Sammy & Mikey

Our Montana Love Story

“My first job was flipping burgers at sixteen on the dock at the marina,” he’d say, or, “that’s where I used to do mountain biking camp with my brothers during our summers”

Sammy wondered about this magical place filled with so many of Mikey’s memories. After six months of dating, she finally got to experience her first summer in Montana.

Montana is a place that feels like sleep away camp for grown-ups: days out on the boat, long hikes outdoors (it doesn’t get dark until 10:30pm?!), and dinner out with family/friends. Whitefish is the feeling of a full house and celebration. On their sixth year visiting Montana together, Mikey proposed on the top of Big Mountain and the second thing out of Sammy’s mouth (after yes) was “we are getting married in Montana right?!” Whitefish has become a special place for both of us and we can’t wait to share the magic with you.

Here are a few of Sammy and Mikey’s fondest Montana memories together:

1. When Mikey took Sammy mountain biking for the first time on Big Mountain, her fear of heights hit hard. At the trailhead she stared down at the winding switchbacks disappearing into the valley and burst into tears. Mikey stayed patient, promising she could take every turn as slowly as she needed. By the time they reached the bottom, she was sending it down steep drops like she’d been doing it all her life.

2. One Fourth of July, Sammy, Mikey, and a handful of family and friends overloaded the 20-yr-old wakeboard boat with enough camping supplies to last a week and cruised out to a quiet little island on the Hungry Horse reservoir. Your standard Suiter camping cuisine was prepared - ribeyes grilled on a tiny hibachi and fresh carbonara pasta on paper plates. Thankfully, no grizzly bears decided to make the swim to the island, much to Mikey’s oldest brother, Scott’s relief.

3. During the holidays one year, an “Arctic Bomb” hit Whitefish, leading to negative double-digit temperatures (it was -30 at night!) and intense snowfall for over a week. Bundled up like Shackleton’s Antarctic explorers, the Suiter clan and Sammy carved out a sled run through the drifts piling up around the house. Hours were spent perfecting the track and launching ourselves like rockets off of the end to see how far we could get. If you know Mikey, you know how precise he made the track.

4. This past summer, the Suiter boys set about planning their yearly camping trip. This year would be Skip, Mikey’s nephew’s, first time sleeping in a tent. Sammy, showing some serious grit, bravely agreed to be the only girl camper on the trip.

   As the night went on, Skip raced around with Sammy, stories were shared by the campfire, and everyone squeezed into one big twelve-person tent. It wasn’t the most comfortable night of sleep, but it felt cozy, full, and very much like home. What Sammy didn’t know, as she was falling asleep, covered in dust and mosquito bites, the next day, Mikey had a proposal planned that would bring their families even closer together.

We can’t wait to share it with you and make our own Montana memories!