August in Montana

This summer turned out quite a bit different than we had anticipated. As we were on our way to Montana for our annual "Long" family reunion at the Boulder, we found out that Marc's dad had a heart attack and was in the hospital in Helena waiting to be scheduled for surgery in Missoula. Not at all something we wanted to hear. Never the less, we were glad we were already on our way to Montana so we could be with him.

We thank God for the great surgeon he had and that the surgery went very well. He gave us quite a scare... I think we are all keeping close tabs on him at this time... and with good reason!

About four days after Jesse had his surgery and we could see that he was on the road to recovery, we headed to Livingston. I just know Marc could hear the river calling him to come and fish! On our way to Livingston we were able to stop in Butte and visit with our nephew Ryan and his lovely wife Lisa. They have a new little one, so it was nice to be able to finally meet him (Sawyer). We sure were in hopes of seeing him awake, but I guess when you are only three months old, being social is not a priority!

Once Jesse was able to return home from the hospital, we went back to Helena to spend some time with him. While we were in Helena, Jesse made a "fly fishing date" for Marc with one of his friends. Marc had so much fun it was unbelievable... he will be talking about his experience for quite some time!

Here are a few pictures of the things we did in Livingston. The first one is of Nathan watching Brooke as she plays on the computer. Later Nat took over Uncle Marc's computer and did a little playing of his own. He downloaded an "all boys" game on Uncle Marc's computer...oh well, we will never tell, right!

Brianna took Nathan and Brooke for a ride after helping Grandma Stenie gather rocks. It appeared Brooke and Nate were enjoing the ride, and I think Brianna liked "being in control."

Brooke had a great time fishing with Grandpa Marc on the Yellowstone River... she even caught a couple of fish. I was mad at myself for not getting a picture of the fish. But her grandpa forgot to tell her how to reel in the fish, so she would start running backward with the fish on her line. It was quite fun to watch.

Here is a picture of Grandma Stenie and Brooke working hard collecting rocks to put under the deck.

Brooke helps Grandma Stenie pick peas in her garden.

We spent an afternoon at Bozeman Hot Springs. It was very fun and relaxing at the same time.

We took some other pictures of our trip but I think they were on Marc's computer, or at least I hope they are. Maybe once I find them I can post a few of them also.