Our 1st campout!

We took Cooper on his first camping trip up to Lake Sakakawea State park and had to stop by the Garrison Dam spillway to take a quick picture to see where all the trouble was coming from. This is the first time the spillway gates have been opened since the dam was built in 1954.

that is a lot of water rushing out


While daddy was still trying to ge a little bit of sleep, Cooper was up bright and early at 5:30. I guess he didn't want to miss out on anything while camping. Anyways we decided to get a few pictures. Here is a great one of the two of us in our PJ's just relaxing.

Cooper really likes the camera, so it is a little hard to get a picture of him, with out having him charge at the camera.

AAaahh, roughing it!

My First Hair Cut!

We decided that Cooper could use a haircut, towards the back it was about 3 inches but there wasn't much in the front. So maybe now it will grow out a little more even!
On the left is a before picture. Below is the start of the haircut.

Elaine Berger is the lucky one to give Cooper his first haircut. She has cut John's hair ever since he can remember and she also takes care of Grandma Alice. Let's hope she never retires otherwise we might have to make house calls!
Cooper did very well, he sat pretty still for Elaine and really enjoyed the feel of the apron and getting to see himself in the big mirror.

Almost done, just having it styled before we go.





Thanks again Elaine for the great haircut.

flood preparation

In an attempt to keep power on to flooding neighborhoods, MDU had the linemen build these elevated boxes. John said the box alone is about 500 lbs.

neighborhoods outside of the protective dikes had to sandbag around their own homes in an attempt to keep water out, so far most seem to be working but the river is still rising. The dam is letting out 150,000 gallons per second.

more flooding pic's for 2011

Usually these houses have quite a bit of private beach behind them. But the river is slowly moving closer and closer. The have ring dikes made of sand bags around both of the houses.

more sand bags

so much for the islands and sitting area. This is a parking lot connected to a boat ramp that is under a lot of water.

They built this boat dock up so that they might be able to salvage the river boat season, it has sense gone under water and the river boat has been dry docked.

nothing like river front property!!

Flooding 2011

Well thanks to all of the rain in Montana as well as the rain and snow that North Dakota has had this year, the Missouri River is flooding into the Garrison Dam at a record rate. The Missouri River is at flood stage at 16 feet, Bismarck and Mandan are preparing for the river to get up to as much as 24 feet. Previously the Army Corp of Engineers has released no more than 75,000 gallons per second, back in 1975 to prevent uncontrolled flooding. But as of right now they are releasing 102,000 gps and will increase the outlet all the way to 150,000 gps by the middle of June. The means that the rviver front areas in Bismarck and Mandan will be under water, as well as the southern portion of Bismarck due to the sandy soil will have overland flooding.

This is a picture of the spill way that has never been opened since the dam was constructed back in the 1950's. But this morning at 1am the gates were opened to allow the increased flow.

Here is a picture at the bottom of the tail race, showing just how much water was rushing out this weekend before the spillway gates were opened. (85,000 gps)

Here is a better picture of the tail race at the bottom of the Garrison Dam. One of the placks at the dam states that it is one of the largest earthen dams in the world.



Here is a picture at the top of the dam showing the water rushing out.

Usually the water flowing out of the dam is so much slower that it allows for some of the best fishing at the dam. There are usually boats all over the place.

Our visitors from Billings

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit over Memorial Day. Too bad it rained most of the time they were here. But we still had a good time. Here is the great rocking horse that grandpa made for me for my birthday. It was so big that they had to bring it over, mommy and daddy didn't have any room.

We take pretty good pictures together.



Here is a better one



Here I am attaching Grandma, we sure had a good time, can't wait to see you too again. love you.

Cooper's 1 year pictures

Oh boy!! Cooper turned 1 faster than John and I thought he would. While we were in Billings visiting everyone I was able to get his pictures taken by our favorite photographer, Kalin (Aunt Becky's cousin). If you are ever in Billings and would like to have the best pictures taken of your kids you should really think about contacting Kalin. You can see some more of her work on her link, I have it as one of the blogs that I view, along with Jarred and Beckys. Here are just a few of the pictures that were taken.