I'm so thankful for the wonderful weekend we just had. Being able to be home with my kiddos and get things done around the house, while it may sound trivial, was such a blessing. I was able to get Lex's room cleaned out, sew more on their Christmas quilts, made bread, homemade cinnamon rolls, put up the Christmas decorations and play with the kids and niece and spend time with my husband and even do some Black Friday shopping. With the new year coming and school starting for me, I feel these leisurely times will become less and less and become luxury times. Hopefully in the coming days, to get some pictures up from Halloween and other events that I have been slacking on.
My mom is one of the most amazing women I know. She does so much for me and it has been such a blessing having her so close and being able to live here in Butte. I learned today that she and her husband may have to be moving and it literally breaks my heart. My mom and I are extremely close and to be honest one of the few friends I have here in Butte itself. It's hard to not shed tears.
The kids and I were able to go to Minnesota with my dad to visit my grandparents. It was a great trip, but two days there and two days back driving made for a long trip. The kids and I had a blast. We went shopping at a fabric store where the kids picked out fabric for summer projects, they finally braved the shallows of the lake and went swimming with a couple of cousins and loved fishing off the dock catching "sunnies" as Lex calls them. It was a great trip, I only wish Shawn would have able to go, maybe next year. I decided to take some pictures of the kids for the picture frame while I was there.
Now that the wedding is over, summer has started, and life has settled a bit - I figured it was time to post some happenings.
Lex ended school on June 4th and did very well. She was very excited to be done with school and to start having summer vacation.
Tyse is testing limits more and more, but he is learning that behavior can be a little tricky. He is still a good kiddo and loves being outside.
The wedding went well - thanks to my mom. She was so amazing and did so much for us - I couldn't have done it without her.
But I am glad it is over and life has settled into some sort of normalness. It was also amazing to have my friends from high school come down, since I haven't seen some of them for 9 and 10 years. They even came all the way from Hawaii, New Mexico and Utah.
It was great to see family and friends and to be able to share with so many.
On Thursday, Shawn and the kids and I went to the circus. I hadn't been in years and don't really remember enjoying it all that much - so I wasn't looking all that forward to it. Shawn really wanted to take the kids and do something that we would all enjoy and I'm so glad we did. The kids had so much fun (especially since it was their first circus) and it was nice getting out of our normal routine. Here are a few pictures (I took a ton, but the lighting was terrible so the pictures aren't all that great.) There are more pictures on my facebook page if you are at all interested. Tyse loved the motorcycle guys in the cage and Lex loved the acrobats!
Since I haven't posted in such a long time, I figured it was about time. The last couple of months have been filled with work, planning and craziness. As for me, I have been working at the stockyards and for my dad as well as trying to get more photography events and am currently working on building two more websites for clients. On top of that wedding planning is going slowly, but with only two months left, its time to get into gear. I finally closed on my home and am now the sole owner of it, my barn and 20 acres! Its such a wonderful feeling to know that I was able to do it on my own.My mom and her husband, Jim, recently moved to Butte! I'm so excited and blessed to have her so close now.Alexus is excelling in school in the reading program. She is really growing and maturing so quickly. I love her so much and it's amazing watching her but also a little sad to see my baby girl getting so grown up. With summer approaching, she is looking forward to not having to go to school and she is really excited to start learning barrel race on Barley and to hopefully start dance soon.
Tyse is my sweet little monster. He is doing so well in preschool and is learning the letters to his name, can count to ten and retains everything! He is such an active little boy that being pent up in the house can take its toll on him. We try to get out whenever we can so he can let out some of his energy.
Shawn is looking to build an arena in the field so he can practice his roping this summer and so we can all have a place to ride and is working hard to do so. He enjoys spending time up here - although the drive can get tiresome for him.
New Additions:
With all of this, we have managed to add some new members to our growing farm family. Shawn's two horses have been living here for a while and enjoying Mountain life. Madison the goat recently came to live here as did Hank the cow puppy and Casanova the barn cat.
I thought it would be kinda neat to give a little recap of our events from the past little while. I don't have any pictures up yet for various reasons, but hopefully soon. For Christmas this year, the kids and I had a whirl wind of events. Starting off with my niece's Christmas play followed by Alexus's Christmas play. I love watching the kids sing, it makes it such a great time to feel so much less stressed! Christmas Eve was spent visiting friends in Butte followed by our time to open gifts at my house with many friends and family - no pictures though because my battery was dead :-( The kids were very excited about our family gift - a Wii. On Christmas Santa arrived and after Christmas breakfast, dinner was followed at my brother and sister-in-law's house. The next day, Tyse, my dad and I drove to Utah to visit family there. I was able to get together with one of my best friends that I hadn't seen in over three years so that was really exciting. New Year's Eve was spent driving back home and then playing the Wii. Alexus's seventh birthday followed a short week later. Her dad was in town, which was a great birthday present for her. Now for our individual updates!
Alexus - Turned seven on the 7th - her golden birthday! My little girl is becoming not that little anymore. She is reading like a whiz and is in the accelerated reading program. She also had her first skiing lesson, through her school, and loved it!
Tyse - What to say about my lovable little man! He started Sunbeams and with mom as teacher, lets just say its going to be an adjustment. He is learning his shapes and starting on his alphabet at preschool and is getting too smart for his mother!
Me - Work has been busy, as usual and it is nice to finally be winding down from all the holiday festivities. My mom is going to moving up here in the next little while! I'm really excited for her to be here - its been so long since we have lived near one another. I guess the only other real update is that I am getting married on June 5th to an absolutely amazing man.
I guess that concludes this update for now!
