What a Year

I am going to try and get back into the blog, we are always doing such fun things and it is fun to look back at it. There is a lot that has changed sense thanksgiving. For starters we have moved into a house, the kids attend a new school and they are no longer in daycare but instead go to Boys and Girls Club. I am loving living in a house, I haven't missed the apartments once sense we moved out of them. It is great to let the kids play in the back yard, on the slip and slide, in the pool or just with friends. We really lucked out with our next door neighbors, they have a little girl who is the same age as the kids and is in Cody's class. She has made a huge difference with how Cody is in class. The teachers we have seem really good so far. Cody has a guy teacher which I really like for him. Emily's teacher just seems so fun and bubbly, my favorite thing about her is the fact she likes to push the kids a little.
We had a family reunion this year for my Moms side of the family up at West Yellowstone and it was a blast. It was so nice to meet some of my cousins kids and to see cousins I haven't seen in such a long time. I wish the three that couldn't make it could have but I am so glad everyone else made it. I was reminded of when we were kids on Christmas Eve and we would all get together. I think one year we should just stop by and go surprise to Grandma and Grandpa on Christmas Eve. We even got to finally go up and see Old Faithful and Yellowstone Park. We went out on the boat (even if it was still really cold and the snow wasn't very far from us), made lots of smores and laughed.
Dave's sister and brother came out for the 4th of July this year. We went out to the baseball games, up to the caves, and so many other fun things. We spent the 4th of July out at Red Lodge and then headed out to Dave's sister in-laws Mom and Dad's house to watch the big firework display here in Billings. It was such a great time with Nancy, Ken and Mary. It really made me so happy to see that not only did the kids take to them so well but they seemed to take to the kids just as well. It was so sweet how much Cody liked Ken (even more so sense Cody never shows affection to anyone). It was very sad to see them go, but I am looking forward to the next time we can all get together.
This year my sister's family, my brother's family and I all ended up at the fair together. This was the first time that has happened in about 15 years and it was so much fun. I would have loved it more if my kids were home but they were able to go to Tennessee this year and visit there Dad's and his family. We rode so many ride with the kids and then later Sandy and I went back and rode all the big kid rides. I would like to take this time to say I am sorry to Mom and Connie. When we were kids we would make fun of the fact they couldn't ride 20 rides in a row, I now understand why you couldn't do that. A few days later Dave and I went to the fair and we enjoyed all the yummy food and the shows. That was something I have never done and I think from now on we will have to do that once a year. It was so nice to just walk around try this, try that and stop and listen to what was showing at that point. Then on the last night of the fair the kids came home and we went as a family and that was my favorite night of the fair. We rode more rides, ate more food and played games. The kids won three more goldfish, so now they both have fish tanks with goldfish in them.




Last weekend we went up the Read Point and saw the sheep run. If you haven't done that yet I would recommend you go at least once. They had a fun little street fair and then the sheep came running down the street. It was something different to do and the best part was the run was free to watch. We also went camping last weekend finally. Normally we have gone a few times by this point but this year has not been a normal year. I was so glad we went out to the river, Cody got three fish when he went out fishing and Emily dug a ton of holes in the sand. On Sunday night we went out to the drive-in, that is something again if you haven't done you really should. It was the perfect night to be sitting under the stars and watching the movies. The kids rode a few little rides they had there and then we settled into our chairs to watch Whinny the Poo and Spy Kids 4D (well ours wasn't 4D sense we had no 3D but they did get the smell cards).





I wish I would have keep up with the blog better over the year and I will try to again. Unfortunately my computer has died so all of my photos for most of the year are somewhere else so I can't show you the older ones, I can however show you the newest ones I have taken. Over all it has been one of the best years of my life and I am looking forward to all the fun things we already have planned for this year.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, I hope you all had a great day. We went over to my Mom's house for dinner with my brother and his two boys. It was a blast and always we had so much food I think I am still full from dinner. This year I have so much to be thankful starting with Dave and the kids. The kids have been doing so good this year not just in school but in becoming wonderful young adults. They are both liked by everyone, polite and over all happy and healthy kids. I have Dave to thank for some of this. I have been told by teachers how happy they seem this year and I know it is because finally after a long time there home life is full and happy. I to am much happier this year thanks to him. It is amazing to me how much life can change in a year and I am grateful every day it changed for the best. I cant even remember what life was like before he came around and for that to I am thankful. I am also thankful for having such great friends both long term like Amanda and new ones and for my family who are always there for me no matter what. I am truly blessed in every part of my life. On Friday I took the kids out for some black Friday shopping, we didn't get much but it was fun to continue the tradition and included the kids this year. They came in handy when it came to getting in where the cheap DvD's are. Yesterday we put up our Christmas stuff and decorated the tree. The kids did a great job on the tree but judging by the photo we are going to need a taller tree soon.

Vegas

Dave and I went down to Vegas to watch his brother get married. I'm not going to say much about the trip because as we all know what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I will say that the wedding was beautiful and all the people I meet while in Vegas were amazing. His family is so friendly and a lot of fun. The friends of his brothers were all so warm and welcoming it felt like I knew everyone for much longer then the week. The food was very good and most of it was stuff I never could imagine it looking that good. The shows were great, the view's were amazing and over all it was a week I will never forget. Here is some of the pictures I took and they will tell the story. Here is one show I will show you, the water show outside one of the hotels, I cant believe what they can do with something as simple as water.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS1xuiCILbA

October fun

October was once again a very busy month, it seems as the kids get older we have more and more to do. At the start of the month we went to the corn maze with my Mom, Eli, Sandy and her girls,and I am happy to report we didn't lose any children while in the maze. The kids and I have done the corn maze before but I have to say it is so much more fun when we go with a group of people. We started the fun out by playing on the slides and doing some of the games they have to play
and then we headed into the maze

We had made it to the half way spot and the kids were starting to drag, thankfully Grandma knew how to fix this problem and got all the kids tubes of sugar.It was such a great time, I cant wait for next year to do it again. We also took pictures for Christmas cards this month. I am not sure which ones I want to use but here is a sample of a few I got.




It is hard to believe how big the kids are getting before I know it Cody will be taller then me. We did pumpkins before we headed off to Vegas and they came out so cute. This year I had them clean and cut them all by them self. Cody did a wonderful job, even getting a few of the small spots perfect. Emily's pumpkin came out cute, she did all the poking and then cut where she wanted so her pumpkin is a little free handed. Dave also did a great job on his pumpkin adding his own special touches to the pattern he had. I think they all came out great.




Emily had a girlscout Halloween party last week, all the girls in the troop dressed up for the event and they all looked so cute. We played all kinds of games and the girls all looked like they had fun.



Cody had to leave early to head to boyscouts so he missed part of it. He did a play for boyscouts and had a part in it. Dave said he did amazeing job and it was very cute. After that Dave and I headed to Vegas and the kids got to spend the week with Grandma.

So much to say

Wow its been awhile sense I have updated this, so much has been going on its been crazy. In August we went up to Great Falls for the day, its about a three hour drive so it doesn't leave to much time to enjoy the place but it gave us a chance to see my grandparents and a few other family members.
We also stoped by one of the parks I loved as a kid, Giant Springs. I took the kids there when I came up from California one time so it was fun to take them back now that they are bigger. It is such a pretty park I wish Billings would get one like it.

We then went up to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and learned about how they made it across what is now Montana.


We even had a few minutes to stop at the Veterans Wall to pay our respects to all of our men and women who have been in the military.

Of course we had to stop and look at the falls that are around Great Falls, on the way to one of the falls we got to see some wild life.
That weekend we also went to our daycare, they were having a three year anniversary party in the big gym. It was a blast and was even better when we ran into a friend of mine. My kids and her sisters kids played a little and really had a good time.



After words we headed out to Dads for a BBQ and the kids played the good old classic game of splash out.

We were able to make it to the Home Depot activity for August and the kids made book ends for the project, which were just perfect as they are both into reading chapter books now so they fit in book ends much better then the other kinds. The next weekend we went out to the fair and that was a blast like always. The kids rode every big kid ride they could get on and we rode everyone with them. I am so happy that both the kids and Dave enjoy the big rides, it gives me excuse to get on them.

My sister, the four kids and me headed out one night to look around and it was so much fun, reminded me of when I was a kid and we would all go with our cousins. We also made it out camping one more time, this time we headed out by Columbus and went to a nice little camp ground there. The weather was perfect and it was so much fun. Cody got lots of fishing in and Emily got lots of playing in. My sister and her girls even joined us for a bit which was prefect because then Emily had someone to play with that didn't want to go fishing the whole time. It was going to rain one night so we came home early and hit the water slide park up with my sister and her two girls. I haven't been on a water slide in forever but it was a blast. We all had so much fun, we will have to do it again this winter. Last two weekends were full of races. On Sunday we took the kids to the rubber duck races, we didn't win any of the races


but the kids came home with brand new fishing poles.
I'm going to have to learn how to get the fish off a hook so we can take the kids fishing next summer, on second thought I think Dave needs to learn that so I don't have to touch the fish or hook. Then on the next Sunday we took them to the last day of the horse races, this is where we did much better at the winning part. The kids each got to pick a horse in a few races and we placed a bet on them. We ended up coming home with almost everything we took and the kids had a blast. We had dinner last weekend with a bunch of family including my cousins husband who is getting ready to head overseas for a year. I would like to take a moment to thank him for keeping this country safe for his kids and for mine. If it wasn't for the sacrifices the military men and women and there family's make for us I might be able to sit here and wright with such freedom. We went to my sisters little girl Lexi's birthday party a few weekends ago, it is so hard to believe she is already a year old, where does the time go. The kids also started school this month, I cant believe how big they are getting. They are both in second grade already but so far they are likeing it. They had a big change a few weeks into school and put all the second and third graders into 3 mixed classes, I wasn't very happy with it at first but so far it seems to be working. We will see what the kids report cards look like next month to know for sure. Other then that change the kids seem to be doing very well, Cody is doing amazing with his math and his reading and Emily got a teacher that is really pushing her this year. We are going to have a great school year I just know it. In fact the cat has also decided to head to school for some fun. Cody has decided to do boy scouts again this year so we got him all signed up for that and as soon as I get the patches up I will post up his picture with his shirt, Emily is doing girl scouts again and this year she moved up to being a brownie. It is crazy to see how my little babies are growning up to be such sweet and caring people. This weekend we have been out selling cookies for girl scouts and yesterday we went to Saturday Live. Its a fundraiser for the schools and alot of fun, there was tons of games to play and things to do and the best part was the weather was perfect.




We have been lucky to do a lot of simple things the last couple months like hang out with family, go on walks and whatever other random things we have had time to do. Here is the link to my facebook photo book that has all the fun photos of this summer, it was a blast of the summer and I couldn't have asked for something better.