a long, long process, but we have finally finished the big boys' new room. It was rough for me at first to move them all the way to the basement, but my anxiety didn't rub off on them whatsover, it was a very smooth transition. Now, except for a door, and something decorative on the walls, their room is complete, and it looks like I have a few eight-year old now, what big boys in their big beds! With their upstairs bedroom now empty I was able to transform it into the new nursery. I had no plans for a theme, just going to put what I had in, and go with it (this is my third.) Well, to our delight, once I had it all put together, it somehow morphed into an adorable little cowboy theme, complete with stick horse, cowboy hat, pop guns and cowboy boots. This room still has some need for decoration on the walls, but all-in-all, it's finished as well. Now all we have to do is wait another 5 weeks to make our home complete.

Look Ma, I did it!

I recently decided to take on one of my more difficult projects, and I finally finished it! We got handed down this hideously ugly, yet insanely comfortable chair from Mark's grandmother. Apparently it is approximately 50 years old. When we lived at her house, Kale fell in love with the chair, and she decided to bequeeth it to him. So, I had since decided to recover it, or at least make a new slip cover for the chair, since it is absolutely the best chair to have when there is a newborn in the house. Anyway, as you can see, the chair is finally complete, and sitting patiently in our nursery.

Adorable