Montana

This last weekend, Josh and I took the kids up to Montana, to see Bannack ghost town and Lewis and Clark Caverns! We had a lot of fun, seeing something different.

The kids had a fun time looking in all the old buildings and imagining they heard ghosts in the walls of the houses and learning a little bit of history. (Hey, anything I can do to help the kids learn without them knowing it)Coming down from the graveyard. View of Bannack town.



It was a lot of fun, and the weather was incredible and the scenery was spectacular!


The Lewis and Clark Caverns were also a lot of fun. I don't know if the kids were more excited to go in the caves and see stalactites or to see the bats? We did get to see one tiny bat, it was right above our heads, we could have touched it.
We only had 3 other couples in our tour which made the whole experience even more fun, having the place to ourselves.

and in the end, a good time was had by all......

Swiss Days

I have been around the Ashtons for 13 years now and last year was my first year going to Midway during Swiss Days. (They have owned property up there for 50+ years i think) Well we went again this year, and since my Father-in law is running for city council, they wanted us all to be in the parade. The kids were great, had fun, ran out of candy and got rained on! But I do love Swiss Days! What is not to love? Lots of food, beautiful scenery and tons and tons of shops. Oh ya and tons and tons and tons of people. And the traffic was insane!!! I also discovered some really fun new ideas for crafts I want to make.

On our way home we decided to go over the mountain instead of around.....

Our brakes went out on us at the top of the pass. Not a fun place to not have brakes. We obviously made it down okay with Josh's sore leg from pushing with all his strength on the pedal (they worked if you put some strength into it and the grinding noise was a little scary) and my white knuckles from gripping the arm rests. sorry no pics of that incident....he he he


This is for my sis-in law Sammy who does vinyl lettering......she wanted to see it.

Private

I think I'm going private! So in order to view my blog you will have to send me your email, sorry about the hassle.

Freedom!!

I know most people feel sad and sometimes cry when their little ones go off to school. Well not me!! (Okay so I did get a tiny bit choked up on Will's first day of preschool, but that was because my other 3 were still at home) I have 3 of my 4 kids in school all day, and the 4th and final is in school 2 1/2 hrs 3 days a week! Waaahoo!!!!

As I listen to the silence in the back ground, I wonder what am going to do with myself? Let's see, the gym maybe? I haven't been able to do that, um...., ever. Or maybe clean my house, I know what a stupid thing to do, but it would actually stay clean for a few hours. Or maybe I will take a class. I'm sure I will have fun just thinking of the possibilities. My options are limitless... (well okay for 2 1/2 hours 3 days a week).

Signs of fall....

Well the first and biggest sign of fall.........Will started pre-school! Oh happy day for me! (He he he) I actually got teary eyed when I dropped him off, my last kid going to school. He was so dang excited, and just adores his teacher, Miss Janene, who is the greatest teacher ever!
The second sign of "fall" We had our neighbor's tree fall. (I'm trying to be funny here, but don't think it is working too well) It split right down the center (I think the grape vines finally over took the tree) half fell in our yard and the other on theirs. Luckily no one was under or around the monster. Also very sad, our only shade in the evenings, and a nice chunk of privacy gone.

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere but not a drop to drink!!

Ethan impressing the younger kids by blowing gigantic bubbles out of his hands.....He was trying to make shapes and break them apart with out popping them. It was pretty cool! The kid will do anything if it is a "stupid human trick." But getting him to work this hard on school, hmmm...........?

Ashton family picture 2009! This one is definitely my favorite! And believe it or not it actually took some work.

(Thanks Sammy for posting it)