Proud parents moment

Sean and Molly have been learning how to barrel race on their own this summer.  The other day Sean said he wanted to make Julie (their horse) to lope home instead of trot.  This was a big deal for him and he did it all by himself. So awesome!

Noah

Haven't posted in a while . . . Had a baby.  Noah Edward. He is amazing. Here he is at nine months old

:

Somebody is 5 today!

Montana

Mommy & Baby

"Helping"

Yearling fillies & Molly

"Helping"

2 favorites: The Dirt Pile & Smokey (6 months)

Sean loved playing with Smokey

and Smokey loved Sean

Easter & Spring in MT

Crashed

I feel like our back yard was "crashed" over the weekend - this is a good thing.

I (of course) forgot to take a true "before" picture, but for those of you that can't remember/didn't see it, it was not much to look at. A lot of gravel, kid toys, random objects, cinder blocks. You get the picture. Here is a photo from early on in the renovations:

Here are the "after" pictures. We still have to add some outdoor furniture, but all in all a much needed improvement! Thanks to everyone that helped! I still can't believe this happened in 1 weekend!

February 10th

Woke up this morning to 4 text messages - Baby on the way!!!

Molly was pretty excited by the news

Yes, our children do always wear helmets in car (not really). Safety first

Baby Andrew, mom, and big sister Abbi

Only 13 more weeks for us!
Our little tree in its new spot

Sean riding down the hill

Molly playing in a box.

All in all a great day!

Out of hibernation

Hawaii: Lava & Snorkeling

Since the Big Island is the most recent, and still active volcano there is lava everywhere. It is fascinating! We saw lava tubes, fields, etc. all over the island, then went to the active volcano and saw other, freakier, looking things like this lava vent:
Another amazing experience we had there was snorkeling - not just because of the beautiful fish, but we actually got to swim with dolphins! In the wild! In this picture below you can see my mom's blue fins, and Ryan's green snorkel, and the dolphins right beyond where they are. I can't really describe just how much fun/how amazing this was!
Sean and I watching the others snorkel
We rented a boogie board with a window in it and both kids enjoyed seeing some of the beautiful tropical fish. And they looked pretty cute on the board :)

Hawaii: Beaches

We just got back from a week long vacation with my parents to the Big Island of Hawaii. It was GREAT! The kids had a blast, especially on the beaches. Here are a few photos of our beach excursions throughout the week:

We seriously had about 1,000 pictures of Sean doing this:
All in all the beaches on the Big Island treated us royally. Stay tuned for some pics of lava and snorkeling!