Happy 33rd Peter John

Peter John Howell was born on January 28th 1975 in Decorah, Iowa to John and Joellyn Howell. A very cute and happy baby, Peter grew up playing outside, being doted upon by adoring parents and family friends, playing with cousins, learning to fish, ride horses, and identify every plant and bird species known to man. Being sweet and friendly and somewhat shy- Peter enjoyed his solitude. He was known to come home from school and immediately take his backpack, BB gun, and fishing rod off into the woods alone, looking for his own private adventures, only to return when it was dark.

Peter still loves his solitude, fishing, guns, and adventure. His legs are still long (very long), his grin still as cute and sincere, and he has only grown better with age!

Peter and Matt Blank -very strange picture- Matt did a fabulous job of keeping Peter away from the house until party time and then delivering him promptly back at the house for the surprise!

Madeleine, Pete, Marni and Sally
A party isn't complete without pretty girls -- Levia and Leah

Kristen and Terry Jo -- 2 of the fabulous ladies heading to Vegas with Brooke in March

Sean Blaine and Lee Kinsey

After Peter and I spent a great day of skiing up Cottonwood Canyon in the Crazy Mountains with Matt, Jeannette and Levia, a generous and great group of friends surprised Peter at our house on Saturday night for his birthday. We had red velvet cake (Peter's signature b-day cake) and a plethora of soups and fixins. As usual the bar table was never empty and our great friends stayed late into the night (and for a few, the next day) - catching up, visiting, and sharing their latest tales of work and adventure.

Brooke burning her fingers and lighting the b-day cake with 33 plus 1 candles!

As we sang the classic "birthday song" to Peter we notice something LARGE and moving outside of our window. As our friends start cackling, we look closer and low and behold - our buddy Michael and 2 friends are on HORSES in the front yard. Now, we do live in Montana, but we still live smack dab in the middle of town. Seeing a horse on city streets - and staring in your windows - is pretty surprising!
Michael and the guys tied up their three 'modes of transportation' to our tree and came in for some b-day cake and soup. By the way, it's totally legal to ride your horses in town... if anyone wanted to know. I believe Michael and friends were heading downtown to The Murray after they left our house.

Michael and his horse in the front yard.
Tying up the horses before coming into the saloon.

Along with the addition of horses to the party mix, we noticed a much larger KID population at this party - and boy are they adorable! Our circles are growing with the next generation. Thre year old Libby came dressed for the party in her ballerina outfit and was a hit with telling her signature jokes. My favorite -

"Why did the Bee fall in love?"
"Because he found his HONEY."

Logan trotted all over the house chasing the dogs, and Camille and Sean O'Connor played hard and kept up with all the other kiddos.

Sunday we picked up after the party - always fun with no dishwasher... This year, along with beer bottles and whiskey glasses, the cleanup included My Little Ponies and real horse dung!

Speaking of Sunday- Loni, Marni, Chuck and Sean B stayed the night and we all enjoyed an extremely LAZY Saturday. Huge breakfast which included every pork product and carb known to man, followed by Sudoku, movies, and hot tubbing. It was a good thing we had a big day of skiing on Saturday b/c this Sunday did NOTHING to improve the waist line if you know what we're talking about... To add some excitement to the mix, our sewer backed up and we had the Roto Rooter dude come out for an emergency call and cut out years of tree root growth from our sewer system. The only exercise I got on that Sunday was bleaching the basement floors and cleaning up the mess. All in all - a great day.