Done with Braces! Wahoo

Big Day

Finally the braces come OFF.

Dr. Silcher beginning the process.

Yeah. Look I get balloons and a pack of gum.

Mickayla's favorite assistant Rhonda. She is Awesome.

We really like Dr. Silcher and his staff. They are Top Notch.

Grand Champion

September 2009

Tasha entered a number of pieces of her artwork in

the Ravalli county fair. All of her pieces took a ribbon.

Most were a blue or red but on this one (my personal favorite)

a scratch art beauty, she received Grand Champion.

She was quite surprised but she deserved the status.

This picture does not come close to doing it justice.

Mickayla entered in the adult division of photography.

A hard category because there are so many. She got

reserve champion! Wahoo. The girls have done a great job and

we are proud of their artistic abilities.

Don't know where the picture is of Mickayla, if I find it I will post it.

Family Photo Shoot 1B

I thought everyone might enjoy seeing some more pics

of the family. I always love to see everyones pictures

of their families so I think everyone else does too.

We think this skewed face of Alex's is so funny.

A 1/4 of Alex's life is spent thumbing through the Cabelas catalog.

I remember when I was in Italy we met a lady from Australia

who had a son who's dream was to one day go to America

and go to a Cabelas store. And he was 23.

So I guess this phenomenon is all over the world. Go figure.

I don't even want to know what Tasha was thinking.

We were just goofing off and then as we were going through the

pictures Mickayla said she really liked this one. Me too.

The kid is crazy.

I like the month on Mickayla. It is a perfect little wavy month.

Notice when the rest of us take pictures of the

photographer the color is not always the best but

I liked this picture of Bryan anyway.

Our attempt at Gingerbread houses.

This is Tasha's perfect little gingerbread house.

Of course she was at the table long after everyone else was gone.

Everything she does has to be a work of art.

Even when we make personal pizzas for dinner, the rest of us

have made ours and eaten them before she

has hers ready to put in the oven.

Mickayla's house. She worked and worked on a fence that just won't

cooperate so she finally gave up and left it unfinished.

I still think it is cute. I love hearts.

So Alex and Bryan had one to decorate together but Alex decided

they lived in a duplex and split it right down the middle.

You will notice they even have 2 different roof styles.

Crack me up. This first one is Bryan's side

and he wants to point out HE has a chimney

for his wood stove in his half.

This is Alex's half. Wouldn't ya know it... a log cabin. With bears

guarding the front. He even has icicles coming down.

Please take note of the gate, he was pretty proud of that.

I wouldn't be surprised if someday I pull

up to Alex's for a visit and it looks just like this.

I of course was the General Contractor and supervised the

construction and made sure they did not run out of building supplies.

I also was the camera crew to document the construction process.

(my way of getting out of making one).

Finished home photos were provided by Sorenson Photography.

The New Griz Football Cheerleaders!!

These pictures were taken at the height of

the "Grizzlies going to the semi-finals" frenzy.

I had already purchased these for Christmas but Tasha

got invited to one of the games,

(she could care less about football but it was her first Griz game)

and didn't have any Griz wear so I broke out the

presents a little early and we had a photo shoot.

Everyone loves a good hoodie!!

Notice we can't get rid of the camo from

one of our cheerleaders. I'm sure the shirt

underneath was camo too. Can you wear camo

on your mission?

How cute are these cheerleaders?!!!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Brittany and her family made a surprise visit for Thanksgiving.

I had NO idea they were coming up and we were all

a little sad that Erik, Brittany and their families couldn't make

Thanksgiving but.... Britt surprised us. The only thing

that would have made it perfect is if Erik and crew would

have been able to make it. We really missed them.

This pic is all the cooks using the new kitchen

to cook up some fabulous food.

Calvin, Oren, and Elizabeth ready to chow down.

Elizabeth is the only 3 yr.old who when asked what

her favorite fruit is says GRAPEFRUIT. So Grandma always

makes sure she stops at Costco and buys the ready

to go grapefruit cups for Lulu.

The dress Lulu is wearing is Brittany's old Sunshine Generation

outfit. Lulu loved wearing it til it gave her a terrible rash.

Playing Hungry Hungry Hippo. Calvin really liked this game.

I love Goodwill here and their game selection.

Games are cheap and almost always have all the pieces.

Of course Thanksgiving in Montana is never complete unless

you go hunting for something. Alex just had to go duck hunting.

So before the rest of us were even finished eating

Alex is ready to go. That kid just quacks me up. haha

New Kitchen

Erik you had better appreciate these cause it took your old,

feeble, computer illiterate mother 1 whole hour and a half

to get this right (after calling dad 3 times for HELP).

Yes Lisa I know you are laughing.

As most of you know this summer our dishwasher

decided to malfunction and flood our kitchen a wee bit.

Thank goodness for insurance so we were

able to get basically a brand new kitchen as the damage ruined

the floor and cabinets. Now a lot had to stay the same because

insurance was involved but I am so excited with the results!!!

So follow us through our renovation.

Free help is always good and we got paid by the insurance company

We usually take our shoes off when we are in the house but

I went to putting mine back on because I kept

getting BIG slivers in my feet from the "floor".

We have switched from apples to Chickens and Apples.

New curtains. However you will notice they are not finished

in the rest of the kitchen

Pot rack moved. Now maybe it will be out

of the way of Brittany's head. teehee

Check out the new faucet and sink the plumber picked out.

I think he did a great job. We love it.

New dishwasher. Better not malfunction!!

This is my very favorite part of the whole kitchen, besides looking

fabulous it has 2 ovens!! Wahoo!! And the new range has 5 burners

and is big enough for my 2 big canning pots. Yahoo!

This kitchen was terrific during Thanksgiving.

I LOVE the microwave at a lower level

and not being above the range stovetop. I still have

2 huge shelves in the cabinets that have

absolutely nothing in them. Wow.

I also have the cabinets that have the pull out shelf/drawer.

Also all drawers have full extension pull out.

Hope you all enjoyed the pics.

Aww finished after 3 months.

I was the one who took 3 months because I could not

purchase anything without it being on sale.

Laugh if you want but that oven /microwave wall unit I

only paid $ 347.00 for new in the box.

Check out the prices online if you want to see

what a screaming deal I got.

So 3 months wait was definitely worth the price.

I LOVE MY NEW KITCHEN!!

Come over and I will fix an awesome meal for you.

Hint hint, come visit!

And for those of you who know me really well it actually

stays clean 87% of the time verses 45 % before. haha

Halloween with the grandkids.

I got so excited about posting that I kinda got out of order.

This was suppose to be before the Family pics. oh well.......

Anyway since Madison was born right before Halloween Bryan

and I were able to spend Halloween with the grandkids.

What a fun time. Sharilyn outdid (is that a word) herself and

brought downfrom SLC all the stuff for lunch and a party.

Super job Sharilyn! It was so fun.

I got my first tattoo. I would post a picture but.........wait.....wait........

it washed off in the shower before we could snap one.

Brakken gave me one and picked it out. A flower.

In this picture the kids are all hunting for paper ghosts hiding around the yard.

Pirate Captain Brakken (with a flower purse teehee).

Captain playing in the leaves with Grandpa.

Grandpa hides in the leaves and then jumps out and

scares all the little kiddos, over and over again.

Monkey Ryker.

Scullery wenches!! HOT scullery wenches.

Doesn't Britt look great for having a baby 4 days ago

Risky Business here. This is Calvin before costume.

This is his own thing. We laughed so hard when he came out

and he doesn't even have a clue who Tom Cruise is. hahaha

Cowboy Calvin gettin' ready for the roundup

Princess Lulu

Princess Lulu???

We laugh at Elizabeth being a princess because every year for

Halloween her mom (Britt)was either a princess or fairy princess,

basically wings or no wings. Now Elizabeth is

following in her Halloween footsteps.

Notice the color of shirt has changed underneath.

She must have gotten a DROP of water on the other

one and had to change.Elizabeth is so funny about that.

Glad I don't have to wash her clothes.