Lynne and I celebrated 62 years of marriage yesterday - 31 for her and 31 for me. She's been married a little longer since she said "I do" before I did. Our trip to Montana was sort of an anniversary trip. The 31st is a special one in the logs of anniversary celebrations. I looked it up and it seems the longer you are married the more expensive gift you are supposed to give your spouse. It goes like this:

Anniversary                     Traditional Gift               Modern (i.e., Retail Marketers') Gift
First year                            Paper                             Clock
Second                               Cotton                            China
Third                                  Leather                           Crystal
Fourth                                Fruit                                Appliances
Fifth                                   Wood                             Silverware
Sixth                                 Candy                              Major Appliances
Seventh                             Wool                                Furniture
Eighth                                Bronze                             HD television
Ninth                                 Pottery                             Plasma screen
Tenth                                 Tin                                   Diamonds
Fifteenth                            Crystal                             Diamonds
Twentieth                          China                                Diamonds
Twenty-fifth                       Silver                                Diamonds
Thirtieth                             Pearl                                 Diamonds
Thirty-first                         Silk                                   Diamonds  

I began to see a pattern developing so I stopped reading. I think if  I take Lynne to a baseball game it should fulfill the criteria.

Alex starts his classes at Ft. Lee today and completes his training in about seven weeks. April starts working at Cedarville on Friday and in two months needs to earn $25,000 to pay for her last year of grad school and her wedding. That's a lot of overtime.

Speaking of Montana, we spent five days at Burnt Fork Rance, the home of Randy and Kay Creech. It is a beautiful place in the Bitterroot Valley, south of Missoula. Here's a view of the sunset from our cabin:

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Lynne and I did a lot of hiking.

As you can see, it was gorgeous.

Southwest Ohio doesn't quite have the mountains of Southwest Montana.

We'll be at home for the next week and then we're off for a while. I'm working on some writing projects as well as preparing for next year. I'm also saving for next year's anniversary present.

Have a blessed week!