Montana Mighty Mucker

You will jump. You will crawl. You will climb. You will laugh. You might even attempt a couple of dance moves. And without a doubt, you will get sensationally muddy at the Montana Muckers. Inspired by the mountain playground that is Big Sky Country—rugged, pristine, and spectacular—Montana Mucker courses will challenge participants with a series of natural and man-made obstacles that will spur them to go high, get low, push through, squeeze around, jump into and wind up completely covered in the some of cleanest dirt in the lower 48.
The Muckers encourage engagement, teamwork, full-body movement and above all, a filthy good time.
The folks behind the Muckers, Big Sky Orogenic Racing and Events, or BSORE, make their beds in Missoula, and they’re Montana through-and-through. BSORE prides itself on its distinctive, high-energy events, its strong local relationships, and its deep appreciation for Montana and its people. And that goes especially for the charitable partners in each community, CASA of Missoula and Intermountain. A portion of each Mucker registration will go to them, so everybody’s good time will help to support a good cause and raise awareness of the some of the important work being done in our communities. At the Muckers, everybody wins! So put on your grubbies and come out to play!

Brett loved the mud run (Hard Charge) he participated in Fargo in 2013. So he really wanted us to participate in one here in Helena. Luckily for us, there was a shorter/easier version for the whole family. We signed up as Team S.S.A.. (We couldn't decide if we wanted to be the Seamons Spy Agency- hence our sunglasses. OR Seamons SuperHeros of America!- so we wore both our Captain America shirts AND our sunglasses. We're just cool like that!)

Montana Mighty Mucker

For the junior members of the Mucker clan, there will be a kid-sized version of the course, known as the Mighty Mucker, complete with water features, hurdles, and enough mud to cover them from head to toe. The Mighty Mucker course will cover about a mile, and it won’t be suitable for toddlers. But for high energy scamps who love grime (and you know your kid will), it will be the sloppy highlight of the summer. Expect priceless pics in the aftermath. The Mighty Muckers will follow the adult events at around 3:00 p.m.. Restricted to kids aged six through 12 only, accompanied by an adult. 

We headed up to the Great Divide Ski Resort Saturday afternoon. While we waited for the race to start, we visited, jumped on hay bales and did a little dancing. (P.S. We brought up Liberty's waterproof camera so our pictures aren't the best but still fun to capture the day's events. Professionals took some pictures up there as well. If we ended up in any, I'll link those as well)

At the gun shot, the race began. The first obstacle was a huge hay-bale pile that we had to climb over.

After a uphill jog and down a steep mountain path, we made it to our first mud puddle.

A lady offered to take a picture of all of us in the mud!

Muddy and wet, we jumped another haybale to make it to the wood wall. We all leaped over it with ease! ;) We are Superheros, you know!

Barrel-rolling over one more hay bale, we it the final obstacle. We jumped as a family into the Mud Pool! Then we had a mud fight and diving contests to cover each other in mud. There may have been one very unwanted dunk that left a certain teenager not so happy! ;)

Here's the final results: (See the one certain unhappy teenage camper? LOL)

They had outdoor shower area with FREEZIN' water. We sprayed everyone off and headed to the truck to change clothes. It was an interesting adventure to pull off soaking wet clothes (including underwear) inside a truck not getting rocks all over the place while trying to be modest. LOL

RS Modern Day Virgins

My calling in the Church has been to do monthly mid-week Relief Society activities. It's what we used to call Enrichment night. I was kind of dredding this one because it seemed like there were tons of people not interested or out of town. But I plugged along and planned it anyways. With a few hiccups, it turned out well. Really well, actually! I had lots of comments about it. Surprisingly, we had an amazing turnout. We even had to grab several more chairs to let everyone have a place to sit.

My inspiration for it came from a YW Value project of some girl named Megan that did a project she called 5 Who Were Wise. It was perfect because the Young Women in our Ward had asked if we could do an activity together. With Megan's idea, I asked both Relief Society sisters and Young Women to help put on a short program of a Modern Day Parable of the Ten Virgins. The ladies that participated did an amazing job!! After we mingled with the Sisters while they ate treats (set up as a mini reception for the Bridegroom) acting out our parts, we put on a mini-program sharing what we represented. It was hilarious because the sisters did such a good job beforehand. One was totally mad and rude. Another was outwardly judgy. One was really loud and distracting while another was very quiet and thoughtful. One sister was super duper kind and helpful. Once we got up to share, it was evident why they acted the way they did. We shared scriptures and thoughts from Megan's blog about things that either distract us or help us fill our lamps. Both of the Presidents shared some thoughts as well. It turned out to be a great spiritual and fun evening!

Here's our awesome group of  "Modern Day Virgins"

Ladies with the Bishop

Acting our part

We gave everyone a magnet of this little handout to remember the night. I had also ordered some lamps that look just like the picture from Jerusalem. I gave them as gifts to those who helped out. So fun!

Utah Weekend Trip

Besides the awesomeness of the wedding, we also had a lot of other fun in UT this weekend.
We got to see a herd of elk on the way down.

The Hills graciously let us stay at their place this time. We missed Daniel because he was out of town for work but we had a great time! The kids loved their dirt bike and their fat chihuahua. ;)

We also went out for ice cream one night.

We picked peas from Grandpa's garden.

And visited Grandma Seamons in the hospital. It was a huge bummer because she got admitted Thursday (I think) with blood clots in her lungs. She had to stay through Monday. It bummed her out to not be at the wedding day but was great to be close enough to go visit her while we ere there.

Oquirrh Mountain Wedding

Brett's oldest nephew, Alex married this darling girl, Laura this weekend in the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple. We were lucky enough to go down and be a part of their special day! Brett and I got to attend the ceremony. What great examples they are to our kids. We just love them!!!
Here's some of the Seamons clan waiting for them to come out of the Temple:

Look how happy they are!

I love this shot of them pinning Lori & Lou with flowers. So sweet!

I got a few pictures of the Rasmussen siblings (missing Jake since he is serving his Mission)

Here's a few shots I managed to get of the Wedding Party. Gorgeous people!

I also took a few photos of others at the Temple. Justice kept photo bombing us! Silly boy! Shauna brought her Hulio to meet the family. (His name is not Hulio but that's what we call him. LOL)

One cute side note: 

Zach has grown up so fast! I remember him just a little boy when I first met Brett. Wow! How time flies! In 1998, we were at the Arizona Temple with the Rasmussens. Zach insisted on being in a picture with Brett and me. I even have it on the side of the blog cuz it's so cute! So when Zach was with us today, I made him get a photo with us! Holy Moly! Look how this boy has grown. One good lookin' guy!

After the Temple, we had an amazing luncheon at a Church by their house. Seriously!!!... Lori came up with this cute "Box Lunch" idea. It was AWESOME!!! We ate and then helped set up for the reception.

They had an afternoon Reception. Brett's sisters pretty much did everything for it. They are so talented. Cheri and Shauna did the flower arrangements and the dessert table. Shauna and Jill did the Wedding cake. Lori did the rest of the decorations for the walls and the tables. Char, Janet, and Jill (maybe others) made mini cheesecake cupcakes. [I excuse myself if I missed anyone or anything} It was so impressive!

Another sidenote: 

A couple of Brett's aunts and Uncles were at the reception- Aunt Cheri & Uncle Brent and Uncle Don & Aunt Melissa. We got a chance to catch up with them. We probably haven't seen them for 9 years. Aunt Cheri, Melissa and I decided we are now best friends. LOL Mostly because they are into family history and they love my blog and blog book idea. I told them to come visit in Helena and I would teach them how I do it. ;)

Towards the end of the reception, Brett took a bunch of people out to buy things to decorate their car. Pretty funny!

Good Luck, Alex and Laura. We love you!!!!

What a great day to spend with family!

After the newlyweds left, we stayed with the rest of the family to clean up, fly kites and do a bit of dancing. Fun times! ;)

Summer Fun to Treasure

We've been enjoying our Summer sleeping in and doing things in our Treasure Box.
The kids did face painting one day.

Played Color Tag in the backyard with neighborhood kids

Picked Flowers:

Attending the Summer Movie Club House at the Theater. We get to get out and go to the movies every Tuesday morning. One day we stopped for lunch at the Creperie. The kids also love to climb on the rocks.

Made home-made Fudgesicles:

Borrowing the idea from Shelley (thanks lady! You're such a fun Mom)- we watch a movie on Mondays and then do something that reminds us of the movie during the week. One time, we watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Then we made Tacodile Supreme for dinner.

And just being silly Armless Monsters:

Gotta Treasure the Summer while it lasts!

A Can of Paint

I've gotten a little carried away lately and a can of paint/stain has been my best friend. Here's a few of my projects I have been working on.
We have this outdoor storage bench that has been pretty beat up.

Well, I added a little primer:

And a special textured stone paint that I found. It is amazing!

 Here's the little bench that goes with it.

Remember our Eagle we got for Brett's birthday a couple years ago? Well it needs to be better protected with a coat of spar varnish. And we wanted it to look more like a Bald Eagle so I did a little stain magic. Wallah! We are in love with it!!!

 

I also went over one day to help a friend paint part of her house. They are changing it from blue with white trim to red with grey trim. Man! I love to paint!!!

I still need to redo my seats for my new kitchen bar but haven't got around to it yet.

Holy Crêpe

Liberty took a Foods Class at school this last semester. It has made her quite the cook. She made us some pretty awesome crêpes tonight for dessert. We laughed because a few of them would end up being hole-y. We kept laughing and saying "Holy Crêpe!" We're sooo funny!

Mangum Grad Party

It's funny how different communities celebrate things so distinctly. 

Growing up in UT, high school graduation parties were thrown by the High School as an all night party at the local fitness center. You sent off announcements and if people felt inclined they'd send you a gift. 

In Fargo, it was a different ball game. Graduation parties were crazy! Huge receptions with dinner or treats, photo displays, possible speeches, dressed fancy graduates and everyone brought a gift. It was completely like a wedding reception. Insane! But everyone did them!

Here in Helena (at least in our ward), the Mangums throw a party for all the graduates. They let people hang out in their backyard, visiting and playing volleyball and serve their famous Peach Cobbler as well as other Dutch Oven yumminess. Delicious! It was rainy but a lot of fun!

Seamons SuperHeros of America

We got our Seamons Family Captain America shirts done today. They are AWESOME!!! 
We decided to do a little family photo shoot so that we can frame a picture of us for another Father's Day gift for Brett. We took everyone out to our property to take pictures. It was crazy muddy but we had a lot of fun!
Here's some of our favorites:

And I had a bit of fun in my Scrapbook Program.