Seattle

Yesterday morning, I sent Randy with 50 other students and 8 chaperons on two buses to go to Seattle for the All Northwest Band Conference.  He was so excited that their band was chosen to attend this conference.  They are the only school in Montana that were invited to come and they were stoked!!  I was excited for him also, but also scared because who is going to hold his hand and help him with all the different decisions that will need to be made.  I then had to remind myself that he will be gone in 3 years and he needs opportunities like this to see what life is like.  He did text me today to let me know that he has never seen such big buildings in all his life, and that he was feeling very claustrophobic.  It must be bad, because he said that 3 different times.  I think he is having the time of his life.  I just hope and pray that he is safe and smart!!  I Love you Randy- Be Good!!

Happy Valentines Day

We just got home from a wonderful dinner with mom and dad in Lima.  The Seniors at the high school have a fancy dinner  for their senior trip fundraiser.  I had some of the best steak ever!!  It was lean cut steak with a black raspberry glaze- Holy Cow, to die for!! :)  You had to reserve a table a few days before and then they give you the time that your table will be available.  It was great because the seniors kids are the servers.  It was great to be at dad and moms.  It had been a while since we were down that direction.  Thanks for a very enjoyable evening :)  Love ya

Getting Organized- Kinda

I have been trying to find a 6' bookcase for my office to hold some of my business supplies.  I found one at Target, not exactly what I was looking for, but should work out fine.  Now that I have put it together, the hardest part for me is getting everything in the right place so that my office looks like an office instead of the local landfill.  Wish me luck!!

Really!?!?

I can't believe that it has been almost 2 months since I blogged. 
Coop had his birthday on Dec 1. He is 6 so that makes him (according to Coop) officially older than me until I have my birthday in May and then I will be 36 instead of 35 hence making us the same age again.  (He is so funny sometimes, more like all the time!!) 
Randy is playing basketball on the freshman team, so he is very busy with practice and games.  He started the beginning of Dec and will be done the end of this month.  He has really improved and it is fun to watch him play.  He is a great defender!!!
Wes is in archery through the 4-h.  He is also doing great.  He had his personal best the other day with a 204!!  It was awesome.  He also is just starting 5th grade band.  He tried out for the drums and got it, so we are movin to the beat around here. 
Wes, Erin and Coop are all in a basketball clinic each Saturday at the college.  They also are improving a ton, but Coops group are defiantly the funnest to watch.
Erin is still fiddling and is getting ready for a fiddle contest the middle of Feb.  She should do great!!
Coop is doing good in school, he struggles a little with reading and attention, but don't we all sometimes :)
The holidays were wonderful for us. They were fast and furious, but we did get in more snowmobiling, skiing, and cross country skiing.
We have started our lambing season.  Yes the ram did get out early last fall and we are about 6 weeks earlier than we like.  We had a set born 1 1/2 weeks ago, which was fine because it was warm.  The set born early this morning are having a little bit of trouble with the below zero weather, but hopefully they will make it.
 I will try to do better at keeping up with things. :)

Antone Cabin

We snowmobiled into Antone Cabin this weekend. It is up in the Centennial Valley between Dillon and Monida. This is our second year doing this. Last year we were able to drive our truck all the way into the cabin. This year we had to snowmobile in about 12-15 miles. It took us about 2 1/2 hr. to ride in and then about 1 1/2 hr. to ride back to the truck. We had a fantastic time Friday and Saturday. Layne built a nice sled to put all of our stuff on and pulled it behind his snowmobile. We tubed and snowmobiled and cross country skied.

This is a picture from the top of the tubing hill. The cabin is on the far left right at the tree line. The Snowcrest Mountain range is in the back. This is part of the area that Layne clears trails in the summer time. He uses the cabin in the summer if it is available when he comes through.

This is looking up at the top of the tubing hill. And the bottom picture is looking straight down the hill. The snow was about 3 feet deep, so it took a few runs on the tubs and for dad to take a turn to get a really good run going. It was a awesome weekend!!!! Thanks Layne for all you do!!

Thanksgiving Project

When we built our house 8 years ago i never finished the bar like i wanted to. I also never put in good supports for the raised counter top, so for the past couple of year the counter top has been breaking off. Layne and I each took an end and pushed down on it and it came right off. So after 3 hours of scraping sub floor glue off the top of the wall and off the back of the counter we were ready to re due the bar. I have wanted the bead board for a long time, so we put that on the wall. I wanted the groves to look darker than the rest, so I took a darker stain and did each grove and then a natural stain on top. It gave it just enough to see the groves a little better. I was very excited and I'm sure that this detailed account is very very exciting for you also :) It sure changed the look of the house!! Happy Thanksgiving

Better Late than Never

I know that Halloween was a month ago, but I had to share our family picture because Layne NEVER, EVER dresses up. We have a good friend Kurt Steadman that layne decided that he had to go to the ward party as. He is a contractor/lawyer. Everything that Layne has on is exactly how kurt dresses in the summer/fall. It was great!! The kids had a great time at school and at the ward party. Better late than never :)