Brunch with Brothersons

Brunch with some awesome college students! We loved getting to spend time with them! {Brett got hold of my best friends daughter that's attending BYU. We took Ellen & her "boy" out for lunch. It just happened that her brother, Ethan, was in town. How fun to catch up with them. Only thing that would have been better would have been if their Momma had been there, }

Fargo Friend Visit

My 2 closets friends (Kristen & Brooke) from Fargo both dropped kids off at BYU-I in Rexberg this week. It was my lucky day because they decided to stop by & spend the night on their way home. I so loved being with them if only it was for 12 hours. ;)
Glory took Kristen for a SpeedRacing Adevnture-. LOL

Thanks ladies for stopping. I miss you sooo much!!! Drive safe. XO

Brotherson Crew: Clark's Bay

Our Youth Group planned a trip out to Clark's Bay tonight. (Wednesday night) We sent the 4 older kids out in the afternoon and then joined them out there around dinner time. It was a bit chilly but we enjoyed the kayaks, grilled up hamburgers and enjoyed the beach. The kids got to hang out with all the youth in our Ward and play a little volleyball. It was fun to introduce the Brothersons to so many of our new Helena friends.

We said our goodbyes Thursday morning. We are so grateful for their friendship and willingness to stop by each year! Drive safe! Luv you guys! XOX

Brotherson Crew: Great Northern Carousel

This morning, we took the Brotherson Crew to the theater for a morning showing of Night at the Museum 3. Fun show!

We let the kids do some Rock Climbing. LOL

Then we went for a walk to the Great Northern Carousel. It's such a beautiful Carousel! Justice grabbed the gold ring and got a free ride ticket for later! Way to go, Buddy!

Then we treated us all to Ice Cream and a musical concert (put on by ourselves) in the Exploration Works Music Garden.

Brotherson Crew: Spring Meadow Lake

Sean wanted to give Justice & Brett a fly fishing lesson while he was here. Once Brett got off work & we ate dinner, we hauled everyone out to Spring Meadow Lake. We took out the kayaks and played on the beach. It was way chilly and we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves. Kristen & I walked the kids around the lake while the boys fished. The older girls (Bryn & Liberty) spent hours out on the kayaks. Chilly but lots of fun.

Brotherson Crew: Memorial Park

Our Fargo friends, the Brothersons, came to visit us for a couple days. They got in last night and we spent time eating a late dinner and getting caught up. I love friends that things just pick up where you last left off. Love it!

Today, we took them up to eat lunch at Memorial Park (Brett walked across the street and joined us). The kids played frisbee, checked out the playground fort, hung out with a lady and her dog. 

Brothersons Visit: BBQ & Fireworks

We finally went back to the apartment for a late night BBQ and fireworks. We bbq-ed hot dogs and hamburgers on our tiny grill. We also had pasta salad, potato salad, chips and grapes. Yum!

We did a bunch of our own fireworks by the garage. One time the tube fell over and almost blasted all of us. Luckily no one was hurt. It was fun to be able to buy the big fireworks that blast in the sky. Liberty LOVEs smoke bombs so there was plenty of those as well. Our cute neighbor boy, Landon joined us for parts of our festivities. We adore him!

We also watched the East Helena Firework Show on the front lawn. It was a decent show even with it being a ways away from us. It's funny though because the whole sky was full of fireworks the whole night. Who needs a city-sponsored show when everyone can buy big fireworks on their own anyways? ;) Pretty awesome!

It was way late after all our fireworks. The Brothersons have to get on the road early tomorrow morning to make it to their destination before dinner. So we hugged and said our goodbyes. Thanks guys for coming to visit. We sure love you! So glad you could come. Let's do it again next year! ;) XOXO

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Brothersons Visit: Walking Mall

I took a couple of the Brothersons to run some errand while everyone showered and rested.
Once the rain stopped we decided to take both families up to the Walking Mall for ice cream and a short walk. Nothing like dessert before a late dinner. ;)

Girls at the Big Dipper

On the Walking Mall:

Fun times!

Brothersons Visit: Spring Meadow Lake

After breakfast, we took the Brotherson family to Faith Lane to check out our new home. The adults had a great time checking it out and sharing things for the future. But the kids were ready to go pretty quickly. ;) Maybe when we actually live there and there's a tramp and a fort and carpet and toys, they'll be content to just hang out. Funny kiddos!
We also wanted to share a bit of Helena with the Brothersons while they were here. Their trip yesterday was so long that everyone was a bit tired. Kristen and I let the boys rest for a bit at the apartment while we made some lunch. How cute are they?

Then we headed to Spring Meadow Lake for some lunch and some water fun!

We had lots of fun at the Beach and playing in the Lake. At one point clouds rolled in and threatened to rain on us. There was some distant thunder. All of a sudden someone loudly yelled, "There's Thunder, everyone out of the water!!!" Everyone froze and turned. It was Ethan. ;) So everyone except the Brotherson and the Seamons family got out. Kristen talked to him about how it wasn't his responsibility to tell people what to do.  He said he was just concerned for their safety. It took about 5 or 10 minutes before people realized they could get back in. We had a good chuckle about that one. Evan LOVED the beach. He was quite a hoot when the kids tried digging holes and filling them with water, He thought they were his personal hot tubs. He would crawl over to them, back up and climb in. Silly boy!

At one point after lunch, the boys went around the lake to the Fishing Dock. No one caught anything but everyone had fun taking the walk and getting to cast the fishing poles. We packed up when it started drizzling. We barely made it back to the table and packed the car before it started raining on us.

4th of July Breakfast- Shay Style

Our Ward usually does a big 4th of July breakfast. BUT somehow this year- it fell through the cracks. 

Shay C. and I were talking Wednesday at the Lake and chatting about how sad it was to not have a celebration with our Ward Family. So... we decided to throw one ourselves. Neither of us have been to one (in Helena) before but we just decided to do it- Shay Style. ;) [Some of the older members kept telling people- "That's not the way we usually do that". Shay and I had a good laugh because it wouldn't have happened at all if we hadn't done it. Take it or leave it, people! LOL]

We talked to the Bishop and the RS Pres to let them know our plan. (Neither came anyways but it was out of courtesy) We made assignments and sent out an email. Only one person  RSVPed so we weren't sure who would come. However the turnout was amazing!!! I believe about 75 people attended. Wowzers!

We had everyone bring breakfast casseroles, bagels, donuts or muffins and fruit. The RS provided the drinks. We could have used a couple more breakfast casseroles but other than that- it was a pretty perfect 4th of July breakfast! So glad we got people together.

Here's our cute Ward Family (plus the Brotherson Family who we luv as well) that attended. Only a couple of them threw a fit about me taking their picture. ;):

Jen Listerud offered to sing the last verse of the Star Spangled Banner. She did an amazing job! Then we all said the Pledge of Allegiance together.

Funny side note:
We have a bunch of patriotic songs on Brett's iPod. We brought it to play in the background. One of the songs happened to be The Star Spangled Banner. When it came on a few people stood and put their hand over their heart. We didn't have the big flag out at the time so everyone just faced Brett (He looked like a flag anyways). Then everyone stood and followed suit. When it finished everyone clapped and thought we were starting our Program. ;) Jen thought we had forgot that she was singing and asked if she should sing something else. Oops! We explained the situation and we all got a good chuckle.

Brett did some Flag Trivia with the kids. They earned candy for all their right answers.

We made a poster of a big flag that said, "We Love the U.S.A.!" We had everyone sign it or write something that they loved about the U.S.A. Then we hung it up in the hallway of the Church.

P.S. Unfortunately, the poster fell down overnight, I guess, because it was no where to be found when we showed up for Church. Bummer! Wish someone would have at least rolled it up and left it there. ;(

Brothersons Visit: Hotel Swim

We were so lucky this weekend to have our good friends, the Brothersons come for a visit. We were supposed to be in our house but... what can we do? {Answer: nothing, unfortunately} BUT we are so glad they made us a stop on their trip. So fun! We luv them!

They got in late (it's a very long drive from Fargo to Helena) but we took the opportunity to have a bedtime dinner and a swim party at their hotel. We all just picked up where we left off. It was like no time had passed at all. {except for Baby Evan that was wondering why the heck the rest of his family loves us. LOL}