We really did have a great time with Greyson here, I didn't post all that much, because we were having fun!. The first weekend he was here, we went to Loggin' Creek to camp and had a great time even with the rain. I took the kids up Thursday night and Ryan joined us Friday night.I didn't get pictures, but the high-light definitely was climbing the mountain that was straight up. The boys climbed it about four times, and I went up it with the girls twice before Ryan got there. I had Emma on my back and was hanging onto Mara's hands with her walking right in front of me. We had to slide on our bottoms all the way down. It was pretty fun.

The next weekend was the father's and son's campout and Ryan's parents came up. Ryan took the boys (5) and his father and off they went leaving LaVone and me with just the girls. We went to dinner and watched "confessions of a shop-a-holic" It was really fun. The boys had a great time as well. They got home saturday and that night we headed to the Lewis and Clark Festival.

The interperative center was free on saturday, so we went in and the kids had a great time playing with the furs and costumes.

Max was posing and Sam was trying to eat him with a animal skeleton.

Mara trying on the outerwear of the era!

Noah sporting a wolf skin-yuck!

Emma petting the wolf with Caleb's help

Just as we were leaving, Emma climbed up on the bear skin and layed her cheek on the softness. She was so stinking cute. she just stayed there for quite a while. They had a great time and I think that Scott and his brother Paul and Ryan's parents had a great time as well. Later that night Paul brought out his knives that he makes out of antlers and obsidian, and the boys were facinated for about two hours while he talked to them about how he makes arrow heads out of the rock and carves the antlers and makes the leather. It was great fun! Thanks all for the great time.

Puppy Love!

Ryan and I were turning in for the night and went to check on the pups.

This is how we found them.Three grouped together,
Two on top of each other,

One laying on the edge...How stinkin' cute is that

Just after this picture was taken the sweet little thing rolled right off it,

It was so funny.

Caleb has offered to give me all his money if he can keep this one (above).

It's hard to explain to a child that no amount of money can purchase sanity and that if we kept one, my sanity would be lost. I simply cannot do a puppy again. I just got out of the puppy stage, and refuse to enter it again.

The problem is that Caleb has these gorgeous brown eyes that seem to melt me...hold strong, I must hold strong!

Oh to Play...

...with Isaac was all Caleb wanted to do! Luckily we were able to.

Caleb and Max got to go down to "The Ranches" and play at the Beckman's. They were in heaven and since returning home I have heard more than once..."why did we have to move?"
Sigh...it was so nice to have such great friends to live so close to, but June 15th was our official two year anniversary for living in Montana. Ryan said when we moved here we needed to give it two years. The vote was taken and the verdict is in...We love it here, have met really great people, and will stay, even though we really miss friends and family.

While in Utah we also got to play with cousins that my kids are lucky enough to call their best friends...I of course left the camera and didn't get pics, but thanks Arkoudas' Erickson's and Rees' for the great time at Wade and Cherish's and at the bounce house.

Love Those Ladies!

Since I was in Utah...I had to go to Park City!

(Gymboree had way too much cute stuff) I was lucky enough to have my dearest friends accompany me!

I love these ladies! They are great inspirations for me, and I love being with them!

They totally make me giggle inside and laugh outloud! I really miss them and hope they soon get the memo that they need to move to Montana!

I could never ask for better friends! I hope that they know just how much I treasure their friendship and can't wait for the day when I can just twinkle myself to be with them.

We ate at my favorite Mexican Resturant Baja Cantina! Love "The Hoist" burrito, ate the whole thing. The waiter was hilarious in that he obviously was new and had no idea how to get a good tip. He kept saying..."we charge for that" about everything...lettuce, sourcream, the complimentary chips and salsa that they always set out... We kept waiting for him to charge for the water as well...What a nut!

I am so grateful to Addy for tending my chillins so that I could go!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

I had to go to Utah for a conference for school, and we were lucky enough to be there during the open house for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I had not brough church clothes, but with help from Greyson, the boys didn' t look too bad.

I was so grateful to be there and be able to take my kids through. It was so beautiful. My favorite part was going through the brides room and telling Mara that this is where she would get to come to be a princess on her wedding day! She was so excited. What princess doesn't want to get married in a castle?

Caleb, Porter, Mara, Max

Walking into the tent. Cami and Chloe, Porter, Grey and My mom and dad came as well.

I took a pic of my mom holding Emma and taking a pic of us. :)

Love those little kids in front of the fountain.

So glad we got to go there and feel a little of peace here on earth.

Six Kids...Six puppies!

So it has been a crazy birthing adventure for me lately. My mom left on Wednesday night to go home and Thursday I attended two births. Friday the kids got out of school and we went to Dairy Queen for Blizzards like the rest of Great Falls. Seriously everyone had the same idea. We quickly ate and raced home for a waterfight with the Giles and the Cranes! It was tons of fun. In the midst of the water fight Miya was acting really strange...I knew it was go time. I got her a bed already and Ryan and I headed off to have dinner with friends. We were almost there when I got a call that two more ladies were headed into the Birth Center. There was already one lady there, so two birth rooms + three ladies = a lot of shuffling! Luckily it all worked out really well and everyone was healthy and happy and Ryan was at home birthing puppies! HEHEHE! five of them. And from the looks of them, the mystery black and white border collie is the father, not the german shephard across the street. I got home at 2:00am and checked her and her cute five puppies were doing well. Then in the morning before I had to go back I checked on her again and five turned to six. Who knew?

They look like little rats, cute but ratty. Mara stayed up with Ryan the whole time and kept saying "Daddy...another one" in her high pitched squeal. Sam made it for most of them, but finally gave in and went to bed. So summer has arrived and I now have six kids and six puppies to keep track of.

Really, Does anyone want or need a cute puppy that comes from a great mom?

Family Home Evening Doughnuts!

So Caleb has my mom wrapped right around his little finger. On Saturday he wanted pancakes, Sunday he wanted crepes, Monday he had his heart set on doughnuts. They are so messy and take so long, but she graciously jumped at his command. They were so good, and it really was fun to make them. We made plain, maple and cream filled (my fav) when I was a kid we used to take our little wagon full of doughnuts around the neighborhood and sell them. That's how we bought Lagoon passes and how I got point shoes for ballet. It's a really fun memory, and the kids are always begging me to let them sell doughnuts...the problem...I've never made them by myself.
This batch was delicious! and Emma would not stay off the counter. I would take her off and she would crawl right back on.

Caleb helped most of the time, but I didn't get a picture of him helping. We took them to the neighbors. (my real intent of taking them across the street was to find out if their dog was the one who got Miya pregnant? It's either their german shephard or a little black and white border collie that I have seen once.)

Looks good enough to eat!

So they put Ryan in the bishopric two weeks ago, our first and second counselor are moving, so they restructured. Ryan is the first counselor. We got to go to Canada to the Cardston Temple with the youth for baptisms on Saturday. (My mom was here so we left the kids with her) We had the greatest time riding with the Bishop and his sweet wife. We talked the whole way and totally enjoyed ourselves. Then we got to the border...
The whole passport thing that they are hyping up goes into effect June 1st. We will probably not get passports since $90 X 8 of us =Cha Ching! I really wanted to take the kids to Canada before they got so dang feisty about letting us back in. It's the USA that is being the sticklers, not Canada, so you can get in...but you may not get back...that's what they want you to believe. When we went through the border the patrol officer was on a major power play. He took our birth certificates and drivers licences and preceded to inform us that we needed to have a passport. In all actuality, it was still May 30, and we didn't need a passport until the next day. When he got done pulling his "I have power" attitude, he had to let us through but not before he told us that if we went to Canada without a passport, we would have to go into the lobby of the border and wait for hours before we were allowed back in. I am so bad, but the only thing his power trip did for me was make me determined to not buy passports, go to Canada with all six of my kids and just see how much they would like me in their little tiny lobby for hours singing , playing cards and being as obnoxious as we possibly could. I really get irritated when people tell me what I can and can't do. When it comes right down to it, I am a US citizen and they have to let me back in. Even the macho man at the border admitted that. URGGHH! I am really trying to work on that great weakness that I have.

Ultimate Temptation

We had to clean out the chicks box since it stunk to high heaven,

We put them out on the lawn while attempting to scour their lair.

What dog could resist cute little baby chicks?

Miya tried so hard to keep them all in one little area. She was herding them all back into place.

They weren't scared of her...what do they know they are only two weeks old.

She never tried to eat them though...I was impressed.

We have just discovered that our dog is pregnant. Great!!! I mean that sarcastically, not in an I am excited about it kind of way.

The great thing about it is that since she has become pregnant, she has totally mellowed out and I really can say that I like her now. She just follows the kids around and is very protective of them. She doesn't jump the fence, or wander, or jump up on us. I love it.

PUPPIES ANYONE?

Love this pic of Noah trying to contain all the chicks.

Memorial Day 2009

We had rain on Memorial Day, but we didn't let that stop us. We went back to Giant Springs Park for a BBQ. Emma was so excited about it...Mara, asleep.

I love that toothy grin!

Love that man, even if he likes to pose for the camera.

Cooking Hotdogs and Marshmellows over the single burner propane stove for ten kids and four adults. Luckily we could cook four at a time. Sam was so good to cook the hotdogs for all the kids while we were cutting watermelon and getting salads set out. I might just say here that we had a hotdog roast on Saturday night with friends and then ate the leftovers on

Sunday. Then Monday had them again. We weren't really wanting hotdogs, to say the least, but it got worse the next night (Tuesday) when we went to scouts and guess what...Hotdogs again. No one could stomach them. Even Emma was like enough already.

Eating!

Rock Climbing!

Trevor taking the little kids Fishing!
Max thought it was the greatest thing ever. All the gooslings were out.
So stinking cute.

Playing in the water and swatting mosquitos... they weren't too bad!

Emma having to be independent and walk herself!

Dad's turn!

While the little kids were fishing with Trevor we decided to go on a short hike.

We passed a teenager who was looking for a lost kid. How horrible to lose a kid there, by the water, by the road, strangers, tons of trails...We got back to our kids and Mara had wandered away from Trevor to find me, she was up by our stuff just crying, unitl a man (uggh!) brought her to Trevor to ask if she belonged to him. I felt like the worlds crappiest mother ever. It makes me cringe to even think about it as I write it.