Free Range Family

Happy Independence Day everyone!  Today I am thankful for everyone in the military who fight to give us our freedom. We have several family members who are in the military. My aunt and my two cousins are active in the Air Force. And of course there's Uncle Cameron, Uncle Tyler and Uncle Aaron who are all in the Army Reserve. Lastly, we have Uncle Chris who was stationed in California for the Navy (where Lon almost went). We are thankful for everyone in the military though! :D I also want to send a super special shout out to my loved ones in Townsend. To the Kimmel family, Welch family and Clarkson family: we miss you guys and love you all so very much! Wish we could be celebrating Independence Day at the beautiful Canyon Ferry Lake as is family tradition. We can't wait to see all of you again (maybe Thanksgiving? Or definitely next Independence Day!). Hope you guys have a safe and fantastic fourth of July! We love you! :) Aunt April, Aunt Natalie, Mary, cousin...

Today is my nephew Connor's second birthday. I remember the day Connor was born like he was my own lol. Lon, Alan and I were about to leave to go to Canyon Ferry Lake for the fourth of July, when I heard that Rachael had delivered him. I made us walk all the way over to the hospital to see him before we left town. Connor is my oldest brother Darren's son. Because they live in the heights, Alan and Connor don't get to see each other all that much. But we love them both so very much!  Happy birthday Connor!

Happy Friday everyone! Tonight I have training for work and tomorrow I have to host a RockWall birthday party but other than that, my family and I plan on enjoying the *hopefully* nice weather! I can't believe that its already June, that is just crazy to me lol! Today is also pay day for me, so hopefully I will be able to get Anna's carseat finally! :) Should be a good day and a great weekend! Wow, I wanna give a big thanks to all of my fellow readers! Even though I have been slacking somewhat with my posting, I have still made it to 25,000 page views this month! I had made it to 24,000 on May 18, only fourteen days ago. That means you wonderful readers have checked my page 1,000 times in two weeks when I have barely even posted anything! Thank you, thank you all so very much! Makes me proud to be a mommy blogger. :D Here is Five Question Friday! I have been slacking a little on this, its been almost two weeks since I have participated! Oh well lol, enjoy! What ...

Thursday, I watched a documentary on PBS called Nature's Child. It was about nature and how it affects and benefits childhood development. Of course being the hippie that I am, I already knew this lol. But it was still a very interesting show to watch and I learned quite a bit from it. In this day and age, most children spend their time indoors either on the computer or at the television. Gradually, less and less children are spending quality time outside. If they do get outside, it is either at school during recess or for an organized sport. While these are also good development teachers, they are not enough. Children need to play outside in their neighborhoods, like we all did as kids. But this is happening less and less. Why is this, you ask? Well there is one theory that I have found to be pretty feasible. Some believe that modern day parents are being conditioned by the media to be afraid to let their children play outside in the neighbor, whether by themselves or with other...

Here's the last installment of American Camping Week. To see the other two, click here and here. Also, be sure to tune in tomorrow for my Month in Review post! Have a great night! :) Via Today started out even earlier with the heat! I swear it was even hotter than yesterday! Happy fourth everyone! We woke up at eight and once again were the first ones up. Aunt Natalie and cousin Lex woke up shortly after us but while we waited for the rest of the family to wake up, we went for a walk down the beach. A lot of the campers and tents were loading up and leaving, so the beach had cleared up quite a bit. It was a nice walk, and it was awesome to step in the water every once and a while when it got hot! :) Then once everyone had woken up, we had breakfast of watermelon, grapes and cantelope. Hanging out with Grandpa Kevin Alan wanted to play with the rocks and sand some more after breakfast, so we put him in his suit and set him out by the shore. I took tons of pictures of him...

Do you think cursive writing is overrated? (Schools in Indiana have now voted to take teaching cursive writing out of their curriculum.) Yes I do and I have always felt this way, even when I was a child learning cursive. I believe that a child should be taught ONE WAY to write words and when they are a little older they can develop their handwriting more. But cursive? Do you know how many adults use cursive for things OTHER than their signature? Like five lol. Via I guess what I am saying is, if you want to teach cursive then you'd better either replace it with printing (which they would never do) or teach several handwriting styles (like calligraphy). That's all I'm trying to say. :P Do you still use a pocket calendar or notepad or do you keep your info on your smart phone? Um, I currently use the old, old fashioned way of keeping everything on a calendar on the wall or in my head. Because I don't have a smart phone lol, or even a stupid phone. :P As of r...

Here's the second installment of my American Camping Week posts! Enjoy! Via The morning started out nice and early with the heat.We woke up around nine (sleeping in a tent will do that to you lol) and as soon as Alan and I got outside, he ran to the lake and started throwing rocks again. Only Great Grandma Mary was awake, so we talked and watched Alan play. One by one everyone else woke up, until only Grandma Melanie and Uncle Kalvin were sleeping. Everyone was hungry so we sent Alan in the camper to wake them up. He proceeded to run back and forth, screaming their names lol. Woke them right up! :) We had a quick breakfast of cantelope and grapes (Yum!) and then we set off hiking, this time into the hills. While walking through the hills, we found the coolest (kinda) house! Its really just the foundation, but when you get close you can see that there's a basement with cellar steps! We explored and figured out which way the front door was, etc. We had a blast! Lon and...

Its American Camping Week! Welcome everyone! :D Lol please enjoy this journal entry I wrote about our first night camping! Via The trip to Canyon Ferry was pretty uneventful, thankfully for us. I'll admit that I was a little nervous about taking Alan on a three and a half hour car ride, but he did great! We left at noon, a little later than originally planned but alright nonetheless. Alan fell asleep before we even hit Laurel lol! Silly boy! He slept all the way to Bozeman. Once we got to Bozeman though, we woke Alan up for lunch at DQ. While waiting for our lunch, I got to watch a grown man (most likely mentally ill) throw a fit at the poor cashier because he didn't have enough money for 3 medium blizzards. Wow. I was actually a little scared at the time too, because the man was really creepy. That teenage girl handled it so well but I still have to say, I'm glad I left Alan in the car with Lon! I was quite unnerved. The last half of the drive was also uneventf...

We just got back into town from our camping trip- it was great, we didn't want to leave lol! Will start my week of camping posts tomorrow, I'm exhausted from the drive. :P I really wanted to stop by to wish everyone a happy fourth of July though! Via Happy birthday America! You may be an old 235 year old, but I think you look gorgeous for your age! :P I hope everyone had a great time with their loved ones, I know we did! You will hear more about that later though of course. :) And last but certainly not least, I want to thank all the men and women who serve our country! Thank you for our freedom! To celebrate, we are watching A Capitol Fourth 2011 on PBS. We got back into to town too late for either fireworks show in town and Alan is still afraid of the loud noises that the fireworks make, so we will just be celebrating this way. :) Alan likes these fireworks better anyways, not as loud. Its cute because he won't stay away from the tv and let us watch it too lol! ...

Found this on Words by Katie's blog and I thought I'd play along this morning. Today is another hot and busy day, I have my Preschool art class today (and art show!) and then I work 2 to 8 in Child Watch. Blaaaah! Last night after Alan went to bed, Lon and I went out on our roof and sat out in the night for a while. :) It was nice, just still really stinking hot! But then it got darker and it cooled down, and it was just perfect! We might do it again tonight, I only hope its not hot tonight like it was last night! This Mama Currently is... Listening... to Alan's squeals of joy as he runs and plays throughout my house. Oh and the two rivaling tvs lol. :) Eating... nothing. Still contemplating what I'm gonna make. Maybe just eggs and toast? We're all out of bacon. Via Drinking... Dr. Pepper. Still trying to keep up with Alan's energy level lol, and I don't drink coffee. Wearing... my Rockin Rudy's t-shirt, bra and undies. Its too hot ou...

Today should be a crazy day, as it always is on Tuesdays lol. :) I have two art classes, two art shows and work in Child Watch today. Ahhh! I hope I can spend all my extra time today outside. Cos its supposed to be 94 degrees today! Ooh baby! Top Ten Activities to do at Canyon Ferry Lake (Or almost any lake or camping area lol) #10 Fourwheeling or Dirtbiking My dad is a member of the Billings Motorcycle Club, and he is a big dirt biker. He owns a fourwheeler, and several dirt bikes of various sizes. Including a mini 50 bike (Alan could "technically" ride it next summer!!! Not sure how I feel about this!) that is the coolest. And normally the one I choose these days. But anyways, we all will go riding around camp and on the trails. Except for Alan. Lon participated last year though, and he is addicted to riding as well! There's something about dirt biking on trails. :) Love it! #9 Fishing Via I love to fish. I believe it is one of the most peaceful t...

I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo endlessly grateful that its almost the weekend. I am so beat from this week, and we have quite the eventful weekend planned. Saturday is Alan's second cousin Sophie's first birthday party and my friend Chelsey's wedding, which Lon and I will be attending toddler-free!! Thanks to Grandma Melanie! Then Sunday is of course Father's Day. :) Alan and I will be treating Lon to a nice hike in Red Lodge. Alan also made Lon a wonderful card. I hope everyone else has a grand weekend as well! And now onto Five Question Friday! What is your favorite summer time activity? Swimming! Alan went swimming without me yesterday (Grandma Melanie and my siblings took him while I was at work) and I was sooo jealous! Lol my favorite thing to do during a hot summer day is just jump in the pool and float. Or logging is fun as well. This is a photo of my favorite place to swim and go logging! Canyon Ferry Lake! Our fourth of July d...