Guns and driving and knives, oh my!

This past weekend Eric and I went to Montana to visit my parents. My brother and his family were also able to come. It was a great trip and quite eventful. The weekend started off with a bang. My dad recently bought a pistol and created a target for shooting practice. So naturally that was the first thing we did on Saturday.

Dad showing us how it's done.

Mike trying to show us how it's done.

Eric trying his hand at hitting the targets.

Now it's the girls' turn to show the boys how it's done. Ignore the terrified look on Michelle's face.

My turn. I don't think Annie Oakley has anything to worry about.

When shooting guns turned boring, we broke out my dad's motorcycle.



Telling Eric he can't pop a wheelie.

Mom and Shelby enjoying the show.

Until Eric broke the motorcycle. Maybe if they look at it long enough they'll know how to fix it.

That's when someone got the bright idea that they should fix the mini van and let my 9 year old niece learn to drive.

Mike instructing Shelby on how to drive.

Driving around in Grandpa's pasture. Notice the look on my brother's face. I think that's how we all looked. My 9 year old niece can drive.

And she's good at it.

Grandma and Grandpa sitting back and watching their only grandchild drive off into the wild blue yonder. Side note: I would never have been allowed to drive at the age of 9.

That afternoon we went driving around looking for things that would look in pictures. Michelle recently bought a Canon Rebel (yes, that is a note of jealousy in my typing) and was wanting to test its powers of photography.

Northeastern Montana has gotten quite a bit of rain this month and it was so green! I don't know that I've ever seen it this green. This picture is in an area called Three Buttes. The Missouri River is somewhere down there.

A cool little butterfly I found on some flowers.

Now, I must warn you, the following pictures are gruesome. Eric and I were supposed to leave on Monday. We didn't leave until Tuesday. Why, you ask? Because Eric had a momentary lapse in judgement. On Sunday evening we were loading up the car with some furniture from my parent's old house. I was cleaning out a night stand that had shot gun shells and various other bullets as well as two very sharp knives. One was a fillet knife for fish. The other was one my dad used when he went hunting. It's Montana, these things are found in a night stand. I mentioned to Eric that I found some knives. He claims he didn't hear me, and his curiousity got the best of him.

The knife. If you look you can still see the blood on the blade.

The result of Eric's curiousity.

6 stiches later, it's almost as good as new. We decided to postpone our departure for a day since it turned out to be a late night on Sunday. It was a great trip and one we won't soon forget.