Walk to the River With the Pfaffenbachs visit to La Grande over Thanksgiving to meet Gus and with Patrick's call schedule for work, we and my parents decided to spend Thanksgiving in Montana with Abbie, Patrick, Owen and Stella.  We weren't going to be seeing them at Christmas, so it worked out very well.  Lee originally was supposed to fly in on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we planned to return together the Monday after the holiday.  BUT due to the crazy circumstances that prompted us to drive to Idaho the weekend before Thanksgiving, we just kept driving and did a 2,700 mile road trip from Idaho to Oregon to Montana and then back to California.  It was a LOT of time in the car, thank goodness for my mom's Audible account.

Both Lee and I had to work a day or two while we were in Montana, but fortunately it didn't interfere too much with our play time.  We love spending time with Owen and now Stella and have really fallen in love with Missoula.  Abbie and Patrick live up a beautiful canyon and we love the space.  The week we were there it snowed and it was awfully cold (15 - 18 degree highs!), but it didn't stop us from getting in a few runs and taking Owen outside to play.

Thanksgiving Table with Owen's Turkeys While we were there, we discovered Owen's love for mixing colors.  We spent a fair amount of time making messes with water and food coloring.  Lee even made a "volcano" with Owen. He loved it.   I also brought a little craft project that I had hoped Owen would enjoy - it was sticker based and the end result were darling turkeys.  Owen amazed us with not only his interest level, but also his skill level and attention span.  He loved making the turkeys and did a fabulous job.  They ended up being terrific table decorations.  On Saturday, Lee and I took Owen to gymnastics, which he absolutely loves.  It was fun to see how much stronger and braver he has gotten since the last time I was there with him. 

Stella is getting bigger and bigger and her smile just melts your heart.  It as so fun for us to  be together.  I took loads of pictures, but I'm respecting Abbie and Patrick's request to not post any of them publicly.  If you would like to see pictures of these two darling kids, you can check them out in the gallery. 

Thanksgiving dinner felt small with just the few of us, we really missed Lani and company and our traditional turkey dinner with the Tanners.  But it was delicious and we were thankful for each other and the time we had to be together.