Glory & Kassi's Rock Collection

We had our weekly Game Night at the Payne's tonight. The girls were playing outside and told us that they had a surprise for us. So we all went to check it out. The girls had made a very fancy Rock Collection clear around the front banister. Some were ones they found in the rock beds outside and others were from Kassi's personal collection. They were so PROUD of it! They had even made a LOOK sign for it! How cute are they?!!! Sweet girls!

Hiking Mount Helena

With no house projects to do, we are pretty free during the weekends. So, we are trying to be Adventurous! We want to experience all we can around Helena. (and then be able to persuade people to come visit us with all the cool things they could experience. LOL)

So today, we decided to have Justice take us on the hike that he did with his Scout Group around Mount Helena. It was a little steep and long for our inexperienced hiking family but we did it! We took tons of "breaks" along the way and it took us 3 times longer than it did for the Scouts but it was totally worth it! The views are PHENOMENAL! The Devil's Kitchen rock and cave was one of the kid's favorite things. And we even saw a couple deer on the side of the path. Crazy! Where are we living?? The beauty here amazes me!

George the Sleeping Giant

When you visit or drive through Helena Montana, the mountain range to the north is called the Sleeping Giant.

The Sleeping Giant, is located north of Helena, MT and can be seen from the south hill. It is called The Sleeping Giant because it looks like a giant man lying down sleeping. It is easily viewed from the south end of town, especially if you are on the south end of the hill, like Montana Ave. This main road through Helena, MT is a perfect view to get a glimpse of this spectacular site. To get a close up view, you simply drive a few miles north on Highway 15, heading toward Great Falls, MT. 

The Sleeping Giant is one of our favorite things about Helena. For some reason, the kids started calling him George the first week we got here. And the name stuck! So now every time we drive into town, we look for George, the Sleeping Giant. It's kindof a fun family tradition! We even got to drive up pretty close to him when we visited the Gates of the Mountains. We love George!
*These are a couple of pictures that we actually took of him ourselves.

Glory's 1st Day of Kindergarten

My baby started Kindergarten today at Eastgate Elementary. I can NOT even believe it! She has been so excited to be a big kid. She was way brave and didn't even blink an eye when I left. I think I may have gotten more emotional but Liberty's still home sick. So maybe next week, it will settle in that I'm a Daytime Empty Nester. Or maybe I'll throw a party! ;)

Glory had a fantastic first day! When I asked her what her favorite part was, she replied, "EVERYTHING!!!" Luv her to pieces! So glad she loves it.

Meeting Mrs. Johnson

Even though Glory starts tomorrow, she got to go in and meet her teacher today. She is SOOOOO excited for school. What a cutie!

Glory & Mrs. Johnson

1st day of School at Radley: Justice & Victoria

Justice and Victoria started school today at Radley Elementary. They were a little nervous but we got them all settled in their classes and they did great! After school, they rode the shuttle bus over to the Eastgate Elementary (the K thru 1st grade) because it's closer to our apartment. I picked them up there. Yeah! We survived the 1st day! Wahoo!

P.S. Liberty came down with a flu bug so she stayed home. Bummer! AND Glory starts tomorrow!

Trips to the Laundromat are Over!!!!!

Oh the joys of moving and apartment living!

We included our washer & dryer with the selling of our house in North Dakota. Mostly because we didn't want to move them and also because we've been meaning to upgrade anyhow.
Unfortunately, that meant several weeks of using the

Clean & Coin Laundromat

1411 11th Ave Helena, Mt 59601‎

(406) 442-9395

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
It's a lot of work to haul 4 kids and several bags of laundry across town. Not to mention all the quarters and time it takes to get it all done. Thank heavens for WiFi. ;)
It was kind of an adventure and a fun memory and the kids were amazing at helping but let's just say- I'm glad that's over!
We finally had Sears deliver our brand new gorgeous RED front loaders today. They are beautiful but I am still a little scared of making the jump. I know people say they work great but really? To me- it seems like trying to clean Justice after he's played a muddy football game with a spray bottle and twirling him in circles. Guess we'll see if these water & energy-saving beauties really live up to their reputation and price. They are RED though so they've already scored points in my book! LOL

P.S. Sept 26, 2013 This is pretty funny and OK... I'll admit not the safest thing the kids could be doing with their spare time. LOL But the kids started laughing really hard in the front room and told me to come check it out. This is what I saw.....

Silly girl! See!!! This really is a LARGE capacity washer! LOL

Meeting the Co-Workers

Brett's work situation just keeps getting more amazing here all the time! We are very lucky!

Another co-worker is moving here in a couple months. So, Brian and his wife Lindsey came to do a house hunting trip this weekend. We wanted to make sure we met them so we went out to dinner together. We tried out the Mackenzie River Pizza Company. It's a gourmet pizza place. It was pretty good food!

AND Brian and Lindsey are awesome!!!! They brought one of their kids with them (the baby) and my kids adored her. We had lots to talk about and they are so nice!

Then the night before they left, we went to dinner with everyone from the office. Let me tell you--- we are going to have a blast together! The kids all played and held the baby while the adults visited and laughed. The men talked sports and even came up with nicknames for each other. LOL
I am so excited for Brett and his work situation here. It's going be great!

P.S. I haven't quite broke into my "picture taker of everyone" self. I'm my normal self with my family but taking pictures of new friends???.......not quite there yet. Hence- no pictures of the Andersons. Soon enough, I'm sure. LOL

1st Montana GNO

I mentioned that our ward is known as the Party Ward here in Helena. Well... the ladies planned a Birthday GNO tonight and I got invited. One of my new friends, Jenny B. came and got me. We joined the other ladies for dinner/dessert at Applebee's to celebrate a couple of the ladies birthdays (Heather & Christa).
There ended up being about 15 ladies that came. Way fun and right up my alley!
One way cute thing was--- You know how when you end up with a huge group like that and you sit at a long table--- You never get to talk to the ladies at the other end. So someone decided we were going to play musical chairs. Every 20 minuted or so, we would all stand up and rotate 2 chairs to the right. That way, you always had a couple different ladies across the table from you to start a new conversation with.
I'm sure the waitresses hated us but it was so much fun!!!!!

Back Yard Fun

For picking our apartment online and from across the country, we really lucked out. Our apartment is conveniently located and has an amazing back grassy area for the kids to play. They are out there everyday! We play family games, set up obstacles courses, collect bugs, play with the neighbor's cat, enjoy the flowers, have grass fights and play with friends back there! Lots of fun!

Setting up our Smart TV

Part of moving has brought us to a point where we have had to make decisions of whether to upgrade in regards to the Technological World. For the record- we are very behind the times!
One of the upgrades we decided on was to get a new TV for the Master bedroom. We found a good deal on a "Smart TV". A what?, you say or at least that's what I was saying. I didn't know they even existed but now we have one. We are becoming very SMART here in Helena.

The setup of our new fun gadget was hilarious! We laughed our heads off because as we were setting it up, it asked us to pick between 3 different sounds. If I'm being totally honest- there was NOT any difference between the 3. We listened to them all over and over again and finally just did eenie-meenie-minnie-moe. Maybe Brett and I just have bad hearing?
We had the kids take a picture of our adventure and the look on my face captured the moment perfectly. LOL
Oh the joys of moving and upgrading! You just have to laugh.

Memorial Park

We had heard from a couple people that Helena does free lunch at Memorial Park during the Summer so we looked into it. Turns out that it's only during June and July but the kids and I took our own lunch and went anyways. It's right next to the Last chance Splash Park (and a ice skate rink/warming house for the Winter). It has a huge outdoor stage, lots of Memorials to different wars, and lots of red, white and blue!!! A park for the Seamons, for sure!

It also has an amazing Play Fort for the kids. We ate and then the kids played for a long time! Fun times!

Exploration Works

Our last deal with our tour Train Ticket was a DISCOUNT at Exploration Works (http://www.explorationworks.org/).  ***An innovative, hands-on museum of science and culture, located in the new Great Northern Town Center development in downtown Helena, Montana, ExplorationWorks offers programs and exhibits that appeal to diverse audiences in an engaging discovery of the sciences, technology, social sciences, culture and everyday life.***
We had so much fun! They had lots of things to do. Here's some of the fun things we tried:

Our favorite part was the life-size Metal Pin Art.We laughed our heads off by our creations. We're so funny!!!!! Here's a few we did:

Latte's & Sundaes

Here we are at Latte's & Sundaes (http://www.lattesandsundaes.com/) for our FREE scoop of ice cream or a cookie! They had some interesting flavor choices. It was fun to try. We may have to come back and try out some of their lunch specials. 

Justice's Scout Hike

Justice got to do a hike around Mount Helena today with his Scout group. I sent a camera with him but he forgot to take it out. So here's some of his Webelo group at the Library after they finished. Way to go, Bud! We plan on having him take the family up there sometime. 

Family Sunday Walk

Our family LOVES our Sunday Walks!!! We have decided that since we no longer have a block to walk around- that we would each take a week and pick the route we would take. Here's some shots of our route for today. It's gorgeous! We LOVE the mountains and seeing wildlife! Today, we saw several bunnies.

I also included a picture of the train that runs and Whoot-Whoo-s past our home several times each night. Oh the memories we will have of apartment living! ;)