Happy Birthday Little Man!

Our Little Man turned the big 2.0 on Sunday. Hard to imagine our life without him. He was lucky enough to get TWO birthday cakes! These are from Sundays little celebration.

Friday Photo Flashback ~ 16 years ago today

16 years ago today, I wrote a letter to my soon to be husband and got ink on my dress and decided no use in worrying, I could jut hide the mark with the flowers.

16 years ago today, I was chauffeured to the one room school house in a white limousine farm truck.

16 years ago I looked at this snowy scene, a little one room school house, and knew it would be the best day of my life.

16 years ago I was a bundle of nerves and my dad was ready to walk me down the isle.

16 years ago I looked at this man as he put a ring on my finger and was amazed at how much love I felt in my heart.

16 years ago we heard the words “You may now kiss your bride”.

16 years ago Farmer toasted “to health, happiness, and a whole passel of kids!”

16 years ago some anonymous friends or relatives had too much fun with our truck.

Looking back at 16 years ago………..

I can say I made the best decision I would ever make.

Happy Anniversary to my love, my best friend, my husband, the person who makes me laugh, the person who gives me a shoulder to cry on, the person who always makes me smile, the person who completes me.

Happy Anniversary to the man I loved 16 years ago.

Happy Anniversary to the man I will love for the rest of my life.

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I couldn't be happier, my husband, my best friend is home! Yeah! I asked our middle son to take this for us so we were getting down to his level.

Did I say I was happy? I am!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Have a very wonderful day with your loved ones!

A little bit of everything

When I look into his eyes I see so many things.   Curiosity.  Joy.  Love.  Wonder.  Amazement.   Sneakiness.  Playfulness.  Orneriness.  Sweetness.  Strength. Softness.  Inquisitive.  

I’m thankful for this little guy!

Midnight

So.... I started a book just the other day. The only problem I have is with the title of the book.

I think it should be renamed "Midnight" because that's how late I have been staying up to read it!

When I grow up…

I want to be just like my brothers!

Friday Photo Flashback ~ Before the wedding

Our wedding anniversary is in one week, what a perfect way to remember with a flashback to 16 years ago. Walking in the door to my moms house after driving from NE Montana to the Bitterroot Valley in Western MT where my mom lived.

Typical us!

The rehearsal. This is inside an old restored one room schoolhouse! That’s Lineman’s uncle Randy, AKA Farmer, who was the best man. My brother in the back was filling in for the Justice of the Peace and my grandma is on the right filling in for my maid of honor.

Just a little pic from the actual wedding day. Getting ready with my friend, Willow, who was my maid of honor. Doing the happy dance.

Wedding pics coming next Friday!

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This was in the locker room right after the boys first hockey game. That rink is so incredibly cold and yet these kids come out of there dripping sweat! And what is with my oldest up to? I guess he is getting too cool already.

********************52 Weeks********************
52 Weeks is a year long challenge for YOU to be in a picture once a week for 52 weeks. We are always the ones behind the camera, this is YOUR chance to get out in front and be in the pictures with our family. We are glad you are joining this challenge. More importantly your family will really enjoy having you in the picture. Thanks for playing along! Oh, you can just jump in now with 1 of 52, you're not getting off that easy! Now go take a picture!

Sibling Rivalry

Grab your coat, hat and gloves. The ice is frozen and it’s about to get chilly in here.  Hockey is in full swing and we are all loving it.  Both older boys are on the same U-8 team and they had their first game Saturday.  They play inter-squad games until we travel to other towns to compete.  For the first game brothers were on opposite teams!

That is the oldest there in the front with the black jersey and white helmet.  His little brother is bound to get to him, he’s in the red jersey with red helmet. 

Uh oh, looks like the confrontation is on…..

  Yup!   I’m not sure it was the actual plan to take out his brother though.

Going solo, he did score twice too!

But, this wasn’t one of those times!  Don’t worry, these guys have so much padding on that injuries are not too common.  Yet.

Deja Vu or what?   After talking to each of the boys after the game it was clear they were out to get the puck from each other.

This one absolutely cracks me up.  

It’s an incredible fun sport, more fun than I had even anticipated.

Technology… It’s a good thing

First off, sorry for not making the rounds lately.  Sometimes I can get a bit overwhelmed here and need to find something I can take a temporary break from.  Hope you understand.

So, technology.  Is it good?  Is it bad?  A little of both?

I have found one benefit for our family.  With Lineman working at a substation or line he can be gone for stretches of time.  Phones are great and believe you me, he and I talk about a hundred times a day… not much of an exaggeration there, trust me.  The kids talk to him here and there, but now we have this……. Skype!  The boys, all of them, get a kick out of it.  They get on there and start making armpit noises, burps, silly faces  chatting away about their day.

Then they show art work, talk about sports, or talk about nothing.

Then as shower time comes each boy gets one on one time with dad.  Little Man usually drives his trucks over the keyboard and loses the connection points to different body parts or tells what different animals say. 

I don’t usually Skype with Lineman that much, seeing as how we talk a hundred times a day.

Oh, gotta run!  My phone is ringing, guess who’s calling?!

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Little Man and I headed to a local park for some fresh air. I set the camera on a stump and set the self timer for these pics. He had a blast in the big dry leaves. He wasn't too happy with me when I dragged him home for naptime.

********************52 Weeks********************

52 Weeks is a year long challenge for YOU to be in a picture once a week for 52 weeks. We are always the ones behind the camera, this is YOUR chance to get out in front and be in the pictures with our family. We are glad you are joining this challenge. More importantly your family will really enjoy having you in the picture. Thanks for playing along! Oh, you can just jump in now with 1 of 52, you're not getting off that easy! Now go take a picture!

The Hike

Saturday my oldest boy went pheasant hunting with a buddy.  Wow he’s growing up.  Well, this really put out my middle son, he wanted to go hunting so badly.  I told him to jump in the truck and we would go for a drive.

We hit some dirt roads and I found a place to take the kids for a hike.  It was cold and windy.  Windy like Cheyenne windy, almost.  We put some coats on and hiked anyway.  You can see my boys ditching me quickly.

It got fairly steep in a few spots.  I had to help Little Man so he didn’t roll back down the trail.

First one to the top…. doesn’t surprise me.

The view.  It was pretty but…… it would have been nicer if it wasn’t so cold and windy.  We only lasted a very short time up there.      Hard to see it but the moon is still out.  I should have shot some panorama pictures to give you an idea of this Big Sky Country.   Or better yet, come for a hike with me next time!

My Little Man

I went to the park the other day with my Little Man. We played chase, went down the slide a bajillion times and played hide and seek. I managed to take a few pictures. These are just some of my favorites.

He's still sporting that Wyoming Cowboys hat. It's who he is.

Deciduous

I like a nice evergreen. The wonderful scents, the sound of breeze through a pine needle. Having color all year round. A mountain covered in pines.

But deciduous trees certainly have many positives about them. Watching the buds bulge in the spring giving us hope that winter is waning. The wonderful shade they provide all summer. The fall color they may treat us to.

And then there is this……

An instant fall time playground.

Phew, and I’m absolutely exhausted after all that raking.

Okay, I kid. I only added about 4-5 truck loads to this enormous leaf pile. Our little town has a drop off for leaves and such, there was probably a half acre of leaves there. All of the boys had a blast playing in them.

I even jumped in too. When’s the last time you jumped in a pile of leaves?