Hyalite Reservoir in Bozman

We went camping again! This time we went to Hyalite Reservoir right outside of Bozman. It was pouring down raining when we arrived, so again I have to say, we are loving the camping trailer!

The next day we were off taking hikes to the falls that were all around us. They were beautiful and very accessible. The first hike we went to the Palisade Falls. The hike was about a quarter of a mile and the kids had lots of fun exploring the area. The girls were so excited to discover some little caves there.

After lunch and a much needed nap, we went on our next hike to Grotto Falls. This hike was about a mile long and again had easy access. The kids were wanting to go swimming in the river, so we allowed them to put on their swim suits, just in case they were brave enough to get in the water at the falls. Surprisingly they both went in!! It was really funny cause they would just sit in the water shivering, but insisted they were not cold enough to get out!

Number Four!

Yes, it is official, we are pregnant with number four!! By my calculations our due date is March 20, 2010. We are no longer the Ferguson Five; now what will we call ourselves?! LOL!

Paul was so very sweet by coming home with a dozen roses! Thanks, Big Guy, I love you!

The girls were so very excited when we told them the news.

Tana who is our family joker, ran straight into my arms, hugged me very tightly, looked up at me and asked "Are joking mommy?" Then when I told her that I was telling the truth she said, "Good! I am so excited!"

After all of the hugs from both of the girls, Kailey asked for details of how I knew I was pregnant. Soon after our explanation, she excitedly told of one of our friends, "My mommy's pregnant! Cause there were two lines on the pregnancy test". LOL!

A visit from Grandparents

Paul's Grandpa Gannaway and his new wife, Helen, stopped by for short visit. We were all happy to see them.Thanks for stopping by!!

Camping in the Snowy Mountains

After the Thomas the Train event, we headed off camping for the weekend with the Fulton family. The Fulton' s had already had the perfect spot for all of us to enjoy camping in the snowy mountains.

We are loving our new camping trailer. It is so easy and fast to set up camp now; much more time to enjoy with our family in the outdoors!

We played some outdoor games, went on a few hikes and of course enjoyed a campfire at night!

Just a quick picture of one of the many games we played.
Tana and Braxton just hanging out together.West Fork Timber Creek is the trail we went on. It was very beautiful to see! All of the kids did a fantastic job on this hike considering it was over a three mile hike.
Thanks to some friends of ours, we were able to carry Chase on our back in the baby pack. He loved it!

Stopping for a picture: Chase, Paul, Jim (Breelyn on his back), Jasa, Braxton, Kailey, Tana, and Brooklyn in the stroller. Poor girl, she fractured her leg a few days before camping; hence the stroller.Kailey, Brookelyn and Tana

Chase saying "Cheese" for the camera.Not only was this over a three mile hike, but as you can see it was all up hill on the way there. Still worth it!

Chase is now down for the count! It really didn't take him long.

Can't forget to snap shot of our watch dog, Shadow. She is turning ten this year! Yes, she did survive the entire hike, too! Then slept the rest of the day!
Back at camp, this is what the kids were doing:

The result: (Thank goodness for the camping trailer and running water!)

Even Chase joined in with them!

Just around the campfire.
Jim and Jasa, awe, what a cute couple!The last day we went on another hike; this time it was just under a mile and a half.
All three of us girls made it to the top of the rock (as you see above) to pose for a picture!
Elisabeth and Jasa

Thomas the Train

The Billings Depot in Billings, Montana had Thomas the Train come and celebrate their 100th birthday! It was really awesome to see. Our family got to go on a train ride for the very first time! (Not exactly, Paul has been fortunate to have ridden in a train as a child) The girls were really excited and had lots of fun. Chase loved saying "Cho-cho!" It was a great family outing!

Fourth of July

Harvest Church puts on an annual fourth of July event called Celebrate Freedom. They have fun festivities for the whole family!!

Here is Paul kicking my booty at this game, however, in my defense, he took a lot of head shots!! LOL!

The kids are enjoying the water.
The Fulton Family met up with us. Jim took on Paul at the same kind of game as above, however, you could not take any head shot on this one. Thanks Jim for getting him back for me! Yup, Jim won. With that being said, I took on Jasa, and I was mistaken by saying I got my booty kick by Paul, cause I took a beaten from Jasa! Kinda glad to no pictures were taken of my pitiful game playing! LOL! Good game Jasa! As you see the storm cloud brewing in the above picture, it just down poured shortly afterwards. The rain blew away in time for all of us to see the beautiful display of fireworks!!

No pictures were taken cause our hands were literally full! Since the grass was still wet, Kailey crawled up in Paul's lap and Tana and Chase crawled up in my lap to watch the firework display. The girls stayed awake through it all. Chased tried very hard to, but could not make it and was out soon after the fireworks started.

Look No Training Wheels

Tana has finally gotten enough will to ride her bike without training wheels! Yeah!! After witnessing a friend (who is younger than her) ride his bike without training wheels, and after some encouragement, she finally agreed to taking them off. Way to go Tana!

Pool Time

We finally got our pool up!! The girls have been looking forward to this all summer!Brookelyn and Tana in front and Brayden, Breelyn and Kailey behind.
Kailey and Chase posing for the camera.
The water was really cold, but no one (who could talk) was willing to admit it! LOL! I remember being just like that; gotta love being a kid!

First Camping Trip of the Summer

Well, with the purchase of our new camping trailer, we had to take it out, right away!! LOL! We took it to Red Lodge, Montana for a weekend (close enough, just in case something happened on our first trip).

As we arrived there it was pouring down rain! Good thing for the camping trailer. Paul leveled it out and we were golden, in a matter of minutes! We were able to escape the rain and hang out with the family for the night!

We enjoyed playing catch, a camp fire, plus the kids had a nice trail to ride their bikes! Even Shadow got to enjoy this camping trip with us.

Here is when we took a long hike on one of the trails.


Time to take a break!
Chase loved picking up the stick and hitting the trees with it! What a boy!

Camping Trailer

Yes, we did! We finally got a camping trailer that accommodates our whole family!! We have been praying for this for years and have finally made that purchase. We love to camp and make several different camping trips every summer. And now, this will make it SO much easier! Here are some pictures of the outside, however, for what ever reason, I have not taken pictures of the inside, so keep posted for those.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you Fathers!! But mostly to my dear husband who really deserves this day. Paul, you are a wonderful Dad and mean so very much to each and every one of our children. They look up to you so much and miss you every day that you are at work! I appreciate all the things you do for me and this family. I love you, Big Guy!

On Father's Day, Paul got to celebrate it with his own dad, which has not happen in years!! Just the two of them went target shooting in the morning. Then later on that day, we went to Harvest Church for their annual Car Show and burn out.

Wild Bill's Museum

On our way home from the Yellowstone National Park we stopped at Wild Bill's Museum in Cody, Wyoming. There was so much to take in, that just the few hours that we were there, was not enough time to see everything.

As the boys were still looking at the gun section of the museum, which was a building full of them. We took a break outside.
Everyone had to take a picture on the saddle!!
This made me laugh so hard. As we were getting near done, there is this map exhibit on the ground. The girls started pretending they were flying all over the areas as they ran and crawled all around and guess who was following right behind them?! Yes, Chase! He was even making the sounds they were. A few family pictures!

Yellowstone National Park

The second weekend in June we took a trip to Yellowstone National Park (Yes, it has been a long while since my last update! LOL!). Paul's parents were driving up from Arizona to meet us there to camp for a few days before coming up here for their long awaited visit.

While driving into the park, we drove past three black bears, a big horned sheep and some younger ones, a lot of buffalo and many other fun animals. And where was my camera?! Packed!! The girls had a lot of fun following along on their checklist of animals that the ranger gave them upon arrival.

We camped in Yellowstone for a few nights with Paul's folks close to the Yellowstone Lake.

Smores for dessert every night!!! Yummy!!Even though it was very very cold at night, he slept very well! Do you see him snuggling with his little "teddy", I think that is so very cute! It has been replaced with a new "teddy" that Grammy and Grampy bought for him from the park! Thanks guys, he loves it!
Yes, they dressed warm for the cold night awaiting them!!

The first morning Paul's parents treated us to a boat tour of the park. The kids had a blast, however, it was a very foggy morning, therefore, I did not get any good pictures to share, besides this beautiful one of the foggy mountains.Another day we went to Old Faithful and stopped along the way at the hot springs along the lake.
Grammy and Grampy helping Chase along the walk.
This little chipmunk was very entertaining for all of us. It didn't seem to be bothered by all of us just watching him eat. The kids just loved seeing something so small and cute.
It was amazing to me how far down I could see.
The next day we went and visited the falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. All of us took the hike to the lower falls, not expecting it to be very long! Boy, were we wrong!! However, all of us survived! And it was worth it!!
Here is the view we saw! A lot for my eyes to take in!
The kids found a nice cubbie hole in a rock to crawl up into, as we were still taking in the view.
Just to the left of Paul's shoulder, where you see the Lower Water Fall is where we hiked down to, as shown in the pictures above.
Same water fall, different angle.

Paul who was born and raised in Arizona has never heard of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, so it was cool to go see. Plus, it was a tangible walk!!
We think this is a wolf! This was the only good picture I could get of him and this is with my zoom all the way out!The kids never got sick of pointing out the buffalo. It was neat to see so many.I zoomed out as much as I could!! This was a herd of elk we saw from the road.

I love seeing God's glory on this earth!

We also went to see the mud volcanoes, quite interesting. I did learn that the reason why there were so many dead trees around this area, was because of the very hot temperature the mud volcanoes are.
This was called Dragon's mouth in the mud volcanoes. You could hear the water splashing in the "mouth", as the steam rolled out.Through out the whole trip the girls worked very hard on their "homework" to earn their Junior Ranger patch. They even got to wear a "real" ranger hat!!