Casazza

July 2023	Back to Home Page

This was a beautiful month, filled with visits from friends and family and lots of adventures.

	Jeb & Amy's girls - Aubrey is the first maid of honor from the left, and Madison is the 3rd from the left. The mother of the bride is Amy's twin sister Amber.
Gussied up for a wedding next door at the Utter's,

What a beautiful setting for a wedding! That's the back of Colter's head in the lower right.
	On July 3rd, we were blessed with a visit from Josie & Sam. We started her visit with a float trip organized by Jeb. It was a beautiful day.


Here we are with our boats tied together so we can chat.	Looking back at where we put in, with Glacier Park just a short way off.


Beautiful scenery.	Baby ducklings with Momma Duck leading the way.


More of the scenery, the bluffs were very pretty.	Sam was really relaxing after their day of travel the day before.


Buddy the Wonder Dog, always ready for adventure!	We were floating with a group of Jeb's friends, one of whom owned this beautiful home right on the river, so a gourmet lunch was enjoyed on the deck of this lovely house. Jeb knows how to float!

Amy had to work that morning, but was able to join us at lunch to finish out the rest of the float.
	An eagle watches over us as we float past.


Is it just me, or is this the cutest dog ever? And that's a pretty studly man too!!	Josie took this picture of our little family on our float adventure.

	Next is a family gathering at Dan & Tracie's to celebrate Josie's arrival. Here Strite & Lane provide entertainment after the meal. This was Josie's first time to meet most of the family in person. For those who missed out, Josie is the eldest Casazza sibling. She is the boys' half-sister from a previous relationship before Dan & Rose met. She was adopted as an infant and we only got connected to her in late 2022. The boys are all thrilled to finally have a sister!
Also this one, of everyone having a laugh.


Caitlyn & Lucas watch the show with amusement.	July 4th was a big day spent at Luke & Kristi's place on the lake. Here is Josie with all the boys except Larry, where they show off their shirts she made for them. They were funny shirts!


Next is a gathering at the ranch, where the boys grew up.	Preparing for a group photo, Josie tries to get some height by standing on a chair.

The whole family!


	Mark, taking Josie for a ride on Gunner at the D-C Ranch.
Dan & Josie really connected during this visit, it was nice.


Some views of Lodge Bluff Homes. Eric's brainchild, now ready for occupancy!	Nighttime shot.

One more with the lights on inside.
	Now for something completely different...an accordion festival! I LOVED the logo, "Hail Squeezer." It was held at the beautiful Trego Pub.



It was brutally hot that day for Montana standards, our car said 100 degrees. But the crowds were out nonetheless.	One of the several great acts of the day.


Craft fair at the festival. You just can't beat the setting of the Trego Pub. It's gorgeous there.	Another band that went on later in the day.

The poor puppy is bored, so he decides to crush the stuffing of our recliner.
	Man, life is hard when you're a tan dog who doesn't get spoiled enough.

Next up, a baby shower for Katie, Larry & Mary Beth's youngest daughter.
	Her sister Becca ran the games and as a schoolteacher, she did a great job.


Madison, Amy, Hanna, and Eric. Eric was trying to talk Hanna out of some of her candy.	Mary Beth, Kristi, and Rebecca

	Kaitlyn, Tracie, Dan Sr., and Larry They were no doubt talking about Kaitlyn's upcoming wedding. That poor girl had to plan her wedding 3 times! She had a location change about 2 months before the wedding, then that area was closed due to forest fires in the week before her wedding, so it was relocated to her parent's house at the very last minute.
Uncle Timmy, always a hoot.


Next up is a visit from our dear friend Nigel. We started that visit with a concert at Abayance Bay.	It is an amazing concert venue, but the Marshall Tucker Band was NOT GOOD. We left after the 3rd song.

	The next day we headed out in the heat to do some Frisbee golf.
Instead of the concert, we took a walk around our property in the sunset. It was lovely.

	The boys, roasting in the lovely setting. For Montana, it was brutal heat, but nothing like we used to experience in Houston. This is how we know Nigel, he was Eric's boss at Phillips Petroleum (eventually ConocoPhillips) in Houston. We became close friends then but hadn't seen each other in 20 years until this visit. It was just like old times! Nigel finished out the game with an amazing back-handed hyzer for about 80 yards into the goal. It was epic!
We only just got started and already Nigel is throwing trick shots!

	The boys on a photo stop by Logan Creek.
Next up, Glacier Park. We did a red bus tour and got the WORST tour guide ever. Nigel was ready to grab the wheel at any moment, the guy could not drive. Nigel also had to remind him to put on his microphone at least 5 times. They should have paid Nigel to take that tour!

Nigel, soaking in the beautiful scenery.
	Heaven's Peak


The views on the Going to the Sun road.	Haystack creek / Haystack falls


Looking straight up out of the bus window. This is very steep terrain!	On a stop at Logan Pass, we spy a creature who gets fed too many of these potato chips. We did NOT give him any people food, someone else had done that!


Happy geo-heads, out in nature.	Beautiful views from Logan Pass.




	Beautiful cascades.
Back down in the valley, we get a cooling-off stop near Logan Creek.


Quick stop at McDonald Lodge and Lake McDonald


Now the tour is over and we're enjoying some time in Apgar Village, at the far end of Lake McDonald.	This was some impressive construction. This used to be a one-story building, but they've plopped two more stories on top of it this year. Our friend Kenna was on the construction crew for this. It is some impressive engineering!

Twin fawns seen at the D-C Ranch. So adorable!
	At the ranch so Nigel can meet Dan & Rose. I don't think they could understand him! (He is British.)

Nigel lives in Scotland now, and makes these beautiful displays out of old whiskey barrel staves. He crafted this one for us, and also provided some very lovely Scottish Whiskey for a tasting session. I pulled out the cheap "Black Velvet" that we had in the pantry - it made for a dramatic contrast! We got a lot of laughs out of that.
	A small herd of elk came through at the end of the lake while Nigel was here.

I think they heard us go outside to take these pictures and it made them run a little.
	Here they stop to mill about and see if the danger is past.

	After leaving us, Nigel went on to Alaska where he met up with the rest of our Houston posse. Here he is with Heather & PJ, dear friends who we also haven't seen in ages. What a crew!
There were several babies in the group, it was such a treat to see them so near our house!


Here we are on a walk. Eric has to stop often to eat the berries before the bears eat them all. He's got his shotgun handy in case we get competition for the berries.	These are the apples that get us such great trail cam photos. This is one apple tree that the bears can climb. We get fun shots of them doing it every year.

	Views of the lake on our walking path.
Here Eric puts up the trail cam so we can see what creatures are hanging out here.


I feel so fortunate to live here! (Especially in the summer, in the winter I'm a bit spotty on the whole gratitude thing.)


Some really fun baby quilts I made this month.


And some queen-sized quilts I made that I really liked.

These baby birds couldn't really fly yet, but they came out as far as our fence rail one day.
	They are so adorable!


"Where is Mom with our lunch?!"	Here she is!


Now one of them is happy, but the other says, "Mom, where's mine?!!!!"



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