Is There Gym Today….

Marin has LOVED being in gymnastics, it was one of the best things we could have done for her.  And  one of the best things about it is Jessie, her best friend, was in the class too!  Marin asks me, nearly every day, if there is gym today.  She loves wearing her leo and going to the gym and bouncing around.  Her teacher Mrs. Krista is so great with her.  Marin and Jessie have a tendency to be crazy around each other and Krista was always so patient with them.  So here we are at the end of the school year and at the Spring Fling where Marin was ready to show all of us the things she had learned in gym class.  I wasn't able to take her because I was doing the East Helena Triathlon, but Mishel took her for me and took all of these fun pics of Marin and Jessie.











 










And here the girls are on the very last day of class...

Memorial Day as it should be….

Our Memorial Day this year was awesome!  I was determined not to let the kids just sit around the house doing nothing on their day off of school (not that we ever do that anyway).  I rounded up the kids and decided we were going to go on a hike up Mt. Helena.  Porter invited his friend Sam and their whole family ended up coming, which is great because we love the Bingham's.  It was the perfect weather for a hike, the sun was shining, but it wasn't too hot.  The kids were all troopers, I was especially proud of Marin, she just goes along, even with her short little legs, she is happy.  We of course did not make it to the top, but it was far enough and just enough to enjoy the beautiful views and  nature.  It is so neat to be up there and see all of Helena.

 
Tessa was the leader and of course, looking so cute.

 
At our first of many breaks. Love Jodi and Jim.

 















 After the hike we made our way to the Bingham's to see the bunnies. We all of course wanted to take one home, but I think our family has hit the maximum amount on pets.

 




 Later that evening Andy got home from work and we decided to go meet the Lay's, Furhimas's, and the Christensen's down at the lake and have a BBQ. So we loaded up the grill and tons of food and went for it. It was such a beautiful location, just tons of fun. The kids were running all over, playing in the water, climbing the big rock hill, making s'mores, etc. Just a perfect evening with people we love.

 
Jared and Baby Hudson

  Kristin and Seth

 
The spot

 
Micah fishing

 
The giant rock pile that the kids couldn't stay off of.

  Marin and Ramsey

 
Dallin C., Dallin F., and my Porter man

  Tessa May all bundled up.

 
Mason and Blake

 
Jayden and Hudson

 

Bikes and bets….

Marin just got herself a new big girl bike!!  She has been talking about it for months and months.  The bike shop is right near the place where Tessa does ballet, so every time we would go to ballet, Marin would ask about the bike.  It's so fun seeing her on it, she is just so proud of it and she looks so big on it!!





And then later in the day Porter and Andy had a mean game of Jenga going on, and what came along with that was a bet. The person who knocked over the Jenga tower was going to get a plate of whipped cream to the face. And that lucky person was Porter….. I was so impressed by him that he didn't freak out or back out, he totally manned up and took the plate of cream to the face….

 

Yellowstone….

This trip to Yellowstone was one of the greatest ever.  Andy and I have been telling the kids for so long about the beauty of the park and the treasures to be found there and telling them all about the animals that you can see, and the park did not let us down.  It was amazing and perfect in every way.  It was also so fun to go with Aubrey and her kiddos and KayLee, it was just a special experience for all of us I think.  I love our family and am grateful for this experience and opportunity to go to Yellowstone, even if for just one day.

As soon as we entered the park, it was perfect, the Buffalo were blocking the road, which is exactly how you want to start any trip to Yellowstone to start. We had us girls in Aubrey's car and the boys were in our van with Andy and KayLee. The girls had a blast signing Frozen songs at the top of their lungs and the boys had fun trying to ignore us… We drove around the park for a bit making our way to Old Faithful. We stopped there to see the geyser go off, hit the gift shop, and we ate lunch at the Old Faithful Inn. The highlight at this stop were the Chinese people taking our pictures. We were laughing so hard and started making funny faces at the cameras, and finally we asked if they would be in one of our pictures!

After leaving Old Faithful we were going to head straight out of the park and into Bozeman for Grandpa Coil's 90th birthday party, but we had a minor distraction! A momma Grizz and her cub! We saw the ranger cars pulled over and they are usually only out if there is a big animal, so we knew we had to turn around and see what it was. It was so exciting and nearly brought Carlee to tears. It is so rare to see a bear in the park, I felt so lucky, and I was so happy for all of the kiddos we had with us, and I am just hoping they will always remember that moment. We spent way too much time watching the bears, but needed to leave to get to Bozeman. The party for Grandpa Coil was fabulous. It was so great for us to see all of Andy's family and his cousins that he hasn't seen in so long. After the party, we loaded up and made the rest of the drive home to Helena. We had such a wonderful weekend and trip!