Birthday Party

  Every year I have great intentions of planning out amazing birthday parties for my kids.  I always think that as it gets closer, I'll get on Etsy and have really cool themed party's planned.  But then the days get ahead of me and before I know it, we need to have a party in the next couple of days and I have nothing planned.  Gasp! 

  But at the last minute, we got a party planned for Emma and it turned out great!   It turns out, I don't need to spend a lot of time and money on these parties.  She had her best girlfriends there, they had dessert, opened gifts and played a couple of games.

 My sweet girl!

Here is a picture of Emma running with the popcorn on her shoe.  It is a game that I found online at Better Homes & Gardens.  I was looking for a new game for the kids to play at the party, and found this one.  It was a hit... the kids loved it!  You have to run down with the cup of popcorn on your shoe and empty it into the bowl.  The first team to fill their bowl wins. 

  I'm so glad that it all came together and that she had a great day!  Mission accomplished!  :)

A Woman Of Fortune

  I finished this book last week and I am still trying to gather my thoughts on it.  I would probably give it a 3 out of 5.   The end of the book surprised me I have to say, which is often hard to do.  I wish the epilogue would have given me more though.  It left a lot to the imagination, which some might like, but I like closure... lots and lots of closure.  :)   It's hard to say what one might do in certain situations, and I'm still trying to decide what I think I would have done, if I were in her shoes. 
 

  If anyone else has read this book, I would love to know what your thoughts were on it.

Also I would love to know what your favorite book is.  I'm always on the search for a good book.  But really good books are often hard to find.  Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers is my all time favorite.  If you haven't read it before... you need to!  :)

Run, Run, Run

  Saturday morning, we got up and headed over to Spokane to do our school shopping.  Thankfully we were able to get most of what we needed.  I also had a trip planned for Missoula, so I didn't have to get everything that day.  Why do we need so much?  It's crazy, I tell you!  After we were done shopping, we decided to find a place to eat on our way back home.  We ended up stopping at a Texas Roadhouse.  We have never been to one before and it was so funny to see the kids expressions.  If you are like me and haven't eaten there before, it is fun, loud and messy.  As we were being led to our table, Emma looks around at the floor, looks back at me and says, "gross."  Haha!  They serve buckets of peanuts to snack on, and it appears that most of the shells get tossed to the floor.  We sat down and I took this picture of Emma looking at the floors.  Hahaha!

 

  Then I asked her to make a face, on what she thought about the messy floors.  Ha! 

The kids ended up really liking it.  With the loud music, I didn't have to tell them to be quiet or use their indoor voices.  And the steak... Jesse loved the steak.  He was in love. 

  Sunday the girls and I went to church and did some grocery shopping.  When we got back home, Emma and I went over to Mom's and saddled up a couple horses and went riding with Mom and a friend of ours.  Mom led Emma's horse, and thankfully Emma and her horse both did great!

  When we got back home after our ride, we let Emma ride around the corral by herself.  And then Gracie and Belle decided they wanted to ride around the corral as well.  She did awesome.  I was so excited for her, and so thankful that the horses did great for her.  I didn't plan on her riding by herself... usually she is just led around the corral.  I'm thinking it is way past time I get her a riding helmet.  Hopefully it won't make me so nervous.

 Later that night we put some new rollers in the girls hair after they showered.  I thought this picture of Emma was cute of her in her bathrobe, curlers in her hair, baking cookies.  My Dad had a full knee replacement surgery and monster cookies are his favorite, so that's what we made for him.  Hopefully they'll help him heal faster.  :)

   Dan and Jesse stayed up until midnight setting up Dan's fantasy football team.  Jesse loves it, and is just as passionate about it as Dan.  Bonding over football... thankfully they both like the same team.
 

  Monday we were able to finish our shopping for school and get the kids' dentist appointments crossed off the list.  It was a long day, but I think we are now ready for school.  Remember to give thanks today if you have a Target and a Costco in your town.  ;)

  I started calling Emma's friends parents last night and trying to throw together a last minute birthday party for Emma tomorrow.  Thankfully I think everyone that I called is planning on making it.  Phew!  I will be keeping it simple.  A few games, some cupcakes, a little playtime at the park.  Her birthday is actually on Sunday but we decided to have a friend party as well.  You know, because there isn't enough going on at the moment.  ;)

  Both Jesse and Emma have open house at their school tonight, as school starts next Tuesday.  I'm gonna get ready to run Gracie into town now for volleyball practice and hurry back home to make dinner so we have time to eat before the open house.  Between all this running, and planning, this Mama is gonna be ready for a nice glass of wine tonight. 

Hope you all are having a great Tuesday!  :)

Cows are home

  The cows are home!  They've been out to pasture this summer and have just been brought back.  They will feed off of the remaining feed in the field, and once that's down we'll move them back behind the ranch where they will be fed through out the winter.

 But since they are in the hayfield in front of our house for now, we have to run an electric fence to keep them out of our yard.

 They hang out in the field.  They also hang out on our driveway quite a bit.  They will just stand there or sometimes lay down and rest.  They are quite the road block.  They are also the reason that from now until they are put out in the back pasture that my car will consistently have cow manure on it, from driving up and down our lane.  Life on a ranch...

 

Doesn't she look happy to be out in the field?  With her markings, it makes it look like she's smiling.

  Here is a picture of our house and our long lost friends.  They will come right up to the electric fence.  Most know what it is, so they know to stay back.  But touching it just one time, reminds them or teaches the baby's where their boundaries are.  (It's not too bad, as I've even touched it before, just to make sure it's working.)  Every once in a while, we'll get a calf or two that sneaks in or knocks it down, then I have to fix it and make sure it's working again.

 Welcome home cows! 

Relaxing weekend at Flathead lake

  We went up to Flathead lake to visit Dan's family and to enjoy the lake one last time this summer.  It was cold and rainy on Saturday.  But we got up early, went into Big Fork to walk around and have lunch.  Then we came back and sat inside watching a movie and reading our books.  It was really peaceful and relaxing.  It is so beautiful up there!  I forgot my camera, so I was only able to take pictures with my phone.

 

 Dan decided he wanted to take the kids for a small boat ride.  I though he was crazy, but I went along with it.  The kids had a blast riding over the rough water.  They love hitting the waves in the boat.  Me, I still thought they were all crazy.  I'd rather have sat under my blanket on shore just watching the waves.  You can see in the picture below how stormy the sky looked.  The water splashing up is from the side of the boat after we hit a wave.  I thought it was a neat picture.

 Sunday ended up being a lot nicer out... we had blue sky!  It never warmed up enough for me to put my swim suit on... but the kids did, and had a blast.  This time, Dan and his Dad took the kids out in the boat and I was able to sit by the dock and get some reading in.

 As much as I am holding on dearly for Summer to stick around.  I know it is inevitable, so I'm trying to embrace the coming season.  I'm thinking maybe after I get a couple new fall scented candles, and start looking at some fall recipes, I'll be able to welcome it a little bit easier.  :)

Hanging out at home

  This week, we have just been hanging out at home.  We have a couple of fires in the area, so the valley is really smokey right now.  Also we've been having some weird weather to add to it.  So we haven't went to the pool at all, like I had planned.  Our little pool in the area is only open through tomorrow and then it will be closed until June.  :(  With the pool closing, soccer sign ups tonight, Gracie starting volleyball practice on Monday, I kind of feel like Summer is definitely wrapping up quickly.  Say it ain't so!!!

  I want to be in denial and just go hang out at the river and pretend we have all the time in the world. But I can't.  I started to panic a little yesterday, because we don't have anything for school supplies. Gracie needs a new backpack, kids need shoes, pencils and such, I need Costco.   But the thing is, in order to get any of these things we either have to order online or we have to make the 2 hour trip into town.  These are the times that I really wished we lived in a bigger town, so we could just make the 5 minute trek to Target, swing through Costco and head home.  A 2 hour drive to Costco, Target, Starbucks, pretty much anything, just stinks! Who has time for this kind of insanity!  Ha! I've done this my whole life.  You think I'd be used to it by now.  Nope!  Oh well... at least it's only 2 hours each way instead of 4, right?!

 On the upside, since we have been home, the kids and I have gutted out each of their rooms.  We've reorganized their stuff and went through all their clothes.  Once we get their new school stuff, it will be ready to be put away.

Monday Mess

  I feel like I always post a whole mess of things after the weekend.  So I'm calling it the Monday Mess. 

  Friday Dan and I headed over to a Wedding in Spokane.  We left the kids with my sister, so it was just the two of us.  It is so fun to have a night away every once in a while.  The wedding was at the Glover Mansion.  Such a pretty venue for a wedding.  I really wanted to bring my camera and get a few shots, but I wanted to just sit and enjoy myself and the night more, so I didn't bring it.  But I did find this picture off of Pinterest.

Isn't it fun?!  I love historical buildings!

It was such a beautiful wedding.  The Bride is a good friend of mine from school, and I couldn't be happier for her.

  When we got back home on Saturday and picked up our kids, they were anxious to head to the river to play.  So we loaded everybody up and headed out.

 

 We must have played hard, because after we got back home and got all cleaned up, these two fell asleep on my bed while I was watching tv.

   I never get tired of seeing the sunset behind our house.  One of God's many blessings!

Out hiking

    We have family in town visiting from out of state right now and a few of us decided to go on a hike to one of the lakes in our area.  The views are great and it's so peaceful being up in the mountains. 

It probably took us a little over an hour to get to the lake.  All the kids did great and this was the first year that Emma could make it with out being packed at all.  :)

 

 We hung out at the lake for a while and let the kids explore, climb and have a snack before heading back down the trail.  Dan always has to work when we do these hikes during the day.  One of these weekends, the kids and I are going to plan another hike where we can bring him along with us.  The kids will be able to show him what great little hikers they are turning out to be.  :)