No, I Didn't Fall Off the Face of the Earth

However, sometimes Montana does feel like it might not be on the same Earth as Ohio.

That being said, a fair amount has happened since my last post, including my family (minus Charles and Tonia) and Jon and Heather coming to see us! I will naturally let my pictures do most of the talking, since I'm a woman of few words. COUGH. Most of you will have seen a lot of these pictures on fb, but this way my friend Traci can see them. =)

Derrick came for a long weekend while my parents were here, which was so much fun. =) We hiked Glacier... in the smoke. The whole valley was covered in smoke for probably around a month. Ugh. It definitely blocked the views but it was still a good hike.

Enjoying an evening at home. =)

Right before my parents left the smoke lifted! This was when we drove up Blacktail Mountain close to Lakeside.

My dad took these last few beautiful pictures. The sunset was gorgeous!

The day after Jon and Heather got here we went mountain biking. =D It was so much fun! (at least some of us thought so) ;)

You could see the Glacier Mountain peaks from the top. Gah.

Next we went zip lining which was fabulous.

Our nerdy looking little group. =D And no, Heather and I were not intentionally matching. We're just a little too much alike.

That evening we went to an amazing little Italian restaurant. We decided to take pictures afterwards since we finally looked presentable after all our crazy activities.

I love this couple so much! Well, mostly just Heather, but you're pretty okay too Jon. haha ;)

After being inseparable for most of 23 years and moving waaay out here, it was high time for us to be together again. But it was far too short.

This is completely off topic, but I think spouses are like security blankets for adults.

Then we hiked a beautiful part of Glacier that we had never been too... it was a 14.7 mile hike on the Swiftcurrent Pass trail. The clear sky and changing leaves made it just look even better, which I didn't know was possible!

*Swoon* Could it get any more beautiful??

Heather and I obviously just feeling like all that and more.

Just one of the amazing views on the way up.

Here we were allllmost at the top. I want to go hike it again!

The view at the top. Heaven's Peak is almost at the center of the picture.

It was freezing up there! I was wishing I would've brought my parka. Not that I have one.

The amazing view on our way home!

Now moving on to normal life, sans family and friends... ='(

These strawberries just suddenly showed up in my flowerbeds! I think they're a little confused as to what season this is. I didn't even know I had a strawberry plant! There's still like 2 or 3 strawberries out there getting ripe. =) And these cupcakes... mmmm. Brown butter pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. It's quite a mouthful. Both the name and the cupcake. =D

My favorite birch tree. =) Almost all the leaves are off now and I just took these pictures a week ago! I took that first picture through my dirty-ish bedroom window and it's still beautiful. =]

I love these flowers, whatever they are. They were just green all summer long but now they're gorgeous. 

And here are the modest beginnings of the tv stand Daryl made. =)

The completed stand before he sanded/stained/finished it. He did so good! I'm uber impressed. Now he's gonna get sucked into making piles of furniture for me.

Here he's putting the first coat of stain on...

And this was after both coats of stain.

Now it's sitting comfortably in our house, looking fabulous. =) We had to re-arrange some of our furniture, and I'm enjoying the switch-up.

It seriously looks store-bought, but twice as sturdy. ;) He is quite talented.

The only bad thing is that it's now VERY noticeable that we need a loveseat or recliner. Don't worry, that little stand won't be sitting there too much longer. =)

Well, I think I pretty much have everyone caught up on the main things that have been happening here on the other side of the world. But now I feel like a worthless pile of poo since I've been sitting here so long working on this. Hooooww to people do this for a living. I look forward to hearing from you all! =)