Magpie Meadows

Jake has been dying to go for a hike up to Hanging Valley and I have been able to hold him off (due to the heat) until now. After Church today Jake said, "I made lunch for everyone so we can hurry and go for just a short hike, nothing serious, just some family time together". So we had lunch and then off we went. After driving for what seemed like FOREVER (it was beautiful though) we ended up in this cow pasture. Seriously....you have all of Montana to choose from and you choose a cow pasture to hike in??? Well....there is no reason to fight now.....I guess we will check it out. Jake said because of the mud the trailhead was about 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile up the road. So we all got out and tried not to complain toooo much!!!

Here's a pic of everyone getting ready to go on our hike through the cow pasture......
Isn't this fun (LOL)

After a while (when we got away from all the cows) Saige took the lead. I thought she looked soooo cute going up this big road all by herself.

This is a pic of the van from the trailhead....you can barely see it off in the distance (it's the white dot in the middle of the pic).....

Here is a pic of the van and the cows after I zoom all the way in.....

Saige and Aspynn were being soooo cute.....

Upward we go....

Aspynn telling a whale of a tale.....she loves to talk with her hands

The wildflowers were soooo pretty!!!

I LOVE this pic of Aspynn with the sun making her hair just GLOW!!! She is soooo cute

While on the hike Aspynn looked down and noticed a caterpillar crawling on her shirt. Now, a lot of girls this would have freaked out by my Aspynn LOVES bugs!!! She was soooo excited!!! She put that caterpillar in her hand and carried him along as her hiking buddy.

Aspynn's hiking buddy

I just wanted to show off my adorable little family.....

Jake took one of the kids, Burgee and I

On the way back Aspynn decided the caterpillar needed to stay with it's family so she decided to leave him on this flower. She was soooo soft and sweet to him. She really thought he would be happy on THIS flower.

There he is....Aspynn's hiking buddy waiting for another little hiker to come along and need a buddy for the hike.

Saige looking cute for the camera next to the trailhead sign

Aspynn looking cute for the camera next to the trailhead sign

I have to admit I didn't want to go on this hike, but we had a lot of fun and I got some great pictures!!! Thank goodness for my wonderful husband tagging me along to places I didn't know I wanted to go. Thanks Jake!!!