Recent Happenings

We have been busy lately and are loving the nice spring weather!

Gavin was helping me water trees while I was weeding one afternoon.  He thought the hose was great fun and ended up getting soaked and cooling off while occasionally trying to drink from the hose.  It was priceless!

I made Creme Brulee for the family and they loved it!

Gavin enjoys going to story time at the library.  Bottle feeding the sheep was a hit.  Only to be topped off when the goats had an accident in the library (he thought that was so funny).

Gavin loves keys and bags that carry keys (sister's pink purse worked just fine for Gavin).

While running some errands Gavin and I stopped by Cafe Rio (gotta love the free kids nino).

One evening Brielle was covered in hives/welts so we slept her on our floor to monitor her.  I was admiring her long beautiful hair with it's natural highlights after a baking soda bath.

Mckay took the Drone to school to fly it for the 5th graders.  They thought it was so cool!

Springs here are beautiful!  I love the promise of a rainbow!

Payton has started his first real paying job!  He will be mowing the Great Falls office throughout the summer.  He enjoys thinking of things he wants to do with the money (problem is he tends to sped it quickly).  This will be a great learning tool for Payton!

Gavin was a little under the weather and was ready to go right back to sleep after attempting to eat some breakfast.

Gavin is so sweet to Lila, she in turn loves him right back.

Another day at the library, this time we were being pulled by a tractor and Gavin thought it was great!

Elementary Talent Show

School is wrapping up shortly!!  The kids had a talent show the last week of school.

Payton and some of his class singing a song at the talent show.

Can you tell they were thrilled!

Funny group of 5th grade boys.

McKenzie played "When the Saints Go Marching In" on the piano.

She did great and is so brave to do this in front of so many people.

Taylor is in the middle of the second row playing the bells with his 2nd grade class.

Brielle is in the front doing a dance with her kindergarten class.

Cute kids!

The talent show was entertaining, we had a good time!

Lila had Kittens

We have known for a while that Lila had kittens.  She was skinny all of a sudden and the kids were so excited.  We searched everywhere and the kittens were no where to be found.  A few days before school was out, Gavin and I were outside and we spotted the kittens under the porch (she must have felt that they were big enough to bring them back close to our house).  The kids were at school and I just knew that they would be thrilled with the latest news!

Gavin fell instantly in love with this little grey one and put his claim on it really quickly!

He called it Smokey, then we later changed it to Ash (can't wait to tell the kids our little secret).

I love this one (Shiloh).

A total of 4 kittens to love on.

We thought that we would get to play with them a lot this summer and planned on keeping one and giving away the rest.  Our plans soon changed when we returned home from a family trip and found 3 were long gone then shortly later the final kitten went missing.  What a bummer for the kids (they were pretty sad).  We are wondering if a coyote picked them off???  

It was fun while it lasted and the kids are hoping she will have kittens again.

Memorial Day 2017

We spent the first half of the long weekend at the cabin.  We were able to paint and install the flooring in two + bedrooms.  Slow progress but it is coming along slowly.  Then we headed home to do a few things at home (gradation parties, plant our garden, and things around the house).  We ended up getting a flat tire on the van Sunday night, so instead of getting all of these things done around the house as planned we were able to get a few things done and thankfully a tire store was open and had a spot for us on Memorial Day.  Most of the day was spent getting that done, however, we made time later that evening after dinner to hike to the top of Priest Butte as a family.  This was a first for Mckay but the kids and I had done it last year.

Mckay and the kids-happy hikers!

At the top the kids were stacking rocks.

Trying to get a family picture was difficult since no one else was with us (in fact poor Gavin is on my back in a backpack and you can't see him in this picture).

Same thing, Gavin is on my back!  It was a fun hike and the company was top notch!

What a fun view!  Mckay flew his drone around to capture a good picture.

Oliver and McKell's Montana Reception

The reception in Montana was beautiful!

The cousins were happy to be a part of the program.

They each have different personalities and it makes getting together so enjoyable!

They are also such good friends.

Gavin was also enjoying some time in the spotlight!

Well done kids...take a bow!

Arrow Of Light Ceremony -Payton

Payton earned his Arrow of Light some time ago and has been waiting for a ceremony to receive a few of his awards.  I am proud of his efforts and the good young man that he is.

Payton looking so sharp in his scout uniform.

Payton and Taylor with their Indian war paint.

Payton receiving his Arrow of Light with Grandma as the Cub Scout Master.

Way to go Payton.

Mother and Son (it was a bit of a team effort)!

He even got this fancy arrow and was pretty excited to receive this award in addition to his Scouting Adventure and Religious Knot.