Free Range Family

We have been so busy this week preparing for that boy's birthday party on Friday, that I have yet to even post about his first day of school! Wow! So we are in need of some MAJOR catching up!  This past weekend, Aunt Natalie and her family came into town to host their wedding reception in Billings. They stayed the whole weekend and we even went to one of Aunt April's first football games as a varsity cheerleader. We had a wonderful time! Benton even started walking while he was here! We all were able to see a major milestone for him! I was so happy! Auntie loves you so much BB! Gotta love my weird siblings and I. Trying so hard to take a family photo at Aunt Natalie and Uncle Jake's reception, it took probably five times to get a nice picture! And Uncle Jake's thumb is even in it! Lol, we are so crazy! We also celebrated Alan's birthday early because Aunt Natalie and Uncle Jake wouldn't be able to come back next weekend. They took us to Chu...

I don't have too much to say about this day, except for it was one of the best days of my life. I do, however, have a bunch of photos to show everyone all the love and beauty that made this day so special. I love my sister more then words can explain, I love my nephew to pieces and I love my new brother-in-law. I am so very happy for them to begin this journey of marriage, it will definitely be a wild ride for them! But they both have a great love for wild rides and dirt bikes, so that is right up their alley. Love you Aunt Natalie, Uncle Jake and Benton! Day Three: Natalie and Jake's Wedding Day My sister and her husband were married at Mission Mountain Resort, just a shot away from Flathead Lake. It was a cute, small little resort ran by a elderly couple. There were so many different trails leading off everywhere, we went on several throughout the whole day but I don't think we ever covered half of the many trails! The resort was snuggled up into the Mission Moun...

WE ARE BACK!!!!   That was definitely one wild trip! The land was stunning, the lake was huge, the wedding was lovely, the bride was gorgeous, the reception was fun, camping was awesome, swimming in the lake was a blast for the kids, and the drive… Oh the drive!!!!! It was horribly long but with some beautiful Montana scenery and too much construction! :P All in all, it was a crazy but good family vacation! All of us are exhausted from traveling but happy we went. I am pretty sure the kids loved every second of it! Especially when we stayed in a hotel room, not once because of the car but TWICE! Yes I bet that was their favorite part, which makes the fact that I had to pay for two nights totally worth it. :) Now, we are totally beat from the trip but I just couldn't leave you all in the dark. So I will definitely post about our trip more tomorrow but for now, here is a sneak peak photo from our trip! This photo was taken at the wedding, by the wonderful photographer Jenna Cochra...

Its been crazy week for us here at the Andersen clan! I have a lot going on with my hip hop and gymnastics classes this week, plus we are leaving tonight for Aunt Natalie and Uncle Jake's wedding weekend family vacation! Yay! This is the first time we will be going on a family vacation since before Anna was born. We are not going to Canyon Ferry like we traditionally do for our vacations, but we are headed up to Flathead Lake, some 10-12 hours away from here. Due to my class scheduling, we will be doing the trip in two sections: tonight we will drive from here to the Helena area, before grabbing a hotel for the night. Then tomorrow, we will drive the last few hours to Flathead Lake. The wedding is on Saturday but Friday evening will be spent decorating and setting up the reception area and with Miss Natalie's Bacherlorette party! Sunday will be a family vacation day for us. We do not have anything specific planned, just fun touristy stuff. I want to go to the lake at some poi...

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 ...

Aunt Natalie and Benton came to town for a visit this weekend. Aunt April and I had to try on our bridesmaid dresses for her wedding and we had to get shoes too. Plus, they mostly just wanted to see us now instead of next month lol. But it was awesome! We went out to dinner, took Benton to Chuck E Cheese for the first time, got our dresses and our shoes for the wedding, visited both great grandparents in town and went to the mall. The kids had a wonderful three days together. They all enjoy each other so much too! What a great little group of kids! The first thing I had to do when I saw him was snuggle! I had worked all day long and just wanted to chill with my boy! I had missed him so, it had been since October when we had last seen them! I needed some Benton and Auntie time bad. :) He has gotten so big too! I seriously cannot believe how much he has grown up since I last saw him! He can now talk up a storm in gibberish and army crawls everywhere. He gets a few solid crawls before fa...

I am so glad that we finally have our car back! With a family of four, two little kiddos, its hard to not have your car for a week! I missed playdates, had to reschedule Alan and Anna's gymnastics classes and had to figure out rides to work. I am so happy our car is back with us! Even if we do owe the mechanic $500+ now lol. Blah... We had a simple weekend. Alan has basketball practice and I had a baby shower for an old family friend. Not too wild of a weekend, but I still enjoyed it! Alan is really getting into basketball. This week we learned what a jump shot is, how to play "Coach Says" and how to dribble and run. We also played a new game called Sharks and Minnows, Alan loved it! He did get hurt a few times though but I reminded him that sometimes in sports we get hurt. He is my strong boy! Alan loves basketball, his coaches and his team mates! Here are some photos from practice: Alan doing jumping jacks I got some time away from the kids too on Sunda...

Last night, Lon and I treated ourselves to a nice dinner at Olive Garden for our New Year date this year. It had been a little over a year since our last date, it was definitely due time for one! Aunt Sam and Uncle Tyler had given us a giftcard to OG for Christmas this year and made us promise to not take the kids with us lol. And my mom offered to watch the kids for us last night. Aunt April helped style my hair for me, it was so curly and pretty! Thanks Mom, April, Tyler and Sam! It was a great date night thanks to the four of you! We both had a wonderful time together! I haven't been to the Olive Garden in some time, they have gotten quite a bit fancier since I had last gone. We tried some delicious red wine, a compliment from our waitress. I don't usually like wine, but this was amazing! I almost regret not getting some more with my dinner but instead I decided on an amazing strawberry smoothie. It was made with an Italian yogurt that was to die for! Even Lon had some of ...