Almost 40!

My sweet friends took me out to lunch at Clinkerdagger's today to celebrate my 40th birthday (it's on Sunday)!  It was a supposed to be a small group of us but when we got there, I was surprised by a whole table of friends...a mini surprise party!  This picture of Rebecca and me shows the amazing cupcakes that my talented friend, Crystal (you've seen her on this blog before :-)) made me...they are called "Better than S_ _!" (I'll keep this clean; after all this is a family blog).  They were sooooo gooood!  Thanks girlfriends!  You are the BEST!  Now for the big 4-0!  Here I come!

Officially Seven!

Olivia and Emma officially turned 7 years old today!  Nana was sweet enough to add a candle to their pancakes this morning and we all sang Happy Birthday!

After the Ghost Town we went out to lunch at a pizza place (their choice) in Missoula...Marcus told the waitress it was his sisters' birthday and that got them free dessert!  A big cookie topped with ice cream!  YUM!

When we got back home it was pouring rain...but look what we saw!

Isn't it beautiful!

We could see both ends!  Emma was disappointed that she didn't see gold.

It was a double rainbow.  I told the girls it was their birthday present from God today...they think that must be true!  It was so pretty...so perfect!

After dinner we made chocolate chip cookies and I even put a candle in those.  Marcus got a candle too; after all tomorrow is his official 1/2 birthday :-)

Happy Birthday Olivia & Emma!

Ghost Town

We've always seen the signs to Garnet Ghost Town so today we decided to check it out...come along for a visit with us.  We had to walk a little trail to get there; it was raining, but we were excited!

The Ghost Town is right behind us...we had to walk down to it...so cool!

This is Davey's General Store.  The kids got a list of items to do a treasure hunt.  We checked off a lot of items in the General Store.

Marcus is checking his list...the kids are standing behind the counter at the store; there was an old cash register too.

Then we headed next store to the Hotel.  It was very fancy.  Here we are in the kitchen by the stove.

Pretty cool kitchen!

This is the dining area, there are even dishes in the hutch.

Olivia is pretending like she's eating; Marcus was pretending to drink something.

This is the lounge area when you walk into the hotel...look at that record player!

We walked upstairs and found an old sewing machine...actually several of the rooms had sewing machines.

Another room in the old hotel.

This is the Honey Mooners' cabin.

We even went through a blacksmith's cabin...look at this wagon wheel!

This is called a bellow...it was on our list. 

A little history of Garnet; this was in the parking lot area.

Emma posing with some more information.

Olivia showing everyone everything she learned.  This was an amazing ghost town!  We plan to come back again and spend even more time when it's not raining so hard.  If you are ever in the Missoula MT area...you should definitely drive the 40 minutes to check out Garnet Ghost Town!

Emma's Story

Emma's top front tooth was so loose so we were trying to get her to let us pull it out all day Saturday.  We even bribed her saying we would all get ice cream if she pulled her tooth out.  She just couldn't do it.  I kept joking that I was going to get someone to hit her in the mouth to get it out...well, I didn't plan it, but Taylor was giving me a hug after graduation and Emma just happened to be standing a little too close...Taylor accidentally got Emma in the mouth.  She apologized and we all went on our way...Emma followed me and said "Mommy...look!"  In her had was her tooth!  Thank you Taylor!  It really did need to come out....the permanent one is already taking it's place! 

Class of 2013

We headed to Great Falls this weekend for my niece, Taylor's, graduation.  The fun started Saturday afternoon with a big party for Taylor.  We finally got to meet the newest addition to the family, Aiyla. 

Tavein is the proud Mommy...so sweet.

Aiyla sure does love her Mommy.

We got a quick cousin photo.  Top Tanealya (21) and Taylor (18), next row is Aiden (7) and Riley (12), next is Marcus (5).  Then Emma (6) and Olivia (6).  Next Jaxon (18 months) and on the floor is little Aiyla (1 month).

Isn't she the cutest!

Uncle Aaron was there too!

Sibling photo..Tavein, Tracie, Aaron, Sabrina.

The kids had lots of fun on the trampoline.

Taylor with her best friend Bree.

Taylor has plans to be a nurse.  Congratulations Taylor!

Nana had the party set up perfectly...look at that adorable picture of Taylor.  We all wrote her messages on the colored cards and they went into the book sitting next to them...love that!

The graduation was at 7pm.  The girls really wanted to go; Marcus stayed at Nana and Papa's with Marc though since it was so late.  We bought roses for Taylor.

The graduation went smooth and Taylor officially has her high school degree.  Quick family photo.

Photo with Mom and Dad.

One with Nana and Papa.

Uncle Aaron messing around...cute.

There was a photographer there and he placed us all into a group photo.  He was so nice, he just started picking up all of our cameras and took this group photo.  Almost the whole family here...Marc and Jared stayed home with the three smallest kids...otherwise, we are all here!

Congratulations Taylor!

Tearful Goodbye

 

Thursday was Marcus' last day at DeeDee's Daycare. We are doing something different this summer and since Marcus is going to Kindergarten in the Fall, we no longer need DeeDee for daycare.  It was very hard to say goodbye...Marcus has never been to any other daycare; he's been with DeeDee since he was 3 months old!  She has done such a great job with him...with all of our kids for that matter!  I never had a bad drop off and never did the kids not want to go to DeeDee's...that is such a nice feeling; makes it so much easier to go to work every day.  Thank you DeeDee for being so wonderful!  We are so grateful to have you in our lives...thanks for being such a big part of helping our kids grow up. 

Firemen Save The Day

Some people call the fire department for emergencies...we call them to come rescue us from all the leftover cake from birthday parties (or in this case cupcakes!).  I haven't met a fireman that can say no to cupcakes!  Thanks Scott and the other firemen for eating our left overs :-)  This is the second year we've donated cake to the firemen...they always bring a cool fire truck when they pick up the cake...Marcus especially got a kick out of it today.  Marcus told all of us everything he knew about the truck...it was very informative.