Where's Waldo on Last Chance Gulch?

The Youth had a "Where's Waldo?" Activity tonight at the Walking Mall on Last Chance Gulch. They had to find people that had a "message" for them. The characters would share something they felt was a standard for the youth and then give them a slip of paper with part of a scripture on it. It was funny because some people they asked weren't part of the game. {Like these cute two older ladies that had a long discussion with the girls about being honest. LOL} Once they found all the slips of appear, they had to put it in the correct order and meet back at the Trolley.

I got to participate because they need extra adults. I wasn't in Liberty's group but it was fun to see all the youth out there. I actually was the leader for a group of girls that will be in our new Ward. ;) When everyone was done, we ate ice cream sandwiches at the Trolley. Fun night!

These Good Many Blessings...

PRAYER is a big part of our family. It always has been. Hopefully, it always will be. 

This past year Brett asked our family to get a little more specific in our family prayers. He asked us to pray for something we don't usually pray for. It has made for some interesting "Thank thee for..." phrases. ;) We've been thankful for things such as all kinds of body parts, food items- sugar mostly, air to breathe, dishwashers, technology, clothing "so we don't have to be naked" LOL, etc. God has given us everything and there is an endless of things to be grateful for. It's fun to see our family show gratitude for new things all the time. I hope we never take for granted all that we are blessed with. 

Someone on my google search made these cute posters. I love them!

I always want to remember the cute things my kids say. Not sure how he came up with this line or when he started it but Justice uses the phrase "Thank Thee for these good many blessings". It makes me giggle a bit because it is usually one of the first things he says in his prayers before he even mentions any of his blessings. I think I love it because it shows that Justice already knows that God knows what He has given us. I sure love my kids and the chance I have to raise them in the truths of the Gospel.

Arrow of Light

Tonight was Justice's last Cub Scout Pack Meeting and his Arrow of Light Ceremony. Sister Guymon always does a great job. We will miss her fun spirit.
The Scouts got a treat for Uniform Checks. Look at these snazzy boys! [Only because Mom doesn't let him out of the house in his hole-y orange striped pants. LOL]

Tonight was a Talent theme. They had to find people in attendance with special talents, learn about famous people & how they persevered to become successful and share a talent of their own. Justice got to play a song on his trumpet. Awesome job!

After the other boys awards, they did Justice's Arrow of Light Ceremony. Mom got to paint Justice's face while Sister Guymon shared what the Arrow of Light means. Then Justice and Mom got to "pin" each other with the Arrow of Light awards. Next, Justice was presented with his Arrow of Light. He was way excited! 

With our move across the country, we got a little side-tracked with the Scouting Program and didn't think we would be able to have him earn it. I was surprised when he was really bummed about it. So, we took another look and made a plan. He worked really hard to get everything all done. He even got the Leave No Trace Award and the Compass Emblem patch. We are very proud of him! Way to go, Justice!

I love that our kids always want to do a "funny" picture. Laughter makes the world go 'round!

Finally it was time to cross over the bridge from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. We said "goodbye" to the Cubs.

Justice cautiously crossed over. [He's a ham and acted like it was a difficult task. Funny boy!] Guess you can never be too careful of the raging waters below. 

And finally he made it to his new leader. Brother Stovall welcomed him to the Boy Scouts. He presented him with his new Scout book and his handkerchief for his troop. They meet twice a month and Brother Stovall is totally the "outdoorsy, shoot bow and arrows" kind of guy so Justice is pretty pumped!

So proud of you Justice for working hard!!! You are awesome!

Goodbye Cub Scouts!

Here we come Boy Scouts!

Afterwards, we cleaned up and they got to play Dodge Ball. They LOVED it!

A fish THIS Big

Justice and Brett took out their new fishing poles this morning. It was pretty chilly but they had a good time. They didn't get too many bites BUT they did bring home this whopper of a rainbow fish!!!! [it lost a lot of it's color before I got a picture of it]
Funny thing is.. .they caught it NOT with their new fancy poles but with our little old Spiderman pole. Go figure! But a fish is a fish. They were two happy fishermen!!!

We have NEVER caught a fish this big before!!! North Dakota fish are quite (a LOT) a bit smaller. I know this is way gross but it was crazy how many eggs were inside this thing.

Justice Bday

Justice had a busy, fun birthday!

We started out with a requested breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon. And of course opening a present or two.

For lunch, Mom brought Subway sandwiches and joined him at school.

His class sang to him and he gave out mini-Hershey bars for a treat. Then for a extra special bonus- Mom took him home for the day! Lucky boy!

After everyone got home, it was present time!!!! He was a satisfied boy with money [he is saving for an iPad mini], a Pokemon DVD and a 7 foot fishing pole with some lures. (Is that what they are called?)

His Birthday dinner was ribs, real potatoes, steamed & buttered broccoli and deviled eggs! Yum!

For dessert he asked for what our family calls Brookies. It's brownies and cookies together. I made them into cupcakes (with football wrappers) this time instead of bars. I set them up in a football shape. Oh yah... I am fancy when it comes to cakes! LOL

Happy Birthday Buddy! we sure love you! XOXO

When I was Ten...

Memories when Justice was TEN-
* Loves Football
* Loves Riding his bike especially to Sandy's Donuts
* Favorite colors are red, white and blue. He is his Father's son!
* Enjoys Scouts
* Best Friend- Joshua Stephens
* Loves celebrating Kid Day or anything where he gets money! ;)
* Tubing at the Cooks Cabin
* Student of the Month both school years
* Moved to Montana
* Loves Science Experiments- Egg stand, Bending Water, rock identifying and growing ChiaPets
* Learned to Ski
* Played Basketball- Dad was coach
* Dressing up in Mom's boobs especially to earn money for our new trampoline
* Learned to play the trumpet
* Loves to be reckless and crazy- typical boy!
* Loves to snuggle and get back tickles
* Quite the actor- Dad has had him do several spoof videos. Our favorite is Special Agent Ewing from Pysch
* Lost molars
* Loves to pretend Pokemon and Ninjas with Sisters
* Very servicable
* Went shooting with visiting Family
* Went on a boat ride to see the Gates of the Mountains
* Learned to do Chariot Races in Scouts
* Started baby-sitting younger sisters on occasion
* Won a trophy at the Pinewood Derby

Justice-
You are one neat kid! We are so proud of how smart you are! You are good-natured and want to make life fun! You take care of your family and always try to do what's right. You are more and more like your dad all the time. You look for opportunities to serve others. You are a deep thinker and have some pretty amazing ideas. We are really grateful that you are in our family. Luv ya, Buddy!   XOXO

Ironic Spelling Test

All of my kids are pretty awesome SPELLers!
I actually am embarrassed to admit that I am pretty much a slacker mother when it comes to having them practice for their spelling tests. But somehow they always get them right anyways. What can I say... they are just naturally brilliant! LOL
We ALSO love to find the HUMOR in life. This one was just too hilarious to not share.

This grade on Victoria's Spelling test is a common sight. She got 100% and all of the bonus words correct! Way to go, Sis!
....Now, I just have to teach her how to spell her name! LOL

We seriously still laugh over this IRONIC Spelling Test! So cute!

Egg Fights 2014

One of our favorite Easter Traditions is our annual Egg Fights. It is so funny!

Here's a few closeups of my favorite reactions to the Egg Fight Extravaganza. Some are blurry cuz it's hard to capture funny moments.:

Ok. This one is too funny to not include. This is her SAD face!

Brett's Easter Egg Hunt

Brett always does an Egg Hunt for the kids on Sunday after Church. The night before he hides eggs and treats ALL over the family room. Then he makes the kid pretend NOT to see them until the Hunt begins. Everyone finds things quickly and puts them in a big bowl that we share until it's gone (or we throw up- LOL). He is ONE fun Dad!

Dyeing our Fingers

I could just post this picture and it would probably be a pretty accurate description of this afternoon events.

BUT....
Then what would I do with the other 37 pictures I took. LOL
So here's all the colorful details-

Somehow we miscommunicated and Brett made up ALL the dyes packets we had. He claims that he asked me and I said, "What else are we going to do with them?" Okie Dokie then. There was definitely LOTS of choices at our table this year. LOL

We had a great time decorating our eggs. Don't ask me how we are going to eat with all of them BUT letting everyone have several to decorate is more important! ;)

Here's all our EGG-rific creations:

{Explanation on the pic of Liberty in the collage- and she will deny it ALL if you ask her. LOL Lately she is a little drama queen. So when she starts acting like that I get my camera and start taking pictures of her fits. It's pretty funny! One of her other fits is documented on the collage at our Easter Hunt}

1st Montana Annual Easter Hunt

Due to sickness last year, we were unable to do our annual Easter Hunt. Then, this year being in a tiny apartment, we thought we would have to skip one more year. {Insert sad face here.} BUT- Brett decided that we would do one no matter what. And better yet, we decided to throw our Easter shin-dig out at our new place. Wahoo!

Liberty and I went out a little early to do some hiding. With having so much land, it felt like we hardly hid anything. Mostly because everything was so spread out and partly because I didn't collect anything after Easter last year on clearance and so the number of things to hide was lower than in years past. [Slacker-me!] Even with no house on the property, we found lots of places to hide our treasures. So fun!

This year, we kept our guests to our Work Family. We invited the Andersons who brought their step-dad, Scott. The Paynes had family come visit so we got double-Payne-d. It was awesome! When everyone got there, we gave each kid a crayon and their "list". Then "On your mark, get set, go!"-- Off they went. Everyone seemed to have a great time hunting for Easter Treasures. I was so glad that Brett talked me into it. It's our first official Faith Lane Partay! I'm so excited!

Besides the Hunt, we had a few other fun things to do with our guests. We brought some Carrot PingPong Throwers. It was fun to try to catch the ball. Bubbles for the kids was fun- perfect for lots of space and a slight breeze. We also provided some drinks and cookies for a treat to share. AND Brett got out the Go-Kart. Always a crowd pleaser!

What a fun 1st Montana Easter Hunt!

Arrow of Light Service Project

In order for Justice to earn his Arrow of Light Award the weekend, he needed to complete an "Leave No Trace" Service Project. His Den didn't get around to one so we did it as a family instead. We've meant to clean up around the apartment for weeks now. (But Brett's been traveling and it has either been way windy or icky weather) But it turned out that in light of this morning's crazy events, it was the perfect day for it.
Our whole family helped out Larry & Missy to tidy up the yard. I think we filled about 4 bags with garbage, dead plants and cigarette butts. Now it looks pretty snazzy!

Then the kids discovered that filling the gloves with water was way cool! They are so funny!

Easter Mountain

The Anderson's Church put on a huge Easter Hunt up on Mount Helena today. We decided to go support them. They divided the mountain up in sections by age- and hid 10,000 eggs up there. When the hunt began, my kids pretty much followed the crowd rather than look for eggs so they didn't get many but we still had a good time. It was a beautiful morning and fun to explore up the side of the hill. We also saw the Paynes, the Everetts, the Fifes and the Andersons. We love seeing friends!

Calling the Cops

Apartment life is always interesting and sometimes scary. We cannot tell you how excited we are for this phase of our lives to be over. Our new home can't be built fast enough!
This morning was one of those SCARY apartment moments.
While Brett took the younger kids fishing, Liberty and I slept in. Oh how we LOVE to sleep in! My glorious slumber was rudely interrupted however by streams of foul language and slamming doors coming from upstairs. [I'm pretty sure I've heard the "F" word more in the last month than most of my life combined] I decided to slightly open the blinds so I could keep an eye on things without being detected. I also called Brett and told him to not let the kids walk inside by themselves when they got here. Then I just watched as people came up and down the stairs slamming things around, screaming and swearing at each other. Pretty scary and heartbreaking! At one point I heard a large crash and then people pouring out of the apartment and quickly getting in the truck. A girlfriend of one of the boys pulled up and the dad yelled at her to follow them. Then they all sped away. I stayed inside just in case they came back.
Brett showed up a little while later. He walked Justice inside like I had asked him. On their way in, they discovered broken glass and blood all over the sidewalk. So we called the cops and the owners of the apartment building. Crazy, huh? We talked to the cop for a bit and left them our number before we took off to do our Easter weekend activities.
It turns out one of the crashes I heard was the older boy's fist going through the 4 panes of glass in the window. OUCH! When they all drove away- it was to take him to the hospital.
Unfortunately for our new owners [they bought the place about a month or so ago], the tenants upstairs were supposed to be moved out yesterday. What a mess! Larry & Missy (owners) came over in the afternoon and cleaned up all the glass. Then we spent some time visiting with them and cleaning up around the apartment while they waited for the upstairs tenants to get back and move out.
All in a day of an apartment dweller, right?

Fishing- I mean "Lake Sight Seeing"

Since we live in Montana now, we are determined to be fishermen. LOL

Brett took the kids out to the Canyon Ferry Lake this morning. They were way excited!

They didn't catch anything but they did see some fish that others had caught earlier in the day. They said they were HUGE!!!

The Lake Sight-Seeing was fun though.

5th Grade Band Open House

Justice had a Band Open House this morning. It was fun to check out how a Band Class goes for him. He's pretty talented!

Fam Visit: Sleepover, Snow & So Long

For our Family Fun Finale, we decided to have Ethan and Halle over for a sleepover. The kids wanted to watch a movie and Cheri needed to get some sleep for the drive home. We had a great time! We decided to watch a late night showing of the Croods. The kids think that show is hilarious!

 Do you see any similarities? LOL [BTW- this was NOT on purpose. Too funny!]

In the morning, we woke up to SNOW!!! What an appropriate Helena Farewell! ;) 

Saying So Long, Farewell-
Grandma & Grandpa had to leave after the Staggering Ox on Saturday to get back to see Uncle Daniel get put in the Bishopric. We were so grateful that they would make the trip. And that they got home safely- even if it was 3 o'clock in the morning.
Little Glory ended up not feeling well Sunday morning so her and I stayed home to let her sleep. The Davis' and Shauna left after partaking of the Sacrament. We didn't get to say goodbye but I heard there was lots of group hugs given. LOL Thanks so much for coming, guys and gals. We had a blast! We're serious about having the kids up for a Summer sometime! We would be so happy!
Grandma Karla and Ryler came for a quick lunch and hugs after Church before hitting the road. Thanks so much for the sacrifice to come up. We really appreciate it!
XOXO to everyone for spending time with us and being with Victoria on her special day! Luv ya!