Christmas Eve at Civic Center

mtseamonsfam Awesome way to worship with our Anderson friends & the Narrate Church on this Christmas Eve. Fun music, kids & messages! Thanks friends for the invite. Merry Christmas! 🎁
May this Christmas- we all desire to be GIVERS. After all- that's what Jesus is all about! #adamgrant #newwaytolookatchristmas
crumra53 (Grandpa Randy) it looks like fun looks like fun. Have a great Christmas. Love you and we got your card and pictures and the money. Thanks for your generous donation.

S'mores at the Andersons

 The Anderons had us and the Paynes over tonight for S'mores over their firepit. Yum!

The kids had a blast playing together.

It sprinkled a little bit. Nothing to ruin the fun but enough to create a gorgeous double rainbow. Love it!

The adults enjoyed a few competitive games of Cornhole. I definitely have to get one of those for our backyard.

And some of the kids enjoyed a little karate chopping some firewood. Fun times!

P.S. This happened to be the last time that our 3 little families got together before the Paynes moved. We have done so much over the past 3 years together- it's sad to see this part of our lives come to an end. ;(

Mountainside Easter Hunt

The Andersons invited us again to their Church's Easter Hunt on the side of Mount Helena. Brett took the girls up this morning to hunt.

Centennial Park Flag Raising

Happy 4th of July!!!

Earlier this week, I saw a flyer about a celebration happening at Centennial Park this morning. We decided to check it out!
They did an amazing flag raising of the humongous flag by the YMCA. The flag was brought in by a horse and a colonel in a old time uniform. They invited all Scouts or Veterans to help unfurl the flag. Justice and Bryson got to participate. They got to help unfurl and carry the flag to the pole. So neat!

They played a recording of Francis Scott Key and his story of the night he wrote the Star Spangled Banner as they raised the flag. It was a version I had never heard of & so inspiring of the dedication of the people to keep the flag raised. He talked about how as long as the flag stood standing- it meant we hadn't given up. When the flag pole got bombed down, soldiers would hold the flag up. Many lost their lives as they held up the pole and other soldiers would take their place in holding up the flag. Wow! What sacrifice!

Once the flag was raised, we sang the National Anthem and then they shot off a cannon.

Next, we headed over to the other side of the park for some free hot dogs and root beer floats. Yum! We found the Andersons and the Allens to hang out with for a bit.

Then the kids got to play on some bouncy toys and go to the playground for a little while. What fun times! What a good way to start out our Holiday!

Sage Summer Party

Andersons had a Summer get-together to celebrate Sage turning 2. We had a great time meeting their friends, eating dinner, playing ball, enjoying their amazing backyard and having cake! Fun times!

Sprinklers Under the Tramp

The Paynes are going on vacation for a month to Alaska. They leave this weekend so they invited us to spend some time with them before they leave. They set up their trampoline with the sprinkler. The kid had a blast getting wet, blowing bubbles, eating treats and visiting. So fun! We'll miss you guys!

Smørbrød Party 2014

We decided to start up our Smørbrød Tradition here in Helena. {Check out our past documented parties from 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.}
As a brief explanation- if you aren't brave enough to check out all the past info about it. LOL--
Smørbrød is pronounced Smurd-a-bra. The word smørbrød in Norwegian means "buttered bread" or aka the Scandinavian open face sandwich. Every year growing up, my Bestemor (Norwegian for grandmother) had a Smørbrød party around Christmastime. A couple years prior to my documenting phase of our lives, we started our own Smørbrød Party in Fargo. It's a tradition that our family loves & wanted to share with our new Helena friends!

MENU

We always have tons of Scandinavian food and desserts. There's open-faced sandwiches of every kind. . We made ones with crab salad, chicken salad, goat cheese, tomatoes and egg, ham, turkey, chicken, Munster cheese, Gouda cheese and pepper-jack cheese. We love trying all the different breads. We had wheat, white, pumpernickel, a couple different ryes, and a fancy red & green white bread.
For dessert I, of course, made Krumkaker. We love it! I made small batch of Berlinikranser. {Both of which were done with the help of Brett at 2 am the night before. We are CRAZY!}  The kids helped make brownies and we found some rosettes at the last grocery store we checked. It turns out that Helena is not very strong in it's Scandinavian roots. LOL
We also always have hot chocolate with home-made whip cream. Yum! Last year, we bought a family sized hot choco maker. It is so fabulous! And let me tell you- we get sooooo many compliments on our hot cocoa even though it's the generic kind made with water from Walmart. There's just something about it heated & frothed from a dispenser that makes it FABULOUSO!

FESTIVITIES {TALENT SHOW}

Along with the food, we have added a few of our own traditions to the evening's festivities. Tonight was a night of some amazing talents. LOL
Brett made a set of pipe chimes several years ago. We love pulling them out with a group of friends and trying out our musical abilities. ;) We rocked it! I think?
The little ones even put on a concert of their own with our "Elf" microphones. They were quite the hoot.
We had a budding model in our midst which wouldn't get off the bench until I took a million pictures of her. Cute baby!
And there was even a little hula-hooping going on in the cold backyard. Talent galore, my friends!

AND... it's not a Seamons Party if you don't get a few shots of the families. Oh how I love pictures of people! Thanks guys for joining us! We love you all! Until next year...

Reeder's Alley Photo Op

I had the opportunity to take pictures for our friends this afternoon. We went up to Reeder's Alley - this cute little old street towntown. It was a perfect backdrop (even in the rain). I think they turned out pretty gorgeous. Love these people!

Headless Turkey Feast

1st MT Seamons Halloween Party

We missed our annual Halloween Party last year due to lack of space to host anyone. But this year, Brett pushed for us to get some people together. It has been a busy week but it turned out so fun that I'm glad we did it! This year we invited the Andersons, the Paynes, the Allens, the Tubbs and part of the Fifes. Such fun people!

We had our "Chilli Dog" Dinner (a tradition from Great-Grandma Crump) with some other fun things. Frankenguac turned out to be a favorite. We also made Spider Eggs, Banana Ghosts and orange pumpkins. Everyone brought something to share. Yummy!

We decided to do our Pinata even without our big tree to hang it from. Brett just stood up on the deck with all the kids on the ground. It worked out pretty good.

We also carved Pumpkins in the garage. Lost of fun ones and silly people! Luv it!

People road the go-kart, visited and watched a Halloween movie. It was a super fun night!

Strange Firepit (plus Wilkersons & Andersons)

I told you I felt a Firepit Party coming on!!!! LOL

Tonight we invited some friends over for a Firepit dinner and S'mores for Dummies!

At the Ward Picnic, we met Ann & Marcus Strange. They are darling! We clicked right away! So we asked them to come hang out with us. We also wanted to get to know the Wilkerson Family. And then of course it's always a good time when the Andersons come! They are like our Family here! What a fun group of people. It turned out that the Stranges knew the Anderons. Man! It's a small world. We had a fabulous night. It was a bit chilly so perfect night for a fire! Love getting together with people! I'm having so much fun in our new home! Yah! We even had a fancy "wig" Fashion show going on. Good times!

The Stranges stayed and visited for a while. Justice & Marcus used one of my wigs and took turns dressing up like Thor. LOL Tooo funny!

Work BBQ

I can't even tell you how lucky we are to have such amazing people that Brett works with. It's like a big extended family. I love it! Since we set up our BBQ this week, we decided to throw our 1st official Work Party at the Seamons house. I adore these people!!! We ate, visited and even did some hula hopping. We are amazing!!! LOL

Here's the Super Team! What good-lookin' men!

Symphony Under the Stars

Dig those old Mouseketeer ears out of the closet. The Magical Music of Disney is here in Helena for this year’s Symphony Under the Stars on the Carroll College lawn.

Now in its 11th year, the Symphony Under the Stars is one of Montana’s star summer attractions, drawing crowds of up to 15,000.
And this year, as a special treat for Helena’s 150th birthday, the Helena Symphony collaborated not only with the Walt Disney Company but also with guest composer Kile Smith, who is composing a work to premiere at Symphony Under the Stars.
“If you want a Disney blessed concert … it’s not easy,” said Music Director Allan R. Scott. “They allow very few Disney-sanctioned concerts.”
When they heard about the audience size and that it was the 150th anniversary of the city and the 60th anniversary of the symphony,” they jumped on it,” Scott said.
“I wanted it to span generations,” said Scott of the program he’s designed, which includes excerpts from the musical scores of “Mary Poppins,” “The Jungle Book,” “Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty & the Beast,” “Toy Story,” “Pocahontas,” “Cinderella,” “Little Mermaid” and “The Pirates of the Caribbean.”
“It’s just so great to do stuff like this and live fireworks and tuck in the premiere piece to celebrate the city’s 150th,” he said.
The 8:30 p.m. concert is free and attendees can bring their blankets, lawn chairs and picnic baskets to enjoy the summer gala. A limited number of reserved seats are available for $25 each through the Helena Symphony box office at helenasymphony.org, or by calling 442-1860.
The concert closes with a bang — with one of the state’s biggest fireworks displays, sponsored by Helena Community Credit Union.

We had heard about this event but hadn't planned very good so we figured that we'd just try it next year. However at the last minute we ran by Carroll College to see if there was any grassy area left for us. Pretty much- there WASN'T!!! But on our way back to the car we came across this little shrine hill above the grass. It turns out no one was there and it was the perfect spot to see and hear the concert. We set up chairs and blankets to mark our spot.
After dinner, we headed back up to our place and had a fabulous night under the stars. We enjoyed popcorn, music, each other and were joined by Heather, Jared & baby Hud. And even got to see the Andersons for a bit. What a fun night!

The weather & the clouds were amazing!!!

Check out this view of the crowd!!

Our spot was perfect for an unobstructed view.

They finished the night with an awesome fireworks show that was pretty much right above our heads. Crazy good!

And on the way back to our car, we got to enjoy the wildlife. Oh man! Only in Helena! ;)

Lunch Break Swim

Brett's Office friends all took a lunch break to meet the moms & kids at the Memorial Pool for a fun swim break. Fun times!
Diving:

Going Down the slide:

Fun in the Pool:

Sage's KickBall Party

Today Sage turned ONE! We were lucky enough to spend some time celebrating with her and her family. We all adore her!

Happy 
Birthday 
Sage!

The last month, the Andersons have been putting in their fence and their grass. Brett and Justice have been out there helping a bit but it was fun too see it all done! Brian spray painted the lawn so that everyone could play kickball. So fun! It had been raining off and on all day so they had to move the party into the garage. But it stopped long enough to enjoy a game. 

The good-lookin' "CHEER" team:

Opening Presents:

Memorial Day @ the Lake

We had a great Memorial Day! We decided to go out to the lake for a BBQ and some fishing. The Andersons joined us. Once the boats all came in, we had the dock to ourselves. We didn't catch anything but it was a beautiful evening. Thanks to our friends for joining us! Happy Memorial Day!

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!

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!