Mt Ascension Family Hike

I took my family on my favorite Helena hike to Mt. Ascension. There was some tired kids and a bit of whining but we all made it! Thanks guys for sharing the beautiful day and adventure with me!!!

Almost to the Top:

We made it!!! even with a pouty face teenagers. LOL

Big Buck Hunt

Justice got to participate in the Youth Deer Hunt again this year.
He got one BIG BUCK! Lucky duck!

VBS with the Gengers

Girls went to the VBS with the Gengers again this year. (See last years- here and the one from 2014- here) Man! We love these people!

Brett's Birthday Celebration

Since Brett was gone for his birthday, so we celebrated today! XOXO to our favorite guy!
We spoiled him with presents like a bipod for his gun, candy, a new shirt and a pretty good-lookin' bayonet.

Fed him a yummy dinner.

And made one of his favorite desserts. Yum!

Taking Names to the Temple

EARLY this morning, Liberty drove us to Billings for a Ward Temple trip. It was just a special date with Mom & daughter. {Justice had last football game and Brett stayed to support him} Liberty drove the WHOLE way there and back. She's getting to be a really great driver. 

This was our first time taking our own names to the temple. When doing our genealogy, we came across a family that needs some temple work done. Samuel Bower (born 1845) & Mary Ann Pidcock and their 10 children haven't been sealed as family yet. Some need baptisms, some need initiatories and some just need the endowment. Then Brett & I can take them & seal them all together forever. I'm so excited!

Liberty was able to baptize the rest of the girls & I did some Initiatory work for several of the women. 

 What a special day to be with Liberty in the Temple!

I made Liberty's day by taking her to Barnes & Noble. She LOVES books! We bought some books and ate some lunch at their Cafe. Good times!

Football Season 2016

Justice played a good season of football. This was his last year of Small Fry football- kind of bitter sweet. He played for the MT City Grill team with Steve Thennis as his coach.

Here's the team when we took our own pictures:

And the 2016 Team roster:

He played a little Offense.

But mostly Defense:

One awesome story to remember-
On his last game they were losing so the coaches rotated every one in to get a chance to play one more time. Justice played some defense and got an awesome tackle. Then they put him in on Offense. Guess who scored the only touchdown for his team???? Yep. That's my boy!!! Way to go kid!

Driving to Seminary

Early morning Seminary is such a sacrifice! We are so proud of Liberty getting up & going each morning. She's been getting a lot of her nighttime driving hours in. This is me taking a picture of Liberty driving to pick up the Fifes for Seminary this morning. LOL {We are swapping weeks with the Fifes so we only have to drive them in every other week. It's been a life saver!}

Justice's Fieldtrip to Yellowstone

Montana City School took all their 8th graders to Yellowstone National Park today for a fieldtrip. Pretty awesome! Justice got to visit Mammoth Hot Springs, the Horace M. Albright Visitor Center and see some wildlife. AND he took pictures!!! What a good boy! He makes his Mama proud! ;)

From Mr. O'Connell- "It has been a goal of mine for a couple years now to get our students to Yellowstone in order to study various aspects of the ecosystem there as well as the workings and impacts of a national park on the people, land and economy of our region. I would love to make that trip happen this year with our 8th grade students. Hopefully, the trip would grow into an annual event and the learning benefits that come from such a trip would evolve each year."

Garden 2016

I never shared much about our garden but we had one. It turned out pretty awesome too! Especially for thinking we'd just slap some wood borders down on the side of the house with some plants and see what happened. AND we didn't get it in until July sometime. Oops! But Brett had us build boxes, fill them with a dump truck of real dirt, added a watering system and we grew a pretty amazing garden. We sprayed it with Deer repellent most of the year and it seemed to keep them away. Once a few rains came through though and washed it away- they thought it was free game. Grrrr!
Here's a few shots of our 2016 Garden:

Here's kids picking corn

Here's a little of our Harvest before we got an early frost that ended our gardening days for this year.

Justice tried to grow pumpkins but the stinky deer ate them right off the vines. Dang it!!!

Mardi Gras Murder Mystery Date

We were invited to a Murder Mystery Date tonight at the Seedalls. We got to dress up and act and eat AMAZING food and visit and try to figure out who murdered Pierre DuPre. What a night to remember!

I played the part of Connika Gothica- a famous, eccentric, billionaire author that was the next door neighbor to the dead guy. Brett went as J. Stephen Peek-  The DuPre family attorney & Pierre's closet friend & confidant. We were able to meet Alexis (Heidi) - the snotty southern belle daughter of Pierre & her fiance Gator (Kyle). There was Melissa F. DuPre (Hailey), the tacky slut from Vegas that married Pierre just a few months ago. A poor, jazz musician from the French quarter, Bourbon DuPre (Nick) was an illegitimate nephew of Pierre. Oh yaaaah! Then there was the staff- Elise St. Gresch (Davina) - a pretty french girl that has worked as the maid for years and happens to find out she is Pierre's daughter. And last but not least- Cayenne Pepper (Nate) the DuPre family chef and an aspiring TV star. He kept the night smokin' HOT! ;)

We set a timer on my cell phone so we could get a group shot. We look awesome!!

Cheyenne is one crazy, hot chef! ;)

P.S. This is the pie we had for dessert. Oh my heavens! Does Davina know how to do perfection or what???

Bryn- B. R. Y. N.

This cute new family moved into our Ward. Their oldest daughter happens to be in Glory's class at school & at Church. We were able to take Glory & the Schanz girls to Bryn's baptism today. Bryn is always smiley & always introduces herself by spelling her name for you. It's super cute!

After the Baptism- Primary friends!

Backyard Campout

Brett is serving as the Scout Master in our Ward. He had the boys over to campout in our backyard so they could mark off a bunch of their requirements. I didn't go out and take any pictures when they were awake but here's all their tents set up before they all got up in the  morning.

Muffins with Moms

My last Muffins with Moms with my son. {Sad face!} So glad to be able to be with my kiddos though. They walked me back to my car & held my hand the whole way. How sweet is that?

Daycare Central

It doesn't really seem like it but when I actually look back at pictures, I realize we have kids over to our house A LOT!!! My kids love having people over & it helps out friends so I guess you'd say- it's a Win*Win situation. I need to remember to cherish these times because before you know it- I'll be an old foggie and no one will want me to watch their kids, right? Here's some of our cute visitors:

Making cookie with Schanz girls

Tissue Paper Flowers with the Gengers

Special Restaurant Lunch with Atticus 

(Sampson's been over quite a bit as well but I guess I haven't taken pics)

We got to adopt Baby Brody for a couple days. My kids are in LOVE with him!!!! 

He was such a good baby!

We've also had over the neighbor kids a bunch of times. Guess I can't take a picture everyday!

 (Don't laugh- I really don't take pictures every day even if it looks like it! LOL)

Dad joins Karate

Dad signed up to do Karate with the older kids. It's gonna be fun times!

Walk to School Day

Even though it was raining, the kids braved the Walk to School Day with their Fife friends. Once again, it's bitter sweet as Justice participates for the last time. Man! Why does he have to be going to High School next year! ;)