Smiling Contest

These girls are pretty silly! When I met up with them for lunch after I volunteered (making a zillion copies for the 3rd grade teachers. ;), they informed me that they were committed to smile the entire day.  LOL So cute! Love these girls!

P.S. Normally I volunteer on Tuesday but Mrs. Sharbono was gone yesterday and Glory was sick so I switched. I love being able to help out in the girls classes and get to know the teachers better. And it works out awesome that they both have the same lunch hour. Enjoy it while it lasts and they still want me there!

LUCKY Family

Poor little Glory has been sick so it wasn't as much of a ParTay as it would have been- but we still celebrated how LUCKY we are to have each other with outfits and yummy food.

On the dinner table I had a bowl of "gold" coins. [chocolate] Anyone could have one that could share a family tradition and what they love about it. It was so fun to hear what they like and how many traditions we really do as a family. How lucky are we!

For prints for our magnet board, I went through old years of pictures of St. Paddy's Day. It's so fun to look back at the memories. Luv it! I couldn't find any from 2008 but here's all the years from 2006 (except 2008- I think I was pregnant & maybe opted out?) through 2014. 

Puff Balls

Ever since Liberty came back from Megan's party, she has been obsessed with making PUFF BALLS from every bit of yarn she can find around the house. Victoria joined in on the fun! Now we are infested with Puff Balls! Gotta love their creativity!

Blown Away

When we moved to Fargo, we giggled at those in UT that thought they knew what a strong wind felt like. The wind in Fargo was crazy! It would sometimes bend signs and blow away trampolines. It was pretty bad!
Then we moved to East Helena. We lived in that little apartment with no insulation in the walls or in the floor with the large crawl space. We could definitely feel the wind and hear the wind howl but we lived sheltered by many buildings surrounding us so we had no idea how strong the wind was here. That is... until we moved into our new home in Montana City. NOW, we know what strong wind looks like!
We have no trees and 2 acres of wide open spaces. Some nights I think our home may just experience a Wizard of Oz moment. It's super scary! We've had it whip the BBQ and Adirondack chairs right off the deck and into the neighbors yard. Tonight,  it was howling like crazy and making our 6 foot back window "wave" with it's pounding. The kids decided to check it out. Even though it was past bedtime (which is the time I end up short on my patience for extracurricular activities)- It was hilarious to watch them. They literally were BLOWN AWAY with the gusts wind. NOW... we know what strong wind feels like!

Coconut Eagles- Kreston's Court of Honor

One of Brett's Seminary students- Kreston Stevens had his Court of Honor tonight. If Brett can- he likes to support the kids in things they do. So we made a date of it. Kreston's mom is so amazing!!! The refreshments were incredible! I had to take a picture so we can do something similar when Justice does his. Look at that table spread! God bless the U.S.A.!!! ;)

Here's a close-up of the Coconut eagles. I love them!

Wearing Green for McKinlee

Ever since I was called as the Primary President, I have worked very hard to have a relationship with the sweet little Sunbeams. (age 3 just entering into Primary). One of my favorite (and challenging) Sunbeams is McKinlee. She is so stinkin' cute and is quite the spitfire! Her favorite color is green so one week I bribed her to come to Primary with the promise that we would both wear green. She was so excited!! {that I wore green NOT to come to Primary. LOL}
Cute side story: It has been a process to get her to like me and come happily to Primary. She actually cries every Sunday morning. The 1st words out of her mouth Sunday mornings are- "I don't want to go to Church". Poor baby! BUT---- The other day her mom told me that in the car, McKinlee said- "Mom, I miss Sister Seamons!" How sweet is that? See- I'm making progress!

Cinderella & Cupcake Wars

Liberty celebrated her friend Megan's Bday with a trip to the theater for Cinderella. Then they all headed back to Megan's for Cupcake Wars (gross & yum) and a lateover. I adore this group of girls! SUPER sweet young ladies! Happy Birthday Megan!

P. S. I went out with a bunch of girlfriends last night to this movie as well. It was super fun to be out with the ladies. I needed it!

Jacksons for Ice Cream

The Jacksons invited us and the Nielsens over for Ice cream tonight. It was so fun to chat and eat while the kids played. Thanks guys! We just adore you! (I wasn't really brave enough to take pictures but I did manage a bad pic with my phone. Take it or leave it!;)

{Ok- they were bugging me so I fancied them up a bit with my Scrapbook Program)

Xtra Long Week Celebration

The whole family has had an XTRA long week!!! Night after night (after regular school craziness) was filled with rehearsals and Hunter Safety and more rehearsals. Then today the kids were gone & busy from 8 am to 7 pm. Wowzers!!! We are tired people!!! But before we go home and crash--- we decided to celebrate surviving the week by eating a little DQ. Then making up for the treat the kids earned from their No TV/Screen week- we did Ice Cream as well! Man- we love these kids!

The Little Mermaid MCT

On Monday (which happened to be Victoria's birthday) after school, all my girls decided to go to Open Auditions for the Missoula Children's Theater production of The Little Mermaid. All of them got a part!! Way to go, girls!

The rest of the week was a crazy blur of rehearsals and memorizing and more rehearsals. We figured that Liberty (she got one of the main roles and had to be to most of the practices) put in about 21 hours this week after school and all day Saturday! That is some crazy days and lots of dedication!

But all their hardwork paid off and they did a fabulous job! We got to go to their performance(s) on Saturday afternoon. Wow! They were amazing!

Here's all the girls (and a few extras) backstage with their Directors, Blaire and Rachel.

Here's Glory as one of the adorable Seahorses. They marched, danced, sang and looked pretty darn cute! In between performance, Glory & Quinn Fife hung out and ate a snack. After the performance, most of the cute actresses got flowers. Glory found her friend TayTay and enjoyed a moment together with their beautiful flowers and rosey cheeks. Too cute!

Victoria was super brave! She played a Seasider and even had a solo part. She played the "Nerdy" girl trying to win the Prince. It made her extremely nervous (and a bit embarrassed) but even with her shakey voice- she braved it and did a great job! She memorized all her lines and di them perfectly. She got tons of laughs and that was the point.  In the 2nd performance, she pinched herself with her glasses backstage right before she came out to do her part. It made her extra emotional but she made it through. So proud of her! A friend in her class, Kate was hilarious! They all did such a great job!

Liberty got one of the lead roles. She played Amelia- one of the Little Mermaid's twin sisters. She always amazes me how she can memorize all those lines & songs. {and in a week this time. WOW!} She had a blast! She made some new friends. Liberty and her friend Cara were the only 8th graders. They were happy to have each other!

Here's an overview of the whole play. It was amazing!!! Way to go, Kiddos!

Applause! Applause! Bravo!

Hunter Safety Graduate

Justice spent over 12 hours in this last week attending a Hunter's Safety Course. He is so seriously stoked to be able to hunt "for reals" this year! Way to go, Justice! We are proud of you for passing the course. Bring us home some meat this year, Buddy!

Glory-us Date with Mom & Dad

Glory got a special date with Mom & Dad while all the other kids were at their things tonight. She had 2 requests. 1- She wanted a place to play & have fun!
2- Ice Cream!!!!

AND We delivered, Baby! ;)

Ahoy Mates! New Beginnings

We dragged Liberty away early from rehearsals to attend New Beginnings, Liberty got to conduct the songs we sang. They even highlighted her because she is new to the Ward since last year. What a cute group of Beehives they have! Love these girls!

Clovers & Gold & Rainbows, Oh My!

The house seems so bare compared to the last several months. But we do feel very LUCKY to have such a beautiful place to live & celebrate life!

AWESOME 9th Birthday!

We got to celebrate Victoria all weekend. While Shauna was up, we made a special Egg Sandwich breakfast for Sunshine!

Today, we had another special breakfast and sang to her before school.

After school, Victoria had an audition for a part in a play. (More about that this weekend) Then we opened presents! It was super cute because last night Victoria made a bunch of Birthday signs to hang up all over the house. She's such an artsy kiddo!

We had a fabulous dinner with BBQ ribs, garlic herb potatoes, cooked broccoli and crab & avocado salad. {Forgot a picture} For dessert, we each got to make our own Fruit Pizza. Yum!!!

We are so grateful for this awesome, beautiful girl. Happy Birthday Victoria! XOXO HiYah!

What an 8 Year Old Remembers?

Victoria had a fabulous time being EIGHT years old. Here's some memories:

When Victoria was 8...
*still loved the color PINK
*loves to create anything artsy!
*quite the perfectionist
*joined F.I.G.G.S (Faith in God girls)
*got her ears pierced
*visited her friend, Halie in ID
*got baptized!!!!
*loves the Davis family
*went to the Ogden Temple Open House
*went to 1st Women's Broadcast with Mom & Liberty
*visited Glacier National Park
*loved Mrs. Hauer in 2nd Grade
*participated in the Montana Mucker
*learned to kayak
*made new friends at Montana City School- Sophie, McKenzie, Aspynn, Jadyn
*loves to swim & visit Fairmont Hot Springs
*got lice for the 1st time (sort of- only 3 were found)
*discovered that she is talented in acting- Harriet Tubman, Thanksgiving play)
*likes to be silly!
*loves Aunt Shauna
*likes to back massage family members
*continues to be a peacemaker

Luv you, Sis! XOXO