How the West Was!

As much as I dreaded moving to Tennessee back in 2007, leaving the life I thought was planned out for myself here in SC, let me just say that it was one of the BEST relocations for Jason and I due to all the lovely friends we made there!  In fact we still take that trip about twice a year to make sure to have time with all the wonderful folks we met and became best of friends with!  One couple in particular, we only were able to hang out with for about 6 months before they had to make a move themselves… to Arkansas.  Our husbands both work with the US Forest Service and to advance with that agency you pretty much have to make a couple of moves (thus why we moved to TN in the first place).  Well… a couple of scrapbooking crops with Carrie and cookouts between our two homes reinforced that we wouldn’t hear the last of Seth and Carrie when they told us they would be moving on.  In fact, after they had moved to Arkansas, and we had already made yet another move ourselves, back to SC, they visited us for a little vacay at Fripp Island.  You can read that story here.

Well, the reason behind this blog post today is this:

Yours truly FLEW on an airplane (lol)… to MONTANA!  (Yes, I was the dork on the plane who busted out a camera to snap pictures out the window.  You see, I just don’t fly much and what a breath-taking sight this was for me!!!) Seth, Carrie and their little family have since moved on from Arkansas to Montana now!  And this is the view from down in front of their home. Can we say, JEALOUS of this one!  This is the beautiful Kootenai River.

And this, my friends,…

is Carrie’s home-made HUCKLEberry pancakes!  Mmmm, my mouth just watered as I wrote that.  They were so delicious (as you can see) that I couldn’t take one more bite without taking a picture. HA!  Now, we are some blueberry pancake-aholics around these parts in SC, but my friends, huckleberry pancakes trumped blueberry ones by a LONG shot!  They are a little tart and sweet at the same time.  Carrie knew the day was about to get crazy so I think she sensed she needed to fill our bellies early on.

And here’s the precious reason why…

Meet little Griffin.  He is 14 days new here.  🙂  I was so privileged to be their official newborn photographer!  And I’m so honored that they thought to have me come out to share in this wonderful occasion!  Here are a few more frames captured of his sweetness!

Doesn’t Carrie look absolutely GAWgeous? 🙂

We also made some time for a few family shots down by the river 🙂

After the ‘technical’ photo shoot was over I decided to snap some random photos (well, I was actually doing that the whole time).  Here are a few of the nursery that Griffin and his big sister share.  Carrie has it decorated so nicely with a little pink for girl and a little blue for boy.

I particularly loved this wall as it housed one of the photos that I captured while we were all at Fripp when baby girl was 6 months old.  Aww. 🙂

I also got to do a bit of sight seeing while there and was fascinated by two things in particular:  One… the river ROCKS!  Aren’t they GORGE???  We pay BIG money in SC for bags full of these type of rocks.

And… the treeeeeeees!  If you didn’t know, I’m a tree girl.  LOVE trees and LOVE being in the woods.  Dendrology was my absolute favorite class in college, and while I learned about Western Red Cedars and Ponderosa Pines and Spruces and Larches, I’d never seen any in person… until now!  Here is the beautiful red bark of a Ponderosa Pine!

And… I also was able to see many of the native wildlife species!  Here is a picture of a herd of Big Horn Sheep; all ewes.  I also saw many white tail deer, a bald eagle, some mule deer, and even flushed up a grouse while on a walk!

And one evening before making a pit stop off at a local restaurant for some pizza and moose drool, we made our way higher in elevation to view Turner Mountain (and play in some snow!) which has some ski slopes owned by the US Forest Service. 🙂

I wish I could share so many more pictures; I eventually will. I just want Carrie and Seth to see them first 🙂  So, I would definitely add that if you ever get the chance to visit Montana, DO IT!  It’s amazingly beautiful!  Seth and Carrie, once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart!  Being able to make such wonderful memories myself while at the same time capturing some for you will always be a treasure in my book!