My Birthday!

On Wednesday of this week, the 19th, I had my 33rd birthday. My sweet Haden woke up and found me and started singing Happy Birthday to me. All the kids were very sweet to me throughout the day which was the very best birthday present I could have asked for. My wonderful friends Donna, Angie and Rebecca all brought me gifts and Jen took me out to lunch at Bruchi's. Yummy! When Jim got home, he made me a fabulous dinner. We decided to save the official birthday celebration for Friday night when we could go out to dinner with our friends.

So, last night we all went out--Jim and I, Jen and Christopher, Donna and Ryan, and Rebecca and Craig. We went to Fiesta for some delicious Mexican food and then back here for cake. Jim had asked me earlier in the week what I wanted for a cake this year. I told him I really wanted a coconut cake that a sister in our ward made for an Enrichment night earlier this year. It was to die for and I haven't stopped talking about it. I only mentioned it on Monday, so I wasn't sure if he would be able to get it by then. Come to find out, he had called her 3 weeks ago to have her make it for my birthday. I have the best husband in the world. He is very good at taking note of what I really want and doing whatever he can to make it happen. Thanks honey. I love you so much!

After cake, we went downstairs to play a little Singstar--I have fallen in love with these karaoke games that Playstation 2 makes. A new one came out on my birthday--Singstar 80's--and was the perfect gift. So, I thought we should try it out. It was so much fun! I think we ended up singing for about 1 1/2 hours. I really wish I would have video taped some of it, especially Craig singing "We're not gonna take it" by Twisted Sister. It was a riot!

Thanks so much for helping me celebrate my birthday. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends. It makes me look forward to more fun birthdays, even though it means getting older.

Natalie Tagged me!

Well, my sister was tagged by her friend Cori and she tagged me, so I will play along. It was almost a week ago and I'm finally getting around to doing this. Here are the rules for those of you who I'll tag at the end.

1)You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you wish you had.

2)When tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your middle name facts.

3)At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave a comment telling them that they're tagged and to read your blog.

I wasn't given a middle name, so I am going to use my maiden name. Sorry to copy you Natalie. I have never wished for a middle name, so this will have to do. Here goes.

H--Home is the first thing I thought of. My home is the most important place to me. It's where I feel safe, comfortable and where my wonderful family is. I get to wake every morning and see the faces of the 6 people I love the most in this world and that is priceless. This wonderful area of the country that we live in is also part of home. My family moved to Richland when I was 7, so I grew up here. Jim and I moved here a little over 6 years ago after he graduated from Dental School and now I can't imagine anywhere else being home.

O--This was a hard one for me. The word that comes to mind right now is obsessed. I have been obsessed for the last 1 1/2 years with getting my body back into shape after having baby number 5. I'm finally getting to where I want to be. I am in the best shape of my life and I'm finally losing those pounds that have been so hard to get off for so long--I've lost 5 so far and I'm not quitting until I lose the rest.

U--Well, I had a really hard time coming up with a word for this one, so I'm just going to copy my sister. Utah--I'm so grateful that I chose to go to school at BYU in Provo, Utah because that is where I met my wonderful husband, Jim. I can't imagine what my life would be if I had not met and fallen in love with him. He is amazing and I am truly proud to be his wife.

S--Singing is my word for S. I am constantly singing. If you ask my kids, I sing through the house, in the car, in stores...just about anywhere. They get a bit annoyed by it I'm sure, but I don't care. I love to sing!

E--E is for Enthusiastic. I'm truly enthusiastic about life right now. I'm really enjoying all the different stages that my kids are in, I have a healthy body, a wonderful husband and I have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. Though I still have challenges like anyone else, I am really loving life right now!

Okay, so I hope that wasn't too crazy or anything. Now I get to tag some of you. I tag Donna, Jennifer, Rebecca Ritchie and Rebecca Bagley. Have fun with this.

Grandma's 90th Birthday

My grandma turned 90 over the weekend and my aunt and uncle threw a party for her. I haven't seen her in over 8 years and my husband and children have never met her or any of my dad's family. It's about time we made a trip to Montana to see everyone.

We started out on Friday afternoon and headed to Couer d'Alene, ID where we had reserved a hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express which is connected to an indoor water park(Raptor Reef) and a fun center called Triple Play. We didn't tell the kids they would have the opportunity to swim, so you can imagine how excited they were to be able to go to an actual water park with slides and everything. We had a great time at the water park for the evening. All of the kids just loved it. The kiddie pool had two little water slides for Cooper, Lexie and Haden, there was a wave pool that Kenedy and Hallie spent most of their time in and 3 big water slides that Haden, Hallie, Kenedy and I had a lot of fun screaming down. It was a lot of fun!

The next day, we headed to Deer Lodge, MT to visit the lumber mill that my dad works at. His cousin owns the mill and he hired my dad to help him fix some problems so the mill will run more efficiently. It was very cool and I was so enthralled as my dad was talking about what goes on there and what he does, that I forgot to take pictures of the actual mill. This is a dream job for my dad and he gets to really use his engineering degree. As my dad talked about all that he does there, I was struck by how incredibly talented he is. I've always know this, but it really hit me that day. He is truly amazing and I am the luckiest girl in the world to have his as my dad.

From there, we headed to the birthday party in Philipsburg. I was excited to go there again. The last time I visited Philipsburg was when I was about to start my Senior year of High School, but we visited my grandma a lot when I was young and I have great memories those visits. The party was really fun and all my dad's siblings were there except his youngest brother. It was so great to see everyone and catch up on what's going on in their lives.

My grandma has Alzheimer's and doesn't really remember anyone, but she really had a good time. After we ate, we had a program in which all of the families had some sort of talent to present. I was going to have Kenedy play a piano piece, but I forgot the music, so they got to hear us sing I am a Child of God instead. We started to sing our song and when we got to the chorus, my grandma started to sing along with us and that was it for me. Kenedy and Hallie finished the song nicely. There were quite a few musical numbers in the program and she sang along to all of them. Music is one of the only things that she still remembers well and it was very touching. Happy birthday Grandma! We sure love you!

After the party, we decided to walk around town for awhile. It it a really cute town complete with an old time candy shop and Ice cream shop. Everyone in town is so friendly and it was fun to wander around as my dad talked about what used to be in some of the places that have been shut down. We were even able to walk by the house my mom and dad lived in for a few years when they were first married. I hope we are able to visit again soon.

My parents lived in this house when my oldest 2 brothers were little. It's in disrepair now, but my mom kept saying, "It really was a cute house when we lived here."

Main street, Philipsburg, MT. What a cute town!

We had the pleasure of being able to witness this gorgeous sunset as we walked around town.

Here we are sitting in front of the house my mom found for us to stay in while we were there.

We headed home the next morning, but before we left, we decided to check out a little ghost town called Kirkville just a mile out of Philipsburg. It was totally amazing. It was a little mining town and you could see the smoke stacks from the mine and some of the buildings were still standing. It was fun to imagine what life was like back when the town was up a running.

I thought this huge stone wall and the smokestacks that made up the mine were just amazing to see. I wish I could have seen it 100 years ago when it was running!

I can't believe this building is still standing!

As we headed home, we decided to stop at a place that my parents always stopped when I was a kid. It was basically a souvenir shop and they sometimes let us get a little something. Other times, when they went to Montana by themselves, they brought us back things from this store. I believe I still have a ring they brought me one time while I was in High School. It was fun to go in and let the kids look around. We, however, did not buy anything this time.

We had a great trip and I am so glad that we went. I am going to remember it always and I hope my children will also.