North Dakota, in between, and back again

We--meaning the kids (minus Katie and Laura) and I (plus Becca's friend Jenni) just got back from a whirlwind trip to ND--on the way we drove through the Black Hills of South Dakota...while we were there we toured the wind cave
The wind cave is a very sacred place to the Native Americans. The week previous they had had a ceremony at the entrance of the cave, these are prayer ribbons they left on the tree outside.
Jesse and Nicole in awe of the 'box work' :)
We then drove up to see Mt. Rushmore
Before we could get there we had to navigate our way through the maze of bikers--we didn't know our little trip coincided with the Sturgis Biker Rally!
More bikers...
As some of you may know, Rebecca and deer don't get along. While in SD she and this deer had a little spat but in the end they both worked it out...



After seeing Mt. Rushmore we headed for my good friend Terry's place for the night. When we got there we found her husband, Dave, practicing his roping skills...
When Dave was done roping he let the girls ride some horses...
Becca continues to develop her friendship with deer
The highlight of the trip was on Sunday Grandpa Frank ordained Ammon an ELDER! SO COOL
A family picture in the backyard

Mel on Big Billy---not sure why these pictures are out of order that I downloaded them?
Jenni and Becca pose by Grandpa's '36
...and '56
Everywhere we went Becca made new friends...
The driving part wasn't so fun!
Becca in Gpa's '36
On the way home the girls and I stopped at Bannack State Park in MT. It was an old mining town in the late 1800's but was abandoned when the gold ran out...its pretty cool. This picture is the grand staircase in the town's hotel
Mel in the barber's chair...
Becca checking out the bar in the saloon
Mel thinks she found the closet to Narnia...
Outside of the hotel
The gallows! GULP!
A view from the cemetery
The girls on a wagon...
I had to take a picture of this sign...made no sense to me!
Outside of the church...funny, it was right next to the saloon!
The jail house. It said they didn't use the jail much because most people were just hung at the gallows...

The school house--above the school was a masonic temple. It was pretty cool.



Becca stops to take a rest...
We also went to my brother's lake cabin for a few days...those pictures are on another camera so I'll add those later....fun, fun!