L-O-V-E

When I was younger, umm actually I still do this... I cover up my written mistakes with a heart. Like when I was writing a note and I would misspell something which is quite often I would just turn that into a cute heart. (BTW, I must thank you kids for so faithfully correcting my grocery lists. Of course, I L-O-V-E and depend heavily on spell check!) Anyway, Bailee has been working on a time-line of her life thus far. She has been putting plenty of time and energy into this important 4th grade project and unfortunately last night she misspelled February with a Sharpie. (I always thought February was a tricky one.) Panic almost set in until she remembered the little trick I taught her. A darling little heart fit right on top of that mistake. Especially since she was born the day after Valentine's Day. Last night when she came up to kiss me we were talking about it and the Holy Spirit reminded me of a scripture hidden in my heart. 1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Thank you Jesus that your sacrificial act of the deepest love covers my sins.

Christmas Day 2010

We started off Christmas Day with Cupcakes for Jesus' Birthday! We sing "Happy Birthday" to HIM and yes, we ate cupcakes for breakfast! YUM! And yes, it was still dark outside!The kids going through their stockings!
The day was so beautiful, everything was frosted!
The high was about 20 degrees.
The kids got sleds, so of course, that afternoon we had to try them out. Brady and I even jumped on them a few times. Hallie and I's favorite "run" was the snow-stuffer. She appropriately named it because your coat gets stuffed with snow!!Bailee's, Jay's and Daddy's favorite run had a nice jump in the middle.
Mimi kept saying these kids are fearless!Brady made an amazing smoked Elk roast for Christmas dinner.
Christmas 2010 for our Brady Bunch was fun. Even though, we still miss all of our southern friends and family. Each year I keep waiting for it to get easier to be so far away.

Christmas 2010 Slideshow

December in Montana

I took these pictures just outside the front door (because it was about 2 degrees outside). When a fog settles on the trees it makes our whole town look like Narnia. It comes about once or twice a year but, usually only stays for about a morning and then it blows off the trees or melts. This fantastic frosty freeze stayed about four days. We've already had two big snows and it isn't even Christmas. I, like most, absolutely love the snow in December. I love to go ice skating with the kids and Brady takes them sledding. We just aren't as enchanted when it is still coming in April and sometimes May.

We've been in Montana for four and a half years now. I'm still trying to get acclimated to the below zero temperatures. I've been told it takes five years to feel at home where we live and I definitely need six more months.

Elk Hunting Trip

The boys and I invited ourselves to go on Brady's Elk hunting trip. We didn't want him to get too lonely on his week long visit with his Uncle Greg and Aunt Maria in Ridgeway, CO. However, things didn't go quite as we had expected. This is a picture of Brady staring at his stuck truck on the first day. Not to worry, in a matter of minutes a one armed smiling angel came to our rescue and pulled us out. Needless to say, that was the only day the boys and I actually went "hunting" with him. We kept ourselves busy by swimming in the hot springs at Ouray, a day in Telluride and a day in Ridgeway, of course. I'm just sayin' don't feel too bad.
The boys did find time for a snowball fight that day.

Nice one Jay!
Charlie has a great arm, too!
I LOVE Maria and Pearl! Two of the nicest girls you will ever meet! While we were there Maria and Greg insisted we stay one night at The Historic Weisbaden Lodge. It is in Ouray, Co. and has a flowing natural hot springs vapor cave. God's version of a steam-room. It was amazing!
Did I mention this is Ralph Lauren's Ranch, the RRL Ranch.
Brady's Uncle Greg took him to the best spots on the ranch to hunt.
After five days of hard hunting Brady did get an Elk. I am beginning to figure out why they are called trophies.

Love is Blind!

Currently, we now have as many pets as kids! One thing leads to another around here. It all started with Molly, then Brady "needed" a hunting dog PoGo our Springer Spaniel, next we inherited Newton another Yorkie. PoGo was allowed to run free around our property since she was booted out of the house for bad behavior. Run free she did, and she was quite popular around the neighborhood with many suitors. We were blessed with eight panting puppies on the first day of summer. Thankfully, we found homes for seven of the puppies. One of the puppies is in heaven because of me and I don't want to talk about it. So don't ask! This brings us to our fourth pet, Camille. Did I mention one of the homes for a puppy was ours. We now have PoGo and Camille in a pen.

The last two winters we have had some unwanted guests. Thankfully, not Galveston rats, but rodents none the less. I was blaming them on Newton, one of our Yorkies, claiming he was making friends with the mice even though it was his dog food they were eating. (Side note... Yorkies were bred by the working men of North England, who developed the breed for catching the terrible mice and rats that infested clothing mills and mine shafts. Evidently, Molly and Newton didn't get the memo.) I have set traps, put the dog food in plastic storage containers, consulted neighbors for their mice advice, ect. The consensus was we needed a cat. The road we live on has several wild cats living in the ditches, so I told Brady I should just go pick up one and bring it home. His response was, " if you do that please tell me when and I will grab the camera and film it." From that, I deduced that was not a good idea and would not go well. I didn't want to be uploaded to YouTube wrangling a wild cat.

I know at this point you are thinking "woman, just call an exterminator". Turns out we don't have one in our town. Surprise! Surprise! I did get a number for one that lives in another town and have been calling him for many months. He almost came by one evening two months ago but canceled at the last minute, sigh.

Our fifth and "final" pet is a kitty, Ginger. One of our sweet friends from church gave us one of her barn cat's kittens. She is quite friendly, I have noticed more cats hanging around our house and even a goose in the garage (a story for another day). Then it occurred to me that maybe when Pogo was running around our house the wild cats were staying away and that is why we have had mice for the last two winters (exactly how long PoGo has been running around!) Anyway, it is too late to get rid of Ginger as we have all fallen in love. I have a soft spot for her because I don't think she can see very well so, I thought we should change her name to Love. No, really, she is blind as a cat, I mean bat! Oh yeah, we have those too!

Beauty Tips for my Daughters

1. Pretty is as pretty does.
2. Eat raw fruits and vegetables (and sprouted flax seed) everyday. If God made it, it is good for you to eat.
   
3. Smile! Don't take yourself too seriously. Laugh at yourself.
4. Sweat a little or alot everyday. Drink your water, especially my little desert mouse.
5. Don't say anything about someone that you wouldn't want said about yourself.
6. Read your Bible and pray everyday. HIM shining through you is very beautiful!
7. Compliment and encourage others.
8. Use sunscreen! (When you are old like me :) Don't buy expensive age defying junk! Use "retin a" and a cheap nighttime moisturizer.
9. Clothe yourself with dignity and humility.
10. Don't compare yourself to others. You are a beautiful unique snowflake!