got milk?

Brett & I LOVE milk! {It's not always been that way for me but guess he rubbed off on me. ;)} Our family goes through A LOT of milk each week. I mean A LOT!!!!!! Like... "we should buy a cow" A LOT!
The kids used to drink tons more but have cut back quite a bit over the last year or so. But since we are huge whole milk advocates- we are always looking for ways to keep them drinking it.
I have no idea how this happened but each morning I make 4 individual kinds of milk for my children. LOL Liberty drinks chocolate milk. Justice's milk is plain. (that's my boy!)Victoria drinks it with Soy Protein powder. Glory is my "pink" milk girl in a sippy! (don't tell anyone because she doesn't want anyone to think she's little. LOL)
Oh the lengths and craziness we endure to raise healthy children! Gotta love milk!

Chresher Hunt for 19th Engagement Anniversary

Can I just say how absolutely lucky I feel to be married to Brett?!! He is one in a million or bazillion, maybe. He is kind, fun, thoughtful and way more romantic than any girl deserves. AND he has taught these traits to our children.
This morning, there was a crockpot on the counter slow cooking some dinner. Plus several "secret" whispering sessions going on between Brett and the kids. I hate to admit it but it didn't even occur to me that it was a "special" day. [A downfall of having a man that makes every day with him special ;)]
So, after I picked up Liberty from the library, I was surprised that all the secretiveness and dinner and home-made decorated table had a purpose. Oops!
To celebrate our 19th Anniversary of our Engagement- everyone got in on the night's festivities.

Glory started out the evening with a "Chresher Hunt". LOL How sweet is this girl??? She did all the clues by herself written on napkins. [having been mentored by some pretty amazing other family members in the past]

Justice & Victoria had made the table "perfect" by setting it fancy, decorating the napkins and making special placetags for everyone. Justice helped Brett cook us dinner. Man, I love these people!

Next, Liberty gave me a pop quiz. She asked me questions and I had to answer them as if it was 19 years ago. Then she asked me for the answers to the questions for 2015. It was a tricky test! ;) Supposedly, Liberty had a sheet with the "right" answers on it. I was a little perturbed that Brett insisted on the fact that he knew all the correct answers. Who the heck can remember back that far???? LOL BUT---It turned out that Brett had made a copy of a page from my journal from 1996 and typed it up. That tricky boy!! {And look at me... a professional documentor even back then. LOL}Pretty much none of Brett's changed at all in the past 19 years. Mine changed quite a bit. However, that actually is pretty fitting since Brett is pretty much the same man I married 19 years ago. ME----- pretty much a totally different person. Hopefully a little improved at least in some areas. ;) LOL

Finally, Brett shared our engagement story with the kids. He read them all the clues he had written to send me on a Scavenger Hunt to find him waiting to propose to me at the Salt Lake Temple. We had a good laugh at Cheri's holdup of the night and the fact that Jill cried because Brett didn't include her in the planning. LOL It was fun for the kids to hear details and ask questions. We couldn't find any pictures of us on the Hunt. Bummer! But we did remember that my dad had taken a picture of me when I walked in the door to his house. I might have to ask him if he knows where that picture is. Oh the memories!!
Here's the Scrapbook page of our engagement night after we went back to Brett's parents house for ice cream. Don't barf at the plainness and dorkiness of my scraping back then. ;)

Here's his hand written clues when he was making up the poems. And YES- I do have the original typed ones in the original envelopes in my journal. Man! I'm an awesome documentor! ;)

What a special night to share with my cute little family. 

I am so blessed to have them in my life because of

 a question Brett asked me 19 years ago. 

Love you, Honey! XOXO

Hijacked Blog---It happened again.

Yes, this is Brett.  I am not as eloquent as Shay, but this MT Partay Called Life has been hijacked again.

February 23, 1996
19 years ago on this date, I asked a beautiful young woman to marry me.  She had dazzling eyes and a smile that could melt an iceberg.  Sympathy, love, my 1980-something Chrysler LeBaron…I don’t care what it was, I’m glad she said yes.  In August we will celebrate 19 years of marriage.  I had no idea where life’s roller coaster would take us.  The ride has been super fun and exciting, even if there was the occasional headache from the ride or just the faint smell of puke from the amusement park;)  If I could do it all over again, the only thing I would change is that I would have knelt on both knees instead of just one.  Shay, I think you are more beautiful now than 19 years ago.  You are GORGEOUS and I still love the eyes and the smile.  Along with your increasing physical beauty (hard to beat, I know), your inner beauty is yet more impressive.  You are a beautiful, talented, loving, serviceable, caring, wonderfully amazing lady.  I’m a better man for being with you and am grateful you said yes.

Minecraft Club

The Guymons let us know about an opportunity for Liberty & Katelyn to hang out together. So.... we dropped them off tonight at the Helena Library for a...

??????????????????????????????

When I picked them up, they went on & on & on about something that I totally didn't understand. Which in "Libelyn" or "Katerty" language means they had a fantastic time! LOL

Regional Science Fair

Justice went to Butte today for the Regional Science Fair. They left on a bus early this morning and got back in time for dinner. He was super brave to go by himself, speak to the judges and hang out with people he doesn't know that well. We were very proud of him!
He even took some of his actual bean pods and beans that he grew.
After the morning of judging (they got a free t-shirt), they got to go to the Mineral Museum for a tour. Justice picked himself up a spectacular Geode. It's pretty cool!

HHS Cheer Camp

Our friends, the Allens have 2 girls that are cheerleaders at Helena High School. Their annual fundraiser is a Cheer Camp for younger kids. We signed Victoria and Glory up to try it out. They were super nervous at first but once they ran into the Allens--- they had a great day! They even got to perform at the halftime Varsity Basketball Game. Fun times!!!
Here's all the kids before the Camp started:

Here's the halftime show:

And Brett was excited to watch a little basketball. One of his seminary students, Alex, is on the team. Go Holman!

Tape Face

Seriously???? How does this girl come up with these ideas??? LOL {I had to make sure she had at least had a hole to breath from.}

In case you can't tell-- her entire face minus her eyes is covered in clear tape. Silly kiddos! ;)

Teenager Ski Freak

This teenager of ours has fell in love with skiing!! Hannah and her spent their President's Day Holiday on the slopes. (by themselves) How is it that my kids got old enough to drop them off somewhere with their friends and pick them up in the evening? So weird!!! 

They had a great time and even braved going up the 6 1/2 minute lift after lunch. Wowzers! Are they brave or what? They even made it down a "close-to-black diamond" hill. WHAT???? Brave kids. They stayed all day and LOVED it!

The Jackson Eight

We have meant to have all eight of the Jacksons over ever since we moved in. {We've had a few of them over at different times} Tonight was our lucky night! We were able to have them all over to make scones with us. So much fun!
Glory was so excited that she spent like 20 minutes in the window waiting for them. Silly girl!
The weather was amazing so the older kids spent most of the night out on the tramp. I tried to go take a picture of them in the dark. They were so hilarious acting like I was melting them with my flash. LOL In their defense--- it was SUPER bright! :)
The rest of the girls had a blast making scones and playing together. Abby was cracking us up with her "knuckles" and her destructive toddler behavior. Gotta love that kid!
The adults got to just sit (beside chasing Abby to rescue the kids craft projects!), snack and visit for hours. What a darling family! Thanks guys for coming! We adore you!

P.S. I totally forgot to get a picture of Kyle & Heidi while they were here. {What is wrong with me? ;}

I decide to just steal their photo from the dance last night. It's so stinkin' fun anyways. Perfect!

Couple Valentine Dance

The 5th Ward threw their annual Valentine Social/Dance tonight. We love an excuse to get together with our last ward friends. Plus, they asked if I would come do the Photo booth again. We had a fantastic time! And have I mentioned how much I adore pictures???? LOVE it!!

Here's all the brave souls that got their pictures taken. We are stinkin' adorable, don't you think?:

Here's ones that Brett & I did:

And here's a fun group shot we got to be involved in. I love these people! Fun times!!!

P.S. At the tables, they had games set up for people to play. 

Look at the Valentine that Ross made for Janet. How cute is that?? 

Sampson's Valentine Party

We have some new friends that just recently moved into town. Glory & Sampson hit it off right away. So when Sampson planned a party for his new school friends, he also invited Glory to come down. She was super shy at first but ended up having a fantastic time. It was such a cute little party!

Hailey and I are made out of the same mold when it comes to Holidays and party planning. (I know... who knew there was someone else as fun & crazy as me. LOL)  She had soooo much food and it was FANCY not to mention delicious! She had lots of adorable airplane treats as well. She way outdid herself! She played Hot Heart with them downstairs. {The Valentine version of hot potato} She let them decorate airplane cookies. They made paper airplanes and tried to fly them off the deck. What a fabulous party! Thanks Seedalls for inviting Glory to be a part of your special day!

After the party, when everyone left- Sampson showed Glory his fort. They have such a great time together!

What a LOVEly Family!

We've had a love-ly time leading up to Valentines in our family.

The kids always LOVE the Mailbox Treats that are left for them each day! 

The younger girls enjoyed their School Parties. Victoria LOVED the Owl Box to collect all her Valentines. It turned out super cute!

The girls wanted to help decorate our home with more LOVE so they Heart Attack- ed their room.

To show my LOVE- I got up early and made a special Valentine Breakfast for the family. I made red-velvet-heart pancakes with raspberries and whip cream, eggs, and bacon. Yum! We even made it a candle light meal.

The kids made a special Treasure Hunt for him to find his Valentine treats with things written on them that we LOVE about him.

 I am so in LOVE with Brett! He is such a thoughtful, romantic man! He made this Heart Candy Dish from wood for me and wrote me a poem.

 A whole lotta LOVE was sent in Packages & Letters from the Grandparents. Thanks everyone! We LOVED them!

And to top it all off, Brett made us a Candle Light Dinner and some Fancy Desserts. Man, we LOVE it when he cooks. He's amazing!

I have such a LOVE-ly family!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Great Dalmuti

We got to hang out with the Fife Family for games tonight. They have this great game called The Great Dalmuti and some AMAZING hats to go along with the fun! I so want to get some for our home. 

Let's just say that Shay spent a whole lot of the night dressed up as the Lesser Peon. Shoot! LOL 

The younger kids disappeared and played Yu-Gi-Oh and Wii games. Fun for all!

P.S. The teenage girls spent some time locked out on the roof. Oh my! These girls are gonna be so much fun as they get more independent! ;) Wish us luck!

8th Grade Ski Trip

Liberty went on a 8th Grade Ski Trip today. She is really taking to the slops and loves it!
The weather has been warm and they were worried there wouldn't be enough snow for them to enjoy the day.
But luckily it worked out.
At some point, we may need to become a Skiing Family! ;)

3rd Grade Valentine Craft

One of the perks of being a stay-at-home mom is that fact that I get to eat lunch and volunteer every Tuesday with the little girls at school. The girls have the same lunch time so it works out great!  They love it when I come. I also rotate weeks to help out in Victoria's class twice a month. On the other weeks, I am in Glory's class. I love doing things for their teachers and also being able to meet their friends. {Side note: Last week, I made 3906 copies for the 3rd grade teachers. Holy Tree Killer, Batman! LOL}
Last week when I was volunteering, Mrs. Sharbono- Victoria's teacher- asked if I had any brilliant, inexpensive ideas for a Valentine craft to do with the kids. Since I have been collecting TP rolls for a couple months- I did a little research and came up with these super cute Valentine animals to make. So fun! I went in today to make them with the class. They are all so creative and every one came out different. I love it! Happy Valentines!

How much Water?

Justice won 1st place in his 6th Grade Science Fair.

He did his Science Project with Kidney beans that we sprouted. He wanted to test if  the amount of water made a difference in how well it would grow. 

Every other day he would water his plants.

Plant A- 1/4 c water

Plant B- 1/2 C. water

Plant C- 3/4 C. water

Every day he would record what was happening to the plants. Pretty quickly we could see a difference in their growth. Plant A always seemed too dry. Plant B definitely grew the fastest. Plant C got water-logged pretty badly. We had to add a bowl to catch all the excess water.  It was fun to watch them. 

December 30th

Jan 2nd

 Jan 15th

February 6th

The flower buds were cool to see:

The bean pods got to be over 5 inches long:

And with the excess water in Plant C- it mutated it's roots to try to compensate. Crazy!

Now he is onto Regionals in Butte. We'll see how that goes. Great job, Justice!





P.S. So.... once Justice's school had their Science Fair- I stopped bugging him about watering them and keeping track. Unfortunately that meant that he didn't water or keep track. ;) Oh kids without their mother!! ;)  It only took a couple of days and his once beautimus plants started to turn yellow and shrivel. Oops! Hopefully we can revive them some before the Regional Science Fair but they're looking pretty sad. Well... except Plant C that has been thriving on it's excess water! LOL