Family Thanksgiving

Most of our family worked on Thanksgiving day here, so we celebrated yesterday.   I was delighted to use some newly inherited beauties to grace my table this year.

Most of them early and posed so wonderfully for family pictures. . . .

The table loaded with the feast!

A dessert plate inherited from my mom's collection.

And a fancy-looking new recipe.  Probably not a repeat though.

My "help mate" all day.  He's a winner.  Even if he does improperly use the decorations. . . 

Journey to Montana

Ok, so these pictures may not seem like much to you, but to us, they're an answer to prayer.  You see, our truck was out of commission for this journey to Montana, a fact we had NOT counted on, and we ended up having to rent a van to take it's place.  Thankfully, God worked out the details, and we ended up having JUST ENOUGH SPACE to take all of my parents' belongings to with us. 

Here we are!  Day 1 of our 1,700+ mile one way journey!

SOOO delightful to stop along the way and visit with one of "my girls" from my RA days in Germany.   She is now a wife and mama of a beautiful baby girl!

Because we decided against visiting on our trip to Sturgis this summer, we stopped by Mount Rushmore on our way up to Montana.  My Texas boy freezing his hands and holding snow by the Texas flag.

And this is us and Mt. Rushmore.  Yup.  Came all this way, and this is all we saw.

So, we improvised and took pictures INSIDE the museum part.

There was a DENTON that worked there!  I wonder if he was related??

We had taken a picture at this same lake this summer, Lake Pactola.  This time it was QUITE A BIT CHILLIER!!  Even the lake thought so, as it was creating an eerie fog.

After a treacherous drive on icy roads the last day (see scenery post), we MADE IT!!  Supper with my parents the first night we got there.

And, just to finish the story, the day we arrived back in Texas, our truck was finally ready to be picked up.  What an adventure that turned out to be.

The proof--our mileage (minus a bit of driving locally in Glasgow) for the whole journey.

A Birthday Celebrated

Len celebrated his birthday while we were there, so I took him swimming. . .in freezing cold weather!

See the snow outside??

Thankfully this location was a natural hot spring and was delightfully warm.  Except for 1 pool that was purposefully cold.  The idea was to get out of the sauna or hot tub and go into this pool.  It was MUCH colder (I'm guessing in the 50-60's??) than the other pools (85 and 105 degrees respectively).  But my crazy man had to try it out.  This was his result. 

After a wonderful time swimming, which included a time when we had the pool to ourselves for about 45 minutes, we came back to a wonderful birthday supper with dear friends and family.

Sweet Visits

As always, the best part of visiting Montana--the dear people!!  These two littles were just that--little--the last time we saw them.  CUTIES!!!!

Some of our favorite people, Doilie and 'Vonne.  My other parents!

When you have a camera after church. . .

. . .and you just want to take pictures of the people you're with.  . .

Side note:  Rosie is proudly holding up. . .A BUG!!  A LIVE ONE!!  Which she very generously offered to me in my hand right before this picture was taken!  I'm VERY thankful this little one doesn't live in Texas as I would have TOTALLY freaked out if she had handed me a Texas sized bug!!

This picture represents what was SUPPOSED to be a visit with Len's high school friend in Denver.  But he had to cancel at the last minute.  So, we filled our time with other things.

A quick breakfast on our way through Lamar with my Aunt Etta and cousin, Rachel.

Interesting Animals

Saw some fun wildlife at various places along the way. . .even parking lots!

Oh, and a few crazy people, too, sometimes also categorized as wildlife.

This guy was a TOTAL poser. . .he stopped right in front of the car on the road, stood there knowing his picture was being taken, then hopped over the guard rail.

Ok, these guys weren't alive, but you could have almost fooled me!  An amazing chainsaw artist on the way to Mt. Rushmore

Len had taken a picture near one of these on the way up to Sturgis this summer, so he had to pose again.  This guy was decorated for Halloween.  See the costume?

Scenic Drive

Note:  These pictures all posted out of order.  Start from the bottom and go to the top.  Kind of.  Not sure what happened.

On the way home, we stopped at a small lake outside of Denver.  Nice to get out of the car!

And then there were mountains!

Amazing skies along the way both driving. . .

And where we were staying

A long-time childhood memory for me...this church, and the dear people in it.

They RARELY have frost like this in Texas!!!

Another childhood memory.

CHILLY driving the last day up there, and thankful to get there in 1 piece, even if it did take 2 hours longer.

THE FIRST SIGN WE SAW FOR GLASGOW!!!  WOO-HOO!!!  ALMOST THERE!!!

Approaching Fort Peck

Beautiful morning leaving Nebraska

There it is!  The place we've been waiting to see!!  Mount Rushmore!!  Oh, you can't see it??  Neither could we.  

Nor here.

The colors were cool though

Stopping by the lake we had seen earlier this summer.  It was a cool frosty morning!