Howdy from Montana...

...and Happy Halloween from Cowboy Taylor and Cowboy Aric. We enjoyed our excuse to get dressed up and go visit our aunts, uncles, and grandparents around the dairy farm. Mom just wanted to send an update and post a picture of our costumes, but for some reason she can't post pictures right now, so that'll have to wait until next time. We also wanted to pass along the news that Dad successfully bagged an elk. He wasn't a big bull (just a "rag horn," or a 5 point-by-5 point), but he should give us excellent meat, which Mom is excited about. After a weekend off, Dad and Grandpa Lyn went back out and are hunting over in Eastern Montana for a number of days. I (Taylor) miss Daddy, but we're hoping he comes back with a big buck (his goal is to get a mule deer that's bigger than his elk! :-).
We will stay with Grammy and Grumpy until Sunday, when we'll make the big trek back to Oregon. Our time here is going fast, but we're having lots of fun. We have fed baby calves, played with Grammy's Kitty every day, gathered and pressed leaves, collected pine cones, sampled crab apples, carved a pumpkin, gone to Rainbows, learned how to play pool (thanks, Uncle Amos), visited all of our aunts and uncles (except Uncle Shane), had an early thanksgiving meal, gone on a carousel ride, played at great new parks with big slides...we've been having LOTS of fun. It's been really cold, but that means we've also been enjoying warm crackling fires. :-) We had a storm the other day and enjoyed a little bit of snow, but it wasn't enough to play in. We sure do appreciate the wintery weather here - it's cold, it storms, the bright sun comes out and makes for a strikingly beautiful blue and white world full of incredible mountains you can see forever. It's definitely different than foggy gray unending drizzle. :-) In one last piece of news, I (Taylor) am doing first grade math and enjoying it thoroughly. Mom and Dad are amazed that I understand the concept of "greater than" and "less than," and that I'm doing addition and subtraction up to 18 with the help of counting beans.
We hope we will get to do more fun things before we leave, like ride a horse and go fishing, but it might just be too cold. We'll let you know.