This Week's TOP TEN

10. Shopping sales-tax free!


9. Emma constantly calling Embrie her "my baby brudder".


8. Visiting and reconnecting with Dawn and Conrad in Kalispell and relaxing at their beautiful house they built.


7. Traveling to Missoula - visiting old friends at RMO and Mindy & Shane.


6. Floating the Jefferson river with cold beer and good friends.


5. All you can eat roast beef night.


4. Dan Stangby's macaroni salad.


3. Fitting 3 car seats into the back seat of a subaru. Then, listening to Emma and Hyat fight over whether the shade of Embrie's seat was up or down every time we got into the car.


2. Meeting the newest Reece addition, Embrie Jean and watching Hyat be a great big brother.


1. Spending an awesome vacation with our best friends wishing we were closer by. Even if it meant I had to fight Buck for Aaron's attention.

Short Update

We are still in Montana. This has been one of my best vacations because we haven't tried to cram a whole lot in a short amount of time. Emma and I drove back from Kalispell on Tuesday afternoon after spending time with our friends Dawn and Conrad. And then Aaron arrived in town on Wednesday. As you can imagine, Emma was super excited to see her daddy! But she wanted to know where he put the dog as she was expecting the dog, too. Yesterday, we were lucky enough for BJ and Dan to watch Emma and Hyat for the afternoon and night, so Aaron, Buck, Jeni, Embrie and I headed over to Twin Bridges, MT to fish the Jefferson River. It was a beautiful afternoon and although the fishing was not catching, it was a great day on the river. When we return next week, I will make sure to post more details about our entire trip with some pics.

Bloggin from the road

Emma and I have made it to Montana. We arrived in Bozeman late Thursday night...so late that I forgot Emma's brown blanket on top of the car at the airport...and it is still probably blowing across the Big Sky state. However, 3 days later, I think the brown blanket is a thing of the past and we can move on to a new blanket. Anyways, we were able to hang out with Jeni, Hyat, Embrie and Buck for two days and I'm convinced that a house with plural children is both a blessing and a complete circus/zoo...and as long as my child is one of the children, the circus/zoo is guaranteed. Emma and Hyat play together like typical toddlers - one minute loving each other, the next with tears. And it is great to meet Embrie - she hit the 4 week mark this weekend.

This morning Emma and I started our west-Montana road trip. I have learned that Emma won't pee in truck-stop bathrooms but will pee in state park pit-toilets. We are currently in Missoula visiting old stomping grounds and our friends Mindy and Shane. Mindy and Shane just moved to town about a month ago, so we showed them some secret (or not so secret) places and hiked one of my favorite easy hikes up the waterworks trail. Tomorrow afternoon we leave for Kalispell. Emma has been a trooper and really enjoys seeing and doing new things, including seeing modern freight trains...instead of ones made in the last century..or the one before that!

But what is it with my friends that don't drink coffee? How do you do it?

Off to Montana

I apologize for the lack of posts lately..not that anything hasn't been going on. Aaron has been incredibly busy with finishing up the season before classes start again and believe it or not, the busy season has started for me, too. But Emma and I are leaving for Montana tonight to spend a week visiting friends in Bozeman, Missoula and Kalispell. Aaron will join us next Wednesday. Emma's topic of conversation for the last couple of days is about flying in a plane in the sky, she I think she is ready to go, too! I will be sure to add posts after our return.

This Week's TOP TEN

10. Napping.

9. Spending a night fishing and camping with Aaron on the San Juan.

8. This conversation with Emma:
Emma: "Mama, go run?" (swinging her arms back and forth)
Erin : " No, Emma, I'm kinda tired. We'll run tomorrow."
Emma: " No Mama! Run!" (this came with the you-really-need-to-run look)

7. Jackson has finally been somewhat useful warding off the continuous skunk invasion.

6. We are still grateful for men's need to fish. Aaron is currently on a 10-day straight binge. July was a great month and August is shaping well, too. I don't know if he's as happy about as I am :)

5. Green chile season is beginning!

4. The return of cool nights.

3. Emma's new fascination with swim goggles.

2. Looking forward to our trip to Montana next week.

1. I asked Emma what Daddy does at work. She responded: "gaper fishing?"

The Fisherman's Wife

There's occupational hazards....and then there's "spouse" hazards. Spouse hazards are the things you have to put up with your spouse's job, etc. It just comes with the territory. And you know what comes with being the wife of a fishing guide - FISH STORIES. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard this exact exchange at dinner after one of Aaron's trips:

Erin: How was the day?

Aaron: OK. They lost sooo many fish. It was red hot fishing and what a bunch of gangling going on. If you would have been out there with, you would have slayed it.

Or the conversation goes like this:

Erin: How was the day?

Aaron: It was epic. My guys landed sooooo many 22 inch fish and we had to stop fishing because they were soooo tired. You and I should go down there soon.

So...when we get the chance, we go out and fish on the San Juan. But it's funny - because the red hot fishing ALWAYS turns off when I'm on the water. And then we have this exchange because we have plenty of time to talk..because there's no fish action:

Erin: I thought it was red hot fishing.....yesterday.

Aaron: It was. I don't know what happened.

But my luck finally turned around this weekend. Aaron is on the river for about 10 days in a row, so Emma and I met Aaron on Friday night to fish and to camp with him. We put the boat in and I immediately saw a fish actively rising on the bank. Aaron said we probably wouldn't have much luck fishing dry flies because the water just went up. But I really want to try for the riser. I threw 1 cast with a teeny, tiny dry fly and hooked him. The fish put up a good fight, jumped 3 or 4 times and it took me (Emma helped, too) about 10 minutes to boat the fish. I guess listening to all of those fish stories paid off!

Nice, fat 22" rainbow

Emma gangling (you should have seen the reel!)

Sunset family pic

Protective Eyewear

Maybe she's on to something?

A Day at the Farm - I mean...Fair

This morning, Emma and I went down to the County Fair with our Carozza friends. We wanted to check out all of farm animals that were being shown. As we were walking to the fairgrounds, I was thinking how funny it is that I have to take Emma somewhere to go see farm animals and how much the culture of our country and society has changed in a relatively small period of time. I mean, not 100 years ago or less, farming and ranching was the way of life for most Americans...but now there are more of us with less farms and ranches...where our food should come from. Today, Emma saw those animals as pets or entertainment...but awhile ago - I don't think she would have been as eager to go see the goats because she would have seen them as a chore! Anyways, regardless - it was a great morning spent with friends (Carozzas and animals included).

More Summertime Pics

No Top Ten this week - but here's a funny story

So I think I have mentioned it before, but Emma has a handful of books that we read over and over and over...In fact, if you want I can start reciting them for you.... "Brown, brown bear what do you see...I see a red bird looking at me"...okay just kidding - I won't do that to you. Anyways, one of the books is "Go Dogs. Go" and there's a line in the book that goes "Go Dogs, go. It's green ahead." This afternoon, we were sitting at the stoplight and as it turned green, Emma yelled from the backseat "GO MOM. GO. IT'S GREEN!" What would you do in this situation? Of course, my reaction was to immediately start laughing, then wonder "Did I hear that right?", and then because I still hadn't moved the car because I was in such disbelief, Emma yelled again!

The Train

We have finally done it - well at least half way. Aaron and I have lived in Durango 10 years and have never riden the majestic beauty that we've only seen slow and stop traffic in town and always felt obligated to wave to those poor people. So Jace and family were coming to town and they wanted to check out the train and it was a good chance for us to do it too! We took the bus up to Silverton, had a couple of hours to wander around and catch lunch and then we hopped on the train for the ride back down. Emma did really well (it helped that she fell asleep for about 2 hours of the ride) and she loved seeing the river. Aaron and I have been on sections of the train before...but this was the first time that we were able to see everything from Silverton to Durango. We even saw some wildlife - bear, osprey, deer, coyote...but Emma's favorite part was when the glider landed right as the train was passing by. Sorry - no pics - the battery died before the trip even started. But if you ever come to Durango to ride the train - the bus oneway and train one way is the best way to do it. Thanks Dan for hooking us up with tickets and getting us on your train!