Sledding!

We have been heading up into the mountains to go sledding the past couple of weekends. We don't have any snow down in the valley, but there is plenty up there!
It isn't sledding without hot chocolate, so we always make sure we have a thermos of it for the trip home.

Girls all ready to hit the hills!




I was literally falling into thigh high snow, and feeling sooo claustrophobic!



Silly Moments

Mellie has this crazy fetish of putting things on her arms. Most days it's my hair ties or mounds of bracelets. This day we found her at naptime with 10 of sister's undies on her arm...

Mellie looking ever so beautiful. Pretty sure sister helped her.

We were headed out to take the girls for a sled ride and Mellie made herself quite comfy in the sled before we got out the door.

Headed out for a sled ride!

Daddy stayed home from church with Mellie because she came down with croup again. She gets really fussy if things aren't just so, and I guess she kept whining about her blanket. Daddy's remedy was to tuck her into the couch!

Trip to Missoula

Seth took all of us girls to Missoula for a trip this past week. We were attempting to get in family pictures, but it was way toooo cold. We stayed at the hotel that has the little kids waterslide area, and the girls had a blast. We spent several hours at the pool (such a rough life, I know).



Now that Melanie is a little bigger, she can manage the slide all by herself!



I think I took a hundred pictures of Hailey coming down the slide. She wanted to see it after every time down.

Hailey was in her own little moment singing at the top of her lungs, "I'm so thankful God made the whole world!" She would finalize it with throwing her little hands up into the sky. 

The girls have become the bestest of friends, and love playing with each other.

Such a good traveler. They don't even bat an eye at a 3 1/2 hr drive!

First Snow Fall

November 5th was our official first day of snow here in Montana!! The girls were out in it by 8 in the morning.

Gotta love these years where she is so bundled up she can hardly move!

Snow/Grass Angels



Daddy & Hailey's pumpkin girl!



Harvest Carnival

Every year on October 31st, our church puts on a big Harvest Carnival as part of our outreach to the community. We had hundreds of people come out to it this year. Seth was very involved and spent many hours working on the props, setting up, and running a basketball booth. The girls loved it and Hailey has looked forward to ever since last year.

Mellie Mae the Beautiful Bee

Hailey Girl the Gorgeous Butterfly

The Bounce house was a definite favorite

Being a bee makes a girl thirsty!

We had to put her wings upside down, because she was getting mad with them in her face!

She loved the horse... she rode around with her eyes closed like it was the most relaxing thing ever!

This was definitely Hailey's favorite. She was terrified of the horses last year, so it was a big deal!

Snack break!



My Recent "Projects"

Fall has come and is pretty much gone, and with the change of seasons comes my love to craft. Here are a few of my most recent pictures... sorry, I do not have any "before" pictures...

 This was a brown bench of some sorts that I picked up at a garage sale for $12. It was pretty scratched on the top, so I sanded it down, repainted it, and distressed... What I love most is the table runner. I made some ruffled brown fabric and sewed it onto the orange fabric.. voila!

LOVE this stool... I picked it up for $2 at the thrift store... it was covered in orange velvet...
It took me about 10 minutes to cover it in a little bit more pizazzy material and it is good as new!

My butcher block used to be black... my kitchen needed a little more color so I painted it to match the cute red tea kettle my mom got me for Christmas!

Montana Hunting Trip

Seth's dad and brother flew in last weekend to spend a week hunting. The guys were on the hunt for Mule deer/ Whitetail, Elk, and Black Bear. The guys were able to fit a lot of hunting in and we all fit a lot of site-seeing in.

 Hailey's Beautiful sign she made to welcome the guys to Montana

 We hiked up to Palisade Falls the day the guys got in!

 Hailey was beyond ecstatic to have Grandpa here!

On the hike up!

 Sonny captured this awesome picture! Looks like it should be in a car magazine.

 At the Hyalite Resevoir

 So beautiful!

Lookin' good guys!

The girls were just a weee bit out-of-control the first couple of days...

 I was the cook/bottle washer (as mom calls it)

 And the hunt begins... it rained & snowed pretty much the entire first day for them...

 Good guy time

This is the cabin the guys roughed it in for the first few days.

Headed into Yellowstone! (Notice the fabulous boots Seth got me for my birthday!)





The amazing buffalo!

We spotted several coyotes!

Grandpa & Hailey...

The bull elk was bugling... such an awesome sound~

After a loooong day in Yellowstone, we headed home for pizza and cake to celebrate Melanie's b-day. Hailey was right beside her "helping" her out.

Melli-Bell's favorite gift by far- bracelets from Hailey!

All the festivites...

I got the night off one evening, and Seth took us all out to Famous Dave's.

Melanie was quite relaxed!

Melli- Bell's fancy boots  that Grandpa got her for her birthday!

And the hunt continues...

Such a darling!

Loving some Grandpa/Dad time!

Rodeo style

Lol, Dad's must have said 30 times throughtout the trip. As he looks at the time, "It's 4:00 here, wow, it's 6:00 back home".  Needless to say we were constantly updated on the current time and Michigan time!

Such funny boys....

I was laughing so hard taking these pictures... the guys kept coming up with more "photo- ops"