2026, September 14-20

Mike and Eliza went down to California to celebrate Haydn's wedding, and Hallie babysat the cat and explored potential job options. 

Eliza went riding at Drue's, and Mike and Hallie got to watch. Eliza is practicing for an omoksee in October at the Big Sky Horse Park.

Afterwards, we went to SCHEELS. Mike saw a LEGO set he liked. Mike's kind of frustrated with LEGO lately. It's not the kind of hobby that works well if you don't have a lot of room. 

Starbucks has moved into its fall cycle. Hallie found this mug with a kitty hanging off it like one of her hippers. 

But she really loved this Peanuts Great Pumpkin-themed tumbler. Pumpkin-spiced latte, anyone? 

We had deer in the backyard again. 

Eliza was feeling a bit stressed out about school. As she and Mike walked over to an on-campus even, He reassured her that: 

UM had a farm-to-table event outside the Lodge. The vendors had all sorts of produce and other food items to sample along with music and activities. 

Fergus attracts cat-friendly commuters walking up to campus. We had to get a shot of him interacting with one of them. 

On Thursday, Mike and Eliza flew down to LA to help out at Mike's dad's and go to his nephew Haydn's wedding to his fiancée Abby. Eliza, being somewhat bored on the trip down, had to demonstrate her feats of strength. 

We left right before sunrise, and (having window seats) we got some dramatic views of Missoula and the Bitterroot at dawn. 

Arriving in LA didn't feel quite so dramatic, but we did see some notable sights to the south of us. 

Hallie rented us a class of car that included SUVs and minivans. Mike opted for the Montana SUV. Hallie wants this car! She told him to put it through its paces and give her a detailed report. 

Eliza prevailed upon Dad to take her back to the Muscle Beach area of Venice Beach.  

She had to test out to see whether she could still do amazing feats of gymnastics on the equipment. 

She'd fit right in at the beach. 

We got to Simi and had Tommy's burgers before going with Grandpa to pick Alie up from school. We then ran a few errands before settling in at home. 

The following day, Friday, was the anniversary of Granny O's passing. It's been an eventful, if challenging, year. Haydn and Abby getting married today felt somewhat bittersweet, but everyone took a little memento of Grandma to the event to add to the sense of her being there with us. 

Eliza decided comfort along with elegance would be her order of the day. 

Great daddy/daughter moment. Eliza is welcome to wait however long she wants for her own wedding. 

Cousins

Mother of the Groom and Groom

We got sat right in the front row. It was actually kind of funny because they reserved far more seats than our small numbers warranted. Maybe we were radioactive. 

Mike photobombed the girls' selfie. Welcome to the Nuthouse, Abby! 

Speaking of Abby, we did manage to sneak in one shot of the new Mrs. Owens. Mr. Owens turned right before Mike took the picture. Apparently it was a phone-free event in the sense that the photographer didn't want a bunch of pictures of the guests with their faces in their phones. Such is the world we live in. We look forward to seeing the official images. 

OK, just a few more snuck-in photos of the family guests. 

It helped things feel a bit less awkward for Alie to have Eliza as a partner in crime. These trips have been helpful for the girls to get to know their relatives a little better. 

Hallie had intended to go to Great Falls on Friday, but after her job interview, she saw that the trip would be too much in gas to do realistically. Bummer. Another opportunity is bound to come up. 

On Saturday, Drue persuaded her to come out and judge a cross country horse jumping competition. 

Later, Fergus trapped her while she colored. He has become quite the demanding old man. 

After running a few errands, Mike wanted to get out of the house and took the girls to the Skateboarding Hall of Fame and Museum. 

We also stopped into the Color Cafe to do some pottery painting. 

Look at this lovely artwork. Alie painted a moose to remember Grandma by. She then made the sudden connection to Grandma's animal and her Uncle Moose (Mike). Funny how that happens! Eliza painted a detailed sugar skull, and Mike painted a sun in splendor. We had an hour-or-so well spent. Alie will have to come back next week to pick up the finished result.  

Meanwhile, Fergus has resumed his campaign of terror on local invasive species. We're pretty sure this squirrel doesn't want to be "played" with. Good thing Ferg is up to date on his shots. 

This is his typical morning "I don't like the wet food you gave me. I want other/more wet food" face, coupled with incessant meowing. 

He tired himself going in and out of the house all Sunday morning. Time to trap Hallie again. 

For the numerically interested, today is a palindrome/ambigram (if you write dates in the US style)!  

 

2026, September 7-13

With the heavy rain over the weekend, we got some water in the basement. Fortunately, we didn't get too many things wet. We could consider it a benefit of renting that it's a problem we can call on the landlords to resolve, which they did, at least temporarily. We so do love living in an old house. 

Later in the day, Eliza took Mike over to the pedestrian bridge to show him a pigeon nest she found while diving off the bridge into the Clark Fork.  

We scared the mom off and saw her clutch of eggs. 

Hallie got her nails done in Griz colors. Check out the maroon grizzly bear paw! 

Eliza went riding at Drue's, and Mom and Dad got to watch. Meet Lux. We are hoping to lease for a bit.

Eliza caught her study buddy in repose. 

¡ǝɹǝɥʇ 'ollǝH

We haven't seen the local deer in several days, but they seem to have migrated back our way. Mike saw does and fawns in the morning on his walk to campus . . .

. . . and young bucks later in the day in our backyard (this after Mike spooked them into running there from the front yard). 

On Thursday and Friday, Mike had internship visits up in the northwestern part of Montana known as the upper Flathead due to the reservation, the river, and the lake endemic to the area. Along the way, he got to see the Mission Mountains, Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls, the entry to Glacier National Park, and other local communities and sights. Here are some views of the lake from the appropriately-named Lakeside Community Park. 

Looking east

Looking southeast

Looking northeast

Fergus has long been a fan of Eliza's rubber band hair ties. We did not realize he also likes Eliza's emery board. Time for a manicure there, boyo? 

The annual Montana Grizzlies Military Appreciation Game took place on Saturday. We forgot about the theme, but as Hallie and Mike walked back home from Starbucks, they saw a bunch of people gathering on the Oval. Within a few minutes, we heard then saw an army chopper preparing to land. We didn't realize it, but we ended up right under its flightpath as it landed. 

Eliza joined us a little later and asked questions of the crew. 

We even got to sit inside.

Eliza showed quite a bit of enthusiasm about the whole experience. 

We've continued documenting the bear paws we've seen while walking around campus. 

After the game, the deer ventured back out to graze across the street. 

We've ventured to a few local restaurants thanks to suggestions made by our real estate agent Stacy Rye. Earlier in the week we got an acai bowl and a smoothie from The Local Berry, and on Sunday we got beverages (and a compliment on Mike's new Bees ballcap) at Funk It Coffee and Thrift. Mike and Eliza also played chess. He won the first game rather quickly, but she came back to beat him in the second game. 

We also did a little shopping at the local Barnes and Noble and found some more hippers! 

Such an adorable collection! 

Katara continues teaching her mom and dad all about the world of being a newborn.  

Landon is no longer working at the sales job he had prior to going down to Cedar City last weekend. This may be a mixed bag, and we figure he will come up with another plan soon. 

Hallie ended her job on Friday at Missoula's Best. Eliza came with as Mike was out of town and Hallie wasn't sure leaving her at home for 6 hours alone was a great idea. Hopefully, something good will come next for Hallie too.