Surprise Party for Bri

Allie set up a surprise dinner for Bri's birthday. (It was yesterday) Five couples met at the restaurant early to be seated before they got there. I think at first, he thought we all had gone out together & not invited them. His face was priceless. Allie made him this awesome chocolate cake and the restaurant let her bring it early so he wouldn't know. It was fun to be together and celebrate with him. Happy Birthday Brian!

10 Mile Bike Ride

For Scouts, Justice had to do a 10 mile bike ride. Brett said he would do it with Justice. We are running out of days that will be warm enough and not snowy so...
This morning, I drove Justice out to the Tubbs' house the way we thought they would do their ride. We clocked where the ten mile mark was. Then this afternoon, Brett and I loaded the bikes in the van and drove out to pick up Justice. I dropped them off at the 10 mile destination and off they went. It took them a little over and hour but they made it home. Way to go guys!

The Boys:

 Off they go:

I love this shot of the haybales on the side of the road. There's just something gorgeous about them to me!

Justice in Contacts

Brett & Justice did eye exams last month. Brett came home and informed me that he got contacts for Justice. After the fiasco we went through in teaching Liberty to put hers in- I was less than excited about our 11 year old beginning that task. But... after less than a week of practice- he's got it down. AND he loves them!!!

MBI Youth Days

Liberty had the opportunity to attend a MBI (Montana Behavioral Initiative) Youth Day in Bozeman with the SRO from her school. It's like the Student Body Officers but with a lot more students. "The purpose of MBI Youth Days is to strength communities, schools and provide opportunities to develop current and future leaders." Kris F. & I took a load of kids down after Church on Sunday. Liberty got to stay over night with some friends in a hotel. She said the two days were a little long and at times boring (they did a lot of lecturing). But they all enjoyed getting out of school for a day, doing a service project, hanging out at the hotel and enjoying a coversation with Mikal while she sleep-talked. LOL

Liberty, Aimee & Mikal

Mama Rave '14

At the end of September, my darling friend, Kris, shot out a text inviting a bunch of women to join her for a GNO opportunity- a Mama Rave. She was hoping to get a group of her "high-on-life" friends to join her for a night of dancing and fun.


Hot mamas, mama mamas and grandma mamas -- in fact, some aren’t mamas at all. These ladies just love dancing at Mama Raves. Mama Rave is a ladies-only, pop-up night club that will pop up Saturday, Nov. 1, from 8 p.m. to midnight at ExplorationWorks. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. 
Come escape with your friends and party like you're in Vegas. We provide a no-host bar, the hottest dance beats, complimentary red carpet photos and AWESOME door prizes. A great opportunity to dust off your high heels and meet your friends for a night on the town. All ladies welcome, over 21!

In preparation for the night, Kris thought it'd be fun if we had a theme for our group to feel like we belonged together. (See! Kris & I are destined to be friends. LOL) We decided on red & black with Zebra accents. So fun! I did a little searching and I came up with some awesome outfit choices. It was so fun to find things zebra-ish. Luv it!

We all met for dinner at Applebee's first. It took soooooo long to get our food and get out of there but we sure had a great time visiting with all these beautiful ladies!

Dinner made us super late but we finally made it over to Exploration Works to join the Rave. We took time to get our red carpet pictures taken. Everyone was so darling!!!

 We danced the night away! Oh we've got moves, baby! LOL It's all about the bass! ;)

Downstairs they had bean bag chairs & water for us "high-on-life" friends. What a fun night!!!!

Thanks Kris for all you did to get us all together. You are the BOMB!!! Luv ya!

Halloween Fun

I've been loving decorating for Holidays again.

After the Trunk-or Treat, the older kids went out with their friends.

Justice went home on the bus after school to hang out with Bryson.

The Allens brought him to the Trunk-or-Treat.

After those festivities- Tresa took Caleb, Bryson & Justice out Trick-or-Treating. 

Then they went back to the Allens for games.

 After the Trunk-or-Treat, Liberty went to a Haunted House with Mikayla. 

Afterwards, they met up with some other friends for trick-or-treating. 

Then went back to Jordyn's house to hang out.

Brett & I took the little girls out to do some Trick-or-Treating. It was chilly but we ran into some of our friends, the Mergenthalers and collected candy from one street before calling it a night. It was nice to chat with friends while the girls filled their bags. So fun! Then we headed home for a movie and snuggling by the fire.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

2014 Trunk-or-Treat

The three wards that go to Church in our building decided to do the annual Trunk-or-Treat together this year. I love this safe way to gather candy. Plus showing off & seeing the costumes of those you care about is a huge bonus. I love it!!!

After the trunk-or-treat candy was gone- a large group of us walked up to the Governor's House for a full-sized candy bar. What a cute group of friends. Luv them!

Stake FHE

Our Stake planned a community event for this evening. I again helped with the poster. (I think it turned out pretty cool) Plus they asked Brett & I to lead a small group discussion. Our family invited 3 non-member families. No one came this time but it was a good night to be together & a good reminder of how important families are to God's plan!

Caramel Apples

We made caramel apples tonight as a family. Yum!

Stephens Visit

We were super lucky tonight and had our friends, the Stephens, stop by on their way back to Fargo from visiting their Grandpa in Canada this last weekend. They ran a little later than they wanted to but we had dinner for them when they got here. The kids just jumped right back in like we had never been apart. Even though it was a super short visit (and Brett was out of town), we were so glad they came to see us! Miss you guys!!!

MSC Monster Mash 2014

The Montana City School throws this huge fundraiser/Halloween Party every year called the Monster Mash. It is a super big deal! And they go all out!

Check out what they did with the foyer: (Creepy Fancy!)

Every classroom made a basket for the auction tables and set up a game booth. Every game took 1 ticket to play and you won a prize at every one. The SRO (it's like the Student Body Officer group) also put on a Haunted House. It cost three tickets instead. Out in the hallway, they served a couple dinner choices for a pretty reasonable price. The kids had a good time! And the school made lots of money. Fun times!

Babysitter of the Smiths

Liberty has been babysitting quite a bit for our friends, the Smiths. This morning, Amy & Jason (and her sister & Hubby) went hunting super early. Mikal and Liberty went over before the sun was up to watch the kids. Since I never got a picture last time they were all together, I thought I'd grab a quick photo when I went up after breakfast. But half the kids were asleep, some were cranky and Mikal had to leave. So this is the best we got. LOL It's a perfect pic for such an early morning and the chaos that can occur with 6 kids under the age of five with two teenage babysitters. Luv these girls!!

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!

Teenager Halloween Party

Liberty got invited to a Halloween Party from one of her classmates. He has Down syndrome and his Mom throws him a Halloween Party every year to help people to get to know him better. She was way excited to go. Her and Mikal went up together. They had a blast!!! (No pics though) Oh the life of a teenager- fun and undocumented! LOL

Ward Fall Fest & Dance

Tonight our Ward Family got together for a Fall Fest Party. It was a chili dinner with an activity. Last week, the ward counsel asked me if I would be in charge of the "fun" for the evening. Lucky me! ;)

I decided to do a Family Photo Booth during dinner. Lots of kids participated-- Not so many adults. Guess not everyone loves to preserve memories as much as I do. ;) Those that did it though- looked awesome!

Here's a few closer up:

After dinner was cleaned up, I (with the help of Brett) had planned group dances, games and prizes all put to music. It was hit & miss if adults got out on the dance floor but the kids had a blast! Pretty much every single one of them (even the teenagers for a couple songs) busted a move the whole night.
Switching it up between dancing and games made it so we got different people involved the whole night. I think it worked out well. I was super super nervous how everyone would take the "new" girl's party ideas. LOL
I had lots of compliments afterwards about how much fun it was. Even from those that sat on the sidelines all night. So guess it was a success! Fun times!

Here's some pictures of the Mummy Game. They had one song to dress one of their teammates up like a "mummy". Then we had the Bishop judge the best one. The group of little girls won a big bag of candy to share!

Seamons Sushi

For Brett's birthday, we got him a Sushi Kit. Tonight, we braved making some of our own. [There was an amazing sushi place that we loved in Fargo. But here in Helena...not so much! ;)]  It is a lot of work but was way fun to try. Plus it was way yummy! Liberty's friends was over visiting so she got to try sushi for the 1st time. It was a fun, messy night!