Our little getaway

In September my parents took the kids for the day and Reed and I had some time to spend with just the two of us.  We went to the temple and when we got out it was the middle of the afternoon.  We decided to go visit Waterton.  We got there right before the ranger station place closed so we hurried and asked what was the best hike to go on.  The guys said to try Bertha lake.  I had been to Bertha falls before but I hadn't gone any further.  We weren't sure if we would have enough time to make it up and back before it started to get dark and cold but we decided to at least start the hike.  I'm glad we did - it was beautiful!

Climbing up the trail - you can see Waterton lake in the background

We made it to Bertha falls in record time so we decided to keep going:

The trail up to the falls is pretty easy.  After that though it becomes much steeper.  There were so many switch backs.  Luckily the scenery was amazing and the day was cool - perfect hiking conditions:

We booked it to the top - we were so impressed with ourselves.  Seriously - record time.  Here we caught our first glimpse of the lake:



Bertha Lake

We only spent a short time at the lake.  It was kind of chilly after you stopped moving.  Here is Reed on a bridge at the lake:

The scenery was breathtaking.  I have never been up in the mountains like that in the fall.  It was so neat to see the splashes of gold leaves mixed in with the darker evergreens.  We tried to take some pictures that captured the beautiful colors but they didn't do it justice:

My eyes are closed but you can see the colors in the background:

 

Then we headed home to meet up with everyone and hear about their day.  It was a great time!

Back to school

The kids started back to school really late this year - not until September 4th.  There were mixed reactions to going back to school.  Conner was not excited.  However, he has the same teacher that Alan had in first grade and Alan told all about how great this teacher is and so I think Conner was at least a little curious to go and see how he liked this teacher.

 Brooklyn always likes to get into the picture:

 

 Conner ready for first grade:

 

Alan had mixed feelings.  He was sad to see summer end but was happy to go back and see all of his friends.  Here is Alan ready for third grade:

 

My two big boys:

Pitcher Family Reunion

I am making a sincere effort to get caught up on my blog by the end of February.  So with that in mind this post won't be in any particular order. 
Last August the Pitchers all met at Flathead Lake for a little vacation.  We stayed in a house right by the water, which was great, and we rented a boat for most of the days.  We spent a lot of time skiing and wakeboarding. 

Reed and Steph.  Steph getting ready to wakeboard:

 

Steph wakeboarding:

Brittany wakeboarding:

 

Drew slaloming:

 

Reed (my brother) skiing:

 

I skied, wake boarded, and slalomed.  Here is me wakeboarding:

 

My cousin Janae let us borrow her ez ski so that the boys could try it out.  Conner loved it.  He kept asking us to go faster.  That went well until he crashed and then he wasn't very happy.  After a day he tried again though:



Alan was the first one to try it.  He enjoyed it until he leaned too far to one side and fell over.  After that he was very nervous on it:

 

Dad skiing:

On the last day we went for a hike.  It was rainy and cool:

 

Alan and Conner went ahead with the advance party.  The kindly wrote the word "lunch" out of sticks and pointed the way so that we could join them:

We stopped at the lake and ate lunch but we were all getting cold so we didn't stop for long.  We turned around and trooped back:

Reed has a banana suit made and appearance.  He actually went skiing in it:

The beach by the house was rocky but we still enjoyed it:

 

Drew and Alan on the tube

Micah, Carissa and Conner on the tube.  Micah held on with a death grip, despite the fact that we went pretty slow.  Conner maintained a bored pose:

 

Conner and Drew:

 

Brooklyn trying on shoes:

 

Brittany brought some water bottles for the kids to decorate:

Reed joined us half way through the week:

 

Brooklyn worked on her climbing skills on the play house in the backyard:

They had a couple of paddle boards that came with the house.  The boys really enjoyed paddling around the dock:

Looks like Brooklyn caught herself:

We love spending time together!:

A family shot: