Today was a gorgeous fall Montana day - 70 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze! We spent the afternoon at the fall festival put on by the Lighthouse Christian Home. Jeff is a board member for this neat facility with 12 or so adult residents with developmental disabilities. The residents are very active in the community and in their church, as well as maintaining many farm animals & a garden, participating in Special Olympics, and the list goes on. Jeff was out yesterday and this morning preparing the "cow chip bingo" game which included painting squares in the pasture (pick a square for $5 and if the cow "deposits" his chip in your square you split the profits of the game with Lighthouse). In the process, he also got to chase the cow which "escaped" from the designated pasture while he was working :)!!! He has really had his chance to bond with the animals around there . . . notice him holding the duck in the picture - what a good sport :)! The kids had a blast playing games, going for hay rides, climbing on hay bales, listening to great music, and watching all the interesting animals. Keith and Jacob and their buddy Garrett came up to proclaim loudly to a group of us adults that they watched a chicken lay an egg!!! They thought it was the coolest thing that they got to watch it occur!!! Kara was quite petrified by the "cow with horns", and Simon got "kissed" by his favorite animal, the horse. The fun they both had, though, outweighed the "terrors".

I wanted to journal about the wonderful family night we had . . . The boys quickly did their reading and cleaned their room after school and jumped on Dad's idea to make a plan for our evening. (see their lists above) Keith wanted to play video games, stay up til 11pm, send Mom and Dad to bed at 7:30pm, and watch tv. Jacob wanted to ride bikes with Dad to the neighborhood playground. (Mom secretly added ice cream to Jacob's list :) After dinner, Kara, Jacob, and Jeff rode bikes to the playground and Keith and I took turns pushing Simon's stroller. We had such a fun time playing tag and sliding. Each "big" Ortling LOVED taking turns sliding down the curvy slide with Simon. He loved it too and would sign "more" after each slide down. (he's been doing lots of signing lately and MUCH mimicing - I was wiping down a very dirty fingerprinted wall this morning and looked over to see Simon wiping the wall with his hands :). I'm charging the camera tonight for our big Harvest Festival tomorrow - I was bummed it wasn't ready for the trip to the playground! We ventured back home and enjoyed ice cream and video game time. Everybody's sleeping soundly and hopefully all night (Mom and Dad must have been too much fun to send to bed early :)- hopefully we'll continue to be allowed to stay up late :). I love my family and am so grateful God placed us all together :)!

Jeff's Mom and Gram are visiting from Florida this week. We've had fun - journeying to camp, Glacier, and now, around home and town. We were so grateful that the weather was nice for our outdoor activities. We explored a new spot right outside Glacier. The route to Polebridge was a 15mi stretch of gravel rode to arrive at an eccentric little town with the most amazing bakery. Jeff and I are hoping to return one day for dinner at their restaurant (just not for our December anniversary - miles of gravel in snow and ice might not be too safe :). Sunday started a cold and rainy week. Kara put on a fashion show for the grandmas while the boys were at school. All the Ortlings enjoyed some time outside on their bikes with some gorgeous clouds in the sunset tonight.

More pictures of the family fun!

Back from Mississippi. We had a wonderful time with that side of the family! I had to put on almost all of the sweet Simon cuddles with Paw Paw - he started saying "pa - pa" while we were there!! The kids just loved playing with Forrest and Dakota. Kara adored the attention she got from Forrest - it was really cute! He made multiple paper airplanes with the Ortlings. The moment he finished folding they would all run outside and see how they flew. Dakota and Simon were a little young to play together, but they played much side by side. They even loved on each other a few times :)! I think both of their favorite things about Gran's hideout under the stairs was pulling the string that turned the light on and off ;)! Em's older brother was able to get back late Friday night, rest Saturday, and come hang out all day Sunday!! We had a big birthday feast for him that day. We're grateful that all Scott's tests came back okay. He's going to try to start eating better for cholesterol reasons and add a bit of aerobic exercise to his LARGE workout routine. Jeff's mom and grandmother arrive tomorrow to visit for a few days. We hope to have some special time with them in the midst of school and the growing lists of meetings and activities :)!

We arrived in Mississippi late Tuesday night to spend time with Em's family. Her dad is going through chemo and radiation right now and all the family is here having some much needed together time!! Em is enjoying doing practical stuff to help around the house, take her dad to the doctor, etc. Jeff and the kids have been BIG helpers, too! They are building a patio out of bricks for PawPaw! The kids have LOVED being in the presence of Uncle Scott and Gran and PawPaw. Uncle David, Aunt Stacey, Forrest, and Dakota arrive today, and we're all thrilled to see them, too (we've never met little Dakota)! ALREADY many pictures have been taken of the fun, so trying to narrow it down today is difficult :)! Em's big brother, Scott, checked himself into the hospital with chest pains last night in Nashville (4 hours away - where he had just delivered his trailers on his UPS truck) . The doctors kept him overnight and are wanting to keep him tonight, too. He is quite frustrated and wants to get back to family time!! We're all praying the tests all come back good and that he might be released this afternoon!!

Catching you up a bit with some pictures of Simon's birthday (7-28)! He loved his cards most. He would hold them and "talk" really loud like he was reading them :)!

This week, he started walking across entire rooms!! He got a bit too accustomed to the dining hall at camp. When I enter the kitchen (at ANY hour), he expects food immediately, and crawls or walks in from wherever he's been! One little growing guy :)!