{White Sulpher Springs}

We had to get out of Great Falls...unless you live here, you wouldn't understand the need to just vacate for a while, but believe me it is a need. The ccoped up feeling is real and we were so feeling it. So off we headed to White Sulpher Springs.

I think these two look the most alike of all my kids!
I love how the boys act towards Emma. She certainly is spoiled.

Noodle Noah

What a good looking crew.

White Sulpher Springs is a natural hot springs that they fill a pool up with.

Each night they drain it and clean the pool and then add the water with no chemicals.

It is so warm and your skin feel so soft afterwards. We loved it!

It is only a two-hour drive from our house and in Montana...that's not so far!

This is the mural on the wall. I guess the Indians used to view this hot springs as a place of healing.

I can believe it...but then again I believe a lot of those things...What I wouldn't give to have seen it how it once was.

So many cool wonders of nature. I love it all!

Mara and Emma tried out floatys for the first time and they did really well.

Emma is definately more brave than Mara.

The best part was that it started snowing while we were in the pool.

We would get out and get cold and then jump back in.

Caleb and Max kept going underwater when I was trying to take their pictures!

They are nuts. I love these two active, rambuktious, hooligans!

Bubble blowing!

{Bath Bombs!}

For Mother's day, we made fizzy bath bombs for the grandmas.It was so much fun I thought I would share the recipe with you.

You can add food coloring, but it has to be bathtub safe, and I just didn't mess with it, but it would be really cool with lots of diffrent colors. First you have to have really cute kids that love to do projects and relish in any moment that you spend with them.

Well, I guess that is not a requirement, but it helps a lot to get you motivated

Click here for the recipie http://www.teachsoap.com/bombs.html

The kids loved to mold them. Sometimes they weren't compacted enough, but you just dump them back in and try again.

Even Max and Mara (6 and 4) finally mastered pushing them into the molds hard enough that they stayed compacted.

It was so fun to make and the kids had a blast with them in the bath tub!

Try it, you'll love it!

I was standing at the kitchen sink lamenting the fact that our basement had flooded yet again and the rain was still coming down. Ryan came up to kiss me and Sam was in the kitchen. Ryan said, hey let's see if we can make Sam leave. So he started kissing me. In the middle of his kiss, Ryan said "Sam one day your going to want to mac on a woman like me." Looking really confused Sam said..."did you just say one day I'll mac on a woman like you. Are you saying your a woman..." My day just got 100 times better. I love laughter!!!

Um, oops!

Got to the baseball game and was thrilled that there was a spot right by the field since I had two sleeing girls to carry. I specifically thought I will stay back away from the field so in case there is a foul ball, I won't get hit. After all they are only 6-8 year olds, how hard can they hit a ball? Well, this is how hard. One foul ball and $165 dollars latter, this girl has learned a valuable lesson. Got a love it! Some people, like Ryan, are just naturally smart about things like this, other people like me, get to learn the rock solid way. Just think, I will never need to wonder if it would be alright to park behind home plate. I KNOW now what happens...even if they are just little.

The kid who hit the ball was as small as Max. Who knew!

Happy Farmers!

We finally got all the garden in. We are attempting walls of water around the tomatoes and little white green houses over the pumpkins, squash and melons. It just doesn't stay warm enough for long enough up here, so hopefully it will help.
The girls absolutely love to be in the garden. And the boys love to build tunnels and dams in the rows of water. We literally spent all day; from 8-4 out in the garden. We love it. And it got in just in time for the rain! Now please don't hard freeze.

Garden girlies

Emma is in a stage of wanting to wear "simming soups" , "reotards" and "dance" all day. Today she changed her clothes seven times before lunch. She went from a swimming suit put on backwards so that it looked like a wresting getup, to "dance"(tights, leotard and tutu) to clothes, to swimming suit to ...well you get the idea. She got in her "dance" and wanted me to dance with her. So blastin the radio to "You belong to me" by Taylor Swift, we danced all around. She looked up at me and with her huge blue eyes, said mom "I pretty". then while doing her hair she said "mom, I princess." Oh how I hope she always feels as good about herself as she does right now. I know this is next to impossible, but it truly is a life lesson about how we view ourselves. I realized today that at one point, I probably felt that way about myself, because no one had told me I shouldn't. So to all my girls out there, You are pretty and you are a princess!!! Love you just the way you are!

{Baseball 2010}

We are loving baseball this year! We finally got signed up and it only took us three years to figure it out. Baseball in Montana is intensely competitive, but unlike Utah, we have yet to have parents yelling at coaches. Yeah! I really like the friendliness of Montana. The boys love their coach... Max

Caleb


Duggout!

Caleb up to bat!

Their coach is Ryan. He was lucky enough to get both boys on the same team, so there was no fight about whose team he would coach. He was a little hesitant to coach at first, but has loved it just as much as the boys.

Max up to bat!

The cheerleaders on the sidelines!

We have a lot of fun watching them.

Noah who is pretty much anti-sports, even said..."that looks like fun." Maybe next year we can even get him to play.

{I wake up to...}

This right outside my window and the sun streaming in!
Such a feeling of contentment each morning. Love it! So much so that I have started running outside each morning before the kids wake up.
I usually wake up to this beside me. At some point during the night, she usually finds her way into my bed. I am such a deep sleeper, that I hardly ever know when she comes in until morning, when I wake to her. She is such a joy. We have taken to calling her shadow! She follows someone around all day, and don't even think about leaving the house without her...she finds a way to go with whoever is leaving...we really don't mind though, she is so even tempered and patient and quiet that we usually don't mind her around, in fact we love it.
Love that Mara!

Happy Mother's Day

So I was in the kitchen making pie crusts for my delicious mother's day dessert of strawberry pie, when Mara walked in and quite matter of factly stated that I was not to go look in "Sam's broken room" because "there are flowers hiding in there." Chuckling just slighly, while trying to remain serious I said. "Mara you shouldn't have told me, I like surprises." "Well!" she said without missing a beat. "I said they were flowers, but I didn't say which kind of flowers"
Then later when the kids were getting out of the bath, Emma was supposed to be getting her pajamas, but wanted to wear a leotard instead. Caleb was trying to get her to take pajamas, and as she came to her dad she said in a very distraught voice "Dad, the boy took my reotard(leotard).
Hope your mother's day is as great as that!

{Mara's Dance Recital}

I was so excited to see her dance. Finally after all that waiting through boys soccor and baseball games (that I truly enjoyed) it was time for something girly! I was probably just as excited as she was. She loved her costume. I took her to the waiting area with her class and was so excited to go sit with the family and watch her dance. But she had other ideas. She would not let me leave her sight. I had to wait with her the whole time. Bummer was that if you volunteered to help backstage you got a free DVD of the nights performance. I didn't want to be stuck backstage for her first recital, so I didn't volunteer, then ended up back there the whole time anyway. Oh well, she did great on stage and wasn't shy at all. I was grateful for that!

The Prosser's brought her flowers! They were just as beautiful as she was. Emma loved the whole night and has since said multiple times, "Next year, me Mara's dance too. You see me dance." She loved the costume, and Mara was nice enough to let her try it on afterwards.

Love that grin!

It almost fits Emma the same as on Mara.

Love those girls and can't wait until next year when they both can dance!