Carley's dress for Cowboy Church....

Ok... I bought this really cute jean skirt at the thrift store... and had this cute bandanna fabric and white lace I thought I'd just add on to it... I didn't mean for it to be so long... should I leave it or pull it up and make that bottom layer shorter?  OR>. I could re do the whole thing and make more wavy ruffles!   Also, have to find a cute top to go with it.  She just wanted to where her rodeo shirt for the picture.  I think little red cowgirl boots now would be adorable!

Carley's new Cowgirl outfit

I finally made cookies to put in my jar
that Ashlee made for me....
I love it Ashlee.... Thank YOU!

What does Blessed Mean?

I was feeling so truly blessed today on my baby Stetson's birthday.  I can't even explain the joy I am feeling inside when I count my many blessings. With my hubby soon to deploy I feel as though I need to focus on everything positive in my life.  Without the Lord to remind me of ALL the good ... I would tend to get down easily and pitty myself in the unfairness of life.  I received this in an email this morning from Aunt Eese in Arizona.  Thank you Lisa... for these words of encouragement. 

My happy little blessing........

Blessed

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
— Ephesians 1:3


The word "blessed" is a wonderful word. Christians use the words "blessed" and "blessing" a lot, and most of the time we mean it. There are times when we use it as an expression to terminate a conversation that is going too long. We will say something to the effect of, "Well, that's great. Wow. Hey, praise the Lord and God bless you." This can be translated, "Please stop talking now." That, of course, is not the proper way to use it.

"Blessed" is a Christian word. It is a spiritual word. It is a biblical word. And it has been hijacked by our culture. People may talk about "blessings" in their lives, but the nonbeliever has no idea what a real blessing is, because only the child of God truly knows what it is to be blessed. It is also worth noting that Jesus both began and concluded His earthly ministry blessing people.

So what does it mean to be blessed? The word "blessed" Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount is from the Greek word makarios, which means to be happy or blissful, but it also means a self-contained happiness. The Greeks called the Island of Cypress "the happy isle." They believed that because of its geographical location, perfect climate, and fertile soil that anyone who lived on Cypress had it made in the shade. And the term they associated with the island was makarios. They believed everything you needed to be happy was right there on Cypress.

We can't all move to Cypress, but the idea is that our happiness is independent of our circumstances. It is self-contained, meaning that regardless of what is happening to us externally, we can be truly happy internally. We can be genuinely blessed as followers of Jesus Christ.

Part 3

On the way home from Cody, Wyoming we decided to take the scenic route through Montana and go North.  Seriously if any of you think my parents live in the middle of NOWHERE!  You have to drive out there....   I mean... rolling hills and open land... we drove miles without seeing a cow or a horse!   We even stopped in this small town about the size of Lake Bronson, MN... maybe smaller... the topic in the gas station consisted of 10 beef steers at the local fair... which had been up since the last few when there had only been 2-4....   the lady who did all the talking had been working all day at the fair for over 10 hours and then to work at the local gas station for the night.  I've never heard anyone so proud of her county.  She bragged about the bread she had made for the bake sale and all the help she did with the younger kids.  She could have gone on for hours telling us how great her little fair was.  We actually ordered our dinner in this little town.  Homemade burgers and fries filled our tummies...while we listened in on the small town gossip...    hmm.. this sounds familiar.. oh yeah, that's because I am from a small town!   One doesn't forget the little things in life that you actually miss from time to time. I actually miss going to the Kittson County fair...   and I look forward to the day our kids are making projects at the last minute and were volunteering to paint benches and bake pies.  As a mom, I finally understand why PARENTS do the things they do.  There is NOTHING in this world more exciting to me than seeing the faces of my children light up with excitement. Being back on my parents ranch and taking the kids on horseback rides was one of those times.  Also, because maybe horses were my first love.  I'm hoping that one day they'll follow my footsteps.  

We celebrated Colton and Mallori's bday together

Colton's was on August 12 and Mallori's on the 10th!

This is my beautiful sister Katrice and her little man Will!

We got to visit my Grandpa Floyds grave site... I still miss that man every day!

This is Hudson, my new little brother and Stetson's cousin :)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My handsome dad with his two youngest grandsons!

Beams from the twin towers in NY.

International Peace Garden

                            Colton and Kenai

These last three pictures are from the International Peace Gardens.  We had to stop there because we were so close.  I had lived there with my parents when my dad worked at the Customs station as a Customs inspector.  We moved there after moving back from California where my dad had previously been a Border Patrol.   So, I got to see the house we lived in and make the walk around the beautiful garden.  We drove the 6 miles loope around the outside as well.. and it brought back vivid memories of when my dad used to go running and I'd trail behind on my bike.  I actually don't remember exactly how I kept up.. but it must have been a bike because I was only about 6 years old I know I couldn't run as fast as him!  But the trails were just as I had remembered. 

Family Vacation ............. Part 2

after leaving yellowstone we stopped at our friends Cody and Jessica Morris' house.  Their baby girl Abigail was only about 2 weeks old!    We met and had pizza at the coolest pizza place ever... they had a huge play area with giant blocks and a climbing tower and tonka trucks for the little ones to push around.  The kids had fun getting to know each other there before going to their house for the night.   Plus after being in the car all day it was nice to let them wear off some energy.

I caught this picture of Sean holding Abigail... isn't she an angel?

Samuel is quite the ham himself... he likes to sing and dance and play with his dog.   Kenai and Toby got a long GREAT and I think Kenai thought he was him mom at first!  Sorry pal... there is no milk down there!

The rowdy bunch~

Cody and Jess watched ALL the kids while Sean and I went on a two mile jog down this road... 

it was just beautiful... I think I could definitely live in Wyoming some day!

Family Vacation....... Part 1

To start off our long 4600 mile road trip we picked up a free puppy on the side of the road about an hour from home!  We had been talking about getting one and hadn't really decided for sure yet.. but this little guy was way too cute to pass up... needless to say the kids adore him!

This first picture was taken west of Denver, Colorado... we were on our way to stay the night in Craig, CO.

Ironically I had been to Craig before with  Josh Lyons doing a riding clinic! We tried to take roads to Yellowstone that we had never taken before....  we were very glad we did!

We took our time getting everywhere because our main purpose of this trip was to spend "TIME" together!  Sean had 2 weeks of block leave before deployment and this was our first trip together as a family of 5!

(Click Pictures to ENLARGE)

The picture below was taken after the hike, right before
the rain storm.  We made it back just in time!

Our first night camping by a river......near the Grand Teton Mountains!

We had to sleep in the van due to Grizzly bear attacks and 

my fear for Mountain Lions... which would be worse?  YIKES!

BTW... I had mastitis the whole time at the river AND we got a flat a tire!

The kids enjoyed helping Sean carry firewood and tossing rocks into the 

river... more like creek!

Carley is loving on Kenai!

Grand Teton Mountain Range

And here is our second night of Camping between the Tetons and 

Yellowstone National Park... (Where the camping is free)

They made their own Mountain :)

The rickety bridge we had to drive off of to get across....

Then we head to Yellowstone....

 Colton got to take a picture with Old Faithful on his fourth 

Birthday!  We also have a picture of him here in this very spot when 

he was only three weeks old!

Near Old Faithful... we had so many people stop to pet

the puppy and tell us that he was the cutest puppy they had 
ever seen... ah huh!Yeah right...... One lady even said... "this beats seeing all the scenery"  point is... we could hardly get to

where we wanted to go without having to stop a hundred times!!!! ughh......

Then... I have to say I have never seen this sign before....  Just had to take

a  picture ;p

and of course the famous Buffalo...

Independence Day!

Being the wife of a soldier... I truly want to thank all the other military families and other serviceman for fighting for our country and the sacrifices not only the soldiers make, but the sacrifices their children and spouses make as well!  We live in a great nation and I thank the Lord for having the privilege of growing up, living and be able to supporting this wonderful place! 

We took the kids to a carnival on post.  Got some free food and a free ride... (only one)  it was way to hot and crowded.

Sean and Carley went grocery shopping and while me and boys stayed home to greet our company.

After cooking out we moved to the front yard with the babies and then watched Sean and the neighbors light fireworks.. then at 9:30 we watched the show on post from our front yard.  It was a good show with out all the noise.. cause it was 2 miles away!

Here are some pics of the kids having some fun =)


as handsome as EVER..........  my little man will be 4 next month!

daddy's head was burned... he had to wear Colton's hat!

oh so serious......

Neighbor kids... Jonah (5)... Ali (9) and Colton....

Carley's new big sis.....  She LOVES her and has to have her sit next to her and help her with everything!  Ali gave Carley all her butterflies from her bedroom yesterday.. including a cute butterfly lamp that matches her room perfectly!  Thank you ALI! 

Colton and Jonah...........

sitting on Sean's truck... they had been waiting days... to watch the fireworks from up high!

Carley didn't cry but she kept her ears covered the WHOLE time!

ok...bad of me cute of Stets.....

my sewing projects

while Sean was gone I decided to spice up our room just a little.  Here's what I did..

you can imagine how plain it was before!!   I've also added a mirror to the dresser and put out my roses from our one year anniversary.  I also hung two rustic crosses, one on each side of the window.  I am not sure it's the color I was going for.. and the blue looks way more blue with light shining through it than it did just laying on the table... so I am sill getting use to it!

The two square pillows were ones that I had, I just made new covers for them.  The small one I made as well.. but had to buy the pillow to cover.  I have left over material if anyone has ideas of what else I could use it for... let me know! =)  Here is a new picture of us... yes Sean shaved his head down to skin!

homecoming.........and silly kids!

So, Sean surprised us and got home last night!  It was so GREAT to finally see him.  It had been a little over three weeks.  Seems like it's been a whole lot longer though.. Yikes.. multiply that by 12 and that's how long he'll be gone next time!  ughhh..

kids are happy he's home too.. .here's a song Colton was singing this morning!

I'm a good boy, I help my mommy........ my daddy and mommy love me so much and you can't be mean to me, sometimes Carley be's mean to me..... you can't be super mean to me, Carley always be's mean to me.....

Mommy interupts... "Carley, stop throwing stuff down the stairs"

colton "That's what this song is about" 

Back to song...

I always play with my flashlight, I don't shine it in people eyes......... my mom be's nice to me... but she spanks me when I'm in trouble!  You can't do stuff that's naughty... like being a bear, they have big claws and climb, climb climb... you can't be mean to people.....   stops singing "look mom, it's raining out side.. you better shut this window!!

back to song.....

God is always in my heart!   You can't be mean... people, learn to be nice.....    they can't do stuff naughty... not swing stuff around and hit stuff  (swinging flashlight around)  you can't hit people, you can't hit my baby brother....   hit people hit people hit people, you can not hit people!

mommy.... "so, how long is this song.. does it just go on forever"

colton, YES!  WELL, you can not be mean or do stuff that is naughtyyyyy-eeeeeeeee!  It's not fair to do.. it's not fair, fair fair fair.....  

I have to help Carley, doing something that is safe to do....   (helps Carley out of basket, battery falls out of flashlight) "Carley, hury up and pick the battery before Stetson gets it"

finally song is over...........