Firsts

Well once again--another year has come!! Now to add to the bunch--is our newest member of Elementary school--Charly Jones has started Kindergarten!! Crazy!! My little girl is 5 and ready for her new adventure--in which she has been anxiously awaiting for quite some time now!! There have been many days watching her brothers walk out the door to the bus stop very envious!! She always dreamed of riding on the bus and going to the "big" school!! Well the time is here, my sweet chunky baby is not a baby anymore!! So sad!! But so exciting at the same time!! She is only gone every morning-so we still get her home in the afternoons--Brigg is especially glad to have a buddy around the house--he gets pretty bored of just Mom!!

Off to school to meet their teachers!!

Poor Brigg has no idea of what's about to happen--he's going to lose all his friends!!

Brigg and Charly have become best friends and worst enemies!! Yikes! These 2 are something else. You'd think that Brigg is the older brother the way that Charly will scream running away from him. He's quite the feisty little thing. He's got a real struggle with hitting all the time--especially Charly for some reason--she's actually starting to get a complex that he doesn't like her because he's either hitting her or pulling her hair or pinching her. I think a lot of the problem is she doesn't know how to handle it and gives him a pretty good reaction to just keep on doing it--pretty funny to watch my 5 year old in fear of her 1 year old brother!! In a way, she's probably happy to get away from her mean little brother for a while. They both seem to forget about it when we go to pick her up though. Brigg calls her "coco" ( a nickname that her cousin Gabbie gave her a long time ago--that's a little easier to say than Charly). He's always calling for her as we drive to pick her up and as soon as we get home he gives her the biggest hug!! It's the same with the boys--as soon as he hears them walk in the door he yells there names--"Deek" for Drake and for the longest time he called Wesley "Deek" too, because he couldn't say Wesley. He now calls Wesley "weh-see" . Wesley couldn't be more happy that he can finally say his name!! We have been practicing a lot with him to say Wesley!! It has been really fun for Me to be home with just Brigg for a while--I've really got to enjoy my little baby for once in a long time!! It's a little different to only have 1 child at home!! Kind of a nice change--even though we do miss them at school!!

So bittersweet

Charly with her new teacher--Mrs. Favero

Wesley getting his 'stuff" all organized for the first day! He has Mrs. Gardner. Drake has Mrs Burke. They all really love there teachers, I think they will all have a great year!! We spent a little too much time in Wesley's classroom for some reason, so Drake was late to his class and we didn't get any pictures. You think one of these days we'd figure this out!!

Off to the bus stop for Charly's first time!! So exciting!

waiting.... and waiting...

almost there--she just looks to little to get on that thing!!

BYE Charly!!

And she's off...

another one bites the dust!

Happy 30th!!!

September of 2011 was a big deal for my sister, Sarah!! It was the big 3-0 !! Oh how we love that birthday! There's just something about saying good-bye to the 20's! I know people say that 30's are the new 20's, so that's what we tried to tell her!! She looks like she's 20, so it really doesn't even matter to her! All of my 4 sisters except for Melinda, flew out to Helena, Montana to go be with our youngest sister as she jumped into a new era of her life--the 30's. She got a job transfer there about a year ago, and has always wanted her family to come see where she lives. She found the cutest condo, and really got to love it there!! Believe it or not, Helena is actually a beautiful little city! She took us on a tour and this was one of our stops--the Capital!

One day she met us for lunch because she was working.

She works right by this happenin little street with fun shops and restaurants.

We definitely did our share of eating, but what more fun can you have than enjoying each other's company while savoring a delicious meal!

Carrie, Sarah, me, Mom, and Holly(We missed you Melinda!)

These are just a bunch of pictures with each of us with our Mom! We have the best Mom ever! Isn't she Pretty!!

So this "kissy face" pic is a little tradition with my sister, Sarah and I (I don't know why?). And just recently it's been Carrie's tradition to get in on the fun and sneak in the background without telling!! We just had to laugh at these ones! LOVELY!

After a big meal, we had to find something to work it all off! We were stuffed!! We got a little crazy as you can see--but we were in Heaven--having tons of fun together! People were wondering if we had a little too much to drink--haha!!

these 3 were posing for the action setting on my camera....gotta love 'em!

Here we are trying to get some action photos-we couldn't stop laughing it was so silly! I guess that's what happens when a bunch of crazy drunks get together!! Love it!!

Still working on our timing

Here's to our fresh Tat-Toes!! Check 'em out at tat-toes.com

They are awesome! They stay on so great and they're so much fun!!

As kind of a surprise to us sisters, we did manage to get outside almost everyday and do something outdoorsy!! You definitely have plenty of things outdoors to do here in Helena! One day we walked down to this Lake and went running around it a few times, we hiked up to Mt. Helena, went paddle boarding and kayaking, and walked around the fun streets with shops and restaurants. This was on our way up to Mt. Helena! My Mom has a horrible knee, so she was so sweet and sat and waited for us with her chair and her book until we got back. It ended up being quite a "straight up" hike, so it took us a little longer than we thought, so by the time we got back it was getting pretty dark. And there my Mom was just sitting in her car reading a book! So Patient!

Oh how I love my sisters--and MOM!!! I could have stayed a whole other week! We had so much fun together like we always do--There's just something about sisters!! One day Sarah had to work, so we stayed in our pajamas til 1:00 in the afternoon just watching Anne of Green Gables! Oh boy is that a long series, but after watching it again, you realize what a great classic that is--especially when you watch it with a bunch of emotional girls--lots of crying going on(not from me of course-haha)!! We had tons of fun and of course it always goes by way too fast!! But even when we have to go home--we still have something else to look forward to--our FAMILIES!!! My kids were so cute, I got home to such a beautiful Welcome Home poster hanging on my garage--so special!!! They were all so excited to show me their creation! BEAUTIFUL!! It was good to be home!!

Happy Birthday Sarah--Hope we made it a little easier for you to be 30!!

Sure LOVE YOU!!

17 months

Random pics...

14ER

So Mike had this fabulous idea to take the boys on a fourteener this summer-very ambitious I thought! Seriously--my boys haven't been on too many hikes at all, especially not a fourteener. They decided on Mt. Bierstadt, which was supposedly one of the easier fourteeners(if there even is such a thing?) I personally was a little worried that it would be too hard, but sure enough, they never cease to amaze me! Our good friend's the Lyons' also went a long with them, it was Bill and his 3 boys-- Billy, Easton and Andrew. They left very early Saturday morning and sure enough made it back home early that afternoon. I was so proud of my boys, they had some pretty tough parts of the hike that they had to keep on truckin, but they still stayed strong and kept on going.

All the boys...not knowing what they're in for...(still all smiles)

And here they are on the top--what an awesome view!!

Here's to 2011--the starting of (maybe) a new tradition!

Way to go boys!!!

Visitors

On the way home from UT, my sweet Sister, Carrie, and her 4 kids drove back to CO with us! They stayed and hung out for a few days! Her husband, Matt flew out later and we all spent a day at waterworld! Sure wish I had some of my fam in CO--

I love my sisters!!

Emmett and Brigg--all ready for church!

So Handsome!

Carrie and I both have 3 boys and 1 girl--

So here's the troops!

her daughter Maddie and Cousin Harmony