Free Range Family

We had a pretty mellow Thanksgiving this year, it was surprisingly wonderful! My parents and siblings all went to Townsend to see family for Thanksgiving, so we spent it with Lon's family and my father's relatives in the Heights. We were hoping to go up to Townsend to see my mother's relatives this year but as that sounded good in the summer, we just didn't have the funds to actually be able to make it happen. With my car breaking down in August, we spent more money then we had originally planned and couldn't afford to save up for a trip. I am sad about it, but hopeful. Lon reminded me that it only meant that we would have to postpone the trip, not cancel it entirely. We can probably save up for it again after Christmas is over and go in the spring, maybe for our anniversary. That would be cool because we would be able to see everyone AND it would kind of be like a "surprise" or "spontaneous" trip for my family. We usually only try to go up to T...

This weekend was quite the crazy one for us. We had two sets of family members surprise us by coming into town, one from Lon's family and one from mine! Uncle Cameron came into town from Seattle and the Glover family came into town from Missoula! It was pretty awesome! We also had Colton's birthday party (but that's for another post)… And we went to the NEW Scheel's! The kids had a blast their and I didn't spend a dime! Yes! :D I failed to get one good picture of Uncle Cameron and the kids, but they had a blast with him over the weekend. We are kinda poor right now lol, so we just stayed at home and watched the new Spiderman and Captain America with Uncle Cameron. And Alan showed him all of his Legos. Anna started saying his name while he was here too! That must've been very cool for Uncle Cameron! :) Ah they loved every minute that he was there! Thanks for coming to visit Uncle Cam! We love you bunches! Have a safe trip back to Washington! Posing with a ...

Next week is a wild week for me. Actually, if you really want to get technical, starting Saturday is just craziness for us… probably not slowing done at all until school starts up in September. Gah! Benton is still in town with us, Natalie has surgery tomorrow and will be heading to town Sunday most likely. Saturday Lon and I have the Train concert to go to, Sunday we will be headed to the fair with Aunt Natalie and Benton. Monday I start Cheer and Dance Camp, Tuesday and Thursday I have my gymnastics class showcases. So crazy! I may not post that much next week because of how busy we are, but stay tuned because I will do my best! As for our vacation, let's catch up on the last two days! Day Four: Enjoying Flathead Lake We were all exhausted from the big celebrations last night, so Sunday we had a calm day. We woke up late, had a breakfast of steak and eggs, and cleaned up camp some. Lon and I decided that we would be leaving that night for Butte, due to the car's problems...

I know, I like never write on the weekends! What has gotten into me??????? Well, for those of you who know me personally know that I only don't write most weekends, because that is my family time. It is the time where all four members of our family are available, so we spend as much time as possible together, doing fun things. I am usually too busy to post during the weekend, I just recap everything from the weekend that following Monday. In fact, the year I started this blog, that was one of my personal rules: No posting on weekends.  But today, I woke up early before the children and I thought I would go online for a bit. Started checking my FB and then my blog and I decided, hey why not post today? If I have something to write, why shouldn't I write? So here I am, typing up a post for today. It will mostly be filled with random thoughts and musings from the weekend. I still want to save my Dirty Dash post for Monday. :) But I have like a billion and two little things I ...

So yesterday was my birthday. Isn't that so cool, that my mom had her first child the day before her birthday? Yeah we always thought so too lol. :P My friend and I at Relay this year, sorry I took no photos of my face on my actual bday lol I didn't do too much crazy things for my birthday, in fact when I told my friends at work my plans, they all teased me and said I sounded like their parents lol. I guess most people don't think 25 year olds want to take their kids to a water park and then go out to dinner with their husband for their birthday, partying and bar-crawling was the typical idea they had. But I am no typical lady. :) I had a good birthday too! I was able to see all of my favorite students at school, they sang to me twice there. I took my kids and my brother to an awesome place (even though we missed my bestie and her kiddos because we were too slow, boo), and then I got to spend some quality time with the man of my life. It was a perfect birthday, even ...

For our anniversary, I wanted to go somewhere new, exoctic and fun for dinner. We could not think of anywhere to go but after a bit, I decided to take Lon to one of my old favorites Bruno's Italian. Unfortunately, we got there way too late. They close around like 7 or 8, I totally forgot! Luckily, there was an Asian Sea Grill right next door! The perfect idea! We ordered salmon sushi for appetizers and a different udon noodle meal for each of us. Lon also ordered himself a Topeko sushi and four different types of sake. We definitely were adventurous with our dinner lol! The four types of sake Lon had were: Tozai Typhoon, Snow Maiden, Star Filled Sky, Tears of Dawn. The Snow Maiden was the coolest, it was very white while the rest were mostly clear. Lon drank all four in a very short time, yet says he did not feel much of anything lol. I got BOMBED the one time I tried sake and learned my lesson lol, so I could not believe that! :P But he enjoyed them very much!   Our f...

Two years ago, on a beautiful new spring day, Lon and I stood in front of our loved ones and joined hands in marriage. I promised to love him and always be there for him, plus we had some laughs in there too. It would not have been our wedding without it lol. :) 4.5 years of dating, 2 years of marriage, 6 different houses, 4 different vehicles, 3 different jobs, 2 kids and countless days of happiness and laughter behind us. And I only look forward to more in the future! Lon is such a wonderful father and husband. He loves his family so much, he would do absolutely anything for them. I admire his dedication to us and to his parents and siblings, as well as his dedication to his job. Lon does not know yet but tonight I am surprising him by taking him out to dinner! I got a sitter and I want to try a new restaurant, but cannot decide where to go yet. Any ideas are welcome! I had a lot of other gushy, lovey dovey things to say, but I have lost too much sleep for that right now. Al...

Our weekend was fantastic! We did not get to see Lon too much on Saturday as he worked all day and night but we did go to the Ringling Brothers circus and then to Colton's third birthday party. He had a Mickey party and his mama even tried to make a pinata for it! Homemade pinata with three children of her own? She rocks lol, even if she was not successful! I would not try that with my two lol! Then Sunday was my childhood friend Ali's baby shower. She is having a little boy and the party was themed "Baby Boy Toys". It was too cute!  We had so much fun this weekend! We saw a bunch of good friends and family, it was so nice to see everyone again. I love it when we can all get together and have our children play together. So cool! Now let me share a little information with you. One of my weird quirks is I am kinda obsessed with circuses and side shows and the such. Especially old time circuses! Oh I love everything about them! ...

So part of me being positive about life and myself is reminding myself of things that I love and/or things that have blessed me. I found this blog hop today on A Babbling Brunette's blog while I was checking up on my Toddler Talk Tuesday link. Its the perfect thing I need! So starting this week, I will share with you what I am loving! Enjoy! I'm loving teaching my students hip hop twice a week instead of the usual once a week. Makes it alot easier for the younger ones to remember the steps thus learning. Yes! I'm loving that I get to spend the majority of my day with my children still. On aveage, I work maybe three times a week for two and a half hours each time? That is nothing compared to most people. I definitely feel blessed. :) I'm loving that breastfeeding is going so well for Anna and I. She is a natural and it has made life so much easier on me! So blessed to not be having issues this time around! I'm loving that this weekend brings not o...