Complete Bliss

This years Mother/Daughter retreat was truly Blissful. So much in fact, we nicknamed it "Blissful Montana". Our friend Julie was such a gracious host. She was kind enough to open up her and her husbands new lake retreat for our group of 6 ladies. This year, we had a special visitor.......Julie's brand new little girl Sienna. I'm telling you, that was the best baby EVER.....never heard a peep out of her and she just slept away while we ladies toted her around here and there. What a little trooper............and ADORABLE too!

Julie provided not only amazing sleeping quarters, but she had an itinerary planned that was full of food, adventure and complete relaxation. Just awesome!

Our first day, we drove up to Holland Lake Lodge. This quaint little lodge is located off a dirt road that leads to nowhere. We had the restaurant all to ourselves, with gourmet food and a crackling fire in the fireplace. The grounds here are drop dead gorgeous......just breathtaking!


Our bellies full and quite content (especially sweet Sienna)









Although I missed Jim and the girls immensely, I found a new friend in no time!











Doesn't that backdrop look fake to you? I swear, completely unbelievable!








After lunch, we headed back to the quaint little town that is the home to Julies beautiful cabin. There we had fun shopping in the little shops/boutiques.

Julie has a way with a dead carcass! Davy......Davy Crockett: King of the wild frontier!!

My mom and I TRYING to look like we belong there. Think anyone noticed we were "foreigners"?

Later that evening, right before sunset.....Julies neighbors graciously treated us to a boat ride in the lake on their gorgeous Pontoon boat. It was truly surreal and we were mostly speechless at the views around us!

This is a shot of Julie's cabin. Such a gorgeous home on an amazing piece of property. Almost 270 degrees of amazing lake views.

My fabulous Sister-In-Law Lisa

My mom and I trying to look "not freezing".

Lisa, Leigh, Karen, Julie (and Sienna), me and my mom....all of us trying to look "not freezing". :-)

One things for sure..........we ladies know how to eat during these retreats!

Don't let the paper bowl fool you......this was gourmet red/yellow pepper soup that Julie made from scratch! It was AWESOME!

After dinner.....we stared in on "movie night". I'm telling you......we know how to eat! This was my favorite table in the house!! :-)

Sienna really taking it all in! Aaaahhh.....the newborn days!

That next morning, Julie arranged for a chef from a local resort to come to her house and give us a private cooking class. He taught us how to make different types of Hummus (never knew how easy that was) and Chocolate Mousse (something he's very famous for).

I payed all the ladies to say my hummus (chipotle) tasted better than Leigh's (smoked red pepper). It was really a toss up!

Lisa cracks me up in the picture..........girl was taking this class VERY serious!!

Leigh making sure my Mom doesn't let the chocolate boil!

Once again.........Sienna just taking it all in. Isn't this little girl just adorable?

Chef Matt, with his wild bunch students!

Julie even provided us all with cozy socks (all different colors/styles). What a hostess!

Julie had really mastered the "propping of the bottle".

After our cooking class.......we headed to a five star resort called Paws Up for some much needed spa treatments. Before getting doused in oil, we decided to have lunch in their spectacular "casual" restaurant. The atmosphere was designed to feel like you were in old time canvas tents. Granted, I don't think these were the same type canvas tents the pioneers had.

Full course dining with chandeliers over each table. SO COZY and way cool!

This was the entrance. Mind you, this is their "casual" dining room!

This picture cracks me up. Julie and I walked Sienna around, checking out the adjacent "saloon". What you DON'T see, is immediately after shooting this picture....Sienna let out the BIGGEST fart and Julie and I were hysterical with laughter.

This was in front of the fireplace in the formal dining room. I'm mad b/c I didn't take any pictures of the dining room itself, but as I'm sure you can imagine......it was unbelievable!

Outside the restaurant, they had a big fire pit and "gathering" tent. This place is not huge.......but boy does it look fun. We were there during their "off time" but I can't imagine what it's like in the summer! SO FUN!






The view from the gathering tent back onto the restaurants.

The spa at Paws Up is called "Spa Town" and it's a series of canvas tents........once again........not our pioneer type tents for sure!

Here's Sienna taking in some scenes in solitude.

This is the series of spa tents...........each individual has their own for whatever treatment they get.

In the dressing room tent, Lisa is tending to Sienna while Julie is getting nekid (hee hee).








Our mother's had their treatments first.........and as you can see, they were VERY refreshed. Karen looks downright comatose!

Lisa, Julie and I - getting ready to embark into heaven!

This is the "after" look. For whatever reason, Lisa's lady went a little overboard with the oil during her scalp portion of the massage. We were cracking up at our "soul glo" lady!

Our humble (yeah right) Montana retreat...........Julie, you've got quite the lake house. How do you ever leave it?

Out on the boat dock. You can see the first pit over my left shoulder. Such a fun place!

Our farewell breakfast - we enjoyed in the cabin's upstairs kitchen! That's right........there a full on kitchen on each floor!!!! And as you can see, the view.....is to die for! So incredible!

While waiting for our flights, we felt the need for one last moment of pampering! We ladies sure do know how to have a good time!!!

I can't wait to see what we crazy women come up with next year!!!