Back in Montana. . .

After a few days in North Dakota, we are back in Montana this evening - in Billings. We drove a little longer tonight so we could spend the whole day tomorrow in the "big city". There are a couple quilt shops I want to visit tomorrow and Bob wants to visit the Billings Builders Exchange - a similar business to his.

We had a great time in Kulm, North Dakota. Kulm may have 300 people if they call in the neighbors. It is beautiful farm country. I was not expecting it to be so green everywhere this time of year. It was a reunion for cousins and there were lots of them there and they came from Ohio, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Florida, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, and Minnesota. It was fun to meet everyone and hear all of the stories about what a stinker my Bob was when he was a little guy. That is hard to believe!

We went out to the farm where Bob's grandparents homesteaded (they came over from Sweden). He remembered lots of good times from his childhood. The farm is no longer in the family and the original house burned many years ago, but these buildings were there when Bob would visit as a child.

Here is a cute picture of Bob with some of his cousins while visiting the farm. As you can see he is doing very well with his new hip - it has been a month since the surgery. You can also see his two new knees from the bilateral knee replacement from a little over a year ago.

This is the wedding dress of Bob's grandmother, Tilda Malm Ogren. She was 19 when she got married in 1899 and her husband, John Ogren, was 33. She then went on to have 15 children with 12 of them living to adulthood. Three children died either at child birth or shortly after with one of those being a twin. She was pregnant 14 times in 17 years with her last child born when she was 36. They told the story that had been passed down through the years about how wonderful her husband (their grandfather) was to her. He would bring her coffee in bed every morning. Hmmm - I think I would have given up coffee. The wedding dress was handmade by her mother with every detail beautifully done and it was very tiny.

We will get home tomorrow evening and I will share some pictures from shopping!