End of Year/New Year Recap

Well I thought better late than never... Since I haven't gotten around to sharing any photos from fall or winter yet, and it's already a couple months into the new year, I decided I might as well just do an end of year/new year recap and share them anyway.

Fall was magical here in Montana as always. It's a short and sweet season, but the crisp cool mountain air and the golden color of the larches on the mountainside is just amazing!!

It has always been my favorite season, so I tried to make the most of it!! We went for hikes and rode up into the mountains to take photos, as well as go fishing.

David's great aunt Emma from back east came to visit us this past fall and we had the most wonderful time!! She came to our wedding years ago, but this was the first time ever we've gotten to spend quality time together, visit and get to know each other better.

One thing I love about family or friends coming to visit is that it makes us get out and explore the natural beauty that is in the area. It's so easy when you live here to get kinda used to it and not get out and explore a much as we should.

Of course when people come from out of state you have to take them to the Kootenai Falls. The water was down a lot so the falls weren't as spectacular as usual, but we were able to get out on the rocks and walk around to explore where it's usually under water.

This is hands down one of my all time favorite views!! In fact you've probably seen it quite a few times ;). I believe I have a photo of it in every season expect for winter... which reminds me I need to snap one with a gorgeous snow scene.

One place that is absolutely magical is the Ross Creek Cedars. It gets enough rain and snow that it's actually considered rain forest. The creek is glacier melt off and so refreshing to take a drink on a summer day ;).

If you've seen the cedars in California, then I'm sure these wouldn't be that impressive haha. But for us up here in Montana it's super cool and some are quite impressively large.

We went fishing as often as weather would allow. David has quite the knack for catching fresh trout in the river. Even if it's cold out which is when they tend to be on the sluggish side and not want to use the energy to bite a hook. David won't quit until he's caught his limit ;) so there were several nights we hiked out in the dark. But our freezer is well stocked with fish and that's all that matters!

Snow came late for us this year. We've had a lot more rain than usual and really only had a couple really cold snaps. And to be honest we just had about one good beautiful snow.

We've still been doing some product photography along. David got this sweet little hatchet so we took it out in the woods to take some photos and test it out.

Like I said we really only had one good snow that lasted for several days. So when it was a beautiful day we went out for a little hike in the woods. (click arrow to view photos)

David and his friend Jeriah took along their hatchets to chop down trees and labored hard to make fire wood while I just stood around taking photos ;).

David is quite the fire master so he was able to build us a roaring fire in no time even out there in the snow. I took along some fresh venison meat that we roasted on the fire as we sat around the fire and sipped our coffee. It was magical being out there in the woods surrounded by nothing but silence and snow.

(click arrow to view photos)

It's hard to believe it's already the middle of February, it feels like this year is already flying by!

It's been a low key year for us so far, as usual for Montana in the winter. But things will start picking up and getting more exciting as the weather starts to warm up and spring gets here.

I recently took a weekend trip over to Seattle Washington with a girlfriend to attend a multiple day training. I'll be creating a blog post sharing photos and the places we went to, so be on the lookout for that!

And I still want to share our anniversary trip that we took in Whitefish Montana, even though that was all the way back in October.

I know I've said this before, but I'm gonna step up my game and start posting more on here. It's a new year with exciting things on the horizon and I look forward to sharing with everyone!!!