Birthday

My birthday this year landed on a Saturday- I love it when its on a weekend! We decided to leave town and go to Helena. It is our state capitol so we better check it out:) Friday night we went to a baseball game, the Helena Brewers. It was a lot more fun than I was expecting and Chase thought it was the coolest! He got his baseball signed by the Brewers coach who used to play for the L.A. Dodgers!

 Saturday morning we swam in the hotel pool...

 Visited the capitol building. It was so beautiful inside.

And we found a children's museum where we went for the rest of the afternoon. It was a great birthday and fun to spend it with my little family. Steve always makes it a fun day for me!

Sod and a Waterslide

We bought our house brand new but we were on our own for the landscaping. Luckily a guy in our ward has a landscaping business so he put us on his list-which was a 2 month wait! It was finally our turn the end of July/beg of August to get our yard done. It took them about a week and it looks lovely! They did it all-sprinklers, putting the rock around the house/flowerbeds, planted the plants and trees, sod and put in our patio in the back. I couldn't stop looking at my beautiful grass once it was done!

I was going crazy without the kids really being able to play in our yard!

The day they were laying the sod for our yard we were invited to ward members house to play and they had a giant waterslide! It was awesome- I wish I would have put my swimsuit on!

A visit from Grandparents

The week after the Runhaar's were here Grandma, Grandpa and Andrea came to visit for a few days! The first day they were here we went to Butte. Butte is a mining town and they have an old mining town museum replica that you can wander around. We missed the mine tour but we still had fun exploring and wandering the museum. They had these huge trucks and the boys thought they were the coolest thing!

 

 The second day we took them up to Palisade Falls and the reservoir. It doesn't matter that we had just been their the week before, we all still loved it!

The third day before they left to go back home was the Bozeman Parade to celebrate the Sweet Pea Festival that had been going on all week( maybe next year we'll go to the festival, I didn't know about it until that week:) It was a great morning for a parade although the kids think they needed more candy!

So glad that Grandma, Grandpa and Andrea could come visit!

Runhaars Come to Visit

We got home from our Utah trip and two days later the Runhaar's came to visit us! We were so excited to have them come. They came on Tuesday and Wednesday we took them to the Lewis and Clark caves. After the caves we explored a nearby town called Ennis and wandered the shops and had dinner.

 Thursday we took them to the pond because we love the pond.

 And that afternoon we went to a Children's Museum. We hadn't been their before so we didn't know what to expect. Chase and Caleb had the most fun but I think everyone had a good time- but I don't think we'll be making regular visits.
They had this huge bubble builder and the kids couldn't get enough of it trying to make big bubbles.

 Friday we went on a hike to Palisade Falls. It was the perfect hike- not hard and short!

 The kids loved climbing over all of the rocks and getting close to the waterfall. So beautiful.

 After the falls we spent the rest of the afternoon at Hyalite Reservoir with the kids playing in the water!

Friday night Chris and I even snuck out for the evening and went out to eat and wandered Bozeman main street shops. It was so fun and such a fast week, we're so glad they came!!

Utah Summer Adventure

In July Steve was gone for work a lot so I took the kids to Utah for 10 days!  We left on a Thurs and came home the next Sunday. We were busy every single day seeing family and friends and we couldn't have been more excited. 

Our first stop was at Grandma J's to pick up some things for Steve. David and Sharon had been busy for 6 weeks getting the house cleaned out and ready to sell. It was so weird going into an empty house and for the last time. The kids though thoroughly enjoyed all of the room to run around and wrestle and not have to worry about breaking or running into anything! They were throwing a roll of paper towels around with Uncle David and thought it was the best!

 Friday was a baby shower for Steff- Lauren's was Saturday and my kids are so excited to have cousins on my side of the family!

 My sweet Grandpa of 95 years passed away July 12 so I was so blessed to be able to already be in Utah so that I could go to his funeral that Saturday (the 16). My Grandpa was an amazing man who loved the Lord and his family. He was a hard worker and I've been so blessed with amazing grandparents. It was so good seeing my extended family who, for the most part I haven't seen in quite a long time.

The same afternoon as my Grandpa's funeral was the get together with my girlfriends that we do every summer. Thanks to Misha for taking my kids during the day while I went to the funeral. I was afraid that I would miss seeing everyone but they were still their (minus April) and I got to spend the evening with them! The kids had a blast all day playing in the water.

Monday we spent with the Runhaar's (sorry no pics) playing and just hanging out. 

Monday night for FHE we all went swimming- even Grandpa got in the water and even went down the water slide! It was so fun swimming and hanging out with the fam. Caleb went down the water slide too for the first time and  thought it was so fun. Chase could have gone down the water slide with Uncle Jared the whole night!

 Tuesday we made a quick stop to see the other grandparents- they're good:)

 And then we spent the rest of Tues afternoon playing with Misha and Kira.

 Makenna and Kira got a little crazy with the hair chalk and Chase came downstairs looking like a clown!

 So glad we could hang out with Grandma and Grandpa P.

Wednesday morning we packed up and spent the day with the Muhlesteins (again no pics) playing and catching up.
Thursday we spent the day at the splash park with the Orton's, Beynon's and Boes. Its so funny though we go to the splash and they end up spending more time at the playground instead.

That night was a BBQ and a late night for the kids watching a movie. The kids thought it was so cool watching a movie late, together, and in their PJ's. "Best night ever" is what I heard several times!:)

Friday was a little more low key- the kids sold lemonade/treats and just played.

Aren't these two adorable?!

 Saturday we spent with Mark and Steff and then that evening was the 24 of July Neighborhood Party. Since the 24 is not a holiday in Montana we couldn't miss out on another reason to have a party and watch fireworks with our old neighbors!
This is most of the kids all lined up waiting for Dan to shoot off the parachuters- really the most exciting part of the whole evening.

Caleb did much better with these fireworks than he did on the 4 and by the end was watching them and laughing!

 Sunday morning we packed up and headed back home. We had so much fun seeing everyone and wish that we could have stayed longer! I'm pretty proud that I made it all 10 days with the kids by myself!