Reminder Reminder Reminder Reminder

"Taste of Bigfork"

Sunday, May 1st, 2011
2 pm to 5 pm
Cost is $40 per person

Sample faboulous foods from fifteen local chefs tomorrow on Electric Ave, downtown Bigfork, Montana.

Participating restaurants include:

BruMar Estate, El Topo, the Garden Bar, Grateful Bread,

La Provence, Laughing Horse Lodge, Montana Bear Food,

Moroldo’s Fine Italian Restaurant, Pocketstone Cafe, The Raven,

Sake To Me Sushi, ShowThyme!, Swan Bar and Grill,
 Terra Steakhouse/Mountain Lake Lodge and When In Rome.

Enjoy the food, wine, beer pairings along with live music as you stroll around Bigfork tasting all the treats to your heart's desire.

Wine and beer provided by Intermountain Distributing Company and George’s Distributing.

This annual  spring event is a funrdraiser for Habitat for Humanity, the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork, and the Bigfork Area Chamber.

See you there!!!!!

History of Mother's Day

"Youth fades; love droops, the leaves of friendship fall;
A mother's secret hope outlives them all." -Oliver Wendell Holmes

My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." -George Washington

"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother." -Abraham Lincoln

Motherhood has always been celebrated through the ages of time. Even in prehistoric tribes the mother Goddess was worshiped as the creator of life. For example:

In ancient Egypt, Isis was the Queen of Heaven who ruled over all matters concerning mothering.

In ancient Greece, Rhea was revered as the mother goddess.

In ancient Rome, it was Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus and mother goddess Cybele.

During these ancient times “mothering festivals” were celebrated to honor the goddess in all women back. The festivals were held in the springtime to commemorate the rebirth of the land.

In the USA, Anna Jarvis campaigned for the establishment of an official Mother’s Day to commemorate her mother. “Miss Anna Jarvis was as good as her word. She devoted her entire life to the struggle to have Mother's Day declared a national holiday.

In the spring of 1908, Anna wrote to the Superintendent of Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where her mother had taught Sunday school classes for over 20 years. She requested that a Mother's Day service be held in honor of her mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis. The first official Mother's Day celebration was held at Andrew's Methodist Church on May 10, 1908, with 407 persons in attendance.

Anna Jarvis sent 500 white carnations to the church in Grafton. Anna Jarvis, chose the carnation because it was her mother’s favorite flower. One carnation was to be worn by each son and daughter and two by each mother in attendance.” The carnation is the traditional flower for Mother’s Day for that reason.

“Another service was held in Philadelphia later that afternoon where Anna resided with her brother. Anna had requested that the first official service be held in Grafton, where the Jarvis family had lived so much of their lives and where her mother had served for so long as a teacher and public servant."

Anna Jarvis was actually arrested at a Mother’s Day festival while trying to stop women from selling flowers. Jarvis said “I wanted it to be a day of sentiment not profit.”

Anna Jarvis’ efforts are the reason we have a formal Mother’s Day holiday today.

In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared that Mother’s Day a national holiday on the second Sunday in May.

Despite Jarvis's misgivings, Mother's Day has flourished in the United States. The second Sunday of May has become the most popular day of the year to dine out, and telephone lines record their highest traffic, as sons and daughters everywhere take advantage of this day to honor and to express appreciation of their mothers.

Mother's Day is dedicated to honoring the women who give so much to their families without asking for anything in return.

Perhaps every day should be Mother's Day?

Today most families are too busy with the “everyday” happenings to say thank you for every meal she makes especially my favorites, for all of my childhood memories, for reading me a bedtime story, for inspiring us, for mending a scraped knee, for caring about who my friends are, for knowing just the right thing to do when I am so very sick, for doing the laundry so that we have clean clothes, for driving us to soccer practice, for every good night kisses, for helping me to deal with life's stresses, and accept my defeats and successes.

The modern Mother's Day practice of families bringing flowers and gifts to their moms can be traced back to seventeenth century England. Flowers, cards and gifts are just the outward signs. Once every year on Mother’s Day, the world stops being so busy and says thank you to Mom’s.

What mothers love most is the fact that their families really do notice all that they do for them…….Happy Mother's Day!

Reminder - Mother's Day is Just Around the Corner - it's Sunday May 8th, 2011

Mom’s the World!!!!

 "Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous.   It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." -Elizabeth Stone

Remember to surprise your Mom on Mother's Day this year because  ... 

What mothers love most about Mother’s Day is that their families really do notice all that they do for them and for one day "Mom is Queen for a Day".

Let's all remember to tell Mom how much she means to us this Mother's Day!

Selecting the Wedding Ceremony Music

There are so many details for the perfect wedding. 

And one of the many details is selecting the wedding ceremony music.  Your music is vitally important as your music will set the mood for your guests and for your wedding ceremony. 

Your personal style of music should be incorporated into your wedding ceremony.

Where to begin??????

It is a good idea to breakdown your music needs into the stages of your wedding ceremony.

For example prelude music while guest are arriving, entrance music, Bride's entrance song, leaving music (Bride and Groom) , and interlude music while guests are exiting the ceremony venue.

Here are a few song ideas to consider for your wedding ceremony music. Always remember to make your music personal and set the mood whether it be romantic, religious, whimsical, light, high-energy, or music that goes hand-hand with the specific theme of your wedding.

Prelude Music: Choose music that will be appealing for your guests while they are being seated. This prelude music leads up to the processional.  Have up to 40 minutes of prelude music.

Prelude Song Ideas:
Air   George F. Handel
Air on a G. String   JS Bach
Angels Watching   O’Neill Brothers
Annie’s Song  John Denver

Arioso – JS Bach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwWXR9Ncp3Q&feature=related

Butterflyz   Alicia Keys
Can’t Help falling in Love   Elvis Presley
Falling in Love  O’Neill Brothers

Forrest Gump Main Theme – from the movie Forrest Gump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVO8keNJ_Q0

I do Cherish You   98 Degrees
Imagine   John Lennon
Somewhere Over the Rainbow   from the movie the Wizard of Oz
The Prayer   Andrea Bocelli

Processional Music: Processional music should be different from the prelude music so that it alerts the guests that the wedding is starting.  Note:  This processional music should be similar to the music used for the bride's entrance.

Processional Song Ideas:
After all is Said and Done  Beyonce and Marc Nelson (best man soundtrack)
And Then I Kissed Him (Instrumental)   Hans Zimmer (from the movie "Pearl Harbor")
Butterfly Kisses   Bob Carlisle
Canon in D   Pachelbel
Come Away With Me   Norah Jones
Evenstar   Howard Shore
Feels like home   Chantel Kreviazuk
From This Moment   Shania Twain &Bryan White
Groovy Kind of Love   Phil Collins
Here, There and Everywhere   Vadim Brodsky (Beatles)
I Dont Want to Miss a Thing   Aerosmith
Longer   Dan Fogelberg
Only Time    Enya
Song To The Siren     This Mortal Coil
Storybook Love (Theme from Princess Bride)    Mark Knofler

Trumpet Voluntary Clarke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lTTWraugCI

The Prayer Charlotte Church and Josh Groban
Valentine Martina Mcbride

Bride's Entrance Music:  The bride's entrance music should flow right from the processional music smoothly and with ease.

Song Ideas for Bride's Entrance:
Bridal March / Bridal Chorus   Wagner

Caribbean Blue Enya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl8iYAo90pE

Meditation from "Thais"   Jules Massenet

Oh Pretty Woman   Roy Orbison

Trumpet Voluntary Clarke

Wedding Song Kenny G
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Bk04qlsuY

Will the Circle Be Unbroken

Recessional Music:  When the Bride and Groom and all of the bridal party are leaving the ceremony venue. This music should be similar to the processional music but with lighter tone.

Recessional Song Ideas:
A Moment Like This   Kelly Clarkson
A Whole New World Aladdin    Soundtrack
Ain't that love    Ray Charles
All My Love     Led Zepplin
All You Need is Love Beatles
Allegro Maestoso     Mozart
Angel    Marty Friedman
Forever and For Always    Shania Twain
Love Song 311
'Til There Was You   Beatles
Wedding March   Mendelssohn
"Winter" from the Four Seasons   Antonio Vivaldi

Interlude Music:  When all of your guests are milling about, and leaving the seating area. Have up to 40 minutes of interlude music also.

Interlude Song Ideas:
A Moment Like This   Kelly Clarkson
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face  Roberta Flack
Forever and For Always Shania Twain
Grow Old Along With Me  Mary Chapin Carpenter
Here and Now Luther  Vandross
I Can Only Imagine   Mercy Me
I Cross My Heart  George Strait
In My Life   Beatles
It's Your Love   Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Love of My Life   Jim Brickman with Michael W. Smith
My Best Friend   Tim McGraw
Only Time   Enya
Ribbon In The Sky   Stevie Wonder
Truely, Madly, Deeply Savage Garden
When You Say Nothing At All.   Ronan Keating or Alison Krauss




It is a great idea for you is to sit down, play your wedding ceremony songs in order and really listen to the flow of the music. 

Does your music blend together nicely without any abrupt changes of mood?

Happy Easter - Terra Steakhouse - Annual Prime Rib Brunch

Happy Easter!


Join us for our annual Terra Steakhouse PRIME RIB EASTER Sunday Brunch this Sunday, April 24th, 2011

Carved to Order Prime Rib

Omelet station with omlets made just the way you like it

Eggs Benedict

Baked salmon,

pancakes, ham, sausage, biscuits and gravy, fresh fruit,

homefried potatoes,scrambled eggs with cheese, coffee, fruit juices, and chef's vegetable

Yummy Dessert Bar

and Mimosa's too

Sunday Prime Rib Easter Brunch
Served 8 am to 2 pm
Reservations call 406-837-3800

Adults $21.50        13 - 59 years
Seniors $17.50      60 and over
Children $13.00     5 - 12 years

Taste of Bigfork - Bigfork, Montana - Sunday May 1st - 2 pm

Nothing  reminds of us of Spring in Bigfork, Montana 
like the abundance of food, wine, music and over-fed happy people wandering around downtown Bigfork during the annual

"Taste of Bigfork"

Sunday, May 1st, 2011

  2 pm to 5 pm

Sample the best of the best as eighteen local chefs prepare faboulous food

at nine locations along
Electric Ave, downtown Bigfork, Montana.

Enjoy food, wine, beer pairings and live music
as you stroll Bigfork, tasting all the treats to your heart's content.

Cost is $40 per person
Tickets available from the Bigfork Chamber office
http://www.bigfork.org/

 Each year the many different Bigfork, Montana

restaurants, bars, and wine shops

put their award winning talents and dishes in front of the hungry locals

for an all day eating peruse through town.

 

The Taste of Bigfork is Bigfork's premier spring event!

Proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity,
Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork,

and Bigfork Area Chamber

Terra Steakhouse - Serves Blue Mesa Steaks

Terra Steakhouse

- Your Place For Steaks-

Terra Steakhouse - is proud to serve Blue Mesa Steaks from the Blue Mesa Ranch

• Exceptional Natural Beef – Blue Mesa Ranch Natural Angus Beef exceeds the USDA’S natural designation

• 100% all natural Angus Beef –known for it’s outstanding marbling, flavor, and tenderness

• No antibiotics or added hormones during final 120-days

• Routine testing of beef to confirm zero presence of antibiotics and added hormones

• Blue Mesa Ranch cattle have a 100% vegetarian, corn-fed diet

• Blue Mesa Ranch cattle are raised following the USDA Humane Handling Standards and Guidelines

• The Blue Mesa Ranch feed is tested regularly for the presence of pesticides to ensure a safe finished product

 

Terra Steakhouse - Steaks from the Broiler

All steaks served with fry bread, choice of baked potato, mashed potato or rice pilaf, and chef’s vegetable.

8 oz Tenderloin $29

6 oz Tenderloin $27

14 oz Ribeye $29

Flat Iron $20

Terra Steakhouse Spring Hours

Friday & Saturday Nights 

6 pm to 9 pm

We appricaite your reservations

by call us at 406-837-3800



Akokola Lake - North Fork Area of Glacier National Park - Bear Safety when Hiking

The North Fork of the Flathead River is the western boundary line of Glacier National Park. Akokola Lake is 62 miles northwest of Bigfork, Montana in this North Fork area of Glacier National Park.

This moderate level of difficulty hike is 11.6 miles round trip out and back and has an elevation gain of 800'. The hike takes you through areas of lodgepole pine forests, rolling ridges and of course to the beautiful Akokola Lake.

Please remember anytime you are hiking in Glacier National Park that you are hiking deep into Grizzly and Black bear country.  It is a must to know about bear safety when hiking in the wilderness.  Each hiker should carry bear spray and know how to use it.

Don’t Surprise Bears! Bears will usually move out of the way if they hear people approaching, so make noise. Most bells are not loud enough.

Calling out or clapping hands loudly at regular intervals is a better way to make your presence known. Hiking quietly endangers you, the bear, and other hikers.

Remember a bear’s hearing is not any better than your own. Some trail conditions make it hard for bears to see, hear, or smell approaching hikers.

Be particularly careful by streams, against the wind, or in dense vegetation. A blind corner or a rise in the trail also requires special attention.

Keep children close by. If possible, hike in groups and avoid hiking early in the morning, late in the day, or after dark. Do not hike alone.

Inform Yourself About Bears by asking the Glacier National Park staff to help you identify signs of bear activity such as tracks, torn-up logs, diggings, trampled vegetation, droppings, and overturned rocks.

Bears spend a lot of time eating, so avoid hiking in obvious feeding areas like berry patches, cow parsnip thickets, or fields of glacier lilies.

Please do not approach Bears! Never intentionally get close to a bear!  Bears are dangerous.  Individual bears have their own personal space requirements which vary depending on their mood. Each will react differently and their behavior can be unpredictable.

All bears are dangerous and should be respected.

Choosing your Wedding Cake

Since you were little you have always dreamed of having a beautiful romantic wedding….
Let us help make your dreams come true!
Like icing on the cake, Bigfork Mountain Lake Lodge is the final touch for a perfect wedding.





Choosing the Wedding Cake

Wedding cakes take center stage in the traditional cake cutting ceremony, symbolically this is the first task that bride and groom perform together as husband and wife. This tradition of cutting the cake is done by the bride with the "help" of the groom.  

Two local cake designers:

http://www.cakesbydebi.com/weddingcakes.htm
http://mikiesweddingcake.com/

Your cake should be worthy of all photographs that will be taken of it on your wedding day. The tradition of cutting the wedding cake is the highlight of any wedding party.

Your wedding cake is a delicious treat for guests and a wonderful remembrance of your special day.

The wedding cake should follow the theme of your wedding and complement your wedding colors.

Choosing the flavor and design for your wedding cake is as personal as all other aspects of your wedding day.

Your cake is work of art and a statement of who you are as a couple. Are you opposites like stripes and polka dots?

It's important to have a set budget or amount of money you are willing to spend on your wedding cake. It's vital to choose a budget first in order to set realistic goals and expectations of what to expect from your wedding cake.


Decide if you want your cake to be traditional white, decadent chocolate, or elegant, contemporary porcelain-like fondant.

Flowers and fruits add a modern touch to your wedding cake that is naturally beautiful to the eye.

Pay attention to the scenery that will surround the cake table.

Since your wedding cake can be a focal point for the photographer, friends and family you will want the whole area beautifully decorated.

Use photos and decorate the table with votive candles, precious photographs of you as a couple or as children, or classic old photographs of parents or grandparents on their wedding day.

Add flower petals and fun confetti to the tabletop.

Set up a variety of wedding cake tastings with various cake designers.

This will allow you to choose a designer that is best suited to your wedding cake needs.

Take into account how many guests you expect at the wedding reception.

Generally you will need one piece of cake or one cupcake per wedding guest, the number of guests you have will dictate how large your wedding cake will be.

Today’s wedding cake trends include oval, square, heart-shaped and circular shaped cakes. Remember to choose a shape that you enjoy and feel will incorporate well into your wedding reception.

If your wedding has a theme continue this theme throughout the wedding reception and incorporate this theme into your wedding cake.

If your wedding doesn't have a theme and you want to distance yourself from the traditional white wedding cake, then can be fun to create a dynamically themed wedding cake.

Do some research about wedding cakes before you shop.

Spend some time online looking at cake designs or visit local bakeries to get ideas of how you want your cake to look.


If you find a style of wedding cake that you like take pictures of the cake or printout a picture of it for reference.

Select the ingredients of your wedding cake. There are numerous combinations of icing and cake, including vegan and carrot cake. Go with what you like, it's your day.


Make the rounds of local bakeries and show them your wedding cake design.

Ask them if they can duplicate the design and approximate costs. Have these bakeries show you cakes that are similar to your designs and decide if they can create your masterpiece.


Pin down the delivery time. Find out from the bakeries how much lead time they need to guarantee your wedding cake will be ready for your wedding. Some bakeries may not deliver, if so, arrange for a someone to pick-up the cake or contact a delivery service.

Once you've determined how you'd like your cake to be decorated and how it will taste, there's just one last thing to pick: your cake topper.

There are many designs available even custom-made topper just for you and your spouse.

Decide what kind of topper you are looking for……Are you looking for something more humorous, light-hearted and satirical or something more serious, beautiful and artistic?

Talk it over with your fiancé. Decide together what kind of style you would like for your wedding cake topper.

Keeping in mind what you would like your wedding cake topper to represent and the theme of your wedding. Your topper should reflect it. You can even have a favorite object or hobby made into a topper.